Facing their Giant

Loss is what brings clarity, purpose and significance to the other events in my life. The reality of our short time on earth is what drives me to treasure the people and circumstances around me. Loss for some people is debilitating, destructive and breeds bitterness. For some, like the Tate family they search for meaning and purpose in the upper story through the will of God. I know Kamara casually from our single days and attend church and ladies bible study with her identical twin Tami.

My heart is hurting for the Cox family this morning. God woke me up at 6 am this morning to pray for them as they deliver and say goodbye to their sweet baby girl Marabeth. You can read more details of their story on either Kamara or Tami's blog. God shines through her and her family in a mighty way through out every day life. When unthinkable tragedy comes, I only see God carrying them. I see in their pain the trust, faith and reliance on the only thing capable and mighty enough to carry them through this unspeakable loss. Kamara was induced starting at 6:15 am.

I pray for their hearts and for the strength to share how God has been working in their life.  As I couldn't sleep from a minor cough and scratchy throat and quickly rejected the world's version of what's important via News broadcasts, I settled in to watch Facing the Giants. Just as God's word means different things to us at our different stages in our faith walk. That movie spoke to me of the strength they are calling on this morning to face their worst fears and pain and they can't quit. They aren't hiding the pain or the joy or the hope that her short life will serve a greater purpose. They chose to share their testimony and lives in hopes to bring others to know better what a mighty God we serve and I know they'd approve of me asking for prayers and sharing their story here. May God bless both of their babies in heaven until they can all be together in heaven for eternity.

God made you special and He loves you VERY much

Veggie Tales is a big hit around here, so we used the theme for decorations and food for Matthew's 2nd birthday. I have to thank my bonus mom Sheri and my friends Christine, Allison and Sarah for taking pictures on Saturday. All of these pictures came from them! My camera would not work that day, Billy has fixed it since. It may sound silly, but I had tears in my eyes thinking of not being able to capture this event. After losing my sister, pictures have come to mean alot to me. Pictures reflect people and moments that you can't go back and duplicate.  Anyway, the important thing happened either way and that was celebrating the life of my precious first born child. I'm so thankful for his personality, his growth, the relationship we have and most of all that God has allowed Matthew to be in our family for two years now. I know this coming stage gets a bad rap, but I am looking forward to all the why's of figuring out the world around him.

Singing Happy Birthday!

Then he blew the candles out on his cake. Mommy baked (Pinterest inspired idea) and daddy decorated:

Matthew eating birthday cake with Grandad looking on:

Opening gifts wearing his "Where is my Hairbrush" shirt.

Decoration & food all veggie related:

My wonderful family came early and helped do some last minute final touches. Thank you Joan for doing the binding on the quilt and Joe for printing off pictures of Matthew!

Matthew supervising the decorating

 Pictures taken of Matthew over the last year:

Friends! ( I realize not everyone may like their children's pictures posted on the net, so let me know if your child's is up and I'll understand if you'd like it taken down)

Family:

Nana and Papa

Sheribeari and Grandad

Aunt Leah, cousin Joan and Uncle Joe

 Generous gifts from friends. Katy helping write them down for thank you's :-)

Matthew's baby monkey quilt: 

Thank you bags for all of our small friends ( and a big one too, MV) with silly bandz, a food pyramid activity, stickers, crayons and coloring pages:

Daniel: 5 months

Sunday morning we had our first taste of Daylight Savings Time with two boys age 2 and under. It's going all right. Daniel doesn't seem to phased by the process. Daniel went through a huge growth spurt right after he turned 4 months if his feeding frequency and time spent is anything to go by.

Sleep:
He sleeps 8 hours at night from 9:30- 10:00 pm to 7 am with 3 naps during the day. Two are about 45 minutes and one of them is a couple of hours at a time.

Clothes:
He is wearing 3-6 month pants, but 6-9 shirts and footed pajamas. He's so tall :-) Size 1-2 diapers.

Food:
He nurses four to five times a day.

Socially:
We get out so much and Daniel is such a champ. He's the happiest little guy! His grins and giggles are frequent and heart warming. If he's passed around too much he gets fussy, but other than that will go to anyone with a smile.

Developmentally:
He holds his head steady when upright, no more wobbling :-)
On his stomach, he can raise his chest supported by his arms
Focuses on objects big and small that grab his attention, like mommy's hair
Reaching for his toes. He'll reach with his hands to what interests him instead of just scotting forward on his tummy.
Keeps his head level when pulled to sitting
Rolls over both from stomach and from back.
He enjoys being pulled to a standing position holding on to our fingers.
His baby talk is precious and will hold a fascinating conversation with mom or dad
He mimics the actual sounds we make.
He looks around for Matthew quite a bit.
'Sits' all the way forward, for a few seconds.... then rolls over to his stomach
He enjoys the bumbo and that will buy mommy a couple minutes to gather everything to start nursing.
His high chair at home has been in the reclined position and he keeps mommy company while she cooks as well as sits during dinner time.

Daniel is a perfect addition to our family and I can't imagine our lives without him.

Matthew: 2 years old!

My first baby is 2 years old! 

Sleep:

He sleeps 12-13 hours at night from 7:30/ 8 pm to about 8 am or 9 in the morning. Matthew naps once off and on for 2-3 hours. He's doing great in his crib. He doesn't show any signs of being discontent or climbing out.

Clothes:

He's still in 24 month/ 2t clothes. I just cycled the cool weather long sleeve clothes out a couple weeks ago. The 18 month pants still fit.  Matthews shoe size is 7. We found a great little pair of converse like shoes with the twisty curly laces, which are really fun for him. He's in size 5 diapers. His 2 year stats were 29.2 pounds (50th percentile). Height is 36 inches- 3 feet tall (95th percentile). Head circumference is the same from his 18 month visit of 20 inches. He received the flu shot as well.

Matthew crawling in to Daniel's car seat complete with pacifier and burp cloth

Matthew's bumbo time, hehe

Food:

Matthew is a great fruit and vegetable eater. His preferred proteins are sausage and bacon. He eats three meals a day with an occasional snack thrown in there. He uses a spoon at every meal. He also has joined daddy's habit of a salad at the start of every dinner. Mommy is joining as well. He is getting his 2 year molars in. He enjoys putting the toothbrush in his mouth every morning. He is doing great with a sippy cups and now the occasional straw cup. We just changed from whole to 2% milk over the last couple of weeks. We really only heat up his night time milk anymore. He does a 1/2 milk cup in the morning and water during the rest of the day. 

Typical/ favorite meal choices:

Breakfast - cereal and grapes with half a cup of milk

Lunch - steamed veggies (broccoli, carrots, peas)  with pb&j sandwich or chicken & cheese quesadilla 

Snack - home made fruit smoothie or fruit squeeze with wagon wheels and fruit.
 Dinner - what ever we eat in smaller portions cut up. -with the exception of most meats, not a fan. We supplement beans for the protein. Dinner is followed by his nighttime milk cup.

Socially/ verbally:

Matthew is learning to be kind and gentle with his friends. Especially the other little boys in our small group. He told one of his friends he was sorry with a bit of encouragement from mommy. He continues to relax within about 20 minutes if a new or rarely seen person continues gently. Matthew can string together 2 to 3 words now. He will still 'speak' for an extended period of time as though he's holding his end of a conversation. It's adorable!!! He can identify all of his upper case letter and about half of the lower case. He can name six shapes- circle, square, triangle, rectangle, oval and star. He can spot the numbers 1 & 2. We walk daddy to his car on work mornings and wave goodbye and blow kisses. He jumps up and down saying his grandparents names when we call them. He really likes skyping with family and friends.

Developmentally:

I have come to get him up from his nap and have found him more than once with an article of clothing removed. 

He enjoys climbing on anything we'll let him. 
He has fed his bear a couple times. Once by finding a bottle at Sunday School. A couple of times replicating how mommy nurses baby brother. 
He can build a tower of blocks at least 4 high now. 
Matthew understands our directions and can be encouraged to follow by being a great helper.
He throws balls often. Toys too, when unhappy. 

 

Matthew is a wonderful, loving, smart and handsome boy. He's also a normal 2 year old who needs mommy and daddy's best attention, patience and effort to help guide his new found emotions and preferences to be expressed in healthy ways.  There are wonderful parts of this age such as hugs, wanting to be held and read to, helping mommy and daddy and play time with giggles. Doing arts and crafts, sensory bins and manipulatives for our schooling has really helped encourage his tactile personality and help him connect with the world around him. There are also times when I am on the phone with other mommies asking how they helped their children through this stage. His behavior is demonstrated in an assertive manner and when he dislikes something his protest is very strong. 

It bears keeping on this update from 21 months that opinions are forming and compliance is a work in progress. We are working on some basic structure, time outs for him or the toy being thrown, eye contact. We are encouraging apologies and hugs when his temper involves hitting others. Keeping cool, calm, firm yet kind requires every bit of the strength the Holy Spirit gives me access to. I have added to the words on the side of the fridge the word Consistancy to Love, Empathy, Choices and Boundaries. I pray to help train Matthew through his emotional challenges with these reminders. Being a parent definitely keeps me close to God and on my knees praying. Last week I was outside of his door praying for God's words to come to me before I went in to talk with Matthew about why he spent some time there. There is no perfect parent, child or particular approach. Every child IS different. 

Academically: (new category)  With much thought, prayer and preparation I am now entering our 10th week of homeschooling with Matthew. Preschool after some initial adjustments has become a source of joy, quality time, growth and learning. I'm so thankful for this opportunity to watch Matthew grasp concepts and identify the alphabet, colors, numbers and shapes. We've done some fun units like Back to School and Pumpkins and many bible stories. Rather than a list of accomplishments, I want to be the most thankful for the intangible benefits of character training, bible stories, songs and getting to know how Matthew views the world. Just as compensation- monetary, physiologically or emotional- is a by product of choosing a career that most fully helps others utilizing the gifts God has given each of us; learning is a byproduct of experiences in an environment of safety, growing, learning, making mistakes during the journey of giving, the sharing of our authentic ourselves and living.

Personality:

outside.  Matthew enjoys having a wide range of books read to him including ones where we ask him what the animals say, and identifying the shapes, letters and now numbers.  Matthew's favorite book to have read to him are the growing collection of Veggie Tales books we have. Other favorites are the ABC Bible Verses, The Story, My First 100 Words and If You See a Mouse. I place his books on low book cases and baskets on the floor. He reaches for the Busy Bible several times a week and we go through the bible stories playing with the felt manipulatives. He asks to repeat the same book usually about 3 times back to back before moving to the next.  His comfort items/ friends are blankie, dog, bear, puppy, monkey and guy. His bed is getting pretty crowded at night. His favorite day toys are his Bob & Larry, books, tunnel, ball pit balls, cars, blocks, trucks, train set, riding and push toys. He likes piggy back rides, being chased, tickled and tackled.

  He's doing better when prepared before we transition from one activity or setting to another or when He  tries something new. We took him to Chick fil a on his birthday to play in the tunnels. He approached the large play section, went up a step, came back down.. waited a few minutes, went a couple steps higher, came back down. He repeated this until he made it all the way up on his own. I'm so proud of his determination!

This precious boy is a delight to our hearts. He LOVES his brother! He wants to help rock, kiss, bring a blankie, burp cloth and try to pick him up. I've been encouraging him when Daniel cries in his car seat to sing or talk to him rather than join in the crying. He likes throwing away the dirty diapers in the trash. If I load Matthew in the car first Matthew points to the spot where Daniel's car seat should be and says "Daneee". Matthew shows great interest in all things of Daniel's as well such as his car seat, swing, high chair, bassinet, etc. He does like to climb up in to the chair to get to his booster seat and can get down by himself. He's very accustomed to his brother. Sometimes he looks around for him when he's not where he was at the same time the previous day such as when he gets up from his nap and Daniel isn't in his bassinet or swing. 

Firsts since last update: 

In April first trip to the zoo and carousel ride and awful ant bites, over 75 on one foot

Put 3 words together yesterday. It was 'I not wet'. This was after coming in to his room to get him out of his crib in the morning to find his sheet, bedding, lovie and himself all wet. 

Birthday Party coming up!!