{ Hello 5 Months }

 Wret

Today you are five months old. It was only a little over a year ago that we found out that you would be joining our family, and now here you are, a busy, growing, happy baby.

This has been a busy month with learning to roll over, both ways.  You discovered your toes and you love to play with toys! You're also not very happy when your brother or sister steal them. You're already learning to stick up for yourself :)

You will still go to anyone and you have a HUGE smile ready for anyone who smiles at you or talks to you. Your whole body smiles. It's pretty cute.

You've also gone on two camping trips this summer as well as been swimming (dipping your toes counts).
At your 4 months check up you weighed 16 pounds, so you must be about 16 1/2 by now. I am putting away almost all of your 3 months clothes for 6 months ones. It makes me a little sad that you're already so grown up. We love your chunky little thighs and how you bounce whenever you're held. Before too long you'll be big enough for the Jonny Jump-Up and I know you're going to love it. You were playing very happily in your bouncy chair until you decided you want to sit up, but since you're not quite ready for that yet, we've traded the chair for the exer-saucer and you LOVE it!

You enjoy being outside and I am enjoying being able to spend these little months out there with you, after two winter babies.

Big sister and brother love you! Oliver calls you our "Happy Baby Wret" and always says "Morning Wret" when you get up. Katy misses you if you've been sleeping for a while. She'll ask where you are. When you're playing she will come running by and wave at you and say, "Hi Wret". We can tell you get frustrated when you see them doing something fun and you want to do it too. Before long you will be!

You're taking 3 naps still, but I think you'll be going to 2 soon. You go to bed at 8 pm every night and sleep until around 2:30 am. After I feed you I move you to the guest room in your pack n play because you often want to be awake for an hour or two. You're happy just talking to yourself and playing with your feet. I'm so thankful you don't expect me to stay up with you!

Lately you've been going to the nursery at church on Sunday mornings. You've been taking a good nap in there, which is such a blessing since I have been teaching Oliver's class the past 3 weeks. I have one more week to go and then, I must admit, I'm looking forward to holding you through church again. We'll see if you're happy with that.

This coming Sunday we are dedicating you. What a special day! We count it such a privilege to raise you to know Jesus and we pray you come to Him at an early age.

This next month it looks like we'll be getting ready for your first tooth to come in. That would explain all of the slobber. We are also getting close to starting solid foods.

I love you, Little Man. Happy 5 months old!

{ Busy Mamas CAN Study the Bible }

It was one of those dry times, when I was feeling discouraged about my quiet times with God, struggling to find time in the day amidst juggling all of my responsibilities.

Then a friend at church came up, out of the blue, and handed me a Bible study book.

I was standing there, talking to another friend, holding my baby and diaper bag, keeping an eye on our busy 18 month old, trying to admire the 2 year old's Sunday School project and to get him to stop playing with my skirt in an embarrassing way, when she handed it to me. She said she thought of me when she saw it, and when I glanced at the title, I was immediately blessed. Thirty Days of Bible Study for Busy Mamas: Inspiring, in-depth Bible Study, five minutes at a time

Here is a nice little picture of the cover. And let me just say, it has been SUCH a blessing to go through. I am still working on it, but I just had to take a moment and let all of you other busy mamas out there that it might be worth looking into.

 If you're anything like me, I need a program or Bible study just feels daunting. This little book has given me a taste for manageable study techniques and I'm already looking forward to tackling other chapters and books in the future. This particular book covers only chapter 3 of Colossians, but it is amazing how much there is in one chapter.

I encourage you to take a look at this book, and when you're done pass it on. That is what I plan to do.

{ Miss Katy Grace :: 18 Months }

Our little miss is 18 months old. *sniff* It blows me away. 

She is so full of life. 

A little mommy.  She loves to carry her baby with her. Dress her. Burp her. Change her.  She takes it all very seriously. 

She is such a snuggler

and

a daddy's girl .

We've been threw so much with our precious little girl in this short time she's been in our family.  

There is not a day that goes by that we don't praise God for protecting her and giving us the blessing of watching her grow into a happy and healthy little girl.

Having a daughter has been such an unexpectedly wonderful experience.  I always knew I'd love having a daughter, but until Katy Grace came along I never knew just how much!  I can't wait to see how our relationship will develop as the months and years go by.  She is already a very special little friend to me.

{ Stretched }

As you can imagine, my life at present doesn't boast a lot of routine. 
It is boasting a lot of emotions!
I like routine, but I'm getting better about letting go of it.  Better, but not great.
Yesterday I reached a boiling point and I stomped by little foot (figuratively) and let God know how frustrated I am about it.  Especially about finding a consistent quiet time.
Life has been really hard for... about a year now.
A lot of positive and negative stress.
The usual: finances, health, work, raising kids.  A colicky baby.  An overhauled diet. You know.
I faced a lack of faith yesterday and fear than everything might not turn out right.
I faced not knowing what God wants from me, which is really fear I'm not meeting up to His expectations.  Which makes me wonder are they His or are they mine?  It makes a difference.
Faced feelings of guilt about not being the mom I want to be.
The wife.
The Christian.
I didn't feel like I was "good" at any of my roles.
Yesterday afternoon and evening with the colicky baby who cried pretty much non-stop had left me in that spent state.
Tim told me he loved me.  Told me I'm a good mom.  Told me to go to sleep when I was frustrated after being up multiple times in the night with both boys.
I fumed... and (eventually) took his advice.
I finally drifted back to sleep with a prayer that God would give me time to spend with Him.
It was one of those desperate, heart-to-heart talks that He so well understands.
I left it there and clung to His promise that He is gracious and slow to anger.  I felt like He had a lot of reason to be upset with me.
Was it all my fault my quiet time isn't consistent?
What about all the times I snap at my kids?  My husband?
But... I reminded myself that  He doesn't give us more than we can handle and His strength is made perfect in weakness.  Even when I don't see how either of those promises can be true in my situation.
Morning came and the rest of today and I want to give God praise that He met my needs and provided time with Him in a very sweet way.
I am always humbled when I find Him so patient and loving when my heart and emotions have been so yucky.
Even when this evening came and those emotions surfaced again.  My pride surfaced.  The challenges mounted.
Still He is loving.  Still He is patient.
Below is what God used to speak to my heart the past few days.
Take some (or all of it) in, if you can.  I hope it blesses you as well. 

Psalm 115 (emphasis mine)

¹ Not to us, Lord, not to us
    but to your name be the glory,
    because of your love and faithfulness.

² Why do the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”
³ Our God is in heaven;
    he does whatever pleases him.
⁴ But their idols are silver and gold,
    made by human hands.
⁵ They have mouths, but cannot speak,
    eyes, but cannot see.
⁶ They have ears, but cannot hear,
    noses, but cannot smell.
⁷ They have hands, but cannot feel,
    feet, but cannot walk,
    nor can they utter a sound with their throats.
⁸ Those who make them will be like them,
    and so will all who trust in them.

⁹ All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—
    he is their help and shield.
¹⁰ House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—
    he is their help and shield.
¹¹ You who fear him, trust in the Lord—
    he is their help and shield.

¹² The Lord remembers us and will bless us:
    He will bless his people Israel,
    he will bless the house of Aaron,
¹³ he will bless those who fear the Lord—
    small and great alike.

¹⁴ May the Lord cause you to flourish,
    both you and your children.
¹⁵ May you be blessed by the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

¹⁶ The highest heavens belong to the Lord,
    but the earth he has given to mankind.
¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the Lord,
    those who go down to the place of silence;
¹⁸ it is we who extol the Lord,
    both now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord.

 ~~~~~~

Exodus 34:6-7

What God said about Himself:

 ⁶ And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,  

⁷ maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

  ~~~~~~

This blog post spoke so strongly to my heart.

from here

 "Keeping our cool isn't always easy, but every time we let go and let God we are exercising that muscle of self control.

I’m saying “self control” here because we need to bring our flesh under the subjection of our Spirit. Our flesh wants nothing more than to stomp our feet and have our own way, but our Spirit calls us to be tender-hearted and controlled. That’s where our true strength lies.

When the Spirit is in control we see the fruit of love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness and goodness. But when the flesh is out of control we get angry, short-tempered, abrupt, and stressed out."

  ~~~~~~

and from Loving the Little Years by Rachel Jankovich 

"We tell our girls that their feelings are like horses--beautiful, spirited horses.  But they are the riders.  We tell them that God gave them this horse when they were born, and they will ride it their whole life....
When our emotions act up, it is like the horse trying to jump the fence and run down into a yucky place full of spiders to get lost in the dark.  A good rider knows what to do when the horse tries to bolt--you pull on the reins!...."

 ~~~~~~

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
³³ When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

Lord Jesus, this is my desire, that when I have spent time with you, your presence so rubs off on me that You are unmistakable.  Please strip away my desire to be "good" and make me instead radiant with Your love, Your grace.
Amen

{ Little Mama }

{ We're spending a lot of time caring for our babies.  

It is so sweet to see what a good little mama she is. }

{ Girl Time }

There is so much of life to catch up one here, but I wanted to capture the sweet date I had with Katy Grace on Thursday. My parents came up for the day so she and I stole away for a sweet mama/daughter time. It was a beautiful sunny warm day. With the new baby brother in our home Katy Grace has really been craving my attention lately. It is definitely a challenge to spend enough quality time with all of my kids everyday. For a few days now I have carried her around in the Ergo to at least let her be near me while I work around the house. It seems to be making a difference. This was the first time that I have spent intentional one-on-one time with her and I hope to make it a habit.... with all of my kids.

We started off with a walk and a visit to the fountain.  She was intrigued, but not willing to get wet, which was fine with me :)

I loved the sight of her cute little feet while I strolled her

Girl time just isn't complete without shopping.  This girl is a natural-born shoe lover!  She was in heaven with the wall of shoes!

We finished off our date with a bowl of ice cream.  As you can see it was quite a hit.  It was a sweet day all the way around.

{ A Shower for Baby Wret }

 When Wret was just over a month old, we had a very special visit from my sister Bethany, whom we affectionately call Auntie B.  It was her first time to meet Wret.  She traveled over for the weekend with my aunt and uncle.  The evening she arrived also happened to be Wret's baby shower!  It was an added blessing to have her here for that.  Here we are getting ready to go.

 I hadn't expected to have a shower, but one of the ladies in our church graciously offered to host one.  It was such a blessing and a much needed time out with friends after being fairly housebound after Wret's arrival.  They combined the shower with another lady from church as well.  It was a lot of fun to have a joint shower!  Because she was having a girl and Wret is obviously a boy, they settled on Dr. Seuss as the theme, a neutral subject.  Such fun!

 I have actually had very little exposure to the Dr. Seuss books, but this shower has definitely peaked my interest.  I can't wait to read them all to my kids.  They made food to represent several books, and they did an amazing job!

 Of course there were many wonderful gifts to open!  Several darling summer outfits and LOTS of childrens books, which I'm thrilled about!

{ My sweet boy }

 { Tessa, the hostess and Laurie the mom-to-be }

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the weekend we spent with Bethany, playing and just hanging out.  She got lots of snuggles in, too!

 That weekend was also my mom's birthday, so we had everyone up for dinner one day.  It was very special to get to celebrate her special day and the arrival of Wret all at the same time.

 

{ Welcome to our Family Baby Wret }

 William Ronald Emerson (Wret)

was welcomed into our hearts back in July 2012, 

when we found out he would join our family

and into our arms on March 14, 2013

at 12:01 pm

6 lbs. 10 oz.

18.8 inches long

We are so in love with this little bundle of blessing.

It was our hope to have him at home, but after a long and tiring day and night of on-and-off labor, I made the call that I was ready to go the hospital.  We were so blessed by a wonderful team of our midwives and the doctor and nurses.  It was a difficult but beautiful birth and we are so blessed that God took care of us every step of the way.

 Isn't this amazing?  He was born with a perfect knot in the cord!

 The day after Wret was born, my parents brought Oliver and Katy Grace back home to meet their little brother.  Their reactions were priceless.  They LOVE him so much and are completely in awe of the whole thing.

Tim and his little tribe.  How I love this man!

  We are a family of FIVE!!!!!  Wow!