6 Months

How Far Along: 6 Months (well, a few days shy)

Gender:Girl: Adelynn Faith

Maternity Clothes: I have one pair of maternity jeans that I really like and I wear them ALL the time. As far as shirts go, I can still wear most of my shirts (the longer ones for sure), but I'm finding maternity ones a lot more comfy these days.

Weight gain: 10 pounds

Movement: Lots of movement!

Sleep: I have actually been sleeping pretty good, but need to not stay up as late! I hate to admit it, but I literally take a nap EVERY DAY.

Symptoms: Headaches at night, sinus congestion, and occasional stomach issues. I still have to take my nausea  meds every now and then.

Cravings: I no longer crave Subway. But I pretty much get an unsweetened tea with splenda almost every day from McD's. I've never been a tea drinker but have been drinking tons lately!

Best moment this week: When Lincoln asked me if he could talk to his baby sister the other night. He continued to have the sweetest conversation ever with my belly...melted our hearts.

 And some belly shots. Sorry they're pathetic quality with me holding up my phone. That's all I have though :)

Oh Dear

I wrote about how Lincoln was going through a "stage" a few months ago (and now I wonder how much of it had to do with the Holidays + his steroid inhaler he was on??). Well he has massively improved - though we obviously still have our toddler moments - but for the most part, things have settled much.

And then there's Noah. Our little guy who turns 2 in about a week.

He has decided to test limits wherever he can and oh man (unless my memory is foggy) he is way more stubborn at this than Lincoln was! Last night we literally had a stare-down where I had decided "I will win this one." It was not pretty and full of snot and tears, but I'd rather fight these battles now and show him he's not in control of the house than later.

So we've been working with this for about 1.5 weeks now, and the other night at my parents house, when given a direction, he looked at me and goes "No!".
I gave him one warning to do as I asked, and he just grinned, still refusing to follow the direction. So as I moved in to discipline him, he goes "I wuv you mommy!!!" with the cutest little grin. Of course my family almost died laughing (he still got disciplined)...

Then this morning, a similar scenario was taking place in the living room where he was not being obedient, and as I moved in to discipline him, he ran across the living room yelling "I wuv you! I wuv you! I wuv you! I wuuuv you mommy!!!!!"

Where did he learn that? Oh dear.

The fun of raising toddlers. :)

Puppy Love

Live Loud

Alright. You don't have to love football to have heard of Tim Tebow recently. I personally can't stand NFL football (though I love college), but am anxiously awaiting 7:00pm tonight to watch the Broncos vs. Patriots (I even DVR'd it just in case).
I know some Christians have gone as far as to criticize all the Tebow hype - which yes if you find yourself worshipping him, something's misplaced - but I think it's incredible what God is doing through this young man and how he is using his platform to proclaim the name of Jesus.
We all have a platform by which to proclaim our faith and be bold. His happens to be a massive one, but yours and mine is nonetheless any less significant. Thanks Tebow for being a personal encouragement to me to be bold in my faith and proclaim the name of Jesus in all things. Faith lived out looks like this, my friends.
**And as a sidenote, a interesting Tebow fact: he was homeschooled all the way until college! Isn't that crazy?! Jason and I watched some ESPN special thing on him during high school - which was awesome by the way - and this kid has lived for Christ in all phases.

Did you hear the latest news story that now that Katy Perry and her hubby have divorced that she has eyes for Tebow? Right. Not this one, Katy.

Anyway, thank you Tebow for not keeping your faith "private" and separate. Living like Jesus!! :)

Here's the article circulating FB in case you haven't read it. Worth the read. And if you don't know the rest of Tebow story from his season this year, ask your husband or your dad. It's incredible! (And I just assumed only females read this blog).


Friday, January 13, 2012I believe in Tim Tebow

---

By Rick Reilly
ESPN.com

	Tim Tebow with Jacob Rainey, one of the many people dealing with health problems Tebow hosted at Broncos games this season.

I've come to believe in Tim Tebow, but not for what he does on a football field, which is still three parts Dr. Jekyll and two parts Mr. Hyde.


No, I've come to believe in Tim Tebow for what he does off a football field, which is represent the best parts of us, the parts I want to be and so rarely am.

Who among us is this selfless?

Every week, Tebow picks out someone who is suffering, or who is dying, or who is injured. He flies these people and their families to the Broncos game, rents them a car, puts them up in a nice hotel, buys them dinner (usually at a Dave & Buster's), gets them and their families pregame passes, visits with them just before kickoff (!), gets them 30-yard-line tickets down low, visits with them after the game (sometimes for an hour), has them walk him to his car, and sends them off with a basket of gifts.

Home or road, win or lose, hero or goat.

Remember last week, when the world was pulling its hair out in the hour after Tebow had stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers with an 80-yard OT touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas in the playoffs? And Twitter was exploding with 9,420 tweets about Tebow per second? When an ESPN poll was naming him the most popular athlete in America?

Tebow was spending that hour talking to 16-year-old Bailey Knaub about her 73 surgeries so far and what TV shows she likes.


"Here he'd just played the game of his life," recalls Bailey's mother, Kathy, of Loveland, Colo., "and the first thing he does after his press conference is come find Bailey and ask, 'Did you get anything to eat?' He acted like what he'd just done wasn't anything, like it was all about Bailey."

More than that, Tebow kept corralling people into the room for Bailey to meet. Hey, Demaryius, come in here a minute. Hey, Mr. Elway. Hey, Coach Fox.

Even though sometimes-fatal Wegener's granulomatosis has left Bailey with only one lung, the attention took her breath away.

"It was the best day of my life," she emailed. "It was a bright star among very gloomy and difficult days. Tim Tebow gave me the greatest gift I could ever imagine. He gave me the strength for the future. I know now that I can face any obstacle placed in front of me. Tim taught me to never give up because at the end of the day, today might seem bleak but it can't rain forever and tomorrow is a new day, with new promises."

I read that email to Tebow, and he was honestly floored.

"Why me? Why should I inspire her?" he said. "I just don't feel, I don't know, adequate. Really, hearing her story inspires me."

It's not just NFL defenses that get Tebowed. It's high school girls who don't know whether they'll ever go to a prom. It's adults who can hardly stand. It's kids who will die soon.

For the game at Buffalo, it was Charlottesville, Va., blue-chip high school QB Jacob Rainey, who lost his leg after a freak tackle in a scrimmage. Tebow threw three interceptions in that Buffalo game and the Broncos were crushed 40-14.

"He walked in and took a big sigh and said, 'Well, that didn't go as planned,'" Rainey remembers. "Where I'm from, people wonder how sincere and genuine he is. But I think he's the most genuine person I've ever met."

There's not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow, and I've looked everywhere for it.

Take 9-year-old Zac Taylor, a child who lives in constant pain. Immediately after Tebow shocked the Chicago Bears with a 13-10 comeback win, Tebow spent an hour with Zac and his family. At one point, Zac, who has 10 doctors, asked Tebow whether he has a secret prayer for hospital visits. Tebow whispered it in his ear. And because Tebow still needed to be checked out by the Broncos' team doctor, he took Zac in with him, but only after they had whispered it together.

And it's not always kids. Tom Driscoll, a 55-year-old who is dying of brain cancer at a hospice in Denver, was Tebow's guest for the Cincinnati game. "The doctors took some of my brain," Driscoll says, "so my short-term memory is kind of shot. But that day I'll never forget. Tim is such a good man."

This whole thing makes no football sense, of course. Most NFL players hardly talk to teammates before a game, much less visit with the sick and dying.

Isn't that a huge distraction?

	Not everything Tim Tebow does on one knee is controversial. Ask Zac Taylor.

"Just the opposite," Tebow says. "It's by far the best thing I do to get myself ready. Here you are, about to play a game that the world says is the most important thing in the world. Win and they praise you. Lose and they crush you. And here I have a chance to talk to the coolest, most courageous people. It puts it all into perspective. The game doesn't really matter. I mean, I'll give 100 percent of my heart to win it, but in the end, the thing I most want to do is not win championships or make a lot of money, it's to invest in people's lives, to make a difference."

So that's it. I've given up giving up on him. I'm a 100 percent believer. Not in his arm. Not in his skills. I believe in his heart, his there-will-definitely-be-a-pony-under-the-tree optimism, the way his love pours into people, right up to their eyeballs, until they believe they can master the hopeless comeback, too.

Remember the QB who lost his leg, Jacob Rainey? He got his prosthetic leg a few weeks ago, and he wants to play high school football next season. Yes, tackle football. He'd be the first to do that on an above-the-knee amputation.

Hmmm. Wonder where he got that crazy idea?

"Tim told me to keep fighting, no matter what," Rainey says. "I am."

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Lots of Nothing

I'm 21 weeks today and we had our 5 month ultrasound. We got to see the little darling in 4D (though she held her hands in front of her face the whole time!), but the most important thing is everything looked great and she is still in fact a girl. :)

In other news (boring, but hey) we got a King bed the other day and it is glorious. We've only had it 2 nights and it's already hard to imagine life without it. Super thankful for this luxury (and Christmas money well spent). We moved our queen to Noah's room (which will be Adelynn's soon), so we now have a guest room/there's-a-crib-in-there room if you wanna come visit (and I promise we'll move the baby).

Isn't this the most interesting post ever?

Yeah I'm bored, too, so I think I'll call it a day and get ready for nap time :)

The Half-Way Point

So I'm now a few days past the half-way mark of this pregnancy...5 months and a few days! This one has been different in the sense that I feel like it is going by soooooo slowly (I felt like Noah's flew by). Probably because I've been sick so much more with this one? Not sure. But good news is I'm finally starting to have consistently more days than bad...and the bad days aren't met with much sickness as they are just the overwhelming exhaustion. But I have been able to work out 4x's a week now for the past month or so (had a hard time with this before because I always felt so sick), be more productive and present with the kids/house things, and stay up later - okay, maybe the last one is once a week, but hey...it's improvement.

I really have nothing much to talk about, so I thought I'd just update on some things I'm looking forward to in the near future (excuse me on the boring part):

1. In 2 days we get our new King bed delivered!!!! I'm super pumped about this one...perfect time for the growing pregnant lady :)
2. We get to have our big 5-month ultrasound and see the little girl in 4-D later this week
3. Conference basketball has started and we are 1-0 in conference so far!
4. I hired a sitter for an upcoming game for the first time EVER and am so excited to go watch every single little detail of the game with my friends.
5. And speaking of friends...I realized last night that I just love them. Without them, I think I would feel like I'm going crazy - or my kids are going crazy. They make me feel normal.
6. Noah turns 2 in less than a month!!!! Crazy.
7. My older sis found out they are having a boy! 3 boys and one little girl (as the grandkids) - all under the age of 3...pure madness.
8. I love college football, but for the first time in my life, I'm actually looking forward to watching Denver play on Saturday. Yes, I've joined the Tebow madness (how can you not??).
9. I'm really excited about this upcoming semester with our cell group girls - I think it' going to be wild - in a good way.
10. And can't WAIT to start our David bible study next week!!!!!!!!!

There's 10. Exciting, huh?
I think it's time to go to bed (this is my one night a week I chose to stay up). Good night.

Oh - here's a 5 month pic.

The Current Debate

When I was younger, pre-school was one year before Kindergarten and that was that. But now the normal is to send your kids to 2 years of pre-school before starting K. Actually, the real "normal" or trend at least is to start your kids in Mothers Day Out programs from the get-go at least a few days a week, then do pre-school for 2 years, then start school.

For working moms, daycare and MDO are great options and pre-school becomes necessary (we did the daycare thing ourselves for Lincoln's first year while I worked).

And I have some friends (non-working) who chose to put their kids in MDO a couple of days a week to have some time to themselves to get errands/chores, etc. done.

Most of my friends put their kids in pre-school 2 years before K as well.

And then I have a few friends who have forgone any public schooling all-together and are doing a year-by-year basis of homeschooling.

I think ALL of these options can be great for families depending on their individual needs/circumstances/personal preferences and whatnot, so I am by no way saying "my way is the best way" because frankly I feel a little blind when it comes to some of these options (and more secure wit others).

Our family has decided that my full-time "job" is to stay home with the kids and be their sole source of influence while we have the chance. This means we have never done MDO with either of our boys and probably will never do it with any of our subsequent kids (I say probably because you never know). But for right now, there is no need to send them off when I'm here and perfectly capable all the time. I do think "my time" is important to hang out with other adults, revitalize myself in all aspects, and such, but I get that through 2-hour Bible study once a week, working out at the gym while kids are in their own work-out class, and then during their 3 hour naptime everyday. That's all a blessing and perfectly sufficient at this point! So I'm secure in the MDO decision.

But then enter pre-school. IF Lincoln were to do the norm, he would start pre-school next year, do it again the following, then start Kindergarten in 2 years. Up until last week, I had been in contact with the director of the place he would go and was re-budgeting and such to accommodate. But there has been this tug away from it I keep putting back. I have never felt completely sure about sending him for 2 years. But since most families do this, I was nervous he would be behind socially/academically if skipped the first year.

Here recently I've sought out advice from friends about this matter and have really looked into all that he will learn that first year of pre-school. The main objectives, he has known for almost an entire year, so the fear of him being "behind" academically was settled and I knew that wouldn't be the case.

But socially would he be behind, became my big question. After talking with Jason a lot about this and other friends/family, I realized he would not be at all. His teachers in his Bible study classes have always commented to me on his sociability and verbal skills, and he understands the classroom structure from those classes (as well as Sunday school since his is more structured now that he is older). Plus, we are in social settings A LOT. And when we're just at home, he has a brother who is not much younger to socialize with! Plus, I love being the one to be able to provide his social settings while I can.

So if he doesn't need it socially or academically, the thought of dropping a couple thousand dollars for the next year to send him away 2 days a week was even more unsettling. A common thread in what people have told me has been "keep them with you as long as you can...you're their best teacher...this time is so short...". Ultimately that is what I resonate with.

The only tug in the other direction is I think Lincoln would LOVE going. But then I remind myself, he'll get to go for MANY years after that! And with his new baby sister going to be at home, and Noah who will be even more active and playful by that time, I think we have decided it's best to only send Lincoln one year of pre-school. Jason and I talked about it for a while last night and he said "You know that the more time they get to spend with you, the more I am for it!".

So I'm pumped at finally coming to this decision for Lincoln. And as for Noah, I think he might be one that will go 2 years because he might have a harder time leaving me and need more of a gradual transition before Kindergarten. But we'll cross that road in a few years!

And as for homeschooling? I used to be a "No Way!" girl, but actually have a more open mind in that arena too (though I don't feel we will do it)...but that's for another post. :)

Some of you have discussed your thoughts on this with me on FB but I would love to hear any new opinions or what works for your family!