Clara, you are five months old!

Nope, I refuse to believe that you are already 5 months old! How did this happen!? I blinked and then all of the sudden you are so, so big! I’m so proud of you for all you have accomplished in a month! You are a growing girl and you are so ready to move along with your brother. I watch you watch him and I know you want to do exactly what he does.

This month, you have sprouted two little teeth! One was noticed on Sunday and the second one popped through on Wednesday! I’m pretty sure you willed them to pop out because you kept getting mad watching us eat and us not sharing with you. Speaking of eating, we have started you on solids! So far you like avocado, carrots, sweet potatoes, and bananas and you dislike squash. You sometimes like to grab the spoon and help feed you, and sometimes you yell in between bites because we don’t get it to your mouth fast enough!

You constantly make me smile with all your sweet little expressions. They are never ending! You have such a beautiful smile and I love to see your face light up when I sing to you or when we play. You also love your daddy and your brother and I love to see your eyes just light up around them. You are so loved, Clara Grace! You are such a special little girl!

You have been sleeping through the night for a few weeks now, and that makes mama so happy! Thank you, baby girl! It took your brother a long time to get to that point so this makes me extremely thankful! You sleep in your own crib in your own room, although we have to pack pillows on your sides because you roll everywhere and wake yourself up. You are a mover and you won’t be stopped! In fact, over this past weekend, you decided it was time to learn how to crawl! You aren’t crawling just yet, but you are up on your knees and rocking, and you move backwards. You gotta learn how to shift gears instead of being stuck in reverse!

We love you, baby girl! You are such a joy in our lives and I can’t wait to see you learn even more this next month… no matter how much I’d also love to freeze time and keep you small for a little while longer! You are precious to me!

to my best friend

These past six years have been fun and awesome! We have two beautiful children and every time I look at them, I am reminded of how much I absolutely love you! I fall more and more in love with you each and every day.

I don’t know how to put into words how much you mean to me. This past year especially has been one that I don’t think I’d have been able to make through without you. I don’t know how it is that you are able to be so patient with me and understanding through all my trials, but you continually support me and do your best to understand what I’m going through. I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you stand by me when things get tough. I know things have been tough on you as well and I am so thankful that you are committed to fighting my battles with me.

You complete me. You’re my better half. You’re my best friend. You’re my main and only squeeze. You’re my everything. Aw yeah.

For taking care of our family…
For listening to me when I need an ear…
For being there when I need a shoulder to cry on…
For making me laugh till my stomach aches…
For challenging me to be a better person…
For loving our children…
For loving me…
… Unconditionally!
For inspiring me and encouraging me…
For taking the trash out…
For folding laundry…
For cleaning up dishes…
For helping pick up around the house…
For running errands…
For taking time out of your day for all of us…
For enduring my craziness…
For standing by me…
For holding me up…
For listening…
For your godly example…
For making me feel loved…
And for so, so many more things…

Thank you.

I just love being married to you.

And when I see you, I still hear trumpets.

{Click here: This is for you.}

motherhood

Motherhood is unwashed hair until the kids are in bed.
It’s the bags under your eyes from the lack of sleep.
It’s the stretchmarks across your belly or the loose skin you’d like to tighten.
It’s the heavy eyelids, the lack of makeup, the unmatched socks.

Motherhood is the midnight feedings… and the two a.m. and the four a.m. and the six a.m.
It’s the rocking back and forth until your own body aches.
It’s walking the floor with a screaming, teething baby, who can’t sleep.
It’s bending over a crib over and over to soothe her back to sleep.

Motherhood is smelling like spit-up 24 hours a day.
It’s changing diapers and washing laundry seemingly around the clock.
It’s crying when you’re both sleep deprived.
It’s running on empty most of the time.

Motherhood is first smiles, and first laughs.
It’s counting ten fingers over and over during every midnight feeding.
It’s kissing soft cheeks and stroking downy hair.
It’s gentle coos and soft giggles.

Motherhood is paying attention to all the firsts.
It’s taking way too many pictures.
It’s cherishing the little things and the fleeting moments.
It’s holding onto every breath and every flutter of the eyelashes.

Motherhood is disciplining when you really don’t want to.
It’s wiping tears when feelings are hurt.
It’s cuddling after a bad dream.
It’s one more song, or one more story.

Motherhood is kissing boo-boos and placing band-aids.
It’s wiping fingerprints and tracked-in dirt.
It’s cleaning spills and washing faces.
It’s mopping up the bathwater that got splashed out of the tub.

Motherhood is mosquito bites because you’re outside late into the evening.
It’s going on adventures in the back yard.
It’s finding teachable moments and using them well.
It’s singing Jesus Loves Me over and over and over.

Motherhood is making mistakes and learning from them.
It’s heartache and joy one moment after another.

Motherhood is a blessing.

It’s so perfect in it’s imperfections.

my first hate mail.

Today marks another first in my book.

Today I received my first ever hate mail. It wasn’t actually mailed to me. Instead, it was handed to me. The person who had written the hate mail then stepped back and watched me read it, probably watching my face to gauge my reaction. Although I had been having a pretty blue morning to begin with {I do still have those days as I battle my depression}, I feel like I handled myself okay {although it did still hurt to receive such a note}.

Why, you ask, would I ever receive a piece of hate mail?

Well, because I told Benjamin he could not have a piece of gum.

Once he handed this note to me, I told him, “Well, that doesn’t seem very nice…” and handed it back to him. He looked at me for a moment before thinking better of his hate mail and crumpled it up, and threw it in the kitchen trash can. A little bit later, he came back into the living room with a fresh piece of paper and told me, “I’m going to write a nice letter now…”

That made me feel better.

While it really did hurt my heart when it happened {isn’t that strange, how something like that can really make you feel sad, even though you know they don’t really mean it? … motherhood can break your heart sometimes!}, it’s really actually super hilarious and I just had to share.

I’m glad that Benjamin is able to convey his feelings… and impressed that he can spell! But I’m also glad that he knew when he was being ugly and knew he needed to change his attitude.

Just another little glimpse into our life…

 
 
 

Love my goofy, emotional boy!