C's Dedication

On April 3, Paul and I had Caleb dedicated to God at our church. My mom came out for the occasion, which was a very meaningful and special service. There were about 12 children under 24 months that were dedicated that evening. It was only for us and our friends and family and included a brief talk from our pastor, every family up at the podium reading a letter to their child, special music that our worship pastor wrote, and dessert. I know Caleb won't remember this, but Paul and I certainly will, and we even have a DVD of the event to show him later.

There were several things we had to do to prepare for this event. We had to sign some papers, do a few homework assignments, and attend a class before church one morning. The first homework assignment was to write a letter to Caleb sharing our heart, hopes and dreams for him. The second consisted of coming up with concrete ways Paul and I are going to make our marriage a priority so that Caleb grows up knowing he has a stable family support system and parents who value and love one another. The third assignment was to come up with 5 values we want Caleb to have and ways were were going to instill these values. It really made us think about how we were going to parent intentionally.

At first I thought we were both supposed to write our son a letter, so my first draft was 4 pages long (and tear-stained)! Paul has been keeping a journal of letters to Caleb since before he was born. We realized after our meeting that we were only supposed to write one letter, from both of us, and that we were going to read it in front of everyone! So Paul took some good parts from my letter, added a bit of his own and condensed it to about a page. I made Paul read it for fear of crying at the podium. When I even think about how much we love our dear son, I just get all sappy!

We hope and pray that Caleb will enter into a loving and redeeming relationship with Jesus Christ someday, claiming Him as his Lord and Savior. We want him to respect and honor others, love his neighbor as himself, be generous, kind, hardworking, patient, trustworthy, forgiving, humble, faithful, honest and sincere. We hope he will be passionate and persistent when fighting for what is right and, like the Caleb of the Old Testament, have a different spirit from the world and follow God wholeheartedly (Num. 14:24). Paul and I understand that our role as his parents is crucial to his development and growth, and we promise to live our lives as a demonstration of our expectations for him. We are excited to watch him grow into a wonderful man someday, and we are filled with expectation as we eagerly await the great plans the Lord has for him! These things and more we expressed to him in our letter. Caleb was great during the service and then enjoyed playing with the podium and running around being silly afterward.

Homemade Organic Soap (and other things)

Paul and I have started a new hobby...soap making! We use the cold process method to create wonderful bars of homemade soap, and it's lots of fun! Paul handles the lye, since I'm pregnant and it's pretty nasty stuff. But overall, the process is not difficult and it only takes about 45 minutes. We have been using organic olive oil, organic coconut oil, castor oil, lye and water. More recently I've tried some batches with shea butter or mango butter along with some other oils like sweet almond oil or avocado oil. Once we get more familiar with the process and techniques, I'd like to be more creative and try some different things. It feels good to be able to use cosmetic products that you've made and know the ingredients of. So many products on the market today have harsh and even toxic chemicals in them and preservatives. If you haven't heard of it already, please check out the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Skin Deep website here. They have a great database for looking up cosmetic products to see how toxic they are. You can also search by ingredients, if they don't have your product in the database. I always try to research products before I buy to see how toxic they are.

I've also started making my own lip balms, body butters, lotions, hair gel for Paul (made from gelatin!), and spray hand sanitizer. These things are easier to make than most people think. The only thing is that the shelf life is not as long, so many items I keep in the refrigerator (like Paul's hair gel) to make them last longer. The book that started me on all this was one Paul got for me for Christmas called Natural Beauty At Home, by Janice Cox. Some recipes have been a flop and some have worked out, but it certainly got me started. From that point, I researched a ton of stuff online and have a few favorite sites for recipes and supplies.

By the way, they guys at work all make fun of Paul for making soap and using gelatin in his hair, not to mention all the other things we do differently from most people (cloth diapers, organic food, he's restoring a tractor in our garage, we want to be farmers someday, etc.). However, when Paul brought a bar to one of his co-workers and his wife used it for several days, she told me that it's really great for her dry hands and she doesn't need to use as much hand lotion! She liked it so much that she came over the other day to learn how to make soap herself. It's fun learning things and then teaching others!

Making our first batch of soap back in March. Mixing the lye and water.Mixing the lye mixture and the oilsAfter 2 days, we un-molded and cut the barsAfter 4 weeks, the bars were ready to use!

Miss you, Daddy!

Four years ago today my father passed away from a brain tumor. I miss him so much and wish he was here to know Caleb and meet his granddaughter next month. Caleb has a picture of Mimi and Pop-Pop on his dresser, and occasionally I will point out my dad to Caleb. I want him to know who he is. I wasn't sure if we should call him Grandpa or Pop-Pop (what I used to call my dad's dad), but one day when we were looking at the picture, he just busted out the "Pop-pop," so I figured that would be appropriate. Besides, we call Paul's dad Grandpa. The other night after Caleb and I prayed for our family and friends, Caleb said "Pop-pop" out of the blue with a questioning voice. It was like he was asking me why we didn't pray for him too. So, through tears, we prayed that Jesus would take care of my dad in heaven, that he would be having a good time, and that we'd see him again someday. After I left his room, I came downstairs and bawled to Paul and let him just hold me. I had a moment. They come every so often. Especially with these pregnancy hormones! This may sound weird, but I feel that Caleb and my dad have a special connection. The time my dad passed away is the time my contractions started exactly 2 years later with Caleb. He waited until 1:55 a.m. on the 15th to arrive, but all day on the 14th I was in labor. This is a bittersweet time for us. Anyway, I love you Dad and miss you terribly!

My mom and dad back in their dating daysHe loved his red Corvettes!

Belly pics

Ok. So when I was pregnant with Caleb, I took belly pics every 4 weeks. With the second child, I'm lucky if I even remember how far along I am! Paul and I haven't been as good about tracking the progress of my growing belly through pictures with this one, but we've managed to take a few. My mom always takes some when I see her, so she probably has more than we do. I would like to have a few pics to compare to how I grew with Caleb. So far, even though we are having a girl, I think I look the same as I did with C! Thankfully, it has been an easy and non-eventful pregnancy and our baby girl is doing well! By the way, I'll be 35 weeks on Wednesday...only 5 more weeks to go!

20 weeks30 weeks

Bathtub fun

Here's a picture of me when I was about 2, and a picture of Caleb, almost 2, playing with my old bathtub toys that my mom has saved all these years. You can see the same blue teapot cup in both pictures, although it's a little faded now. And we have similar happy grins too, I think! My mom has saved several of my things that Caleb now gets to play with when we go to Mimi's house. It's kind of fun to see!

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! I've been wanting to share this video and thought it would be appropriate today. We sing this song at church often, but I remember how powerful I thought this video was the first time I saw it. Enjoy! Our God is not dead, HE'S ALIVE, HE'S ALIVE!!!

Time at Mimi's

Here are a few cute pics from our time visiting with my mom (Mimi) back in February. This first one is one of my new all-time favorites! He had so much fun playing with the birdseed, cars, and even the snow shovel on the driveway!

Girls' Weekend

Some friends of mine from college and I decided to get together in Atlanta at my mom's house in February. My mom was happy to watch Caleb while we went out and had fun. It was an awesome girls' weekend, complete with a full day at IKEA and another day browsing shops in Virginia Highlands. We ate lunch at a really cool place called "Yeah, Burger" and I seriously think it was the best burger I've ever had! Since Paul and I are into grass-fed meats and organic food, this place was totally my style. Check out their menu here.
Mem teaching Caleb how to make elephant soundsMir playing her phone's ringtone for Caleb...he loved itMe and my girls

Homemade laundry soap

I've heard from several people that you can make your own laundry soap and thought that would be so cool to try. So, one Saturday in January, I gathered the supplies and went to work. The recipe I got from my neighbor...it's on the Dugger's website (from that show "19 and Counting" or however many kids they have now...I lost track!). The recipe and process is actually super simple and super cheap! And quite a bit of fun as well. I have so much of it though that I've been giving it away to neighbors and friends...I even brought some to my mom on a recent visit! It makes 10 gallons! Actually, it makes 5 gallons, but then you dilute that with water when you put it into containers. All it takes is Borax, Super Washing Soda, Fels Naptha soap, water and a 5 gallon bucket with a top. I found all the ingredients at our local grocery store (Kroger), so they are not hard to find. The bucket we got a Lowe's. Since I made my first batch and started telling people about it, at least 3 of my friends have started making their own as well!
Note: I like this soap and it smells nice and clean, but I think next time I make a batch, I will use a different bar soap. The Fels Naptha has fragrance in it, which I have no clue what that is. I would rather have a fragrance-free soap and add my own essential oils if I want. You just never know what chemicals are included in "fragrance" because it's a company secret. Better yet, maybe I'll try a bar of my homemade soap that Paul and I just made the other day (more about that later)!
First step: Grate the soap bar.

Second step: Add to saucepan with 4 cups of water and melt.

Step 3: Fill a 5 gallon bucket with hot tap water. Add the melted soap, washing soda and Borax and stir until all powder is dissolved.
Step 4: Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover and let it sit overnight to thicken.
This is what it looks like the next day. It is much thicker and gel-like.
Stir it again and fill an empty, clean, used detergent bottle 1/2 way with this soap, then fill the rest with water. Shake before each use.

If you have a top-load machine, use 5/8 cup per load. This yields approximately 180 loads.
If you have a front load - high efficiency machine, use 1/4 cup per load. This yields approximately 640 loads!

January

It snowed about 3 times here in January and February! Crazy! This was our backyard after the first snowfall.

Early in January, we got a toddler bed from our sweet next door neighbors, who hand down many things to us that their boys outgrow. We tried Caleb napping in the bed first, and he did remarkably well. Got out a few times and would come open the door, but after a few redirections to get back in his bed and go to sleep, he got the idea. Around Jan. 22 or so, we tried him in the toddler bed all night...and he slept the entire 12 hours that he usually does! Woo hoo! I was so hesitant to do this, thinking it would be traumatic and difficult, but it was so easy! Caleb transitions very well to new things.
Decorating Beau with magnetic letters. I think he thought they would stick on him like they do on the dishwasher. Beau was a good sport about this and stayed relatively still.

Last Christmas post

This will be the last thing I post about Christmas. I started editing this video several weeks ago and just left it on the back burner. Now it is finished and uploaded for your viewing pleasure! Just a few fun scenes from our time in NY.

Totally forgot these

I don't like doing this, since I'm already way behind, but I've had these pics ready to post for a while and just totally forgot to do it. So here are a few of the month of December.
Trying on Mommy's shoesHappy boyFun in a boxThe fam in front of the T-6 that Paul flies. I realized later that we didn't coordinate our shirts and I didn't like the fact that Paul and I were wearing different shades of red.So for our Christmas card photo, I Photoshopped my shirt to be green! That matched our cards much better!Caleb's indoor chariotAnd his outdoor Chariot. I found this on Craig's List for a really good deal and had my mom pick it up for me. It's awesome and Caleb LOVES it. He's so content riding back there. Now we can go on bike rides as a family! And it seats 2, so we can use it with both kids.Our 2010 Christmas tree