Monday, November 30, 2015

Why we don't stress too much about Quinn throwing a tempter tantrum...

Quinn attempted to throw a tantrum over dinner (spaghetti) tonight. He stomped his feet and crossed his arms and made a big pouty face and then dumped his plate over on the table. Then he waited for a reaction. He didn’t get any so he loudly declared he wasn’t eating anything and threw a pinch of sauce on the floor. He didn’t get a reaction again, so he loudly informed us that he had thrown sauce on the floor. Still not getting a reaction he wanted, he marched over to a kitchen counter and threw a dirty washcloth on the floor and stomped on it. That washcloth was his undoing.

I said, “Quinn, that washcloth is dirty and needs to be washed. Could you throw it in the washing machine for me?” He frowned and stomped some more, but took the washcloth to the washing machine.Then he came back and very poutily informed us that he wanted to make the washing machine go, so I asked him to take the kids’ dirty clothes down to the washing machine. He quickly complied, filled the washing machine, then I helped him measure detergent and press the go button. Then he returned to the table, cleaned up his spaghetti and most of the sauce without being asked, and ate his whole dinner.

This, my dear Quinn, is exactly why mommy and daddy don’t worry too much when you have a temper tantrum. You might make a mess and bluster a bit, but you often clean up after yourself when you’re done. :)

(And, yes, we work on teaching appropriate ways of expressing anger and frustration but those moments don't make for a funny story.)

Saturday, November 7, 2015

Hello, Baby Girl!

At long last, we (and you) finally get to meet our new baby!


She was born at 1:45am on November 7th, 2015. She weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 21 inches long.



Her name is Kira Elise.

Kira-- from the ancient greek related to "lady" or referencing a position of authority
Elise-- a form of Elizabeth, meaning "my God is my promise/abundance/sufficient"

The name Kira is inspired by the prayer "Kyrie Eleison" ("Lord, have mercy"). (Short version. Long version.) "Kyrie" is the masculine, direct address form of the Greek word "kyrios", which means "Lord." The feminine form is "kyria"--"lady" (link). The name Kira is actually the feminine form of the root word/name that kyrios came from, Cyrus/Kyros (link).

I love learning the origin of names, so digging through all those related words was a lot of fun for me. There are several other languages that have the name Kira in them, too, but we are going with the Greek origins because of the relation of the name to the Kyrie Eleison. In our minds, her name, though it means "lady", will also always been related to the mercy of the Lord.








Welcome to the world, our precious girl. We hope that you will be a lady of mercy and will always find strength in the presence of the Lord's mercy and sufficiency in your life.