Easy Off

I'm not one to normally be swayed by advertising.  Okay, I like to think that I'm not swayed by advertising.  Maybe it's the rebel deep inside me that wants to do the opposite of what someone is telling me I should do.

But every once in a while there comes a product so intriguing, so genius, that I have to give it a try.

A few months back I saw an ad for Huggies Slip On diapers. In all honesty, it didn't take a whole lot of ingenuity to come up with this one (why hello Pull Ups for smaller babies). But when you are the parent of a fifteen month old who kicks and screams like you're performing an exorcism at each diaper change, you're open to other options.

My thought process went a little like this:

"Hey, cool! Now I don't have to wrestle Ainsley to the ground and hold her there like I'm waiting for the tap out in a WWE match just to affix the sticky tabs to the front of her diaper! And she won't have the inevitable saggy bum syndrome due to the malpositioning of aforementioned sticky tabs that are dangling precariously after the smackdown diaper change. This is going to make my life so much easier! Gasp! They're ON SALE!"

Something like that. Yes, I always talk to myself using words like "aforementioned" and"malpositioning."

So, I bought them. Which would typically be a Trevor thing to do. Usually I do my own personal marketplace analysis when buying diapers to make sure I get the best deal.  But now that I have freedom (aka Driver's license- but that's another post)  I get this rush of adrenaline when walking in a store alone and I do stupid things. In my defense, they were out of the normal diapers that were on sale.

First we experienced the honeymoon phase of slip-on diaperdom. The "hey, these work pretty well!" phase.

That phase didn't last very long. Survival of the fittest is taking place in our house and I'm pretty sure Ainsley is the fittest. She soon learned to kick with abandon to fight off my feeble attempts to wrangle a clean diaper on her.

Now I feel like I'm taking part in a calf scramble. I've got her legs up in the air all wrapped around each other while I try to shimmy her diaper on.  Seriously. I broke a sweat today. Changing a diaper. I think I may have pulled a muscle.

But that's not the worst of it. Apparently "slip-on" diapers are also incredibly easy to "slip off."  Oh, has Ainsley mastered this one.  Her new favorite hobby is nudity.  She's running around the house naked as the day she was born.  Jaybirds have nothing on her.

On Sunday we were having a cutesy family cuddle sesh in our bed.  It was so sweet and post card-ish.  It was the stuff those people who write cutesy family blogs would write about.  Using heartfelt, emotion-wrecking prose that makes you tear up even when they talk about things like taking out the garbage.

Ainsley is trawling around the room in search of old food particles and other non-digestible items to gnaw on and Aidan's in bed with us reading a book.  Ainsley climbs up on the bed and we catch a distinct whiff of a number two wafting on the breeze.

Trevor, being the amazing husband and father he is, says "somebody needs their bum changed!"

He goes to grab her and realizes there's nothing to change out of. Ainsley is diaperless. And there is poo located somewhere in our room.

Not to mention the smear on our bed. Classy.

I'll save you the rest of the details, but it involves wipes, a bath, and carpet cleaner.

Is there something you're compromising on because it's easier? Seems to make perfect sense?  Be wary of shortcuts and easy roads.

Sometimes the way that seems easy leads to a bunch of crap. Literal crap.

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

Proverbs 15:12 NIV

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

Matthew 7:13 NIV

Grown Ups

Aidan crawled under the covers with me early this morning before Ainsley was awake.  That in itself was quite the feat.  We tiptoe by Ainsley's room like you would a shallow cave harboring a sleeping monster that would be featured in an Ancient Greek saga.  She sleeps lightly and is quite the grumpaloo if awakened before her body's clock tells her it's time to get up. I have no idea where she gets that from.

Aidan stealthily makes his way to my room and asks for a cuddle.  My little boy is quite the big boy nowadays.  He is a full fledged kindergartener and can take care of himself, thankyouverymuch. But, he still likes to cuddle. And I love it!

He knows the edict of cuddling in the Birak household: talking is allowed during day cuddles, but not night cuddles.  I know that sounds harsh, but he would NEVER go to sleep if he got to lay in bed and shoot the breeze with us every night.

He jumps under the fluffy covers, lays his head next to mine on my pillow, curls up in a ball and starts talking. We discuss school; how he's learning his letters and the days of creation.  He tells me that he can't wait until day five, because "we're going to learn about the birds and fish, and all things that live in the water and sky."  Since when did my kid sound like a walking New International Version? 

Then, being quite the philosopher he busts out this big one:"Mommy, why does it take so long to grow up?" See, after he completed a few days of Kindergarten, Aidan decided he was fully ready to move up to grade one.  I informed him that it would be a whole year before he was in grade one.

He desperately wants to be in a grade that is associated with a number, so we started calling Kindergarten "grade zero" in our house. 


I thought of when I was a little kid and was desperate to grow up.  Now as an adult, I desperately want my children not to.

Often I find myself looking inward and realizing that I'm taking too long to grow up.   There's a frustration that wells up in my heart when I see myself and how little I've grown in some areas.   As a pastor, I have that same frustration when I see those who I try to minister to struggle as well.

Where is our hunger for growth? Why are we content to weakly swallow the milk when we should be digging into the solid food?  We blithely waste our days entertaining ourselves instead of straining for knowledge and maturity in the Spirit.

You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God's word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food.

For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn't know how to do what is right.


Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong.

Hebrews 5:12-14

The writer of Hebrews says in verse eleven: "There's so much more I want to explain, but you are too spiritually dumb and don't care enough to listen!" (Elizabeth's paraphrase)  How much are we missing out on because we aren't eager to listen and understand?  Because we are not ready to grow?

I do believe that there's something in us, though, that is drawing us to more.  The embers of desire lay dormant in us begging to be rekindled.  I can feel the dissatisfaction that calls me out of my slumber to search for more.

Reboot

I feel like I owe you an apology.  But parts of me thinks that would make me quite self-centered.  Should I apologize for not writing for so long as if your life was slightly emptier without my ramblings in it?  Without assuming too much (we all know what happens when you assume), I do know that I have a few followers who would read my posts regularly.

I also know that I broke the major blogging rule known to all bloggers.  Be consistent.  Write regularly.

And, I haven't.

I don't even have a really great excuse.  Like losing an arm to a hungry alligator during a tour of the everglades via airboat (you know, those metal canoes with a box fan attached to the back of it) rendering me unable to type until I've mastered the use of my new robotic hand.  I've got nothing.

Not even carpal tunnel.

I won't drone on about the past couple months. It was a rough time that I felt disconnected.  Honestly, most of the time I still feel that way.  But I can hear God's voice as he reaches out to me, calling my name. So, here I am. Ready to try again.

You called and you shouted,
you broke through my deafness.
You flashed and you shone,
dispelled my blindness.
You breathed your fragrance on me
You breathed your fragrance on me
Late have I loved you
Gungor
"Late Have I Loved You"