Come Visit Me at My New Writing Website!

Hello? 

Is anybody out there?

I spent so much of my time blogging here--writing almost daily for four years over the course of more than 700 posts. But when my daughter was born, something had to give. And of course, it ended up being the blog.

I don't regret that decision at all, and I knew well that it was time as posting tapered off and I just lost the desire. I never posted any goodbye post or an announcement of any sort. I just, well, stopped. 

And that was over six years ago! My little girl who had just celebrated her second birthday now is a big 8-year-old! With two little brothers added to the mix, as well. Wow, how the time has flown.

So I don't even know if anyone who used to follow along back then will even see this or even be interested in what I'm up to now. But just in case...

Now that my life has settled some (meaning, my kids are growing and I have a bit more spare time once again), I am getting back into writing. Though this time, it will look different than before. Whereas before I was a writer for my own blog, now I have the dream to really write. To get back into writing for magazines but even moreso to pursue writing a book or two.

To chronicle that journey, I've started a new website where you can follow along with me. Make sure you navigate to the "blog" part of the website to get the latest details! (You'll notice I'm now writing under a pen name. For the privacy of our family, that is what I feel comfortable with at this point in time. And honestly it really feels freeing!) 

You can also feel free to follow me on Instagram, where I post pretty frequently with lots of behind-the-scenes peeks into my writing progress as well as just general life stuff. You might even get a taste of some of my old blog writing thrown in there, too.

Thanks so much for sticking with me this long. I know it's been awhile, and I apologize for leaving you hanging for so long. Hopefully there are no hard feelings, and we can pick back up again and catch up on all that time lost so long ago. Cheers to new beginnings!

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Dear Claire: Happy Birthday to My Two-Year Old!



(I've been writing monthly updates to my daughter, Claire, documenting all the changes that come with the passing weeks. You can catch up on past letters here.)




Dear Claire,

It has been awhile since I’ve sat down and wrote you a letter. These past few months have flown by and I can barely remember what life was like when you hit the 18-month mark, which just encourages me all the more to continue penning these letters and records every once in awhile.

Right now, you are sitting next to me on the couch watching one of the two television shows that you will actually sit still for: Baby Genius kids sing-along-songs and Sesame Street (but typically only the ones where they are singing). You sure do love your music. It is a language that runs deep through your blood, I can tell. You love to dance and will often incite (demand?) anyone else in the room to get “Up! Up!” and join you. You have started even singing along with certain refrains from some of your favorite songs, of which “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift is still one. There are innumerable Sesame Street ones, as well, and I have also started introducing you to more wholesome girl pop groups, since you seem to love that genre so much. (Daddy is busy exposing you to a variety of bands, of which Quiet Hounds is easily your favorite so far.)

For Christmas, you got a children’s piano that you love playing and when we go to friends’ houses with full-size pianos, you love pulling up on the stools and playing a tune. For your birthday, we are giving you a children’s guitar. It’s still a bit big for you, but you love laying it on the ground and strumming along with Daddy when he serenades you.



You still are my little helper. This afternoon, I was shoveling the driveway and you fished out your sand shovel for the beach and joined me in scooping piles of snow. Oftentimes when I am in the kitchen, working away, you will come to me and ask, “Help! Help!” so that you can assist in some way. Consequently, you enjoy helping me load and empty the dishwasher, put away groceries, take your clothes up to your room and clean/wipe off surfaces (so much so, that we often have to cut you off from the tub of cleaning wipes).

Spiritually, I love seeing you so readily embrace the love of Jesus. So often, his love is seen as weird and awkward and something to be shunned. But to you, it is just natural. You love to pray and at meal times oftentimes won’t start to eat until we “Amen.” At nighttime when I ask what you want to pray for, you consistently want to pray for “Shake shake” (what you call YouTube), Daddy, your grandparents, and “Peh,” whose meaning I still haven’t deciphered. Right now, we walking through the season of Lent and, to try to teach you why Easter is so monumental, have started a tradition of creating an Easter Tree with short Scripture readings for each day that we hang on the branches. You caught on to this so easily when we did something similar during Advent that I imagine these efforts will continue as traditions for years to come.

You are readily finding your voice, talking more and more with each passing week. You are also starting to string together sentences, oftentimes of the “I want ____” and “I need ____” variety, but this morning you busted out, “My shirt is all wet!” Right now, many of your words sound alike (bath/ball/back; Bible/bubble; hand/hair) but that doesn’t stop you from trying and adding more each day. You also love telling us about what just happened, so if you were playing with Daddy, you will find me and enthusiastically wave your hands around to show me how you guys were playing and chatter awhile while doing so.



You are also doing pretty well with potty-training, an endeavor we started working on a couple of months ago when you decided you want to run around the house naked all the time. We aren’t too strict about it and you still wear a diaper most of the time (you don’t like the undies we got you, even though they are Hello Kitty), but I imagine that if we (I) buckle down, by summer we could be well into potty-trained territory.

You love coloring, going barefoot, Elmo, slides (what you call “Wee!”s), kitty cats, caring for your babies, going to the community center’s indoor pool (“poo”), washing your hands, going shopping, walking in the grocery store (no shopping carts for you anymore, unless they’re the kid-sized ones and you’re pushing them!), having your back and feet rubbed (don’t claim we never spoiled you!), and hanging out with your grandparents and uncles/aunts. You are doing very well at saying please, thank you, excuse me and covering your mouth when you cough/sneeze (so much so that you remind us to say/do in case we forget).

Other stats include:
Height: 33 inches
Weight: 21.25 lbs.
Clothing size: 2T
Shoe size: 6
Teeth: Waiting on 2-year molars

Even as you physically and developmentally grow and change, your personality remains the same: Happy and joyful. Always ready to smile and laugh or attempt to make everyone else do the same. Even after being disciplined, you can hardly hold back a smile. The only time you seem sad is when you are apart from one of us in your close circle of family (and then it’s devastating for you). And of course, since you’re a toddler, there are plenty of meltdowns over frustrations of not getting your way, but they don’t last long and you are easily distracted or (lately), we tell you go to your “fuss corner” and tell the “fuss plant” (a peace lily that has looked like it’s dying for the past three years but still holds on) and you lay down and cry for a moment and then reemerge settled.

But overall, you are so happy and enthusiastic about everything. In short, you are a joy and keep this house on its toes and are never, even for a second, boring. My life was good before you came along. Certainly, it was easier. But still, it was very good. Now, though, I look back and the part in Ezekiel where he’s prophesying about the Valley of Dry Bones comes to mind: “…'This is what the Lord GOD says to the bones: I will cause breath to enter you so you will come to life. I will put muscles on you and flesh on you and cover you with skin. Then I will put breath in you so you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” (Ezekial 37:5-6) That feels like what the Lord has done to me with you. My life was mere bones before you. But with you came new muscles and new skin, new breath, a new life. You have changed me and reinvigorated me in a way I never knew I needed or wanted or could have become. And in doing so, you have shown me the Lord: his goodness, his provision and care, his mercy, his love.

Love,
Mom
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Dear Claire: 18 and 19 Month Updates

 

(I've been writing monthly updates to my daughter, Claire, documenting all the changes that come with the passing weeks. You can catch up on past letters here.)


Dear Claire,
A year and a half, you have been my daughter and a year ago we uprooted you and moved from Georgia to my home state of Ohio. You have officially spent more time as a Buckeye than a Peach, and that fact is a testament to how quickly time flies.

Over these past two months, you took your first trip to the beach and dipped toes in the sand, hands in the ocean for the first time. You were not scared or stunned by it, but embraced it quickly, learning to love the splash and the salty breezes with gusto. You also started going into the nursery at church without a problem. I don't know when or how it happened, but all of a sudden, when we left the room you were completely at ease and played plenty until we returned at the end of the service. While I enjoyed getting to spend time with you in there and get to know the other nursery volunteers better with each passing week, I'm glad to get to sit through an entire service and know that you trust that we're not forsaking you, but that we'll be back soon. It's a good feeling knowing you feel safe, without having to shed a single tear in the process..

One of the things I've been noticing of late is how your personality comes out in different situations. For the longest time I was convinced you were an extrovert, always loving going shopping and waving hi to all the cashiers. But then when we went to a splash park where other kids were running through the sprinklers without a care, you stuck close to me, making sure to never let go of my hand while we watched and you inched close enough to dip your toes in a puddle. Then, we had a few families over for dinner and I thought you'd love the ample playmates, but the. I caught you playing on your own in the corner or wanting me to hold you most of the time. It's scenes like these where I feel I am getting a better grasp for who you are and what you need. (So far, I think you prefer adults and older kids (girls, especially) in small groups, though you're always up for people-watching, so long as you feel safe with mom or dad.)

Otherwise your personality at home continues to bubble over, as you're picking up new words fairly quickly. You were the flower girl (flower fairy girl, actually) in your aunts wedding, and we coached you to say "cheese," and you were practicing it in your sleep! Your vocabulary so far: mama, dada, no, uh-oh, ball, Elmo, shoe, hat, kitty, cheese, woof-woof, ah-ah (imitating a monkey noise), hot, hi, bye, home, duck, sheep, baby, eyes, please, two (as in "one, two, three"), amen, book, and you're adding to it almost daily it seems!

Your disposition continues to shine as such a cheery one. Your name, "Claire," means "bright," and I think that is so fitting. You are constantly smiling or laughing and always vying to make us do the same. Even when I try to discipline you, your lip might quiver for a moment, but then you bust into a smile and I can't help but smile back and laugh. There is an unending joy that bubbles up from within you and I love it. It makes my life so much brighter, too, to watch you enjoy and drink in this world around you.

You're also becoming more and more of a help to mommy. This morning, I was installing a new light in the bathroom we recently overhauled, and I dropped a tiny screw. You were playing at my feet, so I asked you to retrieve it, unsure if you even knew where it fell. But you found it and handed it to me immediately. I hope that servants heart of yours continues to flourish and bring joy to a world that is in so much need of help and that darling little smile of yours.

Also, seemingly overnight you began taking a huge interest in books, much to the delight of your mama and dada whose book collection spans an entire wall in our new house! You love to pick through your book collection (pretty vast, in its own right), and bring us book after book to read through. I am not sure where this came from, because for so long you would not sit still to read and had no interest except in turning the pages. But I did not rush or fight that, and still you developed a love all your own. Which is something that awes me, because, even in this limited, small instance, I can see the Lord at work, shaping you and making you something fascinating and beautiful—all on his own. I am here to walk alongside you and read the books out loud, but he is the one doing the work, creating you and breathing life into your interests and passions and development. As a mother, this is a great comfort to me, because I know that I do not do this work alone. I have the Lord to help me, a God who loves you far more than either of us can fathom and to fill in all the gaps of my failures and shortcomings when it comes to parenting.

All in all, both you and I are learning much together as the months continue to tick by, and for that I am thankful. We both are ever growing, ever coming into our own as mother and daughter, and as the people God so lovingly fashioned us to be. For that, Glory be to God.

Love,
Mom
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Dear Claire: 16 and 17 Month Updates



(I've been writing monthly updates to my daughter, Claire, documenting all the changes that come with the passing weeks. You can catch up on past letters here.)

Dear Claire--
Well, I'm consolidating two months into this update: your 16 and 17 month updates. Time got away from me, but, as you'll see, it was spent having a lot of fun!



Over the past two months (June and July), you:

- Have added to your speaking arsenal: "Oh boy!" "Hat" and (much to your GP's delight) "GI Joe." When it comes time to eat something, you also like to say, "Mmmm!" and after drinking, sometimes you'll go, "Aaah!"
- Love to dance. Sometimes if we ask you to dance, you'll start slowly spinning in a circle, like a little ballerina! And one morning, you were sleeping and heard your daddy's alarm go off. It's a song, and you usually will dance to it. But this morning, you were still sleeping but still managed to put your fist in the air and do a couple fist-pumps along to the music before drifting back to sleep! You have also started nodding your head along to the beat. Thanks to your love of music, we finally found a video that will keep you occupied (usually when it comes time to make dinner in the evenings), and that's sing-along videos from Baby Genius. When you see us load up Netflix, you get really excited and start pumping your hand in anticipation because you know what's coming next!
- Went on your first family vacation. We went to Breckenridge, Colorado and made a little day trip to Vail. You stayed on East-Coast time, which meant we were up every day around 5 or 6am, but that gave us time to tip-toe out of the suite we were sharing with family and go explore the town at sunrise. We found some cute coffeeshops and a couple of playgrounds that you enjoyed running free in.

- Enjoyed your first encounters splashing and playing in the pool in our neighborhood as well as the resort pool on vacation. Sometimes you are timid about it and other times you love getting to splash. (Especially when Daddy took you down the water slide on vacation!)
- Love push toys as well as toys that other people will push you around in!
- Blowing bubbles!
- Have started taking to carrying purses or bags around with you wherever you go. You have a couple that are your favorites, including a brightly colored garden-tool-holder bag, an adorable little floral-print chain purse I held onto for years in hopes of someday having a girl, and a little vinyl pink pouch that has a carabiner on the end.
- Are still fascinated by people watching and love engaging with people anywhere we go. You love saying hi and I love watching how a small little girl can light up a stranger's day with a simple smile and acknowledgement. To an introvert, it's so impressive and admirable.
- Are getting adept at helping mommy when she asks you to "Clean up your mess!" (Because you are forever making little messes!) You don't seem to mind though, and sometimes enjoy the clean-up just as much as making the mess! You still love to throw things away (I fished out a handful of felt toys from the trash this morning).
- Recently took up coloring with crayons and splashing in the kitchen sink in the morning.
- Graduated into size 4 diapers, which gave us the chance to try out Walgreens' exclusive baby-care brand Well Beginnings brand for the times when we need disposables. They've proven tto be pretty soft and quite absorbent. We haven't had a single leak with them and no diaper rash, thanks to the fact that the inner liner features natural botanicals, vitamin E, and aloe to soothe your baby’s bottom. We've also enjoyed their sensitive wipes (moisturizing and clean up messes well with few wipes needed) and baby bodywash that is tear-free, soap-free, dye-free, paraben-free and hypoallergenic (making it milder than baby soap) and smells nice and fresh! We haven't had any need for the electrolyte drink, but it's great to already have on hand when the need arises. (Thanks to Walgreens and Mom's Meet for the opportunity to add these essentials to our baby-care arsenal!*)

All in all, it's been quite the summer for you, and with the leaves starting to change already, I'm looking forward to all the changes this next season will bring for us, too!

Love,
Mom

* I received this product for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetsSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinon on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.

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Riding in Style: Getting Around the Neighborhood in the Zuzu Stroller

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Mom Central for GB. I received a gift card to purchase a GB stroller to both facilitate my review as well as thank me for my participation.

I've mentioned before Claire's love for being outside. Multiple times a day, she grabs our hand and pulls us to one of the doors to go out and play. And recently, shes started pulling us to her stroller to let us know she'd like to go for a nice long walk.

That's one of the things I love about our new neighborhood. it has lots of walking trails that weave in and out of woods, greenspaces, playgrounds and even around a lake. It's a nature lovers dream come true!

 

That is, so long as you have a stroller that can withstand all those outings! That is why I was excited to get to review the new GB Zuzu stroller, available exclusively through Babies R Us.

It's a lightweight travel stroller that includes a lot of features normally only available on a more full-size model—making for the best of both worlds.



After putting it together, Claire was eager to hop in and go for a test run (well, walk) with it. Immediately I was impressed by how soft and comfortable the handles were. Our sidewalks can be really uneven, which was problematic for our old stroller, which couldn't even make it over the bumps without you stopping to lift it. This stroller however took the bumps like a champ. It made them almost imperceptible, and I didn't have to stop once. Also, it is very light weight so it's easy to push for long distances, which I appreciate for how often Claire wants to go on walks, sometimes!

 

As for her, Claire seemed quite comfortable riding in the stroller although she did un-Velcro the strap cushions and pull them off about halfway through. I liked that I could check on her by unzipping the canopy and peeking through the mesh to see how she's doing. It does have a nice size basket beneath where you can stow any belongings or toys. However, there is no tray for mom or child to put things like keys or beverages, which I enjoyed on our other stroller.


Finally, it folds up into a surprisingly compact size to make for easy travel or storing. It's not quite a one-handed operation (at least not for me yet, after having only used it for about a week), but the stroller is small enough as it is that I don't foresee having to compact it down all too often for that to be an issue. It fits fine in the trunk of our car when laid down on its side. Additionally, while this does not affect me, I was impressed that it also is compatible with select Graco® and Chicco® Infant Car Seats.

If you ask me, it's a pretty well-rounded stroller. Although it lacks a couple of features of more full-size strollers, you get that in exchange for a really lightweight and compact-able item that I personally think is worth the difference. I anticipate lots of long walks in my future!

And if you'd like a snapshot critique, here are my thoughts, in bullet-form:

Pros of the Zuzu Stroller
  • Handles are really comfortable
  • Stroller is lightweight, making for easy pushing for mama!
  • provides a smooth ride; our sidewalks can be quite uneven and it took the bumps without a hiccup
  • Large canopy to keep the sun out of child's eyes, but also features a zip away window in the top of the hood so that you can still see your child
  • Good-sized basket underneath
  • Folds down into compact size easily
  • Can customize the recline and leg-rest angles to fit your child's size and needs
  • Gender-neutral color and silky soft cushioning
Cons of the Zuzu Stroller
  • Does not feature any kind of beverage holder
  • Does not feature tray for child
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A Sneak Peek at the New House!

It's been about a month since we bought our house, and we've spent the past weeks doing project after project to make it look like it's been our own all along.

There still a ton to do (and frankly there probably always will be) but I figured it was time to give it to share a little sneak peek (with slightly blurry cell-phone pics).



The first thing we did when we bought the house was give the living room, dining room, and kitchen fresh coat of white paint, thanks to a lot of help from friends and family. That change alone did a lot to update the house and make it feel a lot brighter and show off the natural light that streams in from all the windows.





After that were a series of other projects, like repainting the kitchen cabinets, removing the doors to make open shelving and adding new hardware. Previously the owners had given the cabinets a really bad faux bois paint effect, so sanding and painting them white was a huge improvement right there. But I've always had a thing for white kitchens so I was pleased to finally have my own. The one thing I didn't expect however with how much dirt the white would show. That's why I was excited when Mom's Meet and Walgreens sent me some of their new cleaning products from their exclusive natural-products brand called Ology.



They make cleaning up any of the fingerprints left on the cabinets or food splatters a breeze. Plus, the all-purpose spray has a lovely basil lemon scent that freshens up the kitchen beautifully, and I adore the fun packaging. There are tons of other Ology products, from household cleaners to baby products (which I can't wait to try!), toiletries to toilet paper. I have also been using their free-and-clear laundry detergent, which I've found to be gentle on clothes and our sensitive skin while still fighting stains well. I love that like all the brand's products, they are free of dyes, artificial fragrances, phosphates, harmful chemicals and instead feature natural plant-based and mineral-based ingredients.

The last stop in the kitchen (which I didn't photograph), is a corner nook. I'm searching for a table and chairs to fill it, but for now a tableclothed card table is doing the trick. And I envision a lot of fun, colorful artwork hanging on the walls but those are usually finishing touches for me.



Because we lost a lot of kitchen space compared our old house, I had to get smart about creating storage in other places around the house. For instance, I made a China cabinet fashioned from an old cabinet that was in the garage of our old house by painting it white and adding classic gold cup pulls. Inside you'll find a lot of our plastic Tupperware and extra cups and mugs that don't look pretty with the open shelving. It sits in the dining room that adjoins the kitchen, so everything is still at hand whenever it's needed. (Pretty sure that artwork will hang here but as I mentioned earlier, I like to save art-hanging for last.)

The dining room segues directly into the living room, which features some really great, tall walls with windows at the ceiling that allows for tons of natural light. (And hence, plenty of potted foliage!)



Oh and did you notice anything else? We finally broke down and got a television as our Christmas present to ourselves this past year. We got a Roku and a digital antenna and have been quite pleased! They've made for a great way to rewind after a day spent toiling over project after project.



One of the things I was excited about with having wooden floors in nearly every room. Along with that, however meant upgrading to more rugs, and finding ones with personality proved to take some sleuthing but I think we hit the jackpot with the living room one. I love the lived-in feel it adds and the spunky color that ties in with the lampshades I picked up at a thrift store.

That is pretty much the main level, save for the entry way but there's really nothing to showcase there. I'm going to suspend the tour here because this is where most of the work has taken place and the updates are most evident. I'll try to post another update of one of the other floors in another couple weeks. Till then, I'll be keeping myself busy with projects aplenty and a cute little kid running around the place!

(I received the Ology products for free from the sponsor of the Moms MeetSM program, May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms MeetsSM blogger, I agreed to use this product and post my opinion on my blog. My opinions do not necessarily reflect the opinions of May Media Group LLC or the manufacturer of the product.)
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