I think I can, I think I can...

picklewart.blogspot.com

Garrett desperately wants to crawl. He really really really wants to crawl. He gets up on all fours and rocks and rocks and rocks. And just about the time I think he's going to do it, he collapses and wails in frustration. Poor little guy! BUT, we're getting close! ...oh so close...

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The Painful Process of Pruning

My friend Kara (also our new pastor's wife!) has been getting up at a very early hour (God bless her heart) and doing a new Bible study series. She had a post on her blog last night about her latest reading and thoughts.

...abiding...
www.karaguffey.blogspot.com/2010/02/abiding.html

She shared some very encouraging words with us. There was one scripture she shared that really set in with me this morning.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit" John 15:2

The first thing that popped in my head was the concept of pruning things out here on our land. There are so many things that need pruning: bushes, trees, and all our fruting plants... especially our treasured thornless blackberry bushes. As many of you know, I grew up in a decent-sized city, Springfield. We lived in an urban neighborhood with ordinary urban neighborhood homes and yards and streets and... you get the point. Well, actually, my point is that we didn't grow much, and I had no real concept of how to grow fruiting trees and vining plants. The first time I had a lesson in pruning, I was horrified!

"What? You mean you want me to lop off a perfectly good looking branch? What a WASTE!"

Yes, I absolutely cringed when we would prune our blackberry bush before the next fruiting season. But after some researh and some coaching from Courtney, I found the truth to be that it was ABSOLUTELY necessary. The fact of the matter is that if I, the gardener, do not prune off the branches that have matured and spent their fruit, the plant will not reach its full potential that next fruiting season.

And isn't this how God works in us? It seems so painful at the time. I know I find myself saying, "Why?" or thinking that He doesn't really need to put me through these tough times to teach me my lesson. I couldn't be more wrong. What lessons in life stay with us the most? Well, I can name a few and not one of them was a pleasant experience.

So go ahead God, prune away. Just like my treasured blackberry bush, I know that next season's fruit will be so much better because of it!

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Boobie Bottle Trial Continues - Successful Night!

picklewart.blogspot.com

OK, all you guys following out there on the blog & on FB on how the "Boobie Bottle" trials are going... well, nights 1 & 2 were pretty dismal. We did our usual bedtime of about 9 PM with Courtney trying to feed the wee one with the new Adiri Stage 3 bottle (see previous blog posts). The boy cried (no, make that screamed) for around 10 to 15 minutes before his tiny little body gave in and crashed. He slept. He actually slept quite well. But this was not the way I wanted to do our nighttime routine... not even close.
So, I've been reading The No Cry Sleep Solution to gain additional insight into our dilemma(s)... Garrett taking a bottle & going to sleep without misery and wailing. Something I discovered is that we were putting Garrett down too late in the evening. He had cruised right on through the sleepy phase and into the 2nd wind phase when we were trying to give him his bedtime bottle. Boy had that been complicating things!
So, we moved the bedtime up... from 9 PM to around 8 PM last night. It worked. He took a bottle from Courtney with very little fussing.
He went down without misery.
He even slept from around 8:30 PM to 6 AM.
Folks, that's a real accomplishment!
So, I encourage any of you that are experiencing nighttime routine difficulties to step back and evaluate when you're putting your kids to bed! It made all the difference for us!!

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Failed Attempt #1 of the Boobie Bottle Trials

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Well, night one of the "Boobie Bottle" trials (see previous blog post)... and it was a failed attempt. The boy absolutely refused to take the "Boobie Bottle" instead of nursing. My husband tried to give it to him with me nowhere in sight. Garrett didn't go for it... not one little bit. In fact, he cried himself to sleep. I figure I'll pay dearly for this tonight.
We'll try again tomorrow... and the next day... and the next day...

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Could this be my salvation?

picklewart.blogspot.com

Some refer to it as the "Boobie Bottle". I may refer to it as salvation if it works. Garrett is 7 months old now and VERY attached to Mommy. He's to the point he won't take a bottle from anyone... especially at night. I'm looking to return to work PT very soon, so we may all be in quite a pickle if we don't get this Momma's boy to take a bottle from someone else soon. (God bless his little heart. He loves his Momma.)

So, here it is: The Adiri Stage 3 (6 mos+) Bottle.

I'll let you know if we're calling it salvation in a day or two or just a waste of $6.56.

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An "Outdoor" Trip on an "Indoor" Kind of Day

picklewart.blogspot.com

What does one do on a cold winter's day when all you REALLY want to do is go outside and camp or hike? You go to Bass Pro! Yeah, we had fun... (but we didn't buy a single thing - it was a miracle!)

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Love Was in the Air

picklewart.blogspot.com

Valentine's Day here at the Goff homestead was full of love, love, love. The kiddos had a visit from cupid who brought them some loveys and a rolling cart of unit blocks. We even had heart-shaped pancakes! Hope you all had a good Valentine's Day too!!

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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Poop

picklewart.blogspot.com

Yep, that's right... it's all about poop (which is a big topic in our house - HA!)
Funny... and yet, interesting. Hmmmmm.....

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Always Looking to Save a Buck

picklewart.blogspot.com

-- Money's tight... especially right now. I've been laid off since before Christmas, so we're always on the lookout to save money here and there. You may not have anyone in your home "laid off" or out-of-work, but I think we're all being much more frugal these days. When we started looking at our budget, we had some big decisions to make. Where could we cut back? We were already living pretty darn lean since I had already left a very good full-time programming job for a part-time position. I kept thinking, there's not a whole lot left to cut back on! We live in the country, so our chickens and our garden help quite a bit with our grocery expenses (as well as Courtney's hunting when he's successful), so there's not a whole lot there to cut. I already cook 3 meals a day from scratch most of the time! Where else... where else... we could drop our TV service. Oh mercy. That sure brought up a "discussion". I'll admit it, I'm a network TV viewer, so for me, it wasn't such a big deal. My hubby, on the other hand, enjoys The History Channel, The Discovery Channel, and The Learning Channel... all NOT freebies. Well, after much deliberation and a trial period currently going on, we decided we'll try the scenario of having an antenna for network stations and then just link up our laptop or Vaio media tower and use services like Netflix and the freebie, Hulu to bring in some of the other much wanted shows and movies we both enjoy. Initially, we'll have to invest in the purchase of a large antenna to make this happen though. Like I said, we're just trying it right now... we've not cancelled our DirecTV yet - oh but I do believe it's coming! We'll save about $652 a year!! Right now, we're running both "systems" side-by-side until we determine if it will meet our needs - well, "needs" so to speak anyway.
I'll let you know how it goes!

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