giving up on good: my phone.

I'm linking up with this lovely blog today to talk about one of the ways I'm giving up on something good to make room for other good things.  As we all know, too much good gets to be a bad thing.


I'm giving up on my cell phone.  Not entirely- I still use it often.  I still text and I still call people and sometimes I will even answer a call.  But for me, texting someone right back and answering every call takes up way too much of my time with my sweet boy during the day and my sweet husband in the evenings.  I LOVE talking to people and staying connected with them.  I WISH I was someone who you could easily get in touch with.  I WANT people to think "Oh, Lauren's so good at getting back to me.  She always answers my calls."  But the truth is, that stresses me out just thinking about it.  [No, I don't get that many calls or texts during the day, by the way.  This makes me sound like I have tons of people talking to me.  I don't.  I'm just not good at responding whether it's one person or 3.]

I often don't even keep my cell phone on me.  I'll find it hours later and find that I've missed 3 calls from my husband.  This drives him crazy.  Or I'll wake up in the morning with that panicked feeling because I forgot to text someone back the day before.  It's happened often, and I hate that feeling.  So I'm giving myself permission to be OK with being bad at communicating.  I want to spend my days focused on my babe, not attached to my phone.  My one year old picks up our phones and holds them to his ear like he's talking on them.  If that's not a wake up call, I don't know what is. 

image from: The Tiny Twig 

 


*Please still text me and call me.  I will answer you-- maybe not right away but at some point-- I promise! 

whole-y cow.

We're drinkin' whole milk.

beach bums.

We're back.  We have wireless, which is awesome.  Although I do have to admit that it was kind of nice to not "have to" be plugged in all the time.  I had excuses for not checking my email, facebook, twitter, blogs.  It was kind of a vacation before my vacation.  Last week we went to the beach!  Tommy had a work conference for a couple of days, so we just made a trip out of it.  I don't know if it's because it was our first vacation as a family of 3, or if we really needed it after having our first child/leaving jobs/starting new ones/moving/buying a new house, or if the beach was just that awesome, but it was incredible!

I'm a home-body.  I love my home.  I love being cozy in my home with my family.  I just like to be home, so normally at the end of a vacation I am ready to be home.  This was the first time I could remember not wanting to leave somewhere to go home.  We flew down to Tampa and then drove to Sand Key Beach in Clearwater, FL.  When we flew with Jack in November I was so nervous how he would do, but this time I was so relaxed.  This boy loves to fly!  He loves the people, loves the windows, loves the sounds and loves climbing back and forth between Tommy and me.

 Apparently I don't know how to flip my pictures before I upload them.  Sorry about that.  He just looked like such a little boy sitting in his own seat on the plane that I had to share!

 "Mom, shh, I'm working hard over here."  My little business man.

 He loved the waves!

 And playing in the sand.

 Our hotel at sunset.

 The Supermoon didn't look so super next the the expanse of the beach.  Loved a reminder of God's creation.

 Kisses for daddy.  [side note: I just noted it looks like a kid's body is just floating.  kind of creepy]

 Work Work Work.  Even on vacation he's busy.

 We were enjoying an evening swim and both waving to Daddy.

 Breakfast poolside was the way to go for Jack Jack.

 When did my baby grow up??

Please tell me another mom has let her child meander his way through the airport pant-less.  Someone?  It was just one of those days, so pants were not a battle I was willing to take on.

Jack's first fail-- his hearing test.

We had some rough news confirmed today as we found out that Jack has hearing loss in his left ear.  His diagnosis is conductive hearing loss, and we are so hopeful that it is only temporary.  He has fluid behind the ear drum of his left ear, so the hope is that the fluid is the cause of the hearing loss and once we take care of the fluid the hearing will improve.  There's a chance it won't, because he was on some pretty potent medications when he was so sick and in the NICU after his birth.  But we trust it is something that can be healed and was caused by chronic ear infections and fluid.  At this point his right is normal but he hears nothing out of his left ear. 

We saw an audiologist today and then our pediatrician to confirm the presence of fluid.  Next week we will see an ear, nose, and throat doc where we have been told they will most likely suggest tubes.  It makes me so nervous to think about our little man having surgery, but it's an easy procedure and we hope that it will bring him much relief and healing.  Lots of hope will accompany that surgery.

I'm sad for my little man.  Sad that he can't hear as well as he could, sad that he's had so many infections so early in his life, and sad that his head must have been feeling pretty messed up for awhile with all that pressure built up.  My ears were clogged up last week when I had a bad cold, and I was miserable [everyone around me knew it too- I was not shy about  my misery. but our little guy is so happy.  sweet, sweet boy].  I'm so hopeful for medical interventions that can bring healing!  So thankful for healing hands, and mostly for our Father's Healing Hands, which have healed me, too.

easter love.

I have a serious number of pictures from yesterday.  We had such a wonderful Easter.  It was so much fun celebrating Easter with Jack, and we look forward to when he is old enough to know and understand why this day is so amazing! I was going to only put up a few pictures, but decided to add many more for a few special Jack-lovers out there [Ms. Maureen and Julia].

 J-Baby's first Easter basket.  

 I love spring flowers!  

 Family shot. 

 Family shot.  

 Ohh I could eat him up.  

 My picture editing software got deleted, so I can't figure out how to flip my photos right now.  But I love this one!  And I think he kind of looks like an old-fashioned ice cream man.  Or Colonel Sanders, according to my brother.  

 Silly siblings.  

 He was so excited about yesterday, he finally slept on the walk.  But it was against his will, if he'd had his way he would have been up all day celebrating!  

 I think I love this puppy.  

 He's recently started scrunching up his nose when he's happy or laughing.  Apparently I did the same thing when I was his age per some pictures we recently found.  Looks pretty cute on him though.  

 Yes, I do love this puppy.  

 I love Easter!  

Hope everyone had a very blessed Easter!

sickness.

We've been a sick bunch around here.  The little man has had a brutal cold and passed it on to me.  Today his Daddy woke up with it.  Our poor guy is coughing like crazy, and it breaks my mama heart to see him in such pain.  He gets to sleep wherever he wants to sleep until this cold has worked its way out of his little body.  For him, that means mommy and daddy's bed.  Paci, lovie, and us on either side and this cough won't keep him up.  Even though it keeps me up...

new look.

A short while back I asked you to check out my new blog, and thank you for doing that.  I've changed my mind--- which is probably of no surprise to anyone and am sticking with The BP Special.  My original line of thinking was to do more personal stuff on this blog and nutrition and healthy eating stuff on the other one, but why not do both here?  Hopefully, I can strike a balance.  So I'm bringing the few posts from Meal Tweaking over here and we're becoming one big happy blog [not really any different than it was but hopefully with more food and nutrition].

Along those lines, I have a new look and I'm really liking the mellowness of it.  I'm adding the ability to follow, so if you feel so inclined to join me on here, I would it!  I've had people suggest before that I add an email option, so you can now sign up to get posts sent to your email.  Mostly, I'm just so thankful you're here reading, and I hope I can give some help/inspiration/encouragement to you when it comes to healthy eating and nutrition.  If not, I can definitely provide some super cute baby pictures.

Speaking of which, my baby is 10 months old today!  How can this be?  Seems like only yesterday he was a critically sick newborn fighting for his life in the NICU.  Today he is healthy, happy, thriving, and his third tooth has broken through (YAAA!).  We are so thankful, so blessed.  Happy 10 months to our Jack Jack!

excitement.

I woke up this morning so expectant, so excited about this time in our lives.  Today is closing-eve!  Tomorrow we close on our very own house.  It is such a sweet thing and something we appreciate so much  more now than we did before.  It's not just a house.  This is a new place where our family will dwell.  We will make it our own, and we will be thankful each day how God has blessed us with this place.  A lot of things had to line up for everything to work out so well, and God took care of all of them-- including selling our house in one of the worst markets!

In our new place I hope to have so many sweet memories with my family.  I hope to love people well at our new place and be a welcoming home.  We are so enjoying our Jack- we always do- but my goodness 9 months is a really, really fun age!  And I hope to do so much more enjoying of my sweet family in our new home.  Pictures to come soon!  Until then, I've been scanning Pinterest looking for inspiration.  

catch up.

So much happening over here.  Since I last posted, we have officially closed a house in Maryland!  Wow!  And we are now in closing week for our house here in Tennessee!!  We close on Friday and are so thrilled and feeling so blessed beyond measure.  Really excited to have a place for our own family, but also feeling so thankful for our family who has housed us and loved on us so much during the last four months.  This whole process, as trying as it's been, would have been truly awful without their support.  So thank you to our sweet family!

Meanwhile, Jack Jack is on his 4th ear infection since 4 months.  Wow, saying that makes me tired.  Bless his sweet heart.  The bacteria seems to be resistant to 2 different antibiotics and maybe a third.  We've been at the pediatrician a lot.  Also, praise that he does not have an obstruction in his intestines or twisted intestines!  We were afraid of that last week for a brief moment-- thankfully, it's just poop.  But our poor boy is backed up in a bad way so we are trying to get him to drink juice like crazy and mix it with Miralax.  He's onto us...  Aside from all this he is incredibly awesome and my heart breaks when he's hurting.  Some pictures from the past few weeks...  

One of those days.  Neither of us look too happy here.  And I do have sweet potatoes all over me- there was a sweet potato revolt, to put it mildly. 

Snuggling with Nan, trying to get this boy to drink some juice! 

Bathtime with Grandma!  This boy loves a good bath. 

Wearing his Great-Grandfather's cap while practicing walking. 

A lot of teething lately.  I'm expecting to see something break through-- soon, I hope! 

Jack's favorite new game.  Nothing like playin with Daddy. 

He carries these balls around with him everywhere.