9 months

{19.8 lbs 29.75 inches}

 

 

My computer is back!  And the pictures were saved!  So many things to be thankful for.  So I thought we would celebrate by writing a 9 month post.  Since Jake is already 10 months. 

 

 

However, before I move onto the updates I have to note that today is Good Friday.  Jake woke up with a really bad cough and cold and sadly I don't think we'll be able to go to the Good Friday service.  I have so appreciated having this day off at Trinity the past 4 years to contemplate the death of Christ so I can really appreciate the fact that our Savior has risen on Easter this upcoming Sunday.  Since the wages of sin is death, Christ was the only one who could pay for our debt because He could defeat death- something no human can do.  Giving us a restored relationship with God and a place in heaven.  It seriously blows my mind.  And how thankful I am that He did that because having a relationship with Him is the best thing that ever happened in my life.  I pray that today you have some time to contemplate what Christ's death means for you- I personally love Isaiah 53.

 

All right.  Onto the things that our crazy kid has been doing this past month :)

• You have 6 teeth!  They seriously all appeared in a week. And your two front teeth have a huge space in between them.  Thankfully you can pull it off well in your young age :)
• For officially the past two months you have been sleeping through the night and on a consistent twice a day nap schedule.  You have no idea how happy this makes me :)
• You got your first fever last week and it made me so sad :(
• You are becoming much more expressive- not sure if that's even possible.  You've learned what it means to clench your fist and you make the craziest face every time you do it.  We have it on video.. I hope that we can get a really good picture of it on our camera soon!
• Everything gets dropped on the floor.  Food. Toys. Phones. What's the best is watching you flinch before you drop something on the floor that is heavy and you know will make a loud sound.
• You love it when I chase after you.  Mom has decided that is her workout plan for the time being.. at least until it's warm out.
• You now know how to drink out of a straw- I found that out when you drank half of my jamba juice smoothie.
• We can see your personality definitely coming out- while you know how to do certain things (drinking from your sippy cup, high fives, waves) it totally depends on your mood as to if you will do those actual things.  Oh the moods a 9 month year old can get in :)
• We like to babble back and forth and it's so cute.   I'm starting you on intelligent conversation early.
• You are into pointing at things.  I think it's because I'm constantly pointing at things and telling you what they are!
• You officially understand the word "no."  Whether you choose to listen is another story :)  And there is usually crying that ensues when we tell you "No" to the following items: grabbing our cups. reaching for the coasters, climbing up on our unsteady bookshelf, reaching for Dad's (or my!) computer, and grabbing at cords.

 

This is part of that crazy face we were telling you about.

Jake came about an inch away from the lense and just stared into it like he was trying to see something lol

Thankful

Alas it has been almost 2 weeks and I still don't have my computer back :(  My hope is that they can save everything on it at this point.. we have a LOT of pictures on there.  Oh well.  Hopefully next week then I can share some of the pictures we've taken in the past couple months!

This weekend has been pretty chill- I had my last event of the 2012 -2013 school year last week which is why you didn't hear from me :)  And Jake battled his first fever on Thursday and Friday which was sad- especially since I had to be at work.  However, he definitely couldn't have been in better hands with my mom being here!  Thankfully it's gone now and he's back to his normal self.  Dan and I have both been feeling a little under the weather recently.  Not sure if we picked up something from Jake or what but there has been a lot of sleeping going on here :)

A while back I talked about how I finished the book One Thousand Gifts and I wanted to share with you a brief summary of my thoughts on it.  Since the new year I wanted to focus on thankfulness and have been doing just that for the past (almost 4 months).  It really has changed my perspective on how I view God and the many ways he does bless me throughout the day.  I thought I was a pretty thankful person in general but this book convicted me that I could improve in this area in many more ways!  Ann (the author) is VERY descriptive and at times that is great and at times I found myself skimming over a those details.  Other than that, what the Lord has taught her in regards to thankfulness was really enlightening to me.  Here are some main points/ quotes that I took away from the book:

• The fall (of man) was related to ingratitude.  Humanity was discontent with all that God had freely given them and wanted more. 
• Being thankful allows you to live a full life (reference to Luke 17:17 and the leper that returns to thank Jesus)
• Quote by Julian of Norwich:"For of all the things that our minds can think about God, it is thinking upon his goodness that pleases him most and brings the most profit to our soul."
• Giving thanks slows down time.  When we're busy and rushed throughout our day we miss seeing the blessings God has given us.  
• We wage war with Satan for joy every day.  He tries to keep our eyes off God's goodness.
• "The hard discipline is leaning into the ugly and whispering thanks to transfigure it into beauty."
• Quote by Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain: "Every time you feel in God's creatures something pleasing and attractive, do not let your attention be arrested by them alone, but, passing them by, transfer your thought to God and say: "O my God, if Thy creations are so full of beauty, delight and joy, how infinitely more full of beauty, delight and joy art Though Thyself, Creator of all!"
• "I pay tribute to God by paying attention to Him."
• "Giving thanks creates an appetite for seeking more of God and giving him glory."
• "We don't have to change what we see, only the way we see it."
• The more you count your blessings, the more you see God's goodness toward you and the more you trust in Him.
• "Thanksgiving shapes a theology of trust."
• "It's only when our lives are emptied that we're surprised by how full our life was."
• Pride slays thanksgiving.  A proud man is seldom a grateful man- for he never gets what he deserves.
• Being thankful opens our eyes to how much God loves us.  

I'll share some verses I found on Thanksgiving that I really like later this week :) Happy weekend!

A few of our favorite recipes

Currently my work computer isn't charging :(  So that means I'm using Dan's 10 year old Mac, which takes about 15 minutes to do anything, and that also means I can't upload any pictures.  It's probably a good thing- you guys were getting sick of me posting pictures of Jake anyway, right?   We tried to take his 9 months pictures yesterday and it was extremely unsuccessful. We'll try again this week lol

So, recently I have been compiling a list of our "go to recipes"and thought I'd post a couple of them here.  They have become staples in our home and we actually got a lot of these recipes from friends who brought us meals when Jake was born! (such a great way to get new ideas :)  So, here they are!

Better than take out chicken fried rice

Buffalo Chicken Wraps

Chipotle Bowls

BBQ Quesadillas

Chicken Tortilla soup (crockpot :)

Crockpot Italian Chicken

Cajun Chicken Pasta

Zuppa Toscana Soup

Wildfire Salad

What we've been up to and some links :)

Since my last event Dan and I have had a couple low key weeks and have really enjoyed just spending time together as a family.  We watched Argo (thanks to my brother Doug who helped us decide between that and Skyfall).  We went on a little afternoon date thanks for our friends Andy and Becca who watched our little man.  We've made some additions to our entryway and have upgraded parts of our guest room.  And we've been doing a lot of thinking about how we can't WAIT until it's warm outside- especially since February has had the most snowfall the whole winter.  (Yes we are thankful for our home AND driveway, however we wouldn't mind not shoveling it until December :) Oh, and I finished my One Thousand Gifts book so I know I"ll be sharing a little "book review" about that soon!

So.  I wish I had more updates, but that's about all that's been going on over here in the Cinadr home.   We have some friends coming into town from Indy this weekend so we're looking forward to that- I'm sure I'll have some pictures to share next week!

Lastly, here are some links I have found over the past couple weeks that I like.  Enjoy! Happy Monday.

I bought this print to look at daily and really enjoyed this blog post about it.

 

Our church had a guest speaker and Bryan Lorrits gave an AWESOME sermon on finishing well.  You should listen to it if you have time :)

 

 

 



I love these bubble necklaces.  In fact I just got one here :)

 

I'm excited to get this book soon!

 

 

I really want to make this coconut hot chocolate asap.

 

I liked some of these date night ideas.

 

Friends.  If you shop at Target and haven't used their coupons please go to this website right now.