10 months old

Another month has come and gone.  Now is about the time when I pull the blanket over my head and say, "Nope! He won't be one in a couple months, no way!" ;) And on a side note, I really need to do a better job of snapping some pics between now and then! The baby book is lookin' a little scant for the past couple of months... poor second child. :)

It's a fun and busy stage that JB is in right now (I think I may have been saying that for a few months, but oh well! I think that from 6 months on that's kind of how it goes for babies).  Here are a few of the high points:

• Cruising and pulling up on just about anything
• JB will get brave from time to time and pull away from the furniture for second to stand up
• Pushing behind chairs and those little toys that you can push around the room
• Not a new thing, but JB is easily "spooked" haha. I know it is terrible to laugh at, but it is kinda hilarious that if he is in another room and you walk in on him while he is in his "zone" he totally will let out a shrill scream.  He's my sweet and sensitive guy ;)
• Loves dancing and bee-boppin' to whatever music is playing
• He is getting good at initiating a game of peek-a-boo with a blanket or burp cloth, waving hi and bye, and doing excited arms or all-done
• Much to mommy's chagrin, waking up usually once a night with random crying- think he's getting his molars, but unfortunately he just has to cry a bit and then will go back to sleep ;( in good Oehlschlaeger form, it takes like a month for my kids' teeth to come in....
• Still thinks most table foods are gross, but he loves to eat yogurt (good for hiding fruits and veggies) and cheerios from a snack trap.  JB also sports his own cup now, but prefers his sister's haha. Still nursing and getting bottles now about half and half.
• Nine (... ok almost 10 month) stats from well visit: 22.2 lbs, 28 3/4 inches = Average size for a baby sumo.  Future wrestler or linebacker?? At any rate, we think your baby rolls are quite adorable and look awesome on you, kiddo!

Love you, buddy!

Mystery of Mercy

I am the woman at the well, I am the harlot
I am the scattered seed that fell along the path
I am the son that ran away
And I am the bitter son that stayed

My God, my God why hast thou accepted me
When all my love was vinegar to a thirsty King?

I am the angry man who came to stone the lover
I am the woman there ashamed before the crowd
I am the leper that gave thanks
But I am the nine that never came

My God, my God why hast thou accepted me
When all my love was vinegar to a thirsty King?

You made the seed that made the tree
That made the cross that saved me
You gave me hope when there was none
You gave me your only Son

~Caedmon's Call

Gettin' back in the groove

Ben is back to school and it is time for us to get back into more of a routine at home.  I've been challenged by a book I've been reading called A Wife After God's Own Heart. It has helped me to think once again about where I am placing my priorities, time, and efforts.  As well as asking the Lord to help me be efficient towards His service in my home first and foremost.  I think Elizabeth George is so wise- I would love to pick her brain.  I think the Lord has really given her a gift, and I always feel so blessed when I read a chapter. It's not about being perfect, but about asking my Father how I can best serve my husband and children.  It has been neat lately for me to see the joy that He is providing in that.  My heart feels full when I am spending my time focusing on them and less on some other things that had been distracting me. And boy am I easily distracted...

Some quotes I'm thinking about from the book:

• The essential disciplines of prayer, Bible study, and worship equip us to run with vigor and stamina. Train diligently. Growing in the Lord is made up of those simple things.
• Never be too busy to take care of your spiritual growth.
• Pray for your husband three times a day
• Show greater respect for your husband (am I looking when he's talking? refraining from interrupting? using sweet speech?)
• At the first hint of self-pity or frustration, pray
• Delayed obedience is disobedience
• Grow in character, be content with what you have, support your husband's efforts, and be a diligent homemaker, live a simpler life, be more prayerful and creative about taking care of your family's needs at home
• Is your gaze fixed at home? Fuss over your home and family. Take joy in being there.
• How do we work? Heartily as unto the LORD and not unto MEN
• It is your assignment from your Heavenly Father to teach and train your sons and daughters to respect others, to share, to be kind, to handle money properly, to work at a job, to be honest, to stay pure...
• Pray faithfully for all family members
• Your job from God is to help your husband, to nurture your relationship with him, to love and care for your children, and to be about the business of building your house.

9 months old

Can you tell it has been an emotional couple of weeks? ;)  Just after Emme turned 3 (see previous post haha), my little "goofbot" is 9 months. Sigh! Gush!! Tears! No really, that whole time in a bottle concept, I would buy it. Ok, done talking about it now, haha.

At 9 months old, JB has had quite a busy month.  A few highlights:

• Crawling. all. over. the. place.  Fast! Have to keep doors closed if I don't want him to find certain things.  Need to mop and sweep a lot more and watch for small pieces in Emme's toys.  Fun stuff :)
• Pulling up.  Thinkin' about cruising too...
• One word: BUSY!  He loves to be in the middle of whatever action is going on.  He hears the word, "No." quite a bit right now because we are in the process of teaching boundaries and all of that good stuff.
• Eating 3 meals a day of baby food and smallish table foods like diced fruits and veggies and puffs.  Still nursing 3 times a day and getting one bottle feeding.
• He just started waving and really distinctly saying 'mama' and 'dada' to get our attention. 
• Growing like a weed.  Like a good mom I waited a long time to schedule an appointment, so we won't know till he's almost 10 months the actual figure... but I'm guessing he's gained a few lb's and inches since 6 months hehe. ;)

LOVE my little boy!! He's just too yummy, and fun, and funny, and delightful.  A gift from God!!



Emme is 3

Dear Emme,

I'm not sure how it happened so quickly, but you are now 3 years old.  It has been a year full of growth and change for you and it has been an awesome experience to see how you have flourished.  Over the past 12 months, we have watched you become such a little lady.  What a joy and a pleasure it is for us to be your parents.  God has amazing plans in store for you.

Here are a few of your favorite things:

• The color pink.  There is a fun book series called Pinkalicious that has kind of fueled your fire.
• Music.  We have some pretty rockin' dance parties together.  And I love it when you learn Jazzercise routines with me.  You especially like the stretch songs.  And you definitely change up your dancing between the lyrical things and the upbeat tunes.
• Having increased independence and the ability to do many things by yourself.  It's been a process this year, but you are learning how to do things "alone" in a respectful and obedient way and asking to do them with the right tone of voice :)  Oh wait... I think I'm still learning about that too.
• Playing make-believe, doctor, mommy, ballerina, pop-star, princess, grocery store
• Dressing up- you have specific outfits for specific occasions, but you really love tutus
• Dressing yourself, you especially love to wear dresses all the time ("because they twirl")
• Playing with make up and jewelry
• Playing with your brother/hugging him. a lot.  Wow, Emme Lou.  In so many ways you have shown me what love is.  And what it means to serve others too- you have a servant heart for your brother, and you often think of his needs first.  I think that God has given you a sensitivity to others' emotions and I pray you keep listening to how He directs you. 
• Cooking & baking with mommy.  You are actually getting pretty good at following directions on a box of brownies or muffins.  You know which pans and bowls we will need. You can crack an egg without any of the shell getting in the bowl most of the time.  You can read the numbers off so we know to set the oven at 3..2..5.. Some of my favorite memories from this year are being with you in the kitchen.
• Room time- you are a big girl now, so you only nap a couple of times a week, the other days you spend 2.5 hours in your room just playing with toys, making up games, or as you told me last week, "organizing things. " (a woman after my own heart!) This is when I really see your imagination come out.  It seems like you have some really great adventures.  Whether it is building things with blocks, "reading" books, putting your babies down for a nap, or cooking something in your kitchen, sometimes I like to stick my head by your door and hear you talking while you play.
• Memorizing things.  It can be scary for us some times because we know you are REALLY listening a lot now.  But you are getting to where you have books completely memorized and can fill in the words.  You can remember Scripture verses and songs.  Again, this is where I am really praying that the Lord will protect you and keep you close to His heart!
• Swimming has been really fun for you this summer.  You are a little fish, and I think you will love to do lessons maybe next year.
• You are very interested in ballet and gymnastics, so we will see about maybe giving you an outlet to learn more about them sometime soon.
• Artsy things, playdough, cutting with scissors, markers, crayons, stickers, finger painting, anything from Hobby Lobby....
• Letters and numbers.  They are starting to come alive to you! It is neat to watch your mind becoming more intentional with understanding them.  You still love to spell your name and can count to 20 (then teen numbers are sort of interchangeable though haha, my favorite is when you say "five-teen").  You know probably 20 letters or so.  The teacher in me gets excited for you and all you will learn this year.
• Spending time with your buddies!  You get very, very happy when we get to play with Rylan and Ransom.  They are kind of your peeps.  All activities are automatically more fun if they are going to be there :)
• Any time you get very happy you let out this cute high-pitched sound. 

My beautiful girl.  I love you more intensely every day.  Thank you for being you, and for teaching me what it means to be a mama. 

I can't wait to see what Jesus has in store for you this year!
Love you,
Mommy

8 months old

Does it get any cuter than that??

This little love bug is now officially 8 months old.  It's been a big month for him!  He's turned into quite the busy-body over the past several weeks, and as usual it is a bitter-sweet thing for this mama.

• As of a week ago, JB is crawling.  He'd been playing around with the idea for nearly month, but just a couple of hours after we got home from Wisconsin- he seriously just crawled off to the toy box in the living room.  It was like he was just waiting to get back to his "crib" before he took off. He skipped the whole army crawling phase and went straight for all 4's. He will also crawl with his legs fully extended in the back like a little man-cub haha.
• He's starting to pull up on people, and also when he is in the bath tub (yikes).  We've moved the crib just in case, because I think he will be standing very soon.
• JB has started eating puffs, and other little baby foods that dissolve quickly.  He isn't as interested in feeding himself as Emme was, but seems to like baby foods more and has started to try more types of pureed foods.
• Still nursing 4x a day, but now I have started to just feed him a bottle of formula for one of those middle of the day feeds if we are not at home- it is WAY easier than trying to nurse a child with 7 teeth that wants to crawl off in public hehe.  It's hard to do that modestly. :)
• That's right 7 teeth... and he's working on two more.
• This child has a beat!  When music comes on he totally starts nodding his head and doing happy, excited arms.  I love it.
• JB has decided that he has a future in baseball or basketball.  It cracks me up how he will literally chunk a ball from up over his head.  Pretty sure his ball-throwing skills are better than Emme's are.  Just another fun boy v. girl difference we are seeing in action.  He does everything with a grunt or a push like he's big stuff.

Happy 8 months, big boy.  You are a gift and a joy to us!

Family Vacation

After returning from our Anniversary trip to NYC, we spent the week in Cedarburg with my parents. It was nice having a week to just enjoy the peace and quiet of the town and do some fun family things together before returning to Denton. During that time we enjoyed the 4th of July parade and fireworks, lots of walks around town, spent time at the pool, and Emme got her ears pierced! It was a fun week that reminded me of the basic joys of life.  It is good to take time to slow down and concentrate on the important stuff-