Little Screech Owl

Notes to Self

1. Lose the baby weight so you can fit in your regular clothes again.

2. Get dressed every morning in your regular clothes so that you're not in your pajamas when a traveling steak salesman comes to your door to sell you steak at bargain basement prices.

3. Hide the steak you bought from the traveling steak salesman from Seth.

4. Create a budget category for "steak from traveling steak salesman."

Two Teeth

I may have mentioned that we've been experiencing the teething process these past few weeks. It's actually gone fairly well, in my opinion (I've not asked Kieran for his opinion). He's not been overly fussy or cranky, just mainly enjoying chomping on his fingers (and anything else he can get into his mouth).

Yes, I took this picture while he was crying. Yes, I'm a horrible mother. But I couldn't get a picture of his teeth any other way. And I so desperately wanted a picture of his first two little, tiny, sharp teeth. So there you have it.

So as not to scar you for life with the picture of our little boy crying, I'll leave you with this one.

You know you live in a holler when . . .

. . . you're confronted with this as you drive down the lane to your house (it's not ours).

Chicken Update

Seth: "So, what do you want for your birthday next week?"

Me: "Chi--"

Seth: "And don't say 'chickens.'"

I've resigned myself to the fact that my loving husband is not interested in catering to my Chickens-of-the-Holler fantasy. So I've decided to take matters into my own hands, rather than leaving things up to the chicken fates or to a husband who consistently refuses to get me the one present I consistently ask for (I bore him a son for crying out loud (and, actually, said son does indeed cry out loud quite a bit)).

We use the You Need a Budget budgeting program to keep track of our expenses and to help us plan out the months ahead and stay out of debt. For some reason, I really enjoy downloading our bank and credit card statements and assigning categories to our expenses and watching our budget take shape every month. Why? I don't know. But I do know that, being the keeper of said budgeting program, I've created a "chickens" category in which I've been squirreling (or should I say "chickening"?) away money over the past few months. I finally have enough money saved up to see my dream of owning chickens realized.

Stay tuned for more developments on the chicken front . . . .

You know you live in a holler when . . .

. . . you're looking around the house, after you've already done 10 loads of laundry, wondering what else you can throw in the washer because it's been raining the past few days and the cistern is full and overflowing.

The cistern

Rolling Over, Part Deux

Although he's slightly proficient at rolling from his front to his back, Kieran decided that he wanted to round out his rolling over abilities and has been trying for several weeks to roll from his back to his front. This first video is of the leg-swinging that's been taking place for quite some time.

The other day, as I was making dinner (miracles never cease), he started fussing in the living room. When I peeked my head around the corner, I found him on his belly wondering what he was supposed to do now.

He'll be crawling soon enough, I suppose--something which Seth is rather eager for (apparently crawling leads directly to playing football in the backyard), even though I'm the one who will be chasing the little dear around the house all day once he learns he doesn't have to stay in one spot anymore.

To Pacify or Not to Pacify

Notice anything similar in these pictures?

Besides the obvious that each picture features the world's most adorable baby, the other similarity is that dratted pacifier. I had originally planned on not giving him a pacifier for various reasons. But, while still in the hospital, the nurses brought him contentedly sucking on a pacifier to me one time. And I didn't have the heart (or the guts) to take it away from him at the time. And, I also realized that non-nutritive sucking is an important aspect of a newborn's life.

And so, for the past five months, the pacifier has been part of his life--a big part of his life, as you can tell from the pictures. So big, in fact, that when he wakes in the middle of the night, he cries until I get up and put the pacifier back in his mouth for him.

He's finally started going down for his naps without needing much help to fall asleep (for the most part), and he's finally started napping through the "45-minute intruder" (for the most part --some naps he does well, others not so much). He also finally seems to have stopped the evening crying spells. So, I'm not really keen on taking the pacifier away and listening to him "cry it out." But, I'm also not keen on continuing to get up two and three times a night.

So, the way I see it, I have several options. I can either continue to support his pacifier habit until he's old enough to reinsert it by himself (although I've heard of kids who just can't seem to get the hang of it, and the parents are still getting up until the kid is a year or so old) and then wean him off it when he's older (hoping that he'll let go as easily as Cydney's Jacob let go of his). Or I can take it away cold turkey and deal with the crying, hoping that it won't last too long.

Or I can tape his fingers into his mouth until he learns to use them to self-soothe at night (he's currently teething--two tiny, sharp points of white have begun poking out of his bottom gum these past weeks--and has been sucking liking mad on his fingers when the pacifier isn't in his mouth, but won't use his fingers to fall asleep yet). I'm liking this last option more and more. . . .

The Sound of Music

Seth would hate this video. He has an inordinate distaste for all things Sound of Music, which he claims comes from the repeated viewings of the film forced upon him by his sisters and mother through the years. That, and he dislikes any movie that features people dancing about and singing.

However, it brought a smile to my face, and I hope it does the same to yours.

My Favorite Hymn

My favorite hymn is by Charles Wesley, "And Can it Be?" It pretty much sums up the Easter message--that Thou, My God, did die for me. Amazing love.

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain-
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

'Tis mystery all: th'Immortal dies:
Who can explore His strange design?
In vain the firstborn seraph tries
To sound the depths of love divine.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds inquire no more.
'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore;
Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father's throne above
So free, so infinite His grace-
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam's helpless race:
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!
'Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature's night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray-
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear,
That whispers all my sins forgiven;
Still the atoning blood is near,
That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.
I feel the life His wounds impart;
I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th'eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.