Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

3 weeks.   4 weeks.   5 weeks.   6 weeks.  

She is a little stingy with the smiles, but I finally got a decent picture of one.  

Something about this photo of Jeff reminded me of Naomi. Wasn't he a cute baby? We know she gets it naturally....

1. I love my baby girl but she is turning me into someone I never thought I'd be: someone who co-sleeps. It was drilled into my head during residency that the safest place for baby to sleep is alone, on their back, in a crib. But while it may be safer, she doesn't sleep well there. We will get there eventually, I'm sure, but if I want any sleep for now, I have to sleep with her snuggled up next to me. And I will say that I am mastering the art of nursing her in my sleep. 2. I am already dreading going back to work. Thankfully, it won't be for a while. 3. I'm reading one of the best books I've read in a while - a book by one of my seminary professors, Zach Eswine. It's called Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry as a Human Being . He speaks a lot about being a pastor who is also a real life person, but I feel like most of what he writes is applicable to everyone. He was one of my favorite professors and is also an excellent writer and speaker, so the book has...

I was perusing pinterest while nursing Naomi today and saw a pin for this free dress pattern . It's from a great craft blog called Made by Rae . It looked simple enough, so during Naomi's (long!) afternoon nap today I basically got it all finished except for sewing on the pockets and buttons, which I was able to do later this evening. The pattern came together really well and I'm definitely planning on buying the full pattern from her blog which includes several different looks - different necklines and sleeve options and sizing up to a 5T. I have used another pattern by her previously,  the toddler backpack pattern , and loved it, so I had a feeling this one would be just as nice. And it was. I'm definitely going to be making this again. Excuse the bad photos, but I was so excited I couldn't wait until tomorrow during the day. I can't wait until Sunday when we can wear it to church!

If you have been around this blog a while, you know that for the last few years I've given lots of handmade gifts. This year was a bit different, and although I would have loved to do a lot of sewn/handmade gifts, I knew it was a bad idea. I didn't want to spend the last month of pregnancy stressed about finishing gifts before the baby came. I definitely made the right decision. Instead of handmade, we gave a lot of books, ordered from amazon and some photos. (My favorite book was the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I also bought one for myself. I can't wait to cook from it.) I did manage one homemade gift - a t-shirt quilt for my little brother. There are lots of great tutorials out there for how to do this, but I basically ignored them all. They mostly tell you to use interfacing to make the knit act more like a quilting fabric. Instead, I just sewed them all together with the serger and then sewed the resulting quilt top down to some fleece. No quilt sandwich for me. I bou...

I have been seeing lots of year-end posts popping up on different blogs over the last week. I figured it's probably my turn. I had started a post about what a tough year it's been - Last January, after all, we were mourning a lost pregnancy. Then we were looking forward to adoption. Then we were nervously waiting out those early weeks of a very unexpected pregnancy . And of course there was Jeff's ongoing job search, which has been a major source of sadness/anger/frustration over the last 12 months. Then I read this post , and was immediately chastened. I should be giving thanks for everything - not just the beautiful and healthy daughter we brought home from the hospital three weeks ago, but also the perplexing and frustrating job search. So. It's been a year. And God has been good to us through it all.

It is amazing to me that such a small person can make life a lot more complicated. I managed to get Judah, Naomi, and I to church in time for Sunday school on Sunday and was only 15 minutes late. I felt like I deserved a prize for that, especially since Jeff wasn't around to help since he had already left to preach at the other church he goes to. Today the three of us ran some errands, including a trip to the post office. Handling a 4 week old, nearly three year old, and an armload of letters and a box also made me feel like I deserved a prize. (or a nap) I've been reading some on this blog lately. It is just fantastic. I especially liked this post about c-sections and this one about infertility . She also writes beautifully about foster care, adoption, and being a mama. Lots of good stuff there. I realize this is sort of disjointed, but I hear my baby screaming downstairs so I will stop writing and try to get her to stop crying.

Her three week old photo. In a killer outfit.    

One day last week while Jeff's parent's were in town we went to visit the farm of someone from our church. He has baby cows. And two very friendly donkeys.     Baby cows are very cute. And look perpetually grumpy.   Although most of Perry's cows are just numbered, this nice lady has a name. And her name is Bruce.   Naomi came along in the moby.   Did I mention that the donkeys were very friendly? Friendly donkey + new fish eye lens =  

So I busted out my glue gun today to make some hair accessories. Bows are a nice and fast craft project - hopefully it will get my creative juices flowing. One of the white headbands actually has a loop where I can attach hair clips, so I imagine we will be rotating bows to try and match her outfits. Moms of girls - should I make two of each bow, or is one enough? And here are all the ones I made today....

1. I'm currently reading a fantastic biography of Dietrick Bonhoeffer that I gave Jeff for Christmas. It is fantastic. You should get it and read it. I love when I get presents for Jeff that I get to enjoy too. 2. Here is an excellent interview with my favorite seminary professor about doing ministry. He apparently also just wrote a book that sounds very good. 3. The most awesome play I've ever seen in college football happened during the SC vs. Michigan bowl game. Go Cocks! 4. I have forgotten several things about having a baby. First, how during these first few weeks it feels like all you do is nurse the baby. Not that I mind - I loved nursing Judah and I love nursing Naomi. But since she falls asleep every time and we have to stop and burp and then repeat the whole sequence in just a few short hours sometimes it feels like that is all I do. Thanks to my husband and mother-in-law who is here now there is laundry being done, dishes put away, and a nearly thr...

We did a little two week photo shoot with Naomi yesterday. Here is one of my favorites.  

Jeff got me a fish-eye lens for Christmas. I have a feeling it's going to be very fun to use.