Blogging for Books- Awakening: Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life

Life Without Limits: Inspiration for a Ridiculously Good Life, by Nick Vujicic is a positive and uplifting book of encouragement for overcoming obstacles and living life to the fullest- no matter the odds. Vujicic was born without arms or legs and is determined to live as a motivational speaker dispelling the myth that living life with disabilities means living a boring life. It’s hard to say anything bad about a guy who stays to positive and upbeat about life, even though he potentially has a lot to feel down about. Vujicic gets around with a special, motorized wheelchair, loves to swim and can even get from a lying down to upright position by himself. Through the support of his family and his strong Christian faith, Nick has learned that life is what you make it and that everybody was put on this earth for a specific God-given reason! This book is an easy read with one goal in mind- life is what you make it and God has a purpose for YOU! This book is defiantly inspiring and makes you want to stop feeling sorry for yourself and go figure out what God has in store for your destiny! "I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

All Dressed Up

Today I was trying to dress you, Katy and you did not want my help. Instead, you took the shirt from my hands and proceeded to put your arm through the arm hole and try to put it over your head. You were 50% successful in pulling the shirt on yourself, and I helped you the rest of the way. Getting so big!

Droopy Drawers

Recently, every time I put on your pants, Katy, they've been very loose around the waist and baggy. Even though you are EATING like crazy, you run around so much during the day that you are slimming down and losing those cute little baby rolls. This proves two things; a) exercise really does work (sigh), no matter the age and b) I miss those baby rolls and time really does go by quickly when you have a child.

Katy Monet (Manet, Van Gogh, Singer Sargent...)

Serious little painter

"Looks better like this."

"Daddy, let's paint!"

Daddy and his protege, Katy :-)

Daddy was getting out the paint brush to touch up some holes in the wall (from our home office remodel mentioned on the previous post) when you decided to grab the paint brush and experiment with "dipping" it into the paint dish, Katy. You even tried to "paint" Daddy's face by brushing the paint brush up and down (good thing there wasn't any actual paint involved! :-). I believe we have a budding artist on our hands and for two artists/designers; we couldn't be happier- definitely genetic!

Home Office

Sofa bed and dual work space (cute little frog storage bean bag for all of Katy's stuffed animals).

Upstairs "Katy shelf."

Desk for two with lots of organized storage.

The "new" room gets the Katy inspection and Katy seal of approval.

When Daddy and I got married, we made an informal agreement that he would get to decorate one room of whatever apartment/home we were living at and I would be in charge of decorating and designing the rest of the house. Well, along comes you, Katy, and I had to recind slightly on that agreement.

Daddy's "Art Room" has now become the "Home office" as our needs and priorities as a family have shifted and changed. As I get more work to do from home and Daddy sometimes needs to bring work home on the weekends we need a workspace where two people could work. We also need an extra bed (preferably a double bed since most of our guests are married). Plus, we need room for your growing collection of books and toys in a place where we could watch you while we worked. Thus, was born the home office- desk for two, lots of storage, a new, upstairs "Katy shelf" and sofa bed- compliments of Ikea and lots of hard work on Daddy's behalf in putting together all of the furniture!! The room feels so much bigger and put together. We love the added storage and organization! We are super excited about our new multi-functional room!

Now, who will be our first guest to test out the sofa bed? :-)

"These shoes were made for walking..."

"I've got my shoes and tablespoon- I'm ready for my walk, Mommy!"

Since you have learned to walk, it's been hard to find shoes that you can actually walk in, Katy. You seem to always trip and fall when you have shoes on so you mostly go around barefoot or with socks, only. However, the other day while going through your plethora of shoes (and boy, do you have the SHOES!), Elizabeth found this pair and helped me put them on you. Wonder of all wonders, the shoes stayed on for most of the day AND you managed to run- not walk- around in them! Good thing you have a lot of pink clothes because I have a feeling you'll be wearing these shoes a lot!

For the love of purses...

Mommy and her purse, circa 1983 (??)

Katy and her purse, Winter 2010

"Climb every mountain, Search high and low..."

Katy, showing off her mad climbing skills

Katy, in the words of Maria Von Trapp of the Sound of Music, you have learned to "Climb every mountain, Search high and low..." More than once, this week, we've found you climbing on top of step stools, toy chests, chairs, sofas and boxes. Climb, climb, climb! Your dexterity and motor skills are very fluid, now, and you can climb with lightening-fast speed. You are fearless, Katy- nothing is too tall for you to attempt to scale- even if it makes Mommy and Daddy nervous!

*Update: The other day, I said out loud, "Katy, let's go for a walk." I went to go get my shoes on and when I turned around, you had already climbed into your stroller, standing on the seat! You were ready to go, Katy!

Girly Girl

Two purses, baby doll and stroller- Katy is ready to go!

You are all GIRL, Katy! You love purses, doll babies and stroller. You squeal with delight at the sight of bracelets, earrings and necklaces. I did not "teach" you how to be a girl- you just are and I love your girly girl nature!

DiGiorno Pizza and Hoops House Party

Pizza, breadsticks, wings and cookies- yummy!

Friends enjoying the food

Shameless product placement ;-P

We won another House party from http://www.houseparty.com/. This time, it was the DiGiorno Pizza and Hoops party. We got to try out the new Pizza and Cookies and Pizza and Wingz combos along with the Pizza and Breadsticks. We had fun chatting with friends and eating a yummy lunch, all thanks to DiGiorno.

Since Ikea was delivering our new furniture during the party, we invited the delivery guys to grab a slice of pizza, too!

Kinetic Baby Dedication

Kinetic Baby Dedication, March 20, 2011

Today, we had you dedicated at Kinetic Church, Katy. Even though we had you baptized last Easter Sunday by Pop-Pop Tinkey, we felt that it was important to have you dedicated in front of our church family, Kinetic Church. There were ten babies/toddlers dedicated, today, so you were in good company, Katy. The dedication occurred at the beginning of the second service (smart planning for fussy babies!) and you got a little pink Bible with your name on it.

Our faith is important to us and it is important to Daddy and I to stand up in front of our friends and promise that we are going to bring you up in the church.

Just say, "NO!"

Our conversations, as of late, have gone something like this;

Me, "Give Mama kisses."
Katy, "NO!"

Me, "Yummy peaches!"
Katy, "NO!"

Me, "Give this book/toy/object to Daddy."
Katy, "NO!"

Needless to say, this week has been brought to you by the word, "NO!"

Peek-a-Boo Boo

Peek-a-Boo Boo

Katy, your absolute favorite book (so far) is Peek-a-Who by Nina Landen. You regularly pick the book off the shelf and love skip to the end where there is a mirror- "Peek-a-YOU!" Today, while carrying the book around, the front cover finally ripped into two pieces- the sign of a well-loved book. The book had been looking a little ratty up until this point but at least it was in one piece. Keys family (from whom we borrowed the favorite tome), we owe you a new book- Katy just loved Peek-a-Who so much!

Blogging for Books- Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom

Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom by Stovall Weems is a positive, scripturally-based approach to becoming closer to God. Put into simple layman’s terms, Weems outlines how to dig deeper, reach higher and shine brighter for God. Using personal examples and a very “real” dialogue, Weems succeeds in capturing his audience and welcoming them in.

This book is very appropriate for the Lenten season as Christians reflect upon the ultimate sacrifice, the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It proves to be a worthy reminder of the importance of putting away the “clutter” that keeps us from realizing the “awakening” that God has in store for each and every person.
While I wouldn’t say that his approach is “new,” I would say that the book does chart out a straightforward path for even the most seasoned Christian or newest Christian to deepen their faith and walk with Jesus.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"

"Old MacDonald had a farm..."

Parents of our friends the Keys' gave you a CD of kid-friendly songs recorded by a friend of theirs, Betsy Bish, for your birthday, Katy. We like to listen to the CD in the car. It's got lots of great silly, family-friendly songs that tend to get stuck in my head. The main song goes through the various sounds of farm animals- duck, chicken, cows, sheep. While driving to church on Sunday, Daddy and I realized that you were making the correct sound for the correct animal. When the song started singing about sheep, you would say, "Baa, baa" and when the song sang about chickens you would say, "cluck, cluck." I think we have a little smarty pants on our hands :-)

Later in the day, Daddy and I decided to test the farm animal theory and ask you, "Katy, what does a sheep say?" and see what you would answer with. At first, you said nothing. Then, when Daddy asked, "Katy, what does Shaun the Sheep say?" (referring to the clamation series and Wallace and Gromit spin-off, Shaun the Sheep), you promptly responded with a resounding, "Baa, baa!"

Boo-Boo Katy

"Waaah!!"

It was a mild, sunny day, today Katy, so we decided to walk to the park and play on the playground. All was going well until you tripped, fell and scraped your forehead. The scrape was very, very minor (even to this first-time-germ-a-phobe-mama!) but it did bleed a lot. You didn't cry when the scrape first happened. Instead, you cried when I tried to clean it with a wipe (only thing I had on hand in the middle of the park) and put a band-aid on it (thanks to the prepared park ranger).

Please note that this little incident did nothing to squash my fear of playgrounds- too much can happen there! Next time, Daddy gets to take you to the park, Katy!

ROCK-a-bye Baby

Since this past Friday, we have been working very hard to completely wean you, Katy. Now that you are a year old and eating regular meals and snacks, nursing has become more of a comfort thing than a real nutritional need. Plus, with allergy season right around the corner, I am in desperate need of medicine (that I can't take while nursing) to clear up my eczema and help control my allergies and asthma better.

SOoo, Friday night, Daddy was on duty and I was banned from the nursery because if you even SEE me at night you want to nurse. Bedtime rolled around, Daddy took you into the nursery and you whimpered for a couple of minutes and then conked out. We totally expected more of a bedtime battle. Saturday, same scenario. Only on Saturday, you slept from nine PM to nine AM straight, in your "crib" without interruption!! Wow! Sunday night was a little rougher because your schedule seemed all off with Daylight Savings.

What is Daddy's secret to get you to sleep? Christian rock. Specifically, the Newsboys. Daddy plugs in his Ipod loaded up with loud, contemporary Christian rock music and you instantly become soothed. None of that silly, soothing lullaby stuff! You like music and you like it LOUD! Can I get an Amen and Praise God?! :-)

Support Our Uncle Rob

Supporting our troops

We are wishing for safe travels and praying for your safe return, Uncle Rob!

Sonic Sipper

Sonic Good
"Slurp, slurp!"

Sugar high!

We took advantage of Sonic's "Happy Hour" (Half off drinks), today. Usually, Daddy and I get one big drink to share. Today, you wanted to share, too! Daddy has had visions of a little Katy holding a big drink since before you were born, Katy. What a cutie!

Chillin'

Chillin' like a villain

Techno Geek

Katy gets her geek on

Wet 'n Wild

Bath time for Katy AND Daddy

Fork and Spoon- Katy feeds herself

"Fork or Waffle?""Hmm... this pointy thing is new..."

"Yummy!"

"Ready for another bite, Mommy!"

In keeping with your independent nature, Katy, mealtime the last several days has been a challenge. That is until I figured out WHY... you want to feed yourself. No more Mommy feeding you from a spoon- you want to hold the spoon yourself and put it in your mouth YOURSELF. So, now the routine goes something like this:

Me: Put food on spoon (we started out with sticky rice) and place on high chair tray.
Katy: Pick up spoon and put in mouth.
Repeat :-) You will even hand me the spoon or fork to put more food on it.

The food doesn't always make it into your mouth- we're 50/50 getting food successfully into your mouth but we're 100% MESSY! We've also introduced the use of a fork using the same method of getting food into your mouth. You seem much happier with this arrangement and you tend to eat more this way.

Happy Fastnacht Day! (aka, Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, etc.)

Did somebody say doughnuts?!

Blurry picture, but look at those teeth!

Pajama Day at Bruster's

Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Baby Bear

"Ice cream, you scream, Katy screams for ICE CREAM!"

Today was Pajama Day at Bruster's Ice Cream. So, we dressed up in our PJs and treated ourselves to some yummy (free!) ice cream!

Balloons

Katy kept moving the chair around the dining room/living room in an attempt to get to the balloon.

Children love balloons and you, Katy, are no exception. We discovered your love for balloons when we purchased one for our friend, Bethany's birthday. You would go to whomever was standing closest to the balloon in an attempt to bat at it and play with it. What is it about children and balloons?

Clothes are SOOOO overrated!

On the move and always in motion!

"Hmm... I wonder what trouble I can get into, here....?"

Look at that BELLY!!

Practically running!

(Alt. caption- personal favorite :-) "I LOVE you, Mommy!!"

Bible Thumper

"Matthew, Mark, Luke, John..."

Daddy has a little green Bible from when he was baptized. You love to walk around with this little green Bible in your hands, Katy- it's the perfect size for your small hands. You know exactly where Daddy keeps it on his nightstand and will often go and get it for yourself. Sometimes, you like to put in inside your purse and walk around with it like that. Maybe we have a future theologian on our hands?!

"Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?"

Sesame Street line-up

Kisses for Elmo!

Kisses for Cookie Monster!

Recently our friends, the Hitchcocks, gave you a bunch of Sesame Street stuffed animals that their own children had outgrown. Ever since, at least one of them has been a constant companion to you, Katy. Of course, Daddy doesn't mind (and encourages!) your love of Sesame Street and all things Muppets!

Ghetto Crib Update

Breaking news! Stop the presses! Last night, you slept from nine PM to six thirty AM in your new "crib" by YOURSELF, UNINTERRUPTED!!! Hallelujah, praise the Lord!! It has seriously been since October since such a feat was accomplished. Happy, RESTED family!

Mommy's Little Helper

Last night, Daddy was getting floss out of the linen closet and I was standing in the bathroom brushing my teeth. Katy, you were standing next to Daddy when he said, "Take this (floss) to Mommy." You then proceeded to take the floss from Daddy and walk purposefully to where I was standing and hand me the floss. You were all grins once your "mission" was accomplished. It was so cute!

A Little "Housekeeping"

Good thing dinner time is followed immediately by bath time!

Where's Katy?

One moment Katy has squeezed herself onto the bottom shelf of the bookshelf...

The next moment, I find her under the bed, head nowhere to be seen and bottom up in the air trying to retrieve a lost toy...

Puzzled

Already putting together puzzles at the ripe old age of one- Katy is a genius!

Ghetto Crib

There are lots of things that childless parents say about those that do have children. "I'll never do THAT...", "My child would never do/say/act like THAT...","I would never buy THAT...", etc., etc. Then, the magical day happens when your baby is born and suddenly all of that goes out the window and you are doing all of THAT and more!

Case in point; the ghetto crib. What exactly is the ghetto crib?!? Well, most of you blog readers know that we've been struggling for some time now, with getting our now-one year old to sleep IN her crib, by HERSELF. Every time Katy would fall asleep and we'd try to transfer her to the crib she'd instantly wake up and we'd have to start the whole getting-to-sleep routine all over again. Or, we'd successfully transfer her to her crib only to be awoken by her cries an hour later. We'd do it again and again, finally succumbing in the wee hours of the morning to pulling Katy into bed with us just so that we could get some sleep, too instead of getting up, down and not being able to fall back to sleep.

Introduce a plain, old mattress on the floor, baby gate around it, pillows on all sides and voila (!), the ghetto crib is born! I can actually get Katy to fall asleep in the "crib"(by herself!) AND she stays asleep for several consecutive hours. Granted, it's not always uninterrupted sleep, but it's a VAST improvement to no sleep at all!

Getting back to the "I'll nevers..." Experts say not to put pillows, blankets, stuffed animals in the bed with a child as they pose suffocation risks. Experts say not to co-sleep. Well, sometimes, I wonder if these "experts" every really had any children because sometimes, you just need to do what works for you and your child. Don't worry, Katy is safe- we check on her regularly and she's old enough to be able to roll over and remove anything that might cause a breathing problem. Also, the ghetto crib goes against every grain in my interior designer body- it's not pretty but it works!

I'd post a picture of the ghetto crib except Katy is sleeping and I'm not waking her up... ;-P

Blogging for Books- Secure Daughters, Confident Sons

Secure Daughters, Confident Sons; How Parents Guide Their Children into Authentic Masculinity and Femininity by Glenn T. Stanton, is a straight-to-the-point book about the inherent differences that make us either female or male. Stanton strongly believes that there are differences between the genders and that these differences need to be cultivated and nourished.

Stanton makes a case for both genders and is careful to point out examples of both throughout history and current times. The author points out the need and importance for recognizing, claiming and cultivating a child’s femininity or masculinity. He points out that there are necessary differences between moms and dads and that both are important in the overall understanding of our children and ultimately humanity.

This book is a great book to read even if you don’t have children as it would help to understand and define the differences between the sexes.

"I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review"