Wordless Wednesday

Pics from the trail that Asher and I walk on (well, Asher rides in the jogging stroller), Enjoy!

Now is your chance...to be a Diva!

So this may not be good blogging manners to talk about something like this, but since mostly women read my blog I think it will be okay. For some time now I have been considering trying out an alternative feminine product. My friend Natalie has been telling me about some of the options that have gotten rave revues from her friend Sara. The most I've heard about is the Diva Cup. I don't want to go into too much detail about how they work, for the sake of those who feel uncomfortable discussing this. But I'v found some great information about the toxins in tampons and feminine pads, and the health risks they pose to women and our cycles. I also found some blogs from women who have tried these new products and will never go back. Taming Estella says it will shorten your period and lighten your flow. Another blogger says she actually looks forward to her period now. Some of my friends have said the the reason we bleed so much on the regular feminine products is because of the chemicles and after trying the diva cup, they can see now that wasn't right. Some women use the alternatives bc of the environment, others bc of health. And Michelle from my blogroll (Busy Busy Momma) is now offering a chance for us to try them for 50% off. Visit her post about it here.

Thankful Thursday!

I am thankful for the women (and men) that read this blog and don't know who I am but still care about me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! It is so crazy, this bloggers world, I feel so close to some of you and we live across the nation (even world) from each other. I would like to give you an update. I took some of your advice and here is how the situation stands. Asher is not only sleeping through the night but is officially weened. We have been breastfeeding free for about four days now. What we did is, Josh would get up with him in the morning, because that was his two major feedings, which we dwindled down to one for a couple days. Asher got fed right away and Josh did his best to take Asher off my hands if he seemed like he was wanting something from me. His attitude is better now too. I think the weening helped him not to be so clingy, but also we had to instill some discipline measures with the boy, because he was throwing tantrums for no good reason.

With the whole drinking thing. We decided to experiment with an idea that Josh had. We would have Asher drink from a cup and everytime he did, we would hollar and celebrate and get really excited, we did this everytime he drank from the cup. Now the kid is getting exciting about drinking, sometimes he motions for the cup. It's so funny, because sometimes he doesn't even get a chance to let the water reach his mouth before he pulls away with a smile on his face, clapping his hands, waiting for us to celebrate.

About the schedule, yes Asher is on somewhat of a schedule already with his naps and such, but I am working on more.

And about the house. We filled out an application for a beautiful townhome not too far from here. We are waiting to hear back, but they seemed excited about us. Thanks for praying. It's still not final yet, but it looks good and I can't wait to have more room, yipeee!! Maybe some of you bloggers will come visit me when you come to CO to ski!!!

I need some advice...

So sorry friends, that I haven't blogged in a while. I've been kind of stressed out. Today is thankful thursdays, so first, I will tell ya, I am so thankful for SHOWERS!!!! And I am thankful that Asher is sleeping through the night. We decided to close both our bedroom doors and when he cries and wakes up for a feeding, we let him cry. So ever since last monday (a week and half), he is sleeping and I can now sleep, atleast until around 5am or 6am, I will feed him so he'll sleep in longer. One problem though, I have found that now I really can't sleep. I wake up around 2 or 3am and then my brain keeps thinking for the rest of the night.

Okay now, I need some advice.
1. For those of you who have weened your breastfeeding babies, I really want to ween off Asher, he's thirteen months now, going on fourteen and it seems like he is gonna throw some major fits when I stop, he already is upset about the cut-backs we've made already. Advice please!

***Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention, Asher doesn't drink. He doesn't like to drink (well, of course breastmilk). I've tried every kind of sippy cup, and regular cup, he never took the bottle well. I usually get a few sallows in and then he refuses anymore (so this makes it hard with the weening).

2. A schedule. I raised my baby to be flexible, which suits our crazy lifestyle. But now I need some sanity and I think he does too. I don't even know what I need advice about here. Some scheduling advice. What's more important to schedule and what are some things that just aren't as important? Asher has been cranky lately, (he's teething something fierce) but I think more of a schedule and routine would help him and help me, because I still can't get anything done around her.

3. Just a prayer request. Would anyone be willing to pray for me about something??? We are trying to find a place to move to (to rent). We really need three bedrooms and a little more room, so Josh can have an office and we won't be on top of each other. But in these parts, three bedrooms are hard to come by and if you find them, the price is usually out of our range. I have my heart on a townhome right now that I would love to move into. But I'm afraid to get my hopes up because the last two houses we almost rented didn't work out. Some kind of fluke, like my e-mails went into their junk mail so they thought we weren't interested, or the landlord's daughter rented it to someone else while he was out of town. Ugh! I know I need to just rely on the Lord, but when do I get excited about a place and it's actually the right place? Please pray!

thanks so much for letting me vent, I really needed it!
sincerely,
stressed out housewife!!!
Julie

What's your tabloid?

Okay so I'm back and there is so much to blog about I don't know where to begin, so I thought I would just be funny, you know, break the silence!

I found this picture and I thought it looked kind of like one of those pics you see on the Tabloid Magazine covers saying "Jen and Brad split" or "Pitt and Jolie in nasty custody battle" or "TomKat hiding their baby"

so here is our Tabloid cover: (our fake headline)

Josh and Julie see witch doctor in the mountains to figure out how to get their baby to walk

complete story on page 6.

Checkin' Out! (but not for long)

Hello friends and family,
I just wanted to let you all know that I won't be blogging for a little while. I am out of town with Asher visiting family and friends until next week. So please check back, don't give up on me! Have a great week, pray for safe travels and that my hubby will survive without the two loves of his life around!
love
Julie :)

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for great weather! We can go out and be active and enjoy Nature!

What's the weather like in your neck of the woods???

(Not so) Wordless Wednesday: My sugar-virgin is no more!

" Okay, blow out the candle little guy!"

"What? You can't really expect me to eat this?"

"No, Asher it's really good, try it!"

"No, don't make me eat this!"

"I mean, um, this isn't bad"











"Sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar, sugar!"






"Yeah, well don't get used to it," says Mom.

Thankful Thursday

My baby turns one year old TODAY!!!! I so thankful for twelve whole months with this amazing little guy. Everyday has been a joy, I am so thankful that I was able be home with him and witness everything he has ever done, how special is that? I have learned so much over the past year about life, love, myself, family, God. Before he was born, my family had done some research into the geneology to find that my generation of daughters who give birth to first born sons are likely to find some kind of mental tumor that would cause some kind of retardation or even death. One of my cousins, lost her son to it. Another cousin didn't loose her little man but struggles daily with doctors not being able to diagnose his rare condition. I was told that I should get an amniocentisis. After reading about what that was, I couldn't risk the chance of miscarriage or infection to my baby, so I decided to trust God. After all, if something was wrong with my child, there was no way I would ever abort him. The more I gave it to God the more dreams I would have that would reveal all the things I was scared about and show me there was no reason to fear. We decided to name him Asher, it means Happy and Blessed. I found it in the bible. My pregnancy seemed to go well, and he was born March 29th, 2006 after about 7 hours of labor.

From the beginning this child has been nothing but joy. He didn't sleep through the night right away like I had hoped, he was a three hour baby, but I didn't mind too much because he loved to take naps with his mommy. He was always really alert as a baby, paying attention to everything and smiling when he heard his mommy speak or sing to him (which she did often). He was always turning heads, stopping people at the store, attracting the attention of sweet little girls who chanted "baby Asher, baby Asher", disrupting the sermon of Sunday morning during his morning poop (lots of grunting there), and had the older women begging me to babysit. He was special from the beginning! Oh yea, and perfectly healthy. I was so worried about breastfeeding and I shouldn't have been, he was born at 7lbs 4 oz, and gained a pound a week for a couple months off of breastmilk. I would hear comments about how fat he was and feel bad, but now looking back, I realize those comments were because they thought fat babies were ADORABLE! I thank God for all the fat, because that is what gave his body a great start to life and the first time he ever got sick wasn't until around 9 months old.

Okay I will try to end this novel soon... My baby is still turning heads. We stand in line at the post office and he stares each person down until they smile back at him. We walk down pearl street and even the tattooed guys with mohawks soften their spirits and smile at him. It was Asher that attracted our neighbors whom we are now friends with. With my husband and I being in ministry, we know God meant Asher for us, because he is the one that brings people to us which then go on to become great relationships.

My little boy today is very interactive, very talkative (although I don't know what he's saying), and he loves to smile, laugh, hug and sometimes even kiss (especially eskimo kisses). I can't wait for the rest of the world to meet him and confirm to me how amazing God has made him.
Asher thank you for gracing our lives, we look forward to what else you have in store for us, thanks for making parenting easy! (okay now I am going to go cry about my little baby growing up so fast!)

Wordless Wednesday!

Today's Wordless Wednesday has the theme of our favorite TV shows:

Man vs. Wild on Discovery

Lost on ABC

(my favorite) America's Next Top Model (Josh can't stand Tyra)

(Josh's favorite) Dirty Jobs on Discovery (I am always begging him to shut it off at night so I won't be dreaming of snakes and worms and stuff)