Cabbage Patch Kids

Keira is growing a little out of the "Winston Churchill" stage...and moving on to the "Cabbage Patch Kids" stage.  I think it's a step up...but I also think she's the cutest thing ever (and has been since day one).

*Note the AMAZING photos from the AMAZING camera my AMAZING husband got me for Christmas. Thanks, Baby.  I love it!

2011.

2011 was a good year.  Some great things happened - and we are so thankful.  We had a nice Christmas and a fun New Years.  Generally, a really great holiday season.


It feels like the end of the year is a good time to be introspective, while you remember the past year and look forward to the next.  But, honestly, I haven't slowed down enough to really think through the year.  Literally, I sat at dinner a few nights ago with some friends trying to think of anything interesting that's happened this year...other than having a baby...and came up short.

Sincerely though - nothing interesting has to happen for it to be a great year.  Work is great.  Work has been great about having a baby.  Having Keira was and is great.  Transitioning into parenthood and being a working mom has been great.  We are blessed.

In many ways, it's been a hard year - as we have had changes and transitions.  But hard isn't bad.  Just hard.  We look forward to another great year ahead...as we grow together as a family, watch Keira grow a year older, and face the challenges day in and day out that come with life.  With this next year, we will continue (and hopefully grow) to love and trust Christ with our year.  He has been exceedingly good to us and we will remain thankful.

Why I Love the Doctors

I might be a horrible parent, but I love taking Keira to the doctors.  Even when she has to get shots.

The shot thing is a little weird, because I usually feel bad that I don't feel worst.  Don't get me wrong, it breaks my heart when she FREAKS out when they hold her down and get her in both legs a couple of times each...but I know it's the best thing for her, so it doesn't bother me that much.  Particularly the instant they're done.  I'm basically fine and don't mind the few seconds of her cuddling with me before she figures out she's fine too and there are interesting things on the wall to look at.


When I take Keira to the doctors office, for about an hour I have many people (whose opinion I value as I perceive them to be credible because they're in the medical profession) tell me how awesome my kid is.  How beautiful, healthy, smart, and big she is.  It's awesome.  I literally walk away struggling more than normal with PRIDE about my great kid.  Literally, I've had nurses walk into the room and say, "I heard there was a Gerber baby in here!  Oh my goodness!"  It feels good.


While I need to confess and repent of my pride of going to the doctors, we did have Keira's 6 month check-up a couple of weeks ago.  She weighed 19 lbs 7 ounces.  She's more than 28 inches long...that's off the charts for height (99% for weight).  She's so big, we've had MANY panicked moments of looking through her drawers thinking that she didn't have anything to wear...but Christmas and the generosity of family have gotten us through those bumps, so hopefully we won't struggle with the naked baby syndrome for a while.  Literally, when I do the laundry each week, I make different piles as I fold.  Jammers (yes, that's what we call pajamas at our house), play clothes, hang-ups, and too small to be packed up.  EVERY WEEK!!!

She finally cut teeth a couple of days ago - yes TEETH - 2 of them.  Limited rolling, but she's showing her stubbornness as she is clearly able to roll, just doesn't feel like it.  One day she'll get it.  One day.

Staff Christmas Party

I wish I had pictures - but will try to tell the story and post pictures as soon as I find them.

This past weekend we had our annual Staff Christmas Party.  For the sake of this story - I would like to remind you that I work at a church...an amazing church...but a church.  Part of the goal of the party is to bless our staff and take an opportunity to have some fun and relax.

Due to an unusual circumstances, we had some money invested in a large-scale game company that we were going to lose if we didn't use by the end of the year.  We use these large games and rides at Children's Ministry events a few times a year, but certainly we had no use for them (and were going to be out a bit of money) in November or December....

Until the Staff Christmas Party.


This year, we decided to have a lovely, beautifully decorated dinner in the Lobby of our church for the 65 staff people and their guests who were able to attend.  Midway through the evening, after the warm sentiments of our bosses, celebrating what we've seen God do this year, an announcement was made.

As a group, we walked into the Sanctuary.  The chairs had been cleared to house an adult moon bounce, an adult jousting inflatable station, and room for bachi balls and other games.  Yup.  We had a moon bounce in the Sanctuary.

So together, as a staff, we bounced and beat one another with giant foam Q-tips.  We were exhausted by the end (and I certainly felt both my age and the effects childbearing has on your body long-term).  But sincerely, it was the most creative grown-up party of all time.

I was the first one in the moon bounce - only to be followed in by our 60-something founding pastor.  The whole thing was amazing, and certainly something to write home about.  Rob took it easy on me when we jousted, but seriously, we had a blast.


So, next time you're throwing a party for a bunch of grown-up church workers....consider making a creative change!

Thanksgiving

Driving home from Thanksgiving dinner, I got really annoyed at a sign I read outside a church.

"Thanksgiving was never meant to be for one day."


Sometimes (let's face it, lots of times), little things like this really bother me.  I thought about the statement for a long time - mainly to try to figure out why it bothered me so much.  After some contemplation, I came to the conclusion, that while the words on that letterboard sign are correct, the idea is incomplete.  It seems unhelpful to me to nullify the value of a holiday on the holiday itself!!!  And while I strongly believe God's command to be thankful ALWAYS, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus, God also commands us to establish "ebenezers" in our lives...memorials to remind us of what God has done for us.  Knowing we are a forgetful people, God has called us to establish memorials as safeguards against our forgetfulness.  I believe, Thanksgiving is one such memorial.

Yes, in the beginning of America, we did essentially walk into someone else's house, eat their food, move in, and push them out.  But that aside, Thanksgiving can be a special time to come together with friends and family - and to set aside some focused time to give thanks to God for His unmerited grace and gifts to us.  I am so guilty of this human forgetfulness, that I am truly in need of this time of celebration and remembrance.

We did, in our family, have a great celebration of Thanksgiving...and we are thankful.

4 Months

So my baby is 4 months old.

She's a little tank, but is doing great - weighing in at 16 lbs. 12 oz., 26 inches long, and a huge noggin. Yes, she's at 97% for length and weight, (94% head size - which makes me happy that her head growth is slowing down).  Keira is on par developmentally - alert and active with ever growing neck strength.  While we are trying hard to savor each stage of her, we do look forward to seeing her neck one day.


With or without a neck, she's the most adorable thing you've ever seen in your life.  We have had a few strangers mistake her as a boy recently - but I still think she's ridiculously cute.  Seriously, I keep buying bows and headbands for her, but her head is so darn big they're all too small.  You may be thinking, "Might you try the toddler sizes, Kemp?" I would respond, "I have, and, yes, they are also too small."  I think I know what Charlie Brown's mother felt like.  I'm assuming he didn't wear bows, but he does have that black hat.  Same idea.



Here are some Autumn pictures from our forced family photo shoot the other day...just to prove how darn cute our kid is.

In this one, I imagine she's thinking, "Who are these crazy people?  Seriously.  These people are nuts."

So, yeah.  She's pretty awesome.

Finally...An Update.

Well, I've been remiss about giving loads of updates these past months... for several reasons.

1. I feel a lot of pressure to only blog about interesting thoughts or stuff that goes on in our lives.  To be frank, these such thoughts and/or events have been sparse.  Outside of the highlights in our life like our child ALMOST finding her feet, developing in dexterity and small motor skills, there isn't a lot going on.

2. I'd like to be moderate about talking about our kid - for your sake.  Heaven knows it can get old hearing about someone else's kid all the time.

3. Our kid is the best ever, and I don't want to make you feel bad (and yes, I'm well aware that just by typing these words, I'm jinxing myself and we're bound to have sleepless nights, spit-up on the shoulders of every shirt I own, and an inconsolable, fussy child...).  Seriously, she's so awesome - these things are rare in real life.

4. Being a mom is so wonderful (and exhausting) that my efforts are constantly divided (i.e. "Do I play with Keira, make dinner, clean our house, do laundry, or chronicle my thoughts and dreams at the computer for a little while?").  Life seems to take over very often.


But... here's a quick update.  We're doing well.  Keira is awesome, happy, delightful, sleeps well, and is a joy to my spirit.  The cutest kid you'll ever see, somehow, she gets more beautiful every day.  She's HUGE.  I keep telling her that she needs to learn how to walk this week because she's breaking my arms.  While I know the tradeoff is that I'll be chasing after her, my arms could use a break and my thighs could use the workout.  My guess is that she's almost 17 pounds.  She's just in the past few weeks only started to slow down her growth from the last month in utero - gaining almost a half a pound a week.

It's funny how our perspectives change.  We are excited by the strangest things now.  Frequently, the phrase, "Tell Daddy what happened today," to refer literally to things like, "Keira slept for an hour today," or "Keira almost put her pacifier in her own mouth today."  Yeah.  We're boring now.  Maybe we always were, but now.  No doubt.  But, we have a kid to entertain us and a lovely family!