3 Months Old

At 3 months old, Tidytot is learning and growing like gang busters.  She is not a chubby baby.  Regardless, my arms feel like jell-o by the end of the day.  She is sleeping through the night, smiling and cooing.  Tidytot prefers to be held by me, but talks the most to Mr. T.  He just has one of those faces, I guess.  She is also in pre-teething mode, drooling, chewing on her fingers, her burp cloth, my shoulder, Annie, and anything else in sight.  We have really enjoyed this phase and love her to pieces!

Cheesy grin

Mom is so funny!

Witty caption ideas?  Please reply!

Chewing on fingers; a very common sight.

Praying

Close-up

Play time

Flexing her biceps

Idle Hands

Considering the Midwest was getting buried in snow, I convinced Mr. T to work from home yesterday.  And he did work throughout the day but there were a few times when his hands became idle.  During one such time, the devil used his idle hands and influenced them to push me out of the front door into the blizzard, sans coat and other items of proper attire.  Contrary to what Mr. T would tell you, I did not deserve this treatment.  I had just barely reached out one little finger to tickle his armpit and that was how he repaid me.  It was not fair.

Interestingly, at the same moment he flung the door open to push me out, two Jehovah's Witnesses were walking by with shovels in their hands and, I suppose, volunteering their services to scoop people's driveways for them.  They were quite perplexed at the sight they saw.  At that time my body had somehow became pinned in between the door and door frame.  Mr. T was trying to push me outside while I was screaming repeatedly, "Ahhhh!  NO!!!!!  I can't go anywhere!  I'm wedged!"  I'm sure the Jehovah's Witnesses were thinking, "Those people need our religion, but there's no way in 'you know where' that I'm going over to THAT house!"

So back to my story...

Somehow I got un-wedged and I found myself banished and all alone in the Arctic tundra.  So I did what any thinking person would do.  I took the snow shovel, went to the car that Mr. T had previously cleared and began to reload it with snow.  Then I did the front steps.  Then I stepped in some deep snow with my flimsy shoe and sweatpants and got really mad!  The fun was officially over and Mr. T let me back inside.  Had he left me outside a little longer, the heat radiating my from angry face would have melted all the snow in a square mile.  

I was mad until I later nailed him right in the face with a big snowball.  Then we were even and I forgave him of all wrongs.  

So you see, revenge got me into that mess in the first place and revenge got me out!

New Lifestyle Plan

Mr. T and I have been talking about incorporating a "New Lifestyle Plan" into our lives, which is more commonly known as diet and exercise.  We were going to get serious about it a couple weeks ago, but then I went to Walmart, took a stroll down the Easter candy isle, and made the executive decision to put the kabash on our diet until we consumed a fair amount of the delicious treats.  

Unfortunately, Mr. T and I are both addicted to sugar.  Me, especially, since Tidytot's birth.  I'm not sure why.  Probably has something to do with stress eating.  For example, after a decent amount of crying - the kind where you really want to help, but all your efforts are in vain - I would sometimes find myself standing in the kitchen, staring blankly out the window, and mindlessly eating M&M's out of a bowl with a spoon.  

Sometimes.

If not for those times, I would probably be close to my original weight.  Alas, now you see why we had to start our New Lifestyle Plan this week.

The rules are as follows:

1.  Eat healthy meals / Make healthy snacks

*It's easy for me to make healthy meals.  Snacks are a little more difficult.

2.  Drink 2 glasses of water before getting seconds at mealtime

*Hint - simply load up your plate the first time around and you can easily bypass this pesky rule.

3.  Do not consume any "unnecessary" sweets

*To clarify - this does not mean that we don't eat sugar.  I can put honey on cornbread and not feel too bad about it.  And if we have company or if we are over at someone's house and they made dessert, then bring it on.  However, we don't seek out sweet treats otherwise.  We do invite over company as often as possible, though!

4.  Workout 4 times per week

*Pretty self-explanatory

5.  Weekends are a free for all!

*Yet another reason to love weekends.

And there you have it.  Our bodies are currently under submission to this rigorous routine.  We will be fit and sculpted in no time flat!

Valentine's Day Snippits

Yesterday, we celebrated Valentine's Day with a table surrounded by friends.  We spent the evening talking with our company about everything under the sun...

His days as a WWII vet.

Her children and grandchildren.

The time he was interested in learning Romanian.

How she went through airport security and forgot she had bullets in her purse.

Downton Abbey.

Politics.

Egypt.

You name it!

It was a great way to spend Valentine's Day.

Yesterday was also noteworthy because Tidytot turned 3 months old.  She is doing well, sleeping through the night and worming her way into places of my heart that I didn't even know were there.  

A few days ago Mr. T saw this ad from Ikea.

If they were running this deal last year, we would have totally qualified!  Tidytot was born exactly 9 months after Valentine's Day.  What are the odds?!?

Finally, I'd like to give a shout out to my very special valentine, the man of my dreams, the love of my life!

Ya'll must know how I feel about him by now!  

We exchanged chocolates and cards and the whole works, but perhaps the most romantic moment happened at lunchtime.  We were having leftover spaghetti, including a two full helpings of noodles, but only one helping of sauce.  I threw some garlic bread in the oven to try and stretch the meal so it would be enough to feed both of us.  By the time Mr. T came home from lunch, I was upstairs feeding Tidytot.  He ate and then warmed up my plate for me while I finished.  Halfway through my meal I noticed that my spaghetti had a lot of sauce on it.  

Me:  "Honey, did you give me ALL the leftover sauce?"

Mr. T:  "Um, yeah."

Me:  "What did you have on your spaghetti?"

Mr. T:  "Oh, I looked through the fridge and pulled out everything that was red and combined it into a sauce."

Me:  "EEEEEWWWW!"

Mr. T:  "No, it was actually really good.  BBQ sauce and salsa and I think something else.  I liked it.  I mean, I don't really have refined taste buds, you know."

Me:  "Yeah, I know.  Why do you think I don't really feel like I've accomplished some great feat to cook a meal that you think tastes good?  You think just about everything tastes good."

Oh, that man.  So easy to love.  Perfect combination of romantic and funny.

Hope your Valentine's Day was great and that you ate candy like it was going out of style!

Hands

Tidytot has recently discovered her hands.  She can spend hours looking at them each day.  Typically she is gracefully moving one hand in front of her face, attention fixed.  The other hand is absentmindedly playing with the hair on the back of her head.  It's so precious!

I look at her hands often and think about all the ways she will use them while she is here on earth.
These hands that captivate her now will soon enough be gripping things with ease.
They'll be used to support her as she crawls over to Annie, with every intention of tugging on her ears.
They'll hold onto Cheerios as she either guides them to her mouth or sends them flying through the room.

They are hands I will hold as we walk carefully across the street.
Hands that will be used to bless others, give hugs, draw pictures.
Hands that will be used to bring harm, pinch siblings, and snatch toys.

With all my heart I hope they are hands that will one day be folded often in prayer.
Hands that will hold the tender hands of Grandma's and Grandpa's as we gather around the table to say grace before the Thanksgiving meal.

I wonder, are these the hands that Mr. T will one day give away in marriage, with eyes brimmed in tears and a heart full of pride?
Will they be used to gently hold our sweet grand babies as she welcomes them into the world?
Are they the hands I will hold onto at the funeral service of my beloved, should he go first to be with Jesus?  Will they be used to comfort my broken heart as we say goodbye for the last time and lay him in the ground?

I love her hands.
I pray that they will be used to bring God glory for all her years to come.

Family Pictures

Below are some family pictures that we took around Christmas time.  Tidytot was 1 month old in these shots.  I'm posting for blog readers who haven't seen these on Facebook.  

Thanks a million to Joy Baker for being our friend and family photographer!   www.joylbaker.com

Purely Complimentary, My Dear Watson

I've been on a streak lately of complimenting Mr. T in such a way that he has interpreted my words to be more insulting than edifying.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Seemingly, the more heartfelt my compliment, the more his eyebrows furrow as if to express his amazement at how I can say such a wondrous and odd thing with such pure intentions as to bless him.

For example...

Mr. T was coming up the stairs the other day and I pulled him into a hug and proceeded to "breathe him in".  As it stands, he always smells good, apart from post-lawn mowing types of activities and the like.  One of my favorite things about being married to Mr. T is the whole hug/breathing him in combo.  I find it very comforting.  Anyway, I was in said process when I exclaimed, "Hey, you smell like my Grandpa's bathroom!"

Mr. T's eyebrow's furrow, of course.  

Mine furrow in return because, at that moment, I can't fathom him receiving my words as anything else but complimentary.

And that's because I loved my Grandpa!

I miss him.

And his bathroom had a distinct smell that I remember with great fondness.

Not a smelly, bathroom smell.

Something different that I could never describe to you, even if I had a million words at my disposal.

And I haven't smelled it since my Grandparent's house was sold.

That is, until Mr. T came up the stairs a couple of days ago.

So, you can see what a wonderful thing it was that Mr. T smelled like my Grandpa's bathroom and how my telling him so was nothing but purely complimentary.

I'm sure he's so excited to see what sort of sweet nothings I write in his Valentine's Day card this year.