Love the chub!

I love it when babies start to get that little layer of chub. I love the yummy dimples that form around their fingers, elbows and knees. I love the double chin and the plump cheeks. I love the thick soft thighs. I love the buddah belly. I realized that because it is winter Nathaniel's soft kissable chub will be covered up most of the time. So I decided I needed a few pictures. Aaron thinks I am crazy.

Motivation (the lack thereof)

It is Monday morning again. Inevitable.

I am struggling this morning to get going. After a fun weekend (scroll down for pics) all the household chores are staring me in the face and I just can't bring up any enthusiasm for the tasks ahead. At some point I also have to make it to the post office (always an adventure with Jeremiah) and the library. It doesn't help that Nathaniel was up from 2-4 this morning and somewhere in my sleep fogged brain I remember getting up with Jeremiah too at some point.

Last week was a hard week. I was very impatient with Jeremiah and I'm sure that I was not always a Godly, loving parent. I know that I was not a loving and Godly wife either. At our church we always have communion on the last Sunday of the month at an evening pot-luck meal and service. In preparation for communion we have a time of confession of sin.

We sang the following song which was like a balm to my soul and I am reminded today to speechlessly trust God's mercy and boundless grace. Praise God that my salvation does not depend on what I do but on what God has done for me!

God, Be Merciful To Me

God, be merciful to me, On Thy grace I rest my plea;

Plenteous in compassion Thou,Blot out my transgressions no;

Wash me, make me pure within,Cleanse, O cleanse me from my sin.

--

My transgressions I confess, grief and guilt my soul oppress;

I have sinned against thy grace, and provoked Thee to Thy face;

I confess Thy judgement just, speechless I Thy mercy trust.

--

I am evil, born in sin; Thou desirest truth within.

Thou alone my Savior art, teach Thy wisdom to my heart;

Make me pure Thy grace bestow, wash me whiter than the snow.

--

Broken humbled to the dust, by Thy wrath and judgement just,

Let me contrite heart rejoice and in gladness hear Thy voice;

From my sins O hide Thy face, blot them out in boundless grace.

--

Gracious God my heart renew, make my spirit right and true;

Cast me not away from Thee, let Thy Spirit dwell in me;

Thy salvation's joy impart, steadfast make my willing heart.

--

Sinners then shall learn from me, and return O God to Thee;

Savior all my guilt remove, and my tongue shall sing Thy love;

Touch my silent lips O Lord, and my mouth shall praise accord!

Harvest Party 2007

Jeremiah had lots of fun holding his empty roasting stick close to the fire.

He didn't want to get too much closer because of the heat.

Recognize this lion?
I went with Jeremiah in the hayride. He loved it!

We were snuggled in the hay singing songs, watching the sun set and the stars come out. Jeremiah would look up at me and say, "Mama, this is fun!"
Jeremiah wanted to take a picture of the pretty sunset. It didn't turn out that great. The sunset was much more beautiful in person. But I had to humor him.

Another family visit

Jeremiah liked playing with the "big girls."

He of course wanted to play with their computer too.

Charlotte and Nathaniel
Aunt Carol and Nathaniel
Family Picture
Jeremiah gets an icecream cone.

Yesterday we had a fun visit from my aunt, uncle and their 3 daughters (my cousins). I realized this morning that again I was neglectful in my picture taking duties. It really gets much harder when there are 2 little ones to keep track of. :-) But I think Aunt Carol took some so I may be able to post some more later.

Anyway, back to the point. Aunt Carol & Uncle Daryl are missionairies with TWR and currently live in South Africa. The last time we saw them was January 2004, which was of course b.c. (before children). They came through this area yesterday to take a look at Covenant and to visit us. It was such a treat to see them! Jeremiah was all wound up with excitement and being the center of so much attention. Audrey, Julie and Charlotte were so patient with him and played puzzles, went outside, and generally allowed him to drag them around from one activity to another. Nathaniel got a lot of loving and holding.

The visit felt way too short - but this time when we said goodbye we were able to look forward to seeing each other again in a few months (at Ben & Ramons's wedding) rather than a few years!

Mischief

This is what Jeremiah was up the other evening while I was taking a much needed nap and papa was in charge. This is the tape of Bible verse songs. I haven't tried to play the tape since this happened but I hope it still works because it was a good tape. I guess it wasn't one of Jeremiah's favorites. :-)

Another thing to keep track of

Ok - so I am on Facebook now. Not that I have time to keep up with something else. But it is kinda fun and there are a lot of people on there to re-connect with.
I have imported my blog onto that page so it is all together.
If you are on there too add me as your friend!

Random funny fact - Nathaniel smiles every time I change his diaper and wipe his butt. :-)
And Jeremiah loves Elmo.

It's here!

Finally after much drama (to borrow a phrase from Ramona) Nathaniel's passport is here!

YEAH!

This is his passport picture. What a distinguished looking fellow.

It is good until 2012 so I don't know why they were so picky about the picture because by then it won't even look like him. Oh well.

Now all systems are go for departure on December 9th.

Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

Nice Visit Pt.2

Jeremiah and Sophia
It was hard to get a good picture of us all. This was the best we could do.

It's kind of strange. It doesn't seem like that long ago that Kelly and I were playing Smurfs in her dogwood tree. Now our kids were playing together.

Nice Visit

Great-Grandma Viss with Jeremiah and Nathaniel!

Nathaniel was very sleepy. :-)

Jeremiah was not shy about asking great grandma to read him his current favorite book.

We enjoyed a nice visit from my grandma Viss, cousin Kelly, and her daughter Sophia. Jeremiah remembers Sophia visiting us before and had recently been asking for "baby Sophie" to come and play. He got his wish. With 3 little ones in the house we were abit too distracted to take pictures (Kelly may have taken some) but Jeremiah was enthralled with and protective of Sophia. He followed her as she crawled and toddled around the house exploring. He was very good about sharing toys with her. It was cute!

It was so nice to visit with them and I was so appreciative that they drove down from Nashville to see us.

Papa's boys

We ask Jeremiah, "How many boys does papa have?" He smiles really big and exclaims "Two! A Jer-miah boy and Nu-fan-nul boy!" What am I going to do surrounded by 3 handsome boys? :-)


The Stand

You stood before creation
Eternity in Your hand
You spoke all life into motion
My soul now to stand
--
You stood before my failure
And carried the cross for my shame
My sin weighed upon Your shoulders
My soul now to stand
--
So what can I say?
And what can I do?
But offer this heart oh God
Completely to You
--
So I’ll walk upon salvation
Your Spirit alive in me
My soul to declare Your promise
My soul now to stand
--
So I’ll stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
in awe
Of the One who gave it all
I’ll Stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours

Look-A-Like

Just for fun. The pictures with the little blanket behind him are Jeremiah the others are Nathaniel - same chair, same outfit. I think there is a definite family resemblance.

He did it!

Nathaniel slept from 11:30pm to 5:30am! Straight through!
It may be a fluke - but I hope not.

Review - Band of Brothers

We have just finished watching the DVD of the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers. I definitely give this a 5 star recommendation.

I don't usually enjoy watching violent movies or movies about war. It seems very hard to find movies about war that don't end up glorifying war or making it overly heroic in some way.

But this mini-series is really well done. Directed by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks it has the feel of a documentary. The cinematography is beautiful and serves the story telling. The character development is amazing and deep. I was moved to tears on more than one occasion. War is not glorified.

Band of Brothers is based on the real story of the 101st Airborne Division's Easy Company. It follows them from training camp through WWII. They fought in Normandy, Holland, the Battle of the Bulge, and finally took Hitler's Eagles Nest. They suffered a great number of casualties but continued to fight with courage and distinction. Every episode shows the bond that builds between the soldiers and brings to light various emotional and physical costs of war.

But the most moving and impactful part of this mini-series are the snippets of interviews that are shown of the actual men of Easy Company. The men recount their experiences with much emotion and are often moved to tears when speaking of their fellow soldiers. Their relationships are deep and last to this day. As I listened to their interviews I realized the emotional toll that fighting in WWII must have had on these men. They endured so much. For 2 years they fought almost constantly, saw the violent and random deaths and wounding of comrades, during the winter of the Battle of the Bulge they held the front lines dug into foxholes in the frozen ground without adequate clothing, food, or ammunition. Through all of it they continued to fight. I thought about what it must have been like for them to return back to the States in 1945. I am sure no one knew about post-traumatic stress disorder back then.

What makes this series so moving (and different from most war movies I have seen) is the fact that none of these men called themselves heroes. In their minds they were friends who depended on each other and who were just trying to survive. In fact the last word we are left with struck me. "My grandson asked me, 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' and I said, 'No son, but every man I fought with was."

Please take the time to rent and watch this mini-series. I was driven to think about the heavy cost of war (that I think we now take too lightly). I was moved to tears at the sacrifices made. I was inspired by the depth and constancy of friendships. This DVD is worth your time!

Singing

Special props to anyone who can name the song Jeremiah is singing. :-) Notice his glockenspiel skills. Someday I will video his wild harmonica playing. :-)

Jeremiah has really started to enjoy singing in the past few weeks. He is like Ben & Will and can remember a song after hearing it once. This makes quite a challenge for me since I have to hear a song a few times before remembering it. Yesterday at nap time Jeremiah got upset because he wanted me to sing "James song" that he had heard on the new Thomas video from the library. We had only watched it once and I had no clue how it went.

Snug as a bug

Somehow Nathaniel managed to wriggle himself sideways in his swing the other day. He also got his legs all pulled up in his pj's. I'm still not sure how he accomplished this feat.

Here are some things that I forgot about having a baby in the house:

- Sleep? What's that?

- Being able to sit down and enjoy a meal - forget it. Babies seem to have a sense about this and will inevitably need some kind of attention at meal time. Always.

- Exploding diapers. Seriously. I had forgotten that newborn poo is the consistency and color of butternut squash soup and manages to get everywhere no matter what brand of diaper you buy.

- Not being able to completely finish some chore or task from start to finish at one time.

- Taking 4 hours to watch a 2 hour movie. I'm not sure what all the interruptions are but somehow we have to keep pausing the movie. Someone didn't believe when I told them this before they came to watch a movie at our house. 4 hours later they were laughing because sure enough, we had just finished a 2 hour movie. They don't have any children.

- Growth spurts. One day their clothes are too big, the next day too small. What the heck?

- The absolute cuteness of those chubby thighs!

- The wonder of the first recognizable smile.

- Feeling the little head nuzzle into your neck as he finally gives over to sleep.

Random Pictures

Sleeping Baby

There is absolutely nothing as special as holding your very own sleeping baby!

I don't get to hold Nathaniel as much as I held Jeremiah so I make sure to savor each quiet moment that I get with him.

Soon to be world traveler

We are having difficulty getting a passport picture right. Our application was returned this past weekend because the size of his head was wrong. So this morning I took a whole bunch of pictures, hoping to get it right this time.

Cute Clothes

One of the fun parts about having a baby is dressing him in cute clothes. :-) With fall finally here for good (we hope) I am able to break out the clothes that I bought for this little one. Isn't he quite the handsome fellow in stripes and jeans?

Playing Football

This past week Jeremiah has been outside a lot enjoying this beautiful weather. College football season is upon us and we have been enjoying watching some good games on Saturdays. On Friday Papa decided to try and teach Jeremiah to throw a football. Jeremiah was laughing hysterically as he tried to master this newest skill. He did pretty well, although most of the time he let go of the ball too early and there was no telling which direction it would end up going. They had a blast!

7 years

That was then...

This is now...

The top picture was taken almost exactly 10 years ago. It is the first picture ever taken of Aaron and I together when we first started dating in 1997. The bottom picture was taken yesterday before we went out on a date to celebrate our 7 year wedding anniversary.

When we were celebrating our anniversary a year ago we had no idea what God had in store for us this year. In many ways it has been a difficult year for us. There have been many challenges to our relationship. But the events of this year have drawn us closer through our need to rely fully and daily on God. I do not know what God's plans are for us in the year to come. We have our plans, dreams and goals. But I trust that He is in control and He is good. Our desire is to serve God together in whatever way He calls us to.

Talking with Nathaniel

For your viewing pleasure! :-)

Thought some of you would enjoy watching Nathaniel being himself. When he is awake (which still is not often) he loves to kick his legs and wave his arms. He is starting to "talk" to us more, using grunts. My favorite is a little clicking sound that he makes, listen carefully and you will hear it. Cracks me up.

Another Milestone

As of Tuesday (10/9/07) Jeremiah can officially say his own name in a recognizable way.

"Why is this a milestone?" you ask.

Because for the past year and a half or so Jeremiah has been calling himself "bla-bla." Definitely cute but not something we wanted to encourage as these crazy nicknames that sound cute in childhood tend to stick around. So we never said, "bla-bla" and always called him Jeremiah. On Tuesday night while brushing his teeth he went through his nightly ritual of naming everyone's toothbrush, "mama's, papa's and Jer-miah's." And this morning during our walk, "run Jer-miah, run!"

I am so proud of him, but a little sad also. Sometimes hearing the "bla-bla" was so cute and precious. I admit I will miss it.

We are also working on learning the different pronouns. Before everything was "what that?" So we worked on learning "who is that?" Now we have moved on to me, I and you. There is still some mixup's sometimes but in general he seems to be getting it.

It continues to amaze me how a child's mind grows and develops!

Feels like Saturday

We have discovered the joys of Sesame Street! The public broadcasting channels never came in with our rabbit ear antenna so Jeremiah had not yet been introduced to Burt, Ernie, Elmo, Big Bird and the rest of the Sesame Street gang. We watched it the other morning and Jeremiah paid attention for the whole hour (I had forgotten it was that long). For the rest of the day I tried to reinforce the letter, number and word of the day. The word of the day was "pretend" so we pretended we were various animals, a train etc. You get the picture. I realized one of the things I love about Sesame Street is the diversity of the kids that they show. They have kids of all nationalities and also include kids with disabilities. I also noticed that they now have a puppet that speaks Spanish! I really like exposing Jeremiah to people that are different than him since we live in an all white neighborhood and attend a mostly all white church. I also try to make sure that I schedule us to see the Korean or the black doctor in the practice when we go to the Pediatrician.

Yesterday evening I had to keep reminding myself that it was Tuesday, not Friday. And this morning keeps feeling like Saturday. Because Aaron is on fall break!

Last night since we didn't have anywhere to be in the morning we watched another episode of Band of Brothers (we are borrowing the DVD's from Chad and I will post about that at another time) and were trying to get to bed at a decent hour. But Nathaniel just would not go to sleep and so it was almost midnight before we were able to sleep. If my hazy sleep fogged memory is correct Nathaniel went for a 6 hour stretch between feedings last night (9:30 - 3:30)! Of course we didn't get to sleep that long but hey, we know it is possible. :-)

This morning Aaron watched both boys and let me sleep until 9:00! I could have slept longer..... We are hoping to enjoy these next few days together. Aaron does have some school work to do and I have some work for MCC. But it is nice to be together and Jeremiah loves having his Papa around. One of my favorite parts of the day is when Jeremiah hears the back door open at the end of the day and runs to it saying, "yeah! papa's home!"

8 Weeks

I love to sit in the swing and watch the little birds fly around. Look at my big belly. :-) My mama thinks that I always have a content and pleasant look on my face. What do you think?
Sometimes I smile really big.

Yesterday marked 8 weeks of Nathaniel's arrival in this world. It totally snuck up on me and I haven't even scheduled his 2 month well-child check. So I have no idea how much he weighs or how long he is. I do know that he has grown lately though because I can tell a difference when I pick him up. He is starting to get cute little cubby cheeks that make his face really round like Jeremiah's was. His belly gets round and full after he eats, like a little puppy belly. Though I doubt he will be very chubby (his brother never was) he is getting nice satisfying little baby rolls on his legs. His head and neck control are amazing and when we do tummy time on the floor he kicks and wiggles so much that he has turned himself over once already! Jeremiah laughed hilariously at that sight.

And of course there are his smiles! I can never ever resist one of his smiles.

--

On a more serious note:

I have probably been subconsiously avoiding scheduling Nathaniel's well-child check up because Aaron and I have decided to delay his immunizations for a little while. When Jeremiah was born we just went ahead and did all the immunizations that we were told to do, on the schedule that we were told to do it. But since then I have been doing a lot more research and am just not comfortable pumping all that stuff into Nathaniel's body while he is still so little and immune sytem is not developed.

Not getting immunizations seems to becoming more of a trend lately. I know a lot of people who have delayed shots or not had them altogether. The issue is discussed now on news shows and talk shows. But I don't want to not give shots just because it is a current trend.

I do know that there has been no connection made between the MMR vaccine and autism. That is not why we are delaying the shots. It's just that as we started researching what exactly is in the shots and researching their potential side effects we started getting more and more nervous. Then we found out that in many other countries they do not start immunizations until a child is 2 years old and has a well developed immune system.

Anyway, when I mentioned to our doctor at the last visit that we were probably going to delay immunizations she did not look very happy about it and gave me the standard government issue fact sheets about the shots that use words to scare you into having them done by using wording such as "children are struck down by this disease". So I am not looking forward to having to face her disapproval again. Even though I know that I am his mother and it is my decision what we do.

I have heard that Dr. Sears is publishing a book about vaccinations the end of this month. I am looking forward to reading it. I have heard that it is very factual and well-balanced and does not try to sway the parent one way or the other. I am hoping that the book will help us in our decisions about the immunization process so that we can make an educated decision rather than a fear based decision.

Note: I would love to hear comments about the vaccination process from my readers in other countries.

Strength

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
--
Our God! You reign forever
Our hope, our strong deliverer
--
You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God
You will not faint, you won't grow weary
Your the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

This is a new song that we have learned in church. Jeremiah loves it because it is really rockin. He dances and claps along when we sing it. I like it because it reminds me that even though I may feel weak and weary God's strength will sustain me because of who He is.

One of my favorite times of the week is Sunday morning standing in church worshiping God with Nathaniel in my arms, Aaron next to me and Jeremiah between us. I love watching Jeremiah learn to worship God. He has really started to enjoy music. He remembers words and likes to sing along to his favorite songs. He calls it "sing songs Jesus." In church he mimics other people around him by clapping and raising his hands.

I have been feeling weak and weary the past few days. Nathaniel has been having a growth spurt (I think) and has been up every 2 hours the past two nights to nurse. It really makes quite a difference in my energy level to go from 4 hours between feedings to 2. One day I was very snappy and impatient with Jeremiah and at the end of the day I felt like a horrible mother. This morning I am remembering that God will give me the strength I need if I wait on Him.

Thankfully this is fall break for Aaron's school so he just has meetings and lesson planning today and tomorrow and then he will be home the rest of the week. I love being married to a teacher!

(Scroll down for another post with pictures from yesterday.)

Sunday Snapshots

This is Jeremiah's new special stool at grandmommy and granddaddy's house. He likes to climb up and down the little steps.

Jeremiah likes to wash his hands "all by self!" He has a little stool in grandmommy and granddaddy's bathroom that his great-papa Shaw made for him. He loves it and it helps him be quite independent. Of course, most times handwashing results in water on the floor, wall, and clothes. :-)

Nathaniel smiles with grandmommy and graddaddy.

Bath Fun

Caleb and Moni got Jeremiah these crayons that can be used in the bath tub. Last night Aaron and Jeremiah discovered that not only do they work on the wall of the tub, they work on people too! The best part about them is that they come with a cute little duck shaped sponge eraser which means that we can make a fun game out of Jeremiah cleaning it all up! Aaron couldn't resist some fun pictures.

Today after years and years of watching 3 fuzzy channels on TV using a rabbit ear receiver we have joined the ranks of satellite TV watchers. That's right. Apparently Aaron's getting a cell phone was the catalyst for more out of character changes for us. :-) The other day when I called out phone/internet provider to make some changes to save us some money it turned out that for the same price as I was already paying I could add satellite TV. So I did. This afternoon we have access to 100 channels and dvr recording.

The reason I decided to go with it is because of the dvr recording (like Tivo!), we can record and pause live tv. I foresee us recording lots of shows on PBS, Discovery & History channel to watch at our convenience and without commercials. It feels a bit strange. I like to watch TV to relax when I nurse Nathaniel, but usually there was nothing on for me to watch depending on the time of day. This afternoon I had to figure out how to navigate the channel guide and then was in a quandary as I had to choose to watch SEC football (Georgia vs. Tennessee), HGTV (a home remodeling show), or CNN (access to world news!). Don't worry though, I have inherited kick butt channel surfing genes from my grandfather.

We are going to have to be very disciplined or we will end up as couch potato's.

Oh and dad - we have Comedy Central so we can record all of The Daily Show w John Stewart episodes! When are you going to come a visit? :-)