A Voice Only a Son Could Love

Wow...two blogs in a week! I've done well to get one in a month! He's taking a nap :).

This post is purely because I want to share something that makes me so happy. It is just a mama post, not really for the benefit of anyone else!

My son loves for me to sing! Now, if you have ever heard me you know that I struggle to carry a tune. You also know that I have a husband with a wonderful voice. So, you would think that my son would not enjoy my singing too much, but he does! Sometimes it is the only thing that will get him to stop crying and it will almost always relax him. I love it! I just turn my Ipod on, put one of the earbuds in and start singing along with whatever is playing. Sometimes we dance around, other times it is quiet singing. We both enjoy it! He doesn't even mind when I forget the words, as long as I hum or sing la las.

And in case you're wondering, he prefers David Crowder and Charlie Hall. No real lullabies for this kiddo (I tried, I don't remember the words)!

Wait!!

I have a one month old...actually he is one month and one week. How did that happen? I always heard "they grow up fast" but wow! Not only does his age surprise me but I can look at him and be made fully aware of his rapid growth. I see him daily, all day and even I am surprised to see how much bigger he gets. He was a good sized baby from birth and continues to grow in size and his face matures so quickly.

This has made me stop and reevaluate my attitude. There are many times I have found myself looking to milestones and thinking "I can't wait until he is old enough to..." These early weeks have had me looking forward to the sleeping through the night and less fussy period stages that I read about. But, then I stop and look at my sweet boy curled in my arms and think about how it won't be much longer that I will get to hold him like that. As each new milestone is reached, another stage of his life will pass that we will not experience again.

Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled that he continues to develop so well and want him to continue that progress (and I am definitely looking forward to the sleeping through the night and less fussy stages!). But, I have to remember to enjoy and appreciate the stages he is currently in. Even if that is the "don't put me down" day- because one day I will want so badly to be able to hold him and he'll be off running.

I am a Mama!

I am now officially a mama! I have a new son who is a little over a week old and life as I knew it is completely changed! I have gone from every emotion- from crying in complete frustration to laughing of pure joy at the sweet expression of his face. And all of that was in a span of 5 seconds! I can honestly say that I have not had a lot of time to think much this week. That is a strange thing for someone who likes to stop and ponder the moment. Luckily, my husband brought up something that has remained on my mind and it seems like a good post.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

This is a verse from the Bible that probably everyone is familiar with, whether they go to church or not. The first part of it is what struck my husband and me as we spoke of it. Our son was a few days old when we had this conversation. We are needed to meet every one of his needs and he does not have to do one thing for us. In fact, he takes away some of our needs being met, such as sleep! But, there is nothing in the world we would not do for him, including give our own lives. We would be willing to do whatever it takes to protect him from any kind of pain or harm.

That has given me a new perspective on grace. This verse is probably the first one I learned. I have heard lots of sermons and messages based on it but never really understood the magnitude of “he gave his one and only Son” until now. God chose, for the salvation of us, to allow his son to suffer and die. God also had to turn his back on his son in the midst of all of that anguish. That is about the worst thing I could imagine. How incredible is grace, that God was willing to do that for my life? I could not imagine a greater pain than seeing my son suffer and turning away from him.

When talking about Jesus dying, we often focus on his suffering. I am not downplaying that at all, I am just beginning to understand the absolute sacrifice God made at the same time. It makes me appreciate the incredible gift of salvation in a new way. Right before I had my son a friend, who is a young dad, told my husband and me that he had been a Christian for a long time but never quite understood grace until he became a dad. I was not quite sure at the time what he meant but clearly understand it now.

Lessons from the First Parenting Guide- 1

In the months that I have been pregnant and anticipating being a mama, I have become much more aware of the many lessons in the Bible that relate to parenting. I thought I would share some of them here. I am going to break it into multiple posts so it doesn’t get too long.

First Lesson:
This one was brought on by a blog from one of my good friends about her son and his desire to be like his daddy. My husband and I have talked often about how our son will mimic us or want to do things just because we do them. Will he have our personalities? Will he enjoy music, sports, drawing, reading? What will he quote us on? What will he do just because he saw his daddy doing it?

I am reminded of Philippians 4:9- “Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” This is an exhortation from Paul to people who have heard the Gospel from him. He says to them here, and to others in other letters, that they should look to him as an example because he is following after Christ as his example. What a heavy statement to make! I don’t think I could recommend to others to put into practice what they have seen in me. But, I am about to have a little boy that will do just that. It won’t matter to him though whether or not I am imitating Christ because he will imitate me no matter what. It is my responsibility to be consistently modeling a Christ-like life because my son will always be learning from me. My biggest responsibility as a mother is to lead my son towards Christ and the most important way that I will do that is in my character and actions. If I have ever had a reason to seek God’s direction and “be holy as he is holy,” it is now.

35 and 5

Today marks the beginning of the 35th week of pregnancy, which means I have 5 more weeks until my baby's due date. When I first learned I was pregnant, I was 5 weeks along and had 35 weeks to go! To say time has gone pretty quickly would be an understatement.

The most common thing I have heard while pregnant is "You have no idea how much your life will change." I know that change will encompass all aspects of our life, from schedule to emotions. Before I became pregnant, I knew to anticipate these changes but I thought they primarily came after the baby is born. I had no idea how our lives would change the minute we learned that we would have a baby though. We immediately became Daddy and Mama to our growing child.

Today is a fun milestone to think about how our lives have been transformed already and makes me even more excited for the life to come.

Creation vs. Chance

I was sitting in a room in my doctor’s office last week and was bored as I waited for my OB check up. I don’t know how many times I have read every poster in that room and every cartoon on the bulletin board over the last few months. One poster in particular caught my attention that day. It illustrates the changes in a baby from conception to when he is ready for delivery. It is not anything I have not looked at before, or read about, but that day I was again struck by the amazing thing that is the development of human life.

I cannot fathom what has happened inside of me for the last 7 ½ months. My son has gone from being the size of a cell that could not be seen without a microscope, to the size of a poppy seed when I first learned that he existed and is now supposed to be about 19 inches long and weighs about 4 ½ pounds. Not only has he grown that much, but in that time his brain, heart, eyes, fingers have been formed along with every other necessary organ and body part. He has developed all of his senses and the ability to think and even if he was born now, he could fully breathe on his own. He already has a personality and temperament. He has gone from a tiny cell to a fully developed human being. How absolutely amazing is that?

During my pregnancy I have continued to be in awe of God as the perfect creator. Random chance cannot possibly explain the development of human life. It is too intricate, too perfect and too unique to each person for it to be done by anything other than a loving Creator. God has formed my son to be a unique individual with an appearance, a personality, a DNA and fingertips that are like no other person that has ever been created. That is nothing less than incredible.

A Few of My Favorite Things- Pregnancy Edition

In reading one of the many pregnancy websites, I came across a question asking “What is your favorite thing about being pregnant?” I am in the home stretch of pregnancy and getting more uncomfortable so I think it is a good time for me to stop and think about that right now. Now, I have had a really easy pregnancy so I really have little to ever complain about compared to stories I have heard. But, it is still a good thing to think about.

Here are some of the things I like about being pregnant:

1. I love feeling him move- it is like his one way to regularly communicate with me. Each kick lets me know that he is growing stronger and is active. I thought I would eventually get used to his movement but it is still miraculous.
2. I love how my husband responds to him. He already loves our son so much and talks to him often. He is already a great daddy and it is fun to see the start of their relationship.
3. My husband has been so encouraging to me. When I am feeling extra big, my husband reminds me that it is a good thing because it means our son is growing. That makes it easier to think of it as the baby getting larger, not me! He has never been inconsiderate but on the contrary, he has been incredibly supportive and has spoiled me.
4. I love that my baby is with me all of the time. I really cannot ever ignore the fact that I am pregnant but it causes me to think of my son often, rather than being annoyed at the changes to my body. I feel like this has been such a special time for me to get to be with him.
5. It is an absolute miracle that I get to be the one to carry my son as he grows and develops. I have always heard women complain that men don’t have to go through pregnancy. I view it as an incredible and blessed responsibility though that only I get to experience. As involved as my husband is, he still misses out on the miracle of pregnancy.
6. People are really kind to me and often ask about my wellbeing. This one took some time for me to get used to and appreciate! I have never in my life been asked "how are you feeling" as many times as I am asked in a week! What I eat has never been commented on so much and certainly my size has never been talked about like it is now! At first it bothered me to have so much attention but I have learned to understand that people are just being thoughtful.
7. I became a mama as soon as I was pregnant. There is really no way to know what it is like to be a mother unless you are one and I have now begun to understand that.
8. I have been spoiled since August! Sometimes it is frustrating to not be able to things but for the most part, it is really nice to have an excuse! My husband has not let me lift a finger!
9. I have a new understanding and appreciation for God- as Creator, Savior and Father.
10. I get to have a little boy when all of this is over!