You Know You're a Mother When...

- You don't hear the phone ringing when you're asleep, but you can hear through a wall and closed door and the noise of a fan and white noise machine a muffled fuss from the baby beginning to stir from his nap.

- You are very aware of how often he poops, and also rejoice when he fills his diaper because that means he's not chronically constipated, which is what you've been worried about for the past several days.

- You are acutely aware of noises outside your home while your baby sleeps, and are ready to spring outside to ask the neighbors to please quiet down whenever they are near the baby's window.

- You have deep conversations with your baby about lint between his toes, and you just know he understands completely your point.

- You look at pictures of other babies in your immediate family, and, reminded of your own cute adorable child, have the almost-uncontrollable urge to wake him up at 11pm from his solid night-sleep just to play with him and see him smile again.

You're a mother. And you love everything that comes with it.

Packing & Pumpkins!

We did a lot of packing yesterday, probably packed over 30 boxes between the two of us. Granted, a lot of those were smaller boxes because we didn't want our books to be in boxes too heavy to carry.

I industriously packed several boxes of clothes, only to discover this morning that I had packed all of my husband's dress pants. So, we had to open a box, dig under my clothes and find him some nice pants to wear to church...preferably ones that didn't sport wrinkles.

I was so sick of packing last night that I wanted to bake something, but I was too tired to whip up a mess in the kitchen. Actually, after packing, there was still something of a mess in the kitchen from dinner the night before. We cleaned up the kitchen, stacked all the boxes neatly so that we could still maneuver through the apartment, and had leftover pizza and a well-deserved margarita.

I confess I was ready to start the Sunday relaxation, but Luke decided to clean his guns, since they were very dirty and since it was still Saturday night. He's so diligent! I helped him towards the end; but I confess again that I was mostly on the computer while he was working.

Tonight, after a good afternoon nap, while the baby talked and screeched on the kitchen rug near me, I finally made pumpkin cookies! It's been an annual tradition/favorite in my family, and I remember growing up having them every fall. Last year I didn't make them, but I sure heard about my mom and married sisters dutifully carrying on the tradition. I missed having them. I think the year before I had tried, but totally burnt the butter for the icing and was so frustrated that I used a regular icing recipe. But it didn't taste the same and I was afraid to try it again.

This time, it worked! I am rather pleased with myself (unfortunately), and glad that the icing came out right this year. Luke looooves the cookies, and I even threw in mini-chocolate chips in the second half of the batter (just to use them up and to try something new). Both plain and with the chocolate is great, but especially with the icing. My mother's note in the recipe was spot-on: "Don't even think about making them without the glaze."

I packed my pumpkin candles - too soon!- othewise I would definitely continue this fallish feel and keep the smells coming! As we plan to move the day after Thanksgiving, once I've unpacked everything I will want to decorate for Christmas so that we can enjoy *those* holiday traditions in our new place before we head to the Land O' Family for our two-week Christmas break. So this is really my last chance to whoop it up Autumn-style!

Time for another pumpkin cookie.

Enthusiastic Housewife

The "chapel" talk I gave to the girls went well and was fun. I did go overtime, though, which I think is probably bad since they are on a strict schedule for class periods, but I just couldn't stop after 15 minutes! I think I went around 20-25...I'll have to ask Mr. N how long I was. :) He very graciously held the man-child for me while I rambled about what women were made for.

I basically took the well-known passages from the Bible on women, starting with Genesis 2:23 - woman taken out of man, woman made for man, and woman made to be man's helpmeet/support/encourager, etc. So our lives are focused around the man/men in our lives ("men" meaning father, brothers, husband) which is vastly different from a man's calling.

Then, I asked what does that look like? I used Proverbs 31 to answer that question. And yes, I was talking to junior high girls, but I told them it's never to early to know how to respect, obey, and build up their fathers and brothers. It's also never to early to love domestic things such as sewing, cooking, cleaning, caring for babies and children, learning how to make oneself lovely to behold.

I jumped over to Titus 2:1-5 and touched on what it looks like spiritually to be a woman. A woman is chaste, good, sober, discreet, loves her husband and children, a homemaker, obedient to own husbands (and I applied that to their fathers strongly).

It was a good challenge, and fun, for me to tie these all together and try to encourage the girls to see that the Bible gives very clear direction for how they are to act now and how they can prepare for what God has made them to be: wives and mothers! I hope I didn't scare them by continually mentioning that that is what women are to be. :)

On the Home Front, our friends are definitely moving, which means we are definitely moving from an apartment to a home! Huzzah! We are indeed sorry they have to move because of the economy, but since they *have* to move, we are glad to be their tenants and take care of their home. And I hear they are so pleased to have someone they know to live in their house. So it's a good deal! I need to now start going through closets and our little storage throwing out stuff we haven't used in over a year (I KNOW we have some stuff we've just been storing for no good reason!) and begin packing things we won't need every day.

The move will most likely be the end of November, so I have plenty of time. But, with Mr. Baby, I like to allow myself plenty of time to get the packing accomplished.

I just glanced at the title of this post, and it reminded me what I was going to say. I'd been slacking off a bit with the housework, but my dear husband gave me a gentle nudge, and so today I did the laundry and cleaned both bathrooms! I still need to get to the floors, but I think I can either do that tonight or tomorrow. I guess I'm so excited that I got that accomplished, AND did the dishes after lunch, because with Beowulf not always being exactly predictable when he'll wake up from his naps, I never know how far I'll get on a project before he needs me to feed him, change him, bathe him, or just play with him.

Speaking of the child, he's been quite chatty lately! I love how he's really experimenting with his voice and all the fun sounds he can make! I'll try to figure out how to post a video or two on here of his newest skills.

'Nuther Chance

So there's another house-to-rent chance. As of yet, it seems certain, but I am still wary and won't be quite at ease that we ARE going to rent it (even though both parties have said as much) until we sign papers. And that might not happen for a bit, because the landlords don't know when they are moving out exactly, but it'll be around 2 months from now.

Prayer that this would work out this time would be wonderful, and at the same time that I would not fret and worry as I am so wont to do! :) Trusting in God to provide materially and being *at peace* no matter what happens is something that seems to keep popping up in my daily life that I am more aware of than before.

To the ladies in partic: In a different vein, Luke has asked me to give the "chapel" talk to his 8th grade girls this week on biblical femininity. I really only have tomorrow to work on it, and although I've given it some thought, I still need some resources for things important for junior-high aged girls. I'm going to do an overview of what it should look like in young girls, and later during the year hit on some things to work on, something like that. Naturally, the Bible is where I'll start and end, but if there are any good blogs I could peruse or any quotes anyone has, or general advice, I'd love to look it over. Thanks!

New Horizons

That's a cliche title, but I feel like we're living cliche days . . . it's all happened before.

There's a home for rent that seems to be in our future, and if the Lord is willing we will be renting it in a mere few months!

We were "burned" earlier after accepting to rent a dream house. The circumstances of the burn are unimportant, but the gist is that we were crushed. At least I was. I know Luke was disappointed, but I was *crushed* when I heard it wasn't going to work.

As I said in my last post, God seems to be teaching and reminding us through disappointment and other random struggles that He is in control and we need to lean on Him for every big and little thing. Lots of "golden opportunities" seem to be waved beneath our noses, and we look around for any potholes, but when we step to reach for it, we sink a few inches, or feet as the case may be. We realize we forgot to say "please," and were snatching, rather than holding our hands open to be filled.

God gives freely, and we need to receive freely. Grabbing never gets you anywhere, ultimately, and certainly trying to hang on will lead to disappointment. But holding your hands open means God can give and take without scarring. God gives and takes, but the amount of pain depends on whether you trust Him to give you good things and more good things, or replace good things with great things.

Watching Beowulf bob his little blond head up and down as he struggles to hold it steady to look around the room while sprawled on his tummy on the floor reminds me how very much I love him and how very sad I'd be if anything happened to him. It reminds me of fears I had while pregnant, fears unfounded but nevertheless fears of things going wrong. It reminds me of fears I had during childbirth, and afterwards, and even now I still struggle with fear for him. I am constantly reminding myself to open my hands and keep giving my baby back to his Creator.

But through disappointments I've learned (or re-learned?) that better things have ALWAYS come from them. If something amazing you want or desire is taken away, something far better is found in its place. When an opportunity falls through, a far better door (or window or kitchen cupboard) is opened for you to walk through.

It's cliche, but it's true.