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Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Lincoln Life {5 months}

This boy.

Linco baby, you're almost 6 months old.
These past 5 months have been just the sweetest, best of my life.
You have brought deep joy to the heart of our little family, & we are all so grateful for you.

 At 5 months you are long.
You are chubby.
You are drooly.
You are loud.
You are ridiculously sweet.

 And you are very easily excitable.
You now have 2 teeth on the bottom of your mouth.
This month you learned to push up on your hands & knees & rock like a crazy man.
Your sister & brothers cheered so much when you started doing that, which you thought was awesome.
Now, you are so close to crawling.
And I'm trying not to panic about that little fact.

 You love your feet.
Especially chewing on your toes.
Tucker thinks it's hilarious. Parker thinks its gross.
I can't get her to understand that your feet are just not dirty like hers.
She doesn't get it.

I love to watch you look at your hands or feet.
They're like long lost friends every time you see them.
And it makes me smile.

 Your hair is still fuzzy & your cheeks are still so soft.
You are a grabby little thing these days & pretty soon, nothing will be safe in your reach.
You kick your legs & wave your little arms all the time.
And your really good at slapping your big ol hands on things.
Like dad's arms, our hands, or my face. You're pretty strong!
You are such a good little napper.
But still wake up once or twice a night.
That should probably end soon.
But you are my baby & I just don't mind enough yet to kick you to your own room.

 You laugh like crazy when I shake my head & my hair gets in my face.
You have a funny little sense of humor.
Your favorite toys are the ones you can chew on, especially your elephant.
You seem to really like your blanket these days, but the paci days are long gone.
Which means, maybe, just maybe, you won't need to be broken of a habit in a couple of years like the rest of your siblings. Thank you for that.

 When you're sleepy, you really like your mama to hold you.
You smile so big at your daddy when he comes home.
Parker sings Annie songs to you & you get so excited.
You make Tucker giggle so much with your funny faces & sounds.
And Truett loves to give you hugs & kisses all day long.
Your Grammy & Mimi are pretty sweet on you too.
And all the girls at church. You have a lot of fans.

You wake up happy & playful.
You give sweet hugs that none of us can get enough of.
When people see you, they always comment on how happy & sweet you are.
And they're right.
You make life awesome Lincoln man.
And we love you.
Happy 5 months!
Love, Mama

Saturday, April 18, 2015

Being Brave

Tucker pretends to be his daddy a lot.
He picked a really great guy to pretend to be like.

Tucker has a pretty strong shy streak these days.
He does not enjoy being watched or noticed if he's somewhere new or what he thinks is uncomfortable.
Like church, the grocery store, the playground, his grandparents' house…you know places he shouldn't be at ease. What?
Yeah. Sometimes it makes me a little nutty when he rudely tells people not to look at him or tries to pull up my shirt to hide under (not my most glorious moments in public- I did just have a 4th baby & don't really love showing off my muffin top to just anyone. I digress.).
All because someone said hi or they like his shoes or something.

But as much as it can make me crazy that my awesome little boy hides like a turtle when people come near, I've noticed it bothers him too.
That's a tough one to take as a mom.
To me he is the picture of God's most perfect handiwork.
He's funny, silly, talented, cute, so handsome, has awesome curls in his hair, my only brown headed one, & is a tremendous friend to his sister, brothers & his favorite buddies (most of the time).

Naturally, I think he should be confident & not suffer from being shy at all.
But that is not his reality right now. That is my big picture goal for him.

So for now, we talk about being brave.
I told him a story the other day about his greatest hero, his dad.
How when he was a little boy he would hide his face in his Mimi & Papa's legs or shoulders.
How his uncle teased him about not knowing what he looked like unless he could see the back of his head...

"Dad used to be shy like me?"
And it hit me. "Yes. He did. But, God made him so brave.
And he's making you brave too."

I'm learning that being a mom is so much more about letting God work in my heart, than me trying to figure out how to change my kids.
Letting go & trusting God to work on the big stuff.
And isn't being brave what life's all about?
I have to be brave every morning when I climb out of bed & step into my generally messy kitchen to make breakfast for my tiny tribe, because every day holds something new & usually challenging.

Life is about trusting God when we really don't want to do something or are afraid of what's staring us in the face.
That never changes.

So Tucker & I have decided to be a little bit braver each day.
It's hard work for both of us.
Him tolerating being told he has cool shoes, me remembering God is in control of everything, if I let Him.
And together I think our bigger picture will be even better than what we could ever imagine.
God is good. I'm loving today with my shy guy & excitedly looking to all God has in store for him as he grows.
Even when my muffin top is showing.

Friday, April 10, 2015

A "bwown" marker story

"Hey Truett…why is there brown marker on your belly?"


 "Um."

 "It's bwown."

 "I know. Why is it on your belly?"

"Um." 
"I yike it!"

"Well, next time, keep it on the paper. Let's go take a bath."
"Awight. Swo-wee mama."
"You're cute Truett."
"Shanks."
The End