Three Reasons To Be Thankful

Everyone morning I wake up with three great reasons to thank the God who gives more than we ever deserve.

Blogs I Love

I have a few blogs that I want to share. These are blogs that I love love love to read:

Challies.com... Informing the Reforming

Tim Challies is an author and blogger. This blog is a GREAT resource. Most of his posts are incredibly thought-provoking and interesting. He describes the blog as "commentary on the contemporary church and its interaction with the culture around us". Every morning he posts something called "A La Carte" with different links to articles, deals, blogs, videos, etc.

It's Almost Naptime

I actually found this blog because Tim Challies (above) posted a link to one of her blog posts. Missy, the author, is hilarious! She lives in Houston and I am convinced that we would be friends if our paths ever crossed. She is a mom of four children that are about four years apart. I love that she is very real and doesn't try to come across as being perfect. She writes about anything from funny personal stories to challenging issues. She is in the process of adopting a child from Ethiopia and has brought me to tears as she has shared about that journey. I have actually linked to a few of her posts in the past. You are missing out if you don't check this one out!

Robin's Chicks

My good friend Lizzie sent me the link to this blog about a year and a half ago. I was instantly drawn to this girl. Robin is a mom of three young girls and writes about the struggles of being a mom. I usually don't laugh out loud when I read things, but I do with many of her posts. And have been brought to tears from laughing so hard on a few occasions. A few months after I started reading her blog, Lizzie told me that her friend Robin was moving to Greenwood. My reaction: "ROBIN'S CHICKS, Robin?!?". Yes, Robin has since moved to my hometown and has become one of my dear friends (and her youngest daughter, Sadie, is one of Mary Laine's best buddies). She definitely provides some much needed comic relief on days when parenting young ones is a challenge.

There are other blogs that I love, but I just had to share these three. Oh, and in order to not disappoint the aunts, uncles, and grandparents, here are some pictures of my babies - and Langdon's first trip to the park:

What She Hears

When I woke Mary Laine up this morning, I told her that it was a "school" day (her Mothers' Morning Out program) and that she would get to see Ms. Doris and Ms. Thelma. When we got downstairs, she said that she wanted to watch Dora and Elmo. The only TV show that she's watched at our house is Sesame Street, but I know that they've watched Dora at MMO before, so I thought that she was anticipating getting to watch those shows when she got to "school". When she got in her chair for breakfast, she started throwing a fit and yelling that she wanted to watch TV - specifically Dora and Elmo. We usually don't watch TV while we eat (and have never had the TV on when she's eating breakfast), so I was very confused. Gary kept the kids last night while I went out, so I thought that maybe he had let her watch TV while they ate dinner (sorry Gary!). It was a struggle to convince her that we wouldn't be watching TV and very confusing for me - this battle was a first.

On the way to "school", I asked Mary Laine if she was excited to play with Ms. Doris and Ms. Thelma today, to which she mimicked "Excited to see Dora and Elmo today!". She thought that I was promising her TV time when I woke her up - of course she was frustrated with me. :-)

Five Weeks

Our little man is now five weeks old. He is now getting into somewhat of a routine. He's still a great sleeper and is now down to only one feeding in the middle of the night (I'm sure that he'll be up three times tonight now that I've posted about our success!). He definitely has a fussy time of day - usually around 5pm. That's when he cries when it's naptime. The good news is that he is pretty easy to console - he usually just wants to be held. The bad news it that is the time of day that Mary Laine is starting to get hungry and needs a little extra attention to keep her happy until it's time for dinner. He is becoming much more alert. He is starting to really study our faces and is also noticing some of his toys. I have a toy on the changing table that he has started to fascinate him in the past couple of days.

We are starting to see more differences between Langdon and his big sister. He is starting to look very different than she did at this age. But he also has a different personality. Mary Laine has always been very content to be alone. Even at 5 weeks, she was very happy to be in her seat or her swing - awake, but alone. If Langdon is awake, he wants to be talked to or held. He is much more social. It will be fun to watch him come into his own little personality as he gets older.

Happy (belated) five weeks, Langdon!

Langdon Turns One Month Old

Back by popular demand, Langdon does his one-month birthday dance. Click here if you would like to watch Mary Laine's again.

And here is a one-month picture with the lamb.

**As a special one-month birthday present to his mom, Langdon went SEVEN hours between feedings last night!!**

As the Christmas Season Approaches...

Mom and I were talking the other day about how early we are inundated with consumer ads to begin making our purchases for Christmas presents. Here is a great reminder as the ads are starting to flood our senses that "He shall reign forever and ever". Hope that you enjoy this as much as I did!

Four Weeks

Langdon at four weeks

Well, it's been four weeks since Langdon was born - almost a full month. He seems to be growing and changing so much everyday. This week, he officially outgrew his "newborn" diapers and moved into a size 1. He is also really starting to follow things with his eyes. He can now focus on our faces and other objects. He still sleeps alot (unfortunately not for more than 3-4 hours at a time, though). He is also finding his voice. A few times this past week he belted out a few screams. This was new for him as his crying usually is just a little whine. I hope that the mad screaming doesn't show it's face too often! :-)

I decided to change things up a bit. We received the precious lamb stuffed animal (pictured above) by a woman in our church who is a dear dear friend. I thought that it may be a better "watch me grow" stuffed animal as I think it is probably about the same length that Langdon was when he was born. I also had to include the picture below. Langdon's Grammy and Pop-pop got him his first basketball goal. Gary couldn't wait to get it set up and to start sharing his love of the game with is son. So, below is Langdon's first experience "shooting hoops".

22 Months

While I was on bedrest, I didn't have a chance to take Mary Laine's "Watch Me Grow" pictures with her doll or to post much about what she's up to these days. She has grown and changed so much since the beginning of bedrest. I am amazed at how quickly she's growing up. She is a little sponge these days and loves to learn.

She can count to 10, and then can get some of the numbers between 10 and 20 (it usually goes 11, 12, 14, 18, 19, 20). She can also recite and recognize her ABCs, but when reciting them, LMNO is a little jumbled, and I've realized this week that she can only recognize upper case letters. She brought me a card with a lower case "g" on it and insisted that it was a nine. She loves to sing and walks around asking to sing all day long. I made up a "Dyksterhouse" song in hopes of teaching her to spell her ridiculously long and difficult last name, and was surprised that she took to it so well. Right now, she sings "Dykseerhousc". She's close. She was on the scale a few weeks ago and I commented that she weighed 25 pounds. Now, she loves to stand on the scale, and then run through the house telling everyone that it said "25 pounds!" We really have to be careful what we say around her - she will repeat anything.

She will NOT perform on command. If you ask her to show off one of her new skills, she just looks at you and says "No". She also doesn't like to pose for the camera. I'm finding it harder and harder for her to smile or sit still for a picture. The curse of the digital age is that, as soon as I pull out the camera, she comes running towards me and says, "I want to see it".

She really does love Langdon right now. When she comes downstairs in the mornings, the first thing she does is run over to Langdon's swing (where I usually put him when I go up to get her) and yells, "Good morning Langdon". It melts my heart. She also love to kiss him and usually asks to "Kiss him on his cheek." I don't blame you, Mary Laine, those cheeks are so kissable!

She also loves to color. Right now, though, she prefers to color with a partner. If you stop coloring for a second to talk, she will insist that you resume right away - "Mama color, mama color, mama color!" Her favorite things to watch on TV are Sesame Street and Signing Time. I just got her a Veggie Tales video (Jonah), which she really enjoys, but doesn't have the patience yet to sit through the entire movie.

She also still loves to read. Pretty much anything will do. Lately, she has been bringing us "adult" books (our books that don't have any pictures in them). Surprisingly, she will actually sit still and listen to us read them for a few minutes. She is definitely at an age where she likes to sit and listen to you read the same book over and over and over again.

Before bedrest, she really didn't have too many attachments. She stopped taking a pacifier when she was six months old and, although she had a baby doll and some blankets that we would put in bed with her when she went to sleep, she never acted like she just had to have them. Well, all of that has changed. She has five things that she must have in bed with her for naps or bedtime - baby, blanket, na-na, puppy, and monkey. Our next trip will be interesting. I wonder if we can get away with leaving a couple of them behind...

She is also very tough - which she gets 100% from her Daddy. I'm such a cry baby, but this little girl can take a lickin' and keep on tickin'! Yesterday, we were at the park and Gary was pushing her in the swing. She let go, did a flip, and landed on her head. We were bracing ourselves for her to start screaming and to swear off swings for the rest of her life. She just looked up at Gary, asked him to pick her up, and then asked to swing again. Amazing! I'm so glad that she takes after him in that regard, but I also have a feeling that, like Gary's childhood, we have alot of hospital visits, stitches, and concussions in our future.

Here is our sweet girl over the past month:

Playing at the Science Museum in Jackson

She kept saying that the fish were flying.

I guess since they were overhead, that meant "flying" to her.

Reading the ABC book to Langdon

"Let me see 'em"

Three Weeks

Our sweet boy is getting to be so big. And I know that I said it last week, but I'll say it again - I cant' believe that it's only been three weeks since he was born. It feels like he's always been with us. Was the misery of bedrest only such a short time ago? This precious one makes me practically forget all that I went through. All that I can think of now is how grateful I am that he's with us and how he was worth every moment of suffering!

He is awake more during the day and is sleeping *a little* longer at night. He even went 5 1/2 hours between feedings a couple of nights ago. He hasn't done it since, but it gave me hope that there will be a full night's sleep again in my future. He is rarely fussy, but when he is, he usually just wants to be held. The one downside (which I'm sure is the case with every newborn) is the number of diapers and outfits we go through in a day. In the picture below, he is on outfit number 3, and there were still a few changes ahead of us before the day was out.

He still has beautiful blue eyes and has the sweetest little coos. We are so thankful for each new day with him.

Langdon at three weeks