How do you do it?

Eight days until I return to work.

Yes, I know I should not be complaining.  I will have had over 14 weeks of maternity leave...that's amazing and I am so thankful for that, but I am still not ready to go back.  Thank goodness I am not going back full-time.  It's hard enough thinking about spending 16 hours a week away from little Nate.  What I will miss the most are our mornings cuddling and watching "Good morning America."  That is probably my favorite part of the day, even though it is at 6am!

Looking forward to returning to work has made me wonder how I am going to do it all.  I mean I already feel like I am not doing a good enough job being Nate's mom, Austin's wife and a friend to those I care about.  I feel that there are just not enough hours in the day to do all the things I feel I need to and be the woman I think I should be. I've had to stop reading Proverbs 31 because it is so darn depressing!  I've always wanted to be the Proverbs 31 woman, but I am not and trying to be drives me crazy!  (Although someone pointed Prov 31:15 out to me: "...she provides food for her family and portions for her servant girls" So she must have had a little help.  I guess that makes me feel a little better).

I feel so inadequate because at the end of the day I look back on all the things that I didn't accomplish.  I feel like I didn't spend enough time with Nate, I didn't make lunch for Austin, I didn't make any Christmas gifts, I didn't go for a run...I didn't even shower!  What makes the feelings of inadequacy worse is the tendency I have to compare myself with others or with an unrealistic standard that I set for myself.  

I compare myself with the women out there who are taking their 3 month old to the library and reading to them, teaching them Latin and sign language (...you know, they say the sooner the better!).  I look at all the ladies that have blogs that I enjoy following (the blogs about living frugally and being a creative, loving, adventurous, homeschooling, bread-baking and Christmas-gift making, freshly showered and good-lookin', strong Christian mother and wife) and feel at once encouraged to try new things and discouraged at how I am not quite measuring up. 

I know it's not beneficial for me to be striving so hard to become the woman--the wife and mother--that I think I should be.  I want to be more focused on becoming the woman God wants me to be for my family and friends.  

And I think that starts with a shower (and maybe some make-up too!).

In other news, the house remains on the market and we are continuing to do open houses (this weekend will make 4 weekends of open houses in a row.  Our house has never been cleaner!).  Before the open house last weekend Austin and I (and little Nate too) spent a day decorating the house for Christmas.  Here are a few pictures of the final product:

...and the stockings are hung... (notice my craft project from last week--the window pane?  Not too bad if I do say so myself!)

Cozy Christmas Corner.  I can't leave my plants out to die, so I have to find room for them (and holiday them up) inside.

And the living room has more of a formal feel with navy blue, burgandy and silver and gold.

Now no post would be complete without a picture of Nate.  This is one that Austin took this morning. 

Showing off his muscles...

Holidays mean lots of photos!

Wow, it was so nice to have a long weekend with Austin.  Although he had to work Thanksgiving night, he had Friday, Saturday and Sunday off, so we got a lot of house-cleaning for up-coming open houses and tours, football watching and lots and lots of black Friday shopping.  (If you know us, you know we didn't set foot in a store at all on Friday.  I did have to pick up diapers for Nate on Saturday and it was still too crazy for me!).  We did however do lots of cleaning and football watching.  

On Thursday after Austin went to work, Nate and I went to Gma Cordes' house and Nate got to spend some time with Great Grandma Cordes, Grandma and Grandpa Kettelkamp, a couple Great (and I mean that in two ways) uncles and lots and lots of aunts and uncles.  Here are a few pictures:

Grandpa Kettelkamp with sleeping Nate.  I was hoping to get one with Grandma too, but didn't get the chance.

Uncle Nick and little Nate passed out on the couch after too much turkey.  How cute!

When Austin was off work on Friday we relaxed at home and watched some football.  You may not believe me, but Nate already loves football.  (I think it's all the movement and colors on the TV).

Definitely NOT sleeping when it's time for some football!  (Look at the double chin!)

Watching the pre-game.  He's going to be an amateur commentator, just like daddy!

I'm loving these next two pictures!  Nate looking up at his daddy.  Isn't that sweet?

And that gorgeous smile!

After a leisurely day at home, we went to his Uncle Pete's house where he got even more attention:

Finally! A picture with him awake!  Nate movin' and groovin' with Grandpa and Grandma Oates

I suppose I could add even more pictures, but I think I've already over-done it!  But it's easy to do when you have such an adorable subject (and yes Nick, you're cute, but I was talking about Nate... :) ).  Hope you enjoyed a little update on the family and I promise next time there won't be quite so many pictures!

Giving thanks

I will not be blogging tomorrow since it is Thanksgiving.

I will also not be joining the crazies who are going to spend their Thanksgiving in line for Black Friday deals or, even worse, actually shopping on Thanksgiving.  This year many stores are opening at midnight, 10pm and even 9pm.  So after Thanksgiving dinner you have a few short hours to digest your meal and chat with family you haven't seen for months before tearing off in your SUV to the nearest shopping center.  (Who am I kidding.  How many people actually chat with their family members in person anymore.  People are more likely to be text-messaging their cousin or facebooking (via smart phone, of course!) their brother who is in the other room watching TV, listening to their I-pod and reading their Nook or Kindle (Or both. At the same time).

Really, how far is that from the truth?

Thanksgiving is a day when we are suppose to be giving thanks, not getting things at the mall.  I am going to spend my Thanksgiving with the people I am thankful for: my family and friends.

And now, in spirit of Thanksgiving, which seems to be as dead as the true meaning of Christmas, I will share with you a few things for which I am thankful:

1. Nathaniel David Oates:  I am thankful that God has blessed us with him.  He has grown up so much since the picture below.  Now he is smiling, cooing and laughing...it's amazing!  He is truly a gift from God and I am thankful for him everyday.  On a lighter note: I am so thankful that he is sleeping through the night- I got 8 straight hours of sleep last night!

Nathaniel David, 1 day old

2. My wonderful husband and our soon-to-be 4 years of marriage: It's hard to believe that it's been that long!  We've had many great memories already and so many more to come.  Austin is such a hard-working and loyal man.  He is so tender and sweet with Nate, but also so strong.  He is a wonderful husband and a great father.  Nate and I are so blessed!

This engagement photo was taken over 4 years ago!

3. Our families-the Bill Oates family and the Kettelkamps.  We have such an amazing and supportive family! 

4. Austin's job, especially his new schedule-weekends off!  We are loving all of the family time!

5. The opportunity for me to go to part-time so that I can spend more time with Nate and we can maximize our time together as a family. 

Well these are just a few of the things I am thankful for, there are many more.  Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family and not with the retail workers who are missing their family on Thanksgiving!

Modge Podge and craft night with Nate

With the holidays here, it's really hard to stick to a budget so I am trying my hand at some home-made decorations and gifts.  I did some research and picked out a few things that I would like to make.  Most of the items I decided on making are made with re-purposed items.  So with my "list" of junk I needed to find, I made a trip to Stuff Etc.

I was surprised by how much STUFF Stuff Etc has.  It was hard to navigate the aisles because it was so full.  And busy. I picked up my junk (or as much as I could find) and got home to get crafty.  Here are my frugal finds:

4 pane window frame with mirror

This one also had a mirror in it. 

And these gorgeous coasters for $0.99

Disclaimer: I am not a naturally crafty person. In fact I didn't even know modge podge was until a few days ago.  Now, I want to use modge podge on everything!  

This may change your life!

Disclaimer number 2: This is not a tutorial.  It's a before and after.  (If you want to know how to make these, let me know...I'll give you the details).  

The old coasters with a cute picture of my cute little Nate.  Adorable.  P.S. If this is your Christmas present, pretend to be surprised...

Not the best caption and I may be changing it a little.  I think I may change the ornaments a little and maybe add a few more embelishments...

Disclaimer number 3: I have to admit that I didn't make these all by myself.  I had help.  Please see below:

I can't figure out how to rotate it, but isn't he so cute?

Nate getting ready to help me paint the window pane frame.  He was an animal.  Going for it with two brushes!

But he got tired and Jag had to babysit:

Keepin' the Nater in line.

So the moral of this story is that Modge Podge is great! (But not near as great as my buddy and craft partner, Nate). 

Extreme couponing and a new family member?

Who knew couponing could be fun?

Really.

I've never watched "extreme couponing," and to be quite honest, in the past I have gotten annoyed when the lady in front of me at the check-out line has some forty coupons and requests "price matches" from ads from other stores. (By the way, Walmart in Marion does that).  I get especially annoyed when the cashier and lady in front of me get into an argument about prices or the fact that she can only use a certain number of the same coupons in one visit.  It's even worse when I'm crunched for time, or when my sweet, precious Nater starts to get fussy.  <--Yes, that does happen.  My baby is just like yours; he cries.

But today I may have to join the couponers; I have experienced the "thrill" of saving money with coupons.  I saved a whole $2.40 with coupons on my weekly grocery budget, and probably about $20.00 more by grocery shopping at my least favorite store--Walmart.  I've found that when I go shopping with Nate I spend more money.  Partly because he's strapped to my body with the Baby Bjorn and I loose some range of motion necessary for strategic grocery shopping and partly because I am afraid if I take too long I will face the stares of all the other shoppers when Nate starts to cry.

To be honest, since Nate has been born I have not been very good at sticking to a budget.  There's cute clothes to get (he is almost out of his 6 month onesies, and he isn't even 3 months yet!) not to mention diapers, wipes and all the other baby necessities.  Also, I have been spending money on thing to make our house look cute for the open houses and then there is my desire to buy stylish clothes since I have not looked cute for the past 9 months.  (Who am I kidding...I wouldn't wear stylish clothes even if I had them.  I live in jeans and sweatshirts!)  But now that I am only going back to work part-time--16 hours a week--I need to do better about sticking to a budget.  So I am going to focus my next few posts on my journey to frugality.  We will see how this experiment goes.

But in other news, there is another male living in our house...our garage actually. (Although he is well-behaved enough that he gets supervised house privileges).  Here is Jag, our "trial dog:"

Jag, 5 months, looking at Austin (who is standing in the corner).  Jag has really taken a liking to Austin!

Jag and Austin.  Austin says it's strange being around a dog that doesn't need to be "tazed" in order to behave.  Just in case anyone is going to call the humane society on us, the tazer is an e-collar and it's not harmful. 

And just for fun, here is a picture of Nate from this morning while I was doing my quiet time.  Isn't he a cutie?

Is this a waste of time?

I'm sitting at my dining room table (smelling icky after an hour of P90X) and a thought just occurred to me: is blogging a waste of my time?  Is anyone really reading this?  And do I really have anything to say?

Now, I apologize if this offends you.  I am in no way saying that blogging is a waste of time.  In fact, your blog is probably the reason I decided to give this a try.  There are so many fresh, fun and thoughtful blogs out there and many times I get ideas for projects and suggestions and insights about faith from other peoples' blogs.

I guess the reason that I question whether or not I should be blogging is because I have so many other "to dos."  In fact, in front of me is sitting a moleskin book that I have titled my "Book of Lists."  In it I have written crafts I want to make, ideas for Christmas gifts (homemade of course!), goals (spiritual and fitness related), "to do's," "to buys" (like a new vaccumn cleaner and water glasses), ways to decorate and projects I want to do (like working on Nate's baby book or organizing all of my pictures).

(In case you couldn't guess I am a first-born and have a type-A personality)

So, there's no real blogging today, however I want to link you to a blog that I visited a few days ago.  The current blog post is about organizing your prayer life and since I have a type-A personality I was all over that. Trista, a high-school friends' wife offers a really good idea on how to organize your prayers and develop a fruitful prayer life.  Check it out!

http://jonandtrista.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/organize-your-prayer-life/#comment-15

Weekend of open houses

I'm already failing in my resolution to blog everyday, but this weekend has been super busy.  We had an open house on Saturday and Sunday and although no one came to the Saturday open house (it was last-minute AND advertised incorrectly), we did have one potential interested person at the open house on Sunday.  Tomorrow we are having a realtor's open house (where realtors can go through the house to see it), so I guess we can't trash the house yet!

Here is a picture of the house with the For Sale sign up:

A little out of focus, but I took it from the car quick as we were leaving...  

During the open houses, Austin, Nate and I camped out at Austin's parents' house, watching football.  Nate got LOTS of attention.  Here are a few pictures:

Checking Grandma Oates out

"Talking" and smiling at Grandma Oates

Well, it's time for Nate and I to head out and run some errands.  We have to get a few things (a card for daddy's birthday tomorrow and groceries to make snacks for the hungry realtors who will be going through our house tomorrow) and maybe make a stop at Barnes and Nobel to pick up a chapter book for Nate.  Haha.  Yes, my child is very advanced.

:)

Two-in-a-row!

Wow...I'm actually making a post everyday so far.  Ok, I know, it's only day number 2, but it's progress.  Especially considering how busy I've been.  Cleaning, sorting, organizing, washing windows, scrubbing grout and going crazy while I'm at it.

It's a little nerve-wracking to know that complete strangers (and maybe some not-so-complete strangers) will be coming into your home and scrutinizing everything from your color choices and decor to the dirty laundry sitting in baskets in the laundry room.  (Actually right now I am trying to finish up the last of the laundry in the basement...).  I am an avid HGTV-watcher and during the day they play TONS of episodes of house-hunters and there are a lot of really, really picky home-hunters.  They complain about EVERYTHING!  It makes me look at my house and wonder what people are going to complain about when they get here.  We have painted cabinets in the kitchen and the painting on the trim in the house isn't perfect.  The backyard isn't as beautiful as it used to be when everything was green and flowering and some of the trees need trimming.

But I love our house.  I fell in love with it the first time I toured it.  In fact, I brought my mom back that day and toured it again.  So I trust that there is a family out there that will fall in love with this house.  Maybe at tomorrow's open house, maybe on Sunday.  Maybe in two weeks or maybe next spring.  And I'm sure that there will be people who don't like our house at all, and I have to be ok with that.  I probably wouldn't like their house (So there!).

Here are a few more pictures of the inside (sorry about the small pictures, they are from the realtor's website):

Dining room

Kitchen

Family Room

During my quiet time I prayed about the journey the Lord is taking our family on and I read a passage from 1 Timothy 6 that it meant a lot to me.  The Lord has blessed us in so many ways and I want to be sure that we are not so concerned with material treasures but things that really matter, like investing in our family, serving and sharing.  It also makes me realize that when the Lord blesses you, he gives you the responsibility to be a good steward of those things.  I want to make sure that my family is a good steward of what he has blessed us with, creating a firm foundation for the future.

 ¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

On another note, here is a picture of Nate from the other day.  Austin always talks about what a strong boy Nate is (even the NP was amazed when he was three days old and fighting to hold himself up the day we got discharged from the hospital).  In this picture Austin is holding him and commenting on his big biceps.

Nate and daddy "flexing" for the camera.  Don't tell Austin this, but I'm pretty sure Nate is sleeping, not flexing!

I'm not seeing the muscles.  I say, "let's count the rolls!" (Oh and check out that sweet little double chin.  Love it!)

Trusting in the Lord

So...after spending a few hours exploring the blogs of other women, I've been encouraged to make my blogging a more regular thing.  I'd really like to carve some time out every day to blog a little.  But at the same time I find myself so busy that I have a hard time finding time for my quiet time (which should definitely come first) or even a  quick shower.  (Just in case you were wondering, I have showered today!  In fact, I even did my makeup and hair.)

So the reason for my blog today (in addition to becoming a more regular blogger.  On a side note: although I said I wanted to be a more regular blogger, I don't want to blog just to blog.  I want to actually be saying something.  Something important.  Something that matters and will maybe resonate with one of my few readers.  And let's be honest, I may not even have a few readers.  Not many people know this exists.  But whether they do or don't it doesn't matter.  Even if I am writing this just for myself, I want what I say to matter).

Now that we've got that explanation out of the way:

So the reason for my blog today is to say "it's official."  There is a "For Sale" sign up in the front yard.  We have open houses scheduled for Saturday 1pm-2:30pm and Sunday 2pm-4pm.  It's hard to believe.  Here is a picture of the house sans "For Sale" sign.  (It's too dreary out to run out and take a picture of the house with the sign up, but you can imagine)

Isn't it pretty?  We did a lot of clean-up this past weekend.

Back of the house. 

Wow, looking at those pictures make it hard to believe that we really put a "For Sale" sign up in the front yard.  We really love the place BUT...

I love this guy way more:

My precious baby boy!

So the reason the sign is up is because Austin and I would like for me to have the option to stay at home and only work PRN.  When I go back to work, Austin and I will be working opposite shifts.  He will work evening shifts Monday through Friday and I will work night shifts Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  And although this works out GREAT for childcare (we will only need someone to watch Nate for 6 hours a week), we won't have a lot of family time and that is really important to us.  We have LOVED these past 10 weeks when we have been able to spend time together as a family any time that Austin is not at work.  It has been great.  Even though having a newborn can be stressful and frustrating at times, these 10 weeks have probably been the best 10 weeks when it comes to family-togetherness.

The sign is up and the listing is on-line, but we don't have another house that we are looking at right now.  We are trusting in the Lord and in his plan for us.  If our house sells soon, great.  If it doesn't, that's okay too.  I will just return to work and continue working until something changes.  The Lord is good and his plans for us are too.  He desires to bless us.  And he has.  Big time.  We desire to be good stewards of all the gifts that He has given to us.  And when I think of the gifts that He has given to us, I think immediately of Nathaniel.  He is such a wonderful, amazing gift and I want to be able to spend as much time with him as possible. I want to do the job the Lord has blessed me with (being a mom) to the best of my ability, and to me that means being able to spend as much time with him as possible; doing my best to raise him in a way that honors the Lord.

So, the sign is up and we are trusting in the Lord.  His plans for us are good and we look forward to the journey the Lord is taking us on.