The Hill Family Saga: January 2014

January was a roller coaster month full of so many ups and downs in emotions. It was busy, but many of those things that kept us busy surrounded the death of my Grandaddy. On January 12^th, 2014 my Grandaddy went to be with our Lord. We can’t help but celebrate knowing that he is no longer in pain and he is truly HOME, but that doesn’t make it any easier to not have him here with us on Earth. Thankfully we can look forward to the day when we will join him in heaven and we can rest peacefully in that truth, even on hard days.

Alethea always loved post breakfast story time with Grandaddy

With his passing came an abundance of wonderful family time. We had family in and out of town all of the following week. People came from coast to coast to celebrate the life of truly one of the greatest men I have ever known. He was an amazing example of what it means to truly strive after Christ-likeness. He was the first to tell you that he wasn’t perfect, but that never stop him from pursing to be the man God created him to be! It was an honor to celebrate him at a memorial service on January 18^th at his home church. It was an overwhelmingly emotional day, but amazingly enough there was so much happiness among all the sadness. I was reminded of just how much I am moved my music and how deeply my emotions can be buried until I try to sing. I don’t think I made it through a single song at his celebration without bawling my eyes out and I am okay with that. I am the type of person who is really good at burying emotions until I am forced to deal with them and thankfully there was plenty of music, pictures, and crying family around to help me to remember my Grandaddy so I could truly grieve.

Grandaddy's passing resulted in lots of extra family time

It has been a special experience; though not one I would wish on anyone, to see how Alethea has coped with experiencing death for the first time in her short life. We lost our dog, Apollo, in December and Grandaddy in January so she has seen a lot of grieving and we have answered a lot of questions. She wants to know why we are crying, where Apollo and Grandaddy are, why we can just go to heaven and see them, and the list goes it. Her inquisitiveness has been oddly helpful in the grieving process too, because her little mind won’t let me forget my sorrow. It has been so cute to see her gradually understand more and make the connection that Grandaddy is up in heaven with her Papaw’s mommy and daddy since we had very recently had the discussion about the fact that Grandaddy and Granpeg are Mamaw’s mommy and daddy and she wanted to know where Papaw’s mommy and daddy were. The connections she is able to make in thoughts and logic never cease to amaze me!

I don’t want to keep going on and on about Grandaddy, but that truly encompassed much of the month. One last blessing I want to note is the fact that we had a wonderful day with Grandaddy just a few days before he passed and for that I am incredibly thankful. We almost didn’t go visit my grandparents because I was just exhausted from our trip to New York and hadn’t really felt like venturing out. I am so thankful the Lord laid it on my heart to do so and that I listened. I will be forever grateful for that last day with my Grandaddy and the comfort in knowing that he had the chance to get to know my kiddos and they had the chance to be physically loved by him. Along that same note, I am forever grateful that the Lord led us to KY in the timing that He did and that He provided a house for us that was not ready for us to move into when we arrived in this state. We were able to live with my grandparents (and parents) for almost 3 months. Though that was stressful at times, I am so thankful for all the precious memories we made with my Grandaddy before he passed. They are irreplaceable and my faith in the Lord and trusting His perfect timing is even more secured in seeing how He blessed our time over those few months. God is good and I know His plan is always best!

Well in other news, Ben has completed now 5 months at his new job and is still enjoying it. The longer he works there and learns more, the more we are able to see God’s hand at work in leading him to this position. He is continuing to enjoy working out, though he has battled some pulled/strained muscles and sickness over the past month that have been a bit frustrating in that regard. He has been getting into more of a routine now that we have been in our own house for a little over 2 months (this month being the first without a holiday). With routine has come his ability to find a groove not only a work, but at home as well which has meant a lot less stress for all of us.

Daddy with his babies :-)

I have been continuing to figure out life here in LaGrange, KY. I am continuing to train for the Derby half-marathon and it has been a wonderful experience. Due to unavoidable circumstances I have even had to do some long runs by myself and it has been an unexpected blessing to be able to conquer that challenge. Up until this month I had never run 10 miles by myself, but now I have and I can actually say I enjoyed it! I have really come to enjoy my long runs and have been able to spend the 1+ hours in prayer and lost in my own thoughts. Such a rejuvenating time for my mind, body, and soul! I have discovered that I get lost in my little running world and lax on my pace a bit. If I really want to know what pace I can hit, I really have to focus, lol! Overall I am okay with that because I don’t really run for pace, but rather for how much I enjoy it and how awesome it makes me feel. Running, cooking, and taking care of kiddos has really been my life lately.

Lots of running in the snow

and the occasional frozen eyelashes

We have connected a bit more at our church and have really enjoyed getting to know new friends in our LifeGroup that meets once a week. They have been a wonderful group of people to hang out with and study God’s word with. I have to remind myself that it will take a while to build a new community of friends here locally. And I also, have to keep in mind that it could be even longer than the past because having kiddos makes it a bit harder to drop everything and hang out. God has always blessed us with incredible friends wherever we are and I just (as always) have to keep trusting that he will do the same here. There is also a part of me that is really looking forward to spring so that the kiddos and I can get out of the house a bit easier and a bit more so we can spend time with others. Despite my longing for connectedness, I have truly enjoyed all the wonderful family time both with our little family of four and with my extended family here locally.

My love for Alethea grows more and more each day even despite the fact that she is way too much like me and drives me crazy at times. She loves to be in control, loves to have things match, loves consistency, wants things her way but on her own terms so she isn’t happy if I just let her have it her way (it has to be her idea), she always wants to know what is happening next (“what are we doing after nap? What are we gonna to tomorrow? Etc), she wants to help out whenever she can, and the list goes on. So many of these things make her so similar to me and yet because of those similarities, we can tend to clash. I know many of the things we clash over are just her asserting her independence, but I really do think she is a lot like me in many ways so we will continue to clash for those reasons too.

piggies :-)

She loves popcorn!

She continues to amaze me every day with how much she absolutely adores Declan. She is always loving on him and it is a frequent occurrence to hear her saying to him, “I love you buddy/Declan” or saying to us about him, “I really love my brother, he’s my brother”. And when it comes to naptime or bedtime, it is a potential meltdown creator if she doesn’t get to give him a hug and a kiss. So sweet! However, with all of that amazingness come the inevitable flaws. Declan is getting to be more mobile and interested in her things. As a result, he is getting close-lined, tripped, smacked, and yelled at as a result. This month was one of the worst yet but, with guidelines and consequences being made clear, she is gradually learning how to handle this invasion of her space. I know it will be a process and probably an ebb and flow of good and bad, but I am just so thankful that there is clearly a love present between the two of them that will always overcome the conflict (even if it has me pulling my hair out some days).

This month marked the first time we actually went out and played in the snow. This was a big step for me because, besides looking at the beauty of it from inside, I pretty much hate the white stuff and only really want to be out in it if it means I get to go on a run. I stayed out with her the whole time though and thankfully she only wanted to play for about 30 minutes so that wasn’t too bad. We made a tiny snowman because the snow wouldn’t really pack, made snow angels, snow “soup”, and just had fun running around on our deck kicking and playing in the snow that had piled up. Thankfully I haven’t even had to invest in snow clothes yet either. We just layered up and I put plastic bags with rubber bands on the ankles over her sneakers and she was good to go and dry at the end. Yay for money savings! We also followed it all up with a fun homemade hot cocoa treat which we both thoroughly enjoyed. J

Snow!

And hot cocoa!

One favorite that continues to stay strong is Alethea’s love for books and reading. We have been helping to cultivate this by attending story time most weeks at our awesome local library. She is still quite shy when it comes to participation, but she is also the youngest of the group so it may take some time for her to feel comfortable. The most important thing is that she loves it and she sits perfectly through all the books and activities (and even the songs most of the time when she is supposed to be dancing, lol). She loves being able to pick out her books and movies afterward and can’t wait to dig into them, so much so that she looks through as many as she can on the way home from the library. I am pretty sure that she would be content to sit on the couch and read with me all day long if that was an option. She has a crazy long attention span when it comes to books and we know she is paying attention because she is so inquisitive about what is happening in the pictures as well as what is being said in the story. I really think this, and the fact that she is around so many adults (due to so much family close by), is a major contributor to the crazy vocabulary that she has. I really wish I was better at writing down what she says and maybe that will be a goal for next month, but she says some of the most profound and beyond her years statements that I am constantly amazed.

Pretending one of her books is a computer. :-)

I want to comment on one last thing before I end this marathon. We have been working hard with Alethea, especially this month, on getting her to eat what we eat at dinner and I am happy to say it is actually working. She is served small amounts of what we are eating and she doesn’t get more food until she has at least tried (and swallowed) at least one bite of everything on her plate. We have found that even when she initially resists, if we just stand our ground, she actually ends up liking stuff and eating all of it. I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to see her eating veggies, but I have actually had her requesting broccoli on her own lately, which is awesome! I could go on and on about her and how awesome she is, but that is all for now.

Weight: 17lbs 9.6oz, chunking up!

Height: 27.5 inches

Clothing: He is in exclusively 6-9 month or 9 month clothing. Many of the 6-9 month sleepers are getting too tight and we will have to move into 12 month sleepers in order to have enough. He has also been able to wear many of his 9-12 month t-shirts.

Who needs clothes when you are this cute naked?!

Diapers: We moved him up to the middle rise this month and he seems to be doing well with that. He isn’t pooping as much now that he started solids, so we are changing mainly for wet diapers.

Cute cloth booty

Eating: He is nursing 4 times a day and on the rare occasion that there might be 5. He also began solid foods this month, December 22^nd. We started with only once a day, but by the end of the month we were up to 2 times a day with solid foods. I decided to go ahead and start with purees again with him, but we will be moving into chunks of food sooner than we did with Alethea, especially with veggies. We started with Bananas which he loved just like his sister. He also tried sweet potato, apples, pears, avocado, oatmeal, green beans, prunes, pumpkin, and peas. He isn’t as big of a fan of the veggies, but he will actually eat them fairly well. I am going to work really hard to continue to offer food better with him instead of giving up so quick like I did with Alethea. J So far he pretty much eats what is served, but will really go to town on fruits if given the opportunity.

Christmas dinner

Just a little excited!

First food, bananas

Smiley boy in his chair. :-)

Friendships: He still mainly has exposure to family and then a few others at church or the library story time. Alethea continues to draw much of his interest, although we are having more issues with her trying to play with him too roughly so he is getting knocked over a bit more than he cares to be. He also met a bunch of Ben’s family and friends when we went up to New York. Though, he isn’t a fan of new people at first typically, he warmed up quite well to most of them.

buddies

They love each other

playing in the bubbles together

Mobility: He is still not crawling yet, which comes at such a surprise. He has all the strength and skills needed, he just hasn’t been coordinated enough to piece it all together. He gets on all fours like a champ and reaches for things like crazy, but only ends up going backwards. He is able to get himself back up to a seated position from his tummy, which I thought was a skill they didn’t learn until after crawling, but I guess not, lol. He can also pull up to his knees like a pro and does quite well up to his feet for brief periods as well. Maybe he will just walk instead of crawl. J He loves to pull up to his feet in the bath, which can be a bit scary at times, but overall he does well. He is mobile, and very intentional with his mobility but, unfortunately for him, it involves lots of backward or circular movement.

So close to crawling

proud of himself

so good at pulling up

He can't go forward, so often he ends up stuck under things, lol

Sleeping: With all of the traveling this month, we have been a bit more flexible with sleep, but he is still taking 2 naps a day and sleeping through the night most nights. We are dealing with very random night wakings periodically which can get a bit frustrating. Most of the time he is back asleep within 15 minutes or so on his, but he is still super loud so my sleep is always disturbed. Strangely enough we have had a few middle of the night feedings (12am or 1am) which we hadn’t had since he was teeny tiny. He has also been waking up slightly earlier in the mornings as well which is possibly due to his bedtime schedule being messed up due to travel and busy evenings. I am hopefully that this is just a growth spurt or phase and will pass quickly!

Not feeling well

So he fell into a food coma :-)

Being able to finally bring himself to a seated position in bed makes sleep a whole new ballgame :-)

Playtime: He still loves Sophie the giraffe! And he is a general fan of chewing and exploring life via his mouth. He is a big fan of teething rings, bracelets and necklaces, and he loves how they sound when they clank against something. He also really enjoys blocks, mostly chewing on them, but he doesn’t enjoy knocking down any towers built in his vicinity. To Alethea’s dismay sometimes, he loves baby dolls too. He seems very intrigued by them and he also thinks their feet and hands are quite tastey. Basically anything that he can bang with/on, he is a fan of. He also loves to be near anything that he can pull up on, especially the learn and groove toy. We have had to make sure it is up against a wall though because of a few mishaps where it moved and he lost his balance. He still loves books too. We have taken to giving him books to keep him occupied during diaper changes and he loves it! He still bangs on the pages most of the time when we read, but he will sit through age appropriate stories.

He loves to play in his tub

spoons are yummy

and so are socks

Communication: Thankfully he has backed off on the screaming just for the sake of screaming, but he still goes from 0 to 1000 in seconds. He is very dramatic and quite sensitive so it seems that his feelings get hurt quite easily. Crying is still his favorite way of communicating, but we are hearing more sounds from him during his play. A favorite is “da-da-da” or “duh-duh-duh”. He also makes a sound that I guess is best described as “uh-guh” which he is quite fond of when just sitting and playing.

Teeth: Still no teeth yet, but possibly some pre-teething going on. No signs of any coming any time soon though! He finds apples and carrots to be excellent teethers so far J

Random: Though not exciting, he went to his first funeral (celebration of Grandaddy’s life) the day he turned 7 months old. He celebrated his first Christmas and loved all the wrapping paper. He went to see Lights Under Louisville too. Went on an 11 hour drive to NY and did surprisingly well. He has started pulling up, often to his feet, in the bath tub. He loves to be naked. December 7^th was his first night going to bed without nursing because he took a bottle while we were off at a Christmas party for Ben’s work.