Update: 6 Months

6 Months

Judah is growing and changing every day! Here are some new changes...

• He loves solid food, especially sweet potatoes! We have decided that Judah was more than ready for solids. He acts so excited when you feed him anything with a spoon!

• He loves taking a bath in the sink. I am so glad he can still fit in the sink! A sink bath is so easy. I know he is about to outgrow it, but for now it is just the right size.

• He thinks he is a big boy. He isn't crawling yet, but he can move! He is so strong and uses all of his muscles to get where he wants to go. He can push himself from one end of the bed to the other and will easily jump out of our arms if we are not careful!

• He loves to stand. For the most part, he is much happier when he is upright! He loves to walk around in his exersaucer.

• He is very close to sitting up! He still topples over without a little support, but he is going to be sitting up on his own very soon.

• He jumped from less than the 3rd percentile in weight to the 50th percentile in about a month and a half! We went back to the Ped GI this week and he was so impressed with Judah's growth. He told us to continue Judah's reflux treatment because it was obviously working! Judah is still a big dream feeder and struggles with his reflux, but he has come a long way! At this time, the Dr.'s are suggesting that we just continue to try to control the reflux and wait on any of the invasive procedures that they were previously suggesting. Praise God!

• His grandmother, grand-daddy, and uncle Tim moved to town! They are only a couple of blocks away so Judah will be able to spend lots of time with them. We are so thankful that they will be able to watch Judah grow!

Completing Him Challenge: Pray for Him

This week the "completing him challenge" is to pray for your husband daily. Ask your husband each morning for any specific prayer request he has for the day. Print out the list below and pray through it daily!

1. His Wife -that's a good place to start right? lol!

2. His Work

3. His Finances

4. His Sexuality

5. His Affections

6. His Temptations

7. His Mind

8. His Fears

9. His Purpose

10. His Choices

11. His Health

12. His Protection

13. His Trials

14. His Integrity

15. His Reputation

16. His Priorities

17. His Relationships

18. His Fatherhood

19. His Past

20. His Attitude

21. His Marriage

22. His Emotions

23. His Walk

24. His Talk

25. His Repentance

26. His Deliverance

27. His Obedience

28. His Self-Image

29. His Faith

30. His Future

I know that God wants us to bring all of our requests before Him! Praying for Nathan is one of the most important things that I can do for him, so it needs to be a priority to me! I hope this serves as a reminder to pray for him daily.

Please join me this week by devoting to praying for your husband daily!

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective."
James 5:16

Completing Him Challenge: Our Wedding Day

This week the Completing Him Challenge is to remember the day you entered your sacred vows. Post pictures from that day and share your story.


Nathan and I were married on a gorgeous September day in front of our closest family and friends. We stood barefoot in a historic church with no bathroom or A/C and vowed to stay together "until death do us part". I would love to tell you all of the details of this unforgettable day, but time does not allow. However, I would like to share with you all a couple of moments from our wedding day that I pray I will never forget!

• The joy that I felt when I looked at my groom as I walked down the aisle. I shed tears of joy as I thanked God for allowing me to marry this man! I remember how clearly I felt God's grace that day. I knew that I was undeserving of the many gifts in my life, but understood that Christ gave them to me freely. I pray that I will always see Nathan as a gift!

• The gusto with which I said the final line of my vows, "I promise to do you good and not harm all the days of my life." I knew that was a big promise that I would have to depend on God in order to keep! During the tough times, I am often reminded of these very words. I know that doing Nathan "good" is a choice that I often fail to do, but I pray that I will never stop asking God to give me the strength to do Nathan good all the days of his life! I know that when I love my husband as God commands, it is sweet worship to Him!

• The commitment we made to live a life of servanthood to God! We washed each others feet to symbolize our desire to serve one another and those around us! I pray we do not forget this commitment to willingly serve one another!
  

Some of my favorite pictures from our special day...

Completing Him Challenge

This summer I plan to join some fellow bloggers in the "completing him challenge" hosted by women living well ! I may not be able to post something every week, but I will try! This week's challenge is to post pictures from your dating days. Think about one thing you used to do or have as a couple that you have lost in the shuffle of life. How can you regain it?

I am so thankful that Nathan and I still enjoy spending time together! I really enjoyed dating Nate, but I love being married to him even more! One thing I know I can do to rekindle some fun is to simply smile at Nathan more often! Sometimes the daily grind can cause me to forget to express the joy that I have inside. I am going to try to remember to really smile at my husband this week!

Here are some pictures from our dating days...

Where do I start?

I'd like to give you all a great update post, but I truly don't even know where to start. I intended to continue to use my blog as a way to keep my family and friends updated on our life with sweet Judah, but the truth is life hasn't allowed much time to do things like blog. Partly because life with Judah has been full of the unexpected, but also partly because I decided that it wasn't a big priority. That being said, I also want you all to know that I really enjoy blogging and think it is a great way to share photos, give family and friends updates, and encourage other women to pursue God. I just think that during THIS SEASON, my blogging is going to be very inconsistent. Normally, I am not a big fan of inconsistency, but I think this kind of inconsistency is not only okay, it is what is best.

Now onto the LONG update...

We can hardly believe that our sweet Judah is almost 6 months old! These sweet babes grow up so fast! We try to cherish these moments because we know he is going to be a big boy before we know it.

My mom and her best-friend Deb visited us over memorial weekend. We absolutely loved having them! It was such a fun and relaxing visit. My mom's visits are never long enough. We miss her so much!

Judah's first day at the pool with mommy and daddy. He likes to be in the water as long as he is being held :)!

Judah started sitting in his bumbo at about 4 months. We use this little seat a lot!

5 months old

Smiling on Easter! Granna got him this cute little bunny.

About 3 months old. We waited awhile to see his smile, but now he is one smiley little boy!

3 and 1/2 months.

About 2 months.

* Judah loves to be held. Since birth, we have held him or wore him (we love baby-carriers) most of the time! He isn't a big fan of the car seat, stroller, swing, or anything that doesn't have a heartbeat.

*In the past 2 months, he has started to enjoy playing in his exersaucer and laying on his playmat, but he still loves to be in our arms.

* He started to eat a bit of brown rice cereal twice a day at around 5 months. He tries to grab the spoon and push the cereal into his mouth. It is so cute!

*He is so curious about the world around him. He wants to get his hands on anything within his reach. It is such much fun to watch him explore!

* He rolled over about 2 weeks ago! He still gets his arm caught a lot, but he definitely knows how to roll over.

* He has been a drool king since about 4 months, but we still don't see any teeth!

*He really enjoys the great outdoors. He loves to go outside to watch daddy work or shoot hoops with the kids. He also likes it when we put his exersaucer on the porch so he can play outside.
If he is having a bad night, we just pace with him outside and he usually calms down.

* He loves to be rocked or walked to sleep by his daddy. Nathan has the touch when it comes to putting Judah to sleep!

* Judah was diagnosed with Gastroesophogeal Reflux Disease last month. Judah has always been a high-need baby that some would call colicky (since birth, he would cry/scream for hours at a time on a regular basis) so until he started refusing to eat (this lasted for almost 3 weeks), we didn't know that something was seriously wrong with our sweet baby. I wasn't aware that reflux could cause him to literally starve himself, but I learned that GERD is a severe form of reflux that can affect every aspect of an infant's life including poor eating and poor growth. Thankfully, we have found a treatment that seems to be helping Judah. We are still battling his reflux daily, but we are on the path to recovery! I hope to write more about GERD and how we have dealt with all of the ups and downs of this disease in a later post. If you would like to learn more about GERD and the latest treatment for reflux (I thank God that we were led to this information!!!), please check out the links below.

http://marci-kids.com/index.html
http://www.refluxrebels.com/
http://refluxsolutions.com/

After seeing your child suffer for what seems like an eternity, it brings you such joy to see them awake with a smile. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus!

God is teaching us so much through sweet Judah. Please continue to pray for us as we learn!