A New Record

Is it ok to blog about your kids biggest poop ever? Because this baby's parents will remember July 27th, 2012 as the day he loaded his diaper and onesie. This is how it went down:

"baby you want me to hold you? Oh I'll hold you...oh oh my gosh, oh my gosh it's everywhere!!"

He wasn't even fussy. He was proud. I love this little guy, even his frightening poop.

What I'm doing

Relaxing in the rain with coffee. And working on a little writing. More pictures to come of our little family adventure.

Trusting Jesus

"On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4:35-41)

I was thinking today of the reasons why Jesus can say to his disciples "why are you so afraid?" in this portion of scripture. I would have been terrified. When waves tower over you, the wind is great, and the boat over the sea is sinking, there's room for all kinds of panic. At least it seems like it.

I was reminded of what Colossians 1:17 says about Jesus. That 'he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.' When Jesus was in Mary's womb, he was continuing to hold all things together. When he died on the cross, still he held all things together. So in this deep (apparently really deep) sleep, all things including the weather and waves of the ocean were being held together by him. Their lives, whether he would choose to let the waves overtake them or not, where being held together by him. He is the Son of God and there isn't a storm or circumstance that comes without his hand allowing it and orchestrating it.

My Boys

Look at my boys. Their newborn similarities melt my heart to pieces. Haddon, what a sweet boy you were, I miss you today. Sometimes when I glance in the rear view mirror and see the car seat that holds Ernie, I picture another car seat next to him that could be holding a little one year old Haddon. I'd be asking him to keep his hands out of brother's face, or something like that:)
Sometimes I give Ernie Brooks a tight squeeze and remember God has sustained him and he is such a gift to us, along with any other children that may come our way. Sometimes I whisper to him about big brother, how he's with Jesus and much happier than he or I could ever be right now. My dad's sketches of Haddon sit above Ernie's changing table, and Ernie's eyes often glance in that direction as he wobbles around during his diaper changes. We like to think he's looking at the sketches.
These frames of them hang on the wall of my parents house side by side, and my heart just wells up every single time I go over there.
My boys, my boys. I love these two boys.

Little Man

Being a stay at home mom for the last 8 weeks has been even better than I imagined it to be. In the last 8 weeks I have:

Been peed on several times.

Learned that it's possible to function on little sleep.

Stopped eating dairy for my baby's poor tummy (I...miss the dairy).

Healed from a somewhat crazy csection.

Have learned how to wisely answer the question 'oh is this your first baby?'

Fallen in love with my baby's cute sneezes.

Learned a lot from reading him the Jesus Storybook Bible.

Transitioned from carrying around skinny little newborn to a fat boy.

Washed our sheets quite more than I have in the past due to many diaper changing accidents.

And it's all for the love of this little sweet pea (thank you Sam for such a great photo!)

Happy birthday to me!

A really good friend of mine, Kelsey, and I have birthdays a couple days a part. Our husbands surprised us with a night at a resort!

Picture 1: giving kisses to a sweet boy who went into the pool for the first time. His little swim outfit got very wet and he didn't fuss at all. What a champ.

Picture 2: He loved sleeping on our bed for a morning nap. Of course, who wouldn't want to fall into a deep slumber on satin sheets?

Picture 3: What a hunk. Carrying around a baby in a pool. He caught my eye, that's for sure.

Picture 4: slumbering again, sweetly on those sheets.

Picture 5: does this kid love his dad or what?

Picture 6: Kelsey and I with our boys and her niece!

Not pictured are some sweet features of the resort. There was a Keurig in every room (joy joy joy joy), and a really cool area at night with fire pits for anyone to make s'mores.

Thank you honey, I love you:)

Busy Monday

Hello! Soon I want to post about the wonderful weekend my hubs surprised me with, it will take some uploading of pictures from our really neat camera.

So today I will post about our busy day. Nothing fancy, just trying to get things done around my home plus a grocery day, which meant little E got some grandma and grandpa time. Through a little sadness I handed him off to grandpa and went to conquer a few things from Costco. Then Walmart.
Ernie went through three outfits throughout the day, sometimes his poop can be quite alarming.

I emptied all things old and disgusting from the fridge. It was horrifying.

I poured a glass of almond milk and found out it is delicious in cold coffee. And it will be incredible over cereal tomorrow.

I began chopping a ton of strawberries that I bought on sale, I got 6 cases because the deal was so good. Plus bananas and peaches. Smoothie heaven at our house.

I conquered dishes that really only took one night to build up in my sink.

I folded some laundry with my kid babbling by my side, makes laundry way wonderful.

Stay tuned for what my Friday and Saturday were like!

Magnolia

I love singing this song to Ernie Brooks. It's a sweet song that he loves hearing. Ellie Holcomb's Magnolia album is so wonderful, it's one of those albums where every single song is good. Most of them are based on the Psalms. Plus the mandolin is incredible.  I can listen to a mandolin for hours.

Ernie's First Month

Well, baby Ernie has actually been a month for a couple weeks now. I've just been absent from the blogging world for awhile! I've been joyfully busy busy busy taking care of this fellow. There's endless things to learn with a newborn, so everyday is this wonderful adventure.

-Yesterday we threw our first outfit into the "this no longer fits" pile.

 sob

We love that he is getting bigger, but it's like the changes make you want to cry at the same time.

I still love the newborn onesies because they make him look his chubbiest. But I can tell they will only be able to work for a couple more weeks. At that point, through tears, I will fold up his new born out fits and tuck them away.

-He also has quite the little voice now, a little raspy, all boy type of voice.

-He loves being with Dad. And trust me, Dad loves being with him.

-God has been a Helper to me just as he promises. In the middle of the night at times, I'll hear baby crying and my tiredness can feel heavy. The Lord has, thankfully, reminded me that motherhood is something he has called me to, and whatever he calls me to he will surely help me and equip me, even at 2am when my body is weak and exhausted, He is definitely the Great Encourager.

We have had an incredible month of enjoying this sweet boy.

A night in Psalm 1

Blessed is the man

who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

He is like a tree

planted by streams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

In all that he does, he prospers.

The wicked are not so,

but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;

for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 1


Reading this next to a sleeping baby and listening to rain outside. This text encouraged me in my struggle to be consistently in my Bible, even the struggle to delight in it, as it says.