Monday, April 23, 2012

Mack - 29 Months

Mack - what can I say...   This kids' ability to comprehend and process is quite mature for his age.  He communicates more clearly than the average 2 year old. He remembers things very well.  He's developing a way of thinking called spatial representation or symbolic thinking. Basically it means he can see things in his mind's eye. As experience and habit create new connections in his brain, he becomes better able to call up these captured images: what he did in class at church, who he played with, the way to Grammy's house, he even remember's things such as someone's tone.  He's starting to enjoy singing songs as he remembers the words as well as actions.  For a long time now he's been able to tell you what's going to happen in several of his books because we read them so frequently.  


We may not have long quiet times of prayer but we do frequently pray in our house and Mack has caught on.  We pray in the morning, we pray before meals, we pray when we're not feeling well, for our friends, when we need forgiveness and before we go to bed.  It has been so encouraging this past month as we've seen Mack turn to prayer on his own initiative.  Here's a couple for instances:





  • Parker was fussy (trying to have a bowel movement) and Mack was very intuitive.  He says, "Mommy, Parker's not happy."  I told him that Parker's tummy hurt and by himself he 
  • grabbed Parker's hands, closed his eyes and said, "Jesus please help Parker's tummy not hurt"!!! 
  • A couple times he's even prayed for me, a little confession... I was having a frustrating morning trying to get out of the house for a play-date with a teething, fussy baby and Mack who would not listen and then kept shoving his brother in his walker into the furniture.  To myself, I yelled, "I'm so frustrated!"  Mack observing, walked over to me and says, "I love you mommy!"  It broke my heart that I responded that way.  I knelt down on the floor and explained that mommy was sorry and I needed to pray and ask Jesus to forgive me too.  He grabbed my hands and prayed for me, "Jesus, please help mommy not scream like that." It was one of those moments you wish you could take back but it also was a great moment for Mack and I.
  • Mack has even prayed for me when my eyes were infected for 2 days, he noticed they were all red and I told him they hurt so he prayed for me - and they STOPPED HURTING!
  •  Another, and I'll end with this one but I noticed Mack was very pensive (deep in thought) on our way home from church.  When I was getting him out of the car, he told me he bit his friend.  He explained the whole situation to me, in detail.  I could tell he felt very bad.  As we were getting ready for bed, he tells me as well as prays, "I'm so sorry I bite Sophia".  





He's such a sensitive little guy and we are so proud of him!

On another note, not only is Mack doing great being potty trained but now he insist on dumping his potty in the big potty and cleaning up any messes he makes.  There are moments when I'd rather do it to avoid the mess but he loves being a "big boy"!  

Seems like this time of year allergies get the best of Mack with congestion, runny nose and even ear infections.  He's had one bout after another with being sick and had to take 4 different antibiotics in less than a month and a half.  He's also had a stomach virus with constant diarrhea, swollen lymph nodes, adverse reaction to medication and fevers as well.  Needless to say we've been home bound for a while.  


Well here's a few pictures from the month.

We love frozen yogurt!

Loves his daddy

Being silly with mommy

Raspa - yum!



Loves his new Bible book from Papa Kirk and Grandma Donna



Giving daddy kisses after a du-athlon race he competed in.


Chilling with daddy after his race


Easter 2010, 2011, 2012





Working on their tans

Mack loves dinosours

Big helper





Conked out







Friday, April 13, 2012

What kind of clean do I want

After reading a blog about Spring Cleaning I was challenged to ask myself the question:


Why do I care if my home is messy or clean? What kind of clean do I want – sparkly clean or picked-up clean?


Let me note, I am in a season with a baby and toddler so I have cut myself some slack knowing there is "grace in the dust".  


There have been a handful of times that my husband has asked (only because I've complained I can't keep up with it) why don't you just have someone help you (we work with the youth at our church and he's told me a few times we can get one of the girls to help me out).  I just have always felt like our home is My domain and I've prided myself on being able to keep it orderly.  But I had to figure out why that was so important to me.  


To me, having a clean home is loving my family by creating a sanctuary; a safe-place. It's saying I care about the environment in which my family lives (we are all less stressed and enjoy life more when our home isn't in chaos).  It's loving God by being a good steward of the home He has given us.  It's loving my children by modeling good habits. It's loving others by having an available home for those unexpected times of hospitality.  


Now for the second part of the question: What kind of clean do I want - sparkly clean or picked-up clean?  I'd love to say my home is sparkly clean but the fact of the matter is, it just isn't!  Like I said, I have a baby and a toddler.  Sure, I could make my home sparkly but instead I've decided to settle for picked-up in this season.  I'll never get this season of life back with my kids, to cuddle them as babies, pour the Word of God into their spirits, read story after story, play cars, or music or blocks etc.  I'd rather spend this precious time building a foundation with my kids that will last and not look back and say, "but I had a clean, sparkly home".  I'll be honest, it's hard at times at the end of the day when I feel like the house is all but clean - floors are sticky and I'm just tired... but then as I tuck my kids into bed and my 2 year old says, "I love you mommy", I know my labor was not in vain and "picked-up" will have to suffice.    



As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, and we will show our love – by His grace – through a “picked-up”, “clean” home.
“Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” Colossians 3:23-24

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Parker - 7 months

Today Parker is 7 months old!  Our little bundle of joy is just that - Joyful!  He's constantly smiling and laughing, almost always wakes up in a happy mood just squealing and cooing and recently babbling.  Parker is constantly rolling over, and stretches to reach things.  He now likes to get on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, so crawling is in the very near future.  He's also trying to pull himself up on things so I foresee the crib being lowered very soon as well.

Parker just loves watching Mack and wants to play with him all the time, whether that's with his cars, legos or stuffed animals Parker is right there trying to do whatever Mack is doing.  It's such an interesting perspective when you have 2 little ones and the younger learns so much faster because there's an older child they are learning from.  Developmentally there are a few differences in the boys such as Parker rolls around a lot and it appears that he may crawl sooner whereas Mack hated being on his tummy and was carried a lot more being an only child.

Schedule is still pretty routine with Parker although naps are now a little shorter but the fact he consistently sleeps 11-12 hours through the night, I won't complain.  He's starting to have 3 meals a day of baby food in addition to his 4 bottles of formula and 1 bottle of juice.  He's not to keen on the juice at this point and peaches are not a favorite.  He tends to pucker up his face and will spit up a lot after having peaches so at this point we've eliminated them from his diet.  Everything else, he seems to like.

Took our first trip to Kansas City to visit family over spring break.  Parker did quite well on the plane and during the entire visit.  He did seem to be a little more fussy at times but I believe it was just due to being off schedule and out of the ordinary.  Overall though we had a great trip.


First airplane ride



With Papa Kirk

With Grandma Donna at the KC Zoo

Add caption


With Papa Garry


With Great Grandma Gust

2nd cousins

Milk all over the face







With Grandma Tammie





Trying to crawl

Tackling Mack











At South Padre Island

Giving mommy kisses




I'm a natural









First Easter 2012

Trip to the beach



Working on my tan

Sitting up like a big boy



Bath time in the sink



7 months old