the matts:

“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you. Then you will know that you are nothing. It is only when you realize your nothingness, your emptiness, that God can fill you with Himself. Souls of prayer are souls of great silence.” …Mother Teresa

I ran across that today and realized I spend a LOT of time talking to God and not nearly enough time listening to Him. I find it hard to discern His voice from my crazy brain, but I’m pretty sure it would be easier to recognize if I listened to Him more… Just a thought.

In baby news, we have dropped the overnight feeding and are now working on teaching her how to sleep ALL the way through. She usually goes several hours, but not quite til 7am without some help. We also quit rocking her to sleep and started putting her in her bed to learn to fall asleep there. It’s been challenging but we are sticking to it!

Well, Pres seems to be really getting used to the rice cereal. Her lunch-time feeding has been giving her 2.5 hour naps every afternoon which is HUGE because she is not a long napper. I’m usually grateful just to get an hour at a time! She’s still not sleeping all the way through the night, but usually makes it around 6-7 hours before waking up to eat so that’s good.

On the weight-loss front, today I officially fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes! This was the first day that I’ve worn an entire outfit of all clothes from before I was pregnant. It was awesome!!! My goal is to drop a pants size by the time we go to the beach in roughly 8 weeks. Then I’d like to drop at least one more. Anything after that is bonus!

Due to the fact that Presley is consuming asinine amounts of formula each day, I finally gave in and started her on rice cereal a little early. She loves it! I was hesitant, but the little booger’s just so hungry and the doctor recommended it. I don’t get it… She has this crazy fast metabolism- she eats all day and stays a skinny little thing.  Check this out:

I just watched an episode of Nightline on ABC that I recorded last week. It was a 30 minute piece on child slavery in Haiti and it rocked my world. In about 10 hours from NYC, Dan Harris was able to negotiate the sale of a child for just $150!! The episode went on to show the story of a child who had been given away because her family couldn’t afford her. Her mother’s husband forced her to give her away and told her she would have a better life. However, the eleven year old girl was beaten day after day, forced to labor from dawn til dusk, sleep on the floor, and have no interaction with other children. When the mother revolted against her husband and rescued her little girl, she was banished from her village and was forced to put her daughter into an orphanage.

There are an estimated 27 million slaves worldwide today, more than any other time in history. That means of the estimated 6.68 billion people living on Earth, one in every 247 is living in slavery! Nightline got the idea of doing this piece from Ben Skinner, author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face to Face with Modern Day Slavery. I also found another good book on the subject, Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy by Kevin Bales. Here’s a quote from that book:”They made the bricks for the factory that made the TV you watch. In Brazil, slaves made the charcoal that tempered the steel that made the springs in your car and the blade on your lawnmower…. Slaves keep your costs low and returns on your investments high.” I intend on getting these books and educating myself on this epidemic.

I couldn’t find a clip of the program on YouTube in English, but here’s a video of Dan Harris recapping it and showing some pieces of the program.

Another tidbit: After illegal drug sales and arms trafficking, human trafficking is today the third most profitable criminal activity in the world, generating $31 billion annually. As many as half of all those trafficked worldwide for sex and domestic slavery are children under 18 years of age.

Operation Beach Body is under way! Chris and I are on a mission to be healthier, skinnier and more physically fit by our beach trip in September. We began the South Beach Diet on Sunday and have actually been loving it! It’s easy to follow and we can eat a lot of foods we love without counting every minuscule calorie. Chris found an awesome workout he can do at home and I joined the Women’s Fitness Club. We have been regularly working out the past two weeks. I got a fitness assessment from a personal trainer yesterday and almost threw up when I saw my measurements and body fat percentage! If I wasn’t motivated enough before, you can bet I am now! Tonight I have a hip-hop class and I am so pumped! The key to my success is diversity in work-outs so I am doing a mix of classes, cardio machines and weight training. In 3 months I get another assessment to see what progress I have made, but the real test will be how I feel in a bathing suit at the beach!!!

Where does the time go? My teeny little 7 lb. 13 oz. newborn baby has grown into a 13 pound, 2 foot long 3 month old! I was looking at pictures of her when she was first born and I just can’t believe how much she’s changed in such a short period of time. Here’s a look back at her earliest weeks

We got this swing for the baby and she has only been in it a handful of times (10 maximum). It’s in almost brand new condition, but she’s just not a forward/back swinging girl- she only likes side to side. It retails for $120 and I am looking to sell it for only $75. If you are local, I will deliver it to you! Please spread the word so we can get this swing sold! If you’re interested, leave a comment or email me at meghanmatt@live.com.

On May 16th, Chris got the first smile from Presley. On July 1st, he got her first laugh (and has gotten every one since then). But today, on July 8th, I got the first roll over!!!!! The baby rolled over from her tummy to her back all by herself and I caught it on video! We practice rolling over regularly and have lots of tummy time so I knew it was coming soon. She’s been so close! After she did it she had a huge smile on her face as Mommy cheered for her. It was SUCH an awesome moment!!! To think that I might have missed this if she was in daycare just rips my heart out. I feel so blessed to be able to see all these extra special moments.

Check out some of her most recent pictures:

We are waiting on God in a certain area of our life, and it has required massive amounts of faith. Pastor’s message this weekend on having faith through suffering and delay really hit home. I keep running into this scripture that gives me such peace: Psalm 27:13-14 “Yet I am confident I will see the Lord’s goodness  while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.”

Enough said.

Now, for some pics of the cutie pie!