Randomness for Today

I haven't had time to do normal blog posts recently, much less random ones.  But, exceptions do happen, and here are three TOTALLY random things that I had on my brain today:

1) David and I met with a financial advisor from Fidelity Investments yesterday to talk about some retirement stuff and get Joseph's college fund going.  He asked me when I was planning to go back to work.  We told him that we were planning to homeschool our kids until college, and that even then I may not re-enter the workforce.  The advisor marked me down as "retired."  I found that really funny - for one, it's hard to think about retirement at age 32.  For another, in many ways my life is busier now than it ever was when I worked outside the home, so I don't feel very "retired."  I realize he had no other way to code it, but I just had to laugh.  But really, it made me think about how much I love life as a homemaker.  I fully realize that full time homemaking would not be interesting to everyone, in the same way I have little interest in, say, accounting.  Or archaeology.  Or dentistry.  But for me, it's the perfect fit.  David often talks about how he prays that we will be in a financial situation after our kids go to college that I won't have to re-enter the workforce unless I just want to.  I can't help but think that would be a wonderful option IF that's the Lord's will.  It's not that I don't enjoy working outside the home, but there is nothing I like as much as taking care of things here, and attempting to make our home a peaceful haven for my husband and a welcoming place of hospitality for others.  Call me old fashioned, but that's just what I love!  The investment advisor showed us where we are right now in terms of being on track to meet our retirement goals for when David retires one day (like I said, they already have me marked as "retired") and I was pleased.  We are not nearly as far off the mark as I would have thought.  Things actually look doable, and it's only through the Lord's blessing.  I am thankful and excited about what our future holds in terms of raising our family and then living out our golden years together.

2) I went bathing suit shopping today.  Ugh.  Our play group is going to the pool tomorrow, and we are also going to Myrtle Beach later this summer, so I knew it was time.  I don't think any woman ever things it's fun, but geez, it's much worse postpartum.  I'm coming to grips with the fact that 9 months of pregnancy changes your body, and I know I'm supposed to look at those changes as badges of honor because of the gift of motherhood.  But it's hard when you are trying to squeeze yourself into swimsuits that are a few sizes bigger than what you wore pre-baby.  Part of me just wanted to wear my maternity bathing suit from last summer for comfort and ease, but I got brave and decided to shop anyway.  I found something that is decently cute.  Could I put three of my teenage selves in there?  YES.  But, I am thankful for a sweet baby boy that caused some of these changes, and for a husband that thinks I look beautiful regardless and tells me so, too. 

3) Marriage stuff.  I've been reading a book that deals with Christian motherhood and marriage.  It speaks a lot about making sure that motherhood and other things don't zap the spark out of your marriage.  I don't think David and I have ever had our spark fully "zapped," but like any couple keeping the focus on your marriage becomes harder and harder when you have children.  I think a lot of women get so exhausted that they tend to get very critical of their husbands, no matter how hard their husbands are trying to help or do the right thing.  I liked this quote in the book from Heidi St. John..."Our homes should be places of rest and security.  In a hostile and busy world, marriage should be a sanctuary.  The culture we live in has abandoned the sanctity of marriage, largely because we have abandoned God and His heart for marriage.  Try to see your marriage as as opportunity to be the wife God created you to be.  When you do, it can change your life.  Instead of criticizing, pray for him.  Love him.  Prefer him.  Grow old with him.  The impact you will have by living out and then leaving behind a legacy of love with reach far into future generations."  What a wonderful reminder I thought this was of what we want to build our roles as wives to look like!

Okay, how's that for three totally random, unrelated thoughts?  I don't know, maybe this was just a waste of blog space for most of my readers, but I just felt like sharing.  Everyone have a great week!

Spring 2013 So Far

"We lose ourselves in the things we love.  We find ourselves there, too." -Kristin Martz

I'm way overdue on a blog post, so I decided to catch everyone up on what our little family has been up to this spring!  So much fun stuff!

For Easter Sunday, Joseph awoke to our "family Easter basket."  Yes, David and I have made Easter Baskets for each other each year that we have been married.  I guess we are just big kids.  This year, we really didn't have much time to make baskets for each other, AND we knew Joseph was too young to eat his own basket, SO we made a "family basket" which was really fun...

We took pictures of all stages of getting him dressed in his Easter outfit...

And that evening, we took Easter pictures at my grandmothers house...

For one of our monthly "date nights" (thanks to my parents for taking care of Joseph during these), David and I went to dinner at the Print Works Bistro and The Proximity Hotel here in Greensboro.  We chose this place because the UNC Basketball team was staying there for the ACC Tournament, and we would have the opportunity to help send them off to the coliseum for their game that evening.  Hard to tell what is going on in this picture, but this was taken by us, standing behind some cheerleaders, as the players walk out to the bus...

Joseph has been enjoying the warmer weather and getting to wear his adorable summer clothes...

And, even on those cooler spring days, taking pictures in front of the pretty flowers...

One pretty Saturday, we had an impromptu lunch cookout/picnic in our backyard.  I wore Joseph in the Boba, and he fell asleep for most of the meal.  David grilled, and we had some wonderful time together as a little family.  It was made especially cool by the C-5 that kept flying over our backyard.  Periodically, a C-5 (the BIGGEST military cargo plane there is - this thing makes a 747 look like a toy airplane) does training touch-and-gos at PTI.  Whenever they do, they circle repeatedly over our house.  The plane flies soooooo low and is SOOOOOOOOOO big, noisy, and slow!  I am a real plane lover, so it's always a serious thrill for me.  It happened to be circling over us the day of this backyard picnic, although in the picture we took it looks WAY higher up than it actually was.  In person, it seriously looked like it was going to hit the tops of our trees!

The C-5 - but it was WAY lower than this picture shows!

After we ate, we moved up to sit in our front yard for a few minutes, and then took a walk down to a bench near the lake in our neighborhood.  Joseph slept the whole time...

On the bench in front of Lake Hamilton

On another pretty Saturday this spring, David and I decided to go downtown to Fisher Park with Joseph.  Fisher Park is a downtown Greensboro neighborhood that is one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city.  I LOVE IT.  Seriously, I have a mild obsession with old homes, and all of these are gorgeous turn-of-the-century Victorian houses.  I love to go down there just to walk around (okay, maybe I'm a dork).  There is also an actual park in the middle of the Fisher Park neighborhood.  Even though Joseph is too young to "play" we went down there to enjoy the beautiful day.  Joseph played on a blanket with Daddy, and Mommy may or may not have played on the swings like a little kid!  ;-)  We didn't get any pictures at the park, but we did get some out in the pretty weather right before we left our house.  David wore Joseph this day a little while in HIS Boba, which is a camo print!

Joseph in the camo Boba AND camo hat!

Late April came and Joseph turned 6 months old!!!  (He has since turned 7 months old...I'm REALLY behind on blogging).  We celebrated his "6 month birthday" by taking him on his first trip to Mommy's Alma Mater, in Chapel Hill!  My parents started taking me to Chapel Hill as a young child and I literally grew up having a love affair with the place, a love affair that only strengthened during my four years there and since.  I realize Joseph's too young to know where he is when we go places like this, but still, it was very special for me to take him.  I can't wait to take him over and over and over throughout the years.  Already talking about taking him for a football game this fall!

The most magical place in the world for me, with my two favorite guys!!!  What a great way to spend a day!

Also, as part of turning 6 months old, Joseph started eating solid foods!  I had always researched and read that it was by far best to hold children off from solid foods until they are 6 months old, and it was super important to me that we make it to that age before trying them.  When Joseph had his reflux at 3/4 months, we HAD to give him some oat cereal in a bottle of breast milk in the evenings to thicken it and alleviate some of the spit up, but that was only out of necessity for his comfort, and we only did it for about 2 weeks.  I am so glad I waited until 6 months to do other solids.  The American Academy of Pediatrics just recently changed their recommendations, from saying that they can start at 4 months to urging that parents wait until 6 months.  Joseph definitely started showing the readiness signs at 6 months, which reaffirmed for me that we started at the right time.  So far, he likes apples, pears, sweet potatoes, carrots, prunes, butternut squash, and mango.  He MARGINALLY likes peas and green beans (he'll eat them but doesn't love them).  And he HATES banana and avocado.  It's been sooooo fun to see him try things!

Butternut Squash - YUM!

David took a 2 night business trip at the end of April.  In his current job he usually only has to travel once or twice a year, which is a HUGE blessing as we are definitely a "quality time" family.  When he does travel, he refuses to let Joseph and I stay at our house alone, because he is very protective and wants to make sure we are safe.  So we stay with my parents when he is away (he made me stay with them even before we had Joseph).  I'm thankful for such a protective husband!  Here are a couple of pics of our two days with Nonie and Papaw...

Hanging out in his sleep sack before bed at Papaw and Nonie's...by the way, he learned to sit up this spring!

One of the highlights of May for our family was going to Highlands, NC, to spend several days with David's parents ("Mimi" and "Poppy").  Joseph was such a little trooper on his first long journey!  It takes us about 5 hours to get to Highlands (it's almost in the furthest Western part of NC and is much closer to Atlanta GA than to Greensboro) and is one of the highest populated elevations in NC (about 4200 feet).  We were excited but also curious to see how Joseph would do with the altitude.  Even though "high altitude" is technically considered 5000 feet and above, I am apparently very sensitive to altitude and even in Highlands I tend to be a little more tired than usual.  But Joseph did wonderful!  We had such a good time!!!

With Daddy in front of the Tuckaseegee River at Daddy's alma mater - Western Carolina University (on our way up)

Mimi and Poppy kept Joseph while we had a "date lunch" at the Old Edwards Inn - when we got back, we found them hanging out at the water feature in the front yard!  Jojo loved it!

We had a few other activities of which I don't have a lot of pictures handy for the blog.  In short, I had my first real Mother's Day!  Joseph and his Daddy gave me a gift card for a massage that I will be scheduling soon!  And for my birthday the next week (32...holy cow I'm old!) David surprised me by taking off work early (I had no idea he was going to do it) and showing up with candy, roses, and jewelry!  Can't beat that type of celebration!

What a WONDERFUL spring we've had!!!