We have a lot of hand me downs for Owen to wear, including this sleeper. However, it’s 9 month size , which he’s wearing now. It won’t fit in October. Practical lady that I am, we put him in it now. Because I’m sure as heck not letting this cute little thing go to waste! So, given my fall updates lately, I thought I better share!

    Owen tried out the kiddie lawn chair at my parents this weekend. Wes held his collar some, just to be safe. He got a little excited and started forward with laughing. He can sit on his own, but doing something else…like laughing or holding a toy…throws him off balance. He begins to resemble a weeble who wobbles, and he will fall down!

More to come on the fall front, of course, because I’m obsessed with the time of year. I am restraining myself until September 1st though. I have trouble with self-control so I’m trying to implement dates for the holidays. That means Sept 1 starts fall, Oct 1 starts Halloween, Nov 1 starts Thanksgiving but it’s also my Christmas music start date. Then Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving! Getting a little giddy just talking about it. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like with the two kiddos this year – crazy and fun, I’m sure.

Ah this little face! 

This little face is 6 months old (as of the 9th, I’m behind of course). At the doctor, he weighed 18 lbs 14.2 oz which was like 74th percentile. Length wise he is 29.5 inches long, around 99th percentile. And I can’t remember his head measurements, but I think it’s pretty big. I looked up Emersen’s measurements and they were pretty close in size: she weighed 19 lbs 1 oz and was 29 inches long. 

Also similar, both were sitting by this age. I think Emersen rolled around more on the floor and moved around more, but we’ve realized that may be because we have hardwood in the living room now. When I had O upstairs on the floor, he scooted from his blanket under the desk, between the desk and chair, over to the curtains where he decided to grab them as a chew toy. He literally put every thing he can get his hands on into his mouth. And he gets his hands on things in the blink of an eye, he’s too quick for me.

Owen finally rolled over from back to belly on his own, all at one time, a few weeks before he was 6 months old. He’s only done it a couple times, he doesn’t love being on his belly. And we’ve seen him roll from his belly to his back as well. 

Similar to Emersen, Owen is eating every 4 hours, 4 times a day. Still nursing, and eating cereal & solids 3 times a day. We’ve introduced yellow vegetables: squash, carrots, sweet potatoes. We’ve introduced peas as well. Next up will be green beans! Then we will do the fruits. Owen wants to eat regular food. He’s gone after my hamburger before. Our goal is to start our day between 7 & 7:30 and do our 4 hour segments from there, putting him to bed around 8pm. This was working great, but Owen has been waking up very early for about a week now. He hasn’t been eating as well, which I’m wondering if it’s because we started weaning him off Zantac after his 6 month appointment. Always wiggling the variables to try to balance everything out with a baby!

Emersen is still obsessed with Owen, and Owen is obsessed with Em as well. He laughs at her more than anyone and she can almost always get him to smile! She still loves him a little too hard some times, but is getting better. She loves to get him a diaper or a toy. Speaking of diapers, we’re still doing cloth diapers. Besides being budget friendly, we have been trying to reduce the amount of items we use that are disposable, so I like that aspect as well. I have had ammonia smell issues that I’m anxious to work out soon. And my cheap diapers I got at the beginning before I knew better are losing their lining, so I’ve had to toss several of those. Hoping to get back on track soon!

That’s where we are at 6 months. We’re totally obsessed with our little man. I do have to admit I can’t wait for Em to start back to preschool in September – I think all parties involved will be happier for sure! She was disappointed that they weren’t doing “learning” during her summer school program. What can I say? We’re a nerdy family. And we love it.

Thoughts from my Wednesday:

Do you ever have those days? No, not THOSE days. But a day that seems like an “aha” moment – not of some grand idea, but just of…something. I had one of those days today. I can almost picture the Lord sitting at a puzzle board that is my life, moving the pieces around, turning them over and sideways until they fit. He’s working things into place. I don’t know what the final “big picture” is of course. And today – and I’m just doing this one day at a time – I’m okay with that. I haven’t been lately. Maybe that’s the “aha” moment?

My day was not extraordinary. Got up. Nursed the babe, fed the babes (we’re on to cereal now with O), made Em’s lunch for school, got us dressed and out the door (on time is quite an accomplishment these days), dropped her off, got a much needed adjustment at the chiropractor, & finally headed to Starbucks for a little gift card breakfast. I had plans for grocery shopping but realized it was a little early to buy frozen foods since I wouldn’t be picking Em up until 1pm. The blessed grocery trip of the week – oy vey, am I right? I drove to Meijer to eat my breakfast before heading in and decided to go visit my previous employer. It was fantastic catching up, showing off little O and even having one of my former co-workers let O fall asleep on her. Instead of nursing in the car, I got to have someone to chat with and a (comfy) place to sit before heading off to the grocery. Again, I despise going to the grocery every week. I left my visit feeling….something. Great, but that’s not the right word.

At Meijer, I knocked out my shopping fairly quickly. Normally, I’m weighed down with price comparisons and budgets that stress me out. Today, I think because I was in a hurry, I just got it done. Perhaps I’ll be weighed down when I look at the bank account, but let’s not ruin the day. Next to pick up E. I was running late, but the annoyance of that situation just wasn’t there today. E was joyous after a fun day at school, no whining on the way home so woohoo! Got the babe to nap time, unloaded groceries and as I announced my purchases, E affirmed them by saying “that’s my favorite!” (about edamame, mind you). She played for awhile as I finally ate lunch and took a minute to unwind. She went off to chill time, I woke the babe at the 2 HOUR mark of his nap. Nursed, fed him, & I’m sure I fed E because she’s always hungry then she watched a show.

Wes had plans for a Legends baseball game tonight, so I had to make dinner early and have it ready when he got home from work. Given that I had been to the grocery, this was no big deal. Everyone ate, drank and was merry. Sent Wes off, put O down for his catnap, went outside with Em. Left the dishes for later. O woke up, went for a family walk, came home and got O ready for bed, nursed him and got him down. Em sees a commercial for Batman on TV and wants to watch the movie when it’s on. Explaining that it’s not a kid movie, she then asks about Spiderman. Modern woman that I am, I take to YouTube and we watched an episode of the Spiderman cartoon from 1967. Then, re-bandaging of her frozen warts and her burn from the other day, and she’s off to bed. Add detergent for Step 2 of washing the cloth diaper load, and on to the dishes.

Wes does the dishes in our house and prefers to knock it out right after supper. I like to be with the people, then do it later. Thus, dishes tonight. But it was peaceful. I put on Pandora and cleaned up. Then I made myself some coffee and sat down to listen to a couple songs before reading my Bible. But that’s how I ended up at the computer typing this rambling account of my not so special day that feels rather special.

I have been reading and thinking on Psalm 51:12 for a little over a month now: Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. I have felt like I’ve just been “making it”, surviving but not thriving. I can’t get caught up, can’t catch a break, and so on. I don’t know if it’s the juxtaposition of yesterday when I heard about a family losing their adopted son to illness before he ever got to be in their home, about Ebola, about attacks in Afghanistan and so on compared to today which was gloriously ordinary that is putting things in perspective. Ordinary doesn’t feel like the right word though. I think it’s joy versus happiness. Joy is something internal, something that isn’t rooted in superficial things. I found joy in small things today – in catching up with old friends, getting chores done, a quiet house, old shows, a short nap that allowed for a walk and so forth. That hasn’t & doesn’t come easily for me. But I feel as if I’ve been restored the joy of His salvation. I had the willing spirit, I was sustained, but now I think the joy has been restored.

I recently saw a quote by Timothy Keller on Twitter that said “Worry is not believing God will get it right and bitterness is believing God got it wrong.” I kept thinking on this each time I heard of bad things happening. Just because I expected it to go differently doesn’t mean anything. What I expect and what God has planned are radically different I imagine, and I should be thankful for that fact.

Final thoughts: I finally feel like a grown up tonight home by myself after putting both kids to bed, cleaning up the kitchen, working on the laundry and all that. Sounds silly. Also, I get why some people like to get up before the kids are up. I get up at the last possible minute, and I’m not saying that will change. But tonight, sitting in the quiet, I get it.

…these are a few of my favorite things!

That’s right. Emersen is in her pajamas, in a raincoat and boots, playing in the rain. Unfortunately, we were short on puddles for jumping, but she still had fun. There have been mornings before 8am that Em is outside playing, which I love.

Then there’s little man! I just wanted to eat him up in this outfit! Again, so thankful for the hand me down clothes we received. I took like 20 pictures of him sitting there, but for your sake, I weeded them down to just a few. He makes SO many hilarious facial expressions…babies crack me up.

The newness of Baby Owen as a little brother has NOT worn off with Emersen. I know that we should be thankful she has positive feelings toward him, but it’s also very frustrating trying to protect Owen from Emersen’s affection. We’ve had some heart to heart talks today about self control and controlling her body parts, because she only has an extreme/enthusiastic setting that works. Gentle/slow/controlled has some missing connections. I would gladly take any suggestions from parents out there of how to teach this to a 3 1/2 year old. It’s a real problem for us. And for her.

We recently had some “quiet” time while Emersen stayed at my parents for about 4 days. It was fantastic. Not because we don’t like Em, but because we could act without qualifying what we were doing. We could eat snacks and not have someone mooching for them or asking for food. We could do things without having to be home for her bedtime (we still had to be home to feed Owen around 9pm…). We could watch a movie any time of the day. We could go throughout our day and our minds had the freedom to rest, relax and shut down rather than correcting, acknowledging, answering and engaging. We missed Little Bit and are glad to have her home, but breaks are necessary.

Also, it’s becoming so much more evident to me with the second child that Wes and I will have to put in some real effort to prioritize our marriage above everything else, other than our relationship with God. In putting our marriage above children, we are simultaneously serving our children by ensuring them stability and love. I mentioned talking to my fellow second time mom who was in from Africa in my last post. We both kept talking about how we just don’t have anything else to give to anyone else. I find it especially difficult with a breastfeeding infant, and especially mine that doesn’t take a bottle, to have any reserves left for others. Everyone needs me – to feed them, cook for them, clean their clothes, play with them, read to them, buy food for them, drive them around and so on. Eventually, I just feel like I can’t have anybody take anything else from me. I don’t have anything else to give – I can’t give affirmation to Wes, I can’t listen with undivided attention about his day, I can’t get involved in anything too time consuming because I’m just going to have to feed the baby again, I don’t feel romantic because my body parts are serving a utility based purpose daily & I deal with bodily fluids the majority of the day. I find it difficult to turn off the mom switch fully to give myself fully to the wife role. Mothering and romance seem so vastly different, it’s hard to put forth the effort to go between the two roles quickly and easily.

We went out this weekend while Em was out of town. Dinner at Carino’s, the location of our first date, and browsing at Barnes & Noble. We ended up buying Em a puzzle, which was fun to get something that she isn’t asking for at the store. I wore a dress AND heels (platform sandals, lets not get crazy). A shower didn’t happen prior to the date….sorry Wes. I did take a bath so I could shave my legs since I was wearing a dress. So there’s that. But it IS hard to do date nights – spending money while on a budget, getting a babysitter (which we’re lucky to have grandparents available), putting in some effort but timing it all just right around an infant feeding schedule. I’m tired just typing it. But I see how excited Emersen gets to play Wii bowling with BOTH of us. Owen often saves his out loud laughing for when Wes and I are BOTH side by side, playing with him. And I know that we have to put in the work to make sure Wes and I stay on the same page. And not just on the same page, but showing the kiddos that we love each other, that we support each other and that it’s unconditional. And for us, our motivation and inspiration come from the Bible telling us that marriage is a picture of Christ’s relationship to the church, and other verses that tell us how to love each other and treat each other specifically as husband/wife, but also just as people and/or fellow Christians. How Wes and I act as married folk then teaches Emersen & Owen about who God is, who Christ is & what that means. No pressure, eh?

They finally met. And it was love at first sight…

Yeah, right. But they did meet! Finally. And can you believe that they are about 3 1/2 months apart. And they’re right around the same size. Elodie is 7 months old now, Owen will be 4 months on June 9th. Owen may win in fighting size, but Elodie captures the prize for rolling, scooting, smiling/laughing and interest in table food. Her sweet little face was sometimes too much. You would just look at her and her entire face would light up with a smile. Babies are so CUTE! She also may, or may not, have tried to roll on top of him too.

Then there are these ladies. Crazy ladies, that is. They picked up right where they left off. They were in and out of the backyard. Up and down the stairs to Em’s room. They played doctor, using Em’s picnic table as the exam table. Obviously Doc McStuffin’s was involved as seen in the pictures. There were also some band-aid’s involved – paper pieces in the grass and bandages on various stuffed animals. They ran, climbed, played and so on. Eventually, they also yelled at each other. One or the other ended up in time out. There were some peanut butter/honey/wheat germ (what we call “special” sandwiches…don’t knock it til you try it) sandwiches shared and I think someone was crying when they left. It was freaking fantastic! Normal time together to hang out.

Kelli and I enjoyed our time together too of course. Something to be said about a friend you can hang out with on your couch and nurse your kiddos while having a conversation at the same time. We chatted about our obsession with our second children, theorizing over why we’re more sentimental and obsessed than the first time – guessing its because we’ve done this before and we’re pretty sure we’re not going to kill them this time. We talked about how we just don’t have ANY more to give to anyone these days. Husbands, ministry, church, future plans, crazy kid stories and so on. Some things are crazy different in Africa, but being a mom is being a mom. It helped remind me that, as a mom, I have something in common with SO many more women that I didn’t previously relate to in any way.

I recently went to a baby shower/celebration for a girl at my church. It’s her second little one. I knew the names of several of the women, but I didn’t really KNOW them. And despite my social nature, situations like that create a hesitancy in me to just go do something. Once I get there, I’m fine. But being a mom has helped change that. One reason is because, no offense, I don’t care WHAT you’re doing…if I get to come out, by myself, for grown up time, then I’m excited! But also because many of the women were moms so we already we comrades. It helps, in the hardest job I’ve certainly ever had, to know that others are doing it too. And even deciding to have more children – so I know I’ll survive.