Calling All Christian Moms!

Hey my other mommy friends! I am really curious - what is your daily devotion / quite time / time with the Lord like? Do you have a devotional you read? Do you read the Bible? Do you study topically or my book (of the Bible)? Do you listen to worship music (like me)? Do you listen to online sermons? When do you have your quiet time? How do you make that a priority over 'getting things done'? How much time to you spend in the Word, daily? I am soooo curious about how other mommies do it. I tend to mix it up. I love listening to sermons online, turn off the tv and turn on worship music, read a devotional + the scripture it recommends, prayer journal (occassionally) etc. Let me know your style of quiet time. I love getting ideas!!!

What to Write About....

As most of my posts tend to be, this one is going to be random. Just a mish-mash of my thoughts. Hence the name of my blog, so glad I titled it, "Welcome to Britney's Thoughts"! I have not blogged for a while. I've been struggling a lot with feeling not creative enough. I really enjoy blogging, and have plenty of things I like to write about. But I have a hard time not comparing my blog to others who are SO fun to read. That's part of it, the other is, as soon as I sit down to write, Ruby needs me. I find myself getting frustrated that she just happens to need me when I am about to write about her. Every single time I need to remind myself that she is my #1. I have mentally beat myself up for not keeping better records of everything she does, complete with beautiful photos to go with it. I am already behind in her baby book and the journal I started when I was pregnant. I haven't written out all my thoughts and prayers for my little girl, and I have gotten very frustrated with myself. I just want to have amazing records and memories to look back on down the road. THEN I remember that what is most important for me is to tend to her rather than write about her. ...well that was honest... Another thing I want to write about, which is also brutally honest, is my weight loss journey! I have a couple of friends with blogs specifically about their weight loss progress, and I LOVE reading their updates. If and when I blog about my weight loss, I will be vague. :) Never ever writing my actual weight numbers. So, here I go! I gained 20 pounds within 4 months of marriage. I worked hard to get fit for my wedding, then let loose when I got married. Really didn't want to 'let myself go,' but it was so dang easy. Especially with a husband who loves me unconditionally. ;) Ok, so after 4 months of marriage we found ourselves pregnant - yay! Like I said, I was up 20 pounds from wedding weight until then. I should've gained around 35 pounds with my pregnancy, but no, I gained 50! That was not all because of my baby, I'll tell you that. It was fall and Christmas time when I started putting on the weight. I loved baking and making homemade candy. OF COURSE I had to taste it all along the way. Yikes. So, when I was at the end of pregnancy I had gained 70 pounds since we got married. H.O.L.Y. C.R.A.P. Ok, so I weighed myself the day after I gave birth and I had lost 35 pounds from delivering Ruby. Yahoo! That seemed pretty cool... THEN our amazing friends and family spoiled us with delicious postpartum food which helped me gain 4-or-so pounds back. K.

one week before my wedding

beginning of April 2011 - our April Fools joke, when really we were just about to become pregnant - SURPRISE

last week of pregnancy - 70 pounds heavier than the first photo! 6 weeks after Ruby was born, Brian and I decided to join Weight Watchers together. I have the most wonderful husband. I love him for supporting me by doing it with me. Although the main reason is because he gained some baby weight too. :) So, when I joined WW, I had 19 pounds until pre-pregnancy weight, and a total of 39 pounds until wedding weight (ultimate goal). Here I am, 13 weeks after joining WW and I am down about 15 1/2 pounds! I am so happy. There have only been two weeks that I've gained weight, and it's been less than a pound each time. Slow and steady.:) So I am about 4 1/2 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight! 24 1/2 pounds away from wedding weight. I am really encouraged. I love WW, I used the program after YWAM when I put on a ton of weight from traveling, and did GREAT. Then I did WW again the 4 months leading up to my wedding. I did great again. I know I can rely on this program and still have the freedom to eat my own food - not their brand. Listen, yes, this is personal stuff. I am semi-sensitive about talking about my weight, but I am posting this for myself. I am using this as a tool to keep myself accountable, and I hope that it encourages you, my friends, also. PHEW - that was a long post. And it was only about 2 topics. But I think I'm done writing for now. I'll post more thoughts soon, hopefully. My Ruby is going to get up any moment so it's time for me to sign off. Thank you, dear friends, for reading. I love you all.

"All that I cling to..."

This song really blesses me. Shane and Shane has a way of always making me cry. Enjoy!

Motherhood

I just need you to know, that mommies are heros. If you are a loving mother - you are amazing! If you have a loving mother - you are blessed. From pregnancy, to BIRTH, to the healing after birth, to dealing with and loving on crying babies, to raising them selflessly, mothers are heros. I've always loved my mom, and always known that mothers are very special. However, since becoming a mommy myself, my heart has been touched deeply by moms.

During the last month of my pregnancy my Grandma Ruth (mom's mom) had some serious health problems. My mom wasn't able to see her mom very often because of the distance, but she was able to spend time with her in the hospital in December. After all that had happened to Grandma Ruth we knew her days were short. Something that broke my heart in such an endearing way was when my mom came home from that trip and told me, "I said my good-byes to my mommy." Heart breaking, right?? I was broken after she told me that. After what seemed to be some physical healing in my Grandma Ruth, she had a stroke a week and a half ago and died in the ambulance. I didn't have a close relationship to my grandma by any means, but the loss of a family member is very hard either way. My heart hurts mostly for my mom. She's been reminiscing about her childhood and memories of her mom. They had a very rough life, but my mom assured me, "she loved her babies." My grandma had 7 children, 4 (or so) marriages, and at least 2 miscarriages that my mom knows about. She had to drop out of school in 2nd grade to take care of her family. She had it ROUGH. But she loved her babies. That blesses my heart.

Two weeks ago there was a women's event at our church. It was a blessing to have a panel of women answering questions about being a missional woman. The one that spoke deepest to me was a wonderful mother of 4 from our church. She is WONDERFUL. She is wise. She is absolutely loving toward her husband and children. (You know who you are)! One thing she talked about was her prayer to God before having children. She told God that she did not want to be given any children unless they would come to know Jesus as their Savior. The thought of having children who would not love the Lord and end up in hell eternally, absolutely broke her. She now has 4 children, the oldest is 6. The two older girls share Jesus to each other and the younger ones. :) What a blessing. I wish I could appropriately word how beautiful this prayer was. She put my thoughts into eloquent words. I love children, but if they don't grow up to know the Lord, I would be completely devastated.

Then there's Michelle Duggar. I know most people don't like the Duggar family because of this or that, but Brian and I love them. I wish I could meet them and just chat with Michelle for hours over coffee. She is such a selfless woman of God. She has been through so much, delivering 19 babies and all. I am in awe that someone could be that selfless! What a very rare gem. I could go on....

Mothers are so incredible. I have never been so grateful for my mother as I am now. I love my daughter so much it hurts. I didn't know such a deep love could exist. Speakings of, she is crying in her crib. Time for me to love on my little Ruby. Thanks for reading.

Ruby, Our Chatter Box.

My sweet sweet baby is 2 months old now. Here's some videos (as requested) of her. She's SO chatty these days. She completely amazes us. She also, lately, has been imitating anything we do. Stick out our tongue at her, make kissy lips, open eyes wide, make certain sounds, shake or nod our heads etc. Some people are afraid to think that their baby is the smartest thing ever... but I'm pretty sure Ruby is! Hehe... I just enjoy her so much.

Fun Furlough

Just had to think of a silly title for this Monday... it wasn't an extra day off for Brian or anything, so the fact that it was a furlough day means nothing to us. :) It is his usual day off work, and we had a blast today. The last 3 or 4 Mondays I have been begging him to go out and do something fun, but we haven't gotten around to it. Today we played around with the idea of going to OMSI, but didn't want to spend the money. SO we went to Ikea instead. It was both of our first times at Ikea.. we both had a blast! We ended up splurging some. Why is spending money so fun?? ;-) We bough two bar stools - finally! Until now we have eaten every meal on our couch. Our house is too small for a dining table, so the counter that Brian built this last summer is now our table. I am ecstatic about it! We also got a rack to hang my purse, diaper bag, his coats, and keys. Exciting, I know! I though I'd show some pics of our new items and our beautiful daughter.


An up-close of her lovely red mittens from Holly Porter. :)


Her wintery head-band. I LOVE it!


Stools!!


Up close. *Ignore the scratch on the seat.. Brian did that accidentally while assembling.



LIKE


...and Ruby looks like a doll. Just had to! :)

Simply sweet

Here's a little video I made for my sister yesterday morning. I was kissing her which usually makes her smile, but apparently can't record while kissing her. :) The best part starts at 1:08!

Enjoy