Q&A 2: What are your favorite books?

Q: What are your favorite books?

A: I love to read. Always have. My list of favorite fiction books is quite short though because although I love to read I find most stories forgettable as I primarily read for entertainment. Someone will ask me, "Have you read The Secret Life of Bees?" And I will have read it a couple years ago and not remember for the life of me what happened in it. I will generally just remember if it was good or not. I also am not a reading snob. I haven't read all the classics and I don't care. I just read to read because it is a joy to me. I don't force anything. So with that said, there are two fiction books that I have enjoyed so thouroughly that I remember them and so I'd say they are my favorites.

1. Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

This is not a literary masterpiece. Francine Rivers wrote romance novels before moving to this genre, so she does carry that style of writing into this book. But the story is beautiful and unforgettable and will make you cry out of heartbreak and joy. And that is my kind of story.

2. The Time Travelers Wife - Audrey Niffeneger
 
I literally refused to go see the movie that was made from this book because I didn't want it to ruin the image I had in my head. I loved this story. For me it was written so well that I could suspend reality and believe in time travel while I was in the story. The mix of fanciful and everyday was perfection.



Here are some other books worth noting that I whole heartedly endorse as well:

1. Taking Charge of Your Fertility - Toni Weschler

I really believe that this book and God's grace is why we got pregnant the first time we tried. I learned things about my lady parts I didn't know and I'm 27 years old. It's empowering and easy to understand.

2. Spoon - Amy Krause Rosenthal

Westley received this book as a gift (as seen in his nursery) and I am so glad he did. It is funny and heartwarming and the illustrations are adorable. It is a story that teaches a wonderful lesson without being all "teachy". So good.


3. Domino: The Book of Decorating

Such an inspirational book if you are decorating your home or dreaming of decorating your home. It's like all my favorite Pinterest home ideas in a book with wonderful suggestions and explanations. It's kind of a classic in my opinion.


So there you have it! Have you read any of these yourself? Got any good ones you'd like to recommend?

Westley is 4 Months Old!

I blinked my eyes and my little infant boy became a 4 month old baby.

His Daddy picked out the little baseball outfit he has on. We were at the store and Drew brings it over to me smiling, "I want to get this for Westley." I love when Drew picks out things for Westley. He has brought him home a batman action figure, a batman onesie, a plastic sword (which was actually bought before we were married...possibly before we were even dating), he also brought home a 24 pack of crayola's one day while Westley was still in utero and of course this adorable baseball sleeper.

Drew has also had some notable quotes about Westley that are worth documenting:

"His breath smells like sugar cookies!" - @ 1 week old (it still smells like sugar cookies too.)

"Every day I wake up is like Christmas because I remember he is here in his room and I get to go in and get him!" - @ 17 weeks old

Me: "you can go in his room and look at him, he won't wake up."
Drew: "no, I just can't take it. I'll want to wake him up and hold him and love him."
- @ 17 weeks old

As I mentioned before, the summer is over and Drew Jones has gone back to work. I can tell Westley misses him as much as I do. If I don't keep him distracted he complains to me, looking around the room searching and sometimes even just flat out squeezing his big blue eyes shut and crying. We go on walks in different neighborhoods, the mall, around the block. We visited Daddy at work once. We run errands and go to the grocery. All to distract ourselves from the hard transition of not having the handsome loving face of Daddy around. When 4:30 finally rolls around and I hear his car pull into our driveway I start exclaiming to Westley that  "Daddy is home!" and Scout hears me and nearly pees herself with the joy panic attack she has over Daddy coming home. When Drew comes in the door and greets us all Westley smiles at him, all pink gums and pink cheeked, and turns his head into my neck so excited to see his Daddy's face.

That Daddy sure has our hearts.

So here are Westley's 4 month stats:

Height - 27 inches (96th percentile)

Weight - 16 lbs 11 oz (82nd percentile)

Head - 16.5 inches (40th percentile)

What he is doing:
smiling lots
laughing
babbling a lot, especially if he has something in his mouth
reaching for, picking up and holding onto toys
holds onto his feet with his hands
ROLLING OVER! Back to belly
rolling to his side or belly to sleep
reaching for things he wants
resting his weight on his forearms during tummy time


What he loves:
looking at himself in the mirror (especially when I sing to him "who's that baby in the mirror?!" over and over while smiling)
bathtime
nursing
t.v. (if the t.v. is on and he is in the room, his eyes are glued to it)
being talked to and smiled at and sang to and just plain having your attention
music
watching Scout
meeting new people
going new places
goofy noises & changes in facial expressions
being held and walked around to see different things
the dry erase calendar on our fridge (if he is crying and nothing else is working I just walk into the kitchen and show him that calendar and he becomes hypnotized and starts cooing)


What annoys him:
tummy time

being home too much
all 4 of our baby carriers (he prefers to just be held in your arms)
being left to himself for too long without social interaction (too long meaning like 10 minutes max)
being up past bedtime

Q&A 1: Do you and Drew Jones ever fight?

So as I started to answer the questions I received and decided to answer them one at a time. Most of them were not cut and dry and could not be answered in a few short sentences, so I figured this would break things up a bit and save you from reading a novel-sized post.

you're thinking, "you could just not be so long-winded lady lee."


and I'm thinking back, "but I must. I MUST."


I'll answer them every Monday and Wednesday until I run out of questions to answer.


So get ready cause' heeeeere we go!

Q: Do you and Drew Jones ever fight?

A: Let me start by saying that I let out a hearty laugh when I read this one. I then read the question out loud to Drew and he laughed as well. It was perfect timing because we had just finished a nice little spat and were still shaking off it's residue. So, the answer to this one is most definitely yes, Drew Jones and I argue. We argue in our house, we argue in our car, we argue in public, we argue near and far. We argue just as much as any other typical married couple out there. BUT the reason this question was asked in the first place, I assume, is because I don't talk about our arguments a lot on this blog. I talk about the good stuff. And there is a lot of good stuff. But there is hard stuff too, because we're married and well, disagreements are bound to happen. I don't talk about us arguing on my blog for one very simple reason: to protect my husband. He has never ever asked me to not air our dirty laundry, but I just can't do it. A lot of his co-workers read this blog (and I love them, hi ladies! ). Plus, his extended family reads from time to time. His Mom and his Dad read. I think even his brothers venture this way every once in a great while too. Which is amazing and why I created this blog in the first place. To share the journey. But because of this I believe it calls for a bit of discretion.  Mostly, I have trouble with inadvertently bringing any personal arguments we have into his workplace. I would hate for him to be in the lunch room and get a "Oh heeey there buddy, heard about the blow out you had with your wife the other day. Way to go there Mr. Jones...". I'd feel more comfortable chatting about the fights that were my fault, but there just are none. JUST KIDDING DREW JONES. 

But seriously I do write about my shortcomings. About how things are challenging sometimes. I am most definitely being very real with you when I write this blog. I am sincere in my joy and honest in my suffering. 

So there you have it. Yes yes yes, we fight. But most of the time, we fight fair. A great tool that we have learned through community and counseling. Will you hear about the specifics of our arguments on here? Most likely no. I may elude to an argument or tell you about a time we disagreed that is long past. And only if I believe it will be fruitfull and life-giving to share. But that would be it. Because marriage is sacred and there are some things that are only meant for Drew Jones and I and the closest of friends.

lady lee in process turns 2

via

Happy 2nd birthday my little blog.

We are now entering the terrible twos. I guess in blog land this means I will start being more sassy and telling everyone like it is more often? Heh heh heh...

I started you because I wanted to keep track of the little things in life that come and go and can easily be forgotten. Time keeps us moving forward and while my memory can become hazy, the black and white words written for each of my posts and the photos that accompany them keep the story fresh in my heart and mind when ever I feel like clicking back and recalling.

To celebrate I've created a list of links to some of my favorite posts to date. 

Thank you to everyone who reads, and especially you encouraging souls who comment.

It's good to have you here.

My Best of Lady Lee list

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1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Honestly, it was so hard to pick a best of list, but I tried. 

If you are a blogger, what is your favorite post you've written? 

Leave me the link, I'd love to read it.

Happy birthday blog! 

I'm so glad I decided to commit to writing you 2 years ago.

Guest Posting for Mrs. Rigoloso

I wanted to let you guys know that there is more of me flouncing around the internet today.

I'm over at Mr. & Mrs. Rigoloso in Detail guest posting for my blog bestie Molly.

So get your sweet cheeks over there.

Friday calls for dreaming...

via

Do you ever dream about winning the lottery?

Drew and I were dreaming about this on our heavenly car trip a couple weeks ago.

We take turns saying what we would do with all the money. It always starts with pay off our school loans, our house, our car. We decided that after paying off our house we would put a new roof and windows on it and give it to a family in need.

We always decide that a mansion is not what we are looking for. We want it to be small enough that our family still hangs out together but large enough that we can have parties and guests and not feel crowded. We also always say we want to have a little cottage/studio on the same property as the house so that Drew can have a place to work on his art. And that we want to build our house and cottage using sustainable materials with a design suited just for us.

We talk about how much money we would give away.

How much we would save.

I make sure to interject that I would like a lake house too. Which would mean a boat as well.

We would probably spend very little so we could live off it indefinitely and our kids and hopefully grandkids could benefit as well.

Also...

I didn't tell Drew this but I think that winning the lottery would probably prompt me to want more kids. Like Dugger style. Except they're names wouldn't all start with the same letter and the girls could wear pants.

I guarantee when he reads this he will shake his head and raise his eyebrows.

So, what would you do with millions? I'm interested.

Lately

Some happenings from the last 24 hours:

• Last night I painted my nails this color after putting Westley to sleep for the night. He then started crying and was hungry again in the middle of my second coat and I had no choice but to smudge them all and start over. My friend Collin would hashtag this as a #firstworldproblem.

• I had nightmares alllll night last night. One of which I am pretty sure would make an amazing fantasy horror movie.

• Westley woke up every 2 hours last night. Which partly was hard and partly great because it woke me up and got me out of those nightmares. So I was kind of thankful.

• Today is Drew Jones first day of school with kids. I cannot believe that summer is over. We had a magazine clipping on the fridge with three boys jumping into a lake that said "SUMMER" on it that has become a sort of traditional summer decoration for us. I sadly took it down last night to tuck away until next year.

• Realized yesterday that Westley will be 4 months old on Saturday. Unreal.

• Also realized that this blog is 2 years old on Saturday. Wowza.

• Yesterday I peed with the door open in a public restroom because the stall was too small to fit Westley's carseat into.

• Today I put a sleepy Westley down for a nap in his crib at the exact moment that the FedEx guy rang our doorbell twice sending Scout into a fit of barking rage completely waking up Westley. Sigh.

• I am working on answering your great questions and hope to post them soon.

And that is all I have time for because:

• Westley has been taking 15 minute naps all week.

Nostalgia

Calling all Columbus readers!

Mark your calendars...

Drew Jones' and his bestie Jeremy Sorrell are having a gallery opening at The Ohio Art League on Thursday, October 6th from 6-9 p.m. and you are invited.

He has been working away in his studio and our garage creating these amazing artworks that will be featured in their show. I am so proud of him! The artwork he has created for Nolstagia is a new and different point of view from the beautiful abstract landscapes he has come to be known for and I am loving each one.

Here is the description for the show:

"Nostalgia" is the denial of the painful present and an invitation to the past through one's own memories and perceptions. It is the title of the upcoming show featuring a collection of new work by Drew Jones and Jeremy Sorrell. Pulling from vintage photography, pop culture and artifacts, each artist uses their unique style to create works that breathe new life into the past. The collection includes Jones' mixed-media paintings and assemblages based on vintage books, imagery and toys along with Sorrell's paintings based on historical blue-collar figures and industrial landscapes.

So come one and all! We'll see you there!

Westley Guest Post

Hey everyone. Westley here. Blogging in my pajamas just like my Mama.

I'm pretty much learning something new everyday. For example, yesterday I rolled over. My Mama got preeeetty excited about it. And I was all like, be cool Mama...I'm just a baby doin' what I do. I'm still cooin' instead of talkin' adult speak though so I don't think she understood. Here's a pic of me practicing.

Over the weekend I got to do a lot of fun stuff. I got to see my Pappy! He made me laugh and smile a lot. 

 

That guy. Is so cool.

Anyways, I also met an old friend of my Mama's, Sarah. She came for a visit and was so nice to me! Even after I spit up all over her and pooped my dipe in front of her she still smooched and snuggled me. 

I love smooches, they're my favorite.

Let's see what else, what else....oh yeah! I took the biggest bath in the world. Seriously. We went over to Aunt Janet and Uncle Steve's and you should have seen the size of the bathtub in their backyard! I know, I thought an outdoor bathtub was kinda funny too.

It was sooooo awesome though, I'm telling ya!

I also did some pretty typical things this weekend, like hang out with my Mama.

Heh heh. You weren't supposed to see that one...


She was cracking me up by putting a burp cloth on my head. It was hysterical! A burp cloth! On my HEAD!

Ahhh, she's always coming up with new material. So good.

I also had my weekly photo session for my 16th week in my white onesie.

Always a good time.

And Daddy gave me a bath in our regular-sized bathtub. He sang me songs and dried me off in my duck towel. He's the best Daddy.

No, seriously.


Well that is it for me. I've got a lot going on today. A busy day of rolling over, smiling and resisting naptime is ahead of me.

Westley, signing off!

On Dating

1938 dating guide for women

haha!

Today I am talking to the single ladies out there.

I am no expert, but I do have some experience and for whatever reason the topic of dating has been rattling around in my brain lately. So, I decided to write out what I know to be true for me and share it with you just in case it would be helpful.

My advice is simple, but I really really believe in it. So here it goes...

1. FRIENDSHIP: If you wouldn't be friends with him, you shouldn't be dating him. Seriously, this one seems SO SIMPLE. But us woman, we get all sorts of excited and swept up in potential and someone completing us and blah blah blah that we often don't take a step back and go...waaaait a minute, I would probably not even want to be friends with this guy if we weren't dating! Marriage is amazing, but if you marry someone you wouldn't hang out with if you weren't married to them, you have a loooooong road ahead of you.

2. DON'T BE STUBBORN: If your close friends and family aren't into him, consider this a big crazy red flag flapping in the wind. People in your inner circle should be supportive and excited about the guy in your life. I understand that there are situations out there where your Mom is overbearing or your friend is super jealous...but you know what I am saying here. There are people in your life that you trust, and if they are uneasy or straight up upset about who you are dating, don't ignore them. They can see and sense things that someone experiencing the drug-like hormones of new love cannot.

3. SEX: If he pressures to go farther physically than you are comfortable. Out.

4. OBSERVE: Hang out in groups. See how he relates to other people. Make sure to see him in a lot of different situations both enjoyable and stressful. If possible, just be friends with him for at least a little while before dating. Watch for how he problems solves and how he talks about people when they aren't around. How does he talk about women? How does he treat the waiter/waitress?

5. A SIMPLE EXERCISE: Believe it or not I accepted and wore two diamond rings from two separate guys (before Drew Jones) and didn't end up marrying either. Why? My heart whispered no and my mind tried to reason it out and say yes. This can go the other way around when your heart is saying YES and your mind is going ohhh no no no! Your mind AND heart must both be saying YES. With one of those circumstances I remember I would close my eyes and picture myself behind a pair of doors in a white dress on the arm of my Dad about to walk down the aisle to marry the man I was with and I just couldn't get past the doors. I felt panic. I felt anxiety. There was a lack of peace. My soul said no. Years later I did the same exercise with Drew and everything in me was peaceful. Everything in me felt like a resounding YES. There wasn't even a whisper of a doubt. I believe in being in that place before you say yes to a ring, and most definitely before you say yes to a lifetime. Imagine if I had married either one of those men. No Drew Jones, no Westley. It is unthinkable.

6. ATTRACTION: Don't feel shallow. Being physically attracted to your guy is important. And the way I figure it, your kids have a 50% chance of looking like him, so theres that. ;)

7. DEAL BREAKER: If a man is consistently mean/rude/inconsiderate to you
break
up
with
him.
It
will
not
get
better.
If you marry him I guarantee you that it will get worse. I believe two things...1. that people tell you who they are. 2. that you should listen. Amen? Amen.

8. COMPANY HE KEEPS: Are his friends tools? Then guess what my friend? He probably is too. Just sayin.

9. THE LIST: Write down a list of what you want in a man. I know it sounds cheesy, but I'm serious. I wrote down a list of what I wanted and included all kinds of things from, "leaves me little love notes" to "is a complete gentleman" to "has a man-crush on Justin Timberlake". I wrote this 2 years before I met Drew Jones and he fulfilled every single wish on that list. It's almost eerie. I believe you have to put out there what you want. You have to be honest about it and not hold back because you think it is silly or that you don't deserve it or it could never be. I believed that I could have that. I believed it was possible. I was committed to waiting for it. Lets be honest, I would have budged on the Justin Timberlake thing (but I didn't have to).

10. EQUALLY YOKED: God knew what he was talking about when he said to be equally yoked with a person. Am I saying that you can't be successfully married if you're not? No. Am I saying it will probably be more difficult than those of us who have the same faith? Yes.

11. THREE TRAITS: The three most important traits to look for in a man (based on my experience being married)
1. He has grace.
2. He is patient.
3. He has a sense of humor.
Grace because you'll need it.
Patience because he'll need it.
and a sense of humor because you literally must be able to laugh to stay (happily) married. Period.
And if you want and expect those things in a man, you must bring them to the table as well.

12. ALONE TIME: It is so important to come to a place of being completely at peace with being single. Especially if you are the type of girl who is constantly in relationships. A friend said something funny yet profound to me the other day. She said, "Would I go swimming in a pool someone crapped in? No. Even if all the pools in the whole world had crap in them then I would just not swim in pools." It's a poop parable of sorts. It is better to be single than to be dating a bad egg. I think if we expect more of men, they will deliver. If all the women of the world would stop dating men that act like losers then those men would a: be forced to change or b:at least not be wreaking havoc in your life and heart.

13. PRAYER:  It is also important to pray. Thankful prayers, prayers for your future husband, prayers for direction and guidance. God speaks to us all in different ways and it is important to really learn how to listen. Everything I talked about in #5 is basically about listening to God. You probably will not hear an audible voice but you will sense something. You will feel something one way or another. Don't ignore this! It takes courage to walk away from a relationship when you sense a "no" but are afraid of being alone. Be brave, have faith and listen to God when he speaks.

14. RESPECT:  Love, respect and trust are really all one in the same. If you don't respect your partner things are gonna get ugly reaaaal fast. I've dated men that I didn't have respect for and it was no good. When you respect your man you will fight more fairly and have more grace because in the end you trust them. In the end you know that they don't want to be hurting you so you can suspend your own hurt and listen and be reasonable. You will probably rarely get into arguments where you throw around words you don't mean like daggers. Also you cannot force respect. I think you can feign it, but that will only last so long. In order to have respect for the man you are dating or love I believe that all of the other things I talked about must be in place. I know that no one is perfect, but the points I have made just describe decent human beings who are open and kind.

15. YOU: Work on yourself. Do you want a clean man who doesn't leave his dirty socks everywhere? Do you want a man that hears you when you are upset and takes interest in your interests? Then you have to be that as well. You can't complain that your boyfriend's apartment is a wreck when you are the girl with the perpetual stack of dirty dishes in her sink. If all your ex-boyfriends were "crazy" consider that you may be drawing crazy to you because there is a lesson you need to learn. And that crazy will continue to show up on your doorstep until you learn the lesson. Once the lesson is learned (for real) when crazy comes a knockin' you will not have time to answer. And most of the time when you learn the lesson, somehow crazy knows it and just doesn't come around anymore.

And that is my list!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and anything you have to add to it.

Family Time

Yesterday Westley took a 20 minute nap in the morning.

That was it all day.

Well except for the catnap he took on the way to the MOVIE THEATER.

That's right. We are the crazy people who take their baby to the theater. A baby that refused to nap more than 20 minutes in the last 7 hours no less.

But it was going to be our last real evening together as a family before school starts up for Drew so we forged ahead and kept reassuring ourselves, the worst that can happen is we'll have to leave.

We went to a dollar theater just in case that happened. 

All in all it went pretty well. The movie, Larry Crowne, was only saved by the fact that Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts were the stars. The dialogue was pretty bad and the cheesy music didn't help them one bit.

Oh and Westley? He woke up from his catnap 2 minutes after we sat down in the theater filled with people who had been using their golden buckeye cards for at least a decade. And you never know with old folks, sometimes they love babies and sometimes they have that old people sort of "I don't give a sh*#" attitude and say something rude or stink eye your baby. So we were still nervous.

In the end, we took turns standing and holding Westley in the back of the theater because the sound of him sucking his hand proved pretty loud during the quiet scenes. But the most noise he made was sneezing a few baby sneezes, cooing a couple loud sighs, and laughing once when I was cleaning spit up off his chest. But it just happened to be after Julia Roberts delivered a joke, so his timing was awesome (even though the joke wasn't). Even so, having to stand in the back jostling an over-tired baby wasn't really terribly comfortable so will we do it again? Not likely. But it was a fun adventure and I'm glad we tried it.

What about you? Ever take your baby to places where people are sure to give you the stink eye?

p.s. Just so everyone knows we would have left the theater the moment Westley made a sad or angry peep. We are not into ruining anyone else's good time if we can help it.


p.p.s I'm getting some GREAT questions so far. Thank you to everyone who has asked them.


p.p.p.s Doesn't Scout look kind of haggard in that photo up top? Poor girl is letting herself go since the baby came.

Got any burning questions?

I've seen lots of blogettes do this...they open up themselves to questions and then answer them for you, straight up.

I love this because sometimes there are things you really want to know, but feel too forward asking without a prompt.

So - I'm joining the club and opening myself up to any questions you may have.

I'll hide the comments on this post to keep things discreet.

Then I'll publish the answers to any questions I get.

Okaaaaay bring it on. ;)

Impromptu Photo Shoot

I bought this outfit for Westley before he was born thinking that because of the size, he wouldn't fit it until autumn, the appropriate season for a long sleeved chambray onesie and houndstooth pants.

Boy did I underestimate how big our boy would be. He has been big enough to fit this for about a month now and is mere days from growing out of it. I haven't put it on him though because of the heat we've been experiencing this summer. Finally last Thursday we had a bit of relief and I went ahead and squeezed him into it for one purpose- getting photos of him wearing it.

When I put his arms through the sleeves and told him how haaaaaaaaaandsome he looked he smiled so big and turned his head to the side so excited. Even though he will probably only wear this outfit once or twice, it was worth the purchase for these adorable photos of him. It's so neat to see him wearing something I picked out just for him before I even knew what he looked like.

Turns out it's a lot like me. Haha.

Oh and this photoshoot ended like they all do:

like this.

;)