Sunday, May 30, 2010

It's Official

So it turns out that sweet baby girl of mine, is approaching toddlerhood at lightning speed. 

She chows down on real people food, and loves it all.  Even the lima beans y'all.  Both my kids happily eat lima beans, and I know I should be thankful for this, but I have to admit, it grosses me out just a little.

She takes a bath with big brother now...
Both of them have so much fun splashing around together.

And probably the most exciting news, she started crawling yesterday (for super short distances, but I'll take it!)!  She's been working on it so hard, and has been transitioning between sitting and supine/quadruped for several weeks now.  Up until yesterday she'd lunge forward or rock back and forth or, her favorite move, back her self all over the room, but now she actually moves victoriously forward a foot or two before collapsing to the ground:)  We took these pictures and video last week when she was still trying to work it all out...
And apparently it's also official that Hunter is deep into the threes.  To all of my friends who warned me that three was worse than two in tantrums and whinyness, I confess that I didn't believe you.  Now I do.  He sure is sweet when he wants to be though, so I think we'll keep him;)

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Bathing Beauty

My sis came over to take Char's pictures for her birthday (who can believe we're so close to her birthday! didn't i just have her in my womb?!) invitations.  And once again, they are so dang cute...

In case you're not following, it's a swim party.  Believe it or not I don't recall a single swim party for my birthday growing up, (but I do have the worst memory in the history of ever, so I could be largely mistaken....and I'm sure my mother will correct me on here if I am...love you mom!) so I thought we'd start off with a swim party for sweet little Char.  And by swim party, I mean set up 2 or 3 kiddie pools in the back yard for the babies to sit in.  We're so excited!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Special

Hunter's current favorite word is "special".  It started with him saying, "I love you so much in the whole world.  You're special."  But then it morphed into, "I love you so much in the whole special world."  And now, he just throws it in whenever he can.  He'll gently pat Charlotte while he sweetly says, "Special baby."  He often tells me he missed me while I was at work, but now sometimes refers to it as "special work".  He has also started making up words and putting the word "special" in front of them in his sentences.

I love that kid so much.  He sure is special;) 

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Spring

My sweet friend, Emily, took our pictures again, and they turned out great!
Thanks Emily (and Matt! you're the best animal impersonator I know!)...we're so thankful for y'all!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Charlotte's Dedication

We dedicated Charlotte to the Lord this past Sunday.  During his dedication message, our pastor mentioned that it was more of a parent dedication than a child one, since we are the ones acknowledging that Charlotte is a gift entrusted to us from the Lord and publicly committing to raise her up to know and follow Him. 

Obviously you know before becoming a parent that it's a challenging task, but I never really thought about all that went in to raising a child to learn and grow in God's love.  Everything I learn about Him now, I immediately relate back to my children, and try to think of ways that I can reveal these truths to them at an early age.  I've also become increasingly aware of the truth to the old "it takes a village..." adage.  During the dedications at our church, the body commits to walk alongside the family and essentially help raise the children. 

Throughout the journey our family has been through over the past year, the church - not just Scofield, but the church - has been such a blessing to us.  They pray for us and give us their ears and their hearts and they carry this burden with us, not only because they love us but because they love Him, and that's what He's commanded us to do. 

Carry each other's burdens. 

Pray for each other's children. 

Teach each other's children. 

Love each other's children. 

So I am confident that Charlotte will have a multitude of God-fearing people raising her alongside of us.  And I am so thankful...

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." 3 John 1:4  This is my hope for her...my daily prayer.

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Mothers

Hunter hates buttons.  I'm using the word hate here people.  The boy would prefer that every piece of clothing in his closet be button-free.  Most days, we comply with his request and let him wear one of his tshirts and elastic waistband shorts.  But sometimes, I just want him to wear one of those precious polos or cute plaid shorts calling to me from his closet. 

Last Saturday was one of those times. 

So I pulled 2 cute little outfits from his closet for him to choose from...both had buttons, so as soon as he saw them, he fell to the floor screaming in protest of the buttons.  I know what you're thinking.  It's not worth the fight, and believe me there were moments during the tantrum that followed when I thought to myself, "What am I doing?  Just let it go already."  But it was too late.  We were already deep in it by then, and dang it he was going to wear those plaid shorts even if it meant pinning him down!  

And as it turns out, that's what it took.  I chased him around his room - both of us on our hands and knees - trying with everything in me to keep my hysterical laughter as silent as possible.  That's my reaction...laugh or you'll cry, right?  

I finally got his shirt and shorts on, and he looked up at me with his tear-stained face as calm as can be.  When I said, "See.  It's so comfortable isn't it?", he responded with, "Yeah." and walked out to the car as if the last 5 minutes had miraculously disappeared from his little 3 year old head.  And me?  I sat alone in his room, thinking of my sweet son in his cute 4 button outfit and felt...victory;)

There have been many more instances in the last month that pretty much mirror this exact scenario (except the issue isn't buttons, but wanting to walk instead of ride in the cart or wanting to leave the water on in the front yard for just a little longer even though a lake is starting to form in our lawn).  Sometimes I give in, sometimes I don't.  It's the dance of being a mother.  Always, though, I laugh.  I can't help it.  I know what others are thinking.  I'm sure they're judging me.  But it's my natural instinct, and I'm thankful that I can laugh instead of cry or worse, scream.  It is such a challenging thing being a parent...a mother, but with that it's such a huge reward.  A privilege.  An honor. 

So on this Mother's Day, I'm thankful for the tantrums and the whines and every negative thing that comes with the territory of being a mother because during and through and after all of that, I get to be the mother of these two... 

"Before becoming a mother I had a hundred theories on how to bring up children. Now I have seven children and only one theory: Love them, especially when they least deserve to be loved."
-- Kate Samperi

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Love Them

Hunter and Charlotte are so in sibling love right now, and it is my favorite thing.  They are both big cuddlers and hug or cuddle each other everyday...
(Charlotte looks so funny here, but I promise that choke hold H has on her is purely out of love.)

Char has been working hard on her gross motor skills and has actually made good progress (mostly because of her sweet brother's cheers from the sideline), so we're not going to get a therapy script after all.  When she's in prone, she tries so hard to pull her legs up under her, and she's almost got the transition from sitting to prone (or hopefully quadruped if we're lucky!) down...

And in Hunter news, if this isn't a classic example of Hunter's preferred play style, I don't know what is...