New Mommy Musings

Just some random thoughts from a brand new mommy.

• For the first time in many months I can look down and see my feet, and boy do I need to take a chainsaw to my toenails!
• I have only patted my stomach once referring to Arella then realized she's not in there any more.
• My once little cute innie belly button looks more like a cavernous hideout for bad guys as my belly is shrinking back to normal size.
• I have never had to pre-plan bathroom trips before.
• A shower is now a rare treat instead of a daily necessity.
• I used to plan my life in 4 year blocks of time between Olympiads; now I plan in 3 hour blocks around feedings.
•  Sleeping in spurts leaves me feeling like I'm in a state of eternal jet lag, but no cool new destination. However the view of my baby is breathtaking!
• I'm the kind of person that doesn't sit still very well, but my daughter has trained me to sit and stay for hours on end and just stare at her.
• I always wanted an iPhone because I thought they were really cool and you could check email on them.  Now I have one and the only functions I use are an app to keep track of diaper changes & breastfeeding and texting pictures of Arella to her Daddy while he works.
• I'm pretty smitten with this little girl of mine, and it breaks my heart when she cries and I can't figure out what's wrong.  Sometimes I just cry with her.
• So far she's a very happy baby and her accidental smiles and silly faces absolutely melt me!
• I never thought I would be so entertained by diaper changes.
• I think my wrist surgeries really helped me prepare for parenthood.  I am very efficient at left handed typing and can do almost any domestic chore with my left arm only.  That right arm works very well as a cradle even though my wrist doesn't bend much any more.
• I was worried about how the dogs would react to the baby.  Sam thinks she's a squeaky toy that smells good, and Charlie just wants to be near her most of the time.
• It's amazing how an hour and a half round trip to the doctor's office can be a much needed and exciting outing, and then cause me to sleep most of the afternoon.
• Even though my baby is on the smaller side, I keep looking at her and can't figure out how she was ever inside of me.
• It's amazing how you can go from just another person to Mommy literally overnight.  
• I have been waiting for this for so long, after nearly 2 weeks, I'm still amazed it has already happened.
• I find it a bit funny that we're taking Arella for her 2 week check-up tomorrow, on her due date.
• I knew Eriek was excited to have a baby, too, and he's so good with kids, but he's taken the Daddy thing to a whole new level.  He is the most amazing and supportive Daddy- I love you Honey!
• I could keep writing these little tidbits all day, but I have to go stare at my sweet little angel while she sleeps.

She's Finally Here

The moment we have been waiting for came upon us before we even knew what happened.  Two weeks before her due date, she just couldn't stand it any longer, she had to come meet us.  I'm glad she was as excited to meet us as we were to meet her!

Arella Joy was born on May 11, 2011 at 9:11am weighing in at 6 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long.  She's small but mighty, and (stealing from Mary Poppins) she's practically perfect in every way.  We are absolutely in love with her and captivated by her presence.  I cry pretty much every few hours because I'm so full of joy and awestruck wonder that she's actually here in my arms.

It's just starting to sink in that she's for real and here to stay, and I'm realizing it's already been a week.  Oh time, please stop stealing my daughter from me!  I am thoroughly enjoying every single moment as I'm finally a Mommy.  Thank you Lord for answering my prayers when You didn't have to, You didn't need to, You simply wanted to.  I am so unworthy, and so forever thankful for this most amazing blessing!  Glory to God!

The Race

In sports you have to believe in something before you will ever see it become reality.  In sports you have to discipline yourself, training hard for hours, day in and day out for years to even attempt to accomplish a daring feat. In sports you have to keep your eye on the prize because it's the motivation to keep you persevering through trials and tribulations.  In sports you have to have your head in the game every day at every practice so you continue to build on what you have learned before, so your limits become stretched and your ability grows beyond them.  On the biggest stages in sports, desire, determination and perseverance will always win over talent alone.  In sports, champions are often made after many failed attempts- that means they got back up again after a defeat.  In sports, becoming a champion doesn't happen by standing on the top of the podium.  You become a champion during the pursuit.

Life is really no different.  The biggest problem in life is we have our eyes focused on the wrong prize.  We're usually in pursuit of things we think are worth while like gold medals, diplomas, money, fame... the list goes on.  While none of those things are bad things, they are all only temporary.  Gold medals represent quite an accomplishment, but they will always tarnish and the ribbon will eventually begin to unravel.  Diplomas show you have put a lot of time into studying, but not living. Money can solve many issues, but it also leads to unnecessary spending and distraction from what is truly important.  While sometimes people can use fame to help bring awareness to certain wonderful things, fame in and of itself is basically idol worship.  While there are truly wonderful people in the world, we are people and we all fall short of perfection.  We will all stumble and mess up at times; people were not made to be worshipped but to worship.

There is only One who will never fail us or change or forsake us.  There is only One worthy of our worship and praise.  There is only One who can teach us how to truly live.  And there is only One who can actually save us from ourselves and our final destination.  He is not temporary or a fading icon.  He is Jesus- the One who conquered death to save us.  He is the One we run the race for.  Life eternal with Jesus is the ultimate prize.  That is where our focus in life needs to be so we run the race of life with desire and passion because we know Who we're running for and why we're running. 

Now watch the race below with this in mind.  This is not just any race, but one where a girl in a very important race with a team depending on her falls flat on her face in front of her own home crowd.  But it's what happens after that we need to pay attention to.  This video is not about the race.  It's about Who the race is being run for.  Let us run like this everyday in our lives for Christ.

Jonah- As Told by Stuffed Animals

Eriek had to come up with a big final project for his class this semester.  He decided to get creative this time and make a children's book of Jonah using our stuffed animals as the main cast.  He wrote a script out and then started envisioning what pictures he needed.

We live in The Woodlands, TX and there's this area called the Waterway that just fit the bill for this little endeavor.  He wanted the Pavilion (where all the concerts are held) to be the big city of Nineveh, and there's plenty of water, boats and trees around it to capture the rest of the story.  All-in-all, it was the perfect setting. 

What I liked most about this project was that I was able to be of some help and spend time with Eriek while he worked on the project, instead of him being stuck on the computer writing for days and days on his own while I barely get to see him.  Basically, I was the Puppet Master, arranging the characters as he described what he wanted for that part of the story.

Here I am setting up the Ninevites outside of their city as Eriek gets the framing for the shot set up.

As you can see though, these guys were tricky as they didn't want to stand on their own.  We propped twigs under their feet and that helped until the wind kept blowing them over!  Eriek finally got a great shot in between gusts...

Nice evil Ninevites, huh?  They are happy little Beijing mascots plus a little Kuwait bear :)  Then we moved on to the boat scenes.  Jonah is the bird because his name means dove (foolish bird).  The Athens mascots are the mariners.  The people at the boat house were nice enough to let us use a kayak for our photo shoot!

Jonah being thrown overboard is one of my favorite pics!  We used a wire hanger and I was dangling him over the water and we photoshopped it out :)

And, of course, the whale spitting up Jonah on the shore near Nineveh.  (The whale was the mascot from the Montreal World Championships.)

And one of the last pictures was Jonah writing his story in the Bible.

There were many more pics, but I don't want to steal Eriek's work of art!  It was just so much fun to do, and I think it would be a great project to do with your kids!  Not only is it a lot of fun to take your silly stuffed animals and make them act out scenes in the Bible, but you get to know the story you're acting out much better and deeper.

Even if you don't have kids, be your own kid!  I encourage you to try it with a friend- you'll laugh so hard while doing it, then you'll have pictures to look back on and smile at.  And you'll probably get to know God a little more in the process.

Daddy's Pregnant?!

So last night was our first "Prepared Childbirth" class at the hospital.  One of the highlights was Eriek getting chosen to wear the "empathy" vest.  The instructor first put a thick strap around his chest after he let his air out so he couldn't breathe very well.  Then she had him place a weighted patch right above his belt so when he put the vest on it would put pressure on his bladder.  Then she put the vest on which contained a 5 lbs. weighted pendulum that moved plus two 7 lbs. lead balls that also moved around (like a baby does).  There was also quite a bit of fluid in the vest.

 I think it gave him a good idea for a few brief minutes of what it's like being pregnant.  He did after all perform the classic pregnant lady sit into a chair.  I was very impressed.

See, it's almost like the real thing...  but for about 5 minutes instead of 9 months, and no actual pushing the baby out.

New Favorite Toy

So my belly has become a funny little fascination in the past few months.  With Arella growing everyday in there, I have more and more to jiggle around and play with- and she plays with me sometimes!  Eriek just laughs when I dance around bouncing my baby belly all over the place, but it has been quite the source for entertainment.

Although I now have a tendency that around the house I'll hike my shirt up letting my belly hang all out because darn it, it's just more comfortable that way.

However, I've noticed that in doing so, I'm resembling old Chinese men...

Hmmm....  not so cool...

Austin Fun

Sorry this is long overdue!  A couple of weekends ago, women's swimming and diving NCAA's were in Austin, so Eriek and I decided that would be a perfect final get-a-way for us before baby Arella comes.  So for our final weekend as a couple, all we could talk about, of course, was the baby :)  A fun surprise was the restaurant right by our hotel is called Baby A's and then right across the street we found a Zoe's Kitchen.  (Zoe is what we've named our baby we're adopting from China, still a few years away).  So we felt like both of our baby girls were represented that weekend!

We stayed at Embassy Suites and they not only have the most amazing hot breakfast, but they have this really cool pond with swans and giant koi fish!  This definitely made us feel like we were on vacation!

One of the things I really wanted to do while we were there was try and get some good maternity pics.  Austin is so scenic and beautiful, I was just hoping to find the right spot and get one or two good shots.  Eriek did an amazing job as photographer giving me about 30 shots I just love!  Here are some of my favs:

Of course taking pictures around Lake Travis works up an appetite, so we just had to stop for lunch at the infamous Oasis!  They have built this place up so much since my last visit that it's becoming a big tourist attraction, but it still has that magical view...

And I found the lovely diving statue, which always makes this place feel a little more like home.

And one final picture to leave you with.  Austin, although more liberal than the rest of Texas, is located in Texas, and you know we like to cling to our guns here in this great state.
So this is why you "Don't Mess With Texas."