She Said Yes!

My littlest brother is getting married!  Yay!  She's a wonderful, sweet, laid-back, genuine kind of Christian girl, and I'm just thrilled to pieces that the Lord brought them together.

They let me take some engagement photos of them a couple of weeks ago, which was SO much fun.  And it was really SWEET of them to let me do it!  I feel like I need to repeat my assertion that I am in no way trying to become a photographer.  Believe you me, I am well aware of how much I don't know.  But for things like this, it really does mean a lot to be able to do it.  And, hopefully, they will find a shot or two that they can actually use!

I have no idea if these shots are the ones that the beautiful couple will actually want to use.  I'm just putting about 8 of them on here.  I sent them about 70!  (Again, not a photographer....  )  

Who doesn't want to be looked at like this?  Ahhhh.... it's nice to see your brother in love.

Ha!  As we were taking pictures, a car drove by and honked at the duo.  David's look says it all!  "Yes, I know she's hot.  No, you can not honk at her.  Do it again, and I will smack ya".

Lord willing, we'll be able to watch them tie the wedding knot in early November.  We're so looking forward to it!  Then we can start pestering them to have babies.

KIDDING!!!!!!!  Just kidding.  Seriously.  You two, I'm kidding.  

David has just recently passed his dissertation proposal defense, so he's in the last stages of finishing up his PhD.  We're all so happy for him and Leah!

To the blessed couple, may your walk together be close and full, and always focused on a singular point - pleasing God.  May your lines of communication always be wide open to each other.  May you become each other's very best friend.  May you make each other laugh till you can't breathe!  May the new family that you create the day you get married be strong and forever-lasting.  God bless you, my sweet brother and future SIL.  I love y'all!

Eleven Months

Happy Eleven Months little angel girl!!!

Wow.  Eleven.  Next month brings you to the one year mark that always gets here way too quickly.  It's the one thing that parents always hear about, are expecting to experience, but never quite know what to do with - the speedy passage of time that surrounds the lives of our children.  But, God has been so gracious to us.  You are healthy and happy and full of the joie de vivre!

Just yesterday, you learned how to flush a potty.  Haha!  I was doing a quick clean of a bathroom and you caught sight of the handle on the side.  Oh yes, the look on your face expressed all the power and mischievousness that your little mind could imagine.  As your daddy said, you're enough of a stinker that you're going to be the one to throw things in the potty just to see them flush!  It's a good thing he has access to a database of plumbers.  Maybe we should put one on retainer now.

You are still crawling as your means of locomotion (yay!  not ready to give that up yet!), and you are still "cruising" by pulling up on things and using them to help you "walk".  We have caught you a number of times over the last month letting go while you were standing and remaining on your feet for a moment or two before sitting back down.

We get lots and lots and lots of babbling.  You still love patting on something or pointing to something and being told what its name is.  Dogs fascinate you, and Custard is like a mini, walking, shedding playground for you.

We are beginning to see the first stages of "independence", for lack of a better term.  You will look at us before you do something you know to be the wrong thing.  Like drop things off of your high chair.  And you're beginning to test your boundaries by having those first intentional tantrums.  Granted, they are mild and they are cute compared to what we know will be coming.  But, we're ready for 'em little one!  That's one of the problems of being the third baby.  It's not Mommy and Daddy's first rodeo.  We may have been clueless with Poodle and mostly clueless with Tooter, but we've got our collective gloves up this time.  And you are responding beautifully to the wee bits of discipline that babies can get, in your normal, sweet, accommodating way.

You've got two more teeth!  As of 7/16, you had a new tooth on top to the right of your front teeth and a new one on the bottom to the left of those front ones.  There is one more looking to break through any day now.  Teething is still bothersome to you, BUT, it's getting slightly better.  Just slightly, but still, we'll take what we can get.  Your toothy smile is just so cute.  So cute!!!

You are a whiz with the sippy cup.  And, it is still practically impossible to convince you to eat baby food.  (Don't know what happened!)  You want things you can pick up and hold and eat yourself.  Which is a challenge, because we're having to find things that you can gum (since you have no chewing teeth), but that have some nutritional value, that will also be easy on your tummy.  Yippee!  ::wink::  You're still nursing a lot, so that makes up for what you don't get vitamin-wise from your "real" food.  And, I can still convince you to eat a bit of yogurt, even though it is awfully baby food'ish to you.

Here are some things you like:
fish sticks
cheese (cheddar)
crackers
pretzels
rice (brown and white)
apples
blueberries, sort of
steamed carrots, sort of
cheerios
corn chex cereal

You kind of like pasta with a bit of tomato sauce, but pasta in general has a weird texture for you to chew up.

We have discovered that peanut butter is a big no-no right now.  I gave you a piece of a crust of bread cut from Poodle's pb&j, and it had a teensy bit of peanut butter on it.  The bread - you liked!  But, the peanut butter made your little face break out and your lips swell up.  Scared me a bit!  But, I don't think you have the kind of dangerous peanut allergy that is a cause for true alarm.  We just have to keep you away from the "strong stuff" for awhile.

Same thing with egg whites.  Not quite as extreme of a reaction, but still.  You can eat things with egg whites in them, like cookies or what-have-you.  But, scrambled eggs cause a bit of a reaction.  I have discovered, however, that you like scrambled egg yolks with cheese!  (and those are okay)

You have begun to "love love" things.  You'll put your sweet face down on various things and smile with a darling look in your eyes and wait for us to say "awww, Lollypop, loooove love!"  In fact, that's what you're doing in your eleven month progress picture.  You were love loving on Fuzzy Wuzzy!

My babygirl, you make us laugh, you make us sigh with pleasure.  Your giggle is our attitude adjustment, and your eyes are our reminder to do better.  We love you so much!

BFF Family

Last night, we all got to go hang out with Poodle's BFF's family and we had a blast! Mama BFF cooked some YUMMO Bbq sammiches with potato salad and baked beans, and she had brownies and ice cream for dessert. Hello! I could have really made a pig of myself, but chose to exercise restraint. But I didn't wanna.

Whilst we were there, I took some family photos! We didn't have a whole lot of time - literally about 10 minutes before the bottom dropped out. Actually, during the last 4 or so pictures, the raindrops were truly fallin' on our heads.

I didn't get a chance to take any Mama/Daddy pictures or any individual kiddo pictures because of the rain. But, we'll get together again, and we'll get another chance! And next time, we'll have more light outside, and I won't have to use the itty bitty f-stop that made the kids a bit blurry.

Thanks for the wonderful evening Wiggies!

Conversations with Tooter

(Mommy kisses Tooter for doing something sweet for Poodle.)

Tooter:  Mommy!!!  Don't kiss me!  (He's on a No Kissing kick right now.  It comes and goes).
Mommy:  Whoops!  So sorry.  I totally forgot.
Poodle:  That's right, Mommy.  Tooter hates kissing.
Tooter:  Nooo!  I don't want to hate it!  I just don't want to love it!


Alrighty, then.......

Salvation

This post really spoke to me to me today, and I thought I might share it with y'all also!  It's from www.baptistbiblehour.org.

Salvation

My salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior… – 2 Samuel 22:3

David had sought refuge in the mountains countless times while being hunted by King Saul. He knew both the discomfort of being exposed and vulnerable, and the peace of being safely tucked away in a strong fortress. Now David, as an old man, writes a hymn of praise to God, after being delivered once again, and calls God his salvation, his tower, his refuge.

Do you have a refuge? Perhaps not from a ravaging army, but from a smarting conscience? Do you have a safe place to run when you realize that there are sins in your past that cannot be undone, mistakes that cannot be corrected, wrongs that cannot be righted?

When your sins come rushing in on you, when you come to realize how far short you have fallen of the perfect and good standard of God, then your first tendency may be to save yourself — but you cannot be a refuge for yourself. You need someone else to shelter you from the just wrath of God. You need the perfect goodness of Jesus to be your refuge, your high tower of defense.

When you feel exposed and helpless before the all-seeing gaze of God, realizing that you are a sinner and that your only hope is a savior to intercede for you, know that Jesus Christ is a strong tower, a refuge into which you can run and find safety. This refuge will last, this tower will hold, this savior will save.