Getting Life on Track

I get an email every day that is called "Encourgement for Today".  I have been astounded at how many times this seems to speak right to my heart and be the words I needed to hear. 

Things have been a little rough lately, but I'm just trying to trust in the Lord that this is the path He has chosen for me to be on at this moment.  Like many days, today's email was no exception...

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." Romans 12:2a (NIV)

The author then goes on to tell a story, or give advice on how to relate our everday lives to these bible verses.....

"In Romans 12:2 Paul so powerfully reminds us, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing, and perfect will.""Dear Lord, help me to follow You and You alone - not a pre-planned formula. Help me to see that I need You more than anything today. In Jesus' Name, Amen."

We weren't made to be robotic followers of this world's formulas. We were made to be transformed into the unique person God appointed to fulfill the assignments set before us. So, on a practical level what does this look like?

It's a simple woman who humbly acknowledges how much she doesn't know about life and readily admits how much she needs Jesus. Not just in spiritual sense...this woman needs Jesus in every way. All throughout her day, she can be heard whispering heart-felt pleas to her Jesus saying, "Show me the way, show me the way, show me the way."

And as she does this, she loosens her grip on all the formulas thrown at her and courageously embraces His gentle voice behind her saying, "This is the way, now walk in it" (Isaiah 30:21)."

She then closes the email with a prayer.  Today's prayer is absolutely what I needed to hear today.  I am grateful that I've found this wonderful way to hear God's word everyday!




God Bless,
Jess

7 through 9 month picture update

Here are the pictures that I've been terrible at posting the last few months.  This is 7 month through 9 mponth pictures and a few randoms :) Sorry these are out of order! Blogger wouldn't cooperate with me.



Kamryn being silly. Playing with her tutu.



Pretty girl with her beads on.

Baby toes :)

K is for Kamryn

Too wound up to go to bed!

Giving her baby kisses

Kamryn and Mamaw

First time eating animal cookies (the good ones with icing!)

She LOVED them!!!

Daddy and Kamryn visiting the zoo for the first time



Playing under the water tunnel





Kamryn and I took a quick weekend trip to Chicago to see Uncle Al and Family.  Here is a picture of Kamryn and I at her first parade.



Silly Girl.   The only hat she's ever worn for longer than .25 seconds :)





7 months old!!



Preview of K's 1 year birthday party.  Rainbow colors but not in the traditional rainbow shape.





Playing outside during the summer.  Definitely an outdoor baby!!




This child will have chapped lips all winter long if she doesn't start keeping that tongue in her mouth ;)





Kamryn's first Dilly Bar from Dairy Queen



She wanted to do it all by herself!!



Nom Nom Nom



Loves playing with her Legos





Baby girl is 8 months old!



:)



Brushing her teeth for the first time



She loved it.  And then we put the "toothpaste" on her toothbrush, she went crazy grabbing for it trying to bursh them herself!!

Still loves playing in her Jeep

She is also a water baby! Loves to splash!!



LOL



Her favorite spot, sitting outside on Mommy's swing.  And her favorite toy, her keys.



First county fair. And first french fry.





She loved it but wouldn't touch it for anything.





Sitting in the closet while Mom and Dad remodel it :) She just wanted to be near us.



Found her sound asleep like this one morning ;)

First time swinging outside!!

Loved it! Still does actually!



Eating strawberries using her mesh bag feeder





Loves strawberries!



Kamryn and Mommy at the zoo



Cute photo opportunity :)





9 months old already!!!!



First time crawling!!

Love that smile.  Dinner leftovers and all!!



Another favorite thing of Kamryn's, playing with the fridge magnets.





God Bless,

Jess

9.5 Months!!

Well, I did it again. I let another 3 months pass without blogging. I feel terrible about, especially considering I’m always staying up to date with other families/people’s blogs.

This update will mainly be a list of things to remember/update on Kamryn’s latest and then another post for pictures : )

Kamryn’s Likes/Dislikes:

Giggles none stop

Talks all the time

Has this really cute shy look, especially when she meets new people or someone she’s adjusting to

Plays independently very well. She has been quite clingy to me lately (only me, not Keith) and will play wonderful by herself or let him walk out of the room. But if Mom trys that….no way!

Will walk all over the entire house if you hold her hands

VERY ticklish

Just started 9/14/10) to make serious attempts at crawling by 9/17/10 she was already crawling down the hall and all over the house

Hates sippy cups. Any kind. Which is particularly bad since Pediatrician wants us to wean her off the bottle by 12 months.

Seems to be weaning herself off of the bottle. Problem is, she’s then not getting enough formula in her diet to provide proper nutrition.

Absolutely loves her pacifier (paci). 99% of the time she can and will find the paci and put it in her mouth when she feels she needs it.

Thinks she is hot stuff when she is holding her own bottle, feeding herself, or doing anything she feels is independent

Can wave Bye-Bye on command, working on Hello now

Gives High-5’s every once in a while when asked, still working on that and starting to work on blowing kisses

Loves Eskimo kisses with Mommy

Smiles from the moment she wakes till she goes to bed.

Pulled herself into a standing position with no help/support from us (9/26/10)

Loves to go shopping

discovered a new sound to make (very similiar to Chewbacca (spl?)) and makes the noise constantly!!

Feeding schedule:

Weekdays –

6am - We wake her up. She’ll eat between 2-4 oz of a bottle.

8am – preschool feeds her 2-4oz cereal and a stage 2 jar of fruit

12noon – 2-4 oz cereal, and stage 2 jar of veggies, and if still hungry (usually is) another jar of fruit.

5pm – 2-4 oz cereal, and stage 2 jar of veggies, and if still hungry (usually is) another jar of fruit.

8-9pm – we try to give her a 4oz bottle before bed, rarely will she drink more than 2 oz. All she wants is her paci and to be laid down in her bed with her Ubby (special blanky).

Weekends are pretty much the same except we let her (and us) wake up without an alarm clock. She sleeps in until anywhere between 7-9am.

Food Preferences

Likes:

Sweet potatoes

Peas

Green beans

Mac & cheese

Pasta

Crackers

Apples

Strawberries*

Pears

Mango

Pineapple

Bananas*

Turkey

Chicken

Hummus

Bread

Rice

Cookies*

Ice cream*

“puffs” baby food by Gerber

Pizza

Salad

Basically, any jar of food I’ve ever bought she’s eaten (except peaches & the plain meat ones), plus we give her tiny pieces off of our plates as well.

Didn’t like:
Watermelon
“raw” zucchini
Peaches – the baby food jarred ones, or fresh peaches.

Baby food jars of only meat, she will eat the mixed ones (i.e. chicken and noodles, turkey and rice, etc.)
Not a big fan of beef, yet

Kamryn has been fighting ear infections since birth. It seems like as soon as we get rid of one, another one shows up. After many antibiotics and even antibiotic shots, we have to go see the Ear Nose and Throat doctor to discuss tubes. That appointment is coming up this month. Please say some extra prayers that if she has to have tubes that everything works out fine. (update: Kamryn will be having tube surgery on Oct 5 @ 7:30am)

At her nine month well baby visit, she weighed 17lbs 6oz and was 28.5 inches long.

God Bless,

Jess

6 Month Check-Up and More

There have been many new things going on lately! Kamryn seems to learn something new every day. It's such an amazing thing to witness. Just a real quick rundown of all the things going on in our lives and then I'll get to the good stuff....Pictures :)

Today she is 6 months and 2 weeks old. Here are a few current things going on:

* At her 6 month check-up (June 15) she weighed 14lbs 14oz and was 26.5 inches long

* Kamryn still can wear 3-6 months pants. Well, they have to be shorts/skirts/dresses. She's too long for the long pants/jeans but too skinny to wear the 6-9 month clothes. She needs the 6 month or 6-9 month shirts for the torso length. She doesn't entirely fill them up around the belly or butt region but any smaller and they are too short length-wise.

* She's just moved last week or so to size 2 diapers.

* She's tried carrots, squash, green beans, peas, and sweet potatoes. Carrots are her favorite but she'll eat any of them. She's also had grapes and bananas in her mesh bag feeder.

* Per the Doc's instructions, we're learning to self feed. Kamryn loves it. She will hold these rice wafer things by herself and just chew on them. She's not great at feeding herself with the mesh bag feeder but will eat from it if you hold it. She loves any and all food we've let her taste. I hope that keeps up!

* The doctor also suggested (even tho I think she's too young) to try to drink from a sippy cup. Kamryn will drink water from it but no formula. That has to be in a bottle. LOL. I asked him if she can have anything other than formula or water and he said no. No milk till she's 1 year and juice is the equivalent of soda. So, no juice for Kamryn.

* On June 17th Kamryn started saying Mama. Well to be honest it was more like "ma ma ma ma ma" but I just get her attention and try to tell her that I'm Mama.

* We are still practicing on the sign language. After some advice from different people, we've decided to start with "more". Once we learn that an action means something then we will move on to other signs. Sometimes Kamryn acts like she's getting it, but other times she just thinks I'm silly and she laughs and laughs.

* Kamryn still sleeps all night long. *so blessed* Most nights (like 95%) of the time she will put herself to sleep at night. I sometimes still rock her to sleep (she is still my baby). Naps during the day are another story. She will not go on her own. You have to rock/bounce/sing her to sleep, and when she does fall sleep she doesn't sleep for very long anymore. She used to sleep for hours during the day but the older she gets the shorter the daytime naps become. If there is a lot of activity going on, forget about more then a 20 minute nap. Hoping that will get better soon. I've seen the affects of toddlers not taking naps. LOL

* Kamryn now refuses to sleep on her back. She sleeps in a million weird positions. She sleeps on her side, on her belly, with only her feet face down and the rest of her on her side, on her belly with one leg pulled up to her chest, and with her legs tucked under her and her butt up in the air. :)

* At her 6 month check-up I was asking about sitting up. She never would sit up for more than a few seconds unassisted before toppling over. So I was showing the doctor what I was talking about and asking if that counted as sitting....and that booger sat up for more than a minute. So of course, Doc said she's a "sitter". I was shocked. That's like the third time she's done something like that to me in front of the doctor. I think she like him and tries to show off for him :)

* Kamryn is such a happy baby. She loves to talk (babble) and laugh to herself. She says the syllables "ba" and "ma" and the occasional "da" but she just likes to make noise. She will talk to her toys and just go on forever. Lately her new thing is a random almost screeching laugh. Keith, Kamryn and I were all in the truck the other day headed to my in-laws, and as we pulled in the drive Kamryn just let out the very loud, very excited screech-type laugh. She started kicking her arms and legs and laughed. It was so cute. Loud, but cute :)

* Kamryn is also great at entertaining herself. Her favorite toys are currently her crinkle book (that's what I call it....I don't really know what it's called. But, it makes a crinkly noise when you touch it) and the plastic keys on the key ring. She loves to smack the book to make it crinkle. No joke, she did that from Vincennes to Washington (almost 30 solid minutes). Watch out if you're holding her and she gets ahold of her keys. She whips those keys up and down, up and down, up and down. I think she likes noise. And no! that doesn't mean she needs noise making toys!!!!!

* Kamryn is a pro at rolling over. We're still working on crawling. She can pull her legs up under her but she forgets to do anything w/ her arms. So, she kinda "moves" around but it's usually by rolling, scooting, or an occasional army crawl.

That's all I can think of for now. So I will leave with some pictures. (captions underneath)

Self explanatory ;)

Daddy helping Kamryn stand up.

Aunt Bekah reading to Eli & Kamryn. I love how into she is. She loves books and loves being read to.

Playing in the garage while I work on crafts.

Sitting in her bouncer. Happy girl!

Practicing crawling

Sitting in her new bathtub.

Kinda hard to see, but her first tooth (actually 2) came thru Memorial Day weekend. I was so shocked. And sad. I cried.

Happy Memorial Day 2010

First ride in the stroller w/o the carrier. She was asleep within 10 minutes :)

Getting ready to go to "school" the morning of her 6 month birthday!

6 months old. June 10, 2010

*Oops, I forgot the sign*

6 months old. 6/10/10

Sitting outside in her big girl cow chair

closer up...and kind of smiling :)

Ah, the "Jess glare"




Smiling....looking at Keith. She is SUCH a daddy's girl!

I just liked this one :)

We get together with our Columbus friends every Thrusday. Which happened to be Kamryn's 6 month birthday. Too bad she was in a bad mood all day :(

She sits with her feet like this ALL the time! Especially in her carseat.



Trying to get a picture of her outfit I made for her. I made the tutu and matching headband just for her 6 month pics. We didn't get very many good ones tho :( Like I said, she was in a mood that day.

Daddy reading Kamryn her bedtime story.

Kamryn and I sitting in the hallway during a tornado warning. Thankfully, no tornado popped up.

Sitting in the doctor's office for Kamryn's 6 month check-up.

This is how I found her sleeping one night. Can't see too well because it's from my cell phone but her legs are tucked under her belly and her butt is in the air. LOL.

Kamryn's first pedicure. She did wonderful. She sat still till they are painted and just watched me. The hardest part was for her not to touch them till they were dry :)


Sitting in her bumbo while I paint her toes.

Another tornado warning. Sitting in the hallway trying to feed her puffs to herself. And of ourse, Jake had to supervise incase she dropped any.

First time eating in the high chair.

Close-up :)


Drinking from a sippy cup for the first time.

Big shot picking out her own bedtime story.

She loved it.




Again, sleeping with her butt up in the air.

Hanging out with Papaw on the tractor on Father's Day 2010.

Eating a banana from her mesh bag feeder. She loved it. If I pulled away, she'd lunge forward wanting more.

Sorry this one is turned funny. I couldn't get it to fix and be the right way.

Here is Kamryn eating her rice wafer thinies that she just loves. And she thinks its awesome that she can do it all by herself.

Haha...trying to eat and look up at the camera.

"Forget-about-it! I'm just gonna eat!"

She still looks so small in her high chair.

Still working on feeding ourself.

Another picture of my silly baby girl sleeping all funky. But hey, she sleeps all night long so she can sleep however she wants!

And some videos too....

Lauging and Tickle Time

Crawling attempt - Video#1
*WARNING - NAKED BABY BUTT :)*

Crawling attmept - Video#2
*WARNING - NAKED BABY BUTT :)*

Crawling attmept - Video#2
*WARNING - NAKED BABY BUTT :)*



God Bless,
Jess