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EASTER...

My pal Katie and I have often contemplated how we can make a bigger deal out of Easter... as far as holidays go it seems it gets less attention than Halloween these days. And Christmas blows it out of the water!! Don't get me wrong, it's great that we celebrate Christ's arrival on this earth as a human baby but that's only just the BEGINNING of our celebration - the climax for us should really be this coming Sunday.


In an effort to make good with the time I've been given (thanks to inspiration from my pal Anne) I started downloading some sermons to replace my addiction to NPR, and hopefully create a craving in my heart for some godly things... anywho - I came across a series from Mark Dever entitled "Pierced for our Transgressions." He started in on Christmas 07 and went until Easter of 08 - so cool huh? (If only I would have know I would have been doing one each day leading up to Easter - I'm like 3 behind right now). He even preaches on a passage in Leviticus - yes you heard it a "Easter" message from Leviticus!! It's been so refreshing and extremely humbling - or at least making me realize how much more humble I should be. Perhaps these messages will help you as you prepare your heart for this Sunday - check them out here. (The first one is Pass Over, Exodus 12).


My mom always made holidays something to look forward to when we were growing up. And she still does special little things for us now that I look forward to even though I'm 'all grown up' (love those x-mas socks mom!!) Each Easter we had a basket filled with yummy goodies, a useful clothing item or just some fun toy she thought we'd enjoy. My FAVORITE still to this day the egg carton gum!!! I'm SOOOOO excited to fill Jude's first Easter basket and begin one of many traditions I hope to carry on with our family. (Another one of which I hope to try are those Resurrection eggs... but I think we'll wait for some more intellect to develop before we attempt them)! So here's the wish list for this year's basket:

1. Bubbles to blow in the bathtub - bath time is our favorite time of day!!

2. A book fun book to read like "Rainbow Bob"

3. Seeds of Faith cd. I just stumbled across this sweet group they put scripture to music - much cooler than Steve Green - no offence!! They have adults and kids singing together and use the NIV. Each of their albums deals with a theme, for example Seeds of Faith is all verses relating to salvation, and comes with 2 cd's!! One for you to sing with and one for you to share with another family. Here is their website or you can take a listen here.

If you've got any other Easter celebration ideas I'm all ears!!


Here's another snapshot of the little man - we're lovin' him more each day!!

Date Night Disaster!

It's never been that big of a deal for James and I to run out and grab a bite to eat or catch a movie... but with the arrival of Jude things got a little more complicated. Sure we've gone out bunches of times and just brought him along - but we wanted some alone time this past Friday night. Hence we were plunged into the world of the scheduled "date-night." Planing in advance, lining up the sitter, making sure you're going to get back at a semi decent for baby, get the bottle ready, yada, yada, yada...

Once baby was in the arms of Shannon, we were flying high and headed to the Cheesecake Factory. We had just found a parking spot when we got "the call" (you know the one with the screaming child in the background) someone decided that they weren't interested in taking their bottle (this was shocking b/c he's never had a problem with this before but apparently he wasn't in the bottle mood that evening). Not wanting to abandon our hopes of an evening out on the town, we said please keep trying!!! Needless to say after a few other phone calls we ended up back at the Logsdons to pick up our son who had now been screaming for over and hour and twenty minutes!! James and I packed him up and tried the bottle again but what a little stinker - he wouldn't do it. As we were driving home, tummies growling, I said "well, I guess we could pick up some burgers or something...." James: "yeah, but I really just wanted Cheesecake...." Jess: "...me too..." James: "aw, heck, lets just do it!" So we took the now sleeping baby to dinner with us to the Cheesecake Factory after all - and we still had a 40 minute wait at 9pm!! Oh but it was SOOOOO worth it!

(And Shannon don't worry he hasn't wanted to eat at 7 since! I stretched his feedings 4 hours apart now and that seems to have helped! So he really does love you I promise!)

Many of you have been requesting more baby pics - hope you enjoy the slide show!! Baby is now 4 months old and just started sucking his thumb!! It's so cute to see him finally find it after weeks of sucking on that fist trying to lure it out!

Good Night... Sleep Tight!

This is the little munchkin almost a month ago, sound asleep but during a long afternoon nap... and now I NEVER thought I would be saying this (I was wishing and hoping and praying for it though) - he's sleeping 11 straight hours at night!! Thank goodness!!

Here's where little Jude does most of his sleeping - I never got around to posting these nursery pics before his arrival - but better late than never.

Jude's room was quite the labor of love, James and my Dad made the bookshelves, I sewed the curtains and bedding, Aunt Stacie and the Grandmas shopped for wonderful accessories, Kerry made the super cool clock on the wall, Nancy donated the crib and some antique items and wa-la!! I really loved how it turned out - and so does Jude, his eyes lit up when he saw it - they opened wide as he scanned the busy patterns and bright colors. Thank you IKEA!!

Yes, that is Joker and Batman - you have no idea how hard I tried to get them out of the room!!! James received them prior to baby's arrival and thought they'd make a nice addition to the room, I kept saying "what if it's a girl - we just can have them in here." Now that we have a baby boy none of my excuses have been accepted - they are here to stay!

PS - I'm still in the market for a rug - I was thinking green - but I'm having trouble finding one that's the right shade. Any other suggestions??

My new best friend...

Obviously baby has not liked whatever it is I have been eating lately - I have now used this stain remover on the past 6 of his outfits! We're talking volcanic eruptions - up the top end of the diaper!! Not to mention the sheets... I even tried the next size up of diapers, thinking maybe that would do the trick. But alas it made no difference - so for now I'm still soaking - thank goodness for the stain removing power of oxi clean!

Baby Has Arrived!

It's a boy!!! Jude Martin Frohlich was born on November 23 @ 5:07 am. He weighed exactly 8lbs. and was 211/4 inches long. (He was much bigger than we expected.) We are so thankful to have him here alive and well. As many of you know we had quite a few complications, making our hopes for a natural birth impossible... But alas our midwife was still able to get in on the action and take some wonderful pictures - thank goodness, I could barely keep my eyes open! Dealing with the disappointment of the c-seciton has been a difficult adjustment mentally and physically and on top of that the little one was having some feeding dramas. After loosing 17% of his birth weight, he's finally back up to 8.2lbs. - it was a nerve recking couple of weeks, but we're both doing MUCH better now. So... thanks for all your understanding and patience as I've just now started to reconnect with the world! We had family in giving us a hand and celebrating Thanksgiving with us and we're heading home for Christmas in just a few days - so if you called - thanks so much!! It meant a lot to hear from everyone - and I do plan on calling you all back, but I thought you'd want to know some details before the holiday! In case I don't catch you before then - Merry Christmas!!

Touching baby for the first time.

I don't know if you can see it or not, but James is wearing his LUCKY shirt!! We joked as he dressed on Saturday, that maybe the shirt would come through for us - sure enough! 2:00 on Saturday baby started making his way into the world.

"I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh praise the greatness of our God. He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he." Deut. 32:3-4

Here's Baby!!

We had our 20wk ultrasound about 2 1/2 weeks ago and it was the most amazing thing!! Talk about taking your pregnancy to a whole other level - this really made it seem so much more real for us! And we were able to have it video taped (you know we've been watching it at least once a week)!! And it's still a surprise!! Yippie!!

This was my favorite pic - something about those tiny feet!! I just want to kiss them!!

Some other pregnancy news for those thinking of having babies or those already in the thick of it - two things you should check out.

***DISCLAIMER: I'm coming to discover that what beliefs and decisions people make about child birth is right up there with their beliefs about politics and religion. I see no need trying to sway people from their current position... so though we are hoping for a natural birth process it doesn't mean it's for everyone and who knows I still may want those drugs!! But I do feel that you should make an informed decision before you pull the trigger about your birth location... so to each his own - just get informed!!***

1. The Business of Being Born is an excellent video, though it's a proponent of home birth, those choosing a midwife/birth center, or hospital I think would find the information helpful. Knowledge is power - so knowing what your options are before you hit the hospital and just blindly follow suit is a good idea. (On a personal note - I totally cried!! It took away all my fears about birth and made me super excited about the whole experience!!) And hello - it's not like a bunch of fanatical Christians made it, it's feminist in nature, but they have some sweet things to say. You can check out the trailer here http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com/ and I'm told you can even rent through netflix. (Kudos to my pal Michelle Helm for introducing me to the video).

2. Prenatal Fitness Fix with Erin O'Brien. So those of you who know me know that I am not a exercise buff, to say the least... meaning I NEVER EXERCISE. Our midwife has been strongly encouraging me to take it up, since this will be like the hardest thing I've ever done. So thanks to my good pal Shannon Logsdon I've actually been giving it a shot. She shared this video with me and I love it because:

• She's human (and also prego herself)!! Erin exercises in her own living room, with no make-up and at one point wearing at t-shirt and what looks like her husbands boxers. (You feel anybody can do this you don't have to be a trim and beautiful barbie doll).


• But let not this down to earth look fool you - she's a personal trainer who knows her stuff! Check out the DVD cover for her creds. but take it from me she's a great coach. Tells you the do's and don't -shows you what they look like and gives great tips on actually isolating the muscles you're supposed to be using - you know so you're actually exercising!!


• Erin doesn't push it. She's pregnant too, and tells you when too much is too much.


• There's a pee break half way through ;)


• If you have a couch and a coffee table you can do all of the exercises!! Leave the weights at the gym!!


• If you're already super buff and need more of a challenge, she has a partner workout segment that provides you with much more resistance.

Know of any other good mommy to be videos or books please share!! I'm currently looking into doing my own baby food so any resources on that I'd be interested in!

Read any of the Sears baby books? I heard their SUPER!