He is Risen!

    We had a great week celebrating Easter! Lucas is at the perfect age to go on Easter egg hunts and it was so much fun coaching him through it.






   We started the festivities on Wednesday at the YMCA. Our friends have a membership for their two year old daughter and the Y opens up the egg hunt to non-members. The toddler room where the egg hunt was happening was packed full of kids and parents and it was difficult to keep my eye on Lucas, being the busy little boy that he is! The kids played for the first 30 minutes then they had circle time where we were led in songs.

He loved this "ball" pit and spent most of his time fearlessly jumping in it!

Happy boy playing with the big kids!

Funny picture of Lucas trying to climb out of the pit

    Then we hunted for countless eggs! Lucas had a harder time actually looking for the hidden eggs so we found an area where the eggs were all over the floor, in the open. He loved this and quickly caught on and soon had his Thomas Train basket full of eggs!

Channing's first egg hunt

Showing me what he got...a gecko that he called "Co" which is his word for bug

I think he looks a lot like my brother Josh in this picture



    Easter day was full of activities and we didn't stop until 10pm. We began Sunday morning as usual, with church. It was a difficult time to attend church because the previous week had been our beloved pastor's last week. We were hoping to attend a great service that would distract us from our "new" church but it turned out to be very disappointing. The guy in charge had a musician come in that basically performed and wasn't that good. He did the hokey pokey! I know, we couldn't believe it either. But thankfully it was over in an hour and we did a quick egg hunt after church. Here are the highlights...



The only picture I got of Channing at this egg hunt, couldn't get one with his eyes open because it was so bright!

    We rushed home after the church egg hunt, ate lunch and then hit the road for my grandparent's house near Centrailia. The car ride down was very pleasant and it was a beautiful day, something that is so rare for an Easter in Washington. The boys slept most of the way and Josh and I enjoyed the quiet and a frappacino.=) Lucas had a blast with the egg hunt at my grandparent's. They have a beautiful property and he was the only kid to do the hunt so he really got spoiled.

He wasn't too sure about the bug. It took a lot of convincing to get him to put it in his basket.

Caught him mid yawn=)

One of my favorite pictures ever!

There are few pictures of me with either of my boys. Love this!

    It was a great day celebrating Jesus' resurrection! We had a yummy dinner and lots of treats. So many in fact and mix that with a long car ride, Lucas got car sick 10 minutes from home.=( It was miserable and this wasn't the first time so we will have to be careful about road trips. But overall it was a memorable Easter!





Channing is 9 months old!

Channing does have his moments but seriously, have you ever seen a happier baby?!

I love his silly faces. He likes to suck on his upper lip while sticking out his tongue. It's hilarious to watch!

Sweet baby toes! Pretty soon they won't be so kissable when he starts walking.

Love my boys' pure blue eyes. Josh and I both have hazel.

Channing had his 9month check up...17lbs 5oz and 27 inches. I weighed him at just over 18lbs at 8 months so either our scale is way off or he's lost some weight. I'm going with a little bit of both. Since 8 months he's gotten even more active so it would only make sense if he lost a little weight. He is 10% for both height and weight. I couldn't believe it! He's got rolls! Lots of rolls! His doctor said it's normal to plateau for growth at this age because babies start burning calories too fast for what they can eat. Lucas was the same, he was only 5% at this age. But he didn't have rolls like Channing. Despite the numbers, he's totally healthy. I'm being more proactive about feeding him solids. I'm still waiting several days between new foods, just to keep track of any eczema triggers. A plus is carrots don't seem to cause a reaction anymore and Josh didn't realize I was taking a break from peaches and gave Channing some a few days ago. So far, his skin remains the same...slightly dry and rough but no red awful eczema, yay! I've been giving him baby cereal puffs regularly and he's getting better about chewing them. He still forgets sometimes and then chokes on them. Thankfully they dissolve pretty quickly but it's still a scary sight for any Mama. Today I made him some homemade pear and apple puree so it was a little chunkier than the jarred baby food. My plan is to slowly add more texture and larger pieces of food so he learns to mash with his gums.
Channing is saying "Mama" and "Dada" quite often. He says "Dada" all the time and only says "Mama" when he's whining at my feet for me to pick him up. I'll take it though! He's also getting very brave and trying to stand on his own. I practice with him, propping him up where he can't grab anything and see how long he can stand. Last week he stood for about 10 seconds AND took a step! It was so exciting to see! He hasn't done that since but in no time at all he will be running around with Lucas. I'm really looking forward to those days, hoping it will bring more play time together and less of Lucas' jealousy towards Channing. I'm also sad for the day he will walk as I see my baby growing up in the blink of my eye. In no time at all, I will be chasing after TWO little boys!

Channing turns 8 months old!

My sweet boy is 8 months old! He has the best smile!

 

I just can't get over how fast my little baby is growing! The last eight months seem to be a blur of smiles, tears and joy. In his short little life he has learned to crawl, pull himself up to standing and eat fruits and veggies. This has been a slower start than expected has Channing seems to battle bouts of eczema. It flares up with certain foods, like peaches and carrots, so I've had to back track a lot in order to figure out exactly what makes it worse. For now, I'm giving him two weeks per new fruit or veggie so I can be sure I know just what sets his skin into a dry, red rash.

I love this picture! It looks like he's growling.

Channing is 7 months old!

I can't believe this sweet boy of mine is SEVEN months old! Every day brings us closer to celebrating his 1st birthday and I'm quite sad about this as I pack away precious little clothes and as he becomes more independent. The past few weeks have been huge for Mr. Channing! He went from a floppy worm crawl to up on his hands and knees and getting faster each day. Almost immediately, he began pulling himself up onto his knees, usually using Lucas' train table for support. Then just two days ago, Josh found him standing and holding onto the train table! He looks way too little to be able to do this, it's really unbelievable. I've been meaning to look up when Lucas first started pulling up on things, just for comparison. Maybe he is at the usual age for this but to me it seems early. The past week has been a rough one. In fact today, Channing was the grumpiest he has ever been. He absolutely refused to nap, even though he was so tired and I couldn't put him down.  At all. As soon as his little chubby toes hit the carpet, he'd get as stiff as a board and cry. It was quite frustrating after a week of similar behavior as well as a disobedient toddler in a bad mood. You can imagine, I got very little done. And no quiet time for this Mama. It's been a rough week for that. The boys' naps haven't been coordinating too well. Basically, I get one down and withing a few minutes, the other one is up and then a short time later, I get one down and the other one is awake again. Thankfully, I was able to break away last night for a few hours of much needed girl time. It was heavenly. But back to Channing. Here's some photos from his monthly photo shoot. It is almost impossible to keep him contained and happy on a small blanket that I use as a back drop. It's really quite comical how hard he tries to wiggle out of the spot I put him in. But I was still able to get some cute ones!



I Don't Want To Raise A Good Child

    Sounds crazy, right? My dear friend sent me this blog post from a mom after my own heart. It's amazing because she's only met Lucas once in his two and a half years of life and he was only a few months old then. But she knows my heart, my struggles and my desires for my kiddos. I encourage all of those with jump in the fountain type kids to read this and be blessed by it. Then I encourage moms of the eats quietly in the stroller type kids to have compassion and patience for the rest of us.=)

    This is from an article on the same blog.

James 1:5-7 reminds us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
As a mom, I want to be single-minded on the reality that if God entrusted these kids to me, I am the exact mom they need. And as the rightful holder of that position, I will believe not only in God but I will also believe that I have what it takes to raise these kids right. As long as I ask for God to help me each day, I can be the mom I need to be.

     I thought this was really encouraging because a lot of times I feel inadequate as a mom to my boys. God doesn't want me to feel inadequate. But He does want me to rely on him. I'm pretty stubborn so asking for help, even from God, is hard sometimes. Hmmm, I wonder where Lucas gets his stubbornness? I want to be able to do it all. By myself. And do it all well. But God asks us to rely on him.

"For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light." Matthew 11:30 NLT    "Cast your burden on Yahweh, and he will sustain you." Psalm 55:22                       "Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burdens, even the God who is our salvation." Psalm 68:19

    God is asking us to trust Him. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is trust. Trust that God knows what's best for us, for our kids, for our spouse. But He created us. He gave us our children. He has their best in mind. And ours too.
    I think I will be reminding myself of this often as I'm just waiting for Lucas to run naked in public.

January In Review...

A rare moment, playing quietly together

Lucas setting up his new toy bin. I had nothing to do with his OCD organization. Well, maybe a little;-)

Peek-a-boo in the crib

So cute

Kisses

I love this picture because his chubby butt is peeking out=)

Wow, it's been a good month. Two getting along moments caught on camera.

Channing has been doing this since before he could crawl. I wondered if he'd skip crawling and go right to walking.

Beautiful eyes, beautiful smile

Lucas is so silly

Channing is such a cuddle bug!

I took Lucas out in the snow, his first time since last year and he had a lot more fun this time.

Making snowballs



He learned to go into a sitting position from crawling.

First time pulling up on something.