Too Fast!

I cannot believe Judah's already a month old! Here are some updates on the family -

Joel III: Joel has been doing well with his brother. However, sometimes Joel forgets about him because like a typical 1 month old baby, he sleeps a lot. When I hold and nurse him Joel has a tough transition at times. Usually we need to have a long involved chat about how Mommy is going to have to nurse the baby and wont be able to play with him. He is slowly figuring it out.
Mommy decided to purchase a new toy for Joel to burn off some energy -


He likes it a little better in this video -


Joel is learning and speaking a ton and its fun to watch. He is finally putting 2 words together. He loves to pick up two of the same thing and say "Two Balls!" or "Two cups" or whatever it is for the day. He loves to go new places and 'help' with chores and learn how things work. His new obsessions are batteries, pumpkins and fire hydrants.

Here's a video of Joel holding Judah


Here's a video of Joel opening one of Judah's gifts



Judah: Judah is doing well. At his 1 month appointment he weighed 9 lb 3 oz! He is finally needing 0-3 month clothes! I think he has a bit of reflux and so I started to prop him up on the Boppy after feeds and that has cut down on his crying during the day. He still spits up quite a bit but doesn't seem bothered by it. The reflux also (if he has it) doesn't affect him at night at all. He has been consistently waking up at 3 or 4am the past 2 weeks (he's 5 weeks old now) and just three nights ago slept from 10:30 (last feeding was at 9:45pm) to 6:45am!!! Two nights ago he was up again at his usual 3:30 and last night he slept through again! I have high hopes that the sleeping through the night will become more consistent over the next few weeks.


These past few days he has started smiling and that is super fun! After we put Joel III to bed, we have some fun Judah moments where we get him to smile.


Judah does something funny.


Daddy: Joel is very busy traveling. He seems to be waking up at insane hours (5am) every day, so that makes for two very sleep deprived parents. He is drinking a lot of coke zero and mountain dew to make up for the lack of sleep and I think so far it has worked. However, he is getting sick so maybe not.


Two things account for his business this year compared to last: speaking engagements further away, and involvement in our local church discipleship program. Both things are awesome and are enabling us to serve the Lord in even bigger and better ways! However, of course, both make life a little more complicated -

This week Joel will be in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Next week he has a full 5 days in Texas. Because our outreach involves an evening concert, we need all of our sound, light and A/V equipment. That means lots of hours driving. Please pray for safety while driving and effective outreach concerts.

The discipleship ministry at our church (Northwest Bible) is taking huge steps forward. Joel and I are both super excited about the progress. Discipleship is a one-on-one relationship meant to enhance our relationship with the Lord. We both had awesome relationships in college with our disciplers and that spawned our passion for discipleship. Joel has been working with our teaching pastor at the church to work through the logistics of this program. Please pray for the discipleship relationships at our church, pray for them to start, continue, and grow in their knowledge of the Lord through his Word.


Me: I am doing well. I am enjoying the feeling of my body slowly going back to normal. I am also enjoying the short time that my baby is a little bundle. I know it will be over so soon and he will be crawling and walking before I know it. Joel III's activity level has required me to seek out other moms for play dates. I have found these relationships have helped me a ton.. who knew having friends is a good thing! ha. Thank goodness Joel III has my best interest in mind. just kidding. I am still at the point where I feel like I need a short nap during the day to make it through. This cuts down my ability to get anything done tremendously. So I am adjusting to that. Joel is adjusting to more dirty laundry, a messier house, and my inability to complete ministry tasks in a timely matter. ohwell.

Judah Thomas Penton!!

oh man! Judah is here. We are so excited and thankful to have 2 healthy beautiful boys. I have been putting off this post bc I feel like it will be so massive.. we have so much to say!

Here are some highlights of the past 2 weeks -

cutest moment: When we arrived home from the hospital and introduced Joel to Judah, He kept saying 'baby' and tried to pick up Judah by the legs as he had been holding the other baby doll. see the full video HERE.


scariest moment: The Dr. broke my water and found tons of meconium. This could be a life-threatening situation for the baby, if the baby swallows it. (he didn't, and was fine)

most surprising challenge: Adjusting Joel III to his new brother. He still hasn't fully learned but I think now he knows that Judah is a person (he will now frequently hand Judah footballs and guns and offer Judah a drink from his sippy cup) and that Judah isn't going away. However, he still does not like it when Mommy is nursing Judah and attempts to climb on top of both of us... causing lots of stress for Mommy.


biggest answer to prayer: The entire labor and delivery process. Wow. It was truly a great experience! I labored at home for 8 hours (even went to church!) then we headed to the hospital at 4pm. Got an epidural at 6pm, was so comfortable that we joked around and watched some of "Meet the Parents" on TV. Pushed twice, Judah arrived at 839pm. Easy. I guess next time I should try it without the epidural to make it more challenging. ;) Watch the entire Labor and Delivery process (G-rated) HERE.



most precious moment: Praying with Judah on my chest immediately after delivery. We did this with Joel and it was such an intimate time with Our Lord, each other, and our newest gift from Him.


are the two boys different? Yes! We can tell already. Judah has darker, thicker skin, and darker hair. He is also of course way smaller than Joel was. Judah is naturally pretty laid back, but more difficult to 'mold' i.e. conforming him to my preferred schedule is not as easy as it was for Joel. Fortunately the schedule he 'prefers' is pretty easy to deal with.

Joel III after first bath:

Judah after first bath:

was it easier the 2nd time around? Surprisingly, most of the pregnancy was! I think I can attribute most of this to his weight. Also as you just read the Labor and Delivery was no comparison. Knowing what to expect afterward also made things easier. So, all in all, yes!



most surprising moment: Finding out that Tiny Judah was only 6 lb 11 oz! (Joel was 8 lb 4 oz.) Our Dr. did say that the placenta was huge for his size (about half his weight which isn't normal) the cord was very long, and there was a lot of fluid. His size was very surprising to me, however, Joel kept predicting he would be 'small and feisty'



saddest moment: Joel III crying "up, up!" when I nursed Judah and then crying even more when I told him I wasn't able to hold him right now.

moment that makes me laugh: Thinking about Joel (husband)'s face when we were getting ready to go to the hospital. He had a huge smile on his face, he kept making me laugh, and he was running around the house like a crazy person trying to get things ready. My contractions hadn't progressed for 6-7 hours (they were still 10 mins apart and not any more painful than when they started) so we weren't sure it was the real thing until around 3pm. He didn't think I would ever go into labor so the whole thing was pretty exciting for him. You can catch a glimpse of his excitement HERE.

More to come later!