How Great Is Our God...

Okay, so that song just keeps running through my head so it seemed an apt title to my ramblings today. Because no matter how insane life gets, when you step back, all of it is possible OR preventable due to God's goodness. I think I'll view my life that way today rather than dreading the coming crazinesses.

Before I get into what's been happening here, I would like to mention that I happened to check out our movie reviews, and saw that Bend It Like Beckham is for sale NEW for $10. I'm not kidding, y'all, Jonathan paid $45 to have that sucker delivered to me on the DAY it came out. (The movie was $30, and the rush delivery fee the rest.) It was quite possibly the best day of my life. And now it's only ten dollars? That's delayed gratification for you, I guess. But I would have had to wait this long, and that's not cool!

Grandma and Grandpa Fashbaugh came to be with their grandson this weekend! It was a brief but lovely visit. Caleb was NOT on his best behavior. He was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Perfect! On the one hand, I know he's teething, and he's had this horrible congestion for almost a month now ~ so he was a drooling, snotty bag of cries. But on the flip side, he was more charming than ever with those big old smiles, interested looks and teeny laughs. (My favorite!)

Just having them in town for the weekend meant that there was no latitude for just brain dead time. (I usually get some on the weekend!) And I also had the opportunity to do some transcription, so that was further chaos. But I did good! I survived my Monday, as well, which held a headache and more transcription. I'm done with the transcription now, but have social commitments for tonight and tomorrow night, so I'm starting to wonder when I'll be able to let my head droop and just kick it in front of the television for a bit!

I've been back to work for two full months now. It's weird, because everyone kept telling me about how much easier it would be dropping Caleb off every morning once I got to this point. It's become ROUTINE, but not much easier than the first day I did it. I don't know if I'm being overly clingy, or if everyone who has told me that was further away from it so they had a faulty memory. It's tougher than I could have imagined.

But Caleb himself makes my busy-ness fade away. Like last night, when I had just gotten to bed at 10:30 and he woke me up at 11:00 to eat. He wasn't sleepy. He just laughed and cooed and smiled at me until after 11:30. And then when he woke up at 3:00, it was the same thing. It's like God knew that I was running a quart low, and he gave Caleb the joy that I was lacking at that time of the night/morning. It was rejuvenating.

Like Frank Barrone would say, "Fountain of youth!"

Random Ramblings

Hello out there! First of all, MAD PROPS to my baby girl Amy Jo for writing the first movie review for our website! It was a fun one, too. FRESH, even! (Tee-hee!) Unfortunately, she wrote it on what is probably my least favorite movie that we own ~ Batman. (I dislike The Ring and Nothing But Trouble equally, though.) But it was just as wonderful and personable as she is!

So EVERYONE GET INVOLVED! Even if we haven’t reviewed it for the website yet, if you’ve seen one of our movies and have a few minutes, you ought to write a quickie. I know a certain couple who just watched Pirates of the Caribbean and had definite opinions. Share them ~ your review could make you a millionaire!

Okay, that’s a lie. But if I ever won a HUGE lottery, I would randomly select one of the reviews on our website and give that person one MILLION dollars! Seriously! So write a review – and buy me lottery tickets – today!

Life at the Fashbaugh household is pretty peachalicious these days. Yes, the laundry remains unfolded. (But it is clean!) And no, the dishes aren’t done. And Auggie has needed a bath for a good month. But really, in the greater scheme of things – those things don’t define us.

However, defining us or not, all three things and so much more must be finished by Friday because Grandma and Grandpa Fashbaugh are coming to visit their gorgeous grandson Caleb, and we want to present an impressive front! So studying/DDRing will have to take a backseat for the next few nights so that we can try to make the place look presentable.

Jonathan had yesterday off, and got to spend the WHOLE day with the little bug! I was sooooooo jealous. But I don’t have to fear that he’ll get a wild hair and want to be Mr. Mom anytime soon. He was fairly excited to see me come home. That’s a good thing – we can’t have two people wanting to be full time parents. Somebody’s got to bring home the bacon!

Caleb’s cheeks were bright red when I came home last night, he had a mild fever and was drooling like a billygoat. Now, I know that the drool is a sign of teething, but it took Jodi to let me know that the low-grade fever and bright red cheeks are also signs. He’s still pretty pleasant, although he’s pulled away from meals a couple of times, which REALLY makes me nervous. For that little guy to turn his nose up at food is tantamount to dictators voluntarily relinquishing power. The sick thing is that he could be teething like this for six months or more!

On Sunday, we went to pick up Caleb’s three month pictures from Wal-Mart. They’re AWFUL. If I wasn’t having his pictures taken every month, I would be DEVASTATED. I picked an awful background, and his head wasn’t even in focus. Ugh. I thought I would cry. But if you see a littler picture, it’s not so bad. Anyway, since we had to wait to get the pictures, we decided to have his four month picture taken while we were there. So it wasn’t planned ~ he was wearing this adorable sweatshirt and bright blue pants, which I definitely wouldn’t have chosen, and since Jonathan doesn’t usually go with us to get them taken, he picked the background – bright flowers, one I probably wouldn’t have ever picked. Honestly, I think it might be the best one yet! I can’t wait to see them!

Did I mention that I have tendonitis? Just typing this much is making my left wrist want to fall off. Hey! That’s one way I can restrain myself from typing until the cows come home!

Monday Monday...

Happy beginning of the week, y'all! Looks like it's gonna be a good one!

Two nights in a row, my little Caleb has only gotten me up twice during the night. That's like the biggest, coolest news in my life. Well, I'm sorry if my life is slighly less exciting than yours! There are a number of things that I think contributed to it, so I'm going to keep trying to do all of them until I find out really what it is.

Yes, maybe he's just growing up. Thank you, Lord!

We had a great week ~ I got to go BOWLING on Thursday! Our new manager at work is doing a butt-kicking job of getting us together as a group to make sure that our attitudes stay good, and it's REALLY working! It came at a really necessary time for me since my attitude wasn't the best just about BEING at work. (That's my third capitalized word in one paragraph. Time to move on.)

Caleb is just such a stinking angel! (Speaking of stinking, yes, Poopwatch '06 has come to close. At least the first one!) He's the cutest little bug in the world. Saturday we celebrated his Grammy B's birthday, and I forgot the camera. Dug! He really had a good day - I can't tell you how smiley and cheerful he is. What a joy! His grandparents and G.G. really enjoyed his visit - and Auntie Meg did too, even though she changed the diaper that heralded the return to normalcy. Ew!

Jodi recommended a plug-in Vicks vaporizer thing. I was reluctant since they say "not for children under three months of age" and Caleb is only three and a half, but after two full weeks of this congestion/cold thing, I decided to overcome my hesitation and give it a shot. During the time that it's on, it really works! But as soon as it's done releasing the meds, he's right back to Mr. Snorflepants. S'okay, though. Find me a cuter kid even NOT congested! (No, Wendy, Angela, Jodi ~ you're not allowed to play this game!)

Gonna be a good week! I can feel it! I'm trying to remember to keep an "attitude of gratitude," and it's really been a lifesaver. (Okay, I blew it on Thursday night - I'd had a headache all day when we went bowling, and it blew into a full-fledged migraine by the time I got home. But still ~ I might have had three such nights if I wasn't trying to keep it in check!) Thank you, Lord! We are too blessed for comprehension!

Poopwatch '06

Well, according to the doc, all is well in Caleb's world as long as he's still a happy and pleasant little bug. Meaning that as long as he isn't running a fever, doesn't have an ear infection and isn't miserable in general, he's just got to ride it out. So! Even though Mom's heart breaks a little bit when she hears that little boy choking on his own nasal drip, he's going to be just fine.

One apparent side effect is that the boy hasn't made a truly dirty diaper since Friday night. Now while this might sound like a GLORIOUS turn of events to those of you without children ~ or those who have changed six to seven dirty diapers a day, as we did for Caleb's first couple of months! ~ it makes me nervous. However, I just did my research last night, and it said that some babies go a week without messing, and even up to THREE WEEKS AT A TIME with no ill effects. Hmm... I guess I'm not concerned anymore. But it is funny - at his school, yesterday morning and evening they asked if he was still keeping it in. It cracks me up!

In other news, I can't believe that I forgot to post all the progress he's making! (Baby poop is ever so much more thrilling.) When he's on both his back and his tummy, he's really making an effort to roll over. I don't know where that fits into the developmental schedule, because I'm trying not to compare him to other babies. But I do know that he's progressing from where he was, which makes it exciting. He's also starting to make a real attempt to play with toys. He has a rattle from Miss Evelyn that he actually grasps and shoves in his mouth. I love it! And while I thought that I was going to try to be a mom who used a pacifier instead of letting him suck on his fingers, I realize now that sucking on fingers and thumbs is a developmental thing that is not to be discouraged. Tasty!

He's also continuing to be very vocal. He's SO much fun! We can almost have a cooing "conversation" with him. He's starting to get more facial expressions that match his cooing, too. Like if he goes up at the end, like someone who's asking "yeah?", his little eyebrows go up and he has a more serious face. But if he goes down at the end, like "yay!" his mouth is wide open and his eyes scrunch shut in a smile. What a trip. I, Amanda, the movie-obsessed chicky-bob, would rather watch my son's face than any movie!

His Grandpa and Grandma Fashbaugh are coming to visit him! We had hoped to do the dedication at church while they were here, but they can't accommodate the weekend we need. So I think we're planning on doing a personal time of dedication before we do it at the church. It's really a formality to me ~ that boy was given to God the second I knew he existed, and God had his hand on Caleb BEFORE he existed! But I like traditions sometimes, and I think that a public declaration of intent by Caleb's parents is a good start!

One more thing I forgot ~ he's doing a FUND-RAISER at school! Oh. My. Goodness. The boy can't talk, his father is against it, so GUESS WHO has to hit up the relatives for money? Yours truly. Delicious. I seriously thought I wouldn't have to deal with this kind of crap for at least four or five years!

No, seriously, if you want a candle from Home and Garden Party, I can hook you up...

February

Well, the month of February has come, and we're almost down a whole week already! I always love Februaries. Two of my favorite people in the world were born that month ~ one of them today. Happy Birthday, Mommy!

My life continues to go exceedingly well. A few things happened this week. Lessee... Caleb Z got really sick for the first time. It seems to be just a cold. I kept him home from school on Wednesday, but he's not been doing any better. We're going to the doctor this morning. Poor little guy - we're calling him names, too. Snorflebug or LovePug. He sounds so awful. And I've been using nasal spray and the aspirator, neither of which he is overly fond of. So not only can't he breathe, but then his momma shoots stuff into his nose and then sucks stuff out. It must be so tough to be that small!

In my visit to the doctor, I discovered that I have tendonitis! (Of course, I thought it was carpal tunnel, so hooray!) He did a little stretch test that made me scream out loud right in his office. Oy. So I'm wearing a thumb stabilizer for a few weeks to see if it helps. It's a little awkward, but this morning was the first time in about a month and a half that my left hand didn't feel like it was going to fall off when I woke up. Score!

Jonathan has a website, www.givenlife.com, and he's been doing some amazing work through it. If you haven't checked it out, you should. Somehow, a pastor in India found the site, and he and Jonathan have been communicating about the needs they have there. So Jonny spent his own money to buy them blankets, pencils, erasers, crayons and bibles. (But we still had to ship it. Holy COW when will they invent free transporters?) It was AWESOME! Then the same week, I had the chance to bless some military families with blankets, hats and mittens and bib snow pants through Operation Warm and Cozy. Too fun!

I would say it's a pity that all these opportunities for ministry and blessings are coming along when we're so broke, but I know that God wants to give us the chance to be a blessing with the little that we have. With both Jon's thing and mine, I admit that my little heart stopped when I saw that we spent a little more money than I would have liked. But I don't want to be stingy with the things that help other people right now. I'd rather be stingy with our own stuff! (Jonathan will shortly be making another effort to quit diet coke, since that's one of the biggest luxuries we still spend money on. Now if we could just get him to have the same conviction about ice cream!)

Our weekend was fantastic - Friday night was nothing but rest and relaxation, then after going to the church on Saturday morning, we had Kevin and Christina over on Saturday afternoon. Would you believe that I found an alcoholic beverage that I like?! Amaretto Sour. Mmmm... delicious! Thanks, Christina! We played games for EVER, and Caleb only got fussy for about a half an hour before he went to bed. It coincided with Kevin's headache, though. Oops!

Sunday we took it easy. Jonathan went to church without us, since Caleb is so snorfly that I wouldn't dare try take him to the nursery, and honestly, the way that Jonathan and I have been feeling, I would just about guarantee that the boy is contagious. Sheesh! Anyway, after church, Jonathan REALLY helped me around the house. It made such a difference in my attitude!

All in all, I would say that things are just peachy here. God is doing a good thing all around. But now I have to go and take my Little LovePug to the doc. I expect a good report!