The ninth month

John Hudson celebrated his nine month birthday by having his first fever.  He felt pretty awful and it broke a mama's heart to watch! Thankfully, with my lemon and lavender essential oils on hand, we were able to wait it out and let the fever reduce naturally.  Yay for no tylenol! He woke up the next morning back to his usual chipper self.

We've been really busy this month.  We traveled to Waycross for Thanksgiving and had a wonderful time relaxing and enjoying Grandmama, Grammie, and Dado.  We began the drive there at bedtime and John Hudson slept all the way and then settled in easily for bed.  That might be our new preferred method of travel.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Snuggling with Grandmama

Playing with Gtammie's little people nativity set

Mommy knitted JH a hat!

Speaking of sleep, John Hudson has been sleeping a lot better for the most part! I attribute this to lots of prayer and essential oils!  I started putting peace&calming on his feet at bedtime and the first night he slept for an 8 hour stretch! That week, he slept very well, even making a new record with an 11 hour stretch! But of course, essential oils are not a cure-all and we've had a few bad nights thrown in the mix.  But overall, sleep has been getting better and better.  I am so grateful to the LORD for the gift of sleep!

As of just a few days ago, John Hudson can officially go from laying down to sitting up by himself! He is oh-so-proud of himself for this accomplishment.  The first night after he discovered this new trick, he woke up at 3am.  When I looked at the video monitor, I saw a sweet little baby sitting straight up confused and screaming.  You can't go back to sleep sitting up, dear JH!

Where's John Hudson?!

Also new this month is clapping! One day at Mommy&Me John Hudson just started clapping out of the blue! Its the sweetest thing ever.  He claps constantly.  Many days as I'm driving down the road I'll hear a little tap tap tap coming from the back seat.  Its just my happy boy making music to the Lord!

In addition to clapping, he's also pointing! I don't think he actually knows what it means to point at objects, but he sure does love to poke out his little pointer finger. We're working on the words nose, mouth, and ear so he can put his pointing to good use.

It seems like we've been telling John Hudson "no" an awful lot lately.  Since he's become quite mobile (not quite crawling, but scooting around on his belly anywhere he pleases), he's also getting into everything! He loves anything he's not allowed to have...cell phones, wires, books, pieces of fuzz on the carpet, etc.  Some days I so badly want to ease off and let things slide more.  Its so tempting to become lazy in training him to obey.  But in speaking to a friend this week, God reminded me of  

Proverbs 13:24, "He who withholds his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him diligently."

May God strengthen us to train John Hudson in a way that causes him to see his need for a Savior...A perfect Lamb that was slain in his place. We pray that our children will learn to obey the voices of their parents so that when they hear the voice of their Lord, they will hasten to obey.

To celebrate our first Christmas as a family of three, we got a real Christmas tree! John Hudson has done surprisingly well in not touching the tree or ornaments.  We all love having our tree up as a constant reminder of the tree that our Savior hung on as he paid the penalty for our sins. Our prayer is that we will be faithful to teach our little one to cherish Jesus Christ as the greatest gift of all time.  We pray that he will see beneath the superficiality and materialism that our culture has created around this holiday and instead be grounded in adoration for our King.

May the joy of Jesus fill your hearts and minds this season as you reflect on His miraculous rescue plan to win the souls of mankind.  Praise YHWH.

Eight Months

Our precious boy is eight months old now.  Can someone please slow down the clock?  I suppose cliche sayings are cliche for a reason, huh? I can't tell you how many people have said, "Enjoy every moment, it goes by so fast."  It's so true, isn't it? 

John Hudson is moving and shaking these days! He's still not officially crawling, but he gets around just fine.  He barrel rolls and does his own variation of army crawling to go wherever he pleases.  He does seem to be frustrated at times by not being able to move quickly, especially as he's watching his friends at Mommy & Me learn to crawl. But this mommy is in no hurry for him to become fully mobile :)

Rolling under the table!

John Hudson is a happy little fellow most days.  Especially when he has lots of things to entertain him (like at Mommy&Me).  He has started crying sometimes when I leave the room or if I leave give him over to someone else, but nothing too terrible.  I pray that he can pass through the separation anxiety stage easily.  We love our time together, but I also want him to love spending time with other people. When I was pregnant, many people told me that mothers and sons have a special bond.  Its the truth.  I love this little guy from a deep, deep place in my heart. What a blessing it is to be his mommy!

Speaking of mommys, John Hudson and I are still enjoying our mornings at Mommy&Me Family Literacy.  While it is a challenge to be up and out by 8am every morning and sitting in 45 minutes of traffic every day is not so fun, it is such a blessing to have a job where I can bring my baby to work! John Hudson does so wonderful there.  He usually takes his morning nap and plays well with the other kiddos.  It is really fun to watch him interact with them.  I am so thankful that John's first exposure to the world is in a safe setting where I'm with him! I am even more thankful that his first friends are from all over the world. We named him Hudson because we desire for him to have a heart for the nations like our hero Hudson Taylor.  What better way to start?

Our friends from Congo and Russia!

 So a big milestone happened this month.  John Hudson's first haircut.  It broke my heart, but it was time. He was mistaken for a girl too many times to count.  Michael was the brave one who did the cutting.  We just snipped the ends off of the back so the top is still long.  I must say, he is a handsome little fellow!

 

 We were very busy this month, enjoying many weddings and wedding showers! We were able to travel down to Waycross for Kelli's wedding shower.  It was so fun to celebrate with Cory and Kelli and to show off our baby boy to our friends who have never met him before.   And of course it was a joy to stay at Grammie and Dado's house!

 

John Hudson's Doggie Uncle, Riley

At Cory and Kelli's beautiful wedding

John Hudson has also started babbling a lot.  He is constantly saying, "Bah bah bah bah bah bah".  Quite possibly the cutest thing ever! John's top two teeth finally poked through this month.  While we're waiting for them to come in completely, we're still enjoying this precious two-toothed smile!

Helping mommy with laundry

We went to our 8 month check up with Dr. Abrams.  Our little guy is 19lbs and healthy as can be.  He is in the 95 percentile in length and 50 percentile in weight. He still loves his mommy milk and nurses about every three hours during the day and twice at night (although the past two nights he has only nursed once, yay!).  John's favorite foods are sweet potato, butternut squash, chicken, cantaloupe, and beef liver believe it or not.  He is a good little eater.

It is getting increasingly hard to get a good monthly photo of him.  This one turned out okay...

But then he tries to crawl away...

Or eat his monkey...

Or lay down...

We are so blessed to spend every day with our precious boy.  Our greatest prayers is that John Hudson will love Jesus with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength and that he will love his neighbor as himself.  May our home be a model of constance grace, repentance, and forgiveness.

Its getting cold outside!

Seventh Heaven

Our precious boy is seven months old now. His little personality is showing more and more each day. A little bundle of sunshine and smiles is he! Every day I am in awe of how blessed I am to be his Mommy.

Believe it or not, this is the best monthly shot we could get! He'd rather eat his monkey than sit beside it!

John Hudson started eating solid food this month! He has been a champ with trying new things.  Some he likes, some not so much.  So far, he has eating egg yolk, avocado, beef broth, beef liver, banana, sweet potato and carrots. At first he seemed to like them all, but has recently decided that he does not like avocado (thankyouverymuch).  And the egg seems to give him an allergic reaction, so those two are off the list for now.  Many people have turned their noses up when we mention that John Hudson eats beef liver.  But after learning about how wonderful it is for him to eat grass-fed liver, I just couldn't pass it up.  Granted, it does stink and makes him smell like a little liver all day--but he tolerates it well!

John Hudson's hair is officially LONG.  He gets mistaken for a girl at least once a week.  Michael says its because of his teething necklace (which is probably a good assumption).  I'm just not sure if I can bring myself to cut that sweet baby hair yet! We'll just be sure to dress him in clearly BOY clothes :)

During playtime, John Hudson is scooting all over the place.  Although he's not crawling yet, he has learned how to barrel roll to wherever he pleases.  He flips and flops all over his crib at night.  This month we've particularly enjoyed reading.  He is so sweet to hold the book (and try to eat it) and seems so interested.  We enjoy reading the Jesus Storybook Bible as part of our nighttime routine.  A few weeks ago I bought John Hudson a new teething toy at Target.  It is the target version of the famous Sophie the Giraffe toy.  To say he loves it is an understatement.  Just one squeak from monk-monk instantly sends a smile to his face. It seems to really help his teething.

Speaking of teething, John Hudson still only has two teeth.  But if  constant gnawing is any indication of more to come, then we'll have more soon.  For now, I can't get enough of this precious smile.

This month has brought better sleep with it, thankfully.  We had to do a version of "cry it out" which I said I would never, ever do.  But when we hadn't slept in two months we became desperate.  He only cried for three nights and now we lay him down awake each night and he goes to sleep quietly and quickly.  Here is our nighttime routine:
7:30: Nurse, bath, coconut oil massage
7:50: Rock and read Jesus Storybook Bible (Daddy usually reads to us), sing one song, pray
8:00: Kisses and night night!
John Hudson usually wakes up between 1:30-2 to nurse and again around 5-5:30.  He's awake for the day around 7.  Some would say that being up twice in the night and for good at 7 am is not great, but compared to seven or eight times a night, we'll take it! Plus, nursing at night keeps my milk supply strong and its the sweetest time ever with by baby boy.

Fall has brought with it many fun things.  A trip to the pumpkin patch down the road from our house, our fall family gathering at Dickert farm, and morning walks bundled up for the crisp air.  We are enjoying each day with our little guy more than the last.  Truly, children are a blessing from the Lord!

JH and his buddy Irfahn

All bundled up for a stroll

JH and Uncle George

Dora the Donkey

Eating books with cousin Alaina

Half a Year

Half a year ago on this day, I was sitting in bed staring at the most adorable newborn I'd ever laid eyes on.  He was perfect--wispy brown hair, a puffy face and squishy hands.  Six months later I'm staring at a bright-eyed, sitting-up, bundle of laughs and giggles with two teeth! How is it possible that a baby can change so much in six short months?

John Hudson is six months old today! I missed our five month update, so we've got lots of catching up to do.  Our big boy is one of the greatest joys of our lives.  He seems to always be happy.  Well, for the most part. One of my favorite things these days is to watch John Hudson when Michael comes home from work.  He gets the biggest grin on his face and begins to kick his feet and flap his arms like he can fly.  He knows his playmate is home! Michael is enjoying getting to tussle on the bed and play some serious games of peek-a-boo.  Both parties end up erupting in contagious laughter.  Be still my heart.

Play Mates

As of last week, John Hudson can officially sit up.  It wasn't a slow process where I'd sit him up for a few seconds until he fell.  Nope. One day I just tried sitting him up and he stayed. He thinks he's the biggest kid on the block with all this sitting up business! Our sweet little cradle (aka fisher price rock-n-play) is now a thing of the past.  I used to be able to sit him in the cradle and walk away for a few moments.  Not anymore. (see below photo).  John Hudson is mortally offended if anyone treats him like (gasp) a baby!

Our months of drool, gnawing, sleeplessness, and fussies have finally paid off.  Our little guy has two bottom teeth! The first pearly white popped up about three weeks ago and the second showed up a week later.  I'm relieved that they're finally here, but I know this is just the beginning.  I do miss that toothless grin already! Proof that my baby is growing up! I haven't been able to capture photos of his teethies yet though!

On August 18, John Hudson and I started a new job! This probably deserves a post of its own because God has been ever faithful to provide this position.  In short, we are working with a non profit called Mommy & Me.  Mommy & Me is located in Clarkston, GA which is now one of the most diverse cities in America because so many refugee families are placed there after escaping their home countries.  Mommy & Me is a school where mothers of young children (ages 0-5) can come to learn English while their little ones receive quality care.  I am the lead "teacher" of the infant classroom, meaning that John Hudson can come to work with me.  I can't tell you what a blessing that is.  We are making so many new friends from all over the world.  It has been stretching, sanctifying, and challenging--but oh so sweet.  Thank you, Father, for this opportunity to literally be among  nations and love your little children!

John Hudson and Mung playing

John Hudson and Afra

Beautiful baby girl

John Hudson still is not sleeping well at night (see previous post), but we are surviving somehow.  God gives grace to his weary ones.  I was reminded by a sweet friend today that "He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his armus; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young (Isaiah 40:11).  He knows that I am fragile and exhausted.  He has been tender and His compassion never fails.

Not sleeping at night can make a baby very sleepy at suppertime!

During playtime, John Hudson particularly enjoys sucking on his toes.  I don't know what it is, but they sure seem to taste yummy!  He also love sitting in his baby einstein play bouncer.  This thing entertains him for at least 30 minute stretches! It has a little piano that plays classical tunes and lights up.  He loves to hit the piano and then wait for us to clap and enthusiastically shout, "Yay John Hudson!!!" And now that he can roll wherever he pleases, he quite enjoys tummy time on the floor!
John Hudson also loves to pull hair! Its very fun to make mommy squeal!!

These six months have flown by.  Each day more sweeter than the last.  Thank you, Jesus, for our precious boy.  You were so very kind to entrust him to our care.  May we always offer him back to you.  Amen.

Stone Mountain

First non-family babysitters! Our sweet Marissa and her mom

Big boy!