Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Find Them Faithful

My children are always on my mind and heart, and lately, they have really consumed my prayers more than ever. I feel like the Lord is prodding me to speak truth into their lives and has, subsequently, been speaking truth about them into mine.
I want their bones to be straight, their muscles to be strong, their hearts to beat efficiently, and their brains to work just right.  
But, my greatest desire for them is that they will know the Lord intimately.
I want them to live rich, abundant, Spirit-filled lives.
I want them to know that they belong to the Lord, not me or Chris.
I want them to know that He is their Creator and knows them better than anyone else ever could.
I want them to understand that He is always there. They will NEVER walk alone.
I want them to be certain of His unending, unfailing love for them.
I want them to use the gifts which He created them to use.
I want them to be kind, compassionate, bold, mighty lovers of God and people.
I want them to fall asleep with His word in their hearts.
I want them to know that their daddy and I love them with all of our hearts but that could never compare to God's love for them. And, I don't want to ever stand in the way of that.
 
Oh, how I love them so.
But, they are not mine.   
They are His.  
Lord, help me to live in a manner worthy of these gifts you have given me for a short time on this earth. Find them faithful.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Seven Months


Beckett,

You are seven months old, and goodness, the time is flying by.  I feel like you are just racing through each month, and I just want it to slow down a bit. I want to enjoy all of your "baby-ness" because I know it won't be long before I will be enjoying some little boy stages.  These letters to you are my attempt to "freeze" time and capture the moments so I will never forget them.  Because my sweet boy, I don't want to miss or forget a single moment that I have with you and your seven month old precious self.  I feel like it can't be possible, but somehow you just get more adorable and sweeter with every passing day.  I am honored to be your Momma, and you are such a gift to me.
At seven months old, you are sitting up like a champ.  Gone are the days of sitting right next to you to make sure you don't hit your head when you topple over after a minute or so.  You are a pro now, and you only "fall over" intentionally when you are ready to move on to another toy.  I am sometimes still shocked when I see you sitting up all by yourself because you look like such a big boy.  Speaking of big boy, you are thisclose to crawling.  You get up on your hands and knees and rock back and forth, and you have even put together a couple of crawling motions.  But, you haven't quite mastered it.  You can get wherever you want though by scooting and rolling.  It's pretty cute.
You are so incredibly interested in the world around you.  You notice everything that happens, and it is so fun to watch you.  I think you could spend over an hour in the playroom all by yourself just scooting and rolling from place to place, pulling toys out of bins and baskets that are close to the floor and exploring.  You entertain yourself so well, and you know how to get all over the place.  You are rarely still, even when sitting in our laps.  You love to bounce and kick those legs, and you are super strong.  This can make changing your diaper and your clothes quite interesting.  Even though you love to move constantly, you are so content.
Your sleeping has gotten a lot better at the end of this month.  We got in a bad habit of letting you start eating again in the night when you regressed a little bit from the sleep training, but we decided to cut you off again.  You have handled that like a little darling and went back to sleeping from 7:00pm to 6:30am-7:00am.  Your naps are a bit inconsistent, but you are starting to get the hang of sleeping in your crib for more than 30-45 minutes at a time.  You generally take at least one nap that is over an hour in your crib.  You are also transitioning to just 2 naps a day which I think will make your naps longer!  You are nursing 5 times each day and eat 2 solid food meals each day.  Typically, you have some rice cereal for breakfast and a vegetable or fruit for dinner.  You have loved every bite of food we have given you {sweet potatoes, squash, rice cereal, carrots, sweet peas, pears, applesauce, and bananas}.
You got sick for the first time this month, and it was so sad.  You ran over 100' fever for three days straight.  You were still a sweet boy and rarely fussed, but we could tell you didn't feel well.  I took you to the doctor to confirm that you didn't have an infection, but it was just a virus.  We were so thankful when your fever finally broke, and you got back to your smiley, happy self.  When you were sick, you definitely preferred your momma over anyone else.  I didn't mind holding you one bit :)
You are still our happy, content little boy.  You smile at the drop of a hat, and I love your little smiles behind the pacifier.  Those are some of my favorite.  You laugh at us a lot, too, and you still love to laugh at your big sister.  I love watching your relationship get stronger, and you adore her.  I am pretty sure she adores you too.  You also still love to find your daddy, and he can get those belly laughs out of you every time.  You are so great at just going with the flow, and people are always commenting on what a laid back boy you are.  We are so blessed by your easy-going, joyful nature.  You are so precious, little man.
You weigh 18 pounds, wear size 2-3 diapers, and are in 6-9 month clothes {mostly due to how long you are!}.  Your hair is really starting to come in, and it is light brown.  The jury is still out on your eye color...some days they look brown, and some days they look really dark blue.  Time will tell.  I know we are biased, but you are such a handsome little guy.  I cannot get enough of your sweet face or kissing your sweet cheeks.
Beckett, I know I say this every month, but you are such a blessing.  You have been in our family for a short 7 months, and we cannot {and don't want to} remember life without you.  I love rocking you and singing songs to you each night and looking at your face and praying over you.  Your daddy and I have prayed over you since the day we knew you were being formed in my tummy.  I love dreaming and imagining what you will be like and in what ways God has gifted you.  I know you will be special and do amazing things for the kingdom of God.  The Spirit of the Lord is on you, my sweet son, and you have been anointed to do great things.  Happy seven months, Beckett Lucas.

I love you to the moon and back!
Your Momma

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

March Picture a Day: Part 1

I'm definitely a little late jumping on this bandwagon, but when I saw all these picture a day posts floating around, it looked like fun and a good way to document the ordinary in each day. So, I decided to jump in for March.
If you want to start too, it's not too late ;)

Day 1: Up -- focusing my mind on what is important


Day 2: fruit -- our afternoon snack of oranges, blackberries, and blueberries.


Day 3: Your Neighborhood -- we live at the end of a circle, and we love that it is quiet and not too busy for our kids to play in the driveway.


Day 4: Bedside -- lamp, clock, water, baby monitor...all the essentials :)


Day 5: A Smile


Day 6: 5pm -- maybe my favorite time of the day


Day 7: Something You Wore -- my wedding ring that was my grandma's


Day 8: Window -- Micah's view after we dropped daddy off for another trip to Ghana.


Day 9: Red -- Micah's little red chair


Day 10: Loud -- Kids singing "happy birthday"


Day 11: Someone You Talked To -- so many conversations :)


Day 12: Fork -- Micah's favorite princess fork


Day 13: A Sign -- that my baby girl is growing up and putting her own shoes on...the wrong feet ;)


Day 14: Clouds -- so nice to see blue skies and white clouds after days of gray


Day 15: Car -- Micah's version all loaded up with her baby and water


If you want to participate, take a peek and a pic!



Sunday, March 18, 2012

Double Trouble

Somehow, I have allowed my husband to convince me that running might possibly be a good form of exercise for me.  Not super enjoyable quite yet but good.  
I do love the way I feel after I have run or done another form of exercise.  I just don't love the way I feel during it.  One step at a time :)
So, in order for Chris and I to be able to enjoy this running thing together, we had to trade in our single jogging stroller for the double wide.
Back in January, we took our first run and broke in this bad boy.
Micah liked it, and Beckett loved it.  Sweet boy goes to sleep in it every single time.
I may not love the running part, but I love being with my little family--no matter what we are doing.  And, staying healthy isn't such a bad thing either!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Scrumptious LIttle Blessings

I am beyond blessed to stay at home with my children.  
I cannot imagine doing anything else each day.  
Even on the hardest and most exhausting days, I would not want to be anywhere but home or with anyone but my kids.
I mean, look at these precious faces.
They are seriously scrumptious.
I could eat them up.
And, I do spend a good portion of my day doling out kisses all over those sweet cheeks.
They are my heart.
 
I am so thankful.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Rest of February...

...in pictures.
And, really, there is a lot of February that is left out here.  
I just got way too behind, and my tendency is to get overwhelmed by all that I missed.  My perfectionism says that I cannot possibly leave something out.  
But, I am just saying no to both being overwhelmed and trying to be perfect.  So there.
******
We had a really great Valentine's Day.  Micah and I made some strawberry cupcakes and some precious {Pinterest-inspired} little hand-print Valentines for our neighbors and family.  We enjoyed some pink eggs for breakfast and a heart-shaped sandwich for lunch. Chris made us a delicious steak dinner that night.  A fantastic day.  I love all three of my valentines to pieces, and they make every day pretty special for me.
My valentines cuties!
My parents live out on some land that is owned by some really sweet people who have lots of animals.  Micah absolutely LOVES going out there and seeing all the animals.  So, one day when the weather was beautiful, I decided to get out of the house and bring the kids out for a morning at the "farm."
Micah runs almost every where she goes, especially out at my parents house.
She adores all the dogs...
...and the cows :)
This was taken moments before she fell and got her first scraped knee.
A rite of passage for any child
The rest of these are from what we do on a daily basis at home.
Play...
play...

play!