Dear Ransom,
You survived your first Christmas...outside the womb. Last Christmas you were technically on this earth, but you were giving me ALL KINDS of grief ( I quite literally survived on bread alone) and so I feel like you did a MUCH BETTER job this Christmas of bringing your Mommy joy.
For one thing, you did an AWESOME JOB driving the many many hours to Texas. It took us 14 hrs to get there, and 12 hrs to get back ( we still can't figure out why this is!) . And you were really a wonderful baby who only cried at the end ( and, well, I can't blame you-I kinda wanted to cry too!)
*side note* The only thing that would make you stop crying wants you started was this incredibly lame mobile app that I have on my phone. Its basically just revolving animals on a mobile that just go around and around and around. But you watched that thing for a good thirty minutes. Crazy.
You took awesome naps the whole time we were in Texas. Most of the time you were taking TWO HOUR NAPS. And you didn't give me any trouble going down for your naps even though you were sleeping in all sorts of different places.
You also did pretty well sleeping at night too. Not as awesome as your naps, but I really can't complain. You ARE a baby, afterall, and babies need their pacifiers and when those come out-well, all bets are...apparently. off.
*side note* At Spicy and Papa's house there are a LOT of mirrors. This was OK by you since the "baby in the mirror" is most definitely your best friend. No matter how sleepy or cranky you are, you can still muster a smile for the baby in the mirror.
You met all sorts of people and you were nice to all of them. This was important since there were a LOT of people that wanted to meet you, Ransom. And I was worried they would be disappointed by a crying baby. But even the time that you had been fast asleep and you woke up to find about six people with their faces thisfar from yours...you were still pretty chill about it. Nice.
This Christmas you met SO MANY family members for the first time, and you got to spend a lot of quality time with Nana and Spicy and Papa...and even your Aunt Anna and Uncle Ryan and Uncle Josh. It was truly a joy to see them enjoying time with you and it makes me happy to know that we only have FUN to look forward to future Christmases.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Four months...
Dear Ransom,
Four months ago at this moment I was laboring away for you to come into this world. Let no one try to convince you otherwise ( but since you're a boy it doesn't really matter) but labor is AWFUL. But, the great thing is-once you were in the world, the awfulness of that hard labor faded into the background-and you have been in your Daddy and my foreground ever since.
This month brought a lot of changes-I feel like of all your previous months, this month you adapted to life a lot. Up until now you'd struggled with going out into the "big wide world" and therefore I'd struggled too...what SHOULD we do together?! When SHOULD we leave you at home?! All these things were difficult, but then, as though all the practice ( aka all the times you'd gone out in public and cried yourself silly) paid off-and finally we went to bible study one Sunday night ( Nov. 14th) and you not only didn't cry...but you LAUGHED for the first time ever.
There we were in Bible Study, I was trying hard to pay attention and you were sitting in my lap facing up at me...and then, I glance down at you, and it was as if you'd been waiting to catch my eye and you let out the longest, cutest giggle.
Needless to say, your Daddy and I probably missed a good portion of the proceeding parts of Bible Study because you had so distracted us. But, hey! We were getting somewhere!! GOOD distraction is MUCH better than the crying distraction of the past!!
This month you also got your first cold. Luckily it was just a "baby" cold in the scheme of colds-but you did NOT enjoy using the "snot sucker" ( and neither did I ) and you DID enjoy sneezing. In fact, every time you sneezed you'd let out a little giggle and smile really big. It made me think about sneezing myself and I must admit they ARE terribly satisfying.
The other MAJOR event of this past month was that you rolled over on December 1st.
I was on the phone with your Aunt Anna and your Daddy was playing on the floor with you, and you DID IT! It was SO exciting that I screamed. And Aunt Anna thought something horrible had happened.
But, really, you were very nonchalant about the whole thing and to be honest I'm still not sure what you think about the whole rolling over business. You've done it pretty much once a day ever since, but its hard to know if you're <em>really</em> doing it on purpose!
But, even if its not on purpose yet, soon it will be. Soon you will do many things purposefully and so I pray that you will choose to be purposeful in the good things of life. That you will be intent upon what is right and true.
This past month brought about other firsts, your first time celebrating your Mama's birthday and therefore your first time away from your Mommy and Daddy for more than a few hours! Luckily for all of us, your Aunt Anna came all the way from Texas to look after you while your Daddy and I got a much needed weekend away in Atlanta. You had a great time with Aunt Anna. In fact, its possible that you didn't miss your Mommy at all-especially since drinking out of a bottle is waaay faster than the normal way of doing things! ;-)
You also had your first Thanksgiving-we had Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of Navigator friends and you were passed around the group. You were very sweet and looked around intently at everyone. Everyone still talks a lot about how much hair you have, even though they are polite enough not to mention the ever growing bald spot on the back of your head! SEE?!? This is a good reason to hurry up and learn the rolling skill so you don't have to spend your time rubbing the back of your head on the ground ;-)
This month your name has been on my mind a lot. Mostly because your name is in one of my favorite Christmas Hymns. O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
In the hymn it says,
This month brought a lot of changes-I feel like of all your previous months, this month you adapted to life a lot. Up until now you'd struggled with going out into the "big wide world" and therefore I'd struggled too...what SHOULD we do together?! When SHOULD we leave you at home?! All these things were difficult, but then, as though all the practice ( aka all the times you'd gone out in public and cried yourself silly) paid off-and finally we went to bible study one Sunday night ( Nov. 14th) and you not only didn't cry...but you LAUGHED for the first time ever.
There we were in Bible Study, I was trying hard to pay attention and you were sitting in my lap facing up at me...and then, I glance down at you, and it was as if you'd been waiting to catch my eye and you let out the longest, cutest giggle.
Needless to say, your Daddy and I probably missed a good portion of the proceeding parts of Bible Study because you had so distracted us. But, hey! We were getting somewhere!! GOOD distraction is MUCH better than the crying distraction of the past!!
This month you also got your first cold. Luckily it was just a "baby" cold in the scheme of colds-but you did NOT enjoy using the "snot sucker" ( and neither did I ) and you DID enjoy sneezing. In fact, every time you sneezed you'd let out a little giggle and smile really big. It made me think about sneezing myself and I must admit they ARE terribly satisfying.
The other MAJOR event of this past month was that you rolled over on December 1st.
I was on the phone with your Aunt Anna and your Daddy was playing on the floor with you, and you DID IT! It was SO exciting that I screamed. And Aunt Anna thought something horrible had happened.
But, really, you were very nonchalant about the whole thing and to be honest I'm still not sure what you think about the whole rolling over business. You've done it pretty much once a day ever since, but its hard to know if you're <em>really</em> doing it on purpose!
But, even if its not on purpose yet, soon it will be. Soon you will do many things purposefully and so I pray that you will choose to be purposeful in the good things of life. That you will be intent upon what is right and true.
This past month brought about other firsts, your first time celebrating your Mama's birthday and therefore your first time away from your Mommy and Daddy for more than a few hours! Luckily for all of us, your Aunt Anna came all the way from Texas to look after you while your Daddy and I got a much needed weekend away in Atlanta. You had a great time with Aunt Anna. In fact, its possible that you didn't miss your Mommy at all-especially since drinking out of a bottle is waaay faster than the normal way of doing things! ;-)
You also had your first Thanksgiving-we had Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of Navigator friends and you were passed around the group. You were very sweet and looked around intently at everyone. Everyone still talks a lot about how much hair you have, even though they are polite enough not to mention the ever growing bald spot on the back of your head! SEE?!? This is a good reason to hurry up and learn the rolling skill so you don't have to spend your time rubbing the back of your head on the ground ;-)
This month your name has been on my mind a lot. Mostly because your name is in one of my favorite Christmas Hymns. O Come, O Come Emmanuel.
In the hymn it says,
O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel
Sometimes I think about us, and how we are all-from the tinest baby (believe me, you are already very self involved! ) to the oldest man-held captive by our sins. But how WONDERFUL to think what the Lord has done for us, by paying the ransom and setting us free from sin and death!
I am so glad you are here to celebrate Christmas with us this year, and may it always be a special time of remembering just what your name means and what it means for the world. Just like you-baby Jesus came into this world-and just like you he had to learn all the things you're learning, how to roll, how be out in the world, how to walk and talk...he had to go through all the hard learning experiences we go through just so that he could save this world! How amazing!
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