Better

Thank you so much to any of you who prayed for us after my last post! Thankfully, our midnight adventure was a one night occurrence! Now poor Kate has a cold so she is sleeping extra long. It's her third cold in her 6 month life span which worries me a little. I guess that's part of having a winter baby. It's a mild cold, but I still feel bad for her. She seems cheerful and unfazed for the most part. I enjoy the excuse to get extra cuddles and rocking time!

Here are some recent pictures for my loving out-of-towners.

Kate grabs with all she's worth at anything and everything that comes into her line of vision. If I don't give it to her she just keeps reaching and straining until I either move it out of sight or put it within reach. She is super curious! Of course, everything gets shoved into her mouth with gusto:)

This time it was a little too big to bite on.

We are borrowing/storing this excersaucer from the Lechners and it has been such fun! Kate loves playing with all the toys. She has figured out that the hanging toys play music when you pull them. It also gives her good practice at "standing" and strengthening her legs.

She really wanted to hold the camera.

Her left eye has had a blocked tear duct since she's been born. It's harmless but aggravating. The other morning I went in to get her and burst out laughing because her left eye had gotten sealed shut with goop! She wasn't bothered by it at all and it looked so funny! 

(Also, notice my shiny nose bursting out of the corner....niiice.)

Molehills Become Mountains After Midnight

Last night was a rough one! Kate woke up hopping mad at 12:00. Sometimes she wakes from a deep sleep crying really hard and we haven't been able to figure out why (sudden gas pain? nightmare? evil fairies pinching her?) Usually this happens shortly after putting her to bed though and usually she soothes pretty quickly after a few minutes in the rocker. Not so last night! David and I tried everything we could think of to help her back to sleep (including the old standby of rocking her in the glider.) She only got more awake!

At 1:00 David took her downstairs to watch T.V. because "crying it out" didn't seem to be working anymore then rocking her did. I joined them and we gave her Tylenol (she is getting into teething age after all,and I had already given her gas drops) I fed her and changed her diaper, David ate a bowl of cereal. Kate was rubbing her eyes and yawning. Yes! Back to bed with her:) 15 minutes later she was crying again. 

Letting your baby "cry it out" seems like such a reasonable idea in the light of day. I don't want her to get the idea that I will rock her to sleep every time she cries at night. I had met every need I could think of for her and I was convinced she wasn't in pain because she was happy as long as we had her up. But, when it's 2 in the morning and all you want is sleep what ever gets your tiny one to sleep seems like the best option. Your mind plays tricks on you and you wonder if maybe she is hurting. It's all quite confusing. I was praying for sleep for Kate and reminding myself that Jesus knows how much sleep I need and that He would supply the grace for dealing with lost rest. 

At 2:30 the crying showed no signs of letting up so I went in to pat her. I felt peace from the Lord that at this point we all needed to just get to sleep. 2:30 wasn't the time to let her cry it out for the first time in her life. I picked her up and rocked her and she was asleep within minutes. Down for the count asleep. Praise the Lord! 

I recognize that I am so blessed to have only had one night like that with our baby thus far. Not that Kate always sleeps perfectly, we've had our nights, but she has never been up for 3 hours in the middle of the night. Last night was such a challenge to my patience and I was reminded afresh that we are totally dependent on the Lord to lead us in our parenting. I was reminded afresh how kind He has been to give me such an easy baby. I know many people have nights like that with regularity. 

Today I want to trust in Him with joy as I care for a cranky baby who didn't get alot of sleep while I am a cranky mama who didn't get enough sleep! I really do want to rejoice that I get to lay down my life for a little soul that's been entrusted to me to care for.

Thanks for reading my rant! :)

That First Touch of Spring

Liz Shea came over today to take some pictures of all of us for a photo project. It was Baby Kate's first ever time in the grass. She totally loved it! She took full use of her newest skill: Sitting unsupported!

It was so cute to watch her feeling the grass and reaching all around her to grasp it. David took all of these. I think they look cuter when they are bigger (if you click on the picture it will blow it up.)

She would reach way forward like this trying to get every piece that was near her. I am sure she couldn't figure out why she couldn't pick it up and put it in her mouth!

Meg took a picture just like this of Laurel and I thought it was so cute. Now I have one of my baby girl:) I love they way babies feet look when they are sitting up.

It was getting past eating/nap time and Kate got tired of being in the grass and was fussing. I picked her up to comfort her and we got some Mama/Daughter pictures. They turned out so pretty!

Poor crying baby!

Kate is so fascinated with faces right now. She is always reaching out to touch them, especially lips. 

I love the way she pulls herself in to put our faces together. She is actually trying to bite my face:) Silly girl is totally obsessed with "gumming" things. All part of this age I know:)

Restored to happiness! 

I thank the Lord for this beautiful day! Hopefully we can hang on to some sunshine for a bit!

Baby In A Basket

Kate is now 5 months old (as of last week!) She has had a mild cold since returning from Rekindle so I am a bit behind in my update. Last week she was SO grumpy for 3 days. She only wanted to be held, wouldn't really play with toys, or even babble. It was quite sad. Thankfully she is now back to her normal, sunny self. 

Lately it has been quite handy to stick her in a basket while I do some task or other (hence the title of this post.) She thinks it's fun! She also looks extremely cute when she's being "baby in a basket".  Here are some pictures of her.

We are doing our best to make her a little Tarheel! 

I really love taking picture's of Kate when she's sleep. I just think she looks so precious! This was today after a long stretch of errands.

I thought it was precious how she was holding her toy while she slept.

A very happy mama and 5 month old!

Rekindle Oh Nine

I am a little late on my Rekindle post (Rekindle is our college ministry's spring break conference in Panama City, Fl) but Meg really wanted me to do one, so here it is.

I felt so blessed to get to go to Rekindle this year. Dave and I had planned not to go this year because of having Baby Kate but through the Lord's leading it turned out we could go! We have now been to every Rekindle. It has been such a special week in our lives. At the very first one in 2005 I had a lightening bolt moment when I realized that I wanted to marry David. I had no idea how he felt about me so it was an emotional time. 3 days later I found out he wanted to court me! We have been in various special seasons of our lives at each one since (engaged, newly married, pregnant last year, and now with a baby!)

I am pretty sure this was our last Rekindle so I tried to savor every moment and experience. It was a wonderful time this year. Dad and Joe gave wonderful, foundational truth messages. Worship was full of the Spirit and everyone had great times of play and fellowship.

Kate was truly amazing on the trip! She cried less then she would have at home on the 10 hour drives there and back. She slept like a champ the whole time we were there, and really enjoyed having so many people to hold and admire her:) I am delighted to report that I think she will be a social bug like her mama!

Here she is during our dinner time in the cafeteria. She didn't enjoy meal times much. I think she didn't like that no one was holding her, ha! 

My bathing beauty:) She loved wearing her sunglasses which was so awesome. She would be upset out in the sun and then we would put the sunnies on and she was happy as a clam. It was great. I have some other really great pictures of her in her bathing suit in the pool but they are on Dave's camera and he hasn't uploaded them yet.

She discovered her feet while we were there! Now she grabs on and holds on for dear life with every diaper change.

Kickin back in her make-shift sun hut. I think the beach will be much more fun when she can sit up by herself and we have a little tent or beach umbrella. It was pretty impossible to be on the beach with her on this trip.

Enjoying the warm afternoon on the porch while Kate napped.

Kate's and my beloved "Miss Wiz"

The whole time we were there I was wanting to get a beautiful family picture on the beach at sunset. The time just never was right and so we snapped a quick one right before the meeting one night.......It wasn't all I had hoped for;)

Dave really wanted this to be real. Any one know where I can find a giant cone? :)

The beach there is just so lovely. Every evening the sunset was gorgeous. So peaceful.

Doesn't this look like we are standing against one of those paper back drops pretending we had been on a great vacation?

Prayer

Tante ("aunt" in German, my mom's sister:) sent me this beautiful prayer from her devotional. It was very encouraging and envisioning for me and I wanted to share it.

"Dear Lord, I do not ask that thou shouldst give me some high work of Thine, some noble calling, or some wondrous task. "Give me a little hand to hold in mine. Give me a little child to point the way over the strange sweet path that leads to Thee. "Give me a little voice to teach to pray. Give me two shining eyes Thy face to see. "The only crown I ask , dear Lord, to wear is this: that I may teach a little child. I do not ask that I may ever stand among the wise, the worthy, or the great. "I only ask that, softly, hand in hand, a child and I may enter at the gate."

Author Unknown

"The Most Fun You Can Have....."

  Last night Dave, Kate, and I packed up and headed over to the new Charlotte IKEA (woo hoo!) to explore. IKEA is one of Dave and I's favorite places to go together. We have been to the one in Atlanta twice. We couldn't wait to take Kate! 

One of the things I really like about IKEA is how family friendly they are. Most of the displays have children's items sprinkled through out and the cafeteria and restroom areas all provide little tables and chairs and toys. 

We had so much fun wandering around the display floor! Kate and I tested out lots of sofas, chairs, beds etc. while Dave admired art work and lighting. We barely made it down to the actual store part before they closed! 

Here are some pictures of Kate's experience:

At first she seemed like maybe she wasn't going to be too in to the IKEA experience

I don't think she liked this chair too much, but she sure looked cute sitting in it!

One of IKEA's things is to set up a whole living space in an incredibly small area of square footage. This little "house" had a nursery. It was so cute and cozy! I think I would really like living in a big city in a tiny apartment if I could have it look like this! It was quite functional too, the way they had it set up.

I found this lady bug/hippo/caterpillar and thought Kate would really like looking at it.

She did!

Testing out a high chair. This chair is really cool. It is so light weight and folds up totally flat. I think we are going to get one as our travel high chair. Kate was very interested in the pattern.

This is one of those chairs that you see in bathrooms so you can have your baby safe while you, um, "go". I have always wanted to put her in one cause I thought they looked like fun. I finally got my chance. 

We were in the Baby Care bathroom. As you can see, they had a leather chair with pretty drapes beside it so you could feed your baby. They had Diaper Champs and free diapers plus a toilet and sink for adults. It was so nice! 

Here Kate is piled high with our purchases. We were able to get two rugs (for the front door and kitchen sink) a little ice cube tray, and two cutting boards for only $11.75! Have I mentioned I love IKEA? :) It was a really fun evening!