Day 2 of of my "something new"

Perhaps my prayers for Brian will be offered up on a Monday through Friday schedule.  It's much easier for me to put it in my weekly schedule than it is for me to find time to steal away during the weekend. 
Since it is Monday morning I don't have much time to share, but wanted to post another prayer.  I appreciate those who are encouraging me during this time and I'm so honored that you'd read through this prayer - and perhaps offer up the words towards your spouse.

"Lord, I commit our finances to You.  Be in charge of them and use them for your purposes.  May we both be good stewards of all that you have blessed us with and walk in total agreement as to how it is to be dispersed.  I pray that we will learn to live free of burdensome debt.  Where we have not been wise, bring restoration and give us guidance.  Show me how I can help increase our finances and not descresse them unwisely.  Help us to remember that all we have belongs to you, and to be grateful for it.  I pray that Brian will find it easy to give to you and to others as you have instructed us in your Word.  Give him wisdon to handle money wisely.  Help him to make good decision as to how he spends.  Show him how to plan for the future.  I pray that he will find perfect balance between spending needlessly and being miserly.  May he always be paid well for the work he does and may his money not be stolen, lost, devoured, destroyed or wasted.  Multiply it so that what he makes will go a long way.  I pray that he hwill not be anxious about finances, but will seek your kingdom first, knowing that as he does, we will have all we need."

In Jesus' name,
Amen.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me.

The start of something new

Usually people start something new in the NEW YEAR!  However I have thought long and hard about what I want to do differently this year.  Of course I want to make more memories as a family, make healthier choices, and grow closer to the Lord, but specifically...what do I want to do? 

I've decided specifcially I'd like to pray for my husband more.  This won't be terribly difficult because unfortunately it does not happen often now.  This should not be!  I want 2013 to be a year where we grow closer and begin to "train up our child" with good examples of how a husband and wife come together. 

Prayer has always been something I do throughout the day, but never really stopped and focused in on praying, you know?  I will start small at first and build from that point.  Every once in a while I will share a prayer on my blog.  I'd like to do that today because I really like this prayer.  A close friend gave me these little notecards with prayers from the book, "Power of a Praying Wife." 

I have a feeling I will be sharing a lot of them with you.  I encourage you to take a minute or two and lift up the same prayer for your husband (or wife for that matter). 

"Lord, I pray that You would protect our marriage from anythign that would harm or destroy it.  Shield it from our own selfishness and neglect, from the evil plans and desire of others, and from unhealthy or dangerous situations.  May there be no thoughts of divorce or infidelity in our hearts and none in our future.  Set us free from past hurts , memories, and ties from previous relationships and unrealistic expemctations of one another.  I pray that there be no jealousy in either of us, or the low self-estemm that precedes that.  Let nothing come into our hearts and habits that would threaten the marriage in any way, especially influences like alcohol, durgs, gambling, pornography, luch, or obsessions.  Unite us in a bond of friendship, commitment, generosity, and understanding.  Eliminate our immaturity, hostility or feeling of inadequacy.  Help us to make time for one another alon, to nurture and renew the marriage and remind ourselves of the reasons we were married in the first place.  I pray that Brian will be so commited to You, Lord, that his commitment to me will not waiver, no matter what storms may come.  I pray that our love for each other will grow stronger every day, so that we will never leave a legacy of divorce to our children. "

All of this I agree with...in Jesus' name. 
Amen.

8 Months!

 YAY!!!  Claire is 8 months old this weekend! I tell ya, she just gets more fun the older she gets! I love it.  We had a lovely weekend while Dad was out snowboarding.  We definitely missed him, but we also had a good time while he was gone.  We took some time to take her 8 month-old pics - which I did NOT realize she had her size 6 month jeans on!  OOPS!  I thought her little gut stuck out a bit much!  lol
Oh well - she's still adorable.  She's quite the little model - with putting her hands behind her head and doing a pouty-face. 

Here's my big girl standing up with just a little help!  I just can't believe that in no time at all she will be able to push that thing all by herself.  Right now she just stands there and doesn't move her feet at all.  She sure has fun standing - she absolutely loves it!  The toy she has in the picture is one that plays cool jazzie versions of kiddo songs.  We also have another great one with a barnyard theme.  She is just too fun to watch as she goes through her day discovering new things.  She's super close to crawling - it's not even funny!  Below you will see a series of a few pics.  I thought for sure this was it!  But once she got into the crawling position she gave up and flattened out.  It will not be long!!!  Get those gates up on the stairs!!!

New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  Ha - ya I know a little late!  Oops!  I have kept thinking, "Boy - I really need to do a new blog post."  Then...well...then life happens.

Rather than go into a ton of details and such I think I will briefly share what's going on right now in the Shoebox household.

Brian is getting ready to go on a snowboarding trip.  He's super excited and can't wait for the upcoming trip.  I hope he has a tremendous time because things aren't looking good for him going out any other time for the rest of the winter season.

On that note - Claire has started physical therapy.  She has been diagnosed with toticollis.  It sounds more daunting than what it is.  If you want to learn more click here. I've done some google-image searches and have found that Claire's case is extremely mild compared to some other babies out there! WOW!  Therapy is on Mondays and will likely be mid-afternoon and thereby ruining any opportunity for Brian to get out to the "slopes."  (one of many sacrifices he's made for our little monster)

Her 1st appointment was yesterday and she did SO well!  The therapist moved her around, stretched her, rolled her etc...and she really didn't even fuss.  She was soooo good! (no surprise here haha)  I hope the subsequent appointments are the same.

I'm starting a new job!  YAY!  I will be working at TransTech in Itasca.  This will end my days of commuting to the city.  I really did want to make it work.  There's just something so cool about working in the city.  The only NOT cool thing is when the people who live in the city look down at you and think you're lame because you're from "the burbs."  In their minds you have no interesting stories, your weekends suck, and you lead an underwhelming life.  Oh well - they will see the light someday.

We have decided to stay in our townhome for a couple more years.  This decision results in a couple things. 1) we will need to be more budget focused so we can save $$ for a big down payment for a single family home later on 2) more updating our home.  I have a couple close friends who blog about home renovation...I might be joining the cause! 3) we don't have to move/put up the house for sale soon YAY! WIN!

Ok - I believe that's all for now.  I will leave you with a few fun pics of my favorite baby ever.

My big girl is standing!

She loves her vanity set!

Look how tall she sits!

Lol - sleeping + holding foot

I'm 7 months!

Merry Christmas 2012!

What a great first Christmas for Claire (and us). We made it through Brian's crazy holiday schedule all in one piece and were off to Michigan for Christmas Eve mass and lots of family time! We left our home bright and early Monday morning and stopped at Cranial-tech and made sure her docBand was fitting as best it can, then stopped at Chic-Fil-A for breakfast then made our journey to Michigan.

We arrived in the afternoon and no sooner did we get settled...it started snowing! Big fluffy flakes! It was so beautiful! How wonderful that the snow held off until we made it safe and sound.

Christmas Eve gift exchange was fun, as always, and we all stuffed our faces with all the yummy food brought by everyone in the family. Fondue, meatballs, little wieners, homemade bread, veggies, dips...just and endless supply of foods to keep your plate full!

Christmas morning was full of much the same...only add about 100 gifts in the mix! Hour after hour of taking turns opening big and little treasures. The most rewarding thing is watching someone open your gift to them and seeing a genuine look of approval. It's also very exciting to see Christmas through the kids eyes! Every gift is a new and exciting adventure to dive into.

Now we have this weekend to look forward to because grandma Linda and grandpa Don are visiting. Even more wrapping paper for Claire to attempt to eat! Hopefully soon I can post some highlights of this weekend and our trip!

 

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6 months!

Quick update!

I just had to post and talk about how my baby is a whole SIX months old!  She's just about 16lbs and is getting more and more fun!  She has 2 bottom teeth and she has slept through the night quite a bit lately!

It's a typical December and it's hectic as usual.  Having a baby definitely adds a twist!  We made it through the 1st week of "holiday" and now we have 2 more weeks ahead of us.  Crazy!

Hmmm - 6 months...well Claire now eats just about any vegetable (except peas), any fruit (we haven't tried prunes) and we are now introducing MEAT!  Gross!  Meat in a jar just isn't right. Ever.  We are starting with Chicken & Apples (yes - both in the same container, that is a real-life mixture) and Turkey and Sweet Potatoes.  I figured we should ease her into the "meat" idea with a couple things she already likes. It's worked well so far!

Ok - I believe a couple of months have lapsed since I posted her "monthly milestone" pics!

Let's get ready to rumbaaaaaaal....

So when I was a child my dad always watched boxing. I never really understood what was so exciting about it. As a child it was sooooo boring. (Ok I admit, I still think it's boring)

One thing I always looked forward to was when Michael Buffer would get into the ring and say the phrase he's so well known for, "Lets get ready to RUMBLE." He made it sound SO exciting!

Anyway, I bring all this up because my little girl is now wearing what looks like a boxing helmet. It's not the same material, but the shape definitely reminds me of those helmets the boxers wear! Haha. I'm actually considering painting it like one and putting "everlast" on it.

I picked her up from daycare today and she had one of their "loner" shirts on, only it happened to be a boy onesie that's red and blue with a football on it! Lol, she totally looked like a boy! I definitely need to girl her up a bit with this new addition.

She will wear it anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks. We are hoping it's closer to 4! It's been kind of a pain to deal with...she just looks so incredibly uncomfortable! I can't even imagine what it's like sleeping in the thing! She has adjusted pretty well. I think she has a hard time staying asleep right now because she also has a bit of a cold right now. Poor baby. She's still in good spirits though and is taking it like a champ.

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