Where's the Instruction Manual?

The days just keep flying by and my baby boy just keeps growing and growing.......

At his 2 month appointment 3 weeks ago he weighed 11pounds, 11 ounces (50th percentile), and was 24 inches long (75th percentile). He is in the 25th percentile for head circumference. My Mom says he has the Clapp acorn head! I think he has flown past 12 pounds and just gets bigger all the time.

He is such a smiley face now. He is very generous with his big toothy grin and has charmed everyone from his great Grannie B to his babysitter with it. It is amazing to watch him react to things. He loves to play with the toys hanging from his mobile and will even smile and reach for our dogs if they get in his line of vision.

He is sleeping 6-7 hours a night. YES!!!! If he can do it for about 5 more days I am going to move him to his big boy crib and see if we can transition to it. I cannot believe it has almost been 3 months since I first met my sweet baby. I feel like I am going to blink and having a little boy and not a baby.

Going back to work has been very hard. I still have days when I cry after dropping him off. Fortunately, I have the BEST babysitters in the world and they love Isaac. That makes all the difference. They enjoy their time with him. I think they view it more as fun and less as a job, which is better for everyone!

(my apologies to any men who may be made uncomfortable.) I am breastfeeding. Before I had Isaac I told people that my biggest fears were the epidural and breastfeeding. Well, the epidural was FANTASTIC and I had no idea how wonderful breastfeeding would be. It just seemed weird and foreign to me. I decided I would try to do it until I went back to work. Now my goal is to do it for a year. God blessed me with a baby who is a good eater and I have a very abundant supply. The last week has been hard. Isaac went on a "nursing strike" where he didn't want me, he just wanted to the bottle. My milk supply started to wane a little and it hurt my feelings! It made me so sad that he would cry and push away from me. After calling a lactation nurse who suggested ways to help. I had a breaking point, and it happened to be my breatspump! My friend had given me a breastpump and I was the 7th person to use it. And it was in the process of breaking causing it to lose suction and decrease my milk supply. So I used what was left of my Target gift cards and bought myself a $300 breast pump. So I need to have at least 5 more babies to apy for it. :) I never thought that I would fight so hard to keep breastfeeding. I enjoy it so much and God is so good to provide for us and give us a bond in breastfeeding. What a great thing to be a mammal mommy!

I am continually asked about Gurt, the child that we are adopting. Are we still doing it? Where are we in the process? Etc.? Well, to answer the questions, we ARE DEFINITELY STILL ADOPTING. But we are on hold for now and I don't know how long we will be on hold. That is a big matter of prayer. We do not feel that God has released us from the call to adopt, but we feel that for now we need to focus on Isaac. He is such a precious gift from God and we don't want to make him share attention yet. Also, there are some considerations that weren't there before Isaac came. And honestly, it is a lot of work and daycare for two would be WAY expensive. We just want to be smart and fair to all our children and more than anything, we want God to lead us to Gurt and right now we feel that God is telling us to be still and wait. So please continue to pray for Gurt and that we will be sensitive to God when He tells us to move.

My little blessing is calling! I must be off to shower him with kisses.

I am more blessed than I can possibly tell you.

Mindy

Dedicated

Yesterday we had parent/child dedication at our church. It was another emotional milestone that I am so thankful for.

We committed to raise Isaac to know and love God and to be examples of how to live. I know that I fall very short of being able to convey Christlikeness, but having Isaac makes me want to be better and to try harder.

You can watch the dedication ceremony on our church's website http://www.waterlooroad.org/live.html it will be on until sunday, after that you can view it on http://www.ustream.tv/channel/waterloo-road-baptist-church .

We were blessed to have several family members join us as well as several that had to watch live due to the lovely unseasonable snow storm that hit Saturday. One family member in attendance was Ryland's uncle Kent who has always held a special place in his heart. Kent and Ryland have never been a typical uncle/nephew relationship. It is something a little more special than that. Kent invested a lot of time and love into Ryland during his younger years and as a result Ryland was a state champion baseball player, a singer of great music (like the Indigo Girls), and in my opinion, a better man for having spent time with and another great man. Kent honored us by writing the following article for his two newspapers in the Augusta, Kansas area where he is a publisher for Gatehouse Media. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did:

When memories and activities converge it adds to the meaning of an event.As you turn the page at the end of a chapter of life only to reveal many blank pages still waiting to be filled, it leaves you anxiously waiting to see the story yet to be told.As my family prepared for a weekend trip to the Sooner State that would culminate with the dedication ceremony for the newest addition to our family, many items and incidents brought to mind the history that laid the foundation for the present.As a raging winter storm threatened to interrupt our plans to travel south, I looked in the closet for a coat and saw my leather coat that I hadn’t worn for years.That coat took me back to another winter storm that threatened to interrupt plans for two young lovebirds.About a decade ago, my nephew Ryland was at a Christmas dinner at my mother’s house while hoping a storm would leave his plans unchanged. But as snow began to fall, his parents were quick to tell him that his trip to see his girlfriend, who lived in the northeast corner of the state, was canceled. Crestfallen, the young man who always held a special place in my heart kept a smile on his face despite the circumstances that conspired to rob him of a rare opportunity to see his future wife.This was no ordinary uncle/nephew relationship. He sometimes called me Uncle Kent, but more often I answered to Buddy. It wasn’t a nickname, it was a title – like doctor or professor. I was his buddy.When his mother taught piano lessons, I watched her two children after I got out of school. We grew even closer as I coached his baseball team every summer.It wasn’t a normal relationship. So my response wasn’t normal when his plans were being short-circuited.I told him if his girlfriend could find a way to meet us half-way, I would get him there before the snow had a chance to pile up. Her mother agreed to leave a family Christmas dinner, as well, in order to complete the transaction. My future wife and I loaded him in my car and took him to his house to pack. He ran through his room grabbing everything he could to prepare for a few days snowed in away from home.We got to Stroud a couple of hours later as snow and the temperature continued to fall.As fate would have it, he had forgotten his coat. So much for any chance for fun in the snow.Thinking quickly, I took off my coat and dug through the trunk to find some gloves to help him keep warm.Needless to say, he had a great week and my position as Buddy was forever etched in stone.That young couple went on to marry and recently began trying to expand their family. The joy of pregnancy was snuffed out by miscarriage three times. The pain grew each time like an avalanche ripping through their hearts.Then came Isaac. He wasn’t affected by the same conditions that had hampered those who had come before. On February 3, he sprung forth as evidence of the faith that refused to die.As we prepared to spend a weekend in Oklahoma before his dedication ceremony, we rushed to beat the weather and saw that same old coat that had been part of this story from the start.As freezing rain and snow hit the windshield Friday, I thought about that night so many years ago.As I sat in their church, worshipping with so many friends and family members, that sweet little face seemed to overshadow all of the times in the past when pregnancies ended in sadness.His name means “laughter” and that laughter erased all of the tears that fallen before.I hope he continues to bring joy like his father brought me.He’s off to a good start.

We love you Kent- thank you for being there on Isaac's dedication day. We look forward to a new generation of fun memories.

Isaac Hates His Carseat

I am officially the mother of a six week old baby. Time has flown and the days seem so short...

One week from today I head back to my classroom, only this time I won't be taking all of my heart with me. I swore I'd never be one of those mothers who got all bent out of shape having to leave their child to work. But I never knew that I'd worry every single minute about his health, safety and happiness and whether or not his caregiver would know what his cries mean and how he likes to be snuggled to fall asleep. I am one of those mothers and when I cry my way to work next week I will try and remember to thank God for my job and that I am in fact a mother to begin with. I am still amazed that Isaac is here at all, that I actually have the baby I always dreamed of.

Isaac smiled today. It wasn't a gassy smile, or the oh-so-cute " i'm falling asleep" smile, no, he looked at me wide awake and smiled a beautiful, toothless, smile. It surprised me so much that I squealed and it startled him enough to make him jump. It absolutely melted my heart.

Isaac went to church for the first of many times last Sunday. I heard so many people speculate on who he really looks like. Most of the time I hear Ryland or my brother, Lane. The truth is, I think that if God let me put Isaac together myself I couldn't have done a better job. I know he is mine but sometimes I just stare at him, he is so perfect, so healthy and beautiful. And I am obviously not biased at all.

Isaac hates riding in his carseat. He screams the majority of the time he has to be in it. But tonight as Ryland and I endured a 30 minute cryfest I just couldn't help but think how happy I am. After all this time, I have my baby in the backseat, and the crying just reminds me that he is here. And I am so blessed.

I love this kid.

My Beautiful Boy

Isaac in his blankie basket.
Asleep in Daddy's guitar case.

Listening to a lullably.

Getting mad.

Peaceful.

Wide eyed.

Under his name in the nursery.

Bentley can't be left out.

Sleepy face.

Look alikes.

His favorite snuggle spot.

Our happy family.

Talking to momma.

How blessed we are.

I cannot believe it has almost been three weeks since I first held my sweet Isaac. I was told that time would fly as soon as he got here and that is so right. He is getting big so fast, eating well, sleeping decently well. I have never wanted to freeze time so badly before. I live in fear of March 25 and going back to work. I left Isaac with Ryland for 2 hours the other day and thought my heart was going to break. I love him so much. My Aunt Glenda described it as watching a piece of your heart parade around outside of your body. I am trying to savor every sweet moment that I can while he is little. We had our wonderful Ashley Ofosu come and take Isaac's pictures last Friday. Enjoy them and continue to keep us in your prayers.

Mindy

Also Congratulations to two other new mommies of sweet boys - September Wade with her son Jonas and Jessica Marshall with Jason.