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Evan's 7th Month

The biggest change this month is what Evan eats and drinks. I'm no longer nursing, which was a difficult decision, but I'm so happy with the decision. We've depleted our freezer stash and Evan is on formula and solid foods now. I'm using Simply Right Complete Formula (Sam's Club brand) and am very happy with it. It's comparable to Enfamil Infant Formula and is $9 cheaper per case. In addition, Evan is now eating purees of solid foods. He has had butternut squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, green beans, bananas, and apples. Evans is a great eater, but definitely does not enjoy green beans. He will eat them when they are mixed with other foods though.

I've been making all of Evan's food using recipes and how-tos from Momtastic's Wholesome Baby Food. I started by making my purees in the blender and freezing in ice trays. This worked great, but then I started making batches of food that were more than the ice trays I had, so I now use the Infantino Fresh Squeezed Squeeze Station. I love the pouches and the fact that I don't have little containers to wash each day with the bottles.

Weight: 15 lbs 6 oz

Height: 26.25 in

Size: 3-6 Month Clothes, Size 2 Diapers

Eating: 6 oz bottle every four hours

4 oz solid food 3x per day

Sleeping: on his tummy

usually through the night

Other: 

2nd tooth came in

sitting up unassisted

eats like a champ

First Christmas

Did you miss the previous months? See them here!

Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5 | Month 6

My New Obsession {Bible Journaling}

What is Bible Journaling? For me, it's recording what stands out to me in my Bible as a way to connect with the Word and with God. Here's what my Bible Journaling looks like so far:

So here's how I got started on this Bible Journaling adventure...

I feel as though I have had the desire to spend more time in God's Word for quite a while. While I was pregnant was the most consistent I've been with any devotional in a long time. I think this happened because I felt as though I was getting closer to the Lord not for myself, but for my then, unborn child.

After Evan was born, my unhurried time with God went back to being sporadic and I longed for that time again. I jumped on board with Mariel of Living for His Glory and decided to read Lord, Teach Me to Study the Bible in 28 Days by Kay Arthur.  [Side Note: This was an excellent book and introduced me to a simple way to do inductive bible study. I am now working through Kay Arthur's study of John and loving it.] Mariel posted a picture of her Bible and the book and I felt like I needed that bible with the wide margins for my notes. I thought of the many journals of sermon and bible study notes I have and how nice it would be to have all those notes right in my Bible next to the scripture that applied. I contacted Mariel immediately and went on the search for an ESV Single Column Journaling Bible by Crossway.

When searching for the bible to buy, I came across the Journaling Bible Community that was started by Shanna Noel. This totally enhanced the way I planned to use my Bible initially. Here are some of the ladies who I love to follow on Instagram and Facebook to see what they're up to in their Bibles:

Shanna Noel | Stephanie Ackerman | Susyan Crafts

Valerie Wieners | mrsgringas | instatai

Seeing some of these ladies' journaling Bibles intimidated me. At first, I was nervous and didn't consider myself artistic. So, to get me started, I copied things I saw online and in other peoples' Bibles. I then began playing with my handwriting to make it more attractive. And, I would practice what I wanted to put in my Bible on paper first, then transfer it. Doing this got me comfortable enough to just go straight to my Bible. I got over my intimidation and looked at it as MY time with MY God in MY Bible.

The main questions I get are what Bible and supplies do I use...
My Bible: I am using an ESV Single Column Journaling Bible by Crossway. I found it at my local Christian book store, but decided to order the red one (which is out of print) online from Amazon. I will say that the font is really small, but aside from that, I love the Bible.

My Supplies: The main supplies I use are a mechanical pencil, eraser, Micron pens, and Crayola Twistables Colored Pencils. I date my entries with a simple date stamp, but don't consider this a necessity for me. I could easily write the date instead of stamping it. These are the items that travel with me and my Bible. In addition, I have a small stash of stamps, various inks, stencils, alpha stickers, and washi tape for when I'm feeling a bit more creative.

Bible Journaling and Kay Arthur's books have ignited a passion in me for reading God's Word. I can't wait for my time with Him each day. I approach the Word with prayer and am always listening for what God has for me in the passage. Some days my time in my Bible leads me to journal in the margins and some days it doesn't. When something stands out, I start my notes or doodles and go from there. I've started reflecting on my notes from church so that I can be sure to get the main points in my Bible margin. And it has been so rich to come across a passage that I journaled about. As I'm journaling, I find myself meditating on the scriptures and have committed many of them to memory. In addition, I've been sharing my journaling on social media and am amazed at some of the comments and messages I've received from people who have been inspired by it.

So, I'm sharing this with you...
You may choose to start Bible Journaling yourself. If so, be sure to follow the hashtags #biblejournaling  & #illustratedfaith and join the Journaling Bible Community group on Facebook.

Be blessed!

Evan's 6th Month

Happy half birthday to my little man! We made it 6 months! Yay!

This month I became overly worried about Evan's weight because he didn't seem to be gaining much. I think this is why I started rice cereal this month...which was earlier than I planned. I guess I just wanted to get him used to taking food from a spoon so we could jump right into veggies. So, I then started with butternut squash on the day he turned 6 months and Evan loves it.

We finished up our Doc Band treatment as well and Evan's head is shaping up nicely. It was a fast six weeks and I'm excited that we don't have to deal with it while we're traveling for the holidays. As soon as we got rid of the Doc Band, we also got rid of the swaddle. I would have removed the swaddle earlier, but because of the chances of overheating we tried to keep his feet free of socks. I did the swaddle for him to have some coverage at night time.  I'm super excited that Evan is sleeping on his tummy and without a swaddle.

Speaking of sleep, we had a week with no sleep. At the time, I had no idea what was going on. As I look back on the timing, I imagine it was because his first tooth was cutting through.

Weight: 14 lbs 13 oz

Height: 26 in

Size: 0-3 Month Clothes, Size 2 Diapers

Eating: 6 oz bottles every three hours

supplementing with formula

weening from nursing

rice cereal

Sleeping: on his tummy (Yay!)

through the night more often than not

Other:

first tooth came in

reaches for and holds bottle

reaches for Mom & Dad

First Thanksgiving

Did you miss the previous months? See them here!

Month 1 | Month 2 | Month 3 | Month 4 | Month 5