Guess What

This is brief and non-clever. We are expecting number 2! No Simeon in a big-brother shirt or a baby picture, because I lost the ultrasound pic at the office after I was there for too many hours. But we are very very excited. Simeon is confused, and to a child I guess it is kinda confusing. We were hoping to get pregnant and are blessed it didn't take as long as it did with Simeon. This first trimester has been worse than my first pregnancy but it seems to be getting better. So keep us in your prayers. After that long wait at the OB's office I didn't get a due date, but I think it will be the beginning of June or possibly the end of May!


Simeon's "hero party" outside the doctor's office. He got to come with us for the happy occasion after the babysitter fell through. And after waiting for a very long time he and Daniel took a fresh air break.

Return to Normalcy

Pictures from a teen outing about a month ago.

Ha, what is normal anyway? Today we have gotten a lot done, but Simeon has decided he didn't want a nap. Probably because he slept in till 7! And I haven't gotten myself cleaned up yet. Oh well.

Last week was definitely abnormal, because Daddy went on a 7 day fishing trip. I even told him to go the whole trip, I didn't count on Simeon teething all week:( It was a really rough week on Momma! Not only did I not get much of my attachment parenting application done by the end of the week I didn't feel like I was practicing my gentle parenting too much. I don't remember ever feeling so burned out. I had a lot of family support, but it's not the same as having Daddy home.

So we are glad that our hard working Daddy is home. He comes home after a hard day at work and does so much to help Momma not lose her mind. He's the best daddy and husband ever, thanks Daniel.

Big Boys

I titled this post Big Boys because that seems the theme around here lately! Simeon's version is Baboos, very cute to hear him say. Although we have started some big boy transitions we are definitely not pushing him to grow up to fast, I'm certainly not quite ready to relinquish my baby.

My little chef! I bought this for him on a whim and he LOVES it! Who would have thought a not yet 2 yr old boy would love to dress up. He mainly loves the apron. There is a matching mitt that is also very cute.

Beginning of our Fourth of July weekend, who could resist such a face? At the fancy shopping center close to us playing in the fountain. It is so close to us, but this is our first visit this year.

Ok naptime seems over, so trying to keep this brief. In the above picture Simeon is wearing his Little Beetle Learners, which I have been buying here and there to try to find a good price. After a few washes they are absorbant enough to hold a small pee accident and being Simeon is not going #2 on the potty yet they snap down the side for clean up of those messes. He showed some interest in pottying a few weeks ago and he actually peed without prompting too much a few times. So we decided to go for it.

He seems young to me and it's going to be a process. I guess he has always wanted to be mobile and do just what we do, so... Praise and treats really seem to help. I do have to tell him most times it's time to potty. And though this may seem pushy it seems preferable to me to the battles over diaper changes. The child has always hated them. He is so proud of his Baboos, and I think they are adorable. At home that is all he wears most of the time because he wants his shirt off to potty and putting it back on every time is not happening. Plus it is so hot here and we don't run the air at 70 degrees.

We had a few setbacks when we traveled to Memphis for our church conference, then he was sick last week. He was scary sick, like running fever greater than 103 for 3 days. Ughhh, no fun at all for anyone. He looks like he's lost weight too, he was totally uninterested in food for an entire week. Mostly all he wanted was to nurse. And although I'm mostly a quiet promoter of breastfeeding especially a toddler mostly because in our culture many see it as weird (honestly I thought it was strange too before I had a baby). But this was definitely a benefit, he was too sick for anything else and if not for nursing he may have dehydrated. It ended up being viral and we just had to treat the symptoms.

Another big boy change was adding the full size bed to his tiny room. I planned on transitioning him to the bed from the crib, but he wants no part of it. It's ok there's not a big rush. I did really enjoy having the bed in his room when he was sick, there was no way I was going to leave him alone when his fever was so high.

Spring is here!

Ok these are old pictures, but as you know I have to be in the right mindframe to blog:)

For my salvation

A few pictures to get you through this post:)


Momma and Simeon at our favorite bakery, Great Harvest

Sweet boy taking a nap, we don't have many sleeping pictures because he's not a great sleeper and I usually don't want to chance waking him up!

I have had this post on my mind for quite some time. When we were in our marriage counseling our spiritual father and pastor Father John told us that in marriage we should be helping each other along the path to salvation. What a beautiful image that is. And honestly in the early days this wasn't always easy. I certainly have plenty of rough edges that need sanding down, and becoming more selfless and growing closer to God isn't always painless. I am so fortunate to have a wonderful, faithful, God-loving husband. He is such of a hard worker, he rarely takes time out for himself. He is always working hard for his family, or the church.

I did do some spiritual reading while pregnant about raising a child in the Orthodox church. And we are very fortunate that we belong to a church where so many experiences can be shared with our children. There are things going on in the services that involve all of the senses. Sight, the beautiful icons- depictions of the saints, Mary, and Jesus that we reverence by kissing or touching. Simeon loves to kiss icons too, what better way to teach him about our Lord and those Christians that have fought the good fight before us. We hear the prayers and beautiful chanting during services. Simeon's grandmother and godfather are in the choir, so he particularly enjoys watching them sing. Smell the incense in the censor, which Simeon also loves to watch and listen to the bells on the censor. Touch, we make the sign of the Cross often during the services and touch the priests garments as they process while carrying the holy gifts. And taste, we allow children as soon as they are baptized and chrismated to partake of Communion.

I had seen other children in church and was looking forward to teaching him about God through our Orthodox worship services. Oh my goodness I just didn't realize what a challenge just surviving the services would be. It has been worth it though and teaching Simeon about our faith has drawn me closer to God. Having a child and trying to raise him right has been the most challenging thing I have ever done. You can be a "nice" person to most people, but trying to be loving and patient to a sometimes demanding little person who keeps you up at night and is constantly in need is very challenging. I definitely feel like I'm growing closer to God and becoming more selfless.

Father John also told us that children are closer to God. Simeon has always had an affinity for his guardian angel icon. And in the morning he will often go to the prayer corner and want to pray. Now he is done about one sentence in, but I am trying to nurture the seed that God planted in him. It's a good thing I have our church "village" to help me, because on my own I don't have the strength.

Where to begin

Really where do I start. It's been since Halloween since I blogged!

I will give a quick catch up on what has been going on with our family.

In early November we lost my grandfather after a difficult stay in the hospital. He went to the hospital to have a tumor removed from his lung, now it has been so long I can't recall when he went in. I know he ended up in ICU for most of the fall. This was hard of course, but PopPop had been suffering from Rheumatoid Arthritis for years and had a hard time getting around. After the summer before last when he and Granny didn't plant a garden we knew he wasn't well. PopPop had told me some time back that they knew Grandfather Graves (Granny's father) was getting less able when he couldn't plant a garden. And I knew when Pop Pop didn't plant a garden he wasn't doing well. PopPop was a very devout Christian and I have no doubt he is with the Lord now, but we do miss him.

Christmas was joyous, but kinda sad. We lost mine and Daniel's grandfathers this year and to me change is one of hardest things to cope with. Realizing that the Christmas's of my youth are gone forever and that we won't ever have Christmas at Granny's in the same way was sad for me. Of course I'm not sad for Aunt Phyllis or PopPop because I know they're with God.




One of my fondest memories of my PopPop is of him and Granny coming up to Simeon's baptism. He loved us all and was so proud of us. Although he was a Southern Baptist and didn't believe in infant baptism he wanted to support his great grandson's entry into Orthodox Christianity. PopPop didn't really understand Orthodoxy, but he knew that my Daniel is a good man and if he was Orthodox then it must be ok. Simeon's baptism was before another service, so it was really long. Trying to find a time my mom could attend was pretty tricky, because of her work schedule. So my grandparents came and worshiped with us all morning long. What a wonderful memory I will cherish.


The weather in January was pretty cold, and we have spent a good bit of time inside trying not to get cabin fever too bad. We have had some play dates to keep us sane. And February is halfway gone now too. We have some busy weekends coming up soon and plenty of things to do in between the weekends. I have some great blog post ideas in my head, maybe I'll get them done sometime before next Halloween!