Daredevil

Whats wrong with this picture????????

But he is so proud of himself for scootching off his nice comfy padded, blanketed play area. Looks like its time to move the furniture around again....

brothers....

take pictures of each others butts.

Unfabled Parenting

I've decided to take some action on my heart this year. The bitterness and jealousy that tries to steal it need to be banished. Jesus can do that. To help Him help me (not that he needs help) I'vejumped into a couple of bible studies at the church we've been visiting. One is Beth Moore's A Woman's Heart. The other is more of a moms group. They are following a study, but really, with 9 moms and all the kids running around Chik-fil-A it is more a shower of refreshing fellowship and conversation with people who say words other than "poop" and "Pthhhbbbeeettth." I've also decided to start pursuing some gospel driven parenting ideas. I'm not organized. I'm not goal oriented. I don't often make check lists. But one day a while back I found this list on some website somewhere. I don't remember where or how I found it, but here it is...


A Parental List of Rules to Live ByCourtesy John Piper

Let there be much spontaneous celebration verbally of every hopeful sign of life and goodness in our children.


Let us forgive them often and be longsuffering.

Let us serve them and not use them.

Let us lavish them with joyful participation in their interests.

Let us model for them the joy of knowing and submitting to the Lord Jesus.

Let us apologize often when we fall short of our own Father’s requirements.

Let us pray for them without ceasing.

Let us saturate them with the word of God from the moment they are in the womb (the uterus is not sound proof).

Let us involve them in happy ministry experiences and show them it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Let them see us sing to the King.

Let us teach them relentlessly the meaning of the gospel in the hope that God will open their eyes and make them alive. It happens through the gospel (1 Peter 1:22-25).
 
 
My goal.. if I dare use that word is to take one of these subjects one day a week and blog about how I have or have not implemented it in my parenting. Please join me and feel free to COMMENT about how you have or have not or would or would not. I know God has big plans for my parenting this year and could use your imput! I would love to start seeing some conversations grow here in The Life Unfabled. So look for my Unfabled Parenthood posts on Tuesdays.  I can't wait to see how God moves us :-).

A Bedtime Conversation with Silas

Diaper Deal

When Balin was a little over a year old we switched to cloth diapers. Not the diapers our mama used, cloth has come a long long way. Easy to use, convenient and beautiful. I prefer to use Bu*mGenius brand. I looked around, and found them to be what I wanted. Chelsea wrote an awesome post HERE describing her experience as a first time mom using BG diapers. She explains their functionality so much better than I could! (Shes a much more organzied writer than I am...enjoy reading something that makes sense!) Anyway! My past experience was pretty similar to hers, but I use a good ol paint bucket with a tight fitting lid from lowes to store soiled diapers in. I do this because the bucket is easy to wash, and more importatly the lid is tight enough to keep stinks in and little fingers out!
HERES THE DEAL :-). TODAY I was on Cottonbabies DOT com pricing diapers. We had decided to just buy a few a month as we transition back into cloth. BUT they have the All in One style diapers on sale for $9.95! They are usually around 17$ a diaper!! I did not use AIO before because they are sized (s,m and L) and there is a one size fits all opition too.   At this price I went ahead and bought 9 medium diapers that will fit him to 22 pounds, plus four inserts that fit the One Size fits all we used with Balin (which are still in great shape). I also got free baby legs and the shipping was free. So my grand total with tax?? $103.00   If you have considered cloth diapers this would be a great way to try a couple out!

Sweet Silas 4 Months

What he is up to this month:
Weight: 15 lbs even (and that's average in case you were wondering.  He is avg weight and a little small in length and head circumference)
Skills: he is now rolling both directions and has occasionally pushed himself up onto his knees when doing tummy time. During tummy time he rotates 360 degrees. He can play with his hands and hold objects. He can reach for what he wants, especially Mama. He recognizes all of our voices. He sucks his thumb and the first two fingers on his right hand. (Although he prefers to suck on Daddys knuckles.) He sits assisted. He loves his bouncy seat. We use the lid of a storage ottoman (about two inches deep) and a rolled up blanket to give him support since he is actually a bit too small for it. We have the Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper, Green.  It goes perfectly with the toys Gramma bought him for Christmas which quickly link on and off and can go with us on his car seat too. (Baby Einstein Classics Collection)  He blows raspberrys and talks to us in the sweetest coos.
Food: We are still Breast Feeding! This is the longest I have ever nursed a baby and I'm stinkin proud of myself :-). I have to give thanks to my family for their encouragement, my husband for his patience and  Heather Hendrick. Heathers blog about her family's life and decisions to give it all up in order to serve the Kingdom in Haiti has really been a beautiful source of encouragement to me. I was so selfish in my mind set about nursing. I really struggled with the inconvenience of it. Turns out a lot of my issues are heart issues. Reading about the women she helps who are close to losing their baby's because they don't have the resources or education to breast feed them really made me look at myself in a new light. I do have these resources. Once I got past the pain ( that went away about a month and a half in) it really became a matter of looking at nursing as a blessing. It is a treasure and gift that I get to sit at home right now and nurse my baby. I have plentiful food and clean water and all the fenugreek I can buy. (I use fenugreek to help my milk supply.. I'll write a post on that sometimes. I call it a milk miracle). Anyway, I've gotten so comfortable with nursing that despite everything I've ever said before.. I've even nursed "in public" with the aid of my cute nursing covers in odd places like the penguin exhibit at Seaworld. Silas gets bottles when were driving around town or shopping or traveling. Last night I tried one for his midnight feeding to see if he would sleep all night... did not work. Oh well. He has been cleared for rice cereal, but I'm going to wait a few weeks on that one.
Sleep: I kinda covered it in the food, but he takes a couple of long naps during the day but still wakes ups about every three hours at night. Bummer. Its my fault though. I'm lazy. He doesn't wake up to play, just wants to nurse all night long and sleep there. I'm really going to start working on it though. My goal is for him to be in his room by six months.
Favorite things: his tweety robbin and any of his blankets (Aden & Anais Safari Friends Swaddle Wraps 4 Pack).

Handmade Giveaway!

I stole this from Facebook, but am really excited to give myself a great reason to get crafty!

Pay it forward 2011: I promise to give something homemade / handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must re-post this status, offering the same thing to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be made by you and it must be delivered to your 5 people sometime in 2011. Ready, set, GO! DO IT

Three months

So I've declared this blog to be unfabled. The realness of my life. The not warm and fuzzies. The reality that It is 12:30 and I'm not even out of my pajamas yet. In fact.. I've emailed my husband a grocery list because I know its simply not going to happen today. Which brings me to this post. These are Silas' three month pictures. Taken at 3 months three weeks. I know. I'm a little late. He is growing so fast and with Christmas I just did not get around to pictures in time. The past few weeks he has really become a baby, not a newborn. He is reaching for things, laughing a big gut giggleand demanding what he wants when he wants it. He can also roll from his front to back, from his back to his side and lift his belly off the ground during tummy time (for a second or two). I'm predicting crawling within a month or two! Here are a few "three month" pictures of my nearly four month old babe.

Whimsicaly Worded Wednesday

Otherwise known as the hilarious things kids say...

"My peanut hurts" after my three year olds hydrocele surgery

While driving home, from the backseat  Ayden says, "Look Balin, thats a jet stream! Lots of jets were flying and their trails all stuck together and made a cloud. They call it the jet stream."

Repeated daily by my three year old "I'm going to Disney world, China, the Eiffel tower, sea world and bowling. Those are my trips." After my mother in law took him to Sea world "you cheated. Papa was going to take me on my trips." (that was never our plan)

At the dinner table Balin says "Where can Grady sit?" me- "Who's Grady?" B-"One of my kids. I have lots of kids."
Balin at lunch- "I want holy-poly" (ravioli)