just because

i check my friends' blogs every day and get sad when they don't write. it kinda motivates me to write more often. not that i have anything to say. i could wander through target every day. i dont buy things. i just walk around. it's the only store i'm like that about. except maybe fresh market. but there i sample, sample, sample. yum. yesterday gabe and i went to visit my parents and took the BEST.NAP.EVER. mom had their bedroom all dark, snugly (is that a word?) and ready for rest. gabe and i both went into slight comas. it rocked. i love my parents. they are so loving. i think  know i'd move in with them.  :)  they almost always have great snacks. hummus & carrots, apples, these random spicy pickles and yesterday homemade chocolate cake. i have a growth group at my house on thursday nights. (growth group is like a small bible study) those girls crack me up. they each drink like 4 capri suns a piece. 4 of them are late every week. we laugh for an hour ...

today is josh & claire's 13 year anniversary! how fun. that means they've been together for 19 years (dating & married.) oh my! they dont seem old enough to have done anything for 19 years. i love josh & claire. there are a million reasons why. i love lists. so i'll list some in second. first, i'd like to confess how completely jealous i was of claire when they first started dating. mainly b/c she was ALL josh talked about. i liked her, i'd always admired her! but i didn't like that she seemed to take over his thoughts/life/everything :) looking back it was really precious that he's loved her so much (even from a distance before they started dating...)  i am not one to hide my emotions. i cant even hide them if i want to...my thoughts show up all over my face whether i like it or not. so josh knew i was having a hard time with the new girl in his life (and me being pushed aside!) so he wrote me a sweet note telling me that even though claire ...

the weather today is perfect. i had such a great run this morning. i just bought the most hideous running shoes you've ever seen. no joke. if you see me running in them...please know i am aware that they are god awful. they were on sale. i love the white part of an orange. is that weird? when i peel an orange i eat as much of it as i can. thick navel oranges make me happy! lots of white stuff. it took a month but i finally (with a sad heart) gained the 5 lbs that my mom, jay & claire wanted me to. not an easy task. gabe sleeps 9 hours a night. BOOYAH. jay washed a couple bottles last week. i'm still not over it. i dont like animals. we really, really need to sell our condo!!! it really is fabulous. let me know if you're interested. if gabe is ever fussy (which is rare) all i have to do is belt out a song, very loudly and he calms right down. it's hilarious. my dad just dropped gabe off. he had on a suit and looked so very handsome. but Lord knows t...

not that anyone asked my opinion but i'm going to share it anyway. i'm sad, mad and hurt by the marriages around me that seem to be falling apart. that breaks my heart. jay and i certainly don't have a "perfect" marriage so i'm not claiming to be an expert. but i hate that so many christian couples are divorcing. by NO means am i judging anyone who is divorced or is going through one! my dad was divorced before meeting my mom and jay was divorced when i met him. so Lord knows i'm not judging or saying people who break up are bad. i hurt when i think about jay going through his divorce. i joke with him that if i ever met his ex-wife i'd pull her hair. (i'd want to do more than that i think...except it did work out well for me!)  jays wife was unfaithful. that makes my heart so sad. he's super open about it. he lets me ask all kinds of questions about how he felt, how long it took him to get past it, etc. he definitely went through an incredibl...

i certainly haven't done a good job of keeping up with my blog lately. i think about it often but i tend to go for sleep or reading instead! i am tired this morning. not sure what my deal is. gabe sleeps SO well. he's been sleeping through the night for over a week. several of those nights being 9-10 hours straight. amazing. he's such a delight. my favorite mom things are reading to him, singing & playing with him, laughing (which is new!) and first thing in the morning. he is super smiley and happy. melts my heart every time. other than Gabe - i feel like most of my life is in transition. we are in the process of trying to sell our condo which FREAKS me out. i'm so scared it won't sell. obviously if we're trying to sell we're planning to move. we are buying a precious, perfect, Spirit-filled house from friends. i love knowing that we are moving into a place where God's word is constantly being spoken, talked about and sung about! (sung...is th...

i am not really going to pick up where i left off from the first part of gabes story. i'm just going to list some of my favorite things about gabe & life with him... - unexpected, never-ending gifts & hand-me-downs from friends and family. i am blown away!! i can't get over how loved we're feeling. - i love watching friends hold gabe. it's sweet to see him steal their heart like he has ours. he's a charmer. - watching jay laugh with/at gabe, sing to gabe, make up funny songs, change/feed/burp etc. and nap with gabe. PRECIOUS. - i LOVE kissing gabe. i know i drive him insane. if he's in my arms, i'm kissing him. i cant help myself. - i enjoy singing to him. not sure he appreciates it but it's fun anyway. - tummy time is fun. again, not his favorite but we get to talk a lot so that's fun. (ok i talk...) - i like how his head shakes real fast when he's going for his bottle. makes me laugh every time. - bath time! super fun. ...

I cant believe I’m sitting in my living room with the most precious little boy swinging & sleeping in a graco swing. I still have moments of unbelief. We made it! We are parents. We have a SON!! And he is perfect. I wish you all could’ve been with us every minute of the past couple weeks. It has been a WILD, exciting ride! I’m sure there will be hundreds of details that I leave out…but I’ll fill those in later (if I think of them.) Let’s back up to the week after Christmas. We got an email about a baby… I remember getting the email like it was yesterday. The subject line read: ¾ caucasian ¼ Hispanic baby boy born 12/14. It had pictures attached. I JUMPED up off of the couch and went to the bathroom (jay was showering) to tell him about it. We’d gotten pretty good at staying calm when receiving these emails but the pictures just made this one feel special. I remember sending a reply saying we were ABSOLUTELY interested 3 times. I didn’t mean to send it 3 times… We asked...