Bulldog love

Our son may have skipped crawling, but he did catch a very crucial skill tonight: ringing a cowbell!!! In honor of Mississippi State's first game of the season, Clay retrieved the cowbell from the State room... and our son quickly fell in love! He inspected it, rang it, and cried when we took it away. We are proud parents... gladly saving money in hopes he will one day be a Bulldog himself! (Click on the pictures if you want to see a larger version.)

Where did these curls come from?

It's hard to capture the ways the little man is changing in pictures...except for more hair, he hasn't changed all that much to me lately - then again, I see him every day! He does have more teeth with another breaking through, but he will hardly open his mouth to brush his teeth so a picture is out of the question. His little personality continues to blossom as well as his adventurous, inquisitive side. He loves anything with buttons to push or holes to stick his fingers or something else in... now you may be getting a picture of what my days are like. This could be fun as my body continues to get bigger and thus, me slower. I am thankful to have an engineer husband who can retrieve just about anything from its current lodged position. What a joy to watch our boy discover his world and what he can do. I love this job!!!
There is the question of where the curls came from... Clay and I have NO body or curl in our hair so this must come from other family genes.

He still loves to smile for the camera, but with molars coming in it's hard to get one without a finger/hand in the mouth!

In the midst of play, he got distracted by a commercial!

Bottoms Up!

Encouraging words

As I was reading this afternoon, I was struck by these words...and I thought that others might all be encouraged by them regardless where you are in your current journey.

From The Attributes of God by A.W. Tozer, pages 22-23

"God is above all things, beneath all things, outside of all things and inside of all things. God is above, but He's not pushed up. He's beneath, but He's not pressed down. He's outside, but He's not excluded. He's inside, but not He's not confined. God is above all things presiding, beneath all things sustaining, outside of all things embracing and inside of all things filling. That is the immanence of God.

God doesn't travel to get anywhere. We may say in a prayer, "Oh God, come and help us," because we mean it in a psychological way. But actually God doesn't have to "come" to help us because there isn't any place where God is not.

'If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; event here shall they hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me...If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.' (Psalm 139:9-10, 8)

So it's impossible to think of a place where God is not."

Stopped in my tracks

I was simply making tea this morning when I was stopped in my tracks as the image of my late grandmother's face flashed in my head. What brought her to mind during such a normal task? Usually I see her in my mother (and soon enough I will see her when I look in the mirror), but this morning I realized it was my own action that brought her to mind.

Somewhere along the line I picked up her habit of biting the inside of my lip...now this isn't a normal biting of the lip. See, she would scrunch her mouth to one side to bite the inside corner of her mouth...and my mouth was as far to the right as I could possibly get it this morning.

I immediately smiled when I realized what I was doing...and then a few of the many other things she taught me (good and bad) rushed my mind:

- her amazing love of roses (I, unfortunately, have a brown thumb)
- her fear of tornados (her stories scared me silly!)
- her love of books and writing
- her ability to throw a pity party
- her ability to laugh at herself
- her love of studying God's Word

One of the most precious things she gave me came just days after her death almost 3 years ago. (For those who know the road I have walked over the last years, you will understand why this is the best gift Mama Cleo could have ever given me.) My mother asked if I would like to speak at the graveside service and gave me Mama Cleo's worn Bible to sift through the night before for more insight into this little lady. Her Bible was full of notes and thoughts, the pages well worn and tear stained. Her love for God and His Word screamed from those pages. One of the pages at the back contained only a one sentence prayer in her messy handwriting. Her words lept off the page and into my heart...and I have treasured them since that day. I summed up what she taught me by sharing these words the next day:

"What a mess I would be in if You gave me everything I asked for."

Change is brewing

Our precious little one shocked us both last night as he took a couple of unaided steps!!! We were so excited we scared him to tears. He did take a few more with our encouragement and he was just so proud.

For those who haven't known...Jbird totally skipped crawling along with transitioning from one position to another (from laying to sitting, sitting to standing, etc.). We've had much longer than most parents of immobility...and the ability to leave him in one spot while we step out of the room knowing he would be in the exact same spot when we returned. June 5th he took his first steps along furniture, and has enjoyed using various objects to get around the room over the last couple of months. But, we could still sit him in one spot and he wouldn't budge!

We know he may not repeat this fun for a few days or weeks, but needless to say we are excited! Just thought we would share our joy...

Sometimes boring is nice

There hasn't been much to blog about lately... life has been pretty mundane and normal actually. And we've been enjoying it honestly. After such a crazy July, it is nice to have routine again. Sure, we've had some fun and worked too - and Jonathan continues to makes us laugh - but there haven't been any grand stories or moments. Just small things that are a part of everyday life that make us thankful for "boring and normal." We are enjoying the simplicity and the memories made during "mundane" life.

Funny, we used to be on the go all the time and we loved that life... now, we still go but not as often and not as fast... and we love this life. Some may say we are "old and boring", but I think we would say that we have simply changed - joy in the simplicity, shift in the priorities, and an appreciation for just being.

The last 24 hours (give or take)

The last 24 hours contained some memories - a new tooth (we're up to 8 now), a first busted lip (surely it won't be the last) and we got to hear our newest one's heartbeat (170). Pretty eventful 24 hours if I do say so myself...

Efficiency

Our son continues to keep me on my toes... once again he has taken to a new skill overnight. He finally figured out how to drink from his sippy cup by himself. That was yesterday... today, he showed his efficiency skills as he kept the cup in one hand while shoveling food in with the other! He is quite proud of himself and I think he is thankful he no longer has to wait on me to figure out he wants a drink!



Another story that might make you laugh... Tuesday he figured out how to turn the TV on and off. He did this as fast as he possibly could until Wheel of Fortune came back on... he LOVES this show! We're hoping it will help his future reading skills!

A new shirt for Jonathan

Yes, you are reading that right... our little boy is going to be a BIG BROTHER!!!!

I got the surprise of a lifetime Father's Day weekend when two lines appeared on that little stick. This shirt was Clay's Father's Day gift (on Saturday because I just couldn't wait any more!)... needless to say, he was shocked too.

The shock has turned to excitement and reality as we saw our newest one's heartbeat... we are so humbled God would choose to create another life through us. See, our situation hasn't changed - meaning we still had less than a 5% chance of getting pregnant without medical assistance. We had recently acknowledged and accepted that our family may be complete at three... then God decided to reveal a bit more of His plan. For two people who wondered if we would ever get the joy of being parents, we will now have two children under the age of 2 before we are 30!!!!

For those who like details... we will be 10 weeks pregnant tomorrow making our due date February 27th. The kiddos (man, that still seems weird) will be almost 20 months apart. My nausea seems to be diminishing, but the exhaustion remains. We appreciate your prayers for the health of this little and me. We'll keep you posted on the newest member of our family...

Precious moments and funny faces

Do you think they have identical hairlines?









I had to capture this moment on camera...the boys were watching a little TV together... isn't this just adorable? The littlest one soon discovered I had the camera out so he had to ham it up!











Here are some funny faces I just had to share... what a little personality!

Birmingham fun

We had a great time in Alabama last weekend. It was great to see family, look at old pictures, recall the "old" days, and laugh...a lot! Our family gatherings are a bit different now...4 generations - 22 people - and now the grandkids have kids of their own. I think the "elders" enjoy watching us deal with parenting and being able to walk away.

Here is a picture of my grandmother with her 6 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.














We attempted to take a picture of "Mom" with her great-grandchildren, but it's hard to get 5 kids (ages: 5, almost 2, 1, 1, and almost 3 months) to cooperate! Of course our little one quickly tired of having his personal space invaded and that led to the littlest one chiming in...but at least we have them all in a picture!
















Our adventure was fun...a 3 car caravan with 4 children under the age of 5. A good friend and her daughter joined us on the trek so she could see her family for the weekend. The trip is normally 10 hours on the same interstate, but we made it in 12!!! The trip home became even more adventurous with the addition of a blown tire about 120 miles from home. After changing the tire, we learned a man had hijacked an 18-wheeler and was leading the police on a slow-speed chase around the metroplex. Needless to say, I-20 was shut down! We made it up to a highway that runs parallel to I-20 and worked our way home amidst the traffic with one car on a spare tire. We thought we were home free, but then ran in to construction! YEAH, RAH, improving the city!!! A mere 15 hours after leaving my aunt and uncle's, we finally arrived home. The children really fared well for the long drive.

We have been going to bed early and napping...and we are slowly recovering from this month of adventure. It is nice to know we will be home for a while. Now, it's back to the day-in/day-out of life. We welcome that simplicity after such a busy, but wonderful month.

Note on updates

I updated the blog with several posts today so make sure you catch all of them...and due to the number of pictures I wanted to post, they are all small. If you would like a closer look at any one of them, simply double click on that picture!

Continue to check back...we head out this coming Thursday to visit with my family in AL!

The birthday party

The Saturday after his actual birthday, we threw a party for those who have walked the long road with us while we waited for Jbird's arrival and celebrated his life this first year. Everyone seemed to have a great time - except the birthday boy! He was pretty disturbed for the first 45 minutes or so...he had an entire pool to play in, but he preferred playing in the sink...





Here are some pictures of the unhappy birthday boy...and the fun others were having. It was great to be surrounded by friends and family.

The cake

Here is the cake for the adults...and Jbird's cake. I had a great time thinking of how to make the frog look like he was coming out of water...do you see the fly he caught with his tongue?



Due to his mood, I chose for us not to sing...and even sitting down with the cake was a bit too much at first. He did finally get interested in the icing and he LOVED the marshmellows. Again, something upset him and he put his legs in the cake.



















After all the festivities, he finally got in a good mood and began to enjoy the pool! We had a great time celebrating his first birthday with friends who walked a long road with us. God is SO good...the blessing of a son, family and friends.

The actual birthday - part 1

On Jbird's actual birthday, we had a family dinner with my parents, sister and her family. It was a relaxed time to celebrate the first year of his life. He didn't much care for being sung to, but he soon got interested in the cake with the help of his dad!

The actual birthday - part 2

Cake eating was fun...he really enjoyed the icing, but not the cake part so much. We aren't sure what set him off, but at one point he wasn't happy anymore and he almost face-planted in his cake...but at the last minute he turned to the side.




Then it was time for presents...my mother couldn't wrap her gift so I had to cover his eyes! He was quite amused with this.





Then came clean up - a birthday bath!



What a great way to celebrate a year of life! It was a wonderful day.