You Can Just Call Me "Audg"

My daughter is amazing. She definitely was not planned by me, but God allowed me to be blessed through her birth and life. Her name is Audrey and she is incredibly smart. At four and half years old, she is reading books by herself. She doesn't always get every word correct, but she is easy to teach and she learns quickly when corrected. One of her brothers' name is Asher, whom we sometimes call "Dash" for short. Audrey doesn't really have a nickname, but one day she told us we could just call her "Audg," which of course we find adorable.

Audrey at about 18 months. I call this her "Vogue Pose" though she didn't really try to pose for the picture.

Second birthday party in her (okay, my) favorite green eyelet dress from Aunt Miss.

Dancing at a friend's wedding.

Christmas 2012, hanging the new ornament from Grammy.

This girl is always happy! She wakes up in the best of moods and I often have to catch up to her energy. She truly treats every single day with a new joy. It's like nothing ever in her life has gone wrong before when she wakes up in the morning. This is good for me, because sometimes I am a little hard on her. (Confession from a learning-how-to-do-it mama.) I know the day will come when she will remember the events from the day before, so I am working hard on being outrageously happy right along with her. After all, we do have quite a lot to be thankful for.
Lately, my favorite thing about her character is watching her utter trust and belief in Jesus. It is so amazing to watch the fruition of Jesus' teaching about believing like a child. There is no doubt in her mind that not only does God exist, but He is who He says He is, and does what He says He will do. Faith like a child is exemplified in her. I pray she keeps that faith through all of her years.

When My Son Dances

It is just so stinkin' cute! He could be doing any other activity (usually copying his older sister because whatever she is doing must be fun) and when he hears any type of music, he will stop and start to dance. He bounces up and down, though not necessarily to the beat, which just makes it even more adorable. And he waves his arms. Sometimes he claps. Sometimes he spins. Whatever moves he decides to bust out just make my heart burst with love for him.
It is such a joy to see my son developing physically. He's had medical issues, nothing terminal, but enough to make his development quite a bit slower than normal. The doctors think that cognitively he is fine, but he is almost two and still wears twelve month clothing. For a while, he wasn't even on the growth charts. Talk about scary. It is now written in his charts, "Failure to Thrive." It truly breaks my heart that he has suffered in this way (and other ways). He still has issues and is looking surgery in the face soon. However, in many ways, he is just like any other two year old.
He expresses every single emotion he is having, whenever and wherever he has it. Often these days, it feels like his only emotion is frustration. I can understand why. He is wanting to participate in life on a more independent level, but does not have the words to use to tell us what it is he wants or needs. He is delayed in speech and I fear that these "terrible twos" will last for an extended year. As much as I understand, I have two other children to care for and I can't always respond to his tantrum. Nor do I think it is appropriate to coddle him. He has to learn to find a way to communicate that does not involve screaming and crying. (He used to throw himself on the floor, too, but quickly learned that when the head meets tile in a battle, the tile wins.) I will bring this up to his speech therapist when we see her next. For now, it is constant reminders, "What do you want?"and, "Use your words." Maybe this emotional display, which feels constant at times, it why I enjoy so much watching him have fun.
His love for music and for dancing brings life back to the simple joys. It is these joyful times that I cherish and dwell on. He is such a sweet boy, and watching him go through this inability to speak clearly is really difficult. (As a side-note, my daughter was and is very verbally advanced. At four years old, she is reading entire books by herself with help only on new, big words that she hasn't seen before. So watching my son not be able to communicate clearly is a first for me.) He loves his older sister and his baby brother. He LOVES to "guggle" (snuggle) with his blanket in mommy and daddy's lap. He follows his sister around the house, or park, or church, or anywhere we go. It's so cute to watch him learn how to be a kid, from another kid.
As his second birthday approaches, I reflect on our happy anticipation of our sweet boy. We were so excited to be parents again. We couldn't wait to see what gift God had in store for us. And He did not disappoint. Our son has been the most challenging child so far. (We'll see how little brother holds up, but so far he's been the easiest.) Most of those challenges were health related. It was difficult to focus on the wonder of him for a long time because I was so worried about his health. However, when I lay aside my worry, and look at him for who he is, I am overwhelmed with love. He is precious to me, and I wouldn't trade him for health any day. I feel honored and privileged to be given the responsibility of raising this magnificent boy.
Lord help me to show him You!

Still working on tummy time at 10 months.

Fun at a wedding.

Asher is playing "Doctor" with his sister. The hospital gown is from when he had surgery. I am not sure we were supposed to keep it, but it ended up going home with us and serves as a reminder of God's faithfulness with all that he's been through.

He has the best sad faces. I personally love the huge crocodile tear, lol.

He has a sweet disposition and is usually very tolerant of his eye patch.

New Family Tradition

Growing up we did not really partake in family traditions. I mean, we always had a meal on big holidays, and we had Easter baskets, but nothing solid. Nothing that I can now continue with my children. For some families, I guess that traditions are not that important, and that's fine for them. However, for some reason, I feel like I really need to have something that our family does together every week, or at least most weeks. Something that we all enjoy and look forward to.
This evening, we invited over my mother-in-law (MIL) for popcorn and a movie. I made a batch of kettle corn using my brand new whirley-pop, and we all agreed to watch Disney's classic, Peter Pan. The kettle corn was gone in about 10 minutes, at which point I suggested we take an intermission to make some more. I was promptly out-voted and the movie continued. (Don't fret for me though, I made some more after the kids were put to bed and am currently enjoying the deliciousness.) I think the kids are still a little too young to sit through the entire movie without getting somewhat distracted, especially my two year old. On the whole though, it was a very fun evening. With a few adjustments (starting a little earlier and preparing the kids for bed before the movie), I think this will be a great, weekly family tradition. Maybe in the future, we'll have popcorn and board games, or some other fun, family activity, but for now, it makes me happy to snuggle with my family and just "be" with each other. :)
(PS - I also enjoyed a glass of red wine with my kettle corn. Classy, eh?)