Blog What?!

My, o my...blogging. Where has the time gone?

So, quick update on the Wauhop life:

1. We live in Atlanta - and by Atlanta I mean "The City of Homes," Newnan, GA - and we are really loving it. We do miss CA and our friends, but who wouldn't? But Robert is loving that his job is studying and preaching and meeting with students and parents. And we are making some new, fun friends, praise the Lord!! Two of whom are having little boys this spring/summer, too!!

2. Speaking of little boys, ours - Charles Haddon (Charlie!!) - is due exactly 10 weeks from today! Can't wait!! But also have so very much to do before he arrives :)

3. Our sweet little girl is 17 months old! Wowzer!! She is the funniest girl! Maggie is my little adventurer! She is non-stop and such a chatter box!! Here are some moments from our silly world:
- she loves water and is constantly saying "water water!" Lame one to start with...but it's cute.
- currently she is obsessed with babies. Everywhere we see a stroller or high chair, a child under five, and especially an actual baby - o my! "Baby!" "mommy, baby!!" She is going to love being a big sister!
- she says "HI" to every single person we see as we are out and about.
- another obsession is the potty! O my goodness, she loves the pee pee potty...and we are going to try to potty train in a few weeks! Wow?! We will see!?
- she constantly wants to have her "boo boos" kissed.
- she loves animals and the sounds they make.
- she says "Ew" all the time, too, haha. It's both funny and annoying. She picks up things off of the floor or points out zits on our face and says..."ew." Weird diva child?
- she repeats everything.
- and there are a million other things she says and does every day that are just priceless! But of course I'm her mom...
Goodness, I'm in love with this child. She is a handful and a half and I am so ready for a vacation pretty much every other day. But I wouldn't trade being her mommy for the world!

4. I just saw a commercial on tv for mederma that was filmed on Honolulu in Montrose! No way.

5. We bought a house! And it's awesome. Pics to come :)

6. Other stuff. The Lord is good. He's awesome! He provides and He is faithful and kind and sovereign and He loves me! What a blessing.

Well, that's all for now I guess. Hope to be more regular at this thing, but we will see!

NEW GOALS

Hello!

I have new some new goals...that I want to share with you!

So, first thing.  I want to lose my mom pouch belly.  Maggie is quickly approaching ONE! (AHHHH! give me a moment to freak out with excitement and wonder at how that happened so fast!), and although I've been back to my pre-pregnancy weight since she was like two or three months old, my body is totally different now (obviously).  So, with thoughts of Wauhop baby number 2 starting to sound like an exciting thing - I don't want to go into that with any extra fat...for a lack of a nicer way to put that.  SO - I am committing to Jillian Michael's Ripped in 30!  I'm not going to do any weird diet or anything, but I just want to kick my booty into gear and shed a little extra fat.  Then I'll go back to my regular 3 or 4 (most likely less intense) workouts a week.  So, that's the first thing.

Second, on the other end of things - Meal Planning!  This year, a goal of mine was to cook something new every week.  And honestly, I've succeeded in that area pretty well thus far - and, I have loved it!  Now, I want to start being both more organized and more frugal with my meal planning.  I want to plan two weeks of meals (8 meals), and do pretty much all the shopping at the beginning of the first week!  This week's menu (in no particular order):

Chicken and Dumplings (crockpot)

Cilantro Thai Chicken and Rice

Cheesy White Chicken Enchiladas

Mustard Chicken and Red Potatoes

Fried Egg Quesadillas and Chips and Salsa

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

Grilled Shrimp Stir fry with Potatoes

Tortellini 

Yum!!  Can't wait to eat all of this up!

Next, writing!  I have about three children's books "in the works."  I've always wanted to be a writer.  I studied English in school (should have studied journalism, but O well).  And I really want to start writing now.  Robert is super busy with school and work and everything, so it's really a great time.  Mags goes to bed at 7 and I need to utilize my time and get writing!  I'm excited and also a little nervous about this venture...but mostly excited!  *Let me know if you want to be a proofreader (especially those of you who read a lot to your little ones)!

Lastly, I want to read more.  Plain and simple, I want to make more time to read good books.

So, if you see me, ask me how those things are going!  I'd appreciate it :)

Have a wonderful day!!

**(O. Also, I changed my blog format because some had said they couldn't leave comments...?  so, I think that might work better now!)

Diary of a Stay At Home Mom: My Morning Thought...

I just put Maggie down for her morning nap.  And as I held her for just a minute before sitting in her bed, I was praying for her future and for her salvation.  Suddenly it occurred to me that I sort of presume on the Lord's grace.  I think that many times when I pray for her salvation, when I pray that she will hate her sin, see her need for the Savior, submit to the Lord, love His church, and live her life as a worshipper of Christ...I just assume that that will definitely happen.  On one hand, I feel like that is due to great faith and confidence in the Lord's kindness, compassion, and love!  On the other hand I feel like it's because I have become complacent at the thought of the greatness of salvation.  Yet again I feel so humbled by the blessed life of mommying!

What do you think?  Do you ever feel like that?  Praise the Lord that He is sovereign and that the gracious Holy Spirit intercedes on my behalf.  Salvation truly is a miraculous and amazing gift!  God is so gracious to save sinners, like me.  And I trust and pray for the future salvation of my baby Maggie.

Hope you have a great day!  God is so good!

Chickpea Chicken Soup for my Chica

Lately I've been trying to bring a lot of variety into Maggie's diet.  I'm always trying new combos of fruit and it's exciting every time we can add new foods into her menu - like CHEESE!  It's a favorite of mine, and thus far proved to be a favorite of hers.  She will eat almost anything if I melt some cheese on the top!  To be honest, though, I usually just make stuff up for her, like whatever sounds good or what might go ok together or what can I add to make it more nutritious (like some sneaky spinach!)...  Last week I blended sweet potatoes, avocado, and a small apple and she totally loved that random conglomeration!  But, this week I thought I'd try an actual baby food recipe.  I ended up tweaking it a bit to fit what I could find at my TJs/what I thought would be good, and Maggie loved the result!  So, if you have a little one, you should try it!  It's yummy (to a baby), nutritious, and easy to make!

Ingredients:

1 can of organic garbanzo beans, drained (15oz)
1/2 clove of garlic, minced (*I used a whole clove, but I think it was a little too much)
2 small or 1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 small onion (or less) chopped
2 tbsp of olive oil
3.5 cups of water
1/2 cup of boiled organic chicken, shredded

Directions:

Saute the garlic and onion in the olive oil for a few minutes.
Add in the beans (drained) and the potatoes.  Then add in the water.
(You can add the chicken now or just add it straight into the blender with the soup [gross. i know.])
Simmer for 15-20 minutes/until the potatoes are soft enough to blend.
Blend it up.  Yum?

Let it cool and it's ready to go**.  I served it to Maggie with a slice of wheat bread.  And, from what I can tell she definitely enjoyed it!  So, try it if you want!

[**cottage cheese or whipping cream/milk is optional.  I added a smidge of cottage cheese to bring some creaminess, and also to make it less watery (you also might need to add some other thickening agents such as oatmeal cereal, depending on the consistency).  ALSO, if you are going to freeze it, do so sans "cream" and add the cottage cheese or what not as you serve it.]    

A Week Without Daddy

A week without Daddy is a sad week, indeed.

Mommy and Maggie sleep with less ease.

A week without Daddy means no strong, tickling hands

And big bear hugs are in high demand.

A week without Daddy is not our favorite week,

But tomorrow he gets back and we will go out to eat!

...OK, obviously a work of art!  But I couldn't justify any more time spent on thinking up rhymes.  Needless to say, though, I have been missing my man something fierce!  There is something about the knowledge of Daddy coming home at the end of the day that really helps to get you through a bought of crying or whining or teething or ??? you name it; but the knowledge of Daddy's absence for an entire week has the opposite effect.  But, tomorrow, he returns!  Yay!  

From the sounds of it, camp was amazing - lots of great ministry, one of one conversations, and fabulous preaching.  There were fun games and a lot of dirty kids.  Robert was one of the "hype" men this year, and he had a lot of fun doing that.  And, I'm SO thankful (despite how much he was missed) that he was able to be there, attending to all of that, and know that I was at home taking care of our baby and apartment...    

I've been thinking that with ministry this sort of thing might be asked of us a lot.  Trying to think about the future and what we might do: take the kids, leave the kids with someone else, don't go?  These decisions do not need to be made today, obviously, but it is something to think about.    My number one responsibility is my husband and children (future tense, obviously since i have only 1 as of right now!) and doing ministry with them as a family is a DREAM!  When they're littler and money is "littler" it can be tough.  But, it's so awesome to know that the Lord provides!  And, He will not call us to anything that is too difficult for us!  So, with all of that in mind, and with me wanting to get to bed...I leave this for another time.  

Goodnight Cyberspace and my few reading friends :)

The Diary of a Stay at Home Mom: A Thankful "Dr. Mom"

Tonight I put my baby girl down for bed and was just really overwhelmed by how much I love her.

I am so thankful for her.  She is such a beautiful girl.  She is incredibly sweet.  She is so smart and getting smarter.  The girl loves her some drama, but in time I pray that we can harness that for her good and the Lord's glory.  She is my morning, noon, and night right now - and I love it!

Since we've been back from vacation (almost two weeks) Maggie has been sick.  First, we were unsure of what she was dealing with and eventually learned she had "roseola" - basically it was a high fever (103ish) for 3 days and then when it broke (on Thursday night) she developed a complete body rash for a couple days.  We had a few days of relief over the weekend and on Monday, but Tuesday she started into a pretty fierce runny nose.  At first I attributed that to teething, but as it lingered it was clear she had yet another virus.  She now has a gnarly cold, with a hoarse, barking cough - and I tell you it is one of the saddest sounds.  You can hear how sore her throat is when she cries, and it really does break my heart.

It's super hard to have a sick little baby when you are a new mom; at least for this new mom.  I think I have said "I don't know what to do for you" (or some variation of that)  more than 100 times these past two weeks.  When she can talk or point to what's bothering her, I think it'll be much less difficult...or at least take out a lot of the guess work.  I'd go to the moon and back to make her happy, but this week what she needed most from me was patience (which I definitely lacked at times) and a lot of cuddle time, which I was so happy to do!

But, all of this to say...these two weeks have made me INCREDIBLY thankful for a healthy baby!  How kind is the Lord to give me the gift of a healthy baby girl - all of her organs functioning and bones straight and everything doing what it is supposed to be doing when it is supposed to do it!  That is a miracle, babies are a miracle; there is so much that could go wrong, but the Lord so graciously has given us this gorgeous, healthy girl!  That's not to say that that will continue, or our other children will be that way as well, although we do pray for that - but right now I couldn't be more grateful for His kindness in my girl, Maggie!

I really do hope my role of "Dr. Mom" comes to an end soon, but children truly are a blessing from the Lord and I am so in love with my lovey little blessing!  Hope everyone has enjoyed this sunny week!

Kauai 2012 part 2

More Kauai...

Zip-line video!  (did i mention it was pouring rain during half of this adventure!  thankfully not during this video, otherwise we might have ruined our camera!)

Kauai food court.  Obviously a highlight!

Waimea Canyon.  The "Little" Grand Canyon.

Robert went surfing!

And Maggie ate some sand...haha.  O well.

I love her fat, little nose.

Goodbyes are hard...

"Sister's Forever!"

Maggie's Aunt and Uncles (so weird my siblings are aunts and uncles).

One last family picture in this Paradise before a DAY of travel :)

What a great trip!!  Thank You, Lord, for safety and family and sunshine!  If you want to know more about our trip, just ask!  And now, we are very glad to be home!!!

THE END!