10 Months!

 10 Months!

 Kinsey turned 10 months old last Monday.  The month overall was pretty good.  Mostly, we've just been focused on David finding a job, so I've been working a lot again.  David had Kinsey at home some while I worked but we still sent her to the babysitter a lot so David could get stuff done like resumes, interviews, etc.  The great news is he had two job offers last week!  One at Target that was going to be overnight, and the second at the VA.  He is going to take the job at the VA.  So we are breathing a little easier now.  The biggest plus is going to be David getting to go to work every day and feeling productive.  Obviously, we need him to have a job financially, but I think the greater benefit is him being able to go somewhere and contribute every day.  We are thanking God for this opportunity having come so fast in such a tough economy.  He's been looking for a job since October but was technically only unemployed for about a month before getting an offer. 

Kinsey can now start to distinguish words when we say them to her.  For example, if her stuffed bear and the kitty are both in the same room, and we ask her where one of them is, she will go to it.  Right now, that's all that I'm sure of her being able to know what the words are, but there are probably others.  Of course as I mentioned before if we ask her to clap she will usually do it on command.  She is also starting to splash in the tub when we say splash.  Common words I think she would start to pick up on soon would be doggie, bath, book, and bottle.  Our babysitter swears she can say "Oscar", which is their dog's name, but I have yet to hear it!  She commonly says "aah-ti" at various things.  At first I thought it was "kitty", but then she says it lots of times at other things too.

She is now able to stand without leaning or holding on to anything.  She can even take a few steps on her own with lots of prompting from us.  I think she'll be fully walking by the next blog post.

At her last checkup, she came in at 89th percentile in both weight and height.  She dropped off a little on the growth curve but not enough to be concerned about.  I think the drop is a combination of her being able to tell us when she's finished eating very clearly and being active ALL the time.  When she's eating finger foods, once she starts playing with them instead of eating them, I take them away.  She is also very clear about pushing the bottle away when she is finished.

Last week her top front left tooth came in!  Her top front right tooth is pretty close to breaking through too.  She started getting a runny nose on Friday and I was assuming it was just from teething, but last night we figured out she was actually getting a cold.  Green snot started coming out, so that was a pretty clear indication.  She's been pretty whiny, poor thing, I'm sure she's not feeling great.  Her nose is all crusty and runny, and her cheeks are chapped.  I've been giving ibuprofen to help with aches and any teething pain, and it helps some.  She's eating fine so far.  Waking up a lot during the night but I've left a sippy cup in her room, turned on the humidifier and space heater, and am praying she won't be too uncomfortable.  Not really any coughing yet, which I'm thankful for.  Before bed I put some vicks vapor rub under her nose and on her cheeks and she seemed to really like it.  Seemed like it made her eyes run a little though but also seemed to make her very calm and sleepy.  David and I are both a little sick too.  Hopefully we will all be back to normal in a few days.

Here are the pictures from the last month.

A Little Crazy!

I've always had a heart to adopt an older child.  I used to dream about it when I was a little girl when I heard about children who live in orphanages.  My reason is because there are multitudes of families waiting to adopt babies.  People don't line up to adopt older kids, though, partly because people want the experience of raising a child from birth and partly because there can be very difficult times of readjusting and attachment.  Not to mention a whole other slew of obstacles that can happen.  As kids get older, I can't imagine how they feel knowing they don't have a forever family.  It breaks my heart.

Around the time when we got Kinsey and shortly thereafter, people started asking (and still ask) if we want more kids.  We have gone back and forth, but I often say that I'd like to adopt an older child once Kinsey is older.  I actually had someone today basically tell me this idea was crazy (although he didn't use the word crazy, but it was definitely along those lines).  What I heard in church last night (see previous post) hit me like a ton of bricks right then.  This could be my version of "crazy" the pastor was talking about.   Wow.  The problem is, David is not convinced this is OUR calling.  So then I have to wonder if it is something I am really going to be called to do.  God will have to change one of our minds, or one of us will have to change our minds to God.  I'm excited though that I have something so big that it would even be considered crazy by some!  I want to keep dreaming big, even if big means difficult and scary.

Comfort and Crazy

Yesterday David had class from 9-3, so I was hanging out with Kinsey.  She took a shorter-than-usual nap in the morning, so my nap was also cut short.  When she woke up I couldn't believe how tired I was.  I worked a full 5 day week this past week--something I hadn't done in a very long time.  Needless to say, I was really looking forward to her afternoon nap.  Unfortunately, she wasn't having it and was crying in her crib for a good half hour.  David was home by then and gave her more formula which seemed to do the trick.  We had been planning to go to church at 5, but when he came in to wake me up at 4:20 I just didn't think I'd be awake enough to pay attention.  He bribed me out of bed with Wendy's and with guilting me because he didn't want to go by himself! 

I'm SO glad I went.  I was blown away by the sermon.  It's not posted yet, but if you have thirty minutes I would highly recommend listening to it once they get it on the website at http://www.tucsonrevolution.com/sermons/.

We're studying James.  One thing I like so much about Revolution is that they go line by line through books of the Bible.  Their small groups all discuss the same things during the week too, which I think is fantastic.  Sometimes I find myself trying to focus on too many things in my life, so nothing ever changes because I'm on overload.  Our small group studies one thing, we hear about another topic in MOPS, something new in a sermon each week, etc.  Too much for me.  I like the idea of focusing on one thing at a time.

Back to the sermon.  Josh Reich (the pastor) talked about idols.  Namely comfort, approval, control, and power.  Mine is comfort.  ALL of my decisions are based on comfort.  Everything I buy, my career, how I control the finances, etc.  Comfort is no doubt my idol.  You know what comfort brings me??  Stress.  And lots of it.  Josh has said a few times how studies show that we are the most miserable society in the world.  I believe it.  All this stuff that I buy and work for--it all just brings more stress, and more wants. 

One other thing he hit on that struck me was that if our plans aren't "crazy", God might not be in them.  I wasn't totally on board with this thought because I think God can call us to things that seem very ordinary but yet God can have big plans in the seemingly ordinary.  However, it made me look at how much I limit my desires based on what I think I can manage.  I surely could dream a lot bigger, and if I do I bet I'll start to see a whole lot more of what God desires.

Thoughts on Our Season of Life

By "Our Season of Life", I mean David retiring, searching for (and not yet finding) a job, and me going back to work more.

I'm kind of surprising myself through this time.  If you had asked me a year ago how I'd act in this situation, I would have told you that I'd be a basket case if this ever happened.  The good news is, I'm not!  I'm quite calm about it, which I attribute a great deal to having watched other friends recently walk through very similar circumstances.  I also think I may have grown up a bit, and am learning how to deal with life's twists and turns better. 

On one hand, I am quite confident in God's provision.  On another hand, I can also calculate just how long we can reasonably live in this situation, so I'm mentally giving myself a certain amount of time before I can start worrying.  Those two are quite opposing and show how easy it is for me to want to trust God but then also keep things in my own control.

"No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.  That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?"
-Matthew 6:24-26 (New Living Translation)

Some Favorites Right Now

1. Revolution Church--The sermons are soooo good.  I also  like the music, and the nursery workers are awesome.

2.  Baby pajamas that zip, not snap.

3.  Smoothies--yum.

4.  Honest talk with friends.

5.  CouponSense--I get lots of free stuff and am getting more food for the same amount of money I used to spend.

6.  And family, of course!

Two Favorite Things

1.  My first favorite thing is when I'm wrong about something or when I've hurt someone's feelings, and that person immediately lets me know I've crossed the line.  This is just such a much better way of dealing with hurt and anger than letting it build up inside.  I can realize (hopefully) and apologize for my mistake right then and there and not have had the person walking around for days angry with me before talking to me about it.

2.  Watching movies in bed at night after Kinsey goes to bed.