my first baby is six

This entire pregnancy has been a wonderful reminder of my first pregnancy with Saige. Her original due date was Aug 3 and this baby girl's original due date is Aug 1. I have reflected on where we were living and how I felt during my first pregnancy more than I have in a long time. Seeing Saige grow up, is a beautiful reminder of what babies turn out to be - a little person with their own personalities, talents and gifts from God. 

My dearest Saige,

How lovely you've become. You are such a smart young lady, with a contagious laugh and a natural ability to lead. Your Daddy and I are so proud of you and of who you are becoming. Our prayer for you is this:

Lord,

You have Saige on a journey, and she needs her mind to be ready for the challenges, and the adventures that are ahead.  The world will offer many distractions and the enemy will try to make her stray from the path You have carved out for her. I thank you that You go ahead of her to light the way, are with her always to keep her steady, and You even follow after her to comfort her when she missteps.

Father, I ask that you give her a mind that is calm and full of hope. I pray that Your grace will turn her thoughts toward You and strengthen her walk of faith.

May she be a girl who is marked by self control and confidence in Her faithful God.

I pray this in Your name that never changes.

Amen.

Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self‑controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:13, NIV

We love you, sweetie!

-Mommy and Daddy

  

 

 

miscellany monday

1. Ahh... Monday, you are here again. I used to loathe Mondays. You know, because it meant "back to the grind," but I have intentionally scheduled it to be a slow day, so that I don't start out the week rushed and unorganized. After we take Saige to school, the littles and I eat breakfast, play, get dressed and go to the grocery store. No rushing. It is good for this Momma who doesn't do well when she's feeling hurried. This is what Monday mornings and every morning for that matter look like around here. This girl loves her some cards. I think this is probably one of the only traits she got from me. I used to play for hours by myself when no one wanted to keep playing with me. A girl after my own heart. You try telling that sweet face no.

2. I found this excerpt by John Piper encouraging...

There is a principle here that applies to you and me: God takes small, imperfect things and builds them into a habitation for his glory. O, how we should take courage in our little spheres of influence! And is this not the message of Advent and Christmas?

What more appropriate word could God have said to Mary as Jesus was growing up: Take courage, young mother, you build more than you see. And so it is with every one of us. Nothing you do is a trifle if you do it in the name of God. He will shake heaven and earth to fill your labor with splendor. Take courage, you build more than you see.

3. This boy of mine got a haircut, thanks to Mimi's handiwork, and now officially looks 10 years older. Sigh.

 

4. It's cold here. Finally. It's been hard to get into the holiday season when it's been 70 degrees outside. But it's going to be in the 50's during the day and 30's at night this week. I plan to get our tree this week and break out all the decorations. Putting up the tree, listening to Vince Guaraldi's A Charlie Brown Christmas, and drinking hot chocolate are by far my favorite things to do at this time of year.

 

5. Please pray for this sweet girl. She keeps getting re-occurring ear infections, and the doctor has suggested tubes. But I have read that doesn't always fix the problem. She may have a milk allergy and I am going to probably cut dairy out of her diet and see if that helps. I am not looking forward to this, as she loves milk. Have any of you had to do this with your child? What milk alternative should I start with? Suggestions and advice are welcome!

 

Happy Monday, y'all!

 

friday favorites {instagram}

Do you use Instagram? I use it on my iPhone ALL. THE. Stinkin. TIME. I swear it makes any regular picture look fantastic. Here is a recap in instagram pics of the past few weeks. 



Our church meets in the evening on Sundays, so we usually spend the morning running errands as a family. I am always super insecure about people thinking we don't go to church. Not so much because I feel judged as much as I want people know it's important to me and a huge part of our lives. But I also don't want to get them dressed for church that early either because they might get dirty. I decided it's not worth worrying about what other people think. So here's to me letting go of what others think and letting them wear whatever they wanted to run to Lowe's last Sunday.
 

My sweet boy and I at the zoo

 

Meadow loves the merry-go-round and was especially excited that she got to ride on the dog.

Crazy and creative Saige looking beautiful no matter what she's wearing.

 

Super Reed and the mask I made quickly for his halloween costume. I was inspired by a friend who made them for her entire family. Hers looked a lot better. But as Patrick reminded me when I asked if I should start over - "It's going to just end up on the ground in the closet." I love that practical man of mine.

 

This one is for you, Mama Sharp! Meadow was super excited to open and find the cowgirl hat you sent for her birthday. She looks pretty cute, huh? 

 

And lastly, I want to tell you about my friend Blossom. She is amazing with the knitting needles and I mentioned this scarf to her after seeing it on pinterest.  Well, she made me this scarf and hat and put them in my mailbox this past week and totally surprised me. She rocks. If you're interested in purchasing one, let me know and I will get you her contact info. She has an etsy shop, Curly Giraffe, but right now she is just taking orders for the scarves so she can get specifics and not end up making ones that people don't want. Anyways, they're priced very reasonably as well and I think you would look fabulous in one!

In keeping with Wimberly tradition, we are off to the zoo again for miss Meadow's birthday WEEK.

 Happy Friday!

 

it came and went

the first day of school came and went. just like that. my first born started kindergarten today and now it's old hat. been there done that. all the anticipation and nerves are through. 

and i am so thankful. 

i couldn't think straight leading up to today.

i seriously couldn't focus on anything else. and wouldn't have anything to do with my house be CRAMMED full of items from my grandparents house that are going in a garage sale this weekend to benefit World Vision and the drought crisis. more on that later.

no, it was because my baby girl was starting kindergarten.

the night before, i actually remembered to make and pack her lunch. i am praying that i maintain a good run. i am sort of a forgetful person... but the first day was made. and here's proof:

oh, and if you are wondering where i printed that adorable note, you can go here

 

we live really close to the school, and even though it is hotter than the dickens, we walked. yes, we walked and i sweat the entire way there. we did it mainly because she wanted to, and i'm that kind of mom. baby girl gets whatever baby girl wants. at least on the first day.

i took this picture with her backpack on, but truth be told, i carried her backpack. i don't want the backpack police gettin all up in my bizness like i made her carry that big ol thing herself. no, momma carried it and had pit stains the size of Texas to prove it.

 

here is my precious baby girl sitting next to a boy we don't even know. is that allowed? where is Asher Rives when we need him?

 

when i left her in that classroom, i just stood in the hallway. i didn't cry. i was a little in shock actually. in shock at how easy and seamless the whole thing was. she walked in there like she owned the place. confident. ready. smiling. 

and i just stood in the hall, sneaking peaks at her. i just couldn't leave. i went in one more time to give her a kiss and tell her i loved her and she was going to have fun. she looked eager to start the day. 

so i left and walked home and went with my mom, Meadow and Reed to IHOP to dredge my sorrow in bad coffee and a yummy belgian waffle. and Saige was missed. i missed her and her baby sister missed her. Reed was just happy to be sitting next to Noni and eating whatever he wanted. 

even though their coffee is pretty bad, it was made a little better by this mug. coffee just tastes better in a diner mug, no?

after a fun-filled day, the three of us walked, yes, in the heat of the day, we walked to pick Saige up from school. i am telling you, i was just that mom today. at the end of the street i realized the tires on the double jogger were dreadfully low, but we had only 10 minutes before Saige would be out. 

we got there, saw her standing in line and she ran to greet us. she gave Meadow a big hug - it was priceless. we began our walk home and Saige wanted to ride in the stroller too, so i pushed all 3 of them back home on flat tires. i sweat through my second shirt for the day. it was awesome. momma's going to be driving tomorrow, i guarantee you that.

and since i mentioned i was that mom today, i even made Saige's favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. the girls and i had cookies and milk, while Reed napped, and we talked about the day.

 there were some tears shed when Saige got back and the girls were fighting over silly things. i explained that this was going to be an adjustment and that they weren't going to be experiencing the same things, so we need to be happy for what the other one gets to do instead of being jealous. (Noni, you may need to take Saige to get pancakes). they both understood and stopped being so silly after that and we had a great evening. i laid in bed tonight with Saige and she told me about the books the teacher read, what the principal's name was, that the librarian was really nice and that there was lots of kids books to check out in the library. thank you, Lord, for that. thank you, Lord, for a daughter that can tell me about her day in such an articulate way. it's good for this Momma's heart.

 

miscellany monday

1. grace-driven effort

D.A. Carson wrote in, For the Love of God, Volume 2, one of the most helpful things that I have read recently in regards to faith, sanctification, and refinement. He talks about it as grace-driven effort, and Jared Wilson expanded on the idea here.

"People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do not gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance; we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we slide toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated." D.A. Carson

2. The Help

So am I one of the last people on the face of the planet to read this book? I borrowed it from my sister-in-law this last week and I am really enjoying it so far. Have you read it, what do you think about it? Apparently there is some controversy surrounding the movie ... (And this article was written before the movie came out).... 

via my pinterest

3. last week before school

Saige starts kindergarten one week from today. So we are going to live it up this week! But I am definitely looking forward to the structure that her schedule will provide. I am looking forward to spending time with my two littles and being able to help Meadow with her writing. Last week, Saige had an initial assessment and the teacher came out afterwards exuberant about how well Saige did. And she told me she could tell I have been working with her. O, my. She has no idea how much confidence that gave me. Anyways, I have a lot of thoughts rattling around and I plan to write an entire post as a follow up to this post soon.

4. he's not a baby...

I am not sentimental when it comes to hair. I don't mind chopping my own hair off with Fiskars and it isn't too difficult for me to have my babies hair cut for the first time. The main issue I have with haircuts is paying for them. Because I'm cheap, y'all. So I asked my MIL if she wouldn't mind cutting Reed's mop off because I could't stand seeing him sweat just walking out to the van. Have I mentioned we are in drought? Anyways, she always cut the boys hair growing up and she did a great job cutting my nephew's hair recently. Isn't he so handsome?  So here are some before and after pictures of my baby big boy.

before

after

Happy Monday!

friday favorites

Here are some random things that I am thankful for this past week. I am linking up with Rachel over at finding joy once again. 

1. dinner for breakfast.

i have pretty much coughed up a lung for 2 weeks now. bronchitis is ugly. and it took me out of commission for an entire week and i am actually still recovering. so i am thankful for pancake dinners and excitement in the air when i announce it. it's the small things, people.

2. new furniture 

We sold our hand-me-down furniture on a local craigslist type thing and I couldn't have been more excited to see those arm chairs leave my house. We got a new couch cover and some new arm chairs from Ikea. Although, I am not entirely sure why I went with white, other than of course I love the way it looks. We still have 3 small kids, one of which has a hard time remembering to keep his crayons in the playroom. And a BLACK dog. I know, I'm crazy, I tell you. In the picture below, you can see one of the old armchairs in the upper right corner. The first night we brought the furniture home, Patrick still sat in the old arm chair with his food. I laughed and told him, I didn't mind, I wasn't going to be CRAZY about it. He said, 24 hours. They have to stay clean for 24 hours. So we just looked at our new furniture and sat in the old ones that evening. The next afternoon, Ruby got mud all over the side of the couch. And I just laughed. I knew it was going to happen. We went with the cheap, white ones that are machine washable for a reason. ;)

 3. backpack shopping and a typical text

Saige starts kindergarten in 10 days, y'all. I had to get my rear in gear and get her a backpack, so we headed to Target, of course. I am so indecisive. It's a disease, I'm sure of it. I texted Patrick a picture because I thought it might be a bit big for her. And this is a typical text conversation between us. And the latter half is later that afternoon. I love my single-worded-husband. He's good for me.

 4. nearly a decade.

Our 10 year anniversary is coming up next month and we are trying to plan a trip. You know, the trip you thought you'd take on your 10 year anniversary because it seemed so far away and such a milestone and you just had to celebrate such an important thing. Well, it is a big deal but those 10 years sure flew by and I can hardly believe we are planning that trip! We still haven't decided, so suggestions are welcome. We are pretty much open to anything... so please suggest away. 

Happy Friday, y'all! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!