thestainbrooks.com

Wow.

They weren’t kidding when they said that this first year would fly by. We’ve hit 10 months! It’s really hard being a “working mom” and knowing that most of this first year I spent away from him. I tend to have a lot of guilt over that as I see other babies his age learning words and other motor skills that I feel that if I were to be able to be there more often, he’d be learning, too. I know I shouldn’t beat myself up over it, but I can’t help but feel like it’s partially my fault that there’s not any consistency to our attempts at teaching him new things! Days go so quickly and in my hour and a half with him every day, between dinner time, bath time, and a very short play time, there’s not a lot more room for learning!

But, enough of all of that! I should have been doing updates much more frequently than this, but here’s a wonderful list of things that my little nugget can do as of 10 months old!

A preview of what is surely in store!

Communication

Everett is not regularly saying any words, and is definitely not calling us “mama or dada.” I feel like it’s probably because we don’t ever call ourselves that, so I’m not sure how he’s going to learn that! Speculatively, he has said something resembling “Kitty (kee-ee)” before, and has maybe kind of said “Mika” once or twice. He says “Hi” or “Hey” to everything. I’m not sure if he’s “saying” those or just making those noises! Every so often, he’ll repeat something someone says, plain as day, but never says it after that. Some cases of this are “Hey, da da!,” “Everett (ev-ett),” and “Him.” I swear, one day, he’s just going to surprise us and pull out all of the words in that little brain of his that he’s just been holding onto for just the right moment, lol. But as of right now, there’s nothing regular. He’s extremely good at “ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba.”

Non-verbally, he can give kisses by smacking his lips together when you say “kisses” and make the same noises. If he’s close to you and you say kisses, he’ll open-mouthed slobber on your face. It’s endearing, of course! He gives hugs, but not on command, and he also will occasionally wave “hello” and “goodbye.” He’ll give low fives and he claps when you say “yay!” He’s adding a few new things ever few weeks or so!

Mobility

Basically, all at one time, about a month ago, Everett started crawling, pulling himself up on things, and cruising. He was definitely holding out on us for a while! These all started happening in a one-week timespan, so that’s what makes me believe he’s going to skip words and start speaking in sentences! But of course, he’s just going to do everything when he’s completely ready!

Someday you will know pain far deeper than I could ever try and protect you from. But today, you’ll only feel the small purple bruises on your feet and knees from hobbling around on the kitchen floor while I chop up veggies and fruit into bits small enough for your 9-and-a-half month old fingers.

Someday you will board a school bus full of new faces of children who may or may not treat you nicely. Full of children who may or may not have enough food to eat, nice clothes to wear, or parents who love them as I have loved you. But today, I will carry you in my arms and will show you big and unconditional love in hopes that someday you’ll learn how to love others.

Someday you will yell at me, get angry with me, and maybe even tell me that you hate me for things I may or may not be able to control–and generally in response to something I have done in order to protect you. But today, I’m your hero and I can do no wrong.

Someday you will meet someone who may or may not be “the someone” and you’ll second guess everything you’ve ever learned from your father and I in regard to relationships and sexuality and you’ll ultimately make choices that will either strengthen you or devastate you. But today, you will see as many examples as I can show you of true love, beautiful love, pure thoughts, and good choices.

Someday you will meet someone who will be “the someone” and I’ll have to hope and pray that the mate that you and I have spent countless evenings praying for is the same one that you have chosen to spend your life with. And I’ll have to hope that they and their parents have prayed for you, too. But today, and forever I will continue to pray for that little person, that baby, that unborn child, who has their whole lives ahead of them, just as you do.

Someday you will learn to drive and you will have to make extremely important choices as to where you’ll go and how you’ll get there. You’ll have to resist the temptations to text while driving, drink before driving, answer a phone call, or even turn and talk to a friend. You’ll have to think twice about where you’re headed and what implications “the wrong place at the wrong time” can have on the rest of your life. You’ll have to choose whether or not to ride with that friend who has had too much to drink, won’t stop texting, or wants to drive too fast. But today, you’ll ride rear-facing, you’ll be strapped in tight, and you’ll never know that the ride you’re taking is one of the most dangerous things you’ll do all day. And today I will choose not to text a friend while driving, I will choose to ignore that phone call, I will choose to drive slower even if it means arriving late.

Someday you will doubt God, hate Christians, and think twice about the life that your father and I have done our best to exemplify for you. You’ll consider other religions or no religion at all.  But today, I will do my best to show you how to love with God’s big love, how to have faith in things you’ll never see or feel. I will pray for the leaders you will have and the friends you will find and their affect on the beliefs you’ll have and carry. I will pray that I will show you what I know in my heart to be real and beautiful in ways that will stick with you forever. I will pray that no matter where you choose to go and what you choose to do, that you’ll always find your way back. I will also do my best to show you that my love for you is bigger than whatever choice you make, and that I will always love you regardless of what you decide.

Someday you will grow up and experience so many more “somedays” than I could ever prepare you for. But today, (and forever) you’ll be my baby.

Okay, so, that homemade deodorant? Incredible. I will never use another standard deodorant stick again. And girl, I am sweaty! It’s magic. I’ve never used anything that has worked this well in my life! I completely recommend that you go and buy yo’self some ingredient and make it happen. You won’t regret it. Here are some tweaks I made:

• I doubled the amount of dry ingredients.
• I halved the amount of oil.
• I added 5-10 drops of Lavender Oil & Tea Tree Oil.

Do you need a place to buy the ingredients? I suggest MountainRoseHerbs.com!

My deodorant and my oils!

Well, I loved the deodorant so much that I continued my search for some more “homemade” stylee products! In a Facebook group that I belong to, someone began talking about their experience with the “Oil Cleansing Method.” What does that entail? In short–you cleanse your face with oil. That right, oil. I have moderate acne and splotchy skin–the thought of cleansing my face with oil was disturbing. Oil? Really? That junk I’ve been combating for the better part of 11 years now? That sounds like the worst idea anyone could ever have.

But, as I tend to do with everything, I googled, researched, and dove right in. It actually makes complete sense. When you strip your skin of oils and its protective top layer–it goes into overdrive trying to reproduce those stripped oils and resurface your skin. Every time you use a harsh cleanser, this madness continues. However, when you cleanse your skin with good oils, they replace those bad oils and send the message to your skin that it has all the oil it needs! It’s a mini-detox for your face! I’m on week two so far of using this method and so far? My skin looks incredibly glowy and soft–yet, not oily! I still have a long way to go before my skin has completely re-programmed itself to stop producing so much oil, but I feel like I’m finally heading in the right direction.

Are you interested in this? Here are some links that I used to find my perfect “oil” and to learn the step-by-step instructions on how to do it right!

• TheOilCleansingMethod.com
• The Nitty Gritty on Oil Cleansing by CrunchyBetty.com

No one else will ever know the strength of my love for you, after all, you’re the only one who knows what my heart sounds like from the inside.

- unknown

I’d really like to start writing in here a lot more! I need to be writing down our memories! Sure, most of them are still fresh–but what happens when a few years go by and I let some of the best ones slip away because I wasn’t diligent enough to write them down?

Good Christina: “Alright, Christina, hop to it. Be a good momma & gush publicly about your baby!”
The Christina suffering from TBD (Too Busy Disorder!): “Okay, fine, I will!”

Anyway.. I’m debating which direction to go with my soon-to-be excessive blogging! Would I like to write letters to Everett or just PSAs about him? We’ll probably stick to the PSA approach. I think I’m also going to get back to “journaling” my attempts at being crunchy (the hipster way of saying modern drug-free hippie.) I think I’ll write a “Stainbrook Family’s Favorites” post showcasing some of our favorite products/things/brands. I love sharing my finds!

Hope to talk to you all more frequently!