A Conversation

If you had been at work with me this morning, this is what you would have overheard in my 3rd grade art classroom:

Kerri: Mrs. Craig, what is God's favorite color?

Me: Gosh, I don't know, Kerri!

Kerry closes her eyes and prays outloud: God, what's your favorite color?

She then opens her eyes and goes: He said blue.

Hook 'Em Horns

Daddy's gettin' her started early.

Self Portrait

the first day with my new camera

V Day

I am grateful for vaccinations. I think people who don’t vaccinate their children are complete nutcases. There, I said it.

However, actually WATCHING your beautiful tiny, daughter get her vaccines is a ridiculously traumatizing experience. One second she’s smiling, the next second her eyes are squeezed shut, her face is beet red, and her mouth is open in a silent scream. Yes, a silent scream. That was the worst. It took a few seconds before noise finally came. I have never heard her scream that loud. I’m not sure I even knew she could. I was so overwhelmed, I couldn’t even comfort her- I just cried along with her. Her brave daddy and the sweet nurse gave her comforting words. I felt like I couldn’t even speak. It was awful. After those cute little bandaids went on those chubby thighs, I couldn’t get her in my arms fast enough. She just screamed and screamed while I cried and cried.

Thankfully, she calmed down quickly (Thank you, Dr. Who Wrote “The Happiest Baby on the Block” for the magical shushing technique), and has been sleeping most of the afternoon/evening.

Elizabeth is now 10.7 pounds, which puts her in the 50th percentile for weight. And remember how I was all excited when we went in for her 2 week appointment and we found out she was “above average in length”? Well, she did it again! She’s now 23.5 inches long and in the 90th percentile! Her midget mother and father are in shock.

I know, I know. You can’t accurately predict height until she’s 2 years old. Let me have my fun. When you are 5 foot 1, it is a thrilling thing to have a daughter who is in the 90th percentile in length. I’m enjoying it while it lasts.

She is Love

Happy Friday, my friends.

Uncle Mark

Tonight at The Craig House

A Conversation

At 12:30 tonight, Elizabeth started screaming in her crib and THIS is the conversation that could be heard at The Craig House:

Mark (my brother): Is there anything I can do to help with the baby?

Me: No. Actually, yes. You can open a bottle of wine for me.

Mark thought this was hysterical. I wasn't joking. Can you tell it's been a rough 24 hours?

Funny Face

What the...?

Yes.

It is exactly what you think it is.

An infant shirt with nipple tassles.

Classy.

The Three Amigas

Elizabeth's cousins- Chloe and Sophia- decided to join

her on the playmat!

Attitude

Jesus

Ryan swaddled her up like this and put her in the swing.

Is it wrong that the minute I saw her I said,

"She looks like Jesus"?

Public Service Announcement

Unless you can actually see a baby coming down the birth canal, do not ever comment on a woman’s pregnancy. Because maybe, just maybe, she gave birth 9 weeks ago, and maybe hearing (for the umpteenth time) that she still looks pregnant does not exactly do wonders for her self-esteem. Maybe her heart is feeling a little tender tonight…because it’s her anniversary and she desperately wants to feel as beautiful as she did the day she got married. But her wedding rings don’t fit on her finger anymore. And although the new dress and jewelry she’s wearing help her feel pretty, the fact that it took her 10 minutes to squeeze herself into a pair of Spanx that are obviously not getting the job done - that sorta makes her feel like a cow. Maybe the fact that she’s drinking a lovely glass of pinot noir should be a clue to you. A clue that maybe you shouldn’t ask her if “the baby likes the steak” she’s eating. Or if “the three of you enjoyed the meal”. If you are going to say something that thoughtless, please don’t make the mistake of coming back and saying it again ten minutes later.

For the love of all things holy, just keep your mouth shut. You might be totally convinced she’s pregnant, but don’t mention it- no matter how much you want to or how obvious it seems. You probably think you are being very sweet and kind to this mother-to-be, but chances are this woman may have suffered a miscarriage recently, be suffering from infertility, or has left her two month old at home for the evening. Your kind words just end up hurting her heart, and her fragile self-esteem. On behalf of women everywhere, unless you can actually see the baby coming out of my vagina, please do not assume that I am pregnant.

Happy Birthday!

Dear Elizabeth,
Happy Birthday, Monkey! You are two months old today! You have changed a lot in the last month, and become more and more delightful everyday.

Your umbilical cord finally fell off this month, and we were able to give you a real bath in your little baby bathtub. And you hated it- it was just awful. You screamed the whole time. But, thankfully, you’ve grown to LOVE bathtime. You are so relaxed in the warm water. I think maybe it reminds you of the womb.

You smile constantly. You are the happiest little baby I’ve ever seen. Your favorite thing ever is…a new, dry diaper. Seriously, you are just hysterical. You’ll be screaming your little head off, and the minute I pull off that wet diaper, you break into a huge smile and start kicking your legs and cracking up at yourself. Hilarious.

You started “cooing” this month. I didn’t know what this was when I read about it in baby books, but I knew it when I heard it. We were at the family reunion, and you were almost 7 weeks old. It was like you were trying to talk to us.

You no longer scream the second we put you on your tummy. You lay there and try to move your head around. We get a good five minutes out of you before you start getting frustrated. Tummy Time is hard work.

You still love your swing (your Uncle Mark calls it “crack for babies”). When I lay you on your activity mat, you smile at the pig hanging over your head and try to talk to him. Adorable. You love, love, love being sung to. I bought you a little baby board book with black and white pictures and oh my goodness! Your favorite page is the one with the little fishies swimming all over it. You could lie there for an hour looking at them. You LOVE them- you get so happy and kick your legs like crazy, smiling and talking to them.

You are, most decidedly, the cutest thing ever. I am so happy that you’re here.

I love you,

Momma

Five Years

Did I have any idea what I was getting myself into, as I got ready to walk down the aisle? Did Ryan? Did we really get the magnitude of what we were about to do- to bind ourselves to this other person for the rest of our lives? I look at our wedding pictures and think about all the challenges that lay ahead of us in the next five years- vaginismus, depression, grad school, infertility, moving, joblessness- none of it took God by surprise, and none of it was too big for Him. And in the five years ahead of us God would shower upon us blessing after blessing- growth, laughter, healing, friends, joy, countless fun experiences with our families, and a beautiful, happy, and healthy little girl. There have been hard days, when we just flat out didn’t like each other. And there have been easy days, when we could not possibly have adored each other more. Five years in, I can honestly say I would do it all again. I am more in love with Ryan Craig today than I was when I walked down that aisle. I am more confident of God’s faithfulness. And I am unspeakably grateful for this beautiful gift of five years of marriage.

Come to me, Dear Bride to be,
And kneel before My Throne
And I will share My heart with you
And make your house a home.
Listen well, lean closely
There are secrets at My feet-
The marriage you will soon begin
This Bridegroom will complete

The man with whom you’ll journey

Is your wedding gift from Me

To teach you things beyond this world…

A precious mystery.

Bearing all these things in mind

You’ll never lack for wealth

For through your union I will choose

To teach you of Myself.

Let him hold you tightly

And keep you safe from harm

Until I’ll one day hold you

In My everlasting arms.

Let him wipe your tears away

And trust him with your pain

Until I wipe them all away

And Heaven is your gain.

Pray to love his tender touch

And want his gentle kiss

I grant you both my blessing

And ask you not to miss

The reason why I’ve chosen

For two halves to become one-

That you might see the Bride of Christ,

Sweet Daughter and Dear Son.

So make his home a refuge

He’s to love you as I do

Until your mansion is complete…

A place prepared for you.

And if I should choose to leave you here

When I have called him home

Trust I’ll be your husband near…

You’ll never be alone.

(Dear Bride-to-Be was written by Beth Moore)

New Friends

There are few things in life better than making new friends.

Sweet Everett is 4 weeks older than Elizabeth.

They can keep each other company in the nursery at church on

Sunday mornings...if their moms can ever be brave enough

to put them in it!

The Most Beautiful Girl in the World

Every mother thinks her baby is the prettiest one on the planet.

But, seriously...mine is.

Happy Girl

Doesn't she just make your heart happy?

Hair

The first thing I thought when I looked at this picture was,

"Damn, my hair looks good."

Seriously.

I'm about to be 30 in less than a month, and have had every

hair style and hair color under the sun. But I feel like I've finally

found "me". Long with layers. Layers is the key. It only took

20 something years, and Holly (my former boss,

a pastor who was originally a hairdresser) to convince me of this.

All this to say...3 cheers for self-esteem! 3 cheers for looking

at a picture of yourself and liking what you see!

3 cheers for knowing yourself and knowing what works for YOU!

And 3 cheers for Nery at Visible Changes in the Memorial City Mall!

Video Debut

Our sweet friend Kelly of Strawberry Blonde Designs is responsible for E's beautiful name sign featured in this video. Thanks, Kel!

This is my first attempt at creating a video and uploading it to the blog, so post a comment and let me know if it uploaded OK, or if you had trouble viewing it. I thought about uploading to YouTube and then putting it on here, but wasn't sure how to do that either.

Hooray!

"Three cheers for Jesus!"

What's up, Cuz?

Hmm...I'm not so sure about you.

You wanna buy tickets to the gun show?

Cutest. Thing. Ever.

Elizabeth,

Tonight I got you all swaddled up in the blanket your great-grandmother made you and rocked you to sleep. It took a while, because you were NOT interested in sleeping. I thought I’d swaddled you pretty tightly, but after a little bit of squirming- out pops this little arm. Oh, Houdini. You always manage to do this- since birth. I burst into laughter, and you stopped, looked up into my eyes, and gave me the biggest smile. You didn’t have a clue what we were laughing about, but you wanted to join in. You are the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.

Love, Momma

Bathing Beauty

Why is it that I just can't get enough of bath pictures?

Sylvia

"There must be quite a few things a hot bath won't cure,

but I don't know many of them."

-Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

No Flash Photography, Please

Tell us how you really feel.

Little Miss Sunshine

So True

And so it begins...

1.19 miles in 23 minutes and I thought I was gonna die. Good thing I have 5 months!

Tomorrow

Operation Post-Baby Body/Half Marathon Training begins tomorrow at 7am sharp! Look out!

Lucky Girl

What a lucky girl Elizabeth is, to have so many people who love her.

Including her oldest cousin, 6 year old Elijah,

who cannot get enough of her.

Sweet Sarah

Elizabeth is here today because 6 and a half years ago, a sweet lady named Sarah decided that her cousin’s son REALLY needed to meet the girl that volunteered with her kids’ youth group at church. So, thank you, Sarah for playing your little part in God’s sweet plan for our lives. We love you!

Sinking Baby

We're out of town this weekend, so E got her first sink bath.