mommy update!

Hello!

Brayden was ten weeks yesterday. I love him very much, and it's so fun to enjoy each day and the new things each day brings. Lately we've been watching Brayden as his neck strengthens and he can hold his head better and better. He's our "big, strong boy"!

So here are a just a few of the lessons I've learned in motherhood....

1. I love cloth diapers! Erik and I talked about the possibilities last fall, and decided to go with them, especially since I knew two mom-friends of mine who used them and liked them. I think probably the biggest reason we decided to go for it is because we prefer spending cash up front then over a longer period of time. Meaning we'd rather spend money up front for diapers (and along the way hidden in our utility bills for washing) then to keep doling out $20 here and $20 there for diapers when needed. There's probably a debate on which are better, but I have noticed a lot of people using them, and I am happy to be one of them!

In case you're curious, I wound up going with Sunbaby diapers (sunbabydiapers.com). I didn't do a lot of research on brands. I knew someone who used them and liked them and found a few good comments on the quality and the price was right. Right now with him nursing, I just toss dirty diapers into a pail in the laundry room and when it's full, I separate the inside layer from the outside and rinse them on a cold rinse, do a hot/cold cycle with special detergent for cloth diapers (no additives or something like that - I found a list of what works/what doesn't online), and then tumble dry low. Easy, especially since I'm home throughout the day.


2. I love kissing chubby cheeks!

:-)

3. Motherhood is exhausting! When he's fussy, it can be exhausting as your mind is racing trying to figure out what is wrong - and it's especially exhausting when you go through all the regular options and he's still upset. Overall, though, Brayden is an amazing baby with a great temperament. I have learned that when I eat dairy and chocolate and perhaps onions that he'll be extra gassy. So my goal over the past month has been to avoid those things... and it's been hard! Have you ever realized how often cheese is used as a "go-to" food item? Well, at least it is for me. It's pretty funny how I blank on what foods are dairy product. I ate a vanilla blizzard from DQ and was proud for not eating chocolate, and then Erik was like, "Uhh, that's dairy. Aren't you avoiding that?" I was like, "Oh yeah!" Same thing happened with sour cream - I had a baked potato and figured I'd use sour cream to kinda "replace" the cheese and then my mom pointed out that was dairy. Whoops!

All that to say, it's an adventure to keep my eating as dairy-free as possible so I can help keep Brayden's gassiness to a minimum.

4. Motherhood is wonderful. I still can't quite comprehend that I have a wonderful son and he has likes and dislikes and a plan of God on his life. I love figuring it out, watching him grow, and having a little buddy to hang out with me every day.

Have a blessed day!

contrary to popular belief... it is possible

Brayden is sleeping right now, so I should be sleeping too, but I have the urge to write! So while he is ...

... I will write.

Somehow I became subscribed to a pregnancy/baby magazine that has come monthly over the past few months. I probably signed up to get it for free, but I don't remember! All I know is that I'm not paying for it.

The last issue had an article that disturbed me, although I know it's true. It said that more and more couples are having babies before getting married. I don't like that because I'm a traditional Christian who believes that the Bible way to do life is to save intimacy for marriage.

I'm also disturbed by the amount of people I know who are having babies and not married. Now I'm not judging or condemning you if that's the case. I have no idea what's going on in your life, the back story, or anything at all. I'm not writing this to you. I'm writing to the teenagers who are interested in waiting until marriage but assume it's not possible based on the world they live in.

Well, I want to let you know that it is possible. You can control your desires and meet someone who respects you enough to control their desires and wait until marriage to be intimate.

I know the world has gotten even more corrupt in the past 10 years since I was a teen, but I also know that you can protect your heart by controlling the things you hear and see and what you think about and focus more on purity than fulfilling every desire you have physically.

Marriage provides a safe boundary. Within that, intimacy is a beautiful thing, and it is filled with joy because commitment protects your love. That doesn't happen outside of marriage, no matter how much you think he or she loves you.

Granted, the whole commitment within marriage thing is being tested beyond belief as divorce rates soar, but that's something for another blog post. I just wanted to say... if you are single and you want to wait until you get married, it is possible and it is worth it.

a bowl of marshmallows is too sweet

Although some may not want to admit it, we all have them: people in our lives who frustrate us, make us mad, don't make sense to our perfectly logical way of thinking, and overall just don't mix well with our personality.

The other day I was dealing with a few of those people and was reminded that God loves them just as much as He loves me. He thinks they are awesome, loved, amazing. He created their personality (as much as it may not seem to blend with mine). They have a purpose on this earth, just as I do.

My little mind can't wrap itself around that truth, but I know it's a reality. Then I remembered the cereal Lucky Charms. Everyone's favorite part of Lucky Charms seems to be those sugary puffs of marshmallow goodness. Isn't is great to pick those out and eat them on their own?

The only problem is that if you want to have a complete bowl of cereal for breakfast, you would be sugared out with a bowl of marshmallows. The crunchy cereal part is needed to balance out the sweetness of the marshmallows.

People are the same way. We need all types of people to make this world work. We all are friends with different people and each one of us has a unique purpose and reason on this earth, without which the plan of God wouldn't be complete. If the world was filled with one type of personality, we would be overloaded with too much sugar or too much crunch. We need variety to be the "spice of life."

So that's what I've been pondering recently. The people who frustrate me are loved by God and needed on this earth. Their perspective is just as important as mine and I need to learn to love - even like! - and appreciate them like God does.

thank you

My brain seems to be on overdrive.

Balancing motherhood, wifeyhood, and Christianhood is a monumental task! So many things run through my brain everyday - some of which I ignore until I can handle them better and others of which I have to keep remembering until I do it.

Today I just want to thank so many of you over and over for what you've done for me and my family. You have supported us by doing any one or more of these things:

a. blessing us with gifts for Brayden
b. letting us borrow things for Brayden
c. passing on baby things you don't need anymore
d. sending cards to say congratulations
e. blessing us monetarily
f. bringing us meals
g. running errands for us
h. watching Brayden while I run errands or work around the house
i. listen to me process, vent, talk
j. making sure I take time for myself
k. making sure Erik takes time for himself

That list might cover it. Then again, there's probably a ton more - including all your prayers. You've done so much for us that I honestly don't know how best to say thank you. As Brayden uses and wears and plays with the things you've passed on, I want to tell you again how blessed we are. As the money you've given multiplies in the bank or gets spent on a needed item, I want to tell you thanks and how awesome it is. As I look at how cute something is that you've given me (for example, the monkey changing pad cover on the left - I love it!), I often want to tell you again I'm thankful.

You'd probably get annoyed with how much I would tell you I'm grateful, blessed, and honored that you'd think of us and help take care of us during this time.

Family, friends, acquaintances... really just loving kind people... are what make this world a better, easier, more blessed place to live in.

So thanks. I'm grateful for you.

happy four years!

Four years ago yesterday (2/15/08), Erik Wegener called me. We talked for an hour and a half, then he asked me out on a date. I said yes because, generally speaking, I'd go out at least once with a guy to see what he was all about.

We married over a year later (3/8/09) and I must say, I've loved having Erik in my life these past four years and look forward to many more years with him! And who'd have thought that four years after that phone call, I'd be writing this blog with our baby on my lap! :-) Love it! God is awesome.

Yesterday was week five for Bray-Bray. We reached a few milestones over this past week.

1. He moved up a diaper size. I learned a small diaper was a potential cause of blowouts, so I'm super happy that we changed diapers... less laundry this week!

2. He moved out of newborn outfits (except some newborn pants). He now wears 0-3 month clothes, and even wore a 6-month outfit. (Baby clothes are sized funny!) And for all you newborn mothers out there, the advice I received was "Just try the outfit on and ignore the label! You'll never know when it will fit until you try it!"

3. Yes, I was that mother in Target with the screaming baby who was calmly looking around because I didn't have a pacifier with (new mom mistake) and there was nothing I could do about Brayden being hungry! I just timed my shopping trip wrong!

I'm adjusting better each day to having him around and I love watching his facial expressions. Super funny! He even looks cute when he's crying. I continue to look forward to all the fun adventures ahead!!!

this week's milestones

Happy four weeks to my little Bray-Bray! :-) As we like to call him, he's our big, strong boy! In addition to the four-week milestone, here are a few others....

1. He pooed on the carpet. Yes. Carpet. Fun, huh? As I mentioned in an earlier post, he's extremely good at pooping and/or peeing while his diaper is off. Yes, everyone warned me about the peeing, but nobody said nothing about pooping. Hmmmmm.

2. He peed on his head. Yes. Head. I stepped outside with Tucker for a minute. I walked back in and Erik said, "Did you give Brayden a bath?" 

"No. Why?"

"His head, arm, and hand are wet." 

"Really?"

We surmised that while we were making dinner and Brayden was laying on his playmat, somehow he peed up his side and reached his head and made a nice pee-spot on his playmate. We were amazed and slightly disgusted. Laundry and a dual-parent bath quickly followed. 

3. We caught his first smile on camera.

Most likely it's just a gaseous, random smile from a newborn, but let's pretend and say he's a well above average, smiling at just three and a half weeks old. :-)

Soon-to-come milestones: 

-February 11th is his official first month birthday! Maybe Erik and I should celebrate with cake....

-He's very close to outgrowing some of his newborn clothes! 

Being a parent is exhausting, overwhelming, and yet somehow extremely wonderful. I'm enjoying the moments and surviving the days and always looking to catch some more sleep.

When we say our prayers before bed, I'm always quick to say thank you to the Lord for Brayden. It was a long road to holding a baby in our arms for keeps and I dearly miss my little Brody, but both things make me ever-so-much-more grateful for our little sweetie Brayden. I know we have lots of good moments, days, and memories ahead with him. For that, Lord, I am truly grateful.

morning feedings, babies, and hope

In my extensive experience as mother of a newborn (all three weeks of it!), I've noticed that mothers live from hope to hope. We hope that after we feed our babies the last feeding before bed that he/she will quickly go to sleep. We hope that they'll sleep an extra hour than usual. We hope that if they don't sleep an extra hour that perhaps after the next feeding they'll sleep an extra hour, maybe even two. We hope our baby will stay asleep for an extra five minutes so we can finish cleaning the kitchen or writing thank you notes or catching some z's. We hope they'll stay awake for company so they can sleep later in the night. We hope.

I find that hope is what keeps me going when I'm exhausted at 4 a.m. feeding little Brayden. I am hopeful that he'll not cry when I change his diaper, he'll eat fast, and he'll fall asleep quickly so I can quickly get back into my bed and get as much sleep as possible before he feeds again--all without waking Erik so Erik can get as much sleep as possible before he heads to work!

Let me clarify why I like when Brayden happens to eat quickly at night... newborns feed every 2-3 hours, but that doesn't mean they eat, wait 2-3 hours, and eat again. The 2-3 hour clock starts when they start feeding. So if they eat at 9 a.m., take one hour to eat and another fifteen minutes to fall asleep, you'll have potentially 45 minutes until they want to eat again at 11 a.m. That's why moms are always hopeful that their babies will have a longer stretch than two hours between feeding and/or the feeding goes relatively quickly so they can get back to bed before the next feeding!

So a few days ago when I started thinking about this hopefulness I have as a mother, it reminded me of life. In life, we always need to have hope. When hope is gone, there's nothing left to hang onto. We need to have hope in something (or Someone!) that things will change, good things are ahead, etc.

I'm a goal-oriented person, and I think this is why I'm always hopeful. I feel weird if I don't have some goal, something to look forward to or hope in. I'll create my own goals when I don't have anything to get excited about and say, "If I do this and this by the end of the day, I'll get Dairy Queen for myself!"

This need for hope is especially true if you are going through a difficult situation. No matter what type of situation - relational, financial, grief-related, etc. - you need hope that something will change.

The Bible says that God is the God of all hope. He provides you with promises and truth to hope in. He also gives you practical things to hope in as you go throughout your day. If you don't have anything to hope in or look forward to, ask Him to give you something.

Hebrews chapter 6 puts it this way: our hope in the Lord anchors our soul. The Message Bible says this (verses 18-20):

"We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It's an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God...."


Your hope in the Lord may not be answered in the way you think, but it will be answered. That is our solid hope, our "unbreakable spiritual lifeline," and the anchor for our soul.

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on a personal note: three weeks ago I was at the hospital in labor! Happy three weeks to baby Brayden!

For him, having his hands by his face is pure happiness.  :-)