Drink Dispensers

I'm loving large beverage dispensers with spigots! Perfect for larger gatherings! Here's a few pretty pieces that caught my eye....

Available here from Viva Terra

Available here at Fresh Finds

Available here from Amazon

Available here at Chefs

Available here at Pottery Barn

Available here from Classic Hostess

Available here from Pottery Barn

Available here from Z-Gallerie.

Blogging Break

Hi Everyone! Hope you've been having a good week!

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be on a blogging hiatus until next week. My girlfriend is flying in from CA today and we're looking forward to a great 5 days together! So excited to see her!

Have a great rest of the week and a wonderful weekend; you'll hear from me next week : )

Clean-up In The Kitchen

My husband and I naturally fell into a routine when it comes to getting Ilah ready for bed. Daddy changes her out of the clothes that she has been in all day, puts her in a fresh diaper, and picks out/puts on her pajamas. In the meantime, I'm downstairs getting Ilah's rice cereal ready and warming her nighttime bottle. When daddy comes downstairs, the highchair is in place, a bib is on the tray and the bowl of rice cereal is ready, as is Ilah's last bottle of the night.

Except....last night things didn't go so smooth.

We all know about the terrible BP oil spill. Well...Mommy had quite a spill of her own last night....

As I was preparing rice cereal for Ilah and getting everything ready, I also thought I might as well sanitize a set of bottles while I was at it. I thought I had secured the lid on the bottle that I had just filled but.....well.....as you can see....I didn't. My elbow hit the bottle that you see on the counter top and Mommy had her first spill. Clearly it's not just little one's who spill milk....mommy's do too!

The Winner of the Giveaway is....

Adrienne!

Congratulations Adrienne!

{Sorry not to post the actual number from random.org.

My computer crashed recently and I am in the process

of retrieving my old sofstware programs}

For all others: If you didn't win, but would love to purchase something from Especially Brides, don't forget that until June 30th, you get 15% off of your order. Just enter code EBGO at check out!

I hope you all are having a great day!

A Daddy's First Father's Day!

We had a wonderful day yesterday celebrating Father's Day! Saturday night Ilah passed a note to her daddy and told him to be ready at 11 a.m. the next day for a massage that mommy had planned for him : )

While daddy was away, we wrapped up his gifts and displayed them on the kitchen counter so that he would see them when he walked in the door....

Ilah got all dolled up for Daddy!.....

When Dele got home, he opened up the gifts that we got him {and Ilah helped by removing the tissue paper from the bags!}.

I found this cute little frame at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and printed a picture of Dele holding his baby girl within the first hour that she was born....

A few other small gifts....


1st Father's Day cards.....

I have to share the cute little card that I picked out for Ilah to give her daddy....

The outside read:

The inside read:

Hee, hee : )

After Dele opened his gifts and read his cards, I took a few pictures of daddy and daughter before we left for brunch!.....

Daddy with his girl.....

Fun times!.....

Ilah is always so good when we take her out. She got so many compliments from people around us who observed that she was so well behaved, happily playing with her toys! She definitely makes it easy on us....

{picture taken with my phone}

There were lots of babies and little ones out with their daddy's at the restaurant yesterday. Such cuteness all around!

We got home around 3 p.m. and all nestled in bed to take a nap together. Except Ilah was a bit restless so I took her downstairs to play and let daddy sleep. After a feeding, and more play time, Ilah eventually she wore herself out. When she got fussy for me to take her out of her exersaucer, I cuddled with her on the couch and she fell asleep on me {I just love those moments}. She stayed asleep for 4 hours! She hasn't had a nap like that in a very long time!

The rest of our evening was mellow, just hanging out and watching tv. We didn't eat dinner because we were still full from brunch! Besides...I'm sure with all the calories that we consumed at brunch, we didn't have any business eating dinner!

I'd say we all had a very wonderful day together!

- - -

For many years, Father's Day held an incredible amount of sadness for me because it was the day that my Father passed away - at 45 years old. Every year when the day would roll around, it seemed that so much pain would resurface and I would find it so hard to get through the day - and would even start feeling a shift in myself days leading up to Father's Day. I even used to skip going to church because I knew that the service would be dedicated to Fathers and it only would cause me to dwell on my father's physical absence all the more. And while although I definitely thought of my father today, the day {and the days leading up to today} was filled with anticipation and happiness as Father's Day is now a day that I get to celebrate the wonderful role that my husband plays in my daughter's life - and a day that I get to help Ilah express to her daddy how much she loves him. I'm thankful for the many Father's Days that I shared with my dad - and I am so thankful for my baby girl, and my wonderful husband, who share such a sweet bond. Today was a wonderful Father's Day - and I'm looking forward to all the one's ahead.

Learning How To Crawl

Happy Friday everyone! I hope the day has gotten off to a good start and that a wonderful weekend is ahead of you!

Yesterday Ilah and I spent the afternoon at my mom's house - and as usual, Ilah left with no few than 1,000 kisses and 2,000 hugs - and some toys! One of the things Ilah got was a little ball that lights up, plays music, and moves around on the floor to entice babies to reach it, thereby also teaching them how to crawl. Ilah has been scooting on her stomach for a few weeks now, trying to figure out how to actually move to get something that she is eyeing. I think this little ball will be lots of fun for her!

"Ok Mommy. Are you watching me?"

"Weeee!!! My hands and legs are off the ground!"

"Heeey. Come over here!"

"Ok, so now what do I do?"

"I wonder if I can reach it"....

"I'm going to give it a try".....

"I think I got it".....

I don't think it will be too much longer before our little girl figures out how to move her arms and her legs at the same time and starts to push forward....

Check out those feet!

"That was fun but I'm done. Don't move anymore ok because I'm done trying to chase you"....

"Mommy, I've worked up an appetite. What do you say you hook me up with some sweet potatoes and milk?"

Ilah and I are looking forward to Father's Day on Sunday! We have some fun things in store for Daddy!

Giveaway!

*CLOSED*

Before I highlight the giveaway I just want to say....

I know there are lots of blogs out there that do giveaways pretty routinely. Some people love the chance to win something - anything - and are all about giveaways. Other people find them annoying and would much rather come to a person's blog to see a personal post rather than a giveaway {especially for something small that you could go and buy at your local Walgreens}. Personally, I don't clog my blog with giveaways and promote companies "just because". In fact, before now, I've only done ONE other giveaway.

When I'm contacted about a giveaway, I use my discretion before ever saying "yes" and I always take the time to check out the person's website and get familiar with their product/s - and them as a person. Also, I am never compensated for doing the giveaway. In addition, if I'm going to promote a company, and allow that company to offer a gift to one of my readers, I want the item to truly be something that a reader would love to receive - so I've passed on quite a few giveaways.

With all that said....

When the owner of Especially Brides contacted me about a giveaway, I took to her site and absolutely LOVED her jewelry pieces - and thought you would you too! They are perfect for a bride-to-be, a mommy who hasn't purchased something nice for herself lately, a woman whose all about adding a pretty piece of jewelry to her collection, or a friend who is looking for a nice gift to give.

Especially Brides is gifting one of my readers with a gorgeous pair of crystal drop earrings....

If I were still planning my wedding, I would DEFINITELY have purchased some gorgeous accesories from this site! They have SO MANY beautiful earrings, bracelets, brooches, rings, hair accessories, clutches, etc. for sale at such affordable prices. Not to mention, totally cute every day pieces and dressy pieces as well {if you see something you want to buy, get 15% off using code EBGO from now until June 30th!}.

Want the pretty earrings above? Just leave a comment letting me know. That's it!

This giveaway will end on Monday, June 21st at 12:00 Noon EST. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and will be announced by 5:00 p.m. on June 21st! The winner will be posted here, and will also be emailed - so be sure that you have a valid email address on your blogger profile or relay it in within the comment section. The winner will have 3 days to respond, or another winner will be chosen.

Ilah, 5 Months Old

Ilah, you are now 5 months old! Here are a few new things that you are doing:

• You loooove to hug and give tight neck squeezes! We cannot get enough of them.

• When we give you a kiss, you lick our face in return! We just crack up! It's so cute.

• You are soooo playful. You love playing with mommy and daddy, but you also do so well playing independently.

• You are starting to reach out for us. It melts our heart!

• You now go down for the night at 8:30 p.m. and you wake up the next morning between 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m. You are a GREAT sleeper! But as for naps, you haven't been feeling them lately! Unless you are sleeping on Mommy, you only do a few short cat naps per day, that last about 30 minutes each. I've been forewarned about this phase : )

• You make little dolphin-like sounds {and when you were smaller, you used to make sounds that a horse makes} - it's sooo hilarious all these little sounds that come from your cute little mouth!

• You are really attached to your Mommy! If I set you down to play, or if someone else is holding you, you follow me with your eyes constantly; you like to know where I am at all times.

• And the biggest milestone that you have reached is that you have mastered sitting up all by yourself!!........

"Ok. So what now?"

"Whoah! Slow and steady...slow and steady....I can do it...."

"Hey Mooom! Are you getting this?"

"Oh. There you are".

"They need to leave some milk bottles down here. Maybe I should suggest that".

"Man, it's getting hot here in Georgia! Do we have plans to go to the beach anytime soon? I need to bust out of these clothes and put a bathingsuit on!"

Ilah, you are the greatest blessing that God has ever given us. We count it such a joy and an honor to be your mommy and daddy and to raise you in this world. We can't get enough of you - and we think you like us a lot too ; )

I pray that {Ilah}, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and know this love that surpasses all understanding, that {Ilah} may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God". - EPHESIANS 3:18-19

Dream Interpretation, Part 2

Sorry it took me a few days to delve into part 2 of my dream interpretation. For those of you that have been interested in reading the follow up to part 1, sorry to leave you hanging! I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t been able to devote time to sitting at the computer to write out the following.

To cut right to it….

The frequency, and consistency, in which I seek the Lord [independently] has greatly decreased from what it used to be. As a result, I feel “off” in my relationship with God and I’m yearning to regain the closeness that I used to have with my Heavenly Father.

Yes, my husband and I pray together and I/we spend lots of time depositing God’s love into Ilah, but truthfully, my time with the Lord nowadays is based on when it’s convenient for me. It comes after I've gotten around to doing many things that are far less important – if it even comes at all that day.

I won’t make the excuse that tending to my baby, and keeping up with our house, is such a big undertaking that it prevents me from having an hour or two each day with the Lord. That’s just not true and isn’t at all the reason for my spiritual shift. Dishes can wait to be done, laundry can wait to be folded and Ilah isn’t awake every hour requiring my undivided attention. Certainly I consider these things a priority, but the fact of the matter is that I’ve inadvertently moved “alone time with God” way down on my list of “things to do” and have made it an option, rather than a requirement.

Years before I moved to Atlanta and met my husband, God was really doing a work in me and was refining me in so many ways. During this time I was pressing in for as long as it took to get a breakthrough, and I was seeking God for answers – and for resolutions. I would spend hours enthralled in worship and prayer and would feel the presence of the Lord so mightily during these intimate times that I was certain this is what the throne room of God must feel like. My walk with the Lord was diligent. I felt more than fulfilled. And I wanted more – and more – and more – of the things of God. I craved it. And I sought to obtain it. From the inside out, I wanted to feel, and reflect, God’s amazing goodness.

There was nothing more important than giving my all to God.

Now I also have to give my all to things that weren’t there a few years ago. A husband and a baby.

God should always be first. I know that. But truthfully, that’s not the order that I’ve been putting things in these days.

I have settled on being content - not at all where I want to spiritually be, because it means that I’m not growing. I want to always have an incredible love affair with the Lord and mature in His ways. There’s just no other feeling like it. To regain where I once was spiritually {and go even beyond it}, I know have to put God back in His rightful position - first in my life.

The Holy Spirit has greatly been at work within me – even in my dreams. As I studied about the Holy Spirit on Saturday, I was reminded of who He is: The Holy Spirit is the bridge to God within you. It is the part of your mind—the part of your Spirit—that is joined with the mind of God. By creating the Holy Spirit, God instilled His voice into each of His children and provided a way in which they always remember the truth of who and what they are. The Holy Spirit's function and purpose is to bring God’s Voice to each of God’s children….guiding them, directing them, loving them, and restoring their thinking to God's. It is not possible for the Holy Spirit to judge you in any way because this part of God can only see the truth of who you are and not who you think you are {taken from The Voice of Love}. It was so refreshing to be reminded of that.

Undeniably, whether awake – or asleep, the Holy Spirit is drawing me back to the heart of God. As I shared with you about the dream that I had a few weeks ago, it concluded with me making sure that as I plummeted to my death, I repented to God while I still had life and breath within me. As I was preparing for the moment of my death, I knew that I had been living a life of a lukewarm Christian. Knowing that I was going to die, I had an inner fear of not knowing if I would gain entrance into heaven when my spirit left my body. These feeling translate into the uncertainty that I have been having lately as I know what God’s word says about being lukewarm {Revelation 3:16 - So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth}. Not having total confidence that, if I were to die today, I would spend eternal life in heaven makes me undoubtedly unsettled. Yes, I know what John 3:16 says { For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life} and what Romans 10:9 says {If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved} but I don’t want to just rely on my salvation as being enough. I want to enter heaven knowing God - and his son Jesus Christ.

The Lord is amazing, and He has done SO MUCH in my life. He has truly been a father to me {Psalms 68:5}...He has sheltered me, protected me, vindicated me, has poured out His favor upon me and has opened so many doors that only He could. He has been my healer, my source of strength and has been my ever present help in time of need. He has given me my hearts desires – in His perfect timing – and I have so much to be thankful for. I am abundantly blessed and don't take one thing for granted.

Clearly in the middle of the night, a few weeks ago, my heart yearned to feel close again to my Heavenly Father. There is a song by Misty Edwards {called I Am Yours} that beautifully encompasses how I’ve been feeling since I woke up from that dream. I was hoping to find a video online of Misty Edwards singing this song – I did find a youtube video but it’s to a slideshow of images. I’m posting it below for you to hear and have also posted below the video, the lyrics to the song}.

I AM YOURS

By Misty Edwards

Though I sleep, my heart is awake
Though It's night, on You I wait

(repeat)

It's been a long night, and I am weary
It's been a long time, and I am hungry
So I'll wait in the stillness again
I'll wait in the quiet again
For when I heard Your voice
When You said my name
When I heard Your voice
My heart it yearned

(repeat)

In the middle of the night
In the middle of the night
In the middle of the night
My heart it yearns

(repeat)

Though You're far away, still I'm here to say
I am Yours, I am Yours
And when You feel so far away, still I am here to say
I am Yours, I am Yours

(repeat)

And I pay my vows, no turning around
I burn the bridges that can't be found

(repeat)

For when I heard Your voice
And You said my name
When I heard Your voice
My heart it yearned
For You.

Deuteronomy 4:29 - But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you look for Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Dream Interpretation, Part1

One night, a few weeks ago, I had an awful dream and woke up in an all out, sweaty, heart-racing, gasping for breath, shake-your-husband-so-he-wakes-up too, panic attack.

I have realized that many of the dreams that I have had over the course of my life correlate to something that I am, or have been, feeling/thinking/wondering about/fearful of/or have been over-analyzing about.

And so was the case in this dream.

In my dream, my husband and I were away on vacation for a few days, staying in a cabin with some friends {without Ilah}, in the middle of winter. In the early evening, just before it started to get dark out, we headed out to the local store in town to pick up just a few things. On the way there I told my husband that we needed to just quickly run in and out because I didn’t want us driving back when it was pitch dark outside. When we got inside of the store he went one way to grab a few things on our list, while I went another way to grab some of the other items that we needed. While I was half way down an aisle, I instantly turned around and went to find my husband in the store. I motioned for him to come my way and I told him that we just needed to leave and let's not bother trying to get everything. It was growing dark and I knew that there were no street lights to light the roads. We purchased what we had in hand and didn’t bother finding, or buying, the rest of the stuff on our list. When we exited the store, it was quickly growing dark. When we got inside our car, and started to drive back towards the cabin, fog rolled in - and then it started to sprinkle...followed by snow flurries. In no time, the roads got slippery. I asked my husband if he could see out of the window; he said that he had driven in weather like this before and not to worry.

When we approached the street that our cabin was on, I noticed there were some people sitting outside. I told my husband, “Can you believe people are sitting outside in this weather?”. He turned to look and that’s when everything went terribly, horribly wrong. Because he wasn’t paying attention to the road, he was about to miss our turn. Instead of continuing to drive straight and make a u-turn to come back to our street, he decided to still try to make the turn, which was now a dangerous decision. When he did so, the car started to slide and he couldn’t gain control of the vehicle that was now fish-tailing. I stared out of the front window, wide-eyed, as everything seemed to begin to happen in slow motion. Head on, we hit {and broke through} a wooden railing that went along side of a steep mountain as a preventative measure. Within seconds, we were plummeting to our death. Knowing that we only had moments until we hit the bottom, I turned to Dele to tell him that I love him. He looked back at me with such apologetic eyes. We both leaned in to give each other the last kiss that we would ever give to one another – right before we died together. I then thought that I would never see my precious Ilah ever again. Neither of us would. She would have to live the rest of her life without us. Images of her face, and scenes of all of our times together, quickly flashed through my mind. Although it was a heart-wrenching realization, there was no time to cry. Knowing that I only had a second or two left to live, I asked God to forgive me of my sins. And then I woke up.

Hyperventilating.

Lately there have been a few things heavily on my mind, and on my heart, which I absolutely know correlated with this dream.

Some time ago, my husband and I purchased life insurance. We not only felt that it was important to be covered in the event that something were to happen to one of us – but also to give us a peace of mind knowing that if something were to happen to both of us, that Ilah would receive a considerable amount of money to carry her through a great portion of her life. Knowing that we are all financially secure {should one if us pass away} was something that was important to my husband and I. While planning accordingly certainly brings great comfort, it also forces you to answer questions like who will have guardianship over your child/ren in the event that both parents pass away? And will that same person be responsible for allocating funds to your child/ren according to your written specifications?

I was totally not prepared to answer those questions. And while although we didn’t have to answer them right away, worry and angst crept in immediately. Naturally, as a parent, you never, ever want to think about how your child would cope with losing their parent/s, let alone envision someone other than you raising your child/ren.

My biggest fear in life is loss….my husband and/or my child{ren}dying well before their time. My father passed away in his mid 40’s. Way too soon and it was sudden. And while I have learned to cope with the loss of my father, it’s not something that I will ever be “over”. Yesterday was his birthday.

As a child, you grow up naturally assuming that you, and those around you, will live a very long, full life. Death is something that you think happens to other people. It doesn’t touch those that you love. As a 14 year old teenager, I became painfully aware that no one is immune to death. And when you come to this realization, and have to live through the loss [that someone whom you deeply love will no longer be physically with you], I think it really does something to you.

For many years I would randomly get high anxiety thinking about something tragically happening to me….dying from an awful car accident, getting cancer, plummeting to my death in an airplane crash, getting robbed and then murdered….the thoughts were recurring and so awful.

I look forward to my future with my husband and children with so much excitement and anticipation for all that is to come for us as a family. I often envision how things will be 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years from now. To have my dreams shattered, by the death of any of them, would be incredibly life altering. It’s my absolute biggest fear. That, and something happening to me that wouldn’t allow me to be present for all of those endearing moments that I foresee.

I am sure that I am not the only mother or wife out there who has these fears. Do any of you? When my mind begins to wander about the “what if’s”, I pray away my worries and ask for the peace of God to settle in my heart. I also talk it through with either my husband, or my mother – who has gone through the loss of her husband/my father and understands where my fear stems from.

The part of my dream where I repented right before we crashed to our death is associated with my current relationship with the Lord and how lately I have felt that I need to be more committed to my spiritual growth through prayer, worship, intercession, the reading of His word and through more acts of service. I want to save this for another post because I will be sharing my heart in great length - and this post is already quite long!

Fun Times With Ilah

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Friday night, Ilah and I were waiting for Daddy to come back home from New York city. My sister-in-law graduated from medical school and is officially a Doctor {!} so my husband flew out with my in-law's to attend her graduation that was held at Madison Square Garden. It was just an overnight trip so Ilah and I stayed behind. To trek the baby, and all of her necessities, for just one night, would have been too much {on all of us} so we stayed home...and spent time with grandma, who stayed over for the night. We had a fun girls night in!

I baked peanut butter cookies from scratch {the heart shaped ones were for daddy!}....

Over the weekend, Dele went and picked up his birthday present....a grill from Home Depot! We wasted no time in getting the fire started! Ilah had some fun for a while in her excersaucer while we made dinner....

I call the below picture below: "Excuse me, but if you are going to insist on taking more pictures of me, I'm going to have to charge you".

For dinner we had filet mignon, zucchini, mashed potatoes, and salad.....

Ilah got jipped and only had green beans.....not fair huh?....

Here are some more pictures of play time....

And just in case we forgot she was there, Ilah did quite a bit of shreeking to let us know she was in the room.....

Our happy little baby girl!....

.....and more shreeking.....

And look who got her foot to reach her mouth on Saturday!....

Ilah has been raising her legs and playing with her feet with her hands for quite some time; I knew it was only a matter of time before she discovered that those cute little feet of hers could reach her mouth!.....

"Let's see how many toes I can fit in here"....

"Looks like all of them can go in!!" Ha!.....

Our sweet girl is growing so fast!!

We're enjoying every minute with you Ilah!!