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.