All posts by Only Hsuman

I'm wife to a fabulous husband Ryan, mom of three sweeties, Ella Kate, Joseph and Davis, worship leader at Reynolda Church, and follower of Jesus. Shine on.
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Distracted By the Sacrifice

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It’s Good Friday.

I wanted to start my day off today with a quiet time, with my heart in a certain place. I’ll have a marathon of two services this evening that will plunge me into the depths of the sacrifice that has been made for me. But I wanted to have a few moments on my own, with the Word, and with Jesus.

It didn’t work out that way.

I was summoned for applesauce about 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. Once I roused myself, I heard two voices and not just one. I tried to lay there, ignore the babbling baby, take out my iPad and read a devotional in the bed, but the toddler next to me just couldn’t be still. Maybe while he eats, I thought. Maybe while he eats I can sneak away for a moment. After scrambling eggs, toasting English muffins, and cutting fruit, it seemed I might get a moment to sit on the couch on my own. But then up the stairs came the third hungry animal who had awoken. My duties were far from over.

While I was waging my war on a toddler who didn’t eat and a baby who wouldn’t go to sleep, I was distracted. My mind was on higher things. I was going through the normal morning motions, but my mind was spinning, thinking of two thousand years ago on this day. On that day, a different war was being waged. That day, Jesus was beaten, pierced, crucified. That day, the whole of Jerusalem was plunged into literal darkness, as the Son of man died on a cross that should’ve been for everyone else. How could I just be going through the motions of a normal life, when this day should have been reserved for quiet reflection or a grand showing of appreciation?

Because it is this sacrifice that allows me to freely live and love and go through those motions. This gift of forgiveness is what makes me who I am, and who I am is a busy mother of young children who need me to extend to them the grace I have received. The battle was fought for me against sin and darkness, and on the third day, the Light triumphed, death was beaten, and sin was crushed by the weight of God’s love.That is what I will focus my mind on. And it won’t be just on Good Friday.

mommyhood, siblings, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say

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Happy Tuesday, folks! I won’t lie – on Sunday, I was a little worried that I had nothing (literally nothing) to put in this post. It was a very busy week of me not being with the kids as much as usual (between work and play, there was lots of childcare involved) so I was worried I hadn’t spent enough time hearing what they’d said to fill a post up. But alas, any time I worry about that, they always amaze me with the ridiculousness that comes out of their mouths. So here it is, this week’s humor! 

 I came into EK’s room and saw this: 
It’s basically a bunch of leaves/weeds/buds off a tree in our yard that she at some point brought inside. And then sorta ground into the carpet. It’s even a little funnier because of the toy vacuum sitting next to it like she’d tried to clean it up with that.

There’s a good close up so you know how tiny the pieces were. The only way she explained it to me was that she was having “a really fancy tea party”. Apparently that required natural decorations in the form of pollen. Obviously I made her clean it up. With the REAL vacuum.

Some friends came to pick me up to go to an out of town wedding, and EK shared with them this memory: One time, I came up the stairs when I was supposed to be in bed, and you saw me sand you said, “Hey!” Did you remember that?

J, any time I give him anything or put a piece of clothing/shoe on him: This is El’ Kate’s! (It must stem from her telling him all day long, “Hey! That’s mine!”) I have to reassure him that some things belong to just him.

The other night, EK and J spent the whole dinnertime shouting the word “tattoo” and giggling. I guess it sounded funny to them. (Addendum: they were very tired.)

Hubby has just this week been showing the kids Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, and EK keeps singing the “Won’t you be my neighbor?” song. I hadn’t watched it, and thought somehow she had been seeing Mister Rogers. Then I cried because I missed him and cried because Daniel Tiger totally ripped him off.

  
These snowballs have been relabeled “core memories”. Word is still out on whether they are joyful, sad, etc. (This is funnier if you’ve seen Inside Out.)

J: I want some space! I want some space!
Me: What, buddy?
J: I want some space!
Me, realizing he’s pointing to a deck of cards: Oh! You want to play spades.
I guess we do play a lot of spades.

Overheard from the other room…

EK: He tried to chew on my dress!

J is obsessed with two things right now: spiders and “stupid bugs”. Every dark speck or piece of lint anywhere is automatically either a spider or a “stupid bug”. One morning, he kept talking about a fly (which was a new one) and I assumed he meant the fruit flies we always have this time of year with the windows open a lot. I told him to get it and smash it, which overjoyed him. I figured he wouldn’t be able to, and if he did, well, that’s one less fly and we’d wash his hands. He came back with a dead stink bug on the back of a book he’d smashed it with. I was equal parts impressed and grossed out. We had a little teachable moment on stink bugs, how they smell really bad and we don’t touch them. Now, he’s obsessed with “stupid stink bugs”. At least he learned their proper name?

J: I see a bug on the table!

EK: It’s okay, honey. There are no flies or bugs on the table. 

And just because I never post on this post about D, here’s a little funny. He is OBSESSED with the vacuum. He probably thinks it’s the coolest toy ever, because Mommy uses it every single day.

faith, mommyhood, My Big Jesus, my journey as a mother, pregnancy, women

A Letter to Myself Before I Became a Mother

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Dear innocent, young girl,

I want to write you, even though I know you’ll never see it. But maybe it will make us both feel better, and let us share a little of ourselves with each other. Oh, if you only knew what’s coming. I could tell you so many things, but you wouldn’t even want to hear them right now. It’s difficult to understand the lifestyle, the struggles, all of the feels that you will experience later. You might even have a chuckle or two (or hearty laugh, actually) at some of the things coming for you.

But in lieu of us having a little laugh at my (our) expense, I thought I’d give a piece or two of advice. You know, a friendly few suggestions to maybe try out before you get to where I am now: wading through a pile of children on my way to the bathroom in the morning, hearing shouts floating up the stairs before I’ve even heard my alarm (by the way, my alarm is a crying baby). Here are my three big pieces of advice:

1. Sleep late. I know you do already, or I wouldn’t know how much you’d miss it. But do it more often, as often as possible. And you know what else? Go to bed early. I know you’re a night owl and you love staying awake in the wee hours, but just try it out once or twice. You might find that you like it!

2. Travel. You don’t have any idea how cheap and easy it is to go places right now. It will be again, but not for a while. Get out there into the world beyond your town. Visit friends that live far away, go to different time zones while your body can spring back easily, get on an airplane without any tag-alongs (and I don’t mean Girl Scout cookies), eat fancy food, visit museums and see shows. You’ll find that each of these things is either more expensive, more difficult, or altogether impossible, at least for a little while. Travel enough now to save up some memories until your children are older and you’re not using your paycheck on diapers.

3. Sow seeds. This seems broad, but it can be specifically applied to three areas: your family, your friends, and your career. You will be busy when you’ve got little ones. And not any sort of busy that you’ve ever experienced. You won’t have much time to build new relationships, so sow good seeds into the family and friends you’ve got now. You want them to stick around during that time when you’re largely an unshowered, frazzled mess, alive solely because of coffee. They’ll be forgiving (and even helpful!) because you’ve spent years loving them well when you had the time and energy for it. Your career will thank you as well. Work hard and long while you don’t have those little ones who need you at home. You’ll build a base of trust and integrity, and likely receive grace later when you have a sick babe or preschool play to attend.

The last thing I’ll say, free and childless one, is when you do get ready for children, and you are expecting one of your own, don’t brush off what those mothers you meet will tell you. New mothers, old mothers, working mothers, stay-at-home mothers will all impart wisdom to you in their own way. Sometimes, you won’t know why they need to tell you those ridiculous things, or scare you with their labor stories, or be the hundredth woman to tell you, “Oh, just wait!” They’re all right; what they say will be true at some point during your mothering experience. You will be tired, you will get fed up, and you will feel the craziest, strongest, most permanently bonding love you’ve ever felt about anything. Open your heart to it, because it’s the best thing you’ll ever feel.

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Currently 

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Happy Monday, friends! For today’s Currently, I will link up with Becky at Choose Happy and our other friends to hold our weekly updates. Read, comment, link up and let us know how you’re doing currently!

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Celebrating  || my gorgeous friend Kate’s wedding! It was a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception at the groom’s parents’ house. It sounds crazy, but they cleaned out their furniture from their great room (it was large with high, vaulted ceilings and huge windows) and set up tables and chairs. It really worked great! Hubby’s band played, the food was yummy and there was good beer. Overall, a total win!

Planting || our vegetable garden! We finally went to Lowe’s and got the wood for our last bed and some of our plants (some actually turned out to be most). We got them in the ground on Friday! We actually chose a few things we’ve never done before, including Brussels sprouts, asparagus, and romaine lettuce. We also got the usual herbs (and added cilantro!), squash, cucumber, and tomatoes. We will go back for peppers, eggplants, and the other kind of tomato we didn’t see yet: yellow gold cherry tomatoes- they grew like CRAZY and we all ate them off the vine! 

  
In case you’re wondering, the white petals have fallen all weekend off a tree in our backyard, and they’ve blown all over cars, the deck, and the garden. It looks like snow now that the wind has been blowing all morning.

I’d also like to give Hubby the outdoorsman award, because he’s also been mowing, weeding, and pressure-washing and staining our deck. He’s a keeper, y’all.

Praying || for sleep. I really feel like we are under attack in this area. Between Hubby’s late night work, a toddler who is getting up before 7 (unheard of with our kids until the past two weeks) and an 8 month old who is waking 1-3 times a night (having previously slept through the night), we are at a total loss. I’m having anxiety about even going to sleep at all, because I’m afraid that I’ll just be woken right after I actually get to sleep. It’s a bad cycle. So if you’re a praying friend, pray for sleep at our house.

Scheduling || our lives for the week. We have a lot going on between Holy Week (and my church job), Hubby’s two albums he’s in the middle of, some writing projects in working on, and just keeping up with regular life stuff. We don’t usually plan out weeks out in advance because our work is typically flexible, and we don’t mind working at odd hours. But this week, we’ve got deadlines and I have extra church services, and we need to really be diligent if we are to accomplish everything!

That being said, if you are local, Reynolda’s Easter weekend is going to be INCREDIBLE. Here’s the run down:

Good Friday Service, Village Campus: this Friday evening at 6:30pm & 8:00pm

Easter Sunrise Service, St. Peter’s World Outreach Center: We partner with them every year and it is a PARTY to kick off your Easter Day. This year, it’s at their place at 7:00am this coming Sunday.

Reynolda Easter Services: Village Campus Worship Center at 9:30am and 11am, Ascent (in the fellowship hall, where I’ll be!) at 9:30am and 11am and at the Union Cross Campus at 11am!

So many opportunities to celebrate and worship and check out Reynolda! If you don’t have a church home and you live in the triad, get to one of these services!

What are you doing for Easter? Is anyone out there planting this spring?

food, food, home, mommyhood

We Love French Toast!

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At our house, we eat a lot of breakfast. I grew up knowing it truly was the most important meal, and I’ve tried to impress that upon my own kids as well. So naturally, I try to cook something every morning. Sometimes it’s only eggs (with some fruit, toast, or bagel) and sometimes I really go all out with pancakes or waffles. But a trusty favorite for my kids is French toast. It’s easy, fairly nutritious, and always loved by my kids. Here’s what I do:

Make some coffee. This is a vital step to any breakfast excursion. I don’t know about you, but I can’t measure, pour, read, or speak properly until I’ve had some coffee. My current situation is a pour over of locally roasted beans. Yum.

Make the batter. Depending on how much French toast you want to make, you might need 2-5 eggs. These three eggs fed my toddlers and me, as a reference. Then add some milk, vanilla, and cinnamon. In this one I used coconut milk because I had some leftover from another project, but I’ve used cows’ milk, soy milk and almond milk, and it’s been great every time. I don’t put a whole lot, around 1/3 cup, unless I want to stretch it and don’t have enough eggs! I shake in a little cinnamon (however much you want, depending on how much you like cinnamon), and dribble in some vanilla (to your preference as well)… Sometimes people use nutmeg. I don’t like it much, so I don’t use it, but if you like it, throw in some nutmeg, too! Whisk it all together, and you’ve got enough batter for several full pieces of bread.


Cook it! I just put a little butter (or sometimes coconut oil to be healthier) in a skillet on low, and wait till it gets hot enough to melt and cover the pan. Then you take the bread, slice by slice (I use Pepperidge Farm Homestyle Oatmeal, and it’s a little bigger than a square loaf bread, so I halve the slices first), and soak it in the batter for a few seconds – just long enough to make sure that every part is covered in the batter, but not long enough that the bread is falling apart. Then put it on the pan, and let it cook for a minute or so on each side, just to make sure it’s good and hot, and the egg is fully cooked. This may vary a little depending on how “low” the low is on your stove. But I like it to still be soft!

Serve it up! My kids like it drizzled with maple syrup. My mom likes it sprinkled with powdered sugar. I like it dressed up with a little fruit spread. It’s good every possible way you eat it… I even eat it plain! It’s delicious, and much better for you than something like sugary cereal or a fried chicken biscuit. (Not that I don’t truly love Lucky Charms and Bojangles.)

By the way, it’s very important that you still use your Christmas dishes in March… Oops.

How do you like your French toast?

food, home, mommyhood, siblings, things toddlers say

Things Toddlers Say

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Happy Tuesday, everyone! It’s a bit short this week (I spent the better part of two days not hanging out with anyone much since I had the stomach bug) but still good! Hope your enjoy the funny things my kids are saying!


EK was so excited to get my attention and show me this “delicious ballet”. I think she may have meant “delicious display”. Still unsure.    

Eating homemade paella…
J: This is chicken and rice!
EK: No it’s paella!
J: Pallela?!

Bedtime stalling on a new level…
EK: I saw a spider in my room!
(10 minute rant from Hubby about how spiders are good, not scary, and they eat other bugs that we don’t like.)
EK comes back: I saw a spider in my room! He was eating a cracker!
Me: *face palm*

J’s new favorite thing to talk about: his scrape. He fell in the parking lot on the way into church one day, and Hubby introduced him to the word “scrape”. He is now obsessed with it, and it sounds a lot like “grape”. He is also very concerned with getting kisses to make it feel better… from everyone. I don’t know what he’ll talk about when his hand heals.

Preparing for  our walk the other day, the mailman happened to be at our mailbox when we walked out the door…
EK: Mom! Look at that email man! (Chuckling)
A minute later when we walked by the mailbox…
EK: Mom! You didn’t check your email!

My mom called D a “drool bucket”. I don’t even think EK was in the room at the time. But I hear her, hours later, singing a song to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?” about “Drool Bucket Davis”.

Sitting at dinner, J reaches his hand toward me and says, “I can’t reach you! I need to reach you!” When I leaned over to him, he gently touched my face, then put his arm around my neck. Oh wow, am I in for it.

EK: Necie! Have you noticed that the dentist lady brought me a new toothbrush?!
That happened weeks ago. And she doesn’t even use that one.

So let’s hear it: what’s the funniest thing your kids have said recently?

mommyhood, My Big Jesus, parenting fails, random thoughts

Questions You Ask As the Parent of Small Children

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This post also appeared on My Big Jesus!

  When I was a kid (and even now) it seemed to me my mom knew everything. If I was sick, she knew exactly what I needed to feel better. If I had lost something, she knew where it was. Even when I was a teen, she knew the fastest way to get anywhere and the best place to buy anything. Now that I’m the mom, I’m constantly confronted with questions that I’m asking my mom, my other mom friends, or even Google. (“Thank goodness for Google!” said all the millennial parents.) Here are just a few of the questions I feel like I’m constantly wondering:

Why won’t she eat banana anymore?

How much Tylenol do you give to a one year old?

What color poop should the baby have?

What day is it?

Will my kid ever get all his teeth?

Will I ever sleep again?

Where is the other sippy cup?

When will my kid just put his own clothes on?

How do I get up this many times in a night, and not die?

When did I last shower?

What does a concussion look like in a toddler?

How do I get that stain out?

Do I really have to wash my coffee mug every day?

How can it possibly still be two hours until bedtime?

Weren’t we just at the doctor’s office?

Does the baby have any clean pajamas?

Why does my daughter outgrow her clothes so quickly?

What’s the liquid on the floor?

Why is formula so expensive?

Is potty training this hard for everyone?

Do the grocery store people know me by name?

When will my kids be able to buckle themselves into the car?

What would I be doing right now if I didn’t have all these kids?

How fast do toddlers run?

How do we go through diapers so quickly?

Where’d that come from?

How am I out of clean underwear again already?

What sound does a zebra make? (Okay, I didn’t wonder that one, but I did have to Google it for my daughter.)

If you’ve ever asked Google or your own mom any of these things, then we could be friends. Just be careful when deciding if it’s poop or chocolate.

faith, food, holidays, home, mommyhood, siblings

Currently

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Happy Monday! This week I’m linking up with Becky at Choose Happy and our other friends to bring you another Currently! I hope you’ll comment or link up with us and let us know what you’re up to right now!IMG_0614

Recovering || from the stomach bug. I guess it’s going around, and I had it on Saturday. I was supposed to be going to a wedding that night and was in no shape to do so! All things considered, it could’ve been much worse, but who likes the stomach bug anyway? Basically, I drank a lot of ginger ale.

Celebrating || St. Patrick’s Day! Normally we have a big weekend event we go to, where Hubby’s Irish band plays, but it didn’t happen this year. So we have a small thing we are doing on Thursday after I get the kids from school. I’m excited to keep celebrating, even if it isn’t the normal thing. Good news: Hubby is still playing!

This is when we were at the pub a couple of weeks ago… D was already wearing his swag!

Loving || having the windows open! Specifically, this window in my bedroom. The tree outside is covered in blooms! I know it’s a short-lived thing, but I love it. And I’m not allergic to it, so it’s even better!

  
Watching || my boys interact. They’re so funny, and they love each other. J can’t wait for D to be a little more rough and tumble… I have to pull him off of D a lot, haha. But D tries to follow him around, and it’s adorable.  And just this morning, D tried to pull up on the couch and it almost worked – so it won’t be long!

D is now a professional crawler.

Photographing || meals. EK keeps asking me to take a picture while she’s eating, or pictures of the boys taking bites, so I have a camera roll full of eating. Ha!




 

This one is my favorite.

This Currently reminds me that it’s often possible to take immense pleasure in simple things, like brother love and only one person in your family getting the stomach bug. What a wonderful life I am blessed with, and what a generous God has provided and entrusted this family to me!

holidays, home, mommyhood, My Big Jesus, random thoughts

What a Bad Idea!

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This post also appeared on My Big Jesus! 

 We can all sense it… Spring is coming. Here in NC, the weather is warmer, and flowers are beginning to bloom. All over, the sun is showing itself earlier in the morning and later in the evening. Children are losing their cool indoors and begging to go out and catch the rays of sun for which they’ve been longing. But there’s just one, tiny, little, baby hiccup about the coming of spring…

Daylight Savings Time. 

Whoever came up with this idea clearly didn’t have a toddler. I used to appreciate a good “fall back” in November. But now that I’m a parent, we all know that falling back just isn’t going to happen. And springing forward? That just sounds like every morning of my life. 

Let me just walk you through what this looks like for us…

Our first year as parents, everyone said, “Oh, it’s not so bad if you ease their bedtime up by 10 minutes the week before. Then they’re pretty much on schedule.” I don’t know if this has truly worked for people, but my daughter, who was almost one at the time, basically laughed in my face. Every year after that, we just sorta started bedtime earlier the night before and hoped for the best. (Side note: It didn’t really work.)

Recently we’ve had some trouble getting our kids to sleep if it’s light, regardless of the time (i.e. nap time or bedtime). We’ve gotten sound machines to drown out daytime noises. We’ve put up black-out shades in their rooms. We’ve streamlined routines, given baths, loveys, snuggles and stories, and come to one conclusion: those kids are gonna sleep when they’re tired. Enter my next task…

Wear. Those. Crazy. Kids. Out. This is tough. On days we don’t have school, it means parks and the children’s museum. It means play dates and picnic lunches. It means that my exhaustion counts for nothing, and I have to muster up the energy to play hard, and crash hard when it’s done. Naps must be taken, because over-tiredness leads to poor nights’ sleep. If I want them to go to bed early, we play extra hard. If I want them to take good naps, I pay attention to their “sleepy” cues, and have a bed available at that moment, instead of still being at the park when the meltdown hits. 

Bottom line? Daylight Savings Time sucks. People with young children should just move to Arizona and be done with it. No one is saving anything, but everyone is losing their sanity. 

food, home, mommyhood, random thoughts, women

Currently

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A little late update is better than no update at all, right?! I hope you’ve had a good week so far, and want to join our link up! I’m joining Becky at Choose Happy, and we’d love to hear from you, too! Here’s what I’m up to currently!IMG_0614

Enjoying || catching up on some tv! We’ve been far behind due to busyness and lack of sleep, so I’m glad to say we’re almost caught up on our shows! By the way, are there any Grimm watchers out there? This season has me going nuts. 

Wearing || my retainer. Gross, right? Well it’s actually working. Being totally raw with y’all, and it’s a little embarrassing for me, but I’ve not worn it regularly in years… 

 and now I’m rambling about my retainer. Gross. I’m wearing it. That’s it. 

Eating || really healthy this week. My goal is no sugar, low carb, and less alcohol. I typically stick to very little sugar (I’m not a sweets craver usually), so hopefully I can cut it out completely. I’ve got a fun dress I borrowed from a friend to wear to a wedding this weekend, and I want to feel good in it!

Listening to || my Hubby play some music tonight! His band should be Bering up, and I’m out past 10pm! It’s a miracle.