SQUASH!!!

"Hmm...squash..."














"Maybe I like it?"












"Well, it's different..."










"Umm...Mom?"













"Oh, this is icky!"











"I DON'T LIKE SQUASH!"

A Month of Milestones!

I can't believe it. In just a few short, short weeks Abigail has gone from an infant to a pre-toddler! One of the best pieces of advice I got as a new mom was to enjoy every phase of my child and not wish for them to go back or to grow up faster. It's been such a joy to watch her grow and develop, but things have been flying by lately!!! In the first part of January she started waking up at 5:30am (after sleeping through the night since she was 9 weeks old). We determined it was because she was hungry, so we started her on solids the next week. (Sure enough the waking in the middle of the night stopped!) She had her first rice cereal on the 15th! She really seemed to enjoy it!! I call her Santa Claus because she always ends up with a long, white beard :-) We only have two rules (so far) when we're in the high chair: no sucking your thumb and no lifting your bib over your head (thus dumping a puddle of cereal into your hair...)

3 days later at Grandma & Grandpa Gill's (doin' laundry!) Abi got sick of being on her tummy and rolled over onto her back! whee!!!! She showed her grandparents and her daddy in the coming days but we have yet to catch it on video.

Now it seems that she has strengthened enough back muscles to be able to sit on her own! We've been helping her sit for a few weeks with a couple wobbly attempts at independence. But finally we've been able to let go and watch her play (as long as there is a hand hovering near by...or a blockade of pillows!) The doctors have been very delighted with how strong she is!

And the biggest news is her little tooth popping through! Since she's only 5 1/2 months we were a little surprised but we're excited to see little teeth :-)

Giving Up Youth for Something Better

I was looking down at Abigail about a week before Christmas and we were truly interacting. I was making sounds and she was trying her hardest to copy them. We were looking into each other's eyes and I felt my heart swelling up into my throat; I had to choke back the tears. Maybe I'm just being corny, but I realized I never wanted to be without her again.

From the moment I met her I've loved her, but the first three or four months or so, it was a little surreal for me. Maybe that's the difference between a "planned" baby and a "surprise" baby. Not that the pregnancy shouldn't give you enough time to get used to the idea that you're having a baby! But suddenly there she is! And she's always there! And she always needs something! And forget about EVER sleeping past 7 anymore! Your life is not your own. Your marriage is CHANGED. Harder. Your own life is full to the capacity of poop on EVERYTHING, milk all over you and your clothes, essence of diaper permeating into your bedroom, rashes of every sort, didn't you JUST clip her fingernails?!, crying crying crying, which nursing bra should I wear today?, laundry up to your ears, flabby stomach, stretch marks, and clumps of your own hair falling out at an alarming rate. And it's not that the joy of this new little cuteness doesn't completely trump all that (cuz believe me it DOES!) but there are all these new problems you've never had before and you have NO idea where to start or how to tackle them. So when a friend of mine asked me after one month of being a mommy, "Now that she's here, could you ever imagine your life without her?" I didn't know what to say. I lied and said, "No, I couldn't imagine life without her!" The truth was, as much as I loved her, I COULD imagine life without her! It had only been one month! And everything was different and scary and I really just wanted to have my mornings back, my husband back, my bedroom back, my marriage back, my figure back, my LIFE back. Those thoughts scared me a little bit. I thought, "geez, Brenda! You're a mom now! Get over it. Grow up and get over it." But it's easier said than done.

The next few months I continued my mommy role: cleaning, dressing, changing, feeding, smiling, playing, singing. Each day, I had to kill my "old self," or my flesh, a little more.
"You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness." ~Ephesians 4:22-24
And little by little, it has started to die. It didn't happen right away or even after a few weeks. But slowly, month by month, God has been sanctifying me (making me more like Him). Slowly, my young, selfish nature is being suffocated as I put the needs of another before my own day in day out. And now, as Abigail clears her 5-month birthday, I can say joyfully, "How could I ever have lived without her?"

Abi's First Book

I love reading with Abi! Cuddle time with her is special and I cherish it. Her first few months she just stared at the pictures (if that! babies are easily distracted!!) But recently she has started "interacting" with her books. While we're reading she wants to hold the page and gnaw on it. She'll turn it backwards and forwards and sometimes shut the book. She has a few board books that she enjoys, but her favorite is her foam Noah's Ark book with foam cut-outs. I let her chew/suck on the cut-out on that page while we look at the pictures and read the story. The rainbow at the end especially excites her. I'm so excited to read with my children and plant a joy of learning in their hearts!

Read me some more, Mom!!!