Sneak Preview - Family Photo Session

We were very blessed this past weekend to have a wonderful photo session with the mom of one of my 7th grade students.  She is a hobby photographer who does not take photos for a living, but instead prefers to use her God-given talent to bless her family and friends.  She set up this family photo session as a teacher appreciation gift.  In my 6 years of teaching, never have I received such an amazing gift!  She spent over 2 hours just following us around Ayr Mount, capturing these precious moments.  After 4 weeks of re-scheduling due to rain and hurricanes, we finally had a gorgeous, sunny Saturday.  Naturally, when we finally had a sunny day, both kids had scratches on their faces.  Such is life with little kids!  The pictures turned out beautiful anyway and they show the honesty of real life.

 

 

 

 

This is just a sneak peak.  Amazingly, she took over 600 pictures that she's still editing and compiling!!!  More preciousness to come in the near future.

I can't thank Tami enough for such a heart-felt gift.  It has me thinking, "What can I do to bless and enrich the lives of those in my circle of influence?".  Food for thought.

Ian Zachariah - 6 Months Old

 

That's right; Ian is SIX MONTHS OLD!!!  He has blessed us so much since he joined our family and brings us delight every single day.  Just as he has been since the day he was born, Ian is happy, easy-going, and oh-so-sweet.  He rarely cries, and even then it's only if he's tired or hungry.  His precious little face just melts my heart every time I look at him. 

 

One of the sweetest things to watch over the last six months has been the growing relationship between Molly and Ian.  There really is a special love between them that started developing from the moment they met.  Molly has always shown lots of love toward Ian (along with a healthy dose of 'little brother abuse').  She showers him with kisses and hugs, wipes his mouth when he slobbers, retrieves toys when he drops them, and entertains him when he's bored.

 

Molly still loves to pet and kiss her brother, but recently Ian has started to return her love too.  He loves to tackle her if she's in his proximity and douse her with big wet kisses. 

 

Ian is also growing like a weed.  At his 6 month appointment, his measurements were 17lb. 2oz., and 26 inches long, around the 50th percentile for both.  Ironically, his 6-month measurements are almost identical to what Molly's 12-month measurements were.  I feel like I'm constantly changing out drawers in his dresser to put away clothes he's outgrown and dig out bigger ones.  He's now wearing size 12-month PJs, which means he's wearing pajamas right now that Molly was wearing just a few months ago!

 

It's funny to look at them side-by-side.  At first glance, Molly looks like she's a lot bigger just because she is so much older and more mature, but on closer inspection, you can tell that Ian is quickly catching up to her.  He's only 7 lbs. lighter right now.  This picture makes me smile because their hands seriously look to be almost the same size.  Molly has always had petite hands and feet and Ian has always had what I call "man hands".

 

One defining characteristic of Ian is that he NEVER stops moving.  I can attest to the fact that his love of constant motion started months before he was born.  I remember laying on the couch in the evening during my pregnancy and just marveling over the constant state of motion my belly was in.  His long arms and legs just go and go and go and go and go some more.  We've discovered that we can no longer use snap-leg pajamas because this is what we find when we wake up in the morning:

 

On this particular night, he had gotten up three times and each time I had buttoned him back up, only to find his bare legs hanging out once again when he got up to eat 3 hours later.  His little energizer-bunny legs would just kick and kick until all the snaps were unsnapped.

Another thing Ian loves is to be naked.  He's especially happy if he can be naked and mobile at the same time.  Of course the best time for this is during diaper changes or right after a bath.  Getting a diaper on this little boy is like wrestling an alligator.  He can get himself from back to belly in under a second and will do so every single time you lay him down to put a diaper on.  I've learned how to fasten many different diapers from the back so that I can finish diapering him on his belly.  Most of the time, I just let him roll around naked for a few minutes as long as he's still on his towel or on a cleanable surface.  I don't have to worry about him spraying the room because I know he will never choose to lay on his back.
 

He surprised me the other day when I left him bottomless on his play mat, playing on his belly.  When I turned back to check on him, this is what I found:

 

He had pushed himself from his belly to a sitting position!  Look how pleased he is with himself.  I just can't believe he's already so independent in his mobility.  There's the diaper sitting right in front of him, ready to go on.  Thank goodness for "onesie flaps".  Otherwise, this might be a very embarrassing photo in 13 years or so :-)

His mobility doesn't stop at rolling and sitting.  This boy wants to CRAWL!  It started with some strange body contortions while he was on his belly.  He was trying to figure out what in the world to do with all his arms and legs: 

 

Then he graduated to doing "the plank".  He looks like a little military man ("Drop and give me 20!"):

 

But within a couple of days, he has at least figured out the correct body formation.  He's very pleased with his progress and will spend the better part of his playtime pushing himself through the poses; belly, hands, toes, knees, and back again.  He rocks back and forth a lot on his knees, but hasn't quite figured out how to gracefully propel his body forward.  That doesn't stop him from getting where he wants to go though.  Through a series of inch-worm-like contortions, along with an army-style crawl.  He can pretty much get himself anywhere he wants.  Something tells me he's going to be keeping us on our toes VERY soon.

So, with half a year gone and a lifetime ahead of us, we are thankful for every second we get to spend with our sweet, handsome boy.  As Daddy likes to say, our little "Ion" is "positively squishy" (a little chemistry humor for the science geeks like us out there ;-)

Ian Goes Bananas

I've been trying to hold off until the recommended 6-month mark before starting solids with Ian, but he always seems so interested in what we're eating that I decided starting a few days early would be just fine. Whenever he sees any of us eating, he becomes completely fixated on watching our every move, following the fork with his eyes as it goes from plate to mouth. He's become quite the Hungry Man lately too, nursing every 2 hours around the clock; I was so sure that he'd dive right into solids with voracity. Not exactly. Well, I'll let him share his experience:

"Hey! Look at me! I'm in the big-boy dinner chair! I get the feeling something exciting is happening here."

"No way! Seriously??? Today's the day I get to try out this eating thing I've been obsessing about for like, well, my whole life?!?!"

"Oh yeah. Come to Papa, awesome-looking goop on a spoon."

"BLEGH! What is this stuff?"

"UGH!!! It gets worse the more you let it fester in your mouth. It's all slimy and weird tasting. Where is my sweet, warm, creamy, comforting milk?"

"Oh, yes. See, this is what I think I really wanted. The spoon just looks so cool and it's much better without that other nasty stuff on it."

"Uh, Mom, have you seen this stuff? Just look at it. You can't expect me to eat something that looks like that."

"Waiter, take this away, please. Chop chop."

"On second thought, Waiter, just leave the bowl and spoon. They look like a lot of fun."

"I'll be sticking with toes and milk from now on, thank you very much."

While it wasn't exactly the first-food experience either Ian or I were expecting, I don't think it will be long before he's chowing down. I'm sure the brand new taste and texture are a bit overwhelming at first when all you've known is milk for almost 6 months. So whenever you're ready, Ian, you have a freezer full of peaches, mangoes, peas, carrots, asparagus, and sweet potatoes waiting just for you. What a lucky boy you are to be hitting the 6-month mark at the peak of southern harvest time!

To Molly on Your Second Birthday...

Dear Molly,

I can hardly believe that 2 years have passed since the first moment I saw your sweet face. It seems to have passed in the blink of an eye, and yet it feels like you've always been a part of our lives. I have spent a lot of time this past week thinking back to that long, hot summer 2 years ago. In the days and weeks leading up to your birth, I spent a lot of time day-dreaming about who you would be, what you would look like, what it would be like to be a mother. I wondered what color your eyes would be and what your voice would sound like when it called me "Mama". In preparation for your birth, I took lots of long walks through our neighborhood, many at sunrise and sunset to avoid the heat of the day. As I walked I would lay my hands on my blossoming belly and pray, asking God to take good care of you as you were growing, praying that He would give you a healthy body, a strong mind, and a heart for Christ.

But all my prayers and daydreams could not have prepared me for the moment I laid eyes on your sweet face. After 41+ weeks of pregnancy and 10+ hours of labor, the wait was over and the little girl the midwife laid on my chest was the most gorgeous sight I'd ever seen. I was so overwhelmed, I just kept saying, "Hello Molly! I love you!" over and over again as I kissed your little fingers and snuggled you to my cheek. Words can not describe the love that welled up inside me the moment your eyes met mine, these gorgeous blue eyes that just seemed to say, "Hello Mama. I'm here and I love you too."

It has been an amazing journey over the last 2 years to watch you develop from a tiny, helpless, needy infant to the spunky, stubborn, vivacious little girl you are today. As each stage has come and gone, from sitting up to crawling to taking your first steps, from crying to signing to using your first words, I have slowly had to learn to let go. You are becoming your own little independent person, eager to take on the challenges this world has to offer. Right now you are all about "doing it yourself". Whether it's putting on your shoes or getting dressed, eating a meal or turning a doorknob, your motto is, "I'll do it myself or it won't get done at all." I love your determination and tenacity. It actually inspires me in my approach to life's tasks.

You also approach life with such flair. The joy on your face every single day reminds me to take on life with a smile. Every song is occasion for a dance. You love to "rock out" with Daddy when he plays his music. You flop your hair around and play your "air guitar". The tiniest tickle sends you into a fit of giggles. Even waking up from a nap is cause for celebration. I love to hear you in your crib, babbling, squealing, and "jumping for joy".
I can't imagine my life without you and I'm thankful everyday that God has made you a part of our family. You have taught me more about joy, patience, faith, and love in the last 2 years than I learned in the 2 decades before that. You made me a mother and for that I am forever grateful. I can't wait to see what our third year together will bring.

I love you from here to the moon and back, my little MoJo. Happy Birthday.

Love, Mama

Little Miss Chatterbox

As you can see, Molly's word list has been growing every day. She has now surpassed 50 spoken words in her vocabulary and learns at least 2 or 3 new ones everyday. She is also signing a lot more which has broadened her communication skills even more. We just adore hearing her precious little voice chattering all over the house! The words she uses most often are those that directly address her favorite people: "Daddeeeee", "Mama", "Buddy" or "Eeeee" (for Ian), and "Hi". She uses "Hi" interchangeably for hello, goodbye, and goodnight. Her favorite sign right now is probably "gorilla". She beats on her chest with her chubby little fists anytime she sees a picture of any kind of monkey---or a box of granola. She hasn't quite distinguished the subtle differences between those two words, so our box of breakfast granola gets the same enthusiastic, chest-beating reaction as the gorillas in her favorite books.

So, as Molly's vocabulary is developing at a rapidly increasing rate, I won't be adding to her word wall anymore. But it won't be long before we have new milestones to report about Molly. And before you know it, Ian's word wall will be filling up too! It's all going so fast!