6 Months

Then


Now


It's hard to believe sometimes that it was already half a year since Soren was born. I forget sometimes that time is just passing along until I look and see him sitting up and wonder what happen to that little newborn that slept all the time. Universal feelings among many mothers I know. This boy is just such a joy to my heart. Here are a few things about Soren at 6 months.
- You smile at EVERYBODY!!!! You are best known for your smile dear boy! So many people comment on it and can't believe how happy you are ALL the time!

-You are making more and more sounds, but your favorite is still babababa
-Your favorite toy is the blue felted ball with yellow polka dots that I made. Out of your little basket of toys it is always the thing you reach for first.
-You have beautiful blue eyes and they sparkle
-You are tipping the scales at 19lbs! Your brother was 15 at this age. :)
-You are still only breastfeeding with no sign of solids on your horizon. We will visit that when the teeth come, for now I don't think you are suffering. :)
-You adore your older brother and laugh and laugh at him. You will sit in one spot for a long time if he is near by playing so you can watch him
-You sleep like a champ, of your own accord. You still wake up in the early early morning for some food, but I kind of like that time with you. And you still take 3 naps a day.

-You had your first hair cut already which made me very sad. It was like saying goodbye to your last little bit on infancy and I'm not going to lie, one of the things I miss the MOST is your perfect soft head of thick black hair. But you loved your haircut and smiled at everybody of course. :)
Before -


After

(Terrible 'after' picture but it was the best I could do before I had to run and grab T from getting into something.) :)

-You are sitting up like a pro most of the time
-You have no teeth yet and show little sign of crawling, just like your brother at this stage, but that is ok. Those things will come and they will probably come fast. It's safe to say that I have NEVER been in a hurry for my children to be in the next 'stage'. It all comes too quickly as far as I am concerned and I am pretty happy with today.
-I can't think of anything else out of the ordinary, you are a fairly normal 6 month old who is just happy to be part of life.


We are so blessed by you. I am so underserving, but so thankful.

Love

Today I am thankful that I can love, because He loved me first.

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" 1 John 4:10
"We love Him because He first loved us." 1 John 4:19

That I can know love by seeking the one who is Love itself.

"He who does not love, does not know God, for God is Love" 1 John 4:8

I am thankful that He teaches me to love better, the more He shows me His love.

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John 3:16

May I manifest His love more with each passing year.
Happy Valentines Day friends, may you know His love today.

Bullets

So this is going to be point form, cause that's just easy. :)
- I have had this cold for like 3 weeks now, and this week it has settled in my head, and has given me a sympathy for people who have chronic headaches. Seriously, almost every day has been about survival. I hope it clears soon. Any suggestions for what to do if it is a sinus infection? I really don't want antibiotics.
- Soren is going to be 6 months tomorrow. That is a whole other post. :)

- Soren is starting to sit up, he still falls on his tummy lots, but he is happy there too.
- Theo's energy level is gaining momentum I feel I can no longer keep up :)
- Theo and Soren had their first bath together. It was cute. Theo likes some things better when he sees them through Soren's eyes.


- I got my own needle felting material and I am so excited, I sit and look at the colors and don't know where to start. The possibilities are endless. :) Here the first thing I made, a ball...

And some hearts for Feb.


- Not feeling well this week has meant that I had to get creative with Theo to keep the house from being destroyed around me. We built forts to play in and we drove trucks in rice. He played like it was snow he was moving.

- Theo wanted to try out baby wearing with me. And he wanted to hold my hand for the picture.

- I am SO excited to have a night making cards tomorrow night. It will be SO fun and is such a creative outlet for me.
- Theo's hair is curly/wavy, I don't think I will ever cut it short again :)
- I am almost to 100 of my one thousand gifts. I love looking back over them already.

This is a bit disjointed, but I just wanted to blog. So there you have it, our week in bullets and pictures. :)

I would say this is hard to believe that he is 5 months, almost 6 now, but I know that it is no secret that time marches on, so we just try to live fully, enjoying every moment we get. And I am SOO overwhelmingly thankful for everyday, every look, every smile, every touch of these last almost 6 months with Soren and feel so blessed to get to be these boys mama!


So freezing cold temps mean for long days inside for us anyway. I am not one of those brave mothers who ventures out, rain, hail, sleet or snow. :) Pretty much it hits -10 C and I hibernate. :) I don't think T is getting enough energy out though because I am currently listening to him playing in his room behind the door while he is supposed to be sleeping, and he thinks that I think he is. haha, he is so funny. I better get some activities planned here to keep him busy. Maybe a good swim would be good for wearing him out. Anyway, here are some pictures of our fun times indoors these days.

I wish I would have time to change angles to get their full face, but this is how they look at each other all the time, and it melts my heart.

Soren in his jumper

"Baby face, you've got the cutest little baby face..."

And the boys...


Here is hoping the warmer days are actually coming tomorrow like they say... :)

Living Right Now

I tend to be the kind of person that thinks that such and such will finally happen down the road. Actually I secretly, and falsely believe that perfection for me, my marriage and my family is going to happen down the road, and I am just waiting for that one magical day when I will wake up and I will have attained said perfection. Foolish, I know, trust me. But I still live like I believe it will happen. So, this one thousand gifts thing has been good for me. It is amazing how much I am finding that I have to really train my mind to recognize the gifts that are around everyday. Example:

Our marriage, of almost 5 years, has never been an overly easy one. If we believed in divorce, I am pretty sure it would have already happened. BUT we do not. Our motto is that we either live happily together, or miserably together, but always together.

So we work hard for the happily together part, and sometimes we succeed and sometimes not. I know this is maybe a bit personal, but I am going somewhere with this, I promise.

I usually think in my mind that one day, when we can go to counselling or when one of us changes this or that (well mostly I think when Brian changes, but of course that is very wrong thinking, cause there are many things I could change) our marriage will be wonderful and we will always feel in love etc. In this train of thinking however I am missing what is great about our marriage today, because there are great things. And this one thousand gifts actually started as a desire to start making a list of all the things I appreciate about my husband today in order to train my mind to be thankful for him all the time.


All that to say that it is amazing how simple and yet how uncommon it can be for us to notice the ways that God blesses us through our husbands, our children and our friends and so many other things in everyday life. So I just want to challenge you that even if you never do the one thousand gifts, to start paying real attention to all the things that God has blessed you with throughout the day today!

I was thankful this weekend to get to go to an ice festival a little ways from here. Actually 7 1/2 hours total in the car with four adults and two kids = long day, but I loved every minute! Oh the beauty of winter. I can't say I love freezing cold days upon end where you feel house bound. But the days of warmer temperatures and getting to enjoy the snowy outdoors are lovely! Here are some more pictures of our fun day!
Theo with a bear eating a fish...


This was going to be a bunny when they were done, no ears yet...


I liked this snowflake..


Not sure what was with Theo sticking his tongue out for every picture.. :)


Family picture at the ice castle..

Thankfulness

Hubby and I are going to take on the one thousand gifts challenge. (If you haven't heard of it google it, or check it out on amazon.com, you can look inside and get an idea of what it is about) I have been thinking about it, and decided to see if he would do it with me. I don't mean that we are going to add to the same list, just that we are each going to do our own, and our goal is to each have one thousand by the end of 2011. I am so excited about this, and to do it with my husband.
I haven't read the book, although I would love to, I have only read the pages your are allowed to see when you 'look inside' on amazon.com. But I feel that it will be a wonderful exercise in recognizing the gifts and presence of God in our lives everyday, right here, right now.

I have also decided to make a missions statement for myself, inspired by Lindsey at PassionateHomemaking.com. I think this will give my days, years even, a sense of purpose, and really be like the whole 'new years resolution' but on a much more focused larger scale. I feel the need for myself to have focus and goals, otherwise my days slip away and important things are overlooked. God has been doing some real pruning in my life and I believe is doing something in the life of my husband and I feel that this is a critical time for us. There's some things that really need to change and as we are slowly moving forward into those changes I feel like we gain momentum and encouragement in the ways that God is calling us to be more like Him.

I am excited for this year and for the opportunity to be more like Christ. I am excited that He loves us where we are as He calls us to change at the same time.

Outside

So the last thing I felt like doing today is going outside, BUT I knew that we all needed to. T was trying to climb up furniture by 9am, so I thought that no matter how much work it was to get us all out the door, the sun was shining and it needed to happen. So here are some fun pictures from our morning, a few from inside and a few outside...

Some fun at the mirror where Soren jumps....



T in his oversized snowsuit kicking the snow on our walk..


T's favourite thing to do with the snow... shovel




Rosy Cheeks from playing outside...


Soren happy to be back inside and be able to move, cause he certianly can't in his snowsuit....



And I just have to add that I finished this puzzel recently, shortly after the Mt. Rushmore one (I don't think I had added a picture of that one before), which was only 500, (this was 750) but I think it was easier, and I enjoyed it more...




Next up, 1000 piece one (gasp, I hope I finish it, never attempted one this big on my own.)
Anyway, it's been a mostly fun day, and last night I discovered the joy of needle felting thanks to Missy's willingness to share and teach! I think I am sold and can't wait to invest in some of my own supplies. I will put up a picture of the ball I made (with all it's imperfections) when it is done going through the wash.

Happy Wednesday!