Baby Dedication 2010

Sunday was Baby Dedication day at our church. It was wonderful having ours as well as some great friends children being prayed over.


It is such a commitment not only for us but everyone who comes in contact with a child to be a Godly example of love, patience, self control, trust, kindness and compassion.


Each of the 21 families with a baby born in the last year were given this scripture:


This was the insert in our bulletin listing all the babies:


Here's Matthew with his new bible. I'm so glad it's a hard board book he can actually touch at this young age.
Here we are at the front of church attempting to pray with our squirmy boy.

Church's Covenant

We will be extended family for these new parents.
We will offer our personal help and encouragement when needed.
We will refrain from unfair criticism and snap judgments.
We will give them advice when asked and support them with prayer without being asked.
We will listen to their stories, share their concerns, and look at their pictures.
We will learn their names and share their stories.
We will give our hearts to these family and love them as Christ has loved us.

Parents Covenant

We accept all children as an inheritance from God and this child as a unique gift.

We dedicate our child to Him and we dedicate ourselves to do our very best in raising up this child in the Lord.

We will protect this child from harm with all our strength.

We will teach this child to trust, to walk, to search for truth.

We will love and discipline this child in the way God has loved and disciplined us.

We will treasure the moments and collect the memories that each day holds.

We will tell the stories that build faith and shape character.

We will give this child a legacy of wonder and wisdom.

We will, with God's help, instill within this child a love for God which will last a lifetime.

Lord, we solemnly accept the calling of parenting.

The covenant is something I pray over and I can't say it better than that.

Women of Faith 2010

I enjoy any excuse to blot out distractions and just focus on God. I enjoy retreats of any kind and look forward to more mission trips when Matthew is older. This is my 3rd year to go to Women of Faith when they came to Dallas. God just plans it perfectly when I (and thousands of others) need it most. This year was an even more special blessing in one way since last spring when people are usually planning and talking about it I was still in newborn transition mode. Friday afternoon an email came across our church prayer list that someone couldn't make their slot for Saturdays sessions. Billy very kindly postponed his movie with a friend to Sunday afternoon. I was a very last minute addition to this incredible group of women.


Billy and Matthew got a day to themselves. Mommy got to be around estrogen ;-) I adore both my boys and am very thankful to have a husband willing to adjust his schedule at the mention of the possibility of going with out me asking for something I didn't have to even say how much I needed.

What did I take away from this day? I met a few new women, ( I did miss my WOF buddy from the last two years, Amy though....) got the encouragement of sitting there with thousands of others around the metroplex trying to be like Christ and got a powerful reminder of the spiritual warfare for the battle field of my mind. The theme was Imagine.

"Imagine what it would be like if the God who created us was willing and able to provide exactly what we need. Why would He do that? Because He loves us. He loves YOU. Imagine that."



We all have different spiritual gifts and struggles. Through a spiritual gifts class I took several years ago, mine is mercy. My struggle is doubt. God stretched some stiff muscles with the reminder of how to approach the emotions and thoughts knocking at the door of my heart. Just like I wouldn't let anyone in my home that would emotionally or physically attack me. I would look through the peep hole and see who is standing there. Do I know them? Are they someone I want to be around? I need to remember that not every thought and feeling is from God. I need to stay on guard filtering everything through the truth of God's promises. If something makes me turn inward and focus on self I need to very careful where that label is originating. While biblical knowledge of stories, facts, times and background are good to have, that knowledge is not the foundation of my faith. My faith is about trusting God no matter what. I think trust goes deeper than just knowing or having a relationship. Trusting him with my past, present and future here on earth and after. I need to be very cautious of the subconscious promises I make to myself while hurting.

The lesson continues now having a child. It's trusting that no matter how much I love and want to protect my son, God loves Him even more. I must trust his unknown future to my known and loving God. God has His own specific and precious plan for this child he's entrusted me. I don't necessarily trust this world that's full of immaturity, lack of self control, selfishness, unresolved hurt, the need to control. I do want Matthew to see this world full of possibilities and caring people. Is anyone going to love him as much as Billy and I do and the way we do? No, but he'll learn something from everyone he comes in contact with and will be a better person for having known them. I trust God with his heart, his future and the way He will use Matthew for His purposes. Success for my child isn't about college and a career. It's about Christ..... Which leads me to my next entry. The day after WOF was Baby Dedication Day at my church.

Crawling up the Stairs

I'm not great about getting videos uploaded, but here's one to enjoy. We are so not organized in it, it's pretty funny....

9 months

3/4 of a year has passed. It gets harder to remember what it was like before our family became three. I enjoy being with Matthew all day every day watching every development and being part of his growing and learning. I continually pray to be a selfless, patient, kind, loving and wise mother. I know only through Christ alone can I live up to the type of mother God calls me to be.


Sleep:
He sleeps 12 hours at night from 7pm to 7 am He has arrived at 2 long naps averaging 1 and a half to 2 hours each. Nap time is this little part of the day that's just mine. I use the first nap to have breakfast, clean, do laundry, unload the dishwasher etc. and the afternoon naps to have lunch, sew, work on projects, nap, have phone conversations, watch tv, check email and facebook or read

Clothes:
His pants are 6-9 months and his shirts and onesies are 12 months. Shoe size is 4. He does have sweet little pudgy feet so he needs wide width. Size 3 diapers. He's weighs 21.12 pounds which is in the 60th percentile and his height is 29.6 inches which is in the 90th percentile. His head circumference is 18 1/2 inches.

Food:
He eats five times a day. Meal one- 8 oz bottle. Meal two-rice and 8 oz bottle. Meal three- stage 3 veggie. 8 oz breast milk bottle. Meal four- stage 3 fruit with 8 oz bottle. Meal five- 8 oz bottle and rocked to sleep. He does finger foods much better. He really enjoys the baby mum mums. I've cut up a few fruits no bigger than the size of a cereal circle. He squints his eyes between bites, I'll have to upload the video, it's pretty funny to me. He has two teeth now. I've been feeding him bits of mushed up banana and blueberries cut in half.


Socially:
Very curious about everything. We are now well into 'no-no' land. He goes for what ever it is about 7 times with mommy and daddy turning him towards a toy or something else appropriate before he finally gives up, crying out of frustration that it's not going to happen for him. Saying no or tapping his hand only results in giggles so I just pick him up and head him toward something appropriate. He giggles at games like peek a boo, zerberting, being upside, carried sideways, being pumped like iron from daddy, being tickled. Matthew and I stand and wave/blow kisses to daddy when he leaves for work every morning. I've seen his hand open and close while I do this now. We spent our Monday mornings with some fabulous mommies and beautiful children and we are sad to not have that to look forward to anymore. We enjoyed the crafts, company, suggestion and bonding. We made some new friends, got to see old ones and got to know some existing friends better.



Developmentally:

I have noticed the sweet lines under my little guys eyes and thought he might not be getting enough sleep. I had become a nap drill Sargent making sure he got plenty of sleep. Turns out the bags are from allergies. Billy has had allergies since he was very small.
He REALLY enjoys crawling up the stairs. We have a gate now ( Thanks Jenn!) We do allow him to do it as long as one of us is right behind him. He can now get up all 15 stairs.
He has no idea how to climb down the stairs, it's pretty funny and scary at the same time.
He started clapping on his own
Cruises the furniture pretty fast independently.
Big boy crawls anywhere he wants to go. Pretty much permanent red knees these days
Tries to mimic our facial expression, sticking tongue out, etc...
Everything goes in the mouth
He'll have an occasional day here and there of the 'happy spitter' thing but it seems to definitely be tapering off.
Word recognition wise, when I say hungry ( as in asking him if he is), he stops crying. He's done this a few times.
He smiles and sits still for any finger play song game like patty cake, twinkle little star, abc's, Jesus Love Me, Wise Man, Father Abraham, Lord's Army, pretty much any song sung to him.
Babbles when he wants our attention and will get louder until we respond to him.


Mommy/ Daddy Highlights:
Mommy got 10 inches cut off her hair


I already have fun plans in mind for Matthew's first birthday. Baby dedication is coming up at church this next month. Matthew should go through the stored supply of breast milk by mid to late August and be on just formula for a couple of months. (Is it silly to be nervous about this?) After he turns a year we'll introduce cow's milk and ...holding my breath... gluten. I think food is just a thing for us in general, God will get us through no matter what happens.

July Pics