Thursday, January 29, 2009

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Have you noticed what those crazy tickers over on my sidebar say. They are trying to tell me that my newborn is 6 months old and my preemie is almost 2. That's absurd.

Futhermore, my preemie's 2T jeans are almost too short and my newborn's 12 month jeans are getting hard to button. This would also fall under the heading of "Things That Are Absurd." (appropriate use of quotes here)

I know kids grow and that there is a very serious glandular problem if they don't. But it is happening at a slightly more rapid pace than I anticiapated.

I have got to stop blinking.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Is That Really "Necessary?"

I love this blog.

It makes me "laugh."

Sunday, January 25, 2009

More Jude



Since Jude turns 6 months on Wednesday, I thought it would be the perfect time to post his 5 months comparison photo. These were by far the hardest pictures to take.



He will eat anything! It was at this point, i had to take away the paper and fish the piece he managed to rip off out of his mouth.



I never let him have any fun.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Friday Chub



Could you eat that up or what?

Thursday, January 22, 2009

7 Random Things

Mandy tagged me a few weeks ago. It's been a while since I've let you in on some of my (maybe-not-so-random) randomness. And since I'm trying to get back in the swing of blogginess, I decided this would be a great time to do this. Thanks for tagging me, Mandy!

1. I think drinking diet coke is my equivalent to smoking--the whole "oral fixation" thing. Because I really only want to drink them out of a styrofoam cup with a straw. I can drink it out of a glass (ok, plastic cup) or from a bottle or can, but I really only thoroughly enjoy it if it is in a to-go cup of some sort. (did you notice how many 2 letter words I have in a row in the previous sentence!) And if there happens to be Sonic ice in that styro cup, so much the better.

2. I've never left this continent but I really want to. I would love to go to England to meet all of the people that Kris is always talking about and to visit our good friends, Sara and Roger. Really, I'd love to go anywhere to see new sites, meet new people, and experience life in a different culture than my own. My only conflict is that big styrofoam cups full of diet coke are pretty much an American phenomenon.

3. I don't hate to cook as much as I used to. It's still not my favorite thing to do, but I think this is one area in which I have improved greatly.

4. I waited tables during 2 summers when I was in between years at the discipleship school I attended and then all throughout my 4 years of college. So now, when I eat out, I am either extremely forgiving if I see that my server is trying really hard but obviously having a bad night or extremely critical if he or she is being inattentive and rude. It's one thing to be in the weeds and just need some time to catch up. It is quite another to be lazy or M.I.A. when my diet coke is gone and I am sucking on cubes.

5. I've been wearing green a lot lately. I don't really have an explanation for this.

6. One of my goals in life is to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune. It will happen. I don't want to be all "I'm so awesome at Wheel puzzle-solving" but a little bit I am. Asher and I watch together quite a bit. He loves it and is pretty good at calling out letters. So one day I will be there, with Pat and Vanna, and I will win big. And I will give lots of it away, go to England, and buy a Sonic ice machine.

7. I cannot stand to watch people eat cereal. It makes me queasy. I hate the way it looks and the way it sounds. I hate listening to myself eat cereal. And don't even get me started on drinking the milk from the cereal bowl! Disgusting. Kris does this and it grosses me out every time. Cereal needs to be eaten in private and the milk needs to be dumped down the drain. No exceptions.

Alright--there are my 7 random things. Please consider yourself tagged if you need a break from actually having to come up with something to write about.

This Is How Rumors Get Started

Kris' phone rang yesterday. His friend Frank was calling him and Kris answered the phone by saying, "Hello, Mr. Aragon!" Then he got up and started pacing because he absolutely cannot be seated while having a phone conversation. The first thing I do when I get on the phone is sit. Go figure.

Anyway, Asher followed Kris into the kitchen and then came back over to me and said, "Mama, I wa' talk Prairie Dawn!" (except he says "Pear-daw.")

For those of you who don't get to watch Sesame Street on a daily basis, Prairie Dawn is one of the chracters on that. When Kris said "Aragon" Asher heard "Prairie Dawn" and wanted to talk to her! And he was wondering why the heck she would call his daddy and not him?

I couldn't help but laugh at that one. That boy cracks me up!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

It's Magical


If you read my facebook status, you know that I am deeply enchanted by my new Magic Bullet that Mamoo got me for Christmas. I heard it was awesome for baby food making so I really wanted one. I made Asher's food using a blender or a Cuisinart mini-processor, but it was always a pain since both of those machines are hard to clean and kind of frustrating to use.

Not so with the Magic Bullet! Easy as pie I tell you! I made Judah Barracuda some carrots the other day and was so impressed by how well it pureed. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal. But that is nothing new. He thoroughly enjoys every meal. Have you seen those thighs--that doesn't just happen.

The first taste! Yummmm...



Oh, yeah. He's full.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

So Big!



Just to be clear...this picture was also totally taken on December 28, not January 10.

I have so many cute pictures to post and I am so overwhelmed and behind! I need a good picture-organization system. Maybe my new friend David Allen will teach me that, too.

Speaking of getting big, check out this big helper we have. Finally earning his keep around here!



This picture is a little fuzzy, but I had to show you The Beard (which, incidentally, was shaved off this very morning) and Jude's awesome Elvis lip.



Thank ya ver' much.

Anybody Seen Jude?



He was here just a second ago.




Of course. Under the coffee table. Where else?




Life just got a lot more complicated. I have another "roller." Although this one began his rolling career much ealier than Asher. He's quite proud of himself, too. Look, Ma! No hands!





Back on the blanket. Why do I have that blanket on the floor?

Friday, January 16, 2009

Fourteen on Friday

Fourteen. Because ten is for Tuesdays and fourteen is the first number after that starts with an F. I admit fifteen would have been more visually pleasing to me, but I think I will have trouble coming up with fourteen things. So why make it even harder? Ok, here I go...

1. I ate a piece of toast with almond butter on it for breakfast this morning and it was delish.

2. I have adopted a new eating philosophy. This came about because I am always on a "plan" of some sort. Weight watchers, South Beach Diet, whatever. And I hate that so much of my energy goes into counting points or avoiding certain foods. So my new approach is two-pronged:
a)make good choices--instead of counting anything, I have started asking myself "Is this a good choice? Is this moving me towards my goal of being healthy and losing the last of the baby weight or not?"
b) stop eating so freaking much. I am not going to the chair. Eat to live, not vice versa.

3. I feel better about this plan and I also feel much less obsessive. And those are principles I want my kids to learn.

4. I love diet coke and froufy coffee creamers and refuse to give them up, even if they are full of toxins that are wreaking havoc on my body. Oh, Sonic! I will see you at some point today between the hours of 2 and 4 pm.

5. I want to read everything by Leif Enger now. Have I told you how much I loved Peace Like a River?

6. I just typed "Peace Like a Rives" above and had to correct it. Incidentally, Rives comes from a french word meaning "river dweller." Or at least that's what the "Rives Family Book" from Ancestry.com says.

7. Asher has started calling us "my Mama" and "my Daddy." He now says things like, "Hi, my Daddy!" It's pretty cute.

8. Asher has a major crush on Saige Wimberly. I don't blame him--she's a cutie. We ran in to them at Chick-fil-a yesterday and when we told them to tell each other "bye" they said bye and gave each other a hug and then he went in for a kiss. He learned that move from his dad. So smooth.

9. I got a new camera for Christmas. It is a Nikon Coolpix and it takes WAY better pictures than my old camera. So as soon as I get around to downloading them, I will post some major pictorial cuteness.

10. Jude is a fat chunk of pure preciousness. That boy is as sweet as he can be and he melts my heart on a daily basis.

11. His hair is calming down a little. I have mixed emotions about that one.

12. This is birthday month for Kris. He will be 34 on the 30th!

13. He has a beard right now. Yet another picture I need to post. A little girl at his school told him that he should shave that off when he goes home. I like the beard. I am thankful it is not a goatee. Those of you who knew Kris pre-2004 know of what I speak.

14. I would like to go for a walk today but it is too cold. Jude is more anti-cold than me so I know he would be opposed to the idea. Maybe I will do the Walk Away the Pounds DVD. Who knows? Stranger things have happened.

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

A Must Read!

I just had to hop on and recommend the novel Peace Like a River by Leif Enger.

I just finished it and I do not overexaggerate when I say that it is one of the best books I have ever read in my entire life. It was enjoyable and thought-provoking and well-written. I was sad when I finished because I have not savored a book like I did this one in quite a while. I can't even put it in words--just go read it, k?


In fact, this blogger, whom I don't know but enjoy, is giving away three copies of this book. So go try to win it! And if you don't, go buy or borrow it! I'm not kidding. Go. Right now.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

So It's 2009, Huh?

The year sort of creeped in on us. It hasn't been a great start. It's been sad and frustrating, yet full of the love and encouragement that somehow only tragedy produces.

A million thoughts have been swarming around my head. I'll share a few of them and will try to make this somewhat logical, but I make no promises.


1. Our days are numbered. Scripture tells us that, before we have lived one day, God has ordained them. We are His. He gives us life and breath and all things. That is either a huge source of comfort to you or the cause of much dread and anxiety.

The Bible describes this life as a vapor. As John Piper put it, it is like walking outside on a cold day and exhaling and watching your breath dissapate into the air around you. That is how long this life is in comparison to eternity. It's good to be reminded that we are here today and gone tomorrow. I intend to live accordingly.

2. Our friends and family have been a tremendous source of comfort. I used to think that sitting with a mourning friend or saying a few words of encouragement was a meager offering and not very helpful. But now I see that the prayers and the calls and the emails and especially those that we have seen in person have been of immeasureable worth, particularly to Kris.

3. Death just sucks. And that's the point. It's supposed to. I believe that every situation we encounter on earth is there to teach us about the greater spiritual reality. Like growing from a baby to an adult, to getting married, to having your own babies, to losing a loved one, to ultimately dying yourself, all of these serve as a picture that illustrates lofty, complex spiritual realities that we simply cannot fully grasp.

God "lisps" in his speech to us, as John Calvin put it, meaning He employs "baby talk" much like we do when we are speaking to an infant that can not truly understand what we are saying. So all of these life events are the means God uses to instruct us because we are bascially 2 year olds with extremely limited vocabularies.

We don't comprehend the actual atrocity that sin is or the effect that it has on us. And God tells us that sin brings death to us. But when we encounter death and are able to see the pain, the separation, the trauma, the sense of grief, and the lonliness that results from it, we get a better idea of why God tells us to forsake our sin, and cling to Christ.

4. God, however, has such a unique way of redeeming even the most difficult experiences that we walk through. I think losing a parent easily makes the short list of life's tragedies, but it has brought such a precious closeness to our family. That's not to minimize the heartache at all, but by God's design, we grow closer to Him and each other, not while we sit under blue, cloudless skies on a lovely summer day, but as we huddle together for warmth and support on those dark days when the wind and rain seem determined to knock us down. It's a completely brilliant plan.

That's what I've digested so far. But we've eaten quite a bit this week so I'm sure I'll need to write out a few more ideas just to try to make some sense of all that I've learned. Thanks for putting up with the process. Soon, I hope to be back to my usual posts on the life and times of Asher and Jude :)

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