Introducing MckLinky!

I just wanted to spread the word about this great new linking system called "MckLinky". Here's a small introduction for you (which I did not write. I'm feeling less than creative today with one arm full of a hiccuping baby, I'm sure you understand):

There’s a great new “linky” service available and I wanted to let you know about it. It’s called MckLinky – www.mcklinky.com. After realizing the need for a new, reliable linky capability, Brent Riggs and MckMama got together to create a free, easy to use linky service for all their blog friends.

MckLinky is a free link list feature that allows you to do include lists of other blog links like MckMama does on Not Me! Monday. You can use MckLinky any time you want your blog readers to leave a list of links on your blog. It’s simple, reliable, free...and loads of MckFun!

Check it out, and don't forget to check out MckMama's blog - www.mycharmingkids.net (especially on Mondays), because it's oh so fun and you know you want to!

Don't thank me, thank Brent Riggs and MckMama!

edit/ I just noticed Sweet Ben's head bouncing as I held him and looked down - the sweet boy had fallen asleep! So I just went and laid him (safely guarded from rolling!) on our bed - and he giggled when I laid him down. Everyone, join me in a collective "aawh": aaawwwwwhh!

Not Me Monday - My First Ever!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.


I most certainly did not dip my finger into the Java Chip Frappucino my son was reaching and reaching for, and MOST certainly did not put said finger in his mouth to allow him to taste the whipped cream... or the little bit of chocolate on there. Just to make him stop reaching. Nope, not me!

I would never pack a too-small onesie in the diaper bag to take to church as a back-up... just in case his diaper failed once more... which it did. I did not let him show off his chest rash because his cloth diaper is so big it pulled down the neckline! Nope, not me!

I definitely did not spend all this valuable time while the baby was sleeping playing The Sims and checking out Twitter and Facebook... I would never do that when I know there are carpets to be shampooed and clothes to be folded! Nope, not me!

Oh, and why on earth would I just let Benjamin pee all over the wall while I was changing his diaper, just because he had already surprised me and started, why stop him? I would never just stand back and let that happen, just because it was so late at night! Nope, not me!

Why would you think such a thing?

Carl's Sermons

As promised, here are audio links to my husband's sermons. If you have questions about any of them, you can email me. My email is in on the sidebar!



- Be Kindly Affectioned Romans 12:10
- Father's Day
- Do You Love Jerusalem?
- The Holy Spirit
- My New Name
- Dressed for Righteousness (A sermon on Modesty)
- My New Name
- Freedom In Christ
- Baptism
- Is Hell Real?
- Loving Your Life
- A Balanced Christian
- Memories
- Change
- Going to Genneserat
- Maintianing Unity
- A Christian Like Onesiphorus
- A Christian Like Lydia
- A Liberal Christian



I will add more as they become available! Enjoy!

Hi-ho, Hi-ho....

It's not even 8:00 and productivity abounds in the Jenkins household.

Hubby, he's across the room working on a sermon. Did I ever mention he is a preacher? I believe I have. Did I ever tell you that he is a really, really talented preacher? I may be biased, but he is surely my favorite! And only 22 years old. I'm sure I could round up some links to some of his sermons and compile them into a list for you all. I'll work on that later. Something more to spread my productivity toward.

Me? Well I've put away dishes and put more into the dish washer. I've started a load of towels (and oven mits - they were filthy!). I am determined to get stuff done this week because I want a presentable house when everyone comes over for our Fourth of July cookout! Oh, and I have to finish shampooing all the carpets before my parents get here because they have to take their shampooer back home. Wish I had done more when I could have, but it is my fault and now I just have to work harder for it.

So here's my list of to-do's for this week:

- Sweep & Mop
- Clean bathrooms
- Vacuum & Shampoo all floors
- Fold laundry
- DO laundry
- Fold THAT laundry
- Organize (the hardest one for me!)
- Grocery shopping
- That list of sermons (can't forget that one!)

and the most immediate concern:

- Change the baby's diaper!

Well, I'm going to keep the productivity trend going and get that diaper off that baby. And then? I'll keep working on the kitchen. Cleaning there is a daily task so I can't even put that on the to-do list. It should be on the should-have-done-Yesterday list.

Excuse me while I "hop to it"!

we'll all float on.

I haven't really posted anything substantial this week. It's been a rough week, I guess, only because I am so tired. I need to start going to bed earlier. WAY earlier.

Anyway, my real problem started out last Sunday. I'm not going to go into huge details. But I'll just say that it is a real blessing to be able to raise our son the way WE want to, and I'd appreciate it if people who feel differently about the way we raise him, they'd keep it to themselves. Carl and I are adults and don't need lectures on raising Benjamin. ON TOP of that, we don't appreciate being talked about behind our backs about our "terrible", "amateur" parenting skills.

I'm still waiting on an apology, but I'm not holding my breath.

I'm learning now what Eric Owens meant when he said that family can be a blessing, but it can also be a cursing.

I digress.... and it's a hard thing for me to do!

Other than that, we got a new pool for Benjamin, one that could fit all three of us. That's going to be real nice as the temperature here has already peaked at 102 degrees. Sometimes I feel like we are living inside a volcano. So hot.

Benjamin has decided that he would very much like to crawl, so he is trying his best. He is so mobile now, I can't believe it! Next month he will be six months old! Wow! Just looking at him and watching him grow melts my frustration. There is nothing wrong with the way we parent. He is a healthy, happy, growing boy.



"Even if things get heavy, we'll all float on."

Thousand Words Thursday: Bittersweet

Uncle Steven came to visit Benjamin Tuesday. It was the last time the two would see each other until December, when we go to my brother's wedding. Tomorrow, Steven is moving to Memphis to attend the Memphis School of Preaching, the school my husband attended, and where I also went to Wives class. It's a bittersweet thing, as we are so excited that Steven will be there learning more about the Bible and how to bring it to others more effectively. But it is also bitter because, well, we will miss him! Next time Steven sees Benjamin, he will be 11 months old. How sad is that?

Wordless Wednesday: Watching the Storm

For More Wordless Wednesdays, go here.

Happy Father's Day, Carl!

I could go on and on about what kind of father Carl is.
Or I could sum it up in one sentence:
Carl is a godly father, and I am so glad he is the father of my child.

Happy Father's Day, Carl! We love you!

Millions of Peaches...

Today was THE day. We went to the Georgia Peach Festival (which had been going on for a week already) in the town that we live in, Fort Valley, Georgia. We were there for one reason, and one reason alone: The World's Largest Peach Cobbler. We are in the book of records, no kidding.

Anyway, we walked around because we got there an hour before it was served. It was so hot. I almost called it quits. I'm not a huge cobbler-eater, anyway (I know, I know, what kind of Southern Girl am I? Would you believe that I have never eaten Apple Pie?). So I'm thinking what cobbler is worth standing in the heat for? We got in line 20 minutes before they served it. This is what we stood behind:



It was hot. There was barely any shade. Oh man.

The line got moving once they started serving. We finally got a glimpse of the legendary dessert:







Huge, I know. And is it supposed to look like that? I don't know. Like I said, I am not a huge cobbler fan. Haha. "Huge" Cobbler. I didn't do that on purpose.

Moving on.

So here's what it looked like in the bowls:



It didn't taste bad, really. I mean I didn't eat my bowl completely. But it wasn't bad.

Here are some more pictures from the festival.


Benjamin. Waaay too hot for the baby carrier.


We didn't have cash on us, so we bought nothing (ugh!).



And sadly that is all we took (besides at the birthday party we went to.... I will share those pictures later on. I don't want to break the Peach Festival mood just yet).

I know you are wondering how in the world you can make a giant peach cobbler! Don't worry your minds too much about googling this gigantic recipe! I have it right here!

WORLD'S LARGEST PEACH COBBLER
75 Gallons slice fresh Georgia Peaches
150 pounds of self-rising flour
150 pounds of sugar
32 gallons of milk
90 pounds of butter
Divide self-rising flour, sugar and milk into six equal parts and pour into six clean trashcans. Mix thoroughly with clean boat paddle. Sizzle 90 pounds of butter in a 5 ft. x 11 ft. baking pan six inches deep. Pour in batter then add 75 gallons of sliced peaches. Bake at 350 degrees for about four hours until golden brown. If you can't get fresh or fresh frozen peaches, you better be prepared to open a lot of giant cans of peaches.


Seriously folks, that is the recipe. Yes, you saw correctly. Trashcans. Boat paddle. Yes.

But, if you're not entertaining quite that large a crowd, or if you don't plan on eating peach cobbler for the next five years, try this recipe:

QUICK AND EASY PEACH COBBLER
2 cups sliced fresh Georgia peaches
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 stick of butter
Mix together 1 cup self-rising flour, 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Melt butter in microwave oven and pour into empty disposable baking pan. Be sure butter is sizzling and then add batter mixture and top with fresh peaches. Bake at 350 until golden brown. If you can't get fresh or frozen peaches, use one large can of Georgia peaches.


There you have it. If you need more peach recipes, visit www.GAPeachFestival.com.

Hope you all had a blessed Saturday!

Oh, and the title is for my husband. He keeps up with this. :)

Benjamin, You Are 5 Months Old!

What are you up to?



> You are ~27 inches long.
> You are ~17 pounds. Everyone comments on your chunky legs.
> Your eyes are blue - just like Daddy's! Everyone comments on them, and Great-Grandma Rogers calls you "Blue Eyes".
> Your hair is blonde, like Mommy's was when she was little, but thick like Daddy's.
> Everyone comments on how big and lovely your smile is.



> Recently you have started rolling over as soon as we lay you down! You are no longer trusted by yourself on the changing table!
> You continue to try to sit up by yourself but that only lasts about half a minute! You're getting stronger, though!
> You jabber, jabber, jabber all the time, and recently the noise you have been working on it "Ppppppppffffff!"
> Dr. Stephanie said we could give you Stage 2 foods now. You love Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Carrots, Squash, Mangoes, and combinations of those foods!
> You have not gotten the hang of your sippy cup just yet, but we will continue to work with you.
> You like white grape juice more than you like apple juice!



> You love playing with your daddy on the floor.
> You love playing Peek-A-Boo with mommy.
> You love to type on Mommy and Daddy's computers.
> Reaching is your new favorite game. You grab everything in sight!
> When you are sleepy, you like to touch faces and go to sleep. Your favorite place to nap is on Mommy's pillow, often with Mommy.
> You have a lot of little baby friends, two of which you see often: Landon, who is 10 months, and Mariah, who will be 5 months old on the 31st.

The Blog Frog

Ohkay folks, look to your left on my blog. You see that widget there? Yes, that one. The Blog Frog one. All right, we all want more traffic, don't we? Link your blog to mine. Go on, become a member. Let's help each other help each other!

That's all I wanted to say! I don't feel like making a long blog post tonight, so I'll probably do that sometime tomorrow!

Genuine Georgia Peaches!

So today we finally got out and went to the peach farm down the road. And I gotta tell you, living in peach country is niiiiice. The farm had a packaging place right there with a shop which sold peaches, jarred goods, and best of all... homemade peach ice cream. That was definitely the highlight of my day. It was the best peach ice cream I had ever tasted. The fact that it is stinkin hot out today just added to it, I think. Ben had a small taste of ice cream, but I am definitely not going to allow him to have sweet stuff very often until he is older. I don't want to have a sweet-obsessed, overweight child because I allowed him sweets from infant up. He'll be one of those kids on Maury where the mother will say, "He just wanted the whole pizza, what was I supposed to do?"

I digress.

I didn't have my camera with me. The pictures following are from my phone. I can't wait to enjoy one of the genuine Georgia peaches!!






By the way, the Georgia Peach Festival is this Saturday here in Fort Valley, with the World's Largest Peach Cobbler. I am SO there.

Wordless Wednesday: Blue Eyes

For More Wordless Wednesdays, go here.

Good morning?

I am up at 5AM.

Granted, that's definitely not as bad as being up at 3AM or even 4AM, which has happened. It's not as nice as feeding the baby and then putting him down to sleep till 7. But, I guess rather than complaining about the time, I'll count it as a blessing of sorts.

It isn't 3AM... it ISN'T 3AM...

I'll keep telling myself this to make sure I don't get upset for being awake. And it's a good thing I've been getting more sleep lately. Oh yes. If not, ooohhhh. I'd be in tears right now, most likely. Actually, I am relatively calm considering the cause of my early consciousness.

What is that cause, you ask?

Poop.

Yes, you read correctly. Poop. Apparently the side of Benjamin's diaper had come undone. I went to get him from his crib to feed him (yes, we are still doing that), and I spied a dark spot in the darkness on his crib sheet. I'm thinking, That can't be what I think it is... not this morning... not now... A hand went down and I winced when I felt wetness. But "wetness" isn't dark. On went the light. (Baby crying all the while, by the way. He was hungry!) And I immediately called for my husband as I peeked into the crib.

Lo and behold, poop.

Everywhere.

Well, not everywhere. I'm actually surprised it wasn't all over him. But apparently he remained pretty still in the crib. This is surprising because he has been very mobile recently. My husband came in and helped. Last time I cleaned this up by myself and it was kind of stressful. I wasn't doing that again. Besides, he had to see this. He had missed it last time.

I haven't put him in the tub yet. I'm hoping he will get sleepy again soon. He is always wide awake whenever we put him in the tub. I was hoping he would sleep on his little pallet my husband made for the baby on the floor next to our bed. That didn't work out. So I'm downstairs on the computer, and the baby is on a blanket at my feet playing with his pacifier. I'm about to sneak into the bathroom because a girl's gotta go when a girl's gotta go. Look like someone's getting sleepy. And it isn't me because I am already sleepy. There's no getting about it.

Anyway. Happy Wednesday. I'll post my Wordless Wednesday later. And no, it won't be a picture of a crib full of poop. Although that picture would definitely speak volumes for itself for mommies the world over.

By the way, when I heard him crying in his room, I had just dreamed that I found nighttime cloth diapers on sale online for $1.98. So weird.

Busy, busy, busy.

Benjamin is finally able to get the paci into his mouth on his own pretty well. Finally. I only wish he'd be able to figure it out at night. One step at a time.

So last night I went to bed the same time that Benjamin did. In fact, I let him sleep in the bed with me until he woke up again to eat. We went around.. 8:30. Maybe even before then. He woke up around 10:30 to eat and then went into his crib. I am still trying to wake up. I guess my body is not used to getting so much extra sleep. I'd still be asleep now if Benjamin hadn't wanted to get up and play.

On the agenda today: clean Ben's room, the guest room, the living room, and the downstairs. Oh, and the kitchen. Vacuum all the floors. THEN proceed to the porch and clean that off, because we have a patio set coming Wednesday and we want it to be relatively clean out there. Yesterday Carl pulled up the disgusting carpet tiles and stored them in the shed out back. I'd LIKE carpet out there, but not THAT carpet. It makes me think the previous tenants had a dog that piddled on the carpet. Ugh.

Yesterday was also a busy day emotionally for me. I don't really want to talk much about it but let's just say it's a real kick in the pants when you realize that all the while you've been trying to be the "better" person in a situation, only to turn out to be far from who you should have been. I have a lot of things I need to work on. Aren't we all a work in progress?

Anyway, I don't have much else to say. As I said, I'm still trying to wake up. The only caffeine in the house is coffee and that ain't happening. So I just have to convince myself that it's ohkay to be awake.

Hope all have a lovely Tuesday!

Subjective Beauty Blog Makeover Giveaway!

Hey guys! You know all those really professional-looking blogs out there that you wish you had but don't have the money to pay for a custom one? And uh if you're like me you give your best shot but it still holds very little next to the real shabangs? Well, check out this giveaway over at Mama's Money Savers. You get all this:

Custom Template (1-6 columns in nearly any order, size, or shape you'd like)
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Unlimited sidebar images
Unlimited entry/post header images
Social buttons (Twitter, Facebook, BlogHer, Feed, EntreCard, Causes, Events, etc.)
Hosting space via my server (for all images used in your design)
Button for linking (150x150 grab me button)
Post signature (featured at the bottom of every blog entry)
Email image (for your readers to easily contact you)
Post divider (to separate each blog entry)
Favicon (icon shown by url in search box as well as when bookmarked)
1 Rotating tab menu (requires certain space in the columns)
Your choice of digital scrapbook kit(s) from my library are afforded to you for no extra cost.
Installation

Made custom by Sara from Subjective Beauty!!

Go and enter! You know you want to!

Oh, yes.

This is the life, isn't it?

Just be a Mother.

I was up at 3AM this time. Sweet, dear baby boy did not want to go back to sleep. I didn't want him to just cry in his crib and wake up the hubby so I took him downstairs. Man. I was in tears. I was so tired. Eventually I just told myself to suck it up, do your job as a mother. It wasn't an easy thing to do, as really Benjamin hasn't done this in quite some time until this week. I don't know what it is. I guess I can just say I may have had too much caffeine and it was transferred to him? I have no clue. I don't think I have had any today so hopefully he will stay asleep. I can't wait till he starts sleeping through the night.

Anyway, so as soon as hubby woke up, I informed him I had been up at 3AM with his son. He took the baby downstairs with him so I could sleep in and I slept till...

Wait for it...

Noon.

It was so. So. SO. nice.

Not only that, but a few hours after that, I folded some clothes, and then I took a nap with the sweet baby boy. There is absolutely nothing like cuddling up to a baby and going to sleep. Benjamin now sleeps in his crib by himself, but the first couple months, he slept with us because it was the only way he would sleep without waking every hour. I miss it. I mean, it is nice having a bit of space in the bed... we only have a full-size bed. But I miss cuddling my sweet baby boy to sleep. Sometimes I bring him in the bed with us in the morning to get a bit more sleep. Or I'll side-nurse and fall asleep that way.

Anyway.

It's Friday night. I don't think I mentioned that we no longer have cable. DirecTV wanted to charge us $50 for someone to come out and look at our dish. We had gone hours without a signal. Anyway, Carl got frustrated with them and just canceled the whole shabang. Which is ohkay, because we didn't watch much of it anyway. Anything we want to watch, we can watch via the internet or Netflix.

So can someone tell me where the week went? I can't seem to find it. Tomorrow is Saturday, woah.

I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight in case Benjamin decides to stay up at 3AM again. Maybe I'll be able to withstand it a little better.

Goodnight all!

oh, PS - Benjamin will be five months old next Friday. What. In. The. World.

Introducing.... Me.

I guess I have a lot of subscribers who don't particularly know me personally. So I was thinking I should probably introduce myself a bit more than I have already. I mean, why would you want to read about someone's life when you know next to nothing about them. I hardly write about myself (unless it's how exhausted I am) on here. So here it goes.

I am Kristen. I don't do things like everyone else. I got married before any of my friends did. I had just graduated high school in May and got married in August. I was 18. I didn't care about prom (I was homeschooled anyway). I was worried about a wedding. I married a great guy named Carl. We met on MySpace (gasp!) through a mutual friend, and then met in person the same month. Two months later, I was engaged. Everyone was talking like I was making a huge mistake and I was too young. So far, I think we've proved them wrong.

Promptly after returning from a Honeymoon in Chattanooga, TN, I was whisked away to my new home, Memphis Tennessee. It was the furthest I had ever been away from home without my parents. You see, I'm a Georgia girl, born and raised. Anyway, my husband was a student at the Memphis School of Preaching, about to start his second year. We would be gone in June. Between August and the following June, I attended Wives Class, a class for the wives of the students to learn certain things pertaining to being a preacher's wife. It was beneficial. And although I may have had my complaints, I really do miss it.

Things happened. Not big things. Some little things. That brings us to May (I want to say 13th) when we found out I was pregnant. Carl wasn't surprised. I had been in denial. We were overjoyed. Our baby was due January 14th. In June we moved in with my parents as my husband hadn't found a preaching job yet. We spent four very stressful, cramped months there, but months peppered with joy as in those months we had our first doctor's appointments. We heard the baby's heartbeat, saw the baby, felt the baby, and found out we were having a boy all in those four precious months.

I haven't mentioned yet how blessed I am. But if you haven't caught on yet, I have a very, very blessed life. I thank God daily for everything He has blessed me with! I am so undeserving!

Carl got a job in Fort Valley, GA, preaching at the Fort Valley church of Christ. We moved down in November and we've been through quite a lot since.

January 14th rolled around, no baby. January 19th, I was induced. You can read the birth announcement here.

Someone asked my future sister-in-law once what I had planned to do before I had gotten pregnant. That question sort of took me aback. Who had ever say I had planned anything but the way my life is? Who says I can't have a family this young, and want it that way? I had no plans whatsoever besides being a wife and eventually a mother. The sooner the better! I got what I want! I don't need a further education to be successful in life. I don't need a career to be successful.

I am a child of God. That is success enough for me.

I am the wife of a loving, caring husband. That is success enough for me.

I am the mother of a beautiful, wonderful baby boy. That is success enough for me.

About my likes and interests... I have always wanted to be a writer. I just don't know what to write about. I have a few ideas that I am playing with.... I also love photography. I used to say I wanted to do it professionally, when I had actually thought I ever wanted to do anything professionally. Now, it's just a passion. I enjoy music. Ask me what I like, I'll tell you.

I cloth diaper. I breastfeed. I plan on homeschooling. I'm pro-life. I'm pro-Bible. I'm pro-Morals. I'm anti-Sin. Ask me about the church of Christ. Ask me anything.

I am Kristen. It's nice to meet you.

We did it!

Last night was the first night we tried using a cloth diaper all night long. The only thing that had been holding me back had been the fact that most of our diapers have really slack leg gussets and the poop escapes sometimes (I'm working on fixing that, though). We ran out of disposables yesterday morning when B had his huge blowout, so I figured we'd just save one of the good diapers for nighttime. So I stuffed a flat fold in with his insert in his BumGenius diaper for some extra absorbency, as he is a heavy wetter at night.

No leaks at all! I am proud to say I am on board with cloth all the way! I was so pleased when I changed him this morning and didn't have to pull off his clothes because of a leak - not even a pee leak! More importantly, not even a poo leak!

Yay for cloth! I can do it!

New (old) title, new look.

So you may (or may not) have noticed the change in title (again) and layout. The reason for the title change is this: Usually I write about Benjamin. If I wrote about stuff other than B, then perhaps "Me Time" would apply. But this blog started with my journey through pregnancy and now raising my son.

The layout? I just like it better.

Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Feet

For More Wordless Wednesdays, go here.

Yay me.

Why in the world am I awake at 4:45AM, and not feeding a baby? Well, I got up at 4 to feed the baby and found that we had had a massive diaper malfunction. I'm not going to go into too many details but let's just say poop was everywhere. Eeyore has to be washed now. So I got that cleaned up, I got him cleaned up, I got him fed, I got laundry in the wash, and guess who doesn't want to go back to sleep. One hint: it isn't the sleepy mommy.

And guess who gets to stay up with him?

Yay me.

I think this is the earliest this has ever happened. The good thing is that I took a super long nap yesterday evening so I at least have a little bit of emergency energy to feed off of. If only I can get him to go back to sleep. Right now he is laying on the floor with a blanket over his face.... and now he's crying.

Yay me.

"Trials and Tribulations of Cloth Diapering"

I read this really great blog post about cloth diapers. Anyone considering should check it out. It ain't a picnic all the time, but it is so worth it.

Check it out.

busy weekend.

We had a long weekend. Carl went to Tennessee to be in a wedding, and Benjamin and I went to my parents' house. We did a LOT of shopping. I guess the highlight of our shopping turned out to be Fathers Day stuff for Carl and swim stuff for Benjamin. I had been ready to buy a swim diaper for Benjamin when we got home, but I found swimtrunks with a built-in swim diaper at BabiesRUs which I really, really like. He even pooped in them and it contained all the mess. Perfect!

Here are some pictures from our first pool experience!

Not too sure about this... definitely not a bath - the water isn't that warm!


Hmm...


Starting to like the water!


It was hard containing him after a bit!


Trying to get a toy... frustrating! It keeps floating away!



Anyway, first pool experience went well! Second... not so well. Let's just say he was snorting out water for a little while after pulling him, screaming, out of the pool. I felt terrible.

Bug man just came around to spray for roaches. I am sick of the roach problem. Ever since the roach was found on Benjamin's swing while he was in it, that was the last straw. Hopefully this will get rid of it. It annoyed me when the bug man asked if Ben was a girl though. Seriously? In his red shirt with sail boats? Whatever.

Well, Ben is snoozing in his crib and I should get some food in my belly. I didn't have dinner last night or breakfast this morning and I'm starting to feel it.