Eating habits

Christina's favorite foods (not to say she eats ALL of these foods everyday, although I'm sure she would if she could!):

Pirate's Booty, Pop Tarts, Snapea Crisps, Pizza crust

Ice Cream

 

Sunchips, M&Ms, Cookies,

Goldfish crackers

 

Potato Chips, Cake, Brownies

Cheese crackers with peanut butter

 

 And of course her absolute favorite - FRENCH FRIES!

Christina's "sometimes" foods (sometimes she wants them, sometimes not):

Saltines with Peanut Butter, Tortillas, sips of whatever soup I'm having,

Cheerios

Almonds, Hamburger Buns, Chicken Nuggets

Teddy Grahams/Graham crackers

And Christina's "never" foods (These are the things she completely refuses to eat, and I have tried all the tricks I can think of!):

Fruits (fresh or dried, although she has been known to occasionally eat dried apple chips)

"Here Sigrid, have this applesauce - I don't want it."

Veggies (fresh or cooked - at this point all I can get her to eat is the Flat Earth brand chips, which claim to have a half serving of veggies in every ounce), 

Milk, Eggs

To balance out this obviously uneven diet, I try to get her to eat a "Bugs Bunny" vitamin once a day.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.  I just hope she'll branch out as she gets older and at least TRY some healthier foods.  As it is now, sometimes I'll hand her a piece of fruit or veggie to try, and before she even puts it in her mouth, she'll say "I don't like it."  I try to convince her that she can't know if she likes it if she hasn't even tried it, but she won't have any of it.  But I'm not giving up!

Beach Trip

Last week Christina and I went to the beach with our friends Kristina and Sigrid. Here's some pics from our fun morning.

A train went under the bridge right as we were walking across.  It was carrying wood chips, which smelled great!

 Why is it that for every cute picture like this:

there's a wierd one like this? (mmm..yummy sandwich!)

Christina and Sigrid had a lot of fun running around and just hanging out together.

  

 

Christina decided that she wanted to carry around the sippy cup that was being used to hold Kristina's pickle and pickle juice.  She took a sip at one point, then she said "Yucky!  Bleh!"

 

Christina takes after her Daddy in that one of her favorite things to do at the beach is pick up rocks and skip them (well, really just throw them) in the water.

  

 

She and Sigrid also had fun playing with what Christina and I called the "creepy" or "wierd" seaweed!

I was talking to my MIL last night, and she said that MRSA (the antibiotic resistant bacterial infection) has been found in samples taken from several Washington beaches.  

http://www.pediatricsupersite.com/view.aspx?rid=43648 

So maybe we won't be taking any more beach trips for a little while.  But we sure did have fun!

The Parent You Want to Be: Who You Are Matters More Than What You Do by Les Parrott III


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great parenting book.  In part one the authors explain why, as the title says, who you are matters more than what you do.  Part two lists ten character traits that are worth considering.  Since all parents are different, we all need to work on different areas in relation to our kids, and this gives us a good place to start.  And part three discusses how to avoid being the kind of parent you DON'T want to be, and how to make the ten traits discussed in part two stick.

This book is about more than how to deal with your kids.  It's about how to become the kind of person you want your kids to someday become.  Whether we like it or not, our kids are watching us, and we are the greatest influence in their lives (at least while they're young).  We need to take that very seriously and examine how we live our lives in light of that.

View all my reviews >>

Some great quotes

I found these quotes in a book called The Parent You Want to Be: Who You Are Matters More Than What You Do, by Les and Leslie Parrott.  It's an awesome book, and I'd definitely recommend it to any parent.  Throughout the book, the authors throw in quotes from various people, and several of them really struck a chord with me.

"A child is not a vase to be filled, but a fire to be lit." - Fancois Rabelais

"The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life." - Richard Bach

"When we determine to be there for our children, the moment arrives one day when we discover they love to be there for us." - John Trent

"God never ceases to speak to us, but the noise of the world without and the tumult of our passions within bewilder us and prevent us from listening to Him." - Francois Fenelon

And my favorite...

"If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is something that could better be changed in ourselves." - Carl Jung

A day with my two favorite people

I awoke this morning to find that Sean decided to stay home from work today.  We decided to go out for some breakfast at Denny's (BTW, this is the second time we've had bad service and some kind of bad food at this particular location, so I don't know that we'll be going back anytime soon).  But it was nice to have breakfast together just the same.  Afterwards, we all went to run some errands together and then came back home.

After that Sean decided to try out his new Xbox game that he just bought (that was one of our errands!), so Christina and I went upstairs to play (It's a rather violent game, so I thought we should hang out away from the TV).

It's funny the little games Christina comes up with.  There have been several occasions where she'll tuck a particular stuffed animal in under a blanket.  Then she'll uncover it's face and whisper to it, "I'll be right back," and then cover it up completely.  After that she'll walk across the room or out of the room, only to come right back, uncover the animal, then start the process all over again, tucking it back in.  This will go on for several minutes.  Obviously she's quite interested in the concept of "coming right back."  It is something that I say to her fairly often, whether I'm leaving to go to Bible study or just to go take out the garbage.

Today was more of a peek-a-boo day.  For quite some time, Christina and I played a "game" where she would hide under the blanket and I would have a little stuffed bear "walking" over the blanket to find her, eventually uncovering her and then the bear would give her kisses all over her face.  This elicited lots of giggles, so it went on for a while.

At one point she decided to climb into her toy box for a rest.

 

After our play session, Christina and I went in the car to pick up some lunch for all of us...

 

and then we (Christina and I) took a nice, long nap.  I'm getting over a pretty nasty cold, and I haven't slept very well the last few nights, so the nap was much-needed.

Lately I've been having quite a few "challenging" days with Christina.  There have been more than our average amount of time-outs, as she seems to be going through quite a defiant phase (God, I hope it's a phase!).  But today was just a great, mellow day.  Sure, there were a couple of times when we (Sean or I) had to threaten a time-out, but it never actually happened, and right now, that's a great day.

Christina and her Friends

Sigrid

Saide

Kirsten

Each day as I'm putting Christina down for her nap, I ask if she wants to pray, or if she wants me to pray.  She always wants to pray herself, and depending on who we've seen that morning, the prayer goes like this:
"Dear God, thank you for Sigrid and her mommy.  Amen" (Actually, she says "Sigrid and YOUR mommy", but I know what she means.  For those of you who don't know, Sigrid's mommy's name is Kristina.  To avoid confusion, we just call her "Sigrid's mommy.")
OR
"Dear God, thank you for Miranda and Saide.  Amen."
OR
"Dear God, thank you for Ashley and Kirsten and Baby Natalie.  Amen."

We sure are blessed to have such great friends!

God's Favorite Numbers

So there are a few specific numbers in that are repeated several times throughout the Bible.  For some reason, this repetition is just really interesting to me.

The Number Three:

Ecclesiastes 4:12 - A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
Johah 1:17 - Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.
Matthew 26:34 - "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times."
Mark 9:31 - "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.  They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."
1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.
1 John 5:7-8 - For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.  (I can only assume this is talking about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.)

The Number Seven:

On the seventh day of Creation God rested from His work. It was full and complete, and good and perfect. Nothing could be added to it or taken from it without marring it.Genesis 7:2-4 - (From the story of Noah) Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate (I always thought it was just two.), and two of every kind of unclean animal (That explains it!), a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth.  Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth..."
Joshua 6:4 - Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams horns in front of the ark.  On the seventh day, march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the trumpets.
Proverbs 24:16 - For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again...
Daniel 9:25 - From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven "sevens," and sixty-two "sevens."
Matthew 18:21-22 - Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?  Up to seven times?"  Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times."
In the genealogy of Luke, Chapter three, there are exactly 77 names, with God at the one end, and Jesus at the other. Revelation 6:1 - I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.
Revelation 8:2 - And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
Revelation 10:4 - And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."  (I hate secrets!)
Revelation 15:7 - Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.

The Number Forty:

Genesis 7:4 - I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights...
Exodus 16:35 - The Israelites ate manna for forty years...(This has to do with the Israelites being in the wilderness for forty years before reaching the Promised Land.)
Exodus 24:18 - Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain.  And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
2 Samuel 5:4 - David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.
1 Kings 19:8 - So he (Elijah) got up and ate and drank.  Strengthened by that food, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.
2 Chronicles 9:30 - Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
Ezekiel 29:12 - I will make the land of Egypt desolate among devastated lands, and her cities will lie desolate forty years among ruined cities.
Matthew 4:2 - After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. (This was speaking about Jesus' time in the wilderness before he was tempted by Satan.)

What does it all mean?  If you have any idea, let me know.  And if not, I guess I'll just ask the big man himself when I get up there!