18 months

3rd child neglection.  I gotta log what little miss has been doing lately.  The time just gets away!!  I still need to make her 18 month apt oops... although we were in at 15 months.  She is a climber, she is now gated out of the kids room because she gets on the top bunk with ease.  Naughty baby Sugars, still is drawn to toilet water.  Words, hi, daddy, ma ma, or MOM!!!! I'm sure because she hears my name in this form the most, baaa(bath), deedee ( baby), ba ( ball), up!, out, I asked her if she could say Liza, it comes outs lila or la la. which is pretty darn cute in my book. haa,(hot), go go.  says "hush" when reading her favorite book Goodnight Moon.  Loves to bury her face in mine and giggle, squishing noses together.  Loves to be a part of what the kids are doing, and immitates them.  Loves blankie and her thumb.  Social and loves babies.  Understands far more than what she can say.  She communicates with baby jibberish, concerned looks, pointing and getting you to come with her.  Loves to play hind and seek and whispers while in hiding.  If we start singing her favorite song from Ponyo, she goes to try to turn on the ipod and the stereo, she is ever the little dancer and loves music.  Pictures?  I haven't uploaded pics since... Sept?  I will get on that, maybe. someday.
I forgot more words so I'm adding them today, eye, and also i, every letter on the fridge seems to be i, car, ni ni (night night), done!!  And so am I for the moment unless I remember more, which really isn't for the readers benefit, it's for mine when I need it for the baby book. :)

Little Miss Growing

 First Day of Second Grade... second grade....good grief.

 Isabelle did a little cheerleading camp and performed with a MASS of other girls before the varsity game.  We couldn't even find her in the crowd!!  But we got some cute pics right after.  It was cute watching her practice. :)

Last night Mitch asked the kids if they wanted to watch and episode of X Men, Christian was excited and Isabelle said " I want to watch Hoarders!"  She has also told her daddy that the inside of his car looks like Hoarders.  She is growing up so fast and becoming a little person to laugh with and enjoy.  We've had a couple of "girl's nights".  She gets pretty excited.  I love mother/daughterness. :):)  Gotta make supper....

15 Months and Teeny

 Purposefully closing the eyes.

I've been meaning to blog about Baby Sugars, yes her nicknames compile.  She started walking this summer and I am trying to think of the official first steps age... 14 months?  Walking well at 15.  She climbs, more than her siblings, she was on the back of the couch this morning.  She likes to stick her hand in the toilet, also something my other two didn't really do.  She is FUNNY.  Funny faces, imitator,  clinging spider monkey.  She loves to wave at the bus, or any passing cars or when once of us leaves, she always greets daddy with a " hi" when he comes in the door.  One day she said " hi dada"  Mitch and I looked at each other like, did we really just hear that??  She says "yummee"  She pretends to blow her nose as she rips out kleenex after kleenex.  She loves her blankie and her thumb for night time.  She still takes two naps a day and sleeps about 12 hours at night, you go girl.  She loves baby dolls and babies.  She calls them "day day".  She loves to dance, her latest move is swinging her hips from side to side like a belly dancer.  She is stubborn and hates diaper changes and getting dressed.  She is a bright little naughty beam of sunshine lol.  She has curly hair, it is way cute.  She LOVES outside.  She understands a lot.  She walked outside and I said, shut the door, shut the door, she walks back and shuts the door and goes on her way.  Today I pulled out a brush to clean the carpet that I had used to clean the couch the previous week with some baking soda and Aliza grabbed the brush and headed for the couch to start cleaning.  She is TINY  she weighs at 15 months what her big/small brother weighed at 12 months.  She is 18 lbs 4 oz.  She is 28.5 inches teeny and in that minus 5 percentile.  So could it be Isabelle is the exception to Mitch and my baby making rule?? 25- 50ish percentile seems HUGE now.

Resting Resting

 This song means so much to me!!  As someone who struggles with anxiety and seeing how the Lord has pulled me out of the muck and mire of the dark recesses of my own mind and heart, these words speak to my soul and I am overwhelmed with thankfulness to my Savior, for all that He is to His children.  I can't tell you unless you have struggled similarly, what it feels like when the Lord breaks you out of the bondage of fear and the clouds part and His peace settles in!!  I have been going through the gospels as I feel the urgency of the need to know my Savior in what scripture reveales of Him.  I am also going through the book " The Jesus You Can't Ignore" by John MacArthur.  I am seeing more and more that how you view the gospel trickles into your whole life, to strengthen it or poisen it.  Believers are meant to grow in understanding, love and longing for their Lord and Savior and eternity is the cullmination of that longing.  Only true peace and rest is found in Christ, not the Christ of our own making but as testified of in the scriptures.  Ok I'm done for now, maybe this will encourage you as it did me, if you know Him it will!!

1.Jesus! I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart.
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee,
And Thy beauty fills my soul,
For, by Thy transforming power,
Thou hast made me whole.

◦Jesus! I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art;
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart

2.Oh, how great Thy loving kindness,
Vaster, broader than the sea:
Oh, how marvelous Thy goodness,
Lavished all on me!
Yes, I rest in Thee, Beloved,
Know what wealth of grace is Thine,
Know Thy certainty of promise,
And have made it mine.

3.Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
I behold Thee as Thou art,
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless,
Satisfies my heart,
Satisfies its deepest longings,
Meets, supplies its every need,
Compasseth me round with blessings,
Thine is love indeed.

4.Ever lift Thy face upon me,
As I work and wait for Thee;
Resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus,
Earth's dark shadows flee.
Brightness of my Father's glory,
Sunshine of my Father's face,
Keep me ever trusting, resting,
Fill me with Thy grace.

The Shabang

And to the family pics..  all 100+ of them. ( Kay I'm thinking of YOU when I post these!!)

Posted... pics... finally...

Check out the shutterfly link for our branson, mo pics. :)

Yes

I will blog again, things are just busy with life.  We had fun family pics in case you didn't notice the header change and I will post a few of my fav's.  A friend of mine is a very talented photographer!!  If you are interested in her info, email me.  Also we had a family vacation in Branson, MO for a week.  So it's catch up, pics to deal with, school to get ready for, etc;  How I have enjoyed summer, no where to HAVE to be in the morning and I have really enjoyed Isabelle being home!!  I'm sad to see the summer end.  So I will get on updating eventually here.  Eventually. :)

Aliza 1 Year

How a year has flown!!!  Your first birthday you were met with multiple viruses one including an ear infection.  You are well now after a month of fevers and crabbiness and your happy self has emerged yet again! 
One thing I will say for babies is that we do not give them enough credit for how smart they are.  A few weeks back, I had what my friend Katie and I call " Number One Mom Moments". I had come up with laundry and forgot to close the basement door, Aliza went down and thankfully was crying on her hands and knees at the bottom of the stairs, with the terror of it seeming to be the worst part.  A couple days later Isabelle left the door open and she wouldn't go to the stairs.  We got back from Ks, she still won't go.  She used to try to put her face in the tub water.  Then she got to where she would start to, then look at me and shake her head no.  She heard us talking about going for a walk so she went and got her sun hat and pulled up to the bench at the table while I was cleaning up supper to give it to me.  She is a mimic.  She signs more, all done, milk, night night.  I need to learn more to teach her!  If I say are you hungry?? she starts signing "milk".  She loves to dance, she loves the outside.  She also likes to pinch and bite which we are working on. :)  She got to a point where she would pinch then give "loves"  like she knew she was supposed to be gentle.  When I was talking to the dr at her 1 year apt, she kept nodding her head" yes".  Her stats were 16lbs. 14oz. I do believe 0% and 28.25 inches which was 25%.  She isn't walking yet but walks around things, and can stand up on her own.  She came crawling in to the kitchen with a baby safety outlet plug she had pulled out, I later found it in the bottom of the dishwasher. :)  She imitates sounds and everything else.  Funny little baby.  Still taking those two naps which is great!!
And Christian had his apt and he grew 3 inches last year!  He is still at the bottom of the charts.  I charted his height as if he were a 4 year old and that put him in the 25%.  It gives me a good idea where he will be in regards to his fellow kindergartners size when he starts a year later.:)
That's all for now, I could go into how amazing sick we have been for the past 6 weeks but I'm too tired to put my energy there.  We are trying to make the most of when we are NOT sick. :)

here is a link I really enjoyed btw motherhood

We're Still Kicking

Not much as changed with our lives being bizaaay lately, weeks go by and Mitch's work hrs are long still.  I was feeling ill a month ago and went to the dr a couple weeks ago just to make sure my thyroid, iron, blood sugar are all well.  The dr said I need to eat more often.  I can do that.  Iron good, thyroid good.  She thought my anxiety issues were from hormones and stress with Mitch's hours and if I need to look at where I'm at in my cycle and " not plan a big birthday party for my kids" during that time, then don't.  She didn't even know Isabelle's birthday, which we kept nice and quiet, had been a few days prior.  She said sometimes we ourselves or others put too high a standards on what it means to be a good mom and sometimes we freak out over little things we think are important.  I LOVE our dr!!!  I have been feeling better lately and I got winter clothes organized and put away so I am thankful for some strength because when you're going it alone till 6:30 5 days a week you need the strength let me tell you!!  We have, despite the long work hours, kept our weekends fairly quiet and planted a little garden and just enjoyed each other.  It's easy to forget that we had these kids to enjoy them and spend time with them.  I am trying to break away from my getter done mentality and take 10 minutes to play Frisbee or take the baby out in her swing.

So some kiddo updates are as follows,  Isabelle, turned 7!!!  We kept her birthday quiet with it being a weeknight and all, this also proved a good choice since she had run a 100 degree temp 3 days prior and wasn't fever free long enough to get to school till after her birthday.  Also this Saturday, we had a fun little girl's day and went shopping, she tried on swimsuits and we ate at Olive Garden and she decided that day she wanted her ears pierced.  I had always told her she could when she is ready or never if she never was ready.  She kept insisting, I painted a realistic, cartilage puncturing picture.  I told she can't leave with just one done, and she doesn't have to at all.  " can I get ice cream if I hold still??"  I told her NO if you can't hold still you aren't ready for them.  So she was determined and she hugged the bear at Claire's and said after the first earring " just give me a second" as she pulled back some tears and we proceeded with the other ear.  She was pretty excited about it.  I so enjoyed my day with my daughter!!  She was an enjoyable real little person you could actually converse with and wasn't just work to bring along like kids are when they are younger.  She is growing way too fast!!
Christian, not much on him other than the fact that he is overdue for a bike and we need to get to the store, he rode his trike behind Isabelle on a walk and got going too fast down a hill and face planted in the cement.  We told him he needed a helmet, he said " why didn't you get me one??"  Because we thought you didn't need one on a trike... so he has a helmet now.  Another thing.  Mitch told me Christian was spelling words on the fridge and he told Mitch " I'm going to spell something inappropriate, how do you spell 'privates'?"  Mitch told him he was NOT going to be doing that.  Christian told him " well I already spelled 'Bum'"  and sure enough there it was, bum, on the fridge.

Baby Lovin Aliza, pulls up on everything, is a little imitator.  She makes kissing sounds when we kiss her, dances, signs" more "when a song ends and signs "all done."  She is snugglie and nestles her little head in my neck and sucks her thumb when she is tired or just because.  She cuddles and hugs stuffed animals and loves to nestle her forehead into yours.  She jabbers na na na, mamamama, dadada, yea yea, if you say shhhhh she makes a hiss sound, if you whisper she will whisper.  She hates getting dressed and bawls if you take something from her like her toothbrush or won't let her go outside.  She LOVES outside!!  She also loves messing up my laundry piles.  She has started the type of play where she like to give me something, then take it back and on and on. funny girl, she crawls around with her toys in her mouth, my little puppy. We started a little early on whole milk and she loves it.  She takes two good naps a day and sleeps from about 8-8 and it's nice not to have get up anymore.  I will put some pics up on shutterfly soon!!

Good Quotes People

"See to it that you fasten your attention on God's Word and stay in it, like an infant in a cradle. If you let go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God's will and works with their reason." ~ Martin Luther

"Peace if possible, Truth at all costs." Martin Luther

"Most of my ministry has been marked by helping fundamentalists escape the clutches of their own legalism. But what usually happens as fundamentalists come to understand the gospel of grace is that their journey from slavery to freedom takes an indirect route.



When fundamentalists begin to grasp the gospel, they tend to define its freedom in behavioral terms. So they start drinking beer in moderation or getting a piercing that was once considered taboo.


And yet, there is no substantive difference between this and being a full-blown fundamentalist because in both cases what is emphasized is external behavior over internal disposition. Before, their Christianity was determined by what they couldn't do; now it's determined by what they can. The rules that welcome you to the inside or keep you on the outside have changed, but it's exactly the same game. Like the difference between “Duck, Duck, Goose” and “Duck, Duck, Grey Duck.” Does it really matter whether the person who has to get up and chase the other kid around the circle is called a “goose” or a “grey duck”? Different rules, same game. It's simply a new fundamentalism, and one that is just as strident, just as shrill, and just as puffed up with smug superiority as the old fundamentalism, except instead of saying, “Ugh! Can you believe that they listen to rock music?” you say, “Ugh! Can you believe that they don’t listen to rock music?” It's exactly the same game." ~ Bob Glenn

" I thought I had come a long way from my high school legalistn until I watched the professor put my life on the board.
He drew a line that angled uphill: "Many evangelical students see their life as a progression from legalism of their youth to more mature Christianity that stresses issues of the lifestyle and justice and explores authentic Christianty .  It appears that they have moved forward"  Then he drew a ciricle and wrote " legalism", "simple lifestyle", "freedone to drink" and " issues of justice" at different points. " They move along, but they are not going anywhere.  They just change one means of judging themselves superior for another." ~ Mark Baker quoted by Chapel in Holiness By Grace

All I Have is Christ.wmv

Those Pics

Check out Shutterfly for those pics I said I would post. :)

Blogging??

I have been neglectful of the blog.  Things are busy and life can be draining.  Mitch has been working 50 hr weeks for the past 3-4 weeks, I'm losing track.  We are almost weaned and hormones are spazing.  Thankfully the Lord provides strength for all He sets before us.  It's amazing how in wearisome times, whether they be sprititually, mentally, physcially, or all of the above as they have been lately that fellowship with Christ has been most sweet and His word very precious, as well as the kindred spirits that encourage us in truth.  This also makes me randomly thankful for a church and preaching that is continually encouraging, biblical and outside of the box of the churchy presuppositions so many of us grew up in, and it's almost like the sermon is in keeping with what is going on in our lives and what we are working through learning from the Lord.  Anyhow, encouraging.
Also, my little man turned 5 April 8th and I WILL post pics soon!  He was so excited and his favorite gift I belive was his bumble bee pillow pet ( yes yes I know). Daddy, searched high and low for the bumble bee.  Christian continues to be a sweet little boy that just loves to chat and have attention and he has gotten more rough and wrestling with Isabelle, which I find annoying. :)  He loves to learn how and why things work, like things in the body.  He adores his daddy.  He has been spelling words on the fridge.  He'll show me me words like, rug and box, those little 3 letter words. 
I have finished Holiness By Grace this week.  One of my favorite books, EVER.  I may have to give that book it's own post.  Just check out quotes from it from my past posts, they should be labeled.

If our teaching of grace causes us to make light of sin, or to slight the requirements of the Savior, then we have really not understood either the monstrosity of our sin or the greatness of the heart that forgives it.
Grace overwhelms us with God's love, and as a result our heart resonates with the desires of God. His purposes become our own.....True grace produces joy and promotes godliness.  ~Holiness By Grace Bryan Chapel

"On all hands we hear cries for unity in this and unity in that; but in our mind the main need of this age is not compromise but conscientiousness, 'First pure, then peaceable.' It is easy to cry 'A confederacy,' but that union that is not based on the truth of God is rather a conspiracy than a communion. Charity by all means: but honesty also. Love of course, but love to God as well as love to men, and love of truth as well as love of union. It is exceedingly difficult in these times to preserve one's fidelity before God and one's fraternity among men. Should not the former be preferred to the latter if both cannot be maintained? We think so" ~Spurgeon

"Unity without verity [truth] is no better than conspiracy" Puritan John Trapp

Double Blessings

Unbelievable. from Daniel JD on Vimeo.
As many of you know, my littlest bro and his sweet wife made me an aunt last Friday!!  He said I could share this video that makes me cry everytime.  I can't even hardly talk about those sweet babies without getting choked up.  I wish so BADLY I could be sharing these precious moments with my family and hold those babies.  I had no idea I would love these babies so much and how much it would hurt to not be able to be there right away!!  It's amazing to see my ornery little brother as the doting father and watching Bethany being loving mama to her babies, she said she loves having twins!!  They have a long haul in front of them as they get the hang of caring for babies for the first time and my brother is working as a CNA and will be doing his nursing boards this spring.  No pressure. ;) so if you think of them, a prayer on their behalf would be much appreciated.
Oh baby love.  Need I say more.

Here We Go

Shut the basement door and put away the Legos!  We have a crawler!  Aliza has been almost crawling for a couple weeks and these past few days has gotten the hang of it.  She will be 10 months old this weekend!  She has been clapping her hands and dancing, can't remember if I posted that before.  She has also started self-weaning which is kind sad for mommy.  But you can't make a kid nurse, believe me, she is way too interested in other thing than staring at my chest.  She started getting distracted at 4 months.  I am hoping to spend little or nothing on formula as I have many samples and coupons and stored up milk in the freezer.  She does nurse like a champ at night, IN the night.   YES.  My name is Audrey and I have an almost 10 month old that routinely gets me up once a night to nurse.  There, I said it, I would've called this bad parenting but this kid is so darn easy I have chosen to fight this battle after she turns one, then I can be kept up for a few nights with a screaming baby as we have a battle of wills.  UGH, still praying in anticipation for wisdom on this because I am stumped.  She also is cutting her top four teeth, they are coming in every other instead of in pairs, weird, hope none are missing. :)  AND her stats from her 9 month apt are as follows : height 27 inches=23%,15.9 lbs=4% head 17.2 in= 35%.  So we have dropped on the charts, Isabelle dropped at this age too in weight from 50 to 15% I also read that breastfed babies can drop a little on the charts at this point. The dr wants to make sure she is getting lots of food and snacks and tested her iron which is fine.  Mom and Dad were here this weekend and mom thought her little leggies were fat and cute. 

 I miss my mommy..anyway, she crawls, but won't roll from her back.  It's so odd, so I've been helping her to roll some, ( my own imposed physical therapy lol)she is getting used to the sensation. :)  Tis all for now, I have added pics to shutterfly.

Child-like Interpretation

My responsible, sensitive eldest, very much a first born personality, yet she can be spacey and in her own world, at 18 months old she colored, and I don't mean crayon eating colored but lined up her chubby crayons and colored purposefully.  She will often say " why don't you laugh at ME????"  she has a really funny little brother that garners ( did I use that right?) a lot of laughs so when she says something funny I need to document.  When she was really small instead of saying " I don't like it"  it was " I can't like it" which is funny because it left no room for trying because it wasn't possible to like something when you just can't, there is no choice in this.  So the other night I heard her talking to Christian, " God can do many things at once, like drawing and playing basketball."

Lovins

Little Lovins is 9 months old.  We are a family of nicknames so just because I've never blogged Aliza as Lovins, doesn't mean she isn't called that by me many times as well as a plethora of many other things that her cuteness inspires at that moment.  I supposed I should've waited till she had her apt next week to give you the percent stats but oh well.  She got her first two teeth finally!!  She took her sweet time like big sis and they are crooked pointing in just like Isabelle's too.  And yes we are still nursing and yes she bit me a couple times and has not since. mmm hmm.  She is sporadic with her not bothering me in the night to nurse, sometimes she will go 12 hrs, other 8.  So I pretty much consider it a bonus if I'm not up at 4 or 5 in the morning, thankfully it's for about 10 minutes and I put her back down and go back to sleep myself.  Aliza has started this laugh, like an actual, ha-ha-ha.  It's funny and cute of course.  She is a pro at precision pincher picking up to feed herself.  She started that at 7.5 months.  So in my book advanced in the fine motor skills ;)  In gross motor skilling, which who needs them anyway when they're gross???  She has yet to roll over from back to front, it's weird, yet convenient.  She sits and can bend over her legs in odd positions to get things and can move some, but no go getting crawling.  It's so funny when she is laying on her back, not realizing she could do something about it.  Still my good happy baby.
And those other kids...Christian has been sounding out and spelling words with the magnets on the fridge.  I hadn't even been working with him and he was sounding thing out so I showed home how putting different letters on the start of two other letters make different words,  he got Isabelle's sight words out and sounded out jump with no help, at all.  He does not yet know how e makes vowels say their own name etc or th and ch sounds.  He is becoming more boy spastic, loud, rough.  He has accidentally bonked his head into the baby's a couple times and is just broken hearted when it happens, you can tell he is deeply distraught over his baby sis hurting.  We had a talk one day about how it's not always safe to give the baby something just because she cries for it etc;  love is often not doing what will make someone " happy".  Like eating pennies or going out in the street. :)
Isabelle and I had PTConferences this week and she did a great job on her report card, right where she needs to be academically and above standard in her behavior and work habits.  I was very pleased to say the least, and so thankful for her putting forth her very best efforts!  She is my responsible first born little caretaker.  Christian was hacking up a lung this weekend so I came out in the morning and she had made him a bed on the floor with towels, water bottle, crackers and another bowel just in case he threw up from the coughing which he is notorious for.  That is it for now!!!

Cute things, like babies.

I'm sorry, but I just can't get enough of this baby, she is growing so fast and I'm trying to enjoy and document the often neglected ( picture-wise) third child.  Click on the Shutterfly link over there yonder to the left for more pics, even some of them other more mobile children of mine.  We had some awesome weather this week and it melted our snow, not the mountains in the parking lots but STILL. :)

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us.

Click here to view these pictures larger

Good Stuff

I know I post a lot of Sprugeon but I love the Morning and Evening devotion and they are so good and so much better than the fluff and puff of most Christian devotionals that make Christ seem like nothing more than self-help guru that we can draw from to make our lives "better" or a look to him as a "good example".  While he does make our lives better (define better) and he is the ultimate example to follow, he is so much more and I don't have the time to go into that.  I had planned on sharing what I read last night and also what I read today via some friends of ours that are going through some heartbreaking trials.

First last night's

“He shall save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:21

Many persons, if they are asked what they understand by salvation, will reply, “Being saved from hell and taken to heaven.” This is one result of salvation, but it is not one tithe of what is contained in that boon. It is true our Lord Jesus Christ does redeem all his people from the wrath to come; he saves them from the fearful condemnation which their sins had brought upon them; but his triumph is far more complete than this. He saves his people “from their sins.” Oh! sweet deliverance from our worst foes. Where Christ works a saving work, he casts Satan from his throne, and will not let him be master any longer. No man is a true Christian if sin reigns in his mortal body. Sin will be in us—it will never be utterly expelled till the spirit enters glory; but it will never have dominion. There will be a striving for dominion—a lusting against the new law and the new spirit which God has implanted—but sin will never get the upper hand so as to be absolute monarch of our nature. Christ will be Master of the heart, and sin must be mortified. The Lion of the tribe of Judah shall prevail, and the dragon shall be cast out. Professor! is sin subdued in you? If your life is unholy your heart is unchanged, and if your heart is unchanged you are an unsaved person. If the Saviour has not sanctified you, renewed you, given you a hatred of sin and a love of holiness, he has done nothing in you of a saving character. The grace which does not make a man better than others is a worthless counterfeit. Christ saves his people, not in their sins, but from them. “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” “Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.” If not saved from sin, how shall we hope to be counted among his people. Lord, save me now from all evil, and enable me to honour my Saviour.

And the second quote

When your faith endures many conflicts, and your spirit sinks low, do not condemn yourself. There is a reason for your season of heaviness. Great soldiers are not made without war. Skillful sailors are not trained on the shore. It appears that if you are to become a great believer, you will be greatly tested. If you are to be a great help to others, you must pass through their trials. If you are to be instructed in the things of the kingdom, you must learn from experience. The uncut diamond has little brilliance, and the unthreshed corn feeds no one, and the untried believer is of little use or beauty. There are GREAT BENEFITS to come from your trials and depression. The one who is much plowed and often harrowed will thank God if the result is a larger harvest to the praise and glory of God by Jesus Christ. If your face is now covered with sorrow, the time will come when you will bless God for that sorrow. The day will come when you will see great gain from your losses, your crosses, your troubles and your affliction. From your affliction this glory shall spring, and the deeper your sorrow the louder you’ll sing. – Charles Spurgeon, “Beside Still Waters”

8 Months

I am 8 months old.  I say Ma Ma Ma all the time now.  I won't keep bows in my hair.  If you deny me it, I will cry and ruin your picture attempts.  I know what I want and my displeasure will be made known.  I give big squeezes to mommy with my head in her neck.  I shake my head no, a lot.  I like to pull hair.  I never keep my socks on.  I am still quite cute.

About That....

If you're friends with me on facebook, you got the puke play by play.  Just as I thought we were out of the woods last week, Christian started throwing up Wednesday night.  Throughout the night and into the morning, and afternoon, for a total of 8 times.  But lets backtrack a moment, I started feeling gross in the wee hours of Thursday.  I'm pretty sure I was having anxiety over impending puking doom and it seemed to give way late morning, then the nausea returned and it would not be denied.  I was puking by 1:40 in the afternoon.  Isabelle came and rubbed my back and said " it's ok mommy."  And " why is it green???? why is it green??"  Thankfully a little before while sitting on the bathroom floor I had called Mitch and asked him to come home and he was on his way at that point.  It was an achey body virus and 4 hours later I was in the bathroom doing double duty on the toilet and utitlizing the trashcan if you catch my drift...Mitch takes care of everyone when we gets home.  Then, everyone gets in bed, Christian's last puke of the day was in the evening (suppertime) from chugging too much 7 up.  10:10 pm it starts to spread like wildfire and Mitch starts in on forceful pukeage.  He is up 2 more times after that.  I try not to listen because I don't want to puke again myself.  Ugh.  Mitch is out of commission, way out.  2:30 am. Baby cries, oh no, please no.  I get up still nauseous and trying to keep it together, the room smells like vomit.  Poor baby is sick too and I have no choice but to give her a bath, taking deep breaths to contain the nausea.  Against all that is good and right, I leave her puke bed, just the way it is.  I make her a bed on our floor, I sit and nurse her on the floor for a few minutes then lay her down, she finds her thumb and goes to sleep like the great baby that she is.  She threw up only once, thank you Lord for that!  7am the next morning, Linda is on her way!!  What an amazing help she was taking care of the older two and us and cleaning up laundry etc, she spent the night and went back home Saturday.  Sunday afternoon it hits her, poor Linda, talk about self sacrifice!! 

So fast forward a week later, and we are all FINALLY better.  It took me all week to recover from the dizzying exhaustion, which happens when you have to get up with a baby in the night that's having diarrhea diapers and needing to nurse.  These are the parenting trenches that only other parents can understand.  Sickness sucks indeed, then imagine having to take care of kids... in the night... cleaning up puke, while about to puke yourself.  That's what I'm talking about, good stuff.  Maybe someday I can help my own kids when the puke plague invades their house the way God sent Grandma Linda to help us.  So thankful for the ways He still provides.  The End.

What's Up

A random update for you.  We have a had sick year in the family, the summer (and fall) was bad for me, you can read about if you want, but who wants to relive that... and Isabelle has had a sick school year.  She has had viruses with fevers that have had her throwing up twice this year.  Last night was the latest and it was one month ago she had a fever of 101.8 at school and had to come home.  She is a trooper though, she gets herself to a trashcan and is very conscientious of her germs and does her best not to infect the rest of us.  Christian has a had healthy year so far, I'm surprised but thankful!!  The baby too has had a few mild colds but she has been very healthy,  I've not had to suction snot out of her nose yet.  I think nursing helps with the immunities and antibodies.
More baby girl news: (7.5 months)  she sits really well now, the falling over doesn't happen very often. :)  She still won't roll from her back and I'm ok with that.  Her sister and brother were crawling by 8 and 8 and half months but I just don't see that happening with her and that's a ok with me!! :)  She has become more aware of being with people and gets sad if we leave the room.  I can't remember if I said she shakes her head no.  The first time she did it was thanksgiving when she would not open her mouth for prunes and looked me in the eyes and shook her head no.. I thought it was a fluke perhaps??  But if she doesn't want to nurse, she shakes her head no.  And sometimes she does it for fun because I do it back to her. She likes to scream, she makes funny faces, the wrinkled up nose smile and she will put her head down but still try to look at your with her eyes.  She plays peek a boo.  She puts blankets on her face then lets go and giggles in anticipation when  we say " where's the baby???" then she pulls it down. I got it on video.  Yesterday I left the room while she was sitting on the floor and I said I would be right back and she cried and I heard her say "ma" from the bathroom.  I just know she was calling for me ;)  She continues to be a good and very happy baby and she is growing WAY too fast, it sounds cliche but I am really feeling it with her!!
Christian is working on writing his name, he doesn't love "school lessons" as much as his older sister, he likes it, just not for as long.  He can rattle off how to spell his name so that's a start!!  We have decided to hold him back and start him in school when he 6. Isabelle will be 3 yrs older in school.  They will get to be at the same school for 2 years and ride the bus together.  He is excited to go but that's ignorance talking. :)  Isabelle will tell you kindergarten is fun but 1st grade is not near as fun!
Well, laundry calls.

“Doth Job fear God for nought?”

Job 1:9

This was the wicked question of Satan concerning that upright man of old, but there are many in the present day concerning whom it might be asked with justice, for they love God after a fashion because he prospers them; but if things went ill with them, they would give up all their boasted faith in God. If they can clearly see that since the time of their supposed conversion the world has gone prosperously with them, then they will love God in their poor carnal way; but if they endure adversity, they rebel against the Lord. Their love is the love of the table, not of the host; a love to the cupboard, not to the master of the house. As for the true Christian, he expects to have his reward in the next life, and to endure hardness in this. The promise of the old covenant was prosperity, but the promise of the new covenant is adversity. Remember Christ’s words—“Every branch in me that beareth not fruit”—What? “He purgeth it, that it may bring forth fruit.” If you bring forth fruit, you will have to endure affliction. “Alas!” you say, “that is a terrible prospect.” But this affliction works out such precious results, that the Christian who is the subject of it must learn to rejoice in tribulations, because as his tribulations abound, so his consolations abound by Christ Jesus. Rest assured, if you are a child of God, you will be no stranger to the rod. Sooner or later every bar of gold must pass through the fire. Fear not, but rather rejoice that such fruitful times are in store for you, for in them you will be weaned from earth and made meet for heaven; you will be delivered from clinging to the present, and made to long for those eternal things which are so soon to be revealed to you. When you feel that as regards the present you do serve God for nought, you will then rejoice in the infinite reward of the future. ~ Spurgeon

“Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?”

Ezekiel 15:2

These words are for the humbling of God’s people; they are called God’s vine, but what are they by nature more than others? They, by God’s goodness, have become fruitful, having been planted in a good soil; the Lord hath trained them upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to his glory; but what are they without their God? What are they without the continual influence of the Spirit, begetting fruitfulness in them? O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no ground for it. Whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor. Consider thine origin; look back to what thou wast. Consider what thou wouldst have been but for divine grace. Look upon thyself as thou art now. Doth not thy conscience reproach thee? Do not thy thousand wanderings stand before thee, and tell thee that thou art unworthy to be called his son? And if he hath made thee anything, art thou not taught thereby that it is grace which hath made thee to differ? Great believer, thou wouldst have been a great sinner if God had not made thee to differ. O thou who art valiant for truth, thou wouldst have been as valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon thee. Therefore, be not proud, though thou hast a large estate—a wide domain of grace, thou hadst not once a single thing to call thine own except thy sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation, that thou, who hast borrowed everything, shouldst think of exalting thyself; a poor dependent pensioner upon the bounty of thy Saviour, one who hath a life which dies without fresh streams of life from Jesus, and yet proud! Fie on thee, O silly heart! ~Spurgeon

had to post both of these, they were so good, off to make supper...

Isaiah 46:2-6

Isaiah 46:2-6 - Passage Lookup - New American Standard Bible - BibleGateway.com:
 "You who have been borne by Me from birth
And have been carried from the womb;
4Even to your old age I will be the same,
And even to your graying years I will bear you!
I have done it, and I will carry you;
And I will bear you and I will deliver you.
5'To whom would you liken Me
And make Me equal and compare Me,
That we would be alike?"

I have never heard this scripture before and I heard while waiting at the busstop with ISabelle this morning listening to an interview from Angie, the mom of Audrey Caroline. I have blogged about her before. I believe her blog is http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com/. She was talking about how I believe a family member had also lost a baby right around when they had lost their Audrey. sister maybe?? Anyway the adults were very down one day watching their other children splash around in the pool near oblivious. She was saying how if they really thought about where those babies were in glory, the reality of it, they would be just as joyous. paraphrasing... good stuff, I wish I would've found this verse when I was making my maternity pic book!!! The lady doing the interview shared this verse. Angie had shared from Romans 8:18. Good stuff, wanted to look up the scripture before I forgot.

Jan 2011

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First Chapter of Abby Johnson's Planned Parenthood Book Unplanned | LifeNews.com

  I always say,  if you think it's an ok "choice" for a woman and her baby, then know exactly what you're ok with.  We pretend it's a noble fight for women's rights, ( or i wouldn't do it, but who am I to say what's right for another?? so... I wouldn't drown my child but who can say what's right for someone else?) if you hate abortion you're suppressing women.  What a smokescreen.  What about all the little women who are killed, and what about the mothers that mourn their decisions?  So a woman can stand trial for murder for putting her newborn in a dumpster because it's an inconvenience for her life...yet somehow that very baby's life being taken would not be a murder weeks earlier. First Chapter of Abby Johnson's Planned Parenthood Book Unplanned LifeNews.com

“Christ receives not only those who, moved by holy desire and faith, freely approach unto Him, but those who are not yet of age to know how much they need His grace.” ~Calvin

“I rejoice to know that the souls of all infants, as soon as they die, speed their way to paradise. Think what a multitude there is of them.” ~Spurgeon

On September 29, 1861, the great Baptist pastor, Charles Spurgeon, preached a message entitled “Infant Salvation.” In that message he chastened some critics who had “. . . wickedly, lyingly, and slanderously said of Calvinists that we believe that some little children perish.” Similar rumblings have been heard in some Baptist circles of late. Spurgeon affirmed that God saved little ones without limitation and without exception. He, then, as was his manner, turned to conclude the message with an evangelistic appeal to parents who might be lost. Listen to his plea..~Al Mohler


Many of you are parents who have children in heaven. Is it not a desirable thing that you should go there too? And yet, have I not in these galleries and in this area some, perhaps many, who have no hope hereafter? . . . . Mother, unconverted mother, from the battlements of heaven your child beckons you to Paradise. Father, ungodly, impenitent father, the little eyes that once looked joyously on you, look down upon you now and the lips which had scarcely learned to call you “Father” ere they were sealed by the silence of death, may be heard as with a still, small voice, saying to you this morning, “Father, must we be forever divided by the great gulf which no man can pass?” If you wilt, think of these matters, perhaps the heart will begin to move, and the eyes may begin to flow and then may the Holy Spirit put before thine eyes the cross of the Savior . . . if thou wilt turn thine eye to Him, thou shalt live . . . ~ Spurgeon


"I cannot be sorry for the death of infants. How many storms do they escape! Nor can I doubt, in my private judgment, that they are included in the election of grace.” John Newton

if you want to read more , go here and here.

Christmasish Pictures

More where this came from.