Poop in the Bathtub

Yep. It was bound to happen at some point, right?

Birthday

Today is my birthday. I am 29 years old. Wow.

It really was a good day. I had a sweet surprise visit from my dear sister-in-law and friend, Annie and my little niece, Claire. They brought me lunch and cake. They know what I like! We were able to chat, chat, chat and let the girls play together.

My husband ordered my favorite pizza and beverage - supreme pizza from Pizza Hut and Pepsi - and we battled each other at my favorite Wii game, Mario Kart. We each did our fair share of winning. I was so grateful that he took out some time from his much needed studies to play with me. Thanks, Honey!

It's hard to believe that I'm in the last year of my twenties. I guess I just thought I'd never get here! Thirty always seemed so daunting and I don't know why, because most people say they love(d) their thirties! I have decided not to let it be so foreboding, but to be excited. My dear friend just said to me the other day, "I've received everything I've wanted before I turn 30." I agree with her! I have the husband of my dreams, the most beautiful daughter, family and friends that love me, and most importantly a God that has never failed me. This is cause to celebrate no matter how old you are!

Missing Out

It's 7:14 am and I've been awake with Georgia since before 6:00. This is early even for her! Normally a little nursing will put her back to sleep, but not today.

It's the second day of school cancellations due to the ice outside. Needless to say, there is no MOPS meeting for me today. Boo hoo....yummy food, good fellowship, and someone to keep Georgia occupied for 2 1/4 hours. I'm sad to miss a MOPS day.

I'm hoping that the weather won't deter our sitter from coming down from DeWitt tonight. It's date night and I'll be sad if we have to miss that, too.

Oops, Mom, I Blinked!

Happy Birthday Andy!

Yesterday was my dear husband's birthday. He turned 31! Our birthdays are only ten days apart and so we've been going back and forth over what we should do this year. Should we celebrate each day separately? Together? Presents? We couldn't seem to decide. This year is going to be pretty low-key and I think I like that. So yesterday during Andy's lunch hour, we took a few of our youth group students to the Godfather's buffet. We had a great time!

Georgia didn't want to miss out on the action and had a great time, but it left the little punkin tuckered out!

This Thursday we plan to have dinner out with some friends in celebration of both of our birthdays. We have a sitter all lined up and are looking forward to some 'grown-up' time. We've been throwing the idea around of buying Mario Kart for the Wii, but with all the work Andy is doing for his Moody class, we think we'd better wait.

Andy spent the last part of his birthday at a church meeting that lasted from 6:30 - 10:00 p.m. Such is ministry life. They wanted to schedule another one on my birthday (conspiracy?), but my wonderful husband put his foot down - gently, of course.

Thanks Gail!

I got my hair cut! Woo hoo! I've needed to spice things up for awhile and this was just the thing to do. I love it, too! At the suggestion of a dear friend, I go to the salon at JC Penney's and get my hair cut by Gail. She did a great job, don't you think? Every time I've gone to see her she offers to straighten it for me. I let her because a) I never take the time to do it myself; b) it's a fun change and c) I'm payin' for it! This particular evening Andy is taking me out for dinner to show it off.



Here it is curly:


I do think I like it better curly because that is who I am. I'm not completely Lacey without curls. Straight is fun for a day or two, but the real me is curly.

You know, there is just something about getting a new (and different) hair cut that makes me feel, well, good. I feel taller (though that just might be from my boots), I feel prettier, I feel like a grown up and it even makes me like my clothes better. Plus, it's always nice to get lots of compliments and shocking responses: "Oh my goodness, Lacey, you cut your hair off!" And often, it inspires someone else to get a fun 'new-do' too.

Rough Night

Last night was a rough one for Georgia and me. She went down late after small group; around 9:00 pm. I went to bed a little before midnight and was just falling asleep when Georgia started crying - hard. Normally if she wakes up, she just whimpers for a minute or two and then falls back to sleep. Last night her cries were on the verge of screaming. It was enough that Andy came into the nursery with me.

I thought she might have to burp still or maybe was startled awake, but my hugs and cuddles didn't calm her down as they usually do. She continued to cry and we were baffled. We stripped her down to her diaper to see if she was hurt anywhere and we did see a few very small red bumps on her tummy and one on her leg. We thought it might possibly be hives, but have no idea what could have started that. Bug bites? Possibly, but in my opinion they were too small. The feeling of not knowing what to do for your child is a terrible one for a new mother. I felt very helpless and was worried something more serious was wrong.

I wanted to be calm and patient, so we cuddled some more. I nursed her and she was back to sleep an hour from when she woke up. But she was up again at 5:30 (wake-up time is usually around 7:00), though I think she just knew I would come and nurse her. I did and she was asleep in 15 minutes.

This morning Andy changed her diaper and there were no spots or bumps to be found. Hmmm.

Georgia's New Thing

Georgia has two pointer teeth coming through on top and her two front teeth are about to come in. (I hope they come soon or she will look rather vampire-ish.) She can feel these teeth/soon-to-be-teeth and has started a habit of continuously running her tongue along the gum, humming as she goes. This is a short clip of her doing just that. The best part is Andy and me making all the annoying background noise trying to get her to do it for the camera. My goodness, do I really sound like that?

The Culprit

In my last post I mentioned that over Christmas I had to deal with food poisoning. Here's what happened: I went to bed on Saturday, December 26th looking forward to the next day for two reasons. First, it was a one-service-only Sunday at church meaning Andy and I would go to church together. There are only a handful of those Sundays in a year. Second, we'd be heading out of town to spend time with the Murphys. But around 1:00 am I woke up with a horrible feeling. You know that feeling...should I sit on the toilet or face it? I rushed to the bathroom and barely made it on time. I went back to bed feeling great only to be up again at 2, 3, 4 and finally 5:30. By 7:00 am I knew I was not going to church. Andy took Georgia with him so that I could sleep and hopefully feel better in time to leave that afternoon. But I was still in bed when they got home.

Andy got a phone call from his mom, informing us she had also been sick. A few phone calls later and we learned my sister-in-law had been sick, as well as my nephew. What could have caused this? The only conclusion that we could come to was that every sick person had eaten some of the cake I had made in celebration of Christmas. I had decided to make a cake that had a definite 'wow-factor'. It was six layers tall and beautiful. But I had so much trouble making the layers that after I made them, I only produced three and my mother-in-law had to repeat the process for me so we'd have all six. This cake was already frustrating me.

HOWEVER, only my mother-in-law and I had large pieces. My sister-in-law and nephew only had small bites. Was the cake really to blame? The more I thought about all the food that had been left out and snacked on throughout the day made me think that it couldn't possibly be the cake. (I think it was one of the dips that had mayo in it.) But, alas, I couldn't bring myself to try another piece, you know, just in case.

Georgia's First Christmas

I'm sure many of you have been anxious to see some pictures, so here you go! December 2009 was Georgia's first Christmas and if I can speak for her, I think she had a nice time! This picture wasn't even taken until a few days after Christmas when I realized I didn't have any 'proper' pictures of Georgia in her Christmas dress. As many of you know, Georgia is often expressionless, so we had to take about 15 pictures before she would smile!

We spent Christmas day at home and with a little help from Daddy, Georgia got all her Christmas presents opened....again, with no expression. She liked the wrapping paper better than her gifts! Later that afternoon we hosted dinner for Andy's parents, siblings and their families. Georgia does like to be around other children and loved the time spent with her cousins. We had a great time spending the day together.

The following Sunday we drove to Nevada, IA to be with the Murphys, even though I wasn't feeling very well. (I had had a bout with food poisoning, but more on that later.) Then we traveled on to Williams for a few days with Mom, Doug and Celia. We had such a nice time with everyone, but of course, it's always good to be home again.

We hope that you and your families had a blessed Christmas holiday and happy New Year. The Schumachers are definitely ready and excited for what God may bring about in 2010!

Every Good and Perfect Gift

I'm sure that many of you have noticed the title of my blog being a verse from the Bible. I thought I'd share with you why I came to choose that particular Scripture for this blog.

James 1:17 was a verse that I first read during one of my devotional times at Hidden Acres, a camp I attended when I was younger. I loved it immediately. Later that day, some cabin-mates and I spent the afternoon down at the lake. The counselors were allowing the campers to swim out to the dock in the middle of the lake ONLY if they could recite a verse first. It could be anything except John 3:16 and (I think)Philippians 4:13. I remembered James 1:17 and quickly grabbed a Bible (yes, I guess I had a Bible at the lake) to commit it to memory. Sadly, the line to swim out to the dock was so long that I never got to recite my verse. But that verse never left me and many times I've recalled it to remind myself that there is nothing I have that the Lord didn't give me. That is even better than a swim out to the dock.

Finally, right?

Well, here it is! The much anticipated and most awaited blog! I've been agonizing over how it looks and I don't know if I have it figured out yet. I am quite aggravated over it right now and think I better take a break from it for tonight or I might just pitch the whole thing completely. I'm sure most people would just play around until they figure it out, but I just can't do that. I want to know exactly what to do and how to do it. I really am not very computer savvy. If I get stuck I usually just call for Andy and he always knows what to do. I just stare at him and ask, "How did you know to do that?" He always replies, "I just do." How that can be possible, I don't know.