Your Friendly Weather Update

11:00am: 61 degrees
11:44am: 42 degrees

I have never seen the temperature drop so rapidly before. By tonight? 6 degrees!!
I'm staying inside.

What's up?

*Meet Flash. Flash here is a little red ball of mystery. Why you ask? Flash has not eaten one piece of fish food for the year that he has lived here. I gave up a couple of months ago when I realized that he completely ignored all efforts to feed him. Yet he thrives. What in the world does he ingest to survive??

*The winds of change are a-blowin'. Seth gave in his notice last week. His last day of working for the man will be January 31st. My husband is a freedom lovin' soul where his goal in life is to become his own boss. He's been working hard towards this goal for a few years now and has finally come upon an open door. Yep, it's scary but it's not like I haven't had major lessons in trust lately!

*I have a favorite Christmas album. It's this album by Sufjan Stevens. I could actually listen to it all year but I hold back. It's better that way.

*I have a new best friend. It's this. Sure it looks a little bit like a straight jacket but it works wonders on my daughter. And it has velcro. Velcro!

*My husband is working out of town in January for 14 days straight. If I think about it too long, I have a sudden urge to take up thumb-sucking again.

*I love my boys. I am amazed at their creative, imaginitive minds. I can't stand their bickering. This is the part where my mom's voice sneaks into my head- "You just wait til you have your own kids. You just wait." I have and I understand now, Mom.

*I have an idea. Let's go here for Christmas. And maybe never come back?

She Speaks

We have entered my favorite part of infantdom. When it takes the whole body to conjure up one little "coo" from their sweet baby lips. She did it for the first time yesterday. Not only did she speak, but then gave her first non-dreamy, non-gassy smile! It's enough to make ice melt...

~She Made Her Mama Very Happy~

4 Weeks

Tomorrow is Baby Lyla's 1 month birthday. I'm curious how much she has grown because there is some obvious chub happening in her cheeks. I love it!!

Dedication

It is unbelievable how many babies there are at our church right now. And it's not even a "right now" kind of deal...there are always lots of babies. Something must be in the water =)

Today was a dedication service, where the leadership prayed over the little ones. We kind of missed it when Josiah was a baby so we went ahead and took both Lyla and him up. There are no pictures of the actual event but here are a couple of sweet photos of brother and sister-

Lawd Have Mercy

Baby just discovered her lungs tonight. And she ain't scared to use 'em.

I'm sorry, did you say something? Oh wait, that's just the ringing in my ears.

If it Doesn't Rain...

It seems as if everyone is having a little girl these days. My high school bff just found out that her second baby is going to be a girl. Very exciting! My first roommate in college just gave birth to her first baby, a beautiful daughter named Hero. And a very good friend has a baby girl who is only a few days older than my Lyla. You must check out her link because baby Zaria's hair is absolutely amazing!
And then, of course, here is my sweet ladybug-in all her chubby cheeked, mohawked glory!
Congratulations, my friends! It's an honor to be counted with you, as we take on the responsibility of raising the next generation of women. May these little ones know who they are from a young age. May they stand on our shoulders and accomplish what we only dreamed!