Left Behind by Tim LaHaye


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This book is a fictionalized account of endtimes Bible prophesy coming to pass. It's the first book in a series of 12, and it begins with the Rapture. It tells the story of those who were not followers of Christ, and therefore were "left behind" on earth.

I started reading this book a few years ago, and about half way through I gave up for lack of interest. I recently picked it up again, and this time, I couldn't put it down! I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I know a bit more about endtime Biblical prophesy than when I first tried reading it. It was really neat to match up what I had read about in the Bible with what was happening in the story. There were parts of the story that dragged a bit, and the book probably could have been a bit shorter, but all in all, I really enjoyed it. And I definitely plan on reading more in the series!

To be fair, if this book had a different subject matter, I probably would have given it three stars instead of four, but I'm so glad that someone decided to write a book about this, since the subject matter is so important!

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Playing with her shadow

Too cute!

Our day with Daddy (a sequel to "Our weekend without Daddy")

Sean got home from his trip to Canada late Sunday night, and since he had already requested the day off Monday, we decided to go to breakfast.  I got a couple cute pictures while we were there, and I learned just how much Christina likes having her picture taken.  (I don't remember if I've mentioned it before, but just about every time I tell Christina that she looks cute doing/wearing something, she says "Wanna take a picture?")

Sean was sitting with his arm around Christina, and they looked so cute, I decided I wanted to take a picture.  By that time, Sean had moved his arm away, so Christina pulled his arm back around her to get in the perfect pose!

And as soon as I was done taking the picture, she pushed his arm away, as if she were saying "OK, I'm done with you now!"

A little while later I noticed that Christina was copying the way Sean was posed while sitting at the table, so I just had to get a picture of that too!

Then Sean hammed it up a little, copying Christina.  (Have you noticed that in most of the pictures I take of Christina, she's wearing a big, FAKE smile?  She knows that when the camera comes out, it's time to put on your happy face!  This makes it very hard to get candid shots of her.)

After breakfast we all headed over to the ice rink, because Sean wanted to get some skating practice in before his hockey game on Friday.  I planned for Christina and I to stay and watch Daddy skate for a little bit and then head to a nearby park to play until he was done.  But Christina decided that she wanted to stay at the ice rink the whole time, watching Sean and getting some chips from the vending machine to snack on.

When we first went into the rink, the lady at the front desk asked us if Christina wanted to skate, because it's free for kids under 5.  We said no, but then we got to talking about it.  The more Christina heard, the more she wanted to try it out.  But Sean and I decided that we definitely needed to get her a helmet before we would let her try ice skating.

So after Sean was done, we all headed over to Fred Meyer and bought Christina a bike helmet, which came with elbow and knee pads, and some mittens.  (She's already got a winter coat and warm pants.)  So the next time Sean wants to go skating, Christina can have a try too!  I figure I'll sit on the sidelines, because

1)  I'm not a good skater at all, so having her hold my hand would probably be more dangerous than helpful!

and

2)  My guess is, she won't want to stay on the ice for more than 5 or 10 minutes, at least at first, so it wouldn't make sense for me to pay to skate for such a short time.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to seeing her out there, or if I'm just totally nervous and scared about it!

When we got home, it was time for Christina's nap, and when she woke up, she wanted to try on her new stuff!

The rest of the day was spent at home (except for Christina and I going grocery shopping like we do every Monday evening), but we had a great time hanging out with Daddy!

Our weekend without Daddy

Sean was away in Canada this past weekend for a friend's wedding.  He left early Friday morning (with the car!) and returned late Sunday night.  I wasn't sure how Christina and I were going to do without him (and without a car!) for the weekend, but as it turned out, we had a great time.

Friday morning, my friend Ashley came over with her daughters, Kirsten and Natalie, known to us as Baby Natalie.  Here's a picture of Christina with Baby Natalie (taken a little while ago).

We hung out and had lunch over at my place, and after they left it was naptime.  That evening, Melinda (my step-mother-in-law) picked us up on her way home from work and drove us over to her and Larry's house for our weekly dinner over there.  Christina just loves seeing her Grandma Lindy and Grandpa Larry, and their dog, Barney.  She and Barney have lots of fun playing together.

Saturday morning was spent at home.  Christina helped me clean the bathrooms.  She helps out by holding the box of baking soda and sprinkling it in the sink when I ask her to.  Then she scrubs it in with a washcloth, and I get the spots that she misses.  She also likes to hold the bottle of homemade vinegar/water cleaner and spray it where I ask her to (the counters, the toilet, the sides of the tub).  She sprays it other places too, but it's not hard to wipe up, so I don't mind.

Saturday evening my parents came over with dinner.  They also brought a couple of those thin wooden airplanes that you can put together (very old-school!).  Christina really enjoyed throwing those around in the back yard, and chasing them after Papaw (my dad) threw them across the yard.

 

Christina also had fun playing on her little slide.  For some reason, even toys that have long since been forgotten (like the slide) are all of a sudden a ton of fun when Mammie and Papaw come over!

While they were here, Mom stayed with Christina while Dad drove me over to get Melinda's car - she lent it to me so I could go to church Sunday morning (Thank you Melinda!).

So Christina and I went to church Sunday morning, and then we went to Taco Time for some lunch.  Christina enjoyed climbing on top of the booth.  She said she was just taking a nap!

And after we drove back home, Christina spent some time playing in Grandma Lindy's car before going inside to ACTUALLY take her nap.

All in all, we had quite a nice weekend just the two of us, but we're definitely glad to have Daddy back home now!

Halloween Season

So in just about every store we go into now, there's a big display of Halloween stuff.  Christina just loves trying on all the hats.  And as soon as she get's one on, she says "Take a picture?"

 Here she is at Value Village.  This is one of the wierdest "hats" I've ever seen!

A witch at Walgreens:

 I don't actually remember where this one was taken, but it looks like we were definitely in the toy aisle!
She must be the ice cream princess! (Note the ice cream cone on her shirt.)

 This is at the new Dollar Store over by my place.
G.I. Jane:

 Alligator:

And here she is at Fred Meyer.  Actually, all of these "hats" are headbands!
Pipi Longstockings witch?

Attachment Parenting

I didn't start out with a parenting philosophy at all.  I just assumed that what was true for my mom would be true for me.  I planned on breastfeeding Christina for the first year, then weaning her.  I planned on Christina sleeping in her crib the first night we were home from the hosptial, and every night after that.  I planned on Christina sleeping through the night at six weeks old.

Remember the saying : "Want to make God laugh?  Tell him your plans."  Well, God sure laughed at my plans!

I was blessed to have a great delivery nurse when I checked into the hospital January 19th, 2007 to be induced (I wish I could remember her name!).  I told her that I wanted to try and have a natural birth, with no drugs.  She was incredibly supportive, saying that she had a natural childbirth with her children.  We ended up having a while to chat, since I got checked into the hospital semi-unexpectedly (I'll explain my whole childbirth experience in a later post) and it was about an hour before Sean, my parents, or my in-laws showed up.  She explained that she followed the philosophy of Attachment Parenting, which includes co-sleeping, baby-wearing, breastfeeding on demand, and overall just trusting your baby's needs and responding to her cues.  I had never heard of Attachment Parenting, so the nurse recommended that I check out The Baby Book by Dr. William Sears.

As it happened, after a few hours of very painful, Pitocin-induced labor, I decided to have an epidural.  Even though I changed my mind about natural childbirth, my nurse was totally understanding.  And as it turned out, her shift ended about an hour before Christiana was born, so I ended up with a different nurse when Christina was delivered.

Anyway, fast forward to the next evening, January 20th - Sean's and my first night at home with our baby.  I was incredibly hormonal and emotional.  While Christina was quiet during the ride home in the car, once we got home she would not stop crying.  And then I couldn't stop crying.  Sean had to comfort me while helping me to change her diaper, something I was convinced I would never get the hang of!  Mostly, the whole first few months of motherhood is a blur of sleeping when I could (which wasn't often), and trying to keep Christina happy (which wasn't easy).

Christina had colic for about the first four months of her life.  When she was awake, she was mostly crying (at least, that's what I remember).  I tried everything.  I would put her in her bouncy seat, I'd put her in her swing, I'd rock with her in the recliner...and she'd be happy for maybe 10 minutes.  Then she'd be crying again.  The thing that seemed to calm her down for the longest time was when I walked around with her in my arms or in a sling carrier.  So, I quickly became a "baby-wearing" mama.  I would wear her in the sling while I did dishes or folded laundry.  And if I had nothing else to do, I would pace back and forth across the living room while watching TV, because if I stood still she would start crying again.  Even once she was past the colic, she loved being in the carrier, close to me.  So most of the time when we went out, I put her in the sling instead of bringing a stroller.  Once she got too big for the sling to be comfortable for me anymore, I bought an Ergo Baby Carrier, which worked for us until she was about 2.

And from that very first night at home, Christina would scream whenever I would put her down in her crib.  Even if she had fallen asleep in my arms, as soon as I put her down, she would wake right back up.  So, she slept with me.  Sean and I tried sleeping in our bed with her between us, but for some reason she wouldn't fall asleep that way either.  So Christina and I ended up sleeping on the couch together, facing each other, with me on the inside and her on the outside, wedged in the crook of my arm.  I know all the baby books and doctors will tell you the couch is a terribly dangerous place for a newborn to sleep, as the baby could fall off in the middle of the night, but I slept so lightly that I woke up whenever she moved or made any noise at all.  We slept like that for about the first four months. (And yes, at one point I tried letting her "cry it out" in her crib, and I couldn't take it!)  Then she began to move around more in her sleep, and I really was afraid that she might fall off the couch.  So we slept on a spread-out sleeping bag in the living room.  I know I could have had us sleep in her room, but she woke up so frequently to nurse, and she would nurse for at least 20 minutes at a time, so I liked being somewhere I could just turn on the TV and zone out while she ate (I always had to sit up to breastfeed her, because Christina would never latch on when I was lying beside her.  And I seem to be incapable of falling asleep while sitting up.)

Around six months old, Christina somehow decided she was ok with going to sleep in her crib (I would try every now and then to put her down in there, but she usually just fussed and wanted right back out.), so that's what she did for a while.  And we've been back and forth ever since, between the crib and the floor (her bedroom floor now, not the living room).  Sometimes she's ok sleeping in her crib, and sometimes she wants to sleep next to me.  At this point, I put her down in her crib at the beginning of the night, but the first time she wakes up, I go in and cuddle with her on the sleeping bag to help her fall back asleep, and I inevitably end up staying in there until morning.  It works because Sean and I get some time to ourselves when she first goes down for the night, but I don't have to be awakened by his alarm in the morning, because by then I'm in with Christina.  Once she eventually sleeps all the way through the night, I'm sure I won't sleep in her room anymore, but for now, it's a work in progress!

And as far as food, I tried giving Christina baby food when she was six months old, and she would have none of it.  It didn't matter what flavor it was, it all made her gag.  I think it was the texture that bothered her.  So she breastfed pretty exclusively for about  the first year/year and a half.  After that the only thing she liked was crackers, cookies and other carbs (which, if you've read my earlier posts, you know hasn't changed much).  I kept nursing her as well to make up for the nutrients she wasn't getting from a balanced diet.  But she never did like baby food.

Anyway, when Christina was around 3 or 4 months old, I finally picked up The Baby Book by Dr. Sears (this was after I had read The Baby Whisperer, which I totally did not agree with).  I started reading all about Attachment Parenting, and I realized that's exactly what I'd been doing all along.  It was just instict to breastfeed on demand, rather than get Christina on some sort of schedule (I tried the schedule thing once, and it didn't work well for Christina or me.).  And I ended up baby-wearing and co-sleeping because it was the only thing that worked for me.

All this to say, I'm a big fan of Attachment Parenting, but I totally don't judge anyone who decides to do things a different way.  I know some moms who read a bunch of parenting books before they ever had kids and consciously decided what approach they were going to take.  But most parents are probably like me - just feeling things out and doing the best we can with the information we have.  We all have our different parenting "methods," but as long as we love our kids and have their best interests at heart, I think they'll turn out alright.

Christina's second haircut

Sean decided he wanted to me to get the car's oil changed today, so while I had the car, I decided to take Christina to get her hair cut.

She got her hair cut once before, about six months ago, at a cute little salon called Kids Kuts in Everett.  My step-mother-in-law (that's a confusing term, huh?) went with us and took a bunch of pictures.  Here's a sampling from that visit:

 

 

 

This time we went to a place called Fun Kuts in Lynnwood, and I must say I like this salon more than the other one.  The inside was just as cute, and they also had a big play area at the entrance with a bunch of toys for kids to play with while they waited.  Christina really enjoyed playing with the trains and the kitchen set.  The haircut itself was a couple bucks cheaper, but it included a shampoo, whereas at Kids Kuts they just sprayed water on her hair before cutting it.

 

The stylist/owner at Fun Kuts spent a lot more time working on Christina's hair - granted, Christina has a bit more hair to work with now (though not much - her hair grows so slow!).  Christina got some long layers cut in her hair to show off the curls.

 

 

She also got a blow dry, and the stylist added some curl cream.

 

Then she french braided the front of her hair and put in a little ribbon.  She even sprayed it with some product and then put sparkles in!

 

 

Christina just loved it, and so did I.  And all of this for only $20.  Granted, some might say that $20 is way too much to spend on a kids haircut, but Christina had a great time, and it was really an EXPERIENCE more than just a haircut.  So for me, it was totally worth it.

And of course, Christina wanted to check out the other "chairs."