This morning's conversation...
     We are sitting around watching Ratatouille and Isaac is playing with his farm animals when all of a sudden he stops, looks up at me and says...
     "Mmmmm...something smells good!"
     "Oh, really? Something smells good?"
     "Yes! A popsicle!"
     "A popsicle?!? Is that what you smell?"
     "Yes! I'll have one - thank you."
Just when I thought I couldn't see any resemblance between he and I... He's slick - you have to give him that! He's currently enjoying his grape popsicle! What a mess!!

This is probably one of my favorite restaurants!! It is just a mom-and-pop soup and sandwich place, but man it's good food!! If you're ever in Kentucky you'll have to try it out!!! I had the lovely pleasure of getting to eat there yesterday. If it tells you anything - I forgot to take a picture of the girls I was eating with and only took one of the restaurant. I apparently have some issues... I did meet up with three old friends who I used to work with. I have endured some of my hardest and most painful times as well as some of my sweetest and most awesome times with these women. They helped make me stronger in who I am as a woman and as a Christian - and I love them dearly. It was a nice afternoon. - Gina, Gwen and Barb - I love you!

Chris - I meant to post this yesterday, but your baby girl was up having a party around 3 in the morning - so by 9:30 last night I was passed out. Anyway, you asked me to keep you posted on what we were doing and what we looked like...so here's what we looked like yesterday. Haven't we changed? Kidding. Love you!!

Today was a little low key. Isaac is still trying to adjust to his new surroundings - so his sleeping and therefore listening abilities are a little lacking. He's having a blast with grandma and papa though and is coming up with some rather interesting new songs. It's kind of like 'speaking in tongues' set to music. Lacie is going with the flow - and has reached yet another milestone. Last week she rolled tummy to back - today she started rolling back to tummy. She is laughing or talking all of the time - which has grandma and papa grinning more than I've ever seen. Talked to Chris and it seems he spent most of last night enhaling drywall dust. For those of you who don't know - our house is trashed right now - I mean that quite literally. We had our one year repairs done Thursday and Friday last week and walked out of the house with every stick of furniture moved to the center of every room. Every picture sitting in a closet. And just for consistency - every wall has been patched and mudded - making sure that Chris has to redo them all. All of that to say Chris has a lot of work ahead of him over these next few weeks. And baby doll - I love you for it. Don't take it all on - do what you can. Remember to eat! Remember to sleep!! Because of our low key day - here are a few pics from our weekend. Both babies are now asleep - so I think I will join them.

This weekend was so much fun. The four of us traveled to West Virginia to see Tim and Emily's house and spend some time with them. Something that we hadn't been able to do and so terribly missed!! The extra cool part about it was that Chris' mom and dad, and younger brother John and his sweetheart Nicole came up too. We spent almost the entire weekend talking and playing hand-and-foot (to which Emily finally broke her 9 year losing streak - you go girl!) It was so cool to play and laugh together (turns out I can rock to 'guitar hero' and actually not get booed off of the stage - pretty cool - and of course I'm hooked on the game). We got to worship together - which is always a high for me - and I even got to sit and listen to Tim preach to his teens. (I am so proud of you by the way). For those of you who have spent even two seconds with me anytime lately you will know that the void of family has been heavy on my heart - so this weekend just rocked!! I am so terribly proud to call these guys my family.

Tim and Emily - I love you all more than I can express. I am so proud of the heart that you each have for Christ, for the way that you are caring for the teens of your church and the children of your community. I cannot wait for my little niece or nephew to come on the scene - no child will ever quite have been loved like this little one will be. Keep us up on the adoption! John - Nicole is a sweetie and I can't wait to get to know her more. I'm proud of all that you are doing to further the kingdom for Christ as you grow closer to Him as well. I love you all - thanks for the awesome weekend. Mom and Dad - thank you for allowing the kids and I to come crash your world for a few weeks. We love you so much. Chris - Thank you for the man that you are - my best friend. And the awesome job that you are doing as father to our two angels. And for the gift of your family - only you truly know what it means to me. I miss you terribly and can't wait to see you when we get home!

Here is the blog (insprired by recent events in the Cinnamon household) that I wrote for Journey Church...

Have you ever noticed that life is sometimes difficult, even painful? Over the last few weeks I have experienced some minor heartbreaks and witnessed those that I love endure unyielding ones. In my own humanness I, of course, want to avoid any such difficulties and would do anything to take such experiences away from those I care for so deeply. In the midst of such thoughts – God sweetly reminded me of something…

On Monday, I went into my four month olds room to wake her and get her ready for the day. As I walked to her crib – I noticed that she was lying on her back - a position I could not recall placing her in. As I began to think back to when I laid her down – I realized that I had in fact laid her on her tummy and that this could only mean one thing – she had rolled herself over! Wanting to verify that this is what she had done, I whisked her out of her crib and laid her, again, on her tummy - this time on the floor. Within seconds of laying her down – the frustration and tears began to well up inside of her. This was not a position that she wanted to be in. Worse than that, it was a position that she didn’t think she could get out of. She sobbed. She screamed. I can only imagine what must have gone through her little mind – knowing that I was right there, knowing that I could hear her cries and yet wasn’t ‘coming to her rescue’. And for a brief minute I even thought of reaching down, scooping her up and just holding her in my arms. But what would she learn through that? For a variety of reasons, learning to roll over is an important thing that she needed to know how to do. And while she couldn’t understand - I knew I needed to let her work through it. It took only a minute, though it must have felt like an eternity to her – and she easily rolled herself over. After much praising and many kisses – she now, just a few days later, can lay on her stomach much more contented knowing that when she is tired she can simply roll over.

What a strange, but sweet reminder from my God. There are difficulties, hardships, even pain that He allows for us to go through. In those moments we don’t understand, we don’t see an end or a way out and we find ourselves sobbing, screaming or even crying out in frustration. We know that He is there; we know that He can hear our cries, and we know that He could easily ‘come to our rescue.’ But often He doesn’t. He, knowing how enduring this difficulty will ultimately strengthen us or teach us, allows for us to experience it and work through it. Once we have – He stands ready to lavish us with His love. It is a pain that yields a comeback that often goes beyond description.

Today marked an exciting day here in the ol' Cinnamon house! Lacie rolled over!! Yeah Lacie!! As with anything that we try to accomplish for the first time - it was quite the struggle :) - wanted you all to share in the moment (although technically this was her second attempt!) Also my first attempt at camera work! Yeah Sarah! Enjoy!

Many people have asked me what it is like to now be a stay-at-home mom. While it took some adjusting at first (primarily becasue I was detoxing from a 50+ hour a week job and was pregnant) - I feel like I've gotten into a rhythm and absolutely love it. The one thing that I do miss however is adult conversation!! Don't get me wrong - Isaac is quite engaging - but it's just not quite the same as 'girltalk'. For example - here are a few of today's main topics...

    * My tummy's telling me I'm hungry (self explanatory)
    * I need a possible to feel me better (I need a popsicle to help me feel better).
     * I'm dancing with my peepee (Please don't ask).

It's these types of conversations that get me excited/nervous for what tomorrow holds! :) And keeps me loving life with my babies! (However, anyone up for a little 'girltalk' - feel free to give me a shout out any ol' time!!) :)

When you have a 3 year old and a 3 month old you often find yourself in the middle of conversations you never-in-a-million-years thought you would be in. I was sitting in the livingroom with Sarah yesterday and after changing Lacie's diaper Sarah said, 'Look at the color of that poop! How can it get so bright Green like that?' Good question, I guess. I really didn't want to look and at the time had no desire to find out why it was that color, but low-and-behold the internet has yet another useful feature - loads of crap (pun intended) you might need to know someday. You have to check out www.smellypoop.com for all the details on poop you never wanted to know. I found myself entertained and informed. I'm looking forward to the section called 'Facts on Farts'. Enjoy!
-Chris

 

FYI..." Green poop in sick babies may come from iron in baby formula not being properly absorbed, or by green pigments in bile salts (again, green from iron)."

Each night - we go through our normal bedtime routine and part of that is to pray. We have been trying to pray for our family by name so that we can plant that seed in Isaac, as there are several he has never met and all are hours away. My favorites that he prays for our 'Grandma Great' and 'Tuncle Tim'.  :)

Okay, now I do have a quick question to both sides of the family. I am trying to fill in Lacie's baby book and I have hit a glitch on the family tree. I need to know the full names of both sets of great-grandparents - in other words both Chris and my grandma and grandaddy Lacy, Cooke, Powell and Cinnamon. I have at least one name of each great-grandparent - but they have slots for first, middle and last names. And being a very melancholy, anal, and detail oriented kind of gal - it's driving me CRAZY to have these empty blanks. So any help would be much appreciated. :) I hate to be exclusive so those of you not in the family are welcome to guess. :)