Charlie: 4.5 months

Lillian: 5 months

She loves it! She can’t get enough!

And two totally unrelated photos, just because:

A hug. Sort of.

Miss you, friends.

A friend and I were discussing recently our thoughts about dressing our kids in clothes that we wore ourselves as children. And so I wanted to ask you: Is this super cute in a sort of sentimental way, even if the clothes are outdated? Or does the outdatedness of the clothes just make the whole thing a little too silly and contrived?

Here’s Lillian this morning, looking just like her momma circa 1981, in a dress made by her Nana.

She seems to like it:

A few people have asked me recently, “What is Lillian doing these days?” And I have admitted that I’m doing a terrible job of documenting her growth and her milestones and her sweet, wide-eyed personality. I’m keeping up with her baby book, but not so much with the Interwebs.

So here are a few specifics:

-She’s a big girl. I took her to the doc earlier this week for her four-month well visit. She weighs 16 pounds, 13.5 ounces, and measures 26.5 inches long (both are in the 90-something percentile). It looks like she’s got her mommy’s thighs and her daddy’s height.

-She’s a really great night sleeper. She’ll usually wake up once, eat, and go right back to sleep. If I remain conscious for the feeding, I’ll usually be back in bed within 15 or 20 minutes. I often fall asleep in the Poang, however, which means I’ll leave her room a good hour or two after the initial wake-up call. It’s so sad to be that tired.

-She’s still an unpredictable, not-so-great day sleeper. A couple weeks ago, she took a two-hour afternoon nap for four days in a row, and I was elated. By now she’s back to 30- or 45-minute snoozes, and there’s just no chance of getting her back to sleep. This is infuriating.

-She loves to roll. Lay her down on the floor on her back, and she’s on her tummy before you can stand up. And she’ll remain there, swimming contentedly on her belly for a while. Sometimes she’ll return to her back; sometimes she’ll scoot along the floor a few paces. But whatever happens, there will definitely be squeals and jabbers and grunts and spit-up involved.

-Her hand coordination is really impressive. She’s quite skilled now with reaching for and grabbing her toys, and of course, immediately pulling them into her mouth. She gets frantic if there’s nothing in her mouth. She can pull a bottle toward her and even sometimes hold it up by herself while she drinks. She loves to touch faces and grab hair and reach for Charlie. Oh! And she can grab her toes!

-For a while I was convinced that Lillian would be our serious child. She didn’t laugh easily, and her expression was often intense and uncertain. But these days, she can catch a serious case of the giggles, and oh how I love that sound! She’s flirty and amused. She grins with her whole face, and she has a wide-open-mouth smile that melts us all.

-She spends a lot of her time in either the bouncy seat or the exersaucer. She seems to favor the saucer, where, as long as the top is littered with loose toys, she can entertain herself for long stretches of time.

-Quick kidney update: After a couple ultrasounds and a few specialized tests, the urologist in Chicago recommended that we have the upper portion of Lillian’s left kidney removed (which is causing major problems in our application for health insurance, but that’s another story). However, I talked to her new pediatrician about this, and he winced at the mention of surgery. He highly recommended that we get a second opinion. So we’ll see.

And that’s Lillian in a nutshell, at 4 months & 3 weeks. She’s pretty fantastic.

This past Saturday, I had only one goal: to get our little family to a pumpkin patch. We were thankful that Jeff’s sister, Kristi, was in town and able to join us! We had a great time — pumpkins, a big slide, piggies, a slingshot, a wagon, a donkey (named Ted), two goats (Max and Moe), friendly folks, and corn coming out the ears (ha).

For all the photos, feel free to visit the October 2009 album on my Shutterfly site.

A few teasers:

Now that Lillian is a little more alert and active, she and Charlie are more frequently interacting in that sweet sibling way I always imagined. When Charlie is in the room, Lillian’s eyes are on him. She’s even been known to start fussing when he leaves her sight. Charlie can get her laughing like no one else can, and I’ve finally caught that on a couple videos.

I hope to take some more fall pictures this weekend, but this afternoon was so beautiful I couldn’t resist taking the chillin’s out to the yard for a mini photo shoot.

My fave:

Charlie ran to the bush and struck this pose all by himself. He’s my little high school senior in the making:

And my little emo rock star:

When asked what he wants to be for Halloween, Charlie immediately responds, “A sheep!”

I’m thinking Bono might be the better choice.

My project at the nursing home this morning was to gather thoughts of gratitude from the residents for a “thankfulness” bulletin board theme. What a wonderful and profound and healing frame of mind — this attitude, this discipline, of thankfulness.

I got a lot of responses like “I’m thankful for the staff here” and “I’m thankful for Kidron Bethel and that I can live here.” My boss had warned me going into it that they would give such responses, most likely because I am a staff person and so the residents say what they think I want to hear. And maybe that’s true. And I did try to encourage other sorts of answers. But the more I’ve thought about this today, the more struck I am by their immediate statements. These beautiful people, so used to living independently and providing for themselves, now find themselves in a state of utter dependence. And while they may not have chosen this road, they know that they are cared for even still. Many of them, after my question of “what are you thankful for today?” responded with, “Oh, so many things.” They have no idea how that ministered to me. There is so much more I could say about this experience and these people and how I am blessed by their perspectives. But my thoughts are a bit jumbled tonight and my fingers can’t seem to hit the keys accurately, so I’ll just sign off with a song.

I’m not a huge fan of most Christian music, but back in 2003, my dear friend Molly introduced me to the album Woven & Spun by Nichole Nordeman. I can’t tell you how many times this album has spoken deeply to me, in all sorts of circumstances. It’s my go-to album for a good spiritual boost, if you will. It reminds me that God is near, in the big and the small, and that my natural response to his love is and should be gratitude and worship.

Here are the lyrics to her song “Gratitude,” the last on the album:

Send some rain, would You send some rain?
‘Cause the earth is dry and needs to drink again
And the sun is high and we are sinking in the shade
Would You send a cloud, thunder long and loud?
Let the sky grow black and send some mercy down
Surely You can see that we are thirsty and afraid
But maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to thirst for You
How to bless the very sun that warms our face
If You never send us rain

Daily bread, give us daily bread
Bless our bodies, keep our children fed
Fill our cups, then fill them up again tonight
Wrap us up and warm us through
Tucked away beneath our sturdy roofs
Let us slumber safe from danger’s view this time
Or maybe not, not today
Maybe You’ll provide in other ways
And if that’s the case . . .

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
A lesson learned to hunger after You
That a starry sky offers a better view if no roof is overhead
And if we never taste that bread

Oh, the differences that often are between
What we want and what we really need

So grant us peace, Jesus, grant us peace
Move our hearts to hear a single beat
Between alibis and enemies tonight
Or maybe not, not today
Peace might be another world away
And if that’s the case . . .

We’ll give thanks to You
With gratitude
For lessons learned in how to trust in You
That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream
In abundance or in need
And if You never grant us peace

But Jesus, would You please . . .
[ Gratitude Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]