The Making of M.O.M.

What do you call the person who's at your house more than just babysitter hours but not quite here enough to be called a Nanny? Babynanny? Nannysitter?

I call her MY SANITY and the kids call her Miss Amanda. Several months ago, Miss Amanda got engaged to Nick. It's a close call on who the kids like more, Nick or Amanda. Aaron is crazy about NiCK (emphasis on the CK) and the girls adore Miss Amanda.

Last week I got to pretend to be a photographer for an afternoon. Who were my ~~lab rats~~ subjects? Nick and Amanda, of course! The outcome was some hardly professional, yet super inexpensive engagement photos of them.

Y'all, I'm just so excited about their future. They both love the Lord, Nick will surely prove to be an amazing leader of his home and Amanda is incredibly humble and has the heart of a servant. I couldn't be more ecstatic about what God has in store for them. And my kids are just a teentsy (read: HUMONGOUS) bit excited about their wedding next June.

As I snapped photos of them, I couldn't stop the voices of Wynonna and Naomi Judd from flowing through my mind, hence the title of this post.*

The laughter and smiles were abundant as we strolled around downtown, trying to find interesting places to snap shots. I love this one of them throwing the leaves. And especially the one of them in the doorway. Mercy. So sweet.

It wasn't hard to ask them to lean in closer and give each other tender gazes and small kisses. It took me back to when Luke and I first were engaged and how we just enjoyed each other's company, no matter where we were or what we were doing. Blessedly, that has only continued to grow and I love my man more today than I did nearly 11 years ago, when we first met.

These next 2 are certainly in the top 3 of the whole day. The genuine laughter and the way the sun shines on Amanda's face as she looks into the eyes of her love. Priceless.

I remember being at the wedding of Luke's best friends from high school. We'd only been married 6 or so months ourselves. It was the end of the ceremony. Laughter had abounded, the bride and groom had prayed and they'd just had their first kiss as man and wife. The minister said something to the effect of, "In this ceremony you've done 3 of the most crucial things a husband and wife can do together. Laugh together, pray together and kiss often."

If such is the case, I can't see a reason in the world why Nick and Amanda would ever have reason to struggle. How I already pray that their marriage is one that will they guard with fervent prayer, laugh about each other's flaws daily and share lingering kisses.

Praise God for new love, new seasons and a home that serves Him with abandon.

*The title of this post is from The Judds' song "Young Love."

I've already written this post once, then lost it. If this kid wasn't so cute....

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I know I say this every month, but I can't believe how BIG my baby is getting. Seven months. SEVEN. Seriously. Stop.the.time.

At seven months my sweet Ella Joy enjoys being in the thick of the family action. She enjoys being dressed up by her bigger sisters. I use the term enjoys loosely. Very loosely. She also enjoys finding stray markers that her older siblings have left on the floor.

Good thing that color goes so nicely with her eyes.

At 7 months Ella is sitting up nicely all by herself, obviously. She is oh so proud of herself because she can now do a 1-armed army crawl to find all the paper, plastic, much-too-small toys, shoes and whatever else is considered a no-go for her mouth. She drags herself everywhere and has just about given up being confined to 1 particular spot, like the exersaucer or bumbo.

I do believe, though, that she's at least 1/3 part billy goat. That girl will try to eat anything. In fact, just a week or so ago we brought her in and placed her in her exersaucer near (but not too close - we thought!) a pile of still-stacked groceries. Little Miss Chubby Fingers proceeded to give her Mother a heart attack when she weaseled her hands close enough, ripped off a small piece of plastic bag and then proceeded to half choke, then swallow said piece of plastic. Praise God she didn't seriously choke. I was a nervous wreck for the next 12 hours until I saw that same little piece of plastic show up in her diaper.

Truly though, this kid loves to eat stuff. And it doesn't have to be food. In fact, while I was playing around with the settings on my camera, Little Miss Goat decided leaves were a good snack. The little turkey even took a bite of one and ate it before I could get it out of her little fat hands. However, her appetite for all things non-food is not because she isn't getting any baby food. At night she eats anywhere from 6 - 8 cubes of baby food. The she nurses and goes to bed and sleeps anywhere from a 6-8 hour stretch.

See that yellow leaf? As soon as I snapped that picture she took her a chunk out of it and I couldn't pry her jaws open to retrieve it. Guess I'll see it sometime tomorrow.

Anyway, I'm having trouble remembering all the milestones that she's accomplishing because I've already written this post once and darn it if information doesn't leave my brain the second I tag it as disposable. Let's see, crawling, food, sleeping...oh...food again. She also eats some of those baby rice cake things. With all the other kids those gave a me a good 10-20 minute break. Not so much with Ella. She devours hers like a wood chipper. She's still not so good at picking up cheerios or puffs but I think that's mostly because she doesn't have to. If she struggles with them too long, other people feel the need to help her by shoving them in her mouth. She drinks from a sippy on occasion but prefers her liquid from 1 specific source. ;)

She's got a full 8 teeth in and is working on cutting her 9th. She grinds them constantly. She really belly laughs now, often at the other kids, especially Elizabeth. She gets such a kick out of them jumping and falling down just for her. I think she knows she captivates all of us with her smiles and laughter.

She's still incredibly laid back but she doesn't like be away from the crowd. Wherever the kids are is where she wants to be. She's rarely fussy, typically sweet-natured and has turned into quite the wiggle worm. She used to enjoy just sitting on my lap when ever we went outside or if I was in the floor with the kids. Not any more. She flings her body around like a worm in hot ashes trying to escape so she can crawl...or eat something. Goat. She still enjoys being carried in the sling or kikoi and she's still the sweetest baby I've ever known.

She just delights me so much everyday. They all do really. She makes our home so much more sweet and lives, every bit, up to her name by providing our entire family with unspeakable JOY.