RUN

It is time for the monthly Learn 12 New Things link up with Like A Warm Cup Of Coffee. You can read about the other things I hope to learn over the next 12 months( I guess 10 now) here. 






My new thing for September was to run 1 mile with out walking.  I was tempted to call this post Fail!!!

And to add salt to my wound just as I had finished running on my tread mill I watched Biggest Loser and Bob says "every American should be able to at least run 1 mile."

I was able to run .76 of a mile without walking. By that point my legs were hurting and I really felt like I couldn't breath. I did continue on with walking(after taking this picture). For some reason I can walk 2-3 miles with short run spurts(like 2-3 minutes) without my legs totally feeling like jello.  But running just seems so hard for me. I REALLY want to be a runner.



As you can see I didn't call this post fail. Because after thinking about it I decided that .76 of a mile is like 5 X's better then I was able to do at the beginning of September. So because of this Septembers new thing was not a fail. I will keep working at it. And maybe one day I will be running a complete 5K instead of walking.

When I was planning this post in my head as fail I decided this was probably the reason I don't publicly share goals very often. If I just have a goal in my head or written down in a place only I can see I can lie to myself. I can push the goal back a month and give myself more time to accomplish it. When other people know about the goal I can't really lie about whether I accomplished the goal or not. The perfectionist in me doesn't want other people to know that I failed at meeting a goal I had set.

I am so glad I was able to see the good in this months challenge and if I do say so myself .76 of a mile is pretty darn good!!!

Next months challenge is much more relaxing and hopefully I will have a knitted blanket to show you by then!!

Bb

Apparently my auto post was being crazy on Monday and didn't post this& instead posted my Daily Moments post on Monday with Tuesdays date. So here is our Letter Bb post.

Jake is so much fun to "teach." We really do most of our learning while playing with a few minutes of actual sit down learning.

We have always read Bible stories, but never worked on memorization. I must say I am super impressed with my little boy and his memorization skills. He is great at our weekly Bible verse. And was even able to remember most of last weeks verse along with the new verse this week.

Our letter B Bible verse " Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; they are ever praising you." Psalm 84:4

This week we only did a couple of crafts. We spent most of our crafty time cooking.

For crafts we made a bee out of a letter B, glued blue tissue and paper to a B, and then rolled a golf Ball around in a box with paint and made different designs on the paper.

One of our serving acts this week was to give a Bible to a B person. We chose our b person to stand for "boys" and gave a Bible to Jake's cousins (Austin, Tyler, & their brother Bryce(who really is a B)). Just for a little extra we wrapped the Bible in bug fabric.








Then we made Birthday cookies for Pawpaw, brownie bites for Brady(and family) and The B---- Family. (not sure about posting other people's names on the blog.) And we made blueberry waffles that we enjoyed most of the week.

Then we had a day of eating letter B foods. Bagel(with butter), banana, broccoli, black olives, & blueberries
We enjoyed a snack in the Back yard later in the week also.











Talked lots about being blessed, blessing others, the Bible & our Bible hero of the week was Benjamin...who blessed his family.

Another week of fun in the Nunnally house with some learning to go with it!

As American

As Apple Pie Picking!

This past weekend we went apple picking. I am embarrassed to say and even a bit bewildered to think we have never been apple picking. Really? I can't tell you why we have never been apple picking. We do every other fun season or holiday related thing. Jason & I even did a lot of these things before we had Jake.

Thankfully our eyes have been opened and I can't wait to go apple picking again. I am even considering another trip this season before apple picking is over.

We went to a great orchard that had tons of different varieties of apples to pick. They also had pig races & a wagon ride.

Jake & Caleb both loved picking apples...









And we all had a wonderful time...despite the fact that it rained off and on the WHOLE time we were there. (hence the hat Jake has on...he insisted he wear it because it was raining)

I took a ton of pictures as I usually do for any thing we do. So I have narrowed it down to several for you to enjoy.

Daily Moments (9/19-9/25)

Knowing that each week I will be posting a review of our week with a daily picture really helps to remind me to take pictures. Even if almost every week there is a day without a picture. I find myself thinking throughout the day "oh, I need to remember to get a picture." I love linking up with The Mom Creative and having a "reason to take a picture of our every day moments.

Sunday-September 19th- Playing Monkey in the middle with Pawpaw & Tyler. Playing at Pawpaw's house is so much fun!

Monday-September 20th-Jake loves the bath. He would stay in there for ever. This week he thought it was so funny to lay down and cover himself with the bubbles.

Tuesday-September 21st- I was selected for another house party this month through World Vision. My kit arrived today with so much great stuff in it.

Tuesday-September 23rd-Today was Pawpaw's birthday. Jake & I made birthday cookies for him and went over to celebrate with him for a little bit this afternoon.

Friday-September 24th- Our letter this week was B. Today we painted by rolling a ball on paper in a box.

Saturday-September 25th- I was able to hold my nephew Luke today at the hospital while my sister(their mom) held Logan. This was the 1st time that I had been able to hold one of the twins. They are 11 weeks old now and doing better. It is amazing how big they look now. Logan is up to 5 pounds and Luke is 4 pounds.

Come on In

I really enjoy hosting people in our home. So in the spirit of Fall Welcome to our home!

As I type this I have a pumpkin pie candle burning and it smells so yummy!!(it actually might be making me hungry)

Here is what you would see if you were to come visit during the fall season! We don't have any pumpkins yet (at least not real ones) so it would be a little different in another couple weeks. But you can imagine pumpkins on the front porch & probably a few around the house too!
 Come on in...

a close up of the fall arrangement on the front door.

Our entry table in the foyer

And our mantle in the living room.

We have a few other small things throughout the house, but these were some of my favorite decorations that I thought I would share.

And since I do live in Georgia it just wouldn't seem right for me to end a fall post without saying...

                            Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Ruined

I hate to feel this way (it might be even harder for me to actually admit in writing) and I am really struggling with it especially now with the whole baby talk.

I feel totally ruined by my labor experience with Jake. It was nothing I wanted & now seems to have repercussions even 3 years later.

When I was pregnant with Jake(well probably way before that) I read as many books as I could. Mostly about natural birth, healthy pregnancy, a few about actual baby stuff. But I was really focusing on natural birth.

I wanted a natural birth so bad!! But most of all I did NOT want a c-section. I envisioned a drug free delivery with my sweet baby being placed immediately on my chest.

Our first minutes of bonding.



Being a first time mom I had no idea what to expect. Even though I thought I was prepared for everything(after all I had read the books).

Pretty early into my pregnancy I was given the word I had gestational diabetes & had to control it with insulin shots. As soon as I was given this label I heard the fist talks of being induced. The doctor I had doesn't let you go past 39 weeks with gestational diabetes for fear the baby could get too big. Being labeled with this also meant I became high risk and had to see a specialist along with my regular doctor the rest of my pregnancy.

I did kind of love being able to see my sweet boy almost weekly through ultrasound there were still lots of other extra things that had to be done.

Unfortunately  at about 35 weeks my blood pressure started going up (I am not sure what my numbers were I should have asked). I was put on moderate bed rest. The following week it still hadn't gone down the specialist thought it would be best to induce labor as soon as possible. Which meant I would need an amniocentesis to determine if Jake's lungs were mature enough for him to be forced into our arms.

Yea for the doctors his lungs were in great shape to be delivered at 37 weeks.

Even though it was 3 weeks early(and he showed no signs of wanting to come out).

I was given the weekend and then Monday night Jason & I checked into the hospital to begin the induction process.

At this point I wonder...after all the books I read and the horror stories about pitocin...why didn't I question it more. Push to be given a little more time with Jake still where he belonged at that moment. The only answer I have is no matter how many books you read when the doctor tells you something you might not really be totally prepared. After all the doctors are supposed to know best...right?

The pitocin worked great to bring on terrible contractions and move me in the direction I needed to go. It also led to tons of monitoring and not being able to move from the bed at all.

But with Jake not being ready...he was too high and wasn't dropping down. His head was positioned wrong they say. And no matter what he wasn't going to come down any more.

So a c-section was necessary...the one thing I dreaded most about delivering Jake!!

Now that I have had one c-section doctors believe I should be assigned to a c-section for every pregnancy from here until we are done having babies.  

Never to experience what I truly want a natural delivery. No medicine, no intervention, just delivery!

I must add here: that of course having a c-section isn't the end of the world. No matter how it happened I still brought my precious Jake into this world. I am eternally grateful for him and we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams. We love him so much and it really doesn't matter how he was delivered. He is here!! I also understand that it is all part of God's plan for me & for Jake. God knew this would be the way!!!

But this is not the kind of birth story I thought I would have to share.  And as we talk about babies I can't help but feel ruined.

However, I am on a search!!!

This is just a piece of my heart as we look forward to future babies. Things that have started to become all consuming of me.

Daily Moments (9/13-9/18)

It is almost fall!!!  Although, it is still in the very high 80's low 90's here in Georgia. It is almost fall!!! Here is another peak into our daily moments as we join The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.  I used to do the week as Monday-Sunday, but I am going to start doing it from Sunday-Saturday. So this week there is no Sunday because it was posted with last weeks. Of course I don't have a picture for Tuesday. It seems I never get a picture on Tuesdays.

Monday-September 13th-This is what happens when it is way past Jake's bedtime. Silly boy!! Playing on the couch instead of going to bed.

Tuesday-September 14th-Although there is no picture for today we did start back to our Tuesday music class. It was so much fun and great to see Jake jump right in. The last 2 times we have done this class it takes him a couple weeks to warm up. But this week he was all about it.

Wednesday-September 15th-making our apple bread as one of our letter A activities. Jake loves to help in the kitchen. So it is a lot of fun for me to include something at least once a week for he & I to make together.

Thursday-September 16th- We went to the park that our friends introduced us to last week. We love that there are playgrounds & ducks to feed. Along with a great walking path that is great for exploring. (side note: I must really like this striped shirt on Thursdays...he was wearing it last week at this same park on Thursday...I am sure you will go check now that I pointed it out)

Friday-September 17th-I didn't take any pictures, but am hoping to get one from one of my friends who was taking pictures. A friend of mine was selected by houseparty.com to host a Star Wars:Clone Wars party and she invited Jake (even though he is a few years younger then her boys she does have a daughter Jake's age). Jake had so much fun playing with the big boys and loved his star wars action figure he got along with his Star Wars tattoos too. Thank you Mrs. Kristy for letting Jake be a big boy for a day!

Saturday-September 19th- Today was Nana & Pawpaw day. How blessed we are to have family so close(Jake has 2 sets of wonderful Grandparents only about 20 minutes away). Nana & Pawpaw had a sleep over for 4 of the cousins. Jake loves being with his cousins(and of course Nana & Pawpaw too) and has the best time with them. We miss him so much even when he is only gone for 1 night.

Letter Aa

You might remember this post from a couple weeks ago about preschool. Although, we aren't sure about formal preschool I love doing preschool activities with Jake at home.

I like having a plan for some of the stuff we are going to do that week other wise it seems time gets away from me. And before I know it I feel like we haven't really done anything. So we are working through the alphabet. We are using a great curriculum from Heavenly Homemakers. Along with adding in several crafts and fun things that week. And along with the letter we are focusing on a color and shape for that week too. 

One thing I really love about the curriculum from Heavenly Homemakers is that not only does it focus on a letter, but on serving others too. It is never too early to teach a child about serving others.

Here is our letter Aa in review!
Our A Bible verse for the week was "Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to the word of knowledge." Proverbs 23:12. I am going to try and get Jake on video saying his verse. There are few things more precious then hearing your child saying God's word from memory.

Of course there were crafts ( I love crafts)!!  We made prints from a cut apple and the plate that had our red paint on it for this was then turned into an apple. We cut out animals from magazines and glued them to paper, made ants on a letter A from our finger prints. And used Jake's foot as the trunk of a tree painted the green tree top and used our finger to make apples on the tree.

Learning your letter is never more fun then with food. We made some yummy apple bread (which made our whole house smell like fall). Then one day for lunch Jake ate all foods that were red, started with the letter A, & his sandwich was a circle. On his plate he had strawberries, apples, asparagus, red peppers, roasted red pepper hummus, & his circle sandwich had red jelly on it.





At the beginning of the week we thought about all the people we knew whose names started with A. Over the week we spent time praying for these people and thinking of ways we could do something nice for them. We chose Mrs. Amber as our letter A person(family) and made them some apple dip and brought along a few apples for dipping.

Thank you Mrs. Amber for letting us share our Apple dip with you and your family. And for letting us share on the blog too!

Control

There has been lots of talk about another baby in our house. Both from Jason & I & even Jake has gotten in on the conversation. His Aunt had twins about 9 weeks ago which I think is what has sparked Jake's interest in talking about babies. But for Jason & I it is just getting to be about that time.

I am a huge planner...like to a fault. I know that my plans aren't the plans that matter. That I should be leaving my plans in God's hands and fully trusting that he knows the way. But I just haven't been able to give up my control and let God lead the way. I am praying about this daily.

I know that it is always a good time to have a baby!!

But I just can't help, but think if we wait for this or we do that it might be better. I am at the point now where I just want to give it to God and let him take charge of when is a good time. You would think after struggling to get pregnant with Jake I would know that my plans aren't always the same as God's plan. If it had been my plan Jake would have been born in April of 2007. But instead God knew what we needed and blessed us with Jake in October (only 5 days after my birthday and the day before Halloween).  I should have learned that no matter how much planning there is on my part usually it doesn't work out that way.

It seems that when Jason & I talk about it I just can't really seem to give it all to God. It is so easy to say, to pray, to ask God to let me give up control, but when it comes down to actually letting go of control I can't fully release it. I still have a hold maybe not as tight of a hold as last week or even yesterday, but still  holding on to control. 

However, there is planning that needs to be done here on earth.

The biggest thing I need is to find a new doctor! The doctor I have now won't allow vbacs.

There have been plenty of women who change doctors in the middle of their pregnancy, but I want to start out with a good doctor who will listen to my wishes. So I have partially been on the hunt for a new doctor. I think I haven't really been putting my all into searching for a doctor because I am not really sure if this is the *right* time for us to have a baby. Feeling like if I put off finding a doctor I can wait until what seems like the *right* time!

But will I ever feel like this is the *right* time?

I am opening my heart just a little & sharing some of these struggles. This is what is on my mind right now and is basically all consuming of every free moment my brain & heart has.  Is the time now??

Daily Moments(9/6-9/12)

Another week has come and gone and to remember some of the moments of our days I am liking up with The Mom Creative and Project Life Tuesday.

Monday-September 6th-Labor day grilling! Jason loves to grill & looks so handsome working  hard on super yummy food!

Wednesday-September 8th-licking the beater is the best part about helping cook. Especially when it is chocolate cupcake mix. Yummy!!!

Thursday-September 9th-Feeding the ducks at the park. We had a play date with some friends at a great park we had never been to. Jake loved feeding the ducks.

Friday-September 10th- The imagination of a 2 year old is so much fun! He laid all the crayons on the floor and said it was his track. Then he would run by the crayons as fast as he could. Of course it just wouldn't work right without the superhero cape on.

Saturday-September 11th-We spent a very hot day at Austin & Tyler's soccer game. Caleb & Jake had the best time cheering for the big boys and of course playing outside for hours. This picture cracks me up...they both have the same scrunched up sun in the face cheese look.

Sunday-September 12th-Jason used his new riding lawn mower for the 1st time today. Not sure if Jake was happier riding on the mower or Jason was happier being able to use it.

Lessons Learned In The Garden

It is official our garden is done! Jason finally pulled up the last of our plants this weekend.

The last couple of weeks we hadn't been getting too much. Most of our tomatoes were no good and we were getting a few peppers. So the time had come to say good bye to our garden for the summer.

This was our 1st year having a garden & I LOVED it!!! We are already working out plans for next years garden.

Here are a few things I learned while gardening this year...

It is wonderful, aggravating, work, but so much fun all at the same time.

I learned that 6 tomato plants are not enough. Next year we will for sure have at least 10. We had enough tomatoes to eat whenever we wanted and some extra to make some super delicious salsa. But after eating as many as we wanted there was never enough to make spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, & tons of other things I had planned with my new found love of canning. So next year there will be 10 maybe even 12.

Green beans weren't that great(probably didn't plant enough of these either) We only had enough for one meal so no fresh canned green beans for us to store in the pantry.

Jalapenos & banana peppers grow like crazy. We had one small plant of each and we were having to pick ready to eat peppers almost daily. We have been able to can some yummy pepper jelly & make several batches of stuffed jalapenos. But our pickled banana peppers didn't turn out too well so we had an abundance of them.

The birds loved our cantaloupe & would peck it before it even got big enough for us to notice they were there. If we plant any type of fruit next year we will have to devise a plan against the birds.

It takes work to grow a garden...even on days when it is too hot to breath outside the garden still needs watered and there will be fresh stuff to pick. But loving the garden gave me motivation to keep going out. And when I didn't feel like it Jake would stand in the bay window & say "we should check on the garden." He enjoyed just as much as I did which made it even more fun.

I am sad to see our garden come to end, but so excited about all the stuff we will plant again this Spring. Although there is stuff we could plant for the fall & winter we are going to take a break until the Spring.

I already know that next year along with our tomato plants we will have bell peppers(possibly yellow & red too). I would like to try strawberries and some type of lettuce. Of course we will do the jalapenos again & cucumbers too.  Then we will see what else sounds yummy when seed buying time rolls around.

All in all the garden was a great success and the canning that came as a result was super fun too!!

Preschool??

I am not sure if it is because Jake is getting to that age(can't believe he will be 3 in less then 2 months) or because it is that time of year...but almost daily I am asked if we will be putting Jake in any type of preschool.

The answer is hmm...not this year. I am not sure on this one. In fact I am not even sure he will go to any kind of school ever...other then school at home.

I love having him home with me all the time. Yes, there are the days that I could use a few minutes alone at Starbucks or days when bed time can't come soon enough. But those days are few & far between. I really truly love being home with him every day all day.

We aren't just sitting around watching tv or him doing his thing while I do mine.

We spend most of our day in the play room. Of course playing, but also lots of learning. I am a total planner so we focus on a letter, color, & shape for each week.  Then do fun craft projects, cooking projects, & even some times shopping that has to do with our theme for the week. This is more because I like I having a plan for the week and doing things with him...not so much that I think he needs to learn everything now at almost three. But being at home we also have time for lots of imagination play & free play. Not to mention lots of out door exploring time too.

We have a mommy & me music class we go to on Tuesdays(so excited for the fall session to start this week), we have a play group with a few of our wonderful friends that gets together once a week, I am in a Bible study one day & Jake gets to play with lots of other kids during this time(away from me). He is in a Sunday school class with kids his age. And of course there are his cousins to play with too.

So he is definitely getting his socialization in during the week & we are getting lots of learning in too. And some of it is out of the box learning that you would never get from a classroom type setting. And a lot of the time he is with kids of different ages which I think is good too.

And then of course there is the part of me still being able to shelter him and protect him & be there for  whatever need he might have during the day.  Did I mention that I really love being with him every day?

But being asked this question so often lately has really had me thinking...should we be thinking about sending him to preschool? Is he supposed to go to preschool? The way people ask the question almost makes it seem like a requirement of childhood.

There is the side that it might be good for him to be away from me for a little while during the day(he is I am  pretty attached). After all I won't be there forever to protect him from everything. And what if we do decide to send him to school? It would probably be good for him to have some type of idea of school and being away from me before being "thrown" into kindergarten. But really wasn't it not too long ago that most children were just "thrown" into kindergarten anyway? I didn't have any type of pre anything school. Just one day I was in kindergarten.

Maybe there is too much pressure on the kids(and parents too) to know everything before they get to kindergarten. Shouldn't this time of "pre"-school be for playing and being with your mommy all day every day. There will be a time for school and being away at another age.

But really what are your thoughts on preschool? Is it necessary? Have you seen signs of huge benefit from those children who attend preschool as to those who don't?

Daily Moments (8/30-9/5)

This might be one of the first weeks I have participated in Project Life Tuesday with The Mom Creative and actually gotten a picture for every day.  Can you believe it is September? This year is flying by and I really wish it would slow down!!!

Monday-August 30th- I love that Jake is at the age he loves to help me make things. It seems we always have bananas that don't get used before they turn brown & mushy. This week Jake helped me make banana muffins. His favorite part is helping to mush the bananas.

Tuesday-August 31st-Of course you can't play in the dirt and be a super hero without your cape on. It is so fun watching Jake during this superhero phase he is in. He loves wearing his cape that Mawmaw made him even when he is playing outside.

Wednesday-September 1st- Jason loves his Tiger Woods Golf game and most nights after he gets home from work he sits down to play a few rounds of golf. He is such a big kid when it comes to this game.

Thursday-September 2nd- Such concentration has Dr. Jake gives me a shot. His imagination is so big and he loves to play anything pretend and make up lots of stuff.

Friday-September 3rd-Just for fun! Jake was leaning over his shopping cart and saying he was getting big muscles. Apparently this resembled some type of working out to him. He also said "take my picture like this." So of course I did.

Saturday-September 4th-Mom, Heather, & Me on our way to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Nationwide race. This was the best picture of the 3 of us even though it isn't that great of a picture. We had so much fun with everyone at the race.

Sunday-September 5th- Nana & Jake sitting on Nana's steps. I loved the way Jake has his arm on Nana's leg and that both of them are wearing their race shirts. Watching Pawpaw work on Dean's car.

Memories

I am horrible about keeping things unless it can go in a scrapbook(which really only leaves paper things to be kept). So mostly that means I don't keep clothes. I frequently go through my closet and get rid of things I haven't worn in a few months. Sometimes a few weeks later I think about wearing the shirt and remember I got rid of it.

As Jake has grown out of his clothes I have been getting rid of some, keeping ones I really liked or had some type of sentimental value, and then most of them went back to my sister. Given that over half of Jake's clothes come from my nephew who is 4 months older then Jake.

The things I wanted to keep of Jake's are put away into a rubbermaid container. Then every time a new season comes around I open up the container and put new clothes to keep in. But of course each time I open the container I have to look at all the sweet little things I have saved and am reminded of how much he has grown.

Do you remember I said I am horrible about keeping things?

This means that each time I go through these containers there are things I realize I don't need to save and I get rid of them.

This past month as I was going through his closet and getting some stuff together for consignment I decided to really take a look at what I was keeping. Most of the stuff was pretty cheap stuff when we bought it to begin with so I didn't need to keep it now. Then there was the thinking that all though the outfit was really cute would I really use it for another baby. Chances are another baby would be born in a different season or be a different size and I would have saved the clothes for nothing. Someone else could get much better use out of the clothes taking up space in Jake's closet.

Then there were the things that were just too sweet and precious to give up. Like the outfit he wore for his first Christmas, his pumpkin hat he wore in the hospital on Halloween day, his tiny little white hospital shirt he wore, things that have his monogram on them, and several other things I just couldn't get rid of.

But then there was that whole...I am horrible at keeping things!!!  And obviously things monogrammed with JNR or that said 1st birthday would never be worn by another baby.

So I did what any girl would do & came up with a crazy idea to turn these clothes into a blanket. And then I turned to my mother-in-law to see if she could make a blanket out of Jake's clothes. (after all I don't know how to sew...it is 1 of my 12 new things for April)

And my wonderful mother-in-law didn't let me down. I now have the sweetest blanket with all of my favorite and memorable pieces of Jake's clothes sewed on it.

My only request of my mother-in-law was that the blanket be finished by the time Jake was 18 and heading to college so that I could curl up with it every night while he was gone. Of course she way out did herself and had the blanket finished in a week.  I love this blanket and want to snuggle with it now...it brings tears to my eyes every time I look at it & remember when Jake wore a piece on the blanket. I also love it so much I want to frame it and hang it on my wall for everyone to see.

For now it is laying over the back of the chair in Jake's room. Where he & I talk about each piece every time we go in there.

Thank you so much Linda for the wonderful blanket of memories you have given me!!!