Haddie is 9 months old!

Haddie girl turned 9 months old yesterday ... I love watching her face mature in our monthly pictures.  She becomes more beautiful everyday!  She is such a good girl, full of smiles and growing personality.  We think she's gonna be a bit stubborn, but she is as sweet as can be, independent, and full of life and new noises.  Just love being this girlie's mama!

What Haddie is doing and learning these days ....
Teething!!!  And no, it's not very fun for anyone ~ likes her pacifier quite a bit ~ making new noises: spitting noises, "mama", "dada", "nahnah" ... just lots of babbling in general :) ~ starting to understand how to drink out of a sippy cup ~ eating much less pureed food and more table food ~ she really likes to feed herself ... she'd prefer that most of the time ~ in the 66 percentile or higher for length (28 inches) and weight (21.7 pounds) ~ standing up all by herself from time to time ~ taking naps in her car seat ... this girl barely takes naps during the day, but when she does?  She's in her car seat! ~ likes playing with daddy ~ likes mommy to hold her best when she's upset ~ drawn to facial expressions, mouth noises, clapping sounds ~ doesn't like weird noises like aluminum foil crinkling or the Nutri-bullet grinding ~ loves looking in mirrors ~ extra clingy and a little extra fussy lately ... wants to be held a lot more often (probably from the teething?) ~ still totally sweet and lovable ... growing like a weed and soaking up knowledge like a sponge!

What Mama is doing and learning these days ....
Practicing thankfulness :) ~ trying to figure out how to get the girlie to nap so that I have more time for prayer, reading, blogging, etc. ... just wanna have some time to do things that are truly important and good "me time" but that I can't do while she's up and goin' ~ Slowly reading some really good books and excited to start the rest of my reading list ~ still going to counseling, and it's really providing good tools for communication in my relationship with Darrell ~ wondering about God's timing with another baby ... just curious :) ~ trying to shop and eat more whole and organic foods and get motivated to try new recipes for better health and more variety ~ working out more regularly but struggling to stay motivated ... and struggling to exercise with the girlie hanging all over me - she always seems the most clingy when I wanna get my workout in - haha! ~ learning a lot about practice, thankfulness, dependence on the Lord, remembering what's most important and doing those things, and not trying to control everything ~ growing more in love with my husband and my baby girl all the time ~ so thankful for our season of life ... time together as a family, staying home with Haddie, being apart of a wonderful church family, God's provision, learning lessons ... God's just cool! ~ excited to see what God's got in store for 2016 and beyond!

Journey with Jesus: Day 40

Tuesday was my last day for my sugar fast and posting about my Daniel Plan eating.  It is good to do fasts from time to time.  At least for me, it helps me see just how addicted I am to certain foods and such.  Sweet tea is probably my favorite worldly pleasure, so that's the thing I usually fast from.  And yes, I'm addicted.  "Hello, my name is Mical, and I'm a sweet tea-aholic."  Honestly, at this point, I have no plan to ever get rid of sweet tea completely, but I would like to keep working at drinking less of it.  Sugar IS bad for you, so I need to really limit how much I put in my body. ... I HAVE tried all-natural sweeteners like stevia, but ... yuck.  I've decided I'm going to have some sweet tea ... I just need to drink less of it.
On the positive side of things, I've discovered that I can not only stomach salads now, but I'm beginning to really enjoy them.  I'm so thankful for that because I get some good veggies like spinach and cucumbers ... but as I grow to put more veggies on my salads, I'll get even more veggies in me!  Now, if only salad dressings were healthy for you.  Sheesh!  I'm pretty picky about my dressings.  And I'm not gonna eat my grass without dressing ... just saying! ;)  Vidalia Onion from Sam's Club is my current favorite ... but sadly, it's not organic, and it has a few preservatives in it.  Boo!  But I've decided something with that too ... sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, ya know?  I'm making progress; that's all that really matters to me.

So I'm a sweet tea-aholic, salad-eating, gonna-keep-trying-at-this-healthy-eating-thing mama.  Here's to practice!  Forever practice ... I love it!

Journey with Jesus: Day 40
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal
Lunch - potato soup and salad
Dinner - smoked sausage, rice, and beans

Journey with Jesus: Day 39

Every other Monday, I clean house for a pretty cool lady at my church.  Most of the time, my mom has been so gracious to keep Haddie for me while I clean, but she needed to get some grocery shopping and cooking done for The Porch yesterday.  So Haddie came with me to clean.  I am so grateful for my baby's sweet, independent, happy personality.  She did so great playing in her saucer and pack 'n play, watching Baby Einstein.  She only lost patience in the last 15 minutes.  It was amazing!  I was so grateful for her "help."  'Cause it really helps me when she's good! :)  So grateful I can bring in some extra money for our family.

Only one day left!
Journey with Jesus: Day 39
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal
Lunch - tater tot casserole and salad
Snack - almond crackers and cheese
Dinner - chicken and noodles and broccoli and cauliflower
Snack - apple with peanut butter and mixed nuts
64 ounces of water

Journey with Jesus: Day 38

Sunday was a busy but wonderful day!  Church is our favorite place to be, and we have lunch with my parents after church every Sunday.  Always good times.  But we had our third counseling session, and that is something I am truly thankful for.  I started going to counseling back in the summer time for my struggles with self-condemnation, and those sessions helped me see that that a lot of what I condemn myself about has to do with my relationship with Darrell.  A lot of it was beating myself up for things that we BOTH need to work on together ... mainly communicating the right way.  So we've started going together, and it has been great for our marriage.  I'm so grateful for the strides we are making in our communication and how our love is growing even more through it all.

Journey with Jesus: Day 38
Breakfast - bacon and eggs and orange juice
Lunch - beef chimichanga, rice, and beans
Dinner - grilled chicken salad and french fries
64 ounces of water

Journey with Jesus: Day 37

I worked as a waitress at The Porch today.  Usually, I'm upstairs working on online posts, packaging tea, and any other office work mom might have.  I found out that when you haven't waited on tables in a while, it can be CRAZY!  I think I only had five or six tables, and I was totally overwhelmed.  There's so much to remember as a waitress, and I want to give people great service ... and I'm a recovering perfectionist and self-condemner ... so it can be pretty rough.  I did well, I think ... but I was pretty flustered.  Man, that is one thing I don't like about myself - I get flustered so easily, and once I'm flustered, I have a hard time coming back from it.  I guess it was another opportunity to lean on Jesus, huh?  My dependence lesson. ;)

Stop in The Porch sometime soon ... 2411 E. Main St. Danville, IN 46122.  It's a pretty cool place with yummy food, delicious teas, and all kinds of neat merchandise.  We're open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 2pm!

Journey with Jesus: Day 37
Breakfast - Reese's Puffs and milk
Lunch #1 - tater tot casserole and orange juice
Lunch #2 - salad, apple, mixed nuts
Snack - popcorn
Dinner - chicken tacos, tortilla chips and salsa, and refried beans
64 ounces of water

Yeah, as you can see, today's meals for the first half of the day were more for convenience than anything.  It happens.  I'll do better tomorrow. ;)

Journey with Jesus: Day 36

Journey with Jesus: Day 36

Breakfast - bacon and eggs and kiwi and milk
Lunch - Salad and cottage cheese
Dinner - chicken, baked potato, and salad
48+ ounces of water

Yeah ... kind of a boring post ... but encouraging!  Fruits and veggies for me! :)

Journey with Jesus: Day 35

In Wednesday's post, I mentioned that I'm learning about dependence on God.  Yesterday, I had a meltdown because I didn't have that lesson "down" yet.  Ha!  I love the perspective my husband always seems to give me. :)  I was super stressed out and starting to cry because I had been a bit prideful with my mom at work that day.  She was being rather particular about how she wanted her menu redone, and I kinda have a bad habit of having a less-than-great attitude about doing things that I don't understand.  I've kind of always been that way ... it's a pride issue, and yes, it needs to be dealt with.  I'm working on it.  Well, I was in a tizzy about my pride ... beating myself up for being ungrateful for my job and questioning what mom wanted.  And on top of it, I was mad at myself for not letting it all go and remembering that my sins and struggles drive me to depend on God.  Thankfully, my mom was super gracious and honestly didn't even see me as being prideful or having a bad attitude (even though I was and did).  And Darrell was there to put things in perspective for me.  He asked me, "When did you start learning that lesson? ... Yesterday?  Oh, well, then you don't need to 'have it down' yet because it's going to take time, right?"  Of course I sheepishly said, "yes."  Thank God for a husband who is way better at perspective than I am!  So yeah ... I'm a RECOVERING self-condemning - it's still something I'm working through, but I've made progress.  Holla-lujah! ;)

Journey with Jesus: Day 35
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal and milk
Snack - almond crackers and cheese
Lunch - chicken pot pie and salad
Dinner - tater tot casserole and broccoli
64 ounces of water

Journey with Jesus: Day 34

Another busy day today ... much like yesterday, I got my workout in and packaged some teas at The Porch ... but today, Haddie and I stopped at the bank and the grocery store.  Once at home, I put the groceries away, and Haddie and I played for a bit and had dinner together ... then it was off to the babysitter for Haddie and off to Bible study for me, where I met my hubby.  Darrell is getting the sweet girl down tonight ... what better time to blog than now?  Ahh ... a few minutes to myself.  Breathing is nice.  Slowing down is nice.

It's also nice to reflect.  Tonight's Bible study was great, as usual.  We love our group and, especially, our Bible study leaders.  I was reminded of something in our parenting study tonight that smacked me right between the eyes at my Bible study yesterday morning as well: dependence on God.  I was reminded ... or perhaps I'm learning it for the first time in many ways ... that, as a parent, I must lay down my will everyday.  And really, I have to lay it down several times a day ... as soon as I get up, after breakfast, again when I get impatient with Haddie, again when I don't want to feed her for the millionth time (so it feels some days) ... you get the idea.  But I was so grateful to make the connection from Tuesday morning because, yesterday, we talked about how God isn't worried about our "control-freak nature" as women because it makes us dependent on Him.  Our struggles with sin and perspective drive us to need His help.  I must lay down my own desires and attitudes and time and energy and so on for my baby girl.  Am I gonna get it right every time?  Heck, no!  But I don't have to beat myself up anymore.  I can just remember that my struggles force me to depend on the Lord for strength and/or a renewed mindset ... at least, if I want to honor God, which I do.  I really, really do!  Don't you? :)

Journey with Jesus: Day 34

Wednesday:
Breakfast - bacon and eggs and orange juice
Lunch - chicken pot pie, potato soup, and a salad
Dinner - Taco salad
Snack - almond crackers and cheese
I'm drinking my fourth water bottle now.
And I got a 20-minute Zumba workout in today!
Yay!

What struggles are you going through today, no matter how big or how small?  And how do those struggles make you depend on the Lord?  Depending on God and living for Him ... it's what we were made to do.  Don't hate it; embrace it!  That's what I'm beginning to learn.  Good night, peeps! :)

Journey with Jesus: Day 33

And today ... busy!  Very busy!  I love going to the ladies' Bible study on Tuesday mornings, and I'm so thankful that my mom keeps Haddie for me.  And then I worked at The Porch for a few hours ... packaging teas.  Haddie did great while we were there.  Such a good girlie!  I guess the rest of the afternoon was just spent hanging out at home, but man, it felt busy.  Haddie's usually close to 2-hour nap was like maybe 30 minutes ... so my reading time was cut short.  And then she was fussy the rest of the day because she was tired from not getting her nap.  Gosh, that kid just does not want to sleep during the day ... the only time I can get lucky with a 2-hour nap is when she falls asleep in the car seat on the way home from work.  I didn't get so lucky today. ;)  I love spending time with her, don't get me wrong.  But a mama's gotta have some time to herself, ya know?  For blogging and house-cleaning and prayer and Bible study and just reading a good book ... and to BREATHE!  Haha!  Anyways ... after an afternoon full of fussy cries and toys spread all over the floor, and I did manage to get the rest of my chapter read, I got dinner done ... and Haddie and I ate our dinner, played some more; I got the bills paid, and then I got Haddie a bath, a bottle, and into bed.

*Deep breath*

Busy day.  What did you do today? .... Seriously, I want to know. :)

Journey with Jesus: Day 33
I'm still doing well ... I'm on my fourth day with no sugary drinks and no desserts.  Whew!  I could really use a sweet tea about now! ;)
Breakfast - uhh ... I kinda overslept and skipped it ... man, I was starving by lunch time!
Lunch - bowl of potato soup and chef salad
Snack - blueberry yogurt
Dinner - soup beans and corn bread
Most likely gonna have some cheese for a snack in a bit ...
I'm drinking my fourth water bottle to get me to 64 ounces now.
And I got my workout video in for today too!  Woot, woot!

Well, the hubby just walked in the door after his extra long day at work.  So peace out, and good night, y'all!

Journey with Jesus: Day 32

I just started back to this blogging regularly thing ... and I'm finding out that it is REALLY hard to blog everyday when you have an 8-month-old crawling around, getting into everything all day everyday. ;)  So here is yesterday's Journey with Jesus.

Monday:
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal and milk
Lunch - Chef salad and cottage cheese
Snack - kiwi and mixed nuts and rice crackers with cheese
Dinner - Pork chops, broccoli & cauliflower, corn, and asparagas
Snack - mixed nuts
64 ounces of water
40-minute Zumba workout

Journey with Jesus: Day 31

Sunday:
Breakfast - bacon and oatmeal and milk
Lunch - Salad and cottage cheese
Dinner - pizza and breadsticks ... yeah, I know ;)
Snack - blueberry yogurt ... yum!
48+ounces of water

Journey with Jesus: Day 30

I'm continuing with my goal to finish unfinished blog projects.  I started back with my "Journey with Jesus" lifestyle a few weeks back, and now, I wanna finish my Journey with Jesus posts.

Back on January 5th, my husband started a juicing diet for his breakfasts and lunches and a healthy dinner each night.  He's been doing well with his goals.  I'm so proud of him!  I didn't go to the juicing extreme, but I've been trying to make some changes for myself as well ... since about December 28th.  Well, Friday night, we had a major cheat night ... pizza, cookies, ice cream, soda, sweet tea ... yeah.  We both felt awful afterwards.  That night helped me see (again!) just how addicted to sugar I am.  So since Saturday morning, I've committed to fasting from sugary drinks and desserts for a time ... I think I've decided until I finish these Journey with Jesus posts ... and then I'll do my best to really limit my sugar intake from then on.  I totally believe people when they say that sugar is more addictive than actual drugs!  Granted, I've never tried a real drug, but I can imagine!  Because I am super addicted to sugar, especially in the form of sweet tea.

So as I did before, I will write some kind of blurb (above), and then I'll post what I ate that day.

Saturday:

Breakfast ... uhh, I kinda slept in and skipped it.

Lunch - Bowl of broccoli/potato soup

Dinner - Steak, baked potato, and a salad

Snack - rice crackers and cheese, apple with peanut butter, and mixed nuts (we had a super early dinner)

48 ounces of water