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.
