Long overdue

Don't call Child Services, but I finally found some help with the house work...
It's been awhile since I posted a current photo of Seth. He sees the camera and it's all over. In fact, I took a photo to illustrate my difficulty. Sorry it's been so long, I'll try to be better. :o)

A Time of Transition

Seth is 13.5 months today, and as I think about where we are, I can only conclude that we are in a time of transition. It's hard...for me. I am having a hard time being patient waiting for Seth to grasp some concepts. In my head I know he will pick it up when he is ready, but at the same time wonder if he's ever going to get it! This is where the lack of patience comes in. :o)

For the past month we've been transitioning Seth off of the bottle. It seems he will drink water from a sippy cup or a cup with a straw, but not milk. Milk must be in a bottle and it must be warm. Yesterday I put away the bottles for good and am only giving him the sippy cup or straw option. Needless to say, he's not getting much milk right now. He just isn't interested. It doesn't help that he hasn't grasped the idea of holding his own cup. So my day consists of offering him something to drink, if he takes a sip, great, if not, oh well. I just make the cup available to him and figure if he gets thirsty enough, he'll drink. I want to get him a new sippy cup that holds more than the ones we have now, maybe one with a straw since he does well with those....unless it's milk, of course. I am in full realization that this is partly my issue. I just want him to get the hang of it already. In my mind, everyone's kid has been drinking out of a cup unassisted for months by now. Seems like my kid is the only one and will be going to kindergarten with me still offering him something to drink. ha.

Seth is still transitioning to walking as well. He walks around the table while holding on and can stand not holding on to anything too. He has a firetruck that he can stand behind and push (to learn to walk). He has taken a couple small steps with it, but then decides it's much faster to get on his knees and push the truck. So, it's a process and I'm not upset that the walking hasn't kicked into gear yet. I'd rather he learn how to pick up his cup and get a drink unassisted.

On a positive note, Seth has begun to mock me a little (occasionally). If I make the noise for his trucks, he'll make the noise. If I clap my hands, he might clap. He even started to move his head like I move my head when I'm being silly with him. It's funny. The things he picks up on! Last night, for the first time, I think he was sad to see Evan leave. Evan had to lead his FPU class, so he hugged Seth goodbye. Seth started to cry a little but I thought it was because he was tired. Eventually he went over by the door, whimpering, and I heard "a-da" which is the closest thing to dada I've heard yet. Interesting. He likes to get behind us when we're sitting down and "sneak-up" on us. He thinks that's funny. The other day he was drinking water from his sippy cup and it made a funny noise. He started laughing so hard and each time it happened, he'd laugh. I thought, oh man, here we go...boys being entertained by sounds of bodily functions. It must be in their DNA.

A Baby Questionnaire

Okay I’ve been tagged by Evan's cousin Liz to complete this meme. All questions relating to my child.

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? Excited

3. How old were you? 30

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? We had been trying for a few months with no luck. It was January and I was late. So I waited a few days and tested early on a Saturday morning. It was positive! I went back to bed and whispered to Evan that he was going to be a daddy. His response: "cool". We both wanted to go back to sleep but somehow that just didn't happen. We laid there and talked about it. Then we prayed together for a safe, healthy pregnancy and baby.

5. Who did you tell first? I think it was my parents. We emailed them a photo of the positive test. Then we called and had them open the email while on the phone. Fun.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes

7. Due date: September 29

8. Did you deliver child early or late? 1 month early

9. Did you have morning sickness? Mine was not limited to morning. I felt nauseated all day long for about 8 weeks. Then it was gone.

10. What did you crave? No cravings, really. I was hungry for pasta and bread pretty often though.

11. Who irritated you the most? No one irritated me.

12. What was your first child's sex? Boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 36. Ugh. Still trying to get rid of it.

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? No

15. Where did you give birth to your child? At the hospital.

16. How many hours were you in labor? didn't really know i was in labor. I had back cramps and was thinking of not going to work. But they subsided so I went. In the meantime I called the doctor. The doctor on call didn't think it was labor. He was wrong. I went in for a non-stress test at 11am to find out that I was 5cm. I was fully dilated by 1p. Started pushing at 5:15 (after my parents were there) and Seth arrived at 7:24pm.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Evan

18. Who watched? Evan and Mom

19. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? I had an epidural. It was great to finally feel relief from the cramping.

20. How much did your child weigh? 6lbs 9oz

21. Why did you name him/her the name you picked? It was a name we both could agree on. It was short, which is nice when the last name is long. Evan liked the idea of using his name for the middle name...so we settled on Seth Evan.

Seth can clap!

Seth finally started to clap his hands today! I've been clapping and cheering him on, knowing he would do it when he was ready. I guess today was it. Maybe he just really liked his lunch because he started to clap after each bite. Apparently cauliflower and carrot puree was a hit!

Personal DNA test

My friend Sarah had this on her blog and encouraged others to take it as well. Here are my results:



You are an Architect
Your preference for concrete, visually pleasing things, combined with your confidence and your respect for order make you an ARCHITECT.

You are logical and detail-oriented, which allows you to get things done efficiently.

You are quite sure of yourself, so that you tend to know the best ways of doing things.

Your eye for aesthetic beauty and style indicates that you know a lot about design.

Having a routine and sticking to it is important to you; you find comfort in tradition and familiarity.

Self-reliance is something in which you take great pride—you are confident and down to earth.

You have a basic faith in yourself in many areas of your life, allowing you to be self-assured when facing challenges.

You're not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.

You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.

You prefer to have time to plan for things, feeling better with a schedule than with keeping plans up in the air until the last minute.

Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.

You are Faithful
Your trust in others, respect for tradition, and caring nature make you FAITHFUL.

Maintaining a few intimate relationships is more important to you than knowing a lot of people, and you share a lot with your close friends.

Those who have managed to get close to you value your camaraderie, and they know that they can trust you with anything; you're a good listener.

While you can usually see several sides of an argument, you often have a strong opinion as to which side is correct—the order of things is usually clear to you.

Your perspective on the world is based on careful observation, and you know a lot about how people feel in—and react to—many situations.

Your exploration of others' feelings has led you to believe that although people generally act appropriately, having clear social rules is very important to a functional society.

Time alone for reflection is important to you—you are introspective and aware of your own feelings.

Faithful is as faithful does—you expect those with whom you are close to be loyal to you, and you take betrayal of your trust very seriously.

Boys and their toys

Just a snapshot of Seth in his jammies playing with his trucks. He's starting to mimic the sounds I make when I play trucks with him. Fun!

A political post

I have never posted anything on politics and may never (never say never, Angela) post anything again. But, as friends have brought up the topic lately, I feel like I need to throw out a thought. I'm just thinking out loud here and so hopefully it makes sense collectively.

This Hammersmith household is a conservative one. Our friend Ryan Gates contributes to a website that had a nice summary of what exactly a Conservative believes. You can read it here: Conservatism Defined, by XEKE.com

Lately I've been thinking about the phrase "I am my brother's keeper". Some feel that if they believe this phrase then voting for the Democratic nominee will be a step in the right (actually the left, ha!) direction.

Well, I have a different view. In my mind, it is the role of the church, not the government, to take care of our "brother". Some of the most important things I look for in a church I attend is that it's a congregation that reaches out to our "brothers". We have several ministries that are helping the poor, hungry, broken, etc. And what I love most is that when these people receive groceries or simply prayer for healing, they are getting more help than what the government can provide.

Receiving the hope of Christ goes a lot further than a welfare check. As a Christian, that's how I see the role of "being my brother's keeper".

A couple of months ago, our senior pastor invited Evan & I along with a few others over to his home for dinner. Half of the guests were white, the other African-American. Our pastor brought up the subject of broken families among the black community and how it has changed over time. A black gentleman who is probably in his 50s responded. Living in an African-American neighborhood as a boy, he was surrounded with complete families. No one was rich but the family stayed together. Today we see so many broken homes, single parents, etc. He felt that the welfare system actually contributed to this. With a welfare check, a wife (for example) no longer needed to stay in a marriage. She could just rely on the government to provide. Well, if you read the above article, you'll see why I have a hard time with this. I want to protect the family unit, not make it easier to split...and let's not forget about the children that get caught up in this. If I support marriage and family, how can I support the idea of government assistance...which may have had a role in the decline of these establishments?

So in a nutshell, I am for life, family, and country. I think "we" can help our brother in more, lasting ways than the government. I feel like faith has a place in the conservative platform.

I don't need comments to this post with arguments or differing opinions, I just wanted to state mine. Take it or leave it.