Cause & Effect

We had a baby (Reid).
Babies must ride in car seats.
Car Seat fits well in 4 Runner.
4-Runner had Sirus Radio.
Todd stops driving 4-Runner mostly.
Todd drive Honda.
Honda has XM (THIS IS GOING SOMEWHERE, Stay with me!)
Best XM Station: Oprah & Friend, XM154.
Todd listens to Oprah & Friends.
Todd learns about Peter Walsh.
Peter Walsh writes, 'It's All Too Much' (How to oraginze your life.
Todd buys book.
We are ORGANIZING OUR LIFE. . .(Cause & Effect) and I do mean organizing! We spent the weekend in Palm Desert with Todd's parents. He read almost the entire book, we talked about the concepts over dinner and the entire drive home yesterday. To date we've cleaned out eight bags of clothes, reorganized our entire closet. . because our closet wasn't meeting the "vision we have for our life". . . YIKES!! As I write this, Todd is systematically organing all of the CD's in our house (and there are quite a LOT of these CD's). And don't be suprised if any gift you might recieve from us in the future is wrapped in brown paper with one of three different colored ribbon's, (Black, white or Red)(Because this is what Peter suggests. . ) This organization frenzy is actually a really good thing, not that we live an "unorganized" or cluttered life, but it is nice to "lighten" the load. :) Poor Reid, I hope he turns out okay. . he seemed not the least bit disturbed today by watching me sort through all my drawers. . . in fact I think he enjoyed it, or maybe it was the hanging on the wall that was so facinating. . .
So I hope your home, room, space matches the vision you have for your life in 2008. . and if it doesn't. . .we know a really good book, or Todd can come share his new found knowledge with you. . he's QUITE excited about all this!

Manners

Reid and I went on a little outing today. (We're learning how to get out, things take a lot more time and thought with a little one!) He was doing so well after our errands and I hadn't had any coffee ALL DAY, that I thought, "Let's go to Starbucks". . so while I was waiting for my decaf Vanilla Latte my little guy, it seems, was entertaining the other Starbucks patrons. The gentleman (with a smile) said, "He's sticking his tongue out at me!". . I guess it's never to early to start teaching manners. . not that at this point of Reid's five WEEKS that I really have much influence. . it was pretty cute, he was totally looking at (or in the direction of) this gentleman, and sticking his tongue out at him!!

It was actually a great treat for me to go out, he was snug as a bug in his new stroller, I was able to sit down and even read a bit!! I LOVE it! For any parents, or will-be parents. . I HIGHLY recommend anything by Dr. Sears. . but his newest Vaccine book in particular. It's a GREAT resource about vaccines, there is so much controversy about shots these days and I've been looking for a good resources to get information and I FOUND it with his book! I like to make informed decisions and I think I'll be able to do that when in comes to Reid's immunizations now!

Today is a monumental day, we are now officially in 3-6 month outfits. . all of our 0-3 month clothes have been put away, and at the rate we're going, these clothes aren't going to last for very long either! He's growing like a weed! I think he is close to 23.5 inches (he was born at 21 inches!)

Sappy Mommy Entry. . .

Several months ago, in some context, I'm not quite sure what, someone said something (okay, how's that for descriptive. .someone said something. . . Let me elaborate a bit more, shall I?!)

I think it was at church at a baby dedication and the parents read "life verses" for their children. I loved the concept and started thinking and praying that God would show us a "life verse" to claim and teach little Reid. A few mornings ago, as I was singing through EVERY song I could think of I sang, "He has shown you, oh man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God". . It's from Micah (not Palpant, although I see these traits in Micah Palpant. . but from the book in the bible Micah. . I'm a new mom, so I get a pass on quoting the exact location, for now, right?) Anyway, that was about the last song I knew the words to, and Reid was calm by then too. . so I picked up my "Daily Light" and daily collection of Scriptures. . . This was the first time I had read any thing from the bible to Reid (I figure reading anything to him is a good thing, I like to think that he is starting to enjoy the very hungry catapillar. . probably not as much as I love reading it to him, but that's an entirely different story. . back to reading the bible. . the Scripture to start the day. . Micah 6:8 (I picked up the Daily Light. . .so now I know the "call numbers", if you will)"

He has show you, O Man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. . .

I think I have MY life verse for little Reid. . I sing and pray it for him every day now, I can't really think of anything better, DO justly, LOVE mercy and WALK humbly with God. . .I bought two frames, one to put this verse in and the other to frame the most wonderful card that my dad and brother sent us from their trip back to Idaho after Reid's "debut". . The card said:

"The first time
his laughter unfurled
its wings in the wind,
we knew the world
would never be the same

Okay, that's the sappy mommy part. . I'll write about as a friend called them (and a BRILLIANT naming at that, "Pooptasterphies" tomorrow. . . or not!

Very Polite

According to Oprah, (and Oprah IS a reliable source) there are like five women in America who haven't read, "Eat, Pray, Love: One Women's search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I was one, so now, there are only four left. Anyway, I have to say, it's a great book, about a 30 something women's "life crisis". Liz (I can call her that, we're friends now, because I'm reading her book) spends a year traveling to learn about herself and capture the year in a wonderfully written memoir. (If you are one of the remaining four, it's a delightful book, she's a wonderful writer...)

But, I should back up, GUESS WHAT? I've discovered that I can read paperback novels and nurse at the same time. . It's wonderful. Prior to discovering my agility at balancing a bobby (a nursing must have, a half donut shaped pillow), baby (another MUST HAVE for nursing), nursing bra, (tricky little contraptions), burping cloth, AND paperback book, I had watched three entire seasons of "Project Runway" (Bravo did a weekend long marathon. . . any questions on fashion, I'm your gal!)and watched Paula Dean cook EVERYTHING imaginable in butter and bacon grease ("I just love the flavor of butter and bacon grease ya'll!) Reading is a much better way to go!

After all that, I'm FINALLY at my point. . .Liz befriend an Italian man who was her Italian language coach. Over some amazing dish of pasta, or pistachio gelato he said to her, "Liz, you must be very polite with yourself when you are learning something new.". . . My new mantra for this "new" something in my life. . . "Amy, you must be very polite with yourself when you are learning to. . get up every hour to nurse a hungry little boy, you must be very polite with yourself when you are being peed on, (and pooped on) by a little boy. . you must be very polite with yourself when you agree to let the ladies from church bring meals for a week or two. . . So many new things to learn. . basically everything in my life is being re-learned right now, how to take a shower, put on my make-up, go to the store, fix a sandwich, do the laundry and type this blog. For some reason those words just resonated with me. . so as I muddle through my days, learning everything new, I'm being polite to myself. . and I have to say, it's working out good so far.

Things that make me laugh. . .

Yesterday I was on the Amazon website looking at Children's books. The Amazon number one book for the year is: "Do unto Otters". It's a book that teaches kids manner, you know the golden rule (Do unto Otters, as you would have Otters do unto you.". . Anyway, I love to read the reviews on Amazon (really, it's a riot to read what people write. . . like this review I found on "Do unto Otters' . . . So this is what someone wrote. . . .

. . . . "What I Dislike: Personally, I don't like the illustrations. The characters remind me of Ren & Stimpy, but my kids like it. Also, there are two things that more conservative Christians might find offensive. First, on the page about "when to say 'Excuse me.'", two characters pass gas. (Both do say "Excuse me!") Second, when Mr. Rabbit and one of the Otters share books, one of the titles is "Harry Otter." The cover illustration is a clear reference to Harry Potter. Considering the target age group, I don't think these minor details detract from the value of the book. . . . "

Are you kidding me? Passing Gas is offensive to conservative Christians? Whatever.

On the Reid front, all is well. He is passed the 10 pound mark. . .still amazing to me that we have such a big guy. We have officially outgrown the "newborn" outfits that we had. We're solidly onto the 0-3 months, and he's such a LONG guy. . who knows how long those will last. . he's long and lean. . . so who knows what he'll end up wearing. He's not too picky, as long as he is warm and dry.

We love the hair dryer, it's like the magic, "stop crying button.". . . it's so crazy, but when he's really fussy and can't seem to calm himself down, and we know he is dry and not hungry and burped. . . we turn on the hair dryer, and in under 30 seconds we can go from CRYING baby to comatose baby. . he gets all calm and starts to stare, eventually he'll even fall asleep to the hum of the hair dry. . the vacum works for this too. Who knew?!