All together again

Jake got home at 7 a.m. on Saturday after catching the red-eye from L.A.  Abby Jane was SOO excited to see him when she woke up and was beside herself about the sign she painted for him! Whenever Jake gets home from being gone, I somehow cannot fathom how I ever lived or parented without him for a few weeks.  Evidence that the Lord gives you what you need when you need it!

This weekend we also joined Noonday Baptist Church, where we have been attending since two weeks before Blythe and Joy were born.  It is very different from Calvary, where we were so blessed in CA, but we feel confident that this is where the Lord is calling us to plug in and serve.  We first heard about Noonday while I was "trolling for friends" (I was desperate- we had no friends!) with Abby Jane at the playground last fall and met one of our new friends, Kristin. I came home and told Jake that I practically accosted this really cute mom at the park with my enthusiasm after she struck up a conversation with me about how ridiculously pregnant I was.  But I'm glad I did, as she and her husband Clint just happened to teach the small group for our age and stage at this great church where we have found a great fit.  (As a side note, not only do Clint and Kristin have a little girl just a few months younger than Abby Jane, but they're expecting next month!  We just had a playdate this morning, and I'm thankful for the blessing of this new friendship.)

We put the little ones in their Bumbos for the first time this weekend, and they did great for a little while... then started listing to their right just a bit...

 I have been really been struck recently by how obsessed I am with my kids.  I so enjoy being their mama, and at the end of a long day, when Jake and I are each laying Blythe or Joy down for the last time in their haven of a nursery, I am just in awe of the magic of their soft, wiggly, smiley, balding, pink little selves.  I KNOW this stage is so fleeting, and that before we know it, they'll be in the amazing stage that Jane is in where they are funny, busy and asking questions and shocking us with their understanding of the world around them and how their minds work.  

Each new season that we experience is so incredibly precious in its own way, and I'm really trying to not be too busy to miss a minute of the profound blessing that they are.  I know there is more to life than my babies, and it has been important to me as a mom to not find my identity in my children alone- to be interested in more and able to converse about more than diapers and breastfeeding (as riveting as those topics can be! :) ) But at the same time, I do not take my kids for granted for one second, and I am so thankful for the privilege of being their mom every day.