152

In
1
more day Owen will be 
5 
months old and he now officially has
2
teeth popping through :)

 

My Favorite Things (sung by Julie Andrews ME)

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

When Owen hugs me

He squeezes so tightly

He giggles so loud

When I tickle him lightly

The sweet look he gives me

Whenever I sing

These are a few of my favorite things...

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

The way that he chews

On his favorite toy Froggy

His cute little yawn 

When he's feeling groggy

The way that he sleeps

and when he plays with his feet

These are a few of my favorite things

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

When I'm sleepy,

Overtired,

When I'm feeling sad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I don't feel......

so bad!

♪♫♪♫♪♫♪

3 Things Short and Sweet

1)  Owen's first tooth made an appearance!  I noticed it Thursday, September 15th when he was noshing on my fingers... there's definitely a white cap!

3) Owen rolled from back to belly for the first time!  And I'm glad I saw it because he hasn't done it since :)  He will get sooooo close and then flop back over... I wonder if he does it to tease us... Anyway, he did it Friday, September 16th.

4) Today Owen held his bottle all by himself for a few minutes!  I'm especially surprised by this because he doesn't get a bottle all that often.

He's growing and developing so fast and I love, love, LOVE that I get to be home with him to watch it all happen!

JJ

... not the Jet-Plane (moms will know that reference) No, not JJ the Jet-plane... I'm talking about Jehovah Jireh.  Or in English:  God is my provider.  (yea, this is a serious, lengthy post, but c'mon and read it - it's good, I promise!)

I can't help but thank God every day for the ways in which He provides for me/us/the family.  It's just ridiculous.  I mean, seriously.  RI-dic-U-lous.  Here are some examples.  We'll start with the obvious - MONEY.  Dinero.  Benjamins.  (Not that I've seen one of those in a loonng time) Greenbacks.  You get it.  Here's the thing:
Most of you know I was a teacher.  Well, here in NC teachers are state employees and only get paid once a month for ten months (we don't get paid during the summer).  So a while back I did the math and began having X amount of dollars taken out of my paycheck every month and put into savings, so when summer came around it would be like I had two paycheck's worth in the bank.  My check pays the mortgage and car payment, so by the end of summer our savings was nearly gone, but I would start building it up again once August hit and we started getting paid again.  Well, as you know, I resigned from teaching so I could stay home with Owen this year.  Not only did that mean my last full paycheck was in May (rather than June) from maternity leave, it meant once our savings was gone... there wouldn't be another paycheck in August to get us back on track.  Well, it turns out we have God's favor all over us (wahoo!).  Not only did I get a full paycheck in June (I thought it would be considerably lower since I had extended leave), I also got the supplement in June (wasn't expecting to since I was on maternity)... that made my check 50% more than what it normally is.  Now it's September and guess what?  We haven't had to TOUCH our savings account.  Our Mortgage is paid through October, our car is paid off and we haven't been late on any bills (in fact we're usually early).  This has NEVER happened before - we always counted on our savings to pay our summer mortgage payments!  Not only that, but whenever our 'big'/higher bills are due, Bill has been getting larger paychecks (he's salary + commission so working extra hours doesn't do anything for him) so we can afford to keep paying off our debt and pay those higher bills.  It is just one more way that I'm positive I made the right choice to stay home with Owen and trust God to provide.. He's shown up BIG!  :)  Oh... and I should mention - we're faithful tithers and always give above and beyond 10%...and I'm positive that plays a huge role in God's provision for us.  We always give Him our first 10% and He blesses the rest! (as our pastor says) 
Also, I decided to sell all my classroom stuff, and a bunch of other random stuff and have a garage sale.  Well, before I had the sale I had this urge (ie. God's voice) to give 1/2 the money I made from the sale to Father's House.  Why?  Well, because I love them, their vision and their cause.... and I dunno, I think God was just seeing..... I mean, why give 1/2 to FH when we needed any extra moulah we could get?  Wouldn't you know, after 2 weeks of garage sales I sold over $600 worth of stuff.  And that wasn't even ALL the stuff!!  I'm positive I had such a good turnout because I promised God I'd be faithful with His prompting to give 1/2 the money to FH. 
Oh but that's not all.  We were in need of a new car seat for Owen.. he's about to hit the 20lb limit on the infant carrier.  Holy expensive, Batman.  But then one of my friends was like, "hey, Soandso used to work for Britax, we can get you a deal."  And it was a killer deal... and Owen will be able to be in the seat until he's 6years old (unless he breaks the 70lb weight limit before then). 
And that's not all.  But if I kept going on about all the ways He's shown up in our finances, you wouldn't believe me.  Because it's just. that. crazy.

And that leads me to the next category: FRIENDS.  God is our provider and He has hit the ball out of the park when it comes to providing us with friends family to surround us.  When we moved to NC we were all alone.  We literally knew one family here.. and we didn't really know them, we just happened to be from the same city and go to the same church back in Michigan, I just met them once and they lived 30 minutes from where we lived in Charlotte.  So we were alone.  Then we found Freedom House.  It was love at first sight.  Seriously.  The minute we walked in the doors of that school (yes, it met in a school, yes I didn't want to go at first because I didn't want to be in a school building 6 days a week) we felt like we were at home.  The amazing Michael Singer gave me a hug, shook Bill's hand and gave us the 'grand' tour.  We got hooked up with a Life Group and made some of the best friends ever. (Funny aside - we are now back in a life group with the same set of people (not on purpose!) we were with in our very first LG 5 years ago, and now we all have kids... surreal!) If it weren't for our family at Freedom House I really don't know where I'd be.  My best friend has come from a happenstance meeting at Freedom House.  Our 'family' has passed along baby clothes, a bassinet, baby tub, strollers... it's crazy how much we haven't had to buy because of all the friends that just pass around the baby stuff.  Remember this?  I mean, really - how awesome do my friends have to be to throw me an AMAZING baby shower and go through with it even though I was stuck in the hospital... and pray for me while they were partying, and bring the shower to me afterward?  It's not all about stuff though.  Our family here has prayed with us, waged battles against Satan with us, laughed with us, celebrated with us.  We truly love them and I thank God every day for the amazing family He has provided us through our friends at FHC. 


I really can't get over the multitude of ways God provides for us... even as I sit here writing this I'm in awe of it.  God is amazing.  Simply. Amazing.  And there's no way I could do life without Him.  Or want to, for that matter. 

Jehovah Jireh - you rock my face off!

Teething

 

 

  

  

We wet those little froggy feet down and throw him in the freezer for a while... it's Owen's favorite little delicacy to munch on in the morning! 

STOP!

Do NOT pass 'Go'.  Do NOT collect $200.
I'd love to say that to my sweet 4 month old, but he'd probably just look at me blankly... kind of like this:

 

Hahaha... yea he's never even heard of Monopoly, but I bet one day he'll beat both of us at it.  He's just so smart... and so strong.. and growing up SO FAST!  I know, I know, everyone who's anyone's parent always says it.  But.  Well.  It's kind of true.

I mean, does this little boy look like he's only 4 months old???

He's getting really, really good at standing!  He held himself up when I stood him up near the couch the other day.  And when he's up, you really only have to hold onto him with one hand to balance him!  He also loves it when he's laying down and you let him grab your fingers and pull him to the standing position.

Sitting up is his new goal though.  He tries SO hard to sit up.  He refuses to lean back against things anymore, he wants to sit up!  I used to prop him in the corner of the couch every morning for Bible time, and then the other morning I looked over and saw this:

It's so cute to see him try so hard to sit up on his own!  He does a really good job if he's on something soft and cushy (I think it helps him balance more).  He especially likes sitting up on the couch and on our bed.

   

His downfall are his feet though... once he sees 'em, he's gotta have 'em! 

 

And as you can see below... he'll go to any length to get them in his mouth!!

 Yes, he was totally bent over from the sitting up position, eating his feet.  Babies are so bendy!

He has also been extremely observant lately.  He's always been a very alert and observant baby, but lately it seems to have multiplied!  He loves faces and touching and reaching for noses and mouths, and sometimes eyes.

I love this one of him and his papa :)

He's also been very watchful when we eat and drink lately... and he's been reaching for whatever we've got in our hands.  He definitely stuck his hand in my OJ the other morning while I was carrying him and it to the table :)  I bet when he does start food he's going to be a good eater because he seems to be watching our every move and taking mental notes so he will know how to use a spoon and a fork and a cup!

I so love watching him grow and change every day... but I do admit, things are speeding up a bit too fast for my taste! 

A 'Sista' For Owen

So I started this little project for my peanut.. and I'm kind of loving the way it's going. 
I started with a plain blue onesie from Old Navy.  I wanted charcoal grey... or even black.. but you would not BELIEVE how stinkin' difficult it is to find a PLAIN black onesie for a boy that doesn't have a pocket... or cost $12.  Sorry, but I refuse to pay more than $5 for a shirt.  So I settled for navy blue.. and the Labor Day clearance meant that I only had to pay $5 for it. :)
Oh and I also used an old white onesie that Owen never wore and that didn't sell in my garage sale.
It really isn't that hard.  A little tedious....

But not hard at all.

But I ran out of thread.

So now it says Assista

Instead of assistant.

:)

I see many more custom shirts in Owen's future.  It's so fun and easy!

Frozen Frog Legs... among other things.

Just some things about little Owen lately...

- Two days ago he started teething.  I knew it when 1) He woke up twice during the night fussy. (He generally sleeps through the night 7-8ish PM - 5-6ish AM) 2) He was no longer just shoving his hands/fingers in his mouth - he was chewing.  Noshing on things is now his pastime.  Pacis.  Fingers. Frozen frog feet (his toy froggy has dangly feet). Washcloths.  Burp rags.  Blankets.  Puppy.  He's not a fan of hard plastic or soft plastic things, but he goes after anything that's cloth.  We got him an amber necklace today.  It's to help with the teething... you can read more about it here.  Don't freak out.  We don't let him sleep with it on.  And it's not girly - you can't see it anyway because it goes under his clothes.  :)  We are not a fan of medicating - we'd rather try natural stuff first.  Don't get me wrong, we'll medicate if necessary.. but well, that's a whole 'nother post. :)

- The past couple of weeks he's become a hip-rider.  You know, when babies are really small and you carry them up-right (not cradling) they just kind of go flat against your chest?  Well, he's decided he's a big boy and he likes to ride over to the side now so he can look around. :)

- The past few days he's taken more of an interest in the cats.  He watches them closely and even has gotten a few nuzzles from Oliver.  Cricket could care less and doesn't generally go to near.. but Oliver is attached to him.  Oliver will even sit in the nursery with me during bed time... it's cute. :)

- He's also taken more of an interest in the boy I'm nannying.  Before he would look at him but just not seem to care one way or the other, now if I set him up in front of the other little boy he laughs and smiles and giggles.  I think it's because he recognizes him.  It's cute to watch.

- Still no news on the rolling-over.  In fact, he doesn't roll over from tummy-to back very much anymore either.  Still does great at rolling onto his side though - he does it when he's ready for sleep.

That's all for now.. just trying to keep up with all the new things!