Moving

Ok. So, there have been some newish things going on and I wanted to share them with you.

I've had this computer, Macbook, for a year. I forgot that I can create a blog/website on it. It is soooo easy to do and loads of fun at the same time.

ALSO, I changed my Twitter name to reflect better what I am now as a blogger and a mother. I am no longer EXPECTING my 3rd child. I had my 3rd child....girl, but you know that already if you have been following @EXPECT3 on twitter or my blog. What is going on now is... with three children, I'm counting to 3, or "@CountingTo3".

I'm moving my blog to this website thingy that Apple does. I have been taking the tutorials and have been having a ball. IN MY SPARE TIME I sleep or shower or maybe read a book... so this has been a long production of a switch from blogger to MAC APPLE iWeb hicky place.

If by chance you want to follow my new blog or maybe just go take look....it can be found a couple of ways, by going to my @CountingTo3 profile has a link should take you right there. or by clicking cutting and pasting the following address in your browser. http://web.me.com/annettemc.davis/CountingTo3/Welcome.htm

Thanks for joining me on my journey. Please let me know where your blog is, I'd love to take a look.

This Just In

The Tada Shop

The Tada Shop, you gotta love that name! The just-launched site for apparel (girls, boys, babies) and toys is more than a virtual shopping cart; it compares and contrasts looks and prices from hundreds of brands, saving you the chore of website hopping, hence the TADA!

It works like this...Need a red dress for less than $50? Select the right filters and — presto! — choices appear. Toddler boys’ polos? Ka-zam — you’re in business. Sellers range from big-name (J.Crew, Mini Boden) to indie (Neige, Mini Rodini); AND... when it’s time to buy, you’re directed to their sites.

Rounding things out are the Create a Look feature that lets you piece together and see entire outfits, expert style tips, and sales.

I just love websites that are created to be ready, willing and happy (with showmenship) to make things easier for MOMS! YAY!!! Bravo!!! TADA!!!

It all deserves a major fanfair.

Unanswerable Questions

"He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him" (Psalm 91:15a).

Do your younger children drive you crazy with all their questions each day? With an insatiable desire to know "why," they ask a barrage of unending questions that parents are forced to answer as best they can. Some questions like "Why is the sky blue?" and "Where do babies come from?" might set us back for a few minutes as we think of the best way to answer. But other questions like "Why did Grandpa die?" and "Why did God let my sister get cancer?" pose a much bigger challenge. Sometimes, questions are simply unanswerable and the "whys" of life's problems have no answer keys for us to use.

Like little children, countless men and women in the Bible also asked questions when they struggled through the "whys" of life's difficulties. Job's life is one such example. After suffering horrific loss of belongings, family, and health, he sat down and asked God "why" in Job 31. God never gave Job an outright answer, but He did counteract Job's question with a few questions of His own, including "Where were you when I created the world?" Confessing his ignorance in questioning a Holy God, Job reached the point of submissive humility and brokenness. "Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not"(Job 42:3).

Are you looking for some answers to the "whys" in your life? Is the pain and suffering that you're experiencing causing you to wonder, "Where is God? Doesn't He know what is happening to me?" Perhaps God is taking you to a new level of trusting in Him, or He is trying to teach you a deeper truth. Either way, God has not left you. He sees your every tear and will deliver you in His time. Will you continue to hope in Him and wait for His answer? "Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God" (Psalm 43:5).

Lord, I acknowledge that You alone are God. I lay my burden at Your feet and ask You to strengthen me to face this problem in my life. Even if I never know "why," I will continue to trust in You and Your love for me. In Jesus' name, Amen.

You can help save a home

Pink and Stuffed with Fluff

Ok, I'll admit it.

I'm having so much fun with this little girl of mine.
She is either going to laugh and think that she is as adorable in this picture when she grows up as I do, or she is going to be so mad at me for dressing her up so fluffy.

But look!!!

She is pink and she is a G I R L!!!

She is now 3 months old and smiles and coos. So, of course she is enjoying it. Never mind that she screamed her head off before this picture was taken because I was messing with her so much. Hey, she got happy again.....

ok

Once I called in support from her father and he gave her a pat pat walk around the house and gave her a bottle and burped her and gently placed her down on this furry blanket covered bouncy seat.

She may have given a slight whimper when I placed her legs like this, BUT I'm sure she really enjoyed it. I mean... look! Here is Proof, she is smiling.

Ok, so daddy is off camera and getting her to stop crying and she's reacting to his sweet talk....but over all she is ok.

I, on the other hand, am standing to her right, in a time out because I touched her too much and made her cry, I'm in a hands off posture, ok, a fetal position, but the picture turned out so cute.

I love that I have someone around to play tea party with, and baby dolls, Barbies, doll houses, and play house. I cannot wait to pass on recipes to her and bond while teaching her how to knit. Dressing up and going to the ballet, symphony and plays.

ahhhhhh, it will be so fun.

Ok, for me it will be fun. She might not think so but a mom can dream right?

Quick Banana Bread, But for Me, 3 Hours

Mother of an Infant, Recipe for banana bread:

I am at home more often now, and for some reason I think I have time for baking. It's chilly outside and I have a desire to bake and fill the house with a warm fragrance of baked bread. I have found it takes much longer than it should, but here’s a recipe for how to make Quick banana bread: in 3 hours:

1. Feed baby until she falls asleep. Good, she should sleep long enough so I can get some breakfast.

2. Find a good recipe while eating breakfast. I have a hankering for warm bread today, and I have overripe bananas to get rid of soon.

3. Enjoy breakfast and coffee, then I preheat the oven.

4. Baby is waking up. Change her diaper, give her a pacifier, cross my fingers and put her down.

5. Get out the flour and sugar. By the time they hit the counter, baby is screaming again.

6. Try the pacifier one more time.

7. Get out the measuring cup. Pacifier didn’t work, she’s crying again. Measure out the flour anyway.

8. Feed the baby. By now, the oven is preheated. Oh well, it will stay warm. I'm nursing.

9. Baby has fallen asleep after a bit. Try to put her down, and of course she wakes up again. Play with her, and give her the pacifier again. She may entertain herself for a couple of minutes.

10. Measure out sugar.

11. Get the new package of sugar from the pantry. At least I thought of this when I went grocery shopping 2 days ago (in one of her quiet moments). This infant is scheduling my life and has really helped me be more prepared! (Girl scouts aside ...)

12. She’s fussing again. Check diaper – has she pooped yet? I could tell she was working on it, and poor baby hasn’t pooped in 3 days.

13. Darn it. In the middle of baking, I'm disappointed baby doesn’t have a poopy diaper. How's that for new mommy thoughts, I'm thinking about poopy diapers, this is my life now?

14. Put baby down. Measure out salt and baking soda while I listen to her complain.

15. Put baby in sling. Turn off the music from her bouncy seat. Three months old and that music already driving me nuts, I realize one day she will be big enough to turn the music on herself.

16. Mash the bananas. I sure wish she were old enough for solids so I could give her some of these yummy mashed bananas. Fortunately she’s doing well with breastmilk (how did she suddenly get big enough for a 6-month outfit?)

17. Baby is squirming too much. Walk around for a few minutes.

18. Combine eggs and bananas.

19. Stir in dry ingredients.

20. Walk around for a while, baby is too squirmy in the sling. Try a pacifier.

21. Put the bread dough in the pan while singing the “pat it and roll it and mark it with a 'B' and put it in the oven for Baby and Me” song.

22. Put the baby down again. She’s quiet!

23. Put the bread in the oven, and bake for an hour.

24. Enjoy 15 minutes of silence while baby sleeps (and I start working on dinner).

Sleep when baby sleeps? How does that work?

A Southern Snowfall

My oldest child was born in January, the day after a huge Nor-easter hit the state of Connecticut. I was very nervous about getting to the hospital for our scheduled c-section, but that was just my pregnant mommy mind feeling tense about traveling through the snow. In Connecticut, they snowplow every street, spread salt and sand so most roads are open. We made it to the hospital without a problem.

My son spent the first four and a half years of his life playing in the New England winters. Snow angels, igloos, snowball fights, snow-cream, sledding, icicle smashing, you name it, he loved winter time outside. When the snow melted that first spring he was bored with the grass. It was rather funny. There was one snow patch left to play in our yard and as a toddler he just sat down and cried because he missed the snow. I promised him that playing outside in the spring and summer would be fun too. There's sandboxes, sprinklers and pools to play in for many warm months. He was not buying it, he loved the snow and as a toddler, he wanted snow...NOW!

Winters are different for us now, we moved back to Alabama four years ago. When we told our son that there was going to be snow in Alabama too, he expected to see snow start falling in October and ending in April. Sorry sonny boy, Alabama does have seasons, pretty falls, beautiful springs and summers, but the winters are milder than New England, yet it still snows). Well, it took a few years for it to happen, but two years in a row we've have had snow, (not lots but some). Also, when it snows in Alabama the snow doesn't stay around for long. By the end of the day, its gone. As children we learned to get dressed in warm clothes fast and get out and play with whatever amount of snow that falls from the sky.

Here are a few pictures of our quick Alabama snow. Just in case you slept in and missed it.

This blue bundle is my youngest son. This is his first snow. He's wearing the same snow suit my oldest wore at his first snow. My how they grow up so fast.


There you have it, snow in Dixie.

Balancing Act

Balancing Acts
Wednesday / January 13, 2010


"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it" (Proverbs 3:27).

I'm sure that if someone had peeked through my windows during my early years of being a mommy, they would have laughed at my antics. Many days, I felt like the circus performer who balances the spinning plates on top of a pole as I attempted to balance the needs of each person in my family. On any given day, I tried to spin my husband's plate with affection and undivided attention as he came through the doorway after work. I also worked hard to spin my creative son's plate with assistance in science experiments and projects that held his interest. Later when we had our baby boy I knew I needed to stop the wobbling of his plate and run to the kitchen to help him as he learned how to ask for more milk and food. Finally, to top it all off, we had a third child and two dogs, there was always toddlers fussing and babies needing their plates spun with a clean diaper and our dogs needed companionship for playtime. I knew that at some point I was going to run out of energy trying to keep each of their plates turning and wondered, "Who's going to spin my plate to keep this whole super-mommy act going?"

Praise God, the plates never did crash, but I did learn how to keep them spinning with someone else's energy other than my own. That someone was Jesus, and it was to Him that I ran each morning for the power to keep my own plate spinning. Knowing I only had so much strength, He showed me when and how to spin the plates of the family members who needed it most. I realized, too, that as much as I loved and wanted to help each member of my family, I was not responsible for making them happy or fulfilling every one of their needs. The power was simply not in my hands! Just as I had gone to the Lord for strength; they also needed to learn to cast their cares on Him. "Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee" (Psalm 55:22a).

Do you feel like you're teetering on the edge of disaster at home with your children? If so, you may need to hand off those spinning plates into the hands of the One who can balance them much better than you. "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 1:24).

Jesus, I'm so tired from trying to make our home successful in my own strength. Help me find the balance I need this new year to meet each of my family's needs with Your wisdom and strength. In Your name, Amen.

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