wrc.7months

the will-meister is officially 7 months. 

our play time has been kicked up a few notches with the addition of a half real crawl, half commando crawl. by the end of the week i'm afraid he'll be full out crawling. 

the time has gone so fast. i realized around 6 months that he was INDEED 6 months. and at 6 months that baby needed to be broken of his habit of waking up at 3 am to eat and snuggle with mommy. thankfully it only took about a week or so but he is now solidly sleeping from 7 pm (sometimes 6:30 even) until 5 or 5:30 am. then he pulls out another hour or two until he's ready for the day! woop woop. 

he naps well for me. two solid naps during the day and wakes up a happy happy boy! getting him up from his nap never fails to make my day. he greets me with the biggest grin ready to play.

he continues to be so very enjoyable. he is most excited to see his brothers and watch them play. with his new found mobility, he has started to join in more often. and oh my, does he love a good bath with his brothers! he always gets really tired around 6 so we stick him in the tub with grey and tuck and they play, play and play some more. he splashes them and they splash him back which evokes the sweetest giggles. i'll have to catch that on camera soon.

he is continuing to teeth. but it doesn't affect him too much. he is just so stinkin' happy.

thankfully as i mentioned in my previous post, he is eating more solids! he continues to nurse like a champ and prefer it to eating solids but i sneak those in frequently. he has been into gumming on some avocado in recent days and i catch him actually leaning in for more.

as i watch this little one grow i just want to hold on tighter and tighter.  i can't wait until he wakes up to hear that belly laugh again!

until next month...

camera dump

 i had a couple of very randomly full memory cards that i dumped today. here were some of my findings of our every day.

1. peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

every single day without fail the boys eat one for lunch. grey now eats an entire sandwich and tuck sticks with halfsies. it's usually accompanied by a cheese stick, some grapes, and a lot of silly.

2. good ol' fashioned play time.

these three boys are becoming fast friends. grey and tuck are letting will into their brotherhood and it's fun to watch. whereas most of our time is spent outside in this perfect weather we've had, they never fail to include the littlest brother in almost every activity he can be a part of.

3. EARLY mornings.

now that the tuckmeister is in his big boy bed, he gets up when he wakes up. and it's early. like 5:00 some mornings. and he tends to wake up grey while he's at it. 

it just so happened that saturday morning while matthew was camping, ALL THREE boys were up at 5:30 a.m. we snuggled up and watched some cartoons for most of the morning until i could down a few cups of coffee.

4. these four.

 

these guys play together every afternoon. grey and tuck adore adam and krista. adore them. we pray for them every day before naps and every night before bed. we thank God for them at meals.

we are so blessed to have them as our neighbors. i love that our boys are able to make memories with these guys.  they are forever on a ship being chased by bad guys or playing house or running from evil zurg, aka tucker. 

5. food, FINALLY!

will is consistently eating food. he i actually opening his mouth now! he has obviously been getting what he needs from me so i haven't been pushing it too hard but seriously?! he'll be 7 months old this weekend. he loves bananas and sweet potatoes. so proud of that little man. it's been a long time coming.

6. tucker time.

though this deserves an entirely separate post i will say that he and i have some special time monday and wednesday mornings while will is napping. we talk at the sink while he helps me do dishes. we hunt for acorns. we color pumpkins and apples. and we bake together. time well spent.

he also comes up with some stellar outfits. while searching for pecans.

7. bike riding.

grey got his cousin jacob's old bike and he has been a riding machine.  he has fallen off a few times and acquired a few good scrapes. i told him it's not a good time on your bike if you don't skin your knees every now and then. they show that you are playing hard and having fun! 

although he has let up a little on his riding as of late, i plan on taking him out one on one soon for a good ride.

welp, 7 is a good round number of randomness. i'll have to do this more often!

flashback friday

in honor of a clemson homecoming.

i miss all these girls. wish we could all make it to a game together. maybe if we weren't living all over the country and all having babies :) those are some special people right there.

if i wrote a book

it would be 2 pages and go a little something like this.

page one.

study God's Word. dig deep and let Him show you who He really is. not who you think He is. He is so much greater than that.

page two.

magnify the Lord in all of His greatness. wherever you are. it will make you small and He great.


the end.

i believe this applies to any and all circumstances and will remind myself of His greatness when i just don't understand. or when things do make sense.

soccer, s'mores, and football

grey had his first soccer game this weekend. oh my heavens.

how would you like that guy to be your goalie?

it seems to be that grey is more interested in conversing with his friends than going after that ball. wonder where he gets that? he liked to stick towards the back of the bunch of 4 year olds chasing the ball around the field and hang out with his friends, mainly annabelle. 

he did actually do pretty good playing goalie. it's not so aggressive. right up his alley. he wasn't paying attention and one slipped by him. after that, he blocked 3 goals! and i think the thrill was throwing the ball back into the game.

i did catch him in the middle of the action a few times. overall i think he just plain had fun. 

i know tucker showed his love for the sport during half time. 

Poppie, Marmie, Greer, and Luke were in town for the weekend. Luke and Poppie got to enjoy the game with us.

we also had a yard sale saturday morning. we have a little more moola than we had before and we cleaned out a bunch of stuff. WIN. now it's on to organizing what's left!

it was such a treat to have family in to stay this weekend. the kiddos played outside lots in the cool weather and got along so great! grey and greer are just the cutest and get along so well they played and played and played.  luke and tuck are definitely little boys...times two! seeing them all together makes me realize what a precious gift it is that they have each other. we were missing garrett and wyatt and hope to ALL be together soon.

we roasted marshmallows saturday night (all the while keeping a close eye on the game). s'mores are always a hit.

 luke just liked the plain ol' marshmallow.

and i think tucker just likes burning things.

the oldest two LOVED the s'mores. 

will even tried to get in a s'more.

those kiddos make me laugh so hard. they are all so different and i so enjoy seeing them interact with each other.

we ended our saturday watching the tigers remain undefeated in a victory over virginia tech. woo hoo!!! 

the boys dressed for the occassion sunday morning. 

and have watched youtube video after youtube video of clemson cheers and chants.

tuck's favorite is by far tiger rag. grey is slowly but surely teaching him how to do it. he's got C L E M S OOOO N down without the proper fist pump form. 

this is what we spent the morning doing. and he has some serious moves to go along with it. 

go tigers!

i'm totally okay with that

it really is okay that i'm just a mom.

wanna know why that's okay? because God said so. seriously. he totally did. and now i'm okay with being just a mom.

really? i'm just a mom? no fancy side business, no professional career, no thing that takes my time other than being just a mom?

yes. exactly.

it's okay that i spend my days being wrestled to the floor and making animal noises. that i play cars and trucks and trains. that i spend my days correcting and correcting again. oh and correcting again. that my baby won't take a bottle because i am available all day every day to nurse him. that i wipe little booties a whole heck of a lot. that i draw pumpkins for my two year old every single solitary morning. that i spend countless hours answering grey's questions. that i have "helpers" in the grocery store. that i can cuddle and affirm my boys at any point in the day that i desire.

it's okay to devote all of myself to my children to be just a mom.

 

it's okay because it's God's design for me. 

i was apparently struggling with my design to be just a mom and totally didn't realize it. until a few weeks ago. 

i was running on the treadmill during naptime. and clear as day God spoke to me. clear as day. in my heart down to my toes. "just be where I have you. don't look around. just be 150% for your boys."

so here i am. just a mom. and i am more than okay with it.

my boys need all of me. not part of me. not the leftovers after i've given myself to some side job, a career. they need me to wipe their booties. they need me to play on the floor. to build snowmen out of playdoh and draw pumpkin trains. they need me to read to them and answer their questions. to clean up their messes and show them who God is when we're talking, walking, or sitting. they need me to be okay with being just a mom.

so as i have a fresh perspective on where i am in this journey, the Lord continues to draw me toward Himself.   He is faithfully breaking me down and making me childlike again in my faith. in this overwhelming assignment of being just a mom.

 

i have three boys who will be men. they will lead their wives and their families. they will be employees, confidants, leaders. now is the time for me to be just a mom to help shape and guide with all that i've got. and nothing less. they will be doing the shaping and the guiding before too long. and from generation to generation i want them to share who God is and what He has done.

it starts with me being just a mom. 

and i'm totally okay with that.