ABC, 123 {and 4}

Thanks to Gracelaced and Ruth's invitation to link up to her Monday series, today need not be "just another manic Monday." Instead we are starting a community (join us!) where women encourage women by recounting the ways they see grace at play in everyday life. This is especially good for me because blogging can be overwhelming. I don't write with the ease of thought and skill of prose the way I wish I did. I don't have much "figured out" to teach others. My life's not as interesting as so-and-so. Excuses. Lies. But this series is about being real and savoring the grace I experience daily. Taking note of it. The sort of things that just.so.happen to choke out discontentment, comparison, ingratitude, and cultivate a sense of peace, belonging, thankfulness. Now that's my kind of community, amen?


Grace. Ah, nothing says it better these days than my blessing of a baby girl and the lessons God is teaching me through being her mama. Can anyone else say they've been changed on the inside from watching their babies grow outwardly? I look at her and I see growth. Daily growth. Weekly growth. I'm holding onto the back of a moving train growth. And yet, it's grace that allows me to notice it, to participate in it. To enjoy the scenery, to smile that it happened.


Four months (no, I'm not quite ready to say five till Wednesday!) of rapid growth after the amazing experience of growing this baby in my belly for 9 months has me more in awe of God than ever. But I ask myself, "do you seek Him for that kind of growth in your own life?" "are you in awe of who He is shaping you to be, albeit slowly?" 

Brand-spankin-new!

Hours old, resting from her grand entrance

2 weeks-falling asleep at her own baby shower

1 month-scrawny sleeping beauty

1 month-still tucking those legs:)

First Month ...
learns to get mama's milk out...agressively

rides & sleeps  {in the sling or wrap} like it's her job 

grunts, chokes on milk, sleeps on dad's bare chest

tummy is big, booty is tiny

wakes every few hours at night

         lots of dark brown hair

peaks out from slightly slit eyes

car rides are just another excuse to sleep

              cuddle-bug

hot August weather makes us stay in the shade

lunago fuzz still on her ears

             sweetest noises you ever did hear

6 weeks-first signs of smiles and coos.

2 months-unsure of this whole being proppedon a pillow thing!

2 months-and sick of all the picture-taking

Second Month...
dollbaby comes to life
first coos. "ah-goo, ah-doo"
first grins.

we exude excitement each time we hear her newest noises.

first blowout while shopping

figures out nursing without being so aggressive

staring lovingly into our eyes

first roadtrip.

cloth diapers are more full

trusts mama and dada to meet her needs of milk, sleep, snuggles

2.5 months-she goes with us everywhere

3 months-All that's missing is her halo

3 months-Our little cherub with some rolls on her

Third Month...

falls into own nap pattern

always looking around

discovery begins

first flight.

first visits with auntie

loves being on her back looking up at me

drooling begins

cooing increases & I start calling her "goo" 

likes playing airplane and singing he's got the whole world

catches her reflection in the mirror and smiles

starts pushing off feet and bouncing on my legs

daddy nicknames her "kitty" 

3.5 months-Gives us big smiles often now:)

3.5 months-not looking like a newborn anymore!

4 months-Chunky Cheeser!

4 months-One happy, healthy girl

Fourth Month...

fights tummy time since she can't quite figure out how to roll 

calls out "ae-eh!"

grows out of initial 0-3 month wardrobe, mama cries

passes grandma's developmental test with flying colors!

                        little pincher

first girly high-pitched squeal, really shows off her vocal chords!

starts squirming during diaper changes

daddy gives the best baths

                  first daddy-daughter dance

                             lots of screeches and big smiles with crinkled nose

                                 rolls 4 months minus 1 day

                 first real belly-laugh Thanksgiving when mama says "I'm am sooo B-LESSED!"

Sometimes I wish the growth in me would happen as fast as Olive's..with such monthly, weekly, or daily milestones as "learned self-control" or "started smiling out of a grateful heart". Or how about, "can't stop giggling over how much she loves her Savior" or "learned how to walk by the Spirit this week" No, the growth in me isn't quite so visible & rapid. But it's there none-the-less. It's in the small things, the ABC's of submission to my husband, sacrifice for my neighbor, the 123's of budgeting and making our house a home. He who is faithful to grow my girly-goo, well, He's faithful to grow me, too. 

Maybe I'm not as attentive to my own growth as I am to my baby's growth. But my Father is attentive to it all. He's doing something in both of us that we could never do in ourselves. That's grace. Even though it's hard for me to see, maybe just as this mama sees her girl growing constantly in some way or another, notices every small step, applauds her as she grows into the person she will one day be, rejoices over progress even as minute as a new sparkle in her eye or firmer grip on my hand, perhaps our Father does this same with you and me.


Thankful to be a part of this online community. Thanks again to gracelaced all the other ladies that shared from their own life today! Looking forward to "finding grace in the everyday", every. day. See you back here next week:)