Self-control on today of all days :)

Do I dare post on election day? If you're like me then you're ready to read something else. I am the type who never intends to but ends up reading reading reading every article and eventually my mental energy is completely wiped out.

We have access to SO much information in this day in age. While such a gift it can also be such a curse. I'm listening to an audio book called Crazy Busy (so far really good!) and I was so intrigued by his point that due to so many technological advances humans are able to physically do more than ever before. When natural light would stop people from working we can work all night if we want. We have access to almost anything we want to know. The clear down side of this is we are more exhausted, drained and mentally absent than every before also. There's a point where you have to just shut it off and say "I'm done" before your mind is fried. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had actual physical symptoms from spending too much time on my phone or the tv. My eyes hurt so my head kinda hurts and I feel super "weird and off". But just like controlling the amount of sugar you eat just cause you should - limiting our input time is really difficult because I think it's unintentionally spent a lot of the time. Few of us sit down and say "I'm going to spend 45 minutes reading this article then reading the comments then reading another and so on".

I can't speak from the working mom's perspective, but from the stay at home mom side it's an even greater challenge because being connected to something/someone on social media makes us feel like we're engaging with other adults during the day! There's nothing wrong with this obviously, but to say I haven't ever felt the effects of my time getting sucked up in that would be a lie. I often lack the self control to put it away and be productive or just sit and play with my kids. I need to work on that badly.

This is kind of all coming to my mind today because it's easy to read and soak in everything we watch, read and see on days like today. It's hard to be a peace with just saying "that's enough" and diverting our attention elsewhere.

Anyways, short and sweet. You won't miss out on much if you choose to put your phone away! This is what I tell myself.

And here are some verses to encourage you......or maybe challenge you! Let's use self-control for our own bodies sake, and self-control and love with our tongue (or maybe quick typing fingers) for others sake! God is not up there wringing his hands freaking out about who our next President will be. I know he cares, but he is the ruler of all and that gives my heart peace. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations (Psalm 22:28 ESV).

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. JAMES 1:19

Like a city whose walls are broken through
is a person who lacks self-control. PROVERBS 25:28

5 months old Luke!

A little late but hey, you're the third baby :)


Weight: 13 pounds this month! I can see you growing yay!

Clothing: You made the leap to 6 months clothing! They are slightly long for you haha sorry baby neither of your parents passed down long legs for you :(

Sleep: Duuuuuuude last night was awful. Get it together lol I loved when we were waking up once a night for so long. But really, I would love for you to sleep all night! But since we don't sleep train I am gonna soak up these little moments with you cause I know they are gone fast.

Eating: You. are. a. snacker. You basically only fill up when you're super sleepy haha. Other times you're too distracted to eat nice and long. It could be the two older siblings you have trying to talk to you or pat you or scream at you always when you start to eat.

Personality/Mood: You are such a sweet baby -seriously I could eat you up. I get stopped daily for either your hair or your eyes. You're just the cutest thing!!!!

Loves/Hates: You love grabbing your toes and me carrying you around. Second to that is Juliana making faces at you :) You hate being ignored or put down.

New this month: Rolling from tummy to back finally! You are also grabbing for things!!!

The RUSH of Fall and Routines

Well, school has started!
And with it comes that steady pace of routine and schedules. I've never been one who longs for Fall ---- call me crazy. Sure I love me some cute boot socks and leggings with an overcast day, but Summer is where my heart will always want to be. I love the warm long evenings, the relaxed days and that shoes are optional most days! I do like routine, but with Fall comes the mad rush of schedules, looming Holiday busyness and checklists.

While I actually like all of those things individually, I tend to want to hold onto summer just a little bit longer. Can we just have one more evening of Popsicles and swimming until bedtime?
But see I don't think it's the amount of extra "stuff" that comes in the fall that we aren't ready for, it's the busyness. 

So I think the freeing reality that I have to remember is we don't have to be busy all the time. I think there are seasons where life is just crazy and some things are outside our control. Doctors appointments, family situations, moves and school, whatever. But other times we can control how busy we decide to be and yet we still tend to be WAY over scheduled than we want -- we continue to make the same decisions and sign up for more and more activities. I think in my opinion it's a combination of things both from ourselves and our culture that makes us act this way.

First, for whatever reason in (some) of our minds busyness = success. Our American culture is definitely a fast paced achievement oriented culture. It didn't take us long traveling to other countries to see this. I think there is some benefit to this. When I've worked hard all day and got things done it's a great feeling. And while I don't think we should be sitting around watching TV all day doing nothing with our lives - I think there is a trap in this busyness. We are enticed to be busy and fill our schedules because we don't want to feel "inferior" to someone else's lifestyle or accomplishments. Even a simple question of "What did you do today?"  can leave us feeling embarrassed or some even ashamed if we don't have "things" to show for our day. But I think there is so much unnecessary stress and chaos we make in our own lives by packing it to the brim. What if you did stay home all day and play with your kids? Or take coffee to the park and watch them play? Or have dinner at home around the table every night? This doesn't mean you're unimportant it may just mean you have a better view of your own capacity and a better view of your family's capacity.

I remember growing up we had dinner at home almost every night. Sometimes I look at my past week, or past month and see the millions of directions we were running and wondered why we didn't just STOP and say no. Problem #1 is that both my husband and I are very social lol. If there is something happening and we were invited to it we want to be there. In my family we call this 

FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out, and we both definitely have it. So we often have to remind each other, we don't HAVE to go to x,y,z. It's ok so say we just need want to be home.

And it's not even being home or not being home. I really believe you can be hiding away at home away from all social contact and still have a demeanor of chaos lol. One of my favorite quotes is 

"Life is Not an Emergency". I so often put completely unnecessary stress on my kids and then consequently myself by over committing to things. Then I'm running around like a crazy scary mommy yelling "Put your shoes on!!! We're Late!! Hurry!" We're in a hurry because I decided we had to be involved in some event that I knew started too early and would be a stress on everyone. Now everyone's in a bad mood by something completely avoidable.

 But then secondly I think we sometimes choose the wrong things to be engaged in. We start to feel the need for rest because we're losing it and we pull out of things that fill us instead of those draining us. Obviously we can't pull out of every instance that drains us. School, work, doctors appointments these things can't always go BUT other things often can. Our kids don't have to be involved in every sport, dance, gymnastics, etc. that's absolutely a lie I try to remind myself when I feel like my kids are "missing out"! If you have the capacity for those activities do it ! If you don't then don't compare to others kids and just do what works for your family. When you think of things that FILL you (maybe it's time with your little family, small groups or bible studies, going on walks, hobbies) don't make those the first to go because you've over scheduled on things that could have gone.



I'm not writing this to you as I am to myself too! Praying our Autumn season is full of wonderful things like Rest and community and being able to slowwwww down and soak up precious moments.

Wednesday product share #3!

The product I'm sharing today that I really love is Arbonne's daily fiber boost!

Whether you think you get enough fiber or not this is definite something to help. I've noticed a big difference using this one and like it a lot !

 Enjoy !!

fiber link

Happy 4 Months Luke!

Weight: 13 pounds this month! I can see you growing yay!

Clothing: You are finally in 3 months and a few 3-6 month jammies.

Sleep: This week's sleep has been no bueno. It didn't help that we went camping for 4 days where you woke up 5+ times a night. Cold and dark tent apparently aren't your thing and even though we've been home a few days sleep isn't happening. Can you go back to only waking up 2 times a night please!?!

Eating: You are doing well and you can see it in your chub cheeks~which I love. You basically only love nursing in quiet private places though. Which means no chatting or eating while trying to feed you :(

Personality/Mood: Sometimes I think you are the happiest boy and other days I'm like "what on earth is wrong with this child" because you fuss and fuss and cry. I think I am still figuring out your mood and what kind of personality you will have.

New This Month: Grabbing your feet!!! I also heard a slight giggle from you but wouldn't call it quite a laugh yet. Also tried out the bouncer for the first time and you weren't a huge fan but tolerate it for a few minutes.

Loves: Me. Holding. You. All day long lol. preferably standing up. I am very thankful you do take good naps though and you love napping on your tummy! You also love being home which is pretty cute. When we are running around doing errands you get super fussy and when we are finally home I can see your whole body relax.

Doesn't love: Being put down haha!

Someone is obsessed ;) 

Bedhead Hair hehe

A certain sister has been here......

Celebrating Grandpa!

As many of you who know my family heard, my Grandpa passed away almost 2 weeks ago.

We had a family service today to celebrate his wonderful life so I deemed it appropriate to blog about it :)

 By 94 years old he had enjoyed an amazingly full life of God's love, mercy, and grace.

Today we had just a family gathering and I really loved hearing my dad and uncles walk us through grandpa's life. Everything from serving in WWII to shenanigans with his family it was full of wonderful memories and new stories. He was a shrewd business man and entrepreneur, but really was a developer at heart. I remember even as a toddler that entrepreneur mentality was taught to me by him as he told me to collect all the snails outside his house for a quarter each. And as we remembered today, he mostly was a developer of people. I only had seen the tip of the ice berg in this area and have learned recently how private he was about his giving (sorry gpa now I'm blogging about it :/ ) But it was such a blessing to hear of how many people he invested his time, resources and finances to as he helped enable them in life. I can even remember just a few years back he was walking around our property checking out the newest projects Jeremy was working on in our house. 

He and my Granny (yes that's what we have always called her and it never seemed weird to me until my friends would giggle whenever I said it!) would be celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary this year and I think it's hilarious that they drove to Reno in the snow on a dare to get married. So you can keep her in your thoughts and prayers as I can't imagine losing your life partner after so long.

Today was a great celebration and I pray that as I have been challenged today to do -- that I will continue to do -- is be able to S.T.O.P from the madness sometimes that is our life and look around and see the PEOPLE around me in need of God's love, mercy and grace. Relationships trump tasks and souls matter more than any projects that rule our day. I long to invest my time effectively in people and not get so busy in my own bubble of my own world that I miss out on the joy of blessing others. 

From today's sharing time at my parent's house

Oates' cousins :)  

Kiddos kiddos kiddos!

Product today -- baby trend stroller

Yay! I love this product share day because I feel like I use so many products that I wish people knew about (or I'd known about long ago!)
Today I am sharing with you the Baby Trend double jogging stroller

Here's the Amazon Linkif you want to check it out but like I said we got ours at Walmart !

Pinterest Recipes Tested!

I decided tonight that I didn't have enough dishes in my sink from the past 2 days haha and had a little baking party - with myself, and Luke of course my constant cling on Baking has such a great therapeutic nature to it that I really find myself missing it during summer. So I cranked up the window ac unit and pulled up all the coconut flour recipes I've pinned but never had time to try. We have a way over abundance of eggs for some reason (as I imagine lots of you with chicken do also!) and coconut flour recipes need LOTS of eggs !

Here is the first one I tried
Coconut Flour bread:
HERE
I wasn't really sure what to expect with this one (the one downside of having a baking marathon at 10 pm -- too many bites lol) but it was really moist and good I will definitely make it again. It's a great replacement for toast or sliced bread if you have that temptation every morning like me or if you just have a gluten intolerance.

(Don't mind the accidental hole in the top)

Next was Coconut Flour Brownies:

Brownies

This unfortunately was thumbs down :( And this is the second or third coconut flour recipe I've tried. I also overcooked it which only makes it drier and you lose that brownie moist taste. But it I put single squares in foil and popped them in the freezer so they will do when I'm searching for something chocolate :) 

With a glass of Almond milk I was pretty satisfied :) 

These Gaps Squash Squares are a definite favorite:

Squares

I just use a can of pureed pumpkin and I also add about 1-2 Tablespoons of honey. I can't resist honey.

These are protein packed and taste like pumpkin pie! so so good!

I made 2 batches this is one going on and one coming out you can see how that whipped egg white works so well.

Tomorrow morning I'm making these pancakes and we'll see how they stack up (hahaha.......ok it's too late. Bed!)

Live Like Wednesday -lularoe's leggings

Hi Readers !! I'm excited to start Live Like Wednesday where every Wednesday I will go live from my blog Facebook page and share with you a product that I like or love ! I'll have a video posted on the blog page here too.

Today I'm featuring lularoe's adorable clothing. My friend Kate Davenport (who sells so much because SHE is freakin cute and all the clothes looks perfect on her!) sells them and I've attached the link to her business page here in case you feel like browsing around and doing some shopping !

Their clothes fit all sizes really really well and are SO comfortable!!

http://www.facebook.com/groups/lularoekatedavenportvip

3 Months Today!

How is my newborn already 3 months old (insert weeping emoji). I guess that makes him no longer a newborn (insert 4 weeping emojis).......Jeremy always laughs that girls don't use ONE emoji to express their emotions it's always like 5. I agree, one never seems enough -- I need 5 of those heart eye ones to truly express how I feel haha. Anyways - rabbit trail!

Luke - You are such a joy in our house! While you are our fussiest baby yet you give out smiles so freely it makes up for all that. Your siblings adore you and often fight over who's "brother" you are (not sure how they've missed this concept still). You are the perfect addition to our family, it's hard to imagine life without you here. At least 10 times a day I look at you and am filled with thankfulness and joy - we adore you!

Weight: Finally finally you are getting some tiny rolls on those legs! Now that you can eat better it's so good to see you grow even if you are still pretty little :)

Clothing: Still in 0-3 month and a few 3 month! While boy clothes are never going to be as cute as baby girl clothes (it's hard to compete with ruffles and bows) I adore the convenience of not coordinating everything! Onesie, shorts, done.

Sleep: You are the BEST sleeper so far, no Beaumont baby in this house before you has ever gone 6 hours at night before 9 months. You slept from 10:45-5:45 one night last week whoooooooo that was incredible. Woke up feeling like, "oh ya........that is what sleep feels like, round two please". But normally it's 10:30-4, then 5:30 then up at 7:30. I feel like we may be finally getting out of that newborn fog where everyday feels like I'm on a cruise ship.

Eating: Going better but not amazing still :( Getting that tongue tie and lip tie fixed was horrendous and I was hoping things would finally click after that. But it's still taking time for you to learn HOW to use that tongue - we'll get there baby~

Personality/Mood: You are a fairly high maintenance baby! I think you've forgotten you are number 3.......as in I have two other children. As long as mommy is holding you and preferably looking AT you you are content. I am rejoicing though that you are not truly a colic baby though (clearly I've realized I couldn't handle that). You really are a sweet baby - soooooo generous with your smiles and adorable coos. Those blue eyes melt me!

Loves: You love people talking to you - particularly your sister! It is adorable to see you together, she loves you so much. You love me carrying you around and your swing (Thank God!). You've found your fists and chomp away on them all day long!

Doesn't love: Being put down haha! Most of all you DO NOT LIKE that carseat :)

This past week you met friends from all over the world! 8 different countries to be exact

8 YEARS Married!

Today is my husband and my 8 year wedding anniversary! 

Sometimes I feel like what on earth where did time go? 

But then I see it back almost like a movie - our wedding, first year of apartments and school work **hehe such babies**, living in India, having our first baby, buying a house, another baby, traveling, a third baby. 

All the bedtime stories and memories of our little family come crashing in and then I see where the time has gone. I love that I thought the wedding day was the BEST when really it was the start - I didn't think I would ever be happier or love my husband more than that day. I had no idea it got so much better, and better and better. 

Our anniversary came at a sweet time this year as a good friend of mine is getting married on Saturday. Last night a bunch of us stayed up wayyyy too late chatting and sharing stories but then as we began to give more solid and honest advice to this wife to be --it was so encouraging for ME to sit and listen and share. All our highs and lows over the years and what helped us works through them and to take the time for a second to reflect on the last 8 years. We are so so so busy in life.  Running running and always in a hurry. I haven't stopped and thought about early marriage nerves and advice in such a long time. It took me back to this day 8 years ago. That's when our life was joined into one and we became our family. I never imaged many of the places we have been in over the years. Some painful, but many wonderful. I could never, ever have hoped that God would bring someone like him to me. He dreamed with me in those early years in all the excitement of what God had for us in life, he was anxious with me while we waited for our first baby and becoming parents, and was exasperated along with me in the many sleepless nights that followed. He has held me together and lifted me up when I have crumbled in pain and grief and has loved me like Christ loves his church. I could not love him more.......but then again I thought that 8 years ago :) 

Happy Anniversary Babe!