18 months

Emerson,

You are 18 months old now and you are so fun.  First, you are adorable.  Sometimes you smile at me with those big brown eyes and my heart stops beating for a second.  But that has always happened, ever since you started smiling.  You also do the cutest things these days.

Here are some of my favorite thing you are doing lately... We have been teaching you to look for cars before we cross the street so anytime we plan to cross the street, you plant your feet in a wide stance firmly into the ground and you lean your whole torso over to one side to look at the street and you say, "car? car?"  repeatedly, until I just make you cross the street with me.  You also use new words ALL the time and are putting multiple words together.  You are at that fun stage where you are a sponge and often use words I didn't even know you knew.  You are also a ball of ENERGY.  You go, go, go.  You love rough housing.   Something funny that you have been doing is that after our dinner time prayer, every single day, when we say "amen" you enthusiastically shout "DO DA!!" with a big grin.  At first Dad and I thought it was funny; now we don't really encourage or discourage it.  Even though you know how to say "amen," you must think "do da" is a much more fitting way to end a prayer.  You are also experimenting more with pretend.  You pretend to put your stuffed animals to bed.  You pretend to eat pretend food.  A whole new way to play :)

When we drop you off at church, you stick your lip out and tears well up in your eyes, but you don't make a sound, as if you are fighting back crying.  You have done the lip thing since day one, too.  And I have always loved it.  I think it's adorable.  However, you are also learning some of your friends' names.  And after church, if I ask you what you did at church, you say "friends."  So I think you are having fun when you are there.

Some things that are not my favorite that you are doing these days are... hitting.  Yes, the past week or two, you have really taken to hitting.  We are having to crack down on discipline these days.  Some days I feel like that's all I do.  You especially like hitting and pestering Brody and you get the biggest belly laugh when you do it.  Obviously, we don't tolerate this and really are trying to teach you how to be nice.  You are also having a more difficult time sharing lately.  You are also getting tall enough and smart enough to get into many more things.  You definitely keep me going all day long!

Oh, you finally got your first haircut the other day!  Nana did it and you look so clean cut and so much like a big boy now!

Before.  Mini baby mullet.

During.

After!

After, front!

Helping Daddy Mow

And sometimes you fall asleep while you are eating lunch.  Apparently this is a hereditary thing as I've heard stories about Daddy falling asleep while eating when he was little.  It's kinda funny and cute.


Overall you are really fun and we are enjoying this stage.  You are a smart, funny boy and we are grateful to have you as our son.  Some days, I think Man, I can't wait to have two kids! Other days, I think How will I survive with two of these?  You are one of the biggest blessings God has ever given us and we thank God for you and pray for you every single day.  Love you. 

Your biggest fan,
Mommy

Match Maker, Match Maker

There is a running joke among my group of besties that I am awful at match making.  Sure, I've had a few failures before with some friends, well at least 3, so this is my LAST attempt to match one of my favorite singles, Cari.  I am linking up with Kelly's Korner "Show Us Your Singles" today.  I promise, girls, this is the last attempt I will make :)

So, people, meet my friend Cari (age 25).  I met her my first week of college at the University of Arkansas and we ended up living together a few years.  She resides in Northwest Arkansas and is a nurse in the NICU at a major hospital here.  She is smart, funny, cute, and most importantly, she loves Jesus.  Her relationship with the Lord is the most important thing to her, so she would naturally want a guy with the same priority :)  Oh, and she has naturally curly hair (though she doesn't wear it that way nearly often enough, in MY opinion).  What human wouldn't love to have curly-headed babies one day?

Obviously the one on the right :)  I don't usually match make my married friends.

She is social, friendly, and has lots of friends.  She enjoys running/working out, being outdoors, and she loves kids.  I mean, kids of all ages.  She loves them and they love her.  She is going to be one amazing mama one day. She has the kindest, sweetest heart and would never hurt anyone intentionally.  This girl would never have an enemy.  And she totally wants to use her abilities for God's glory.  She enjoys mission trips and is planning to do a medical trip soon.  She is also very involved in serving in our church, particularly through the children's ministry.  Her favorite season is summer (which I still don't get); something about diet coke by the poolside or something, but we have agreed to disagree at this point (I can't stand the heat).

On a mission trip to Haiti

Hog fan!

Gettin' her hair did.

Us bridesmaids :)

Holding my bundle for the first time.

Why is this amazing girl still single you may ask?  Good question.  I don't get it either.  My mom is still convinced she is going to marry a doctor one day, so you better snatch her up while you can!! 

Comment below with your e-mail address if you are interested or know a guy who might be interested :)

5 AM

Friends, last week I was feeling so discouraged.  One smaller disappointment was that we came so close to making an offer on a house I love and decided not to in order to save a larger emergency fund as Dave Ramsey suggests.  We will probably be in a home before baby is born.  I think this was a wise decision and I am trusting that the Lord will provide a suitable home for our family in his perfect timing.  So I wasn't too bummed about this. 

But the harder thing for me this past week was that Emerson's sleep was suff-er-ing.  So my sleep as suff-er-ing.  And up through last week, I was still very first trimester-y in that I was tired and needed sleep badly.  There were tears shed for sure.  Emerson had a couple of nights where he was up a few hours in the night AND he was up in the 5 o'clock hour most days.  I felt exhausted and wanted to cry when I heard him cry in the night.  You bet this affected my patience and joy in mothering.

So, I have had a few convictions and I am grateful that God uses moments like these to grow us and teach us valuable lessons.  I was reminded that I should not cling too tightly to earthly things (like houses or sleep), but should instead set my heart and mind on things above.  All areas of my life should be driven by the gospel.  How does our budget promote the gospel?  How do I spread the gospel with my time?  Do I dwell on the gospel with  my thoughts?  What do my actions say about what I believe about the gospel?  Will my children catch the message of my gospel by how patient I am with them in the middle of the night? 

I have friends who have lost children, young and old.  And I never ever want to look back at my life and think that I wish I had treated my kids in a kinder manner.  Like my mom said, I should try to value every moment I have with them. 

So, I made a decision.  I'm going to try something.  I'm only committing to 30 days to start out.  But I am going to try to wake up each morning around 5 AM.  If Emerson continues to sleep, I will spend time in the Word and in prayer.  I feel that if I make this choice each morning, then when my children and husband arise, I will be more full of grace, compassion, love, and joy.  I think the mom can easily set the mood for the day for the entire family.  If Emerson wakes when I wake, then I won't be bitter about him waking so early, because I would already be up anyway.  More quality time with the boy, right? 

This morning was my first morning waking at 5:20ish.  Emerson also woke :)  So I rocked him and he slept in my arms for awhile and I prayed over him.  I was still able to use this time for prayer and this is a great way for me to intentionally pray over him.  And he was so sweet while he was sleeping and I just wanted to freeze time, just like when he was a newborn.  I had a bittersweet thought about how in 10 years, there is no way he's going to sit on my lap and let me rock him to sleep, even if I begged.  I need to cherish this stage he is in and realize it will not last forever and I WILL actually miss it one day.

Anyway, sorry for such a long post.  I just think the Lord is working on my heart a little bit.  Nothing like a little refining :)  I think this new change will help me to better serve and proclaim the gospel to my  little family. 

Hummingbird

My neighbors inspired me to get a hummingbird feeder.  They have one and the other day they had 10-12 hummingbirds trying to feed at once!  Off I went to Lowe's to buy one.

We hung it right outside our living room window so we could see all the action.  Since then, we have had pretty continuous action. 

Caleb was able to get a few good shots.

We have one particular hummingbird who has become very possessive of our feeder.  He will stand guard on top and chase after any other bird that comes close.  We are expecting him to look a little fatter in the next few weeks.  This feeder has provided much entertainment and is a good learning experience for Emerson :)  It was a good $5 spend!

11 Weeks

I want to try to write baby updates throughout this pregnancy, because (let's be honest) this blog will probably be my only pregnancy journal!  But lately, I don't have enough energy to blog.  By the end of he day, I just want to rest.   I will try to do better :)

When we found out: July 20th

Symptoms: I feel like I've had every symptom in the book with this pregnancy.  Definitely more nausea with this pregnancy... sleepiness, breaking out, overactive gag reflex, emotions, heartburn (already?), bloody noses.  I will spare you from any other beautiful pregnancy details.  I will say I only experienced the bad nausea for a few weeks.  And I do not know how some women deal with it for longer.  I was miserable, a wimp about it.  I still feel like throwing up if I get a whiff of the trash can or change an exceptionally stinky diaper, but it's not that continuous feeling.

Baby:  Baby already looks like a tiny human.  At 11 weeks, it is over 2 inches long.  Fingers and toes are separated.  Teeth buds are forming.  The stomach is producing digestive juices and kidneys are producing urine. Baby's fingernails and hair follicles are forming.  It even has nostrils and a tongue in that tiny little mouth :)

Doctor Stats:  Heard baby's heartbeat today and it was in the 170's.  I think that's higher than Emerson's was.  No weight gain yet.  Everything else is normal :)

Favorite pregnancy moments:  seeing our baby on the ultrasound.  And I always think telling people is so fun.  We have 4 pregnant mama's in playgroup and we had 3 pregnancy announcements at church recently.  Not to mention both my sisters are pregnant.  I think it is so much fun to go through pregnancies with other people.

Foster Care: Yes, we still plan to do foster care.  We have been feeling called to do this for a year and we are hoping our home should be open in October.  Pray for our family during all these adjustments.  I'm sure we will need it :)

Gender:  Obviously, we just want a healthy baby.  Everyone keeps telling me they hope it's a girl, or they will pray for a girl, but deep down I really think it would be fun to have another boy.  I want at least one of each by the time we are done having kids, I just think it would be fun to have two boys so close in age.  HOWEVER, we would be overjoyed with a girl too!  And if we had a girl, she would have at least 2 other girl cousins close in age.  It would be a joy and a blessing to have either. 

Not sure if this bump is left over from Emerson or is from this baby!  Ha!