My BIG Litttle Man March 6, 2008

As you can see in this precious picture, Little Man is getting so big.  I look at pictures from just a month ago, and I can’t believe how big he has gotten.  His clothes are showing his growth, too!  I’m so glad that the seasons are changing (at least should be) soon, so hopefully we won’t have to go out and buy longer pants!My sweet boy is such a joy.  His heart is so tender, and his energy is without limits.  I can already see God’s work in his life.  I just love his response to God’s creation.  While we were outside playing the other day, he lay down on the grass and looked up at the sky.  He was talking about the world around him.  Then I heard him say, “Hey, God!  Hey, Jesus!”  I looked just in time to catch him waving toward Heaven with a big smile on his face.  Just precious, I think.

A few weeks ago, we were coming home from somewhere in the van.  Little Man was singing in the back.  He stopped singing and said, ”That’s Jesus’s favorite song.  I’m going to sing that song to Him when I get to Heaven.  That will make His heart happy.  It will make His heart happy, Momma?  Jesus likes it when we sing songs to Him?”  Oh, I just want to freeze him and keep him so little forever!!!!

Last night, after a frustrating bedtime routine, Little Man asked for Daddy to come sing to him.  I told him that I would ask but didn’t know if Daddy would come to sing.  My Love agreed to sing and was so happy.  When he came out, My Love said, “I lay down on the bed, and Little Man hugged me and said, ‘You make my heart so happy!’”  Then My Love went on to say, “I wonder who he got that phrase from.”  I’ll let you decide.

It was so beautiful last weekend.  Little Man bought a kite at the drug store, and we went out to fly it.  I must admit, the wind blows so strong here that it is not hard to fly a kite.  My Love and I reminisced about being children and trying to fly kites by running.  No need to run here.  The wind will catch the kite on the ground and take it to the sky in seconds.  Little Man had such a fun time flying his kite by himself.  He did say that he wanted to ride on the kite and was disappointed that it was not possible!

                          

Last week I taught Little Man (at his request) how to kick his legs up and do a head stand with the help of the couch.  We both had a lot of fun with the gymnastics class.  Here is a picture of him right after he kicked his legs up by himself for the first time.

One year old!!!!! Oh my!!!!! March 5, 2008

Well, I can’t believe it , but my sweet Baby Doll is a year old today.  I have found myself thinking of where we were a year ago, and my, oh, my have we been through so much during this precious child’s first year of life.  Fortunately for you, this blog is about her and not the history of our past year! 

Sweet Baby Doll has given up the bottle.  Yes, you read correctly…she did it, and it was painless for us all!!!!!  YIPPEE!!!  Last week I tried a new sippy cup with her formula in it to give to her before her nap, and she went for it!  I think that it helps that she has dropped down to one nap so she is so tired by the time she settles down.  I tried also last week to give her the cup  for night-night, but she did not go for it.  However, tonight, on her first birthday, she took the cup without hesitation!  She won’t see a bottle again.  I think that it’s harder for me.  I find myself wanting to cry that she will no longer have a bottle.  I guess it just makes me realize that she isn’t quite a baby anymore.

I will say, though, that I will still call her a baby.  After all, she is not walking yet.  We played outside a lot today, and she stood on her own without holding anything several times.  She pushed a car while walking all around that back yard as well.  She also had a fun time pushing the merry-go-round around and around and around.  She laughed and laughed!  I thought that it was adorable.

                      

Last night we celebrated her birthday with some dear friends that we’ve made here.  I thank the Lord for bringing them into our lives.  I made a ladybug cake for her.  (I really missed you, Aunt Fanny.  I wish that you could have had that task!)  Baby Doll enjoyed eating the cake and playing with her friends.

         

I have some great pictures of Little Man.  I hope to post them within the next few days.  Love y’all!

Doodlebops February 27, 2008

           

As I said in my last post, we went to see the Doodlebops a few weekends ago.  My Love had been gone for the week, and it was so fun to take off as a family and get away.  The kids did great in the car, which is a BIG deal in our family.  We don’t make the greatest travel babies!    Baby Doll decided that she could hold her bottle by herself, so that helped me tremendously.  (I confess…she falls asleep taking her bottle oh…95% of the time…please pray for me.  I don’t know if I’ll ever get her to give it up, but that’s another blog.)  Back on subject,  we had a great hotel, and the show was AWESOME!!!  Little Man’s favorite character is Bus Driver Bob.  He was the first one out, and we were sooooooo excited that he was in the show too.  Little Man danced and waved his Doodlebop flag.  It was so fun to see him see them in person.  He has now asked to see some other of his favorite characters in person!  We’ll see!

11 Months February 23, 2008

I know, I know, I haven’t been blogging much recently.  If you care to listen to my list of excuses: My Love was in the field for a week; we went out of town to watch the Doodlebops (LM’s birthday gift); my mom was here for a week; then we went to her house for a week; now I’ve been home for a week and just haven’t spent much time on the Internet.  So, even though Baby Doll is now closer to 12 months than 11 months here are her pictures and some comments about what she’s up to.

Baby Doll is absolutely the most precious baby girl in the world!!  She is still the joy of our home.  She smiles tons and loves to laugh when we are laughing.  My Love and I are having to adjust to having a climber though.  Yes, she climbs into chairs to reach things higher on shelves.  She wants to climb on everything, something Little Man was not really interested in doing.  Her favorite word is “da” which means “that”.  She points and wants you to take her to whatever she is pointing at or bring the item to her.  She pulls out toys all on her own to play with.  Her favorite toys are those that sing or play music, much like Little Man, and baby dolls…oh boy does she love to rock her babies!!!!  She has gotten interested in books (finally!!) and will crawl over and bring us one while grunting “mm, mm” as if to ask, “will you read this to me?”  She can say night-night and will lie her head down when you tell her to…during play time at least.   She loves playing with her brother.  He’s okay with it a lot of the time, but will sometimes say as she’s crawling over to him, “Don’t come play with me, Baby Doll.”  She wants to walk, but her confidence is not there yet.  She’ll let go and stand up some but not for very long.

Thank you for being interested in our family.  We love y’all!!!

Visit with PawPaw and Honey February 1, 2008

I’m a bit behind on my blogging…but I’m sure that many of you noticed! :) A couple of weekends ago, Honey and PawPaw came to visit.  We all had a great time.  Little Man, especially, was excited to see them.  I think that we all live for those visits from others! 

We had a fun time hanging out, but we also did some fun things together like going to Chuck E Cheese.  I’m not sure which male (PawPaw, Little Man, or My Love) had the most fun.  Honey was excited to go, because she loves their pizza!  It was quite good.  Baby Doll loves to watch everyone and wishes that she could do the dancing game.

Honey and PawPaw got Little Man LOTS of play dough toys.  PawPaw played with him, and they had a great time.

I always think that the visits are too short and too far between.  We sure miss all of you out there!  Thank you, PawPaw and Honey for coming to see us and for all the fun we had!  We love you!

 

My Sweet Boy January 18, 2008

Well, it seems like as soon as I wrote about the difficulty we were having with Little Man staying in his room he decided that he would do it!  I will admit that a friend of mine and I were discussing allergy medications, and she told me that the one I was giving Little Man sent her daughter into mood swings.  As I thought about it, I realized that our major problems had started around the same time as the allergy medicine.  Therefore, I decided to stop the allergy medicine and see what happened.  His fits got less and much milder, and he started staying in his room…and even napping…see!!!! 

Little Man seems to have such a sensitive heart to the Holy Spirit.  I pray that he keeps it throughout his life.  Two days ago we were all riding in the van together, and Little Man said, “When I go up [to Heaven], I want God to hold me, and I want to sing this song to Him.  You think He will like that?”  O, my precious boy!  Of course, He will LOVE that!  He often talks about Jesus/God living in his heart.  He is quite adamant in saying that Jesus already lives in his heart and often asks about it.  Yesterday we were talking about the need to ask God to forgive us of our sins.  Little Man said, “God, will you forgive me of my sins?  God, forgive me of my sins.  You think He heard me?”  Earlier that day I heard him saying, “I love you, God.”  He then paused for a little while listening as if hoping to hear God say, “I love you too.”

I’m so thankful that he is interested in knowing our Creator, that he already realizes that we were created to have a relationship with Him, and that God loves him no matter what.  I pray that Little Man continues to draw near to God and that He desires to serve God more than anything in his life. 

Three Years Old January 13, 2008

Well, my Little Man is three, and I must confess that I cannot believe it.  They grow up so fast.  I keep asking him what I’m going to do with him growing up so much.  His reply, “You can’t do anything, Momma.”  What a wise kiddo!  I wish so often that I could just freeze him so that he couldn’t get any bigger, I could stay his favorite woman in the world, and we would go through life doing all of the fun mommy/son things like taking walks and going to the park.  Yet, I know that God didn’t make life that way.  Therefore, I’ve decided to enjoy him as much as possible while he is so young and fun to be with.  We’ve been having challenges with him not staying in his room for quiet time.  I’m trying to be consistent and everything, but there is a part of me that keeps thinking, “You know, when he’s 13 or 15 you’ll be begging him to come out of his room.”  This thought helps me not go overboard in my stress level.  I’m just thankful that he wants to be with me!

We had two celebrations for his birthday.  The first one was on his actual birthday.  My Love wanted to give him his gift from Mamie and Pappy first thing so we brought out the scooter, and Little Man was so happy!  I made a cake and cut it in the shape of a football.  Little Man loved it.  We ate spaghetti, his favorite, for lunch and then sang to him, “Happy Birthday to you.  You live in a zoo.  You look like a monkey, and you smell like one too!”  He requested that we sing that version to him!    Baby Doll loved the cake as you can tell!  After supper that night, My Love and I gave him the gifts from us.  Little Man looked at us and said, “May I can open these now?”  I love that he asked permission to open his gifts!  What a polite boy!

                                        

Saturday night we had some friends over.  Little Man absolutely loves their 4 children, and My Love and I enjoy the company of their parents.  We also had our friend, Kate, over, and she brought her dog who Little Man and Baby Doll love.  Kate is the greatest, and I thank God that He sent her my way.  We had fun hanging out with them and watching and listening to the children play.  Lots of laughter filled my house last night.  Kids laughing is my absolute favorite sound in the whole world so I loved it.

Last week before his party I told Little Man that we were having some friends over Saturday to celebrate his birthday.  He thought for a little while and then looked at me and said, “J and J (the twins) are my friends!” huge smile on his face “They are coming!?”  I attempted to explain the distance thing, but he still wanted them there!  We love y’all.

10 Months! I Can’t Believe It!!! January 9, 2008

Well, my precious Baby Doll is 10 months old.  I must admit that it is very hard for me to see her coming so close to being 1 year old.  I’m fairly certain (My Love will probably come in a edit that to extremely certain HAHA) that she will be our last baby, although quite often I want more. 

She is such a precious child.  She blows kisses to us and kisses the baby in the mirror.  It is so fun to see all of the things that she can understand you saying even though her speech, of course, is quite limited.  She will say “bi” and point her finger when she wants a bite.  She does the sign language sign for milk, also.  My favorite thing that she does right now is laugh.  If we laugh, she joins us.  She also starts laughing hysterically all on her own.  Usually she does that when she is wanting to play catch me.  She crawls around everywhere and wishes that she could walk.  She can stand some without holding on, but she isn’t very confident and doesn’t do it very often.

I wish that so many of you could hold her and love on her.  She is so loving and likes pretty much anybody.  In fact, the kids and I went to my favorite fast food place yesterday for lunch, and she started flirting with the man next to us.  She made noises to get his attention and then put on a huge smile with flirty eyes!  Watch out Daddy!  We will have to keep our eyes on her.  I will say, I expect Little Man to help us in that area…at least I hope that he does!

Melt my heart words January 6, 2008

Little Man has been so sweet and affectionate lately.  He has always been cuddly and loving, but now he is not just showing love with actions.  He is also using words to tell us how he feels.  Recently, he was discussing who his great grandmothers are, grandmothers, grandfathers, etc.  He looked at me and said, “You’re my grandmother?”  I replied, “No, I’m your mother.”  With the sweetest look on his face he looked at me and said, “Thank you for being my Momma.”  Oh, I just melted as he hugged me.  Later that evening I listened to him talking with Daddy.  As they lay in bed together, Little Man looked up into Daddy’s eyes and said, “Thank you for being my Daddy.” 

Tonight it was my turn to put him to bed.  Before we read our books Little Man looked at me and said, ”I love you to the moon and to Jesus.”  I’m glad that he’s melting my heart so much!  What a precious boy!

Our Family Picture December 30, 2007