Family Update

I think it's about time for a family-update. Most of my writing is about all the things going on inside MY head... but all the while my children are growing and changing, and our family dynamic is growing and changing. I document the change going on in my heart because I don't want to forget the thoughts and processes that get me to each place, and family is the same. I don't want to look back someday and wonder how we got where we are... I want to have LOTS of memories, LOTS of pictures, and well, LOTS of blog posts :)

Jonathan.
He is settling in to life right now. He has the occasional rowdy streak or stubborn flair, but for the most part he is happy to run, to play, to wiggle and pretend and make helicopter/motorcycle/race car/monster truck noises. He loves to beat box (yes, my 5 yr old beat-boxes...), and is learning the lyrics to songs he hears a lot. He has moved to the grade-school Sunday school class at church, leaving Henry in charge of the preschool class ;)  At first he was nervous about it, but when the time came for him to march down stairs with his peers, he dismissed me, "I'm okay Mom, you don't need to walk me down after all".  Now that he's in the "big kid class" at church, he stays through the worship before he gets dismissed. It completely blew my mind watching him respond to the music the first Sunday he stayed with me. Josh was playing guitar, and I could occasionally see them make eye contact, and see Daddy's heart swell the same way mine was. Jonathan's movements were different than his usual "dance-party" moves. He was responding to the depth of the worship, not just the sound of the music. It rocked my world. He rocks my world. We've started school more seriously this year, since he's technically Kindergarten aged. He has a reasonably short attention (and still-ness) span, but he puts his mind to his work and does it quickly and efficiently, so he can go back to his wonderful world of play. Don't grow up too quickly, little boy...

Henry.
Good grief, he just turned four! On the morning of his fourth birthday, Josh asked me to pick out one of my favorite things about Henry right now. I began to describe how much I like the way he talks right now... I love the way he says 'nuggle (snuggle), and 'nack (snack), and 'nake (snake), and 'paghetti (spaghetti)... Henry looked right at me, with big, giant, 4-year-old eyes, and said, "Hey Mommy?... SNUGGLE." :)  Just like that, he added the "s" to all those adorable, s-less words I loved so much! This experience was so characteristic of Henry... when he sets his mind to something, he just does it! As age three approached last year, I had spent a lot of time talking to him about potty training. He had watched brother, and knew what was expected of him. Shortly after he turned three, he told me he would be ready "tomorrow".  So, "tomorrow", we went to the store and bought him underwear, and BAM he was potty trained.  The year before, around age 2, Josh and I had told him that when his current binkie broke that we would throw it away and it would be the last one. The binkie began to deteriorate, and one day it "broke". I showed him, and reminded him that it needed to be thrown away- he took it from my hand, ran to the garbage and tossed it in! He asked where it was a few times after that, but was okay when I told him it was gone.  I'm amazed at how big and strong Henry's heart is. He is full of passion and compassion, he loves to do things himself, and to be hands-on. He loves to help me cook dinner, to play sweetly with Sister, to laugh loudly, and to sing. Hold on to that passion, little boy, and direct it Heavenward!

Ruby.
Little Princess is beginning to explore her world! Since giving up nursing around her birthday, she has become quite attached to Daddy :) She will be happily chomping on fishie crackers (which she loves) in her high chair, and hear Daddy pull into the driveway, and it's all I can do to keep her from busting her way out to get to her Daddy. She will hang on his pant leg while he gathers his things to leave for work, and lay her head down on his shoulder over and over again, non-verbally begging him not to leave :) She still crawls with one leg forward, and loves to walk if someone will hold her hand. She loves sparkles and jewelry and purses and cell phones... She recovered from her hernia surgery like a champ- by the end of the day of the surgery she was beginning to walk around and scrunch up her little nose, releasing her silly, giggly little personality. As the toddler days begin, I cannot believe how fast it has gone/is going... precious, precious time is happening right before my eyes.

Josh and I.
We celebrated 7 years since Josh proposed to me, this week! We went back to the restaurant we ate at after the proposal, and were flooded with so many memories... I remember sitting under that dollar-bill-covered ceiling (anybody know where that is??), in partial disbelief over the brand new life I had stumbled upon. This unbelievably amazing man asked me to join him for life- to support him, to be his prize, to build a family with him, to grow old with him. Looking back, we were barely past being kids, and got to begin our adult years side-by-side. He has figured out how to husband, to father, to lead, I have discovered wife-hood, mother-hood, and I'm diving happily headlong into all that entails.


I'm so, so grateful for it all.