Things I've learned from Gia

Things I've learned from Gia:

1.  I can function amazingly well on the least sleep I've ever gotten in my life (including college).

2.  If God loves me the way I love Gia, then I am ashamed of the moments when I ever doubted Him.

3.  My husband is more sacrificial than I could have imagined.

4.  Patience.  I kept waiting and waiting for her to laugh, and she finally did, and it was awesome!  Now I am waiting and waiting for that first tooth.  Bobby keeps thinking that anytime she is cranky, she must be cutting a tooth, so he is patiently waiting to be right one of these days.

5.  How to cook with one hand.

6.  I've learned that I have to be on CONSTANT alert, because it only takes a second for Nola to knock her over or for her to poop all over herself.

7.  I really LOVE to shop!  I never had a love for it before, but I get really excited about buying Gia's clothes.

8.  Always have an empty plastic bottle around.  Both my dog and my kid love chewing on them.

 

There is more, I'm sure, but that's what I can think of for now.  I am so thankful for this little gift and all she is going to teach me in the future.

Christmas Time with The Bumble!

My house has been decorated for a couple weeks, but not clean until yesterday.  So, I finally took some pictures of our Christmas decorations and thought I'd share them.  This first one is of my bumble husband putting the star on the tree... and he doesn't need a ladder! 

"Lookie what he can do!"

Our finished tree

Our nativity scene and three wise men gifts

Some more decorations, including the Christmas countdown calendar!

Our stockings

Our diningroom table

My attempt at creativity, using what we had in the house

Cookies for Santa

Our finished product

And finally, because I can't resist... Gia wearing a very appropriate Christmas outfit

 

Trying out some photography...

So, I have this friend named Charity who takes really awesome pictures of her baby, and it inspired me to try to figure out how she did it.  I have a Nikon D40X, and there are so many different settings that I have never looked at (I just use the automatic setting).  So Bobby and I sat down for a long time trying to figure out how to get the best indoor and outdoor pictures.  After a couple of hours of looking at youtube videos and reading up on the Nikon, I was pretty pleased with the settings we found for outside pictures.  Here are the results:

But when it came to indoor pictures, I'm a little disappointed.  Our house is rather dark, and I just can't figure out how to get a warm-colored, non-blurry photo inside.  We tried to take a few of Gia, and here are our results.

If anyone has any tips, let me know!  

Happy 1/2 birthday, Gianna Grace!

I'm a little late on this post.  I was going to put something up right around the 31st, but then we had that big wind storm, and then Gia had a fever for over 24 hours after her 6 month shots, so I haven't had time to take pictures or post.  Anyway, I'm finally writing, and here are her 6 month doctor results:

Height:  25 3/4 inches...... 45%

Weight:  13 lbs 13.5 oz.... 15%

Head:    65% (I can't remember the cm)

So, I have a long, tiny, large headed baby :o)  She is her daddy's daughter!  Except that Bobby was extremely fat as a baby, so in that area she takes after me.  Just for a reference, she weighs only a little more than I did at her age, but is 1 3/4 inches longer than I was!  I wasn't 25 inches until 9 months.  I guess she will definitely be taller than me (Bobby would say "that's not hard to do").

Some milestones she hit between 5-6 months were:

Saying "baba" and "mama"  (I won the bet that she would say "mama" before "dada"... it doesn't matter that she doesn't know what it means.  Bobby owes me ice cream :o) )

Sitting up on her own

Laughing

Putting her feet in her mouth

Taking the bottle really well

Rolling over both ways

Eating solid foods (squash and applesauce)

Finally growing into her 3-6 month clothes!

Grabbing things, holding them, throwing them, watching them fall.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what I can think of right now.  She is finally back to sleeping 8 hours at night, but it's a struggle to get her tired before 10:30pm.  Right now, as I type this at 10:30pm, Bobby is attempting to get her to sleep.  It's not really working.  Other than that, she is a happy, joyful, social baby who loves to smile at strangers, laugh at Daddy and snuggle with Mommy.  This is definitely my favorite stage so far.  I love seeing her interact and play with her toys, smile at Nola (our dog), reach for me to hold her, and get tickeld at other small children.  She is such a smiley, friendly baby, and I hope this personality sticks with her into her childhood.  Happy 1/2 birthday, Gianna Grace!

 

Harry Potter and the Bible

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxySk24J_bs?wmode=transparent]

via youtube.com

I know that the Harry Potter books bring up some controversy amongst Christians (and even hatred or anger), but I love the books and feel strongly that they are not demonic... they are not demonic anymore than Cinderella or Snow White with their fairy godmothers and evil witches. As Bobby has put it, the magic in Harry Potter is not spiritual, it's a matter of physics. Magic is more of a physical thing that these people can do, rather than something they conjure up by praying to spirits or worshipping the devil.

JK Rowling may not have written the book specifically as a Christian allegory, but these books contain so many references to the Christian life, and to Jesus Himself. As Jerram Barrs says in this video, the very ending of the whole series is an image of what Christ did for us.

I'm not writing this to make anyone angry or to start any kind of argument, I just loved this video and wanted to blog about it. Jerram Barrs is a Christian and a professor of Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture at Covenant Theological Seminary. If your conviction is to not read any kind of book with witches or wizards, then stick to your conviction and don't read Harry Potter. But, I think that if a person doesn't read the books simply because a large population of the Christian community says they are bad, then that person is missing out on one of the greatest book series written, ever.

If you're interested in knowing more about the Christian themes in Harry Potter, there is a book called "Looking for God in Harry Potter" by John Granger. It gives a really neat perspective on the books. Also, be aware that this video does have a SPOILER alert, just incase you haven't seen the last movie/read the last book.

Missions are vital

Today in church we watched a video about the Lottie Moon Christmas offering (for those of you who aren't Southern Baptist, this is an offering that helps to support our overseas missionaries).  Lottie Moon literally gave up her life to share the gospel with China, and she has inspired this offering so that we can share Jesus with people in other countries.  The video displayed pastors, missionaries and lay-people speaking to us about how important --- no, VITAL --- missions are, and how we need to doing it overseas.  There are a lot of reasons that people go on mission trips themselves : too much money, jobs, kids, fears, time.  But as one person on the video said, there really is no sacrifice when you think of what Jesus has given for us.  We should be sacrificing of our time and money, putting aside our fears and our jobs, to go on missions.

Now, I realize that not everyone can acutally GO on a mission trip.  For example, I can't go really anywhere right now because Gianna is still nursing (but I'm planning to once she's weaned).  Some people have health problems or are the sole provider for their families and can't take time away from work.  But we should be EXCITED about missions!  We should rejoice when we hear of other people going to Slavokia, India or Peru.  We should give of our money to provide for those able to go, and we should sacrifice our time in prayer for the missionaries God has physically called overseas.

I hope this video makes your stomach get in knots from excitement like it did mine.  If you are a Christian and the thought of missions doesn't make you excited or moved, ask yourself why.  It is a commandment from Christ to go out and share the good news of His grace, but it's also the amazing privilege of every believer!  It's exciting!  Watch this video and see if God doesn't move in your heart.

http://www.imb.org/main/give/page.asp?StoryID=5595&LanguageID=1709

 

His Heart His Hands His Voice

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJwbf_AekeI?wmode=transparent]

via youtube.com

Today in church we watched a video about the Lottie Moon Christmas offering (for those of you who aren't Southern Baptist, this is an offering that helps to support our overseas missionaries). Lottie Moon literally gave up her life to share the gospel with China, and she has inspired this offering so that we can share Jesus with people in other countries. The video displayed pastors, missionaries and lay-people speaking to us about how important --- no, VITAL --- missions are, and how we need to be doing it overseas. There are a lot of reasons that people don't go on mission trips themselves : too much money, jobs, kids, fears, time. But as one person on the video said, there really is no sacrifice when you think of what Jesus has given for us. We should be sacrificing of our time and money, putting aside our fears and our jobs, to go on missions.

Now, I realize that not everyone can acutally GO on a mission trip. For example, I can't go really anywhere right now because Gianna is still nursing (but I'm planning to once she's weaned). Some people have health problems or are the sole provider for their families and can't take time away from work. But we should be EXCITED about missions! We should rejoice when we hear of other people going to Slovakia, India or Peru. We should give of our money to provide for those able to go, and we should sacrifice our time in prayer for the missionaries God has physically called overseas.

I hope this video makes your stomach get in knots from excitement like it did mine. If you are a Christian and the thought of missions doesn't make you excited or moved, ask yourself why. It is a commandment from Christ to go out and share the good news of His grace, but it's also the amazing privilege of every believer! It's exciting! Watch this video and see if God doesn't move in your heart.