So this is a pretty exciting week for Eric! He started his new job as a Mortgage Broker yesterday and he seems to like it so far.  We still aren't sure if he will stay at this job or take this as a temporary position, though.  He has some other companies calling and wanting to interview him in the next couple weeks so if he finds a position that he'd like better than we may pursue that.  For now we are just so blessed and thankful to God for finding Eric a great job that will pay the bills and keep us comfortable.

Cannen is getting more and more squirmy and learning more everyday!  He's got such a little personality.  He's reaching for toys more and he'll get mad if you take one away from him.  Eric and I can both be extremely stubborn (we're working on it...) so we knew we'd have a little spitfire for a kid. He'll whine a little and he can get a little attitude with us but I swear, knock on wood, the child NEVER CRIES.  Like, ever.  It's baffling to us as we sometimes try to think of the last time Cannen cried and we just can't.  He's SO happy 99% of everyday which makes us so happy! We must be doing a pretty decent job at this parenting stuff! He LOVES his crib which is awesome because we put him down for bed or a nap and he just lays there and goes to bed! Sometimes he'll wake up from a nap and just lay in bed for over an hour, quietly, just playing with his blanket or looking around, waiting for someone to come pick him up.  He has slept through the night since he was 7 weeks old and so I think he must get his love for sleeping from me.  He talks (i.e. makes crazy terodactyl noises) a lot but they are awesome and we love hearing his little voice through the monitor, waking us up in the morning.  He's more and more fun everyday because he's learning to interact with us and it's just the cutest.  I don't mean to brag but I think I have the perfect child-- as every mother does.

I can't help but feel like I'm living a dream life sometimes.  All I've always really wanted is a loving husband who puts God and our family first and a home that is just simply full of love all the time.  I've always wanted a husband who will protect us and provide for us and make the Lord the center of our family.  A husband who shows me and tells me everyday how much he loves me and our family-- and Eric is all those things.  He blows me away sometimes.  Before Eric leaves in the morning he kisses me and tells me something sweet, and when he walks in the door after a long day, the first thing he does is find me and kiss me and he somehow still has energy to help me with Cannen.  I love that after almost a year and a half of marriage and an 8 month deployment abroad, we still act like newlyweds and are crazy about eachother! This past Thursday, Valentines Day, I really just focused the whole day on Eric and how important love is in our every day life.  

I've always wanted to be a stay at home mom and I'm so blessed to be able to do that too.  To each his own but I feel SO excited every day that I get to wake up and just spend the day tending to the house and taking care of my son.  To me, there is nothing more important and I'm so blessed that I never miss a moment of Cannens life.  

Our home is truly SO full of love and laughter all the time.  It just makes me so happy.

smash scripture

I was reading a post online the other day and the woman was talking about how she reads her son a book of nursery rhymes every night.  Inevitably, soon her son knew all the words to each of the nursery rhymes just simply by her repeatedly reading them to him every night.  She then came up with an idea.  Cannen also has a ton of books and he already loves when we read to him.  We will always read him his nursery rhymes and Dr. Suess, etc. but I'd rather him be memorizing something more meaningful. Ya know, instead of singing him to sleep with a nursery rhyme about falling out of a tree in his cradle...  (...... I mean, really?)

This got me thinking.

And then I packed Cannen up, put us in the car, and went to Michaels. I bought a smash book, some markers, some index cards, and some stickers, and got to work.


A day and a half later, I've <almost> finished Cannen's first (made by mommy) smash book of scripture! (and hopefully it will last long enough to be passed down to each of our children.)

Here's a little peak at how it's turning out

(Note: it's supposed to look fun-ish, artsy-ish, and homemade... I'm not a professional printing press over here)

I'll post more pictures as I keep going.  There are a ton of pages to fill so I'm trying to find all the very best verses but the bible is really just full of so much good stuff-- it's hard to narrow it down!
I pray that one day Cannen will find it to be sOooOOoo cool that his mama made him a book that he'll want to read it all the time, and consequently, memorize some of the most important words he'll ever read.

Here's one for us parents (or soon-to-be... or not-so-soon-to-be... parents):
"Train a child in the way he should go, in the way of the Lord, 
and even when he grows up, he will not turn away from it."    -Proverbs 22:6

lately

We had a really fun weekend!
Lately Eric has been taking me on lots of dates and it's been great!  We've always committed to having one fancy date night a week to spend time together and lately we've been trying a bunch of new restaurants and we've been having a lot of fun.
Friday night we went on a double date with our friends Daniel and Aimee to The Hill Cafe (HIGHLY recommend. So good.) , and Saturday night we went out with Des and Tony to Burger Bach (also awesome.  They have a cool, rare draft beer selection).  We are so thankful for our friends.  JUST when we feel like boring old people with a baby, our awesome friends come along and take us out and love on us. We are so blessed to constantly have good friends texting and calling us wanting to hang out, and they especially love when we bring Cannen along so it's really a win-win!

Sunday we went to our Pastors house for a super fun SuperBowl party!  Brandon and Katie have a beautiful home and we had so much fun meeting more new, young couples and watching the game! I made little individual 7-layer dips which came out really nicely!  I saw the recipe on Pinterest so the fact that they actually came out successfully shocked me a little!  My parents offered to watch Cannen for the game so that was super nice.  We are so grateful that my parents live so close to us.

Big event of the weekend:  Cannen rolled over!!! (I totally missed it though... Eric saw it and swears he did it all by himself!)
If you've spoken to us, we'll be the first to tell you that we were not encouraging this, haha! I knew as soon as Cannen rolled over that would mean that we would have to start watching him that much closer.  It's been relatively easy until now because I could lay Cannen down somewhere and know that he'd just stay there!  It's really exciting that our little man is growing up though and learning new little tricks.  He's perfect.
We've also started giving him a sippy cup and feeding him baby food! He's doing great with the baby food and we're just feeding him twice a day.  He still nurses from me and thats where his main nutrition comes from.  (I'm still the biggest advocate for breastfeeding and it really is the BEST thing you can do for your baby. It's the best decision I've made for Cannen yet.)  He's SO funny with his sippy cup because we just put a little water in it and he has really been trying so hard to figure out how to work it and get the water out... hes surprisingly really good at it though!  We have such a smart baby!

BabyBoy actually just woke up from his nap and I hear him squeaking and talking to himself in his room... I love his little noises.  I'll never get enough.

"If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.  If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump", and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing.  If I give everything I own to the poor and even to go the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.  So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love."   -1 Corinthians 13:1-7

Something to think about... 

Love others more than yourself. It goes passed just being kind, it goes into everything that love is.  Which is the next verse of the bible.

"Love never gives up.  Love cares more for others than for self.  Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,  Doesn’t have a swelled head,  Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”  Doesn’t fly off the handle,  Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,  Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,  Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,  Always looks for the best,  Never looks back,  But keeps going to the end." 

-1 Corinthians 13:8

whoops...

So blogging has not been a forte of mine the past 3 months... yikes.  I promised myself if I started this blog I wouldn't let it go and slack off and now I have had people coming up to me lately asking why I haven't blogged in a while sooo I'm back at it and no more slacking! Here's a really compact update of the past 3 months:

Cannen has surely taken up a majority of our time.  He's 4 months now and is changing and growing up everyday.  I swear he has a new sound or laugh everyday.  He's big for a 4 month old, in the 95th percentile for his height and weight... woo! He's still so little though... just a little man.  As I write this he is lying on the floor watching '64 Zoo Lane' and laughing.  He talks alllll the time, just coo-ing and making sounds... he'll definitely be an early talker.  He totally just lights up our world.
Christmas was awesome with him.  He was still too little to know what's going on but I know he felt loved.  The boy is certainly spoiled... He got more gifts than Eric and I combined and I swear my mom is buying him new things every week.  The best thing about having Cannen is feeling the constant love surrounding us constantly.  My parents watch him probably 3 times a week on average and give Eric and I lots of date nights and time to do fun things.  We just have TONS of family and friends around begging to watch our baby and love on him so it's just SUCH a blessing.
Lately his favorite things are his Sophie the Giraffe (this super awesome organic chew toy that he got for Christmas... he sucks and bites and slobbers on that thing all day), his Frank (which is his blankie that I started calling Frank.  For no particular reason.  But it stuck!), and Big Ray (his taggie bear... obviously named after Ray Lewis ;)

Eric graduated from VCU in December.  He would have graduated in 2010 but Marine Boot Camp and his deployment put him a few semesters behind.... but after all of that, he's finally done with school and on the job hunt.  He's working for the Marines full time right now while he feels out the economy and applies to some different jobs in the finance industry.  We have been SO blessed in that God has provided us with more than enough money to make it through the past couple months while Eric is essentially in between jobs. He'll always have the military to fall back on so we'll always be taken care of financially and we're even looking into him going Officer for the Navy.  It's an option, nothing we have decided officially on yet.

Eric really inspires me everyday.  He's just so optimistic and open to what God has in store for us and it really makes me want to see things through his eyes.  He has faith like no one I've ever met before.  Maybe it's his spontaneous nature but he's ready to jump through whatever door God opens for him and see where it takes us.  He's got so much going yet he comes home at the end of the day and musters up the right amount of energy to then deal with me and Cannen.  (And Cannen sure does know his daddy-- he LIGHTS UP everytime he walks through the door.)  Eris is so good at making sure we read our bible and pray before bed and is just a really strong leader for our family in every way.  I know he prays for God's will for our family and he always remembers to glorify God in everything he does.  My kids are lucky to have such an incredible daddy. I'm always thanking God for my little family.  I'm blessed to have them and I don't deserve the happiness I find in them every minute of the day.

As for me, I'm so happy with my life.  I love being a stay at home mom and spending my days with Cannen. It was such a surprise to find out that I was pregnant and as unplanned as it was, it just proves God had such a bigger plan for Eric and I than we imagined.  I've been trying a bunch of new recipes lately... My goal in life is to be an all around domestic goddess so I'm working on that.  So far, surprisingly, I'm not a bad cook!  I'm actually pretty good! Cleaning on the other hand is not something I like to do... I'm sure I'm not the only one with that problem.  Our house is a little smaller than I'd like so it seems to clutter up easily, especially with all the baby stuff.  Eric and I are in the midst of looking to move and thinking about which areas we'd like to look at... hopefully we'll be able to move into a bigger house soon.  I like Glen Allen/Short Pump area so we'll look there.  Eric thinks Midlothian might be a better idea and I dislike the thought of moving to southside but we'll just have to see!
Eric and I are also moving on to a new endeavor and we've recently become youth leaders at our church!  We're still new at it but we are SO excited to meet more of the kids and start relationships with them and work hand in hand with our wonderful church!  We're praying God will use us in the best way to be good examples of His grace and love to the teens.

Myths about newborns that I was told that are total crap

It's funny and I laugh while I write this post because I remember how nervous I was about having Cannen.  The birth itself and bringing him home terrified me.  I had this constant daydream where I got the baby home, put the carseat down, sat on the couch and looked at my baby and literally just thought "umm... uhh... so now what do we do with him....?"
Ofcourse, when you get pregnant, everyone and their mom gives you all the unsolicited advice in the world.  I already wrote a post debunking pregnancy myths and now I will attempt to put other new moms at ease by telling you which things about newborns that I've noticed aren't so true.  Here goes.

1) Maternal instinct.  I think I'm still waiting for this.  So many people tell you about maternal instinct and how it will kick in when you get the baby home but um, atleast for me, not really.  I got Cannen home and literally began wondering how this baby was going to eat, sleep and generally survive.  I'm still so confused by so many things.  Maybe it's just a general lack of common sense.... I'll have to look into that.

2) Preparing for birth.  "make sure you do this and this and this and this and this and this before you go in to labor because you want to be prepared."    .....You won't be prepared. Don't waste your time.  Ignorance is bliss.

3) "oh, he's probably just colic-y".  This one is so annoying.  99% of babies do not have colic.  They aren't colic-y.  Just because your baby is crying for seemingly no reason doesn't mean that they have colic. But moms LOVE to use this word.

4) Babies smell so sweet.  5 minutes after their bath? Yes. Johnson&Johnson baby lotion smells so great.  Other than that babies smell like spoiled milk and poop.  The catch is that even when your baby does smell like sour milk, you still love his smell because your his mama.

5) "Everything will go back to normal once you get home and get used to things."  .....uhh.... except for the BABY that lives with you now....

6) Newborns sleep all day.  This is false.  Babies sleep a lot but they don't eat-sleep-eat-back to sleep-diaper change-back to sleep... it's just not like that.  He's awake a lot! Just awake and wanting to snuggle! I literally bought into it when everyone told me that Cannen would just sleep all the time and that his waketime would be like a total of 30 minutes a day haha

So thats what I've learned so far from being a mama.  If this keeps up I seriously think I'll have enough to write a book.

It's already been a MONTH since Cannen was born!  Time seriously flies.  Like my earlier blog said, the first couple weeks were definitely the hardest of my life but now that we're getting into a groove with him, things are just going SO well.

He's down to only waking up twice a night, and last night he only woke up once!  Usually it's about 2am and 5am that he whines, I feed him, and then he falls right back to sleep.  Last night it was one feeding around 4am.  So I'm really hoping that Babywise starts working it's magic and that in another couple weeks we can drop his middle of the night feedings all together.  Other than that, we're on a strict 3 hour schedule for feedings and Cannen is taking to the schedule really really well.  He's doing great and a really happy baby... and because of that, Eric and I are really happy parents :)

Other things going on:

Eric is in the middle of the school semester and stressed and overwhelmed to say the least.  It's definitely proved to be a hard semester for him and his classes are tough.  However, he's handling everything with more grace and patience than I ever could.  He's in class all day and then comes home to a newborn and still has crazy amounts of work to do.  I'm certain that it's just an answer to my many prayers that Eric would have a successful school year and that the stress wouldn't bring him down.  He has this way of not letting things effect him as much as you think they should.  No matter what, at the end of the day, he walks through the door with a smile on his face and beelines to me and Cannen to give us both a kiss. I look at him and see all the potential in the world and his constant support and grace is truly inspiring for me.  

We started a new small group through our church which is already something that we so look forward to every week.  We've began some new friendships and furthered others and we can't wait to see where God will lead us and the other couples.  Since we got married Eric and I have always prayed that we would find the right small group and it's taken a year to really work itself out.  A few options ended up being on nights where Eric had class or I had work.  A few other options just felt a bit uncomfortable for us because it seemed that there weren't many people our age in our same place of life.  23 years old and married with a baby on the way isn't the norm.  But, again, God answered our prayers and we're so thankful to Him for that.  There is another couple who has a baby just a few weeks older than Cannen and so even he has found his first little friend!  All around it's just such a blessing.  

As for me, there isn't much to say except the tales of being a new mom.  Spiritually, I feel that I'm starting to understand more and more who God wants me to be as both a wife and a mom.  I never had the strongest prayer life but since Cannen was born I feel like I'm constantly saying little prayers throughout the day.  Prayer is what gets me through the harder days and I can't help but constantly thank God on the easier days. I had been so concerned and scared for Eric and I's relationship.  Just nervous that with the baby and school and everything else going on that we would lose sight of our marriage and grow distant.  Our minds are constantly on different things and our day to day priorities are different.  And in the end, yes, it has effected our marriage.  And I'll be honest, it's been really hard for me.  But it hasn't been as much of a bad change as just a change in general.  It takes getting used to and working through it and where before it was just easy, now it takes more work.  I wouldn't change anything for the world though.  I still have the most incredible husband and he still shows me he loves me in more ways than I can count a day.  And I have a beautiful baby.  And all around and incredibly blessed life... I'm still learning how to juggle it all but I'm just so thankful to God that I have it all to juggle in the first place.