Sweet Kids

We are all home with runny noses and coughs today, so I thought I would take a minute to share what Kate and Blake are doing (for my own records too). Kate is funnier than ever, she keeps us laughing with her facial expressions and the words she says/tries to say. She has gotten so verbal in just the last month or so. She goes through the families naming everyone she can think of. In my family, my mom and dad are GiGi and Pop Pop, Kelly and Heath are K K and Heaf, and Derek is D. In Brandon's family, Gale and Jody are Papa (supposed to be Papa G, but she hasn't gotten the G yet) and JoJo, Christopher is Cracker, Aaron is Onion, and Eli is E I. She can understand so much more than she can say, so she just jabbers and points at everything. She can say Santa and Ho Ho. We have been trying to teach her about the real meaning of Christmas, but the understanding level is so small that I am just proud that she can point to Baby Jesus in the nativity set and she can tell me that "Jees" was born on Christmas. The other night we went to my friend's house and she has 4 girls from 19 months to 5 years old, and Kate had a ball! She loved being one of the big kids. She even jumped on the big trampoline outside and kept going after wiping out several times. She would stop jumping and say "Mama Dada" and wave to us. It made me stop in my tracks and I realized just how fast time is flying by! She chooses when she wants to give kisses and hugs, but when she does give them, I cherish each one.

Blake is almost 8 weeks old! Kelly and I were laughing the other day because it seems like he is so old since Turner is so new, but he is still just a tiny baby. Tiny may not be the word for this double chin though! He is growing before my eyes! He is getting better and better with sleep. This past weekend, he went 6 hours once and 5 hours a few times at night. We are getting there! I don't know what I am going to do when Brandon goes back to work on the 5th and he can't take night shift each night from 9 until 12 or 1. That is the time Blake seems to be most awake, even if he is not very fussy. Blake has also started smiling and is starting to coo with a little noise here and there. That smile really melts my heart, and one day it did bring me to tears. I had just listened to a sweet girl share her heart about dealing with infertility and it made me realize that I had been so bad about complaining about not sleeping or not knowing how to make these kids happy... and I should just remember that God didn't have to give me either child, but he gave us 2! Brandon and I have been learning a lot about findind contentment exactly where we are in this life instead of trying to rush through things to get to the "next stage." You could spend your whole life trying to be happy by waiting for the next thing, but God has called us to be right here, right now and we are so thankful! I am just excited about the things we have to look forward to rather than anxious to get there.