7 Month Birthday!

Be still my heart, Khloe is 7 months old today. Where is the time going?

A friend asked me this morning how I’m doing with Khloe growing up, and while it does pull at my heart strings a little, I really do find it exciting to watch her grow and to enjoy each milestone and step along the way. That is one of the (many!) fun, great things about being a Mommy. Each new day, each new stage is different. Life isn’t static by any means! Every new day brings a new adventure with it, and each new adventure has a zillion little precious moments to cherish.

In honor of the big 7 months we introduced green beans for this first time this morning. I was unsure of how Khloe would like them, since they have such a different flavor from her other favorite foods. But oh, boy….did she LOVE them!! She couldn’t get enough. I guess we won’t be having any battles to get her to eat her green veggies! (Well, at least for now…)

This evening we get to go and pick Kory up at the rental car place to bring him HOME for the weekend! Yahoooo! :)

A Bit of Math

This post is dedicated to my dear friend Gia, an artsy mathematician with a passion for produce. Especially seasonal produce.

I decided to sit down and actually crunch the numbers to determine how much (if any) we are saving by making our own baby food. Here are the results:

Acorn Squash — I paid $1.05 for a 1.33 lb squash. I was able to make the equivalent of about 6 baby food jars, which makes each serving $0.18. Compare that to baby food jars which are typically about $0.50 per serving. Savings? About $0.32 per serving. Not bad.

Green Beans — I paid $3.78 for a bag of fresh green beans (I think about 2 lbs). I was able to make the equivalent of about 16 baby food jars, which makes each serving $0.24. Savings? About $0.26 per serving. Again, not too shabby.

Carrots — These take the cake. I paid $1.89 for a 2 lb bag of carrots. I was able to make the equivalent of about 17 baby food jars, which makes each serving $0.11. Savings? About $0.39 per serving.

Summary:
I spent a total of $6.72 and got 39 baby food servings. Ordinarily to get 39 baby food jars I would have to spend $19.50. Instead, I only spent $6.72. Saweeeeet!

While we’re at it, I’ll just mention the cloth diaper savings I’ve calculated, as well.

For the prefolds and diaper covers that we currently use, it cost about $114. Disposable diapers that we have bought for trips tend to run about $10 for about 42 diapers. This usually lasts about 6 days, I think? So if you divide 365 days by 6, you get 60.83 packages of 42-count diapers in a year. Multiply that by $10…that’s $608 spent on disposable diapers in a year.

Now, I realize that you can also buy disposable diapers in bulk for slightly cheaper, but even if you saved up to $100 in a year…it’s still at least $400 a year cheaper to do cloth.

Realizing how much money our family is saving makes all that hard work SO worth it!

Bang-a-Rang!

That is the only word/phrase that came to mind when I woke up this morning. Why, do you ask? Not because I was dreaming that I lived in Neverland with Rufio and the Lost Boys from Hook, although that would be sweet. Rather, I was astonished and floored and bursting with exuberance at the realization that Khloe had gone to bed at 7pm last night and didn’t wake up until 7am this morning!!!

I had awakened a few times throughout the night to click on the monitor to check on her, but soundly she slept. She had a few whimpers early on in the night, but then not a peep until 7am!

Could this be the start of something new? (You’re welcome for getting that HSM song in your head…) Or perhaps it was the flu shot she got yesterday that knocked her out. I’m hoping for the former…only tonight will tell. Here’s hoping! Yahooo!

Forward Motion Is Harder Than It Sounds...

For those of you who are familiar with that Relient K song, you’re welcome for getting it stuck in your head…

Well, it’s about time for an update post on Khloe. This soon-to-be 7-month-old girl (this Friday) is growing and growing up like crazy! She likes to spend a lot of time on her tummy, and if I put her down on her back she usually rolls herself over onto her tummy (like a pro). She wants to crawl SO badly, and just within the last day or so she has been successfully turning herself in circles and even creeping backwards a bit (which comes just before that forward motion!). I noticed last night that she was even getting her knees up under her a little bit, which is also a huge step towards crawling. Look out!

Based on the speed with which she rapidly flails her hands and knees, I’m guessing we’re going to have a real mover on our hands. And based on her affinity for grabbing and getting into everything in sight when she’s on my lap, I’m also guessing we’re going to have a real trouble-maker on our hands. She’ll be getting into everything! Hello, baby-proofing. And hello, the beginnings of discipline, as we teach her not to touch certain things because Mommy and Daddy said so.

She is “talking” more and more with lots of “ahhh’s” and other various sounds, including some very loud shrieks (she has discovered the ability to use those vocal cords!) and her usual delightful giggles. She is definitely one outgoing little girl, and I can see so much of her daddy’s personality in her. Such a little social butterfly! She continues to be completely aware of every little thing going on in the room, and she definitely keeps tabs on everyone she sees.

She’s sitting up these days without any assistance whatsoever, although every now and then she’ll have a rare tip-over. One of those times was at our small group Bible Study a couple of weeks ago, when she tipped over onto the hardwood floor she was sitting on. Ouch! I think it scared her more than anything…and I believe it was more painful for Mommy to see than for Khloe to experience. So we’ll often stick her in the boppy pillow just in case she starts to tip, but usually it’s due to her desire to fling herself back, as opposed to imbalance or wobbliness.

She is eating up a storm, back to 3 meals a day. In addition to nursing, her main diet includes oatmeal (homemade as well as some iron-fortified boxed organic), sweet potatoes, squash, pears, and prunes. This Friday when she turns 7 months we will get to start introducing a bunch of yummy new foods, so stay tuned!

I also started giving her some Cheerios today for some finger food practice. I’m sure it will be a while before she actually gets one in her mouth, but boy–was she fascinated by them! I put a few on her highchair tray, and she immediately did her Khloe-focused-stare and started attacking them with her fingers. It’ll be fun to watch her learn to develop the thumb/finger pincer fine motor skill, as well as learn to bring the little piece of food to her mouth.

We’ve started some baby sign language with her in the past week or so, which is a new adventure as well. It’s definitely frustrating right now when we feel like it’s almost pointless to do the signs for “more” and “all done” and “water” during mealtimes. But she will slowly begin to make associations, and it will be worth it in the long run.

She is LOVING books and being read to, which thrills Mommy greatly! We read out of one of her Story Book Bibles each day, and she also has an animal board book she likes to play with herself. The teacher nerd in me is SO excited about this early beginning literacy!

Bath time is getting to be more fun, as we have removed the infant sling so that she can sit up like a big girl in her tub! She loves to kick those legs in the water (of course) and enjoys the resulting splashes. And no matter what kind of mood she is in, she is always guaranteed to grin and kick when she sees herself in the bathroom mirror!

As for the other two Kayes (Mommy and Daddy), we are definitely keeping busy. Much of my busyness can be attributed to everything you just read–Khloe takes a lot of time, energy, and attention! I’m also watching Noah 3 days a week…but that is actually soon to change in another week when I will start watching him full time (40 plus hours a week). His mom has decided to go back to work 40 hours instead of part time, and I agreed to try watching him full time. If it gets to be too much I might cut back to 4 days or whatever I feel is doable. We’ll see. It’s certainly the Lord’s provision, but it is a tiny bit overwhelming to think about!

I have also started tutoring again, which is yet another provision of the Lord! I am tutoring a 5th grade girl in math 2 days a week, and she only lives about 5 minutes away from our apartment (score). I’m also tutoring the girl I was tutoring this summer in Spanish and Algebra again…even though she is back in Texas for the school year. We are utilizing the wonders of technology, and I am tutoring her via video Skype two days a week! Very cool.

Not to mention cooking, cleaning, meal planning, laundry….yes, life is VERY busy.

As for Kory, he left on Monday morning for another Grand Opening…this time only an hour away (phew!). He will be coming home on weekends, so it’s definitely a more doable time apart (although hard). He is one of the 3 supervisors for this GO, and he is completely in charge of training. He is actually the only trainer working this week, and he is meeting with employees to train them a bit before the store opens next Thursday. Other Chick-fil-A staff that he is interacting with this week have been quite surprised that this is only his first time as a supervisor. They thought he had been doing this for a long time! What a compliment. I’m so proud of him.

He has also been getting more requests from other Chick-fil-A GO’s coming up who want HIM to help open their store! Word is getting around how amazing and wonderful he is at his job (I know, I’m bragging on him a bit), which is really great for his CFA career and goal of getting his own store. So he will now be going straight from this current GO to another one in Virginia for 10 days, where he will be an Assistant Supervisor. He was also actually just contacted by CFA Corporate to be part of the first-ever GOS (Grand Opening Supervisor) Certification class that is being put together down there in December, and he will be one of 20 people to be GOS certified! Have I mentioned how seriously stinkin’ proud I am of my husband??

This will all serve to expedite the process of getting him his own store, Lord-willing, and all this traveling/time-apart stuff is just a season. The more he does, the more quickly it should be over (theoretically). We’ll see what God has!

Well, I will wrap up this marathon post for the sake of continued productivity on my day off today. The laundry is going, the baby is sleeping, and I have much baby food to make and freeze, not to mention dinner to make and errands to run. Phew. Life goes on!

My Hope Is Found

This morning I began the day rather overwhelmed and discouraged and bogged down. My husband is gone yet again for work, we’ve had a rough couple of nights with Khloe, the dishes are piling up, the trash smells (and now so does the kitchen), and both babies are crying. Sigh. I was having one of those moments where life just didn’t seem doable and I was in over my head.

So, of course, Kory called at just the right time (how does he do that?). I emptied my emotional self all over him, and he patiently listened and offered words of comfort.

And then he did something that is one of the many things I love about my husband. He started praying for me. Right there on the phone.

When he said “Amen” I was admittedly still a bit flustered and overwhelmed. But it had lightened. My situation hadn’t changed, but my heart wasn’t quite so heavy. My husband had helped me to lift my eyes upward.

Not much later I stumbled upon Owl City’s blog and discovered that Adam recorded a rendition of the worship song “In Christ Alone” (one of my all-time favorites). I pressed play, and a few seconds later I was led to the Throne of Grace in worship, tears in my eyes. These were the words of Truth that I needed spoken into my life in that moment.

“In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm…”

“From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny…”

“No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand…”

Amen. May my life be grounded in these truths. That through the fiercest drought or storm, Christ–the cornerstone–stands firm. He is my light, my strength, my song. In Him my hope is found.

Things That Matter

I am convicted today about the things I focus most of my daily thoughts, actions, and blog writings on. Cloth diapers. Making homemade baby food. Sleeping through the night (or not). Sitting up, learning to crawl, and other baby milestones. All good things! Things that are given from the Lord to enjoy and to contribute to sanctification. Yet when I am so focused on them that they distract me from the eternal….it is time to lift my eyes and thoughts Upward.

As I was reading a new blog today (passed on to me by cousin Amy…thank you!), my soul ached to drink in these deeper things the author was writing about (even though I don’t agree completely with all of her theology necessarily, there is still much to glean from this sister’s writings). Scripture memorization. Training for godliness. Walking with God throughout all the daily mundane tasks of being a Stay At Home Mom. Things that my mind used to dwell on so much more…it seems that the demands and busyness of daily responsibilities have slowly pulled me away from where my heart really longs to be as a child of the Most High God. I want to count all else as rubbish compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Philippians 3:8).

Alas, a baby cries and forces me to cut this post short.

I will certainly continue to keep you posted on the goings on of Khloe and the daily adventures of her growth and milestones. Because those things are indeed exciting! But I intend to turn the sails of this blog in a new direction, with new passion and a new focus.

Let’s focus and dwell on and think and talk about things that matter.

Teething?

We are back from yet another adventure as a family. This weekend we spent in western PA at my parents’ house, and we also attended GCC Homecoming on Saturday. My grandparents were up from Florida to meet Khloe for the first time, as well, so it was definitely a packed weekend of fun and visiting.

Homecoming was exhausting and wonderful, as expected. Kory played in an alumni football game with his fraternity brothers in the morning, and the rest of the day we enjoyed the parade and football game, caught up and ate Chinese with Victor Lee (who still wants Kory to quit Chick-fil-A and work for him, ha), and saw many old friends who got to meet Khloe for the first time. We also went to Warriors, and I got to spend some time praying with the new members of the worship team before and after, which was really neat. Khloe did really well all day and even took a couple of naps in her stroller and on Mommy. She was definitely fading by the end of the day when we enjoyed a delightful dinner with my college roommate Rachael and her husband Andy, but she still made it until 9:30 to fall asleep when we got her back to my parents’ house. What a trooper. We wished we could have spent hours with each person we only got a few minutes with (if that), but we were thankful for all the fellowship and catching up we were able to do.

The rest of the weekend we spent at my parents’ house, and Khloe again got spoiled with lots of attention and lovin’! It was really neat for my grandparents to get to meet her, and everyone took turns holding and snuggling her when she wasn’t playing around on the floor.

Over the weekend we noticed an increase in drool and the fact that she was constantly sticking her hands and/or toys in her mouth. She was also a bit more fussy than usual and had a bit of digestive issues. This has continued since we’ve gotten back, and I’m definitely thinking she could be teething. Only time will tell. No sign of a tooth poking through yet, but we will keep you posted!

One other exciting bit of news…I successfully sold my Nikon D5000 (camera) on Ebay and then promptly won the bid on a Nikon D90! It should arrive within about a week. I cannot wait! I’ll actually be able to utilize Autofocus and not have to manually focus each shot any more, thus allowing me to develop my photography skills much more. I have felt so paralyzed by this handicap of not having autofocus, and I can’t wait to really let loose and have fun with this new camera. Yay!