Magnolia's Graces: Rapture Weekend Roundup

Well, we're still here. Either, there are no true believers or that dude was full of it.

Magnolia turned 3 months on Friday. It's crazy how fast our days are flying by. I love my days with her, but I hate that she seems to be growing at an alarming rate. I don't remember the dude growing so fast. She's finally getting the hang of tummy time and not just face planting and screaming. I mean, it still eventually leads to that, but we get a few minutes of her looking around first.

Just in the past few days she has really started to figure out that those things she's been nomming on the past month actually open up and hold things. Currently her favorite thing to hold is her shirt, which makes a quick entry into her mouth and becomes soaked in drool. She is discovering her "voice" more and more everyday. It sounds like, "Aaaaooooooooaiaiaiaieeeeeeeee". She also does this T-rex growling thing. Of course it promptly comes to a halt as soon as I get out the video camera. *cough* need new iPhone with video capabilities *cough* She's not a fan of going out....anywhere... She hates her carseat and can't fall asleep while we are out, which makes for a very grumpy baby and mama. She sleeps pretty well at night. I can get a good 5-7 hour stretch before she wakes up to nurse and then back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. Of course I'm never ready for bed when she is, so I still seem to get a lot less sleep. Plus, I'm still waking every once in a while to watch her breathe, feel her cheeks to see if she's too warm or too cool, sniff her diaper to make sure she's not sleeping in poo. Sometimes I even wake up just to look at her. I know this is something that will never stop, as I still do it with The Dude, who is 8. I love going in his room before we retire for the night. I pull his blankets up around his chin, scoot him over if he seems too close to the edge of the bed, pull his pillow and stuffed animals away from his face (because I still have that whole SIDS, suffocation fear with him) and just watch him sleep. That's when all of the arguments of the day seem to fade away; not wanting to get ready for school, not wanting to do homework, not wanting to clean his room, not wanting to eat his veggies, not wanting to get out of the bathtub, not wanting to pee inside the toilet, not agreeing that the sky is, in fact blue. My sleeping 8 year old looks exactly the same as he did when he was my sleeping 2 year old, minus the thumb sucking.

Today I found out about another old friend who has just had a baby girl. She is having some health problems and they are just now starting what is sure to be a long journey. You can read their story here : http://our-natalie.blogspot.com/. I'll be praying for their sweet girl. This news comes just weeks after another friend that I met on Instagram, but that the hunsband actually knows "in real life" had her baby boy, Wolfie, and had to make the hardest decision of her life and let her baby pass because of unforeseeable health issues. This is her blog: http://puttogetherattheseams.blogspot.com. 2 examples of 2 amazingly strong families. I'd like to think that I'm that strong, but in all actuality, if I were faced with what they have gone through, I feel certain that I would just shrivel up and die. That seems so selfish to type out. I feel so selfish when I complain about being tired from being up in the night with Maggie, or having to mate all of those teeny tiny socks, or having to get up in the middle of the night and strip our bed and myself and Maggie because she threw up or pooped on everything or being frustrated because Maggie won't take a nap and I just want to take a shower. These "annoying" moments are moments that some families would do anything for. I have close family friends that aren't able to have children. How is that possible? They are quite possibly the BEST candidates for children. They would be amazing parents, yet they will always just be Aunt and Uncle unless they ever decide to adopt. I try to remember these families when The Dude is throwing a temper tantrum or when Magnolia is screaming at the top of her lungs for no apparent reason. I'm so lucky that God has given me 2 perfect and healthy children. I've had 2 miracle babies in my life, because I feel, with all that could go wrong, it truly is a miracle when nothing does go wrong.

Yesterday I finally packed up Magnolia's newborn diapers (about 8 packs). I guess she's not getting any smaller. :/ I have a few preggo friends so maybe there will be enough to go around. I've also cleaned out her drawer of things she's grown out of. Tear. But, I've decided that I can't get rid of any of them. I lost all of The Dude's baby clothes in a house fire a couple of years ago and I'm so sad that I can't go back and ooo and aah over them. I pulled down some of her 3-6 month clothes and while I'm sad she's growing so fast, I'm excited that she's one size closer to her 12 month "boyfriend" jeans we bought her. Last night we went to a friend's surprise birthday gathering, which consisted of tailgating in an ice rink parking lot, ice skating and a hockey game after hours. Magnolia fussed pretty much the entire time, but I was able to capture my dudes having some fun. Neither of them can ice skate, so there was lots of LOLing. But they came out with minor scrapes and bruises.