Lankford Love

Despite the fact that I am home all day, getting things done around the house doesn't seem to be as easy as one would think. Most of the time, I set up a play area for Lilleigh with all of her toys to entertain her, while I go turn off the stove or start a load of laundry. Despite all if the entertain options, every time it seems that I am interrupted with the same whining sound - ehhhhhhh - only to have that whine get louder and louder. She can only be silenced when I pick her up. In response to such whining, a common phrase around our house has become: I promise, I am not going to leave you, silly girl . But that's a promise that I know isn't mine to make. I am reminded of Isaiah 49:15, Can a woman forget her nursing child And have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you. How can that be? I feel as if I could never forget her. How powerful God's love for us must be. And another thought, Job 14:5 Since his days ...

I know there are moms that do everything by the book and have their babies on a strict schedule, eating at 9 AM, noon, 3 PM, and 6 PM. That's not me. Sometimes I wish it were. Not because I want a strict schedule. That would make me crazy! Never did I think Miss Planner (mwah) would say that! My how I've changed in the past few years! Ha! But the schedule does make things simpler at times. Then there are the moms that do everything on demand. Naps on demand. Feed on demand. I hate the loosey-gooseyness of this non-schedule. Sometimes I fear I fall into this category. So where do we fit in? I try to be somewhere in the middle. I usually can't do 4 feedings, but sometimes we can do 5, since we stretch them out earlier in the morning and later in the evening. But if Lil needs 7 one day, that's fine. I don't really stress over it. I figure she'll tell me when she's hungry. She knows. But at the same time, going a full three hours between feedings means sh...

Back before our little pumpkin was born, I showed you our gender neutral nursery . I thought I loved it then. I had big plans for how I'd change it if we had a boy. And though I was hoping for a girl, I had no idea how I'd spruce up the nursery for a girl. Just knew we'd add pink! But then in the spring, we got a Pottery Barn catalog that had super cute paper flower cut outs on the walls advertising "Lily" bedding. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, I'm sad to say that the images of the flowers are not online. They are only in the catalog. Photos of the bedding collection online are too close up. So if you don't get their catalog, you'll just have to trust me that it was super cute! So with that inspiration in mind and the cute green and pink flowered glider which we already had, I decided to play up the green and pink for the nursery. My goal is to be able to reuse as much of the baby stuff as possible if we were to ever have a boy and make it boyi...

We're excited for fall around here! So we headed out to the pumpkin patch this morning with some neighbors to get some great pics! Morning seemed like the best time for this due to naps and lighting. Unfortunately though, the patch wasn't officially open, so we'll have to go back another time to actually buy pumpkins! Lilleigh with out 2-year-old neighbor Luke

I was uber impressed when our baby girl napped THREE hours today! That should have been a red flag to me, but I figured with our recent travels and her short morning nap, she probably needed it. When she finally called out to me that she had woken up, I went in to find her covered in vomit - and smiling! Poor baby girl! I have one sick baby on my hands! Please pray she makes a speedy recovery! While she's happy, she's also projectile vomiting, which can't be good...

We just recently got back from our road trip to Colorado (hence the lack of blog posts), where we visited with lots of family and hung out in the cool and rainy weather (both of which Texas had been lacking until our return). We drove up to Breckenridge in a day! Yes, with a baby and a dog! The dog is actually easy. And amazingly Lilleigh was a trooper! She fussed some at nap times, but other than that, she didn't even have a meltdown until bedtime when she was still stuck in her car seat - that's HUGE! I would have had a meltdown way before that... Happy baby in the car! We got to see the dog trials, where Border Collies corralled sheep. It sounds boring, but it's amazing what these dogs can be trained to do! Just take my word for it - you'll have to check it out sometime. I think my favorite part of the dog trials (which is more of a festival really because you can walk around to different events) was the agility course. Dogs participated in relay races! Just ...

As believers we are called to forgive others. This is an act of obedience. Not to mention, it'd be pretty hypocritical for us not to forgive others, considering He's forgiven us. But what about when someone hurts you or someone you love? Intentionally. How do you forgive someone who has acted maliciously?  With the anniversary of 9/11, I know many of those who lost loved ones are facing this same question. How can they forgive men who hijacked planes and flew them into buildings? How can you forgive men who killed so many innocent people? Who took fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, brothers, and sisters. And on purpose. All to serve a violent, vengeful god, whom they call Allah. (Why would they even want to serve such a god? Don't get me started on that.) How can you forgive such people? This issue has been heavy on my heart. And though the timing is fitting, I'm not talking about 9/11 . Forgiveness is a hard issue. If I'm honest with myself, I'm sure a ...

Lilleigh is 7 months old!!! Lil at 7 months... She sits up great! Though she isn't catching herself when she falls, she doesn't fall as often. This is a great age. Not mobile but independent enough that I can sit her on the floor with toys, and she's golden. Totally enjoying it. Reaching when she's sitting. No crawling. Not even close. But I wonder if she'll crawl from reaching, rather than from playing on her tummy. She's making syllables ... da-da, ba-ba, ma-ma. So fun!! Her sippy cup is her favorite toy. And she sorta drank milk from it. Just a bit, but it's a start! Solids : Apple, sweet potato, peas, squash, zucchini, chicken (shredded), avocado, tomato (cut up really small), tangerine (suck on it), watermelon. This does mean her poop has changed. (Sorry, Dad. I had to say it. But really, you're the only one who complains! Everyone else laughs. :) For those of you interested in cloth diapers, I've been experimenting with rice paper l...

Just wanted to update you all that Thankfully Thrifty has been salvaged! Thanks to Securi! (Read my full post here .) Since I was able to get this done cheaply, I will not be creating a new blog. But I will certainly be changing Thankfully Thrifty. For those of you who follow it often, you've probably noticed a transition in recent months. So I'm not sure if you'll notice the transition... mainly because I'm not sure how big the changes will be at this point. I'm still thinking through it all. Anyway, just wanted to give you a heads up! I have loved your feedback! I am excited to take on a new direction of Thankfully Thrifty.

My Thankfully Thrifty blog was hacked. That's the short of this. It's going to be ridiculously expensive to salvage. While there are things I could do to rectify it possibly, they are all very tedious and lengthy. I may still do them, but at the moment I am having new thoughts... thoughts about starting something new. It makes me sad to think about ending the deal-finding missions of Thankfully Thrifty but relieved too. It's a lot of pressure to post each day. And I've been debating and praying about this for awhile. I'm not sure hacking is an answered prayer, but I think God is using it to direct me. I love blogging too much to just stop. Which brings me to my next idea. Something that includes a lot of what I love about Thankfully Thrifty, minus each and every deal. Something fun, where I can post often without being limited to thriftiness - though let's be honest, that will naturally flow out because it's ingrained in me. There's still a lot I w...

So it turns out that out of our four laying hens, we have two roosters. Queeny and Ida May. This explain a lot - like why the two of them sometimes go at it. And why we don't have eggs. (The heat and the fact that they have not been mature until now also explains that.) My neighbor was watching them this weekend while we were in Houston for Labor Day (pics from the weekend to come), and she texted saying she heard cockadoodling! Don't get me wrong, cockadoodling IS loud, but when the rooster are inside the coop and we are inside our house, you can't hear it. Outside you hear it, but it doesn't wake one up or anything. Thankfully. Otherwise I'm sure we would have gotten a letter from the city already. They do that sorta thing. Needless to say, Queeny and Ida May will be finding new homes. I'm tempted to say we should eat them. But I don't want to have to pluck their feathers. Or kill them. Queeny is too pretty for that... I'm actually sad we have to g...