Four Months Sweeter.

Leaving the hospital...phew...those first few weeks were hard...

SayJ's first trip to the ball field at two weeks old...she slept the WHOLE time.

First time in a dress and panty hose at church. Beautiful thing!

Here she had started to get her sweet little personality.

And yesterday...at least the bow is a tiny bit more proportionate with her sweet head!!

I can NOT believe Sadie Jane is four months old. So much so I didn't want to even write about it since yesterday was the actual anniversary of her birthday! Hee hee. Actually life in general is just moving way too fast. Sadie Jane continues to be pure joy. When I think about her I think about the paralleled gift of God's grace...

We have done nothing to deserve salvation and grace for our sinfulness yet He, our Heavenly Perfect Father lavishes it on us with His son Jesus!

Sadie Jane is so sweet, she goes with the flow and just loves me. I feel so inadequate to be her Momma and don't know what I did to deserve such a sweet and precious baby. I keep waiting for the catch. I mean I know we'll have our days...and we already have had some...but in general she is so much fun! I don't know why God saw fit to entrust her to me (or Micah either for that matter) but all I know is I am so thankful and will do my best to raise them both to know Jesus. The true giver of grace and mercy!

Photoshoot Wednesday

Today has been a difficult day as Say J and Micah are conspiring against me. Say J isn't grumpy she just doesn't want to sleep and wants to eat alot. Micah on the other hand has been sweet til about 12 when I let him eat a pack of pez. I will NeVER let that happen again. NEVER. He refused to nap and had two to three meltdowns...one meltdown before the pez ingesting. BUT we did have some time with all this awakeness to take some pictures. Here are our attempts. Like all of you with two babies now still searching for that perfect sibling picture.

Diddy Time

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Dr. Dobson said the time would come when Micah would start identifying and gravitating more toward Mick. The time has come. While Micah still loves me, he now notices that I am a girl. H talks about he and Daddy are boys. He cries for Mick if Mick has been at work all day and only Daddy can tuck him in now. Don't get me wrong...boys still a Momma's boy when he is hurting or upset...but he is really starting to look for Mick and watching what he does. He also has all the sudden started calling Mick Diddy...in that true southern fashion. He doesn't do it all the time but every once in a while he starts with his country boy voice. Too funny. Last night they had Daddy Night at school so Mick and Micah went and then got ice cream. Micah was SOOO excited and I was just so thankful that they enjoyed that time. Sadie Jane was thankful to have some calm time as well. These are pictures of their time together once they got home, they were inseparable.

pure sweetness

Ok, so those pictures didn't quite download as I had planned. Suzie...what did I do wrong??

Anyways, I stole them from the excellent photographer...www.splitsecondphotography.com ...hint...hint...big plug for the best!

The point of this post is about the babies in those pictures not the pictures themselves. Yesterday I had a not so good day. A couple of things happened that made me upset and anxious. Details aren't the point, but someone at work upset me and questioned my integrity. I haven't really been preoccupied with something like that since Micah has become so verbal unless it was actually BECAUSE of Micah himself. So he asks me in the car on the way home, why I was so upset. I told him that someone thought I told a story. He immediately responded "I will tell _______, don't say that to my mommy!" I said thank you Micah, do you protect me and he said oh yes! Just melted my heart his empathy and love. Funny how he can upset me like that and not really care but if someone else does...watch out he is coming for you. I am just a little worried what will come out of his mouth when we see this person next.

Then there is my sweet Sadie Jane, we had some alone time together today and she is still just the sweetest gift from the Lord. We talked and laughed and smiled and she snuggled. Thank you Jesus for showing me your love through my precious children...well Your precious children. Amen.

Thanks Anonymous!

Supper Club Girls!
Anne Marie, April, Jessica, Erin, Me, Brittany, and Ashley

Sadie Jane a little bit worried about Sunny's tight squeeze.

Sweet Friends!

Well I love that God works things for my good! Even though the anonymous comment a while back about my friendships hurt me and made me anxious about what people think of me I eventually turned it over to God and stopped obsessing over it. The reason I am thankful for it in the end is that it caused me to really assess my relationships with my friends and pushed me to make time with them. None of them have been upset with me for my time away but it has been so good to get to spend time with women and friends and to free myself up from being so caught up in others perceptions of me. The comment forced me to let go of control over everything and the fact that I can not control what others think of me. But in realizing this it made me think about the fact that even if my kiddo's interrupt or my time with women is not picture perfect it doesn't matter if we are spurred on by one another to love Jesus more the rest is all peripheral and I need that time. So I haven't made it a resolution but I am striving for more time with girls that I love and that I think love me back:)

So this week, Sadie Jane had her first lunchdate with a younger man by a week with a new friend from church. Hence, no pictures. I am getting better about what people think but I did worry that if I took a picture on our first "date" it might be the last. We also had dinner with one of my best friend April's family with all the kiddos and it was such a blessing. Her babies were babies when we met but now they are 7 and 8 (almost)! They play so well with Micah and Sadie Jane and we are so blessed to be able to see all that we have to look forward to! We also had an impromptu lunch with Jaxseeen, Micah's bff and started our new bible study plus I had a breakfast date with Sarah with no babies! Sorry for the Leviticus-like rundown but it is more for the scrapbook than your reading pleasure:) And to say I am all about some lunchdates...so let me know if you are up for it. Unless you are a creepy blogstalker that I don't know. But no apologizing for my babies...ok I am not that good yet, but I am getting there.

Then we had Supper Club at our house with lots of friends and spent time praying for each other!! So nice to know people who love Jesus.

what do you think?

So I have been reluctant to ask opinions of others in fear of ugliness repeating itself but I need the opinion of other Momma's. Ok, I don't "need" it...but I sure would like it:)

Being a Momma is still the best gift God has given me outside of salvation and a spouse. It is joy and sorrow, love and anxiety, peace and chaos all wrapped into one. I love it. While right now personally I am wrestling with alot in my heart...being a Momma is coming dare I say it: easier. I didn't say easy; I said easier. What I mean as opposed to impossibly hard it is only insanely difficult. Sadie Jane is mainly to thank for this. Her disposition calms me and brings me happiness. Micah's hysterical personality and incessant chatter keeps me cracking up. Life with my babies, while challenging, is my favorite mess to be in.

All that to say there are some areas that are giving us a little trouble ...

a) "operation poop in the potty" All roads have led to pullups. We've tried rewards, bribes, punishment nothing seems to work. We have tried putting him in big boy pants and not giving him a choice...boy held it for three days. So now he just asks for a pullup when it gets to be that time. He goes and we change him, then back to big boy land. He flat refuses to go in the potty. We know it is a control thing...the one way he can stick it to the man (or in this case, the momma) but we really don't know what else to do, any suggestions?

b) fits. If you haven't seen one of these you are a lucky soul. But lately Micah at a moments notice can throw himself full into a fit. He gets timeout or spankings for disobedience or if it is close to bed or naptime and he can't pull it together then he gets a free ticket to early nappy nap. Is this a phase? Is this normal? What do you do to stop this? Unfortunately something about this fitpitching makes me super angry...I wish it didn't but because I KNOW that he can turn it on or off it just really frustrates me. I usually have to walk out and count to ten. Today I didn't do that and I yelled at Micah. He looked up at me and said "Why you yelling at me, Mommy?" Ughh. Break my heart and stomp on it. I took my ten seconds and then apologized but boy do I feel crummy about my actions. He did stop the fit though.

c) cereal. Not the cheerios kind but the kind for Sadie Jane. We started Micah at 4 mths but he didn't really eat any til 5. When did yours start and does this mess or help with reflux? Just trying to decide what to do.

Now I know no two kids are the same..and so far mine are anything but ordinary on anything they do...but just wanted to get some feedback. Thanks!

Sadie Jane's Dedication

Us with some of our family...happy happy Micah:(
The girls...so thankful for women friends that are already helping me raise my babies to know Jesus. April and Taron were there but not in the photoshoot:(

Say J passed out right before we went in...and I didn't give Wendy proper camera instructions...so I hope Suz got some decent ones!

Trying to get Sadie Jane in her dress...

In retrospect it looks like we might have been entering her in a pageant...no fake lashes, teeth , or spray tans for this Momma though!

I draw the line at really large hairbows!!

More pictures please oh please Suz...we are nothing without you! Hee hee!

Today was Parent-Child Dedication at Six Flags Over Jesus...I mean First Baptist! It was a really special day for us for lots of reasons. It was most exciting and daunting to think about the fact that we (Mick and I) were committing to raise Say J in a way that what we are claiming for her today she will one day claim for herself. I pray that she nor Micah know a time that they didn't believe in Jesus and I anxiously await the day they give their hearts to Him themselves. I also wanted to make an effort to invite people to the dedication that would most certainly have an impact on Sadie Jane's little life for Jesus. We had family there of course and then we also had friends there as well. It meant so much to me to have all of these people promise to help teach her about our Lord. With all this world has to entice and offer our babies that isn't of Him we need as many people as possible spurring on each little life to know Jesus more. There were quite a few more people we wanted there but we didn't want to have a separate section for Harper's...hee hee. We have just started going back to First Baptist as well but really feel like the people there love us and today just helped us to continue to affirm that we are in the right place. While the perfect church is no where to be found we are thankful that God is leading us to where He wants us. We are excited to get involved and are actually going to start going to Wed. nights if we can make it work. (to a bible study to work on our marriage, goodness knows we could all use as much help as we can!:)Micah also goes to school there so he really feels safe and secure so therefore so do we. The people there have been so kind and inviting and we are looking forward to having a place where we can raise our babies alongside likeminded people. Sooo...hopefully and prayerfully no more church hopping for us!

Some Favorites!

Micah's First Scooter Ride
Hungry hippos...helping Mommy!

Ring my be-ell-ell, ring my bell.

Micah's bears and sports outfit.

Micah got way too much for Christmas as always but I kept meaning to post about some of the cute things he got...that I like...and he likes too:) The scooter is still a work in progress but he does like it. The hungry hippo game was my idea because I loved that game as a kid. But, as an adult I find those little white balls to be a nuisance, who knew, I would turn into such a fuddy duddy. The bear that Micah is holding in the picture is from Nana and Pops and Popsy Wopsy recorded him a special message that is so sweet and he loves it. Although he slept with it one night and we outlawed that fast...when you are laying in bed with your husband and you hear your fatherinlaw say something you WILL get freaked out. I am just saying. Micah rolled over on it and we heard it through the monitor. It took a good three minutes for it to register to me what had happened!

Since I shared about Say J thought I would give our "neglected child" some blogtime. He is really continuing to push our buttons. Fits...they stink...and they happen often in our house. In his book bag I got a flyer for a class called "Have a New Kid by Friday" at our church...I am still not sure if they only put it in Micah's bag or if other kids got one too:) Micah is doing well in school and loves it. He loves his teachers so much. He has learned that his birthday is May 11th and I have NO idea who taught him this. I would love to take credit but with two babies my homeschooling skills are indeed suffering. I have asked all suspects about it and no one knows who taught him...if it was you let me know! I would love to thank you and could you work on what numbers come after 13...he refuses to count any higher! Since I do focus on the negative parts of raising our bird I will say that his tender heart is one of my most favorite things about him. He cries if anyone on tv is upset and most of the time will ask me to turn it off. Yesterday Tom and Jerry upset him. He is agressive enough so I don't worry about him being manly enough for sure. So I love that he really cares about people when they are upset. I don't know if you've seen the commercial on depression where the people blend in with the couch and then at the grocery store...but if that comes on immediately begins discussing why they are so upset. I am thankful to God that Micah does have such a tender heart and I pray it continues to grow. Ok, enough already. I do love my bird.