Can't pick a title

Sunset kisses!
Daddy and Hayden watching TV
When she was little!

I feel the need to write, but not sure exactly what about. One thing, I'm learning to trust God on a new situation. It is easy to want to take things into our own hands, but the peace and confidence I find myself having by turning a certain issue over to Him is really wonderful. I am blessed to have a relationship with God where I can turn issues over to Him and know they are in good hands. Makes me remember what it was like when I was not walking with Him and took things into my own hands, not so fun. Sometimes I sit and think what it really means about Jesus dying on the cross for ME... it's crazy and sometimes I think can be SO hard to really grasp the depth of it.. and yet, its so simple? Anyone else ever think that. Its like WOW, you REALLY died for MY, ME, KATHRYN RILEY, my sin.. and then I have to go into thinking about sin and what that is, and then focus on MY sin.. and then it all falls into specific place. It is helpful for me to do this little "process" in my mind, because then I am in awe of what He did. so those are those thoughts. Side note: John is speaking in "BIG church" ( I know, I still call it that-like a 'lil kid) this weekend on Blessings. God ALWAYS speaks amazing things through him. You should all come and hear him. You can go to our church website at http://www.wacc.net/

I took Hayden to concert in the park tonight with John's parents and his Aunt Phyllis. LOTS of fun. They played a lot of classic rock... which APPARENTLY I love. hayden loves to dance. Smiles ear to ear! She is saying uh-oh, all done, mom, dad, hi, bye, sign-language for all done and more, says ball, and nigh-nigh. SO cute. She's got a little eye-infection/eye-allergy, and I'm hoping it goes away before we go on the cruise this week. We're excited about the cruise, however, my tooth has been hurting, so I need to go to the dentist before then :-( I HATE packing for trips.

I have a new photo website.. http://www.kathrynrileyphotography.blogspot.com/ check it out

Warm Fuzzy's

Hayden has been So cuddly! i love it. She makes my heart just completely melt. She'll just walk up to you and start holding you. She's also started saying "nigh nigh" for her (what I call her) Night Night blanket. SO cute! She's getting another top tooth in, except, it's not her front two teeth, it's one one the side of her two front teeth. My child is going to look like a hill billy! Nice. We say our prayers with her every night as a part of our nightly routine with her. One prayer every night we say is that we pray she would be a woman who follows God and who is used greatly by Him. That is my BIGGEST prayer for her (along with her well-being). As a parent, for myself, I can't describe how deep that desire is for her. Yet, I know all i can do is pray for that and practice out in my life who Christ desires me to be to her. For in the end, following God is her decision. I just pray that my life emulates that of Christ enough that she desires that relationship for herself. I prayed to God before I had Hayden that I would rather not have a child than to have one that would not know Him. I know to some people that seems CRAZY- after all, children are amazing. And to be truthfully honest I would have been devastated without kids, however, my line of thinking was that I would rather not have a child, than to have one and know that they would not know salvation in Christ. Ultimately, I know it is still her choice to make (that's why we are given free will-otherwise we would be like puppets/robots that are forced to love God). Anyways, those are my thoughts like em or not)

ZZZZZ's

I'm So tired! i had a girls night last night. Two of my good friends stayed with me last night while John was gone. Super fun, but we stayed up until nearly 3:30am. Um, lets not forget that I have a kid that typically wakes up around 6:30am. Luckily, she lasted until 7:30am! I prayed all night before I went to bed that she would sleep longer, God is good..ha!
Recently I've really, I feel, been experiencing some spiritual war-fare. not fun. I just keep hearing lies from Satan , and through prayer and friends I have been able to slowly counter those with truth from scripture. Its as though sometimes right when I feel like I'm making headway in discovering a bit more about God, Satan is right there waiting to pounce. I have to remind myself that he has no hold over me because I have covered in the protection of Christ. Christ CREATED him. Thus, it's a great reminded that Christ has the ultimate authority.

On a different note, I've had some great opportunities recently to take some pics of some friends' kids. SO much fun! I'm really learning a lot about photography! It's such a passion of mine!

Tattoo session

NO.. I did not get a tattoo, but I did a photo session of John's and my good friend Jason who just recently got a tattoo. (His tattoo is partially done, but we did a session anyways). It was really great, because he let me take a few extra shots to just experiment with portrait taking.. I think I got some cool shots!

SPIT HAPPENS

I went to CHOC LA with Hayden today. My appointment was at 1:40. I did not truly get seen until close to 3:40. Why do doctors have you come if they KNOW you will not truly be seen at your appointed time? SOOOO frustrating. Anyways, Hayden had started spitting up again around 9 months. So the doc today wants stool cultures (hayden used to have blood in it...nice.) In september Hayden has to drink some chalky stuff and have an x-ray taken just to make sure everything inside is working great -no kinks-literally- or nothing. Until then she has to take a anti-acid medicine to keep erosion of her esophagus at a minimum. It's one thing after the next with this girl. If her recent stool samples come back with microscopic traces of blood in them then she has to go in for an edoscopy. Great. I HATE thinking something could be more seriously wrong. I would just ask for people, as they remember her, just to pray for healing for her, and God's hand to protect her and her well-being.

Also, does anyone know anyone who is pregnant or just had a baby? I'm REALLy into photography and have taken some prego photos before and would love to do it for free for anyone local who would want some free photos.. I'll post a couple of ones I've taken.

A Day at the Beach.. Kinda

So, my mom is here and wanted to go to the beach yesterday. I was excited, so we loaded up myself, mom, hayden and John to go. I made the mistake of suggesting that Hayden's nap time could be on the ride down to the beach instead of her taking a nap at home and then driving down to the beach. BAD MISTAKE. She cried the whole way to the beach, and while taking pictures she did not want to be put down for a while.. or smile. We also had planned to eat at Ruby's on the pier, we ended up eating at jack n the box. nice. We got some cute photos though.

The Party

.......................................So... Hayden is Officially 1 as of Saturday. It went by SOOOOO fast! (her 1st year that is). However, there were days I thought were NEVER going to end. Her party was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed sitting/eating and talking with family and friends. Hayden was adorable-she decided to stick her finger up her nose while we all sang happy birthday to her....classic. The kids enjoyed playing in the pool. Hayden did NOT want to get out! Life is good.

Hayden has decided to continue to get up at 5:30 am -ish every day since last Friday. what the heck! I can't figure it out! the only difference is that we put a black out shade in her room to help her sleep longer? I don't know if when it wasn't there the light in her room helped her know when morning time is and now she just doensn't know when that is because its so dark in her rom? Any suggestions? I'm not sure how much more longer I can take of this.

On a side note, I've started weaning her of nursing. Weird how there was a part of me excited to be done because that meant I wasn't "tied" down at times. However, as I gave her her first bottle of milk last night (she wouldn't take it from a cup :0( I was a bit saddened. Nursing is such a bonding element in a relationship between mother and child and as it starts to leave I feel as though I'm depriving her or something.. nurtrients? I don't know. I'm sure deep down its more of just an emotional loss for me, because she had the bottle and went to bed JUST FINE. (maybe now John will get up with her early in the morning to give her a bottle instead of me having to be the first one up every day to nurse!)