For The Love of Appliances

Makafui is completely obsessed with the vacuum. He says it bAq-MMMmmm!!

The boy wants to play with it every. single. day.

He spots vacuums wherever we go and when we come home, sometimes he starts to talk about it before we even get to the front door. On occasion, we even lay the vacuum down, drape a blanket on it and put it to bed for the night.

The boy cracks me up! He tries to actually use it, but he's so short that when he holds the handle the front lifts off the carpet. Haha!

 

Cheap thrills. Love this kid!!!

Wedding Weekend Wrap-up...

The weekend of Jeremy and Avery was wonderful and packed and sweet and exhausting! We are still recovering and trying to get back into our normal groove. (M woke up at 3:45 this morning!!)

I didn't take many pics because I was busy with Mr. Adorable. Thanks Tiffany, for capturing these great memories-every non-crappy, non-phone pic is from her!

The rehearsal dinner was at County Line on the lake and it was fabulous! Makafui did really well! He definitely wanted to feed the thousands of turtles rather than be in the dining room, but he sat in his high chair for the entire meal eating and playing with his plastic dinosaurs (dinosaurs he named Lion and Puppy...Lion got potato salad from M's fork and Puppy was offered orange juice-it was all very entertaining).  G took him out for the speeches (which were great) but I was very, very impressed with his little 17 month self and his awesome behavior.

My full skirt just makes me look full!

Besties x2!!

Wedding day was packed and wonderful! M woke up at 4:45 so we killed time for a while and then went to the family brunch at Mom and Dad's. Great company and filled with everyone's favorite breakfast foods! M totally enjoyed all the attention and kolaches. Mom and I set off to get our hair done and decorate the venue so G and M were on their own. The rest of the afternoon leading up to the wedding was a whirlwind!

M got a chance to do the VERY important job of testing the microphone...

Makafui was flipping adorable with his skinny jeans, high tops, suspenders and bow tie. I think he should wear that outfit everyday.

G didn't even try letting him sit in for the ceremony which I soooo appreciate because a toddler can only handle so much!

During cocktail hour music was playing and the adults were drinking Mommy and Daddy Juice, which left the dance floor WIDE open! Makafui took advantage and certainly cut a rug!

If only you could see this sweet move in action! It's pretty awesome.

The reception was a blast, the food was delicious (Truffle oil fries with garlic and parmesan? Um, yes please!!) and the company was fabulous.


I think it was definitely the best day of Makafui's life. He was dressed super cute, he got to dance like crazy, eat all the French Fries he wanted, have people ooh and ahhh over him, tried his first virgin strawberry daiquiri, ate M&Ms without having to go potty, stayed up late and PARTIED hard with all his favorite people. Oh, and he was glad to get Avery as his Aunt, officially!

(I will try to post more pictures when I get some.)

Oh the Irony!

As you likely know, I went on a low-carb diet not long ago to slim down a little before my brother's wedding this weekend.

Apparently dropping pounds quickly, not eating fruit or yogurt anymore and just drastically changing what I was taking in, tanked my immune system!

I have rarely been sick, but not long after starting this diet I got a week long "tummy bug", was better for about two days, then got Strep. Now I'm on an antibiotic that super upsets my stomach unless I eat....all. day. long.

So what started as a drop some weight quick thing, turned into a eat all the time or be sick thing.

Hmmmm.

I'm sure there's a spiritual lesson in there somewhere. I'll let you figure it out.

That, or just laugh at the irony of it all. I am.

Weekend In Pictures

Even though George had to work on Saturday and Sunday, we still had fun and I made sure to grab the phone and take pics of it.

 

Makafui is going through a growth spurt I assume because he's eating a LOT! His tummy was so big he couldn't see his you-know-what so he kept bending over like this to make sure it was still there. Hahahaha!

 

 

While Mommy was getting ready for church and Daddy was watching Makafui, he decided to dump out a box of cereal on our bedroom floor. Then he vacuumed it up mostly by himself. He cracks me up all the time...even when he is making huge messes!

 

On Sunday we enjoyed the most fabulous summer weather ever!!

 

Take Heart...God is Bigger

For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Hebrews 13:14

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. John 16:33

What are the odds?

My throat starting hurting all of the sudden on Wednesday night. Yesterday was a very tough day. I am never sick and assumed it must be terrible allergies, but the drug concoctions I was taking really weren't helping. Today, I started to cry when I realized George is working on Saturday AND Sunday which means I have to be ON all weekend, with no help!! I realized I must really be sick, so I went to Doc In The Box.

The verdict? I have Strep Throat!

I have never been so happy to hear those words! That means antibiotics and I should be back to 100% in a few days, but starting to feel better this weekend. Whew. Which means I will be good to go for the wedding festivities next weekend! :)

I have never had Strep and haven't been on antibiotics as an adult. I am just never sick. What are the odds that I get sick, while caring for and potty training my toddler and my husband is working like crazy? Being sick with a kiddo is no fun. Praying he doesn't get it!!

And in potty training news, we are doing really well at home!! I haven't tried the potty thing outside of the house. Makafui had a breakthrough and the last several days he makes it to the potty for pee-pee most of the time! (Oh and in case you were wondering, a bean and cheese burrito and 1/2lb of strawberries is a BAD meal while potty training. If you do give this to your kid, you have approximately 17 minutes to get them on a potty!) I am so proud of him!! I am putting him diapers today because I just can't deal...hope I don't mess things up. :o)

The Zoo of my Mind

My sister, our kiddos (a.k.a. Coffee & Cake) & I headed out to the Austin Zoo last week. Let me tell you, that is one random place!! It's more of a sanctuary for pets that should never be pets & some farm animals. It was a tad cray-cray, not stroller friendly at all, had lots of bees & definitely leaned toward ghettotastic. Fun, huh?

What's more random than Ghetto Zoo are the various things goin on in my life & mind.

Wednesday was definitely an off day at our house...on many levels. Highlights include Makafui biting & popping the Get Well balloon for my Dad before we even got it to the car. Funny. Makafui soaking the couch with his new water gun because Mommy didn't think he could figure out the trigger & went to make a snack. Stupid. Makafui LOBBING a glass onto the tile floor for no apparent reason. Infuriating. Makafui telling Mommy "Oh. My. Dosh." After his very long time out. Hilarious. Child free Tex-Mex date to wash away this day. Perfect.

I miss traveling. I hope we can travel as a family one day.

We had started to make strides in potty training, then M picked up a little tummy bug so I switched back to diapers for that!! I hope we can pick up where we left off...it's a good thing I planned to take this slowly. Today, we are back in undies!!

Conspicuous service has been on my mind a lot lately. I've been seeing a lot of it & I'm really struggling with how to deal with it as a mom. I want to raise Makafui to love & serve others, regardless of their financial status, ethnicity or whether there is anyone (or a camera!) to see them. I don't ever want him to see people as "projects".

I sure do love my family.

I'm usually pretty good at getting the laundry done. Not last week. I had to re-rinse then re-wash the SAME load this week because I kept forgetting to move it. Duuuuuuuh!

H-E-B at 6am is the bomb! I may have mentioned this before, but it is so true! Much more peaceful than in the afternoon.

I had no idea how many bigoted "friends" I had until this Paula Deen thing came up. Thanks Facebook, for revealing that.

I think racism is still so alive/prevalent because it's tolerated. I applaud the companies who have said they won't stand by PD after this.

Not to be a stress-ball-freakazoid or anything, but we have this marshy area behind our building & it just screams mosquito breeding ground! I'm way nervous about West Nile but don't want to make the porch off limits.

I'm a wee bit obsessed with avocados right now.

How sad and scary is this plane crash? Those poor people. :(

It's less than TWO WEEKS until my baby brother gets married!! I'm very excited and working on a "quiet bag" for Makafui...hope it works. No one but me seems to be concerned about his noise or activity level. Ha!

I'm not saying I'm ready to jump ship or anything (thought some days I might be) but there have been a lot of 'rocks' hitting my 'windshield' in regards to our current church. I'm learning what role church should really play in our lives, and I think it's smaller, rather than larger.

The other night G and M were playing while I put away laundry and Makafui was absolutely hysterical with laughter. I just had to watch them play for a while and thought, "Thanks, God for this WONDERFUL blessing!" I'm so glad we said yes to God and cannot imagine what life would be like without our crazy awesome little boy.

Yesterday Makafui turned 17 months old!! Whoa! Where have the last few months gone?

My big brother surprised us all and came in for the 4th. It was great having him here!! Makafui loved playing with him and has been asking for "DJON!" I love it!

Hopefully we can make a trip to Houston/Galveston to visit DJON and E around Labor Day. We shall see....

We had a pretty big disappointment this week. I'm reminding myself that God sees around the corner and we do not, that He knows what's best for us, and we do not. That waiting on Him is hard, but never wrong.

After a very timid start, Makafui is loving the pool! He asks to go "mimming" anytime he sees a body of water. :) I am having a blast with him and getting a tan...well, a tan for me!

Today we discovered the Fire Station near us does equipment checks on Monday mornings. Ohhhhhh my!! I pulled over and took M out to watch them play with their new Ladder Truck! It was pretty awesome and M got a cute little red fire hat. Boys are so fun!

Deactivated

Today, I deactivated my Facebook account.

I was getting annoyed by Facebook. I was annoyed by the all the martyrs complaining about their wonderful lives. I was annoyed by all the drama. I was annoyed by the overwhelming amount of passive aggression between people I don't even know. I was annoyed by the debates begun in status updates. I was annoyed by the ridiculous selfies. I was annoyed by people who post pious crap and are jerks in real life.

What pushed me over the edge was this ongoing debate over abortion.

A friend (who I haven't been in touch with for a while but very much care for) posted her pro-choice view and it crushed me. Crushed me to know this person I love thinks it should be okay to kill a baby. That she would not fight for a life, just like Makafui's was not very long ago. That she believes a child's value is only based on whether or not their mother cares to keep them. That this is about women's rights, rather than the rights of humans who cannot speak for themselves.

I am a lot more hurt by this than I thought I would be. It's not that I don't have friends who think differently than me or have different political and social views. I do. It's that I was so shocked to find out this friend feels that way.

I don't wanna keep finding out sad things about people I love. I don't want to feel differently about people because they "like" this or that cause.

I also don't want to feel attacked every time I log on to see cute pictures or play a silly game.

I'm done.


I'm going to go hug my sweet boy now, he is not just precious in my sight, but in His as well.

How to deal...

I'm finally getting a grasp on how to deal with raging narcissists or other mentally unstable people. Let me tell you, my life has become so much better now that I (mostly) have a grasp on this. So what else is a blog but to share? Ha! So here are my tips for how to deal.

-Stop trying to make sense of the person's actions or words. It does not make sense & it won't because    they are not well.

-Realize nothing you do or say can change this person...pray for them anyway.

-Distance, distance, distance!!! Healthy boundaries MUST be in place to protect yourself & family. Distance is the way to do this. Minimize or remove virtual contact & spend less time together. Recognize you can still get hurt this way, but you reduce the frequency.

-Put your blinders on & focus on your own life & family. Dwelling on their skewed view of things brings nothing good! Don't allow the narcissist to harm your other relationships.

-Grant forgiveness knowing they will never ask for it.

I've been working on these things & feel like I'm finally making some headway & there is so much peace in that. We'll see how well I can deal as I know I'm gonna be tested soon. :o)

On another note, our camera is broken. :( I will try to get some good phone pics.