God Answered My Prayers Too

I'm not a very religious person.  I don't go to church, I've only gone a handful of times since I was twelve.  But I do believe in God.  And I believe he is there for me whenever I need, and that he answers prayers.  I believe that my girls are in Heaven, and that when I die I will see them again.  I hope that I will get to see them grow up from the tiny babies I knew.  I will always miss not seeing their first smile, first day at Kindergarten or their college graduation.  I was mad at God after losing the girls, pissed beyond belief.  Someone told me I could not be mad at him.  I replied that yes I could, he can handle it, he's God!!  Anyway, one of the things in particular bothered me in the days after losing the girls was seeing people who had their child live, and said "God answered my prayers, he is good!"  Or "Have faith, and God will answer your prayers!"  Things like that were a little twist of the knife already in my heart.  It says that, because they prayed hard enough, God answered their prayers and saved their child.  Which also implies that the reason that he didn't save my girls is because I didn't pray hard enough, or believe strong enough.  In discussions with a dear angel mommy friend of mine, she hit the nail on the head, and also shared a link that I'll post below.  People saying the above are both right and wrong.  God didn't answer their prayers because they believed enough, or prayed hard enough.  He just answered their prayers with a yes.  God answered my prayers too.  He just said no, or not now.  He didn't kill them, he just didn't give me the miracle I so desperately wanted.  I will never know his reasoning, nor do I really care because no reason here on earth could make losing my girls ok.  But he did answer my prayer too, regardless of if it was the answer I wanted or not.  I also prayed that if my girls were going to die anyway, to just take them then instead of having me sit in the hospital for weeks on end only for them to go into the NICU and get poked, prodded and hurt only to die anyway.  To that, he said yes.

http://www.heartlight.org/feature/feature_970625_sezno.html

Eight Months

What he's been up to:
* Went to the state fair!  He checked out the chickens and goats, and tried grabbing for a bunny!  He also saw some cows, horses, baby chicks, pigs, butterflies and all kinds of insects but they didn't move much so he didn't pay them all that much attention.

* Went to the zoo with Mommy and Daddy and his Uncle George and Aunt Jessica along with his cousins Jacob, Brittany, and Hunter!

Checking out the elephants

* Loves sitting on one of his "Christmas" presents from Grammy and Grandpa, he hasn't really figured out forward or backwards momentum yet, but chewing on the spikes is fun enough!

*  Visited a local pumpkin patch for a little photo op!

*  Went to a little kids Christmas party and had fun playing with his friend Courtney.  More like trying to thieve her shoes than playing though, lol

What he can do:
* Started getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth on September 17!  Even occasionally goes backwards on accident!

* Had his first forward momentum with army crawling on September 21!  So far he's "gotten" Molly, all of her toys, the babies r us ad, and all of his other toys!  He's also started exploring the house into the kitchen, and guest room, and especially the little springy door stopper by the front door.  It makes cool sounds.  His favorite toys are the dog's toys.

* Stand up from sitting by just holding onto mommy's fingers.

* He let go with one hand while standing up on September 29 for a few seconds!

*  Pulled up to his knees on the tv stand for the first time on October 7, we're in trouble!

His Stats:


20 lbs 7 oz, 27 inches, head circumference 45 cm

Seven Months

What he's up to:

* Mommy and Elim spent the night back and Grammy and Grandpa's while his Daddy and Papa went down to Texas to watch a baseball game!  His face lights up every time he sees Grammy, Grandpa and Papa!

 * Loving his new ring sling we got custom made by Piper the babywearing Doula!!

 *  He's become a pro at solids!  Thus far he's tried and loved butternut squash, carrots, squash with corn and green beans.  He tolerates rice cereal, sweet potatoes and apples.  He is NOT a fan of sweet peas, as you can see by the picture below.  That's ok though, his mommy isn't either!  We did try oatmeal, but it didn't sit well with his tummy so we're holding off on that for awhile.

*  This right was one of his most fun meal times, he ate carrots, which are his favorite!  He also tried his hand at a mum mum and even got some water!  He experimented with which part to suck on, and I don't think he actually drank more than a swig or two.

*  He's learned to untie his bumpers, pull them down and even stick his legs out a time or two!  This is how I find him most mornings, he knows which direction he'll see mommy coming in the room!

* Got all prepped for a couple college football games!

*  Made his first trip to the playground and loved swinging on the baby swing!  Much more fun than his baby swing at home he never liked.

*  Got diagnosed with his first ear infection on September 9, and received his first prescription for antibiotics.  He's taken it in stride, and is still doing wonderfully!  The only way I knew something was up is because he was taking much shorter naps and was a teensy bit fussy, which is definitely not normal for him!  He seems to be feeling back to his normal happy, silly self!

*  Trying to get everything out of the way all at once, he started showing signs of teething on September 9th and his first corner of his bottom right front tooth was popping through by September 11th!  You have to work to see it still, but if you run your finger across his gums you can now feel the entire top of his tooth poking through.

* His newest sound is the growl, and he does it all the time, adorable!!

What he can do:

*  Still working on getting up on his knees!  He hasn't quite figured out the crawling thing, which mommy is totally fine with!

*  He is a pivoting master now, he turns around in circles in 2 seconds flat.

* Sitting up like a pro!  He can sit up indefinitely playing with his toys now, only falls when he gets really excited or wants a toy that isn't within his reach.

His Stats:  20 pounds 2 oz, 27 inches long

Six Months

What he's up to:
* Living with Grammy and Grandpa while waiting for our household goods to arrive! They finally did and we moved into our house on August 8. Though without cable, internet, washer dryer and a car we stayed with Grammy and Grandpa for a little while longer until the second car arrived.

*Had lots of fun watching the movers unpack all of our things, and loved sleeping in his comfy crib instead of the hard pack n play! He doesn't even like sleeping with mommy any more since it's so comfy! :(

* Is only contained by baby jail, we've got it wrapped around our couch to both keep him contained and separate him and the dog when mommy has to leave the room and can't supervise.

* Visited Papa for his 58th Birthday as well as his cousin Hunter for his 10th birthday!

What he can do:
* Figured out how to roll in succession on July 24, he's rolling across the floor at the speed of lightning now! Time to babyproof!

* Starting to figure out how to lift his bottom up on July 25, one of the first steps of crawling. Where's the pause button?!


* First play-related injury on July 25 when he pulled his steering wheel toy down into his face and bumped above his left eye. Just a few seconds of crying and he was ok though!

* Since learning to pull his bottom up he's on occasion accidentally scootched forward a few inches and in his crib when he's mad he'll get up on his knees at elbows. Though I'm sure that's totally unintentional!

* Had his first taste of solids on his six month birthday. Before then he's had a baby mum mum here and there but nothing real substantial. We tried oatmeal first and he wasn't quite sure about it. We got the silliest faces out of him even though he was trying to help out! We're hoping to go the baby-led weaning approach if his pediatrician gives us the go ahead. I think he would approve.

His Stats: 19 pounds, 7 ounces, 26.6 inches long

Five Months

Gimme some of that cake and ice cream!!


What he's been up to:

* He's loving his jumperoo, he could sit in there all day playing with everything and watching all the lights and hearing all the sounds! He gets some pretty good air sometimes too!

* He's starting to reach for things a lot more now, even will lean over backwards in his jumperoo to get at the toys behind him. One of his favorite things to reach for is our drinks, doesn't matter if it's in a cup, bottle or whatever but he'll put both hands out and reach and make a mmmmmm sound and gets mad if we don't give it to him! He tried that with a piece of cake too!

* Enjoying being around his dogs, especially Grammy and Grandpa's dog who has long hair to pull!

* His favorite new activity is either straightening and locking his legs when mommy is trying to pull his diaper up, or scooting up and away.

* Loves swimming in his baby pool, it's getting harder for mommy to hold him just by his neck with how big he's getting. He's not a fan of swim trunks or a swim diaper, but he loves skinny dipping!

*Enjoying seeing the world upside down, will arch his back so he can see what's behind him and upside down!

* Searching high and low for the perfect house for us to move into and we found one! All of us will be moving in at the beginning of August! Elim will love it, there is a playground to play in down the street for when he gets older, and walking trails and a community pool!

* Searching high and low for furniture for our new living room! Our old stuff is in need of replacing.

* He loves trying to get attention with fake coughing fits. They sound like a bad actor is doing them, hilarious!

* Fighting sleep like a madman! There's just too much cool stuff going on for a silly thing like a nap or bedtime! We'll hopefully get him into more of a schedule soon, but for now naps in the car are ok too, at least he's a happy tired little guy usually!

* Sadly, the day after his four month birthday his Nana passed away after a year long battle with leukemia and we attended her funeral. She will forever be missed, and we are grateful that we got to spend those last few precious days with her before she went to go rock Elim's big sisters Emilyn and Hailey up in Heaven.

What he can do:

* He's perfecting the tripod sit, he's still wobbly but he's getting there! He even tries to lift one of his hands every once in awhile, sometimes successfully!

* Laughs like crazy when you find just the right tickle spots

* Rolling over back to tummy like a champ, and sometimes even for naps!

* He's learned to copy us when we make a sort of raspberry sound with his lips, we'll do it and then he will and keep going back and forth. It's so fun seeing him do that and knowing he's learning to copy sounds! He works so hard to do it sometimes and takes him awhile to figure it out if he hasn't done it in awhile, but eventually he gets it!

* He's standing so well with holding our hands, his legs are getting so strong!

His stats:
He is 26 inches and 18.5-19 pounds (the scale is only accurate to a half pound, we'll get a better measurement next month!).

Four months

All hooked in and ready to go on a walk!


Third date with Sophie, true love!


What he's up to
* He's having quite the love affair with Sophie Giraffe, he can't seem to take his eyes, or his mouth off of her! Such a little ladies man!

* Gnaws on anything that gets within arms reach.

* He accidentally dunked his head all the way underwater during a bath by kicking off the bottom and pushing mommy's hand, and thus his head all the way down. He was quite surprised, and not at all happy. Mommy had to turn him over on his tummy to let him cough it out then cuddle him all soaking wet until he calmed down.

* Enjoying long walks at night time in his stroller!

* Watched as all his toys get packed up into crates for the long trip over the Ocean on a boat to his new home.

* Traveled halfway around the world again, to his permanent home for the next three years, Oklahoma! Visiting with his Nana and Papa as well as his Grammy and Grandpa!

*Spent some quality time with his Nana who was very sick.


What he can do

*First laugh at three months and six days old, what an amazing sound!!

* Can sit up by himself, if Mommy or Daddy position him just right so he's in perfect balance! Though he's bent halfway over! Hasn't figured out the tripod just yet

* Loves to pinch arms and pull at hair much to Mommy's dismay! His daggers of fingernails get clipped often!

His stats
17 lbs 5 oz, and 26 inches long! He's now almost outgrowing his 6-9 month clothing.

Three months

What he's been up to

* Visited with the Easter bunny a couple of times, he wasn't scared but also wasn't thoroughly impressed with the big fuzzy thing. But we got the obligatory picture anyway!

* Elim loves his aden and anais blankets, they are perfect for this hot weather in Guam! He often will grab it and pull it up to his face

*He loves to be carried around in his carrier (not carseat)! Anywhere we go he is constantly peeking out the side, sometimes gnawing on the strap while checking out what is passing him by. He is getting so interested in the world around him! He used to fall right asleep, but not anymore now that there's so much cool stuff going on around him!

* He "walked" in the 2nd Annual Boonie Walk for Babies this year to remember his big sisters Emilyn and Hailey. He did it like a champ! No fussing or anything other than a couple seconds when he was being strapped into his stroller! Once we were moving, he checked out the sights and eventually took a nap!

What he can do:

* He can roll over easily when he wants to, though he's currently on a bit of a rolling strike. He rolled over like crazy for a few days then just stopped! I think it scared him a bit to roll over so fast because he would throw his hands up and they would be shaking right as he got on his back. But he's started doing it again!

* He can hold his own toys now, and more often than not they find their way to his mouth! His favorite toys right now are the green frog rattle that hangs from his carseat handle and another plastic rattle we have.

* He's getting better at holding his head up while in the Bumbo, at first he just flung it back but he's doing great now!

* Can hold his own weight for longer periods of time with us just holding under his armpits for balance.

* He's talking up a storm, I love having first thing in the morning long conversations with him. He loves experimenting with making all different sorts of sounds with his voice!

His Stats:

He weighs 15 lbs, 7 oz and is still 24 inches long! Packin on the chub, love it!