Schedule - Day 2

For naptime #2 Jane was already asleep and stayed asleep once she went in her crib.
Naptime #3 did not work out.  She cried quite a bit, so we got her up and tried to feed her then gave her a nice bath to get her ready for bed.
At bedtime we decided to let her sleep in the co-sleeper in our room, because Justin had to get up super early (3am!) to study for his last test of the semester.

Today, at naptime #1, Daddy was home and Aunt Becca was over.  Justin couldn't stand her crying, so tried to soothe her and then I could tell she wasn't going to go to sleep after that.  So, I got her up to finish playing with Aunt Becca. 

Now, is time for naptime #2 (or #1, since she hasn't actually had one yet).  As Aunt Becca and Grandma left, I nursed Jane, changed her dipe and turned on her light music and closed her curtains.  At 1:58pm I laid her in bed, she has been crying since (about 5 minutes).  I am going to give her 10-15 minutes and then try to calm her a bit.

I think this is good for her, but it has definitely been harder after that first nap went so well!


Today, as mentioned above, Aunt Becca came over.  Justin's sister (Aunt Becca) has tons of craft stuff and she is addicted to Pinterest.  She noticed that I pinned this and volunteered to bring all the necessities over to make it!  It was so fun.

We used lots of pretty colors

Here's the first set of footprints...

Jane's feet are very ticklish, so it was fun to watch her squirm and wiggle as we painted her feet!

Mama painting on bug.

And, the finished product:

I have given her approximately 13 minutes and she is still pretty screamy...going to get her now...

EDIT: : I went in to rock her and turn on her favorite song (Grey Blue Eyes - Dave Matthews), and now she is silent :)

Schedule

One of my goals is to get into a somewhat strict routine/schedule.  Mainly for Jane, but also for us.  I would like to have set times when Jane naps and goes to bed.  Right now it is quite random, depending on Justin's homework schedule or our personal lives.

Today I began this transition.

Jane usually sleeps with us at night.  We have an "Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper" that sits right next to our bed, but many times she refuses to be silent unless she is snuggling against some warm momma or dada.  We are starting to get frustrated with it and feel it is time to transition her into her own room.  We love snuggling with our bug, but we don't want to be mad about it.  Therefore, now is a good time for us to begin this transition.

For naptime today, at around noon, I took Jane into her room, turned on some light music, changed her dipe and laid her in her crib to fall asleep on her own.  I am not into "Ferberizing," necessarily, but I felt it would be good to try a little bit of "crying-it-out" for naptime.  It worked!  She cried for about ten minutes, not too hard, and fell asleep on her own.  I feel quite accomplished and feel this is a huge step in the right direction.  I am going to try this for her afternoon and evening naps as well and maybe at bedtime.  I might not push it too hard, and only go for naps the first few days, then try bedtime; not really sure yet.

I feel having set naptimes will help everyone.  Me, with some sanity; Jane, with a set schedule; Justin, it will help him mostly in the evening to know when he gets time with just me.

As far as other parts of our daily schedule that need to be tweaked, there are so many.
I would like to start waking up earlier.  I would like to have set times when Jane eats solids (she is eating them about 3 times a day now).  I would like to have a set God time.  Even a set time where we read together and play together and clean.  I would like to set up a tentative schedule that we follow on a daily basis.  Of course, this schedule will be flexible, I think it would be stupid for it not to be.

That is all.  Maybe I will post the sched. once I have one set up! 

Life Changes

Justin and I recently found ourselves fighting/bickering a lot.  We decided to discuss the core reasons why and came up with quite a few things.  You can imagine what the core reason is:

We don't spend enough time with the Lord.

All the other things stemmed from that one fact.  We decided to make a list of all the things we would like to see change in our lives.  We now have a rough list of some changes that need to be made.  We need to define them so that they are achievable.  We also need to add a time frame in which we would like to institute the changes.


I am so thankful for a husband who is open and understanding.  The fact that he came to me to talk about these things encourages my heart to the core.  I love to talk about things, but I love better when he pursues the things we need to talk about.  He is so in love with God.  He wants to honor Him in everything and sees that he needs to tweak his daily life a bit in order to do that.  I LOVE that openness.  I am encouraged, impressed and just plain blessed to have that kind of best friend. 

One of my goals is to blog more.  It is one of the lower ones on my list, but I think it is somewhat important.  I seem to do a lot better emotionally and spiritually when I make time to journal and/or blog.  It would be a good way to update people on our lives, share spiritual truths I am learning, etc.  Plus, I love reading other people's blogs as well.  I think it would help fill my void of personal connection I have been feeling.  Moving to a new place, becoming a wife and stay-at-home momma in one year's time have all finally caught up with me and are taking a toll.  I miss friends and college.  Growing up is draining.  (Don't get me wrong, I love every single minute of it, but I do have times when I just want to get together with Neal, Bev, Lundy and Whorts and play a good game of Catan or watch a rediculous episode of MST3K!)

There is a brief update, and I hope to be more organized with my posting than this in the future.  Hopefully, if I don't take so much time in between my posts they can be short and sweet (which are my favorite to read) and perhaps meaningful :)


One more thing.  I was challenged to read the book of Philippians by a friend who spoke on Philippians 4:8

" Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." 

She spoke about our joy being rooted in Jesus and not in happiness.  How our joy is conditional on Christ alone and happiness is conditional on circumstances.  I feel like I used to be really good at being able to say, "It is well with my soul," and mean it.  I felt like my joy was deep and evident to most people around me.  

Somewhere along the way I have lost track of my Savior, therefore losing track of my joy.  I'm on a mission to get it back!

 

I was going to create a new post (which I am actually doing, I realize) but then saw that I had zero comments on my last two posts...not very motivating.

Maybe later...

TOUR!

Here is the house tour on video! You can see pictures on facebook!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS2dbZtDzaA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=njZ-cEbV_VM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8o3ju4gI_M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrm5a9DUHOc

 

Together forever :)

Jane is growing like a little weed! She now smiles, rolls over and "talks". She has actually been trying to talk since the day she was born. She is a very vocal little girl. Oh, and quite the drama queen! Lately I have been doing tummy time with her, baby massage and yoga/stretching with mommy. She is a homebody like daddy, which drives me a little crazy since I am the opposite! I try not to push her too much, but there are lots of things that mommy and Jane need to go places to do. She is getting a little better - as long as I fill her up with yummy mama-milk before we go!

Daddy put me in a basket...

On Thanksgiving Jane got to meet her cousin
Lucia who is 22 hours older than her!

We closed on our house and moved in on the 18th! It is so great. We are ALMOST all set up. We had our room and living room complete within 24 hours :)  Now, my main task is to finish Jane's room. It has been the easiest to put off since we aren't using it much right now. My goal for our house is to have it completely set up by Sunday! Once it is spotless, I will take you on a picture...or maybe video tour!

Here's a glimpse of our living room...

I have been able to cook and clean and be a mom in my own space for about two weeks now, and it is glorious! I praise God everyday for it! I don't think we are ever going to take this for granted.

Justin started his new job! He is working at a CPA firm and has his own office - of which Jane and I got to go help decorate the other day :) It is the perfect job for him right now - he was glowing when he came home from his first day. I am so proud of him.

A friend wrote a blog about vulnerability and I felt a bit convicted. Lately, I have only been sharing "braggy" information. Not to brag, just to share good news! Nonetheless, I am not altogether amazing. I have not been consistent in spending quality or quantity time with the Lord. I finally put my foot down about it the other night when I was praying at a communion service at our church. We had a time of reflection on sin; I realized how huge my sin of un-love for God has become. So, I have made it a goal to take time each day, while Jane is down for a nap, and spend that time reading, journaling, praying, etc. It takes effort to put aside cleaning and organizing and other distractions that may come about. I have succeeded in doing this two out of three days...not horrible. It's a start.
You can help keep me accountable. You should ask how my times with Him are going :)
So far, they have been really refreshing. It is SO nice to journal and pray through things. And reading His word is beyond encouraging. I am thankful for a Creator who is so willing to embrace me whenever I decide to return to Him - and who is patient the entire time I stray from Him. I am SO undeserving.

A whole new world.

Last time I posted was at the end of my pregnancy...I was excited, ready and terrified.  Well, now we have our Jane!  The birth process was amazing.  Not horrible at all.  Painful, yes, but not even as bad as I expected!  And I was able to do it naturally and drug free :)  Recovery, too, has gone really well!  I am so thankful and continually praising God for such a care-free experience!!!

This is our sweet Jane with her proud Daddy on her Birthday. She was 8 pounds and 1 ounce at birth and 20.5 inches long. Perfection.

I was also becoming impatient with our house.  We finally have an official closing date of November 18th at 9am and plan to move right after we sign!  PRAISE God!  So excited.  And ready.

Here is our house again :)

So, now - I am a mom!  My days consist of snuggling my sweet baby, feeding her growing belly, rocking and shushing to calm her, enjoy a few quiet moments during her naps, changing her diapers and spit-up-enhanced clothing, talking with her and enjoying each little sound and face she makes.  Sometimes I get time to do laundry, clean, cook and occasionally shower.  It is the best :)

On our second Sunday to church.

Another new part of our life will be Justin's job!  He recieved a phone call yesterday asking for a follow-up interview with a CPA firm he interviewed with this summer.  They met this morning and offered him a position!  He will be making more money than at the bank, have his own office AND be working in his field of study!  All the things he has been praying for in a job.  He plans to give his two weeks tomorrow and begin working at the new place on the 28th. 

Something you may have caught about us Villmers, we love change.  Not necessarily, but we have been embracing LOTS of it in the past year!  And God has been gracious in walking us through the hard stuff and continualy blessing us far beyond our deserving.