A sweet fragrance

When was the last time you breathed in the sweet scent of your children? There is something so calming to me to take a moment and inhale my kids. They each have their own sweet scent and I hope they never grow too old for me to sniff them. ;) When I stop to think about it, they smell like life to me. New, fresh life!

2 Corinthians 2:14-16 (NIV)

But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task?

I pray they are always the sweet fragrance of Christ to others and I pray that for myself as well.

Family Zoo Day

Saturday we enjoyed an evening at the zoo, compliments of Roche. We started off at the dolphin show and then ate a tasty dinner at the “party pavilion”.  After dinner we explored some of the animal exhibits.

Tigers! Raelyn was not scared of those tigers. We think it’s because Sheba is almost as tall as this guy.

Bears!

Max had a lot of fun too. ;)

Rhinos!

The reason she was exhausted at bedtime:

Raelyn pulled daddy around from exhibit to exhibit, full speed ahead!

34/52 assembly required

Mark’s first big toy assembly project…Raelyn’s kitchen. It’s so cute and she already loves playing with it!

33/52 tummy time

Raelyn is being the supportive big sister as Max screams through his tummy time. You can see in the mirror that he isn’t really enjoying himself.  :(

2 months

Max is two months old!!

 

Here are his stats at 2 months old:

• Weight: 11lb (36%)
• Height: 23 1/4 inches (61%)
• Head circumference: 15 1/2 inches (37%)

Max had his well-baby visit on Monday and was quite fussy the rest of the day.

Quick facts about Max at 2 months:

• He eats 4.5 – 5 oz every 3 – 4 hours
• At night he sleeps in 4 – 5 hour stretches
• He has started giving smiles.
• He makes cooing noises.
• He is not a fan of car rides and will often cry until we stop moving. :(
• Max loves being swaddled. (Not just during sleep times.)
• He enjoys looking out his window while sitting in the swing.
• He wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 month or 3 month size clothes.
• He has beautiful dark blue eyes.

At the Splash Park

This afternoon we wanted to take advantage of the cooler weather and take Raelyn & Max to a park. We were planning to head over to Broad Ripple Park but then I remembered seeing something online about another park nearby that was supposed to be nice. We drove to Riverwood Park and to our surprise all of the equipment has been recently updated and they have a splash pad. The last time we took Raelyn to a splash park she wasn’t interested in it. Well today was another story! With cooler weather and Raelyn fully clothed she decided to run through all of the water. I wish these videos captured the pure joy on her face and in her voice. She was having such a wonderful time!

 

Thankfully we had a towel in the car so we were able to get her out of her wet clothes and hurry home to give her a warm bath.

The unexpected can be so much fun!

32/52 better luck next year

Our little garden didn’t do very well this summer. Here you can see that our cabbage has been destroyed by a caterpillar. It must have been Very Hungry. ;)

18 month stats at 19 months

Raelyn had her 18 month check up with Dr. Rob yesterday morning.

Raelyn’s stats:

Weight: 21lb 6oz (7%)

Height: 30 1/4 inches (58%)

I was surprised that Dr. Rob found an infection in her right ear since she hasn’t been rubbing it or crying out like she normally does. So, back on Omnicef she goes. After a look in her mouth we found she has FOUR teeth breaking through right now. I know those suckers are painful for her so I’m hoping she gets a teething break after these are out.

We also discussed Raelyn’s “regression” in speech since Max was born. She has basically stopped using all the words she was saying before, including Mama and Dada. :(  Dr. Rob said that it is normal after bringing home a new baby but that if she still isn’t back to talking with real words in another month that we should work with him to come up with a plan. I’m assuming that will mean speech therapy of some sort. (I’ll be emailing you soon, Danielle.) Besides that, she is doing wonderfully! She’s inquisitive, smart, and very active.

Raelyn having a tea party with Max:

And here Raelyn is showing off her dance skills before breakfast (please excuse all of the Sheba towels in the background):

31/52 sunday best

How adorable is Max wearing a “tie”? Thanks to Auntie Peeper for the cute outfit!