busy bug

Here's Tenley's 9 month picture.  I took this the other day before church while she was playing.  She's pulling up on things, and guess what....She's crawling!!!!  She finally started crawling yesterday.  It's hilarious to watch her, but she's a quick little thing!

Tenley, You are one busy little girl!  Those little legs are always moving and kicking.  You're starting to show more of your personality.  You can be stubborn, but I love that about you.  I know that you will do great things and will stay headstrong when you really believe in something.  That's a great trait to have.  You have the energy to make things happen.  I can't wait to see where it takes you.  I love you, bug.

Smack.

God made me, so he knows me better than anyone else.  He knows that sometimes he has to smack me right upside the head in order for me to say "aha!  that's what you've been trying to tell me!"  Well...he just hit me.  Smack in the face.


I'm reading Karen Kingsbury's new book "Learning".  (I could go on about my love for KK and the characters she writes about.  I pray for them.  I think about them.  They are real to me... but that's for another time).  In it, KK talks about God already knowing the plans that He has for us, and that He promises those plans are good.  I remember reading this section "underlining" the particular quote on my kindle, making a mental note to come back to it- and then continued on.  Fail.  God was trying to tell me something at that moment and I just "made a note".  I never even went back to it.  Not yet anyway.
Then today, I was reading an excerpt from the book "Radical Together" by David Platt.  We did a few sermons about this book at church and it's on my to read list, but I haven't gotten to it yet.  Well, here's the part that Platt says that I felt the WALLOP of God's hand on my forehead.


In our lives and in the church , we are never without a revelation from God. At all times you and I have his message to use in all its power, authority, clarity and might. We don't have to work to come up with a word from God; we simply have to trust the word he's already given us. - David Platt, Radical Together


The realization that I have been missing something for a very long time was too much to handle.  My "aha!" moment as some call it.  I understood something very fundamental for the very first time. I ask and ask and ask, I pray and beg for God to speak to me, to make clear his purpose in my life.  I know that I walk with Him daily. He's right here, right this moment. I've never doubted that. But in all of my blind asking and and angry seeking, in all of my fears that His voice is too quiet or my ears don't work right, I'm not going to the place where he speaks the loudest.  I've had His plans for me all along.  Right there in my hands.  Confession:  KK always jumps to the top of my reading list when a new book comes out.  Do you know what book has never jumped to the top of my reading list?  You got it.  


SMACK.


There it is again.  This time it's my own hand against my forehead.  I can't believe I've been missing it.  It's been in front of me all along.  

9 months

I don't have a picture for this post that is current, so I'll post one that was taken of Tenley when she was just a week or two shy of 9 months.  I'll work on the actual 9 month picture soon.

Miss Tenley you are 9 months old!!  You are our little bug and we just love you so much!!  Here's what you're doing these days:

-You are wearing size 3 diapers.

-You love all fruits and most veggies!  You also love yogurt and puffs.  Yogurt melts and puffs are great when we are at a restaurant to keep you busy!  

-You are wearing 12-18 month clothes.  Occasionally I can still get you into a 9 month outfit, but not very often anymore! 

-You weigh 20 lbs. and are 28 1/2 inches long. (I think I'm remembering your length right..)

-You aren't quite crawling yet, but it will be any day now.  You get up on fours and rock back and forth, and you are an expert at going backwards.  But you just haven't gotten the hang of going forwards yet.  You are also starting to pull yourself up on the furniture.  You've made it to your knees and just about to your feet.  It will come fast!  I'm not quite ready for that mover stage yet!  I know that once you figure out how to be on the go, you won't stop!  You're a very busy little girl!

-You are making all kinds of new expressions!

-You have 2 teeth that are completely in, 2 more that are almost all the way in, and one more that is just poking through.  This last tooth has been the easiest one.  You didn't get a fever with this one like you have in the past.  

-You LOVE the water and being in the pool!  It's been rainy the last week or so, but we're excited to get you back in the pool and enjoy summer.  

-You say mama, dada, nana, baba.  And you give lots of great kisses!  We're trying to teach you how to blow kisses right now.  You do the sound, but haven't done the motion on your own yet.  

Here's your schedule for a normal day right now.  You wake up at 7:00am.  Have a bottle and oatmeal.  You take your morning nap usually from 9-10:00 or 10:30.  At 11:00am you have lunch.  For lunch you get a veggie and fruit.  No bottle during lunch anymore, which you're doing great with!  This was an easy transition. You take a nap around 1:00-2:00.  At 3:00 you get a bottle and a snack (usually yogurt or oatmeal).  Then around 5:30ish you get supper - which is a veggie and fruit.  7:00 is your last bottle of the night.  You usually head to bed around 8:30 or 9.  You are such an easy baby.  This last weekend we traveled 3 hours to visit baby Makenzie and her mommy Jamie and you were such a great traveler!  You still stayed on schedule and got great naps and just were able to go with the flow!  That's a great trait to have Tenley.  I hope that continues.  

We love you bug.  You keep us smiling each and every day.

Show Us Your Life

It's SUYL Friday over at Kelly's Korner!  This is a great one, it's all about what you make and your etsy shop.  Etsy.com is a FANTASTIC website filled with homemade items that people make.  I've found lots of cute things on it for Tenley, her room, etc.  I have had a onesie made for her, plus gotten some things for her 1st birthday party.  I can't say enough about it.  So head over to Kelly's Korner and check it out!  There's not just baby and children's things- they have everything!  I'll have to try and get pictures up of what all I've gotten on Etsy sometime.  But that's for another day.

Cool Dad!

Check out this blog:   http://waveatthebus.blogspot.com/ It's so funny!  This dad realized that after his 16 year old son gets on the school bus every morning the bus goes back by the house on it's route to school.  So he decided that he would dress up in a different costume every day of the school year - 170 costumes- and wave to his son on the school bus when it went by.  Humiliating?  Yes.  Hilarious?  Absolutely.  Luckily, his son shares his sense of humor with his dad.  What a fun bus ride that would be!  Check out the blog to see the other costumes he came up with!

Plans

I was looking at the calendar this morning and going over all of our summer plans.  In theory, summer is supposed to be when life slows down a bit.  Schools out, it stays light out longer, the drama of winter seems to fade away... But in reality, things get a bit busier in the summer.  Probably because of all of the reasons I just listed.  Here's a look at our our summer will be filled.

• Next weekend our friends Jess and Brian are getting married!  This is a much anticipated event, considering Jess has been saving and planning for this wedding since she was about 3.  :) Tenley will spend some sweet time with Papa and Grandma Marshall while Mike and I enjoy an evening of dinner and dancing.  We are excited to celebrate with friends.  As much as we will love the romantical (I know..I made that word up.) feeling of the wedding, I know that we will be ready to retrieve our bug from her grandparents and spend some evening hours with her before bedtime.  Which I might add has been getting later and later by the summer day.

Oh, before I go any further in our calendar journey- I must add...little Tenley has been kicked out of her nursery!  No not because she's the nursery bully, because she's moving up to level two!  She's now more mobile (still not crawling though) and she can hang with the bigger kids I suppose.  This morning will be our first try at taking her to the Balloon Room.  So long Teddy Bears.

• Ok, back on track.  Over the weekend of the 4th, we will be scurrying up to Michigan to enjoy some relaxation by Lake Michigan.  We are preparing ourselves for a healthy dose of Marshall Madness as we will meet Mike's parents and his sister's family up at a cabin for the weekend.  The rest of his family is staying for a week, but due to a lack of vacation days we will only be able to stay for the weekend.  So we will soak everything in a three day span!  It's only a 45 minute drive, so it's possible that Tenley and I might pop up there for a day during the week too.

• We will have more 1st birthday parties for Tenley's sweet friends throughout the summer.  Where did the time go?  Weren't we all just visiting each other in the hospital?  Right at this moment, Tenley is looking at me with a bit of "get over it mom" attitude.  She's probably right.  But still, I'll be wistful when her day comes.

• In August... My best friend gets married!!  It will be a beautiful day of green and orange.  I just can't wait to have her back in town.  I can't wait to share this special day with the two of them and Jason's BEAUTIFUL daughters.  Seriously, they are gorgeous.  

  

  Aren't they a pretty couple? :)

• The very next weekend my cousin gets married!  It's going to be another busy wedding summer!  I love weddings though.  Some day.. Tenley will be the flower girl that I never got to be.  I just know it.  Don't get me started.

• Then...The summer ends with THE party of the summer.  Good grief.  Miss T turns ONE.  Plans are in the works.  Money has been spent.  Tissues are in place.  She will no longer be a baby.  She's ... a... toddler.  Oh boy.  I have all summer to really let this sink in.  But it's approaching...  For now - prepare yourself for a pink ladybug filled afternoon.

And because I can't post a blog without a picture of the sweet bug herself - Here ya go.

kissy face!