Almost There – 11 Months

Wow!  Just one month shy of a full year.  But this is a leap year, so I get an extra day of Elijah’s babyhood :)  He is such a delight to us and we’ve been so blessed to have him.  This month he signed his first signs, began “talking”, has started free standing more, gained two teeth, and has been SICK.

One word that comes to mind when I think of a description for Elijah, and it is “passionate”.  He feels emotions in extremes, it seems, which reminds me of one of my brothers.  He is loving and enjoys a good cuddle, is very silly and loves to laugh, and he knows what he wants and will throw a tantrum if it is not allowed.  I’m talking throw-himself-on-the-floor-and-scream kind of tantrums.  But, thankfully, most of the time he is just a lover and a laugher.  For example, the other night we were all in Josiah’s bedroom as we were preparing for bed and Elijah was crawling around and he’d just stop and drop to the floor head first and roll around giggling for no apparent reason other than that he was happy and it was fun.  We had fun just watching.  He also gives the greatest hugs.

I randomly found him just sitting and hanging out on this tractor that Gram gave him.  Isn’t he cute?

As far as communication developments go this month, Elijah has started “talking”.  He sounds like he is telling someone how it is while pointing his fingers, sometimes laughing, sometimes serious, but it doesn't make a bit of sense.  It is too funny.  I’m not sure he is saying real words yet, but he does mimic a few when we encourage it.  He also makes a sound, just shy of a word, that obviously means “cat” as well as saying something like “this” while pointing.  Elijah also signed his first signs, “more” and “all done”, though he doesn’t do it readily. 

Physically speaking, Elijah can stand unassisted for longer and longer periods.  He is getting pretty good at walking along with help, too.  In addition, he learned to wave and clap.  Josiah taught him to clap during bath time (me bathing them at the same time by myself – that was a wild, and funny adventure) when he was doing a poor rendition of the “Gator chomp”.  And the other day Josiah was pushing Elijah around on a ride-on car and Elijah just waved the whole time while grinning.  I love these cute boys!

I don’t have any great pictures of them playing together this month, but here’s Josiah being a good big brother, though I think it annoys Elijah a bit since he can eat and drink just fine on his own, thank you!

Look at this smile!  This little boy loves life!

On the health front, Elijah has been sick, sick, sick!  I think in last month’s update we were in the middle of his yucky respiratory illness where we were giving him nebulizer treatments every 6 hours.  Well, we did his last treatment on a Saturday and he came down with pinkeye on Sunday, at church no less.  As that cleared up he caught the GI bug that the rest of us had, complete with vomiting and diarrhea.  Fun, fun.  That hadn’t cleared up yet when a fever set in and a cough started a day after that ended.  The cough is just beginning to subside.  Maybe, just maybe he’ll return to health now, though Josiah started coughing heavily yesterday.  Ugh!  We haven’t had much normalcy around here and zero social life.  At least his ears have stayed clear.

Check out that pinkeye!  It was only in the left eye at first.

He loved his nebulizer treatments!  They helped him breath so he could relax.  He often fell asleep…so cute!

Just a side note about putting ointment in Elijah’s eyes when he had pinkeye.  Once he caught on to what was going on, medicating him became a 2 person job and even then it was difficult.  He is a strong, wiggly little sucker!  Jacob had to straddle his body and hold him down while I kneeled down with his head between my knees and pried his eyes open.  Josiah observed this a few times and sat nearby watching with concern.  At one point he beat me to it and assumed my head holding position and told Elijah over and over that “it’s ok, I have you Elijah, it’s ok…”  I decided it was such a sweet loving gesture that we’d go with it and let Josiah hold him even if it proved to be unsuccessful.  He did well, though.  At one point I had called the pediatrician requesting a drop rather than an ointment telling them that I’ve medicated eyes of countless horses, cows, dogs, cats, rabbits and even a turtle, but I can’t do it to my own son!  They just laughed.

 

Helping Daddy sort laundry!

Elijah is doing so so with food.  Poor guy.  He had a big growth spurt after his 9 month check up (1.5 lb in 1 week) that probably would have put him back up on his growth curve, but he’s not had much of an appetite, so we may have lost that gained ground.  He eats pretty much anything and everything, though avocado and cottage cheese make him gag – literally.  He’s like me in that you have to offer him new foods a couple times before he’s willing to try.  He just looks at it and pushes it around the first few times he sees it.  I’m leery of new foods, too!

Here’s evidence of that growth spurt – all of his pants are high waters now.  Just this month Elijah started liking “Praise Baby” videos.  We don’t have them watch much t.v., but it was helpful on the days he felt his worst and was cranky.

Elijah has 2 new teeth!  His upper lateral incisors came it.  They were SO slow to come in and just hung out below the surface for most of the month complicating all of his illnesses, but they are here now.

Buff boys!

Well, birthday party plans are in process.  Our little guys will be celebrating together next month.  It is hard to believe that they are 1 and 3, but they are truly wonderful boys and we are so proud!  If you didn’t get an invite (via email) to the party and want to come, then please let me know.  I don’t claim to have it all together and I wouldn’t be surprised if I missed people despite my best efforts.  Sorry about that.

First Honey “Crop”

This post was written 10 months ago but Jacob wanted to add something to it and never did.  I think it is time to go ahead and post it since the next honey crop will be in before long :)

I’m not sure it was a big enough yield to call it a crop, but Jacob made his first 7.5 gallons of honey out of 21 frames!  His goal on this pollination job was to produce more bees so he was a bit surprised at the surplus since he was able to leave some behind to feed and nurture the bees.  When judging honey quality, in addition to taste, you look for clarity and color and this honey is both clear and light in color – ideal.  So, what will we do with 7.5 gallons of honey?  Well, what Josiah and I don’t eat by ourselves will be given to people that have helped Jacob out along the way as a thank you.

   

Where We Are Now

Do you ever wonder how you got to this point in life?  Is it what you thought it would be?  Jacob and I often reflect on our life, our past dreams, and how they compare.  Since we have been together since childhood, we’ve had plenty of time to dream and many of those dreams came from innocence and naivety, and therefore are either not capable of reality or we just don’t want them anymore.  Eleven years after we wed, though, we are mostly where we hoped to be (give or take some of the more minor dreams), yet it doesn’t feel like the dream felt.  Why is that?

I know, I know, this blog is usually just about the happenings in our life and our sweet boys.  Nothing deep, nothing too serious.  But I like to write and that is what I needed to do.  In a time before blogs I’d have written the following in a journal to never be seen again.  This way I will likely re-visit it and hopefully be positively impacted again.  Maybe you will be, too, but I won’t count on it.  Brace yourself, it’s long.

A few weeks ago Jacob and Josiah were at the huntin’ camp and Elijah and I were home sick and missing church.  During his nap I decided to read the LifeWay lesson I’d be missing in Sunday School.  I’m glad I did.  I’ll be taking it out of context here, as the lesson points toward injustices on humanity such as abortion and human trafficking, but this is what spoke to me.

The lesson book says the following:

“One of the challenges of this stage of life is the rapid pace of change.  Things change faster in your 20s and 30s than in any other period of your life.  Relationships come and go.  Career paths are started and restarted.  Families begin and grow.”  (No wonder I’m often tired!)  “Some of the changes we experience fit with the plans and time frames you’ve set for yourselves, and you love those.” (Yep!)  “But at other times, change comes out of nowhere and you’re left wondering what happened and how to respond.”  (Been there, too.)

“Trying to figure out God’s plan, whether or not life is going how we want it to, is a constant challenge, but one that shapes us into men and women after God’s own heart.”

It goes on to speak about Psalm 139, the focus of the lesson, which contains familiar verses about being “fearfully and wonderfully made” and “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”  It speaks of God’s plan for us and how it may be different (sometimes vastly so) than our plan for us and how to reconcile our will to His.

Then it speaks of a verse I had never noticed, am somewhat shocked by, and hesitantly love.  It is Acts 13:36 which says “For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep (died)”  What?!?  When he had “served his purpose” he just died?  First, God had a will and a purpose for him (me too!) and that purpose definitely was not what David had set out for (knowing his background, surely that is true), but he had fulfilled it anyway.  Then he just died! :)  I guess this is a concept I was well aware of, but had not ever thought of it in this manner because I’m spoiled.  I think Americans are spoiled in general because we tend to think we deserve a certain life and we expect it.  In reality, I don’t deserve a whole lot of anything.  Certainly not fulfillment of God’s will for me.  What could be more grand…and scary.

Anyway, on to the more personal stuff.  So, as I said, Jacob and I are pretty much where we’d hoped to be.  We both are working in jobs with a similar setup that we’d hoped for.  Granted, Jacob is making a change but it is still with self employment working with his hands outdoors.  We have started the beautiful, beautiful family that we had hoped and prayed for.  We are headed towards our house (better late than never) and we have everything we need, and then some.  What more could we ask for?  Well, it is great, but I’ll admit it isn’t as blissful as hoped.  Each day seems hard for some reason.  The details wear us down.  We were so silly to think it would feel like a dream.  Don’t get me wrong, when I stop to smell the roses, so to speak, it does feel pretty darn good and I feel overwhelmingly blessed as a smile comes to my face and I take in a deep breath….but then I return to the stovetop with a baby fussing and clinging to my leg and Josiah maybe running amuck or spreading toys everywhere (I smile as I type that!) and I’m waiting for Jacob to get home.  All while packing everything we need to go to work and the sitter’s the next day only to come home late to eat the meal I worked hard to prepare in advance.  It wears me out, but it is beautiful.

Are we fulfilling God’s purpose?  I think so, but maybe not completely.  Is it supposed to feel wonderful?  Probably not, but in the end I think it will give peace.  (I suddenly feel more blessed just in writing this and I don’t know where to go with this or what my point was now!)  I think we just get so caught up in the everyday details that we didn’t have in mind when we were 19, that we fail to see the bigger, more beautiful picture, but it really is there.  God put it there.  He designed it.

One concept that I have struggled with over the last several years as I started to realize that life has some harsh realities is: who am I to think I deserve some particular rosy life?  There are plenty of great people who dearly love God and have been dealt a bad hand.  Maybe having these expectations and hopes for myself and my family is incredibly selfish and spoiled.  The lesson talks about how every 45 minutes about 1,800 people die from dirty water and it would only take 10 billion dollars to give clean water to the entire planet (a lot, I know, but our national deficit in insanely larger and we are just beginning to object to it!).  It also says that 95% of abortions are done out of convenience.  CONVENIENCE!  In veterinary medicine we don’t even support convenience euthanasia!  Also, every 40 days 250,000 people die of AIDS in Sub-Sahara Africa.  So, why should I have a perfect family, job, and home?  Why do I whine about constantly cooking when my pantry is full and we are alive and healthy?  Maybe our view of what God would have for us is skewed by the “American Dream”.  Regardless, I know he loves us dearly and has a plan for us that will fulfill his purpose if we are just brave enough to accept.

Here are some more passages that I found encouraging or just plain awesome from Psalm 139:

“You hem me in – behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”

“Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there…”

“Your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

And one of my favorites…"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Here are a few passages that have been taped to my bathroom mirror for about 2 years that I find reassuring:

Isaiah 30:18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.  For the Lord is a God of justice.  Blessed are all who wait for him!”

Isaiah 30: 21 “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” “

Isaiah 46:3-4 “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth.  Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you.  I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

And finally, the all too familiar Jeremiah 29:11-14.  People often only focus on 11, but the rest is vital. “ “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.  You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you,” declares the Lord…”

Wow!  if you made it this far, I’m impressed.  I hope you got something out of my reflective ramblings.  If not, thanks for giving me the space to think.

Saturday Fun – Little Boy Style

Today we took Josiah (and Elijah and Mom, either of which could have easily passed on it) to a tractor show and farm toy show in Newberry.  It turned out that the toys were collectors items and we were unwilling to shell out the money for any of them, but Josiah enjoyed looking at the real antique tractors (and we had our first experiences with him making use of public restrooms). 

Anyway, the show was supposed to be at the local elementary school which both Jacob and I thought we knew the location of, or at least that we could easily stumble upon it, so we headed out.  There is only one main crossroads in Newberry leaving only four logical directions to try.  We went 3 of the 4 of them before realizing we really had no idea where the school was.  There were signs for the show in each of these 3 directions, but no arrows or clues as to where to go.  Of course that is because all the locals already know.  So, what do you do when you have a question about Newberry?  You call the town mayor’s wife and ask.  (Thanks Martha!)  So, finally we found the elementary school after taking the 4th directional option.  I guess persistence would have paid off :)

Look at this big one, Mommy!

Yep, that one makes you look like a shrimp, Josiah!

This pretty much sums up what Elijah did the whole time.  Just chillin’!

He’s trying to get me to turn around and look at the tractor-pulled hay ride behind me.  I just want one picture with a smile.

In efforts to catch a smile I asked him to say “lollipop”.  He did and he smiled.  Now I just need him to look at the camera.  Ugh!  Little did I know that when we got suckered into accepting this lollipop that we’d have to listen to a 5 minute pitch about Haven Hospice (no, that has nothing to do with tractors!), but hey, my kid got free candy.

He was very good about sharing his candy.  Insistent, in fact…    

It was so good that I needed seconds!

It only took the whole tractor show, but he finished off the lollipop.  Do you notice that I’m beginning to appear in more pictures now?  Thanks, Jacob.

 

Then we headed home via Alachua to use a gift card to get free lunch at Conestogas.  Josiah desperately begged for ice cream which he pronounces as “ass-cream”.  Crude, I know, but it makes us laugh!

Going out in public with a newly potty trained preschooler is a new adventure.  Yeah, we’ll call it that.  Bathroom breaks have earned top priority and require both planning and spontaneity.  I’ll even admit to christening the elementary school parking lot.  A little embarrassing, perhaps, but it is better than his pants and car seat.