A Few of my Favorite Things

It's probably the impending arrival of the third sweet child (and the accompanying uncertainty and trepidation that invariably goes along with it,) but I've been feeling sentimental lately. I have an urgent need to document the little small things that are so big right now. Strangely, I think that it is fear-based. Fear of forgetting, perhaps? Or fear of losing these sweet little moments without even realizing it in that shuffle that happens when another person (especially a very small, very loud, very needy little person with a penchant for eating at all times of the night) finds his place in an established family unit, perhaps? Or maybe it's the fear that the "Mommy Brain" that got impossibly worse after the second child will render me completely unable to function in society after number three comes along. (I have strong evidence that this is a possibility.) Whatever the reason, this post is admittedly self-indulgent and, yes, sentimental.

These are a few of my favorite things.

Eden's mispronunciations: cimanin, amanals, SeeSee, and today's gem: "Mom, this is a very chan-jah-ling project." (Did you catch that one? CHALLENGING?! The girl may not get her drama from me, but if I can pass along some color sense and nerdy love for vocabulary words, I'm happy.)


Judah's Swiper impression from Dora the Explorer: On the show, Dora says, "Swiper, no swiping!" and Swiper, in a nasally voice, whines, "Aw, maaaaaan!" When Judah hears the prompt or even the name Swiper (which is more often than you might think,) he puts on the crinkly-eyed hot dog face and pipes up with a distinctly Jamaican "Mon!"

Eden's emerging ability to memorize and recite familiar songs and phrases, most notably the following favorites:

• ~The introduction to Curious George stories ("This is George. He was a good little monkey, and always very curious.")
• ~Her "special song" that she and daddy sing together: "My grandma and your grandma, sitting by the fire..."
• ~The "short prayer" or Aaronic Blessing that we pray over both kids each night before turning off the light: "May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace."

Judah's marsupial abilities working with my profoundly protruding abdominal bulge. The baby belly is ridden like a saddle and I can usually get away with out holding onto him at all, with 28 pounds of boy clinging onto me like a baby koala.




Eden's particularity in which doors we enter church through. Evidently the "J" door is where it's at. "I" is for suckers.

Judah's stalking up to me with ANY toy, be it alligator, lion, kitty cat, or sparkly pink pony, and growling at me with it. He is SUCH a boy.

When we put Eden to bed at night, after reading a story and singing a song and praying with her and over her, the good night hug always involves a teasing threat in a smiling preschooler voice: "I'm going to KEEP you, Mommy!"

Judah's obsessive love for dogs in toys, books, movies, drawings, clothing, YouTube videos, car ride discussions, etc... and SHEER TERROR at being close to one.

Even though it is CLEAR that Eden puts herself in the "young adult" category, especially when "little" Judah is around, the two of them are developing the coolest connection. I'm so glad they will have each other as we navigate the newborn lifestyle again, and I feel so blessed to watch them forge these bonds with each other whilst they are small: God willing, they'll build on these ties for years and decades to come.





And to end it, (because I could come up with more if I sat here for longer than I really want to,) a non-traditional family portrait I nabbed simply because my camera was sitting on the dresser after capturing bare-butt shots in the bathtub earlier.

Bedtime with all five.