Spring Recap: May

  I've fallen off the blog-wagon the past few months, but now that we've come out of our haze of the million and one events we had during May, June, and early July, I think I'll attempt to catch up. So, here's what we were up to in May ...

  This little man enjoyed his last days as a two-year-old. Precious boy.

 

   And this little girl enjoyed eating ... gotta keep those cheeks nice and squishy!

  Liam had his third birthday on the 11th, and couple of birthday parties sprinkled during the surrounding weeks. I'll have to do a separate post on his celebration and his 3rd birthday interview!

 

  I got to experience my first Mother's Day with two armfuls of love. We celebrated with a morning at home, lunch with Josh's family and dinner with my family.

 

  The dinner with my family was actually a celebration of the graduations of my little sister and little brother from college and high school, respectively (sorry, Zach, that we didn't get a picture together). Isn't my sis lovely? Yes, yes she is.

  At the end of the month we got to see Josh's sister and her husband when they came in town from Nashville for Memorial Day weekend. The kids love getting to hug on and play with their Uncle Kyle and Aunt Millie.

 

   And then we rounded out the month with a trip to Silver Dollar City. Liam was willing to try out some new rides, which is way outside his comfort zone; and Cora was just happy to be surrounded by people to watch.

So, May in a nutshell. Cute kids, lots of celebrating. Stay tuned for June!

He Has Diamonds on the Inside

  Last night at dinner he spontaneously said, "Mommy, I love you. You are a sweet, precious baby."

Catching the falling petals

  This morning, as I was loading the kids up in the car to go to the farm for the day while I work, he was snuggling the lovey he has slept with since he was a baby. He said, "I just love blue puppy. I take care of her and that is why she is lovely."

  When I have gotten him out of the car & I'm getting his sister out of her carseat, he often sits down at the edge of the garage and says, "Mom, come sit here and watch the world with me;" and when I tuck him in at night he says, "I just need to tell you one more thing ... no, five things."

  And I treasure all these things in my heart.

Three!

  I can't believe a full year has gone by since we took this picture on the day Liam turned 2! How can he be 3 already?

His face has lost so much of the remaining babyish look that it still had last year ... why is it so sad to watch little ones grow up? Isn't that what we hope for them to do?

Three years ago this precious, scrawny little 7lb. 1oz. bundle came into the world. Bright-eyed and alert and cuddly. He wasn't a great eater, but he was sweet and loved sleeping in a little ball on my chest. I think I spent most of my waking hours those first few months just sitting on the couch and feeding him, talking to him, taking pictures of him, or napping with him. I wept tears of gratefulness and joy all the time. I remember meditating often on what Mary must have experienced when she watched her firstborn son sacrificed on the cross and being brought low at the thought of if.

By the time he turned one, Liam was walking a little bit, saying a few words, and charming our socks off. Such a sweet, good-tempered little man. He was curious, of course, but never needed too much redirection when he got interested in something he shouldn't. He loved playing with balls and reading books.

For anyone reading this who happens to have only one child who is one year of age or younger, please take note of the crazy differences between a 4 day old and a one year old, and then the difference between a one year old and a two year old. Yikes! Such massive development happens SO quickly. It's awesome and gut-wrenching. By his second birthday Liam had gone from having a light dusting of hair with teeny flip curls in the back to having a full, curly, golden mane (yes, I know it's ridiculous how obsessed we are with our sons hair). At age two Liam had lots to say. He loved baseball and reading books. He still had a little bit of baby roundness in his cheeks.

 And now, big man is three. This pic is a little blurry and his teeth are a little green from a cupcake, but the giant cheesy smile is typical. He is a sweet son - always giving "squeezy hugs" and a master of puppy, eskimo, butterfly, and boy (regular) kisses. He is quick to say "thank you" and quick to say "I'm sorry I 'sobeyed you," or "sorry I was fwustwated" (which may give you a clue as to what he often hears his mommy say).

At some points during the day, I will stop and try to remember the last time he was quiet - aside from when he was asleep. He talks. And talks. And talks. And sings. He tells stories, announces imaginary baseball games, carries on both sides of conversations between himself and his toys or sometimes between himself and his sister. He sings songs, both real and made up. He likes doing hand motions to Jesus Loves Me, but the song he requests most frequently is David Crowder's Sing Like the Saved. He's loving David Crowder so much lately that most of his made up songs end with him saying, "Amen." 

He's a fantastic big brother. He "encowages" his baby sister often, like when she cries in the car and he says, "it's okay, Cowa, I'm right here," or, "you don't need to cwy!" or, "hey, cwanky-pants!" He gives her big hugs and kisses and always makes sure we are planning on bringing her along with us, wherever we are going. When we got a babysitter for her tonight so we could take him on a Daddy/Mommy/Liam date to the baseball game he just kept asking what she was doing and saying that she wanted to come. He tries to teach her to talk. He gets frustrated when she grabs his toys and sometimes he is too rough, sometimes on purpose, sometimes accidentally. He just turned three, though, so I don't expect perfect impulse control (mine isn't always as great as I'd like it to be, either). He loves figuring out new games that they can play together and they laugh and laugh.

He (finally) loves going to class at church. Sometime early in 2013 the tearful goodbyes finally stopped and now he is always so excited to see his friends and teachers. He wears big boy underwear for all of his waking hours and never really has accidents anymore. He sleeps in a firetruck toddler bed. He doesn't have pacis. He sometimes drinks from big boy cups (without lids), and just the other day I started teaching him how to use safety scissors.

Liam loves learning new things and is getting better and better at counting items. He still has some trouble counting past 14 because he gets in a hurry and skips numbers, but he recognizes numbers I don't remember teaching him and will say things like, "look, there's a 71!" and be correct. He will usually correctly identify the sounds of the letters and likes playing the "reading" game on my phone (Bob Books). He really enjoys puzzles now, and wants to color or paint at least a couple of times a week. But baseball ... baseball is still king. It's hard to get annoyed about baseballs going over the fence when the occurrence is accompanied by shouts of, "I hit it out of the park!" And he does, this kid would hit baseballs all day long. 

He still drinks hot milk (very important that it be hot, not just warm) every morning and night, and takes a one and half to two hour nap every afternoon. Falling asleep for those naps can be tricky, though, and when I go to his room to remind him to be quiet and lay down he says, "but mom, I was just talking about baseball." He is getting so big, but is still so little.

We love you, sweet buddy, and can't wait to enjoy every day of the next year with you!

The Gift of Gab

  The older Liam gets, the more obvious it becomes that he has an uncanny ability to win hearts with his words. He moves seamlessly from hilarious to courteous to precious. In order to really keep track of all of the awesome stuff he says I would have to carry a small notebook and pen with me at all times and accomplish nothing else. Or, better yet, a mini-recorder. So, I can't keep up with everything, but here, in no particular order, are some recent favorite conversations/comments:

  Josh and I were talking about someone getting married and Liam announced, "I'm getting married." When asked who he was going to marry he responded, "I'm going to marry a mommy like you, Mommy. But she will be a plain mommy because she will not have long hair like you and me."

  He's become Cora's biggest fan ever since she started crawling last month. He talks to her and tries to cuddle or wrestle her all the time. He picks up on little names he hears us call her and adopts them as his own nicknames for her. Like this morning, when he called her "sweet princess" all throughout breakfast.

  For Easter, Josh and I gave Liam and Cora a book called Humble Heart: A Book of Virtues. We usually read one of the little stories every night during our bedtime reading/cuddle time. Liam loved the story of Barnabas Bunny and has really latched onto the idea of encouragement. Now, every time Cora starts crying in the car he will say something like, "It's okay, Cowa, I'm right here. We'll be there soon!" He follows up these comments by stating, "I'm encowaging her, Mom!" It's so great.

  Recently, at dinner, Liam held out his hand to daddy and Josh showed him how to shake hands and told him that when we meet people we shake their hands and say, "it's nice to meet you!" We didn't think anything of it and didn't mention it again; but a couple of days later we were at a crawfish boil at our friends house, and upon arrival Liam walked right up to our friend Nick, stuck out his hand and said, "it's nice to meet you!" He has repeated this 3 or 4 more times and we can't get enough of it!

  Speaking of meeting new people ... he loves it. He will often initiate conversation with strangers, and usually it goes like this: "Do you have a dog at your house? What is your dog's name? I have puppy Jack. He is a great dane. (Then I remind him that Jack is not a great dane) He's a golden retriever." Then, if they continue asking him questions he'll generally end up talking about baseball, because that is his area of expertise.

  When speaking with a man he deems extra cool, Liam will sort of scowl and talk in a deep voice. He also uses more hand gestures than normal, and it's hilarious. I think my favorite part of these scenarios is the fact that he talks about the same things he normally would - puppies and baseball - just with a manlier demeanor. Currently, some of his favorite men (aside from his daddy, grandpas, and uncles) are Mr. Tripp (a good friend of ours), Mr. Kelly (who owns the donut shop we go to on Friday mornings, Mr. Tim & Mr. Jason (who work at the donut shop), Dr. Alex (a friend in our community group), and Mr. Max (who works for the church and has been helping fix our drywall following a burst pipe incident).

  When Liam can't be playing baseball, he announces baseball games. It is not uncommon for me to hear something like this coming from the backseat as we drive down the road: "Now batting for the Razorbacks, Joe Serrano (or Tyler Spoon or Jacob Mahan - the favorites this season)! And its a swing and a miss. Two balls, two strikes. And a foul tip!" And on and on it goes. He also randomly bursts out singing, "Everybody clap your hands!" or chanting, "ball four, ball four."

  Although most of his imaginative energy is focused on baseball, he also spends a lot of time pretending he is a dog or talking to imaginary puppies. The puppies tend to show up on the way to church, so I generally spend our trip from the car to his classroom explaining to people what he's talking about when he points behind himself and starts telling them about his dogs.

  Gosh, I wish I could think of more at the moment; but the stories are so unending that it's hard to keep them all in my head. Liam is usually still chatting, even as we tuck him into bed. We've had to start just leaving the room and closing the door mid-sentence because he would keep talking indefinitely if we didn't. We're so thankful for our personable boy!

Pancakes, Pancakes! (Or, Liam's 1st Blogpost)

  Yesterday morning Liam wanted to help me make pancakes. One of his (many) favorite books is Eric Carle's Pancakes, Pancakes; so, while he always enjoys helping me cook, making pancakes was especially exciting. As he poured ingredients into the bowl, he noticed my camera on the counter and said he wanted to take pictures of the pancakes. I thought I'd let him have his first go at food blogging ... he's a pretty advanced two-year-old :) After I loaded the pictures onto the blog I asked him to tell me the story of making pancakes so his grandparents could read it. He was pretty tickled about the idea, and here's what he came up with. (Disclaimer: he did not take the pictures on his own. I was not about to let him hold the camera while standing on a chair over tile floor. He pushed the button and was very proud. Also, you should not follow his pancake making instruction verbatim).

   "You always put some eggs in it, flour, some cement mixer. You always put some water over it when you do the pancakes. You mix it around."

 "You always put some pancakes and flop it over. You take it off and you put it on your plates. You put syrupy on it and you always eat it."

   "It tasted good and I had it."

  

I let Cora gnaw on a pancake for the first time as a little 8 month birthday treat. She was a huge fan.

Heart Day

A few things I love this Valentine's Day, 2013:



 * Getting up early to tie a big red bow on a box of Swiss Cake Rolls for my hubby (his favorite), and finding the flowers he put out on the kitchen table after I went to bed last night.

 * Liam waking up singing, and the conversation that followed when I went into his room:
  (I open the door and immediately hear): Mommy, are you still Gander Goose? (a character in a Sam McBratney book ... it's a daddy goose, but Liam is convinced it is a mommy and was pretending we were geese when we went to bed last night)
Me: yes, if you want me to be
L: I was singing to you, mom
Me: I heard you on the monitor! It was so pretty! What song were you singing?
L: It goes like this mom, [sung gently, as a lullabye] "Don't cry little mommy, don't cry little mommy." Jesus sings that song to you and now I sing it, too!
Me: [speechless]

 * Liam being SO thrilled about the 99 cent tumblers I bought him for Valentine's Day, so he can start practicing using a big boy cup. He was so proud of himself and all day long has been saying, "I'm just going to go in the kitchen to get another drink of water, mom."
 

 
 * Cora giggling about the new Sesame Street board book that was in her Valentine's Day bucket.

 * Playing "No, I love YOU," with Liam. This is how the game works:
  Me: I love you!
  L: No, I love YOU!
  Me: Well, I think you're amazing!
  L: You're amazing!
  Me: You are my buddy!
  L: You are my sweetie!
  etc.
  It's pretty awesome.

 * This picture:

 

  Cora smiling and lunging for me, Liam being a goofball. Typical.

 * That Thursday is our Friday, so tomorrow we will have family doughnut day and then I will go have lunch and talk about exciting wedding plans with my sweet friend, Becky.

  You could take away the "Be My Valentine" banner hanging in our window, the heart-shaped rice krispy treats I made last night, the pink foil covered "Mershey's" kisses (as Liam calls them), and the pink and red clothing I made my children wear today, and this would still be a day of love. They all are.

One Paci, Two Paci, Green Paci, Blue Paci

  I had always assumed that we would help Liam say goodbye to his pacifiers somewhere close to his 2nd birthday. Then, we found out that Cora would be born close to his second birthday ... about 7 weeks later. I knew we needed to either get rid of the paci a bit earlier than I had planned, to give him enough time to move on before the baby sister adjustment came along, or I needed to let him keep it a little longer. Since he loved his pacis and we weren't sure how much a crying newborn might disrupt his sleep, we decided to let him keep them a while.

   We started limiting his access - pacis only allowed at naptime and bedtime - but we stopped there. I thought that when Cora was a couple months old we'd get rid of them. Then, when that time rolled around I was still feeling like I could barely keep my head above water, so dealing with paci separation anxiety did not sound like my cup of tea. The next thing I knew the holidays were bearing down on us and I didn't want to make him transition when he was already going to be spending more nights in other places and having a discombobulated sleep schedule.  So, "after the holidays" became my mantra. After the holidays I would begin to tackle the BIG 3: pacifier, potty-training, big boy bed.

 At the beginning of December when a few of my mommy friends and I were together for a playdate, we shared strategies for conquering these 3 potential battlegrounds, and I decided that I'd go after the paci, first. One mom mentioned that she new someone who had let her son give his pacis to the trash truck drivers so they could "give them to some babies." Since we have spent the last year of our lives grabbing Liam and racing outside every Friday when we hear the trash & recycling trucks rumbling on our street, this seemed like a potentially useful tactic. I mentioned it to Liam a few times, but he always seemed a little confused and completely disinterested ... until three days ago.

  Sunday morning at breakfast I casually mentioned to Liam that pacis really are just for babies and again mentioned soon we'd need to give his to the trash guys so they could take them to some babies. "Okay," he said, as he ate his oatmeal. Josh jumped in and told him that once he gave his pacis away he could pick out a new racetrack, and Liam's enthusiasm sky-rocketed. I explained to him how it would work, that we would put them in a bag and they would be taken away. "And then I'll get new pacis?" he wondered. "No," I told him. He wouldn't get new pacis. "And blue puppy?" he asked. "No!" I told him. He does not need to give the trash guys blue puppy. He can sleep with his sweet lovie until he's 20, for all I care. We talked about all of his favorite grown-up guys - Daddy, Uncle Mike, Uncle Zach, Uncle Kyle - and how none of them use pacis. He thought that was funny and still seemed on board. Since trash day was nearly a week away I was afraid we'd lose momentum, so I suggested that he write a letter to the trash guys that we could leave in the mailbox with the pacis, and then they would come and pick them up while we were getting a racetrack at Target.  After writing his letter he spent a few last moments with his beloved blue & green pacis, and then stuck them in the envelope I held open for him.

  That first day he asked about them a few times and didn't fall asleep at nap time, but he didn't cry either, so that was promising. At bedtime he saw one of Cora's pacifiers and said, "I need that paci, Mommy," but I reminded him that they are for babies and he went to bed and fell right to sleep without a complaint.  And that was it. He has asked about them once a day, each day since then, but when we remind him where they are he just moves on.

  I know he's a super compliant kid, and I'm thankful that somehow the timing was just right. I'm so proud of my big, grown-up boy. Now ... on to potty-training and crib transitions. I have a feeling those won't be quite as effortless.

Hello, Goodbye

  Happy 2013! I'm hoping both that this year goes by a bit slower than the last (does that ever happen?) and that I am asleep for more of it than I was for 2012. Being pregnant for the first half of the year and having a newborn/infant for the second half = not too much sleep for Stefanie. I think 2013 is looking up in that department ... hopefully.

  2012 gave us some great opportunities to say hello to new things in our lives ...

We have gladly welcomed the kazillion new words, phrases, and imaginary friends Liam has brought into our home this year. Interacting with him and learning more and more about what's going on in his awesome little brain has been one of the most fun parts of the year ... and our lives.

  We have said hello to the presence of pink in our home! The first half of 2012 brought LOTS of fun sewing, painting, and decorating projects as we awaited little sister. It was so fun to start planning for our daughter.

  Josh had the opportunity to say hello to some new responsibilities at work. He is still primarily focused on the 4th-6th grade ministry, but he is now the team leader for 1st-6th grade. He continues to love the team he works with and the grade school, high school, and college students he spends time with.

  We have joyously welcomed the many new babies that have either been born into our friends' lives this year, or who have been matched with our friends who are waiting to bring them home. It has been so fun to have so many friends to go through the newborn stage with this second time around, and we can't wait to kiss some sweet Ethiopian, Chinese, and Haitian cheeks in the coming months. Here's hoping 2013 brings at least 4 or 5 little ones home to some forever families we love.

  We said hello to many, many new questions and facts about baseball as a result of Liam's great passion for the sport. In 2012 he LOVED attending Razorback baseball games and cheering, primarily, for Coach Van Horn. He also spent tons of time studying his Grandad's Cardinals' memorabilia and memorizing players' names. Liam also called the Hogs on his own for the first time in 2012, and learned to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." We are all looking forward to the 2013 season starting up next month.

   It goes without saying that our loudest, most joyous hello of 2012 goes to our sweet little Cora. She dramatically entered the world the day before the 4th of July, and has continued to light up our lives just like the fireworks we watched out the window of my hospital room.

  I was blessed to say hello to finally earning my LPC (licensed professional counselor) license, which has allowed me to become a provider for several insurance companies, thus giving me the opportunity to go into private practice and only work one day a week. I'm now working at my father-in-law's practice in Fayetteville (Center for Psychology & Counseling, if you ever want to send anyone my way!), and I'm so grateful to get to be home with my babies the other 6 days a week. Working in a new, less trauma-focused setting, has also renewed my love for working as a counselor and has definitely re-energized me.

  Josh was blessed to be able to say hello to running, again, in 2012. After he broke his foot (pretty badly) on Memorial Day 2011, he had to take it easy for quite a while. However, in 2012 he was able to build back up and meet some hard-earned goals.

  Along the same lines of fitness and outdoor fun, we said hello to the development of many new trails in our town. We are so excited for the 4 main towns in our area to be connected by trails and have big dreams of the family biking adventures we will have in the future.

  On a more frivolous note, 2012 brought some new forms of entertainment into our lives. The Avett Brothers. We had heard a lot about them from my sister, but we finally started listening to them ourselves this year. For my 30th birthday Josh sent Abbie and I to their concert when they were in Fayetteville and it was AMAZING. Downton Abbey. I watched the first two seasons this spring when Josh was out of town for various trips, as I worked on projects for Cora's room. I fell in love. My kind in-laws gave me the seasons for Christmas, and to my great and unexpected joy, Josh really likes the show. I can't wait to watch season 3 this year! 2012 also brought Josh an iPad - a source of great delight to him. Oh, and Clifford, the Big Red Dog. In 2012 we watched approximately 2,000,000 episodes of Clifford. It is Liam's very favorite cartoon, and his grandmothers have supplied us with numerous DVDs, which were very helpful in the early days of Cora's life, when I was nursing her all the time and the two-year-old was bored. The past year also saw us saying hello to the library on a regular, every other week, basis. Liam adores library books and consistently memorizes a good portion of the 5 we bring home with us after every visit (5, because that seems like a number I can keep up with ... I'm less likely to forget some if I know we always have 5). Without question his favorite library book this year was Casey Back at Bat (I think we borrowed it 4 different times, for a total of 8 weeks in our home ... we all have it memorized), but in general he loves any book that is about baseball, dogs, or dinosaurs.

  2012 also brought some goodbyes ... some welcome, some sad.

  Just before Cora was born, we had to say goodbye to our sweet friends, the Bogues. They only lived in NWA for 2 years, but we shared so many great memories with them in that brief time. Their little boy, Bryson, is 8 months younger than Liam, and this fall they welcomed a little girl, who is just 3 months younger than Cora. We still miss them dearly and wish we could be scheduling weekly playdates and dinners.

  We said goodbye to half of our community group at the beginning of the summer. The majority of our group had been together for 3 fantastic years, but last winter we began to sense that it was time to multiply into two groups so that we could continue to welcome in new couples without losing the intimacy that is only possible in smaller groups. While we are so thankful to still be with two of the couples we love, we so miss the "other half" that we no longer see on a weekly basis. But, God is good and it is exciting to know His plans are for more than just our own comfort.

  I said goodbye to the Children's Advocacy Center of Benton County after nearly 4 years of working as a counselor there. Although it definitely felt like it was time for that chapter of my life to close, the change has been difficult. I deeply and sincerely miss some of the clients and families that I had the privilege of working with, and I often wonder how they are doing now. While it has been a healthy change - to no longer be dealing solely with the trauma of abuse - it has been more challenging than I thought it would be to change my therapeutic pace and methods.

  As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I said goodbye to sleeping through the night. Hopefully, 2013 will have me saying hello to that delightful part of life again. Just last week Cora seems to have said goodbye to her 4am feeding, so hopefully all-night sleep is right around the corner! I think once we say goodbye, once and for all, to the swaddle she will be good to go.

  We said goodbye to Liam's long hair and his pacifiers in the past week. Little man is growing up and Josh and I are experiencing the wonderful ambivalence of pride, relief, joy, sentiment, and sadness.

  We said hello and then (gratefully) goodbye to 9 of the hardest weeks of my life. If you would like to know more about those "dark days" as I like to call them, go back in my archives to postings from the end of July - mid-September 2012. Cora was sort of incorrigible and I found myself fatigued, overwhelmed, and guilt-ridden on a daily basis. It was a tough time, but the hourly reminder to lean on Jesus was sweet.

Very sadly, we witnessed many families say goodbye to loved ones: babies born too soon, a toddler who went to be with Jesus in his sleep, and a couple of daddies who loved Jesus and their families and were killed on the road. Not to mention the horror of Connecticut. Processing these goodbyes from a distance has been a sobering reminder of the frailty of life and the fact that none of us is promised a tomorrow. I am so grateful for a good and all-knowing Father who never stops working out His glorious plan in this world.

  It is my sincere hope that 2013 brings many more joyful hellos into families than painful goodbyes; but knowing that separation is part of this broken world, I pray that the God of peace is welcomed into the goodbyes that will inevitably come, and that He is celebrated in the hellos.

  As for our little family, I anticipate saying goodbye to toddler boy diapers and a well-loved crib (sniff, sniff); and I look forward to saying hello to first steps, first words, and 12 more months of precious and hilarious memories.
 

Little Lion Man

  For most of the first year of Liam's life, his head looked like this:

Big, round, and most of all, bald.

  By his first birthday, hair production had finally kicked in and he had the sweetest teensy, tiny curls on the back of his head.

 Little did we know what those early curls were to become ...

16 months

20 months

  Just before his second birthday, the hair really started to take on a life of its own.

23 months

2nd birthday

  It was probably somewhere around this time that the people started regularly asking when we were going to cut his hair. We had no plan. We loved it. Josh had a long-haired phase in college, and I've always loved long hair on boys. And Liam's hair ... well, it was just so blonde and curly and bouncy and perfect. Why mess with perfection? Anyway, when you don't cut hair, it generally keeps on growing.

  And that is the true story of Liam's transformation from Charlie Brown to Goldilocks.

  So, two days after Christmas, Josh and I finally decided the time had come for the dreaded first haircut. We took him to the local Pigtails & Crewcuts salon, which specializes in little kid haircuts; and both of his grandmas came with us. Hair like that needs paparazzi, you know.

  He chose to sit in the airplane and sucked on a blue raspberry Dumdum while watching Madagascar. The unsympathetic stylist correctly guessed that he is a first child and first grandchild, and Cora respected the moment by sitting quietly in her carseat, never making a peep, as the locks were lopped.

  "Do you want the little boy haircut, where I use clippers around his ears and the back of his neck?" she asked. Goodness, no. Not ready for that yet. "Let's leave it shaggy," I said. "We still want it to stick out from underneath beanies this winter." She asked if we'll wait another 2.5 years to cut it again ... We'll see.

  He looks as precious as ever, and I think we've adjusted. It's shorter, but still curly and wild ... just the way we like it. He is and always will be, as his Daddy says, our little lion man.

A Million Questions Per Day

 At least that's how it feels most days. Liam wants to know EVERYTHING about EVERYTHING, which is so awesome and fun. Usually I love all the questions, but occasionally, when I'm describing in great detail what is happening in every picture of a book we've read about a thousand times, I feel like I'm out of answers. He really doesn't ever stop talking (unless it's to sing). We even hear him mumble in his sleep over the monitor. I know I can't keep up with everything that makes us laugh, but here are a few favorites from the past week or two.

 He LOVES the Christmas lights that Josh put on our house, and every time we back out of the driveway when they are on he says, "gweat job, Dad!"

  Generally, he is very tolerant when Cora cries in the car. Last night, however, we took the kids out to drive around and look at Christmas lights for a bit. Cora was tired and getting fussy, and Liam was busy trying to talk to us about all of the lights, stoplights, imaginary animals, the reindeer named Ralph from the Cat in the Hat, etc. So, when Cora's crying started to escalate he had finally had enough and shouted from the backseat, "MOMMY, PWEASE give Cowa she's paci! Pwease, pwease, pwease!!!" The desperation in his voice makes me laugh every time I think about it.

  Liam usually uses the correct pronoun, but he hasn't gotten the hang of "her" so every time he's talking about a female he says "she". My favorite use of "she" is when he asks, "what's she's name?" I'm in no hurry for him to outgrow this one.

  Ever since Liam started talking, I have taken time at bedtime (most nights) to ask him what he did that day and then I help him recount the events that took place. Lately he has started reciprocating by asking, "So Mom, what you do today?" He randomly asks this all throughout the day, and really likes going through everyone in the family. "What you do today, Dad? What Cowa do? What Jack do?"

  If you ask Liam how he is doing, he will usually respond with, "Doin' good! How 'bout you?" I get really tickled watching the reactions of people who don't know him well when he says this. I guess most people don't expect a two and a half year old boy to ask how they are doing.

  The other week I mentioned that he has started praying on his own. Usually he thanks Jesus for the first 3 or 4 things that pop into his head, but one night I guess he just couldn't think of anything so he prayed, "Gank you Jesus, for ... nofing. Amen." I shouldn't have, but it caught me so off guard that I busted out laughing. He was so pleased with my reaction that we have had many prayer times since where I have had to work on a little retraining ... trying to veer away from thanking Jesus for nothing.

  The poor buddy has had a cold/cough for the past week and has felt pretty miserable. The first day he woke up with the cough Josh asked if he wanted to be wrapped up in a blanket and he said, "I need a bwanket for my mouth."

After Josh and I read this post by Ann Voskamp a few months ago, we felt very challenged to start incorporating the reading of Scripture into as many mealtimes as we are able to. We don't always remember, but I would say that most days, at least once a day, the Bible is read aloud at our kitchen table. We keep a children's Bible story book in the kitchen that I read with Liam when Josh isn't with us; and then when he is home, he reads to us from a book of the Bible. We read through Daniel as a family, first, and are currently working our way through Luke. Liam is wonderful accountability at mealtimes. He always reminds me to give him his vitamin, and he always reminds us to read the Bible. Clearly, he knows what's good for him :) Anyway, he has become obsessed with the emotions of the people in the stories. Every time someone's name is mentioned he asks, "Is he a mad guy? Is he a happy guy?" Recently, as we read about Noah building the ark and warning others to repent, I was trying to explain to him what was going on. He put his little hands up to his mouth and fake shouted, "Hey guys, stop being mad guys now! And then they be happy, Mom?" This is his main concern in all Bible stories ... that the mad guys would start being happy.

  Cora is absolutely enthralled with her big brother. When he's in the room, it's as if no one else is. She follows his every move and gets SO excited when he comes within a couple feet of her. Lately he has taken to coming and sitting on my foot to play horsey when I'm nursing her. This little game is probably the highlight of her day. She quits eating (which is unfortunate) and laughs and laughs at him (which is awesome). Even though I know it's going to double the amount of time it takes to feed her, I never ask him to stop because it's so sweet!

  We love our Liam!

Four Months Cute

  When I posted Cora's 4 month post the other day, I hadn't gotten around to taking her pictures yet. Usually I like to take the kids' month pictures in one of my favorite outfits of theirs ... these days my favorite look for Cora is just her soft, smooshy baby skin. I'll have to edit my previous post and add these in, but I wanted to put them in a new post, as well, to make sure our family sees them ... she's just too cute!

At her 4 month appointment, Cora weighed 14.5 lbs. and was 25 in. long - in the 75th percentile for both (and for head circumference) just like she was at her 2 month check-up.

And just for fun, here's another one of our sweet gal at 4 months ...

and one of her big brother at the same age.  Look at his adorable big, round, bald head!

I love my little people!

Little Tenderheart

  Oh, man. This little boy just turned two and a half on Sunday and a couple of years ago I never would have dreamed that a two-year-old boy could be such a sweet encouragement. I don't want to exaggerate his awesomeness and pretend that every word that comes out of his mouth is sweet and spoken from a pleasant attitude; but the majority of the time he is a joyful and hilarious little guy.

  He continues to demonstrate a particularly compassionate heart. Yesterday was a tough day for me ... in the past week Cora has had her first cold, accompanied by lots of congestion and coughing, and has cut her first two teeth. Wednesday morning I woke up with the sniffly beginnings of a cold, myself, so by yesterday I was pretty exhausted from all of Cora's sleeplessness and a little miserable from my congestion. My patience may have been a little thinner than normal, but I wasn't grumpy or cranky. I was probably just a little less fun and enthusiastic than normal. About every 30 minutes, all day long, Liam would come up to me with a concerned look on his face and say, "You happy now, Mom? You smiling? You not sick anymore?" Precious little guy! He also reminded me several times, "Do not be anxious, Mom! About anything, Mom!" One of his favorite Seeds Worship songs is Philippians 4:6-7 (Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.). He sings the song often, but it amazes me when he tells me not to be anxious ... because somehow it is always at a time when that's how I'm feeling.

  Liam also recently memorized his first Bible verse (at least the first that he recites instead of sings). I've worked with him on a couple of different verses, but for me he tends to get super distracted. His teachers at his class that he goes to while I'm in Bible study on Tuesdays have done a wonderful job helping him hide God's Word in his heart. I love his little hand motions!

 
  My little bud also continues to sing ALL the time. It is one of my very favorite things in the whole world. He often starts with one song, like Jingle Bells or I Love you Lord, and then somewhere along the way it becomes a medley and ends with I Come to the Garden. He also sings the ABC's, nearly perfectly.

  He's falling into some great habits, as far as manners go - asking, "Mommy, will you please ______?" when I remind him to ask nicely for whatever he's wanting; and saying, "excuse me, Mommy," when I'm talking to someone else and he wants my attention (although he doesn't yet understand waiting for me to acknowledge him, so his "excuse me" usually is repeated over and over, and louder and louder until he gets his chance to talk). He's also started repeating so many phrases he hears from us. For example, the other day he wanted my attention while I was talking to Josh, so he came up to me and said, "Excuse me mom, I need to talk 'bout something to you!"

  For months now, he has repeated prayers that we would say at meals, but in the last couple of weeks he has started praying on his own. His prayers usually go something like this: "Thank you God for _________ (something he played with or something he saw right before his prayer) and ____________ and ____________. Amen."

  Anyway, I know Cora gets a lot of blog-time lately, since she is changing so rapidly; but I wanted to take a few minutes to record some of my favorite things my boy is up to lately!

He's Awesome

  Liam comes up with new, fantastic things to say everyday ... sometimes funny, mostly precious. Here are some recent favorites:

• Looking at the little vase of flowers on the table at Sam's: "Oh, Mom! Look at these flowers! They are wonderful!"
• Anytime we are driving somewhere in the evening he points out the sunset: "Look at that beautiful sunset!"
• Another conversation while driving: 
• L: "Mom, look at the beautiful trees!"
• Me: "What colors are they?"
• L: "Red, orange, green and blue!"
• Me: "Who made them?"
• L: "God! He took sticks and made paintbrushes and painted them!"

• Today we saw a UPS truck drive by our house ("P truck", as Liam calls them), and he told me: "Liam gets bigger and drive a P truck and bring packages to our house!" It was the first time he has told me what he wants to do when he grows up! He also spontaneously told me today: "Liam get bigger and play Xbox and eat prencils (pretzels) and do homework!" (he has no idea what an Xbox is because Josh only occasionally plays it when Liam is sleeping, but he has seen the controller and we've told him he can use it when he's bigger.) He tells me that he is going to play Xbox when he gets bigger at least once a day. So glad obsession with video games has already begun and he doesn't even know what they are.
• The other day I got Cora up from a nap and she had a teardrop on her face from waking up crying. Liam is DEEPLY concerned about teardrops so when I told him that she had one he said, "Awwww," and came over and kissed her cheek. Melt my heart.
• He has started having more little conversations with Cora lately: (randomly walking up to Cora, who is sitting contentedly on my lap) "Hi Cora. Don't be anxious!"
• He sings ALL the time, lately. His favorites are "Never Be Shaken", "Do Not Be Anxious" (hence the above comment), and "Go" from Seeds Family Worship; as well as "Oh Susannah" and a Jesus chant/song he sings at church ("Give me a J - J- you've got your J, you've got your J ... etc.)

Oh, and more, so much more. But, it's late and I need to sleep. I just wanted to capture some of my favorite recent Liam thoughts!

Woo Pig Sooie!

This weekend Josh's sister and her husband came in town for the Razorback game. We don't get to see Uncle Kyle and Aunt Heather very often since they live in Nashville, so we were really excited to get a little time with them. They drove in from Tennessee last night, and since Cora takes a long morning nap we sent Liam to spend the night with Papa and Grammie so he could get more time with Kyle and Heather in the morning.

   I was pretty adamant about Cora getting as much sleep as possible today in hopes that she wouldn't have a total meltdown at the Razorback game we were all going to together tonight. She took her usual 2 hour morning nap before we headed to the farm, but this afternoon she was having a tough time settling down so I joined her for her nap. I wouldn't want to sleep with my babies all the time, but I love the cuddly times when I do. Hearing those sweet little grunts and sighs and feeling that baby breath is just too precious. I napped with Liam fairly often when he was a baby and I rarely get to with Cora, so I was happy to spend the afternoon curled up with her.

  After naptime we all got dressed in our Razorback gear for some family pictures (which are all on Papa & Grammie's camera). Cora was excited about the game, and to be looking so cute.

  Liam was excited, too, but more interested in playing on the floor with cars than in taking pictures. Hence, the squirmy mess of a picture ...

  Even though I missed my Liam buddy while he was at his sleepover last night, it was so fun to have some one on one time with little sister. I love watching her relationships with her family members develop.

  Both of the kids really enjoyed their time with their aunt and uncle. Liam doesn't totally understand yet that aunts and uncles are different genders, not just abstract titles we assign to people. Kyle was very patient with being called "Aunt Kyle" all day :) It was so sweet and funny to hear Liam running through the house yelling, "Aunt Kyle, come play outside with me!" Cora was full of smiles for both of them and got to enjoy a little walk around the concourse with them before the football game started.

 
  Josh's parents have seats in a box, which was the only reason we brought little kids to a game with a 100% chance of rain. The whole night went so much better than we expected. Even though the thunderstorm caused the game to be delayed (and eventually terminated), we were warm and dry. The concourse was quiet enough that Cora could be walked around when she got fussy (and I could find a semi-private corner when it was time to feed her) and she was remarkably laid back the whole time. Liam loved having access to a table full of snacks and spent most of the evening running back and forth between the window and the bags of kettle corn and pretzels. He figured out pretty quickly to cover his ears right after a touchdown because the fireworks and cannon boom scared him, and this was actually a game that involved lots of fireworks and cannon booming, for a change. The icing on the cake was that we got to see our great friends, John & Carol, who were in town for the Chili Pepper race and the game - so fun! We decided to leave pretty early so we could get loaded up in the car in between storms, but it was a wonderful evening of making memories with the kids at their first football game!