I'm such a slacker

I didn't even do a five month update for Miss V! So here are a few things: 1. She finally rolled over for the first time about a week after to turned 5 months. 2. A was the only one who could get a giggle out of her for the longest time. Finally Bryan was able to then I was the last. Apparently I am not a good tickler so I will stick with the nurturing, loving, caring momminess that I can actually do. 3. She's getting better at grabbing at things and actually taking ahold of them. 4. She's a constant chewer. People keep trying to tell me that she's getting teeth. They've been telling me this for about 2 months now. She's just a chewer. I don't think she actually started teething until about 3 weeks ago but no sign of teeth yet! 5. She's a GREAT sleeper but a terrible napper. It seems to have always been that unless I lay with her she will only nap for about 30-45 minutes but if I lay with her she will sleep for a couple to a few hours. I don't know what to do. And don't say cry it out. I'm not going there. At least not until she's older. 6. She's still a bald beauty. Talk about slow hair growth. Jeesh! In other news: I've been going strong with the no-poo for nearly a month now. I've gotta say, my hair keeps getting better and better. I'm loving it. AND NOW!.... I've gone facewash free. Yer heard me. I am now doing a honey wash with rose and jojoba oil. My face, for the first time since I can remember, is not nearly as red in the cheeks and chin as it used to be. I cannot believe it. And since I don't wear make-up hardly ever anymore, this is super nice. To feel comfortable in my own skin, I'm loving it. ALSO!... While my sweet hubby was at a training last week in New Jersey, my mom, gramma, and aunt Kimmy came up to help me with my house. They were here from Tuesday night to Thursday morning when they had to leave and they got more accomplished in less than 48 hours than I would have in a month. My houe is clean, mostly packed for showing, and just lovely. I can't believe how happy I am with so little. I have a feeling a lot of stuff will be going bye-bye when we unpack in a new house. I'm digging the crunchy simple life. Who knew I'd become such a hippie. I dig it.

I'll Go Where You Send Me

My Aunt Kim and Uncle Jon are starting a church plant.  We've known about it since October and Bryan got more and more excited the more he talked about the church plant with K&J.
So on our way home that weekend they announced it, Bryan and I discussed the possibility of us joining them.  We didn't want to move down there if it wasn't God's will so we decided to pray on it for 30 days.  We had 4 friends join with us in prayer for God's will but didn't mention it to anyone else.  Not even family because we wanted God to work, not anyone else.
There's a story in the Bible about Gideon and the fleece.  Gideon prayed that if it was in God's will that He would soak the fleece in dew but keep the ground around it dry.  And the next morning when Gideon checked the fleece, he found it full of dew.
So we "pulled out a fleece" so to speak.  We asked God that if it was in his will that K&J would ask us specifically to join us in the church plant.  That would be our for sure sign that God would want us down there.  Like I said, we wanted to be sure that us moving would be in His will and not ours so we didn't want to go if He was closing the door.
After about 25 days we headed back down to my family's for a visit.  We were anxious to see if K&J would ask us anything but after seeing them hurry through for a quick visit and not mention anything at all, we took that as a sign as in "ok, not yet, but maybe not ever." We decided to finish out praying the 30 days and let God do his thing.
Last weekend, we headed back down for another family visit (we go down there quite often, obviously).  After hanging out with K&J on Sunday afternoon, Bryan asked how the church plant was going.  Jon started talking and asked when we were going to move down there with a few more hints about us joining them.  So Bryan asked them straight up if he was asking us to join them in the church plant.  He said "Yeah!!"
So..
After discussing it with them for three hours, then the two of us discussing it on our way home, we have decided that we will allow God to work and move us to Plattsmouth, Nebraska.  We don't have a time frame because we will just allow God to open doors when and if He sees fit.  We're going to start by putting our house on the market and go from there.
(Anyone want a really cute 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1.5 story house?  It's darling!)
So there's our big news.  Be praying for us when you think about us because this is a huge bittersweet move for us.  My family is there but Bryan's family is here as well as our friends and our Besties.  It'll be hard to leave but if God is calling us then we will follow.

No-Poo

Yes, you read that right, but no, it's not what you're thinking. Well, it might be I guess since I can't read your mind and all. Anywho.. I read a blog by a hairdresser from New York who discusses the topics of (you guessed it) hair. Well the other day she posted about no-poo. I said to myself, "Say wha!?" and continued reading. The problem: Turns out there are tons of chemicals in shampoos and conditioners that strip your hair and fakely condition it making your hair rebel and produce tons of excess oils to fix the problem thus leaving you to fully depend on the chemicals of shampoos and conditioners to take care of the excess oils. Vicious cycle it is. The solution: So instead of continuing the vicious cycle, you stop using the shampoos and conditioners all together and instead do a simple basic alkaline solution. The miracle powder: Baking soda itself. Then you condition your hair with apple cider vinegar. Who'da thunk? You wash your hair twice a week to get it back to it's healthy state with the baking soda/water mixture. So far, I'm loving it. Last wednesday was the last time I washed my hair with shampoo. And I don't miss it. I still get the squeaky clean feel of clean hair without it stripping it but simply removing the dirt and extra oil. It's a little on the dry side but I can fix that with either using less baking soda or rubbing a SMIDGE of olive oil on the ends of my hair. And the dryness only seems to last for a day. Then after than it's fine, so probably just use less baking soda. AND! for those worried, my hair does not have a hint of smell of the apple cider vinegar. It just smells clean. I dig it. So I've done the baking soda twice now, last Sunday and yesterday, and I plan to keep going with it. My husband calls me a hippie. I don't mind. I'm going back to natural things, healthy eating, growing my own fruits and veggies, buying things organic. I love it. Now if only I can get my hubby to stop teasing me and put up my clothesline already ;)

Almost There

Bryan and I are almost finished with week two of phase one of the Maker's Diet. Whew! It's tough but I'm proud of us. Bryan only had a cheat once on Mother's day. You would have thought it had been me having the cake and ice cream but it wasn't. His mom didn't make a homemade dessert like she usually does but instead brought home a bought cake from pinning the day before. I'm kind of a cake snob so I could easily pass. Because store bought generic white cake? blah. But if it had been one of her homemade deliciousnesses then I wouldn't have been able to resist. Her stuff is yum-mo! Anyway, I digress. But we're doing good. Bryan has lost 10 pounds and I've lost 5! Go us! I'm almost to my first goal. AND! I think I may have even talked my mom into doing this with us. It'd be so good for her too if she does. She has hypothyroid too so it's like no matter how much we exercise, if we eat carbs and sweets, we won't lose a pound. It stinks. But this is the solution. So, pray for her if you think about it. I told her to look at it like this: For one, it has to be a lifestyle change. Not a diet. We have to make this work for us. And two, we have to see the hypothyroid as it is: a disease. And like others, like say people with celiac's disease who can't have gluten, we can't have just any ol' bread. There are certain types that we can have and we just need to adapt. I have a list of reasons for doing this diet change. A couple are that I need to be healthy for my kiddos and show them the proper and healthy way of eating. Especially if they end up with hypothyroid as well but even if they don't. Also, I want them to be proud of me. I don't care about being stick thin, I just care about being healthy and comfortable in my own skin. I will never again be 110 pounds like I was in college and that is a-okay because I am woman, I am curvy, and I am glorious in the body God gave me. I just need to take better care of it. So I think I am doing pretty well. However, I sure can't wait until the next phase because then we can have more fruit! And some cheeses!! Not in large quantities of course, but some. Even just having a more variety of smoothies will be lovely. I've also discovered some recipes for desserts that will coincide with our change so then we can have sweets every now and again as well! That'll be awesome. My uncle had to lose weight for his health as well. He looks great and sticks to it very nicely but I guess he will have one cheat day on Saturday where he can have sweets or something a little more rich and it sort of restarts his metablism. I'll have to look into that because, boy howdy, I miss me some peanut clusters.

here we go

Tomorrow begins Day 1 of Phase 1 of the Maker's Diet. It's a rough diet. No. Lifestyle change. It's a rough start anyway. After you get going it gets easier. By the time you're in the third phase it's cake. Even though you can't eat cake. Ha! Anyway, it seems to be the best thing for my body with having hypothyroid so here I go... I'll let y'all know how it goes.