SO PROUD! :)

Things are going well here @ the Millsaps house. Abby's getting accustomed to her big girl bed :) She knows not to come out of her room at night once we've put her to bed. Last night it took her about 30 minutes to call asleep, yesterdays nap was 15 minutes, todays nap, we'll see :) We also transitioned Christian into his own room yesterday. He didn't like his big boy crib :( He cried and cried, we went in a lot to calm him down and hold him. Abby was even saying "it's ok baby". So sweet! He's in there napping right now, doing great :)

This morning, Christian was up at 5- sad in his room so by the time I got him back to sleep at 6-, I was exhausted! Plus, we were up late watching Pirates 3 ;) Abby woke up at 8- and came running in, in a great mood and said "Mommy up"! haha It was funny having her come tell me to get up outta bed! Sweet moments! She was surprised too that Christian wasn't in our room!

I had to blog about my great day yesterday though. Abby was such a sweetheart. We got her haircut at the mall and I told her if she was a good girl she could have cookies. Well, we bought 6 mini-chocolate chip cookies then swung by Robby's office to say hello. When I gave her a cookie, she asked "one more for Daddy"? The look in her face and the way she said that meant that she wouldn't eat that cookie unless there was one for daddy. That was such a selfless act, wanting daddy to have one since she'd already had one :) Ah, melted my heart! (BTW, we're not eating desserts these days, New Years Resolutions!!!!! We're both 6 pounds thinner, believe it or not! Amazing how much weight we lose when I cook! ha!)

Christian is 3 months old today. This is my all time FAVORITE age of babies! He's so much more alert, on a schedule, sleeping through the night! Everything is exciting to him! He loves sisters kisses too :) He's reaching for toys and able to hit and grab at things now too. His hand/eye coordination skills are really starting to show! So impressive!

Life is so good. God is good :) Robby has been awesome this week too helping me get everything done around here, furniture moved, tree put away. He even took my truck in for an oil change (I also had a light out) so that I wouldn't have to take the kids and entertain them while we waited :)

I thought I'd post this cute picture of the kids today! Now that Abby has her own TV, I posed some pics with her and Christian :)

On a spiritual note...

Our Pastors wife spoke yesterday at Bible study and I wanted to share some of the points that stuck with me :)

First, how we're called to obey the law of the land even down to the littlest rules. How we need to set an example for our children and for people around us. This means, obeying traffic laws which are there for our safety. Bringing the trash cans in on time, not taking candy and drinks into the movies when it says "NO OUTSIDE FOOD". Obeying the Home Owners association laws. Putting our grocery carts back in the holders when we're done instead of abandoning them in the parking lot! (I'm especially guilty of that one since I have both kids in the cart, I just leave it wherever I parked!) This will help teach our children to respect authority, ultimately God is the authority in our lives and if we don't obey the laws, why would our children? We need to not disregard the authorities in our life. That means, our bosses, our government and our Pastors. We submit ourselves to authorities for "the Lord's sake". Honoring the laws honors and gives glory to Him :) We don't want our children to think that God's rules are too restrictive and reject Him. We do not want to be the reason our kids deny Christ.

Romans 13:1-2 Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

Another authority over us is our spouses. Recognizing that God put Robby as the head of our household and learning to submit to and obey what he says. This has always been tough for me, I always have comebacks or an opinion to share. Bear with me, I'm working on it! A great book I'm reading (slowly) which I recommend, "The Excellent Wife". Someday I'll grab my book and do a post on all I've been learning from it!

Carlynn also spoke on what would our society be like if we did not have laws? Laws are in place to commend those who do right and punish those who do wrong. We would be in danger if we lived in a lawless society.

Thankfully, the small sacrifices God asks of us in this age are miniscule compared to Christians who lived before us. We're not stoned in the streets or cruicified for preaching Gods word. Daniel 6:4-5 shows a great example of how others should view us. "The commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption, inasmuch as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him. Then these men said, "We shall not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God. Reading this passage, if we do the right thing, if we keep the rules, others will only be able to slander us for doing the right thing and obeying the rules! we want to make sure we're a good example too, to our neighbors, in line at the grocery store, driving on the roads. People are watching :)

Another good point. How often do we take advantage of the grace God has given us? Do we continue to sin, knowing He's forgiven us anyway? James 4:17 Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin. This great verse found in Romans 6:1-2 says What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Another verse, Hebrews 10:26 For it we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.

The choices we make daily, are they going to help or hinder others? Heaven or Hell is in the balance! We do live forever, it's our choice where we will spend eternity.

Favorite moments of the holiday season

This year, Robby and I invested in a manger scene for our front yard. We thought, it'd be great for our neighbors to see, plus, we didn't put my Grandpa's hand crafted manger out this year so the kids wouldn't destroy it! Well, every day, multiple times a day, Abby loved to see the manger scene. In the morning, afternoon and night time, she'd look out the window to see if the wind had blown Mary, Joseph and Jesus over. We'd go get the mail and she'd have to run over and give these life size statues kisses and say hello. When we'd leave the driveway, Abby'd wave and excitedly say "bye Jesus!"

It was exciting to see Abby learn about Jesus this year. We'd read her the story of Jesus being born in a manger, Mary riding a donkey, there was no room in the inn, angels shouting glory in the highest! We'd fish reading and she'd say "again, read again please".

We put Mary, Joseph and Jesus away today but I had to take a picture of them to help remember this special Christmas moment :)

Crazy few days

I'm taking a few minutes away from my non napped toddler to write a blog about what's been going on this week at the Millsaps :)

This past weekend, Robby and I took the kids up to Ikea to invest in a new "big girl bed" for Abby. That involved painting Christian's bedroom, disassembling Abby's crib for Christian's room, reassembling the crib, assembling the big girl bed and washing sheets for both bed and crib. We also moved out the entertainment cabinet from Christians room to put in the playroom so the kids can watch DVDs. We still have yet to put the TV and DVD player back and move Christian's dresser.

This has been quite a challenging week with Abby since we're trying to get her to sleep in her new bed. The first night (Sunday), we didn't have her nap in the afternoon and it took her 90 minutes before she fell asleep. The next day, she fell asleep at nap time in 30 minutes. Last night, she went to bed in 30 minutes, no complaint at all. Today........NO NAP! She stayed in her room for almost 2 HOURS and no nap. :( Hopefully it won't be this challenging tonight. It's been cute hearing her wake up in the morning though, she won't come out of her room until we say ok :) She just stands at her door and talks to me till I say, you can get up now :)

Christian will be 3 months old on the 10th. He's getting so big and so much more alert! He's still sleeping through the night (8:00pm to 6:00am) which I am SO thankful for. I have yet to transfer him into his own room. Robby says he's an easy roommate ;) Abby will be 2 on Saturday the 12th :)

It'll be nice to be back in a routine this week. Women's Bible Study resumes tomorrow and Thrive Thursday! For now it's back to watching Abby who's entertaining herself quietly in the playroom next to me. She loves to put her toys away in the new entertainment cabinet :)