7 Months Old

    My little Joy is 7 Months Old! She is 18.6 lbs (75th percentile) and 26.5 in. long (75th percentile). She wears size 6-9 month clothes, size 3 diapers, and size 2 shoes. She goes to bed around 7:30 pm and wakes up around 5 am. She is still mostly breastfed. She gets 4 oz of formula a day at daycare because I have trouble keeping up with her when it comes to pumping, but she is typically 100% breastfed on the weekends. I plan on trying to delay introduction of cow's milk until 15 months by offering her breastmilk in a sippy until then, but it just depends on if I'm able to get enough freezer milk saved up by her first birthday(when I would like to wean her). We shall see.

    For breakfast she eats 4 tbsp of infant cereal and a stage 1 fruit. For lunch, she eats a stage 2 pureed meal and a stage 1 fruit. For dinner, she eats a Gerber yogurt and a stage 1 veggie. She loves all kinds of babyfood, and we've even given her a few table foods: banana bread, rolls, crackers, and french fries. She also has started to eat Gerber puffs and Lil Crunchies. Big girl loves to eat! She's getting better at the sippy, but she still doesn't prefer it. She is also not such a great napper. Rylee was on a nap schedule of 2 naps per day 1.5-2 hours each by this age, but Payton just cat naps here and there throughout the day usually. It's hard to get her to take a real nap.

       She also is sturdy enough to take a bath sitting up now. Of course, we closely monitor her and never leave her side while she's in there, but she does really well with it. Shes only slipped once, and it was only because Rylee accidentally kicked her. Luckily, I caught her before she went under.

    She is getting stronger and stronger, but she still doesn't crawl. She scoots a little and mainly rolls around to get what she wants. I'm not rushing her becoming mobile; it gets a lot tougher to keep them safe once they can move around freely!!

      Her favorite place to be is outside. She never gets upset outdoors. She smiles at the wind and enjoys the texture of the cool grass. I like being outside, too. I love this time of year! She has also become a chatter box lately. Her favorite bable is "adadadadadada," so obviously Ryan is as proud as can be. I must admit it's super cute.

     I can't believe this little cutie is already 7 months old!! At her 6 month check-up, Dr. Melton referred us to a pediatric eye surgeon. He thinks her tear duct is not going to come unblocked on its own at this point, so she may have to have a surgery to manually unblock it. It's a quick, minor procedure, but the thought of it makes me nervous. We go for her initial consultation with the surgeon Monday, so I'll keep you updated!

Easter 2014

     This Easter has been our best one yet. I love Easter. I love everything about it. When it's Easter is feels like Spring is finally here, and everything around is reminding us of the new creation we become when we accept Jesus' sacrifice for our sins. Seriously, I like Easter even better than Christmas! :)

      We started celebrating Easter last Saturday by attending Mary's Chapel's Easter Celebration. The kids painted rocks to remind them of the stone that was rolled away exposing the empty tomb. They planted red and white flowers to remind them of the blood that was shed and the purity that is gained from accepting the sacrifice. They also painted crosses and dyed eggs. Then they hunted Easter eggs, and filled their baskets with goodies. Sunday was Palm Sunday and Rylee and Kade learned all about how the crowds praised Jesus and laid the branches in his path less than a week before they condemned him to die.

     Wednesday was the Easter party at Daycare/Preschool. We made cross-shaped peanut butter sandwiches for the kids to enjoy at lunch. Rylee was so proud to help me. They ate lots of goodies and had an Easter egg hunt with their friends. Payton's teacher gave her a book since she's too small for goodies just yet!

     Friday was good Friday and school was out and the daycare was closed, but Mary still had to work, so Bailey spent the day with us. I had so much fun spending the day with 3 precious princesses. We watched Frozen, then played outside, then we decorated glitter eggs, then we had a picnic lunch on the deck, then the girls swam and played in the sprinkler, while Payt and I enjoyed the sunshine, then the girls made a mud pit so I had to give them a bath, then they laid in Rylee's bed playing on her Nabi until Mary and Chuck came to get Bailey.

      Saturday morning, I took Rylee to meet up with Liz and Kade and Mary and Bailey and we headed to Finley Baptist (Chuck's church) to hunt eggs and hear the real meaning of Easter. Rylee got lots of yummy candy! Then we headed to Chikfila for lunch and to let the kids play for a minute.

     We headed home so Rylee could get a quick nap, then we headed to Liz and Brandon's house for fun evening of playtime, an Easter craft and story, and another egg hunt. This egg hunt involved mostly small toys and some coins and a few chocolate candies. Each child got at least 2 dozen eggs, but Kade definitely got the most. He is a super egg hunter!

    Today is Easter. The girls woke me up bright and early, which is pretty typical, so I went ahead and got them dressed up and took some photos of them in their Easter outfits before Ryan got up (he gets annoyed by my picture addiction-haha). Then we got him up and gave the girls their Easter baskets. Rylee got Frozen, a small Frozen doll set, and a new cup. Payton got lots of little toys and teethers because she has the attention span of a goldfish when it comes to toys, and she is teething like crazy! Rylee has wanted Frozen for so long, but she has been good about not being jealous or whiny about how all of her other friends got the movie the day it came out. She as so thrilled to see it in her basket, that we popped it in right away and she and Ryan watched the entire movie together. Then we headed to church, and we had s little drama in the beginning that involved the youth. There was a man on the cross and Rylee and Kade were just going on and on about seeing "the real Jesus" and when he died, Kade said "He died for us," and when he came off the cross, Rylee said "He's alive! He's alive!" It was downright precious. Then brother Roger preached another awesome sermon.

     After church we headed to Granny and Paw Paw's for and Easter lunch and some family time. We all ate until we were beyond stuffed, then the 3 girls opened their gifts from Granny and we headed outside to do a little egg hunt for Jenna and Rylee. They were so sweet. We also had some funny moments when they got out Jenna's pink escalade toy. first she wrecked it into a bush, then Ryan and Granny each took turns driving it. It was quite amusing.

      After leaving Granny's, we headed to Nonna's where Rylee and Payton each got 2 baskets filled with gifts and a gift box filled with super cute  Spring clothes. I love how much Nonna spoils them. Then we went outside and Granddaddy and Ryan rode Rylee on the four wheeler. Then, Rylee played bubbles with Nonna while Payton swung, then Payton spent some time playing with Nonna while Rylee ate some of her candy out of her basket. It was a great day! I loved spending it with people we love and I love that we were able to spend lots of time over the last few weeks focusing on what Easter really means.

Easter is NOT about a Bunny!

    Monday when I picked Rylee up from school, she was telling me all about the Easter Bunny and how he's gonna give her presents and throw eggs on the grass for her to pick up and put in her basket. I just listened until she was done, and then I turned to her and asked her, "What's Easter really all about, Rylee?" When she answered, "The Easter Bunny!" I felt my heart sink. I knew they had been talking to her about Christ's sacrifice in Sunday School, she knows the real story. If you asked her what happened to Jesus on Easter she will tell you all about how he died on the cross and "woke up." But in our society today there is so much emphasis on the fictional characters made to represent our holidays, that most kids don't think twice about the true reason we are celebrating. 

      Friday, I passed out letters for my students to take home about the Easter Egg Hunt our wing is doing with our students next Thursday, and of course they were all excited about the upcoming event and began to talk about Easter. Then one little boy jumped up and said, "Easter is the Easter Bunny's birthday, and that's why we get to have a Easter Egg Hunt!" My heart sank to the floor when he continued with, "And Christmas is Santa Claus's birthday, and he is so nice because he brings all the kids new toys because our old toys are broken and just aren't fun anymore! And he teaches us that it's good to share because not every kid in the world has toys like I do." What made it even worse is no child corrected him, they all just listened and nodded in agreement like everything he was saying was true. I corrected him about the history of Easter very quickly, then it was time to go home.  It angers me and saddens me at the same time. So if my child tells your child that the Easter Bunny is just pretend, so sorry, but I have had enough of the lies this world tries to tell our children! God has entrusted my children to me until they make the decision to become His, and I will teach them about Him in the way that He guides me to do.

       What does a story about a man that was killed on a cross for our sins have to offer in comparison to a giant magical bunny that lays eggs filled with candy and sends you baskets full of goodies? What does the willingness of our God to become human and be born as a helpless baby in a manger have to compare to magical flying reindeer and a fat man who gives every child in the whole world anything they ask for?! In a small child's mind? Not much. Especially when everything they see on TV and everything they hear at daycare, preschool, or school is all about the fictional character and not about the amazing true story! Easter is a Christian holiday. If you do not believe Jesus was fully man and fully God and that he came to this Earth with one purpose: to live a perfect life and then die for our sins, then you do not need to celebrate this holiday. If you do believe, why do you need another reason to celebrate?! Why do you need the Easter Bunny?! Why do you need to take away from the amazing true story by telling your child lies?! Seriously, rabbits don't even lay eggs, people!!! The Easter bunny, chicks, eggs, all of it come from the Pagan holiday, Eoster, which celebrated Spring and fertility. This has NOTHING to do with our Savior! 

      We celebrate Easter in our house, too; we wear nice outfits, we hunt eggs and get Easter baskets filled with goodies, but that's not what I want my children to remember most about Easter. What I am struggling to teach my children is that these are just things we do to celebrate that our Savior died for us, and then he rose again to give us new life through him. There is no Easter Bunny! There is no need for one. We have Jesus to celebrate! He is more than enough! When I think about the priorities of our nation, I can just see in my mind Satan smirking saying, "Even when they say they are celebrating You, You are not enough for them. They have parties in Your name and don't even tell their children about You. They use You as an excuse to indulge even deeper in their sinful ways. It's not about You; it's about whose child has the best Easter outfit or who can give their kid the biggest basket filled with the most expensive gifts. They don't care about the gift You gave. They never will..." It's so easy to get caught up in the celebrations and forget WHY we are celebrating.

      Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Our sermon today was entitled "What Makes the Crucifixion Special?" The preacher's answer to that questions was this: "A special person did a special work to solve a special problem." He went on the explain that God had a special problem because He is a holy god who must punish all sins. In His holiness, He cannot ignore sin, He cannot let one single sin slide, He must punish all sins. Punishment for sin is eternal separation from God. We all sin. Every single one of us. We all deserve to go to Hell and be eternally separated from God. I strongly believe that you cannot be saved until you realize that you fully deserve to go to Hell. The preacher continued that explain that because God is not only a holy god, but also a god of grace, that he wanted to find a way to keep us from Hell. It would take a special work to save us. This is when Jesus spoke up and said, "I will go. I will take their punishment for them, so that they may be saved." Jesus came to this Earth as a helpless newborn and lived a perfect life only to die a death that we deserved to take our punishment for our sins. But how could one person's death atone all of our sins? Because Jesus was a special person. He is 100% unique, truly one of a kind. Because Jesus is fully God and fully man, he is an infinite person. We are finite people. "As an infinite person, Jesus could suffer in a finite amount of time, what finite people would suffer infinitely." This is why he cried out, "Father, why have You forsaken me?!" He was suffering OUR eternal separation from God. Because of his death, we no longer have to face separation from God for our sins. There is no way to earn this gift. You will NEVER deserve Heaven. You will always deserve Hell. You can simply accept this gift to receive Heaven, and in God's sight you will be blameless. If that does not give you a reason to celebrate, I don't know what will!