How do you explain the awesome wonders of the twelfth month of Selah’s life in one post? How do you sum up the ONEderfulness of the first year of Selah Bean’s existence? How do you solve a problem like Maria?
Like this.
She walks.
She talks.
Her favorite words are, “Up!”, “Heh-whoa” (hello), “Hi,” “Bye-bye”, “Uh-oh” (when she drops something on purpose), “WHOA” (when she falls or something else falls), “Ma-ma,” “Da-da,” “nigh-nigh,” and “M-M-M-M-M-a!” when she wants to nurse or eat.
But my favorite one of her words is, “Heh-whoa!” She’ll put most any object up to her ear and say it!!
She also used to say it OVER AND OVER AND OVER again any time someone would walk into the room, but I was never able to catch that on video. But I did get her to say it, prompted:
She claps.
She claps her hands, and her puzzle pieces!
She climbs.
I love this picture because this is totally the face I make every time she discovers something new to climb…incredulous, impressed, shocked, and proud :).She climbs EVERYTHING…Booster seats are one of her favorite things to climb, along with car seats, chairs, and tables.
She plays.
Though we’ve seen this the last few months for sure, this trait in her has come out especially strongly in the last month. She is SO PLAYFUL. She is goofy and funny and just loves to play. She loves to be THRILLED.
She spends most of her play time with this in her mouth.One of her favorite things to do is throw herself backwards. She loves couches and beds and soft pillows because THIS is what she loves to do!! It freaks us out most of the time because she’s not super careful about making sure the thing behind her is soft before she does this.
This is such a silly, boring video :). And I’m in the background constantly correcting Elliott because I’m afraid he’s going to hurt her :/. But if you want a true glimpse into Selah’s world of wrestle and play, here it is!!
Here she is, going UP and DOWN the slide over and over and over again :).
She loves deeply and passionately.
She is deeply passionate about head-wear and feet-wear. She’s totally obsessed with hats and will put anything and everything on her head and say, “hat!”
See the headband on her head? She put it there herself :).
Every time she finds anyone’s shoes or socks on the floor, she sits and attempts to put them on.
See the sock in her hand? She LOVES socks.
Besides being accessorized with hats and socks and shoes, she is deeply passionate about her favorite people. When she sees someone she loves, she screams at the top of her lungs. In normal circumstances, we are training her not to scream, but I just can’t train this out of her…it’s too sweet. I don’t want to quench her excitement and passion. She really does loves people like her mommy :).
Every day she grows more independent. Every day we see more of her personality budding. Every day she gets closer and closer to become ONE YEAR OLD.
But she’s never been as close as THIS. How is it that my next blog post of her will be her TWELVE MONTH blog post?!! In some languages, “12 months” is translated to “one year.” Could it really be????!!!
Well, hello, month 12. Nice to meet you. Let me introduce you to the baby girl who is now entering your sphere.
This baby buns tells you HOW it is.
The fruit of the status of “little sister” is loud and clear. If Elliott takes a toy out of her hand, she clenches her fists and makes this face. If we tell her something is off limits, she clenches her fists and makes this face. I am so thankful I got it on camera 🙂 because I just think it is the most precious “I’m upset” face that I have ever seen. I have said this before about her, but I LOVE when she tells me what’s on her mind, even if she’s upset about something. I’m glad she’s learning how to communicate!
“But that’s not what I WANTED!!!”
Her “chewer” status remains current and up-to-date.
“Hmm, could I get my mouth on this?”“This is a start…but I bet I could get more in mouth if I just turned it a little….”“There we go…that’s better!”
And if she’s not chewing on it, she’s wearing it.
She LOVES hats!“I don’t think Elliott will mind if I borrow this for a little while…”
Conquerer.
She is the most determined baby I have ever known…she will face ANY obstacle…she LOVES to climb, and she will not back down.
She is SO into the Bumbo this month because it’s a new obstacle to climb. She climbs in and out of it, and pushes it against things so that she has a step up to climb. I found her on the couch the other day because she had used the Bumbo as a step to get up there!She climbs up onto this train……and rides it all day long…
Her Favorites
Her favorite inside places to be are on the couch and beneath tables…especially if Elliott is in either of those two spots. When she finishes dinner before him, she immediately crawls to his chair and laughs and giggles at him while he finishes eating.
“Hey, Elliott…throw me some scraps, will you?”And then they cuddle.
“Get me OUT of here!”
She must have my sense of adventure because she still has a total obsession with the back door, the front door, and the door to the garage. Anything that lets her OUT makes her very, very happy.
“Selah, if you would just learn to walk, Mommy would let you outside to play more often!”
Butterflies
We ventured to the Butterfly Pavilion so Selah and Elliott could get an up-close look at the beautiful creatures. Elliott HATED the butterflies (“No like butterflies, Mommy!”) and Selah slept through most of our experience. But, she eventually woke up and a butterfly landed on me as I was holding her! Brian got a picture for Selah’s good friend Olivia who loves butterflies! She just moved to England.
This one’s for YOU, Olivia!! I hope you’re more excited about the butterfly than Selah was in this moment…haha! P.S. I know it doesn’t LOOK like a butterfly, but I promise it is!! 🙂La familia
“Up-pa!”
She does THIS all the time…therefore melting my heart ALL DAY LONG. She crawls up to us, stares up with those huge blue eyes, bats those mile-long lashes and says…
“Up-pa!”
Bet that makes you want to come pick her up yourself, doesn’t it? Well we had three special visitors this month who thought the same…
Grandma & Grandpa!THRILLED!
“Now, Grandpa, I really think that I-90 is going to be your best bet for the drive home.”And one week later, “Aunt Anage” came to visit!!
Standing Firm
She has been standing for a few seconds at a time for a couple of months, but this month she gained total control. She can stand as long as she wants to.
There she was, just a walkin’ down the street!
“Look, Mom! One hand!”Singin’ “Do-Wah-Diddy, Diddy-Dum, Diddy-Do!”
Our Delightful Bean
Some other fun milestones from the month are that she grew two more teeth for a total of eight, she started DANCING by moving her arms from side to side out in front of her any time she hears music or someone is singing, and she learned how to go down the stairs feet first!
And she remains the sweetest……silliest……most beautiful……baby girl in the existence of all the earth :).
I know it may seem silly to put a post up about my daughter’s nursery when she’s now almost a year old. But if you know me, then you know that I love details. Putting together my kids’ nurseries have been two of my favorite projects of all time, because it’s one way that I love to show love.
Because of that, it was super hard for me that she didn’t have her own real room until she was almost 8 months old! I know she will never know the difference, but having a place that I have made special just for her is important to me. So I finally got all of the details finished up last month and I am excited to share her room with those of you who love looking at nurseries as much as I do :).
When I went to search for bedding for our daughter, I encountered the same problem that I did when I was looking for boy nursery sets for Elliott–I didn’t love any of them! But then I found this fabric that I just adored, and wrote to my good friend Amy who had made Elliott’s quilt and wall hangings…and begged her to help me with Selah’s nursery as well :).
And she agreed! Hooray!! Amy and her mom are so unbelievably talented…I’m so grateful for their hard work (once again!) so that my daughter could have the most beautiful nursery that fits her perfectly!
I felt all along that Selah was going to love bright and bold colors. Once I found this fabric, I couldn’t get it out of my mind. So we ran with a bird theme…and I just think it’s perfect for our little Selah B. Although I do have a dream tucked away of learning how to sew one day (one day FAR, FAR, FAR AWAY…), I secretly love that I DON’T know how to sew yet…because it’s way more fun and special to have the hands of my friends and family part of my daughter’s beautiful nursery.
So, come on in, and see the fun for yourself…featuring Selah B. herself!
Such a fun personalized sign from Aunt Paula…the perfect entrance to her room!Good.Better :).Best! 🙂 🙂Amy made the gorgeous bumper and my sis-in-law Melanie made the beautiful bedskirt!Amy also made all of these adorable birdies!! Aren’t they tweet?!! I.LOVE.THEM.Peek-a-boo!The corner of her bedroom where we spend lots of time cuddling, laughing, chatting and reading :). You can also see a glimpse of her quilt and the adorable birth announcement collage that Kevin and Tabitha got for Selah.The awesome wall hangings! Amy created the wall hangings and Marilyn sewed the birth announcement that’s attached to the middle one.My mom helped me put the birth announcement on the wall hanging by sewing it all together!The AMAZING quilt!! Isn’t it gorgeous??!!! Isn’t Amy awesome?!!Selah is–seriously–in love with her quilt. It usually hangs on the back of the rocking chair, and as soon as I’m done nursing her, she runs her fingers over it again and again and again…You can see how much she loves it…and life…and the bottle of paint in her hand :).
Thank you to everyone who had a hand in creating Selah’s nursery…I am so grateful for each of you! I think of each of you every time I stare at your handiwork!
Wow. We have had a FULL few months! People have been wondering if we dropped off the planet but no–I assure you…our feet are firmly planted here on earth. More specifically, we have planted them firmly in a blue-sky, clear-air little city called Denver. (Cue song: “Rocky Mountain High…”)
We decided at the end of April to settle down here for now. “Why Denver?” you ask. Because we have found LIFE here. (Now you’re REALLY starting to wonder if we have been outside the planet Earth, aren’t you?!) We have found Life in a very small church here. Our dear, dear friends pastor a small house church, and the people within it (because aren’t WE “the church”?) have brought us LIFE. They believe that church should be about true community, not just about a building that you step into once a week. They believe church should be about FAITH, for “everything that does not come from faith is sin,” and have FAITH in every aspect of who God says he is in the Word. They spur us on, sharpen us, and encourage us in this faith, in our marriage, and in our lives. Oh, and did I mention that we LAUGH a lot when we’re with them?
Life. Community. Faith. Sharpening. Encouragement. The true gospel. And JOY.
Yes, these are the things that we need. These are the things that we value. And so…we are here. It is also a huge bonus that Susanne’s family lives just a couple hours away!
Our family!Our new “extended” family!
Please come visit any time :). If you’d like our updated address, just email us here and we’ll be so happy to send it your way!
Oh my word, Selah is SO MUCH FUN. Her little personality continues to BLOSSOM and it is such a JOY to learn more and more every day about WHO SHE IS!!!
Selah officially has her first two words down this month!! She’s been saying “Mama” for a while, but just after she turned 9 months, she was using it consistently, in context, and without prompting…which is when we count it as an official word :). A couple weeks later, we noticed that every time we would say grace as a family before dinner and then say, “Amen,” Selah would say, “men!!” A few days later, Elliott was pretending he was going “Bye-bye,” so we were both saying, “Bye!” back and forth, when Selah chimed in and said, “Bye!” Then, right before she turned 10 months, she handed me a book and said, “Boo-ka!” Um, so cute. So since she doesn’t say “Bye” and “book” repeatedly, they’re not “official” words yet, but still! We’ve got a little talker on our hands!!
What else does she do now?
She snuggles.
Bless my ever-living soul. My girl has become a snuggler. She just DOES this now…unprompted. And when I put her down for bed, she pulls back and plants a huge open-mouth kiss on my lips.Snuggle time and books before bed!
She waves.
Yes, she was waving last month, but this month she is a waving MACHINE. She waves, “hello,” “goodbye,” and “night-night.”
She laughs.
SO happy to be outside!
She multiplies.
Twins.
She “walks.”
She’s still getting comfortable with it, but she’s used her little walker a few times!
She flies.
You saw it here first, folks.
She chews.
On everything. But especially shoes.Elliott’s are her favorite…
She does this.
And I have no idea why, or where she got it from, but is it not the cutest thing in the world?!!
And this.
Sassy pants.
She sleeps.
Precious moments.
Finally, the girl sleeps! After many months of sleeping-through-the-night regression, she is back. She pretty much always makes it through the night on her own now, but if she does wake up, all she needs is this little pat-pat from her Daddy-O, and she goes right back to sleep. This Mama is happy :).
She gives back rubs.
“Don’t worry, Mama, I’ll rub your shoulders next!”
She puts everything on her head!!
Hmm…who’s hiding behind the hard hat?Ohh! It’s YOU, Selah Bean!!!“Look at this cool hat!”“Does it look good, Mama?”“Look! It fits perfectly!”“Except I can’t see.”“Oh NOW I can see!”
She loves bath time, and her big brother.
“Elliott, will you teach me how to wash my hair?”“Like this, Selah!”
She loves the office.
Seriously, LOVES the office. When anyone is in there, she wants to be in there, too.
“Oh, come ON, Elliott! Let me in! Please?!!”
And when that door swings open, she books it inside and then shuts the door behind her.
“Victory. She’ll NEVER find me in here…especially since Elliott and I left all of these hand prints all over the glass. The windows are opaque now!”
She’s learning her boundaries.
I love watching her learn about boundaries. My love for training my kids is an entire other blog post, but I am remembering the joys of it this time around with Selah. She for sure knows her boundaries, and she for sure loves to test them :). She knows she’s not allowed to climb up the stairs by herself, and this particular morning I had forgotten to shut the gate. We were playing in the play room and suddenly she looked up and realized the gate was open…
And she gave me THIS face……and then crawled toward the open gate WHILE watching to see what I would do……then got to the open gate and paused…waiting for me to take action…
…and when I didn’t, you’d better believe she booked it up those stairs :). But you know what? That’s a VICTORY…because although she’s not fully staying within her boundaries yet, I love that she KNOWS what they are. But again, that is for another blog post :).
The other big boundary we have been working on is that some things are not okay to go in her mouth. She’s been pretty successful at listening to this one for a couple months now, but she started the cutest thing this month…when she puts something in her mouth that she’s not supposed to have in there and we say, “No, thank you, Selah!”, she hands it to us. Oh my word, it’s just too precious to even describe. So, watch this:
She LOVES rocks so much so that she eats them. This particular evening I thought it would be good to work on that little habit.
Well, she reached for a rock and the temptation overcame her. I reminded her it was a “no, thank you” to put it in her mouth.
She looked up at me and held the rock in front of her mouth while staring at me to see what I would do.
I looked at her with my “mom” face and said, “No, thank you, Selah…we don’t put rocks in our mouth,” and she immediately did this:
“Okay, Mama…here you go…”
She explores.
I can do this!Her classic “sit” position. Especially when she’s studying…Look what’s in here!Conquered.The tongs have been a popular toy in our house this month…oh, the endless fun you can have with tongs!She always wants to know what’s going on “up here.”Always.
She IS…Selah Bean, the wonderful.
Her personality has exploded this month…as I looked back over the pictures I couldn’t help but think, “Wow. Her personality is so apparent!” She is SO PASSIONATE. She is passionate about the bath tub, about not wanting to go to sleep, about heading out to the garage or anywhere outside, about the bathroom, about the stairs… Wow, is she passionate! And if anyone restricts her from her passions, she will LET YOU KNOW how she feels about that :). She is such a goofy, strong-willed, loud, SWEET little bundle of joy. It’s hard to believe that she can be such a strong combination of forceful and determined, yet snuggly and soft and lovey-dovey at the same time. What a gem. I love how God has knit her together.
Check out the personality in our sweet little 10 month old baby girl, just during one meal time!
Most days, Elliott completely overwhelms me. I honestly just marvel at the intricacies of how God made him…and live in a constant overflowing gratitude that God picked HIM to be our son…
He is so stinking smart. Brian and I can be having a conversation, in the other room, in our total “adult” language (fast, not tempered for kids, big words, vague…) and Elliott ALWAYS picks up on EVERY LITTLE THING WE SAY. He’s been like this for a long time, but in the last few weeks he’s picked up on such small nuances that I am just totally blown away. I could–literally–give you dozens of examples, but I’ll give you just one here, that was embedded into our day today:
So last week we FINALLY broke down and bought Elliott some pajamas. 98% of his pajamas have been hand-me-downs, and so they are really…umm…well loved. 🙂 They all have holes in the feet and are just too small. Elliott is extremely tall for his age and we are squeezing him into these well-loved, holey-footed 3T pajamas. It doesn’t help that he LOVES his footed jammies, is EXTREMELY particular about which set he wants to wear each day, and then he wants to wear that particular pair all day long.
“Mommy? Are ALL kids so tall that their toes poke through their jammies like this?”
ANYWAY, I finally ordered him a few new pairs, size 4T. So a few nights ago, I told him that as he pointed out the holes in the footie parts of his pajamas. I said, “Oh, guess what, Big Man?! I ordered you some new jammies without holes in the feet!” Well, I should have guessed, but then he wanted them “WIGHT NOW!” (which is his latest favorite phrase, ha!)
“New jammies, wight now!” he kept saying. So I explained (four times) that it would take a few days for them to get here and we would have to be patient.
SO, that brings us to today. We hadn’t talked about the new jammies in several days, but as I was changing his diaper I started thinking about them. I didn’t want to say anything to remind him of the new jammies on the way, so I carefully selected my words to Brian. “Hey, Babe, I wonder when my Carter’s order is going to come in?”
And. Elliott. Says.
“New jammies!! New jammies!!!!!!”
And I just stared at him with my jaw on the ground. Elliott has never been to Carter’s, nor do I shop their regularly–how could he have possiblyknown what I was talking about?!!! “How on EARTHdid you know I was talking about your new jammies???” I asked, incredulously.
“New jammmmmmmmies!!!!” he exclaimed with a big smile.
So I walked into the kitchen and asked Brian, “How on EARTH?!! Seriously, HOW ON EARTH could he have known that??”
Brian responds, “He must be omniscient!”
So a couple hours later, Elliott and I were playing with his little Fisher Price people. Elliott LOVES these ancient Fisher Price people and animals.
Playing with ancient people and animals in ancient pajamas…does life GET much better than this?
He pulled out the teacher and said, “Teacher, tractor!” and put the teacher in the tractor. So I said to him, “Hey, Buddy! Do you know that in lots of years, about 20 or so, you will get to choose to do a job that you want to do? A teacher is one job…what do you want to do when you grow up?”
Look closely…see the teacher driving the tractor?
“Jesus,” he calmly smiled in response.
Now, although he’s ALWAYS had a supernatural draw towards Jesus, and although I was 99% certain that he said, “Jesus,” I thought it was WAY too clever, cute, and awesome to be true. So I challenged him a bit.
“A teacher? You want to be a teacher?” (No pressure here…ha!)
“No…JESUS!” he said.
Our son wants to grow up to be Jesus. So either that’s the most blasphemous thing anyone has ever said, or…he really IS omniscient. You can decide for yourselves :).
In the meantime, check out what our all-knowing 2 year-old learned to do a few days ago…just in time for the toddler spelling bee!! We finally caught it on video today :).
You know when you’re on the first part of a roller coaster? And you slow-l-l-l-y creep, creep, creep you’re way up to the top? It’s exhilarating and exciting…so much anticipation builds in you as you slowly climb up, up, up. But it’s calm. It’s slow paced.
That’s what the first 5 months of having a baby is like for me. Like I said, for me, the first 5 months are a breeze! I mean, come on–all they do is sit there!! But then they hit that 6 month mark and, I am telling you…it’s like the moment your car rolls over the peak of that roller coaster, and life gets REAL up in here!!!
Cr-o-s-s-ing the 6 month mark…and holding my breath…
All within 5 days (the week after turning 7 months), our little Selah Bean got her first two teeth (FINALLY), had her first several vomiting experiences (SO SAD), started walking herself along the edges of things (IT STARTS…), started pulling herself up onto furniture (BINS, COUCHES, TABLES, ANYTHING IN REACH!) and learned how to climb up a step (TIME FOR A BABY GATE!). This girl is EVERYWHERE. I can’t believe how fast she moves, and she still pulls herself everywhere with her arms rather than doing the traditional “crawl”.
7 MONTHS: She-e-e-e’s…CRAWLING and EATING REAL FOOD!!!!! Weeeeee!!8 MONTHS: She’s CRAWLING FAST and EATING REAL FOOD and PULLING UP ONTO EVERYTHING and CLIMBING STAIRS and WALKING HERSELF ALONG FURNITURE!!! OH YES, and EATING SMALL CHOKE-ABLE OBJECTS!!!!THE REST OF HER LIFE: And it will only get wilder from here on out 🙂
But seriously, this girl is the essence of sugar and spice. The SUH-WEEE-TEST, SPIE-SEE-EST little thang that you’ve ever met. And oh, how we adore every square inch of who she is. Well, here she is…my big 8 month old girl!!!!
She walked her lil’ spicy self from the table to the couch all by herself!She climbs……over……everything in sight…And even taught herself……to joyfully……climb up stairs. She wants it, she goes after it, no matter what obstacle is in the way. In this case, “it” was a coat rack.“Yes, Mom? Is there a problem? Why are you running towards me so quickly?”
She started pulling herself up…and now pulls herself up onto EVERYTHING… 🙂
“Oh, hey Mom! Watcha doin’ up there on the couch??”
“Now how do I actually DRIVE this thing?”“Um, mom…could you give me a hand? I can pull myself up, but I don’t know how to get down yet!!”
Until the next week, when she learned how to get down, too!
This is where Selah usually camps out…she LOVES the backyard, and will just sit here, staring out the window like a little puppy until I let her out.“Can I go outside, Mama?”“Not right now? That’s okay. I’ll just squish my face up against the glass and dream.”…and…back down!
She LOVES BEING OUTSIDE!
Can you tell who taught her what the coolest toy to play with is?My sunshine.
She also LOVES…
…cabinets……chairs……drawers……t.v… (When both the kids had the stomach flu, I turned on a show for Elliott and it was the first time Selah had ever seen one! She was MESMORIZED, cocked her head to the side, and just STARED…)…and I mean LOVES making the “raspberry” sound…it is HER FAVORITE……chewing on Elliott’s shoes… (I know, I know…we’re working on it…)…AND, my feet.She seriously can’t get enough of my feet.
She got her very first two teeth!
“Whew, Mom! That was a LOT of work for just two teeth!!”
And I started giving her REAL food… and, unlike her big bro, she picked it up quite well, and LOVES feeding herself…
“So I just pick these little things up and eat them? No problem. But how do I eat this Puff on the back of my wrist??”She couldn’t pick up cut up banana chunks so I just gave her half a banana…Only a little gagging…“Hmm, the question is, ‘Do I LIKE this?’”“Yeah…this is cool.”
She had some very special play dates this month:
Special friend Stella flew in all the way from Tacoma!!!Here is Olivia! And the three of them started the “Big Blue Eyes Club”!
She adores her big brother, who also adores her. She follows him EVERYWHERE and wants to be EVERYWHERE that he is. Good thing that Elliott’s greatest thrill in life is being chased!!
This is the best summary of our days. Selah chases, Elliott squeals and runs (or drives) away. And she goes AFTER him. Maybe that’s how she got so fast at moving?!!!She wants to be next to him……under him…
…over him…(“Don’t mind me, Selah. Just a minor repair. Safety first!”)…on a stroll with him……with him all the time!Sing with me: “So happy to-gether!!”Elliott usually finishes dinner first, and so when he’s through he runs around like crazy playing. She ALWAYS twists around like this so she can watch his every move.But he usually can’t be that far away from her for very long, so he’ll pull up a chair and chat with her while she finishes… MELT.MY.HEART.INTO.FOUR.BILLION.PIECES.
Happy 8 months, my sweet little Selah Bethany. You light up our lives.
Oh, my Sugar……and oh, my Spice……you make EVERYTHING so incredibly NICE!!BEST ROLLER COASTER RIDE I’VE EVER BEEN ON!!!!!!
Infants are so easy, and then they have to go and cross the 6 month mark and get all complicated! 🙂 Once they hit 6 months they start eating, they start crawling, they start becoming ANOTHER CHILD, rather than just a baby. One more mouth to feed during mealtimes, one more kid to chase after, one more little person to train… THIS is where having two kids starts to get REAL.
Oh, Selah B…how do I love thee?? Well, let me count the ways…
1. Play
Selah just LIGHTS up when Elliott is near. They’ve really been playing together this month. Here is one of Elliott’s favorite games to play…bring as MANY TOYS AS POSSIBLE to Selah :).And then, of course, HE takes a turn :).Here is her other favorite playmate…the mirror!“Well she looks like a fun friend! Let me get a closer look.”“Mama, I want to be friends with her forever!”“What? Did I do something?”
2. Laugh
He just makes her laugh……SO HARD!!!
This is our lives…EVERY.DAY.
3. Stand
She is SO HAPPY when we set her up to stand at her play table! SO.HAPPY.
For a couple weeks, she would go into “push-up” position while on her tummy. Just toes and hands touching the ground. And then she learned how to get herself into the “moving” position…
“i really want that balloon.”“…but I can’t reach it.”
“OHHH…so THIS is how you go from a sit to a crawl! That was exhilarating!!”“Look at me! Look at me!!”
Her very first “movement” was a crawl, but she hasn’t really “crawled” in the typical sense of the word since. But boy, does she MOVE! She mostly pulls herself with her arms to get around. And wowsers! She is ALL OVER THE PLACE.
7. Explore
With moving, comes exploring! She got to experience grass for the first time at the McCabe’s house!
“Now what is THIS? It looks more interesting than that food my Mom is feeding me…”“Mom, is this dessert??”
8. Chat
This month, she has started having conversations with us! I love it!! Her favorite word is “Bap” but she also likes, Mamama, Bababa, and the raspberry sound. One night at dinner, she and Elliott had an entire conversation like this for a good 10 minutes. IT.WAS.ADORABLE. We only caught a few seconds of it on camera, but at least you get a glimpse of the cuteness factor!!!
9. Total and utter cuteness…
“We love our coordinating outfits from Auntie Melisa!!”Simply adored.My delight.“He-ey!!”The eyes!The wink!The lashes!I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of Being and ideal Grace…
Happy 7 months, my darling, precious, standing, dancing, moving, eating, laughing, babbling bundle of joy!!!
I dread starting solids. Solids makes everything about infants WAY more complicated. You start solids and suddenly they’re applying for college. Not my favorite. 🙁
I delayed as long as I could, but I could tell Selah was starting to need more to eat in a day. So, at about 6 and 1/2 months, we finally took the plunge. We decided to start with carrots…
“Ooh! That looks different…and quite yummy!”
“WHOA! Mama, I think you’ve made a big, BIG mistake!!”“Bleh! That DOES NOT seem edible!”“I mean, seriously! Should I spit this out? What’s going to happen if I swallow??!!”“Let me get this out of mouth!”“I think my tongue’s on fire.”“I’ll eat this instead. Yes, this tastes MUCH better.”“Whew! Well, glad THAT’S over…”
Elliott’s very first real word was, “more.” He had been saying “Mama” and “Dada,” but “more” was the first word that he used in context and consistently. And other than, “Uh-oh,” it is still his favorite word. When he’s especially passionate, he doesn’t just say, “more,” he yells, “More DA MORE!!!”
He uses it all the time, in every scenario you can possibly think of.
I’ll never forget one of the first times we were at Sea World watching the dog show (dogs are HIS FAVORITE). The “Who let them dawgs out” song blasted loudly as dogs of every type sprinted out from behind stage and into view, running to the beat of the music. I looked at Elliott and said with expectation: “Big guy!! Do you see all the dogs?!?! Aren’t they so cool?!!!”
“MORE!” he insisted, bluntly and impatiently.
This is–literally–how ALL of our conversations go:
“Elliott, did you have fun playing with your friend?”
“More!”
“Elliott, did you like going to the zoo?”
“More!”
“Elliott, was that a yummy special treat that you had?”
“More!”
Elliott, you did so great throwing that ball!
“MORE!!”
“Elliott, are you grateful that we got to take a special airplane ride??!!”
“More DA MORE!”
He is simply not able to truly enjoy or appreciate the present because he’s always looking to the future, and he wants to make it very clear that we know that he wants more of that thing that he loves.
And my heart breaks. Doesn’t he know that I long to give him “MORE”? Doesn’t he know that it fills my heart with utmost joy to lavish him with good things? Doesn’t he know that I want to spend the rest of my life giving him good gifts, whether the form of those gifts looks like special play dates, balls, a chance to serve, or every-once-in-a-while–sugar?! Doesn’t he know that his daddy has to literally hold me back from buying every thing I see in Target that I know will bless him???
But mostly, the state of his heart breaks mine because he reminds me so much of me, and my heart towards my Father.
Sometimes when I am really, really, really grateful for something, a sneaky lie creeps its way into my mind and quickly tries to convince me that that something will be taken away. So as a result, I cannot fully celebrate gifts or the ones whom I love because of this little lie that they will probably be snatched from my hands. It is a rotten trick, but nonetheless it has been trying to persuade me to grab hold of its false comfort every since I can remember. “If you don’t embrace it too much, it won’t be as hard on your heart when it’s taken away…”
I remember being a little girl and not being able to fall asleep some nights because I was so afraid that my parents were going to die. One specific night when I was about 4 years old, I cried and cried one night in bed until I finally ran to my mom for solace. And I don’t remember anything that she said, but I clearly remember what she did. She scooped me up, sat me on her lap, held me close, and rocked me. What brought peace? Not promises of what the future would hold, but the comfort and security of my mama’s love.
Fear robs. It robs from me. It robs from us. My God is not a God whom I should look upon with fear, because there is, simply, “no fear in love,” (1 John 4:18) and He is all-consuming Love. My God is not a God who tells me that I should live in fear, because He has “not given us a spirit of fearfulness” (2 Timothy 1:7).
It’s difficult to put into words how grateful I am for all that the Lord has given me in this simple life I lead. It is not glamorous or easy, but it is perfect. Perfect because of the ones I get to do this crazy life with. He’s given me a husband who adores me and lays his life down for me. Children who bring me more delight than I ever could have imagined possible. Friends who love us. Family who takes care of us. Yet as I approached my 31st birthday, and I examined the state of my heart, all I could honestly find was, “More DA MORE!!!” I don’t want more things, I don’t want more money. I simply want more time with the ones that I love. More days with my daughter, more days with my son, more days with my very best friend who has added such a tremendous amount of joy in the last few years that he has loved me. I want more giggles with my Selah and more tickles with my Elliott. I want more games of “Get you!” and more rides on the swings. I want more soccer and I want more tea parties.
And, of course, all of that is GOOD! It’s good for me to want more time with my family instead of less! It is good for me to miss my husband like CUH-RAZY when he hasn’t even been away from me for 24 hours. But it’s not good when there’s fear robbing from my gratitude. It’s not good when I am so concerned about what tomorrow may or may not bring that I can’t fully, fully value and enjoy today.
Colossians 3:15 says, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts…and be thankful.” Don’t you love how the “peace of God” precedes thankfulness? I do. Not peace from financial security. Not peace from a known future. Not peace from the guarantee of prosperity. No, what brings peace? The comfort and security of my Father’s love. I love that it is only because I am at peace with Him, at peace with His love for me, that I have the ability to be thankful.
Peace from His perfect love, which covers and fills me. The peace of God.
Because of THIS: “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).
Ahhh, peace. HE longs to GIVE me more…more than I can fathom. Sometimes I think of Elliott and how little he really understands about the world. To him, Heaven would be a ball pit filled with every type of sports ball that there is. And while that does sound great, 🙂 he doesn’t even know…oh, he has no idea of the incredible joys that will be made known to him as he grows…the incredible gifts just around the corner. He, like me, literally cannot fathom what MORE there is to come. And that’s okay. I only desire for him to take great delight in the gifts and treasures of today, and simply trust that I long to give him more.
So this year, I desire MORE. More understanding of God’s love for me. More revelation of how much he lavishes me in love. More trust that He desires to give me good gifts. More peace in my heart that allows me to be filled with real gratitude..
Real gratitude for DA MORE…
More play dates at the park with my son, throwing balls, climbing high and swinging hard.
My morning birthday buddy.
More special treats at a cute little coffee shop, reading books together in a new, fun place.
Because SOMEONE’S gotta treat this birthday girl to a latte with whipped cream the size of her face when Daddy’s out of town!!
More HUMONGOUS, MEDAL-WORTHY tantrums thrown upon leaving said cute little coffee shop, if it means that I get to be the one to train and shape my son into becoming a godly, wise, filled-with-self-control man.
(No picture available. I’ll leave the scene of me trying to get him into his car seat while screaming, crying, and flailing next to a busy road up to your imagination.) 🙂
More scraped up knees and bloody faces if it means we were playing a rousing and hilarious game of “who can get the ball first?”
But you shoulda seen the other guy…
More special birthday outfits of yoga pants and maternity t-shirts (not because I’m pregnant! Only to hide my post partum belly!) because my crying, wounded son’s pee leaked completely through his diaper and onto my much-cuter, pre-blood and pee clothes while I was consoling him.
Well, at least I was showered when he peed on me!
More snuggles and kisses from my baby girl, who was so excited for my birthday today that she woke up earlier than she has in 4 months so we could start celebrating during the 5am hour…
Worth EVERY extra minute of missed sleep.
More ribbons and bows from my teething, fussy, adorable little blue-eyed beauty!
“If you’ll just let me chew on this spoon, I’ll stop crying.”
More laughter and love from this perfect face …
Elliott is entertaining her; can you tell she simply adores him??
More fun treats that bring the perfect end to hilarious days…
More, more, MORE of my handsome, strapping husband. More emails and text messages and phone calls from the love of my life, who has lavished me with celebration today, even from thousands of miles away. Who lavishes me with celebration every day, loving me and exhorting me and encouraging me and spurring me on and fanning me into flame and filling me with truth.
Mother’s Day
MORE. More DA MORE!! of days and days filled with the peace of my Everlasting God, which drives me to gratefully enjoy the many abundant and perfect gifts that He has lavished upon me.
Happy 31st birthday to me!! And may I have many MORE DA MORE!! 🙂
