Reading Rainbow

Our friends Lumpy and Buffy gave Matthew his first books when I was about 7 months pregnant. They encouraged us to start reading to him while he was still in my belly! So several nights a week, Springer would pull out a book, get really close to my growing belly, and read to Matthew... much to his delight, as seen by lots of kicking!
And now that Matthew is here with us, we're still reading. Enjoy the pictures below... I think you can see how much Matthew has grown in the past 4 weeks too. Even James is in on the fun!
{Blogspot seems to have its own ideas this morning as to the order in which I should place the pictures... sorry for the lack of order! They should be in this order: Jesus Storybook Bible, Dr. Seuss ABC, Very Hungry Caterpillar, Are You My Mother?}

Our Boys

I love this picture.
{Matthew at 3 weeks, Jasper almost 3 years}

The Many Faces of Matthew

Daddy

I love watching Springer with Matthew. He is an awesome Daddy.

He's here!

Matthew is here... our "gift from God"!

He was born on September 1 in the wee hours of the morning. 

We are loving getting to know this beautiful, baby-blue-eyed, dark-haired, sweet little boy.

 

This picture was taken by our friend Neely http://www.kerfox.com/. I can't wait to see the rest of her work.
I'll post more pictures and stories soon, but for now I am going to take a nap!

Coming soon...

Our friend Neely took some pictures of Springer and me this week, documenting this sweet season in our life as we wait for Baby Cain's arrival.  She gave us a sneak peak on Facebook, and we can't wait to see the rest of them!  If you want to see more of her work, check out http://www.kerfox.com/
Thanks, Neely!

Thoughts on Family and Motherhood

Warning... this is more of a rant than a pretty little post about being a mommy...

I have developed 2 particular pet peeves over the past 5, almost 6, years.  If you're interested in learning about them, read along...

(1)  "When are you planning to start a family?" 

Generally older women start asking young marrieds this question as soon as they return from honeymooning, then continue and continue and continue until you, Lord-willing, have a baby.  I just want to scream:  "We started a family on December 10, 2005!  Springer + me = family!"

Don't get me wrong... I am very thankful that God enlarged our family in November 2008 with the addition of our pup Jasper.  And I am out-of-my-mind in awe of the fact that he has chosen to give us a little boy in just a few weeks (7 more weeks!!)  But I think we were no less of a family when it was just the 2 of us in our little apartment in Augusta. 

(2)  "It's your last Mother's Day not being a mother!"

Am I not a mother until this little boy makes his entrance into the world?  If you define motherhood as caring for a little person and providing for their every need, um... I think I have done that for the past 33 weeks. 

But I think motherhood goes way beyond caring for a child of your own.  I would argue that any and every Young Life or youth leader has done their fair share of mothering or fathering.  I wish I could find my copy of "Captivating" by Stasi Eldredge.  She says this so much better than I can, but alas, I think I lent it out.  But the bottom line is that the second Sunday of each May, all women who "mother" should be celebrated. 

Luckily these comments were few and far between on Mother's Day, so I did my best to ignore them.  Instead I treasured those sweet hearts who did wish me a Happy Mother's Day.

A friend reminded me early in my pregnancy that there are no guarantees with our children.  The Lord gives them to us, but He may take them away at any time.  So I am thankful for every day I am getting to mother this little boy... and today I celebrate the family God has graciously given me.