Wow! What a day...Jakob woke up feeling very warm this morning. I took his temperature and it read 101.1 degrees. I immediately gave him some tylenol and within a half hour he didn't feel warm anymore. I've had to keep the tylenol in him every 4 hours or he starts to heat up again. He hasn't been bad, just very clingy and sleepy and a little unhappy. I'm thinking it's probably his teeth (his daddy noticed a lot of drool in the last couple days and he chews on his finger constantly) at dinner his favorite thing was mashed potatoes, I'm guessing cause they're soft and you don't really have to chew them. Needless to say the weaning went out the window today. He felt so bad, and looked so pitiful, that I nursed him at lunch time (which is the meal we've been skipping). If he wakes up feeling better tomorrow we'll try to get back on schedule. Poor little fella :(

The movers are supposed to deliver our household goods on Monday, August 9th!!! I am so happy :) Jeremy's brother is supposed to come on the 8th and he will help Jeremy move the big stuff over to the house. I will have two kiddos to take care of, so I won't be much help, but I need to be there to help figure out where furniture will go. We are supposed to meet with the couple we will be renting from on Friday sometime. It is such a relief to have everything nailed down and now we can just count the days till we're in a house!!! Yay!

The new word that would describe Jakob would have to be "independent." I noticed that lately he's been a little fussy and wanting to nurse 10 times a day, so I decided that we would try giving him "real food" and see if he stays full longer. Friday he had a dinner of green beans (whole), cut up ham and cheese and dried cranberries. I just put the food on his little tray and let him go at it. He loved the food and seemed to really liked the fact that he could choose which food he wanted to eat. He ate a lot that night. The next morning I woke up and was kind of uncomfortable and realized that I forgot to even nurse him on Friday night! I've been wanting to start weaning Jakey once he turns a year, and put him on whole milk. It is kinda sad to lose that closeness with breast feeding, but he is a big boy now and I think we're both ready. I am very thankful that I was able to breast feed him and that we never really had any major problems with it. I have 2 friends at church who really wanted to nurse with their first babies, but could not produce enough milk even with pumping and/or using herbs (you never think about people having those kind of problems when you don't have them). Saturday I fed Jakob baby food at lunch time (I need to finish up what I've got left) along with a whole banana. That boy LOVES!!!! banana's! When I show him the banana and say "want some nana?" he says "nana." (totally off the subject, but he also says "all done" when he quits eating I say "ok, are we all done" and it sounds very close to all done, and he does it every time, so I know he's attempting to say it) We skipped the nursing on Saturday afternoon. Saturday night he ate green beans, corn and cheese and more banana. I nursed him Saturday night and that was that. I also bought him some little berry juice boxes and he drinks a juice box with dinner. I have been trying to make sure he's drinking some water and juice during the day so he doesn't get dehydrated since he's not nursing as much now. He does not like me to hold the juice box. I let him hold the juice box and I make sure the straw is pointed forward and he drinks it on his own. He is definitely becoming more independent very quickly. I am going to have to change my grocery shopping as it relates to Jakob. Baby food is easier to buy and to serve, but I actually think fresh produce will end up being cheaper (we spend about $30 on baby food for two weeks). I want to make sure and give him a variety of foods, because he's not picky right now and I don't want him to become that way. I know next grocery trip I want to get some sweet potatoes and carrots to steam. If anybody has any ideas for fresh foods I can cook up and he can eat with his fingers, please let me know :)  

11 Months old!!! Can you even believe it? As I've said before it is almost impossible to get a posed picture anymore. Only action shots for us! We are making plans for Jakob's first birthday party. Me and Jeremy are so excited about it, and Jakob probably won't be excited till he sees his own little birthday cake. Publix and Wal-mart give you a separate little cake for the birthday boy/girl when you order a first birthday cake. I know my little sugar loving baby will enjoy that. Here is a picture of Jakob's birthday supplies:

So cute right? and the cake we want to get has a little teddy bear on a big bright number one. We have a big change coming to our house very soon. The other day my friend Alicia asked me if I'd want to babysit her little girl. Of course I said yes! I am so amazed at how God has been working things out for us. I am a big worrier normally, but I have just prayed about our situation and every time I feel like worrying I just give my worries over to God and he continues to bless and show me that he has everything under control. The extra money from babysitting will help us a lot until we sell our house, and I think it will be nice for Jakob to have a friend to play with. The girls from church are planning some outings to Atlanta (a children's museum, the zoo) so I am excited about taking Jakob to some new places soon. I will leave you with some pictures...some are really cute, others...well, you'll see. Hope you all have a great weekend! <3

Yep, he did it. Jakob finally made it to the toilet and the lid wasn't down. He threw the lid to my hairspray bottle in there. Daddy had to fish it out...at least the toilet was clean :)

Well...we're moving into a house!!! Yay! We're still a little cautious about being super happy about it because something could always pop up, but as of right now we'll be renting the house from the guy who used to work up here. You wouldn't even believe it if you heard how the Lord has worked things out, even for the guy we're renting from. He is giving us an awesome deal (we're renting his house for less than we rent this apartment) and he is not having to worry about losing money on his end because of a blessing from his dad. There is one downside, and that is to keep our lower rent we signed a six month lease a couple months ago. Because we want to break the lease they are gonna charge us an extra $1,000.00 (eeekkk!!!) so I am trying not to stress about that, and just trust that God will work this out. The house should be all cleared out and ready to be moved into on Aug. 5th. I don't know exactly when we will start to move stuff over. We've got to see if we know anyone with a pick-up truck that we could "borrow", and Jeremy is off of work on Wednesdays and Thursdays, so we may have to wait until the week after that. The good part is we can schedule our other goods to be delivered and the movers will unload all of that. I'm so excited for Jakob to have a yard to play in. Last night I didn't sleep too well (we drank coffee late last night) and every time I was awake I could hear my neighbors talking loudly and walking around (and using their washer/dryer at 1:00 in the morning) and I just thanked the Lord that we will be out of this apartment soon. I really like my neighbors. They are nice people, but they work an odd schedule, and when we're in bed they're awake, and when we're awake they're in bed. Speaking of which, Jakob has slept through the night for four of the last five nights! ;) the one time he woke up I heard the neighbors new baby screaming and they were pacing trying to quiet the baby, so I know that woke him up. I changed Jakey's nap schedule. He goes down at 10:00 now and then down again at 2:30/3:00 depending on when he gets a little fussy. Then he goes to bed at 8:45/9:00 at night. It is working really well for us. I bought real oats this week to make Jakob oatmeal instead of the little ground up baby oatmeal. He's not real crazy about it. This morning was our first morning to try it though, so we'll keep trying. The baby oatmeal doesn't seem to keep him full very long, so I wanted to try the real deal. Well, thanks everyone who prayed about the house situation with us. I will post pics once we get over there. Hope you all have a great weekend :)

Where's the pictures???

So Everyone's been asking where are the pictures of Jake??? I was trying to take some cute pics of him in his big boy pj's and this is about all I got out of him. He is so busy!!! He is definitely the cutest little guy though :) About the only time you will catch him being still is when he is watching a movie. The only movies he will sit and intently watch are sesame street, finding nemo and his davey and goliath movies. The bottom pic is Jake modeling his hat that mommy made (and still hasn't finished yet!)

Jakob woke up yesterday and looked like a toddler. There's not much baby left, except for maybe when he wants to nurse...lol. He's growing so fast!

I'm starting to realize more and more that our experiences in life (whether good or bad) shape our view of the world around us. There's a couple who used to be members of our church and are now at PCC (they are my age if not a little older, he's going back for a graduate degree). Every time my Sunday School teacher mentions them he mentions that they really want to have a baby and are having trouble, and my heart just aches for them. I remember the pain, and I hurt for them. I feel the same empty feeling in the pit of my stomach that I always felt when we were TTC and people would announce a pregnancy. My perspective is different because of my struggle with infertility. I'm not saying that other people cannot feel compassion for this couple, I'm sure they do, but with my experience I understand some of the feelings they are feeling. Had I gotten pregnant right away I may just hear that announcement and think..."oh, that's too bad" and then go my way without another thought. Today I'm praying for that couple, and thinking of them even though I've met them very briefly only once. God has many reasons for what we go through. We can rejoice better when others have a victory that we've also had. We learn how to "weep with those that weep" as the Bible commands us when we know and personally feel what other people are going through. Does that make the situation better as you're going through rough times? I would say no and yes. We are human and we will feel pain, there's no getting around that. I do believe though that if we draw close to God and keep his plan in the forefront of our minds our perspective can be good and even sometimes positive as we go through trials. I also think that rejoicing and getting to celebrate with people when they receive blessings and knowing  the same feeling of receiving your hearts desire is an experience like no other. 

What I thought I wanted

Tuxedo in the closet, gold band in a box

Two days from the altar she went and called the whole thing off

What he thought he wanted, what he got instead

Leaves him broken yet grateful

I passed understanding a long, long time ago

And the simple home of systems and answers we all know

What I thought I wanted, what I got instead

Leaves me broken somehow peaceful

I keep wanting You to be fair,

But that's not what You said

I want certain answers to these prayers, But that's not what You said

When I get to heaven, I wanna go find Job

I want to ask a few hard questions, I wanna know what he knows

About what it is he wanted, and what he got instead

How to be broken yet faithful

What I thought I wanted, what I got instead

Leaves me broken and grateful

-Sarah Groves

Simply trusting...

The guy who used to have Jeremy's job up here got a promotion and moved to Mobile, Al. He still owns a house here in Cartersville but he's about to buy a house in Al. He has been telling Jeremy that we should rent his house here, and Jeremy keeps telling him we cannot afford it. Yesterday he called Jeremy and told him maybe we could make a deal and rent from him. Here's the issue though...I'm not in a hurry now. Isn't that weird? I mean, don't get me wrong, I want to move into a house so badly I can hardly stand it. What I mean is I am not in a rush to get my own way so much that I want to make a hasty decision. I want what God wants. I don't know if that means renting this guys house or staying in this apartment. In fact, we went and looked at the house yesterday and we really don't think we'd like to rent it (and it is a gorgeous house on one acre of land, no reason for us not to want to jump on this deal). Now, if the price was right, and I felt God leading then I would definitely be grateful to be in this house. Maybe the hesitation we feel is God's way of giving us an answer on this one. Jeremy is supposed to call him this weekend and they will talk numbers. Like I said, we don't really think we're supposed to rent this house, so I'm hoping the numbers will be so that we just cannot do it at this time. I believe God has the right place for us, and the right time to move into that place. We've just got to trust and wait on his timing. It's amazing to me when God is working our plans can become something that we never thought they would be...

The picture of the hat from the internet My first hat (it's way too big) The second hat As you can see neither hat is finished yet. I need to go back and get yarn for the border and the little braided ties. I also want to search around with the second hat and try to figure out how to attach the ears better, the pattern didn't say how to attach them. Jakob hates it when I put these on his head, so I can't get a picture with him in them, it is so cute though

Jakob stood up from the ground all by himself tonight for the first time!!! He just put both feet flat on the floor and stood up. We are still battling the snotty nose with him, but thankfully it has stayed at that and not developed into a cough or chest cold. I went to the herb store yesterday and bought some colloidal silver (sp?) -it is antibiotic and antibacterial- hoping that this stuff will not turn into a sinus infection or ear infection. His little front tooth is so close to coming through the gums, I know it will be any time now. He will then have six teeth. I have started learning to crochet. I have always wanted to know how to do it, and I figured I won't have as much time to learn once Jakob gets a little older and busier, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a computer cd and started learning. I really want to be able to make cute hats, and maybe even the cute little baby shoes that you see on ETSY. I have read though that the baby shoes are really hard to make. I made the first hat with a free pattern I found online, it was supposed to be for a 6-12 month old child, but it is humongous!!! It probably won't fit Jakob until he's two years old, so tonight I made another one, and I followed the same pattern, just didn't make it as long. When I finish it I will put up pictures. Our house is now listed with another realtor. The realtor said he sees no reason why it won't sell at the price it is. He went out and took new pictures, and it looks really good. The summer is when people usually relocate with the military, so our area should have a lot of new people moving in, and we are very hopeful that it will sell soon. Well, that's about all I have going on right now...Hope you all have a great weekend :) Love, -Me

I was not really excited about this weekend because I was missing being at home and having a fourth of July b-b-q and watching fireworks with friends and family. My 4th ended up being a lot of fun. They do the fireworks in Acworth (the city where our church is) on the lake, but the traffic gets really bad, and they say it can take you 2 hours just to get out of there once the fireworks are over, so we went to the chick-fil-a parking lot nearby and watched the fire works. We got there about 2 hours early (it takes a looong time for it to get dark up here) the fireworks didn't start till 9:45. The weather was perfect, probably low 70's. We just sat around and talked and ate (one of the girls had picked up a pizza) and the kids played with toys and ran around on the grass. Jakob loved the fireworks. He squealed and "clapped" his hands, he doesn't really know how to clap yet, but it was his version of clapping. We got home late and Jakey went to sleep pretty fast, but he woke up a lot last night. I had thought he had a runny nose because he was teething, but now I'm kinda wondering if he is getting a cold. I have been sucking his nose out with the suction and using saline so hopefully we can dry this stuff up before he gets really sick. Poor little fella. He keeps sneezing and stuff just flies out of his nose. He's not too sick to give mommy a kiss though...I'll take those kisses, even if I have to wipe the snot off my lips when I'm done (lol) TMI???

Jakey's Gamma sent him some 4th of July tootsie pops...they were a big hit. By the time he was finished with this one his whole tongue, mouth and hands were blue. He really enjoyed it! Thanks Gamma <3

I was thinking the other day about what's going on in our lives right now. I have to admit, I had a pretty sour attitude. I felt like, o.k. Lord, I've endured 4 months of this, I think I've had a fairly good attitude about it, but now I'm ready for it to end. Then Jeremy called the new realtor in Florida and the guy said they are selling about one house a month down there where our house is and that just did me in. When there is hope of things getting better soon it's so much easier to keep your good attitude right? Jeremy had taken Jakob to the pool, and I just wanted to be at home and cry. I was thinking about when I was younger. Crying had a fairly large impact on my parents...Now, we come from a family of 6 women, so there was quite often someone crying, but I mean real tears, for a valid reason. Many times if something was wrong and you needed help, or encouragement, or you just couldn't help it you'd cry. Most of the times your Mom or Dad would move mountains to help you. Crying actually worked out to your advantage. Then I thought about the situation I am in now. Crying or getting angry, or getting an attitude is not going to change the plans of my heavenly Father. "Pitching a fit" with God is not going to get him to change his mind and change the course of my life right now. The thing is...God is doing what's best for me and Jeremy even in this time in our lives. No matter what God does in our lives he does it for our good, even when it comes to chastisement, trials, hardships, it is always for our benefit. I can trust God with this situation, and with all the uncertainties we have right now because I know he is a loving Father, who wants the best for us. I may not see my situation as what's best for me, but God is working a much bigger work than my here and now. As the days went on and I had more time to sit and think I had time to realize how blessed I am. I have my health. I gave birth to a healthy baby boy 10 months ago. The biggest problems we've had are a couple ear infections and a really scary looking rash. My bills are paid, even with an extra mortgage payment thrown in there. No, my situation is not what I would plan if I had control of events, but I am still blessed. Even in an "uncomfortable" situation I have more than most people in the poorest countries will ever have. So basically, I guess I'm saying that my perspective has been turned back to God and back to what is really important. Anytime I start to feel discouraged with what's going on I will remind myself of all the blessings I have and trust God that I am exactly where I'm supposed to be at this moment.