Day Five

Today's joys are a little bit different.


14) I'm a little late to the Youtube scene so you may have already seen this before. I haven't however and I think it's pretty stinking hilarious. As it turns out it won the People's Choice Award for Best Viral video this year!


15) The new Passion album is amazing. I love to play it & sing along while I'm doing chores around the house. I like to think I'm making a future David Crowder Band and Christy Nockels fan out of Sadie. Seriously though, every time I listen to this album I hear something that speaks to me.


16) While I was standing in line at Old Navy the other day, I happened to see this little beauty hanging on the clearance rack (along with 20 others of the exact same thing). I couldn't resist buying it after I saw the price tag was a whopping $2.97. Poor Bengals. At least I got a good deal out of their misery :).

Day Three

9) This girl. Melissa made me bust at the seams with laughter Sunday night. I was seriously in tears and I couldn't tell you the last time I laughed that hard.

10) We had these guys over for dinner last night and it was so much fun to hang out with them. We had actually planned on doing this last year but it ended up never happening, so better late than never right? Several of these guys are graduating in May and will be greatly missed by the Uebel fam.

11) My HERO! This lady seriously saved the day yesterday. As I mentioned in an earlier post, our washing machine is broken and we've been using other people's machines to get our laundry done. Well yesterday Sadie so graciously decided to poop all over me (yes, you read that right) that I needed a washing machine STAT. Jeanette not only let us use her machine but met me at the door with my folded laundry in hand!

12) Staff meeting in the sun. I love our weekly staff meetings but I love them even more when they're outside in 70 degree weather. I also love it when a certain little someone sleeps in her carseat for the whole two hours (note the car seat in the far right corner)!


13) Another first. Sadie wore her first dress ever yesterday! I was so excited for the warmer weather that I decided a dress didn't require a special occasion- everyday life is special enough!


I'm noticing that a lot of my joys revolve around people and I am more than ok with that. God, thank you for the many wonderful people you have placed in my life. May I not take them for granted!

Day Two

3) This might seem like a strange picture to you but to me it's sweet bliss. Notice that the only thing in the top of the shopping cart is my pocketbook (no car seat...hint, hint). Call me weird but I actually enjoy grocery shopping and I love going by myself even more. Don't get me wrong I love my little girl to pieces but I was so thankful to go Krogering alone!

4) Running! I've really enjoyed getting back into the running groove. I even bought new shoes a couple of months ago to inspire me to run more. I'm signed up for my first post-pregnancy race on May 7 and I have only one goal: run the entire thing!

5) Running with this girl. For some reason it always seems easier to run when someone is with you (although I was hurting yesterday, bad).


6) International Street Fair. Every year the international student organizations on campus get together for a festival celebrating all the diversity here at VT. There is tons of food, dancing, and people! We sampled some baklava and thai tea.

7) These people. I love all the people in this picture dearly. My parents came up to visit Saturday afternoon and it was so much fun to have them here. I'm certainly blessed by my family!

8) In case you didn't know, India won the World Cup in cricket this Saturday and the Indian Student Association got together at BCM to watch it. Sadly we got to BCM when the game was already over but still it was so much fun to hear tons of people yelling and running around with the Indian flag in celebration. The energy in the room was contagious. I have no idea what cricket is about but I was excited for them!

Day One

Today was the first day of my 100 Joys challenge. It was a bit harder than I thought. Mostly because I'm not used to toting my camera around and taking pictures of everyday life. I did manage to capture a couple moments of joy today though!

1) I love this puppy snout. It's wiped away many tears and brought a smile to my face multiple times. I am so very thankful for Mabel.

2) Who doesn't love big baby hair bows? Ok maybe Nic but not me. When I first found out I was pregnant I desperately hoped for a little girl so I could put bows in her hair. I sure do love the little girl he gave me!

100 Joys

"End of the road... nothing to do... and no hope of things getting better. Sounds like Saturday night at my house."- Eeyore from Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin


Do you remember Eeyore? Gloomy, hopeless, always seeing the bad in every situation. That's how I've felt lately. I could blame it on the miserable weather or the fact that we've been crazy busy but if I'm really honest with you it's nobody's (or nothing's) fault but my own. I'm so bad at letting "life" suck the joy out of me.

It seems like when one little thing goes wrong I just let it snowball until I'm in an Eeyore state of mind. So when the washing machine breaks (at a time in my life when it feels like I'm doing more laundry than I ever have, thank you Sadie) I forget about the friends who willingly volunteer to let us use their machines. Or when my baby still hasn't quite figured out how to sleep through the night, I forget about how thankful I am for her and how good of a baby she is in the first place. Or when my tooth starts to hurt I forget about how blessed I am to even be able to go to a dentist to get it looked at.

So for the month of April I'm taking Sarah Markley's challenge, which I missed back in December because I was tired, busy, and oh yea ready to POP pregnant :). So every weekday throughout the month of April I'll be blogging about the things in my life that bring me joy until I get to 100. I love what Sarah has to say about the project, "I will be doing this as a daily discipline and experiment to see if recognizing the joy in my life that is already is there will, in fact, change me." So here we go. Will you join me on this challenge? If you're up for the challenge, leave a comment as I'd love to track along with you!


And just for starters here's a little something that brings me joy every day!

Three Months

Hey Sadie - happy three month birthday! Although these three months have been hard, your mom and I wouldn't trade them for anything. We love playing with you, reading to you, and trying to talk to you (although you haven't really figured that one out yet).

This past month included a lot of new things for you. We were a little nervous to take you on a few longer road trips, but you did great. You came with us to Cincinnati to visit your dad's side of the family, including your other set of great grandparents. You even had your first trip to Skyline! You also came up with us to Northern Virginia to visit some friends up there. You like the road trips already because the car puts you right to sleep. You've also started hanging out at the BCM with us during the day. Thanks for being flexible for us!

You're finally learning how to hold your head up and have some control of your motions. You've even discovered how much you like to watch TV - we have to keep you from watching it too much so it doesn't rot your brain (I'm glad I can use parent phrases like "it'll rot your brain" with you now)! You're adjusting to earlier bedtimes (usually around 9:30 or 10), and can sleep through the night most of the time, although you still like to wake us up early every now and then. We love you lots!

Happy Two Months!

Dear Sweet Sadie,

You are two months old today (well sort of, February is a weird month)! I can hardly believe how quickly time is flying. Some of those early weeks felt pretty long but now it seems to just sail by. You are such a smiley baby and it melts both mine & your daddy's heart every time you do. You really are such a good baby. The doctor used the word "mellow" to describe you today and I think that's quite fitting. Perhaps I should start singing you that Donovan song (don't worry I thought The Beatles wrote that song too, who the heck is Donovan anyways? Oh well thank you Google for your infinite knowledge).

Your favorite thing to do right now is lay on your back and kick/flail those arms and legs around. You really like to a) use your manners by raising your hand to ask a question b) signal everything as a touchdown (even when it's not football season) c) and praise Jesus with those arms of yours :). You're still getting the sleep thing down but you have been known to sleep from 11pm-7:30am. That consistency thing will come eventually. You really like books, if we read to you, you'll stare right at the bright pictures. I think you like the sound certain words make too (like spaghetti) but your dad says I'm crazy!

Some of your firsts this month included: your first long(er) road trip to see Nana & Papa, your first time meeting your great grandparents (one set at least), your first Superbowl (which by the way you decided to throw up all over the pretty onesie your momma specifically made for this momentous occasion), Valentines Day, and many more I'm sure I'm missing.

We're excited for the many more firsts to come too. You are such a blessing-we love you lots little girl!