Wesley - 7 to 12 Months

Seven Months

Can sit on his own
Tips over sometimes
Loves to cuddle and gab
Always smiling, giggling, and shaking his head
Holds his own bottle
Loves seeing his own reflection
Wakes up about 2 times a night
Loves his baby food

Eight Months

 Learning how to interact with objects

Figured out how to roll efficiently ;)

Actually enjoys being on his tummy

Eats a little bit of finger foods

Sings himself to sleep in the car

Laughs at the puppy

Goes to bed around 8pm; only wakes up once

Nine Months

Can stand while holding on to something

Getting very curious about everything

Knows how to open cupboards

Kind of shuffles on his bum sometimes

Very sensitive to the word no

Started sleeping right through the night (on mama's birthday)

Two little teeth poked through (bottom middle)

Ten Months

Can pull himself to standing 

Loves to watch the world from the front window

Says "dada" a lot!

Started rejecting his soother except for night

Army crawls a little bit

Loves walking in his walker from Auntie Ria

Prefers just playing with one toy

More teeth coming; can be pretty fussy

Started clapping

Eleven Months

Realized how to crawl in one day

Two more teeth ontop

Loves to walk while holding onto fingers

Usually standing in his crib when I go get him

Quite content to play alone

Pretty attached to mama

Figured out how to climb stairs

Three more teeth

One Year

Eight teeth total

Grabs my fingers and walks me to the back door

LOVES to be outside! 

Appetite for life and food!

Walks around the house with his push walker

Loves to give wide open mouth kisses

Likes to watch people

Lights up when he sees mama and dada

Flexes his muscles around Gamma and Gampa

My big boy is a year already! Eeeesh! Honestly that went by so fast. I remember getting clothes that were for 6 months, 9 months, or a year, and thinking "he won't need those for a long time". But it happened over night!

Although we're in the stage of learning, which often results in a lot more bumps and tears, his zest for life is infectious! He's always doing something! But he still is a cuddle bug sometimes, and can sit still for a good amount of time. 

Here's to many many more years!!!

But Why?

Sometimes, like a child, I want to whine. "Whyyyyy?" You know the sound.

Like where it's all nasal, in combination with the already runny nose, and you think for just a split second, "why do people reproduce?"

And after the small one asks it about a million times, you end up saying "Just because". Because sometimes there really isn't an explanation to their inquiry. Sometimes we ask questions where God just wants us to listen and learn.

I do that. I turn my face up to the great heavens and say "God, whyyyy?" Maybe stomp a foot or both.

"I don't get it" *use your inner whiny child voice*

Truth is, sometimes, it's just because. We aren't meant to fully understand everything all the time.

I worked at a job for about a year, where the boss wasn't Mother Teresa. Maybe if Mother Teresa had bi-polar and hated everyone. But in the one year at that job, where I wanted to scream at her face, I learned things. I actually learned more in that one year of extreme frustrations, then all my smooth sailing jobs.

Among many practical skills I now find very helpful, I really had to learn to hold my tongue under severe scrutiny and unfairness. ⟸ Probably the hardest lesson of all for me.

The whole time, I didn't get it. Why? It blew chunks.

Also, that long lonely season of waiting................................................

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

Seeeee?  You didn't like that, right?!?! I didn't like it either. I went through a long time where I felt "board". A little bit like I could be doing more. I felt like I had been benched by the coach. Granted I've never played any sports, as my curvy curves/rolls can testify, but I imagine thats what it feels like. Just sitting there, not helping.

Turns out, I needed that season of down time. Because there was something big and a tad overwhelming. Even though I didn't get it back then, I needed that season of underwhelming. It balanced out the whelming. Capiche?

In all of these things, I was learning the why. My situations weren't necessarily changing that drastically, but I was. My understanding. My patience. My knowledge. My gratefulness.

And truth is, you only learn those through some tough life lessons.

A super awesome lady in my life (shout out to Megs) suggested I listen to a sermon entitled, It had to Happen by Steven Furtick. So while I was sitting on her kiddos, I also sat on her chair and watched her TV. I assumed that was the deal with babysitting ;)

The sermon talked about situations where you kind of cause you're own pain. Like "I probably could have handled that better". Just like I didn't have to work at a job where I was belittled, or spend a few months not doing anything productive. But truth is, God actually used my failures or the things I didn't fully understand.

I think it's fitting that God refers to himself as our Father. In truth, I act like a whiny unlearned ungrateful child. "God, whhyyyyy"

Just because.

Because soon... you'll understand.





A calm sea never a skilled sailor made. ~Someone

Time to Give Up

Not gonna lie.

These last few days were butt awful.

I could have just done without them. I felt no purpose in them. They were lame and I didn't need it.

Not one thing in particular, just an accumulation of stinky pathetic rotten things. An overdue to-do list. Dirty floors that my bare feet didn't want to touch. No clothes because the mountain of laundry had made it's own postal code. Unpleasant conversations. Stress. But...

Mostly my attitude.

I was not nose blind to the stench of my own sourness. Even though I tried my best to deflect the reason onto my rough circumstances. The truth was, I have had worse circumstances.

But something in my attitude was fouler than the kitchen garbage can after a few of Wesley's explosive diapers.

I got to the point where I just "couldn't even". I didn't want to do anything except maybe eat a whole bowl of cookie dough while watching The Office series all over again.

Then I took it to God in prayer.

Honestly I don't know how I would handle life without the maker of it. It's like talking to Steve Jobs when you have a problem with your Apple product, and let's face it, Apple has a lot of issues. ;)

Something about knowing I could visit the cross in the middle of my chaos without judgement, set my heart and mind at peace. Suddenly things aren't that bad. I refocused.

I didn't stare that the literal mess around me - but the vision ahead of me. The love over me. The angel army beside me.

Is life tough for you too? I bet it can be sometimes because you're human. And it's ok to be. Just don't wallow in the misery. Take it to Jesus with a little praise!

P.S. I saw a news article today of a public figure who took his life. I wonder what would of happened if he knew he didn't need to bare is burdens alone.

I've changed my mind about Marriage

Fortunately and unfortunately there exists a video of me when I was about 14 or 15, sitting in a chair at my friend's house, staring directly into the camera and telling the world that I would never get married. While everyone around me was laughing and telling me that I'd change my mind one day, in that moment...

I meant it.

I hated marriage. To me it was a painful torturous tradition that made my brothers move out and my parents fight.

When one of my brothers was about to get married, I was heart broken. Both of them sat me down and told me that this was a good thing. But I was a teenager, I knew everything, like really, I did. And I knew that this was a bad idea. Stupid love drunk kids.

The truth is I had good reason to hate marriage. I honestly didn't have a great example of what it was suppose to be. Not to throw shade at people who were married at this time in my life, but I didn't have one example that seemed remotely attractive to me. Not one. Most didn't seem to even like their spouse, and at best they seemed indifferent to whether or not their spouse was in the same room as them, and some seemed to treat their spouse like a glorified babysitter.

I know for the most part people were joking about spouses; maybe the "ol' ball and chain" or saying things like "the dishwasher" while pointing at their wife behind her back. But hearing those kinds of jokes only reinforced my already negative view of marriage. And especially since I loathe doing dishes, that was not going to be my life title.

It didn't help, either, that I lived in a little bubble. Sure I had my family and church, but beyond that, I didn't know much of the world. So I didn't see all the good and helpful things that marriage could bring. And since my limited TV watching was usually the classy Phil McGraw (You can't change what you don't acknowledge. ~Dr.Phil) I usually only saw the bad and sad.

On the blue moon occasions when I saw a little ray of marital goodness, it was short lived. Since I am a self proclaimed genius, I decided that it was better to be alone. If it was good enough for Paul the Apostle, it was good enough for me.

Once I grew up a little, and started my own adventures of life on my own, I realized life is more fun with someone. I started to realize "Oh this is why people get married, they get a little desperate, and then they get trapped." Ahhhh, yes. I had figured it out. Marriage was a sign of desperation.

Then I met that guy, Eric. Something about him made me want to hold his hand. The beauty of the situation was that I wasn't lonely. I was perfectly happy with my life. I wasn't even close to desperate. He just made me want to sit next to him. Be by his side.

Most people don't know, but Eric and I dated for a month (May-June 2011) and got married three months later (July-Sept 2011). Most people were probably screaming "pump the breaks" but I was now that stupid love drunk kid.

I'd somehow, somewhere, changed my mind about marriage.

I probably have about a million things I could address at this point in this post that may be running through your mind: "that's how they all start", "that's too fast", "most marriages start that way", "that's the honeymoon stage", "that will wear off", "love is blind, marriage is an eye-opener". Since I have life responsibilities, Yeah, I'm looking at you laundry, I will leave you with this.

It's been almost six years of marriage, and without a word of exaggeration: it has only gotten sweeter. He still makes me smile and laugh till I snort. He gives me butterflies when he walks through the door after work. Watching him play with our baby makes me feel like I may burst with all the teary emotions. Picking up his socks makes me chuckle, not get angry.

But all of that isn't on accident. We make it happen. Everyday. That's what marriage is. In the words of God, "it is good".

So I've changed my mind: marriage is beautifully designed by the master creator, to be enjoyed and celebrated. It's not our anniversary, or his birthday, or valentine's day, it's just another "everyday" but I chose to love him more than I did yesterday.

Side note: if you read this and it made you happy: yay, let's be happy together. If this post made you mad: I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention, see if a doctor can remove the stick up your butt. If you're single and this post made you jealous, pray for your future marriage. But most importantly, if you're married and this post made you envious, get help. Whatever it takes me make your marriage stronger and better, DO IT! The price of counselling, marriage guide books, or date nights, is nothing compared to the reward of a healthy marriage. I don't have the answers, but God does. My advice is make him the center of your marriage and it cannot fail.

P.S. Eric, if you're reading this, I like your face. I hope I can make you smile as much as this meme always does.

Super Honesty Time

This post is kind of embarrassing.

But it's something quite a few people deal with and it sucks.

If someone had found a solution for this problem and not told me about it I would want to smack them. So since I don't want anyone to smack me, I'm going to share what I've discovered.

My problem started back in high school.

I would be sitting in class, temperature of the room was normal, I wasn't necessarily nervous (maybe if I had a test or presentation coming up) but for the most part I felt fine. But for some stupid reason my armpits felt the need to leak.

Why?

Who knows. Not me. It had me so frustrated. I would leave class to go air dry my shirt in the bathroom because of the river that had sprung forth.

I tried everything. The crystals, au natrual, clinical strength deodorant, even men's. But it wasn't that my arm pits were smelly, just wet. All the time. Wet.

Fast-forward to my mid-twenties. I still struggled with it. Every shirt I own is stained. And usually within three wears. Which is pathetic. I don't like buying clothes because I know they are going to be ruined in a month. Super lame. Right?

I know all the little tricks to try and remove pit stains or try to prevent them. I've tried walking with Kleenex under my arms. It's not as fun as it sounds.

While I was pregnant I had had enough. All my precious maternity shirts were ruined. I asked my doctor - he recommended Botox. And while I'd love to be that cool, I'm not that rich. So I searched and searched and prayed. Finally I found something. Now since this product isn't recommended while pregnant or breastfeeding, I had to wait. But I finally tried it.

My life has forever been changed.

It's been two days and not a drop of sweat. I don't care if that's not natural, because what's even more unnatural is not lifting my arms up... ever.

Here's the deal, I was going to post a link to the product for everyone to enjoy, but since I had the courage to make an entire post about my sweaty armpits, if you want to know the product... you need to comment.

Yeah, I'm mean like that.

I don't sell it. I'm not making money off of it in anyway. I'm not trying to sucker you into messaging me and then I try to make you join my army of non-sweaty pitted people. I just want to know that there's other people out there who may have struggled or are struggling too. So that's my catch. You have to come forward with your sweaty arm raised and say "I want help". Got it?

It's a money back guarantee product and it even works on other areas of the body.

So don't delay. Did I mention it's only $14.95 right now!?!?

My Main Man Moses

When I was an adolescent, my family owned this movie.
Now, Moses is my favorite bible character of all time. He's just an average dude, kind of pampered in Pharaoh's house. Then suddenly he finds out he's adopted (a whoa moment for anyone), plus a slave by birth. That's like going from being Prince Harry to the man who scrubs his toilets. He's my favorite for many reasons, but it really boils down to the fact that he inspires me. I think we forget sometimes that the people in the bible were in fact real people.  He was just a scared murderer who led millions. NBD.

In this movie, there is a scene that will stick with me forever. Every time it came on I remember this feeling hitting my gut, because, frankly, I hated it. It tore my heart apart even at my young age. It was gory, it was terrifying, but, most importantly, it was real. It really happened. (Exodus 32)

In this scene, Moses has been on Mt. Sinai getting the first set of ten commandments. Yes there were two sets. The Lord tells him to get his tushy down the mountain because the people be acting a fool. They're neked! Worshiping an idol! Dancing around like it's a Rihanna concert! So Moses, being the stand up leader that he is, begs God to have mercy on them. Even though they are probably causing Moses sleepless nights, maybe some gray hair, he still prays that God will show mercy to his people. But nay nay, God has had enough. Moses descends the mountain, and sees what they have done, and being led by his own brother Aaron, of all things.

Moses shatters the ten commandments, and boldly asks "Who is on the Lord's side? Come stand with me". Guess what? Not everybody did.

These are the people who saw the Red Sea part when Moses put his staff in the water. These are the people that walked through on dry ground following in his footsteps! These are the people that once praised Yahweh for delivering them out of Egypt. These are the people who had fresh manna from heaven, every morning! But that didn't stop them from rejecting Moses' offer.

That was the moment in the movie where my heart sank. Division. A line drawn.

Exodus 32:27 - Moses told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Each of you, take your swords and go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other. Kill everyone—even your brothers, friends, and neighbors.”

Heavy stuff.

Movies were a family affair in our household. I remember looking at my brothers who were probably taking up too much room on the couch, and as much as I wanted to trip them or smack them sometimes, I never wanted to kill them. They were MY idiot brothers. But that didn't matter in that scene. Right then and there; 3,000 people were killed. Killed by people who were family, friends, and neighbors. 

The cinematographer slowly zoomed in on Moses' face (well, Ben Kingsley's face), as he watched the horror unfold before his eyes. These were the exact people he had just plead with God to save, the very same people he led out of Egypt. Maybe they were the type of people who opposed him on every decision he made, maybe they were the type of people who doubted if he really heard from Yahweh, maybe they thought he was a horrible leader. 

Regardless, they were people. 

People Moses loved. People he prayed for. People he led. 

Now if any of you have watched a movie with my parents you would know this would be the point in the movie where my mom would like out a weepy shaky sob, and my dad may start speaking in tongues. Yep, movie night at the Froese residence was very entertaining! But even in my childish state, I would be crying too. It hurt to see hurt. It pained me to see pain. 

I know we don't live in a Moses type of world anymore; no one is gonna be killed for making the wrong choice. But I pray I never find myself on the wrong side of a life altering decision. Even Aaron, the brother who led the people in such a horrific decision, stands with Moses. It's never too late to make the right choice. 

"Who is on the Lord's side? Come stand with me."

Wesley - Birth to 6 Months

Little Bear is 6 months old! Yikes, they are not lying when they say it goes by fast. Every morning when I go to his crib, I swear he's grown another inch. Every day there's something new he's learning something new and super cute.

One Month

Loves the color red

Stares at lamps

Eats like a champ

Sleeps in a bassinet in Mom and Dad's room

Around 9 pounds

Sleeps in 2-3 hour stretches

Two Months

Starting to smile when provoked :)

Much more alert

Can hold up his head on his own

Sleeps in his own room

Feeds every 5-7 hours at night

Around 10 pounds

Three Months

Eats every 2-3 hours

Smiles when smiled at

Can hold head stable

Looks at noises

Sleeps 4-5 hours at a time

Around 13 pounds

Four Months

Super smiley

Giggles when playing

Teething has been ongoing for a few weeks

Can grab objects well

Likes watching the puppy

Very empathetic (cries when he hears others cry)

Around 15 pounds

Five Months

Loves the dropping game

Teething is really kicking in

He's found his vocal cords

Loves watching mommy in the kitchen

Sleeps 3-4 hours a time at night

Starting big boy food - hates bananas

Rolled over once
Jumping is his favorite

Around 18 pounds

Six Months

Loves seeing himself in the mirror or on camera

Getting used to tummy time

Loves to eat baby food - mostly berries

Wakes up 4-5 hours at night

A little bashful

Smiles at most everyone

Can sit on his own for a short while

Notices when Daddy's not home
Smiles even when he's crying

Around 26 inches long

Around 20 pounds

He's been consistently going to bed at 7:30 or 8 and sleeping until 7am. The longest he's been up at night was one hour, but that was right in the beginning and probably was because I didn't know what I was doing. :) Thankfully I haven't been too sleep deprived and he's always a happy chipper baby in the morning, so that makes every day much more enjoyable. I can't even begin to describe how he makes me smile.