Busy Week

On Sunday Greg was baptized. This is so exciting. Greg was baptized as an infant in a catholic church, but has lately felt convicted to be baptized as a true christian. Through Biblical studies, Greg has realized that baptism is something that should be done after devoting his life to Christ. It took him a while to take the plunge (teehee), but he has now fulfilled this command.

 
Greg has an amazing testimony, that starts turning to Christ in 2004. I am so proud of where he has come and how he leads our family in a Godly way.
Our friend Nathan did Greg's baptism. He did an amazing job. Nathan also married Greg and I and he plays a huge role in Greg's testimony.

Kris has been teething for about a month now. We don't see any teeth yet, but we have the slobber and everything goes straight to her mouth. She always has to have something rubbing her gums!

On Tuesday, Kris sat up for the first time unassisted. It was so exciting! She has been sitting up for a while assisted by a hand or her boppy, but now she will sit up alone. She is so big!

During tummy time Kris tries to crawl. She throws her legs up in the air and then down on the ground quickly while pushing her body forward. It is adorable.She has also started making this weird noise. It's a sound that comes from her nose, and we think that she believes she is laughing. She will smile really big and make this nasally, almost growl sound. It makes us laugh, which makes her do it even more. I keep trying to get it on video, but if I pull my phone out she just wants to play with it.

I signed Kris up for Citrus Lane for April. Citrus Lane is a company that ships age appropriate products to your child once a month. It is normally $25 for a one month subscription, but you can get one for $15 with this link- citruslane.com/invitedby/citrus.lane.650527
I am very excited to get my first box, and will definitely write an "Is it worth it?" post after we receive it.


Next week will probably be very busy as well. We have doctor appointments for our physicals, and Kris has her 4 month appointment (even though she will be nearly 5 months). I am loving this mommy business. Kris gets more and more fun everyday. She gives the sweetest kisses and is really showing her personality.

4 Months!

My little monkey is 4 months old today. I can't believe how in love with her I am. She is so sweet and happy. I want to be able to kiss on her all the time. After I put her to bed every night, I want to go pick her up!


Weight: 13 pounds
Clothing Size: 0-3 months
Likes:

• Her daddy
• Lenny the Lamb
• Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Spanish and English)
• Bath time
• Peekaboo
• Being naked 

Dislikes:

• Anything on her feet! 
• Getting dressed
• Dirty diapers. This girl is a Diaper Diva!

New things this month: 

• She seems to have gained some stranger danger. She really wants mommy or daddy most of the time.
• She tries really hard to sit up. 
• Teething like crazy, but no teeth yet. 
• She has learned how fun splashing in the tub can be. It's sweet. 
• She has learned to kiss. This is my favorite. Sometimes she will lean into us with mouth open and tongue out. I can't resist those sweet kisses. She won't always kiss us, however she will always kiss Lenny! No fair! 
• We put her in the stroller for the first time and she looked so big. She was very content in there until she got hungry. 

This girl is amazing. She brings Greg and I so much happiness. I joke with Greg sometimes that she is my reason for waking up in the morning, and several times all night long. She is working on sleeping through the night, and it has happened 3 times this month. That is awesome for mommy and daddy.

She is very expressive. She makes the sweetest faces. One of our favorite faces is one she does when mad-she sticks her bottom lip out really far. It makes us laugh, which probably makes her even more angry!

Kris' Lip Tie

I wrote about Kris' tongue tie back here, but her tongue wasn't the only issue with her feeding.

After Kris had her tongue tie corrected everything was not better. She was still having issues feeding. She wouldn't take the nipple very well, and would choke when eating from the bottle. Desperate, I began to browse the internet. I looked at what a tongue tie looked like if it grew back. I Googled until I found my possible answer-a lip tie. I had never heard of this before. As I continued the research, I was sure that this was Kris' problem.

Kris' Lip Tie

This is what her lip looked like before the surgery. Do you see how that frenulum connects underneath her gums? It was actually tying her lip down to the top of her mouth. She couldn't flange the lip out to create a good suction.

I texted my good friend, the LC. I asked her if she had dealt with a lip tie. She knew what it was, but had never seen one. I texted her this picture, "holy frenulums, Batman!". I wrote about my friend the LC in the tongue tie post. Charissa has been my rock through this. She has been so encouraging, "What an eye, Momma!", and "I wish every mom I come in contact with had as much mommy instinct, compassion, empathy, and stick-to-it-iveness as you have in just 1 of your pinky fingers." She encouraged me to follow my instinct and have the surgery. After all my research, I felt so convinced that it would help.

When I visited the ENT he didn't seem convinced that surgery would help her nursing, but was willing to give it a try. He did say, however, that it would need to be done eventually to avoid teeth problems. Off to surgery we went.

 Preparing for surgery was the worst part. Kris was not allowed to eat for 6 hours before. This was awful because at this time, Kris was still eating every 2 hours. Poor girl was so hungry! Her daddy did so good at comforting her, though I think the only thing that would truly comfort her at this point was some of mommy's milk. I couldn't really even hold her because it reminded her that she was hungry.

 While we were waiting for the surgery to happen, we got to cuddle her as we talked to the doctor and nurses about what to expect. The doctor said it was a quick, 15 minute surgery, as far as surgeries go, it was easy!

 Handing her off was the hardest thing I have ever done-harder than childbirth with no drugs. I cried, a lot. I was anxious, I was upset. I kept going back and forth, was this really necessary, the doctor didn't seem to think it would help, what if we did this for nothing? Then Greg would remind me that she wasn't really eating, and even if it didn't help the nursing, at least we had it out of the way.

The procedure was only supposed to be 15 minutes. We sat in the waiting room holding hands, we paced the floor, we peeked out in the hallway, I kept asking Greg if it was the right thing to do. Forty five minutes later the surgeon came back to us and said the surgery went great, but it was worse than he expected. She had 5 stitches.

That says "fall risk"

After the surgery only one of us was allowed to go to recovery with her, I got to go because poor girl was hungry! She latched on right away and there was no 'clicking'. It was awesome. Kris was so sad looking though. She hadn't fully woken up yet and was very groggy. She would open her eyes, scream, then latch back on. This kept happening.The surgeon came up to us and put his hand on Kris' hand and stroked her head, "That was a lot worse than I thought" he said, "I don't know how she was even able to suck!" This made me feel so much better.

After recovery, we got to go to another room where her daddy got to join us. I was still nursing off and on at this point, but she was waking up more, and was very upset.

When all of her levels looked good we were allowed to go home.When they took the IV out, there was a lot of blood. I cried even more! Poor baby girl had been through so much!

It took Kris two days to recover. Those 2 days were rough. She was in a lot of pain and was very confused about why she was hurting. She would suck on her lip, and play with the stitches with her tongue. It was so sad.


Fast Forward to now. Her surgery was on January 2nd. Prior to the surgery she could barely eat, she wasn't gaining much weight, she was swallowing a lot of air, so she was hurting and she choked a lot on her milk. She was not a very happy baby. Most of the time if she was awake, she was screaming. Today she eats like a champ! We are off of the nipple shield, and she is very efficient. She will finish nursing in just 10 minutes. She is also a very happy baby. She rarely cries unless she is hungry or needs a diaper change. It is an incredible difference.

Lip tie is a newer diagnosis. A lot of doctors will not take it seriously. I have to say though, it can be a serious thing. It was really hurting our little Kris. I am so glad that my little pumpkin is so happy now. It makes my heart smile!

We Do Hard Things

We do hard things. It's kind of like my family's mantra. We say it a lot when things are tough. Sometimes we say it as a question- "We do hard things, right?". It is encouraging.

Doing hard things is what helps a person to grow. It strengthens family, friends, and spiritual relationships. It encourages self confidence. When you do hard things, you find out just how much you are capable of.

Greg and I have done some hard things. We have gone through a couple miscarriages, we have struggled to find where we are supposed to be in life, we have made difficult decisions that will change our lives and the lives of our children forever.

We do hard things.

We are about to do a very hard thing. This is hard for us, and for those who love us. However, it is also incredibly exciting! As most of you know, Greg and I have wanted to travel the world. Our plan has always been to home school our kids and make a lasting impression in other countries. This is what we have felt called to do. We will finally get the chance to do this.

We are moving to China.

Greg is going to teach English in China and I will get to stay home with Kris and cook and clean my house. I am so excited about this. I have always felt that I was supposed to be a stay at home mom!

Now the hard parts.

We will have to leave all of our family and friends. We have made a two year commitment, but will be home in the summers. It will be so difficult to leave all of you. We will be able to keep in contact with everyone while there, so it's not like we are disappearing, but I know this is particularly hard on our friends and family because they won't get to hold Kris as she grows up.This is definitely the hardest part of this adventure.

We have to find temporary homes for our pets. Our pets have always been like children to us. We adore them so much. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs. Our cats need to be together, but I know that will be difficult. One of the cats has a bad attitude sometimes, though she is becoming more docile with age. She is very sweet to us, and adores Kris, but isn't so content with people she isn't familiar with. Our dogs are awesome, though one is a little bit special needs as she is blind, deaf, and old. She is very loving and sweet. This is definitely a hard thing for us to do because of our pets. I don't want to leave them. My heart breaks just thinking of it.

We have to sell all of our things. This to me is the easiest one, though it is in no way easy. We are thinking of getting a small storage unit for all of the things we just can't part with-pictures, yearbooks, homemade gifts, etc. Everything else, including our house and cars will be sold. I think this will become more difficult as we sift through our things preparing to sell them. It will bring up memories and make parting with these things much more difficult.

There are other hard things that we  hadn't put  much thought into until recently. A big one being peoples' responses. Some people totally understand what we are doing. They support our desire to go where we are led and encourage us with prayers and smiles. Others are supportive of us, but not of the idea. They tell us they will pray for us and don't really know how to react other than that. The worst reaction is more common than I expected. This is the reaction that to me feels like hate and anger. People disagree with what we are doing and voice their opinions with no filters. They tell us we aren't thinking of what is best for Kris. They try to guilt trip us into staying. Our friend, Damon, said that this reaction is just because people don't understand. Perhaps they have never had a calling like this. This viewpoint makes me have more love for them. They aren't trying to be rude, they just don't understand.

Prayers:
Please be in prayer for us in the coming months. We are leaving at the end of July to start our journey.
-continuing peace in our decisions.
-we will be working on fundraising money for this trip, which will be very difficult, but we know that He provides.
-a home for our pets
-a better understanding from those around us

Thank you for thinking of us as we prepare to depart. We are excited to see where we are led and how we can show love to people in this very different culture. I will keep you updated as we continue our journey.

New Year

I am a little late in noticing that it is a new year. My Christmas tree is still up, my lights are still framing my house, and I still sing Christmas songs to my sweet little Kris.

It is 2013. I feel like God has so many plans for our little family this year. As always we are working on getting a job that will change the way our family functions for a very long time. This is Kris' first full year. She will get to experience every holiday this year. I turn 23 this year, which is on January 23rd (23 on the the 23rd). I am told this is supposed to be an exciting birthday.

So far this year Kris had a surgery on her upper lip (a detailed post to come). She is a different baby now! We get so many smiles and laughs all the time. She had her 2 month vaccinations (poor baby). She is falling behind on weight and on height so we have to get her checked again in a bit to make sure she is still growing well. She seems to be right on developmentally. She tries very hard to roll over, and can get to her side. She actually enjoys tummy time. Her favorite song is "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". She giggles so much when we sing it to her. Greg actually sings it to her in Spanish. She seems to know that the mouth comes after ears, and the mouth is her favorite part. She will open it wide as we touch it and giggle.

I have said it before, but being a mom is amazing! I love waking up to her beautiful face and coming home to her sweet smiles. She is so loved  by so many people, and I hope she realizes how special she is. I want to be the best mother that I can be. I seek advice from other fantastic moms, and I am very prayerful about my parental decisions.

My word of the year is DELIBERATE. I want to be deliberate in my parenting. That means putting the phone down and picking the baby up. That means doing as much research as I can while away from her so I know what to do to help her become the best that she can be. It means continuing our nightly Bible studies and prayers. It means to do everything I can to be everything for her.I won't just keep this word for a year though, hopefully I can keep it for life. I just really want to focus on it right now, while she is still young and growing. Hopefully I will create deliberate habits for myself that will continue forever.

And, what's a post without some of this cuteness?

Tis The Season

I love Christmas. I love when the weather starts getting bitter cold. I love when the stores get crazy busy. I love all of the holiday parties.

"The Reason for the Season"

We hear it all the time, and everyone knows why we celebrate Christmas. Whether you believe in Him or not, you know that we are celebrating Jesus' birth, and you probably participate in Christmas whether you care about his sacrifices or not.

As a parent this year, Christmas means more to me than it ever has. This year, as I look into the beautiful blue eyes of my sweet daughter, I wonder how God could have done it? How could He have sent His son to Earth? He left an amazing place, got sent to Earth where he was made fun of, not taken seriously, taken advantage of, and ultimately killed for being perfect.

I used to wonder why God sent his son to Earth rather than going himself. I am sure the angels could handle heaven while He was gone, and He could leave Jesus in charge. Why wouldn't He go himself though? Isn't it a bit selfish to send someone else to save us?

It isn't selfish though. As I have just figured out, there would be no greater sacrifice than sending His son. I can think of nothing worse than sending my child to be ridiculed and then killed. I am crying just thinking of it. Jesus was on this Earth, not only as a human, but also as a perfect God. As a man who was tempted, but never sinned, and yet he was put on that cross to die because we aren't perfect!

As this Christmas creeps up on me I find myself so very thankful for the sacrifices made for us. Not just the sacrifice of Jesus, who left a perfect place for a place that would treat Him less than human, but for God, as a parent, who sent his son here to die. We know that Jesus wept. I wonder if God cried looking down at his perfect son being treated so terribly, and knowing that He would soon be put to a very painful death. I wonder if He could feel the pain as Jesus was about to go to the cross and asked His father if there was any other way to save us. As Jesus hung from the cross and prayed for the people encouraging His murder, I wonder if God felt proud of His son.

I pray this season, that we can all see less of the stress of buying gifts and organizing family events, and more of the perfect gift that we have been given. I pray that on Christmas morning, before opening gifts and visiting family, that we can understand the sacrifice that both Jesus and His father made for us, so that when we die we can be in Heaven.

Almost 7 weeks old!

Time has flown by! Kris will be 7 weeks old on Sunday. She is so much fun. She has colic, and we think it ended it's ugly peak about a week ago. She is a lot happier now, and her crying sessions are a lot shorter.

I am infatuated with this girl. I love when she giggles at me or makes sweet cooing noises. She loves to be naked and does most of her smiling when the diaper is off.

Speaking of diapers, we love love love cloth diapers! Don't believe anybody who says they are gross or too hard. They are so easy, and we don't have any issues with them. Plus, they are super cute! Kris is quite the diaper diva. Anytime they are wet at all she lets us know! I think she will be very easy to potty train because of that.

We are so excited about Christmas this year. It will be so fun being able to have a child now during the holidays. She won't really enjoy it this year, but we will enjoy getting pictures of her and making lasting memories with her.

Kris got to meet her great great grandmother this week. That was a lot of fun. I am so thankful that Kris has such an awesome extended family. She has two sets of grandparents, 4 sets of great grandparents, and a great great grandma. She has met all of them except for one set of great grandparents. It has been so neat seeing her with everybody. I love having a baby to pass around at holidays. She is my version of spreading holiday cheer :) 

We are going to attempt round two of photos tomorrow. Round one did not go well. She is a happier baby now though, so maybe she will tolerate me putting her in a basket under the tree ;)

Wish us luck!