Parental Problem Solving

Growing up I was around babies quite a bit - babysitting, cousins, nieces and nephews, and so on. So I kind of figured I would know what it would be like to take care of my own baby.

And while the feeding, diaper changing, bathing are basically the same for most babies, I never realized how much being a parent would be like playing in some sort of weird, never-ending problem solving game where you win by having a more content and happy baby. The loser's prize is a crying baby.

I think this is especially true when you're traveling with an infant. When we drove to my family's for Christmas, I had thawed some milk in case we needed to tide our daughter over for a short period of time in between stops. When Taylee started to stir I got the milk ready to put in the bottle, but it was a little cooler than she would like... so I turned on my heated seat and put the bag of milk there to take off the chill.
And when Taylor and I wanted to grab some lunch and take a quick bathroom break while Taylee was still sleeping we decided that Taylor would drop me off and I would run inside while he went through the drive through. Then, when I was done, I would run out and swap with him that way we still got our food but never had to disturb our daughter while she was sleeping and hopefully we could make better time.

Taylor and I felt pretty accomplished when we reached my mom and dad's after 6 hours without our daughter ever having a crying fit. But she made sure we didn't get too full of ourselves and gave us a nice dose of humility on the way back home a couple days later! ;)

Since my post-baby time management has not progressed enough yet for me to have regular blog posts, here are some things that have happened since my last one...

In October we took Taylee to her first K-State football game. As you can see she was very excited. ;)

Most of my family was able to come visit for Thanksgiving so we had a great time cooking, eating great food and playing games together.

While my family was visiting, we had Taylee baptized. In the Methodist Church, baptizing a baby is basically acknowledging the sacrifice Christ has made for that child. It was a special ceremony, but I look forward most to the day when I pray our daughter will make her own choice to accept Christ as her Savior and make Him Lord over her life.

In December we went to Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo. Taylee was a trooper!  She slept through both flights and handled all the travel amazingly well. 

Admittedly, until you have a baby, you never realize how loud some events are. We were really glad we had some ear protectors for Taylee during the rodeo what with the fireworks at the beginning, and loud music and commentating throughout the event.

This was at our favorite breakfast place in Vegas - Mon Ami Gabi. I would go to Vegas simply to eat here! :)

This Christmas was definitely different from any others we've had so far, but Christmas with a baby sure is a lot of fun! I absolutely love this photo from Christmas morning. :)

Whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Philippians 3:7

This recent Scripture really spoke to me.  As I start the new year, I pray God will help me to recognize those things in my life that separate me/keep me from being fully committed to Him, and then I pray He'll give me the strength to make the changes I need to so I can be completely His. I pray we all would be able to help each other in fellowship through these processes as well.

Hope you all are staying warm and safe in this winter weather!

Love,

Lyndee