Today

It's 3:03 pm and today has just been one of those days. One of those days where you wake up happy and have patience and your kids behave and you feel accomplished and you notice God's abundant blessings and you just have a lot of joy. Today has been such a gift. I'm loving today so much that I want to document it.

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Gwendolyn // You woke up tired this morning needing snuggles from me, so I brought Conrad in (he woke you up...sorry about that, girl) and the three of us laid together silently for a good 10 minutes. I scratched your backs. You had to have my arm around you and were jealous that Conrad was laying across my chest, so when he changed positions, I tucked you in as close as I could. After that, I let you pick between two dresses. You picked the one with cream lace. You weren't a big fan of the organic low sugar cereal I bought at Target, but when you brought your bowl into the kitchen it was empty! I think someone liked it. :)

Today was your last day of VBS! You thanked God for our parking space when we pulled in reminding me to "give thanks for all things." You had so much fun this week and can tell us all about how Adam and Eve were lured by the devil who disguised himself as a serpent. You know that sin separates us from Jesus, and you're recognizing what sin is in your own life. You've been asking a lot of questions about Heaven. I'm so excited about what God is doing in your heart, and I can sense that He's pulling you into Him. He's created you to be such a kind, loving, tender-hearted little girl.

You suggested hot dogs for lunch. I served up a delicious plate of hot dogs, apple sauce, broccoli with dip dip and apple slices. You cleaned it all up! The sucker you received at VBS was good motivation. You smiled at me during lunch and said you wouldn't forget to take your plate into the kitchen when you were done like you did earlier in the week. And you didn't.

You just adore your baby brother. Thank you for being so gentle with him. It's so helpful to mommy that I can trust you to watch him for me if I am needed elsewhere for a few minutes.

Your quiet time in your room quickly turned into a nap. It's been a busy week! Tuesday we went to the zoo, and yesterday you went to VBS, had a play date, then we had your play date friends over to our house while their mom had an appointment, then you went to Aunt Trishy and Uncle John's house for dinner and more playing. You've decided you like sleeping under the chair in your room. I don't get it, but I don't mind.

Conrad // I was putting mousse in my hair in the bathroom when I heard your lovely yelling at about 7:45. I'd normally run as quickly as I could to your room so you wouldn't wake Gwendolyn, but it took me a bit longer than usual because I had to finish what I was doing and wash my hands. Alas, you woke her up, but it was time to eat breakfast anyway. 

I love asking you in the morning "how was your sleeping time?" because I just love hearing you say "good" in this sweet little sleepy voice. It never fails...I walk into your room and you've thrown all of your stuffed animals out of your crib leaving only your "mimic" aka blanket and pillow. Although sometimes the pillow is out as well. You're usually always sitting with your back against the crib holding your mimic crying and a bit mad. As soon as I open the door and say "hiiiiii bud!" you smile and stand up and let me take your sleep sack off. You know to whisper because the other two may still be sleeping. We went and snuggled with Sissy. You got to wear your Superman shirt today!

You ate your bowl of cereal and an entire banana and requested more. When prompted, you thank me for "breakfast", which is also lunch and dinner and for changing your diapers. Sometimes "dank you bek-fast changing my dipe-as" covers it all.

You walked hand in hand with Gwendolyn into VBS and do such a great job of staying close to me. We said our good-byes and off to Target we ran to exchange two patio chairs and buy a new toiletry bag. I only spent $30 at Target - it's a miracle! (Never mind the $80 spent there last night...) You now remember that the Super Target gives out chocolate chip cookies at the bakery so we promptly made our way across the store. You willingly offered me a "bite"....one lowly mini chocolate chip. Thanks, bud. 

When I loaded you into your car seat, I asked for a kiss kiss, which you gave me. I went to back out and you threw your arms out and said, "hug?" You've never done that before, and of course my heart melted. 

Probably no one else would know what you were saying, but you started singing "I like to move it move it" once we were back on the road. You were just singing away looking out the window in the back of the van. You always make me smile.

We met Aunt Trishy, Ten, and Lori and her youngest two kiddos at the park. Lori was so sweet and brought me Starbucks! I told her a regular coffee with lots of cream. It was such a fun treat. You ran as fast as you could when you saw Trishy pull into the parking lot and were so excited to see two of your favorite people. We played for about an hour and a half before needing to leave to go pick up Gwendolyn. You loved the swings and went down the slides and ate some crackers while mommy talked about having kids and adoption and tattoos and fashion and shopping and things we struggle with in our faith. The sky was perfectly partly cloudy and the temp just right. I just love time with friends and seeing you play.

You earned a sucker (only because Sissy had one) after lunch for at least trying broccoli. 

I was putting you into your sleep sack before nap time and cradling you in my arms while sitting on the floor. You joined me in singing "Jesus Loves Me", both of us singing into each other's necks. I loved the sound of your voice and the feeling of your breath. I started tickling you and you were just laughing and laughing. You even had goosebumps on your legs. Cutest thing ever. 

You're currently singing "Happy Birthday" and playing with play-doh behind me (nap time is over...) Happy Birthday is sung a lot around here.

You've been such a trooper going here there and everywhere the last two weeks while Sissy has been at camp and at VBS. You ran more errands with me in the last two weeks than we've run in two months! It's amazing how much easier it is to get things done with only two kids. (Or is it all in my head?)

Luther // You slept 9:40 pm to 4:45 am last night! I know I should put you back in your bed after you wake up in those early morning hours, but I just love the way you feel on my chest with your little arms stretched across my shoulders. You're always soooo warm and relaxed and I think...ohhhh it's only a couple hours until it's time to wake up anyway. We kind of have our routine. We snuggle. You nurse. Mommy tucks a pillow behind your back so you stay on your side, slips out of bed, and tries to get ready before any of you wake up. Some mornings, I even have time for a few sips of coffee and some reading and prayer. Other mornings, motherhood beckons earlier than planned. I've learned to just roll with it. This morning though you were the last of the three to wake up.

One thing is for sure though...you wake up with a smile on your sweet face. It's one of my favorite things. And it's weird because even if we were just side by side an hour ago, it seems I always find myself missing you.

You took a short little nap while we were at Target and decided to wake up when we got to the park. Not the most ideal timing considering it is hard to hold a baby and get a toddler into a swing, but you were content to hang in your car seat for once! Thank you! You didn't last that long before you "needed" to nurse and go back to sleep. Perfect timing to go pick Sissy up!

You read books with us before nap time, kicking your cute little squishy legs on Gwendolyn's bed. I put Conrad down while Sissy "babysat" you in her room and then took you into our room to put you down for a nap while she had quiet time turned nap. You were a sleepy baby boy! I've had to run up a few times to put the pacifier back in, but you've been out since about 2:00. And it's 5:10. Yes, this post has taken me two hours in between runs upstairs for children and pacis, getting snack, cleaning up Legos and play-doh, and getting dinner (frozen lemon peppered cod) in the oven. 

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Today has just been a great day. There is laundry to be done and crumbs on my floor and pictures to edit and yet I feel accomplished and at peace with the chaos. I feel like I loved you kids well today. I had some really precious individual moments with each of you. You each individually and in your own way took my breath away causing me to be just super thankful. It wasn't perfect. There were feet in faces (Conrad Cross...) and some discipline and moments of not sharing, but boy is my heart full. 

Thank you for this day, Lord. I know it's not over, but I also know you never leave us. Thank you for these kids, for hugs and kisses, for the laughter and thankfulness in their voices, for mispronounced words, for sunshine, for parking spaces, for energy, for work to do and strength to do it, for frozen fish, for lemon Oreos, for friends who pick up Starbucks, for volunteers teaching VBS, for teachable moments, for daddy's who come home, for time to write, and for being a never ending flowing river of grace and mercy and love. Oh, and for the bowl of sea salt caramel chocolate-covered pretzel ice cream that awaits me after bath/bed time (lemon what?!). 

So thankful. For all the days you have so graciously given us, I thank You.

Luther: 14 weeks old

Luther is (still!) 14 weeks old! Mommy's actually doing something semi on time for once.

He was all smiles for his pics earlier in the week, and I can't tell you how much I just adoooore that smile.

•  Luther Thomas turned 3 months old on June 10th! I had mixed emotions about that for some reason. I think because technically that means he's no longer a "newborn." Why I get myself all worked up over such silly things is beyond me. Not being a newborn anymore certainly doesn't make him any less loveable!

• We went swimming for the first time with Uncle John and Aunt Trishy and Ten using some coupon daddy found on groupon. The big kids had a great time, but Luther thought the water was a bit cold and would have preferred to just take a little snooze.

• I took Gwendolyn and Luther down to my parent's to help them in their moving process as much as I could with a baby strapped onto me. (Conrad stayed home with daddy.) Luther was able to meet Aunt Becca and see Grandpa and Grandma's new dream home they've waited so patiently for for the last 33 years. But who's counting.

• Speaking of Grandma, she said if Luther grew on kisses, he'd be the size of a whale. She's about right!

• He's talking up a storm and we just love hearing him squeak and squeal. The inflections in his voice are matched with various different facial expressions giving his audience the utmost adorable performance. He also smiles at the drop of a hat, which just about puts me over the edge.

• He continues to absolutely nail sleeping, even sleeping for 10 hours and 15 minutes (8:15 pm to 6:30 am) the night we returned from Charles City last Sunday! Previous nights before that had been typically anywhere between 6 to 8 hours so 10 hours + was a shock. 

• Unfortunately, two nights later he was up after only 4.5 hours, which I thought was a fluke and then it happened again on Wednesday. After two nights in a row of restless sleep, which just isn't like him, I took him to the walk-in clinic on Thursday morning where they confirmed my suspicion that maybe he had his first ear infection. :( Poor baby boy. If it hadn't been for his off sleeping habits, you never would have known he had an ear infection. He'd been congested for honestly about a month and had recently started coughing as well, so it was probably almost inevitable. 

He seems to enjoy his amoxicillin thankfully. I was hoping he'd be back into his awesome sleeping habits soon after starting his meds, but last night was night fiiiive of mommy not getting much sleep. It's Father's Day today and despite my best efforts to keep it together, I've cried more times than I care to admit. (Bless my sweet husband.) 

Little sleep is to be expected with small babes, but he'd just been spoiling us rotten! 

• In other news, he weighed 15 lbs at his check up! It's like he grew overnight because I swear size 2 diapers are getting snug (causing more leaks...grrrrr) and he'll be out of 0-3 clothes before we know it.

• Also inevitable....Conrad loving his baby brother a bit too much and accidentally falling on Luther's face. Mommy panicked. Luther cried for one minute. All is well.

• He's really rolling to the sides. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these times we find him on his tummy!

• Daddy took a half day on Friday to see Gwendolyn's performance (princess musical theater camp) and so we could go see Jurassic World at the Imax theater. It was our first time leaving Luther. Miss Danya had her hands full with all three kiddos, but not surprisingly did a wonderful job and even got Luther down for the night. She's amazing! 

That's the Luther update for now!

Luther: 10 & 12 weeks

Luther is now 12 weeks old! We're only days away from his turning three months old, which stirs up all sorts of emotion in this sensitive mommy's heart. I absolutely love seeing how he's changing and growing and becoming more of a baby and less of a newborn. It seems something changes every week! At the same time, he is so itty bitty and I just love itty bitty. Thankfully I have Gwendolyn and Conrad around to remind me that 2 and 4 year olds (and everything in between!) also have their hilarious and amazing ways about them as well. We have much to look forward to.

How great is our God to design the newborn/baby stage the way He did...joining together some of the most tiring yet blissful moments of our lives. These days are so demanding yet so incredible at the same time. I've often wished it could last longer, but also know that He must have purpose in the length. He knows the future and all that yet to come, and He obviously knows I wouldn't handle changing newborn diapers eight times a day for three years very well. Two maybe, but not three. ;)

I think what I struggle with right now is the balance between being so needed and the desire to not be needed so much. Ha. I wouldn't trade my job for anything in the world, yet selfishly I just want to go run errands on a Sunday afternoon alone and not feel super rushed to get home before a sleeping baby wakes up and needs to nurse. Keeping up with my to do list is nearly impossible and when I don't keep up, I find myself frustrated and negative more often then I care to admit. I have such high hopes for our weekends to cross things off our to do list and spend time together as a family, and we have to be reeeeally intentional with our plans in order to get anything done. And prioritize. Always prioritize. Take 10 minutes ago for instance...I sat down to finally work on this post (during nap time) and suddenly I was searching for WubbaNubs on Amazon. How does this happen?! I literally have to speak to myself and say, "Sarah, you need to work on what is most important right now." It's almost silly how distracted I can get. Yet at the same time, there's always 138 things I could be doing! Having said that, my kids will never be almost 12 weeks, 2, and 4 years old again so perhaps the rest can wait...

Side note: Tom and I were driving around town yesterday and talking about how we used to spend our days without kids. I used to loooove shopping on Sundays all by myself and I'll admit I spent way too much money at Loft. We had all the free time in the world. It was nice, but I'm really happy God didn't keep us there and chose to bless us with the kids in His perfect timing.

Back to Luther Thomas!

 10 weeks old

12 weeks old

• Mother's Day was yet again very special. It's actually a pretty wonderful day...similar to a birthday but celebrated with a bunch of other women. Tom does a great job of making me feel very loved and appreciated, and of course I can't thank God enough for the three gifts that have made me a mom in the first place! Luther probably wasn't much help, but Tom and the kids made me my favorite paleo fudge (melt.in.your.mouth) and breakfast. It was grand!

• Luther's 2 month check up went well on May 12th and we survived our first round of shots. He wasn't the happiest of campers that evening and actually backtracked a bit on sleeping, but thankfully that only last three nights. He's not quite as big as Conrad was at 2 months (15 lbs, 5 oz), but regardless still doing quite well on the charts. 

Weight: 13 lbs, 11 oz - 84%

Height: 25" - 99%

Head: 16.25" - 97%

• He continues to be a great sleeper!

His first sleeping stretches in the last week have been...

 6 hrs, 50 minutes

6 hrs, 30 minutes

5 hrs, 50 minutes

6 hrs, 45 minutes

8 hrs (!)

6 hrs, 15 minutes

8 hrs (!)

8 hrs, 30 minutes (!!)

(That was 9:10 pm to 5:45 am on May 22nd)

It's a little all over the place and here and there and everywhere, but I'll take it. He comes in to bed with me after waking up the first time and then typically nurses on and off until we're up for the day. I wish I could say I feel completely and 100% rested, but that'd be a lie. Many afternoons still call for a nap.

• Mornings naps are typically always either in the car seat because we're out and about or in the carrier because we're doing things around the house or on a walk. He'll easily nap 2+ hours in the carrier, which is both wonderful because he's so easy and hard on mommy's back because he gets heavy, particularly when I'm pushing 80+ pounds in the double stroller with him strapped on the front of me. I do love having him close though and just love that he is so comfortable in it. I think I may try a wrap or sling one of these days.

• Luther's demeanor is calm, content, happy, and sweet. He freely hands out smiles and is trying so hard to "talk" to us. He is very quick to smile at me, daddy, and Gwendolyn but is definitely a bit more on guard when Conrad comes around. I don't blame him. :) Conrad is and always has been quite gentle with him, but it's funny to see how Luther kind of braces himself when Conrad is talking to him. He gets lots of head pats from his big brother and Gwendolyn loves his "squishy part" (back of his neck.) In fact, she told me the other day that she hopes he has it forever.

(Me too, girl.)

• He's definitely found his adorable little hands! He loves sucking on them (and any and all shoulders) and the drool has started. 

• He has started squealing a bit more and thinks daddy is especially funny.

• I love, love, love it when he's asleep on my chest and I can feel his breath on my neck.

• He's getting stronger and stronger and can certainly no longer be left on the ottoman alone. I have no idea when he'll roll over for the first time, but I'm not going to risk it being the three seconds I leave him to go throw a dirty diaper away. If I do leave the room quickly, I always ask Sissy to "babysit" and she knows to always have two hands on him. She feels so important and takes her job very seriously. 

• We all love kissing him and talking to him when he's laying on the ottoman. Sometimes diaper changes take me 10 minutes or longer because I get so caught up in admiring him while he's laying there so happy and sweet. I told Tom it's why I don't get much done during the day. But seriously....the other day I equated it to being addicted to sweets. There are a lot of days I literally have to pull myself away from him and refrain from kissing his cheeks 79 more times because there are faces to be washed and laundry to be done and parks to explore!

• He almost always raises his right eyebrow and cheek when he smiles.

• He's blowing raspberries now.

• He enjoys laying on the play mat for longer periods of time and is very interested in looking at the rings and sides of the mat. He also likes the Mamaroo more and will easily be in it for a good 10-20 minutes sometimes!

• I think I can officially say the boy loves his paci. I have started using it daily and at almost every nap and bedtime. The other two didn't ever use one, so I'm torn about how I feel about them, but it definitely comes in handy to get him to fall asleep. (Also semi annoying when it falls out and I have dart up the stairs as fast as I can when I hear him crying.) I don't think there is any harm in them, but I am already nervous about breaking the habit down the road...guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there. 

• We traveled for Memorial Day weekend to Lake Geneva in Wisconsin and spent 5 nights at a lake house with Tom's family. Luther traveled great on the way there (slept for almost 3 hours when we first hit the road) and not quite a great on the way home (woke up after the first 45 minutes.....) BUT we survived. It was great to have him meet the rest of the fam and his other cousins! 

• We had the joy and privilege of having him dedicated at church this past Sunday. Of course I got all emotional because I just love him so much and want what is best for him always. He's such a gift, and we give heartfelt thanks for him every single day. We vowed to surrender all worldly claim upon his life in hopes that he will belong wholly to Jesus Christ, and it truly is my deepest desire that all three of our kids will love the Word of God, have the character of Christ, and know the joy of the Lord in their lives. I pray God grants us the wisdom, patience, and strength to raise these kiddos according to His will.

We absolutely adore our Luther Thomas more and more everyday!