created especially for us: Milestones, celebrations, and the future

Can someone please slow down time? I think it has been stuck on fast forward lately, as yet another month has flown by right under my nose. I've been contemplating a lot of things lately... the incredible child we've been so blessed with, nearly three years of marriage, our potential future, what I want to do with my life outside of being a wife and raising kids... you know, the little things. Before I lose myself in my own thought throw-up, here's what James has been up to:

Sitting and Standing and Climbing, oh my!: Not long after he started crawling he finally learned how to push himself into a sitting position. Of course he did it once and he was a pro later that same day. I'm still a little shocked that he accomplished standing as quickly as he did. He's been at it for about two weeks now. The first time he did it on his own was in front of Brian without me there, it was fun for me that Brian got to experience a major first in person. James is starting to consider taking steps but isn't fully committed yet. Although at this rate I'm sure in another day or two he'll be furniture walking like it's his job. Earlier this morning (with me present the entire time) James climbed two stairs! Seriously, this kid is going to be running around before I know it! He definitely takes after his mama in this area.

Solids: After a battle with a few ups and a lot of downs, James is finally becoming very interested in food. He will eat a few things off of a spoon, but for the most part he enjoys feeding himself tiny little pieces of soft food, even if most of it doesn't quite make it to his mouth. It just took a magical visit from Grandma Pam a couple weeks ago to get him going, apparently. No complaints over here! He still gags sometimes but he is getting so much better.

Babbling: His babbling is seemingly becoming more and more "intentional." The most coherent thing he says right now is "dadadada" but many of the noises he makes are sounding more and more like they could sound like words =)

Mama time: Twice in the last week and a half James has burst into tears (or bigger tears) because he was so glad to see me. Both times he was very tired and fairly hungry but I'll still take it. I think it's pretty much the only time you can genuinely smile at the fact that your infant is crying. It's such an intense feeling to be the one your child seeks and being able to comfort them unlike anyone else can.

Daddy time: For quite a while now, James gets EXTREMELY excited when Brian comes home from work (or any other time he hasn't seen him for awhile, like in the morning). If he's in his exersaucer he bounces up and down like a crazy man, if I'm holding him he wiggles around and kicks his feet like crazy, and if he's on the floor he crawls right to him. I'm pretty sure my heart flutters every time I get to watch it. I am forever thankful that my child has been blessed with an incredible father.

Dedication: We dedicated James at church on Sunday and my mom and stepdad drove down for it, a terrible thing for them I'm sure ;-). Dedication is very different from infant baptism, basically we get up in front of the church to say that we are offering James back to God. As parents, we commit to raising him in God's word and His ways and the church commits to encouraging and supporting us in upholding our biblical role as parents.

A good friend that I have known since freshman year of college gave birth to her first child, a baby girl, on Monday. We live in the same city and gave birth at the same hospital. It's been such a unique experience for me watching her go through her pregnancy just after I did. I have enjoyed being able to share (probably way more than she ever wanted to hear) some of the things I learned and went through. It has been making me reflect on my pregnancy with James in such a different way than I had ever expected. It has made me want to be pregnant again. Yep, I know, I'm as shocked as you are. It's kind of upsetting, really, with how much I hated being pregnant. I know that if I happened to become pregnant right now my first thought would be, "What the eff was I thinking?!" Thankfully, the rational part of me knows I'm not ready to tackle another pregnancy yet. I still have these moments when I'm doing something I won't be able to/will be much more difficult when I get pregnant again where I find myself wondering how I'm ever going to convince myself to willingly become pregnant again. It's definitely going to be a totally different experience to "plan" on getting pregnant.

I'm not ready to discuss it yet for several reasons, and I still have some praying to do about it, but I think I've decided/figured out what I want to do as a job and the best part is I would be able to make money from home doing it. I'm both excited and nervous about it at the same time. Change, especially to something new, is always a little scary but this has the potential to also be SO good. Stay tuned! "God will not invite us anywhere He is not already waiting."

Next Friday we will be headed to IL to participate in and celebrate Brian's sister's wedding day. We are very much looking forward to it and praying for fabulous weather as it will all be taking place outdoors. Two weeks from today Brian and I will be celebrating three years of marriage. I still have such vivid memories from our wedding day that I can't believe it has been three years already. So many awesome things have happened in such a short amount of time, and yet there's still so much to look forward to.

If James continues with the trend he is on, I will hopefully be updating this more often. He has been taking some amazing naps the last few days. Life is awesome.

Love,
-K