"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." Acts 20:24
Today I added too much breastmilk to Enoch's oatmeal. Getting the right balance is hard. Not enough milk and the oatmeal is too chewy for him to swallow. Too much milk and the oatmeal is too liquidy to stay in his mouth- when he shuts his mouth to "chew" it up, the oatmeal just squirts right out.
As I've been reading through the Bible this year, I've really been blown away by God. Who He is. What He does. What He commands. Just Him. So I've decided to try and blog about some large scale themes I see in each book of the Bible that I read through.
When I finished Genesis, I really felt the weight of God's Faithfulness.
"And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel--and God knew." (Exodus 2:24-25)
I know this verse is not actually in Genesis, but I think it summarizes God's faithfulness from Genesis in a magnificent way. God made a covenant (Genesis 12:1-3). He remembered it. He heard the people's groaning. He knew. Wow! (What follows in Exodus is even more of God showing His faithfulness by bringing the Israelites out of Egypt against all odds... more on that later.)
Another way that we see God's faithfulness in keeping this same covenant is in the fulfillment of "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed," which God brought about through Jesus (Genesis 12:3). Jesus was from the line of Abraham (see Matthew 1), and he brought blessing to all the nations on the earth by offering Himself as their/our atonement for sin. He, as the second Adam, defeated Satan's ability to steal, kill, and destroy, and He offers eternal life to all who hear His voice and follow Him (John 10:9-10, 25-30).
But that's not the only covenant He kept. One covenant that we see God keeping quite regularly is the covenant He made with Noah: that He would never again destroy all flesh by a flood, which He put rainbows in the sky to remind us of (Genesis 9). What a beautiful sign of God's faithfulness in keeping His covenants.
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If you want to read through the Bible in a year, I highly recommend the reading plan I'm doing, which was recommended to me by our church. The Discipleship Journal organized it, and you can find it here. What I like most about it is that there are only 25 readings per month, so you have time to catch up if you get behind and time to think back over each month's readings to meditate on what you learned. I also highly recommend underlining and highlighting in your Bible as you read because 1) it makes you a more active reader, 2) it helps you see themes and other important things, and 3) it makes reviewing later much easier.
Whole Wheat Flax & Apple Muffins (I use 3/4 c whole wheat flour, 3/4 c white flour rather than 1.5 c 50/50 flour, and I put my apples in the food processor instead of chopping them finely)
Like I mentioned in an earlier post, Enoch has really changed his sleeping schedule in the past few weeks! I just wanted to write in a little more detail about how our days look now so that I won't forget this stage. :)
First though, I wanted to try and remember a few of the things that I learned from reading that book on sleep recently (this applies for babies from 4-8 mos):
The first nap should happen very soon after waking up and can act as a continuation of night time sleep (I was trying to keep Enoch up as long as I could before his first nap so that he would be very tired, but this author warns that getting a baby over-tired is easy to do and only works against a good nap.)
2-3 naps a day is average
Having a pre-nap routine is good (we rock for 5-15 minutes, and sometimes I'll sing to him)
Napping while moving (like in a carseat or while rocking) isn't as good as sleeping while stationary in the crib
Babies at this age should be going to bed between 6 and 8 (We were pushing 8:00 before, but when I read this, it gave me the freedom to try putting Enoch down earlier when he started showing sleepy cues, which has really worked well for him.)
A typical day's routine (as if there is such a thing) looks like this:
Wake up around 7 or 8
Nurse
1st play time: Family worship, play with Dad and Mom
1st nap around 9 or 9:30 (usually sleeps for 1-1.5 hr)
Nurse
2nd play time: Bath, get dressed, jump in pony, eat oatmeal
2nd nap around 11:30 or 12 (usually sleeps for 45 min-1 hr)
Nurse
3rd play time: Play with Mom, run errands, hang out with fun people
3rd nap around 2 or 3 (usually only 30-45 min)
Nurse
4th play time: Run more errands, play, eat oatmeal, get ready for bed
Bedtime around 5 or 6
Night time nursing has pretty much stopped, but sometimes he'll wake up around 3 or 4 for a snack
Here are some random details to embellish the basic routine:
In the mornings, Enoch will contentedly lay in the crib and talk to himself for 30-45 minutes until I come to get him, which is such a blessing because it helps me have a consistent time with the Lord in the morning. We have also re-arranged our day by moving our time of family worship to the morning because Enoch is going to bed so early now (he really spirals downward after 4:30 or 5 unless we're out of the house doing something fun). For instance, we enjoy attending church on Wednesday nights, and Little Man does surprisingly well considering that we usually don't get home until 7:30 or 8, but it's mainly because he's seeing new sights and getting to ride around in a carrier on Mom or Dad (where he usually falls asleep before we get to the car).
My errand running/spending-time-with-people time has really become more limited with this new routine (Enoch used to go anywhere with me at anytime because he was on a 2-3 hour routine and napping on the go was easy.). I now try to get out of the house only in the afternoons if possible (Granted, we're usually not even ready to go anywhere until then anyway because of a later bath time now.), but I do have more freedom to have friends over in my house for lunch since he's a pretty good napper during that time. I have also started running some errands at night after he's in bed because I'm much more efficient by myself (as I'm sure all mom's understand :)
Also, teething has really made nap times hard this past week. It has been so hard for him to fall asleep when his gums hurt, and all he can do is scream. While the teethers and frozen (slightly wet) baby socks help, when he's in a large amount of pain, the only thing that will calm him down and bring relief is nursing. So probably 4-5 times this week I have had to nurse him an extra time within 1-2 hours of his last feeding. This usually backfires in the long run though because he'll nurse himself to sleep, but as soon as I unlatch him, he wakes up and starts crying the most pitiful little puppy wimpers. :( And then within 10 minutes, he's spitting up all of the milk that he just ate... Gross!!! Today he has had some pretty easy, good naps though, so maybe we're working through another set of teeth, who knows?
Little Man wanted to send a Valentine's Day kiss to all of the sweet ladies in his life. Sorry if it's a little wet.. That's how all of his kisses are! :)
This has been the first "real" snow of the year for us, so we were excited to get Enoch out in it to play! Hugh even walked all the way home from his office just to take some fun photos with us. Unfortunately, there wasn't much playing for Little Man because his little winter outfit made him pretty stiff...
But Daddy still got him down in the snow...
....and got snow all over his bottom.
And of course we thought he'd love some tummy time in the snow.
Sweet boys!
One last pose with Mommy. I love how blue his eyes look here! :)
We had so much fun just getting out for a bit and making some snow memories. The winter outfit seemed to keep Enoch pretty warm, but I'll say that all the effort to get him in and out of it was more than I expected! Definitely worth it this time though. (Oh yeah, and technically we only got around 1" of snow, so for those of you up North reading this blog, just bear with our excitement about "real" snow... The "not-so-real" snow we got earlier this year was like 1/4" haha!)
Teething (this gets to be counted twice because of the 2 teeth.. )
Enoch even has a new laugh to go along with all of these 4 month changes..
Little Man has also gotten much better at eating recently. He opens his mouth when he sees the spoon and is such a gentleman about keeping his hands down at his side (as opposed to in his oatmeal-filled mouth).
He's also just about to master rolling over.
This is a video of him learning how to grab toys and put them in his mouth. (His hand-eye coordination is not quite there yet, but you can tell he's processing.)
And this is just a fun video to show how we solved the bath time problem of splashing that happened around 2.5 mos when we got him the pony jumperoo and he found his legs. Hugh had the great idea to put his bath tub in our bath tub. So it sits on the shelf of our bath tub (perpendicular to our tub), and I sit on a little stool at the other end our the big tub. Now the only issue is that he's such a wiggle worm that he wiggles into a reclined position instead of sitting up. He's probably about to graduate to the big tub, but we're trying to wait until he can sustainably sit up on his own first.
This is how he should look in the tub (when he sits up properly)!
Another issue about bath time that we solved was the issue of him peeing in the tub everytimehe got in. Now, I keep a plastic cup by the tub as a "pee cup," and as soon as I put him in the tub, I have the cup on hand to collect a urine sample that I then dump into the toilet. Gotta love the desperate inventiveness of us moms!! ;)
We just celebrated Enoch's four month birthday this Saturday. In all truthfulness we didn't really celebrate with a cake or balloons or anything spectacular, but there were a few milestones that I felt were blog-worthy. :) First though, here are some pictures of Enoch at four months:
Rocking with Mommy
Playing with Daddy
First of all, Enoch got his first tooth on his four month birthday. It is on the bottom and if you look at him, it's his right center tooth. It isn't poking up enough to get a great picture yet, but it is certainly there and poking up enough to have a sharp edge against my finger when he gnaws on it... ouch! This definitely explains so much about the past week, and possibly the past month at that (waking up at night, being fussier at times, drooling, trying to eat anything he can grab, etc.). It seems like the pain with that tooth is not over yet though because even tonight he was acting like it hurt. (Maybe the one beside it is also coming in? I can't tell quite yet.)
This was my best attempt at a picture..
Then, in order to celebrate his four month birthday, we gave Enoch his first baby oatmeal. I was surprised at how good he did, considering that he has never used a spoon before, but I will say that out of 1 tablespoon that I prepared, he maybe got 1 teaspoon down... ha! One of my good girlfriends recommended acting out what you want the baby to do when you teach them to eat (i.e. open your mouth and say "ahh" when you want them to take a bite) so that they can mimic you, and I think that really helped Enoch. I felt a little ridiculous saying "ahh" and mimicking chewing saying "num, num, num" but little man was responsive, so it was worth it in my book. Overall, I think the chewing and swallowing parts of eating are the hardest for him to grasp right now. We let him eat some more oatmeal this morning and evening as well, and he did about the same, although he is getting much better at getting the oatmeal off of the spoon (a very important part of eating with a spoon, right?).
Now if any of you have seen Enoch recently, you might be thinking that the boy doesn't really need any supplementary food- the breastmilk has kept him quite healthy. Well, I'd agree, but our doctor actually recommended starting oatmeal or rice cereal at four months so that he would learn how to eat off of a spoon. She said it was important to have that skill mastered before six months when he really will need the supplementary food (pureed veggies and fruits).
Big boy eating from a spoon!
Finally, Enoch also attended his first funeral on Saturday. One of our sweet older friends from church lost her husband this past week. They had been married over 50 years (dating over 60), and so it was a bittersweet loss for her. Every testimony that we heard at the funeral and the lunch preceding it was about her husband's faithfulness in a few key areas: knowing/preaching the Word of God, encouraging everyone he met with the truth from the Word, and loving others deeply. May it be true of all of us who would call ourselves followers of Jesus.
Hugh and I were glad and humbled to be there, to serve alongside other members of the body in loving our friend, and to see the hope she had- that though her husband was no longer alive in the flesh, she had confident hope in her Redeemer Jesus...
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
I think Enoch's bottom two teeth are coming in! (I can see one under his gums trying to poke through, and I think the one beside it is just a little behind the other.) He has been more fussy than normal lately, and now that I know why, I just feel so bad for my little man. So far he has been calmed down by rocking and chewing on either my finger, his paci (yes, he chews it... he never got the memo that pacis are for sucking on, I guess), and cool gel teething rings (thanks to my mom for suggesting those!). I tried to snap a pic of the little white teeth I can see trying to poke their heads through his pink gums, but there were too many obstacles to overcome for me to get a good shot (fingers, tongue, lips, etc.). I have no idea how long it will take for his pearly whites to show up, but when they do, I'll be sure to post the first picture I can snap. :)
Just wanted to post another video of Enoch playing. A couple of things to notice that I think are cute:
talking
wiggly worming
trying to eat the toy
(when the toy comes close to him, he puts his hands in his mouth real quick. I think he's working on grabbing the toy and putting it in his mouth when he sees it, but he hasn't figured out the timing yet. :)
Remember that Enoch doesn't like getting dressed? I used to think it was because he just liked being naked (and maybe that is a contributing factor), but I think I have stumbled upon a solution...
Believe it or not, Enoch has decided that getting dressed while sitting up is SO MUCH BETTER than the alternative. You see, babies get dressed while laying down, but big boys get dressed sitting up.
This is how babies get dressed..
And this is how big boys get dressed..
Granted, my big boy has to be partially held up by mommy's legs, but he doesn't care. :)
...And he still has to put his pants on like a baby, but he's okay with that too.
So here's some algebra for your morning to summarize my findings:
sitting up + getting dressed = happy momma + happy baby big boy
