You Might Be A Redneck

...If your grandpa makes a sled out of an old mattress and pulls you behind the snowmobile. Oh, but its so much fun!

Three!

Dear Micah

I can't believe three years have flown by already. I remember the moment you were born and they said you were a boy. We were surprised and so excited. You were born to be held and cuddled. When you were small, you never left my side. We did everything together, just because you loved being held so much.

Now you are three. I thank God that He has blessed our family with you. Your sweetness and kind heart are evident to everyone who knows you. You are so quick to say I love you and give kisses and hugs. Alexis is your best friend and playmate. I love listening to your dialouge as you play around the house.

You are beginning to learn so much about God and how much He loves you. It brings tears to my eyes when I hear your sweet small voice singing praises to Him in your car seat as we drive. I pray that as you grow, you will continue to seek Him and learn the depth of love He has for you.

You have changed so much this year, and have become Daddy's boy. You love to wrestle and fight with him whenever you get a chance. You want to do everything he does and are a great helper when he's working around the house. Your favorite thing is to tie ropes to objects and we often find Brownie tied up somewhere in the house.

I love you so much Micah, in ways you will never understand until you have a child of your own. You are growing too fast already and I know in a blink you will be bigger than me, but you will always be my little boy.

I wuv you,
Mommy

Almost Wordless Wednesday

After sharing a room (and sometimes a bed) for over a year, they still hate to be apart :)

Happy Birthday Wijah!

To my sweet little boy

It is hard to believe it has been a year since I first held you. You were so tiny and beautiful. One of your nurses nicknamed you button because you were so small and sweet. At just over 6 lbs you were very light, but were over 21 inches long. Your legs were so tiny they looked like toothpicks and even I thought you looked skinny, but oh so precious.

I had been fighting a bad virus for the last month before you were born and was feeling pretty sick. I hadn't slept much in a couple weeks because of all my coughing, and I was just ready for you to be born. I started having some mild contractions and decided to check in with my doctor to see if you were coming soon. When I got to the appointment, he told me he would admit me and break my water....then I got a little nervous knowing what was ahead. So, I decided to go home and wait until Daddy got home from work to go back to the hospital. Soon after we arrived at the hospital, my Dr. came in and broke my water. 40 minutes later, at 6:49 p.m, you were here! We were so thrilled and couldn't wait for your big brother and sister to meet you. Daddy went to church to pick them up. When Micah got to the hospital, he thought you were the baby Jesus, and Alexis got to work mothering you right away. She would have held you all night if we let her.

You came home from the hospital to our tiny rental house and your only space in the world was a bassinet in our closet. You were quite content there for the first 5 months of your life and managed to sleep through all the commotion your siblings made. You even survived your brother and cousin climbing into your bassinet with you when you were just a couple of months old.

You are a beautiful addition to our family and we love you so much. Your sweet smile and laugh can light up a whole room. I have loved every minute of holding you, snuggling with you and feeding you, even if it came in the middle of the night. At 1 you are our latest walker, but you can crawl at lightning speed and walk around all of our furniture. Your vocabulary has exploded in the last few weeks, and you continue to learn new things. You have started laughing when others laugh and love to wave bye bye to everyone. We are hoping the screaming will subside soon, but in the mean time you are a great entertainment to the clerks at Target :)

Where has the year gone? Your babyhood seemed especially fleeting. I know in just a blink we will have another little man at our house. In my heart, I will always treasure the precious days of your infancy, your soft sweet skin, your little hands on my face as I fed you, your beautiful first smiles and the sound of your small voice as it said mama for the first time.

I want you to know how much you are loved by Daddy and me, but more importantly by God. You were created for a special purpose, with unique talents and abilities. I pray that I will be able to help you reach all the potential He has for you.

I love you so much Ellijah Matthew!
Mommy

Your Growing Vocabulary
Mama
Dada
Pup pup (puppy)
Papa (grandpa)
Was that, was this
Gentle
No no
Bye bye
Eli

For This I Will Not Appologize

They are growing so fast! My baby will be one in a few short weeks, and my oldest baby will be five in a few short months. I have a new appreciation for the expression 'time flies.' It certainly is an apt description of childhood. With this understanding firmly planted in my mind, I would like to share my Top 10 List of things I will never regret:

10. Having my children close in age, and giving them the gift of siblings, which I know from personal experience is one of the most special relationships on Earth.

9. Fighting to the death to protect them from harmful experiences and people, even if that means not pleasing everyone at all times (hard for me to do).

8. Kissing, hugging and holding them while they will still let me.

7. Telling them every single day how much I love them and what makes them special.

6. Holding, rocking, cuddling and loving my sweet babies. They grow too fast! I will hold them all day if they will let me.

5. Not saying 'no' to an activity for the sole reason that it creates extra work for me. To me, that is just me being lame. What is a little extra mess?

4. Staying home to be with them most every day, most all the time. Not the most glamorous job, but oh the kisses and I wuv you mommy's are totally worth it.

3. Learning their love languages and watching them light up as we love them the way they need to be loved

2. Laying in their bed when they are sick or scared. Cuddling, holding loving them when they need me the most. I actually cherish these times in the middle of the night. What an awesome honor to be the 'one' who provides so much comfort.

1. Not wishing away their littleness. I just can't chime in with those that say they couldn't wait for their kids to be out of that stage. I have never and never will wish it away. I know when I am old, and they are old, I will want these days back.

To Alexis, Micah, and Elijah:

Your Mommy loves you so much. Don't grow, o.k.? :)

------------------------------------------------------------------

For the Record

Alas, with all the work and moving we have been doing in the last few months, I have been remiss in writing some milestones and thoughts for sweet baby E. So, here goes

November 2008, 11 months old

You are teething in full force! This month your teeth have given you quite a time. Earlier in November, you had 5 teeth making their way through your gums at the same time. This made for a unhappy little boy and a tired mommy. You wanted to be held most all of the day, and up a few times at night. Accompanying your swollen and painful gums was a horrible diaper rash exacerbated by lots of dirty diapers. The diaper rash then turned into an abscess on your bottom which had to be treated with a scalpel and very strong antibiotics. Poor baby! It was all I could do not to cry while the nurses held you down. You are a trooper, though and started feeling better right away. You are officially our latest walker following big sis at 9 months and big brother at 10 1/2 months. You can crawl at lightning speed and are standing on your own, just not ready to take the big leap. We still have not cured you of your screaming, which has reached a volume that can be heard in space. You have started saying a few words and pseudo words...'na na' (no no), 'was is' (what's this?) mama, dada, and Uh oh! Your sweet smile and blue eyes can light up a whole room. You have been giving kisses to everyone in the family and can do 'so big.' I can't believe you will be one in a few weeks. Where did my tiniest baby go? I will keep you small as long as I can.

Love, Mommy

You Be Jesus......

My oldest is quite adept at learning her Bible stories and has been putting them into practice. A few days ago I overheard this conversation following the discovery of an elastic exercise band..."M, now you stand there. You can be Jesus, and I will be the people whipping you." No worries, she was hardly able to move the noodle, let a lone hit him with it. However, I'm planning on leaving out any graphic details of our Bible time lest her brother become fodder for further reenactments. A few days later when the same brother was running around in his birthday suit following a bath, she said: "M, don't go outside like that, people will think you're Adam." Adam and Eve didn't wear under ware." And to think I thought no one listened on Wednesday nights :)
----------------------------
Baby E is now standing on his own and looks to be yet another early walker. I was hoping for a late bloomer this time around. His ear-piercing screech can still be heard frequently at our house, but it seems the baby signs I have been trying to teach him have been taking hold and he signed and said "a don" last week. He is also working on 5 new teeth, bless his heart. One of his favorite new activities has been playing monster with daddy. It seems that all three of my kids love to be scared.
-------------------------------

In completely unrelated news, we are hoping to move into our new house this weekend. I will post pictures soon, I promise.

Pursuing Love

You know, there are just days as a mom that I think that nothing is going right, my kids are out of control and someone else could do a much better job. Then there are those days when teachable moments are frequent, love abounds, and I am welling up with love and pride for my sweet babies. We had such a day last week.

I was blessed to have the opportunity to provide a meal to a grieving family in our community. As we packed up the car, many questions ensued. They both asked what we were doing and why. Miss A asked why the mommy couldn't make supper. I responded that they are still very sad because they miss their little girl who is in Heaven with Jesus. Then my little M piped up, "Soup will make them feel better, Mommy." Trying so hard in her 4 year old mind to understand such a terrible tragedy, Miss A said "Mommy, they should have another little baby girl and name her Gretta and then they would have their Gretta back." As we left our meal, A said "Next time we bring them a meal, I want to color them a picture of their family and write my name and your name and their names and a big heart so that they know who brought them their food." I was so proud of my two sweet oldest children who are learning a valuable lesson about loving others in a tangible way.

As I continue on my journey of mommyhood, I am struck with the importance of the condition of my children's hearts. Only when their hearts are right does good behavior really matter. Its such a good lesson for me to learn as well. We are all still learning so much, and don't have all the right formulas. But, it is days like the one above that I feel God is telling me to keep on giving all of my heart to raising my kids. It is all that He asks for, thank goodness.