Magic Moments

At some point in time cute babies turn into spunky little boys and it seems as if "real" parenting has to kick in. So, somewhere in the last almost 4 years Tom and I realized that we have to parent with intentions. We realized we have to be purposeful in what we do and what we don't do. We must have woken up one day and discovered that life wasn't about baby wearing and potty learning anymore. We were on to bigger and better things. We were onto things that were even more important than catching a ball, printing our name, or coloring in the lines. We even needed to move onto things more important than knowing the stories of the Bible front and back. We wanted Aiden's heart to belong to God. And as much as we wanted Aiden's heart to belong to God, Satan was going to try his darnedest to make sure that Aiden's heart was no where in God's camp. So, we had to come up with a plan. We didn't want to just float through hoping our menial efforts he...

Sage. My happy little baby who would love to keep up with his older brother and who looks like his Daddy and his Uncle Jim. He turned four months this week and it seems like he's been in our lives forever. I just love this age. As precious as newborns are, once babies turn 3 months I like them a little better. I know them well, their gas problems are usually gone, they are predictable, more stable, and interactive. The doctor said today she thought Sage was very social. Yes, he is. He loves to make eyes at anyone who will give him the time of day. He normally has quite a bit to say too. The doctor also thought he was very strong. I totally agree. I think Sage is driven by desire to keep up with Aiden. I find Sage all over his bed... he is such a wiggle worm and I think we have another ball of energy on our hands. At four months his sleep has regressed....and I have a few theories as to why, but I have no idea what to do about it so Sage and I hang out every three hours ar...

Today has been a total wash. It's a day where I find it laughable that God thought I could (or rather He could through me ) raise two little boys. It's a day where it seems that even the power of God isn't big enough to tame these wild beasts that live in my house. Go ahead and laugh at my day....I know I'm not the only one with days that go something like this: -Sage's middle name is "no nap." An overtired baby is always so. much. fun. Please sense my sarcasm. -I took the boys to the post office today and Aiden took a tumble on the sidewalk. He got a scraped up knee. It might as well have been an all out life threatening battle wound the way he carried on. Since I'm an unprepared mother I did not have a band aide with me. No worries though because we were headed to Walmart anyway so I figured we could doctor him up as soon as we got there. Which I did (and came home with 3 boxes of band aides to add to our collection). On the way inside the s...

It's been a whole winter since I've seen these cute toes.... and these cute toes had never been in the sand before this! These two were reunited with Summer... and this one met Summer for the very first time. Happiness isn't a word big enough to describe how these two felt about being free to play on the beach on a day that hinted at Summer time.... and this one is about to learn all the magic that our Cabins hold in the good ole' Summer time. Summer, although we weren't expecting you quite this early, it's good to see you again! (P.S. This is the Fort built by two certain little boys that took a certain Mama quite awhile to put away. Good thing they had fun!)

Sage Jorgen 3 Months Aiden Thomas 3 Months The photographer humored me and was patient enough to try and replicate Aiden's 3 months photo for Sage. While I won't have all their pictures taken the same way, I thought it would be fun to do the 3 months photo the same to capture their babyhood and to have a comparison picture. I do think there is family resemblance....they are brothers, after all. But I feel like I notice differences before I notice any similarities. Aiden's head is different... he has a very prominent forehead while Sage has a really round little face. Sage has more hair than Aiden and Sage's skin has pink undertones and he has blue eyes. Aiden's skin has yellow undertones and he has my brown eyes. Aiden definitely takes after my side of the family while I have my suspicions that Sage might just be Tom's mini me. What do you think? No matter who they look like, they are both just so darn cute.

This last week has been a blur. We somehow stayed healthy all winter and when the temperature hit 70 (almost 80!) degrees the boys all got sick. By the grace of God I seem to be the last man (woman) standing. Since I've been nursing everyone back to health I count this as a pretty big blessing. Goodness knows that mothers do not get sick days. Anyway, no one got that sick, but the littlest had a fever (which makes mama so sad) and tons and tons of snot. The fever is gone, but the congestion, although much better, is lingering. In between bouts of the colds, we have managed to enjoy the nice weather. We opened up the porch for the season and I even put the furniture on the deck. Since I've done all that I'm just sure it's going to snow again. Inside play on a sick day. I was informed that this was Aiden's rowboat. Since Aiden has learned to ride a trike, Daddy started in on teaching Aiden to ride a bike. I kinda think this is going to be a next year thing....

True ISU co-eds It was nine years ago and it was a day just like today. The weather was unseasonably warm, even for Iowa. It was the beginning of Spring Break and Tom and I had spent the day with Jesse and Julie and Miles and Jamie preparing for a Jr. High Retreat that Tom and his crew were putting on for Cornerstone Church in Ames, Iowa. After working all day Tom and I went back to his ugly, brown, basement bachelor pad that he shared with two other guys and had dinner. I then laid on the futon and was comatose as I was still recovering from the worst case of Mono ever in the history of the world. I remember Tom telling me to get up over and over, and I remember mumbling that I couldn't possibly move my body but finally I complied. And boy am I glad I did! I sat up to see Tom on his knees with a ring in his hand!!! I don't remember what he said exactly because let's face it, a girl sees a beautiful shiny ring and she looses all capacity for a normal thought proc...

Listen up, Mr. Cutie Pie! There is absolutely no more of this growing up stuff allowed! I'm putting my foot down! (Although Sage likes to think he's big enough to sit up and tries desperately to do it, he isn't anywhere close. He falls over in about 2 seconds). Yes, I'm talking to you, Mr. Sage. Stop growing up! Although, in your defense, I do see how playing with Aiden would make one want to hurry up and grow. (Aiden and Sage playing train.) This made my heart smile.

The discoveries are new everyday when you have a baby. Development never ceases to amaze me. Sage is beginning to learn that he has hands and what he can use them for. I laugh every time he is surprised by his hand waving in front of his face and he looks at it and seems to think, "Hey! I think that's mine! I wonder what this thing does?" I managed to catch on video Sage trying to grab at his toys. Development at it's finest, I tell ya. I just LOVE it! Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo . I watched some home videos of Tom when he was little last week and in this picture of Sage I see so much of Tom when he was little. I wonder if Tom's mom see any resemblance?

It's a phrase from one of our favorite bedtime books and at our house it's a phrase that mean a lot....as you can tell from this video. Untitled from Jenny on Vimeo . In the country (and with boys) I've just decided to embrace the mud. What other choice do I have? Finally, Aiden is getting the hang of the pedal thing. I think next time we go out we'll get out his big boy bike! Oh, to be three again and think you're cool in ensembles like this! This is how Sage enjoyed the great outdoors. And by the time we were home.... he was out cold!

I think God gives all of us rainbows. They may not be promises of gigantic proportion that can be applied to all mankind like Noah's rainbow was, but I think that after storms God gives us simple promises, sometimes in the form of a whisper, sometimes in the form of blessings in front of your face, but always promises that are backed by His unfailing, never ending love. Our house was my rainbow. It was the kind of rainbow that you can't mistake. It was an unmistakable blessing God put right in front of my face when I needed it the most. The story of how we came to live in our current home is a story only God could write. While I won't write out all the details, there was a specific moment in time when I realized God sent me a rainbow. I used to lay in bed at night and imagine what our future house would look like when we bought it. I would dream up the kind of house I wanted to raise my babies in. And always, always I would build a grey house with a red front door. S...

Unless something extraordinarily exciting happens this week (which I doubt), this might be the only time you hear from me until the week's end. I have two or three projects that I am going to be working on and although they are simple, it will probably take me the better part of the week to do them. I have friends ( here and here ) that are SO good at making things. They are skilled and creative and I stand amazed. It's not that I don't like to make things, but my skills aren't quite up to par and my patience runs out very quickly. I'm usually happy to pay a bit extra (within reason) for someone to make things for me. However, the two things I need aren't really within reason to pay extra for so I'm going to see how far my skills can take me. First of all, my dear husband, although very sweet, is a "food fussy." He likes a very wide variety of foods, but they have to be good. And I'm a mediocre, Midwestern cook at best so you can see ...