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Past updates: 1 month | 2 months

// Sadly, I missed Hannah's 3 month update due to moving/vacation/etc. but I'm here to share what's been going on with our baby girl this month!

Weight/Height

We went to her 4 month wellness checkup last week and she is a healthy 14lb 13oz (75%) and 25in long (90%!!) If she keeps up this rate, her and Micah are definitely going to be looking more like twins! I have a feeling she'll start to slow down the growth as she gets more and more mobile.

Sleep

We finally moved her into her own room this month! I waited about a month longer than we did with Micah, but that was due to us moving into a new home. I didn't want to get her adjusted to a new room, only to move in the next couple weeks. So she's been officially sleeping in her crib for about two weeks. Her sleeping schedule has been so much better since making the transition. We put her down at night around 9pm, then she usually wakes up for a feeding around 3-4am and goes right back to sleep until her brother wakes up around 8am. She naps around 10am for about an hour. Then, she takes a good long nap (at the same time as her brother, praise the Lord!) from 1-4pm. That's when I get all my cleaning/editing/pool time in. Woohoo! (But of course there are days when everything is thrown off schedule and I rip my hair out because I'm so tired and nobody will sleep for me - but thankfully, it doesn't happen often)

Sizes

She is wearing size 3 diapers (insert wide-eyed emoji)! Basically, we just skipped right over 2's. hahaha. She could technically wear 2's, and Micah could technically wear 4's… but since they BOTH can wear 3's, we'd rather just buy one size in diapers and not have to worry about it! She's also in 3-6 month clothes and some 6 month onesies.

Eating

She is eating great! Still nursing exclusively. At our last appointment, the pediatrician mentioned we could start rice cereal anytime. I may wait until she is sitting up by herself though before introducing any solids. If she starts waking up more in the middle of the night, I may start earlier - but since she doesn't seem to be starving, I'm not rushing it. :)

Milestones

She is rolling over from tummy to back! And she's ALMOST rolling over from back to tummy. More like from back to her side. And then she's content chilling out on her side for awhile, haha. I know she'll be rolling everywhere soon enough - so it's completely fine with me that she's not going anywhere yet. She has a great laugh and is still smiling all the time! She's also reaching and grabbing things now. :)

Likes

Pacifier, being held and swaddled, laughing, hanging out in the pool, and just being with people in general. She is a calm and easy-going baby.

Dislikes

Her car seat. Although, I will say she is getting better! She would scream and cry anytime we drove anywhere. And I mean that literally. I googled many things and almost chalked it up to motion sickness and figured we would have to suffer through it until we turned her car seat around, but out of nowhere she just quit crying. Ironically, it happened after a traumatic event in the car one day. We were driving to church and she started screaming (like usual) when we were halfway there. I tried to calm her with music, my voice and reaching my hand back to rock the car seat at stop lights. Nothing helped. When we finally arrived, I ran to open the back door and saw that her headband/hairbow thing had fallen IN HER EYE. It wasn't just covering her eye, but part of the elastic had wiggled it's way into her right eye and it was red and obviously irritated. I felt… horrible. It was like the "boy who cried wolf" scenario. I had stopped so many times before to check on her while she was crying, and there was never anything wrong. So I had gotten used to the fact that she just didn't like her car seat and would cry forever in it. And of course, this time something actually was wrong. She wouldn't open her eyes without crying for the rest of the morning/afternoon - it was so so sad. I was about to take her to the ER after several hours of this, when she finally started keeping them open more and more. And the redness and irritation was gone by the next morning! Praise God it wasn't anything too horrible. Needless to say, we don't wear headbands in the car anymore.

Things I Don’t Want to Forget

The way she stares up at me while nursing, or while I'm rocking her to sleep. Her eyes are so sweet. So full of life and expression. I can't get over the fact that I am blessed to be a mama to this sweet little girl. I'm trying to hold onto my children with "open hands." Knowing they are gifts from the Lord and ultimately they belong to Him. I don't want to ever forget that.

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What do you think? Can you see the resemblance? :)

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Sitting down to write this post is no easy feat. There are several things I should be doing right now, but these thoughts will not leave my head and instead of wandering aimlessly around the house writing this post in my mind, I might as well save myself the headache and get it over with. I just laid my toddler down for his nap and after feeding and swaddling my newborn, she is on her way into dreamland at this very moment. So here I am with free time to myself and what do I choose to do? Write about my kids. Of course.

For the past two years, I've been growing, birthing and raising babies. This is my season. My calling. It starts the minute I wake up in the morning and doesn't end at night, so it's more than just a "job"... it's my life. What I've learned from being a mom (outside of how to change a diaper in 10 seconds) is that so many people today have such a negative view of children. I see it in the stares I get while toting around both babies on my hips or when we're seated at a restaurant and my toddler decides to talk in his "outside" voice, or when everyone avoids sitting next to us on an airplane (like, really, if they cry I'm pretty sure you will still be able to hear it three rows down), some people just plain dislike children. Or at least that's the impression they are giving me.

I'm not sure when or how it began, but somewhere along the lines of history these people have forgotten that they were once a child too.

Those fun memories of riding your bike and eating jello and going to Disney World? Yeah, those were real. You were a kid. And grew up to become a busy, hardworking adult who wants to live a quiet, boring life. At least that's how I see it.

Because having kids is just plain awesome. And hilarious. And so. much. fun!

To my married friends without kids or who are soon-to-be parents, don't believe the lies that your life is over when those children come along. It's not true! I don't think there could be anything further from the truth, actually. Life becomes fuller, richer, busier and crazier... but it is ANYTHING but over. You just created the single most influential being on the face of the earth... a human. There is nothing else you could create in your job, hobby or dreams that could have more impact or meaning. And the greatest thing of all? You get to re-live life with them. Laugh at things you thought were funny 20 years ago and remember how it was to learn to ride a bike for the first time.

And all of those hobbies and things you enjoy doing? I promise you can still do them as a parent. In fact, I think it's important you still do them as a parent. You are modeling for your children what it looks like to not be lazy or waste their talents.

Almost every weekend, I lead worship at my church. I took a few weeks off to, you know, birth the baby and everything. But as soon as I felt comfortable bringing my newborn out in public, I was back on stage. Singing is one of my greatest passions and leading people to worship at the feet of Jesus is one of my highest callings. Becoming a parent has not changed a single thing about that. If anything, it has given me even more reason to worship the Lord for His grace and favor on our lives.

Does it take more discipline, planning and maturity to parent a child? Yes, it does. Will you ever be completely ready financially, emotionally or physically? Probably not. Your patience will be tested, your morals questioned and you will have to put someone else's needs above your own. But those are all things that we should be striving for as followers of Christ, anyway. Children are just a blessing to help get us there a little faster.

Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from him. Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior's hands. How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them! Psalm 127:3-5a

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My baby boy turns 21 months today. I said I would never be "that mom" that said my child's age by months after they turned one, but here I am. I'll stop at two, I promise think. But the truth is, so much changes between one and two that he's not just a "one year old" and honestly, it scares me to call him, "almost two," so 21 months it is. Micah has grown in leaps and bounds from his first birthday to now. From barely standing on his own to running, from saying a few words to talking in sentences. His vocabulary is probably the most impressive thing about him at this age. He is a talker like his mommy and daddy. :) I love being able to have conversations with him. From waking up in the morning and asking to go to the swimming pool, or in the middle of the day when he wants to play outside and at bed time when he's asking for a drink of water or to read his "Bert and Ernie" book. It's just fun learning what his likes and dislikes are. And even though his strong-will is showing through at times, I admire that he is developing his own opinions. I pray continually that he will grow to love and respect others and most of all, submit his will to the Lord.

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Josh and I have begun discussing the big topics, like discipline and potty training. Even though we are parents of two children now, everything about raising Micah will always be new to us. Because he is our first born, we will always be "newbies" when it comes to him. We are learning and praying as we go. We don't have all the answers as to what works best in parenting - but the one thing we do rely on is the Holy Spirit's guidance. We know that God has chosen us to parent Micah and we don't take that lightly. He is growing smarter and more aware every single day.

One thing that I'm so glad he hasn't picked up on yet, is peer bullying. He's not even two yet and I've seen it happen already. It breaks my heart and makes the Mama Bear in me want to scoop him up and attack the little bully... but I don't. I sit back and watch as he brushes it off. He's not aware that those big kids are being mean - he just wants to play and be everyone's friend. I love that about him. As he grows, I want to teach him to keep his lighthearted attitude. I want him to laugh A LOT. And most importantly, be able to laugh at himself.

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I want to share a typical conversation I have with Micah almost daily.

(screaming and pointing towards the door) "OWTSIDE?!" - Micah "What do you say?" - Me "Please, owtside, okay." - Micah "Ok, but lets go put your shoes on first." - Me (runs to his bedroom to grab shoes)

His adorableness in answering his own questions with "okay" at the end, is just too much. In fact, we love asking "What do you say?" about everything just to hear him say it. Along with saying "please" he's also learned to say "thank you." One of my favorites is when someone opens the door for us. Before I can even get the words off my lips he is already saying, "Dank yew!" This is a great example of him learning something by watching us do it. I've never taught him, specifically, to say "thank you" when someone opens the door for us - but it's an instinct of mine to do it without thinking about it. The same goes for saying "bless you" when someone sneezes. And just the other day, I heard his sweet little voice call out, "Bwess yew!" after Hannah sneezed. And even I forgot to say it that time. These are just a few examples of how our children learn a lot by us modeling it for them. It's a humbling realization to have and an even bigger reason for me to get up every morning and spend time with Jesus, with the hopes that one day my son will want to spend time with Him too.

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I couldn't write a post about Micah without mentioning his love for sports. It is apparent that he has inherited his daddy's love for all things round that bounce (I am banned from saying the "b-word" and "love" in the same sentence, thanks to my immature husband) I can tell you that he has gone to sleep in his crib with a ball in his hand more times than not. He can already make 3-pointer shots in his little basketball hoop. And judging from the amount of times he has hit his little sister in the head with a (very very soft) ball, I am guessing he has a pretty good pitch too.

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We've been so blessed to have Micah in our lives. He is such a joy! Even on the toughest days, I still want to kiss his face all over. I am so thankful God chose to bless us with Micah Jordan, 21 months ago. And Lord-willing we're blessed with another 21 years, I can't wait to look back and reflect on these special memories.