Memories and MIilestones

The boys are taking their afternoon nap.

My house is a mess again still.

I have a To Do List as long as a six year old's birthday wish list.

Motherhood continues to teach me so much about God's love for me, selflessness and the Gospel.

There are days when I fear that a blink will cause me to miss a precious moment.  I can get caught up in regrets of not charting growth, not taking enough pictures or not writing down every memory and milestone.

{...and I hear the bedroom door open and little feet approaching...}

There are days when the laundry, cleaning, dirty diapers and constant food preparation threatens to overwhelm my tired mind.  I can get caught up in the things that need to be done.


There are days when the cuteness just threatens to overwhelm me.

Today is one of those days. 

Jeremiah was playing with some toys and found the small Chick-fil-A cow.  He studied it for a brief moment before looking up at me and saying, "Fry.  Fry?"  He knows Chick-fil-A.

Jeremiah loves to greet Joshua after nap time.  I will throw him up on our bed and they will lay together for a few moments while they are waking up.  Jeremiah says the cutest, "Hi, baby.  Hi, baby.  Hi, baby." Over and over.  And over. 

Jeremiah also says, "Hi, baby," anytime when he sees Joshua.  So. Cute.

Joshua has always been the most smiley baby.  He was about four weeks old when he first smiled.

Joshua is starting to reach out for things- like the blender (when it is kneading dough), the flat iron (when he is in the Moby wrap as I am fixing my hair) and everything else he is looking at.  He is starting, too, to reach out towards my face.  He looks at me, gives me the biggest smile and then tries to touch my face.

Joshua has always loved sleeping on his belly.  He arches his back after nursing and I know he is ready to sleep. 

Oh, such precious times these are.

And I look at the soft faces of these boys and try to picture them as men.

As husbands.

Fathers.

I realize that my role is vital and yet, oh, so fleeting. 

What do they see in me?  Facebook?  A clean house?  Or Christ?

Memories and Milestones

Trying to eat lunch (cheddar bunnies, pb&j on a tortilla and an Izze- I thought I was on a health kick?) as quickly as possible so I can finish laundry while Jeremiah is napping.  Joshua is resting on my knee and giving me the cutest coos ever.

These boys are growing up so quickly.  It's crazy.  I want to soak up every moment of their baby and toddlerhood because I know it, out of all the stages, is the one that is over in the blink of an eye.  I'm doing {mostly} well at letting lots of things go undone so I can enjoy my children while they are little

Jeremiah- 18 months
Jeremiah is starting to talk SO MUCH.  He said his first word, "uh-oh," at 9 months and has had a pretty steady vocabulary growth since then, but the last week he tries to repeat everything.  I love the way he says yes.  SO CUTE.

Yesterday he was watching the Donut Man and I heard the sound on the TV go off.  He came to me in the kitchen with his hands stretched out to the side and said, "happen?"  He has learned to turn off the TV with the buttons on the side and when he did it last I had come in the living room saying, "What happened?"

Yesterday we went to a new park that has a two story twisty slide.  He climbed all the way up to the top by himself and wanted to go down alone.  I went down with him the first time and he went alone the second time.  It's a big slide- I cannot believe he wanted to go alone!

I love how he gets in Joel's face and says, "Hi, Dadda.  Hi, Dadda.  Hi, Dadda."

I love how, at bedtime, he says, "hand," after Joel finishes reading the Bible because he knows it is time to pray.

The other day he was watching YouTube videos of football (I know, I know), which he calls "bow" after Tim Tebow and he started running all over the house saying, "football" as he looked for his football.  He finally found it in his bed (since he had napped with it) and came running back out to the TV.  He proceeded to throw the football around a couple of times.  He does this when he watches football and I love it!

Joshua- 3 months
This little boy is ALL smiles, oh my word!  He is a wiggle worm, talker, smiley and can already inch forward when laid on his tummy.  He sleeps great, but has a hard time getting to sleep when he hears Jeremiah playing.  He'll be almost asleep, hear Jeremiah and give me the biggest smile that seems to say, "I want to go play, too, Mom!"

He likes being outside and is very attentive to sounds.

He's only spit up twice.

I can eat everything since nothing seems to bother his little tummy.

He holds his head up like a champ and is mastering turning his head while holding it up.  So cute to see it wobble as he tries to watch Jeremiah run around.

I love the way he looks up at me- like just now- when he is sitting on my lap.  It's like he is saying, "Hi, momma."

He sucks his thumb.  He has since he was born and my guess is he did in the womb.  He also sucks both thumbs- SO CUTE- and I have yet to get a good picture of it!

Last night he almost fell off of my lap because I was not paying attention and forgot he is trying to roll over all the time.

***I wrote this and 10 minutes later Joshua rolled from tummy to back for the first time.***

Ministry
This was a full week of ministry and the weekend is just as packed.  We had Skate City on Tuesday, regular church on Wednesday and the worldview class (that I teach) on Thursday.   This is all after Jeremiah and Joel being sick last week.  We have been resting when we can.  The house, laundry and carpets are proof. 

Two kids broke their arms at Skate City.  It was fun.  We made almost $800 for the Mexico mission trip.  Jeremiah and Joshua were so good.  Jeremiah hung out with Mrs. Vaz and Emmori.

The worldview class was GREAT!  We discussed philosophy and prayed for the speakers at the recent Reason Rally in D.C.

What have you been doing this week?