The Tooth the Whole Tooth & Nothing but the Tooth

Miss Natalie Shea has cut her two bottom teeth already! I can hardly believe it. I was caught so off guard I guess because I wasn't expecting it so early. I didn't cut my first teeth until 10 mos according to my mom. Plus, she has shown no signs that are typically associated with teething. No fever, fussing, excessive drooling. Crazy. Come to find out, though, Nick cut his first teeth early, so I guess that's where it comes from. She is certainly proving herself to be an "angel baby", as my Aunt Jo calls her. We feel so blessed to have been blessed with a healthy, and happy child.
She has been doing great with her solid foods. We did sweet potatoes this week, and tonight, avocado again. She's eating both really well, and takes a little more each time. Also, we have introduced the sippy cup to her. I have these awesome cups where the entire top is silicone, so it has the feel of a bottle. The first night I think she though it was a toy, but the past few nights she has really taken to it. She doesn't drink a lot, but hopefully this will just get her used to it so when the time comes, getting rid of the bottle won't be so bad (crossed fingers).
Meal time is a fun time to interact with her. She does so well in her high chair.
Both sets of grandparents have been able to see Natalie via Skype. It is a free service online that allows you to video chat with others. This is such an awesome thing, and I know we will use it more and more as she grows. It's certainly a blessing when your family lives so far away.

Yum, sweet potatoes!




I'm a big girl with my sippy cup.


I'm all ready for my walk in my shades and the new hat for summer mom couldn't resist.




In other news, the big dinner auction for St.Paul's high school summer mission trips is a week from Sunday - May 3rd. Dinner tickets are being sold for $10 per adult, and $5 per child. Each HS student and adult leader is charged with making a basket that reflects them, their personality, or their interests. The last time they did it, everyone did a great job and the auction was a great success. We are praying that this auction will also provide great blessings to these kids. I am not really a really creative person, but I was really proud of my efforts for Nick's basket. Behold! It's a "God Bless Texas" basket, of course. :)
Nick and I will prepare and serve a Texas feast for 8. The basket also includes two CD's to play at your party and all the festive paper goods. Dinner will all be home made except for the chips and tortillas and the menu is:
Apps: Queso, Salsa, Guacamole and Chips
Dinner: Cheese Enchiladas and Chicken Fajitas with all the fixins
Dessert: Dulche de Leche Cream Cake
Drinks: Iced Tea, Beer, and Margaritas


If anyone is in the area next weekend, come out and support the St. Paul youth! :)

A is for Avocado

Well, this week we began giving Natalie some solid foods. First on the menu was avocado. She did great and has been doing well with it so far. Next week will be sweet potatos.
A side note on sweet potatoes. I always thought I hated sweet potatoes, I guess because I had the bad experience of the nasty canned one doused in butter and brown sugar at Thanksgiving. Well, I know how great they are for you, and since they were on Natalie's menu, I thought I'd try it. I baked it (in the microwave) and just topped with a little butter and salt. It was DELICIOUS. I would encourage everyone to give it a try. Nick and I were both plesantly surprised (both former sweet potato haters) and we are excited that we now have a new tasty new side item to throw in to our diet.
We got some really great shots of Natalie:











I love this last shot. It's right before we got started, and the look on her face says "what are you doing now mom?" :)

He's Risen! He's Risen Indeed!!

A glorious Eastertide to you all! I would argue that this is the happiest time of the year. A time to celebrate the victory Christ won for us on the cross and through His resurrection. A time to stand in awe of God's promise fulfilled. Nick and I had a wonderful time worshipping together. It's a luxury I'm sure most take for granted, but being a church worker's wife, I relish the times we get to worship as a family. Even though Natalie kept me busy for half the service, it was a beautiful one.
She, of course, stole the show in her precious little Easter dress.




After church we were invited over to our music minister's house for Easter dinner. My contribution was broccoli and rice casserole (yum!). Everything was fabulous, and they had more dessert than you could shake a stick at. Another fun tradition in their family is the adult Easter egg hunt. We fight over eggs with loose change in them to vie for bragging rights all year long. It's a fun time, and there's nothing like hunting eggs to make you happy. :)



Later that day, we visited some friends over in Winter Haven. Nick grew up with Kristen and she also is a proud CUNE graduate like we are. Her husband is the vicar over there, and her older brother Alex (Nick's age) and his wife were down for a visit. We buzzed over to say hello and had a really nice time. Our day was full, but Natalie was a trooper.
I can't believe she is already 5 months old! She is developing a little personality (which is sweet) grabbing her feet and sitting up better every day.







With all this attention on the baby, what's a cat gotta do to get some lovin'? I tell you what. This is quite possibly the most pathetic thing ever. Yeah. Poor neglicted little Charles. This is where you might find him after Natalie has gone to bed for the night.

It's not as bad as he makes it out to be. :)
Again, a blessed Easter season to you all!

A Man's Perspective

I thought it was about time that this blog regained some of its masculinity. The last post by my lovely wife convinced me that it was time to get back on the horse and write something. So here it goes.

Did you see the Mizzou Tigers in the Tourney! This year I have been able to proudly wear my Mizzou gear (football this fall and B-Ball in the spring). Now if only my beloved Royals could get something going....
My little girl is growing up and it has been exciting to be there to watch her change. I work with teenagers, so I know that the changing will continue and there are going to be some challenges ahead of us, but I love this little girl no matter how much she will change. (you may be thinking that I am losing masculinity here, but I beg to differ...It takes a man to really love his daughter!)
Looking ahead I get the great priveledge of leadign two mission trip teams this year. One to the Dominican Republic and the other to Guatemala! I love these types of trips... which leads me to my next story:

So one of my students went to Cancun for Spring Break (His idiotic mother took him and his friends there....don't ask). Anyway, we will call my student "Philip". So Philip's friend bought some Cohiba Cigars and packed them away to bring back to the United States. On the plane back to the United States, Philip and his friends convinced their Cigar buying friend that he must list everything on the Customs form, including the cigars. Well, Philip's friend did just that...wrote down "Cohiba Cigars" on his Customs form! (For those of you that are not familiar with the Cohiba brand, it was originally Fidel Castro's personal brand of cigars, later sold to the public. For those of you living under a rock- the U.S. has a trade embargo with Cuba. It is ILLEGAL to bring Cuban Cigars into the country.
Needless to say Philip's friend was detained and he and all his belongs were searched before he was allowed into the U.S.
Moral of the story- Do what Nick Moss did on his trip back from Panama and just take the tags off of the cigars, and DO NOT claim them!
If you ever get a chance to smoke one, I highly recommend them!

nick

A few of my favorite things

Soon and very soon, we will be introducing Natalie to solid foods. For five months it's only been "the leche". In a way it's a little bitter sweet. I will still get to feed her, but solid food is just another confirmation of how fast she is growing up.
I was introduced to a really awesome book called Super Baby Food by Ruth Yaron, and I am really excited about it. I figure I can make better food myself than the good ol' manufactures can, and I want to be able to give her the most nutritionally sound and healthy foods as possible. I already cook for Nick, so Natalie should be a breeze. The book is like an encyclopedia on baby food. It's a little busy - chocked full of anything you could ever want to know about baby food, and nutrition in general -, but it really does have awesome information in it. Typically baby's first food is rice cereal. However, the processed refined stuff sold in stores really isn't all that nutritionally great. A baby can't properly digest whole grains until six months. So, for the next month we will introduce avocado, sweet potato, and banana. For any new moms or soon to be moms again, I would recommend this book. I'll let you know how it goes over the next few months.
So on with my favorite things. I guess the next few things are dreams since I am not in possession of them, but if I could, I would. First up is the Chevy Traverse. Have you guys seen this? It looks pretty slick, and since I do not want to drive a mini van (ever) this seems right up my alley. I saw one on the road the other day and had to wipe the drool from my mouth. We have resisted the temptation to go test drive one, because it might be all downhill from there, and right now, we are enjoying NO car payments. Maybe in a couple years....*sigh*...
Everyone who knows me, knows that I am no fashionista, but I still have my girly clothing desires. I have found a store that, if I could, probably about 75% of my entire wardrobe would come from here. I have only been in this store once, but that was all it took. It is totally me. Too bad a blouse could run you $130 dollars. Alas. At least I can still "window shop". The store is call Anthropologie and has both clothing and unique housewares. Here is a sampling of the delicious items....(again wiping drool from my mouth).





Alright, now for the things that I can definitely vouch for:
Carters Baby Clothes. While oodles of adorable baby clothes abound, I have to say that Carters is my favorite. They seem to be the most comfortable fitting an easy care/wearing for Natalie. And just about everything they make is just so darn cute.



Lastly, the one baby item that we probably use more than anything is the play mat. It is awesome. We are currently borrowing one from a good friend, but we will definitely be investing in one the next time around.

In exciting Natalie news, she finally rolled over this weekend! It was the highlight of our week.
Well, I guess that's enough blabbing for one day. God's blessing to you all on a wonderful Easter!

Good Morning and Go Tigers!

I know. Two posts in one day!
Natalie is so much fun in the mornings when she first wakes up. Here are a few pictures of her starting her day. So cute!



This girl loves blankets. We always have one on hand at all times. She can pretty much entertain herself with just a blanket for quite a while.

These pictures are for Uncle Murray and Aunt Danielle. They got her this cute little Mizzou shirt for Christmas, so we broke it out for March Madness last week!






Speaking of last week, Nana Nadine came down to visit for her spring break. Nick and I had to work most of the time, but she was able to get in lots of Nana-Natalie time. She took some great pictures while she was here, too.
Story time with Mommy. She loves story time. She kicks her legs non-stop and reaches out to touch the pages.




She loves to lay on Nick's tummy and is fascinated with his beard. She just touches it and smiles.



Playing with Mommy and getting ready for a nap with Daddy.



Time is flying by. Natalie started "talking" this week. It is SO funny and cute. She purses her lips and sticks out her tongue a little and babbles away. She's definitely becoming a little person.
She is truly the bright spot in my life right now. I am so thankful to be able to come home to her after a horrible day at work - which have been frequent lately - and play with her and give her lovin'. It keeps things in perspective.
Have a blessed Palm Sunday this weekend!