Thursday, March 20, 2014

Springtime

This afternoon I took James for a walk and we stopped for a while at a nearby park to relax, read, and enjoy the beautiful outdoors.  We had a wonderful time!


I am blessed that we live near such a pretty place to walk.  I love the sound of running water.


Little violets hiding near the creek.



It's a lot easier to paint your toenails when you aren't 9 months pregnant!


Just waking up.





Reading with Mommy!











Saturday, March 15, 2014

Little Bits of Random

I have been thinking about writing again lately.  Lots of little things to say have been bubbling up all day, so I will try to catch them and write them down.  

It's a quiet day.  The kind of day where you want to do nothing but sit, read, write, take care of your baby, and drink about ten cups of tea.  But I have a lot of little chores to do and some big organizational projects looming (two closets that drive me batty when I take the time to really look at them, which fortunately isn't often).  I guess I'll try do to some of both--the getting things done and the sitting around and relaxing.  

My Aunt Ruth passed away on Monday night.  Most of my family is driving out to Omaha today.  We will miss her so much.  I remember her as a sweet, loving, generous lady.  Small but so spunky, and family was tremendously important to her.  She invested a lot of time and care into our lives; she was really like another grandma to us.  I wish I could be with the family this weekend but two days of driving with James sounded like a little too much.  

* * * *

I just got my third cup of tea.  I went to put a little honey in but the honey jug popped open and I ended up with a lid and enough honey to sweeten the next 7 cups of tea in my cup.  Goodness.  I removed the lid, transferred my milk and enough honey for one cup to another mug, and left the rest for future use.  

* * * *

I just practiced piano for a while.  I have been practicing a lot of worship music lately, getting ready to play for Steve and Melody's wedding.  Today I was working on a song called Holy Ground:

We are standing on holy ground
And I know that there are angels all around.
Let us praise Jesus now
We are standing in His presence on holy ground.

I started thinking of Aunt Ruth again and it made me cry.  I am happy for her, but sad for us.  She’s in His presence now, standing on that most holy ground before Jesus.  No more sadness or pain or cancer or ugliness of any sort.  Just praising Him in absolute freedom and full joy.  I can't wait to join her.


* * * * 

James is so cute these days. I just love him. He's still sleeping in our room but we're going to get a crib mattress here and start the process of moving him to his own room. I think I'll miss him. Sarah took pictures of him on my birthday (a week ago) and they are so adorable. He's turning from a tiny baby in to a little boy. I'll post more another day, but here is one of my favorites:

I should go start dinner and make some muffins. I almost always make muffins on Saturdays. We drive so far to get to church that we kinda need some rations for the road, and muffins fit the bill quite well. I'm making chicken barley soup for dinner, and I am going to make it up as I go along. I'm pretty sure it will turn out edible.  

It's snowing lightly outside but the sun is shining and on Monday it's supposed to be 70 degrees. Maybe Joe and I will take James for a walk when he gets home from work. It would be nice to try out my new walking shoes. :) Have a beautiful weekend, friends!

Rachel

Monday, March 3, 2014

James: 4 Months

Our little buddy is four months old today!  Time is starting to go really fast--I feel like he just turned three months.  I thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from when he was born till now.

James these days:

Gets all animated and happy when we come to get him.
More and more verbal!
Plays with his hands and getting more coordinated about toys.
Just started reaching for his toes.
Kicks off his socks.
Sucking his fingers more and more--went to sleep last night with his fingers instead of his pacifier!  :)
Doing better with tummy time; rolls from tummy to back.
Likes to be outside.
Quickly growing a new crop of fuzzy hair!
Went to his first concert last night.  The sound of the orchestra tuning made him all sad and pouty.  (Fortunately, though, he has gotten used to my piano practice.)
Loves to be wrapped in his blanket when he's tired.