Monday, October 31, 2011

Boo!





It's Case-Man the Space-Man! Or Buzz if we're being literal. :) I bought this costume two months ago because I was so excited to get him dressed up. The costume barely fit!! Lesson learned - always size up because you can't make something bigger! Our healthy little dude!

Friday, October 28, 2011

He Is.

My dear friend Chelsea sent this to me in an email and it encouraged me so much that I want to share it! I'm thankful I have friends - though far away - that I can share honest moments with. Then this is how they respond to me. What a blessing!


In Genesis, He's the breath of life
In Exodus, He is the Passover Lamb
In Leviticus, He's our High Priest
In Numbers, the Fire by Night
Deuteronomy, He's Israel’s guide
Joshua, He’s salvation's choice
Judges, He’s Israel’s guard
In Ruth, the kinsmen's Redeemer
1st and 2nd Samuel, our trusted Prophet
In Kings and Chronicles, He is Sovereign
In Ezra, He’s the true and faithful scribe
In Nehemiah, the Re-builder of broken walls and lives
In Esther, He’s Mordecai's courage
In Job, the Timeless Redeemer
In Psalms, He is our morning song
In Proverbs, He is our wisdom
Ecclesiastes, He's the time and season
In Song of Solomon, He is the lover's dream
In Isaiah, He is the Prince of Peace
In Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet
Lamentations, the Cry for Israel
Ezekiel, the Call from Sin
Daniel, the Stranger in the Fire
Hosea, the Forever Faithful
Joel, the Spirit’s Power
Amos, the Strong-arms that carry
Obadiah, the Lord our Savior
Jonah, the great Missionary
Micah, the Promise of Peace
Nahum, our Strength and Shield
In Habakkuk and Zephaniah, He's brings revival
In Haggai, He restores that which was lost
In Zachariah, He’s our fountain
And in Malachi, He's the Son of righteousness rising with healing in His wings

AND THAT’S JUST THE OLD TESTAMENT

In Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, He is God and Messiah
In the spirit filled book of Acts, He is the reigning fire from Heaven
In Romans, He is the grace of God
Corinthians, the Power of Love
Galatians, Freedom from the curse of sin
Ephesians, our Glorious Treasure
Philippians, the Servant's Heart
Colossians, He’s God and the Trinity
Thessalonians, our calling King
In Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, He's our mediator and our faithful pastor
In Hebrews, the Everlasting Courage
In James, the One who heals the sick
In 1st and 2nd Peter, our Faithful Shepherd
In John and Jude, He's the lover coming for His bride
AND in the Revelation, in the very end, when it’s all over, said and done, when time is NO MORE. He is and will always be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, Son of Man, Lamb of God, The Great I Am, Alpha and Omega, God and Savior

He is Jesus Christ the Lord

HE IS EVERYTHING THAT YOU NEED!

Friday, October 14, 2011

Just say "Cheer up, Charlie."

I recently realized that I never really blogged about our move. Not that it matters because most of the people who read my blog knew about it whether or not I "documented" it here, but I do like to get my thoughts out so I decided I'd give a quick update. I'm most definitely not in a place right now to even post pictures. In fact, my camera battery is still dead from my Washington trip which was now almost two weeks ago. That pretty much sums up how these past two weeks have gone!

I got to Texas and met Aaron in Austin on a Tuesday and we were planning for the movers to arrive on Friday. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and they ended up arriving 5 days later but that's how moving goes (as most other people know!) It was probably just as well, though, since I was still recovering from a sinus infection. It's such a bummer that I always manage to get sick when I visit Washington! I'm pretty sure it's from flying. So Friday non-moving-day (as we'll call it) came and went and we had the weekend in front of us. We got the keys to our house and ran to a few places that Saturday. It was strange to walk into Lowes with a list of things since we pretty much lived there 3 years ago when we were remodeling our first house as newly-weds! While in the store, I started to feel sick to my stomach but thought it was from riding in the back with Case (yes, I do this from time to time because it keeps him from screaming!) After a few hours, I knew I really wasn't feeling well at all. Then it hit - the awful stomach flu bug! Ack. Is it not the worst?? Thank goodness the flu usually only lasts 24 hours. It was at that point that I finally listened to my body which had been screaming for DAYS to please slow down! Last Sunday was quite honestly the first time in about 3 weeks that Aaron and I had actually sat down on the same couch together for longer than 10 minutes. It was absolutely necessary. Sadly, we apparently sat a bit too close to each other because I shared my flu bug with my handsome man. On the plus side, Casey was spared!

So now we're moved into our new rental house...well, I should clarify that we're "in" but certainly not settled. I won't be taking pictures anytime soon! Wow, moving with a baby is SO much more work. I get about 2 hours of stuff done in a day - all in about 15 minute increments! (Pause while I go re-paci my screaming child who needs to be sleeping!) Ok, whew. Speaking of my darling boy, he's now in his own room and crib! This is a huge step for us. Coming from a small one bedroom place, it's nice to have more space and I think it truly is healthier for all of us to have our "designated" rooms. But the first night was rough....for ME! I missed my little man being right next to me. But my big man is important. ;)

I'll be honest, if I may. This feels like a lonely town and I'm somewhat lost, for lack of a better term. We know one couple here - Our friends the Legacys. Aaron and Brian were stationed at Andrews AFB together. But they live about 20 minutes from our new place and they're also both working on their masters so they have quite the busy schedule. I met a friendly woman a few houses down, but so far the rest of the 'hood seems quiet, which has been a bit of a surprise to me. I know I can't possibly be the only SAHMama around here! I just said to Aaron tonight, "I know we'll make friends eventually, but right now if feels like we never will." Most of you know I can be a tad dramatic at times, so take that comment with a grain of salt, ok? I can't stop thinking about how much I wish our good friends were here with us. I miss our Virginia peeps (aka family) soooo much it hurts. Aaron must have known I was slipping into a "my life right now in a blog" type of post because he just brought over a pint of Blue Bell ice cream (a Texas favorite.) How is it that ice cream cures a multitude of depressing thoughts? Even for a girl with an on again, off again lactose intolerance? Somehow it does (aren't you enjoying my play-play comments here?)

Well, here we are in Texas, and I'm so happy that I have my little man with me day to day to brighten my life. He, even more so than Blue Bell ice cream, truly makes my life so wonderful.

I promise I will attempt to make my next post more uplifting! But I truly needed an honest moment. Don't we all?

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

"Desperate Housemoms"

I'm going to steal my friend Mari's "Win/Fail" format for posting because it's perfect for how our flight from Seattle to Austin went down yesterday. Also, Casey turned FOUR MONTHS (I had to write that in caps because I still can't believe how fast he's growing up) on Monday! We simply love this kid more and more every single day. And because i'm drowning in a sea of setting up bills, trying to figure out why our movers won't be here within their contracted time-frame (ugh), changing our address, etc. etc. (the list of things to do literally goes on and on) I have no idea where my month stickers are for Case's picture, but probably packed away in the moving truck which is STILL in Virginia (another big UGH.) Anyway, I just think the "Desperate Housewives" show is so impractical...no one really lives like that...or perhaps just crazy people do. But I do think a show called "Desperate Housemoms" would be PERFECT. I mean, the amount of juggling moms do with there time and their kids is seriously comical, right?? Oh, you all would have a hayday laughing fest if you were a fly on my wall today! So, yes, i'm a "Desperate Housemom" who had a desperate kind of day yesterday. Here it goes:

WIN: We made it to the airport in Seattle without missing our flight! Thank goodness we left in the am because by pm yesterday, the airport was FLOODED with Amanda Knox supporters and national media. Though I would have loved to greet her!

FAIL: I couldn't for the life of me get Casey to stop crying as we walked to our gate. Everyone around me was glaring at me as if to say, "Dear God, please do NOT let this girl be on my flight!"

WIN: I love that Alaska Airlines lets you board before everyone else including first class. YESSSSSSSS!

FAIL: I pumped before our flight in order to give Casey a bottle for take-off and landing because that way I can control his sucking a little better. This is truly not for feeding purposes as much as it is to help him clear his ears. I tried to thaw out my milk in the sink but there was no hot water. Actually, there was no water at all. So the flight attendent had to give me a barf bag filled with hot water. I about spilled it all over my lap. But in case you're wondering, they did have the water turned on by the time we took off.

WIN: Nobody came to sit in the middle seat of our row. That meant Casey layed out on that seat for two hours straight during the flight and smiled at me the entire time. My dream baby!

FAIL: We had a lot of turbulence and at one point the pilot told us we'd need to stay seated for at least 15 minutes. About 2 seconds after that annoucement we started bouncing around, dropping and coming back up, dropping and coming back up. Just then Casey took a huge poop. HUGE. It leaked out all up his back, down both of his legs and onto me, too.

WIN: This smarty-pants mama packed a change of clothes for Casey and for myself in the event that this would happen. One of about 1,928,000 reasons why I love and miss my cloth diapers. It's just easier to travel and move using disposables...but I can't wait to return to my new amazing diapering system. I haven't had a single leak! Darned disposables.

WIN: This month is the 4 year anniversary of Alaska Airlines flying to Hawaii, so they have really good Hawaiian inspired meals available in-flight for purchase. I got Chicken and soba noodles. It was pretty good for airline food!

FAIL: Casey has incredible timing. He will almost always fuss and get hungry right as i'm starting to eat (or as Aaron and I sit down to eat). Yesterday on the plane was no exception! So I tried to eat one-handed but this is not easy with stringy noodles. I dropped a big glob of them right on his head. About an hour later, I leaned down to kiss his head and it smelled of teriyaki sauce! Oops...

WIN: Casey fell asleep right before we landed so the trip ended well. :)

We have just the sweetest boy in the world. I love him as my travel companion and he reminds me to just take a deep breath and laugh at the craziness of life!