Not the Bath! Anything but the Bath!

Poor Ebenezer is not a fan of taking baths, unless he can be in the tub with Mommy. Unfortunately our new house only has a stand up shower, so his only option right now is the sink tub.

Since this is the case, I now frequently get faces like this...

Whew! Mom, that was awful!

Boy, am I glad that's over!

My Mother's Day

This year I got to celebrate my first Mother's Day! Chris made it so special by surprising me with a card, out to lunch after church and a great family nap! I can't believe how blessed I am to get to be Ebenezer's mother!

Breast feeding: The Good, The Bad and The Milky - Bonding

So as I discovered, breast feeding isn't the easiest job, and it doesn't come as naturally as I thought it would - but it has some hidden benefits I didn't know about before.

1.) It's a need only you can supply.
This sounds like a strange benefit, but if you are exclusively breast feeding YUO are the only person who can fill your baby's need to eat. It's pretty cool to be able to so directly meet a need like that. Since you are the only one feeding him, you also know exactly what he's been eating, how often, how much and what you've been eating too. This can be really helpful in diagnosing that cry, you know exactly when he ate last so you can have a pretty good guess as to whether he's hungry or there's a different problem. If your day has gotten more hectic than you planned, stopping to feed your baby gives you time to regroup and also focus on your little one who might have been overlooked in the flurry of activity. Finally, since you are the only one feeding him, you are guaranteed that quality time with him.

2.) Sweet snuggles.
I cannot describe how precious it is to have your baby reach up to hold your shirt, grab your finger or put his little hand on you chest just to be that much closer to you. It melts my heart every time! Several times Eb has had his hand on either side of his meal while he is eating almost as though to say 'Oh, Momma don't go anywhere!'. Talk about precious!

3.) First conversations.
Often when Eb is done eating, and not ready to sleep, he will sit and 'talk' with me! I love hearing his little voice and the new sounds he tries almost every day! I really feel strongly that if I want him to talk with us (and listen to us) about important things when he is older, I need to listen to the things HE finds important while he's small. Obviously he's not stringing understandable words together right now, but I consider these times good practice for both of us - plus his little grins and earnest faces while he coos are just too fun to miss!

4.) Lots of time for prayer.
Studying my little man while he eats is most often when I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to have such a wonderful little person in my life and in my care. It makes for a perfect time to pour my thankfulness out to the Lord, marvel at His creativity and handiwork, and pray, pray, pray for his future. I know the Lord has wonderful plans for my little son and I am do grateful I get to play a part in them!

Glimpses of our new home!

You can just barely see our lake outside!

While its not quite ready for a close up yet, here is our new place! It is strange and exciting at the same time to be back. For those of you who dont know, my family lived here for six years right after our house burned down. Many of my first memories were made in this house and now my son's first memories will be here too! While I am enjoying the experience, it's still a rather odd sensation!

I am having fun picking out wall colors and other house things like replacement lanolium, but I can now understand a little better why all the choices involved in building a house would be overwhelming! Also we have a yard! It needs some cleaning up but I am so excited to get to landscape our own place! This is the first time in our married lives that we've had a yard and I'm trying really hard to pace myself with all the things u would like to do!

Three Months!

My boy is growing so quickly! It is wonderful to see what changes and adventures each new day brings!

Just last week Eb turned 3 months and we heard his first laugh! He now sits really well in his Bumbo, loves to grab his toes during diaper changes, has added squealing to his vocal repitruar, rolls onto his side (but not all the way over yet), focuses on and tracks objects really well with his eyes and wants to walk so bad! He likes to be held so that he can push with his legs and "stand". He has almost out grown his 3-6 months clothes and has started into his 6-9 months clothes! Although we can't see them yet he has started working on teething and seems to drool non-stop. In short he has to be the coolest 3 month old in existence!

Not that I'm biased or anything :)

Oh Hai Momma!

Contemplating the issues of the world....

I can fly!

My beautiful boy!

Enjoying Florida

Before we went out Eb caught a nap with Daddy!

Since we are getting so close to our move date Chris and I are enjoying some of the fun little things Florida has to offer while we still can - like swimming outdoors in April!  While it was still too cool for me to feel comfortable taking Eb in the water, he had fun rolling around the pool with Mom or Dad while the other one swam!

My handsome happy boy!

Figs!?!

There were figs on the ground around the pool!  I am still baffled as to where they are coming from because none of the trees around the pool look like a fig tree!

Yay! Pool!

I love his little hat!

Gorgeous Day!

Enjoying the sun!

Konked out after a big day!

 

First Easter!

Today was Ebenezer's first Easter! It was a beautiful day to celebrate the Lord's resurrection even though he wasn't feeling his best due to some teeth trying to come in. He got all gussied up in his outfit (unfortunately it fit much better about two weeks ago!) and we had a fun morning at church and visiting with some friends of ours for lunch afterwards.

It was a rather bittersweet day - it was wonderful to celebrate and visit with our church family, but it is really coming home to me that we are leaving SOON and this is our last Sunday with our Florida friends. While I'm super excited to be heading home we sure are going to miss the sweet fellowship we found here.