Growing up

This is Cliffy B on Tuesday....the day I had been dreading.

 

A while back I wrote a post called To Cut or Not to Cut.  People were expecting it to be about his hair, but alas, it was about circumcision.  Perhaps it was a sneaky title..but that's just because Itty Bitty was born with so much hair. So. Much. Hair.  Fear not, this is the hair post you've been waiting for.

 

My mom and sisters have been all over me to have his hair cut.  Everytime we were around them I was harassed.  I got a lot of "it is in his eyes!" and "lose the sweatband" comments. 

When we moved Maggie I was lectured again about his bangs. 

I pinned them back. 

I was lectured about the pin. 

"He is a boy!" 

Choose one.  Accept the long bangs, or accept the pin.

The family choose neither.

 

So, after much delaying and dodging, I finally picked the day and set up Cliffy B's appointment.

He was having a long crazy hair day....

 

Cliff, as always, was in good spirits.

 

 

He thinks his Aunt Mag is funny.

 

 

He is a super ham.

 

 

He is just a ladies man.  Plus we all know how Maggie likes to put the smooch down on handsome guys.

 

 

He sat like a big boy in his bumbo chair and got his hair all sprayed down.

 

 

I admit, it was long...and in his eyes.

 

 

He was as calm as could be.

 

 

Then the cutting started...

 

 

He adjusted to it for a minute...

 

 

then decided it was hilarious!

 

 

It was really becoming a gentleman's haircut.

 

 

Turns out he has my cowlicks.

 

 

He also has very delicious fists.

 

 

When he was all done I scooped his hair into a little baggie for his baby book.

And I teared up a bit....he just looks so big!

 

How is Cliff so old at 4 months?  How did this happen!?

 

 

Aunt Mag threw a little product in his bangs and bam!

Happy exploded all over his little face.

 

 

Hair cuts are awesome!

 

 

Thanks Aunt Mag!

 

 

We love you and Cliff's new do!

 

Daddy time

There are a few things I didn't realize about becoming a mom.

 

One thing I didn't expect was how my heart would go all grinchy and swell 3 times bigger when I see Zac and Cliff together. 

 

But it does.

Every single time.

 

 

In the evenings, we kick it together as a family. 

We are diligent about Cliffy B having a bath and bed routine.  He always gets a bath, gets dressed and nurses himself to sleep....but sometimes we take a little time to play first. 

 

 

Itty Bitty loves to fly around.  He belly laughs about it. 

So does Zac.

 

Cliff Stu can't control his own face though, so this lean he has going is to avoid Zac being drool bombed.  Our bed got the worst of it. 

 

Again, notice the ridiculous drool hanging from his mouth. 

 

Luckily he is so cute, no one cares.

 

 

How handsome is my little man?!

 

 

I can't get over his sweet chubby arms :)

 

 

I am still surprised everyday that he has blue eyes. 

He is gonna be a lady man.

 

 

See how sweet these two are together?

Ford loves his daddy. 

 

And his daddy loves him right back.

 

 

They aren't even yours and I can feel you ladies getting misty eyed. 

I get it. 

I just love them so bad!

 

Ow Now Brown Couch

Zac and I are moving.  Not anytime soon mind you, but we sure are moving.  

I am pumped about it.

Not so pumped about the renovations....

We have a lot of work to do for sure.

One of the things I am excited about though, is our new couch. 

Our current couch sucks.  Bad.

Mom and Dad bought it for my graduation present when I earned my first degree.  

I loved it.  

I have always liked the look of it, but it has it's downfalls.  It's not terribly deep.  

Zac and I cannot lay down on it together, which is lame....

But not as lame as the fact that this is the current state of the couch...  

(yes, the picture is sideways.  I can't care.)

Yeah, that is a giant rip in my couch.  

I told Zac that we needed to get a new couch.  

He told me it was not that important.  We didn't need one. 

I reminded him that we are too old to have furniture like this.  

So I started saving, and I finally had enough to go shopping. 

Store #1 had a couch I loved.  

Bought. 

Done.

Ladies and gents, say hello to my new couch!

It is awesome. 

Looks like leather, is actually microfiber so I won't be in this same situation again.

It is also super deep.  Like twin sized bed deep.  Finally Zac will have a couch that is big enough for him.  We both can lay together and watch a movie.  

It is super comfortable.  

It is not being delivered until after the Krouse is done. 

Delayed gratification.....

The rest of the family seems to dig it too.  

I love it.  Even if it makes Mom and Annie looks like Lily Tomlin. 

New Look

If you will all recall, Cliff was born with a head full of hair.  

By 2 months, it was not just long, but....big. 

Now that he is 4 months, his hair is getting pretty darn long.  

Maggie is after me constantly to cut it.  

I say that he is a mini-Sampson and his strength comes from his hair.  

Maggie says I am wrong.  His hair gets in his eyes and his lack of motor control keeps him from pushing it out of the way and he gets pissed.  

She might have a valid point.  

I, however, found a better solution.  For Christmas, Cliffy B was gifted sweatbands.  That's right. 

SWEATBANDS!

At first, he was not so sure....

After the initial shock, it started to grow on him.  

Then I realized that he was mostly mad about being held....

And in his swing he was content and looking quite sporty.  

That's what sweatbands do for you.  

Keep your hair out of your face (mostly) and enhance your natural athleticism.  

BOOM!

Go sweatbands!

My favorite elf

I am happy to say that my little elf participated in Christmas pictures with Santa.

 

I knew when he put on that smirky smile that it was going to be a great shot.

 

I was right....

 

 

 

I was a little disappointed, however, when I picked Cliffy B up off of Santa's lap and realized the reason for the smirk. 

 

Shat pants.

Like, shat clear through his pants and desecrated Santas lap. 

Sorry Santa.....

Merry Christmas.

 

Salty

You all, by this point, know that I love New Hope.

It is a church that leaves me thinking for an entire week about the sermon, and that's the kind of church I want to attend. 

 

Please, let this be a formal invite from me.....If you are looking for a church, you are more than welcome to come check out New Hope.  I'd be happy to have you attend with me any Sunday.  You pick the date, and show up and catch a ride with Clifford and I.  Seriously.  Do it.

 

Now that the inviting is over...time for the post.

 

On Sunday we talked about a strengthening our communities and what we need to do/who we need to be to do so. One of the verses we talked about was Matthew 5:13 that states

 

¹³ “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."

 

If you will recall, salt used to have a more significant impact on people's day to day lives, as it was a major preservative.  Still is, but today most people aren't messing around with curing their own meats...

 

Anyway, notice the second sentence in the verse, "salt loses its saltiness."  Salt is a chemical compound that is incapable of losing its "saltiness."  The only way for salt to become less salty, is to cut its purity. 

 

Think about those 2 things for a minute.  We are to be the salt of the earth.  The "preservatives" of God's purpose on earth.  The way we fail at this, is to lose our purity.

Pretty darn easy to do.

 

In the world we live in, we are constantly bombarded with distractions from our Christian purpose, which is to spread the word of God, be reflections of his unconditional love, and draw others nearer his kingdom so that they might repent and be saved in Jesus' name. 

That is it.  That's our job.

 

Most of us identify ourselves as the things that we do.  I, for example, am a wife, a mother, a chiropractor....but am I the salt of the earth?  Am I more focused on the things I do each day that earn me those titles, than I am on my faith?  Absolutely.  Some days I miss the point entirely.  Some days I sit next to one of my best friends and watch Jersey Shore, and am unaffected by the gross absence of Christ in their lives. I am literally sitting next to my friend that doesn't attend church, and I'm unaffected by the absence of Christ in HER life.  And the more I sit, the more I am immersed in  a society and culture that not just ignores the presence of God, but can be openly antagonistic to those that are faithful, that mocks morality, the less salty I become.....and the easier it is to become so. 

 

One thing that I have found to be true, is that the higher I rose in academia, the more the people around me had dismissed God as some sort of ridiculous mythological being.  Belief in God, in Jesus, was part of lower level thinking. Generally speaking, I frequently saw that our intelligent minds (that God gave us) have become too "educated" to believe in Him.

We have become a society that must see to believe.  That wants data to prove facts.  That has no interest in the conjecture we call faith.  A society that wants to blame gun control, or absence of God in our schools and government for the evils that occur due to a lack of God IN OUR HEARTS!    

 

We have stopped "preserving" our faith.  I would venture to say that we spend more time shopping for each other at Christmas than we do praying for each other at Christmas.  The purity of our belief  system is being diluted.  Chipped away at by the societal status quo, and we just sit and watch and judge. 

 

We are called to be the light of the earth.  That light does not come from us.  It is a reflection of God's love for all of us!  Just imagine how much room we would have in our lives for God, if we got rid of some of the things that are diluting our purity. 

Imagine how much God could move in the lives of others, if they just accepted the possibilty that He exists...imagine how much he could move in your life if you accept Him. 

 

These are the things I need to focus on (that I will pray for others to focus on). 

I need to start cutting out some of the distractions and the things that make it easy for me to list my faith and salvation below #1 on my list of priorities. 

 

I have got to work on being more salty.

 

3 months

Guess who is now more than 3 moths old?  

Unbelievable isn't it?

He is now 17lbs, and just about to move out of 3-6 month clothes. 

Enjoy.

Oh Fordy Stu, you are amazing.