The Comparison Trap: Part I and II

Before becoming, and especially once pregnant, I was determined to work on not having any expectations for our children and ourselves.  I knew it was important to learn each other, nurture and love each other, rather than to stress over the details of our life that would soon be changing quickly. 

Months into parenthood, I realized I was developing expectations about our routine and how we spent our days (and nights) as I have previously posted.  Even with great intentions, expectations can dangerously creep into our lives and become our focus.

I mention the slippery slope of expectations because I believe it is the twin of the comparison trap.  Just like expectations, even when we set off on our journey with intentions of avoiding these landmines, we end up falling short and set down the road of comparing.  It’s important to differentiate between general observations and the comparisons I am talking about.  Noticing someone has brown or blond hair, is short or tall, male or female, etc… Those are in my opinion general observations.  In my mind, comparisons are a ‘heart issue’ instead.  What do we do with these general observations we make?  How much of our energy is used thinking about these comparisons?  How do we voice them if at all?  Do they make us feel uplifted or depressed?

Part I: Unleashing Our Comparisons On Others

For some reason, ushering into marriage for most of us brings about the unavoidable temptation to compare our spouse and/or our marriage with others we see around us.  Is our spouse meeting our ‘expectations’ we should have never placed on him/her?  Is our marriage ‘as romantic’ as our friends?  Whatever it might be we are comparing, it’s wrong just as expectations are wrong.  It’s beautiful to have goals and hope, but if our expectations are anything other than ‘of the Lord’, they are unrighteous thoughts that, without God’s help and grace, can lead others and ourselves into a prison possibly for a life sentence.

No matter how we have learned to handle (or not handle) our comparisons in marriage, nothing brings out this ‘twin’ like parenthood does.  From our children’s first day we begin to unconsciously compare him/her to others.  How much do they weigh and what is their height?  Why is a ‘big baby’ worthy of more ‘praise’ than a petite baby in our society?  From thence forth, their weight and height is always a topic amongst parents.  Again, the same question?  As the child grows, parents begin to compare their physical developments with each other and then their ‘mental’ developments as well.  Soon parents compare them based on their academic and behavioral ‘success’.  Then it’s comparing them in sports, the job force, their marriage and their kids.  It’s a never-ending trap that sucks the life out of them, our family and us. 

I cannot stress enough just how important, just how vital, it is to remember that God made each child of ours, and others, exactly how He planned.  Each child is fearfully and wonderfully made!  Knit together inside his/her mother’s womb by our Creator, the giver of every life!  He has a special plan for each child; a unique plan for their lives.  He blessed each child with certain gifts and talents to be used later for His glory.  He loves each child more than we can ever fathom.  It is our job as parents to nurture, love and shepherd this beautiful child(ren) we have been entrusted with in the ways of the Lord.  Rear them to be the unique person God made them to be.  Celebrate whom God made them to be, not who you or society wants them to be!  Children should never be compared with their siblings or other children we know.  They shouldn’t be made to conform to the ‘books’ we read on parenting.

Perhaps I’m so passionate about this because God has blessed and entrusted Jason and me with twin boys, and for some reason, society places so many unjust comparisons on twins.  Whether identical or fraternal as Gavin and Wyatt are, twins are unique individuals just as any other child would be.  Yes, they may share uncanny similarities and a bond that is like no other, but they are still 100% individuals.  That means each will develop differently, have different passions and talents.  Yes, the similarities may be high, but they are not the same and should never be treated the same.

I do not understand the unnecessary comments and comparisons when we are out in public.  Why people we do not even know feel the need to tell me one is taller than the other, one seems more friendly than the other, their head shapes are different, etc. is beyond me!  Again, general observations are normal, but it’s what we do with them that is important.  When we make an observation, that should be it, just an observation and we move on.  No more thinking about it.  I know some might disagree with me on this, but here is where I’m coming from.

Our two oldest sons are 2 minutes apart.  We’re currently pregnant with our youngest son who will be 17 months younger.  Boys by nature compete.  I’m well of aware of this and never want to hinder this.  But one of my many strongest prayers is that Gavin, Wyatt and Luke learn to embrace and support how God has specially and uniquely made them and each of their brothers.  I want this celebration for each person’s uniqueness to spill over into their every day life as they interact with others and develop outside relationships.  I pray for this in our home, but I know there is no way to remove this comparison trap from society.  It will be used as a teaching tool in our home for sure, but oh how I pray more would be awakened to the damaging affects of comparison.  Through prayer and God’s grace, He alone can work on our hearts to help us in this area.

Part II: Unleashing Our Comparisons On Ourselves

I’ve been talking to a couple of my good friends the past couple of weeks about this topic of comparing children.  In addition, we’ve all confessed with sad hearts the bondage we can create by comparing ourselves with others; whether in our marriage and/or in parenting.  As a SAHM I’m constantly thinking, am I cooking well enough and keeping the house clean enough.  I am blessed with an amazing supportive husband who creates zero pressure on me in this area, and yet I still fret.  Why can a friend of mine seem to be doing so much better in a certain area?  What can I do to improve?  The most important thoughts in my mind of course circle endlessly about my relationship with my husband and my children.  Am I nurturing each relationship as it should?  Am I walking with God in each of these areas?  What can I be doing better?  Better, better, better?  What can I improve on?  Am I teaching my children correctly?  Am I shepherding them to follow Christ?  The list is endless.  I see something another woman is doing and think, ‘should I be doing that?’

I’ll go back to my thoughts on general observations.  It’s great to learn new things and try new things from others!  It’s part of being in a community that I think God wanted us to experience.  But how much of our energy is focused on this?  How do I feel about myself, or life when thinking of these observations?

We can fall into this pit without ever realizing it.  One day we just wake up and realized we’ve been swallowed and we’ve lost our Focus and Light.  As we know, He’s never gone, but when our eyes are not focused on Him, we are lost.  Just as we learn to give our children the grace God so lavishes on us daily (and let’s face it, hourly and by the minute!), we need to just as importantly allow ourselves to receive the grace He’s already given us.  Share with each other and learn with each other, but do not compare.  Take great comfort in walking your days with the Lord and letting Him lead you and your family.  Keep Him the focus and not others.  Find your continual peace and joy in Him, and Him alone.  For no one can provide us what our hearts long for except for Him who created it!  Pray to grow in God’s time, but do not long for it or make it your focus. 

I thank God for speaking to my heart as I type these words.  I thank God for opening my eyes and heart to realize that I too often place ‘my growth’ before Him.  Striving to become better can easily become my focus.  I’m thankful for God’s gentle whispers and healing touch to remind me to rest in Him.

May we all better learn to relish in the grace of God through Christ, and freely pour it out our spouse, children and all those around us.    

Spaghetti and Sensory Bottle Fun

This past week we've been having some fun exploring our senses.  I started off by making a big pot of spaghetti noodles, adding lots of vegetable oil so the noodles didn't stick to each other and then... plastic bugs and snakes!  The boys and I went outside and dove in exploring and talking about what we felt and found.  They thought it was great fun pulling the snakes and bugs out as well as throwing the noodles in the air, on the ground and on each other.  They never tried eating any of it, but towards the end, they thought feeding it to the dogs was hilarious.  

For months now, I've wanted to make the boys some sensory bottles.  I've never gotten past my fear of them getting the lids off and choking until recently when I decided to use larger lid bottles and lots of super glue.  My bottles are not fancy, but the boys have loved playing with them.  

The first one in the picture is our 'beach' bottle; there is sand, sea shells, rocks and plastic bugs and snakes (although I hope I don't see any snakes on the beach this year!).  As the boys roll the bottle around, new things emerge for them to view.  Personally I think I added just a little too much sand, but it still works great.

The second bottle I made was our 'water' bottle.  In it I wanted to show things that both float and sink; beads are floating at the top and plastic sharks and starfish are at the bottom.  I mixed water and corn syrup, food coloring and glitter which allows the glitter to float around more that just pure water and/oil.  I added too much glitter, but it works well and will help the boys see how things 'settle' (if a 13 month old can comprehend that... which I don't put anything past them!). 

Tonight I made a 'magnetic' bottle.  This one is my favorite!  I filled it with salt and then different metal objects such as colored paper clips, bells, and pins that say, hope, love, faith, cherish, etc.  It's fun to see all the metal items 'sticking' to the magnetic and each other.   

So, I also made a 'so close' bottle tonight.  I call it my 'so close' bottle because it didn't turn our like I wanted.  My goal was to show how something can 'float in the middle' of the bottle by using water and baby oil which have different densities.  The problem was I didn't have enough baby oil.  I did my little layer of baby oil and it worked perfect!  So, I thought I'd try vegetable oil.  It worked great and I actually ended up with three layers of different densities and thus different things floating on different levels.  Well, then I shook up the bottle.  Let's just say it's still settling!  Yeah, this bottle won't work well for two 13 month olds who love to shake things.  Looks like I'll have to retry with purely water and baby oil next time to see if that works better.  For now, we'll just stick with our three bottles.  I have several more ideas for these bottles that I'll make for the boys over the next couple of weeks.

Object Recognition, Words and Body Awareness

Within the past week or so, Gavin and Wyatt have been taking off in recognizing a wide variety of objects, trying to sound out the words, as well as their continual learning different body parts and what they do. I just had to take the time to record just how much they are leaping forward in their awareness of the world around them.

Object Recognition

• As I have mentioned in previous posts, I've been 'teaching' the boys the names of 'objects' since the time they were 1 week old. A few months ago I recognized a great leap forward in their learning ability and awareness and began to teach more intentional. The past month or so, we've taken learning even further by doing a lot of hands on exploring; a lot of this being outside. This past week, we've found a balance between outdoor and indoor fun/learning (typically going outside once in the morning and once in the afternoon for at least 45min to 1 hour). We also take time to go out and about to stores, etc and learn what we can there. (I actually want to write another post about going out in public soon.)
• As the months go on, the boys are able to recognize more details and objects in our communications with them. Their recognition ability is growing by leaps and bounds when we refer to something or ask them to bring us something.
• The boys are great at letting me know when they need help or want something such as food, drink, help, bath, sleep, or to go outside. They always want to go outside... they come to me, sign for help, grab my hand and lead me to the area we keep our shoes. Outside they are very aware of everything and easily show signs of recognizing common things such as trees, flowers, rocks, birds, butterflies, shovel/rake/golf club (outdoor toys), cars, trucks, balls, water (they LOVE this) and swing. They are also very aware of our words we use ALL DAY LONG... safety and gentle. We use the word 'gentle' to describe how to pet animals, treat each other as well as how to play with rocks, etc (so they don't throw them at each other or through a window!). If I tell them they have to wait to go outside until I change their diapers or clothes, they run to get the diapers with smiles on their faces! If I say, no, not now... no smiles let me assure you... They also know what 'let's go inside' means and if I follow with 'to get something to drink (even though we have water with us outside...) they typically won't put up too much of a fight yet.
• The boys love animals and are becoming very aware of the different ones out there. They of course LOVE dogs and cats and say both very clearly. They also have become very interested in horses, cows, birds (generic, but ducks are their favorite!), sheep (Gavin loves to say baaabaaa), bears and monkeys.
• The boys are all into cars and trucks. They know what steering wheels are for too and love playing with them wherever they see them.
• They are great at communicating about eating and drinking and all that comes with it as I've mentioned before.
• Gavin and Wyatt have also become great at communicating when they are sleepy by signing to me. They also love when I say 'it's bath time' and they run to the bathroom signing 'bath'.
• Their favorite shapes they are learning to recognize are circles, squares and triangles; colors are yellow, blue, green and red. As I mentioned before, they love their shapes puzzle. Just this morning I asked Gavin to bring me a yellow block. He went over to the pile of blocks across the room, and grabbed me a blue block. I said. 'thank you for this blue block, can you find me a yellow one?' He looked at the block, looked at me, then the pile of blocks. He walked over to them and pulled out two yellow blocks to hand to me. Then went back and got a third yellow block! Now I'm not saying he 'knows' the color yellow, but based on this and previous activities, he sure is close!

There are LOTS more, but these are just a few I wanted to remember about them now.

Words and Sounds

• In addition to recognizing so many specific words these days, both boys are trying to sound them out too. Although they still have a long way to go in actually repeating the words, they spend a large portion of the day trying to sound out the words we are speaking to them. A lot of their words sound very similar to each other right now; an example is Gavin says, 'day-dee' for baby and 'day-do' for thank you.

• Sometimes when I have their complete attention like on the swings, we play 'phonics games' and such. Here is an example of one of our morning swinging games:

Mama: What sounds does the letter A make? a, a, a... Hum... what words begin with A? a...a...a... alligator, apple, ant, etc...

Boys; a...a...a... repeating the sound

Mama: continues on with other letters.

Mama: D! This is a special letter! Our favorite person on earth starts with the letter D! Let's see, D...D...D...

Wyatt then Gavin yell: DADDY!!!

Mama: That's right!! ... etc...

Mama: Goes through G for Gavin and W for Wyatt, etc...

Mama: Hum... How about the letter M? M says, mmmmm.

Both boys yell: Mama!! and Wyatt begins to make kissing noises (also sounds like M sounds).

So basically what I'm amazed at is their love for learning the sounds.

• Many letters are still just too hard to say, which is why a lot of their words all start with B, D, M, G and sometimes T.
• Here is their favorite book the past couple of weeks. They will bring it to me and open up the pages and we'll go through all the objects. As I say an object, they try so hard to sound it out. You can see and hear their little tongues moving in all sorts of ways!
• They are also learning to point to a few things I ask them to such as baby, dog, cat, ball, cow, tree, flowers, banana, etc.

• Just this afternoon, Gavin pointed to the ball in the air and said, 'ball'. Then he looked at the bottom right of the page and said, 'ball'. He had a finger on each ball and said, 'ball, ball'. How a 13 month old recognizes the two balls are the same is beyond me.

Body Awareness

• Right now the boys know where their (and other's) head, hands, feet, hinny (only used when I tell them to sit on their hinny), eyes, mouth, nose, and ears are at, and we're working on tummy. A word of advise, do not ask them where your nose is at; they love to pinch it! Better yet, don't ask Wyatt where it's at; just this past week he's started putting his finger in his nose when you ask him, and he tries with me too!
• They love the Baby Einstein DVD about body parts. The boys touch each part the DVD is talking about and come running to me to point out mine too. They love the 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes' song! They'll touch their head and then their toes and then run in place or in circles for fun!
• Wyatt has been blinking when we talk about eyes, and when we talk about our mouth for talking and eating, he starts bitting the air (how I taught them to 'chew' when they started eating solid foods). The boys still giggle when we talk about feet and Gavin says, 'ducaduca' for 'tickle tickle'.

'Potty Parts'

In addition to these body parts, the boys are also become very aware of their 'potty parts' too. They are very aware that this is where potty comes out of and it sounds like, 'psssss, pssss'. When they take a bath they often will point to it and say, 'psss, pssss' and of course when they sit on the toilet which they just love to do. Today during bath they were so excited about their 'potty parts' they stood up and pointed to the toilet to let me know they wanted to sit on it. I took two little wet boys and put one on the big potty with a snap on toilet seat (Cars which is super cool of course) and one on the stand alone potty right next to it. They were so happy and kept pointing saying, psssss. They typically do not actually go the bathroom when on the potty, but they do sometimes and get so excited.

Their awareness and enjoyment in learning all about it is wonderful and just what I've wanted to encourage. As soon as they start to become aware of themselves actually going potty, it will be time to full out train them. I just ordered a few 'potty' books to read to them just to further make them aware of this new big boy activity! It's been a fun process and nothing stressful. For a while I was taking both of them to the big boy potty when they'd wake up from a nap and after each meal. I quickly realized this was not necessary for Gavin and Wyatt specifically and decided to take a more relaxed approach until they begin to increase their awareness. I still take them on 'potty breaks' and we have fun learning all about sitting and why, but it's just not as often as 5+ times a day. I'll be honest too, taking two 13 month old boys (much younger when we started all this) is not super fun for Mama. I love teaching them and watching their excitement, but the whole process leaves me feeling like I was in a circus the whole time. Two bouncy boys and one very pregnant mama don't fit in a tiny space super comfy if you ask me! Of course, if they continue to develop in this area, I will begin to have more structure to potty time again. Time and Gavin and Wyatt will tell!

Garage (and Consignment) Sales

So I'm all about finding great bargins; especially on children's toys/clothes, books and beautiful home decor! I will admit that I love to find random decor for our home at places like TJ Maxx, Ross, etc. Sometimes I'll make little trips to those type of stores just to see what they have. It makes for a great collection to mix and match all throughout the year; and all at a great price! Now that we have children, I am all about consignment sales/stores and shopping at nice community garage sales! These items are all in great condition and at such low prices (especially the garage sales!). Let's face it, children outgrow their clothes so fast. It's wonderful having gently used clothes of all sizes on hand. They grow so fast, it's important to keep the next sizes ready to pull out. Children also outgrow toys so fast. Often toys don't even get played with that much before the child is off to the next ones.

I'd say about 70-85% of our children's clothes and toys have come from consignment sales/shops and garage sales or hand-me-downs. We've bought some new things of course and we've received gifts from family and friends. But we are so thankful for all of our wonderful gifts that used to be other's!

Anyways, I just recently went to a community garage sale this weekend and found just what I was looking for; outdoor cars, trucks, etc. Here are just a few of my finds:

Fisher Price Kitchen - $15 (New for $150+)

Golf Clubs $0.50 and a lot of outdoor trucks (the one below was also $0.50)

Bubble Lawn Mower - $1 and Tonka Steel Truck $4 (these are typically $30+ new)

Power Wheels - $2 (new for $100+)

Tee Ball Set $1

MatchBox Cars, race track and others for $1 total

Leap Frog Click Start complete Game system with two games - $5 (New for $45 and games are $10+ each)

We already have one of these, but I've been needing to buy another keyboard so they can both play with it together. This was a great surprise to find!

Easter Celebrations

I will be honest and share that I have been excited about the boys experiencing their second Easter, first that they get to actually walk around and absorb some of the fun festivities going on. The weekend before Easter, our community had their annual Easter egg hunt (or should I say egg scatter). We got their early to enjoy the morning and so glad we did. Below you'll see that they had lots of time and space (later which was so very crowded) to observe baby bunnies, chics and ducks! They were fascinated; not really wanting to touch them, but they couldn't take their eyes off them.

The little children 0-3 got to enjoy the egg scatter first. We had zero expectations about the boys picking up any eggs, but thought it would be fun for them anyways. As all the anxious parents lined up their super anxious children, Jason and decided to carry the boys to a small spot in the back on the side of all the action. We let them down next to about 5 eggs and allowed them to 'explore'. We explained that they could pick them up and even put them in their bags we brought. To our surprise, they thought this was great fun and spent about 5 minutes playing with their 5-6 eggs. They'd pick them up, shake them and laugh and put them in the bag. Then they'd pull them out, shake them, throw them on the ground and start again! Towards the end, Wyatt became aware that there were more eggs than just these 5 or 6 and thought it would be fun to walk over to the family next to us and try to grab some from their Easter basket! We of course intervened.

Friday morning we headed out to the farm for Easter weekend. The boys hadn't been to the farm since Christmas due to very rainy weekends. So this was the first time they would be able to enjoy running around out there literally. We spent a lot of time outside that weekend. The boys rarely (if ever) took a minute to just sit and play. They wore themselves out (and this pregnant mama) by Sunday. It was really a beautiful weekend!

The Easter Bunny came early to the farm, which was very kind so the boys could play with their goodies throughout the weekend. They each got a very cute frog stuffed animal if I say so myself, a stuffed dinosaur, a shovel, egg shaped cups with a very cool crazy straw, some Gold Fish and their favorite... a pinwheel!

The boys were so excited about their baskets of goodies and had to take everything out and hand to Grandma to hold as they dug through the contents. By the end, Grandma just couldn't hold any more!

After breakfast we started our fulfilled day outside. We played in the water and the boys got to help Great-Grandma water all the plants which was super exciting and they now do at home too! We took LOTS of fun rides on the golf cart around the house and up and down the country roads and next to the wheat fields. The boys couldn't get enough of playing with dirt, rocks and sticks. And of course, we had our Easter egg 'hunt' too! Grandma filled the eggs with animal crackers, stickers and marshmallow bunnies. To our surprise, the boys did amazing at 'finding' the eggs, and putting them in their bucket, and had LOTS of fun! (The boys now really enjoy putting things in buckets, dog dishes, etc now that we are back home. We still have fun 'egg hunts' in the backyard this week!)

Here are some pictures of their egg hunt!

The boys loved the surprises in the eggs. The dogs loved them too! Pickles was overly excited and followed the boys everywhere! Both dogs (especially pickles, although the pic below is of Noodles) learned quickly how to sniff out the eggs with marshmallows in them, open the eggs and then eat the goodies inside!

Dumping the eggs out of the basket and starting over again was just as much fun as the original 'scatter'!

Here is Gavin enjoying a marshmallow treat!

Notice Pickles is sticking close!

Notice the 'Winni the Pooh' stickers on the boys from here on out...

Showing us his marshmallow treat.

I love this picture with his pouty lip and chubby hands holding on to his sticker!

Gavin started collecting 'Easter Rocks' for his bucket too!

Here are some pictures from Easter morning; more egg hunts and golf cart riding!

Notice the sticker on his nose in the next couple of photos!

They loved playing in the dirt.

Here are Grandma's 3 day old puppies!

By Easter morning, the boys had really wore themselves out! Before breakfast I gathered the boys on my lap, gave them giant snuggles and explained to them what a wonderful day this was and how we 'rejoice' in that our Lord is alive! The next thing out of their mouths... eeeeehhhhh... Hehe, their idea of rejoicing was not what I had in mind! While they had fun Sunday morning, there was a lot of whining. Actually, there was a lot more whining all week as we recovered from so much fun at the farm. So while Sunday wasn't all too relaxing, we had a fabulous weekend. Watching the boys reach the point of exhaustion (and still so much teething) was actually humbling and taught me a lot this Easter. It really brought home the idea of Christ dying for us and rising again in a whole new light! It comforted me as I watched our precious boys in their complete humanness, knowing that they have a wonderful and perfect Savior who loves them so and will always be with them. It is by His grace and faith in Him that we are alive! It comforts me too as I grow in my parenting and as an individual to know that I too am just like our boys. We all reach the point of exhaustion, we all fall, we all have tempers and tantrums, and Christ has forgiven and erased it ALL! He loves us so very much. I am thankful for His grace and thankful for Him showing me how to shower it on my little ones.

While I long to be able to do fun 'Easter teachings' and activities with the boys as they grow and can comprehend a little more, I am so thankful for the beautiful Easter messages God spoke to my heart and taught me this year!

Extra 13 Months Tid-bits

This past month has been so full of different activities. I've captured many of these (and will soon) in other posts such as their birthday, outdoor activities, Luke at 21 weeks and Easter celebrations, along with a couple of posts about my thoughts on parenting. There are a few additional things I want to make sure I remember about Gavin and Wyatt at this age.

• They really have grown up so much this past month. I look at them throughout the day and am amazed at the little boys I see in front of me; no longer babies and at times seeming so much more than just toddlers. The way they play with toys sometimes seems that they are starting to develop an imagination. It's as if they are connecting things they see throughout their day and incorporating into play.
• Gavin has started running in place when he's excited the past couple of weeks. He giggles the whole time he does it. I believe this started after they learned to stomp their feet for fun and while we practiced jumping (which they don't do yet).
• Wyatt's new thing is to bend in half with his legs straight and head on the ground, and then look through his legs. He does this all the time and cracks up the whole time. He loves it when I jump behind him and say hi upside down or tickle his tummy while he's in that position. Just this week I caught him doing this on the windowsill. He was reminded this is a 'no-no and dangerous', but I thought it was pretty funny.
• The boys love walking around backwards these days and are getting pretty fast at it too.
• They also are excellent at walking around on so many different types of surfaces, including our river walk we have in our backyard. I'd never dream of 13 month olds running on these rocks and having such balance.
• Wyatt is trying really hard to learn to take off his shirts and put them on. He actually is really close to taking them off once he figures out the arms a little better.
• Both boys love to put on their shoes and any others around. Over Easter, they kept putting on great-grandma's shoes and walking around the living room giggling! Gavin would have one, and Wyatt the other. They do this with mama's and daddy's shoes too!
• The boys are down to 1 nap a day. They actually got on this schedule shortly after I last posted about their sleep patterns. They wake up typically some time between 6 and 7 and then go down for a nap about 11 or 12. We eat a small snack before nap time and then eat our lunch when they wake up. Bed time is still 7:30.
• The boys have been teething this whole month. Poor guys. Wyatt has all four molars in, as well as an eye tooth that just popped through. It looks like 1-2 other eye teeth are just about out too. So that's 13 already out and more on the way soon. Gavin has his top two molars and one of his bottom eye teeth out. It looks like two more of his eye teeth are just about to come out too. So that's 11 for Gavin with two more on the way soon.
• The boys are still eating great and very healthy. We just tried peanut butter early last week which they enjoy and had no problems with. We are so thankful, as I was so worried. They have also been enjoying the little 'typical children's snacks' at times; Goldfish, cheez-its, animal crackers and graham crackers with peanut butter. Although they don't eat it a lot, it's pretty fun watching their excitement with these snacks.
• The boys still don't like or watch TV, except for Baby Einstein at times. Just this past week though, they tried BOZ and love it. They seem to like this just as much as BE, especially Gavin.
• The other week I took them to Bouncin' Bears. It's a giant room filled with lots of different and very elaborate jumping castles. They have some for ages 0-3 only which was nice. The boys LOVED it! My mouth was in awe as I saw them running around like they were two 3 year olds! After an hour and 15 minutes, mama was tired and said it was time to go home though. They tend to run in opposite directions a lot these days!

Baby Luke - 21 weeks

Luke was so active during the ultrasound today; he was really putting on a show! Towards the end, the doctor captured him sticking out his tongue and yawning. Too cute!

We are so thankful he is growing healthy and pregnancy is going smooth to date.

The doctor said he had a big foot print.

I'm just about 21 weeks already! I can't begin to describe how fast this pregnancy is going. So fast, that I just don't get a chance to update the blog as often as I want to about this time with Luke in my womb. Another factor to that is that I don't see the doctor as often as I did with the boys and ultrasounds are a lot fewer. But as with the boys, I'm trying to enjoy every week of pregnancy with our sweet baby Luke!

The past several weeks, he has become much stronger. The past week or so, I've started to feel him with my hand through the skin even. He doesn't seem to move as much as the boys, but I know that is only because he has a whole lot of room compared to what they had! Each time I go in to check his heart rate, he's moving all over the place and the doctor is having to chase him to capture his heart rate! He seems to be doing great! And as I mentioned above, he was putting on a show today!

I've been feeling very well too these past several months. My tummy is growing drastically, but hardly any discomfort as I did with the boys. I know this is because my tummy was already stretched out from last year and it's different with one baby vs two inside. Just this past week or so, I've noticed the size of my tummy is causing a little difficulty in maneuvering, but only slightly. I'm still easily able to roll on the floor with the boys, crawl on my hands and knees, etc. I tend to have a lot of energy in the mornings and start to fade some in the mid-late afternoon.

I've had a whole lot more crazy cravings during this pregnancy! I craved healthy things with the boys like fruit, milk, eggs and peanut butter... but... with Luke... it's hamburgers, chicken salad made with LOTS of mustard and dill relish, as well as pickles and tarter sauce! The other week I woke up at midnight and couldn't go to sleep for an hour because I NEEDED tarter sauce... yeah... how lame! Luckily for Jason and myself, you can't go get tarter sauce at midnight anywhere and I wasn't in the mood to make it in the middle of the night! Later that week though, Jason took me out to get fried catfish; my 'excuse' for eating a pound of tarter sauce (exaggeration, don't worry!). The first thing I asked the waiter before ordering my water... Do you have tarter sauce? He said yes and asked why, if they were out last time we came. I said no, but that I was pregnancy and craving it. He was such a good sport and brought me out lots of tarter sauce and lemons for my fish. I have no idea how the fish was, but the condiments were excellent!

As the weeks go, I feel my bond with Luke growing stronger! Of course a mother has a bond with her child as soon as she knows he's growing in her womb, but their is something that happens as you begin to feel your little one moving inside you. Your awareness grows as well as your heart!

The past couple of weeks, I've been teaching the boys about 'babies'. Because we don't have any babies around and they have zero dolls, I decided to go out and buy a little doll to help teach them the 'idea' of babies. I dressed it in a little boy onesie, show them how to rock it, sign it, give it hugs and kisses and how to be gentle. The first couple of days they thought it was great fun to grab the doll, bang it and throw it around. But, then it began to sink in and and now they find it great fun to rock the baby and give it hugs and kisses. They love to point out the eyes, nose and mouth and tell me 'endal' (gentle). Gavin will sign 'baby' by shrugging his shoulders, tilting his head to the side, rocking back and forth and saying, 'day-dee, day-dee'. It's so cute! The other day at church, they were fascinated by the baby behind us. They kept looking, smiling and petting their air while saying, 'endal'! They were quite fascinated by a tiny baby at the doctor's today too.

Thank you Lord for our sweet Luke!