Crown of Creation

I promised you more on God’s “Crown of Creation”…

 

“She is the crescendo, the final, astonishing work of God. Woman. In one last flourish creation comes to a finish not with Adam, with with Eve.  She is the Master’s finishing touch […] Given the way creation unfolds, how it builds to ever to ever high and higher works of art can there be any doubt that Eve is the crown of creation?” Captivating by John & Stasi Edldredge.

 

Have you ever thought of creation this way?  Have you ever thought of your part as a woman in creation?  Women so often dwell on what Eve did wrong after creation, but we cannot forget that Eve was also made in God’s image, He loved her so much, and He loves us just the same.  We [woman] were created for a very specific and great purpose by our Creator.  If we start thinking of ourselves as God’s “Crown of Creation” I believe that we will start believing in ourselves more, treating ourselves better, and loving others more fully.

I am always trying to better myself, be a better person, be a better wife, be a better mother, be a better friend.  Sometimes, this is necessary and good for my soul, other times it can be destructive behavior that leads to nothing but beating myself up for not being better, doing more, etc, etc.  But, I have to remember to stop and thinking that my God, the Lord who created me in my mother’s womb thinks of me as his “God’s final touch, his pièce de résistance.”  I am good enough for Him, just as I am, which in turns means I can be good enough for myself just as I am.

So women, remember that we are not an afterthought of God’s, but we are so much more than that, we are his masterpiece and his finishing touch, yes we are the Crown of Creation, so let’s treat each other as such!

Life Abundant

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

I crave a full life, a life abundant. To live my life to be everything that God created me to be. Mr. McS and I begun a journey to a new life almost a year ago. We both felt led to do something, be something BETTER than what we were doing. We were both getting tired of just simply living; working to live, and living to work. We both felt like we had more to give, more to be than just the dull, ho-hum of a life that we were living. So, what did we do, we prayed, and we prayed, and we prayed seperately,a nd we prayed together. We prayed that the Lord would reveal to us what HIS will for our lives was. The journey has been overwhelming and tough, it has called us to the alter more times than I can count, it has strengthened us indvidually and as a couple, and it is leading us to a new and full life that we bubbling with excitement over!! I can’t divulge all of the details just yet, but stay close because big announcements will be coming soon!!

The Lord has created every one of us very specifically and for His purpose (Romans 8:28), HOW FREAKIN AWESOME IS THAT?! That the Lord who created the heaven and the earth, who created Eve from Adam (more on this subject later, too!) wants us to have life to its full. The tricky part is actually following-through with His plan for us, or just-doing it! We need to be ready and open for Him to speak to us at any given moment and when He does speak just be ready to jump because He will catch you with open arms to lead you on!

Lord THANK YOU for giving me life and giving to me abundantly, my cup overfloweth!!

Child’s Play

I’ve noticed that Kait is an active learner like me. Maybe it’s still her age (I have read that toddlers experience their world through play) but she is my daughter, so I am going to take responsibility for this one! You can tell me how to do something 10 times, but until I actually sit-down and do it myself I won’t understand how it works. I was told by doctors and infant experts that in order to develop her language skills it was important that I narrate my day to her and say what we were doing, and call out the names of her surrounding world. All of which I have been doing, but lately, I have been noticing that this passive way of learning just isn’t her style right now. She has learned what the kitty says by petting our kitty molly and saying “meooowww”. She has learned what the monkey says by turning out her light with the monkey on it…and so on and so forth. Since learning this about my Kait, I have started to engage her in more activities that involve actually doing the learning. For example, during bath/shower time, I started to let her wash herself (she gets a nice wash down by the Momma afterward, too) but this allows her to actually touch her legs, arms, elbows, knees, etc. Before I was just narrating what each was, and washing them for her, but I was getting frustrated because she wasn’t learning her body parts and it seemed like all the other kids her age would point to their eyes and nose and Kaitlin would just stare at me like I was crazy when I asked her where her nose was. Now, I am starting to see progress with her!! She can point to her head, her belly, her feet, her legs and her shoulders! Any more suggestions for active learning would be much appreciated!!

SAHD

The last day of November was Mr. McS’s last day of work.  We knew that this day was probably going to come sooner than later since there had been rumors floating around his office that they were moving his team down to L.A. and only the top agents was going to go down with them (Mr.McS was the second to top agent there for over 2 years…but that’s beside the point…). His last day of work was bitter-sweet.  Knowing that we no longer had to take Kait to daycare every day, but instead Mr. S. was going to be able to be home with her was a huge relief for me.  Just knowing that she is with someone who loves her so much and can get all of the one-on-one attention that she needs, that was the sweet part. It was bitter because he had been working his tail off for the company for over 3 years working his way up and doing really great work for the company, and it felt like they were just throwing him out like yesterdays news, and that is hard on any ego, much less the male ego. And ofcourse bitter because it is a struggle for us financially and we find it hard to make ends meet at times.

But at the end of day, I know that this time that our girl is getting with her Daddy is so uniquely special to the two of them.  This time will make their bond that much stronger as years go by. When I come home from work, I can see that they have this special relationship between the two of them, an unspeakable special bond that only the two of them share.  I can’t help but think of how lucky our little girl is to have this man as her Daddy. How lucky we are that everything happened the way that it did. I have nothing but love for my Stay.At.Home.Daddy.

Toddlering

I.Am.ToDlLeR.

I love the toddler stage.  At 17 months, Kait is a full-blown toddler.  The first time I saw her take her first steps at 11 months, I remember thinking “Wow! I can’t believe that she is no longer a baby, but a TODDLER, toddlering around”  Yeah, I know “toddlering” isn’t a word, but who says I can’t make it up.  Doesn’t it perfectly describe what toddlers do? They toddle! Wobble around, fall, climb, jump, they are here there and EVERYWHERE! And.I.love.it.  Every minute of it! (okay there are some parts that I could do without…). 

When Kait became a toddler at 11 months, the word “toddler” seemed like a 4-letter word.  Didn’t I just give birth to this baby?? How could her baby stage already be over, dunzo, finito??!  But today, I look at her and feel so much more in love with her when she was a baby.  Sure I loved to stare into her little face and kiss all her little parts, but now I can kiss her little parts and she will BURST out giggling and tell me “Noo moommmaa, noo!!” How can I not LOVE this stage? 

Yes, the child does keep me on toes at all times and at the end of the day, I am exhausted, but all that toddlering makes this Momma proud to have a curious energetic toddler!

The Big 1 Year Old!

 

I.AM.ONEDear Kaitlin –

Today you turn 1 year old. I cannot believe that you have been in our lives for only one short year, but it feels as though you should have been here all along. Every day you are growing more and more and becoming this amazing little person that I cannot believe is my very own daughter. How special do I feel that God allowed me to be your mother?! Today, you gave me a very special gift…you were sick today, runny nose and all…so guess who got to stay home with you on your birthday? ME!! I think that was the best gift ever – to be able to snuggle you and hang out with you, and nap with you ALL DAY long. And I loved every.single.minute of it. As the moments passed today with you, I couldn’t help but re-collect what was happening in that hospital room at each moment, and what a special day that was. At 7:54 pm, your dad and I cheers’d to you, our beautiful daughter and what an amazing joy you have been to us this year. We are both better people today because of you.

This year came with many challenges, and new experiences for both me and you, but I wouldn’t change any moment of any time that I was able to spend with you. There are so many things that you did this year that I don’t want to forget. Most of the big milestones I did write down in your little keepsake calendar, but I just don’t want to forget what your little personality was like this year, and why I fell in love with you over and over every day. I don’t want to forget bath-time with you, my absolute favorite time of night. We would go and get you undressed in your room and when that diaper comes off, oh-boy!! You have a HUGE smile on your face, it’s a little mischievous, but how could I not smile back at you?! Once we got you in the tub, it was either rubber ducky directly into your mouth with some “awwwws” or some “ohhhhhhs”, or my favorite…. the splashing and squealing! You splash with such vigor that you would squeal with delight and then look up at me, as if to say “Isn’t that the coolest thing that I just did?!”…and it was baby girl, it really was. After you were all nice and clean, we would go in for our goodnight kiss from daddy and play “peek-a-boo” with the towel for a couple of minutes, and you got to be really good at taking off the towel from your face.

Ohhh…my heart aches a little to think that this year is over, but leaps with delight at the year to come. How much you are going to grow again, and how much more in love with you I am going to fall.

Kaitlin Anne, Happiest of Birthdays ever.

11 Months

My mind reels every time I think of my baby turning 1 year old – only a few short weeks and she won’t be my babe anymore, but my TODDLER. When she was first born, I felt like a year was an eternity away, and it really blows my mind that in mere weeks we will be reaching that milestone. I never thought that I would ever be in so much love with one little pint sized person than I am with my baby girl. She is truly an amazing and wonderful child that lights up my (and her father’s) world every moment. Kaitlin is in complete “discovery zone” mode almost every second of the day. The play pin is now too confining and she wants to explore everything! We got to go to the beach this month for the first time and she was obsessed with the wet sand (we even let her go “naked baby” – which she was even more thrilled with!). Dog bowls, water, dirt, grass, wood chips, drawers, diapers, empty water bottles and anything else that she can get her hands on she loves. And, in the most exiciting news that happened this month – the little peanut has started WALKING!! I just can’t believe that she is already on the go. The in-laws were in town for this month, so it was really special that they were able to witness her first steps and watch her develop into a walking machine! Some more of her new tricks are she says “tra-la-la-la” when you sing to her, she puts her hand up to her ear when you say “hello Kaitlin!” and can also understand “yes”. Ahhh – she is learning something new every day, and everyone who meets her just says that she is very intelligent and bright (but I already knew that! 😉 ). Getting pictures of her at this stage is getting increasingly harder. She does do a “cheese” face, but is usually on the go when doing it and the pictures come out blurry! She truly is the light of our lives and I love the little person she is growing into be.

 

xoxo Kait – happy 11 months!

10 months

Baby girl – you are growing out of your baby ways and growing into our little toddler more and more every day!

I really can’t believe that she is already 10 months old. I am starting to think about how we are going to celebrate her year birthday. It never ceases to amaze me how much she is learning and growing every day. She now have 6 teeth – 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. She is completely standing up on her own and took a couple of steps yesterday, although I think that actually walking is still a couple of weeks away. This child is fearless and determined. This past weekend, I had her in her walker (which she LOVES….she toodles around and chases the cats and the dogs for hours on end!). I was doing my normal Saturday routine (dishes, laundry, cleaning…etc) and I realized that I hadn’t heard the wheels of that wonderful time-consuming walker, so I went to go investigate what the little bugger was doing. And wouldn’t you know that when I found her on the other side of the couch she was standing up OUTSIDE of the walker and hanging out OUTSIDE of the walker. She had climbed completely out!! So now, I am totally screwed – no more walker and she’s not into her play-pen anymore….not quite sure what I can do now to keep her occupied for alittle while so I can at least do some dishes around here!!

Kaitlin has also learned how to wave hello and good-bye this month, and to clap!! She is FINALLY saying “ma-ma-ma-ma” but still not real recognition with anything just yet. And – she has finally grown some hair!! Can’t wait to finally put some bows on that girl!

9 months

2/3rds of year!! Everyone told me that babies grow up so fast, but it rings truer and truer as the months tick by…I mean in only 3 short months Kaitlin will have her 1st birthday – that is just complete craziness!! I know I say this every month, but every month it feels like I fall in love with her deeper and depper. She is a GREAT kid, with TONS of energy. I am quickly having to learn how to put on a diaper any which way (forwards, backwards, sideways, standing up , sitting down…fight, fight, fight!) The child HATES diaper changes right now. Sitting still in one place for more than 30 seconds is apparently TORTURE to her – she wants to be on the move! This month, we have gone to more finger foods and have introduced plums, watermelon, peaches, tomatoes, and her latest favoite….Cherrios!! Yumm!! Put a couple of cherrios in front of this girl and it will make her happy for a LONG time. She has figured out how to actually walk in her walker, and will sprint toward any cat or dog around (oh – and she gets a kick out of running into your ankles as fast as she can!). MS and I just crack up at her when she is in her walker – she LOVES the thing. She hasn’t made any more sounds, but has started to “share” her toys. She is into putting her paci from her mouth to momma’s mouth, to her mouth again and back and forth, back and forth. Two more teeth came in (her two front ones). We still have our same bed-time routine, and when I rock her she sticks her free hand in my mouth (or up my nose…whichever) to try and see where the singing is coming from.

Happy 9 months my baby girl!! I love you oh-so-much!!