Nonah Mae Loves....

Being naked!

Dressing up, high heels and all!

Playing on the play ground!

Helping mommy clean!

Tomatoe juice...

Chocolate...

Black olives, actually any kind of olive, she loves them!

Apples!

Not in that order.

She really is so fun. She has such a little personality already at 19 months old! It gets over whelming at times but I try not to squelch it! She teaches me so much!

Speaking of kids teaching us... this blog post is so beautiful!

Out-of-sync

The whole point of Attachment Parenting is to be attached to your child. To be in tune, and in sync with them. You can read each other, I meet her needs and shes happy. Well here of late we have been out of sync. I have been getting so frustrated with her and therefore she gets frustrated with me.

I want to blame it on her age. She is 19 months right now and becoming very independent yet 100% mamas girl. She wants to do things on her own like eat, get dressed, undressed, help me clean and all sorts of things yet she can't really do some of them. Its hard to watch her struggle when I know she just needs a little help and then can do it.

I also want to blame it on me. The hormones are going wild right now with being pregnant. I am tired all the time, cranky most of the time, feeling much more needy myself and just NEED a BREAK!! She is still nursing which is ok but getting irratating too. (well just stop you say, I dont really want to, I just want it to lessen) We are working on night weaning which is taking away from my sleep and hers so we don't wake up well rested. Shes also been sleeping in her own bed in her own room which is good I guess but I feel like its a little rushed. I am feeling pressure from family and my husband to get her out of our bed and I don't really want to. Yes I want her to sleep better and longer but I want to be with her still.

I also feel pressure, when I'm with certain people, to discipline her more. At home I deal with situations the way I want to and we move on its no big deal. But in front of other people I feel like I need to be more on top of it and correct her more and things I normally would think of as no big deal I feel like I should correct. My mom is one who calls her naughty quite often and it puts me in a tough spot. Because I wonder is Noni purposely doing this, does she know what she is doing or is she just being a typical 19 month old. Its hard to know because she really understands a lot, more than I think. So the pressure I feel to have a perfect kid or Im going to be considered a bad parent really messes with me after a while. I start to parent different and I have to stop and get things back in perspective and back on track.

I hope Im making sense. I just really needed to unload here and get this out. We are going through a time of struggle and lots of changes and it kind of sucks. BUT it will all work out I know. I have to continue to love on her the best way I know how and the rest is in Gods hands.
I am praying for peace and unity for me and my family!!

This is a great article to learn more about Attachment Parenting.
And this article "Strive for Balance in Your Personal and Family Life" was really encouraging! All we can do is try.

I am loving...

I have seen many bloggers do a post on things that love. Websites, stores, items, music, whatever. So I decided to do one too. Enjoy checking out some things I love!

These head wraps on ETSY.

This visual of childbirth.

This visual of night time parenting that a friend shared with me.

This summer dress on ETSY.


This song is sad but beautiful. The video is a little disturbing but I cry every time I watch it. I pray that I will always always understand my girl.

This blog. She is so cute. I think she likes thrifting even more than I do. Her style isn't really my taste but I love seeing what she comes up with. And her family is adorable.

Just found this blog, looks great.


This flickr group, dreaded together I'm going to join. I love looking at other peoples dreads.

5 Love Languages

Don't know if any of you have heard of the five love languages. Love languages are the things other people do that make you feel loved and then the things you do to others to make them feel loved. They are words of affirmation, quality time, recieving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. So for an example if your love language is quality time and your spouse buys you gifts instead of planning dates you might not being feeling fully loved. This is where knowing your own love language and your spouses love language can really be helpful. It also can be helpful in other relationships not just with a significant other.

I have two love languages. Quality time is my number one but physical touch is really close behind. And Peter is physical touch with quality time right behind. So we balance each other out pretty well. If two people have opposite love languages it could make their relationship a challenge.

I have been struggling lately feeling unloved by some of my friends because they don't call me. I'm always the one calling them setting up times to get together and I think it's because my love language is quality time. I need that face to face time to feel connected to someone. Or atleast having a real conversation with them on the phone. Not sure what to do about this but its something I've been praying about.

So here is some more information on the five love languages, the book and who came up with them.
And heres the test to find out what your love language is.

My Celiac story

It all started the summer of 2008. We had plans to go to Africa for a month long mission trip. Long story short Peters passport got lost in the mail twice. We were waiting for it just an hour before our flight. It didn’t come. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong and it seemed like God just prevented us from going. I was mad and confused.
I tell you all this because this event came right before I found out that I had celiac. It was pretty much right after we didn’t go to Africa that I started having stomach pain after every meal. I felt bloated, crampy, gassy and uncomfortable all the time. I was very lethargic and had no energy. I self diagnosed myself with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. I started eating a very bland easily digested diet, which helped at times but not completely.
After a month of feeling physically horrible on a Sunday afternoon I started feeling worse than normal. I felt nauseas and started vomiting and could not get off the toilet. (sorry if that’s too much info) It felt like my gut was twisting and turning. I was due to go to work at Starbucks and had to call out. Peter didn’t realize how bad I was and was leaving to go to a friends house. But I kept getting worse. My legs were cramping up which caused me to fall and I started turning purple. My mother in law (who is a school nurse) was there nursing me but decided I should go to the Emergency Room. So Peter came back and took me to the ER. My first time in the ER and my first time as a patient in the hospital. I was scared and in so much pain.
They said I had something called Intussusception. It is where the intestine telescopes into itself and is most common in babies. They flushed fluids through my system in order for it to correct itself but if it didn’t correct itself they would have to do surgery. Thankfully the fluids worked. They also said I had mono. After two cat scans, 3 days in the hospital and meeting with at least 4 different doctors, they said I probably have celiac disease. I would have to go get tested for it to be sure. They said I was a medical mystery. They couldn’t tell me why I had intussusception as an adult or why I had mono at the same time or why celiac hadn’t effected me before this point in my life. All I know is that I feel so much better when I don’t eat gluten.
The process of eliminating gluten from my diet was actually pretty easy. I’m not a big bread and pasta person anyway and there are so many gluten-free options out there these days. I can eat any rice, corn, quinoa, millet and spelt product. I can’t have wheat, barley, rye, and most oats. When you know that something will make your stomach hurt if you eat it, it makes it very easy to not eat that. At restaurants my options are limited and usually at parties I have to bring my own snacks, but I am so used to it at this point. Yes there are certain things that I miss but oh well. Its not worth the pain. I actually feel like I eat healthier because of it.
Oh yea Africa. So looking back we totally feel that God was protecting me by not letting us go to Africa. If this kind of thing would have happened while we were there who knows what would have happened. I am so glad we didn’t go. Now did the stress of not going bring these things on? Also who knows. God does and I truly feel that he was looking out for me!

~This Moment~

one image
no words
a tidbit from the week
held close to my heart

Update.

I guess I will start at the beginning. At the end of the summer last year Peter and I decided to make a change. We were struggling financially and thought we could save more money by selling our house and moving into an apartment. Rent would be less than our mortgage so after we saved up enough we could follow our dream and move out west. West, where life is slower, cheaper, and the scenery is gorgeous. I wanted to get an RV and travel around, see the country and then find a place to settle down. So first step was to sell our house and we would figure out what was next after that. We put it on the market and had to just wait.

Five months later, about 5 showings later, 2 open houses, and one month til our contract was up and still NO offers. The whole time we were just praying for God to show us what to do. We liked our home and enjoyed our life here but also wanted to do something different. We were just getting a little unsettled. Working for family was good but frustrating at the same time. (Peter worked for my dad at the tree farm.) We were ready for some distance from them.

Just 2 weeks ago Peter got a call from his old boss. He worked for this guy doing roofing and siding for two years when we first got married. It was a great job, great pay, great boss, but we had decided to go to a School of ministry, that’s the only reason why we left. After some thought and prayer Peter accepted the offer and we decided to take our house off the market. He told my dad that week as well and it was received pretty well I guess. It’s always harder with family because I think it’s taken more personally but I think it’ll be good for all of us.

THEN…..that weekend I found out that we are expecting baby #2!!! We are beyond excited not only for our new little one but for finally getting some answers to prayer. During the past five months we have been walking by faith trusting that Gods timing is the perfect timing and that His plan is the perfect plan. So as much as we were ready to leave and move on we also are totally happy and at peace with staying. What is more amazing is that all these things came together in one weeks time. God really does have a sense of humor.

So that’s it I guess. New job, same home, new baby. Thank God for unanswered prayers!