WIFE

No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted! But then, I have not spent much time in the last 2 months on the computer. If you would like to see some new pictures of Andrew, we have been at the Seven Sisters' house twice in the past month and they've been to our house just 2 weeks before that. You may have to read the last 2 months worth of posts on their blog, but they have a LOT of pictures of Andrew on there, like in this post (at just 7 months). :)

I am currently going through Elizabeth George's book A Wife After God's Own Heart (and gleaning lots of good things that I'm working on putting into practice) and I wanted to share an acronym with you that I intend to put on my bedroom mirror!

"Four biblical elements to help us apply God's teaching:"

Warm up his life with your love

Improve his life as a helper

Follow his leadership with a willing heart

Esteem him highly with utmost respect

Still alive

I'm still here, in case anyone was wondering. :) My laptop is not working right now and so I don't have any "new" pictures, but here's an "old" picture on Andrew and my Mom within the first week he was born, and he has changed SO much! In one week he'll be 6 months old, and I just can't believe it! I can't imagine life without him, but he is growing so fast, I just pray I won't take any moment for granted.

We are finally all moved in (and organized!!!) into our new "apartment" at my parents' house. It is beautiful, and hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon! We are so thankful for both of our families, and we are just loving being so close to everyone. A year ago we were in Georgia, and while we greatly enjoyed the book tour (and are greatly looking forward to future book events), we just really have learned how valuable family is. Andrew loves seeing all of his aunts and uncles as well as his grandparents every day! He is getting close to crawling and does all he can to get to things he wants. He weighs about 16 pounds and is over 26 inches long. I think it was 26 3/4", but I can't remember for certain.

I have been trying to get back into T-tapping consistently as the last few weeks things have been rather hectic. I am very excited because in just 25 days (almost 24) some dear friends are coming for a visit, and I just can't wait.

There hasn't been too much else going on. I'm a mom, my time is filled with Andrew and my wonderful, loving husband!

Giveaway

I know, I know, I promised pictures "soon" but we are still in the process of moving and things are just crazy right now.

On another note, the seven sisters at www.homeschoolblogger.com/sevensisters are having a giveaway. Go check it out!!!!!! On second thought, don't, cause I want to win! :) Haha!!!!

Absent

I know you, my readers (if you are still reading my blog after such a long absence) have probably been wondering where I have been. Well, I took an unofficial, blogging hiatus. I have not been spending much time on the computer over the past month and have been focusing my time and energy on my adorable little boy (who is almost 5 months old), my husband, and my home. It has been very good for me, and although I do intend on writing a little more frequently than every 6 weeks, I am also going to continue spending less time on the computer (or at least not more than I have over the past month).

In the way of news, Scott's book Swords of the Six is being released in just a couple weeks (you can pre-order for $9.97 from amazon.com right now). The cover is beautiful!

With Scott's book coming out, we are moving (again.. :) ) in with my parents. There are very few people in the world who we would feel comfortable moving in with for and undefinite length of time, and we are blessed that my family happens to be such people. We are very excited and can't wait to be all moved out of our trailer and settled in there.

Andrew is rolling all over the place now. I am most certain that he'll be crawling before 7 months. We go to the doctor's next week, and I am very curious as to how much he's grown since his last visit. In contradiction to my last posts, Andrew is still in some 3-6 month clothes. He is NOT in 3-6 month sleepers (those are 6-9 month), but when it comes to onesies, shirts, and pants, they are all 3-6 month. He also actually plays with toys now, and it is SO much fun watching him. He loves to be upright and so the Bumbo seat and Saucer seats/Walkers are our best friends. :) I have lots of pictures to post, but alas, I'm not writing from my laptop and don't have access to them at the moment. But hopefully soon!

And in case anyone was wondering, where I live, we have about 2 feet of snow right now. :)

Christmas

Christmas has come and gone to some, although I still don't feel like Christmas is quite over. We had the best Christmas ever! I will start with the beginning of the week. On Monday I had a few friends over for a a couple hours just to chat. Three of them are in College and so we don't see each other very often. My "best friend" from 1st grade just loves Andrew and so I had to get a picture of her holding him.
I love Andrew's outfit in the above picture! It was sent to him from his friend Leah and has Pooh Bear on the bottom of his overalls. So cute! :)

We had a good week leading up to Christmas. We were so excited because being near family is SO much nicer than being 20 hours away. On Tuesday Andrew and I went shopping with my Dad and stopped at our favorite little restaurant that has the best milkshakes and onion rings. My Dad used to with his parents when he was little and then when he and I would go Christmas shopping, we'd stop there for lunch. We had lots of fun and had a successful trip. :)

On Wednesday Andrew and I went over my parents house while Scott was at work as my Uncle and his family had driven here from California for Christmas and was coming over to visit.

On Thursday Andrew and I went with my family to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader (the new Narnia movie) for the second time (went with Scott on Sunday). It is a very good movie, and we all had lots of fun! :)

As you can see, I'm REALLY enjoying being near my family for the Holidays! We made lots of cookies last week and watched some Christmas movies in between working on gifts and wrapping them.

On Friday I made my Mom's Cinnamon Rolls to bake on Christmas morning (they were DELICIOUS!), cleaned the kitchen, worked on gifts, and finished wrapping everything. We then went over to my parents' for a light dinner before going to the Christmas Eve service at our church. Since we were all dressed up, we took some pictures. I just LOVE how this picture of Mom and I turned out.

Mom's "Christmas shirt" has glitter on it and so needless to say, we all end up with glitter on us by the end of the day. :)

Rebekah is very patient in letting everyone else hold Andrew even though she herself is dying to hold him, so I make sure I try and get a picture of the two of them on the rare occasions that she is holding him (without anyone trying to "steal" him).

Christmas morning, I got up at 6am. The earliest I've gotten up and stayed up in a very long time! Well over 6 months, I'd say. But we did go to bed early (at 11:30) and we were very excited about Christmas! Here are our filled stockings. My Mom made the bear in Andrew's stocking. It has a little sheep's suit and is just adorable!!!! Scott is working on getting Christmas music playing.

And our tree, with gifts underneath it.

Before we opened our stockings, Scott read the Christmas story from Matthew. It was so nice. Andrew slept through everything, but he won't get away with missing it all next year! :)

I managed to snatch a picture of Scott starting to open his stocking, and that was all I got from all of our gift opening. Oh well, hopefully I'll do better next year! I'd better!

Here is Andrew, sleeping peacefully, with his stocking beside him. :)

We were at my parents' by 8 and had such a LOVELY time!!! We took our time opening the gazillion presents that were under the tree (okay, there weren't really that many, but there definitely was more than I've ever seen there). All seven of us "kids" had gifts for everyone, and those alone overflowed the tree, nevermind when Mom and Dad added their gifts for us! :) It was SO much fun and we just had the best time!!!!

Daddy and Andrew are "buddies". :) After seeing each other quite a bit over the past week, Andrew gets excited when he sees Grandpa!

There were several "large gifts" like the one pictured below. Colleen is helping Joe "unwrap" his gift from her and Will.

They made him a castle, and it is just the coolest thing!!!! I have no idea how they did such an incredible job with it. Joe loves it and has been having lots of fun with it!

My parents got me some new clothes (which I very much needed) and we got some really neat gifts from my siblings. Hopefully I can take some pictures of them and post them soon.

My parents and I surprised Scott with a Wacom Bamboo tablet for his laptop. I successfully sneaked his laptop into our car without him even getting suspicious. He had lots of fun "playing" with it and did his first full illustration.

About mid-afternoon we went over to Scott's parents' house and had a lovely afternoon and evening!

On Sunday we went back to my parents house (my cousins wanted to visit one last time before they left).

Here is Scott playing with his tablet and Andrew "hanging out".

Well, Andrew is ready to eat, so I must go. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

Pictures

Here are several pictures (mostly of Andrew).....

Earlier this month we celebrated Scott's birthday! We got both of our families together (at my parents' house since their's is the largest) and had a party.

My sleeping boy:

And then he moved....

"Just Hanging"

Oh, and being "curious"


That's it for now.

3 Months and Other Happenings

I have many pictures to post, but I'm not writing from my laptop, and since I have time, I figured I better blog, picures or not since I am way past due!

Andrew is now 3 months old and can only fit into 6-9 month sleepers. He is still wearing 3-6 month clothes that don't have feet on them, and onesies. He had a cold for over a week, but it's finally gone now. We are very blessed because even though the cold lasted so long, it came in stages and was spread out so we didn't have any REALLY miserable times. You knew he wasn't feeling himself, but he wasn't extremely fussy. Andrew is such a mellow baby, I know we're getting spoiled. He never really "screams", just complains and "fusses". I'm sure we're in for a big surprise with the next baby (or not, who knows?). Andrew is also very close to figuring out how to roll over. He's almost got it, but not quite. It's hysterical watching him as he gets up on his side but can't figure out how to complete it and end up on his back. Sometimes he'll just give up, and it's funny to see his expressions.

I am doing good. I am trying to get back into a consistent exercise routine as ever since my cousins wedding (which I was doing good for), I lost my main motivation. So my new motivation is to get back into tip top shape so I can get all out of maternity clothes without lookin "buldgy" and so I can be in better shape when I get pregnant again than when I got pregnant with Andrew.

I've been doing much better at keeping on top of cleaning, laundry, and cooking. I'm sure that Andrew's willingness to play on the floor for more than 5 minutes is helping, but ultimately, I know it's because I'm working harder (with the Lord's help) to keep my focus on HIM! I'm re-reading Anne Ortlund's Disciplines on a Beautiful Woman from The Gentle Ways of the Beautiful Woman. SOOOOO good!!!! I read it sometime before I got married, possibly just before Scott "came along." It was so good then, and I knew it would be even better to read when I was married. Anne Ortlund's books are the kind that you should always be reading and should always be on your nightstand. Disciplines of The Beautiful Woman is my favorite at the moment. You can find her books at Amazon at a decent price. I'd post a link, but for some reason it's not working right now. As a disclaimer, these are just my own opinions of her books. I only encourage you to buy them because they have been SO encouraging to me, and especially now, with a baby added to my everyday life (and all that comes with that), reading snippets here and there, has been so helpful and encouraging. Her heart for the Lord is so eminent.

I'm out of time. Hopefully I'll be able to share more soon (and post all the pictures I keep meaning to post).