Marcel at 11 months!

How is it you are already this close to a year old??  Time is moving so very fast these days, and we couldn't be loving you more as you learn and explore with each passing day.  You continue to be the happiest baby boy, always smiling and laughing, in turn, making all those around you have no choice but to smile back at you!  It is such an honor to be your mom and to see the way others swoon over you when they catch your eye.  I pray you always touch people with your joy as you grow, it is such a gift.

You have become a lover of kisses always laying big wet ones on us while squeezing our necks with your little arms.  We could do without the sloppy mess, but we sure can't get enough of that sweetness!  Zaylee gets the most love, and remains your most favorite person (besides me of course)!  She often pushes you, takes your toys and taunts you with food all of which you are learning to voice your frustrations with, but it's no matter, you are still her biggest fan.  She makes you belly laugh better than anyone with things as simple as saying the word, "chickaboomboom!".  We adore watching the two of you laugh and play with one another, and pray you will become good friends as you grow up! 

Talking is something you are so eager to take part in, and are mimicking sounds and words a lot lately.  It is so fun to listen to your raspy, deep toned voice as you babble and chatter while playing among your pile of toys.  You are an excellent self entertainer and are extremely content to explore the toy box and play in whatever mess you made all over the living room floor.  Music excites you, evoking movement and your own form of singing as you smile with pure joy.  You are so eager to be walking so you can run around with the big kids in the neighborhood instead of crawling around after them.  You do, however, love all things in your reach while crawling: sticks, dirt, wood chips, and anything else you can get your tiny hands on. 

Today a lady asked me how old you were, and it seemed unreal to me when I answer, "11 months!"  I am aware time goes by too quickly, but this year seems to have passed by in record time.  We have seen and done SO MUCH in your first year of life, and you have been such a blessing through it all always going with the flow and smiling all along the way. (Except in those first months when you HATED the car!)  We love you Marcel Gray!

 

Facts:

Teeth:  Four! 

Sleep:  Two naps 45 min to 1 1/2 hours.  12 hours at night with an early morning feed around 5:30.

Food:  You love most anything, but aren't a huge fan of peas.  You prefer to feed yourself and are starting to play around with a spoon.  I am much more lenient with the mess with you my boy than I was with your sister, and it makes life so much easier :)  

Favorites:  Zaylee, bathtime, dogs, slides, climbing, music, making messes, and talking.

Marcel at 9 Months (and now 10!)

My boy, this month was extremely full.  It was filled with many special memories as we said goodbye to our little home in France.  Our year in France went by far TOO fast, and saying goodbye to the place we first met you and brought you into our little family making us four, was much harder than I anticipated!  To say I loved our life in France would be an understatement, and I hope one day you will know why I love it so; after all, you are our little French boy!

Along with sad goodbyes and happy welcome home's, you sweet Marcel have been growing and changing so quickly these days.  You are gentle, observant, determined, sweet, calm, and as all the French ladies referred to you, "tres sage".  We are completely smitten with you and can hardly stand how adorable you are and the amount of joy you have added to our little family.

 

You are all smiles all the time, but have definitely found your voice when it comes to your big sister stealing your toys.  You are completely content to sit and observe the world around you as long as there is food, a stick, or a pile of toys within your reach.  Laughter is one of your favorite things, and find your sister to be the funniest person there is.  Crawling, walking, climbing, making messes, drooling, eating, observing, and simply being the cutest little boy there ever was are a few of your favorite things. You love music and get super excited when I put on little music video for you to watch as you bounce up and down tapping your hand on the couch.  It is too cute.

I am your favorite person, but Papa is a close second.  When Papa comes home you immediately put your arms up towards him and anxiously wait for him to sweep you up into his arms and there you sit as happy as can be.  It is the sweetest thing.  Even though you prefer me, you go to others easily and even love going to nursery at Church.  You are definitely a go with the flow kind of guy and we love that about you.  You still prefer two naps, but if we have to be out and about you can survive with just one in the afternoon as long as I am there to rock you just the way you like it.  I love our snuggle time and have accepted that you just need me in that way right now and I will take advantage of these special moments with my precious boy.  You love playing with my hair as you nurse and while you are falling asleep, but always do so gently and aren't one to pull too hard.  It isn't just my hair you like to twirl, you are

Life is better with you, and we are so glad to have you as ours.  It is hard to believe you are almost a year old already, but it is so fun and such a blessing watching you grow and learn more and more each day. 

(This was partially written last month, but finished now in your tenth month!
Photos include your first Cave experience, goodbyes, mountain top hikes, first airplane trip, first LGYC experience, Chicago boat tour) 

I'm Here my Little Loves...

Dearest babies,

Life has been a bit hectic lately, our house a constant mess, our hearts a bit torn causing emotions we are learning to name and deal with daily, our sleep a bit whacky, the memories we are making just keep adding up, and all of it has been nonstop from the day our feet hit the American soil.  We are finally reaching a point of normal, and it feels so good.  We are getting involved, planting some roots, developing new friendships and refreshing old ones, and attempting to feel settled in our "new home" as you, my sweet Zaylee girl, so affectionately refer to it.  Life is full regardless of the mess that has been weighing us down and we couldn't feel more blessed with all the Lord has been doing and will continue to do in our lives as we settle into our life here on Bunker Hill Court. I promise to put into words and pictures a glimpse of our life lately when I find a moment to recall all the little things that fill our days as well as my heart.  I don't want to forget a thing! 

Love you my little ones,
Mama

A Sweet Reminder

Last night, I got a sweet reminder from you my dear Zaylee girl and it punched me in the gut taking the air right out of me.  Marcel is the easiest baby there has ever been (exaggeration!), but he is completely spoiled in the sleep department as far as going to sleep is concerned.  He prefers to be sung to and held, and most of the time I love our five minutes alone together as he falls fast asleep on my shoulder.  Other times, it is tiring, inconvenient, and hard for me to leave you in front of a show in order for me to get him to sleep.   As I was putting him to bed last night after a hot, busy day, he was overtired and fighting sleep unless I kept holding him in the dark of the room.  Every single time I went to put him in bed he would push himself up off the mattress and whip around faster than I could escape out the door.  I tried multiple times before losing my patience and growing frustrated coming out of the room, noticeably sighing and demanding that it was Papa's turn because I couldn't do it any longer.  Papa in his calm, gentle way stood up and kissed my cheek as he walked past me to the bedroom, disappearing behind the door singing softly into Marcel's ear.  I quickly made my way to the kitchen and started loading the dishwasher to clear my head, when you popped around the corner and sat at the edge of the kitchen.

"Happened Mama? Mama sad?"
"I'm ok honey, Mama's just tired. I'm sorry love."
"It's ok Mama.  Deep breath**.  Like this (inhales deep).  Come Mama.  Sit here (patting on her little Indian style crossed legs)." 
How could I refuse that request?  I made my way across our tiny kitchen floor to where you were sitting and gently sat on your lap.
"Oh no Mama!  Zaylee too tiny!!  Funny Mama!"  
Laughter poured out of you quickly making it's way into my poor attitude making all my sourness disappear.  I moved over and you climbed into my lap hugging my neck tight speaking sweet, "I la you much Mama's," into my ear while I was humbled by your gentleness and act of grace and love towards your imperfect Mother.

Oh Zaylee girl, this broke my heart.  Here I am trying to teach you patience through your frustrations, and yet I fail at it on a regular basis.  I pray I give you the same grace and kindness you show me, and that together we can work on our attitudes through prayer and reliance on our good Lord.  I am daily calling upon the Lord for strength in my weakness, with the desire to model a kind heart, quick to forgive and slow to become angry, for you and your brother.  Your father and I will fail you often, more than we would like, but our goal and hope as your parents is to instill kindness in your hearts.  Kindness, grace, and love towards others is what we hope to show you in our lives, so that you may grow to pass it on to those you meet throughout your lives.  

You are extremely observant to moods, emotions, and situations that surround you, and feel deeply in moments that are out of the norm.  Any time you hear me and Papa with a different tone that resembles arguing in anyway, even when we are just playing with each other, you quickly put your tiny little finger up to your lips and sternly say, "SHHHH!!"  We aren't sure where you got that from, but it has proved to be a big blessing to us.  If in fact we are frustrated with one another, it quickly sets us straight and graciously gives us a fresh start to whatever it was we were disagreeing on.  You are only 2 years old, and already teaching us so much about life.  It is amazing and completely refreshing to see things through your eyes.  You are wise little one, and I pray you use that wisdom and discernment we already see in you for God's glory.  

**We are working on your frustration and deep breaths is something we practice in moments of impatience and poor attitudes.  It seems to work, and clearly we know where you get the need for training in this area from.  I'm sorry sweet girl! 

A Few Little Details

Life is busy, emotional, slow moving yet moving to fast, and a whole extreme mess of ups and downs as we begin the process of saying goodbyes and packing up to head home to America, all while trying to soak in as many last minute memories as we can fit into the next few weeks before our departure.  This morning was one of those mornings in which everything seemed to rub me the wrong way and nothing seemed to go the way I wanted.  I took it out on you, my little love, and hated myself for it.  I wrote Papa and asked him to pray for me throughout the day and he responded with a line he often tells me in moments where I lose my patience and feel as if I am failing, "Breath. Smile. Love. Think only of all the blessing you have in front of you."  He gets me, and always opens my eyes to see the good in everything, putting into perspective the bigger picture when I am blinded by my bad attitude and selfishness. 

As you are both sleeping soundly, I am pondering all the little details of our days and the moments that stop me in my tracks with gratitude and overwhelming joy that you are mine.  I am the one that has the honor of being your mother.  I am the one that gets to hold you, love you, laugh with you, wipe away your tears and the one you want more than anyone else (with exception to Mamie most of the time!).  Here are a few of the things I want to hold on to and remember from this busy time of life:

• Your care and concern for your brother.  You are always watching out for him, making sure he isn't getting into anything that might cause him harm, loving on him, never forgetting to kiss him goodnight, eager to get him when he wakes up from his naps, rejoicing over him when he does something new, and constantly making him laugh.  The love you two have for one another is so special to me.  
• The way in which Marcel needs me.  It is different then the way you needed me, and although at times it is tiresome I am honored to be the one he always reaches for and desires.  He lights up for Papa and flaps his arms in joy when he enters the room, but it is me he lunges towards and my arms in which he likes best.  
• Watching you mother your little baby doll, Tinkerbell, is absolutely beautiful.  You are so tender and kind, always whispering in her ear, "I la you baby," while you gently stroke her head with your cheek up against hers.  You like carrying her close to you tucked in your shirt, and it is the sweetest!  
• I could listen to you play make believe all day long.  You have such an imagination these days and we can't get enough of it.  I try to capture it on film, but you are not a lover of the camera and quickly shy away from your imaginary world.  
• Hearing your sweet voice as you peek out of your room in the morning quietly saying to me, "Morning Mama," as you walk over to me and gently nuzzle your sweaty head into my shoulder.  
• Seeing the look of pure joyful pride on little Marcel's sweet face as he pulls himself up, standing tall and strong as his own two feet.  He squeals, while you clap, and my heart fills.  

It is in these little things, and so many more, that make me realize that all the hard, mundane, tiring moments are far beyond worth it to have the privilege to be called Mom to you two little loves.  The snuggles, smiles, sweet words, salty kisses, and sounds of joy and laughter are the greatest joys I have ever known.