Justice, almost 10 weeks

Aedyn's Happy Birthday!

He's 2! We had a little party with the neighbor boys. They loved the chocolate train cake. (A neighbor gave me the 1975 Wilton Choo Choo pan.) Playing with balloons was the day's highlight.

Heather came for a few days; there's no one like a sister. We get to see each other so rarely and I miss her every day. Now that I also have 2 boys, I think of how much I want her near for advice and encouragement. I took her to Charleston for her flight last night and I miss her already. Thank you, Ethan and Miles, for sharing your mom with us. Aedyn and Justice love you!

Sun Face

That's what Aedyn Shepherd calls it.

A Fun Friday

Aedyn and I made "1-2-3 Almond Butter Cookies" for the nice neighbors who brought us pizza last week.

(adapted from a Peanut Butter Cookie recipie)

1 C. almond butter or peanut butter
1 C. sugar
1 egg

I tossed in some chocolate chips. Almost always a good idea.

The twin neighbor boys, Spencer and Samuel, brought their mom to play in the afternoon sun.

One Waking!

If it was a fluke, it was a wonderful one. Hopefully it's the beginning of a new pattern. Justice awoke only once to nurse during the night (9-7:30). These boobs weren't used to that so I was awake more often.

Tired

I just re-read the last post. I must have been really tired to write so poorly! I meant every stammering sentence, though.

Saturday, Eric was on call. He had to leave before we were awake and didn't get home until noon on Sunday. He had had no sleep so he went upstairs to nap. Saturday was hard for me. Aedyn had to go to time-out 3 times for hitting or bitting Justice and that little one hardly napped all day.I put Aedyn to bed in the clothes he had worn all day even though there was pizza sauce on the shirt (pepperoni pizza. no veggies, no fruit. poor kid) and just kicked the toys toward the toy box in some effort to clean up. I was crying by the time Eric called to say good night.

So you can see how special it was to be reminded how great my life is. Because it is, even when my kids are cranky and my house is a mess and my husband comes home too tired to speak.

Grateful

I sometimes have really good prayer time during Justice's middle-of-the-night feedings. Sometimes I can't stay awake enough to think clearly. But in the early-early hours of Sunday I was overwhelmed by how good my life is. My husband in an example of selflessness and his love is a great treasure to me. I really ENJOY him. My boys are a joy. Right now Aedyn is climbing into my lap for kisses. while I'm typing he's sitting in the dinning-room chair next to mine and blowing on the purple cosmos Eric brought home for me yesterday. Aedyn blows on them just to see the petals dance. Yesterday Justice pulled his mouth away while nursing and smiled at me! Then he nursed some more. Eric has a stable job. We bought a modest house and can afford the mortgage.

Our World Vision magazine came yesterday (our sponsered child, Maria, lives in Brazil). My heart is daily engaged with orphans and the poor (weather I want to love them so much or not. sometimes this is very painful. but a privalage.) Aedyn sat with me looked at the pictures of kids praying over their one daily meal and I we prayed for them. I pray for Aedyn's shepherd's heart.

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Bruce (Feb.3)

Justice smiled just in time for the picture. He's wearing my dad's sweater, first worn 64 years ago. Happy Birthday, "Duce!" (Aedyn's pronunciation of grandpa bruce)

Tia Hannah is here and Aedyn took a nap on her lap yesterday. He NEVER does that. She's pretty special.

Exciting, but not what you were expecting

You probably want to see some new pics of Justice and Aedyn, now that J is 6 weeks old; well, that's not what I'm here to post! But I will tell you he is doing fine and that Tia Hannita will be visiting here this evening, so we may get time to put up some pics of the boys. But in the mean time, here is a photo of a freshly laid egg (less than 1 hour)—our very first!