7 Months

7 Months

• He is so close to crawling, but still hasn't coordinated his hands and feet yet. He gets up on his hands and knees and pushes himself to get where he wants to go. He can move across an entire room!

• He loves to hear his own voice. He is making a lot of new sounds here lately!
• He has so much fun playing on the floor with a few toys. Now that he can sit up really well, he is enjoying lots of floor time.

• He likes eating sweet potatoes and squash. We are trying new solid foods with caution!
  
• He is such a smiley boy! It is getting easier and easier to make him smile.

• He can sit in a highchair now.
  
• He is still showing signs of teething, but I still don't see any teeth. ***UPDATE: I just felt his first tooth tonight (07/26)!
  
• He took his first airplane ride to Nebraska to see my family. He did great in the airplane. We may have a future traveler on our hands!

• He helped surprise his grandma on her 50th birthday! She didn't know we were coming to Nebraska so it was a big surprise she she arrived at her surprise party and we were all there!
  

• He laughs when we play silly games with him! His laugh is one of the sweetest sounds! When I hear it, I can't help but thank God for giving him to us.

• He loves to be around other kids! He was so happy playing with all of his cousins in Nebraska. We miss them so much!

• He had so much fun hanging out with his Uncle Trinity in Nebraska. Judah loved looking at all of his deer!
  

• He went on his first work trip with daddy to Atlanta, GA. He got to meet several of Nathan's clients and and all of them thought he looked just like Nathan (I agree!).

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• Judah's health has been great this month! Praise God for a baby who enjoys eating again!!!
  

Completing Him Challenge: My Husband Rocks

I am still making this challenge a priority, but I have fallen behind on telling you all about it.

Two weeks ago the Marriage challenge was: Admire Your Husband. If you are a blogger write a post all about your husband and what you admire in him and then show it to him! He will smile!

I struggled writing this post because I felt like I couldn't write a "quick post" that adequately explains how much I admire my husband. I quickly realized that nothing I could write could adequately praise my husband. Showing him love and admiration is something I need to do daily!!! One little blog post just isn't enough. In an effort to manage my time, I am just going to share with you 10 THINGS I LOVE ABOUT MY HUSBAND.


1- He prays for me and and Judah daily! He loves God and wants us to love Him too!

2- He is a hands-on daddy! He gets so much joy from playing with and caring for Judah. He will comfort Judah in the wee hours of the morning and still wake up happy! He is always telling me how much fun he has with me and Judah. I am so thankful that he feels this way.

3- He works hard so that I can be a stay at home mom. He values me being a homemaker! He has a passion for raising children and is willing to "sacrifice" some of the things we thought we wanted in life!

4- He can have fun anywhere! He has just as much fun at home as he does on a beach vacation.

5- He is honest and loyal!

6- He strives to let me know how much he loves and appreciates me. The other day, a package arrived on the door step with my name on it. I was shocked to see my name (Nathan buys and sells stuff on ebay on the side so I am used to getting packages daily, but they always have his name on them) so I opened it quickly. Inside was a heart shaped necklace and a letter thanking me for taking care of him and Judah. He had ordered the necklace and had it shipped to our house so that I would get the package during the day while I was caring for Judah!

7- He is a great financial manager. Nathan is so smart when it comes to buying and selling on ebay, investing, budgeting, and finding deals on everything (He is known as a deal finder!)! He always impresses me with his latest deal!

8- He enjoys spending time with the kids from LVM! He loves to wrestle with them or teach them something practical. Whether the kids are cutting grass or swimming with him, they are having fun!

9- He loves his family! It is so awesome to hear him talk about his granddaddy being a "real man" and the tenderness of his grandmother. He admires each one of his family members.

10- In his very nature, he encourages me daily! He comes home happy and chooses not to worry. He is a steady man! He is not easily angered and is quick to forgive! He shows me the kind of love God spoke of in 1 Corinthians 13:3-5.

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!