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.