Little Copy-Cat

Tonight I was reminded of the importance of being a good example to Sophie.

I cut up a strawberry and put it on her tray. She's had strawberries before. She likes them. But tonight she decided she didn't. She wouldn't even touch it when I put it on her tray even though I knew she was hungry. So I gave her a few minutes, and then I tried putting one in her mouth... she spit it out... I tried again... and again... and she kept spitting it out.

So I went to do the dishes and figured I'd give it some time. She sat there and whined some. When I finished the dishes, she still hadn't eaten even one bite. I thought it was a shame to waste the strawberries, and I knew she was hungry. So I grabbed one and ate it. She stared at me. I ate another.

Then what does she do? She picks one up and eats it. In less than 5 minutes, she had all of the pieces of strawberries eaten that had previously sat on her tray for 10 minutes.

I've noticed other areas where Sophie is a copy-cat... even at 10 months, she's alert to the world around her. I'm reminded that I need to be careful and thoughtful in what I say and what I do. I desire to be an example to Sophie not only in what I avoid doing and saying but also in what I purposefully do and say. I know it won't be good enough for me to just avoid saying certain words and watching too much tv. I also must purposefully show her the love of Christ by caring for others and using my time wisely.

Babies Do What They Want

There are a number of things I've tried (fairly diligently) to teach Sophie over the months, such as:

-Signing "more"

-Signing "thank you"

-Saying "Mama"

-Clapping

Has she learned any of these? Nope! Instead, she's learned to do things that I never even intentionally tried to teach her.

-Waving hi and bye

-Giving high fives

-Giving kisses

-Saying "ball" (other than "dada," ball is her first word! Ball?!?!)

Some other fun pictures... Sophie's 10 months old now...

She's sunshine in our lives...
And she's started pulling up like crazy (she's not good at getting down yet though, so this face is a "get me down, mom!" face)...

These are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Smiling, big-dimpled baby...

"Look at all my teeth" smiling baby...
"I chew on random objects" baby (also baby legs + cute diapers)...
Sleeping baby...
"I love kickballs twice my size!" baby....
Baby hugs...
Baby kisses...
Bright, blue-eyed baby...
Basically, anything to do with Sophie :)

(thanks Mom for taking some of these photos)

Ear Piercing Adventure

We took Sophie to get her ears pierced yesterday!

We went to Claires. The lady took a marker to dot Sophie's ears before piercing them...
She reminded me of my sister Nikki with how much of a perfectionist she was... I'm not complaining though. I wouldn't want uneven ear piercings.
She was all smiles before the piercing...
I didn't get any of her crying from during the piercing, but they were short-lived so that was good :)
I debated about whether I wanted to have her ears pierced now or when she was 13 and could decide for herself. I could see benefits to both. I decided I didn't have much of an opinion either way, so I asked Ben, and he said he thought we should do them now. So we did them, and they're super cute!

One Year Ago... Today

One year ago, I was 30 weeks pregnant, working at Family Video, being a student, getting excited for my 2 baby showers, and counting down the days until I would get to meet Sophie...

Today I have a beautiful baby girl who is 9 months old, I'm a student and stay-at-home-mom, and for fun I put on the same tank that I wore for my belly pictures- thankfully, it fits better today :) ...

Letting God Use You as a Mom

I struggle sometimes as a mom to know how I can be used by God. I really enjoy serving, but I often feel like I'm stuck at home with my baby. Today I was reading Warren Wiersbe's Be Joyful (on the book of Philippians) and was encouraged by the following:

"Sometimes God has to put 'chains' on His people to get them to accomplish a 'pioneer advance' that could never happen any other way. Young mothers may feel chained to the home as they care for their children, but God can use those 'chains' to reach people with the message of salvation."

I need to remember this. Sophie and I visited a retirement home last week, and it was encouraging for both the lady we visited (and her roommate) and for me. As a mother, God can use me in just as big of ways as he could before motherhood.

I am currently working on using my time better. I waste a lot of time, and I desire to use my time better for God's glory.

I'm the Mom, so I Get to Decide

Once early on in being a mother, I was stressed about something and another mother (I don't remember who or when) reminded me that I'm the mom. Since then, my saying when trying to make decisions that mothers have differing opinions about (which seems to be often) is, "I'm the mom, so I get to decide." I also try to remind other moms of this when they ask and are in similar situations.

There are some things as parents that you must do (or children will be taken from you). You must feed your child. You must give them shelter. You must change their diapers. But many things allow for freedom. Do your research. Ask for advice. Pray about it. Search the Bible. And then, make the decision that works best for you and your family and stand by it proudly. And the best thing? If that decision doesn't seem to work out, it's rarely too late to change your mind. :)

p.s. I found out today that I didn't win the cloth diaper contest I entered. Bummer!