I am grateful..
~ For the creaky old cottage where we make our home. For the silly nail that sticks up in the dining room and annoys me often. For the entryway wooden floor that is bowed from years of temperature changes and a hundred years of house settling.
~ For the family we do have. In their similarities to me (and Brandon), I find the ability to love with abandon. That as the years pass, we will know each other more and more and be happy to experience life together. That my child will grow experiencing the love of family... for as the saying goes (and is true), blood is thicker than water. There is a silent, intrinsic bond that exists between family members. A cord that binds, a chain that bends before it breaks, a simple-yet-complicated love.
~ For warmth in winter. For the past several years, we have been working on paying down debt and paying for college. One of the ways we saved was by keeping our heat reeeeeeally low. With a baby in the house, the heat is turned up (though I suppose we could just make him a fur-wrapped Eskimo baby). It is amazing how much a little heat can raise one's happiness levels.
~ For muscles that move and ache and grow stronger. I told of the beginning of my runing adventures earlier in the week. By this time, I am hurting. Even my arms hurt. How that happened, I do not know. But it is really the first time I have consistently exercised since Devereaux was born, so the pain equals awareness for me. Awareness and gratefulness for the body that carried and birthed a child, and now holds, feeds and cares for a child... and runs and exercises, with the purpose of "girding my arms with strength." (that's Bible truth for you)
~ For chores, for work, for labor. If life was only full of nice things, I couldn't hardly be grateful for them. Because of the work, the nice things are nicer.

Note: I realized how much the culture of blogging has changed as I attempted to convince myself to write a blog post with just words---no pictures. It was tough, but I decided that sometimes words are enough. 

7:00 am - My eyes pop open reluctantly when I hear the baby stirring. It was a late night last night, as we returned from Superbowl Sunday evening + a snowy Monday at my parents' house on the mountain. I like to wake up gradually (i.e. not speaking for a little while), so nursing the baby first thing helps me out. After a few minutes of waking up, I read my Bible while the baby nurses.
7:35 am - My husband is a sweetheart and brings me a cup of delicious coffee every morning before he leaves for work or graduate school at Penn State. Coffee is my love language. Sometimes I read a little of this book, too. Simple Puritan prayers help my morning perspective.
7:51 am - The phone rings and it's my sister. We chat about baby fevers, the Bible and local politics.... and blogging, all while I'm tying on the running shoes.
8:37 am - On the treadmill (My most wonderful belated Christmas gift!). I am attempting the beginning of a couch-to-5K stint-- i.e. I'm attempting to become a runner. I was thrilled to discover a couch-to-5K app that makes everything easier... except running. There's no shortcuts to make running easier.
8:57 am - Devereaux wakes up.. yes, in the middle of a workout... and nursing break begins.
9:21 am - I return to treadmill to finish last 10 minutes of workout. We're running late this morning, but honestly, I only recently started hammering out a daily schedule with baby, so everything is in flux. The only thing really typical about our days is that they tend to be atypical. That being said, it's important to me to at least get some chores done each day. Gotta be a responsible stay-at-home wife and mama. ;)
9:35 am - Breakfast! Time for cereal and vitamins.
9:50 am - Baby morning prep time! Change diaper, dress the baby and wonder at the stupidity of baby clothes. WHY CAN'T EVERYTHING JUST ZIP UP?
10:00 am - SHOWER. I feel like I never appreciated the wonders of hot showers until having a baby. It's like a mini-vacation. Hot water is amazing. Speaking of the baby, Devereaux just hangs out in the bouncy seat... that doesn't bounce, because mommy forgot to put batteries in it when she assembled it, and now it just seems pointless to unassemble and reassemble for the sake of a little bouncing.
10:16 am - Dress, makeup and wipe spit-up off Devereaux's chin. I have honed the makeup routine to five minutes. Technically, it is three minutes without interruptions. I can always find three minutes somewhere, and putting on a little makeup to brighten my face makes me feel more prepared to conquer the day... and more attractive to my husband. Don't get me wrong, my husband adores my face with or without makeup, but he appreciates when I put forth the effort to be pretty for him. :) I do make a slight concession for my cleaning day and that's putting my hair in braids. Keeps it out of my eyes, even though I look a bit like Pocahontas. :P (also ignore the streaky mirror)


10:30 am - I'll give 10 minutes to a quick wipe-down of the bathroom, in lieu of a real cleaning. Tuesdays (the day I'm recording this day-in-the-life) are my bathroom-cleaning day, but we're taking shortcuts today.
10:39 am - It's floor playtime with Devereaux. I refill my water bottle again. I am now more educated about the consequences of getting dehydrated while nursing (let's just say digestion isn't fun), and so I am focusing on drinking alot of water. It seems like all I do is refill that water bottle and guzzle it again. Maybe it will also help my dry & chapped lips that appeared at the birth of my child and haven't disappeared since... Hmmm.

10:49 am - Devereaux is done and hungry.
11:15 am - We're doing the eat-a-little, sleep-a-little routine, but I don't mind at all... More time for kissing sweet baby cheeks and cuddles.

12:30 pm - Lunch! Scrambled eggs, blueberry oat muffin & apple. I unload & load dishwasher (easier than doing it with the bebe in the carrier), switch loads of laundry, wipe down kitchen counters and sweep floor... everything is "quick-clean" mode today to recover from missing our Monday cleaning routine, catching up on laundry and unpacking the suitcase. It's amazing how just one night away can make so much extra work!
1:00 pm - It's technically naptime but I spend a few minutes catching up on food & exercise logging on the "Lose It" app. I've found that just the act of tracking calories and writing down what I am eating serves as a deterrent from eating ALL the chocolate in the house... though sometimes I fail. I love dark chocolate. REALLY REALLY LOVE IT. A little bit is good. ALOT is better... Just kidding.

1:19 pm - Nap time. The baby has been sleeping for 30 minutes, but now it's time for mama to join in.
1:30 pm - Baby is hungry. Nurse again. I'm nursing "on demand," instead of on a schedule, which I like because the baby stays pretty happy. It's a demanding schedule always being on-call for baby, but worth it to me when I look at the benefits of breastfeeding. I think he is hitting a little growth spurt this week, as he has been eating and eating and eating. Come to think of it, so have I. Hmmmm.
1:50 pm - Nap. For real this time.
2:14 pm - I dozed, but no sleep is really happening while the laundry is tormenting my brain so why not fold and put away more clothes.
2:30 pm - Devereaux is awake, so I organize my vanity table while Devereaux slaps at the link-a-doos. Clutter is my nemesis.
2:55 pm - Devereaux wants to sit on my lap and eat his fists.
3:04 pm - Nurse the baby while reading a library e-book.
3:40 pm - Change laundry loads and then make some energy bars for the week. I discovered this recipe for energy balls while pregnant and loved them. Now I change the recipe as I want, such as putting them in my new food-processor this time and patting them out to cut into bars instead of balls. I taste-test. YUMMMMM.

4:10 pm - More folding clothes. This is usually the time when I try to get some hobby stuff done, like organizing family photos or digital scrapbooking or playing music, but my laundry is a hungry monster today that gobbled up all the time.
4:30pm - Brandon gets home for the day! YAY! Kisses for mommy and baby. I spend the next half hour finishing up the laundry and then it's hanging out downstairs in the living room. Brandon studies until 6:30, so we'll get our talking done then, but it's still nice to be in the same room together.
5:01 pm - I'm nursing again, but I don't mind at all. Reading is one of my favorite things to do, so unless the baby is super-restless while nursing, I can multi-task and turn the "pages" on my Kindle with one hand. It's a skill that has revolutionized my life.
5:35 pm - Playing on the floor with Devereaux, while he tries to eat a monkey.
6:16 pm - Usually I would be making supper about this time, but since there's only two supper-eaters in our family, we routinely eat the same dinner two nights in a row. It keeps the leftovers at bay, saves a bit of grocery money and simplifies our life. Though I am the variety-in-food lover in the family, I can handle two nights in a row, especially if it's a great meal. I loooooved this Sausage & Spinach Lasagna and might have been willing to eat it for a WEEK.
6:43 pm - We finally sit down to eat and I get halfway through my piece of lasagna and then someone else decides he is hungry. Ah well, I like warm food more than hot food anyway. :D
7:03 pm - I clean up from supper and pack Brandon's lunch while he makes faces and funny conversations with Devereaux.
7:10 pm - We're all in the living room sitting on the floor, because that's where it is easiest to play with Devereaux. He is SUPER-talkative tonight, and my face feels like it is going to break from smiling and laughing at him. And because I'm a 21st century parent, I take little videos on my iPhone of Brandon making beatboxing noises and Devereaux smiling like crazy.
7:43 pm - Storytime! I read books. Quickly and with a few changes, because honestly, our child is 2 1/2 months old. His appreciation of books is limited to sometimes looking at the pictures, hearing a few words and the cool books that also make animal sounds.
7:57 pm - Diaper change and changing Devereaux into pajamas. He smiles more.
8:04 pm - Time for bedtime nursing. Theoretically, I should be done in 45 minutes or so, with Devereaux sleeping peacefully and mommy + daddy hanging out downstairs with the baby monitor calming my new mama anxiety. But like I said, baby growth spurt equals one marathon nursing session and finally few minutes of whispering (so we don't wake the baby) before falling asleep around ten. Ya know what they say about early to bed and early to rise? We subscribe to that philosophy completely. It makes everyone happier. :)

It is without further ado that I introduce the dearest, sweetest, most adorable gift that I have ever been given.



Psalm 1:1-6

As Christians, the responsibility of parenthood includes primarily raising up children to fear the Lord. We desire most of all that our son be righteous, strong, fruitful in the things of God and always drinking of the Lord's goodness. We pray that Devereaux's name would be a forever testament of God's work in his life. And so that's the story of how and why we chose his name.


Devereaux is quite a handful for such a little baby though, so we find ourselves calling him endearments that fit his size. Little One and Little Guy and Little Dude. Baby Blue, Bebe and Papoose. On rare occasions, he gets the Dev nickname, but mostly it's Little Devereaux. He is growing so fast though, we will probably drop the "little" soon!



More about our little one (who is currently 11 weeks old, but mommy is too busy feeding and changing him to get the 11 week old photos up. Stay tuned. This blogging thing has inspired my photography again). Devereaux is a little sweetheart. Cute and cuddly, now sweet and smiley. Finding delight in hanging toys and colors. Still getting lots of sleep and milkie from mommy, so he is growing like a weed!



We love our dear sweet Devereaux and couldn't imagine life without him.