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I have a couple of problems here. First of all, Stephen and I have had the Norovirus all week, so we've been totally out of commission around here. That means I am way behind on blogging (i.e. snow pictures, GA family in town, Gail's visit, working Saturdays again, Valentine's banquet at church, and other things I'm sure have slipped my mind by now) but I also haven't updated either of my other blogs. The other problem is my camera's memory card is full. I don't remember this happening to me in a long time, but that obviously means I need to put some videos and pictures on here. So for now, that's the post you're getting. For some of you that's all you care about anyway, so it's a win-win for us. For the rest of you, you can just skedaddle until my next post. :)

A video that is probably only interesting to Brianna's mother - but I love her feeling the new texture under her feet!!



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Brianna's first experience sharing an apple with Daddy:










One of Bri's favorite pastimes - Peek A Boo!



Brianna's first snow!

Ooh, I like this stuff!!

Ew! It's wet! Get it off! Get it off!

I'll just let you handle the white stuff, O'ma.

Daddy, save me!

Yeah, I'll just look at it from a distance.

But look over there!

Very professional snowman for your first time Brianna!

By the time I got home from work this good ole boy was bye-bye.

I totally missed Bri's whole first-snow-experience situation because I had to work that day. But it turns out she wasn't so impressed anyway! Next time we have snow she'll really be able to enjoy it. She'll probably be close to 2 years old by then, haha! (Sorry mom, but I'm not getting my hopes up for any more winter weather around here this season!)

Okay, that should hold you for a while!

Coupon Crazy

On Saturday I'm back to working my regular 12-hour shift at Friend To Friend. Do you think 12 hours will be long enough to get through these?

And these?

AND THESE?!?!?

Okay, maybe I have gone a bit coupon crazy. But just think - I'll be getting paid for clipping coupons. That's every frugal person's dream! :)

Don't worry, Leila and Jennifer are coming in to town, so Stephen won't have to watch Brianna all by his lonesome. It's not that I don't think he could do it - I know he can - but I also know he still asks me where her food is... where the Tupperware goes... what she should eat... can I hold her while he changes her diaper. These things come without thinking to me because I do it day in and day out. So I have to remember to cut him some slack. I made a meal schedule for her. I'll be gone from about 6am to 8pm, and he has never kept her by himself since she has been eating solids. I not only put how to feed her (formula for breakfast, food for snack, formula for lunch, water after solids, etc.) but ideas for meals. See, I am trying to make this as simple as possible!!

But I am looking forward to returning to FTF. I do pray for NO craziness! Hopefully I will have a chance to chat with some interesting ladies, read some and clip some coupons, maybe even write an article or two. It will be nice to have some alone time... I think. Ask me on Sunday.

Just Call Me, Call Me

There are some out there who have been awaiting this day.... well, wait no further. The day has finally arrived. Yes, Brianna now has her very own cell phone! Thanks to her Aunt Gail, she now has a direct, very private line.

Hallelujah! Finally, a phone of my own!

Now if I can just figure how to turn this thing on....

Got it!

Hello? Hey buddy, I think you've got the wrong number!

I can't wait for my peeps to call me on my own cell phone!!

This came in the mail for Brianna on one of the first days she was really getting sick, so for her to smile this big was a big deal! Thank you Aunt Gail!!

Fact or Crap

Oh man! How cool is it that Daria nominated me for a Blogger award? The trick is, I have to come up with ten honest bits of information about me that haven't been talked about in previous blogs. Soooooo... let's see if I can get through ten things!!

1) One of the things I wish most that I could change about myself is the fact that I am always starting new projects, and then I get bored or forget about them and start new ones. Before long I have dozens of half-finished things laying around the house or on my permanent to do list. That's why I'm so determined to make sure that Fed By Faith continues, as well as my private Bible study time.

2) When I was younger - I think around the 5th-6th grade maybe? - I was in an advertisement for Toyota in Newsweek. It was a local business that the father of a friend owned, and my friend got to pick ten or so friends to be in the ad. The reason I was so pumped about it was because the Newsweek cover featured Harrison Ford that week. Hot!!

3) I've had two of the most common surgeries - an appendectomy and a tonsillectomy. Other than that, I've never had any major health concerns - only one or two stitches and no broken bones.

4) One year in college for April Fool's Day, my roommate and I went to our neighbors' apartment and shut off their electricity by cutting off the breaker box. They didn't even know they had a breaker box in the apartment and complained for forever about their electricity not working even though they paid the bill.

5) One time when I was 17, a friend and I were in Virginia. We found out that in Virginia you could see R-rated movies (in NC it was (is?) 18). We were so excited that we went to see a movie which I have now forgotten.

6) I never went to Disneyworld until I was 19 years old. It seemed like everyone else in the world had been except for me. It was fun, but probably only because of the people I was with (Stephen's family). I've already told Stephen we're not going back until all of our children are old enough to enjoy it. (Knock out the big trip in one fell swoop!)

7) When I was in the sixth grade I became infuriated when I found out that girls couldn't try out for the baseball team. I petitioned both the coach and the principal, who decided that I could try out if I really wanted to. When I found out I'd have to be able to hit a fastball going 70-80 mph I opted to try out for cheerleading instead (bad move, and a hilarious story.)

8) I went to my first prom when I was a sophomore and my boyfriend was a junior at another school. I bought what I thought was a very unique dress, only to find another girl at the prom in the same dress. It may sound petty, but the only way I felt redeemed was because mine was a size 4 and hers was a size 16. (P.S. I never purchased a prom dress from a department store again.)

9) One of my first "bad boy" crushes happened when I was about 11. His name was Michael O'Brien and he lived down the street. The real reason I loved him was because he had an earring. I didn't even care that it was pink. (I also loved George Michael because of his earring.... pattern?)

10) When I was younger, I think around 9 or 10, one summer I collected caterpillars. I put them all in one of those bug catchers and named each one. I ended up with somewhere between 20 and 30 caterpillars. I wrote my sister a letter (she was at camp) telling her all the names. The ones I can remember are: Brother Bear, Sister Bear, Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Rescue 911, Rescue 123, Rescue 456, Rescue 789, and Eddie. By the way, I loved the Berenstein Bears, the show Rescue 911, and the name Eddie.

I don't know a huge amount of bloggers, so if you are reading this and want to participate, feel free to consider yourself nominated to blog about 10 honest things about yourself!! Thanks Daria!

Who You Are

I'm reading a book right now by Bill Hybels called "Who You Are When No One's Looking." It's a really good book. One chapter is about discipline and I just thought it was really interesting, especially because I have just made this goal to set aside specific times every day to study my Bible or books.

First, the author tells what it takes for him to reach his full spiritual potential. For his personal spiritual life, he found three things he has to do in order to help his spiritual life flourish. For him, those three things are participating regularly in church, interacting with God daily, and having fellowship with other believers. He says you need to find the things for you to make your spiritual life flourish. This, he says, is where discipline comes into play.

When you determine what has to happen on a regular basis for you to flourish in Christ, it is time to make some advance decisions. If in order to grow spiritually you need to be part of the body of Christ when it gathers to worship, make an advance decision to be there - and GO. Say, "All right, I will be with the body of believers when it assembles. I will attend church every Sunday morning." Don't wait until Saturday night when you get in late and then ask, "Do I feel like setting the alarm?" Don't ask, "Well, who's speaking? What's the message about?" Don't look out the window to see what the weather is like. Go because you've already decided to do so.

In the same way, if you need personal time with the Lord each day, find the time, block it off on your calendar,and keep the appointment. Perhaps you have your devotional time when you get up in the morning, when you arrive at your office, during your lunch hour or before you go to bed at night. You might spend the time reading your Bible, praying, writing in your journal or listening to a tape - anything that strengthens you in your walk with the Lord. Structure your time and activities in whatever way best suits your needs, but do not leave your time with the Lord to chance. Make the advance decision to keep your daily appointment with him, and keep it without fail.

This just really spoke to me because I am really not disciplined! But I am trying to be. I hope you thought this was interesting too!

More Pictures

Brianna! I can't leave you alone for one minute!!

Sittin' with Grandma in her prayer garden:

These leaves are so darn delicate...

So you see Grandma? That's how God created leaves.

Whoooooooohoooooooo!

Just ignore the banana up her nose...

Brianna's first teething biscuit:

Want some, mom?

Delicious!!

I'm not tired. Not one little bi...Zzzzzzzz.

Brianna! Doggone it, I didn't learn my lesson the first time.

Here's a video of her in her Johnny Jumper that mom and dad loaned us. She does love this thing!

Life Update

First of all, something to tickle your funny bone. I'm a member of a group called "mooreleefreecycle"; a group dedicated to giving away and asking for items for free - anything from kittens to cars to textbooks. This was one of the "requests" I got in my email this morning:

"If you have a week of warm weather you are not using. Please forward to me the location and I will be glad to come pick it up. As long as it is over 65* it can have a few rainy days included.
Thanks."

I love it! That made me giggle.

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I guess if I have to say segue, it's not much of one.

Last night Brianna was up all night. Fortunately, we were not having to get up with her, but we certainly heard her. She woke up about every two hours, but within about 2 minutes she was back to sleep. I have to wonder if her teeth were bothering her. I think they really have been the past few days. On Saturday she felt warm (I don't think she had a fever, but her temperature may have just been raised slightly) and she kept pulling at her bottom teeth. We gave her Baby Orajel and Tylenol twice and both times that seemed to do the trick. Yesterday she seemed much happier and content. But this morning already seems like a repeat of Saturday. She is gnawing on her bottle nipple as much as drinking from it, dripping snot from her nose, pulling on her teeth again, and just wants to be held. I gave her a dose of Dimetapp and some Baby Orajel and I think it helped some. She has these tiny bags under her eyes and she looked exhausted, but she has started fighting sleep the past couple of days (naps only). So I logged off of work and took her upstairs to rock her.

For the next portion of time, I sang and rocked while she cuddled, then switched positions, then cuddled, then grunted, moved positions again, buried her face in my armpit, and then finally settled in one spot. Her eyes would get droopy, then pop open like, "What?? What?? I'm not tired, I promise!" Anyone who has ever babysat her has been witness to this. Finally her pacifier dropped out of her mouth and the loudest snores I have ever heard from a child her age began. I can only imagine she gets this from her O'pa, who drives away bed partners with the range of his snores!!

I haven't held her like that in so long - like a "baby". She's never really been one to cuddle, and everyone always says, when she does finally cuddle, you know she's exhausted. Like she's just giving up. But the thing is, it's not totally her fault.

I'm so busy. I was actually aggravated at having to log off work to go rock her. I breathe a sigh of relief when she goes down for naps because now I can check things off my list - clip coupons, do laundry, unload the dishwasher... all those important things.

It's been months since she let me rock her like that. She's so squirmy lately!! And now who knows when she'll let me do it again. But I'm so darn busy that I forgot what it was like to just sit still for a few minutes and enjoy rocking my daughter and singing to her while she plants a palm smack in the middle of my nose or tries to rip my glasses off my face.

It's true what everyone says - the dust can pile up, the laundry can spill over into your kitchen, the dishes in the sink can crust up and mold, but what really matters is your baby. Your baby that in a few months is

Brianna was crying, so I stopped mid-sentence to take the opportunity to go sit with her again. This time she laid vertically on me and I almost fell asleep too. And this time, as I was rocking her, I realized... I am my mother! I am my grandmother! How many countless times when I was a kid (not a baby) did I crawl into my mom's lap or my Granny's lap? Even if I didn't fall asleep it was so cozy. And they had this certain smell - I can remember that. And it just felt good. And now, I am that to someone. And it's crazy! But it gives me hope. Because the sentence that I stopped writing to go get her was going to end - "not going to want you to hold her". But I wanted my mom to hold me when the Wizard of Oz scared me, I wanted her to hold me as she read to me, I wanted Granny to hold me in church services so I could sleep, and absolutely I wanted mom to hold me when I didn't feel good. So it makes me very hopeful that there will be many opportunities when Bri will want me to hold her in the future even though I know she will go through phases where she doesn't want me to touch her!

Another thing, changing the subject slightly. As soon as Bri goes down for a nap I start trying to get things done, as I mentioned earlier. But I believe there are certain things I should be paying more attention to. For example, I read my Bible every day at some point, and usually some kind of study book to go along with it. But there are way too many nights that I am doing it just to do it. And if you can't remember anything about what you read the day before, wasn't it just pointless? If I'm just marking it off my to-do list, I shouldn't even be doing it.

So my new resolution? Every time Brianna takes a nap at home, for the first 15 minutes she is asleep I'm going to read my Bible or read a book pertaining to studying the Bible. After all, studying my Bible should be a top priority every day anyway. This way I'll really put some time into it and hopefully retain a lot more. This should mean at least two 15-minute sessions during the day plus whatever I do before bedtime. I really think this is going to be a great habit to start.

Uhhh... speaking of which, I took so long writing this post that Brianna is waking up again. Looks like I'm going back to my position as a rocker!