Suddenly Seven

Where in the world has the last seven months gone? While I am at school it seems to be taking forever on a daily basis, but overall the last seven months has gone by in a flash. God amazes me everyday with the blessings we recieve from Kirby. She is such a joyful child and she makes everyday better when I get home from a world of chaos. Lately when I walk in to Kitty's I peak around the corner to watch her for a minute. Then when I walk into the room and say, "hi sweet girl!" she looks up from whatever she is doing and kicks her feet while flapping her hands with excitement. She lets out somewhat of a squeal and can not wait for me to wash my hands to hold her. I just love that. She is now sitting up on her own. A little later than some babies of my friends, but we are totally ok with that. She is so strong and always has been, but with the brace holding her back for six months some of her other abilities are a little delayed. I know once she starts crawling, there is no going back, so we are ok with this progressing a little slower than usual.

At 7 months, Kirby:

*loves eatting her homemade baby food. So far she LOVES mangoes, avacado, banana, carrots, squash, peas, and sweet potatoes. She is ok with papaya, but makes a horrible face when she swallows it.

*babbles tons. The other day when CR said, "Are you all done playing?" We swore we heard ... "yayayyaya playing". I flew out of her room and said, "did you hear what I heard?!!!"

*naps and sleeps well. On average, she takes 2 naps a day about 1 1/2 each and sleeps between 10 and 11 hours at night.

*loves to make different noices with her voice box. Lately she grunts/growls which makes us really laugh.

*sits up, scoots around, gets on her knees some but then falls and growls with frustration.

*chews on everything. We think she has been cutting teeth since she was 4 months old, but just now is the bottom gum starting to actually feel like something is under there. According to CR, with her genes she already has all the teeth she will ever have. (CR is about 9 teeth short)

*Weighs about 16 pounds (she was 15 at last appointment) and wears 3-6 months clothes. Sometimes she can wear the 6 months clothes, but many of them look like they are falling off of her so we go with the smaller clothes.

*only lasts about an hour in the nursery at church. When CR goes to get her, she is never crying though, just fussy. So, I am not sure how she acts that makes them page us ...

*loves being outside and going on adventure walks. She loves talking to the cows and the dogs. She thinks Koda is kind of scary, but she loves Dixie.

*loves talking on the phone to my mom. She gets the biggest smile on her face when she hears her Grammy's voice.

*loves Granny and Daddy Ray. She never tires of seeing them ... when they walk in to our house she gets this look on her face like, "Hey, I am supposed to go to your house ... what are you doing here."

Leap of Faith

A few of my favorite moments from last week:Taking CR lunch when he was planting across town.
Sitting by herself on the hay bale.

Playing with the old tools in great-granddaddy's barn.

Trying out Jenny Jumper - she did not like it so much because she still doesn't weigh enough to make it go all the way down to the ground. She ended up spinning in circles.

Eating her yummy, yummy Mangoes that she loves so much!!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

I took the plunge, and CR and I are going out on a leap of faith .... I told my school the Friday before Spring Break that I would not be coming back to teach next year. Whew ... what a load off of my shoulders and how freeing it felt to tell them. CR and I know with 100%, no doubt, the Lord will take care of us. This is what I will get to enjoy everyday, instead of just on breaks and weekends:

Funny story: this weekend my dad had his yard working hat on and he looked just like her! Same beautiful eyes and smile.
What a wonderful Spring Break we had. The first part of the break we stayed in town and did things around the house. The picture above is from before a baseball tournament we went to pick up some BBQ from and visit. When we got there, one of my favorite families said, "Well all is well now, look, our little girl is here." She is so happy outside and around all of her adopted Calallen aunts and uncles. It is so funny to see these big, athletic, deep voiced men turn into goo around her. Makes me laugh every time. I was able to (finally) get her letters done for her name on her wall:

I messed with the ISO on my camera over the break as an experiment, and it did not turn out well, so some of the pics may look too "noisy" or grainy. I will take another picture when I actually get them up on the wall .. let's hope that doesn't take another 6 months!

On Wednesday we traveled towards Montgomery. We stopped in Richmond to meet Megan, Mom, Grandma, and Kyleigh for lunch. Then we trotted around the corner (literally) to check out a new retirement subdivision for Grandma. It was extremely nice. She has so much to think about, but I know that down sizing and being closer to everything would be very beneficial to her. I know that Kyleigh does not want her to move, though. She did not come right out and say it, but as we drove in I said, "Kyleigh, look how nice this place is." "It's weird, Lala. It doesn't look like a place where we could ride our bikes and grandma wouldn't like that." Wednesday night we finally got to Montgomery and settled in there for a few days. Friday I had some people over at mom's for a Montgomery Mary Kay gathering. I got to see Chelette, Charleigh, and Jaden (whohoo) as well as Shannon. It was so good to catch up with friends! My director, Katie, even came all the way down from Dallas to share her time and help me with my next level of training. For those who did not know, I have "re-opened" my Mary Kay store and I am going full fl edge ahead with it. I am trying to reach my goal of director for many reasons and will share all of the joys of Mary Kay in another post.

The Sippy Cup

Kirby likes her sippy cup, but she just doesn't know what to do with it.

My SuperBaby Food Diet book says that she needs water to help flush out her kidneys now that she is eatting solids. I have tried to give her water for the last 2 months, and she just is not fond of it. Let me know if you have any suggestions! She does take it sometimes from her medicine bottle. :)

This past Saturday, my sister and Ray got married. Yay for the Cunningham's. For us, it was a fast and furious weekend of traveling, but I hope that E and Ray were able to slow down and take it all in. I was not able to get many pictures because I was running around helping mom and E get ready, but hopefully the photog got some great pics that I can share soon! Currently, they are cruising out and about ...possibly near the Bahamas right now. I pray they have a wonderful honeymoon and that it continues when they return.

Last night I had open house at school, which meant I would not be home until after Kirby likes to already be in bed. Daddy duty! I have been saying for the last few weeks that CR needs to put Kirby down every few nights so she is not just used to me doing the routine, but I always end up doing it because that is about the only time I have with her each day. Now that school goes until 4:30, I do not get to Kitty's until around 5:00, then by the time Kirby and I get to our house, she is ready for some food and bath time. After bath time, she is ready for her bed. So bed time routine is mommy and me time! Back to the point ... CR did a great job. He will say he didn't because:

-She was crying after her bath because he was taking too long to get her dressed.

-He put her pajamas on without a diaper. (don't worry, he realized it and fixed it shortly after)

-He couldn't get her to calm down to rock her or for her to take a bottle, so he just put her to bed crying.

When I got home she was asleep and did not make a peep until 2:30 when she woke up starving! What a great daddy Kirby has and we are so blessed! :)

Total admiration part 2

In the previous pictures, Kirby was admiring CR. She is in so much awe of him. When he talks she smiles big or giggles from deep down in her belly. She watches him when he cooks or takes care of things while she is eating. It is so rewarding as a mother and a wife to see this relationship. I am often jealous of CR because he gets to come home and have lunch with her everyday. This morning it was too foggy to run the tractor, so he got to sit up at Kitty and Ray's house with her until it burned off some. She loves her daddy, that is for sure.

When I started thinking about this admiration, it made me ponder our admiration for our Father. Having a baby has definitely made me think more and more about how much God must love us and how much I love Him. I often take this love relationship for granted, but I am trying to be more aware of how deep and wide it runs. I asked myself after looking at this picture above, "Do I look to my Father that way when I pray? When I sing worship songs? Is my total attention on Him and the cross?" The honest answer is, "not always". I am challenging myself to look to Him just like this more often and to not take Him for granted. Think about it, He loves us so much that He "sent His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. That is a lot of love ... do I love Him that much in return? Of course I do ... do I show it all the time? Probably not as often as I should. Challenge ... go! These 2 pictures are from Kirby eating mangoes for the first time. She loves them!!! After she was"all done" I let her play with her spoon and she did not want to quit sucking on it. She loves her homemade baby food ... you can tell when I have to give her the "other stuff" that she notices the difference. Ha, growing a garden for fresh veggies this summer? I think yes!