What's going on??

I thought I'd let y'all know what's going on with the boys... who should I start with?

Luke:


Luke is very much embracing year number three. He's pretty much decided that he's not going to nap. Occasionally, I can trick him into going upstairs and watching a movie and occasionally that ends up in a nap. More times that not though it just gives me about 30-45 minutes of quiet time, which is okay too. I do have to admit that summertime has actually gotten him to take a few more naps because we're outside more and he's just playing harder. He's actually become a little swimmer! He started swimming with his arm floaties while we were at the beach and now he LOVES the pool. He called the goggles in the picture above his 'water glasses'. He is a typical boy... he hates to wash his hands and brush his teeth. It's literally a fuss every single time. We're also going through some major food issues. He has a really strong gag reflex. Just recently we had steamed broccoli (one of the few veggies he will eat, at least it's a good one!) for dinner. He also had a roll on his plate. Water from the broccoli got onto a bread crumb and Luke started gagging. He was saying that it was 'choke', which is his word for throw up. He literally made himself gag! Dinner was over for him. I told myself that I would never be a short order cook but that's what I am. I guess I feel bad for him because I feel like he really does have some food issues. Twice in the past few months he's thrown up from putting too much in his mouth. He puts too much in his mouth thus causing him to gag and then throw up. If I even attempt to put something on his plate that is 'unappetizing' to him he goes nuts and refuses to look at his plate. Or if something doesn't feel right in his mouth he'll gag. I'm not really sure how to help him with these issues. I really don't want him to be the kid who will only eat chicken nuggets and french fries! Ok, that's not all he'll eat. Here is a list of things I know he will eat:

Cereal
Breads
PB & J
Grilled Cheese
Cheese Quesadilla
Hot Dog (this is something he's recently tried)
PB & honey
Chicken Nuggets
Carrot Sticks
Baby Corn
Apple Sauce
Granola Bars
Raisins
Most fruits
French Fries
Tator Tots
Baby Corn
Yogurt (vanilla only)
Cookies/Cake/Brownie (as long as it doesn't have nuts)
Crackers
Fried Okra
Sunflower seeds
Bacon
Cheese Pizza
Cheese

He's recently stopped eating rice, bananas and peaches. He will sometimes eat corn on the cob, green peas, broccoli and cauliflower. That's really not that big of a list! I'm sure there are some things that I've forgotten but that's pretty much it. Anyone have any ideas or suggestions to try??

One funny story about Luke and I'll share a few things about Eli. Tonight after the Hubs put Luke to bed, he started crying. So, I went upstairs to check on him and he was saying something about his bed being wet. He had some water in a sippy cup and a tiny bit spilled. This kid will do ANYTHING to avoid sleep. I must share the trip to the beach story sometime soon... anyway... He looked at me and held up his pointer finger and said, "Please read me ONE story" so I agreed. I read Duck Soup, which is one of his favorites right now. After I finished I said, "Ok, it's time for bed. I love you and I'll see you in the morning." He raised up his head and raised up his hand... he was concentrating on doing something with his fingers. He said, "Please read me ONE more" and as he said "one" he managed to get the finger he had been concentrating on getting up. His bird finger! He said, "Read me this one" and as he was saying that he was pointing at me with his bird finger! It was hilarious! I was trying so hard not to laugh! He kept repeating it over and over while waving his bird finger at me... "Mommy, read me just this one more!!"

Ahh... funny stuff. Now, on to Eli:


Eli had his 9 month check up last week. If you're keeping up, Eli turned 10 months old on the 29th so the 9 month check up was a little late. He didn't have any shots. It was mainly a check up to check his weight and talk to the Dr again about our dairy issues. He weighed 17 lbs and 12 oz and was 27 inches long. He's in the 10th % for weight and 50% for height. He's pretty much always been in the 10-15 % for weight so no biggie as long as he stays on that curve and doesn't drop! He is still nursing 7-10 times a day and he eats 3 meals. Breakfast is 1/4 banana and either cheerios or 1/2 Kashi fruit bar. Lunch is 1/2 jar of stage 2 dinner (he likes apples & chicken and turkey & veggies) and 1/2 jar of stage 2 fruit or veggie. Dinner is the same as lunch and sometimes he'll have a graham cracker or some puffs for snack or after a 'meal' if he's still hungry (or if I need to keep him occupied in the high chair for a few more minutes). He gets sips of water from a sippy cup too but he doesn't drink much. I have given him watered down juice before but not often. I do try to give him some table food when it's appropriate. He's had potatoes, green peas, squash and peaches so far. I have to still be very careful though because of the dairy issue. Speaking of that... I have successfully added all dairy back into my diet except milk and ice cream. I say successfully but we still need to do a poop test to be sure there isn't anything hidden. After a successful poop test, I will add milk back to my diet. Then we will watch for 'things' and have another poop test. Then it will be time to start introducing things to him... very slowly! :) It looks as if he is growing out of his dairy intolerance and that is a wonderful thing!!

Last Friday (7/3) Eli's first tooth decided to pop up! It's been visible from underneath his gums for probably three weeks and had been bothering him for at least 2! It finally broke through the skin! It still doesn't look much like a tooth because it's just barely visible but I'm sure in a few days it will be more noticeable. Eli is a happy little man (as long as he has momma). He grins and smiles all day unless you take the remote or phone away from him! He makes the cutest face when he grins. He scrunches his nose up (see pic above) and almost snorts as he smiles! He's so funny! He's recently learned how to clap and likes to show off his new talent all the time. Even tonight as he was nursing to sleep he raised his little hands up and clapped a few times! We're still having sleep issues and attachment issues but I've decided to go with the flow! Sleep will come one day. I'm hoping that when Eli finally has his own room he will begin to sleep better. He wakes up often at night but he knows I'm just a few feet from him! He does end up sleeping ON me some because I get so exhausted. I've gotten better at making myself stay up to get him in the bed and it seems to help. He's still really attached to me. I haven't stayed in a worship service in probably close to 4 months. I try to think positive though.. he could go to anyone and everyone. But he trusts me and knows I will take care of him and that is a good thing! I know that I'm doing the right thing by not allowing him to "cry it out" because Eli doesn't cry it out or eventually forget. He cries... and cries.. and cries... He gets completely beside himself. So, until he is more comfortable I will just keep doing what I'm doing.. allowing him to outgrow this stage! :)

Wow, I've typed too much. I could say so much more. I really need to share more about the kids on a regular basis. They are growing too fast and learning so much!

June - Beach and Ocean

Last month I started doing preschool activities with Luke. Since I do plan to home school the boys, I thought it might be fun and helpful to start doing some different learning activities. I was already doing a lot of things with him but I actually thought it out and did some web searching for ideas too! So, for the month of June our theme was "Beach and Ocean". Our Bible principle was "God made all things" and our verse was Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." We focused on the letters B and O. It was amazing what Luke learned this month. We didn't do an activity a day, probably 3-4 times a week. And it's not a set time of day or a particular amount of time. We did take the week off when we were at the beach too! There were so many opportunities to teach him while we were at the beach! We just go with the flow. If we're busy, we don't do an activity. Everything is super simple! I mean he just turned three! Here are a few things that he did:

We colored sand and left it over night to dry. The next day Luke made fun sand art! We talked about how sand feels and that sand covers the beach. We also talked about creatures that live in the sand!

Here are some of the B coloring pages that Luke colored. He can now pick the letter B out in a book!

And here are a few of the O things he colored. (We also watched a video online of an octopus that Luke loved!) We talked about different kinds of animals that live in the ocean and even acted some of them out!

We also did some more gluing projects (Luke loves to glue things!) and counting games with our sea shells from the beach(above).

Next week we will start a new month!! If anyone has any tips or good resources let me know!

The Move

In a post a few weeks ago I mentioned that we are getting ready to move soon! I can't tell you how excited I am!! Let me share a little of how this came about.

The Hubs and I have both been praying about moving over the past almost three months (since we found out about his new job). We knew that the only way we could afford anything would be for God to provide it. After crunching the numbers we knew that buying a home wasn't an option right now. So, we prayed.. that God would provide. Well, my dad co-owns two rental houses. One with his brother and cousin and one with just his brother. They are right next door to each other (one was my granddaddy's and one was my great grandmothers) About 3 months ago my dad mentioned to me that my great grandmother's house was available if we wanted it. The Hubs and I talked about it... prayed about it... and after about 2 weeks we decided we'd move in there. It's a small house: two bedrooms, one bath, washing machine in the kitchen and dryer on the back porch kind of house, but it was certainly doable. I love the house just because I have great memories there. Not only was it my great grandmothers house where I spent a lot of time growing up but it was the Hubs and my very first house. We lived there nine months before we bought our first home. I had to really pray through the space issues that I was already having before moving in!! Two bedrooms!! Two boys!! Oh my! I knew it would be an adjustment but it would totally work out! I was just thankful that we had a place to move to! It's definitely getting time to move out. My sweet little boy asks us periodically when we're going home. I'm sure most people would think that he didn't remember or even after all of this time he would have forgotten but he hasn't. He still asks when we're going home and even if I tell him this is our home now, he knows better. He reminds me that this is Mimi and Granddaddy's home... not ours. We did start telling him that we wouldn't be going back to our old home but to a new home. So he often asks when he's getting a new house, so then he can get all of his other toys (surprisingly, he knows that he has 'other toys' that are missing, which are stored away in storage). Sigh... where was I?? OH, yeah. So, we had to go to storage one day to get something and we decided that since my dad was at the rental house we would go on and take something over there. Might as well since we're here, was our thought. So the Hubs, packed up Eli's changing table in the back of the van and off we went. Well, after moving the changing table in, it was time for Eli to eat and nap so we headed home and the Hubs was going to wait on my dad and go back to storage to get some heavier stuff. So, I sat upstairs feeding Eli and here comes the Hubs barging in, turning on the lights. At first I thought, what in the world are you doing?? Then he handed me a letter. It was a letter stating that the people in the other rental were going to be moving out and June would be their last month. We both just kind of looked at each other and then the Hubs asked, "So, do you want that house??" Um, YES! So, after he left and I sat there in the dark, feeding my sleepy little boy, I couldn't help but cry tears of thankfulness. This 'other' rental house is a three bedroom, two bath house. And although the other would have been perfectly fine, God decided to give us better. God has been so faithful to us. Throughout this whole yucky ordeal God has been faithful. His hand has been there. I can look back and see it. Things have not been perfect. Things are not going to be perfect. God's children are never promised that. In fact we're actually promised the opposite when we follow Him. I knew He would be faithful to us.. and He has been.

So, Sunday after church, we drove by and looked at the house and told Luke that would be his new home. He was so excited. We even drove by after church that night too and noticed a tree down behind the smaller house so we pulled in the driveway. Without saying anything Luke exclaimed, "That's my new house!!" That brought me so much joy. My baby is getting a new house! And he is so happy! Since the Hubs has several days off in a row this coming week we'll be doing a good bit of cleaning. We hope to move in slowly so that we can do a lot of 'getting rid of'! I don't want to bring junk! We wanted to get out so quickly before that we didn't really pack well. So, I want to go through boxes slowly. We plan on being in the house August 1st. I can't wait. There are so many things that you take for granted when you have your own place.. more on that later..


"God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:9

"I will be exalted among the nations" Psalm 46:10

FYI, I passed 200 blog posts a few posts ago. I don't know if you're suppose to do something special like when you reach 100?? Who knows.... back to regularly scheduled blogging...

I had to pop in and tell you all (ok, most of my 3 readers will already know this but you never know) that some sweet ladies from my church, one being my pastor's wife, are soon to be heading on an exciting journey to the Ukraine. They will be spending a week in an orphanage sharing the love of Christ and His gospel with these special children. They have started a blog to share their journey that you can check out by clicking here or from my side bar under For Their Joy. It gives more detail about their trip and will be exciting to follow over the next few weeks! They will be doing some fundraising to help pay for their trip and right now they have their first auction up. Please keep Aimee and Jami in your prayers as they prepare for this trip! And pray that God will begin a work in the heart of the orphans they will be meeting even now! What an awesome God we serve! I can't wait to see what He has in store for these two!

Bye for now !

Fun in the sun!

Saturday we got home from a week long trip to the beach! We had so much fun!! The boys had a blast! Here are a few highlights from the week (picture overload!):

Eli was a little beach bum! He giggled at the water and loved smushing his little toes and fingers in the sand! He even ate a few fists full of sand.. good times! Here he is crawling around in the sand like he owns the place! He is so fun!

Luke has been waiting for this beach trip FOREVER (it seems). He has been to the beach twice before but this was the first time he actually understood it all. He couldn't wait to get there! He was a little afraid of the ocean to begin with but after the first day he got use to it and kept saying, "I'm not afraid of the water!" He would have played on the beach until he literally passed out from exhaustion! He also learned how to swim with his arm floaties in the pool! He was so proud of himself! And so was I! He is such a big boy! It is bittersweet to watch him grow sometimes!

Luke even got brave enough to hold a crab! This is one of those things that scared him at first but he soon was searching the sand at night for those little things just like Daddy!

We attempted to take a quick family pic right before heading out. I wanted us to get all dressed up and take a nice one but it never happened. We were so lazy all week, which is fine! That's what a vacation is for! Not to mention that at the ages and stages the kids are at, pictures just aren't their favorite thing to do! So here is our family pic... it was so bright and hot.. so it was a quick snap and then back in the ac!

We stayed in a beach house with a lagoon behind it. You could walk out to a deck and look out onto the water. Well, the first time we walked out there we saw this:

There was a sign that said "Don't feed the gator" beside the deck but at first we thought it was just for fun! Nope! Fred (his nickname) was the only one we ever saw. He was about 4 ft long and obviously was use to people feeding him (someone didn't read the sign) because every time we walked out to the deck he would swim right up. It was really crazy! Luckily, the back yard with the pool was fenced in! At first Luke was calling it a dinosaur! So funny!

It's driving me crazy that the picture of us leaving is before the gator picture. But I'm not going to change it because I don't have time. Just thought I'd let you know, haha!

We had a great trip and made lots of memories! Again, I am so thankful for my parents taking us otherwise it never would have happened! I can't wait to do it again next year!

Tuesday Top Ten Thoughts

1. Robby starts his new job June 22nd!! Yay! God is so good! And even better he gets to go on vacation with us!! We had thought all along that he wouldn't get to go but the government just kept pushing things back! About a month ago I started praying that Robby would get to go on vacation with us since it was getting so close! God generously answered that prayer!

2. We leave Saturday for the BEACH! We'll be there for an entire week! I am so thankful for my parents! If it wasn't for their hard work (and daddy's overtime) this trip wouldn't be possible! I am so ready!

3. My sister is flying in Friday for the beach trip! Luke can't wait to see his Aunt B!! And I can't either! I miss her!

4. When we get back from the beach we will be getting ready to MOVE! Awesome story that I will tell you later. I just attempted to type it out but it was just too long and it deserves it's own post! :)

5. I have added cheese and cheese products back to my diet (a week and 2 days now). Not sure how it's going. So far, no blood in the diapers but Eli's been especially fussy! I do feel a little bump on his gums so that could be the reason for all of the fussing. We're also having nursing issues. He's totally not interested unless he's sleepy. I don't really think it's related though since he does nurse well before naps.

6. Eli's was dedicated at church this past Sunday. I want to talk a little more about that later too! It was so very special. He had been dedicated before but we really wanted a do-over. Sorry if that sounds weird but if you know our situation you understand. He was dedicated the week before the Hubs got fired. Not exactly memorable, so I'm just not counting it. Our pastor (now) did a fantastic job at explaining what a baby dedication is and charging us as parents to train up Elijah to become a great man of God. Oh that is my prayer! I'll elaborate more later.

7. I read this post yesterday and love the honesty in it. Thank you, Molly, for being a real person. I. love. it.

8. Read The Duggars: 20 and Counting not too long ago. I loved it. I learned a lot of things from The Duggars from discipline to organization tips. They are truly a family that seeks to honor God in all they do. They have challenged me in lots of areas.

9. I just recently started reading Spectacular Sins by John Piper. Loving it so far! Hopefully that among a few others will get read while on vacation! I'm taking To Die is Gain: The Triumph of John and Betty Stam, which is about two young missionaries who were killed in China. I also have a biography on Tozer that I need to find. All of these books are pretty short, which is what I need! Anyone have any other suggestions?

10. I'm seriously getting ready to lose some weight. It's time. I can do it but I have to get in the right frame of mind. And I'm almost there. After vacation my plan is: eat less, exercise more. :) Always works.

Happy Birthday Luke!

Today my Luke turns three. He is growing so fast and is getting so big! I can hardly believe that just three years ago around this time I was checking in to the hospital... anxious and excited about welcoming my first born into our family. Several hours would go by and then at 8:53 pm Luke Austin would enter this world and change our lives forever. He was a healthy little guy weighing 8 lbs and 8 oz and was 20.5 inches long. He was just perfect!

Now, Luke is a happy, funny, mischievous and strong-willed little boy. He loves anything with wheels or with a Thomas logo. He could play outside all day long, whether it be playing ball, riding his gator, playing in the sand or just swinging! I believe he would just sleep outside if we set him up a little tent! Inside, he often plays that he's going to work and he always remembers to take his lunch! He loves to cook with Mommy and play basketball with Daddy. He has really become a Daddy's boy especially since Eli came along. I'm thankful for that because I know how important Daddy's are for little boys!

Of course I pray for Luke daily, for many different things, but my most important prayer is that Luke would come to know Christ. I pray that God would draw him to salvation at an early age and that Luke's life will be driven by a deep desire to glorify God in all things. That is the most important thing, more than money, success, education and even health. May God receive glory through his life.

Happy Birthday my little man! I love you more than words!