Sleeping Beauty

Today is John's first day of a long semester. He will be working during the day and taking evening classes. Lately, I've been worried about John getting the proper sleep he needs for his busy schedule. Last night I suggested he slept on the couch so he didn't have to wake up several times when M woke up. He asked if we could pray about it and I actually said the prayer. I prayed that M would sleep through the night and that John would be able to get the sleep he needed to endure his day alert. This morning I woke frantic. I thought something may have been wrong with M because she was still sleeping. When I went and checked on her,  I could see her little lips move in a sucking motion, still perfectly swaddled. Miracles do happen and prayers are answered. Of course, now I feel kind of silly for not thinking about praying for her to sleep through the night in the first place. : )  Did I mention how amazing 7 straight hours of sleep feels?

Marry Poppin Extras

Miss M is getting so big and so much fun. Lately she has been laughing at funny noises and funny faces. So beware, if she starts laughing at you for no reason, you'll know you have a funny face. : ) John and I both love to laugh. I confide that we really would have been perfect Marry Poppins extras in the "I love to laugh" scene; therefore, we are so excited that M is beginning to join the Colby legacy/talent-of-laughter. Anyways, after several days of mentally documenting M's laughter occurrences, we have concluded that the Donald Duck sneeze is her all time favorite and almost always works up a giggle without fail. I posted a video below so you can bask in the cuteness of her sweet baby laugh:

 

John and I have been getting into Scrabble moods lately. We love to play scrabble together. Surprisingly or maybe not surprisingly at all, M has also enjoyed Scrabble time. In fact, I'm thinking she just may be as competitive as I am in a few years. Check out the pics:

I especially love the last picture because it looks like she is trying to figure out how to make a word out of my letters. Well, as far as a quick recap of life goes, we are doing fantastic. John will be starting school again in a week. He is ecstatic about his courses and is hoping he will be accepted into the Business program at the U next semester. We have loved the summer break and have pretty much taken advantage of every minute we have. I feel like we are in the upside-down-ketchup-bottle-phase now. You know when there is a little bit of ketchup left in the bottle so you flip it upside down in a cup to get the last bit? That is exactly what we have been doing with our time. Just savoring every minute during the minute that we have to be together without the worry of academics.

Questions Have Been Answered . . . Again!

Madelyn had been screaming literally all night and it was something like 3:00 A.M. I could see John's head nodding off as he walked Madelyn around our room. I had procrastinated offering to take her because my exhaustion had reached the point of reality confusion. I wasn't sure if the little thing was really my baby and somewhere in my brain I was lying in my college bed dreaming a bit of a nightmare. It was my turn to try and calm her down; I sat up and took her from John. He laid down and immediately fell asleep exhausted, even though Madelyn was screaming in truly high pitched decibels. I decided instead of trying to calm her down, I would just let her scream it out. So I sat and held her on my bed. I rocked her, gently patting her back, and began to softly sing "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus." Madelyn's scream somehow managed to get louder. I could barely make out the words from the song, "I wait for the day of gladness when Jesus will come again." I stopped singing and thought to myself, "Who is Jesus? Was he a real man? Is he really my Savior? "  Then, a  recent primary song I learned found its way through my voice, "A long time ago in a beautiful place, children were gathered ’round Jesus. He blessed and taught as they felt of His love. Each saw the tears on His face." At this point Madelyn was still screaming and I began to cry tears of frustration. The words of the song became broken in a crying-sing-song voice completely off tune, "The love that He felt for His little ones I know He feels for me. I did not touch Him or sit on His knee, yet, Jesus is real to me."

As soon as I finished singing the words "Jesus is real to me," I immediately felt an overwhelming comfort. My heart swelled and the tears of frustration turned to tears of faith and conviction. I held Madelyn tighter as she continued to wail and sang the second verse softly. By time I got to the chorus, Madelyn's scream became a whimper and my voice semi came back, "I know he lives, I will follow faithfully. My heart I give to Him, I know that my Savior loves me." The lyrics in the song rang true and even though the whimpering and bursts of crying continued, I felt like I was holding my precious girl in the comforting stillness of the Savior. I bowed my head and unconsciously continued to rock Madelyn, trying to transfer the comfort I had felt to her little body. She still cried and I wondered how long my night would last, how long her night would last. I kissed her. Never had I felt so at ease with an overwhelming feeling of love coming from my Father to me, to my beautiful, perfect baby.