our big boy

We are daily reminded of the swift passage of time.

Aaron's new favorite thing is standing up in his crib and
holding on to the sides

He does, of course, need help getting there.

This is the smile of a happy, rested boy...who brings many
smiles to the faces of two very blessed parents.

hyper-

You know that feeling you get that's all fluttery and shaky and you can barely breathe you're so excited? I know it well. We've started laying our laminate flooring. Hopefully, this is the week to finish it.

And this morning, I wondered when the last time was that I got this excited about sharing my faith. I need to find some unsaved friends, because the fact that I can't remember the excitement of a first time witnessing opportunity is unacceptable.

What I read yesterday also convicted me...when I do not show love, what am I showing? I don't want to be a glazed worthless vessel, that's for sure.

Prov 26:23-26
Like the glaze covering an earthen vessel are fervent lips with an evil heart. Whoever hates disguises himself with his lips and harbors deceit in his heart; when he speaks graciously, believe him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart; though his hatred be covered with deception, his wickedness will be exposed in the assembly.

May our excitement be about more than beautiful flooring today. May love rule our actions instead of hatred, and may all of us find some unsaved new friends to share Christ with!!!

So I'm not winning any blue ribbons...

Baby belly cast in plaster? not on your life.
Video of birth? not allowed. hospital policy.
Birth announcements? nope.
Baby book? nada.
2 mo, 4 mo, 6 mo photo shoots? uh-uh.
bronzed baby booties? are you kidding!?
photo album? um, no.


There is an overwhelming lack of milestone memorabilia in our house. We haven't been to a photo studio with our son. We haven't made a baby album. We haven't even contacted the courthouse yet for a copy of Aaron's birth certificate. Heaven help us if we have to prove he's ours. Or if we have to flee to Canada for some unforeseen reason. Oh wait. We can't go there anymore without a passport. Guess we're stuck.

At least the firstborn through the lastborn children of our family will have the same lack of stuff. We will have none of this SuperCollection for the first, BigCollection for the second, Collection for the third, and dwindling off to nothing for the others! In our house, there will be no echoes of, "Mommy loves me more. She made me a baby book! NYAH!" as tongues stick out. No strains of, "So prove it that you're not adopted - where's your birth announcement?"

OK so maybe the real reason I've not done any of these things is that I am a cheapskate. Or a slacker. Or clueless. Maybe even unorganized, unprioritized, and undoubtedly, something far worse. I'm definitely not a Blue Ribbon Creative Memories Mother. And the horrid, stark truth is - I don't really want to be. I can hear your gasps of horror now.

Aaron and siblings, should God send us any, will be documented on the CD's full of digital pictures that are stacking up quickly on our desk - his milestones, in the little squares of the calendar (when I remember) rather than the exquisite scrapbooks that Other People's Blue Ribbon Mothers slave over for hours, cutting their fingers with special edged scissors and agonizing over paper choices. But our kids will be able to fit their childhoods in a duffel, and travel the world. And if by some odd twist of genetics they want to make their own scrapbooks, then they'll have the digital photos to do it.

Also about now, I'm beginning to wonder if there was some sort of manual that I missed out on. It didn't even occur to me to get Aaron a special Easter outfit. And I don't think I will.

Lord willing, I won't stink quite as badly at the other aspects of mothering I have yet to face. Hopefully, we will be able to show our kids God's love for us, and our responsibility and privilege to honor and worship Him with our lives. I pray that we will be able to see Aaron and any future siblings accept Christ an an early age. We certainly expect to have lots of fun in the Muth family. I sure hope we'll be able to enjoy our family and make memories that will be stamped in our brains forever.

And for this mom, that is worth more than Copper #47 on acid free "Autumn Leaves" paper.

what would YOU do

OK, let's hypothetically say that you have a neighbor who has a German Shepherd. The neighbor is located directly behind your house. Your yards are separated by a wooden 5' privacy fence and your homes are about 20' apart. Almost every night the dog barks, waking you and, sometimes, keeps you awake. You know that the dog is barking because the neighbors NEVER take him for walks, and he gets pretty much no attention whatsover. So on one hand, you feel bad for the dog. You've only spoken to the neighbors over the fence two or three times, and so a purposeful confrontation about the barking might have the potential to ruin any chance of a future relationship with the neighbors. So on the other hand, you're concerned about the relationship there and since you plan to live there for a few more years at least, want to keep things civil so you can possibly build a relationship in order to share Christ with them. And if you had a third hand, you'd be really wanting the dog to shut up so you could have some peaceful nights...A fourth hand would be that the city has a noise ordinance, so any barking after 10p is "against the law" but you sure would hate to see the neighbors put an electronic bark collar on the poor dog. But then again, you've never been much of a dog person. Plus you don't know if the call in to the police to report loud barking would mean that the neighbors could find out who made the complaint, and thus we're back to the first concern.

So, what would you do?

Whole Wheat Banana Flax Muffins

I've been experimenting with ways to get heart-healthy flax into our diet. (and for any nursing moms out there, flax is one food that is supposed to boost the quality of your milk - I have noticed a difference!) This is an adaptation of a recipe on the back of the flax box - I increased the whole wheat flour, substituted bananas for apples, and added vanilla and nutmeg. My husband really likes these!

1/4 cup milled flax seed
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
2 T veg. oil
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla
dash nutmeg

Blend dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center, and combine egg, vegetable oil, and milk. Stir until just blended. Fold in bananas and nuts. Fill well greased muffin cups or papers. Bake at 400* for 18-20 minutes or until muffin top springs back when touched. Yield: 12 muffins. You might want to double this recipe...

4/2010
Here just for the muffins?? It's my most popular post, and I'm so glad you stopped by to check it out. Nothing happens by accident - stay and take a look around! I'd be glad to have you as a more permanent reader - welcome!!

seven hundred sixty nine and fifty six cents

$406.08 - 800 square feet of laminate flooring
$319.92 - 800 square feet of quiet step underlayment
$ 43.56 - merchandise tax for good ole MI

knowing God cares about the cost of our flooring and has provided for this "we'd-be-fine-without-it-but-it-sure-is-great-to-have-it" home improvement item that despite the low cost met ALL our requirements for flooring - BEYOND PRICELESS!!!

Next, we "fix" our fireplace - so if anyone has ideas, better get them in soon. We've got a plan, but it's always subject to change if there's a great idea out there. Hopefully, laying the laminate will be our happy St Patrick's Day weekend activity. Much more profitable than turning a river green, if you ask me.

thanks, elaine!

I had no idea what a "taggie" was, (see comments on previous post) so I googled it and thought, "How cool! Where can I find something like that...oh, wait. What am I thinking?! I could make one of those!" So I dug through my ribbons and fabric scraps, and 20 minutes later, here's our version. It's not as cool as a plush animal, but it will definitely work. (And of course, the price was right!) It is about 8" square, and Aaron loves it. Yay! And thanks, Elaine!

Oh, PS - check out our little creeper in the video to the left!

biting, um...

Aaron likes to chew things. Especially things with tags, which are commonly located on stuffed animals' posteriors. Looks funny if you ask me, but who am I to question the developmental process of young minds?

Hope Springs New

Nope, I'm not announcing my intention to write cheesy "Christian" romance novels, despite my clever ability to title posts to sound as if I were. It's much MUCH better news than that. My house is gradually getting more "finished."

In the grand scheme of things, my little house doesn't really matter. But God knows that it matters to me, and He has given us another blessing! I think I posted a couple months ago how we had been given a bunch of free carpet. Well, it is this nice (um...) shade of pinkish purple maroon. Not what you would call my first choice, but better than nothing. We have the carpet in our garage, all set to lay in the bedrooms if we should so choose.

WELL. This weekend we got a call from our realtor, who said another family was replacing the carpet in their living room with laminate, and would we like the carpet (only 4 years old) Turns out it's a nice, neutral multi-fleck. And they threw in some nice tan stuff as well. Maybe enough to carpet 2 of our bedrooms.

AND the job Michael's working on right now included an addition/renovation that required the removal of some VERY nice tan carpet. It was in a guest bedroom that was used maybe twice by the look of things.

This is turning out to be a very long story. I will make it shorter. We installed carpet in Aaron's room over the weekend!!!!!! It is nice. Here are some photos of my handy man doing the job.














Later I shall post pictures of the nursery in it's "glory." Poor kid will be out of his crib before I finish sewing the ties on the bumper pad. I'm planning to do a little painting of a motif around the upper part of the wall, so I'll wait to post more pics until that project is done.

And, in a related bit of news, a nearby town celebrated the grand opening of Menards, and after a minor detour for poor map reading skills (mine), we got a raincheck for laminate flooring at 59 cents per square foot. In case you haven't priced laminate flooring recently, this is an excellent price. So excellent, in fact, that we will be putting laminate flooring down VERY soon. In all rooms except the bedrooms, where there will be free carpet. Thanks for your input on that decision, by the way! Complete flooring for our 1200 square foot house will ring up around $800. Can you believe it!?!

And she strolled away, humming...God is so good, He's so good to me...

seven.

It's already been 7 months of changing diapers, midnight feedings, and wonderful happy times that more than make up for the mundane. Funny how a little one can change the way you view time. Before Aaron, this time would have flown with little notice. Praise God for another month with our wonderful son!!!