Saturday, January 30, 2010

Winter Wonderland!

Having both grown up in NC, Matt and I know better than to get too excited over a snow prediction (although Matt always does. He just loves it so much!). North Carolina doesn't quite know what to do with snow... schools get closed or delayed for less than an inch, the stores immediately sell out of everything perishable, and all we usually end up with is ice. So when we heard the prediction of anywhere from 2 to 14 inches of snow, I was a little skeptical. But when it started falling last night and kept falling well into this morning, we woke up to this!
It was already accumulating a couple of inches, and little sleet/snow was still falling. So of course, we decided to bundle up and go play!
Thanks to Aunt Leanne we had a hand-me-down snowsuit from Ansley. I kept Kenna in her footed fleece jammies (with extra socks underneath!) and just slipped her right in it, complete with little snap-on mittens and "boots." It was a little big, but that probably just made it warmer (and totally reminded me of the kid in the Christmas Story movie!)

Pink marshmallows:

Pink marshmallow!
She wasn't too sure what to think of it at first. I tried to get her to touch it a little and she even licked a handful when she saw me do it- not a fan, but I think she'll like it a little better when we make it into snow cream!
Of course, it has been awhile since she's seen snow. Her first snow was about this same time last year- we had to venture out in it to go to one of her well-baby checks, so we didn't get to go out and take pictures until it was almost night time.

Kenna's first snow, January 2009
We walked around a little bit and explored our yard. The woods out back look so pretty, so peaceful and serene, with the snow on the ground and it still falling. Kenna still didn't seem to know what to make of it.
Pontouf is also not a huge fan of the snow, especially when it is almost as tall as she is.
Matt was determined to find a good place to go sledding for a little bit. We didn't have a sled, but he used a piece of plastic sheeting that slid pretty well on the snow. I don't think I've ever known a grown adult who loves snow as much as my husband! In the end, he ditched the plastic and just dove down the hill head-first slip-and-slide style. I can't wait until Kenna is old enough to run and jump and go sledding with him! Luckily, he has a camera-obsessed wife to take awesome action shots of his wild antics:
(It's a little hard to tell in the snow, but he is about 4 feet off the ground!)
Kenna and I had fun watching, but she was not the least bit interested in sledding or sitting down in the snow. Turns out she is like her momma, and is pretty much done with the snow after about 15 or 20 minutes!
We might have stayed out a little longer if it wasn't still falling. Since the wind was whipping it all around, we headed back inside to warm some little pink cheeks back up. I don't think Kenna has ever been so relieved to go take a nap in her nice, warm, dry bed.
See you next year, snow!

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Saturday, January 23, 2010

Growing Girl

Today Kenna is 14 months old! I keep telling people when they ask her age "oh, she just turned one." But when I stop and think about it in months, I've had to realize that she was almost 14 month old! (She loves to put her little feet up on the high chair tray like this- she always either does this or swings and kicks them).
I've been feeling a little nostalgic recently with how quickly my little girl is becoming a little girl and no longer a baby. I can hardly seem to keep up with her clothing- it feels like on a daily basis I am setting aside clothes to hand down to her cousin and trying on three things in a row to find something for her to wear that isn't pulling a little to tightly somewhere as she gets so tall. Putting her in the bathtub yesterday, I looked at her in the same little duckie towel that she used for her very first bath so long ago (it's not in the pictures, but we used it- it was huge then!). I was holding her up to standing on the countertop because she loves to laugh and smile at herself in the mirror, and Matt came in and said "she looks so big!"
It's so easy with a little one to focus on the next big accomplishment (walking on her own) and each new thing that she's doing that she couldn't do yet just yesterday. So much focus is on the stages, looking forward, and commemorating the "big" things that we get all dressed up for and take pictures of. But especially as a stay at home mom, so much of what I do on a regular basis doesn't seem that important at face value... much of it is laundry or cooking or feeding Kenna, things that will have to be re-done each day and sometimes multiple times a day. Sometimes there's not always much that feels like it was "accomplished" at the end of the day.

So I took some pictures of her playing in the bath and with her towel, not because it was any kind of special moment or accomplishment (for her or me) or new stage, but because there will never again be a time that my little Kenna bear will be 13 months and however many days old, singing and smiling and handing me toys in the bath, looking in the faucet to see if the water will come out, and pointing at it to indicate to me that she wants it to. Next time, she will be 13 months and however many days old plus one, that much closer to 14 months... 15 months...
I think pretty much all moms can identify with the sort of unspoken bittersweetness of their child getting older. You want them to grow, to learn, to experience new things, and to have a full happy life. It has been one of the greatest joys of my existence, watching Kenna discover each new thing about herself and her world, more so even than I thought it would be. But at the same time, there is the little daily letting go of the tiny dependent newborn she was when I first met her. There is a sadness in the finality of who she is today and a joy knowing she will be just a little bit different tomorrow- and that being her mommy gets better and better each day! There is also a joy (and a little disbelief!) in knowing that each day brings us closer to shopping for her first school supplies, and then before I know it, shopping for her prom dress. It's crazy to think.
So, right now, being a stay at home mom with Kenna is my joy and privilege, a gift from God as I get the front-row experience of this wild and wonderful blessing that is my child.

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

What We've Been Up To

We've been pretty few and far-between with the blog posts recently, so I thought I'd write a little mini-update of what's going on with us so far in the new year!

#1 We're still working on losing weight.
We started Weight Watchers together back in August and have each lost about 30 pounds! Definitely exciting and something to be celebrated. I forgot how good it felt to be forced to buy new jeans... and stuff that hasn't fit me since before I was pregnant with Kenna is fitting again, and that's fun. We both have about 40ish more pounds to go though, so we are trying to keep at it. As can be expected, Christmas time threw us off track a little bit. Who wants to count points when all those cookies are around? Since we have such flexible day time schedules right now, we've also tried to take advantage of the chance to make diet/exercise a priority as a family, like taking walks around the mall (avoiding this cold weather!) and cooking dinner together. Since I have 40 pounds left to go to my goal weight, Matt surprised me with this really sweet idea:
There is a $5 gift card waiting for every 5 pound increment I have left to lose, and each time I lose 5 pounds I get to use one of the gift cards (or I can save them to have $40 to spend when I reach my goal)! So now they are all lined up on the fridge as a reminder every time I get the urge to snack aimlessly. How sweet is that? I thought this little "system" was a really sweet and creative way to show me his support! I love that the "almost there" one says enjoy, and then the very last one looks like a celebration!

#2 We've gone on two dates in the past two weeks!
This has been a lot of fun, and a big treat for us- our awesome Sunday School class gave Matt a gift card to Outback as a thank you gift for co-teaching, so thanks to them we were able to have not one, but two dinners out! Our good friends Brian and Mandy (and Kate and Thomas!) gave us a gift card to a movie for Christmas (they know us too well!) so we were able to go see Twilight: New Moon (I know, I know) and Leap Year (excellent and we highly recommend it!). Kenna got to play with her grandparents one night and our lovely friend Joanna another night! Surely two bloomin' onions in one month is not so good for the weight loss thing, but man were they good! Maybe we should have saved one for Valentine's Day...

#3 Catching up with the Amersons
Our good friends Asheton and Tracey were in town right after Christmas and we were able to hang out with them for a few hours and see Kenna and their daughter Bailey play together! Kenna and Bailey are two days apart in age and haven't seen each other since last June when they were just 7 months old!
As you can imagine, these girls are much bigger now, and had a blast pretending to talk on the phone to each other. Even though we interrupted both their naptimes, they had lots of fun playing and chatting (so did their parents!)
I love this photo of Bailey, and had to laugh:
because it reminded me so much of this one of Kenna- at church waiting for the Christmas Eve service to start.
"Why are you still taking my picture, Mommy?" Where do these sassy little attitudes come from? (Don't you love that little bow holding on for dear life to one little hair? It lasted all of about 10 minutes on her head). PS girls- stop growing up so fast.

#4 Otherwise being entertained by our child.
Kenna, as usual, is a ham and so much fun to be around! Every little stage just seems to get cuter and more fun, even as her little temper and personality grow as she tries to figure out her world. She is still not walking on her own quite yet, but I am sure it is because I have told her we're going to start potty training when she does! She's into lots of girly things right now- she loves shoes and jewelry, and tries to "put on" anything and everything by looping it behind her neck... especially my scarves. She must be going through a growth spurt because she is eating everything in sight- she eats all of her food and then comes to our plates for more! She is such a people person- she loves to laugh and does great with church nursery, babysitters, and bigger kids. Her favorite toys right now are phones of any kind- whatever she can get her hands on. She really loves to throw a toy and then chase it down (yes, our kid likes to play "fetch") and sometimes she'll even play it with Pontouf! They are great friends, and Kenna thinks it's hilarious when Pontouf chases after a toy she's thrown. She loves to jabber and sing- we love imitating the little songs she makes up, and I can't wait until she can express her sweet little thoughts (for us to understand) with that sweet little voice.

Some not-so-fun things that we are disciplining right now are throwing food, taking her bib off in the middle of meals (especially frustrating during messy meals with messy little fingers!) and screaming- not as in crying, but as in loud bursts of screams when she wants something/can't reach something/ can't make something do what she wants it to do. She is fighting to not take naps, but we're still using the cry it out method at naptime and bedtime, which is really sad sometimes, but always works. She cries no matter what when we put her in the crib, but she usually cries for a few minutes and then settles down.

#5 Getting back on track.
It's hard to get back into a "normal" schedule after Christmas. There's something sad to me about taking down all the ornaments and decorations, so the house has been in kind-of a cluttered, half-cleaned up stage for a week or two. I'm always trying to figure out how to best optimize our space (especially the living room, since it is where we truly "live" most days!) since we have an active toddler now. I usually hit a "spring cleaning" phase early in January or February, and for me cleaning really is more like organizing and rearranging. Hopefully I have not driven Matt too crazy with asking him to help me move furniture! We are so blessed to be here and have loved making it a home. I try not to put too much stock in life feeling "normal" as so many things have taught me that there really is no normal! Matt and I have both started daily devotionals- he's doing My Utmost for His Highest and I've started going through Streams in the Desert, both of which have been really good so far!

Here are a couple of pictures of us from Christmas that I meant to post before.Headed to church on Christmas Eve:
And Kenna opening her stocking on Christmas morning at our house (yes her "stocking" is a little paper gift bag- read a funny story about our stockings here!):

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Jail

(We realize we are TERRIBLE bloggers recently! More real updates soon to come!)

Monday, January 4, 2010

New Year, New Priorities

I promised Lindsey that I would be more diligent in writing in the blog this year. She's always done such an amazing job, that it gets tempting to just let her continue doing the amazing job she's already doing, as my posts tend to be more abstract. But here goes...

This past week in Sunday School, I had the privilege of continuing on with our Marriage and Family series. This week, I taught on priorities, but I think it would be more accurate to say that I was taught that I need to focus more on what should be a priority in my life, and the life of my family. It is often said that teaching is the best way to learn something and while studying for my lesson and searching the scriptures, I discovered that God isn't confusing at all concerning priorities. Not one bit in fact.

In my studies, I found that there was a poll taken of people who claimed no religious affiliation regarding priorities for their life in Silicon Valley. They were as follows:
1. Choosing the right career
2. Earning a good income and accumulating wealth and property
3. Meeting and choosing the right marriage partner.
4. Raising children properly.
5. Being involved in their community and church. Many join churches for social interaction.
6. Saving for retirement and living healthily to an old age.

The amazing thing is that these priorities that they have listed don't seem like bad things. In fact, most of us would be willing to argue that these things are good things. I wouldn't necessarily disagree, but as I looked over their list, and I searched the scriptures, I didn't find these things to be necessarily godly things, just because they were good things. Having seen this list, I was challenged to examine my priorities and look long and hard at what I put in the place of great import in my life (whether by actions, how I spend my money, time allotted to do that activities, or my words).

In all seriousness, a world that does not believe in God deems it possible to obtain a great job, wealth, property, a loving spouse, well-behaved children, a better community, great friends, and a healthy happy life without the help of the won we as Christians claim is the giver of life and so much more. So often, when we seek to be good Christians, I fear that what the only goal is to be moral and upstanding. It is no wonder that so few see a difference between Christians and non-Christians unless a Christian does something fanatical, when they see the same priorities and lives lived out by us that they see in themselves.

So as I seek to understand priorities from God's perspective (using Scripture), I don't see him making too many lists. I don't see God promising wealth, excellent health, great jobs, perfect spouses, well-behaved children, happy retirement, and friends that will never leave you. No, I don't see those as His promises or as His suggestion for our priorities (no matter how good we may deem them all to be). Instead, His instructions look a bit like this regarding priorities:

1. Seeking to know and love God more fully every day-Deuteronomy 6:5
2. Loving and encouraging our spouse-Ephesians 5:22, 25
3. Raising our children to love and fear God-Proverbs 22:6; Ephesians 6:4
4. Loving other believers-Romans 14; "forgiving each other"-Ephesians 4:32; "encouraging" 1 Thessalonians 5:11
5. Loving and reaching non-believers-Matthew 28:19

As I list these out I am reminded, even now, that God gives what the world never can: peace, hope, love. The world gives copies and cheap imitations of each of these (the kind you might buy from vendor on the streets of NY), but God's gifts for this life are eternal and carry into the next. The world can give physical things, but only God can give eternal things.

As we, our family and yours, go into the new year, let's make loving God and bringing Him glory, seeking and saving the lost, and living lives different enough that those around us take note THE priority. The last thing we should want to do, is to end up looking exactly like those who have no peace, love, or hope, while claiming that we do. Happy new year friends!