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it's been awhile!

I have 10000000 excuses for not posting. Here is a list of some of them, though I know that many of you won't really care. I still feel as if I MUST update you on the boring stuff.

First, we got new floors put in our house a couple weekends ago. We weren't living at home. My life felt like mayhem.

Guess what? Within a week of having the floors installed, we had a toilet overflow... I cleaned up the mess and thought it was over... later to discover that it had seeped out of the bathroom, under the newly installed laminate, which is now buckling.

SO, the contractor is coming out again to fix the laminate in the morning. Nothing like a good toilet overflow to teach you not to let your hope or joy or peace depend on worldly possessions.

Next, can you say three steps backward in the sleeping department? Trust me, it's totally my fault... Henry's been waking up in the middle of the night, and (confession), I just can't stand to listen to the baby cry - especially when I am so tired. Lest you DINKs or SINKs out there judge (as I, admittedly, once did), I'd like you to know that the cringe a momma feels when her baby cries is hormonal and unavoidable! Just wait till you have kids. (Don't you love it when people say that?)

The biggest and best excuse for not posting is that Henry is MOBILE. Everyone told me that I'd wonder why I was ever eager for the dude to start crawling, and what do you know, they were right. However, while this is probably the most difficult stage yet, in terms of making sure the kiddo doesn't electrocute, burn, or poison himself (much less just take a drink of toilet water or something totally nasty like that)... it is the BEST stage in that he's doing so many new, fun things. Such as...

repeating (or trying to repeat) all the words we say
learning hand signals and sign language and the like (wave, blow kisses, point to his nose, says "more" and "all done" and etc.)
crawling into odd spaces where he eventually gets stuck (it's funny)

The other day, I was holding him and I put my arms out to my side and asked if he would give me a hug, and he TOTALLY leaned in and hugged me. SO sweet. The best part about that is that I had no idea that Matt had been teaching him to do that. I just thought he was a genius.

I'm sure there is more, but I am writing this post on a whim.

I cannot believe that it's almost been 11 months since that baby was born. That's unbelievable. This year has been really different for me. When I look back I can see that God has used so many parts of it to teach me to put ALL my hope in Jesus, and not anything else in this world - not my future, not money or status or earthly comforts, not people or spouses or children, not my own deeds or my own ability to do anything at all, not the government or the military or the stock market or a political party- only in Jesus. He is the ONLY hope for salvation, the ONLY name given by which men can be saved. And He can deliver us from all of our fears.

" Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:1-5

I'll have to share more about that in another post. Also coming soon in another post - pictures.

the difference between a mom and a dad

Caution... long winded. Caution also, mom post. That's to be expected.

What is the deal? Matt and I have been following all the Ferber rules... I think. Anyway, it was working so perfectly, but in the past three nights or so Henry has started waking up at the same exact times in the middle of the night: Midnight, 3:00 AM, and 5:30 AMish. And he cries for like 3o minutes every time, which is NOT supposed to happen! C'mon Ferbs.

ANYWAY, if you want to know the difference between a mom and a dad, here it is. Henry is currently crying, and as a result, my insides feel like they are going to crawl out of my body and it's taking 100% of my energy not to go get him, and there's NO WAY I could possibly sleep right now. Matt, on the other hand... Well, I guaran-darn-tee ya that Matt has no clue that Henry is crying. Matt's dreaming about... about who knows what, but the point is he is sound asleep. Completely unmoved. (Even if I turn the sound on the monitor up high IN OUR BED, Matt hardly notices... not that I'd ever do that.)

And we're going on 35 minutes.

In other exciting baby news... My child who refused to feed himself for about 2 months after he should have been capable has started to put his own food in his mouth. He used to just drop it on the floor. Now it's on the floor and in his mouth... and all over his hands, face, shirt, pants, etc.

As for a clean house, I keep telling myself, "LOWER YOUR STANDARDS!" Cause Henry's favorite pastime is taking every single piece of clothing out of our bottom drawers. Or taking every piece of Tupperware out of the cabinet. Or pulling all the books and magazines off the shelves. So, in my former life, I would re-fold my clothes, put the Tupperware back in the cabinet in a very orderly fashion and realphabetize the books and movies and magazines before putting them on the shelf... Now, if I do put the item back in its place (cause most of the time I just leave it out till Matt comes home to entertain Henry), I shove it in the drawer, cabinet, shelf... just to get it out of my sight.

This new life stage has forced me to prioritize (cause I can't do everything), and perfectly organized everythings is something I've just had to drop. I could go into detail, but I don't want to bore you. Maybe another time, but when you only post once every three weeks, you have to be selective... more selective than I am being in this post right now.

Going on 50 minutes. Please, child, give it up.

Next. Henry has WORDS! It's so exciting. He says (or actually just repeats) the words, "Dada," "Hello," "Hoorah," and for the first time today... "MAMA!" He also tries to say "uh-oh," but only gets out the "uh."

Okay, I am not going to lie. There are times when I don't want to have a blog anymore because sharing things with a mostly anonymous public just feels weird... plus I don't really feel like updating a lot anymore because I don't know what to say... HOWEVER, when he's crying I am SO thankful that I can write to all you crazy anonymous people who are, for some unknown reason, interested in what's going on in my life. Also, the grandparents and great-grandparents love it, so don't worry - I won't go anywhere.

And, with that, I am going to get that child out of his crib. Wait... one more thing.

Can I just say that I NEVER EVER EVER planned to be nursing my child till he was almost 11 months old. No way. I thought it would be over as soon as he got teeth, which is totally what I would have done if that surgery hadn't caused the dude to stop taking a bottle. I cannot believe that we have made it this far. And I mean, I would have quit yesterday if I could. But it is sort of special - I'll give you that, whoever you are. But I'm trying to start weaning. He's picky about the bottle. He takes it sometimes, he denies it most of the time.

Who cares?!?!!?!? I know. I know. This is totally lame and ALL about mom stuff - the stuff you never want to get caught in a conversation about when you don't have kids. I've been you before, you kidless DINK. I know.

Okay, as you can all see, my brain is no longer inside my head. I left it on the pillow.

And, oh my goodness, he might finally be asleep... 1 hour later. Lord, help me.