Ok, let’s dive right into what’s going on with the Mod family this fall!

Mommydom

8-month-old RG is a crawling, jabbering bundle of energy with crazy, reddish hair from who knows where! On a given day you’ll find me trying to outrun her as she chases me around the kitchen trying to cling to my legs. At that point I usually offer her a distraction (a bowl full of yogurt container lids) and we’re good for a few minutes. She occasionally has stranger anxiety, but for the most part she’s a very friendly, social, smiley girl to everyone she meets. She waves to anyone and anything. (Daddy, the dogs, the piano…) No complaints here, God is both challenging  and blessing me constantly with the gift of this little peanut.

We use cloth diapers, and once we run out of wipes, I’m going to try cloth wipes again. Prefolds with pull-on wool covers at night and alternating wool & PUL covers during the day. More on that later; I won’t bore you with the details if you don’t care to hear about poo management!

RG eats some solid foods, but she hasn’t been very interested in anything until recently. We’re trying a ‘baby-led weaning’ approach of skipping purees (mostly because she didn’t want them) and going right into offering finger foods for her to try and feed herself. Occasionally I will put something in her mouth from a spoon, but only if she seems interested. Usually she will wrestle the spoon out of my hand to feed herself anyway. I still nurse her 8+ times a day and once or twice at night, so I’d guess that 99% of her nutrition comes from that.

The Youth Pastor

Chris is gearing up for the fall with our church’s youth & children’s ministries! This will be our 4th full school year at ACC and Chris has been a busy bee this past month with prepping and planning, and I know he’s ready to be spending more time with the kids. We take summer vacation from youth group for the majority of June, all of July and August to make time for summer trips, to give the volunteers a break, and to allow Chris some time to recharge and dream about the next year. It’s been nice having him home for dinner more, but like him, I’m excited to start having youth group again! I help out with Senior High youth group (Oasis) on Tuesday nights, and love hanging out with the High School girls whenever I get a chance. I recently started playing on the Worship Team again after an 8 month hiatus (can you guess why?), so most Wednesday nights I’ll have practice. Then there’s my Bible study Monday night and Middle School Youth Group (Pit Stop) for Chris on Thursdays, and our schedule’s full! We’re going to have to be intentional about making time for us on the weekends, both with Rachel and without (we’ve got lots of willing babysitters!)
We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary in May – I can’t it’s been so long since our first summer of marriage that we spent living at camp in a tiny one-room apartment! Lots has changed, but we’re loving the ride and trying to just ‘go with it’.

All the other stuff…

Music: I’m teaching piano lessons at two different programs and at home a couple of days each week, and more students keep popping out of the woodwork. I currently have 14 students, mostly beginners, and I’m learning quickly that I love teaching, but have a ton to learn myself! Ugh, and every time I tell a student they need to “practice that more at home” I think to myself “you hypocrite, you need to practice more before you tell anyone else to!” My goal is to play through and get a working knowledge of book 1 of JS Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier and Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 1-15 this school year. I’ve played several pieces from each book in the past, but it’s been a long time… I’m ashamed of how much of my repertoire I’ve let slip away from lack of review. I also want to compile a listening list of famous recordings to listen to – maybe one per week. If I don’t plan it, it won’t happen!

Knitting: is at a stand-still because it’s not sock/mitten/scarf/shawl/sweater wearing weather. I know, I know, you’re supposed to work on those projects before the snow flies, but it’s hard to be motivated when the A/C is still kicking in! Chris needs a pair of socks and a scarf, RG needs mittens, a hat, and a pair of longies, and I want all of the above plus some household items. More on that list later.

Latest Time-eaters: I’m dabbling in selling some stuff on eBay and Half.com – old textbooks, old electronics (saving up for an iPhone!), lia sophia jewelry I’m never going to wear (oh yeah, I’m not selling anymore), and Stampin’ Up stuff for my mother-in-law.

I’m still the main budget/money manager in our family, and as everyone knows, that can be a time-eater! We’re using Pear Budget right now, and I highly recommend it if you are looking for a simple, clean-feeling system.

Obviously, we all gotta eat, so I’m constantly trolling the mommy blogs for healthy, yet tasty recipes and ways that I can cut our food bill by making things from scratch. Today we’re having Slow Cooker Green Chicken Chili with Kale to use up some of the greens from our CSA vegetable box.

On the horizon: I’m planning on attending training to become a Bradley-method Birth Educator/Doula in the end of October. Attending our Bradley-classes was one of the most important things we did as a couple to prepare for the birth of RG, and I am now a certified birth junkie. I want to help other couples learn all they can about the merits of a natural (not just vaginal, but healthy, meds-free, emotionally/mentally prepared birth, wherever you might choose to give birth!)

Ok, the ankle-biters (RG and the dogs) are begging for attention, time for an abrupt ending!