mmmmm pears!

So Seth's newest fascination: pears.  It started by him sneaking in a taste of my apple one day, and it has now turned into "I want to eat everything my mom is eating!!!".  So every morning Seth sits in his bouncer while I eat my breakfast and when I get to eating a piece of fruit, I'll let him have a hay day with it (see the pictures below).  

(He would eat the whole thing if I let him!)

(After the pear.)

Like I said, he started with an apple but he has come to like pears even more ... probably because they are so soft and juicy and easy to suck the flavor out.  I've cut off little pieces, mashed them up and given them to him with a spoon ... wow did he gobble that up!  (But I do have to say the toots coming out of that child were absolutely putrid the rest of the day!)  So now having pears for breakfast have become an every day occurrence in the Osorno household.  Loving fruit, just like his momma!

Here are a few other pictures of our little guy.  He really has been developing so quickly.  He's grabbing toys and shoving them in his mouth constantly, he's wanting to sit up more and more, he's getting stronger with his tummy time, and though he's always been a smiley boy, he's smiling and laughing even more.  

(Seth with his cousin, Naya ... amazing how different they look!)

(Our strong little guy is working double time: tummy time and playing with a toy!)

We've also been working on sleeping through the night since the weekend and after the first night where he screamed for 2 hours, the past two nights have been really good ... he's still waking up once or twice, but we give him his gucker (aka pacifier) and he'll go back to sleep, usually from 9pm - 6am.  Woohoo!!!

judging others

I'm reading through Romans right now ... like really reading it ... pondering each word, trying to understand what Paul (the writer of the book) is saying.  I was starting chapter two this morning and somethings really hit me in the first few verses:

1.  Paul starts off the chapter by talking about judging others - we are inexcuseable to do so.  He says, "... for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself, for you who judge practice the same things."  WOW.  How easy is it to look at someone else's actions and judge them?  And yet, as Paul says here, when we do that we are really condemning ourselves because we do the same things.  Admit it.  The things we so easily can point out that are wrong in other people's lives are really the same things we struggle with.  Maybe we aren't acting on the same things, but you'll realize that it's those same things that we struggle with in our hearts.  Think about it in your own life - what are you the most apt to judge in others?  I bet you that you have that same struggle in your heart.

2.  Verse 4 was the kicker for me: "... do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?"  I have always been a person who clearly knows right from wrong, and have strongly believed that you should be punished if you're doing what is wrong.  I had my 4th grade teacher call me a tattle-tale once.  Ha.  The boy sitting across from me, Michael McCarthy (why I specifically remember his name, I don't know), was coloring on the top of his desk with a black Crayola marker.  Ummm ... I knew this was wrong.  Who was ever allowed to color on their desk with marker?  No one.  Ever.  At least as far as I knew.  I remember telling Michael he shouldn't do that, but when he didn't stop, I got up and told my teacher, Ms. Slade, "Michael is coloring on his desk with marker."  I swear I didn't say it in a nasty, snotty way at all, but her only reply to me was, "Sylvia, you need to stop being a tattle-tale."  Ha!  It actually hurt my feelings when she said that.  I didn't understand - I was merely seeing a bad action by someone else and knew it should be stopped (Side note: I don't think I ever "tattled" on anyone else in elementary school after that).  In my mind, when people do something wrong, they need to be punished. But in verse 4, Paul reminds us of the goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering of God.  If God wasn't all these things, then none of us would make it into heaven.  We are born with that nasty sin in our hearts.  I'm just waiting for when Seth lies or hits out of anger for the first time.  It's going to be sooner than I think, only to prove that sin is not learned.  

3.  So often when people talk about the need to be saved and turn to God that they say, "You don't want to go to hell, do you?"  It's like Christians are trying to scare people into heaven by talking about how bad hell is.  Well that's true, that's not what's going to get people into heaven.  It's clear here that it's God's goodness that brings people to Himself.  Unlike any other religion, we have a good God who wants us, despite ourselves.

Praise the Lord for His patience with us.  Praise the Lord for His convictions ... may we reflect on our own hearts when we feel the urge to judge others, and then become right with Him.

joy

I put Seth in his crib a few minutes ago for a nap (it's supposed to be nap time right now) and I'm sitting here listening to him making different giggle sounds! Haha. He's making some high pitched, some from the pit of his belly, some long and some short. Apparently he's quite enjoying himself!

These are the simple things that I love and bring me true joy. :)

seth

Why is my son so ridiculously cute?!  Sometimes my insides just tickle at the sight of him and all the adorable faces and expressions he has. 


The newest thing he has mastered: grabbing.  He is grabbing on absolutely everything (including my hair ... ouch!)!  It's been fun that he can actually start playing with toys ... the little link-together rings are his favorite.  And I swear that the simpler the toy is, the more he loves it.  Save your money on all the expensive, flashy Playskool toys ... kids keep it simple.  


Kids keep a lot of things simple actually.  I follow another mom's blog and she asked a series of questions, one being "How long do you take getting ready in the morning?".  Hmmm ... before or after having Seth?  I usually get ready after Jack leaves for work, so really how much fuss I put into getting ready in the morning is dictated by Seth's mood that day.  Some days he's soooo good and lets me shower, do hair and makeup and actually be able to take my time with each step.  Other days I can barely get into my clothes fast enough before he needs my undivided attention.  But no matter what day he's having, as soon as I turn the hair dryer on, he's mystified.  Seth loves the hair dryer.  In fact, he'll even stop fussing or stop playing with anything just to watch me.  Haha.  So simple.  


I've also noticed how simplified my wardrobe and accessories have become.  I used to be the girl who always wore big, chunky jewelry and heels ... I love high heels.  Ha!  Not only is it not practical to hold a baby and have a huge necklace smushed between him and me, but now that he's reaching for things, I am so totally afraid that he's going to rip earrings out of my ears or that I'll fall face first in the pavement while holding him in heels.  We'll just save those fun things for later years I guess.  But I've actually enjoyed bringing it back to the basics.  Praise the Lord for the selflessness that comes with having a child!


Here are a few recent photos of my little man. 

my etsy shop

So I have officially started my Etsy.com shop!  It's called Kairos Paper Designs. Let me back up and explain:

A couple of years ago I stumbled upon a handmade/vintage goods shopping website called Etsy.  Since then I have fallen in love with it.  They have so many amazing finds ... and most of the time you are supporting stay-at-home moms or small business owners, trying to get their handmade or vintage products to make them millions.  Not really.  But for many of the sellers on Etsy, it's a way for them to design and create and to possibly make money doing it.  I first thought of opening up my own shop on Etsy last year about this time when I had just moved to Mountain View, was unemployed and searching for a job, and in the early stages of my pregnancy and often too ill to be much good to society.  I have always loved graphic design (if I could go back to Sac State and do it all over again I would have majored in graphic design instead of interior ... but I am still so over school that I don't want to think about going back for a long while).  So I thought I could design some birth announcements, wedding invitations, new address cards, etc. and sell my designs on Etsy.  But as time went on, I lost my zeal for that (and perhaps I was a little discouraged by the huge amount of competition I would have on Etsy alone, not to mention the huge professional companies outside of Etsy).  But I still had some burning desire to create and sell.  Hmmmmm ...

So as my heart was searching and my mind churning over the possibilities, I decided to come up with a shop/business name.  Why not?  I have no products to sell, but I have to have a name anyway when I do, so why not come up with that first?  A little backward, but whatever.  So I went to search for a name.  I strongly dislike business names with the owners name in it ... like:

Sylvia's Designs

SRO Creations

Crafts by Sylvia

Yuck.  So unoriginal.  I also don't like business names that tell you exactly what they do ... like:

Modern Birth Announcements, Inc.

New Day Invitations

Or even worse ... the combination of the two:

Sylvia's Custom Announcements

Ewwwwww!  I feel sick just at the thought of that being my business name.  So all of those ideas were not even options for my hypothetical business.  What I am into are names with meaning, so I went to one of the most descriptive and beautiful languages: Greek.  I can't remember exactly how I stumbled upon "kairos", but I used Blue Letter Bible (blueletterbible.com) and probably went to one of my favorite verses in the New Testament seeing what each word meant in it's original Greek language.  So what does kairos mean?

kairos (καιρός)

1) due measure

2) a measure of time, a larger or smaller portion of time, hence:

a) a fixed and definite time, the time when things are brought to crisis, the decisive epoch waited for

b) opportune or seasonable time

c) the right time

d) a limited period of time

e) to what time brings, the state of the times, the things and events of time

It just clicked with me.  Kairos.  The perfect time (...hence the name of this blog as well.  Ok, ok, I'm on a kairos craze at the moment.  I just think it's a really neat word!).  The time that was meant to be.  The awaited time.  And being okay with that time and it's outcome.  I didn't know when or how or what my Etsy shop/business would be, but in the right time I knew it would come.  And now it has!  (Maybe.  Possibly.)  Just like how God so perfectly orchestrates our lives (imagine what'd they would be like if we didn't screw them up all the time);  How He designed this world we live in ... everything at it's perfect time.

So anyway, back to my shop.  I've started making boxes.  Yes, boxes.  Gift boxes.  I love giving gifts.  I love making gifts beautiful.  Wrapping paper, bows, gift tags.  To me, that is just as much a part of the gift as the gift itself.  I feel like I am a thoughtful gift giver ... as in I don't just give something that's on sale or popular at the moment ... but I really desire to give good gifts, perhaps unexpected, something that matches the receiver's personality and needs.  But even more so I love to wrap it all up in something special.  I'd rather take the time to pull out the wrapping paper and ribbon than stuff everything in a gift bag.  That's just how I am.  But as I'm getting busier with a little life so dependent upon me and raising this family God's given me, I'm finding it hard to have the time to be that creatively thoughtful with gifts too.  That's where I came up with the idea of making gift boxes ... just as easy as gift bags (stuff your present in, cover with tissue paper, done.), yet much more cute and they can be kept and used in every day life after the gift-giving has finished.  So I have spent the past couple of weeks making some sample boxes and posted them this morning on Etsy.  I want to see if I get any nibbles before I continue flooding my home office with tissue paper and craft supplies.  Check out the link to my shop -here- ... let me know what you think.  Give me ideas, comments or encouragement.  I'd love to hear your opinions!

conviction

So over the past few years I have found myself addicted to Facebook.  Yes, I admit it.  Addicted.  I started a Facebook to keep in touch with all of my Bible College friends and soon it became a pretty reliable way to communicate with people I see even multiple times a week.  It was an easy place to share my life with others who didn't live close by.  I posted wedding pictures and pictures of my son.  Facebook is wonderful that way ... you can know exactly what it going on in all of your friend's lives (and them of my life) without having to spend hours on the phone.  Instead, I would spend hours each week on Facebook.  Ha.  I'd click on one friend's profile and then a mutual friend would leave a comment on their page and I'd click on their profile and on and on ... before I know it, I had been Facebook stalking for 30 minutes.  But had I spent any time with the Lord that day?

Then came along my bouncing baby boy, Seth.  My free time was severely diminished and the time I did have I just wanted to clock out.  Facebook.  Just wander on Facebook.  But before I knew it, days would go by and I hadn't had any quality time sitting before my Savior's feet.   The conviction from the Spirt was building.  I've tried just not going on Facebook as often before ... like that ever worked.  Ha.  I just didn't have the will power ... I'll admit it.  Some people might be able to do that (like Jack who rarely ever checks his Facebook), I just can't.  Then one night we were having a tough time with Seth.  He was just crying and screaming for no apparent reason.  For over almost an hour.  Jack and I were so saddened/worried/distraught as to what was going on.  So we prayed.  During that time of prayer the Lord revealed this addiction I had to Facebook and how it had taken the place of my time with Him.  So I nixed it.  Deleted.  Gone.  No more will relations with others come between relations with my God in this way.  My husband and son need me at my best.  My best is when I am intimately adoring my Father.  God wants my undistracted heart.  In my life, that means no more Facebook.  

I must say that I'm sad to have had to let it go ... especially being able to so easily share the growth of my little family to everyone on Facebook.  But that is why I have decided to start a blog.  This blog.  To share us with whomever cares to follow. Enjoy!