I just need to have some time to think about my sweet three year old. He is growing too fast for my heart to keep up. The days are long when you're in the trenches raising children, but you look up and think where did that week, month, year go? This is where I am. How can my baby boy be nearly 3 and a half.
He's wild. He wakes up each morning ready to face the day with an energy that I can't match that early. He is persistent. He is passionate about what he wants. He loves Jesus and knows that he is loved. He is silly. He makes us all laugh a good bit of the time.
He loves to eat. You can't tell it, but he loves food. He loves frozen yogurt, fruit snacks, and has a sweet tooth like his parents. This boy I love has to know what's next. He loves a routine and a plan. He will fight you when you tell him it's nap time, but falls asleep and sleeps hard.
He's not too crazy about mama leaving him at school. I think it's because he believes that his sister and I are doing something really fun without him. We aren't unless he wants to do the laundry, catch up on dishes, or make phone calls. When he gets picked up from school he's happy and has had a great time.
He is creative. I often catch him wanting to draw and color pictures for his family and friends. Most recently he has started to add pieces of household items to his pieces of artwork. He makes castles out of sand and snakes out of play dough.
He likes to be around people. He always wants to play with someone. He loves for his friends to come over or spend time at their house. He loves his family so much. His best friend is Ava.
He Fred Flintstone's his tricycles around faster than anyone could pedal them. He's an athlete. He runs fast. Swings the bat and hits the ball far. Aims straight.
He wants to be a doctor one day giving shots. The next he's a dentist. Then he's a race car driver. Later he's a police officer, a farmer, a firefighter, a dragon fighter, and a musician. The dreams he has. I hope he's always a dreamer. Never let anyone take that away.
He's a big brother. He toughens his sister up. A little too much some days. But he is always there to protect her. He loves her and takes his job seriously.
He lives for his Daddy. He flies to him each day he walks through the door. His laugh comes alive when they are together. They are best friends.
He is our baby that is growing into a boy right before our eyes and each morning he wakes up a little older. God, let me hold on to these moments that are happening every second. Let me show him love, model what you teach us in your Word, and help him to be who You would have him to be.

Our baby is growing up! When the 9th rolled around this month I couldn't believe our little girl had been with us for 7 months.

Maggie is full of smiles, she loves to babble and gets very excited telling us all about it. Her favorite toy is her little orange monkey that was passed down from brother. She LOVES that little thing. She also sticks her tongue out all of the time. I will have to go back and see when Vann did this because I remember him doing this as well! It cracks us up.

She sleeps through the night 75% of the time now. When we moved into our new house she was 3 months old. She was a great sleeper and then around 3 and 1/2 months she was waking up around 1:30 am. So when Maggie began sleeping through the night about 2 weeks ago we were ecstatic!

She's finally decided she wants to eat food! At Maggie's 6 month appt she was almost 14 lbs. Trust me she nurses a lot and when I pack bottles she sucks them down and is content. A couple of weeks ago she started eating and really leaning in for the spoon. She's tried sweet potatoes, apples, bananas, green peas, avocados, mangoes, prunes, carrots, green beans, and more. She seems to like the fruits more.

We love watching her try to crawl. Tonight (11/16) we saw her do her best crawl/slide yet. She is almost there. Her brother cheers her along and it's precious. She does like to pull up on things and we joke that she wants to walk more than she does crawl.

We think she's trying to cut her first teeth. She's had some congestion and a hard time sleeping. We will wait and see.

Church and MOPS have been so wonderful. I love seeing how she interacts with others.

She is wearing 6-9 month clothes and size 3 diapers. She likes her bouncy seat, loves to be outside, and lights up when she sees her brother. We are working on saying "da-da". She knows our names when we ask her to find Daddy, Vann, and Mommy.


 

A sleeping toddler is a priceless thing to witness! I love when I sneak in after Vann has fallen asleep and I can watch him rest peacefully. I take that time to say a prayer and thank God for my son.
With that said, to get him to sleep is at times a different story and once upon a time to keep him in his room was an issue as well. Around the time he was two and a half and Maggie was born, Vann began getting out of his bed earlier and sometimes not staying in bed for his full nap. I posted asking for some recommendations because 5:45 am was a bit crazy to be waking up when we didn't have to. A few friends told me to check out the OK to Wake! Children's Alarm Clock. I didn't have anything to lose so I ordered the clock.

It was at my door 2 days later and I made a BIG deal out of it. I told Vann how this little "friend" was there to help him sleep and he would light up green when it was ok to come see Mommy and Daddy in the morning. At naptime it can also be set to turn green to notify him he can come out of his room. I was STUNNED the next morning when he waited until his clock turned green to come out. I think it had a lot to do with the big deal I made out of it and that excitement has lasted! I love that it was a simple solution to help him rest, help us get that extra sleep, or allow us to get ready before he was up!

Here's how we use the clock: 

Setting up expectations: The first week we had the clock we gradually set the alarm clock closer to the time we wanted him to get up. My goal for him was 7 am. He was waking up anywhere from 545 am to 645 am. I started out at 6:30 am. Before he fell asleep I let him know the clock, his "friend, would turn green when it was time for him to wake up. I explained that the clock was really smart and knew exactly when to turn green. The next morning I watched on the monitor as he sat on the floor in his room and waited for it to turn green.When it turned green he ran to find us and wanted us to come see. We made a huge deal about it and told him what a great job he did waiting for the green light to come on. That week we continued to move the clock back by 5 minutes each night. By the end of the week he was coming out of his room at 7 am and we were ecstatic! I even changed it to 7:05 a few months ago and he continued to follow that routine until the recent time change.

Naptime: I use the nap timer with the light feature. I set the timer for the amount of time I would like him to nap. It is set for 2 hours. Typically it takes him 20-30 minutes to fall asleep at naptime, so the light turns on after 2 hours and he sees it when he wakes up.

Time Change: Time change has made me so grateful for the Ok to Wake! Alarm Clock. I changed his clock to fall back, but I didn't reset the alarm to transition him to the time change. On Sunday morning, I saw on the monitor that he woke up about 6:15 am. BUT he waited until 6:45 am to come out of his room. He didn't realize the time had changed so it felt like 7:45 am to him. He said, "my clock is broken because it didn't light up!" I love that he waited 30 minutes for the light to go off. It shows me that he looks forward to the light and it is making a difference in our morning. I have now started going through the process of training him to get used to the new time and moved his clock back to 6:45 and increased it by 5 minutes each night and we are back on track.

**There is an alarm instead of the light, but for our purpose we don't want to wake him. I can see how that will be useful when he begins school and has to wake up earlier.

I am impressed with this invention and share with all my friends who have an early riser! You can buy it several places. I bought ours on Amazon and it's currently on sale at Target!

Ladies,

This post is for you! If you are friends with me on Facebook then you know I share a blog called "Scissortail Silk" quite frequently. The author is my friend Becky Thompson and she shares wisdom about being a wife and mom on her blog and in her book "Hope Unfolding". I came across the book and it hit my heart deep. It was like we were sitting on a couch chatting with one another while I was reading. I have shared it with so many mama friends and they have all loved reading it and finding they're not alone while listening to God's voice in the crazy midst of raising a family.

So, when the news came that she was publishing a new book and I could apply to be on the launch team, I jumped at the chance! After waiting a few weeks an email that I was selected was chosen. Then her new book showed up in my mailbox! Each launch team member got a copy a few months early and started reading as a group of about 200. The tagline for the book is "Rediscovering Your Marriage in the Midst of Motherhood" and Becky truly helps each of us do that. It's the most perfectly designed book with a daily challenge (simple but meaningful), reflection, and prayer (collectively about 2-3 pages) that helps you focus attention and rediscover your marriage all while being a mama! I literally read it when I sit down to feed Maggie in the morning and I start my day. I can't give away the details of the challenges, but I will say they are working in my marriage and the other members of our group. It's incredible what these simple steps can do!


*Becky’s Ebook - Guilt to Grace: A Mom’s Guide to Crushing Guilt 

So, don't miss out! Pre-order today! Not only will you get Becky's gifts and the book, but I am also doing a giveaway! All you need to do is send me your email address to be entered and the drawing will happen on January 3rd when books are released! 

Go here to pre-order the book ($9.27) on Amazon! 

Then, enter your info for your free prizes here and send me your email address for the giveaway here! Be sure to use the same email address you used in your pre-order! 

And, please share with your friends! Every mama NEEDS this book! 

One reason I blog is to help me remember the day to day. I have the worst memory, so blogging really helps!

You were dancing as I tried to snap photos of you before school!