she said "gleeba"!

confused by this title? not a "friends" fan, then i assume (i think nick and i have watched all ten seasons from start to finish at least three times through in the almost-three-years we've been married. we love it, what can i say). to summarize: rachel is "talking" on the phone to her baby girl and excitedly proclaims that emma said her first word... "gleeba". now that i have a child, that sequence makes me chuckle a bit more. as parents, we are always looking for what our child may be learning, accomplishing, saying, doing... and we may get a little too excited over things that aren't really a big deal (or, in the case of the friends episode, words like "gleeba" which aren't really words at all).

i promise this post isn't an example of this... or at least i will try my very best not to be one of those parents.

(you all know exactly what i'm talking about)

i just want to try to write everything down and remember every little thing of this stage of bella's development because it has been one of my *favorites*. so far, at least :)

like any other parent of a ten month old, i am daily amazed at how my daughter is changing. it is unbelievable! since i have completely dropped the ball on her baby book (one of my biggest mama-guilt-sources), i want to document these things somewhere... and then one of these days i can sit down and catch up on that dad-gum baby book. here are a few things that bella grace is up to these days...

-crawling.

a couple weeks ago, she was trying so hard to master the art of crawling. she would take one stride and fall. and then eventually just roll her way to wherever she needed to go (which she still does from time to time... this girl hasn't stopped rolling for months). then, one friday morning after a week of struggle, i was in the kitchen making breakfast and i looked up to find my sweet pea crawling like she had been for her whole life. now she is incredibly speedy and we've had to close doors to the rooms we don't want her in or else who knows where she will end up before we can catch her!

- pulling up.

she is pulling up like a pro... and she loves it. whenever i go in to get her out of her crib now in the mornings or after naps, this is what i find:

between pulling up and crawling, whenever i go to change her diaper her sweet lil knees are always red!

- dancing.

we've found a new love, bella and me. in the mornings, after breakfast we play music and dance around the living room. she LOVES it. she has the sweetest little belly laugh and inhaling noise she does now when she's excited and it's just the cutest. when i picked her up from the church nursery this past sunday, the nursery workers excitedly told me "she has some moves!" they said they put on music and bella started dancing (she loves shrugging her shoulders up and down to the music... i told you she has moves). ahhhhhh so cute! she makes her king-of-the-dance-moves-daddy very proud.

- touchdown!

when i was a baby, my parents taught me how to raise my arms above my head in the to sign "touchdown" whenever they would say it. we started doing this with bella a while ago, and now she has it mastered. it is one of the cutest things i've ever seen. she gets really into it and arches her back and looks way up at the sky and then starts clapping for herself and saying "yaaaaayyy".

-mealtime.

she is doing soooo well with table food! she loves eating cut up grapes, bananas, chunks of avocado, pears, peaches, summer squash, pineapple, blueberries, broccoli, cauliflower and carrots! she loves oatmeal, torn up grilled cheese sandwiches, waffles, cinnamon raisin english muffins and loves when mama and daddy give her some of their saffron rice... mmmmm. she also completely digs graham crackers and does well with ground turkey and chicken that i puree. she has always been in the 25th percentile for weight, our lil peanut, but when we took her into the dr today, she had successfully broken into the 50th :)

-no no.

even though she likes to pretend that she doesn't hear us when we say the word "no", this proves that she really does listen...

-kisses!

one of the sweetest things she's doing these days is "giving" kisses... which really means leaning in and letting us kiss her on the forehead. and making a "mah" sound as she's doing the obligatory "lean in". ohhhhhh i love her.

- a few of her favorite things...

*getting in bed with mama&daddy on weekend mornings!

*baby einstein, but she has a greater love for praisebaby (which makes mama thankful!)

*riding on daddy's shoulders

*chewing on mama's scarfs and necklaces...and earrings...and whatever else she can find

*olivia kate, vivian and luke... the kiddos mama watches and bella's bff's

*pulling out her hairbows and ponytails

*peek-a-boo

*her ellie (her stuffed animal that's an elephant/blanket) and mama's old baby blanket

*trying to go after daddy's xbox and the controllers (i think the fact that we always say "no" makes them MUCH more appealing...)

*shrieking at the top of her lungs (we're trying to work on this... but really; how much can you work on this with a ten month old?! and when she's excited its cute... when she's mad? not so much. *sigh*)

*making her "excited" face

*reading books (she has a little reading "nook" in between the recliner and couch where all of her books are, and we often find her there :)

*phones and shoes. uh oh. this does not bode well for the future teenaged girl years.

*mum-mums. by the dozen.

i can't get over how much i love my lil sweet pea. she has completely stolen my heart and nick&i have found such joy in being her mama and daddy. my favorite time with her every day is when she first wakes up in the morning. i love the smile on her face when she sees me and how she excitedly begins bopping up and down on her knees. when i pick her up, she squeezes me and lays her head on my shoulder... it may be just for a second before she's wanting to get down and play, but it's one of the best seconds. ever.

i love you so much, my sweet bella grace! you are one of the greatest joys and blessings of my life and i love being your mama.

multitude monday.

122. bella's face when i go into her room in the morning to get her.

123. creating things.

124. good quality time with the mr.

125. enos pizza with friends.

126. mod podge.

127. seeing god bless my friends :)

128. countdown to see my family in just a few days!

what's for dinner tonight {homemade chicken pie}.

let me just preface this as a very, very non-healthy recipe. but i was making a meal today for nick's brother and his wife who just had a baby, and anyone who has just had a baby knows what you need those first few weeks: comfort food.

lots and lots of comfort food.

you may not have sleep, shampoo-ed hair, painted toenails or a stitch of makeup. but you can have comfort food.

this recipe looks oh-so-good. let's hope it tastes just as good for our two-new-parents brother and sister-in-law.

homemade chicken pie

* 1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed

* 2 carrots, sliced

* 2 stalks of celery, sliced

* 1 potato, cubed

* handful of frozen peas

* 1/2 small onion, diced

* 1/3 c. butter

* 1/3 c. flour

* 1/2 t. salt

* 1/4 t. black pepper

* 1/2 t. garlic powder

* 1/4 t. thyme

* 1 3/4 c. water + additional for boiling veggies/chicken

* 3 chicken bullion cubes

* 2/3 c. milk

- preheat oven to 425 degrees.

- peel and prepare veggies, cube chicken. place in large stockpot and fill with water until veggies and chicken are covered. add one bullion cube. boil for 15 minutes. drain. set aside.

- in stockpot, melt butter and cook onions until soft. add flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder and thyme. stir in water and two remaining bullion cubes and milk. whisk and simmer over medium heat until thickened. remove from heat. prepare pie crust.

crust:

* 2 1/2 c. flour

* 1 c. butter flavored shortening, diced and chilled

* 1/2 t. salt

* 3-4 T. ice water

- combine flour and salt, cut in shortening until mixture resembles peas. add ice water until dough is formed. wrap in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

- combine sauce and chicken/veggie mixture. pour into bottom crust. layer with top crust. pinch edges top/bottom crust together, fold under and use fingers to create crust. slice three slits in the crust.

- bake at 425 for 30-35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

my mom always serves chicken pie like this and it has always been my *favorite*. i just spiced up her recipe a bit and used my own pie crust recipe. add or subtract your own seasonings to suit your preference. mom serves her chicken pie with jellied cranberry sauce. just reminds me of home.

love it. comfort food at it's finest.

wall art.

ohhhhhhhh i am so addicted to home decor blogs right now and finding dyi crafty ideas. i'm not even kidding, friends. it keeps me awake at night. i look around my house and think of all the things i want to do. and i have to do all of them. right. now. which obviously is not possible. time wise or money wise. but thinking about scouring thrift stores, flea markets and antique shops and filling my home with lots of pretty lil goodies seriously makes me start twitching.

i really may need help.

{obviously you know i'm being dramatic}.

but as i am able to do little projects here and there, i'll be sure to post them for all of you, my lovely readers. maybe you will get the craft-dyi-decorating-bug too. i hear it's highly contagious.

but here is a lil project i worked on a couple of weeks ago. i love finding inexpensive ways to decorate a large, blank wall. this project cost me hardly anything since i already had most of the materials on hand. i did purchase a can of green spray paint, three saucers from goodwill and some decorative paper and foam board from hobby lobby.

here's a pic:

as you probably already know about me, i love reusing things i already have and giving them a new look. these frames used to be silver collage frames. i was getting tired of them. enter: green spray paint.

i love the look of white plates on a wall (remember my recent dining room project?) so i took the glass out of one of the frames and hung them down the middle. love. it.

i love google images. i knew i wanted to do a mod-podge creation for the other frame. since i have a hard time visualizing a design on my own and do MUCH better copying an image, i googled "bird on a branch" and browsed through the images to find one i wanted to re-create. with simple scrapbook paper and mod-podge i created this cute lil piece and mounted it to some foam board and secured it in the frame. i love this lil song bird!

i love, love, love this frame. i decided to spray paint it green and i am in love with the anthropologie-inspired look. i also heart prints in sepia tone, and family photos instead of random artwork...

i found this pretty lil plate at homegoods for 5 bucks. so cute. i'll post a how-to of how i hung my plates soon. i love the clean look instead of having those plate-hanging-prongs showing.

tada. my wall of art. i'd love to add some fun mirrors, some vintage skeleton keys and some more pictures... ahhhhhhh. one day.

multitude monday.

114. family time.

115. my cheap ebay finds: a vintage fan and two antique candle wall sconces.

116. bella's dance moves.

117. watching ncaa basketball with nick: eating chips and salsa and staying up late.

118. cinnamon raisin english muffins.

119. making bella laugh; her sweet belly laugh and toothy grin.

120. rocking my sleeping lil sweet pea, feeling her arms grasping around my neck and holding her tight.

121. good worship time with my jesus.

his glorious riches.

"and my god will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in christ jesus." (phil 4:19)

i never want to forget this truth. i never want to forget how god has been faithful to provide for us through all the seasons of life. the theme of god's faithfulness, his provision and his blessings is the thread that is woven through this blog... starting with the title "my cup runneth over". it's because i want to always anchor my heart in gratitude; in remembering who god is and that his character is grounded in his ability to carry through that which he has promised. i have to work hard to remind myself of this truth; to allow it to allay fear and anxiety that i am prone to feel in times of uncertainty.

from day one of our married life, god has tested nick&i in the area of finances. literally: day one. you know those honeymoon stories you hear about that you wonder if they're really true or just legends that have been passed down and exaggerated over time? well let me tell you that nick&i's honeymoon contains some of those stories. we had the most amazing, wonderful start to our marriage in the beautiful mayan riviera... there were just a few things that happened that forced us to trust god with our finances right from the very start. we got married in an old inn on a lake in maine, and spent our wedding night there. my sister and brother-in-law were so sweet and decorated the room for us with candles and left a picnic basket with wine and crackers and cheese. so nice. let's just say that we went to bed that night having put out several small fires from the lighted candles... sleeping on burnt bedding next to a beautiful antique nightstand that had also gotten pretty charred. oops. a few days later, while honeymooning on the mexican coast, my wonderful husband was fiddling with his wedding band while we were swimming in the ocean. i'm sure you can see where this is going. before we knew it, the band had dropped to the ocean floor and while we searched and searched for it, we never saw it again.

and so, we began our married life together with over a thousand dollars less than we had the morning of our wedding. most of our wedding money that people had so graciously given to us had to go straight toward that inn in maine to repay them for the fire damages (trust me, "repay the fire damages" was never a phrase i though i'd say when referring to my honeymoon) :) i remember the first night we were home i was planning what to make for our first dinner in our home as a married couple. i had settled on pasta, and as i prepared everything, i went to find a pot to boil the water and realized we didn't even have pots and pans. many tears followed and probably a frozen dinner that night, although i can't remember.

throughout our marriage either nick or i have been working in a ministry-related job at a church, a christian school, or providing counseling for those that needed it but couldn't afford it. finances have never been plentiful for us, but god has always met our needs. there were the four flat tires we had in the first six months we were married, countless car repair issues that drained our savings accounts including finding out we needed to have our transmission replaced the day before we found out i was pregnant with bella. it was a month after we had our precious daughter that the daycare we had lined up for her called and told us they were closing. i couldn't continue to work and we were without a second income--or a plan of how to make it all work.

god has continually brought us back to a place where we are forced to trust. trust his provision, trust his faithfulness, trust his character. he has given us a gentle shove here and there to take a step of faith, to follow his leading... and we have found his paths to always be FAR greater than what we could've ever come up with on our own. when we have been forced to trust, we have seen his provision in ways we would have otherwise never known. and even greater than that... he has been molding and shaping our hearts to know him in deeper, more vivid ways and teaching us about the important things in life; the simple things. looking at the needs of others and how we can serve them. seeing life as more than what we can have and what we can buy. placing our significance, our worth, our happiness in him and the blessings he has bestowed upon us. and in this, finding the deepest sense of joy.

it has not been easy for this stubborn, wayward, materialistic heart of mine. but i am SO grateful for god's gracious favor. i have this distinct memory of bella&i going with nick to his school downtown one sunday before the school year was about to start. we were still in this cloud of nervousness and uncertainty, not knowing how we were going to make it financially with me not working. it felt heavy. while nick was working on his classroom, i put bella (just 3 months at the time) in her stroller and walked laps through the halls. i prayed as i walked to calm my anxious heart. as i rounded one of the corners, i saw a poster on the wall with this verse: "bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. test me in this, says the lord almighty, and see if i will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it." (malachi 3:10) i went and got nick and showed him that poster and we claimed that as our verse; god's promise to us through that season of our life.

this weekend, by god's abundant grace, we paid off our credit card (ie the ridiculously-expensive-transmission we had to buy over a year ago!). i guess that's why i've been so reflective. it seemed like something that would never happen and it just felt like a huge weight we had been dragging around. i was talking with a friend the other day about how i don't take for granted anymore going to the grocery store and being able to buy the things we need without having to worry about it. i feel *so* blessed by our two cars that work and run well and have not needed major repairs in over a year (knock on wood). we live a simpler life now, finding joy in sushi takeout, a good ebay find, target coupons or gap jeans that were on clearance... but more importantly in our family time and in our savior; who has been--and will always be--our anchor, our provider, our hope.

he has filled my heart and my life with his glorious riches.

my cup runneth over.

what's for lunch today {egg white sandwiches}.

this is a lunch or breakfast meal... but i love eating it for lunch. i'm obsessed. last week i had one of these lil guys every afternoon before heading off to work. so good and so good for you.

my friend, holly, posts yummy pictures all the time of the healthy, good food she eats and last week she posted a snapshot of an egg white sandwich she made for breakfast. that's all it took. i came up with my own creation and paired with a grapefruit, it's the *perfect* lil lunch (or breakfast) for me.

here. you. go.

egg white sandwich

* 1 egg

* 1/4 of an avocado, sliced thinly

* 1/4 of a tomato, sliced thinly

* 1 slice of sharp cheddar cheese

* 1 whole wheat bagel thin (these are my newest obsession. only 110 calories and 5 g. of fiber per bagel. you can find them in the bread aisle at the grocery with the other bagels)

- spray a small skillet with pam and over medium heat, cook egg white until done. pull off heat, top with cheese and set aside.

- toast bagel thin. cut avocado and tomato into thin slices. when bagel is toasted, top with egg white&cheese, avocado and tomato. season with salt&pepper. top with other bagel slice. serve with fruit or a side salad (my favorite side? a pink grapefruit, of course).

i made these for nick&i for breakfast the other day and added some turkey bacon. super yum. save the rest of the avocado and tomato for another sandwich the next day because i know you will want another one of these (or... if you have a baby who is eating solids, avocado is a great food to cut into chunks and let your munchkin learn to pick up. bella loves it, so we share our avocado... mine for a sandwich, hers for her high chair tray... and hair, and nose, and ears, and the floor...wherever it may end up these days! you can also save the yolk from your egg to scramble up for your baby. my favorite baby food site: www.wholesomebabyfood.com suggests this as a good form of protein before your baby is able to eat whole eggs)

enjoy :)