Thursday, March 31, 2011

Show Us Your Life

Today over at Kelly's Korner, she's featuring churches for her weekly Show Us Your Life segment so I thought I'd join in! My husband and I are currently attending Faith Baptist Bartlett in Bartlett, Tennessee (a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee). We've been on a spiritual journey of sorts for almost a year praying faithfully for God to lead our family where He wanted to plant us. Part of this journey involved visiting over fifteen churches in our city. I am a firm believer that the Lord put us through this long, spiritual process (while I was pregnant, might I add) to really grow my faith in Him.

Before this time in my life, I hadn't really given any thought to why I was a Southern Baptist. Isn't that sad? I mean, I believed it because I grew up believing it. For once, I wanted to know why I held my beliefs. My husband was so wonderful and supportive through this, and he humored me as we visited denominations all over the city. I also humored him and visited some churches that I wouldn't have usually considered. It was so interesting to go see other denominations! In the end, we came back to Faith Baptist Bartlett. I think we have really followed the Lord's will for our lives. Mr. C & I disagree on so many things (who doesn't in a marriage?), but each church we visited the Lord aligned our thinking. I'm honored to submit to Mr. C's decision because I know that by "submitting", we actually made a joint decision since our thinking is definitely in sync. (I put that in quotes because I don't feel like any submitting happened. We just agreed. Which is nice.)

Growing up, I was at the church every time those doors opened. Bible drill. Softball. Choir. Girls in Action. Mission Friends. All my memories revolve around the church. My best friends come from the church. I met my husband the first night I attended a singles Bible study at church. It is at the center of my faith--fellowship with other believers. I long for Micah to have a childhood just like that, so it was vital we make a decision soon after his birth. Well, four months later...we did.

Dr. Danny Sinquefield is the pastor of Faith, and I think he does an incredible job! The moment we knew we were going to join came after speaking with him in the hallway before church one night. That evening, sitting down front...he prayed for us from the pulpit that the visiting couple would know God's clear direction for joining a church in the city even if it wasn't Faith. It really spoke to us, and it was confirmation of what we already felt. To the congregation, he is known as "Brother Danny." He is married to "Mrs. Rhonda", and I haven't met her yet. I hear wonderful things, though!

Another thing I find interesting is that Faith now owns "The Grove." This was the former camp known as Camp Cordova, where I spent many summers at GA camp outs as a kid. I think it is neat that Micah might get to spend part of his childhood where his mama did as a kid!


The music minister, Brother Terry, is actually an old family friend of my parents. They met him in the seventies! It is a funny story, but I like that, too. Even though I don't go to church with my parents, I love having a connection to my past with many, many people at Faith. I have so many friends there from "olden days" that it amazes me. Everywhere I turn, I see a familiar face.

So, that's it. My post on my church. If you don't have a wonderful church, please find one! Then my advice is to JUMP IN. Don't be shy! Get involved! If you need a church in the Memphis area, I'd recommend coming to my church, but I'd also be happy to steer you towards the many Bible believing churches, too. After our search, we found a LOT of compromisers out there.

Also, in case you wonder what Southern Baptists believe, you can read more about us here. (Thanks to my friend who also posted about her church, I stole that link from her.)

Big boys eat rice cereal.

We went to the doctor yesterday for Micah's four month checkup and shots. While there, we found out that he is simply "maintaining" his weight. Translation: he didn't gain that much in two months. Dr. O suggested adding rice cereal to his diet along with slowly starting veggies to increase his calorie intake. He didn't seem too concerned by his 25% weight status, but with breastfeeding you never know how much a baby is really getting. In addition, he had grown a couple of inches keeping his 75% status--he's long and lean.

Since Micah sleeps so much at night (cue dagger eyes from other moms of infants), I had dropped his 10 pm feeding. Little man will go a full twelve hours without eating, but the doc suggested we pick that feeding up again and add the cereal. Hopefully that combo will help with his weight gain. Or, if you knew me growing up--and my husband for that matter--you know we were both skinny people. He may just be skinny. At any rate, it was unusual to hear since Micah's been off the charts with his weight since birth during every other appointment.

I really want to continue breastfeeding for as long as possible, so I will make sure to follow doc's orders to ensure I don't have to switch to formula. (This is not a knock against anyone who uses formula because the bf/formula choice is personal. Do what works for you, but I actually enjoy nursing! Go figure. Everyone in my life including Mr. C thought I'd quit by now. I kind of thought I would, too, honestly.)

I went to Target today to buy the rice cereal, bowls, spoons, & plastic bibs for Micah to eat this afternoon. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing besides feeding him rice cereal for one week before moving onto the veggies. So do I only feed him rice cereal once a day?

At any rate, here are the pics from our afternoon. Mr. C was actually in some of the pictures, but he had just gotten out of the shower. His hair was really wet, and he requested not to be put on the blog or fb. =) I have to say, we got some really cute shots!!

Micah's first time in the high chair.
Parents to be out there: I highly recommend the space saver high chair. It sits in a dining room chair, and it is awesome!


Getting ready for the cereal.

What is all this stuff on my face?


Big boy with his food, first bowl, & first spoon.
Mommy feeding Micah. He's liking this rice cereal stuff!

Is that a smile? Yummy!

More, please, Mommy!

The aftermath. Not too bad, actually.

Mommy & Micah

Sweet boy is growing up too, too fast!

Yay for big boys!!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

I didn't sunburn his feet!

We took Micah to his four month check up today (post to follow with pics), and I am happy to report that my mothering is not awful. Remember when I thought I sunburned his feet??

I didn't.

Thank goodness!

Micah actually has a medical condition that causes his feet to turn extremely red or purplish/blue. The discovery was made this weekend when his feet turned a ridiculous purple color despite the fact he was bundled up. I freaked out, called the nurse hotline, and spoke with someone about his feet changing colors. I noticed he didn't really seem to hurt when I touched his "sunburned" feet. Mr. C & I also noticed that his feet stayed red on and off for almost a week. In the end, the doctor called us to reassure us nothing was seriously wrong with Micah. Thank goodness! I can't think of the name right now, but it has to do with his poor circulation (lack thereof or extreme blood rushing to the extremities) in his hands & feet. It's extremely common until his body develops a little more.

::Letting out long sigh and breathe of relief at not harming my baby::

Micah's fine. I didn't do something crazy to him on accident. Thank goodness!

Monday, March 28, 2011

M is for More Micah Monday Pics.

Yeah, M is not really for all that, but I have a few readers who have been friends for years and don't have facebook. So I'm sorry if this annoys you to post more pictures of Micah's photoshoot, but I'm mainly doing this for one faithful, favorite fan Sara and her twin sister Beth (although Beth has a fb account). We met in Mrs. Bernard's first grade class years and years ago. They've been my bffs for a long, long time. Here are some more precious pictures from Micah's photo shoot the other day. Again all photo credit goes to Crystal Brisco of Crystal Brisco Photography.




Thursday, March 24, 2011

Little Micah man.

Just a few of my fave photos from the talented Crystal Brisco. We got the CD of his three month portraits in the mail today with our images, and I'm so excited to share a few of them. I'll share more as the week progresses. I have to say, these photos are true to Micah now--fingers shoved in his mouth, smiling when he wills, and sleeping. He loves to sleep (at night anyway). I really enjoyed how they turned out! What do you think?





Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Rookie mom, party of one.

Today, my friend Tami called spur of the moment wanting to go out to the Goodwill, and I wanted to go out to lunch & Target. So I quickly jumped in the shower, loaded up little man, and headed out for our quick excursion. I dressed him all nice and spring-like for the current weather conditions. Nothing says spring more to me than bare feet. Plus, I don't put that many shoes on him yet, but I figured why did he really need the socks?

Well, I found out why he needed socks. See the picture below.
The bottom of his poor little feet got sunburned from riding around in my car. What?!?!
Poor little baby! I am such a bad, bad mama!! I didn't even notice it until I got to Target (my last destination) when I loaded him in his stroller. I saw this and thought, "Why are his feet so red?"
When we got back out to the car, I put his carseat in the "bucket" that holds it, pulled down his little curtain thing to keep the sun out of his eyes, and saw the sun hitting just his ankles and below. That is when it dawned on me. The poor little guy was getting sunburned from the back window of my car as we drove around because that curtain thing doesn't cover his long legs! Clearly, if you know me (and my paleness), he must be my child, right? I'm so sorry, Micah. I now declare myself Mother of the Year. Or maybe I'm just Rookie Mom, party of one.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Micah's 3 month photos.

Yay! Micah had his three month photos taken by the ever talented Crystal Brisco of Crystal Brisco Photography. I was so happy with them, especially the picture of me in a field holding him up, the family portrait, the one with his eyes open, and the sweet one of him sucking his fingers in the evergreen like brush.

Here is the link to his pictures directly. Well, this is a "sneak peek" with full photos to come about within this week. I'm so not loving his finger sucking thing he's become obsessed with in the last week. He is no longer cooing at me because his fingers are in his mouth. Any suggestions? Just let it lie? Probably so. Anyway, I think (in some ways), it is really super cute. In other ways, I want to see his face. We tried to snatch his fingers out during the photos...crying ensued.

If you are in the Memphis area, she's a great photographer. I highly recommend her!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

The post about my hair. Oh, and Sunday.

This is a post about hair and Sundays.

I wanted to write a sentence above like that because every time I grade my fourth graders' paragraphs, they start their topic sentence very similar to how I started this post. Just a little teacher humor. Not funny? Alright, moving on.

I've noticed something very alarming that has hit my postpartum life. My hair is falling out in huge, gigantic mounds. Fistfuls of hair fall out every morning in the shower. I used to complain to Mr. C about sweeping up dog hair constantly, but I now spend so much time sweeping up my hair. It is everywhere! I almost took a picture of the amount of hair that is falling out of my head on a daily basis. It is quite alarming, really. However, since a hairball is not something most people want to see, I refrained. In the picture below (taken on Sunday), you can see how long my hair is currently. Mr. C has started lovingly referring to me at Crystal Gale. (In case you are too young to know--or just my son who won't know of Crystal Gale when I print this as a blog book--there is a picture of her as well for reference found on Google Images).

You can imagine how much hair I'm losing if this is the amount of hair I currently have on my head. I don't mean this disrespectfully because I actually have a friend suffering from cancer at this moment, but I do feel somewhat like a chemo patient. That is the only way I can describe the amount of hair. So much falling out that I have some balding spots in certain areas!!

Hello, Crystal. Micah, meet Crystal Gayle. She'll be long gone by the time you read this blog and actually care about your childhood. Anyway...moving on.
I am freaking out about it, so I asked my Twitter followers last night if their hair fell out after pregnancy. (If you tweet, come follow me! I'm at confidentblog). A resounding yes was the reply to my question. See, I really need to cut my hair. Pretty badly, actually. I think I last cut it six months or so ago. I've kind of embraced my curly hair as the years have passed instead of trying to straighten it, and the prenatal vitamins just made it grow and grow and grow over the last year. Mr. C's never seen my hair this long, and quite frankly, I don't remember the last time I had it so long. But if I cut it off...will I go bald? Will you be able to tell how much hair I've lost when I make the cut? I'm scared. So for now, I guess it stays long because it hides those bald spots.
On Sunday, Mr. C & I got dressed up to go to church. Micah wore an outfit from his grandmother (my MIL) so we were documenting the outfit. It was also Micah's second Sunday to stay in the nursery. He did a great job, and we keep getting compliments on how happy he is until he's hungry. Obviously, the boy isn't lacking in the eating department. At any rate, I also went to the mommies group our church has on Sunday afternoon. That was so much fun to connect to other moms, meet church members, & I made my first nursery mistake.
I told the blessed nursery workers NOT to feed Micah since he had just been fed about 15 minutes prior to his arrival. I had a bottle of milk (pumped breast milk) on hand because we spent the afternoon at the botanical gardens having photos taken. Since one of the drawbacks of breastfeeding is finding an actual place to nurse without feeling overexposed, I took him a bottle just in case we needed it. It was still in his diaper bag when I dropped him off at church, but we were going to be at church for almost three hours between my mom's group & service. I meant for that bottle to get used (IF at all) around the end of his time in the nursery or just not at all. I could nurse him in the nursing room. An hour later they gave it to him.
So, I learned my lesson on bottles in the diaper bag. Breast milk, unlike formula, is not a quick process to pump...so I was disappointed. However, I can't really complain because people watched my child for free so that I could have some spiritual blessings from the Lord. In that case, let's just say I learned a thing or two. As my friend said on twitter, "I don't put anything in my diaper bag that I don't want on or in my kid." Great advice, Kristin!

At any rate, Micah is doing so well in the nursery, and I'm so excited for that. It's nice to relax and enjoy Sundays again! I love listening to our pastor and singing praises during the service. It's a blessing just to be able to do that and have a little "alone" time with my hubby even for an hour.

What about you? Any new mom lessons you learned the hard way? Just wait for my latest post coming up on more things I have learned as a new mom this week! Have a great day!!

Saturday, March 19, 2011

The zoo. Again.

We went to the zoo again this week, but this time we took my mom & nephew. Mr. C was supposed to go, but long story short--he forgot his id and couldn't get in even though he had his membership card. Frustrating! However, it was a super busy week with spring breakers from all over the land, so I guess they were fully enforcing those rules.

At any rate, I just love the zoo! Our zoo is rated one of the best in the country, and it is right here. I know we go a whole lot, but the visit today proved that you see something new each time. For example, the animals were really cooperating today. I think the got into their zoo meeting this morning (think Madagascar) and decided all to cooperate.


First, we saw the monkeys (gorillas, etc)....

Ebin looking at all the monkeys in his stroller.
Ah, the stroller. Ebin deeply wanted to push his stroller instead of riding today, which is understandable. I mean, nothing is at stroller height anyway at the zoo. It's hard to see being so little, so he eventually got out of the stroller.

We tried to get Ebin to appreciate the majesty of the panda bears...

And he did. A little.
I honestly think he was half star struck. Half fear struck.

He enjoyed looking at them for a while.

Micah, meanwhile, enjoyed his fingers.
This is his new thing. He went from fist, to thumb, to his pointer & middle finger. Who knows what he'll end up doing long term?
All I know is that the boy does not want to have anything
to do with a pacifier. He (excuse me for a minute here) ain't havin' it.
Just ain't havin' any part of the pacifier. Sigh.

Ebin enjoyed his snack of Cheerios & milk.
He sadly asked politely, "Popcorn? Please-gank you?" all day long.
Poor baby is allergic to corn, so we have to be careful about what he eats.

The elephants were ready to demonstrate their talent of modeling.
While the lady next to us was quite rude as we tried to get Ebin to look at the elephants. She basically shooshed us. In a zoo. Nice.

The grizzly bears were super excited to see us, too.

Ebin was super excited about the "water mountain" & "pushin' stroller in the street."
I lifted him up to see the grizzly bears which lead to, "No! Get down, get down!"
I honestly think the kid was scared to death of the big animals so strolled he did...

What about Micah? Yeah, he was still sucking those fingers refusing to sleep.
(This is not an uncommon event at Casa Confident. He's a night sleeper, not a day sleeper).

Finally after a day of "No pictures!" from Ebin, he said,
"Picture, Mrs. C!" Of course he used my real name, but it was cute.
Then I said, "Say cheese, Ebin!"
He replied, "Say cheese, Ebin!!" with this big grin. I just had to laugh at his repeating me exactly.
Cute pic, though.
Also, notice he is still behind the stroller.

He finally warmed up around the farm animals. Probably because they are a lot less scary, a lot smaller, and maybe more familiar from his books?

At any rate, he wanted to play in the eggs.
He said, "Picture, please-gank you!"
I took the picture saying, "Say cheese, Ebin!"
To which he again replied, "Cheese Ebin!"

At the end of the day the poor boys were exhausted.
I lined them up for a really bad cousin shot. This is about as good as you can do at this point in time. Also notice, I have no pics of my mom or me, really. Haha! We were there, though!

All in all, it was a fabulous day!

Cuteness in all his glory.

Oh, Micah, how did we live a life without you?
God is so good. Just look at this ridiculously cute picture.
Mommy & Daddy love you bunches!