Ollie's Molly

I'd like to introduce you to Molly - isn't she beautiful?!  We kind of love her around here.  So much in fact, that Oliver would like to formally announce his intention to make her his forever girl.  I've known Molly's mom (and dad) for seven/eight years (really?!  has it been that long??) and they're good people so we're comfortable with Oliver's decision.  Wedding invitations to follow... ;)

Ollie & Molly 4ever

Gemini

Last week, my friend Emily posted a link to PaxBaby on Facebook.  It is the coolest site!  Along with the link, she shared that she'd rented a Beco Gemini.  I love (LOVE) our Beco Butterfly, so I decided to read more about the Gemini.  I should also share that I take Emily's likes to heart... years ago I was at her house and she had the most amazing candle ever (pineapple cilantro) and long story short, she basically got me hooked on this candle company called Illuminations.  Fo' real.  Real as in, I won't even think of a candle from another company.  Except, she recently mentioned another company, oh brother...

Back to the Gemini...

My friend Shelley is who originally introduced me to Beco.  We were pregnant at the same time and would often swap thoughts, tips, etc... She had great things to say about the Butterfly, so when Oliver was too small to use our other carriers, I got the Butterfly too.  I have really enjoyed it.  I also have an Ergo Performance.  I got it because it was mesh and I thought it would be much cooler than the organic cotton Beco.  The problem with the Ergo is that while he doesn't need the infant insert anymore (which I didn't order, I just used an Eeyore stuffed animal at the bottom!), he's still a little too small for it.  Bummer.  

For some reason, I thought I'd done a pretty thorough review on our collection of carriers, but when I pulled the post, it was lacking.  Oops.  I guess Oliver was only a couple weeks old then so that was a lot for me to write at that point!  I need to do a better post now that he's older and we've been using them for a while.  And when I say 'a while' I mean every day.

All this to say... I checked out PaxBaby and found that you could rent a carrier for two weeks for - get this, NINE dollars!  Nine bones.  Nueve.  Score!  I had to try it.  Click, click - done!  The confirmation email mentioned that they only had a few loaners so they'd let me know when one was ready for me.  What?!  Being impatient, I decided to just order one from Amazon.  Gotta love Prime!  Choosing the color was such a challenge for me.  The Butterfly is espresso so I decided to go with black for this one.  When it came the next day though, I decided that I needed another brown so I ordered espresso and sent the black one back.  WHEW!

Can I just say - I loooooove this carrier!  I thought I loved the Butterfly - and I totally still do, but the Gemini does so much more!  Who knew?!

Here it is with the hip carry - I've not even had it for a week, but I use this position the most:

(front view)

(side view)

(back view)

This is the front facing out position (second most used):

 (front view)

  (back view)

The biggest challenge for me with Gemini as opposed to Butterfly is that the waist belt/hip clip is their special two handed clip and it's not easy to take off while holding a baby.  Butterfly has a regular clip there and the special double clip on the upper part of the carrier so it's not too difficult.  I've used the back carry with the Butterfly only once and it was easy because Oliver was securely fastened in the middle piece, but since Gemini doesn't have that, I don't see myself using back carry at all until he's much older.  

Butterfly came with a CD and was pretty thorough in how to use the carrier.  Gemini came with a folded pamphlet that left a lot of questions.  It took a couple times before I got the hang of the hip carry.  Also different is that I can keep my Butterfly straps the same all the time, Gemini's straps are constantly changing because of the different carries so you can never really wrap the excess webbing because as soon as you wrap it, you're ready to switch it up and will need the length you just wrapped.

Chandler seems to think we have a lot of carriers.  We do.  However - I think they each have a strength and I'm glad we have each one as I use them for different things.  The reason I bought the Butterfly was because Oliver was too small for the other carriers we had.  Honestly, because of its design with the infant insert, I still like it for small babies.  The Gemini is a long body and even at five months, in the front carry, it still covers Oliver's face when he faces out and is plenty high in the back when he faces front (me) even folded down.  Oh - also on that note... when he's facing out I use one of the drool pads or a small burp cloth over the front or else I'd end up with a giant puddle of drool. :)  

One more thing - Butterfly's literature said to wash it before first use since it was organic dye and would/could come off on clothing.  I did that, but when Oliver drools, a little color still gets on light clothing.  It washes out, but still a pain.  The Gemini is the same color and they didn't say to wash it - so far the drool hasn't caused the color to get on clothing.  I'm thinking I should have used vinegar in the wash to seal the color... if I need to wash the Gemini I'll do that.

Wow.  I didn't plan to write this much... my friend Jill normally reads all my posts, but I bet she tuned out by now. Jill, if you're still reading - shout out to you! ;)  Chandler is a post skimmer.  I bet he's long gone.  Chan, if you're still here I'll write a special post just for you! xo

PS - I emailed PaxBaby to cancel my rental and not only did they refund my nine bones, the owner, Jillian, was SO helpful!  Dialogue with her is what ultimately made me realize that I really did want brown over black.  She was so friendly and I would encourage anyone who is interested in trying a different type of carrier to check out their site.

Oliver & Henry

Oliver's buddy Henry came to visit!!!

They had SO much fun together!  This was right after their bath.

Oliver was a little upset it was time for bed because he knew Henry was leaving the next day.  Henry was so sweet and told him it was okay because they would see each other again soon.

 We did a tour of a guided missile destroyer, the USS Arleigh Burke.  It was really neat - the boys LOVED it!  Oliver fell asleep as we walked on board, and Henry kept his sweet baby eyes out of the sun most of the time.  If that isn't exciting display, I don't know what is.  Actually - the ship was really fun to see.  They had small tents set up and a sailor at each one telling passersby different pieces of boat trivia (Chandler is having a cow over my terminology I'm sure).  So we're all sort of close, but often at different stations and a few of us ended up at the same one.  At this particular one the sailor is standing beside a really big gun (Chan says it's a machine gun) and it's attached to the ship.  I was actually looking forward to learning about this spot since they do pirate trials in our area and that's kinda big here.

We're just standing there waiting for the guy to turn around and he completely ignored us.  All of the sailors were super nice so this guy was a major jerk in comparison.  We just kind of looked at each other.  Chan came over after a couple minutes and asked what we were doing.  Someone indicated that we wanted to learn about the big gun.  Chan laughed and said that the guy was on duty and couldn't even acknowledge us.  HA!  It was so funny!  We guessed he had a tent just for people like us who needed shade b/c apparently he normally wouldn't have the luxury of a tent (it was SO hot on board).

There were also two sailors that were circling the ship.  It's their job to do that and I still can't stop thinking about how dizzy they must get.  They had to have circled more than 20 times in the small hour we were there.  

After all the boating fun, the boys took a dip in the pool.

Henry is three and a half months older than Oliver - they had a big time playing this morning.

Bye Henry!  Thanks for coming to see us - we can't wait to see you again!!!

xoxo

Read and learn!

My friend Jill has been a Compassion sponsor for almost 20 years!  We met through Bible Study and learned we had a lot in common - we both went to ECU, have been long time Compassion sponsors (I've sponsored for 17 years! - yes, I was 13 when I sponsored my first child - her name was Brenda from Guatemala.), enjoy the outdoors, have read the Bible together... Jill is awesome.  (Like me.)  Kidding.  She's really is amazing - she's an awesome mom and a wonderful role model to her sponsored children (and me!).  She started this blog, Compassion Family, to share Compassion with others.

Most everyone has seen the commercials for poor, starving children.  Compassion is different - they have a holistic approach that really works.  Of all the major child sponsorship organizations, Compassion graduates are truly lifted out of poverty.  They go on to college/university/trade school; they become leaders in their families; they become sponsors themselves.  Compassion works.  Jill is passionate about sharing Compassion with others and I hope you will take a few minutes to read her blog.

lowes knows

Spring fever has hit and Chan has been dying to get us to Lowes to pick out edging for the yard... Oliver was psyched to meet our friends there and our Lowes friends were just as excited to finally meet him!

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Henry's Mimi

Thanks for my new hat!!  

We love hats!  Ollie wore his new green hat on our walk today.

Thank you Henry's Mimi!! :)

Hope I can meet you soon!!!

Love, Ollie

Fast Forward

Fast forward a few weeks... 

 ...and this is what we'll look like.

Until then, we borrowed Henry!  (aka Baby Ching)

A couple weeks ago my BFF, Ching, and her mom visited and we got to see her sweet baby Henry (7 weeks old).  They brought lots of goodies for us - my favorite was this CozyUp infant seat zipper thing - you must purchase if you have a winter baby due!

 LOVE him!

 Is he seriously not the cutest?!  I can't wait for the Ching babies to meet and be the best Ching Buddies -  because we know they will be!!

As a side note, I've been asked quite often how Nola will act (or rather, react!) when little brother comes home. 

I think she'll be just fine! She will have her moments as any first child, but I think she'll be a good big puppy sister!  She thought Henry smelled delicious, but keeping in her perfect almost perfect fashion, she never smooched him - I'm expecting her to give lots of nuzzles to little brother, especially after he nurses.

Thanks for coming to visit us Henry!!!

The Forgotten Project!

My friend Jill has inspired me to declutter - she posted a challenge last week to find 5 things to toss each day.  I forgot every single day and finally over the weekend, I did it.  There were 25 items - 5 for each day of the week (minus the weekend obviously).

It was a great exercise and I'm thinking this could be a monthly challenge - to either find 30 things/month or 7 over the course of each week.  There were TONS of things I found I was willing to part with and while I didn't really notice much of a difference from this small pile, I could see how slowly weeding through junk could be an excellent exercise... especially since our family is growing very soon!

If you counted this pile, you would find only 24 items, there was an old film camera behind the Humira bag.  Chandler decluttered his things as he unpacked and put things away... and I did too, I had TONS of things I tossed when I packed and unpacked, he just had less than I did period so it was way easier for him.  No excuse, I know - but I'm really excited about all of the things I was able to pass along.  I'm sure post-birth there will be another massive toss pile, until then, I'll work on these smaller ones. 

TIBS - Week 25

Week 25

Baby boy is convinced my uterus is a playground. 

Mama is convinced that watching baby boy play on (in?) said playground is fancy entertainment.

...and that about sums up the week.

PS - Baby Boy's best friend Baby Ching was born last Wednesday, happy one week Henry!

Just a little wedding update...

A color tease...
I used to know exactly what colors I wanted: plum and raspberry; but when we decided May would be the month, the colors seemed a bit too deep summer/early fall. Every other combination I played with wasn't right... turquoise and orange, yellow and pink, green and blue... everything seemed ALL wrong for early Spring. Finally, someone asked me what colors I wore a lot. Easy: pink, peach, mango. So that settled it. What an easy way to make a decision... and perfect colors for early Spring! Official colors are light pink and peach. (My sister seems to have a hard time with this and says pink and orange, which could be true, only very light orange would be more correct.) We'll have splashes of green and white polka dot to mix up the color a little... Think vintage chic meets urban traveler. Make sense? I didn't think so... :) Nothing's new!

A couple weeks ago, our AWESOME photographer B-Dub Diddy came over to design our 'save the date' cards -- Nola was utterly and totally psyched to see her!

...she even brought fun toys!!! Check it:

We picked out some pictures, talked about fonts, listened to Twilight soundtrack, got distracted, talked about everything under the sun, and she peaced out right before Halloween festivities kicked off in full swing... Fast forward two weeks (three?) and our cards arrived in the mail. They are AWESOME!!! THANKS B-DUB DIDDY YO!!!!!

Otherwise, just doing some reading... having some dates with Beth Moore (we've been discussing Daniel).

Daniel

Don't you just love Beth Moore?? Our Bible study group did Breaking Free earlier this year and we followed up with Living Free. It was awesome! We are finishing Esther now and our next study will be.....

Daniel! I am SO excited! A lot of us have heard great things about this study and I can't wait! I didn't love Esther like most people so I'm going to do it again by myself and try and find more. I'm not sure what happened to me but I just couldn't dive in and 'get it' like many people. I've read a lot of reviews and Esther is a lot of people's favorite study... I want to love it too.

If you're up for joining us as we study Daniel, let me know! We have a wonderful group and many of us have become close friends!! We use an online format so you can contribute at your own pace. It's a great place for prayer and fellowship. Comment or email me and I'll forward your info to our group leader!

Note to self

Half of the year has come and gone... and as I approach the one year mark of blogging [again], I find myself reflecting on the purpose of my blog. It has sort of evolved from personal, deep, meaningful thoughts to every day fun and randomness (which is totally okay!).

Looking back, I want to try and maintain the purpose of this blog. For my own sake. That said, it's no secret that I've wrestled a bit with my faith over the past few years. I've always considered myself to be a "Christian," but until last year, when I really started to feel without, I really had no idea what being a Christian really meant. I've mentioned before (pardon that middle hiking-with-dogs post, not sure why that filtered in the search) that I was reading a book, Crazy Love. It has truly changed my life. Well, that and some help from Beth Moore (who doesn't love her?!). And then there were some special friends along the way...

All of this to remind myself of why I started this blog. And because it was going to lead into a journal entry I wrote that I find myself going back to - frequently - pondering. But I think I'll save that for another post.

New bags at Fido

I just added a few new bags to Fido's web shop. Check it out!

Also -- go here!

I'm doing a giveaway! Well, technically, Fido Bags is doing a giveaway, but how much fun is that?! Stop by Shealynn's blog and comment, you could win!!!

Since this bag isn't being sold, Hope Aid won't be getting the customary 25% from it.

That just won't do!

So... I've decided that since it IS a giveaway, I'm donating $16, one dollar more than full price, to Hope Aid towards the Mosquito Net Fund!

Not only will whoever wins the bag GET the bag, but they'll have satisfaction in knowing that a donation was made in their name to Hope Aid. TWO new moms will be protected from malaria!!!

The Watermelon and the beast

Last weekend, this BEAST invaded my house....

Some people call her Kaidy, but it's clear she's a beast.

She came so my sister could man the MAGDRL tent at the Watermelon fest...

I stopped by to visit the tent and met up with my friend M (no judging the camo neck tie, it's a cooling thing that was absolutely necessary in the 100-degree heat; and my [Jim's] purchase helped save the dogs] ...

...but most of the day entailed babysitting the other beast (Titan). He and Bells had a very FUN day and ended up like this until evening.

Fun was had by all... and thankfully, no home items were destroyed by Kaidy beast. I only wish I could say the same for the toy Titan managed to rip apart during some part of the day. Sigh...

Thank You Loyal Biscuit!!!

Dear Loyal Biscuit - (and Lauren and Orli and Eider and all of our Maine friends!) - thank you SO much for my wizzle! I was SO excited when I helped check the mailbox and saw a piece of mail just for me! It smelled so good I could hardly wait to open it...

Mom made me wait and it was so hard to sit still because I was soooo excited!

The first bite is always the best!

Thank you for my special treat!!! I loved it so, so much!!! We wish we could shop online because we live so far away. Maybe one day we can come and visit.

Thanks again, my tummy felt so much better after my wizzle!!!

Love, Nola Belle

Check out Loyal Biscuit!

Read this post

First a background... I have an undisclosed number of blogs that I love and many of them are adoption blogs since I've always known I would adopt. Last week, one of my blog friends (so actually, I used to just be more of a stalker until we had email exhange!) posted this.

Read the latest post.

How amazing is that? Truly.

Let it inspire you!

JAGged Edge

A looooooong, long time ago I mentioned a few things that I couldn't talk about yet. NOW is the time! Some of you may have already seen the news from Jess or Abbie's blog but for others, this is "BRAND NEW INFORMATION!" (Phoebe)

A couple of my superbly (it's a word today) awesome webesties and I have been chatting for months about our craft endeavors... we thought that it would be way cool to have a place where we could write about our crafts, sell things, get some input, etc... and after a few weeks of slaving away on ideas JAGged Edge was born!

We are PUMPED about the "opening" of our blog/shoppe and hope you'll stop by to visit us there! I feel SO privilaged to even be associated with these two girls! They have the best ideas and are truly BRILLIANT!!! I have had SO much fun hanging out with them online and I just know that JAGged Edge will be a hit. (What are you waiting for?! Go check it out already!)

We've already posted a few things and we're open to ideas, suggestions, requests, you name it!

See you at JAG!

Catching up... photolog style (Part I)

My sister brought her latest foster, Rory, 5 months, to visit. He's going to be HUGE! They had a great time playing, although he's pretty clumsy and is into everything! I don't know how she does it!
His feet are HUGE!

One of my best friends, Essi, came to visit!!! She moved to DC area a couple of years ago and I haven't seen her since our Shenandoah cabin trip last year.

Midesha, Essi, me, and Sarah...

Scoville, Sarah, Midesha... we're about to chow down on some strawberry shortcake, Mmm!

Recent Projects

This blanket was for Timothy the cat... he had a PU (warning, graphic link) and was very, very sick. We have a special spot for Mister Timothy because Finley had to have the same surgery back in 2007.

One of the girls at work got wind of all the quilts I was making... but I haven't had time to make another so I made this for Jackson. I'm hoping to have a little more time later to make a quilt though.

Bible bag for a long time, sweet friend of mine!

This was mom's mother's day gift... she spent the summer in Japan last year and when I saw this fabric I knew it'd be perfect for her bag!

This peacock fabric is one of my new favorites!!! I ordered it with a friend in mind, knowing she'd want a bag when she saw the bigger ones. :) I was very tempted to keep it for myself but I think I have enough for another... I LOVED the way it turned out! The colors are amazing and I love it with the stripes!