What happened to my snuggly little infant??

I know! He was replaced by the sweetest, rolliest, polliest "little" baby who rewards even the briefest eye contact with the most enormous smile.

My sweetie boy is getting big so fast!!
He has figured out that if he rolls over twice, he can change locations completely. What's even more impressive is that just yesterday, I looked up to see him up on his elbows and knees, rocking back and forth. Need I remind you, RICHARD IS ONLY FOUR! MONTHS! OLD! Granted, his head is still firmly planted on the ground, but we're not all that far off from real locomotion. I AM NOT READY FOR THIS!!

Thinking about crawling.

At his four month check up today, he weighed 17 pounds! (Just for the sake of comparison, at her four-month check, Shirley weighed 15lbs, 6oz.) Measuring at 26 inches, it is CONFIRMED: Baby Richard is enormous! I knew he was big, but I couldn't believe it when the nurse read his weight out.

Look at this tough guy:

I am so proud of my big, growing boy! I love watching him learn every day--he gets frustrated and fussy if his sister moves out of his eyeline. I assure him that next summer he'll be hitting her with a stick, just like he wants to now. Oh, I love him so. How could you NOT?

Dedication Day

Dedication Day is a hard one for me. It's very difficult to stand up and say, "Ok, God. He's yours, not mine. I will do my best, but I trust you with him." Because, I'll tell you a secret: I don't really trust God. I'm trying. Believe me. But sometimes all I want to do is huddle in a corner, holding my babies close to me and protect them from everything.

Instead, we dedicate our children to God, and commit to raising them in the ways of the Lord and prayerfully nurture them, while providing for their material and spiritual needs. A tall order, no?

On July 18, 2010, we had the honor of dedicating Richard Joseph, Jr., to God, publically, in front of our church and family. What a blessing, God has given us in this sweet child.

Well, that didn't take long.

Big Bird for a Big Girl

Shirley Jean has had some pretty major successes on the potty lately. I told her that if she keeps going potty on the potty chair through the rest of today that we'll go to the store alone together and she can pick out whatever kind of big girl underpants she wants. I told her she could get Cinderella underpants, or Elmo, or Zoe, or Abby Cadabby, or even Nemo.

You know what she wants? She wants BIG BIRD underpants.

What do you think the odds are that I'll be able to find little girl Big Bird underpants? Pretty slim, I'd say. I'm hoping when we get to the store she'll be so excited that she'll just forget all about Big Bird.

*UPDATE*

Sure enough, as soon as we got to the store Big Bird flew out the window (haha). We came home with a package of Princess Panties, also known as "'Rella Pants-on!" Here's hoping we are one thin layer of cotton closer to success.

*UPDATE*

Shirley has peed through four of the seven pairs of underpants we bought an hour ago. Perhaps we should stop talking about going potty so much.