Friday, December 7, 2012

FFF: A Few Highlights from 12-13 Months

I just realized that I haven't posted an "update" about Enoch's development lately.  :/  So sorry!   And so to the best of my ability, here's some of what has happened over the past 2 months.

Movement- Enoch is crawling everywhere these days and can climb over obstacles with little problem.  He loves walking along objects (like couches, cabinets, etc.), with his walker, or while holding onto Hugh's pants.  Although he can stand by himself for a few seconds, he's not confident yet that he wants to walk by himself.

Teeth- Enoch worked in his bottom left molar over these past two months, putting him up to 9 teeth!  Although it took such a long time for his molar to work in, he really likes using it now for chewing.  :)  And in my opinion, we only had a few days of teething-related crabbiness, so I was thankful for that!

Skills- Enoch can tell you what a puppy and a rhinoceros say, and now he can also (usually) point to his head, belly, and ears on command.  He is still learning nose, mouth, eyes, and the rest.  He loves to clap his hands, wave, and blow kisses on command {unless we are in public, and then he only does it when no one is looking, like when we are in the parking lot, haha!}.  He also just learned how to use his hands to say "more" while eating (we ask him to use his hands rather than whining or hitting the high chair).   Little Man has also just become good at letting us brush his teeth {which used to be such a struggle}, and he has just figured out how light switches work and always reaches for them when we enter and leave rooms.


Obedience- Little Guy does pretty well obeying commands that he understands (like come here, share, drink some milk, no, don't touch, etc.).  A few commands that we are working on right now (meaning he isn't great at obeying them yet) are not opening cabinets, not hitting, not throwing, and not complaining (aka: whining).   I am continually amazed at how quickly Enoch learns these commands {smart little cookie}, but I am also quickly reminded with each new command that we start learning that his will is so strong.  Right now, it isn't uncommon for him to commit an offense (one that he knows is wrong) and immediately look up at me or Hugh to see if he's going to get in trouble for it.  We've had to be on our toes about being consistent at disciplining him, but I can already look back a few months and see the progress that he is making with obeying Mama and Daddy.  {As a side note so that I can remember next time around, we began teaching obedience with "no" around the time Enoch learned to crawl.}

Eating- First, I should say that Enoch is up to 24 lbs {and quite barrel-chested, in our opinion}!!!   We are SO thankful that the Lord answered our prayers and gave him growth.  :)  On most days, Enoch will nurse 4 times, drink 2 (7 oz ea) cups of milk (via straw), and eat three meals with one or two small snacks (but the snacking is irregular and he doesn't require it).  Breakfast is always applesauce mixed with yogurt {usually Hugh eats breakfast with him}.  Lunch is always a cup of milk, a grain (usually whole wheat bread), a veggie, and a fruit.  Dinner is usually the same as lunch except that sometimes he gets extra protein from cheese, beans, or meat.  And if I'm having something like chicken noodle soup or spaghetti, he usually eats that in place of the veggie/grain.  His favorite foods are: bananas, string cheese, cheerios, and graham crackers.   He has also just learned how to hold a long piece of food (like string cheese) in his hand and take bites (rather than shoving it all in his mouth at the same time).




This was during the sleep-deprived
period and he would just conk out randomly.
This was during family worship, right
before nap time.
Sleep- Little Guy is still taking 2 naps a day, and he generally sleeps from 6 or 6:30 pm until 5:30 or 6 am.  At around 12 mos, a series of events (2 out-of-state trips and learning to pull up in the crib) caused his sleep to become "off" to say the least.  He would go to bed pretty well, but his naps were 30 minutes long (usually they're 1-1.5 hrs, and 30 min simply doesn't restore or reset our little guy) and he was waking up at 3 or 3:30 every morning.  At first, we weren't sure what to do or even what was wrong, but we finally started putting everything together and realized that he was suffering from sleep deprivation and it was only causing him to become more sleep deprived.  So we went through 3-4 weeks of re-training his sleep habits and helping him catch-up on the sleep he had been lacking.  Although I'm sure we didn't do everything right, we did eventually help him get back to his normal sleep routine, which we are so thankful for!  {When Enoch was little, we learned a lot from Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, and it has really helped us understand baby's sleep habits and needs.  So that's what we looked to for some help when this sleep issue reared it's head.}

Likes- wrestling with Daddy, dog watching, reading books, stacking rings, putting objects in other objects, playing "where's the baby", getting out of the house & seeing people, being tickled (see video below), sorting tupperware, swinging

Dislikes- not getting his way {of course}, having to wait to nurse






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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Enoch Live: standing drill

When Coach got home tonight, he and his little guy had some fun practicing standing.  We were pretty surprised at how long Enoch could stand on his own a few times...  So I caught some of it on camera since I thought you all might enjoy seeing a glimpse into this phase of Little Man learning to walk.  :)



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Monday, December 3, 2012

R2g: Sarah Edwards {Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God}

I really enjoyed this chapter on Sarah Edwards, the theologian Jonathan Edwards' wife.  For me, she is the most well-known woman of the five women that Noel Piper portrays in her biographical book, Faithful Women & Their Extraordinary God, so I was excited to learn more about her.

Overall, I appreciated the thoughtful way that Noel laid out this biography of Sarah's life.  First, she set the story well by explaining many of the hardships that living in colonial America in the early 1700s brought to Sarah's everyday life.  Noel also seemed to dig deep into many different resources to find gems of information about Sarah and her family that gave a fuller picture of their lives, which was necessary since Sarah herself didn't keep a journal.  In addition, I loved the way Noel drew some of her own take-aways at the end of the chapter, noting how she had related to Sarah and how the story of Sarah's life had touched her.

After having read through this chapter a few different times now, I have tried to narrow the number of things that I specifically gleaned from Sarah's life.  For me, personally, Sarah's life encouraged me to continue seeking to be faithful in the mundane parts of my life {Noel's subtitle for this chapter was "Faithful in the Mundane"}.   Specifically, there were a three areas of Sarah's life that she excelled at that were encouraging to me: faithful wife, faithful mother, faithful hostess.

These three areas are ones that I am currently in the midst of and usually slightly overwhelmed by, and I don't even live with the hardships of that era!  I was so encouraged by the way that Sarah shaped her daily life around her husband's calling.  Such a humble attitude clearly placed him and his needs above her own, which is clearly the attitude that we are called to in Philippians 2.  This has made me stop and think about ways that I can do this as well with Hugh.

I was also encouraged by Sarah's commitment as a mother to raising her children to know and fear the Lord.  It seemed that she was continually in prayer for her children and that her means of discipline allowed her children to mature in obedience and personality.  The list of contributions that the Edwards' family had made to society (such as 80 holders of public office, 66 physicians, 100 lawyers, etc.) astounded me and only reinforced how the faithfulness of one family in raising their children well can reach far into the future (p. 22).

Additionally, Sarah's role as a hostess gave me a good perspective on a few important characteristics I'd like to mimic.  First, she was caring and noted well the personalities of those who stayed with her.  She also seemed to be quite welcoming and hospitable, as her home was "well known, busy, and praised" (p. 25).  And it seems that this hospitality only highlighted (rather than detracted from) her love for her husband and children.  Although hospitality is not my strongest gifting, I do desire to become better at it because we aspire to have a very open and welcoming home.  Hugh and I have experienced the blessing of such families/homes personally, and we feel that it is one of the best ways of living out our faith in Christ within the context of community.  This was impressed upon me even more by some of the testimonies of how the Edwards family had loved those staying with them and how even the smallest of conversations had impacted those visitors' lives in great ways.


Well, that's all of my thoughts.  For those of you who read along with me, how were you encouraged by Sarah Edwards' life?   Do you find yourself struggling to be faithful with specific "mundane" things in your life?  Post a comment below and share your thoughts!

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Preparing for Christmas


I am so excited that we are now into December!  Do you know why?  Christmas is coming!!  And as of this past Sunday, our family has begun preparing for Christmas by reading Advent readings.

I would say that for me personally, the advent readings are crucial in preparing my heart to celebrate Christ during the Christmas season.  Having a daily passage that orients me toward Dec. 25th being the day of Christ's birth helps me have the right focus throughout each day leading up to the 25th.  There are many Advent reading plans available on-line and in print, but this year I will be using this free ebook from Desiring God called Good News of Great Joy.  (click the link to download it for yourself)  I first heard about the release of this ebook from this blog post, and they give a good summary of it at both of the above links.


Having skimmed the ebook once now and read a few of the daily readings, it seems rather helpful and quite do-able.  There is a daily scripture reading as well as a short devotional to go along with it.  It's short enough to accommodate the busiest of schedules but also thoughtful enough to provide much fodder for meditation and further reading/study.  Here's an excerpt about the purpose of this Advent ebook:

What I want most for Christmas this year is to join you (and many others) in seeing Christ in all his fullness and that we together be able to love what we see with a love far beyond our own half-hearted human capacities. This is our goal in these Advent devotionals. We want together to see and savor this Jesus whose first “advent” (coming) we celebrate, and whose second advent we anticipate.   (page vi)

Whether you're an avid Advent reader or have never considered doing Advent readings, I'd like to invite you to join us in reading through this ebook as we prepare our hearts for Christmas.   We are only 2 days into the advent readings, so there is plenty of time to catch up and benefit from this practice!!

And if you're wondering what Advent means or why many Christians celebrate it, download the ebook and simply read the Preface.  I hadn't ever heard of Advent until a few years ago, so don't feel dumb if this is the first time you've heard the word!!    :)

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Friday, November 30, 2012

FFF: A few of Enoch's favorite things

Here are a few of Enoch's favorite things these days...  Now I should say {on the record} that since he's obviously not old enough yet to write a paragraph listing his favorite things, I've chosen these things to be his favorites by a highly technical means..  mainly my mom intuition...  Maybe once he's old enough to be writing paragraphs, if he can recall what his favorite things were at this age, then we can compare his list to mine.   ;)   Until then, here is my list (in no particular order):


Favorite thing #1 these days is dogs.  He loves seeing dogs in photos, videos, and especially in person.  He has semi-learned how to make a panting noise when we ask him what a dog says, but when we actually see a dog, he makes the cutest sound!  I need to get it on video soon because it's too cute/hilarious!  He jumps/rocks up and down (usually he's being held in someone's arms) while exclaiming "woo, woo, woo" real fast.  It almost sounds like a combination between panting and "woof" {somewhat like what you might do if you burnt your finger on the stove and  you were blowing on it}.  The dog in this photo was in the backyard of a house we are considering buying.  He's a white lab that is incredibly good at fetching.  Let's just say that excitement would be an understatement to describe how Little Man reacted each time Hugh would launch that big stick and the lab would take off after it {Granny Sandy, this dog is up there with Otis on his fetching skills and enthusiasm.}.  



Favorite thing #2 these days is stacking rings.  This game entertains him for a long time now that he's able to easily put the rings on and take them off.  He is so diligent to put every ring on before he removes any, and if one rolls across the room, he stops playing and crawls over to retrieve it, brings it back, and continues stacking them.  It's slightly cute.   :)

A few things you may notice from the video:  
  • His right hand does most of the stacking.  I've tested this, and his left hand can stack, but it isn't as good at this skill yet, so the right hand is typically dominant.
  • The flat rings are easier than the others {that are more cone shaped} because they have a large, flat edge on both sides.
  • He prefers to hold 2 rings at a time (one in each hand) so that he's ready to stack the second as soon as the first is on.  



Favorite thing #3 is kissing, but you've all seen video footage of that.  :)  Anyway, Enoch loves giving kisses, blowing kisses, being kissed.. you get the idea...  One thing that has changed about his kisses recently is that they all come with sound effects.  He makes the same "m-m-m-a-a-h-h" for every single kiss he gives or blows.  It's pretty sweet.



Favorite thing #4 these days is playing "where's the baby?"  In fact, it's even more fun now because Little Guy just learned how to cover his eyes to "hide" when we play {we were playing this game by putting a towel over his head and then pulling it down to "find" the baby}.  Here's a quick video:





Favorite thing #5 is getting out of the house.  Enoch is incredibly social (although sometimes shy), and so he just loves getting his jacket and hat on because he knows we are most likely going somewhere that will have lots of exciting things to see... things like cars, people, animals, etc.  He is typically a quiet, observant little boy in public {except for his "off" days, which do come every once in a while}, and he is quite shy with most "new" people until he is able to recognize them, which usually takes 5-7 repeat visits.

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Thursday, November 29, 2012

Enoch live: Naked in November

We've been baking cookies all afternoon, and now our kitchen is HOT! Enoch got a bit pink-cheeked from the heat, so now he's walking around (half) naked... In November! ;) don't worry though, he'll have to get dressed before we go outside again.

I happen to love (half) naked babies because they are just oh-so ticklish, especially this one. And, I had to share this picture because I thought my little guy was pretty stickin' cute bear-chested in his cargo pants. :)
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

R2g: Reminder

I just wanted to send a shout out to all of you ladies who plan to read along with me in our next book by Noel Piper: Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary God...

So here's the message:  on your marks, get set, GO... GET STARTED READING!

:)  We'll have Chapter 1 read by this coming Monday, December 3rd, and I'll have a blog post about it written by then as well.   Chapter 1 is about Sarah Edwards, a {dead} lady I really respect for oh-so-many reasons.  I think you'll really enjoy reading about her life as much as I have.

If you need information about how to get a copy of the book, check out my last post about it here (you can buy it or read it for free via pdf).


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