Kiddo update

Jackson - He is six months old now and a whopping 20lb, 5oz, which I believe is 95th%. (Those of you who remember Katelyn as a baby....she was 18 pounds at 12 months. What a difference!) He is only 25th percentile for height. I'm hoping he will have his height growth spurt soon. :) He is still such a sweet, happy boy. He is very content and smiles and laughs all the time. Jackson still wakes up 2-3 times a night, which is not fun for Mommy, but I know he'll figure it out eventually! :) He's not showing any interest in crawling, but he can sit on his own and is actually very sturdy on his feet. He stands up holding on to the couch or his play table by himself. I'm betting he will walk before he crawls. He's also getting very vocal practicing his vowel sounds and spitting. Yes, spitting.....all. the. time. He thinks it is hilarious. And I must admit, it is cute.

Katelyn - 4 yrs. old, 40 lbs, 41 in. It's hard to believe my failure-to-thrive 1 year old is now in the 85th percentile! Well, there is no denying the last year was a challenging one. I won't lie and say it was amazing, and I have nothing but wonderful, peachy keen memories. I know there is a reason God blessed me with a child with Katelyn's extremely strong will. I never feel adequately equipped to be the patient, kind mother I should be to her, but I am so grateful God doesn't think of my feelings when choosing my children :), because though I feel as though I fail her daily, I cannot imagine a second of my life without her. It is my prayer that God will mold this strong willed child into a girl who is grounded in integrity and stands up for what is right. But instead of focusing on the difficult aspects, I want to brag on my girl for a minute. :) Katelyn is definitely smart. She so desperately wants to read. She tries to sound out all the words in her books, and can do so successfully with many 3-4 letter words. She loves writing her letters, but this poses a problem. She is such a perfectionist that if she squiggles one line, the result will be a 30+ minute tantrum over how she will NEVER be able to write her letters. Can we say drama queen?! So I'm trying to figure out how to overcome that so she can embrace her eagerness to learn. She is also quite the geography whiz. She is always interested in where on the map Daddy is, so she now can recognize all the continents and about 10 countries. Her newest interest is the body. She asks about what is inside her body and what everything in her body does. She wants to look at pictures online of all the body parts. She is most interested in blood and what goes in and out of her belly button. :) And her imagination is.....well, out of this world! Wow. I guess I have just forgotten what it was like to be a kid. It's amazing what fun can be had in one's own head. Katelyn has also grown leaps and bounds spiritually. She asks all kinds of questions about God....many of which, I must admit, I just don't know how to answer. But it is great! I am so happy that she is inquisitive. And she has really learned to pray over the last year which is one of my favorite things to listen to. Despite the difficulties, I love this precious girl more than I can say, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that she is teaching me more than I am teaching her. And because of that, I am thankful for all the trials we go through.