friends! thoughts?

So a few friends and I have a dream!
I feel like I'm on fire again, and I'm so stinking excited I could jump up in the clouds and hop around for a bit.

But, I want your thoughts.

Imagine you're a mom/mom-to-be (if you're not a mom and you're reading this blog, I apologize if I ever bore you, but thanks for being here!).

You are interested in babywearing/cloth diapers/homemade baby foods.

You are hoping for a newborn or have a newborn (aka you don't want to leave your house with your babe).

Here's where we come in!


We would have a business that would do 1-on-1 consultations for you in your own home.

If you're interested in babywearing, we bring over every type of carrier that is available. We try the carriers that are specifically made for your body type, for your babes' ages, etc. We mold the entire consultation to meet your needs.

With the money that you paid for this 1-on-1 consultation, we put that towards your special order that you order from us, getting the exact specific carrier that you want, while having the confidence and knowledge to babywear like an expert.

You get to be in your space, receive great product knowledge about something extremely important for you and your babe's well-being, get 1-on-1 attention, and get the exact carrier that works for your family and you.

Apply all of that to cloth diapers, homemade baby food, etc.


I want to know what you think!


Love,
Jenna

Siena Clare

It's so much harder than I could have imagined to be away from you half of the week. I don't see your face for three whole days in a row, and the only moments we have together are in the middle of the night when I go to feed you. You are such a beautiful and precious sight that this fact breaks my heart to pieces.

You are the sweetest little baby girl in the world.

You love your sister more than words, I can tell in the way you look at her. She loves to hold your hands and dance with you.

You and Pablo are the sweetest. He wants to eat you up whenever he sees you.

Ez holds a special place for you in his heart.

You and Ez with your big sissies :)

And last but the least of all, your dad loves you more than anything. You are the most beautiful Siena in the whole world, and I can see it when he looks at you that he is struck by your peace and smile. You certainly warm his heart.

I love you, baby girl, and I miss you. I can't wait to see you at 2am. Greatest moments of my days.

lions, ditches, and tina, oh my!

Recently, our Besties came over to visit us. By Besties I mean: my best friend Maraeca, Lia's best friend Acaiah, and Siena's best man, Ezra. They always bring us so much joy when they come by - such a welcomed break from our day-to-day. Here is Ezra and his mommy - who happens to be explaining Acaiah's Halloween costume (which is an adorable lion costume! And she has the "roar" down so well) :)

After this crazy game of charades with Maraeca and Ez, the girls ventured outside in the HOT HOT sun! (Thankfully, tomorrow's high will be 87! Can't wait!) The girls love to sit (yes, just sit) in the car that Nina Tiffy gave to Lia. Somehow, who knows how, because the girls aren't so great at steering themselves around the yard, Acaiah got stuck in our little ditch area! It was so funny because Maraeca, Tina and I were all inside and we looked out and there was little Acaiah, "help! help!"

Of course, I had to snap a photo before we did any "help! help!"ing.

After THOSE shenanigans, the girls ventured into our little "grotto" area. 

When Michael and I first saw the house, we thought the little grotto outside was awesome (by awesome , we mean hilarious and holy at the same time). The grotto is a place where we plan to put a Mary statue (that may be Mike's Christmas present as we have yet to get a Mary statue - and if I don't type it out here I will totally forget). But, since we don't have a Mary statue to safeguard our grotto, we just have Acaiah and Lia. Which is ironic, because they are becoming less and less holy by the second because they are 2 year olds are on a mission to be as rebellious as ever ;)

Look at this mischievous face!! You know she's planning something :) But still, can't help the cuteness. Like for reals.

This day of fun was just another day for us - another day of giggles and sighs and everything in between. These moments have been shared so much with our beautiful friend Christina. Tina (what the kids like to call her) is truly an incredible, magnificent creation from God. She is the epitome of what generous, unconditional love looks like. From the moment she was around our family, she gave all of herself to love on Cecilia, and eventually, Siena as well. I have never seen someone so open to children as much as she is. It's really unbelievable.

Not only has Tina brought so much light to our girls' lives, she has continually brightened Michael's and mine. I feel so blessed to have met such an incredible person - that the Lord would see it fitting to show me the light that she is. It can only be from Him and through Him that I was given her as a gift to my life. With that, I know that He sent her here and into my life to teach me, as all of the people in my life do. And the things I have learned from her - about cooking, about serving, about adventure, about delighting in my children... these are all things I hope to grow on from now to kingdom come.

We (I) will truly miss her more than she knows. I will always be grateful for what she has taught me, and I can't wait to take many a trip to Nashville to learn even more.

74/365

"Alongside the sadness, I was feeling something else. I was feeling free."

many faces

Okay so I have entirely too many photos to make separate posts for, so I figured I would try to put a bunch of old pictures together in one post and get them out there!

For your viewing pleasure...

"contemplative"

Siena at three weeks old, photo taken by Christina Lafferty Photography.

"distracted"

55/365

"creative"

56/365

"aggressive"

57/365

"joyful"

58/365

"content"

59/365

"adorable"

Siena at six weeks old.

"crooked"

60/365

"comforted"

61/365

"disdainful"

62/365

"surprised"

63/365

"gangsta"

the lovers, Ezra and Siena forever ;)

"explorative"

64/365

"frightened"

65/365

"Everybody wake up, if you're living with your eyes closed." ~dmb

memorial day

41/365

We had a little Memorial Day BBQ with some of our besties - and of course, Acaiah was there in all smiles and laughs and love. She is so bright and loving, and Lia really gets excited when she sees her. This is the girls attempting to share - and by sharing, they just sit on each other and figure it out. It was so hilarious!

Lia giving Nina and the puppy dog, Ollie, some love.

We had a really beautiful day, and I'm so grateful for our wonderful friends. I love when we constantly are blessed with community, which is where our joy comes from. Michael and I definitely thrive when are surrounded by family and friends - learning and teaching and just being with those that the Lord has set into our lives. I am so excited for Lia to learn to love community and communal life in the same way. I hope that her heart extends from our little community of friends and family, all the way to those that she doesn't personally know, but are our brothers and sisters in the Lord.

big girl room

So with Siena coming in a short 8 weeks or so, we figured (with the nudges of Nina Tiffany) that we should get rockin and rollin on painting Lia's new [big girl!] room. We painted the room a nice soft, bright yellow that is so perfect when the window is open and all the lights set in.

My whole idea for the room is an antique-y/vintage-y feel. 

So my camera is not able to get wide-angles, meaning Befores & Afters don't really work, and you can't really see the difference in the paint color and all that jazz. My apologies! So, all you get are close-ups of the volunteers hard at work painting up a storm! Thank you to Michael, Uncle Mijo (Ross), and Nina Tiffy :)

Tiffany happened to turn into Hard Ass Tiffany - she's a paint nazi! But, thanks to her, we got the job done. This is a pic of Ross and her telling Mike what to do as we all just sit back and watch his job [semi] well-done.

Mike getting grief from all of us, but working hard!

This is a pic of the dresser that Tiff and I painted white and then used some special paint to antique the dresser for that feel that we wanted. Tiff also found some great handles at Hobby Lobby (I think?) that were super cheap and fit PERFECTLY into our decor! I really love the dresser and the handles... 

We also found some great frames at Goodwill. I wanted to do a lot of gold frames to put some antique pics in. The big frame in the middle had a really nasty print in it (that a woman at Goodwill just "loooooved," and was SO jealous that we got it). Anyhow, we painted chalkboard paint over the print that we will use to put some fun quotes/Good Morning Sunshine/Jesus Loves You/kind of stuff.

Although you can't see the Before & After - I hope you feel the idea of what Lia's Big Girl Room looks like!! We also got a twin bed from one of Tiffany's coworkers at a really great price, and she's been in the bed for FOUR days now! It's so weird to see our tiny baby girl in a big twin bed, but she's adapting well, and it makes my heart happy that she's still our happiest girl and adjusting well to this huge transition.

Now, we have Siena's nursery to work on, but luckily, we have NO furniture to buy since all of Lia's nursery stuff is going right to Siena. It's really perfect :)

hugs and kisses

5/365

Cecilia is training to be a wonderful big sister. I'm trying to hang around with as many babies as we can so she can become acclimated to me holding babies and not being able to hold her as much, etc. I know that you can't truly practice for the real thing, but it's so fun to see her love, kiss and hug her baby doll. When we got to visit little Blaise Jetty the other day, she just wanted to stare at him and laugh. We'll get there - and I know it will be an adventure to see her with our new baby in a few months.

"We are not alone; there is love out there and it wants us."

the fresh air

4/365

Cecilia loves to walk around on our [dead] grass outside and stomp on the super crunchy leaves! It's so fun for her to listen to the noises of them and laugh and laugh. She also got to have Acaiah over a few days ago to join in the fun outside. I can't wait to see the adventures they have together, and especially what trouble and mayhem Cecilia causes for us in this backyard. Life will be sweet.

"The whole air about us is filled with angels."

the first of many

It has been quite a year, well, year and nine months for us. We celebrated Cecilia's very first birthday this past week - and it has been quite an adventure. I cannot believe that the Lord has blessed us with such an amazing angel, and that He felt we were worthy enough to take care of her soul here on earth. We are truly so blessed.

We had the immense pleasure of hosting Cecilia's birthday party here at our home with our dear family who, for some of them, saw the house for the very first time! We were extremely blessed to have Michael's family and my family help us along the way with party planning and execution. It was such a fun day!

Here are some photo ops that Maggie and I took throughout the day:

The centerpieces, filled with lemonheads, oranges and some flowers.

Nina Tiffy gave Cecilia a car for her first birthday - so that was definitely the hit of the day. Joey and Leila both had a lot of fun pushing Cecilia around the yard.

The two cuties - Cecilia and cousin Anisa. They both like stripes - obvi!

Tio Josh preventing some dead bush mishap with Cecilia's leg - thanks Tio!

Auntie Furgie and Cecilia after blowing out the candle... on the awesome cake that Auntie Lori got from La Dolce Pesca the yummiest (and most awesomely designed) cakes in town!

This is the special recipe of deliciousness upon deliciousness topped with deliciousness. Yum.

Grandpa John getting a little loopy ;) 

The cousins!

Uncle Zach scared her with his beard.

Nina Tiffy giving some love.

This is us with Josh, Susie and Anisa! 

It was really such a fun day, and we are so happy that we pulled off a great party with very little mishaps. It's such a joy to see this process of growing up - for Cecilia and for me. It's such an exciting trail to be on - to see what it is that she grows to love, grows to care for - what she grows to hold true and dear. What her passions may be, what will set her on fire. I cannot wait to see the fire in her eyes when she talks passionately about something, I can't wait until she looks everywhere and then some to find herself, only to go back to where she began - to look inside herself and find Him waiting for her with open arms. I can't wait to see her mischief and her attempt at deception (when, let's face it, parents always know everything). She has already given us so many laughs and so many tears of joy - I pray that the Lord grants us worthy to see her out for so many more.

We also shared some (insanely!) exciting news - WE'RE PREGNANT! Woop woop! We just couldn't resist getting pregnant again while Josh and Susie are too - I mean, what fun is just ONE new baby in the family without his best friend?? Ha - we are expecting a new little one around the end of June/beginning of July. We are so excited and thrilled to see Cecilia interact with a new baby and her new best friend. It will definitely be an insane adventure and one for many more blogs!

So that's the scoop - it may not be the planning and timing precisely as we expected, but what's the saying? - "When you make plans, God laughs."

I mean, He's been laughing since day one ;)

"I would rather live in a world where my life is surrounded by mystery than live in a world so small that my mind could comprehend it."

Love.