2 Months!

2 Months

What we’ve learned…this month, we’ve learned how to make our little man smile, that he LOVES a pacifier, some tips and tricks to cloth diapering, to add in a bedtime routine, about how to have him come along to places (he did a great job during the Duathlon races!!), and how we are pretty ridiculous about how cute we think he is.  

What we’re enjoying right now…going on family walks, our bedtime routine, longer sleeping times at night, days where the weather has been just warm enough without being super warm, the kick n play piano, seeing Asher smile, and eating!  I’ve even gotten out on quite a few runs this past month too, which has felt awesome.  I’m excited to keep running this fall!

What our biggest struggles are…finding balance between all the things we want to do!  We’re working on figuring out what we can say yes to and areas we need to cut back.  

Asher’s most exciting milestones are…smiling! Smiling more for us and for other people too!  He’s also sleeping awesome! Lots of cooing and cute little sounds. More head control too!  We are now into size 2 diapers and definitely out of newborn clothes.  Most of our clothes are 0-3 months, but there are some that are 3-6 months.  

What we are looking forward to…our doctors appointment, nice fall weather, and date nights!

Asher’s likes and dislikes…he loves car rides, tummy time and just time on his kick n play piano (but not for too long!), walks, people talking to him, music, kicking, eating, and sometimes he likes bath time.   Dislikes include being hungry, the bright sun, when the stroller stops moving, and being overtired.

What sleep looks like…we are getting up usually between 2-4 and then again at about 6 or 7.  We have a fun little bedtime routine where he gets to take a bath and then get dressed for bed, swaddled, and then eats one more time before going to bed around 9.  He’s sleeping mostly for about 5-7 hours at his longest stretch.  The longest he went was a little over 8 hours.  The hardest part is for me to be able to get back to sleep for a little bit after he wakes up the first time!

What we’re eating…for Asher, still milk and still mostly about every 2 hours throughout the day except for one longer nap in the afternoon.  For the rest of us, we’ve had our share of omelets, sandwiches, pizza, steamed vegetables, quinoa, granola bars, and lots of ice cream!  We ate out at Bistro, Bennigans, Great Hunan, Papa John’s, Papa Murphy’s, Jimmy Johns, and Subway.  I am definitely way more hungry now than when I was pregnant! And thirsty too!

Who we have seen…a lot of people at the baby showers and even more at the Duathlon races!  My brother, Tom, came to visit this last week too!  New places we have been include Bistro, Bennigans, and Discovery school for the races. 

At the last doctor appointment…we learned Asher weighs about 11 pounds.  This was at my 5-6 week appointment.  When Tom was here we did the little scale trick where we hold him and then figure out his weight.  He is probably around 13 pounds right now and seems about 22 inches.  We will find out at the next appointment to see what he really is!

a glimpse of god

I didn’t expect to find tears running down my face.  I didn’t expect to find such a clear glimpse of who God is and His love for me.  To see how faithful God is to walk with us and never leave.  That’s the thing about encouraging other people.  Oftentimes, you’re the one so blessed and can’t help but smile through the tears.

Within a free pack of cards from (in)courage for National Day of Encouragement, I pulled this one out to find my fingers covered in gold sparkles.  A card that I would not pick myself.  Oh, but, the words softened my heart toward it:

“Thank you for sharing God’s love, not only with your words but also with your life.  In today’s world, that’s not always easy to do–but you do it with kindness and consistency.  That’s what makes you different, and it’s the reason you make a difference.  Thanks for being who you are and doing what you do–you’re appreciated more than you know.”

Right away, I knew who God wanted to receive this card.  Words came easily across the paper as if we were sitting chatting together instead of miles apart.  Until I got caught on the word consistency…so I wrote:

“And you keep walking this road with me from afar even when you could have easily stopped when an ocean got in the way.”

Somewhere along the way I picked up this notion that even if people say they will walk with me through a storm…that they’ll end up leaving me alone.  Close to a year ago, I entered a big storm and made some life changing decisions.  One of my questions as I entered this storm was if a few people would walk with me…and here today, I find them still walking with me. The storm has changed, but the one who I’m giving this card to…well, she’s still here…walking through the rain with me and teaching me to jump in the puddles with a smile on my face even while the tears flow. All the while….encouraging. waiting. trusting. praying. with me.

Running Around

“Authenticity has less to do with what I look like and more to do with what I say and do.” –Sarah

A while back there was thing called “Real Me” running around the “blogosphere.”  I kept intending to participate, but never ended up having a camera after those real me moments. Until tonight…

See, the real me loves to run.  I haven’t always. Back when I played tennis like it was my job, I loathed running.  But then, tennis season ended and I love the feeling of a good workout…

So, on a whim, I picked up running. I hit the pavement searching for cute little neighborhoods and found myself loving the mixture of music, God time, and the feelings afterward (from i hurt to okay I did that!).   Give or take about three years, here I am still running.

Now, as for the picture…I took this little gem right after my 16.1k (or 10 mile) run–sometimes I wonder why I do this to myself…  My legs hurt. I did not smell pretty. I’m pretty sure I had salt on my face. I had just listened to Battlefield on repeat 22 times to remind me to get my armor on (yes…I counted while I ran and I wanted to get my $1.29 worth out of the song I bought in part just for this ridiculously long run and check out Ephesians 6).

I’ve got my cross and heart necklace around my neck (I’ve worn the cross since high school and June gave me the heart last year–yeah…I never take it off…literally).  I have a watch on my right hand (and no, I’m not left handed, I just like that hand better for watches).  I’m wearing flip flops because that’s how I roll even in negative temperatures.

I’m missing my big earrings and sunglasses, but  just imagine they’re there because they normally are.  Oh, and yes, I’m taking a cheesy self-portrait hand out smiling style picture because I like documenting things like this and yes I smile in them…iPhoto has plenty of these stored away.

So, there’s a little glimpse into the real me. I’ll try to share more as these moments pop up, but I’ve written more than enough me…tell me something about the “real you” because I so would love hearing from you!!! (and yes, I use multiple exclamation points or question marks to emphasize that I really do want to know..I do) 🙂

Finished!

houseWoot! After weeks of hard work, we finished the house!  From building the walls to ditema, we pressed on toward the goal.  I can’t believe that I participated in nearly every part of building a house from bottom to top.  I touched cow dung.  I mixed dirt and water to make bricks.  I painted the designs on the sides of the house.  But, more than that, as an intern group, we came together.  We worked as a team to help each other out and encouraged each other to keep going despite the tasty smells and exhaustion that comes with hard work.  I am so thankful for how Tara and Andrew faithfully played with cow dung and smeared it on the walls.  For how Allen spent weeks prepping and putting the roof on the house.  For Chelsea’s singing and smiling face.  For Jen’s patient endurance.  For Amiel’s willingness to make mud and more mud and more mud.  For how Kelly and other staff members faithfully drove us to work on the house.  For Sam going to get water.  For the kids who gave us much needed play breaks.  Now, we have one more week to plant a garden, say our good-byes, and give the kids lots of hugs knowing that this house will stand as a testimony of God’s love for years to come.

5 minutes of Fame

I’ve had a few moments stand out where I was the “white girl” or lahgua (not sure on the spelling, but it means white people in Sesotho).  This week we’ve gone to the different schools in Qwa Qwa to perform a skit to promote our after-school discipleship program called LaunchPad.  We usually play some music, sing a song, do the skit, hang out with the kids if time, and hand out fliers to let them know when class starts.  Today, at one of the schools (Nkthosbsi) the kids performed for us and wanted pictures.  Camera phones were everywhere and I swear I haven’t smiled that long in quite a while.  My mouth hurt!  One of the girls stole my heart.  She kept looking at me throughout the time and then pulled me aside to talk.  I asked her what her name was and she said, “Lerato.”  To which I of course was like “No way….that’s my name too!  Well, my Sesotho name.”  She immediately latched onto me and wanted me to come stand by her.   So fitting since our names mean “love.”  Even across so many different barriers, she wanted to know me and yes I’m sure being white had something to do with it, but still.  She touched my heart and I pray that she’ll be going to class so that God can touch hers if he hasn’t already.

ht: Carrie