Dear Joel,

Technically we are already half way through your 4th month already...and I'm guessing any/all letters I write to you won't be incredibly different in terms of timing. Guilt trip and get over it on my part. You, sweet son, have been my easy-breezy, go with the flow, not yet sleeping through the night but consistently sleeping from 8pm - 3:30am every night, knows mama's voice, smiley, giggly happy baby. Which is why, last week, we probably felt comfortable enough to go outdoor camping in a tent with you and your sister! Yosemite, we came, we saw, we conquered with two babies in tow, and many helping friend hands! Your favorite places are the diaper changing table and snuggled up with just about anyone. We can consistently get you to sleep by wrapping you up tightly in a swaddle and then bouncing you on the exercise ball that Mama originally purchased to use during labor...but never did. You have this amazing swath of mohawk hair that started out sticking straight up but has recently started to flop over into the shape of a wave. People comment on it all the time. I tried brushing it down the other day, just to see what it would do, and it stayed down for all of about two minutes. So, wild hair it is! I'm wondering if, perhaps, you'll be my curly child?

I love getting smiles out of you, and so does your sister. She usually gets better ones than I do, though. You know her voice just about as well as you know mine, and unless you are hungry, her voice seems to be just about as calming as my own. You have had the advantage of being able to sleep in mommy and daddy's room since we brought you home - since neither you nor your sister are consistently sleeping through the night (still!), we aren't trying you in a room together just yet, so that we can put out one fire at a time. I like it because it means that when you wake up at your 3:30 time I can just pull you into bed with me while you nurse, and then put you back.

And now, son, you have just woken up from your nap with loud shouts and calls for attention...and promises of smiles. So, farewell, screen. I have a boy to make smile.

Love,
Mama

woman. no mistake.

as a woman, I appreciate when churches take the time to ensure songs, especially classic hymns, use language inclusive of both genders (e.g. in "Be Thou My Vision" changing "I Thy true son" to "I Thy true child"). this is not because I think churches intend to be exclusive in any way, or that the songs are for me/about me (which is why, usually, when language is not inclusive I can brush it off - it's about God, not me)...but because to me, using inclusive language in a hymn that for so long has excluded my gender reminds me that I am intentionally included in the Kingdom, not as just some afterthought or "bonus" girl-version of a son, but very intentionally *as* a daughter. I am a daughter-child, not a son-child, and there was no mistake in that.

backyard photo shoot

our DSLR camera was stolen from our home last summer, which was a huge bummer. Mark decided to replace it for my birthday/Christmas/anniversary present in February, so I took the kids out for a backyard photo shoot about two weeks ago, and of course Zoe wanted a turn with the camera! Love having high-res images of my babies again.