You know they say that babies change your life.  Well, they are right.  Babies definitely change your life.  I was asked the other day what we did before Jessi came along.  Now that our daughter is just about 6 months old, I had to stop and think about it.

Now that we have a baby, I get home from work and we sit on the floor and play for a couple hours with a walk thrown in there every other day or so.  But before, what did we do?  We still did the beach and walks.  We also watched a bunch of shows and went places.  We pretty much did whatever we wanted.  Well, it’s a bit different now.  So different in fact that some where between the end of 24 or the World Cup and the start of college football our HD disappeared.

But now we are into a rhythm with our sleeping habits and bedtimes.  Plus all the new seasons and new shows are coming on.  So for all you people out there who aren’t against TV and haven’t sworn it off, what should we watch?  We like comedy, action, thriller, suspense.  We will likely be attempting to keep up with The Office, Community, Family Guy, Chuck and Fringe.  That may be more than enough.  We may have to get a babysitter just to have a show marathon.

But what say you?  What are we missing out on (after the baby is in bed of course)?  What is the fall 2010 Must See TV?

So I know this is a little out of the normal order of things around here, but I just couldn’t pass up this video any longer.  My daughter is now 5 1/2 months old and is growing up before our very eyes (I guess that phrase works for almost every kid…except for Benjamin Button).  We have been trying out several different types of solid foods the latest being nectarines, peas and plums.

One of my favorite things about this whole parenting thing is watching and realizing the craziness of all the firsts.  I’m not talking about the walking or talking or whatever.  I mean the first time she experiences things.  The first time she tries to laugh but can’t because she doesn’t know how.  The first time she tastes something sweet but doesn’t know what to do because she has never had sweet before.  The first time she is tickled but doesn’t realize it’s funny.

Fortunately since my wife and I have been blogging and videoing all the time, we have caught many of these on camera.  This one is so amazing I have just watched it over and over and over.  Not like her first real laugh.  Not like a daddy looking at his growing daughter.  Not like that.  I watch this one over and over and over because I laugh so hard it hurts.  I’m not a crier, but I have already laughed so hard at this video that I have had tears streaming down my face!

Yeah.  It’s that good.  I recommend repeatedly restarting the video at about 12 seconds.  And cue the tears.

Our little girl is almost 4 months old now.  We have had some good times and some bad times when it comes to putting her to bed.  Sometimes we have multiple times in one night.  But the one thing that stays the same every night is that my wife and I want to help her rest, eat and sleep.

As I was putting her to bed last night the thought occurred to me.  We are just like my little girl.  Our loving Daddy, God, wants us to rest in Him.  But just like my her we fight and squirm and try to get away.  Sometimes we just don’t feel worthy of it.  Other times we think we know how to do it on our own.  Or we just want to do something else.  But no matter what the situation is, Daddy knows what’s best for us.  He knows we need to rest in Him and when we don’t we suffer.

Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?

Psalm 127:2

Are you tired?  Worn out?  Hurting?  Wanting?  Rest in your Daddy’s arms.  Don’t worry.  He wants you to.

Sometimes I sit back and realize how insanely “lucky” I am.  Our family is.  My wife is.  My daughter is.  Last night was one of those nights.  Everything just kinda seems so heavy and I can’t help but be grateful for this life.

I have the most gorgeous wife.  She loves us and takes care of us.  My daughter seriously couldn’t be cuter.  She is smart and growing and healthy.  She loves me and thinks I’m funny.  You can’t beat that!  We live in a gorgeous town that we have been blessed to call home.  We get to see palm trees and ocean.

We have amazing families on both sides and love us and are there for us.  We have free internet and  cable.  We have vehicles that work properly and get us from point A to point B.  We get to support a young girl in Africa.  We live off of more than $1 a day.  We have clean water.  We have a God that loves and forgives us.

That’s just a glimpse of how I’m a “lucky” guy.  What about you?  How are you “lucky”?

Every night as I check on my almost 4 month old daughter I take some time and pray for her. I pray for health. I pray for safety. I pray for sleep! I pray for strength and guidance as her daddy to raise her right. I thank God for her. It’s easy. She’s my baby girl! It comes natural. I don’t struggle at all to pray for her.

But as I was praying for her last night I realized that I have not been following Jesus’ words. In Matthew 5 Jesus tells us to love our enemies and pray for those that hurt you. I’m not doing that. There is a boy (maybe even not born yet) out there that right now is my enemy. As terrible as that is to say, I am NOT ok with the fact that my baby girl is gonna have boyfriends and one day get married. She is my little baby that has mommy and daddy as her whole world! Any boy that wants to mess that up is not a friend of mine…right now. I mean that’s down right persecution if you ask me! Dang boys.

So I realized as painful as it may be, I should be praying for all of her future and that includes boys. I am told to love my future son-in-law and pray for all those boyfriends that are gonna hurt my heart (and possibly earn a plot of land in our backyard). It’s not easy. I don’t wanna go there. I don’t wanna be ok with that. But I have to. Jesus told me to.

It’s time to man up.

What about you? Who are you supposed to be praying for that you are struggling to bring up with God?

One year and 2 days ago I gave my wife the best birthday gift I could have ever given her.  Because of the awesomeness of this gift we had to count it as her birthday and Christmas gifts all wrapped into one.  Even if that is the case and she had it to do all over again, I am sure she would do it in a heartbeat.

367 days ago my wife got the one thing she has wanted the most.  A little baby girl.  We didn’t know all that yet or any of the details at all, but needless to say, we had a pretty good birthday.  Fastforward to today.  My wonderful, amazing, sexy, awesome, and every other positive feminine descriptive word you can think of wife turns __ years old today.  (See that?  I didn’t even get myself in trouble for asking or telling a woman’s age!…That is a bad thing right?  Well, if not you can ask her yourself.)

KK, the last 3 or so years of my life with you have been the absolutely best.  I cannot begin to describe (except by beginning with that) how much I love, respect and cherish you!  (Can guys use the word cherish?)  Happy birthday, baby!  Sorry I ruined birthday presents for the rest of your life.  None of them will ever be as amazing as our little Jessi James!

I hope you have this much fun on your birthday this year!

Ladies and gentlemen, my daughter is the cutest thing in the world.  If you have a baby, don’t look at pictures of her because I don’t want you to feel bad.  I spent a large portion of the day yesterday just hanging out with my Little One.  We played and slept and laughed and ate and pooped all day.  KK took some “me time” and went shopping.  It was a great Saturday.  Know what follows Saturday?  Yup.  Sunday.  Here’s the setlist for Kingsfield Church!

All Because Of Jesus – Fee – We Shine
Healer – Hillsong – This Is Our God
Closer – Charlie Hall – Flying Into Daybreak
Salvation Is Here – Hillsong United – Look To You

I am so blessed.  I am blessed far beyond what I deserve.  I am blessed with a job.  With a huge family that supports me.  With beautiful surroundings.  With a dog that pees every time I get home because he is so excited to see me.  With material things.  With freedom.  With so many other things.

But more than all that l I am blessed with my wife and daughter.  I cannot physically write out all the ways that my wife is amazing.  I can’t physically do it.  She loves me.  Takes care of me.  Cooks for me.  Runs errands for me.  She is such a good mom, too!  She has an amazing ability to comfort our daughter.  She loves her.  Takes care of her.  Sacrifices so much for her.  I could not ask for more.  But I got more.  I have a little daughter who I can’t get enough of.  She is healthy and strong.  She has the most capturing smile and laugh.  I literally can’t get enough of it!  She smiles and laughs and I just want her to do it again!

I don’t know why I have been given so much.  I can’t imagine living without them now.  I don’t know why, but I am so blessed.

I love you, girls.

It’s hard to believe that Jessi is four weeks old today.  That is insane.  (We are celebrating by going to Catalyst West Coast and getting our spiritual learning on.)  Seriously, it seems like just last week we brought her home from the hospital and we spent the next two weeks trying to figure out how to convince her to stop screaming and go to sleep.  Yeah, we are still working on that one.

It’s crazy to see her growing and developing so quickly.  She came out holding her head up on her own quite a bit, but now she does it all the time.  Now when we try to burp her she tries to crawl up us!  Even Jack is warming up to her.  He still sniffs her every chance he gets, but he has also been caught curling up next to her.  It seems like every day she is making more and more cute little noises.  Before long she is gonna be chasing the dog around, pulling his hair and giggling the whole way…at least I hope so since that means she won’t be screaming and crying the whole time!

Well, happy four weeks, Jessi Girl.  Soon enough I am gonna be trying to convince you that boys are gross!