The Night Watches

From our table to yours.... dinner time funnies by my husband, myself, and our boy!

Well, I just got back from the Dr. and have some very happy news. Our little one has done some serious growing over the past 7 days! My last visit, the baby measured only 6 weeks and 2 days big, which was considerably smaller than the anticipated size. We were also able to detect the heart beat, but it was on the slow side, only 80 beats per minute ( bpm ). My Dr. didn't say anything to concern me, but I was aware of how different this was from my first pregnancy with Tyler(whose heart rate was 111 bpm at the same age). So we went back today for another sonogram, to find a baby with a heart beat of 168 bpm and measuring 8weeks and 3 days!!! Like I said, baby did some serious growing this past week! Here are a few new sonogram shots for you: The growing baby... if you look real close at the bottom of the baby, you can see little legs! Kind of looks like a kidney bean! This is the heart beat pattern. I put last weeks sonogram so you could see the huge difference this week has made!...

I am really delinquent in posting these pictures... they are way over due. But better late than never. We have the privilege to hang with some awesome ladies on a weekly basis, in a little playgroup we have. Tyler has been having a lot of fun with these kids, and I have benefited so much from their friendship and care. Here are a few pictures from a play date at the Alexander's house... The three kids that are walking... sharing a toy I think... Katie, Tyler, and Noah. This was when Rakel got covered in kids! All of a sudden they all decided to pile on her and "share" the toy Faith was playing with! So then, we decided to take a little walk around the farm and give the kids a tour of the animals! Tyler has just learned how to say some animal noises, so he was super excited to see the cows. Although, I kept telling him to say moo, all I got was " Arf " which is what he says about all the animals he sees! Do you like his little Mohawk in the back?? This photo ...

It is amazing how something so little can change your life completely. I began this blog a little over a year ago, aware of how tired I was, how utterly dependant on the Lord I was in my weakness. The Night Watches, was begun as I found myself up in the middle of the night caring for our new baby. How God taught me to seek his face in those hours! Recently I have experienced the night watches again, as Tyler was sick and up several times in the night, either sick or hungry! It was such a good reminder to my soul as I cried out to him for strength in those moments. He met me in such a significant way, giving me joy and strength in each moment. It made the title of our family blog be appropriate again!!! And again, in a little while this blog title will be all to appropriate again... I am already experiencing a glimps of what it will be like! For the past 3 weeks we have had something of a secret. I have been aching to tell the world, but wanted to wait until I had some better pictures t...

This weekend has been pretty blah in the weather department. So I thought I would post some pictures of the days that felt a little more like spring! Here is a little video of my boy on the swing. He really liked it this time. Last spring, I am not sure he enjoyed himself too much!

I have been taking a few pictures of little boy's hands lately. I just love how small and perfect and boyish they are. Pudgy fingers mean he is still my baby!!! Don't you just love the little wrists and fingers???

We went to the Dr. on Monday afternoon for Tyler's first non-sick visit in a little while! He had his 15 month visit, man time does fly! The Dr. said all things considered (the fact that he has been sick for two+ weeks) he is doing remarkably well. Tyler actually did not respond as joyfully to the poking and prodding as he has in times past. But overall he was a champ! He has gotten taller! He is 32 inches and in the 75 th %, but due to his sickness, he lost quite a bit of weight and came in at 21 lbs 9 oz and in the 12 th %...The Dr. didn't seem too concerned about his drop in weight, and assured me in a few weeks time, he will be our little chunker again. And as for his health, today is the first day all things have been working normally. He seems to be on the mend. So we will see how the rest of the week goes. We are praying that there are no relapses! Thanks for your prayers!

So, to eliminate the looks of curiosity and shock, I wanted to show you an update! I got my hair cut and colored yesterday for a sweet deal, and decided to take a risk on a new do... The verdict is still not in.... But this is Tali with bangs.... Jordan said it reminds him of the 80's... hmmm .... can that be good??? (He said he liked them after the 80's comment though!) They are still growing on me, and you can tell me that you don't like them.. I wont be offended at all!!! If I didn't take the chance on them , how would I ever know if they looked OK on me? I guess I could have just flipped back to my Jr. High yearbooks, and that would have been a good enough reminder! More updates coming soon! The boy is finally better, and there is much to post! Stay tuned!

Well, it has been many weeks since I have posted... and now, I simply ask you to pray for our little guy... he has had that nasty stomach bug for the past 2 weeks. Throwing up pretty much every other day, several times a day at that, has marked the past two weeks! I have taken him to the Dr. and we basically have to keep him away from other kids until it all passes. This is not a complaint, but the our lives have been completely changed this past 2 weeks!!! I think I have changed the sheets in his crib 6 or 7 times, scrubbed the carpets in various locations 10 or 11 times, changed 50+ nasty diapers, done many sticky stinky loads of laundry, changed my clothes an average of 3-4 times a day, and cancelled 5 or 6 outings with others, and held a very unhappy boy for many hours (that part I didn't mind too much!). Poor guy- two nights I didnt even know he had thrown up till I went in to check on him and found him sleeping in a mess of it! By the grace of God- neither Jordan nor I have g...