Paved Heaven?

I never thought I would compare a long piece of paved road to a little piece of heaven, but yesterday I sure did. Cap loves to use his walker, but inside the house you can only go so far without running into something. He just recently started to be able to move the walker when he gets stuck, but he still doesn't have the hand of it fully. I have thought about how funny it would be if I took him to the mall with his walker just so we could walk around. Could be the perfect cold/rainy day activity. I think people would get a pretty good laugh from it! Yesterday was 60 degrees here in the mountains so we decided to play outside ALL DAY!

Before his first nap we took a hike around camp. After his first nap, we played in the lake. We threw rocks and sticks in and splashed around with our hands. We got pretty wet, but well worth it! We watched the horses ride by our house. Played with the broom and picnicked outside. Then time for another nap. Afterwards, we went down the street over to the road that leads to our camp offices and had a good ol' time walking up and down the street with his walker. He seriously was on cloud 9 with all the walking he got to do! His legs were even giving out by the end because they were so tired!! We will definitely do that again.

Happy Friday!

ha ha

I came across this video the other day. Cap was about 9 weeks old. Too cute!

Rubber Ducky

There are many things I would love to write as there are many thoughts going around in my head. It has been a busier week than usual, but a good week. I am very thankful it is Friday and hoping for a few breaks in the rain tomorrow!

I have begun the weaning process with Cap. When I say " I have begun", I mean Cap has begun and I am now giving in to his leading. Breastfeeding came very easy for me, thank goodness. I know sometimes it can be a hard start for some moms. Cap came out a good latcher but just not a big eater. Lately, he wants very little to do with tata's. In the past, he would sometimes go through spurts of not eating very well and I would pump away not wanting my supply to go down for when he got hungry. I quit pumping this past month when he would have those low eating days.

Today is day 2 of dropping our #3 feeding for the day, which is in the afternoon. So now we are only nursing 3 times a day and really I could drop #2 pretty easily. He just has no interest. Most of the time he only eats a few minutes during a feeding. Physically, I cannot drop it cold turkey. I hurt bad enough going 7 hours in between the second feeding and the last feeding yesterday.

I feel like this is a big deal though. I could literally be away from midmorning till 6:30 when it is time for Cap to go to bed. Crazy!!! Like away and I don't have to pump. I just assumed I would be nursing for much longer even though it hasn't been my favorite activity. Even though it hasn't been my favorite, it will still be a little sad that his nursing stage is over. But we are on to bigger things now like peanut butter sandwiches!!!

We printed all our pictures from 2011 last weekend. I started putting them in albums today during nap times. Wow! This might take awhile. It has been fun looking at pictures of before Cap and when he was first born. There is nothing that compares to those first few weeks with your new baby and your new chapter in your life. I must say, I love where we are today. I feel much more well rested!!!! Ha!

Cap stands the entire time he is in the bath.

I don't know why he is crying??

Cute crying pic though!

His little boat got him in a better mood.

I LOVE this picture!

He is too precious.

10 months

Well we are a couple of days late as usual though I did take his pictures on the 13th. We have had an eventful month with the holidays, a new church close by, Bryce started back to school and some good ol' Roseola. I don't feel like I have a whole lot of new updates this month, but here are a few.

- back to not crying at nap time

- got better at diaper changes for a couple of weeks, but now we are back to screaming our lungs out...any tips??? Seriously because I am about to loose it.

- wants to walk NON STOP. When we picked him up at the nursery last Sunday the ladies said he walked the whole time while holding their hands. He would do this all day if I let him.

- explores everything and is very excited about any new thing

- took his first 2 1/2 hour nap this past week. He has done 2 hours but this was a new kind of awesome. However, it may have been because he was sick. Not sure.

- gained 2 lbs in 3 weeks. Then got sick again and lost another pound. My guess is he is back up again by the way he has been eating.

- has really started to grasp certain things we are doing

- does not prefer eating off of utensils for the most part. I can offer him something off a spoon, he will refuse. I put it on my fingers, then he eats it??? strange??

- you know the diaper rash I thought he had, well, it never went away. turns out it was a yeast infection.

- learning to sign more

- says his own version of hot, dog, nose and uses the sign for hot and dog

- his hair curls mostly on his left side (I may have said this before) its pretty cute just like his dad!

Another month older. Wow! Sometimes it feels like seconds and other times the seconds feel like years:) I know for certain that I am one blessed woman to be married to the man sitting next to me right now and a mom to the little boy asleep one room over. Life is full.

you can see his rash from having Roseola

I enticed him with popcorn during these pics and

this is him signing for more

Part 2

I really don't know how this all happened, but Bryce and I have had our listening ears on waiting for some direction from God about what to do next. I can't say I was expecting his answer, but both of us are excited to say we are moving west to Colorado. As Bryce started to look for jobs all over the state, we then felt God telling us specifically to move to Colorado Springs right now. It of course is bitter sweet to move from where you have called home for the last couple of years, but we are still thrilled to see what God has next for us.

We do not have anything lined up as for now once we get there. There are lots of things brewing right now that is just too early to share. We see lots of different puzzle pieces and slowly we are getting a beautiful picture from it.

This was part of my reading yesterday from Numbers 9:15-23.

The day The Dwelling was set up, the Cloud covered The Dwelling of the Tent of Testimony. From sunset until daybreak it was over The Dwelling. It looked like fire. It was like that all the time, the Cloud over The Dwelling and at night looking like fire. When the Cloud lifted above the Tent, the People of Israel marched out; and when the Cloud descended the people camped. The People of Israel marched at God's command and they camped at his command.

As long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, they camped. Even when the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for many days, they honored God's command and wouldn't march. They stayed in camp, obedient to God's command, as long as the Cloud was over The Dwelling, but the moment God issued orders they marched. If the Cloud stayed only from sunset to daybreak and then lifted at daybreak, they marched. Night or day, it made no difference - when the Cloud lifted, they marched. It made no difference whether the Cloud hovered over The Dwelling for two days or a month or a year, as long as the Cloud was there, they were there. And when the Cloud went up, they got up and marched. They camped at God's command and they marched at God's command. They lived obediently by God's orders as delivered by Moses.

I couldn't help to see my family in this passage. We are God's movable possessions. If He wants us here for a month, we will stay. If He says move, we will move. One day, three days, 4 years, whatever...I want to be where He wants us to be doing His will. Sharing His love and message to others.

Intentional Self Care: God's Word

Part 1:

Taking care of yourself not only means physically, mentally, and emotionally, but it means spiritually as well. It has been several years since I have read the Bible straight through. My first 5-7 years as a Follower that is pretty much what I would do. I picked up the Bible started reading Geniuses and didn't stop till I finished Revelations. When I would finish, I would just do it again.

One thing I have never done, at least not on purpose is read the Bible in a year. Bryce and I have both set out to do this. We actually started on December 1. I didn't really want to wait a whole month to get started. I love the old testament. So many great stories to share and apply to your own life and walk. You learn so much about the character of God and how He loves and uses people.

The last several weeks have been exciting and crazy. Our last official day working at camp was December 31. There just weren't enough boys wanting to play outside to run the program we were directing. Crazy I know. It has been an exciting time of following God and listening to His voice. We do not have to worry about what to eat or where to stay. We know we are where we are supposed to be right now and God is our Provider!! When people are sorry to hear we have lost our jobs it creates such a wonderful testimony and time to share of how God provides. So many stories from the Bible of how God does this, and not just in the Bible but in our lives!!!

My favorite which I have shared so often is when the Israelites left Egypt and God rains Bread in the morning and meat at night for them to eat. Each day He gives them exactly what they need for the day. On the 6th day He gives them double to they have enough o the Sabbath as well. God has definitely rained food for Bryce and I while being in the middle of nowhere. I love sharing all the stories we have of doing what God told us to do and how all the details worked together even when it didn't make any 'human' sense.

The quote of my heart last week was this, "You can't walk on water unless you get out of the boat".

Well said Andrew Wommack, who by the way you should check out his audio teachings on his website. They are free and there are tons to pick from. Need help deciding where to start? Send me a message and I will give you some suggestions.

Back to the quote. We have always been on an exciting journey following God, but right now it is getting even more exciting as we are being led to new things and places. As God is asking for our hand and saying, "Come. Go without knowing. Any road, any cost" Giving my heart and life to Christ has been one of the wildest best things I have ever done.

Since this is long, I am breaking it into parts. Here is a picture of me and Cap for making it through this far!

Just not so sure about those noodles

Intentional Self Care: No dairy for the Ball Family.

This is for a couple of reasons. I must admit I have not researched this due to my 2 book rule. I guess it should be a 1 book rule since the Bible is one of them, but details...my other book I am reading right now is Dare to Discipline by James Dobson. Excellent book. Makes me even more excited about being a mother and also very aware of how critical Bryce and my job is to Cap. Even more so in these next 6 years than anything. We are building this foundation that everything else will be built upon and that is huge stuff folks!!! I am so thankful to be able to stay home and to do this as my main job. Okay, back to dairy.

So yes. I mean no. No to dairy. Mostly until I am able to research it more for myself, it is just not worth giving this to Cap or ourselves. I have talked to several people who have done research and reading about this and they say drop it. So here we are 6 days into some no dairy. Honestly, it hasn't been so hard. I LOVE me some cheese and chocolate and that is hard, but for the most part, it isn't too bad.

We are drinking Almond milk which is delicious. I love regular milk, but this seriously taste the same to me. I have used it in many recipe's and have had zero problems so far. We also found a vegan butter which is great also. What is funny about this whole thing is that I have had 2 friends not be able to have dairy while nursing in the beginning months because their kid had an intolerance to it. I was so nervous that I would have to quit dairy too because I thought it would be awful!!! Here I am, saying no to the cow. Chick-fil-a has influenced not only my eat more chicken, but dairy too!!

I can't say Cap is a huge fan about the pasta. He ate it the fist night and has refused it ever since then. But that is kind of like him to do that anyways. He got weighed this week and he gained 2 pounds in 3 weeks. He was eating like crazy once he started feeling better. Of course, then today he barely ate or drank. Again, pretty much like him.

Lots more to post but this is it for now! Enjoy,

Our Christmas

We originally thought we would be spending the Christmas in Kenya. We actually thought that the year before also! It didn't work this time, but we were very much at peace about it. We began to look forward to spending Cap's first Christmas at home with the 3 of us. We missed both of our families terribly!!!...But it was nice to have our own family time and even our own family traditions.

Cap turned 41 weeks old on Christmas day! He officially was a day older out of the womb than the time he spent in me!!! For some reason, it just seems significant to note that. In some ways it is hard to believe he is almost 10 months old, in other ways it is not. Our lives are not so busy all the time where time seems to just fly by without notice. I am thankful for that too. It does seem crazy how fast they grow when they are this young and all the new tricks they can accomplish in a small amount of time. Talk about really taking the challenge to learn something new each day!

I also want to note that we had to use a coconut oil type substance for the first time on his diaper region. I don't really think it helped, I think time healed it. We are not sure what it was caused from but it was pretty bad. He hardly has a wet diaper so I have a hard time believing it was a normal diaper rash.

Now on to some pictures.

this is actually a couple of days before Christmas

it was from a friend at work.

this is the first present he ever opened.

he kept getting his hand stuck!!

this was a group of carolers on horse back!!!

came right up to our house, i love it!

this is our Christmas stack and stockings

Bryce and Cap on Christmas morning

Cap stayed in his PJ's until after his first nap

checking all the goodies out

i think it was too early to have this much stimulation,

out of the ordinary for us

he was pretty much hooked on this little wooden walker

for the rest of the day! thanks grammi and papa!

pulling stuff out of his stocking

organic banana puffs and a new water bottle:)

loving the paper

already reading his new book from uncle jer and aunt brittany

likes the dog pic the best i think!

looking at a gift from his dad

a great pic of el capitan

only right he should have a picture of what he's

named after! great idea bryce!

enjoying the mess

this was us letting him heal his diaper rash

though it didn't help much

i don't think he wanted this hat on or something

i can't remember??

he is kind of a fast and careless walker right now,

but he LOVES to walk and insist on it more than crawling

now he is showing his grandparents in texas how

he has been jamming to his new drum and instruments!

we love the music stuff he got from nana!!!

you can almost see my mom's face on the computer,

we skyped that day with both of our families

then that night we had an awesome italian feast

homemade calzones wth 4 different kinds of peppers,

turkey pepperoni, mozzarella and cheddar cheese made with

an italian flavored whole wheat crust, so good!

the boy had some too, only his was with spinach,

sweet potato, and peppers on the same dough sprinkled

with some oregano, he loved it too!

Hope your Christmas was as memorable as ours! Next year, birthday cake for Jesus with my little guy helping me in the kitchen...I can hardly wait!!!