Daily Reads

11.17.2011

Miracles are my fave

I am a long time fan of You Are My Fave. The author, Melanie, is the kind of likable, down-to-earth, personable blogger who instantly makes you feel like an old fried. Her honesty extends even to the most personal and painful parts of life, including her struggles with infertility, which she documented at YAMF and Babble for the last year or so.

I've been reading along, and praying for her and her husband for a while now and - Praise God! - they recently shared some very happy news. Melanie calls it a miracle and I believe that is true. 

That's not the only miracle I have witnessed lately. My brother and his wife are expecting again!! After a long year of pain, loss, and heartache, God has provided a new source of hope and joy. We are beyond excited for them. I find myself thanking God and begging for his protection over this baby over and over again every day. 

Our God is so good. He hears our cries and gives us the desires of our hearts. 
Psalm 37:4

11.16.2011

7 Months Old


Today Michael is seven months old. I just can't believe it. All of the cliches apply. 

"The days are long but the months are short." 
"They grow up fast." 
"He'll be walking before you know it."
"You'll wonder where the time goes."

All true. No wonder everyone says this stuff.

Lately I feel like he's changing faster than ever. I picked him up a few days ago and he just felt big. He wears 9 month clothes now. He went from crawling, to speed crawling, to pulling up to standing at the couch in a matter of days. He follows Ella around like it's his job and imitates her whines by making soft little squeaky sounds. 

His personality has become much more apparent lately. Monday he babbled "mamamama" and I thought, that's cute but it's probably just an accident. Tuesday morning he overheard me telling Tim about it and piped right up, "mamama" with a huge grin. He regularly laughs and "jokes" with us, and when things are too serious he will smile or cough or start laughing to make us laugh. He loves Ella, baths, his rubber ducky, walks in his stroller, zippers, and he is rigorously exploring every part of the house we will let him explore.

One of my favorite developments is his sleep. He still sleeps for about 12 hours at night and we are back to waking only twice (occasionally once) to eat during that time. He naps well - usually two naps a day, one for about an hour, the other for up to two hours. He has also finally embraced the carseat and will go to sleep even on short drives in the car. 

He's still nursing and he eats lots of foods too. His favorites are oatmeal with fruit mixed in, bananas, rice cereal with applejuice, cantaloupe, and sweet potatoes. He tolerates lots of others too: green beans, avocado, carrots, squash, peaches, prunes, and berries. 

He only fusses when he needs food or sleep or hugs from Mom and Dad. Or if his gums hurt. Still no teeth - the bottom two are just below the skin and we expect them any day now. He is more smiley than ever. He flirts with ladies everywhere - at church, the grocery store, in the toddler music class we attend. He wakes up happy and full of energy, gives big sloppy kisses, and squeals with excitement when Tim plays peek-a-boo with him.

I could go on and on. There just aren't words to describe this little miracle in our midst, or how much joy he has brought to our lives. He is a blessing beyond my wildest dreams, and yet I feel that I've known him my whole life.

Happy seven months, Michael. I love you more than you can imagine.
xo

Whatnots

I'm all worked up over the prospect of Christmas this year (yaaay!) with our Mikey (YAAAAAYYY!!!!)

I know, I know. He's 7 months old. 
He won't remember a bit of it. But that doesn't stop me from walking him down the Christmas aisles at Target showing him Santas and Rudolphs and Frostys and singing all the songs to go along.

While it's true that he would be just as happy to sit and play with the zippers on my jacket, I'm dying from the fun of hunting for gifts for him. It really brings back memories of the toys I loved as a kid. And if I was shopping for me as a kid, this would be the ultimate: a Whatnot - a custom made Muppet! They're pricey, but come on. A custom made Muppet!! Think of the puppet shows, musicals, and videos you could make!! Sigh. The Muppet part of my brain never grew up :)

11.08.2011

Life in Instagram









































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Giving thanks

In the days since my last post (the one where I sort of whined about all the baby stuff all over my living room - {embarrassing}) we've been through a minor upheaval. Two days before Halloween we had a massive snowstorm which produced beautiful Christmas photos (yaay!) and also destroyed the electrical system and countless trees and homes in New England (very, very sad). For eight days we slept in our cold, dark house, whatever hotel room we could get, guest rooms of friends, and spent most of our days either in the truck or roaming the mall. On Sunday, we flew to Chicago. The power was still out, Tim had a conference and I was not about to take care of Mikey alone.

As you can imagine, the situation has caused some stress and short tempers (mostly mine). Constant moving, keeping track of baby and dog, spending all our time either in the truck or small hotel rooms, crowds, long lines, nowhere to do laundry or dishes, wrestling an increasingly active and opinionated baby, etc. I have a bad habit of getting caught up in how things 'should' be. And, when you get right down to it, I'm spoiled.

Not coincidentally, on November 1st my sweet sister posted a Facebook status titled '30 Days of Thankfulness' with a post every day naming something she is thankful for. Then another friend did the same. Then several more. And I realized that my loving God was reminding me of how much I have, and gently telling me to stop the complaining and give thanks instead. So I stopped and counted my many rich blessings. And then I felt shallow because my God blesses me with such extravagance and I still find reasons to complain.

It couldn't have come at a better time. In the midst of my ungratefulness my God knew I needed help and He sent it. One more thing to be thankful for.

{If I get home Wednesday and the power still isn't on, please refer me to this post when I've finished pitching my fit.}

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Location:N Michigan Ave,Chicago,United States