Charlie, One Month Old

In true second child fashion... late on the blogging about Charlie Boy. He's here! One month old tomorrow. (What?! Fastest and slowest month of my life.)

Charlie arrived on his due date... his very own idea. My college roommate was born on her due date (She said only around 2% of the population naturally come on their due date!) and she is very punctual and responsible. I'd like to think that will be true of Charlie, too. I had been having contractions every day (mostly at night) two weeks prior and what a tease that was! Several nights of packing up our things only to be deflated when the contractions stopped. 

On Tuesday morning, the 29th, contractions woke me up at 4:00 am. By 4:30, they were two minutes apart. By 5:00 am, we were at the hospital where a nurse checked me and said, "You'll be holding that baby by lunch!" Hallelujah!!

I got my epidural around 7:00 am (thank you, Jesus, for your grace manifested in medicine!) and was pushing by 11:00.

At 11:43, I saw his face.

This little one that I had wept tears for. The one I begged God to let us keep. I bathed him in kisses and Andrew prayed over him with thankfulness. I was much more teary than I was at Wilson's birth... probably because I could grasp the fulness of what was happening with just a little more clarity: that this was day one of being under my wings... and each day this little baby bird would grow less dependent upon me and Andrew.



Andrew went to grab Wilson in the waiting room and the first words out of his mouth were "How'd they get him out of there?" We diverted the conversation (because we are such awesome parents in that way) and scooped W onto the bed to see his little brother for the first time. He was and still is SO interested in everything Charlie.

"What's Charlie doing now?"
"Is Charlie awake?"
"Can I hold Charlie?"
"Look at this face Charlie's making"
"Is Charlie hungry? Is Charlie cold? Charlie is so precious."



We are really blown away. I thought at best Wilson would ignore him... totally caught off guard by his obsession with his "Little Man Charlie." (He told me tonight that's what he's going to call him.)



So far it seems that Charlie's temperament is pretty easy going. On his first night I woke up to see him staring at me from his hospital crib just making sucking noises, not even crying... like, "Hey, I don't mean to bother you, but if you're awake now I'm kind of hungry." Oh, precious boy! This lasted for two weeks and now he's a little more fussy, but only when he's tired or hungry. And he doesn't love to be put down for too long so I spend a lot of time wearing him in the Ergo, which makes me feel pregnant all over again. He's back and forth from getting up either once or twice during the night... usually up for the morning around 6:00.



He's been smiling since week one, but I've just noticed this week that he is starting to smile in response to faces and not just randomly. He follows voices and especially loves to try to find Brother in the room. (Because Brother is always talking.)

Life is not easy around here and there are lots of tears from three out of the four members of this family on most days, but it is a beautiful mess. Thank you to all of our friends and family who have taken such. good. care. of us this past month.

Charlie, 

You have a place and a purpose in our family. We are all more who we are meant to be because you are with us. Your name, "Charles," means "free man" and I pray that name would swallow you up-- that from your earliest days you would run free from the chains of bondage to sin and law. And that you would run to Jesus... in Him you are free indeed, Charlie Boy. An abundant life is before you. We promise you that we will always try our very best to push you towards Him. If our hearts are exploding with love and pride, can you even imagine how much Jesus delights in you, Littlest Man? You are His inheritance... His treasure. You are ours and His forever.

Seagrove Staff Conference, 2014

We spent our weekend in Seagrove, FL for our spring regional conference with Cru. It's a time for staff to get vision, encouragement, nourishment in the Word and good time together on the beach.

Wilson had some fever virus/bacteria infection that kept him out of childcare and me out of meetings... but we managed to enjoy our time despite all of that.

I only took my camera down one evening, but managed to capture our favorite part of the conference... time with the Musgrove fam. Wilson and Maddox started a sweet little friendship at our Winter Conference and W couldn't wait to see him again.

Maddox calls him "Cousin Wilson" and could they be any cuter? We love this family. 

Wilson is at a stellar age for the beach. Andrew and I could (mostly) sit in our chairs and let him go. He was content finding beach creatures, rolling monster trucks around, and (pictured) spending time in the water even when not quite dressed for the occasion.

We saw lots of joy on the beach and lots of tantrums when it was time to go back inside.

Andrew celebrated his 10th year on staff and I won the coveted Overall Winner for our annual bake-off with this recipe for {Chocolate Chip Cookie Peanut Butter S'more Bars}... it was embarrassingly easy to make, but oh-so-good for the taste buds. 

These staff conferences are always so good for our hearts... to be surrounded by people who are living the same life as we are and seeing how God is being good to them in the midst of it, too.

Wilson cried for about the first hour of our trip home this morning... "I want to go back to the beach! I want to play with Maddox!" It was heart-breaking and ear-piercing.

Andrew came up with the best idea to cheer him up: We stopped in Mobile at the U.S.S. Alabama to eat our PB&Js.

Oh my word, can you tell how happy our little man is here?

He was so happy.

"Mommy, Daddy, look at this star! Look at this wing! Look at this compeller!" (No matter how hard we try, a propeller will only be a compeller in his sweet vocabulary.) 

Also, Andrew let W drive around the parking lot on his lap... and he aimed for trashcans because he thought he was in one of his iPhone games and would get points for that. We had a lady stare us down with a stare that said she was about to call CPS. Alright, lady, you sit in a car with a child hurling monster trucks at your head from the backseat and then we can talk about it.

Whatever works, y'all! Happy almost May! Happy almost 4 year old! (It does get easier at 4... right?)

Easter, 2014

Like I said in Wilson's update post, we have been talking about death alot lately because of Andrew's grandfather's passing into heaven. If Wilson doesn't see or talk to someone for a couple of days, he asks if they died (ack!)... it's all kind of morbid, but it gives a good springboard to talk about spiritual things with him.

We were making Easter cards for family with crosses on the front and I asked Wilson if he knew what happened on the cross. Nope. (He can remember all the lines to Wheels on the Bus... but not this?! Side note.) He likes to make sure that Grandaddy really is getting a new body, because (was this a mistake?) he saw the old one in the casket and realizes it doesn't work anymore... that it's just a shell, a temporary home. I told him that the only reason Grandaddy can have a new body, the only reason Grandaddy is safe in heaven, is because of what Jesus did on the cross. 

How in the world do you tell a three year old about the most precious, incredible moment in human history? I wanted to grab him by the shoulders and not let go until he understood every word. I know that will come, and I know that our job as his parents is to weave these beautiful truths into everyday life for him... so I am praying God gives us a lot of grace to do that.

Easter was always one of my favorite holidays growing up, and I want to make it memorable for him, too. So I made this bunny cake. Maybe it's just from pictures, but I think I can remember alot of cakes my mom and grandmothers made growing up.... something that tastes SO good decorated really fun just seems to seer in the memory. It wasn't terribly hard but when we arrived at the egg hunt I was taking it to and it slid from the front seat into the floorboard I cried lots and lots of tears.

I must have had an angel in the floorboard, because by some miracle the cake survived. I can't explain it y'all... supernatural cake resurrection.

Our friends, the Smiths, had all the friends over the week before Easter for a egg hunt at their house. So thoughtful of them to host! One of my favorite parts was trying to get a picture of all our little people.

Do our friends make cute babies, or what?

We released the hounds outside to hunt down their ten eggs a piece.

Wilson tried to stop and open each egg to see what was inside before he put it in his bucket. A sly one. We convinced him that this was a terrible gamble and all the eggs and chocolate would be gobbled up if he didn't hurry.

On the Saturday before Easter, we went to another egg hunt at Wilson's sunday school teachers' house. They invite every child in the church and there must have been 100 kids there. Incredibly generous.

I kind of gabbed with a friend the whole time and didn't see Wilson hunt one egg, but I don't think he cared. By the time I got to him he was content playing in the sand box.

We loaded up on some more sugar and played with friends.

On Sunday morning I woke W up by telling him he had a surprise in the kitchen.

We didn't do an Easter basket last year and I felt the pang of it afterwards... you know, the mom guilt. So I put a little something together for him this year. 

Really I wanted an excuse to buy him these two CDs I've been holding in my Amazon cart for awhile. Hidden in my Heart sings mostly straight scripture and is definitely a lullaby CD (I tried to play it this morning during breakfast and it was lulling us all back to sleepy town.)... but it has such pretty arrangements and beautiful lyrics. The Elizabeth Mitchell CD (Thanks, Courtney for the rec!) is just straight fun... very folksy and upbeat and she sounds a lot like Sheryl Crow to me, whom I adore.

Also, he got his first pair of goggles.

Then off we went to have the words of the gospel washed over our souls. A beautiful sermon on a vindicated King and I left thinking how incredibly blessed we are to hear such life-changing gospel truths every Sunday... not just Easter.

Who is this dapper young fellow? And what did he do with my toddling Little Man? :(

We had a family Easter lunch (plus our sweet friend, Tori)... I cooked my first Easter lunch ever. (How did I make it this long without doing that?) and then we just lounged around in the hammock the rest of the day. 

And Charlie kicked his hardest kicks and made sure we all remembered he's on his way. Yes, we know Charlie... we are ready for you to join in the fun. Happy Resurrection Day to all.

Wilson, Three 1/2

I think it's about time for a Wilson update! In February he reached the 3 1/2 year mark and I'm having the cliche "can't believe it" thoughts about all of that. Neither the days nor the years seem long to me.

I love watching his personality unfold. He is certainly proving that he is an extrovert more and more each day... he is constantly (and I mean constantly talking). Mostly he gives us a play-by-play commentary on his life and needs us to affirm that we hear everything he has said.

"Mom, I'm going to the bathroom!"
"Okay, Wilson."
"MOM I'M GOING TO THE BATHROOM!"
"Okay, Wilson."
"MOM! I'M! GOING! TO! THE! BATHROOM!"
"I HEARD YOU WILSON AND I SAID OKAY!!!!!"

It's enough to get your blood pressure way up, but I guess one day I'll be wishing that he would want to talk to me at all.

He loves to pretend and actually does really well at playing by himself. He talks to his animals (mostly Stripes and Baby Bear) a lot and they talk back... in a really high-pitched voice. Andrew's been trying to work on bringing it down an octave or two.

He also still really loves to sing. He makes up his own songs mostly but also loves singing any other song he's learned (I'm always amazed at what he retains.)



If I thought we were in the "Why?" stage before then I was gravely mistaken...we've certainly reached our peak. I know he's trying to make sense out of life, so I'm desperately trying to be patient with all of the questions but it can be challenging. Andrew's grandfather recently passed and we took the funeral as an opportunity to talk about death with him... he had a lot of questions, but I was so impressed with how much he understood as he talked about it with us later. Also, now he talks about death a lot and I'm hoping this is normal. I'm praying that God would continue to give us the grace to answer his questions with wisdom so we can lay a good foundation for him.

He loves legos right now and is super good at building things. I think he got his problem solving from his Daddy and I'm beginning to see what an engineering-like mind he has. He also still loves cars, of course and monster trucks.



His temperament is mostly mild when playing with others, but I also see a lot of strong will in him. He, like most three year olds, always wants to win and rarely wants to share but he can also be really tender-hearted, so I'm praying the gentleness will stay and the strong will will turn into a desire to fight for the good of others and not himself.



He is going to school two mornings a week and it has been really good for the both of us. Since he doesn't nap anymore, we desperately need some time apart and I think it's good for him to have some different authority speaking into his life. On Thursdays we always meet up at Chic-fila with either his friend Brooke or Benji... or both!



Friends are kind of the center of our little world right now. I get choked up when I think about what incredible friends we have in our lives. He spends a lot of his days with Margaret, Owen, Brooke, Benji, or James (and their little siblings... so glad Charlie will have friends in the group, too!) They are all at our church and we mostly live within a five mile radius of one another... so when we go a few days without seeing one or all of them it throws us off a little bit. I know this season in life won't last so I really just want to gather it all up in my arms and not let go.




Wilson is usually very interested in Charlie (We named the baby! Charles Henderson, Charlie for short). He just asked this morning what I thought Charlie was going to look like. He likes to know if Charlie is awake or kicking or sleeping or eating or swimming. I think he will be a good big brother, but he has also made some comments that make me think he is not going to enjoy Charlie treading on his world... like, "Gigi, when Charlie comes you can't come to see him. Only me." (Yikes!) Andrew and I laugh that poor Charlie is going to get his ear talked off for sure. Wilson may even give him one of those high-pitched voices until he can talk back himself. (Double yikes!)



We love this kid. He makes our life so much fun and though I say I don't want him to grow up, I really love who he is becoming each day... and who he is making us to become, too.