tonight marks a first...lucy is sleeping in garrett's bed. this has been coming. they've spent time in his bed after reading books at night. but usually it ends in too many hijinks & they have to be separated. but they keep asking for her to sleep there. as i was leaving his room, garrett said, "now we can call this garrett's & lucy's bed." cuteness!
so tonight i put up the bed rail (where L would sleep) on one side of garrett's bed. i tucked them in. there was a little yelling ("garrett was touching my necklace!") & some water being spilled. lucy hurt her toe. but all has been quiet for the last 20 minutes. i'm almost afraid to go look. but honestly...i think they're asleep. (i want desperately to take a picture but i don't dare risk waking her (G could sleep through a hurricane!).) lord only knows what time they're going to come bounding into our bedroom. :-)
yesterday was also a funny sibling moment for them. while eating a snack, stood up on the couch & tooted in lucy's face. twice. they both laughed hysterically. then he laid down on the couch with his head in her lap & she was saying, "aaawwww!" & rubbing his hair. seriously. they crack us up!
(& as an aside. my brother tooted on my head numerous times in my life. the LAST time he did it was the night before i got married. mature. real. mature. hahahaha! this MUST be genetic.)
still praying that brooks advances with feeding & walking on his own...good "steps" this past week in that direction. while in NC, he started standing (albeit briefly) on his own & last night he ate a piece of cheese pizza, an entire banana & a yogurt for dinner; today's lunch was 7 sweet potato tots, yogurt & another banana! literally, thank God! (& yes, i counted each tot that went down the hatch!)
i put lucy down for her nap & shortly hear her doing her very fake wimper'y cry.
i walk upstairs & open her door. just look at her sitting in her crib. she looks at me & points down to the walking, talking pony...Pinky Pie.
"what?", i say.
"she hit me."
i had to turn my face out to the hallway because i was laughing so very hard.
Pinky Pie is now in timeout on lucy's dresser.
while lucy, in numerous ways, doesn't allow us to ever forget she's here, there are times when i see how she is truly the "squished in the middle" child. there is the inevitable focus on an older child who is learning & developing, the first to achieve those milestones that are part of childhood, more physically capable & verbal (for now). there is the meeting of needs for a baby who cannot do for himself (& is providing a set of challenges that we've never faced before).
lucy is so patient with us. but then when she wants us, she wants us. time spent rocking & singing before bed (can i tell you how precious it is to hold your baby girl's hands yours while singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands"?). time spent 'nuggling in our bed & talking about our special day. reading the books she picks & spending time not really reading so much but answering only her questions about the pictures (i really don't "read" as much as we "talk" about what she sees). going for walks. sitting beside a specific parent at a meal. & she had a special date with daddy all alone yesterday...a treat at dunkin donuts - which she ate while sitting on her daddy's lap the entire time! & then time spent playing at the park for two whole hours. (my date with her is next weekend & i'm already looking forward to it, so much so!)
our girl is SUCH a love! such a little mommy. she is my helper. i love how she loves her brothers. how she wrestles with garrett, plays in his room with him. i just ensure we focus on how we fertilize her heart, her soul, her passions. how we validate her place in our family. she is a doll baby. i love love LOVE her. & i just wanted to say that. here. in this little place in our family history.
warning: this post might fall on the side of TMI. if you'd like to stop reading now, please do so. as i've stated b/f, my blog is one of the only places i record our day-to-day happenings.
garrett took a 45-minute nap today. it's 10:36PM & he's still awake. he watched the braves game with us for a bit; he's now playing in his room (& keeps coming out in costumes, fake rubber teeth, wielding swords, etc - he is NOT tired).
when he went back up to his room, i told him to use the bathroom, put the pull-up on & get in his bed. he came back out onto the landing naked from the waist down & says...
G: "mom, i peed in a cup."
me: "you what?"
G: "i peed in that cup in my bathroom."
brian: "what cup?"
G: "that 'lady & the tramp' cup." (a plastic cup for water in his bathroom.)
me: "why in the world would you do something like that, garrett?"
G: "because at the doctor, we peed in a cup in the bathroom."
(insert brian & me turning our heads & laughing hysterically.)
me: "you're right, you did. please don't do that again tho. go get your pull-up on & get in the bed, please."
(insert me & brian turning our heads & laughing hysterically. again.)
i mean, seriously? what in the world? this kid is a riot. an absolute friggin' riot. so if you visit our home in the near future, please drink only from cups taken directly out of the dishwasher or feel free to bring your own. & keep it stowed in your car until the moment you need to drink from it.
photo above taken in our front yard after garrett & had some friends chalk'd the drains. they made the storm drains pretty (these were the girls words). you can kind of see the dust on his pants. his shirt was covered in it. he wasn't angry in this shot, just making a funny face at me.
romans 10:9-10 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
our Savior. our risen, living Savior. because He LIVES. this morning, andy reminded us that it is only because of this truth that our following Christ is real, that it matters. it would be in vain, completely worthless without a Jesus who was not in the tomb that morning. the teaching of Jesus would be void. without further merit.
thankful for the truth that is the Resurrection! a full heart tonight from proclaiming this truth today & basking in the love of family & friends (thankful for the saboms, gwaltneys & funderburks!). blessed.
i also wanted to include a few shots of our "Easter best"...of course, no one wanted to cooperate fully, at the same time. & of course, there is not a single shot of the five of us together. one of the funniest parts of the day was picking garrett up from his class at church. i asked what was the most important thing he learned. his response:
"we talked about Jesus died on the cross. & He took away all our spankings." so...i'm not sure what was lost in translation there, but i haven't stopped laughing since he shared this little nugget with me.
when i asked lucy the same, her response:
"we can hold jesus in our hearts." she cupped her hands together & placed them over her heart. ah, MY heart! so thankful for a church who partners with us to write these truths on our children's hearts.
we do our best to have a Bible story/devotion as part of each night's reading before bed. tonight the kids wanted to start back into the Jesus Storybook Bible. this has been our family's favorite Bible book.
there has been discussion on our part to minimize the secular approach to Easter this year. we've done egg hunts, we have some bunny ears laying around, but the "Bunny" so to speak is not making an appearance this year. (this is just *our* family's choice, we don't presume what is right for every other family, so pls don't freak out on me. :-) thank you.) but unfortunately our overly hectic week hasn't left much time to focus on preparing the kids for Easter this Sunday (parental fail, right?).
so tonight, i selected 'the sun stops shining' chapter. an easy way to explain why we call this 'good friday' & what the crucifixion represents to those who call themselves disciples of Christ. the story was very emotional for me & i immediately wanted to pray for my kids when the chapter ended. i took their hands & asked our Father to protect them & reveal Himself to them. i prayed for them to one day come to the place where they want to follow Jesus & love him every day of their lives.
it was very emotional for me. confessing to my Father, in front of my children that i am a sinner & am so grateful for the day the sun stopped shining. that the life i live, i live breathing in the grace i do not deserve & could never have achieved on my own merit. i was thinking about our kids & how all i really, really, REEEEEALLY want them to know is that Jesus loves them, they can know Him & they can live here & now & forever with Him.
at the end of the prayer, i said, "amen". i look to my right, towards garrett laying beside me. i see him fist pump up towards the sky & emphatically proclaim, "i got you, jesus!" my heart! i must admit my emotions turned to laughter & joy. it's true, tho, right. we've got Him. what a gift. what a Good Friday.
