3 Months and Counting...

Em turned 3 months on Thanksgiving and I can hardly believe how fast it has gone by! (I know, big surprise to hear that from a mom!!!) 

But seriously!

It's hard to believe that Mads was this old when I was starting to get my classroom ready two years ago!    Although I miss school, I can hardly imagine what it would be like to be going back right now.  To say that I am thankful for this time at home is a complete understatement! Some days are a little too crazy for my liking and make me want to pull my hair out, but overall I wouldn't change it for the world.  I am so thankful for my job and the opportunity I have had to work part-time and I can honestly say that it has made me that much more appreciative to stay home this year!  I loved working, but I love being at home.  I have a huge respect for working moms and their ability to take care of their family.  

I often run into people that have strong opinions about mothering and how it should be done (who doesn't?!?!) and one thing that I've noticed over the last few years is that each person handles/adapts differently.  I don't think it's a sin to be a working mother and I don't think it's a sin to be a SAHM (Yeah, a fancy acronym for stay-at-home-mom).  I do, however, think that whatever situation I may find myself in must be done with the right heart.  I have literally heard christians debate that women should NOT work outside the home if they have children.  They've quoted scripture in an attempt to state their case that it is NOT Biblical.  Wow.  When this debate comes up, my heart clings to Proverbs 31:

Who can find a virtuous and capable wife She is worth more than precious rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She will not hinder him but help him all her life. 

She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. She is like a merchant's ship; she brings her food from afar. She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day's work for her servant girls. She goes out to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. 

She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. She watches for bargains; her lights burn late into the night. Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. 

She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. 

She has no fear of winter for her household because all of them have warm clothes. She quilts her own bedspreads. She dresses like royalty in gowns of finest cloth. 

Her husband is well known, for he sits in the council meeting with the other civic leaders. 

She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. 

She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs with no fear of the future. When she speaks her words are wise, and kindness is the rule when she gives instruction. She carefully watches all that goes on in her household and does not have to bear the consequences of laziness. 

Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: "There are many virtuous women in the world, but you surpass them all!"

Charm is deceptive and beauty does not last, but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. (vs. 10-30)

This beautiful woman clearly works for the Lord.  I believe each mother and wife has to find that place in her own family and in her own heart.  The same situation is not right for every family.  God has called us all to different places and to do different work for Him.  My prayer is that I will always be doing what God wants me to do, serving where he wants me to serve. 

Lately, my work has been load after load of laundry and cleaning up chunks of four different colors of playdough all mashed into a black glob out of the carpet...

it's glorious, what can I say?

Things aren't all chocolate and roses around here, but I continue to wake up with a grateful heart because we have a roof over our head, a warm home, food in the cupboards and a healthy family!

God is good. 

We have a lot going on in our home/family, but I hate to claim that we are busy.  I've always felt that being busy is an attitude that distracts us from seeing what's right in front of us. I never want to be too busy that I miss God's voice. I never want to be too busy that I don't stop and help when someone needs it, whether they live under my roof or not. 

And with that... here is what our THREE MONTH OLD is up to!!!

He is SO, SO strong and he loves to stand as much as we will let him.  He has been rolling over for a few weeks now.  He's gone from back to tummy a handful of times (Madi and I watched him do it on the ground a couple of times in a row) and he rolls from tummy to back ALL the time.  He sleeps on his tummy (I know-major "no, no") and every time he wakes up he rolls to his back and talks or cries until he gets picked up.  It's really sweet.  He has a super strong neck and has been able to hold his head really well from day one.  

His new favorite toy?

The exosaucer...

It's the perfect spot to stand and watch all of the crazy things his sister is up to!

And for kicks and giggles, a little comparison of our two kiddos.  Emmitt is 3 months and 5 days in these pictures and Madelyn is 4 months and 24 days in these pictures (I know, I'm a detail person...). 

    

This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Madi and I thought of it when I was taking these pictures of Em... she certainly has him beat in the cheek department (and baldness factor)!

 

Ninety-five percent of the time, this is the look people get from Emmitt.  He just likes to check things out, particularly with his brow furrowed...

**Side note: Matt has often had people comment that he looks "upset" when he is perfectly fine and I have a feeling Emmitt might have that same problem. It's just a serious look these men give off. ;)**

And of course I saved my favorite for last... this is just one of the smiles that melts my heart everyday. He's so. incredibly. sweet.

I'm thankful for this job of mothering that God has given me and I pray that I can do it with the right heart every single day. I'm also thankful for the wonderful example of a mother that I had. She certainly made it look easy though!

Black Friday!

Some people wait impatiently for 365 days until "black Friday" rolls around so that they can take their sleep deprived selves and hit the stores.

Some people wait in line for HOURS to save $5 on a pair of pants.

Some people spend all afternoon on Thanksgiving scouring the ads to make sure they don't miss the perfect deal. 

Some people actually accomplish all of their Christmas shopping in one morning.  

But not the Lambert girls!

We wait impatiently for 365 days for our favorite day of the whole year.  

Not because we're going to save much money. Not because we're going to stay up all night in hopes of being the first person to buy the $15 Lincoln Logs (**F**). 

But because we get to spend a morning together sipping on our favorite hot drinks (Unless you're J and you don't know how to drink a coffee, so you get a cold one ;) and talking about nothing.

 This year, two of our favorite baby boys came along and I'm pretty sure Emmitt didn't stop thinking, "I can't wait 'til I'm old enough to stay home with Dad!"  ...oh the joys of being drug along with the girls!

We relaxed. Smooched on the babies. Fummed through the ads without any plan in mind. Talked about Jess' new boyfriend and reveled in our "free time".

Aw. I love these girls.

363 days and counting!

When...

 ... did she get so big?

I've been asking myself this question almost daily lately and I still can't seem to come up with the answer.  It seems like just yesterday I was rocking her in her bedroom after feeding her and she was only two weeks old.  This week she turned 2 and a  half and I can hardly believe it!

However, she is such a little GIRL now!

 Okay, so maybe I should have used pictures where she wasn't playing with a toy gun (without a shirt on) before I emphasized the girl... she might be a little tomboy, but still, she's all girl!

 

She is SO sweet and loving and absolutely adores taking care of people... especially babies!  She talks in a sweet "cooing" voice every time she talks to her "brudder" and she is always ready to help take care of him.  I originally grabbed my camera today because I had left Emmitt on the floor while I ran to throw some things in the wash and I asked Madi to "watch" brother for a minute.  When I came right back, she had a pile of books and she was reading them to him.  She does this all the time and my favorite part is that she always turns the book so that he can see the pictures (like a teacher, surprise, surprise ;).  Of course, by the time I got the camera she instantly dropped the books and grabbed her toy gun.  Such is life.  

She did offer to give brother a kiss for me though! 

She is such a wonderful big sister and she absolutely adores her baby brudder.  Lately she has mentioned getting a baby sister a few too many times for our liking though.  Evidently she thinks they're easier to come by than they truly are.  The other day we pulled into the drive way and she noticed Matt still wasn't home so she said, "Where's Dada?"  I told her he was at the doctor (he was really at physical therapy, but it sounded easier to me).  She quickly replied, "Oh, he gonna bring us home a baby sista?"

Um, no.

A month or so ago we had a similar conversation, only my phone rang and after I answered it she wanted to know who it was.  I told her it was the doctor (reminding us of Em's 2 month check up) and she quickly asked, "Oh, we gonna have a baby sista now?"

Still no.

She's a funny one, that's for sure!  I love it when Matt is home to experience her together because we often find ourselves just looking at each other and laughing because she is entertaining us in her own little world!  She talks NON stop and I really don't know the end of her vocabulary.  She has a little lisp and I often find myself interpreting for others, especially people that aren't around her much. I'm assuming this is pretty normal.  

Last friday we officially gave up binkis and she did SOOO great.  We talked about it all week and decided we were going to send them home with her cousin, "baby Cwosby" after he came to play with us on Friday.  I actually had to wake her up from her nap on Friday and we put them all in a bag (including the one in her mouth) and waved goodbye!  I then dropped her off with Matt at practice and headed out to a baby shower for the night.  (Good plan, huh?!? ;)

She picked out a new Dora purse and had a special dinner with daddy and then she went to bed like a big girl!  Evidently the only thing she said was, "Daddy, let's go to Cwosby's house and get ALL my binkis back."  =) Too cute! 

She asked to go pick them up a couple more times over the next few days, but other than that she has moved on just fine.  I have noticed that it takes her a little longer to fall asleep.  I hear her singing on the monitor or just talking to herself for at least 10-15 minutes now, vs. 1 minute with the binki, but she has stayed in her bed and slept through the night just fine.

Finally, our big girl is pretty much officially potty trained.  She even sleeps in her undies!  She had one accident at night (well, it was 6:00AM, but it woke her up) and that has been it.  I'm super excited that I don't have to wipe toddler poop from her bottom, but it's just one more milestone that makes her seem SO big.  She usually needs help in the bathroom (or I'm just anal... haha, no pun intended), but today she came running out to tell me she went poop all by herself... and attempted to wipe all by herself!

Oh the things that are exciting when you become a parent...

And for all of you non-parents out there, believe me, you WILL be excited to talk about poop someday!

I bet you're looking forward to that! ;)

Alright, it's time for me to go cry myself to sleep... and I didn't even START on how much faster Emmitt is growing! I cringe when I hear myself say it because it is SO cliche, but anybody that's a parent knows that it seriously goes by TOO fast! Ugh. 

(Picture courtesy of Jess Harvey.  She rocks!!!)

Oh, how I LOVE this girl!!!

Occupy What?!?!

We currently have a lot of "occupy" jokes going around our house these days.

The kids have even gotten in on them...

 Emmitt is very vocal about his opinion.  

Look out, he might be a "riot starter"...

 They even managed to get waited on while "occupying" the kitchen...

I guess it pays off to be this cute...

Madi started the week off by demanding a few of her meals in her "box".  I started to fight the battle and then stopped mid-sentence.  It turned out to be a good choice.  She never gets out of her box and she even had 3 helpings the first night... She loves having her own personal table!

I think she'll be occupying the kitchen for a while...

Is it seriously almost Thanksgiving?!?!

And to think... I have yet to turn on the Christmas music.  

What is wrong with me this year???

Oh yeah, I have kids occupying everything!!! =)

You're Welcome, Georgia

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful privilege of packing up our kiddos and heading north to visit my sister.  She lives in Tacoma and has the cutest little life set-up, or so I think...

I had really good intentions of blogging about our trip, but life got busy and I sort of missed my window. However, Jess hasn't let up and I keep getting pester-y texts or FB messages saying things like: "Pictures from my house? Blog?"

She's oh-so-subtle...

(Picture courtesy of Jess Harvey Photography)

You see, my sister and I have this wonderful relationship. We absolutely adore one another, and we drive each other CRAZY! I'm sure there is some sort of birth-order/sibling dynamic/personality-trait explanation behind this, but it just is, what it is...

At any given moment I can make a little comment that would absolutely tick her off, and likewise, she could subtly mention something I could do differently and I would want her to leave the room... for a long time. 

I will say, however, with her, ahem, I mean our,  maturation, if you will, our annoyed moments have gotten much fewer and farther between and our love and respect for one another has grown even more!

Jess just spent the last 4 years of her life at the liberty of the United States Army and with her new found freedom has come an adorable little condo in downtown Tacoma and a job as a prison nurse, and although it wasn't her first choice in location or job, it was a job and it is just a hop-skip- and a jump away from home. 

Her heart's desire, however, was to move back to Georgia where she spent almost a year during her stint in the Army.  She applied for jobs in Seattle and in Georgia and waited hoping to have a clear direction as to where to go.  Meanwhile, we all prayed Georgia would fall through and she'd be trapped on the west coast where she would magically find a prince charming and never desire to move any farther away from her family again. The end. 

I was certain our prayers had been answered when she finally accepted the job at Pierce County and put a deposit down on her new place! Aw! How perfect!

As I'm sure you're sensing, this story turns bad, which is what has been on my heart for the last two weeks.  Jess took a lovely trip to Georgia to visit her "friends" and called home instantly to announce that she felt like she was at home again... Really? Hot, sticky, humid Georgia? Okay, so I've never been there, but still...

I listened to Jess' heart pour out as she continued to enjoy her vacation and fall in love with the south all over again, but all the while my heart was crying.  You see, my fear isn't that she'll move to Georgia, my fear is that Georgia will become her family and with that we'll see less and less of our precious sister, auntie, and daughter.  Holidays are expensive to fly home for and vacation time is hard to come by meaning three visits a year will become two and two visits one...

I've tried to put on a happy face and listen as she ecstatically tells me about all of the doors that have been opening up as she prepares to journey across the country, while deep inside I keep thinking, "do you know what this means"?

It hit me though, this morning, I was spending time with God and rocking a sleeping baby and I realized just how selfish my heart was.  Yesterday, I was e-mailing a friend back about a prayer request as she had shared some of the desires of her heart and I reminded her that even though it's hard to remember, the coolest thing is to think that as awesome as our plans may seem (cause we sure do love to make them) God's plan will always be even more perfect, we just have to trust him.  

I suppose that's what God is trying to tell me as well.  As perfect as my plan was for Jess, His plan is still more perfect.  She has been so patient, so faithful and so eager all at the same time.  Her heart was left in Georgia and God has plans to finish what he started and He needs her there.  It might ruin my plans of jumping in the car and rushing up to Aunt Caca's for the weekend, but then again, there are more important things than my plans...

Thanks, God, for the reminder.

Hopefully we will still have another special weekend or two with Aunt Caca before she journeys south for more than just a winter, but if not we'll cherish these memories and look forward to getting hot and sticky in the 'ol south.  Heck, maybe they have some peach picking adventures that are calling our name?  That sounds blog worthy...

So... here's the pics, J! Thank you, thank you, for spending part of your life in Tacoma.  Thank you for begging us to come visit with open arms and spoiling our children beyond belief!  You truly are a blessing. No matter where  you live!

Oh yes she did.  Kari jumped in her car with her two boys and we drove "the five" up to Tacoma on a whim, once again... 

(Yes, it's been done before)

 

Auntie Krista and baby Jude met us at the patch as well!

 Sisters!!! (Minus Hales):

 Caca and her babies. You can see why I don't want to share her...

Cutie pies!!!

So as I sit with tears streaming down my face, I can honestly say my heart is free of selfishness (for now at least). I am trusting that God's plan is even greater than mine. And if Georgia does become your family, that is one lucky family!

You'll always be our "Caca".

We love you!!!

A First Time for Everything...

I was just recently having a conversation with my good friend Ramie about how we had never experienced our children throwing up (other than going to get them in the morning and finding that they had thrown up in their cribs).

I should have known better...

On Thursday night it hit this girl with a vengeance.... 

We had tucked her in and both kids were asleep in their bedroom (they've only been sleeping together for about a week now) when we all of the sudden heard a horrible cry.  I looked at Matt and asked if I should get a bucket.  He opened the door to their bedroom and we both knew it had been too late...

She was COVERED in barf... and likewise, so was her bed!

Now for all of you parents who have not experienced this yet, my advice is to skip the bathtub (which is the first thing that comes to mind).  Within a half an hour she managed to cover everything on her bed in barf, the couch cushion, the carpet, my clothes and at least three sets of pajamas.  I was convinced our washing machine would never keep up with us, but by the third time she was finally hitting the bucket... as long as we were there to shove it in front of her face.

Poor girl.

She was miserable, and so was watching her continue to dry heave the rest of the night. =(

I convinced Matt that we would be fine and that he should try and get some sleep because he had to be at work the next day.  

Madelyn finally stopped throwing up around 3 AM, which was about a half an hour before Emmitt woke up to eat for the first time.  She was still awake so I turned on Dora while I nursed Emmitt and put him back to bed.  We both fell asleep in each others' arms sometime around 4:30 in the morning... just three short hours before Emmitt decided to wake up for the day!

Let's just say we didn't get out of our pajamas on Friday! Instead we grabbed our pile of "Curry George" books from the library and snuggled up in Madi's cozy bed on the living room floor.  

I prayed that I wouldn't have to see anyone's food twice (including my own) unless it was in a diaper and continued to pig-out like any other Friday. 

Don't judge.  I'm a nursing mom. 

(I must admit, my favorite part about sick kids is how snuggly they get.  This girl couldn't get enough of her Momma.)

Matt came home early from school on Friday and was convinced he didn't feel good.  He threw up a few times Friday night, but seems to be doing well now.  I'd like to hope that this is the first, and last stomach flu we'll be experiencing this Fall/Winter, but I won't hold my breath. 

The floors have been vacuumed. The sheets have been washed.  Everything and everyone has been wiped down with Lysol and we are all sleeping in our own beds tonight! Bring it on Daylight Savings.  We're ready for the new week!

Have I mentioned how badly I want to shampoo my carpets?!?!

Yeah... I can't WAIT!