Road Trip!

This weekend has been crazy! We left before 7:00 a.m. on Saturday to drive 10 hours for Russ to try-out at a congregation for their preaching position. Chloe Jo did really great the whole time. She only cried for the last 45 minutes coming back home! She did sleep a lot on the road, but slept all night so I can't complain. So what did we do to keep ourselves entertained on a 10 hour road trip?

1. I took lots of pictures.

2. I sang a few songs.

3. Chloe Jo stared at me while I sang a few songs.

4. I took video of myself.

5. We saw funny billboards.

One billboard said "And God so loved Memphis. John 3:16" I don't think Memphis is actually mentioned by name in that verse!

Another said "Booze it and lost it." I think they just made a grammatical error...but, they are from the south so who knows!

6. We went sight-seeing. This actually turned out 10 hour drive into a 12 hour drive on the way back.

This capitol building was quite beautiful with it's marble and stained glass. And of course it was decorated for Christmas. I've never had the pleasure of being in a capitol building around Christmas time.
We had a good trip and really enjoyed the area we went to and the congregation we worshipped with. Hopefully they felt the same about us!

19 Kids Too Many???

Ever since Josie Duggar was born, the family has been on my mind. Little Josie, who is #19 for the Duggars, was delivered 3 months prematurely at 1 pound 6 ounces. She is in stable condition, but with an infant that small, things can change in the blink of an eye. I feel horrible for Josie, but I am also mystified at Jim Bob and Michelle's reasoning in having 19 children. They say that they want the Lord to decide and that they will accept as many blessings as He sees fit to give them. The thing is, though, that they've missed part of the big picture. The Lord also blessed us with the skills to reason and the ability to choose. As in, if you have many children and you are now considered AMA (advanced maternal age), maybe you should not have any more. Do they even consider the risks or do they just blindly follow the delusion that God wants them to risk Michelle's health and the health of future children in order to bless them? I don't really see the logic in this course of action or thinking. God gave us reasoning skills and we should not just ignore the. My reasoning and logic say this:

1. A woman's body is designed to have babies (though some of us continue to struggle with even having one or two), but a woman's body is not designed to have 19!

2. After having 13 babies by the age of 35 (which is the starting age of AMA), you should probably quit having babies because of the rise in health risks for you and your babies.

3. Since Josie was delivered due to pre-eclampsia, the risk of Michelle having pre-eclampsia again is very high. Plus, add into the equation that she is 43, her risk is even higher.

4. The risk of prematurety, down syndrome and other birth defects gets higher the older a woman gets.

5. Pre-eclampsia ranks #1 in reasons for maternal deaths.

These are only a few of the reasons that I believe it isn't good for a woman to have 19 babies. The list above doesn't take into consideration that, essentially, the older kids are raising the younger kids because Jim Bob and Michelle won't quit. There isn't enough of the two of them to give each child the attention they need from their parents. Some of the children could grow to resent them because of their choice in havin so many children. Plus, if all of the children have just 5 children of their own, they will have 95 grandchildren. This also means that these 95 grandchildren aren't going to be getting the one on one attention they need from that set of grandparents. I think what they are choosing to do is just sad.

Although, I must give them kuddos for their children being well behaved and for the fact that they can support their brood.

Also, I don't think that a woman who was never able to have a child or who isn't done building their family should just stop trying because they reach AMA. I just think it's selfish of the Duggars since they already had 13 children by that time.

One more thing: If their reasoning to not use birth control is religious, I respect that, but their are other ways to prevent pregnancy then the common methods (i.e. the pill, IUDs, etc.).

Cutie Patootie!

More Milestones!

And the winner is.....

Drumroll please......

Chloe Jo started crawling first! She crawled her first few steps (crawls?) Saturday evening. She can't go far right now, but she's definitely figured it out and it's only a matter of time before she starts following me into the bathroom. She also is pulling up on things and keeps taking steps while holding onto the couch or chairs or her activity table. It doesn't seem like she is going to be crawling for too long before she takes off walking.

Then yesterday my Mom found her first tooth! It's been quite the weekend for her!

I weighed and measured her last week and currently she is measuring 27 1/2 inches long (puts her back into the 50th percentile) and weighs 15 1/2 pounds (puts her back into the 25th percentile). She's still a little thang, but she too cute!!!

Crocheted Critters

I finally finished the crocheted critters for Chloe. I wrapped them up and now they are sitting under the tree. I feel like the took forever, but they are soooo cute!!!! I hope she'll actually like them! Once we get moved into a house, I will put a shelf up on her wall to put them on. I think they will look really cute in her room!
This bunny is my least favorite. She was the last one I did and I just don't really like her that much. The bunny in the picture was more squat and fat. Mine turned out long and lean. Oh well, she's still cute I guess.
This puppy was the hardest one to do and I had to add a scarf because the pattern had the seam going down the front for some crazy reason. If I had realized that's how it was before I had gotten too far I would have tweaked the pattern. The scarf worked well, though. Having to change colors that many times was what made it difficult.

This bear is my favorite. I think she turned out so cute. She isn't exactly symetrical, but I'm still proud of her!
This guy is pretty cute, too. He was the most fun to make because I got to sew all the brown spots on him wherever I wanted. love how tall he is!
I thought this ladybug turned out really cute, too!

This elephant was also a lot of fun to do. I love his trunk! Elephants are one of my animal crushes right now...the other being owls.

This bee was the first arumigumi (crocheted animal) that I did. I found the pattern on a peely at a store and thought it might be fun to make....little did I know that I would be making a few!

Okay, I need to get back to my scarf now!

8 Months!!!

Excuse me, but how did that happen??? As I get older, the world seems to turn faster and the years go by, but the last 8 months....I have no idea where they have gone!

Oh wait! They've gone to taking care of this precious girl. Chloe Jo is such a sweet baby and she has become so easy to take care of!

We expect her to either crawl or walk any day now. It's a race to see which one she will do first. She can get onto all fours from a sitting position, but she is also taking little steps while holding on to things and she can stand alone for a few seconds. We will see what happens in the next few weeks!

What else is Chloe Jo doing at 8 months? Talking up a storm! No real words yet, just a lot of babble. She loves to be tickled and she thinks it is great when you touch her belly. She giggles at everything, especially when I put her paci in my mouth (I know, GROSS!). She loves to sing and dance and play peek-a-boo. She also likes funny noises like when I say "beep beep" when we are playing with a car. We sing our ABC's, numbers, her name song and the books of the Bible every day so when she does start talking she'll have a leg up with that stuff. I bought her some ABC's and numbers flash cards for her stocking for Christmas and am excited to start using them. I know she is young for that, but I don't think you can ever start too young! She really loves her Leap Frog activity table that sings and plays music. She will stand at that and play for an hour!

Chloe Jo, you are growing up so fast and you are so fun to have around!

Chloe Jo and Santa Clause

I did end up taking Chloe Jo to get a picture with Santa yesterday. The snow melted within a few hours so we were able to go. The first thing she did when I put her Christmas dress on was spit up all down the front. HA! Luckily, it wiped off pretty easily so I was able to salvage the trip. We went to one place first that does the pictures for free, but their Santa is only there from 5 to 8 in the evenings and I didn't want to go back and have to stand in a long line so we headed to the mall. I was skeptical about how she would react to being set on Santa's lap, but she loved him! She thought he was great and she loved looking at his red suit and touching all the fur and his beard (which I believe was real by the way).
P.S. Santa is winking in the picture! Russ and Mom both thought he looks evil...and maybe he does!

Christmas Dress-Up

Snowtime

G-Jo bought Chloe Jo this beautiful Christmas dress.

So this morning I woke up and thought, "I should take Chloe Jo to get her picture taken with Santa Clause in her beautiful Christmas dress." So I looked out of my door to see how cold it is and this is what I saw.Then I looked on my thermometer and this is what I saw.

Bah humbug.

Christmas is Close!

Russ and I started a Christmas tradition the first year we were married. We wanted something special to do that wasn't too expensive and that would be easy to do every year and that would be easy and fun for the whole family. We each pick out a new ornament to hang on the Christmas tree. Here are our picks for this year:
This is Russ' ornament.

This one is mine. I usually pick pink or glittery ornaments, but I fell in love with this Santa!

This is Chloe Jo's ornament and yes, she did pick it. I held out two ornaments and she went for this puppy.

Here is our Christmas tree. One day I am going to get a beautiful, full, 9 foot tall tree...but not today. And the most exciting part about it is that I am almost finished with my shopping. I have a couple more things to pick up for Russ and I am done! Woot! Woot!

I also love to make Christmas cards every year. I usually get them out earlier, but I'm just glad I got them done and am sending them today this year! It's hard to finish something in one sitting when you have a baby!

I absolutely L.O.V.E. this nutcracker paper! I embossed the words so they stand out a little bit, though it didn't work out as well because I was using textured paper. Just a tip if you like to emboss...don't use textured paper! HA!

That's it for now. I am working on finishing a crochet project and must get back to it before Chloe Jo wakes up from her nap!

When doing Christmas cards this year, send one to:

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave NW
Washington, D.C. 20307-5001

I make Christmas cards every year and I love this! It will brighten an injured or sick soldiers day!

Happy Holidays!

Hope you all are having a great holiday season!