Fun with Rody

Meet Rody. He is an inflatable toy that was a garage sale find on our recent trip to Arkansas. We're not quite sure if he's supposed to be a donkey or a chubby horse, although a donkey sure is a strange toy for a kid. Anyway, apparently they are big in Europe, which is not terribly surprising. Doesn't he look like something you would find at IKEA?

Jack is not quite big enough to ride Rody by himself, of course, but he's already excited about the prospect as he continues to grow and get better balance. Jack loves to bounce so much. Sometimes I think he is two parts Sewall and one part Tigger!

Here's a minute of Jack and me having fun with Rody last week.

Little Rock Trip - Jim's Wedding

I'm a week late posting this, but the weekend was a pretty big deal, so it at least deserves a blog post, I reckon. (The above pic is blurry, but you get the idea...it was fun for all of us to dress up!)

The weekend of September 12, Lyle, Jack, and I drove to Little Rock, AR, for the wedding of Jim Phillips (he was the best man at our wedding). We split up the driving on the way there, and stayed Thursday night in Tupelo, Mississippi. We finished the remainder of the trip on Friday morning, and when we went to the tux place on Friday afternoon in downtown Little Rock we happened to run into the groom himself who was there at the same time! It was a great coincidence and fun to introduce Jack to Mr. Jim.

We then met up with John and Gloria at the home of new friends Robbie & Marie, who graciously let us stay at their house. The rehearsal dinner was Friday night, and it was fun to visit with some of Lyle's old friends, many of whom I had never met before. Jack stayed at Robbie & Marie's with his grandmommy and granddaddy, although I heard later he was not a very happy camper that night before bedtime!

Saturday morning we had a yummy breakfast at Mimi's Cafe. Any idea when we'll get one of those in the South Metro Atlanta area?? They are fabulous. The afternoon drifted away before we knew it, and then it was time for the wedding!

It was a beautiful wedding - lots of fall colors and pretty flowers - and Jack fell asleep through it, so we brought him inside the chapel instead of walking him in his stroller the whole time out in the hallway as we had planned to do. He went to the first part of the reception with us, but he really wasn't all that up for partying, so he went home a little early with John and Gloria. Too bad...I think he would have liked to dance to YMCA if given the chance.

Sunday was a looooonnnnnggggg ride home, but after such a fun weekend it was well worth it. Many thanks to John, Gloria, Robbie, and Marie who helped us out so much!

He's six months old already?!?

Man, time flies when you have a little one. It seems like we were just bringing home our adorable dark-haired "Hungry Jack" home from the hospital, and now he's half a year old already! I feel like I'm going to turn around and the next thing I know we're out picking out colleges. Scary.

Here are the official stats: At six months, Jack weighs 25 lbs, 9 oz, and he measured 29 and 1/2 inches long. So, that means he's almost tripled his birth weight and he's grown a whopping 8 inches in length! The boy is so tall! He's wearing 18 month clothes these days, and many of them I have a hard time snapping underneath his bottom because his torso is so long. He's basically built like a baby linebacker.

As far as what he's doing, he sits up very well by himself these days, loves to play with toys, loves music and listening to me sing, eats very well with a spoon, and is so stinking close to rolling over! He pretty much rolled all the way over a few days ago, and just as Lyle and I were holding our breath to watch him go all the way, he reversed course at the last second and flung back around. So even though he was close, he still has not "officially" rolled over. He loves bouncing in the Exersaucer but even more so in the Johnny Jumper. Lately he has started "crib-spinning" when he gets bored in the nursery, and I don't come in soon enough to get him out of bed. He's quite the pro at turning himself around in strange directions in that crib. Let's see, what else...he makes lots of noises with his mouth (mostly buzzing his lips) but occasionally shrieking or laughing. He loves to stick his tongue out. He seems to prefer vegetables to fruit, which is strange. He likes carrots, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, applesauce, and pears. He does not like bananas or peaches. Who ever heard of a baby who doesn't like bananas? I thought all kids ate bananas!

I mentioned earlier that we had a dark-haired newborn six months ago. These days Jack's hair is a lovely shade of sandy light brown. His hair never did fall out, though, despite the many mothers who assured me it would when he was born with a head full of hair. His eyes are a strange color still somewhere between brown and blue. I think Lyle's and my genes are still at war for Jack's eyes.
As far as disposition, Jack loves to be where the people are! For the most part he is very laid back and "chill." He's very sweet and cuddly still, which I love, and he does this shy smile when he meets strangers that absolutely melts your heart. The owner at his daycare asked me the other day, "So, I just have to ask...is he really this good all the time?" I was only about as proud as a mother can be when I happily told her, "Yes, he really is."

Jack's First Christmas

Yes, I know, it's only September 1, so it's a little early to be thinking about Christmas, but this year I can't help it. But it's not just for the reasons you might think...


Here are some of the obvious reasons I hope December 25 comes quickly.


This year will be my first Christmas at home (YAY!) with Lyle since we have been married. It is Christmas #4 for us, and the previous 3 years we have always traveled. So another thing I'm looking forward to is really decorating the house since we will be here this time around. I hope we can start some family traditions of our own this year. I also can't wait to help Jack open his presents and then watch in amusement as he probably will be more entertained by trying to eat the boxes instead of actually playing with his gifts. Just having him here with us this year on Christmas morning will be such a blessing.


However, the real reason I'm talking about Christmas today doesn't at all have to do with the tangible aspects of the holiday. I'm writing about Christmas because of what it will mean to me spiritually this year, which is something I don't want to allow myself to forget...especially knowing that once Black Friday arrives it will be a mad rush to buy presents and attend parties and do all those crazy things that make Americans love and hate the month of December at the same time.


Last year Christmas had special meaning for me since I was about 7 months pregnant with Jack at the time. Boy, did I empathize with Mary in a new way! (Traveling to Bethlehem on a donkey, are you kidding me??)


But this year, my first year of becoming a parent, my first year having my own son...I already know that I will have a different perspective when I think about Jesus' birth. It hit me this past Sunday in church during Communion.


God sent His Son.


Not just an ordinary messenger, not one of His angels, not a highly trusted business associate. He sent His Son.

Wow. When I think about how I love Jack, I think of so many things. Snuggling his little head on my cheek as he's falling asleep in the rocking chair with me, wrapping him up tightly in his Winnie the Pooh towel after I give him a bath, tickling his tummy to make him squeal that delicious little "baby laugh" of his...the list could go on and on. Love doesn't just have one meaning for how I feel; it has several: protection, devotion, wonder, sacrifice, and affection, just to name a few. And all of these things come from my imperfect, selfish little heart! How much greater must the Father love the Son, when the Father's heart is perfect. I can't even try to put my brain around that one.

God sent His Son.

God sent Him knowing the abuse and treatment Jesus would receive while here on earth. Would any of us as parents knowingly leave our children with someone who would abuse them? Of course not! So does that make God a bad parent? What seems to be the greatest contradiction is in actuality the most beautiful part - He did it out of love for us! Me and you! He wanted to make us His children, too.

Oh, how I pray that we can communicate these amazing truths to Jack as he grows into a little boy across the Christmases. The gifts we can buy for him will only last a short time until they either break, or he outgrows them.

But if we tell him about God's Gift and we live it out in our lives...

Why, that is the Gift that lasts forever.

Fun with Fruit

This is just a short post. But it pretty much sums up what we've been doing new recently. Jack has started solid foods in the past few weeks. He'd been eating rice cereal for a while, but now we're expanding his horizons to fruits and veggies.

As soon as I gave Jack his first spoonful of pears I knew we had to get this on video. So Lyle got the camera going in time for Bite #3. I'm not completely sure...but I *think* he liked it.

Growing in the Right Direction!

On Tuesday we had our follow-up visit in North Atlanta with the orthotics / prosthetics specialists about the shape of Jack's head. I am very excited to report that he was down from 11.8 mm asymmetric to 9.9 mm!! That probably doesn't mean anything to most people, but this is actually very good news. The specialist was very excited that he had that much positive growth in just one month. If we can get him down to 7 mm then he'll be within normal range, and we won't have to even question the whole "Should we or shouldn't we get him a helmet?" thing.

Lyle and I were both extremely encouraged after this visit (and Jack would be, too, if he knew what was going on!) If you think of us, please pray that Jack's head will keep growing in the right shape to correct this problem. Thank you!!

Moments of Serenity and Insanity

The other day I had this great idea for a blog post. It was going to be about enjoying the moments of serenity and gratitude that come into our lives and taking each beautiful moment as they come. It was going to be one of those things that I would feel better after writing and you would feel better after reading. It was supposed to be something that would inspire all of us just to be thankful for happy little blissful moments as they are sprinkled throughout our day-to-day lives.

Here's the backdrop...

Thursday night around 9 p.m. I had just finished getting Jack to go to sleep. I went downstairs and ate some of Lyle's German chocolate birthday cake and ice cream and joined my husband to snuggle up on the sofa and watch the last part of a documentary on PBS. (PBS on a Thursday night at the Sewall house...woo hoo!)

Anyway, I settled into our sofa and my mind drifted away from the television to just thinking about how happy, thankful, and peaceful I felt that night. I had so many things to be thankful for...Jack is doing well and just knowing he was safely asleep in his crib upstairs made me happy. Plus, it was Thursday night which meant that there was only one more day to the work week before the weekend. Plus, I was just happy to be cuddled up with Lyle and eating my favorite kind of cake. Life was good.

So I had fully decided to write a nice tranquil post telling us all we should appreciate each and every moment of our lives including all the little things that make life sweet. Like German chocolate cake.

However, the weekend got in the way and tonight was the first time I had some down time to even really think about composing my little Oprahesque messaged blog. And after the events of tonight...I don't really feel so stinking serene anymore, so I'm not really sure what the message is now.

My emotions were already on a roller coaster because of the book I've been reading this weekend. It is an allegory similar to Pilgrim's Progress, and I remember my mom often saying it was one of her favorite books. The simple truths in this book have humbled me to the point of tears in revealing to me how far away from God I have strayed in my spiritual walk. So I had just been thinking how ironic it was that I felt like this was my mom's way of getting me back "on track," so to speak, and all these thoughts were making me rather emotional. I was feeding Jack upstairs in his room when this was going on, when suddenly, Jack started coughing. Well, the coughing turned into full-fledged vomiting, and the next thing I know I have a very wide-awake child on my lap whose jammies are now soaked. Plus I needed to go change my own clothes again...I think it was the third time today??

It was another hour before I was able to get Jack to go sleep again after that and needless to say, the serenity and gratitude of Thursday night feels clean out of my system -no pun intended.

What is the lesson here? Am I just one passenger of many on this crazy ride called the first year of motherhood? How do we learn to swallow (and keep down!) the sweet moments in life along with the bitter ones? How do we keep our hearts filled with gratitude and love when sometimes we just feel like screaming and running away? How is it that sometimes we can feel so in control and at peace with our circumstances and other times we feel like we're just being dragged along for the ride?

I'm not posting any answers tonight. Maybe those will come in the morning. Tonight is just for questions. I guess it's okay to go to bed feeling a bit overwhelmed, puzzled, and yes, even humbled sometimes. Maybe especially humbled. And if I am feeling thankful for something small tonight, at least I can go to bed with a dry pair of clothes on.