I know, I know. It's been forever again. But I've been busy! Right now I have a few minutes as I sit with Parker watching "Mama Mia." I finished working at the end of the year and promptly made a list of things I wanted to accomplish before the baby came. 2.5 weeks left, no baby yet, and the list is almost done! Despite the fact that I kept adding things to it such as vacuuming out the freezer, I have only two and a half things left on it, and I think I might be giving up on two of them. One of my to-dos was potty train Parker; granted I don't have a ton of control over that, but thankfully he decided he was ready. I had kind given up that it was going to happen soon, but was praying that it might for the sake of our diaper budget. One night he was playing a game and said " I need to go potty, I'll be right back." And so it's been more or less good since then. Still have a few issues to work out, but he's doing great and wearing underwear, so I'm happy. Along those lines, I had put on my list to move his clothes upstairs since he doesn't need the changing table anymore. But I think I'll leave that for later and save myself some steps. So, all that's left then is finishing my scrapbook/photobooks. I wanted to get Parker all caught up before there's another one to take pictures of. However I am tired of scrapbooking. So, I got all of this pictures that I had printed in his book and have vowed to never do another! For the rest of the pictures I have of him I'm working on a photo book on Snapfish. I took me a few hours one day to get all of his pictures laid out and captioned; now that's more my speed! Now that I know how quick and easy it is I'm going to try to get a few more done while I have the time. And then I can cross it off my list!

So, that's what I've been up to. Putting things on my list so that I can cross them off.:) And just as I'm getting my house cleaned out and set up and stocked so that I feel ready, my husband decided he needs a piano. Not a fan. It's a perfectly reasonable request, he's just got bad timing and I really don't want a big piece of less than useful furniture in my living room. So....yeah.

I should really update my blog...

But for some reason I haven't felt any urge to write lately. It's not that there's not anything going on, but maybe just nothing that stirs my writing imagination? No new pictures to post really...I don't know. But maybe I'll try to post some recent highlights:
-Fall weather seems to be here and I love it. Cool nights and lovely days. Today is rainy and overcast; delightful. Not sure if this is here to stay or just a teaser, but I do love fall. The farmers are all anxious to get in the field and Mike's planning on starting next week. This rain won't help that goal any, but it's still not far in the future.
-Our church is officially pastor-less. They're moving out tomorrow and last night was the big discussion meeting with all the congregation there. It really wasn't as exciting as a lot of people were hoping for and is was organized by a Ph.d.'d facilitator who keep the yelling to a minimum. There was more I would've liked to say, particularly to certain people, but mostly the hope is that we can just put this behind us and move on. If we don't, who knows what will happen. Mike even talks of us changing churches and frankly, I'm glad. Not so much that I want to change, but I'm grateful that he would consider it. As was said last night, since he was "born into" this church I wasn't very confident that he "knew the way out." But since he is considering the need to move, it shows that he does. I'm really really hopeful that they will find a solid new pastor with great teaching...but I hear my hopes are not well founded considering the seminary candidates that they have to look at.
-I have gotten nothing done recently as far as exciting home projects go. Unless Parker's scrapbook counts. I'm really trying to hold my nose to the grindstone on that one and I have about 5 months to get it caught up. Finally gaining some momentum; I got to his first birthday!
-And that brings me to the fact that I guess I haven't mentioned on here that I am actually 18 weeks pregnant. Can I blame my lack of creative home accomplishments on that? I've been feeling pretty good for awhile now, but those first few months I was moving pretty slow. Even actually threw up a record of two times (it was none with Parker) apart from the food poisoning and flu times. But more energy and less nausea these days as long as I watch what I eat. Finally starting to look a little more pregnant but frustrated that a lot of the times I just look fat. I'm really paranoid about weight gain and body shape this time. I honestly think I'm doing all that I can and my doctor said that my weight was "perfect" but I am afraid of going back to square one when this one is born and having 50lbs. to loose again. No, I am not at this point wearing my size 8 jeans anymore. But I am still in the 10's (with a little help! more on that in a minute) and exercising everyday and trying to eat as smart as I can when I seem to have to eat almost every hour...Found a workout called "the perfect pregnancy workout" DVD that I've been doing. It's alright. Not very hard, but hopefully good for maintenance. One of the main things that I like is that I can do it everyday all the way through and not worry that I'm doing things I shouldn't. Apart from all that worry stuff, definitely enjoying this pregnancy better so far. For some reason I feel more qualified to be pregnant this time? Or maybe it seems more real? Not sure exactly, but I am somehow feeling more free to shop for maternity things, or enjoy feeling the baby move, or having people notice and not just feeling awkward. Can't explain that well...
-Ok, about the "help" I mentioned. This is my new love affair with proper undergarments. First I finally broke down and bought a $40 nursing bra. I never found one that I really liked with Parker, just bought a few cheap ones and tried to ignore the sagginess. But this time I was already hating all of my bras as I outgrew my "smaller me" ones and wasn't big enough for the "pregnant me" ones. So I ordered one that came highly recommended from "Mom's 4 Life" website (amazing site). And I LOVE it. I have never has a bra that fit so good: it evens me out, fits smoothly, doesn't feel like it needs to be pulled up all day, and is made in such a way that it will still fit even as "things" change and sizes fluctuate. So excited. Along with that I also ordered a "bella band" as I had heard them recommended before, but just had never tried it. They say that they can help all through and after pregnancy with clothes that just don't fit right by sucking in maternity pants that are a little too big, or holding tight regular pants that do everything but button well. And I am very much in that awkward between stage, so I thought I'd give it a shot. And I really like that as well. I'm back in my favorite jeans for awhile longer and also can wear my shorter shirts as this will cover the in between if need be. As I told Andrea "I felt so good that I put my heels on." It's amazing what a different a good foundation can make!
-And finally, potty training. Not a big fan. Definitely did not need to make my life harder, but really want to avoid two in diapers. I'll keep you posted. So far I'm doubting my timing.

So, that's about all I know right now. You're probably shaking your head at my excitement over bras and training pants but hey, your day may come when those sorts of things make a big difference in how your life goes as well. In the meantime, the weekend is only 20 minutes away from me!

Things that Make Me Mad

Hehe, ask me sometime about a funny story that starts with that line. :)
But in the meantime, an unfunny story:
There's been lots of drama at our church and consequently my job lately. Our executive council finally asked the pastor to resign and he did, but not happily. For "us" on the inside, we've seen it coming for a long time but apparently a large number of the congregation did not (need to get more involved in your church people!). So I've been getting phone messages that say how certain people are "shocked and grieved." Whatever.Delete. Answering machines are great in my line of work. They feel that the pastor must have been wronged and therefore they have been also because they haven't had a good explanation. They're right about that last part, there has not been a good explanation that has gone out, but it's largely because the explanation really doesn't look good on the pastor...I'm still not sure what the council is going to do about that, but back to the part that makes me mad. Two days ago one of those who feel "shocked and grieved" got a hold of the mass e-mail list that we use to send out prayer requests to the entire church (reason #1 to use blind copy) and proceeded to send out an "URGENT MESSAGE" to the church (yes she used caps lock several times) to say how this was all so wrong and "we" need to get the pastor back and all the stuff he's done for "our church," etc. Ok, so she has an opinion, that's fine. But she does not have all the facts. And she also does not have the right to use the Prayer Chain list for airing her personal opinion particularly because she does not even know how to change the subject line so this lovely epistle went out bearing the subject "Re: Praise Chain for LeRoy C." Poor LeRoy, he did not want his name attached to that. And finally, all of this "our church" junk? The regular attenders do not even know who this lady is, nobody's ever seen her in "our church." I happen to know her name because she's scheduled to be married here in a few months, but I don't know her face. I really want to erase her wedding from the calendar out of spite. :P

New Pictures

For some reason I kept forgetting to get the pictures from this last month off my camera. So, here are some updates finally.

If you look closely you can see him saying "Mama, get me off!" But apparently he warmed up to it because he still talks about that train ride with great fondness.


Wiki stick glasses.



Some pictures from my mom's wedding for any interested parties:




Loving the splash park. Even if it did only last 10 minutes before his diaper literally fell off.


4th of July with his good buddy, Wesley.



This is Parker and his first official trip to the Iowa State Campus. He was a fan of the water fountain.

My two year old calls me "Archibald."
Why? You may ask.
Veggie Tales.
At least he shows a good propensity for pretend because he also wants me to call him Junior (Asparagus).
He also saw a plunger and said "Superhero."
Yup, Larryboy.

Wait, I changed my mind. I don't want to be a parent.

I've been reading the book "Shepherding a Child's Heart," this week. Great book. I really like the author's approach to relationship with your kids, including discipline, authority, and communication. He stresses that he's looking for a biblical method to parenting and I feel that he's hit upon that, and it's much more balanced than say "Baby Wise." :P However, it leaves me feeling woefully inadequate and overwhelmed. So much so that I'm thinking, wait! I'm not cut out for this job, never mind I just won't be a parent. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it's too late for backing out. How am I ever going to remember everything? And do it right? Say the right things at the right time? And always be looking for opportunities to turn them back to the gospel? I mean, if I screw this up, it's people's lives on the line. I really can't take that much credit...ultimately it's up to them and God, but I am feeling a lot of pressure right now. And really praying that Mike will also read this book and we will be able to team up on this. He's not really much of a reader, but I'm hoping that God will get him into this one, because even more overwhelming that trying to parent the way I feel the Bible calls us to, is trying to do it alone. Or even just trying to pass on all that I'm learning while I'm also trying to learn it myself and put it in to practice. I did find a quote on a friend's blog, from another friend's blog, to be encouraging:
"God doesn’t call us to be comfortable. He calls us to trust Him so completely that we are unafraid to put ourselves in situations where we will be in trouble if He doesn’t come through." –Francis Chan
That's me in this position; in trouble if God doesn't come through. But He does promise to come through. The same proverb keeps coming back to me "If we call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding...then you will find the fear of the Lord and you will understand the knowledge of God."
This book hasn't been only frightening though, I've also found a bit of freedom from the unbiblical parenting goals that I am tempted towards. My most dangerous being the desire for well behaved children. Not that the author says this desire is wrong, it's just not big enough, and it leaves us susceptible to parenting and disciplining to please whomever is watching. That's a problem that I have. Particularly with my nephews who often appear to me to be the perfect children. So when I'm with them I find my self getting so frustrated with Parker because he doesn't toe the line like they do. Their parents don't put this pressure on me, I put it on myself, but it's just so hard to remember that Parker's different from those boys and I really don't want to teach him to behave to earn the approval of others but rather for the glory of God. The heart issue, that's what they say it really comes down to; what is going on in their heart, not the behavior. And we need to teach them to determine and deal with those issues and then we're really teaching them how to live.

Has my life gotten so boring that I can't even find anything to blog about? Surely not. But even after all this time of not posting, I still can't think of anything to write. Apart from a few funny things that Parker has said...so I guess I'll put those up , and maybe some pictures. I apologize for the lack of excitement, but I'm only even doing this because I can't find anything better to be doing.


This is Parker and his friend Wesley after swimming, nude, in the dog wading pool. They had fun.

These are also with Wesley and Eli, at the park on Memorial Day.




I've got some more shots from the 4th of July and stuff, so I'll put those up once I get my camera back from where it's lost.
So, one funny thing that Parker says a lot is whenever his diaper is uncomfortable he grimaces and says "somebody pinching you!" Guess we should work on his pronouns.
The other day he actually went potty in his potty, so when he got up and I showed it to him he pumped both fists in the air with a "woot!"
We also had the flu this week, Parker and I at the same time, which was kinda tricky. So we had a bucket and we laid on the couch and took turns using it. At one point, I went to throw up and came back to out Parker and he goes "You ok, Mom?" I said "Yeah, I'm alright." "You just need bucket to feel better?" "Yeah, Parker."