Monday, April 27, 2009

Telling a Story

So, I'm convinced that Caleb is telling all of you about our trip to the Post Office today and how much he likes his new sling! We got some GREAT use out of it, waiting in line for 30 minutes just to mail a package! But he did great, and we got tons of smiles from others who I think were just fascinated that I was "holding" a baby hands free! Seriously LOVE my new sling! I'll have to get a picture of the two of us with it, well worth the money, especially sincne I'll be able to use it up to when he's a toddler! Anyway, long story short, he was going on and on for at least 10 minutes after we got home...here's a little clip of it!



Sunday, April 26, 2009

Our Little Sickling...

Our sweet little guy is sick. We put him down for his nap this afternoon and he woke up abruptly becuase he couldn't breathe. He has so much congestion and we're not sure if it's allergies or just a cold. Poor little guy. We've cleaned him out numerous times and given him a small bottle of water. It seems that's helped out a little bit as well as keeping him elevated.


Big Smiles!

So lately Caleb has L-O-V-E-D being lifted up into the air quite fast, and when he comes back down this is the face we get! We'll try to get better shots, but this is as good as we've gotten so far!



Our Saturday Night...

Our Saturday night consisted of steak, maragaritas and Twilight. This video shows how incredibly exciting our night was, thanks to our new pots and pans! Actually, it was a really great night, probably as exciting as it gets for new parents!

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Highway to the Danger Zone...


I just couldn't resist! I bought these sunglasses at Build A Bear of all places! As you can see in the 2nd picture, he only lasted long enough for me to get the good picture before he gave mommy the lip. But I might give them a try another time. They fit him perfectly! We submitted this picture, along with quite a few others to as many pohoto contests as I could find yesterday. Aaron and I have chatted about getting him an agent to see if he would be a good fit for magazine covers, commercials, etc... We'll see what happens! Like father like son!

Be Blessed and Encouraged!

Monday, April 20, 2009

Caleb Pics!

Ok, I couldn't come up with any good title because this post only contains pictures! Enjoy, and be sure to look at all of them, the best ones are at the bottom!!







































Be Blessed and Encouraged!


Sunday, April 19, 2009

Going Green and Living Organically

I feel like some Christians are so against the whole "going green" movement because the face of it has been Al Gore, and for I'm sure many other reasons as well.

While I don't believe that Global Warming is actually happening, I do believe in going green and living organically. In our home, this means eating organically, and using organic household products, as well as a few other things.

As often as we can afford it, I try to buy organic produce, pasta, milk and chicken. We love shopping at our local Whole Foods, although I've recently started "The Grocery Game" (a whole different post) and they do not offer lists for Whole Foods, yet. My main grocery purchases come from Kroger, Tom Thumb, Albertson's or Target, depending on what store I'm at that day. We try to stay away from High Fructose Corn Syrup as much as possible, and thankfully all the stores I just mentioned carry quite a few different organic products.

We have also added a few organic items to Caleb's nursery, including his crib sheets which are made of the softest organically grown, naturally colored cotton. They are produced without the use of harmful pesticides, chemicals, or dyes, which means i's easier on the skin, and the enviornment! He also has quite a few Gerber Organic Onesies, which we love. And the biggest switch of all, CLOTH DIAPERS!!

I recently posted a picture labeled "Bring It On Sumo Wrestlers", which was a picture of Caleb in his first ever, cloth diaper! We decided to switch to cloth diapers for a couple different reasons. The first being, financial. Disposable diapers can run anywere from $50 - $80 per month, and if you don't potty train your child until he/she is three years old, that can run you up to $2880, just on diapers alone (now count in the cost of formula, if you choose to, clothing and all the other "necessities" that come up every month)! Pretty crazy if you ask me! Cloth diapers have one up front charge (cost of purchase), and then you have the option to either launder them yourself at home, or hire a diaper service. The upfront cost of 20 Bum Genius 3.0 one-size diapers vary from $250+ if you bu used, or $350+ if you buy new. For us, it made the most sense, and allowed more flexibility within our current budget, to go "green" and use cloth diapers.

Now let's look at the enviornmental view of disposable vs. cloth. In an article from TheNewParentsGuide.com, the author (unknown) writes this:

"It is estimated that roughly 5 million tons of untreated waste and a total of 2 billion tons of urine, feces, plastic and paper are added to landfills annually. It takes around 80,000 pounds of plastic and over 200,000 trees a year to manufacture the disposable diapers for American babies alone. Although some disposables are said to be biodegradable; in order for these diapers to decompose, they must be exposed to air (oxygen) and sun. Since this is highly unlikely, it can take several hundred years for the decomposition of disposables to take place, with some of the plastic material never decomposing.

The untreated waste placed in landfills by dirty disposable diapers is also a possible danger to contaminating ground water. Pro-disposable advocates say that cleaning cloth diapers uses more energy and contributes to the load on sanitary sewer systems and potential water pollution. This view really makes no sense if you think about it. The amount of water used per week to wash cloth diapers at home is about the same amount consumed by an adult flushing the toilet four or five times daily for a week. Also, the greater amount of water and energy being used by diaper service companies to wash large amounts of cloth diapers multiple times; the per diaper impact on energy and water supplies is actually less than home washing.

Finally, when flushing solids from a cloth diaper down the toilet and washing the diapers in a washing machine, the contaminated, dirty water from both toilet and washing machine go into the sewer systems where they are properly treated at wastewater plants. This treated wastewater is much more environmentally friendly than dumping untreated soiled disposable diapers into a landfill."

So on top of the financial benefit, we are also helping our earth by using cloth diapers and not throwing disposables into our landfills!We also use organic laundry detergent on all our clothes and diapers, and plan on continuing to add other organic household products as we use our current ones up.
So, as a believer, why am I responding the way I am about going green and living organically? Here's why...

In 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 it says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you ar not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

I take that verse to mean that because I do not "own" my body, I need to take care of it, for doing so, will bring honor and glory to my Savior. Why would I not want to do that, it is his after all, and he created it perfectly in his image!

Along with that verse above, I also love 1 Corinthians 10:26, which says, "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." This verse is referenced originally from Psalm 24:1.

So, if my body belongs to the Lord and I am to take care of my body, should I not also do the same for the earth we live on, since it also is his? I believe that although it is not "our home", it is where are will live until we meet our maker face to face, and therefore believe that we should take care of it. And by doing so, I belive that he will use that for his good and his glory.

Believe what you will, but know that this family will continue to go green as long as we can afford it!

That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!

Be Blessed and Encouraged!


Sunday, April 12, 2009

Saturday, April 4, 2009

3 Months (Oh My Gosh!!)

Caleb, you are 3 months old! Mommy just cannot believe how FAST time goes by! You are growing into your personality and it is soooo fun to watch and see who you are becoming! Here are some things I don't ever want to forget:

1. You have doubled in weight since birth, which only means that there is more of you to love!
2. It's normal for us to have a 5 minute conversation at any point during the day
3. You love to take naps in your swing
4. You're sleeping through the night which is a huge blessing to this mommy!
5. You love it when daddy comes home, whether you're sleeping or not, you always greet him with a smile!
6. You've had a bit of reflux the past week or so, but mommy is trying a few home remedies and they seem to be helping, which is saving on loads of laundry for sure!
7. You like to go walking at the mall on Friday mornings with all of your Square One buddies
8. You still love bathtime!
9. You are now rubbing your eyes when you are tired, which is helpful for mommy because now I know when you need to be put down to sleep, and I don't have to wonder why you are fussy!
10. You continue to grunt quite loudly when you ae making mommy or daddy a present in your diaper, I even got it on video, but I promise I won't show it to anyone else!
11. You are wearing 3-6 and 6-9 month clothes!
12. You laugh when mommy blows on your face when you are laying naked on your changing table!
13. You also smile and laugh when mommy or daddy makes a horse sound
14. You are on a pretty regular feeding schedule which is geat for mommy
15. We're still working on a napping schedule, but so far you take two shorter morning naps and usually one long afternoon nap
16. You love exercise time with mommy, you smile soooo big
17. You still love to sleep on mommy and daddy's chest (we'll take this for as long as it will last!!)
18. You like routine (should I be surprised by this?!?)
19. You like walking around the block with mommy, especially the constant "bumps" in the sidewalk, it sometimes puts you to sleep
20. You smile HUGE when I come to get you up in the morning! (This is the best start to mommy's day!!)

Here are some of my favorite pictures of you over the past couple weeks, and one AWESOME video at the very bottom!














Be Blessed and Encouraged!