What We’ve Been Up To

Wow, sorry for the loooong blogging break (yes, talking to you mom!) Things have been trucking along quite nicely inside the PH. For both brevity’s sake and because I just want to (hey, I’m writing, so I do what I want, yo) I am going to put my news update in a nice list. I have some special things on my mom-heart that I will share with you all soon (Mother’s Day is this weekend, so I feel it is only appropriate), but for now, I will satisfy the masses, or at least the grandmothers, with a clean list of updates. So, what have we been up to these days? In no particular order:
• TP graduated from ONU with his master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry. We spent a WONDERFUL weekend in Illinois with our fabulous friends, ate wonderful food, played with lots of adorable kiddos, slept very little, and visited some of our old haunts. Well, I don’t know if you can call them old haunts since we lived there just a year ago. But man, does it feel like a lifetime ago…we saw these places we visited/ate/played/worked only 12 months ago and felt like we hadn’t seen them in years. Our life has changed so much in the past year and we’ve grown (in LM’s case quite literally) so much in these months back in Indiana, it seems sometimes that our Illinois life was, well, a lifetime ago. But in summary, we had a wonderful time and we are all SO VERY PROUD of TP for this accomplishment. He and I both say that we are going to take some time off from school, but let’s be honest, anybody that knows us suspects that our resolve on that front will crumble sooner rather than later. In fact, we’ve both already been scoping out programs here at IU (more to come on that later).
• LM is shooting up like a weed. He LOVES being outside (seriously, the kid would eat, sleep, poop…everything outside if he could). He is soaking up lots of sun, when we have it, and cries like a banshee when we have to bring him inside. This kid is ALL BOY, my friends. He is a climbing machine with bruises on his arms, legs, and yes, his butt from his climbing escapades. He eats dirt anytime we turn our backs for a second, loves playing in the garage with Daddy’s tools (and curiously enough, the shop broom…I’m so proud!). At his 15 month checkup, we’ve concluded that while he still has an off the charts big noggin, he is growing up and slimming down. Who knew that our little Buddha baby would be getting so long and lean? He’s starting to say a few recognizable words (Ball, Daddy, car, cow, etc.) but mostly he just babbles in his own baby language. Sometimes, in fact, he gives us quite the earful. We should probably be thankful in those times that we can’t understand what he’s saying.
• We are starting some new things at our church. We’ve been doing Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey for about a month now and it is going very well. We’ve made some new friends from the community through this program and we are really taking control of our finances. If you’ve never done it, I highly encourage you to find a local class and get plugged in. Our young adult Sunday School class is also changing a bit to be a more “small group” like. We’ve ordered some new material that I am SUPER PUMPED to start. I know God is going to work great things through this group of people; I can’t wait to see where it goes.
• We are trying to be healthier in our house these days. TP has taken up running and I’m getting back into Zumba. The plan is for all of us, yes all of us, to do a 5K in September to benefit our local Crisis Pregnancy Center. So we are getting our butts (and legs) in gear training for that. It is kind of amazing how exercise helps your mood, not to mention your body. TP has really committed fully to this working out thing…I am still just sticking my toes in the water. Mostly I hate working out, that’s why I love Zumba so much. So you should all pester me about doing it, that way I feel bad and don’t let TP get more in shape than me!

Alright, I’m about out of time to write this and I think those are the main points of interest in our lives these days. Hopefully the fam is contented with those updates, but just in case they need more to soothe their souls, here are some adorable pictures of LM (as taken, once again, by his fabulous babysitter Mihaela!)

Checking out some grass

LM loves trees! Or is slightly afraid of them.

My big little man!

LM Turns One!

I can hardly believe it myself, but it happened. Over the weekend, my litle man, my squishy little spitfire of a boy, turned one year old. It seems impossible that it has been an entire year since we went to the hospital earrrrrly that snowy morning knowing that we would leave in a few days with our son. We’ve had a crazy year, but it has been an incredible experience and we don’t know how we ever survived with just the two of us. As was absolutely necessary to commemorate this occasion, we had a big party with lots of our family and friends. LM was his usual charming self, even with having arrived at the end of a nap (it took him a little bit to warm up to everybody…I’m grumpy when I first wake up too dude, no worries).

Since this was probably the only year that I will have sole input and control over the theme and whatnot of the party, I decided to piggy-back on the theme of his nursery and do owls. We love owls at our house, and not-so-coincidentally owls were the theme of my babyshower thrown by two of my most fabulous friends in Bourbonnais over a year ago (wow, still seems crazy). So it was only appropriate that the owls resurface to celebrate the anniversary of LM’s entrance. His cake and decor were all owl-themed, and seemed to be a hit with people.

He also had a super-fly birthday crown made by the very same fabulous friend who threw the owl baby shower last year. Note to readers: LM does NOT like ANYTHING on his head. This includes a hat when it is 6 degrees outside, a comb after bathtime, my hand ruffling his hair, or (as it turns out) his birthday crown. I don’t really know what I was thinking assuming he would cooperate. Oh well, it has detachable numbers, so maybe next year!

We were not sure how LM would take to this cupcake. Especially since the bakery people gave us an equal share of cupcake and icing. He was hesitant at first.

But after a while, he really started warming up to it.

Eventually he really dug in.

And finally, we had nothing but an adorable, sticky, smurf baby on our hands. All was well and he had a great time demolishing his cake.

It was a wonderful day celebrating our precious LM with family and friends who all love him (almost) as much as we do! I know the coming years will just keep passing by faster and faster, and I am just trying to keep up and soak it all in right now. Happy Birthday LM, you are officially the best!

a LOOOOOONNNNG weekend

Happy day after Labor Day everyone! No, this post does not include the first look into my Women in Power series. That will come later when I’ve had more sleep and am thinking more clearly. You see, this was LM’s first Labor Day weekend. And boy, do we know how to party…with the never anticipated arrival of a nasty cold! Let me ‘splain.
On Saturday, TP, LM, and I packed up and headed east to my aunt’s house for a par-tay. Every year they do a big three-day blowout of a party over Labor Day weekend. Well since TP had to be, well, TP on Sunday and we were all tired and a wee bit cranky from working and such on Friday, we decided to join the festivities for just Saturday. Maybe next year we can do the super fun, three day, fireworks and more food than our bellies can hold full weekend. So, Saturday we left after LM’s breakfast and made the hour drive over to Columbus. It was drizzling (thank you Isaac for a rainy weekend), but not cold so we figured we’d just hunker down in the party barn and we’d all be fine. The day was great, lots of fun, seeing family and friends, and of course LM charmed the pants off (figuratively thank goodness) of everyone. But with there being so much excitement, new people, and noise (dude, there were a LOT of kiddos there), LM did not seem to want to nap or rest at all. Can you blame him? He’s suuuuuper curious and always wants to know what’s happening around him, and with this gang there was not a quiet spot to be found. So he probably slept a total of 60 minutes the entire day. We chalked it up to “oh well, he will sleep great tonight!” and went on with our partying business. We figured he’d pass out as soon as we got in the car to go home and sleep soundly the entire night. Oh boy, how cute we are!

We got in the car and LM pitched a royal fit for about 20 minutes before he finally wore out and fell asleep. When we got home we transitioned him from his carseat to his crib (usually an ordeal and a half that results in him waking up and thinking it is still party time instead of sleepy time) with ease, and he fell back asleep. Much joy and high fiving from myself and TP. We got ready for bed thinking we’d nailed the whole “party all day like a maniac and then go to bed without a peep” thing that parents dream of. Again, how cute we are!

Within an hour, LM was up and crying. I don’t mean a whine or whimper. Chico was crying like dementors were after him. I managed to calm him down after much shhhh’ing and pacing his room. Down he went and I went to bed. The next hour rolls around and he is crying his silly head off again. Again, I’m up and comforting and putting back down into what I hope is sound sleep. Sensing a pattern yet? LM was up every hour (at the most) for the whole night, crying like he’d just been kicked out of the top model house. Since TP had to be up and preach early Sunday morning, I took comfort duty. All night. Every hour. Suffice to say, Sunday morning rolled around, and I said through blurry eyes to TP, “um, LM and I are not going to church today.” He was, of course, understanding. When I went in that morning to once again pick up and console my crying baby, I could hear the congestion in his chest, see the runny nose, and feel as he struggled to breathe. I don’t know if you are aware, but babies instinctively breathe through their noses, and his was totally clogged. It was only at the last second before suffocation that his little body remembered, “oh right, I can also get air through my mouth” so he would open his mouth and gasp for air before resuming his futile attempts to squeeze oxygen in through his snotty nose.

LM had been so upset through the night and crying so hardcore that he was doing that “gasp/hiccup” thing that we do when we’ve been crying a lot (know what I mean?). I felt so horrible, I just held him and cried too. I felt like I lost a bazillion mommy points for letting him be so upset (even though I jumped right up every time he cried and went in immediately to console him). I tried sucking some snot out of his nose, but there was always more there to replace it. I (of course) called my mom for help. After discussing what could have caused this sudden onset of cold-zilla (the damp air the day before, being held by and breathing in so many new people, the change in temperature from muggy outside to air conditioned house, etc.) she said, “honey, just try to keep his nose clear and hold him if he wants to be held.” Right. Practical advise from the family nurse and guru of all things health related, and this is what she’s got for me? Now, now, I know she was totally right and that’s all we could really do for him, but I wanted some miracle answer like, “give him three drop of vanilla oil and run backwards through the yard clucking and he will instantly be all better.” I mean, my family’s from Kentucky, there has to be some old granny remedy for this, right? Alas, sigh, no. So we snuggled all day as LM was just generally tired and whiny and clingy. He tried to eat but couldn’t since he couldn’t breathe, he tried to nap but couldn’t ’cause his nose was stopped up.

Mind you, we did err’thing we could think of. We propped up his mattress on one end so he wouldn’t lay flat, we turned on his humidifier, we gave him a warm bath in a steamy bathroom. Sunday night was better, he was only up maybe 6 or 7 times and TP was able to help since we both had Monday off. Monday morning, after working all night at the hospital, my mother came over to help out with our sick baby (I know, right, she’s a saint!) We had friends coming over for a grill out that afternoon and our house looked like a snotty baby and tired mommy had not left it in days (oh, wait…). So my mom came and cuddled LM and tried to feed him and just generally keep him happy and occupied while I cleaned the house and got the food ready for the afternoon. Oh, and I put out my fall decorations, cause, ya know, it is time. LM napped wayyyyy more than usual, but he clearly needed it. We tried to keep up with the monumental flow of snot, but by the end of the day LM was so annoyed with us that he put up a fight if we tried to go anywhere near his nose. But when we finally got him down last night, he seemed to be breathing a little better and be not quite so miserable. Granted, he’d picked up a cough and sneezy-ness that day, but that’s to be expected. He only got up twice last night, so that’s a DRASTIC improvement. Since both TP and I had to return to work today, LM returned to his amazing babysitter. When she arrived his morning we gave her the low-down on the weekend and an update on LM’s condition. Seeing as she’s had two babies, she gave us that nod like “yes, yes, you are both freaking out about a cold…you are cute” and promised to keep an eye on his cough and give him lots of extra loving today (like anybody needs an excuse to do that anyway). I have so far restrained myself from texting her and asking how he’s doing, but my resolve is slowly crumbling.

So dear readers, I am asking that you say a little prayer for LM, for his snotty nose and his sneezy and cough-y chest. Through his whole affair, he’s generally been super pleasant and smiley. What a trooper, right? Hopefully this cold peters out soon and we don’t have to go to the doc for any antibiotics or whatnot. And while you’re at it, say a prayer for his bleary-eyed, tired, and worried parents who are freaking out (probably too much) about his cold. We’d all appreciate it.

Oh, and just to show how much of a “this cold ain’t gonna keep this man down” my LM is, he also started pulling up this weekend. That’s right, he can’t crawl yet, but he’s pulling himself up to a standing position already. Can you say “walking by Christmas?” Lord help us.

A bundle of pure deliciousness and an upcoming project

Hello readers! I apologize profusely for the long absence. Working a new job, raising up a rambunctious 7 month old, keeping the ship that is our home sailing as smoothly as possible, and trying to just soak in every possible minute of life in our PH has kept me fairly busy. Oh, and did I mention reading a ton of new books? Yes, since I am no longer a student (yes, I finished all the work for my master’s degree, was approved for conferral of degree, and am just waiting on my diploma to come in the mail, yay!) I finally have the opportunity and brain space to devote to reading for fun. So in the last few weeks I have devoured the Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief series (5 books), 1 1/2 of the Kane Chronicles (another fabulous series by Percy Jackson’s author Rick Riordan), and started The Once and Future King by T.H. White. But I have some downtime in between sending a bunch of emails and typing outlines and documents for work, so a short update is being served straight up.

First, I feel the need to share something with you all. This is super special to my heart and a treasured practice for me these days. Every night, our routine goes loosely something like this:

* I get home from work to see TP and LM playing in the living room. I then proceed to shower both my fabulous men with kisses and realize even more how deeply I’ve missed them both during the day.

*I start dinner for myself and TP. He proceeds to feed LM his dinner of baby food and a spot of formula to wash it down.

*TP and I eat dinner, usually while entertaining LM and/or watching Big Bang Theory (even though we have seen all the episodes 70billion times…we can’t get enough Sheldon…more on that another time).

*We play and chat and clean up the kitchen while LM continues being adorable (sometimes we have to look hard for the adorbs through a whiny butt…but not often).

*The three of us go on a walk around our neighborhood to enjoy the cooler temperatures and get LM settled down in preparation for bed.

*We come home, TP gets LM in his pajamas and a clean diaper while I make his cereal. I go into the nursery and find TP making silly faces and singing to LM (usually Avett Brothers, Jack White, or some other slightly indie artist. I think he hopes LM will grow up and be a music snob like his daddy).

*TP places LM in my arms in the glider, prays over all of us, turns on the lullabies, and leaves to tidy up the house and do his Pastor-y things. I dunno.

* I sit there and give LM his cereal and then rock him until he/while he sleeps. This is where the most precious moment of my day passes into my heart. LM loves to touch our faces while he eats. For some odd reason, it entertains and calms him to touch our cheeks and eyes, our lips (sometimes putting his fingers in our mouths), hold our mouths while we talk and try to grip our chins (with TP he succeeds since my hubs sports a rockin’ awesome, totally Irish mountain Moses man beard). Most nights he drifts off sucking down his cereal while holding on to my face or my fingers. After I quietly slip the bottle out of his mouth, I just hold him there and rock him. I study his face intently. His gorgeous, gorgeous face, his tiny hands, his ever lengthening baby body. Every night, without fail, I sit and stare at my son for at least 5 minutes after he’s fallen asleep. Why do I do this you ask? He can’t be THAT interesting, can he? Au contraire, my friends. He is possibly the most awe-inspiring, amazing, stare at for hours worthy thing I’ve ever seen in real life (I haven’t actually had a chance to LOOK at Jesus, yet). Every day he changes. No, I’m not exaggerating. Every day he changes, he gets bigger, braver, more experienced at life and it shows. I can’t get over how in just over half a year he has gone from this tiny morsel of a person to a full fledged LITTLE BOY. And I know these changes are just going to get faster and crazier, so everyday I take a few minutes while he is at his most peaceful (dude never stops moving when he’s awake so its harder to gawk) and just drink it all in. Drink in my precious baby boy, my squishy little gift from God, and marvel that he is here and healthy and (mostly) happy. It is a practice I HATE missing (I’ve only missed putting him to bed 3 or 4 times since he’s been born and every time it KILLS me), and where I truly find peace in my heart everyday.

LM being his adorable self. How could I not want to stare at this face everyday?
Photo by Alyssa Saathoff.

*Then I go out and read or finish cleaning up the kitchen or whatnot before I crash at about 10:30pm. I know, ya’ll, this girl be an old lady. Whatev, I’m tired.

So now that you’ve feasted on that little look inside the PH in the evenings, let me talk very briefly about an upcoming project I plan to share with you. As some of you know, my undergrad and master’s thesis was on Elizabeth Tudor (or Queen Elizabeth I). I think she’s a fascinating example of a powerful woman who defied stereotypes in an age dominated by men. As I finish my formal schooling (for now!) and start to look forward (into the sort of, but not really near future), I am beginning to think about the next step in my scholarly career. I think I am going to (some by force, some by choice) broaden my spectrum of study of powerful and influential women in history. I find these ladies amazing for many reason, which I will divulge more as this project progresses. But in my thesis defense, one of my professors said something along the lines of, “I can see you writing a book about powerful women in history.” This may have been a blanket compliment to usher me out the door feeling good and supported (which it did) as good Christian teachers ought to do (and they did all through my career at ONU). But I think he really meant it. And the more I thought about it, I agree with him. I can see myself writing a book (or perhaps a series of books) about women throughout history who did not necessarily conform to the traditions or expectations of their time, who walked the fine line between the family sphere and the power sphere. But before I spend countless hours researching, writing, submitting, re-writing, ect. I want to see if there is actually anyone else in the world interested in this. So over the next several posts, I am going to be writing little mini-stories of these women and gauging the responses. Each post will feature a different wily lady (with a special twist connection to my own little world). So please, friends, as you read the upcoming posts, comment with your honest thoughts and feedback. It can be about the subject material (did I choose a good person to represent my point?) the writing (I will try to keep it as scholarly as possible, with minimal snarkiness, but I make no promises), and the overall interest in this topic from people who aren’t necessarily history nerds. Or are history nerds. Or just lovers of knowledge in general. I will accept all types. I appreciate your feedback as I am wading through these murky waters of a future endeavor.

So hopefully that is enough to peak your interest in posts to come, satisfy your need to know what’s been going on in the PH lately, and leave you with enough “awwwww’s” for the rest of the day. If not, here’s some more.

This LM LOVES his daddy. See what I mean about the beard grabbing?
Photo by Alyssa Saathoff.

He loves his mommy too. This smile is like hot cocoa for my heart.
Photo by Alyssa Saathoff.

Those baby blues…killer.
Photo by Alyssa Saathoff.

We love him. He tolerates our showering of affection with poise and grace, as you can see.
Photo by Alyssa Saathoff.

Looking in the window

So what better way to start off a blog about living in the pastor’s house than to take a look at the actual pastor’s house? For those of you who are unfamiliar with the trixy lingo of churchy-ness,  often times the pastor’s house is called the parsonage. The parsonage is a property that the church owns, in which the pastor and his family live. Not all churches can/do provide a parsonage for their pastor, but we were SO FORTUNATE to come to a church that does provide us a place to live.

Parsonage living can be a tricky situation. The house is both yours and not yours. Each new pastoral family brings different things (both personality and actual POSSESSIONS) to the house. It can become a totally different structure under the care of each family. It is cool in that you get to see the unique personality of each family reflected in the way they personalize the parsonage. We had heard lots of horror stories about parsonage living (church boards flat refusing any improvements, dilapidated buildings, REALLY STRICT RULES about living in the house) so needless to say that while we were overjoyed at having a place to live provided for us we were also a little nervous about how it was going to play out.

I never actually saw the house in person before we moved in (gasp, I know, it was a hair loss opportunity for me too!). Matt saw it once, briefly, and being a guy could not give me much in the way of details about how things looked. But some FAB-U-LOUS members of our congregation put in much time taking pictures and videos to send letting us know what our future abode looked like. Some before pictures included below.

Another look at the giant white room upstairs.

Part of the giant room downstairs. Love the open space, but not the vast emptiness.

Dining room pre-painting. Another part of the giant white room.

As I mentioned before, we are DIY’ers, as our parents were before us. If you know me at all, you know that I pride myself on home décor and making the most of the living space I am given. I was thrilled at moving from a two bedroom apartment to our much bigger house. What an opportunity to stretch my decorative muscles, I thought. But would the church be ok with us coming in and shaking the place up I wondered? We got our answer almost right away. The church was planning on painting the parsonage for us before we arrived. And instead of painting everything white and just expecting us to deal with it, they asked us what color we wanted to paint everything. WOW! It was a little nerve-wracking to pick out colors for a house I had never stepped foot in, but we did it. We made some bold choices and some safer ones, hoping that everything would meld together beautifully. The church stepped up big time and got the job done. They sent us pictures of the progress along the way.

This color had me scared to death. Whoa orange!

Painting: done. It already looks better.

The day we moved in, I stepped into the house holding my breath that everything we had chosen would look good. And I was BLOWN AWAY with how great of a job they had done with everything. In addition to the painting, some MAJOR home improvements had taken place before we got there. These people had just handed me an already gorgeous house to work with and made it clear that they were on board with the improvements and changes we were hoping for in the future. We couldn’t ask for more! So I got to work decorating. TP decided that he wanted to have an open house for all our church members and neighbors a mere 6 DAYS after we moved in, so we really had our work cut out for us. But we buckled down and with the help of our exhausted and gracious parents, we got it all together (or together enough to let people look at it!). I had scoured PINTEREST (if you don’t know what it is, CHECK IT OUT it is by far one of the best things in the entire universe) to find some decorating ideas that were fun, creative, and wouldn’t break the bank for us. And I think I found some pretty cool ideas.

Please excuse all the baby stuff…it just happens.
Photo wall: pinterest idea.

Dining room after. New paint, new curtains, and furniture!
Tablecloths as curtains: pinterest idea!

But it all turned out beautiful in the end.
Frame scrapbook pages as wall art: pinterest idea!

With a lovely IKEA shower curtain and towels!
Re-writable name tags for guest towels: pinterest idea!

We are still making some changes a little at a time, making the place more and more our own. If I haven’t already said it, we are SO BLESSED to have a church that supports our efforts and encourages us to flex our creative muscles with the parsonage. We have really been given lots of breathing room to turn the house into our home. Even though we don’t technically own the property, we take great pride in the condition and look of our house, and we hope everyone is proud of the accomplishment that this team has done. Just for your viewing pleasure, some additional after shots are included below.

LM’s room all done.

This room is still in progress but it already seems much cozier.

So while parsonage living may be becoming less and less the norm, we have been so fortunate to be a part of this amazing system. Our church family has shattered every preconceived notion and fear I had about living in a parsonage and we are so thankful for that. TP and I are learning slowly the joys and headaches of home “ownership” (even though we don’t own the property we try and take responsibility for maintenance and repairs). There are still rooms with little to no furniture and things to be hung on walls (we did come from a much smaller place after all) but we are slowly but surely turning this house into our cozy home. The pastor’s house will hopefully be a place of comfort and fun, good food and good fellowship.

And just for good measure, an adorable baby boy playing in his new living room!