It's Been Awhile!

It's been 8 months since I've written in my blog so I guess it's past time to write again. Hmm..I didn't write since Gabrianna Elise was born! Well, I don't feel like writing about her birth and the beginning because that's so long ago so I guess I will just write about the present. Gabrianna Elise is almost 8 months old. She is truly the light of our lives. And, it just keeps getting better! She keeps getting more beautiful and more loveable and almost everything she does is so cute! Notice I said almost everything! One thing that she does that is a royal pain sometimes is that she fights sleep! Why babies do this is beyond my understanding but she does it! And teething, well, that is a NIGHTMARE at times! Talk about frayed nerves and tears ready to flow over anything that goes wrong! Oh, but then her darling smiles and babbles make Mama and Daddy melt all over again! She can almost crawl now. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth and sometimes takes one or two steps before she collapses onto her belly again. But she can get into sitting position now from her belly and she gets all over the place by pushing with her feet against the floor! She gets into cords now, and trust me we have alot of them around here! She is trying to pull herself up alongside of stuff now too. Eventually we will have to move quite a few things and I don't know where we will go with them, since we have such limited space in this apartment. Guess we will figure that out when the time comes. Gabrianna sleeps well for nights though. She goes to bed around 7-9 and sleeps until 5:30 usually. After I feed her she goes back to sleep til 7 or 7:30 and sometimes she blesses me exceptionally and sleeps in til 8! Sometimes I wake up and need the bathroom but to go to the bathroom I would have to walk past her crib to go downstairs and I don't want to risk waking her up so I try my best to sleep and forget that I have to go! On Saturday we were invited to a breakfast and had to get up at 6AM. I didn't want to wake her so we very quietly crept out of our bedroom to head downstairs and low and behold, there was our darling daughter sitting in her crib in the dark, watching our bedroom door because she heard a noise! She lit up in smiles when she saw us. I didn't know she could sit there so silently and content so much so that we had no idea she was awake! She does well in playing with her toys some days and other days she is clingy and grumpy and nothing suits her. We are trying to get her to eat food that we stick in the babyfood blender but my goodness, is she ever picky! She loves babyfood carrots in the babyfood jars. So we made her carrots pureed with water and with rice and made it to the approximate texture of her baby food. She hates it and pinches her mouth shut and gags when I manage to get some into her mouth! I tried several times and we tried meatloaf and mac & cheese. Same story. Depressing! We had tried something with pizza sauce and pasta too I think. Not sure what to do. I don't want to keep relying on babyfood when we have this delightful babyfood blender. I don't know what her problem is, that she insists on having the jars of food. I had even put it in jars to fool her but she was not to be fooled! Stinker! She still nurses well, so I am thankful for that! We are enjoying church real well. And Wednesday night church too. We volunteer with a local ministry 2 days a week and really enjoy that. I don't always get alot done, depends on my daughter, if she is clingy that day or if she is willing to play with the toys I bring along. It sure is fulfilling though, to help others out like that. On Sundays I always sing in church. It was a big stretch for me to sing solo at first but I'm used to it now and look forward to it. It gives me a chance to practice and better my voice/skills. No one threw anything at me yet so I think I must not sound too bad. This Friday we plan to go to the Gospel Express Auction. Well, Friday night is before the auction but we plan to enjoy the singing and then come back for more singing Saturday night. My husband made 4 dresses to sell at the auction. I would love to know what they sell for but we don't want to stay for the auction on Saturday. That would be be a good idea to spend a whole day there with a baby who is teething off and on and who fights sleep! Oh dear, that would make for a raggedly worn Mama! My husband is quite the seamstress, or maybe there is a different way to say it beings he's a man?! Anyway, he sews very nice dresses! He sewed 3 for Gabrianna. Two of them she wears now but one is for her in another couple of months. He has made some for baby gifts and one for a friend who has not had a baby but we are believing with her that God will bless her yet with one. We had fun going through some of my old scraps of fabric from dresses I made years ago. We sorted through them and found some that are big enough to do a dress for Gabrianna. We cut them out and will eventually get them all sewed. I need more zippers for them. I love to sew. My hubby's drive comes and goes. He also plans to sew a lap throw for me out of scraps. They are all cut out, just need to be sewn together. I am doing cloth diapers with Gabrianna to save on costs and I find great happiness with that and I really enjoy hanging them up outside on these beautiful days and even though we usually have the blind pulled down in the living room so no neighbors peep in at us I sometimes have to crack them open a little so I can see the diapers flapping in the breeze! Satisfaction! Doing laundry has always been a fun thing for me, especially when I can hang things outside. I love the smell of laundry that has been hung outside. In the winter I have lines in the basement that I use but things take so long to dry down there. It's damp, and water comes in when it rains alot. A friend just gave me some homemade soap and softner and I am pleased with the soap. I had not tried the softner yet. It is quite a bit cheaper to make your own laundry soap so I just might do that eventually. We are learning to rely on God for everything. It's a huge lesson for me and I want to pass all the tests so I can be promoted! I came from a family who was not rich but had enough for necessities always, and most times a little leftover for a "want" item, even after putting some away into savings. Now with being young married and having a baby and not a steady income, let's just say I have learned to streamline costs and do without many things I thought were necessities. I have learned that you can live without paper towels and napkins and CHOCOLATE! Did I just admit to being able to live without chocolate????!!!!!! Sniffle, hiccup, sigh! Indeed it's a hard thing to do but yes, I am breathing even though it's been months since we have had any chocolate candy in this house! I have learned what it's like to do without many other things too, and how to get creative with cooking when I don't have most of the ingredients I usually use! I just think I have to have cheese and milk and cream of soups. Most of the time those are delicacies we don't have so I rely on my darling hubby to help me! He is very good with creative cooking and he is teaching me how to "make do" with what we have. He is good with seasonings. That is something I am still learning. Another big thing I am learning is sacrifice. My husband sacrifices like crazy for me and Gabrianna and he is teaching me to do the same for others. He is always sharing with others and giving things away. I am ever the reluctant one. If I think we might use it soon for something, I want to hang onto it! But my husband is living out in front of my very own eyes that indeed it is more blessed to give than to receive. Giving freely and cheerfully is an art and blessed are those who do it! I am doing it more and more and I know it's storing treasures in heaven. But I have miles to go to reach the place my husband is at. But then, we are not supposed to be comparing ourselves among ourselves, are we? Well, I hear my little girlie up in her crib. She is awake and I think she would love to see me pop my head up and get her so I will sign off for now. I don't know if I will do better at keeping this updated but I will try to! God bless you all!