I'm a mommy.

I just spent who knows how long (too long) getting ready for this Saturday...

On Saturday, August 30th, Nicole Ramos and Joel Purcell are going to get married. For this joyous occasion, there are a group of my friends from Moody having a mini "reunion." Ilene, Leah, Ashley, Amanda, Kristin, Nicole and I were all RA's together, 2 years in a row, under our RS Tammy. Though we had other girls we were RA's with for year 1 and year 2, the 7 of us were the ones together for the whole 2 years. We had way too much fun in those 4 semesters as RA's - retreats, small group, the quote wall, boy-talk, mutual concern over the girls on our floors, prayer, etc. I love these girls.

Since graduation in 2006, we have all begun to live our adult lives - 2 are in grad school, 2 are wives, 3 are dating, 2 are teachers, all are working, 1 is a stay-at-home-mom.

Which brings me to the sentence at the beginning of this post...I have a new dress (thanks mom and dad), which needed some minor adjustments to become more presentable. I just spent some time in front of a mirror with safety pins to fix it up. During this whole process, I was realizing how uneven my "tan" is and how obvious it is that I don't have my college figure anymore. Oh, and look at that gnarly bruise smack dab in the middle of my calf, hope that's gone in time for the wedding.

Wow, I'm still Bekah as I was in my RA days, but a lot has changed - husband, a baby, and, oh yeah, 15 extra pounds since that baby. Hmm, and what is everyone else doing these days? They are all hard workers and grad students, and I'm a, um, stay-at-home mom. Dude, why was I letting this bother me? Why was I getting so nervous about my appearance and conversation for Saturday?

Then it happened. As I hung my pinned up dress in the closet, I could hear Micah in his room (though he was supposed to be asleep), and a little cry from him. It hit my heart. This is my son. I am who I am today, a wife and mom, and I love it. Micah is the reason I stay at home. I stay home to teach Micah, raise him, care for him, and keep the house in order so that my hard working husband can relax with his wife and baby when he returns from a long day in the office.

As for my dear RA friends, they aren't going to judge me for what I do (as maybe our career driven society would)...and they are all in their own stages of life doing what they need to do right now. I'm a mommy, and I'm thankful to God that I am one.

Eating the house.

Just a moment ago I was on the computer getting caught up on some correspondence and miscellaneous work. Micah was playing silently in the corner. Wow, I thought to myself, he is doing a really good job entertaining himself...but he sure is quiet...maybe a little too quiet.

I turned around to check on my son, and I found him gnawing on the windowsill! White paint flaky's were all over his chin, and the sill had obvious bite marks on it. The crazy kid should've just told me he was hungry - I would have gotten him something to eat!


Micah, at the scene of the crime:


The damage:

"Wings"

After Micah was born, I got 2 little bald spots at my temples. Not too noticeable, but it was definitely frightening because, well, girls aren't supposed to go bald. My hair has been slowly growing back...first there was the porcupine stage - little patches of hair by my temples stood straight up...but now due to the humidity and my slightly wavy hair, I look like I have 2 "wings" growing out of the side of my head. The other day I got Micah up from his nap, and he too had "wings" from bed-head. Now I don't feel so goofy.

Fungus among us...

Sometime over the last weekend, Micah developed a diaper rash. I treated it for a couple days with a number of sample diaper rash creams I've acquired since he's been born (Desitin, Balmex, Johnson & Johnson)...yet nothing seemed to really help it go away! I finally decided to call the Doctor's office yesterday. I spoke with a nice nurse named Monica and I described the rash that had been spreading over my son's lower regions.

I was told to treat it with Lotrimin. "Isn't that for foot fungus?" I inquired. Yes...Lotrimin is for foot fungus, and ringworm, and jock itch, and anything else fungus related. So, basically my son's "diaper rash" has morphed into fungus. Dr's orders were to change Micah whenever his diaper gets soiled so he's not sitting in moisture; wipe with a washcloth, not baby wipes; let him air-dry (2-10 minutes) after each diaper change; then lather him up with anti-fungal cream.

Letting an avid crawler who is 11 months old "air dry" after every diaper change is just asking for trouble. Yesterday he did fine - crawling around in the nude for several minutes after changing his diaper went better than I had anticipated. But I began to trust my son's capability to not pee in the house while naked too soon...

I was catching up with my sister Elizabeth today. While chit-chatting, I took care of my fungus-bum son by taking off a soiled diaper and letting him dry out naturally. I let him air-out about 10 seconds too long...I glanced over at Micah, standing up by the coffee table, and all of a sudden I see a stream of something yellow pooling at his feet. "Elizabeth, I have to go! Micah's peeing on the floor!"

The funniest part about it is that Micah didn't even think anything unusual was going on. The only difference is that there is usually a diaper to keep everything in place.

Two pieces of mail.

After putting Micah down for the night I remembered that I hadn't gotten the mail today. So, I slipped on my flip-flops, grabbed my keys and jogged down 3 flights of stairs to our little mailbox. I inserted the key into the box, and reached in to collect my few pieces of USPS mail for the day.

As I walked back up the stairs, I began reading the first piece of mail - a letter from Compassion International. It was stating that there is a global food crisis going on right now, and that is affecting the families and children that Compassion supports. The price of simple staple foods has more than doubled in some areas and is even considered a life-threatening food crisis! Wow, this is serious stuff. I have noticed the price of food go up in my local grocery bill the last several months, but it has not affected me in a life threatening way at all.

After reading the letter from Compassion, I opened up my next piece of mail. It was an ad and coupon for Bed, Bath and Beyond. I glanced at the ad, seeing a number of kitchen gadgets and accessories that I do not need, and clipped the coupon for potential use down the road.

And then it struck me. Those two pieces of mail were completely opposite! On the one hand, Compassion reminded me that there is a real life threatening crisis for food; and on the other hand, Bed, Bath and Beyond reminded me that there is a whole lot of stuff out there that I just don't need in my kitchen to add to my current clutter of belongings.

I can't quite wrap my mind around the issue of such extreme imbalance in our world. So much need and so much abundance on the same globe.

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P.S. Here is the link for Compassion's Global Food Crisis Fund, in case you're interested in donating:
https://www.compassion.com/contribution/giving/global-food-crisis.htm

P.P.S. Sorry that this blog is WAY outdated...The Windy City Ruths have been traveling a lot this summer, and our web-site was under construction. So, needless to say, I dropped the ball on blogging. I plan on writing some "highlight" posts here soon to let you all know what went on in our summer!