Paxton's almost 3 months old!

Whoa! Scuse me? I'm looking for the past 3 months... yes, could you help me find them because apparently they DISAPPEARED! Yes, cheesy or not, I cannot believe that my little baby will be three months old in a week! 12 weeks ago exactly I was laying in a hospital bed cuddling my baby boy for the first time and I made the mistake of blinking because suddenly here we are, 3 months later. My mom told me not to blink because it goes by so quickly and she was right.

To update you, since apparently blogging as a mommy is much more difficult than blogging with no kid (due to my strong desire to spend every waking moment with Paxton, not concerned with whether the sun rises or sets, I ever brush my teeth, or I blog another post... ok, I'm joking, I still brush my teeth), here are the stats on my sweet baby boy. Pax is, as of his 2 month appointment- which was actually when he was 10 weeks old-, 14lbs 9ozs. Yes, I did just tell you that my almost 3 month old is almost 15 pounds. And yes, that is VERY heavy for an almost 3 month old. And yes, I can almost not pick him up anymore. Kidding. But seriously, this kid is built like a linebacker... which, by the way, I hope he never is because I can't stand the thought of my baby getting hurt. So Paxton, if you are reading this is 2020 or at some time thereafter, please choose soccer or basketball or golf or baseball as your sport of choice. I know, I know, kids get hurt in all of those sports but in football, kids break their necks. Literally. If I had time, I would find the story I just recently saw on the news of a highschooler who broke his neck in football practice. Eeek! Not my kid, LORD, not my kid!

Anywho, back to the hoss (is that how you spell that?). We basically skipped 3 month onesies. I mean, he wore a few, but he's seriously sporting 6 month clothes. omg. Where did my tiny baby go? In other news, I can carry him on my hip like a toddler sometimes (I usually don't since I want to craddle him like the baby he is) and his hair is growing back on top. He sports 2 of the cutest chins I've ever seen... yeah a double chin and his cheeks are super fat and pinchable.

Learning to laugh

So I thought I would share with you a sweet sweet video of my baby boy trying to laugh and in doing so I started thinking about life a little... First things first... here's the video:

How many times in life are we encouraged to try something new, something we aren't quite sure about, and then praised no matter what the outcome is? Every time Paxton tries to laugh and doesn't quite figure it out, I just laugh and encourage him to keep trying. I thought about my mom when I saw this video, because my mom always encouraged me to do anything I put my mind to. In fact, she would tell me that I COULD do it, I was CAPABLE, that I WOULD accomplish that thing, whatever it may be. Thanks to my mom, I've accomplished a lot in my short life. I never knew just how valuable that encouragement was until I had Paxton. Now I find myself encouraging him constantly... even though these things are about learning to talk, learning to smile, learning to stand, learning to laugh.

So if you've been doubting yourself lately, let me encourage you, too... because I know you can... learn to laugh.

A coincidence? I say a miracle =)

So a while back I posted about us going through something that I was trusting God to handle. Well, that something was a financial struggle. The church always seems to see a decline in the summer and this summer was particularly tough. Tadd finaly came to the staff and asked if they would consider taking no paychecks or half paychecks. I wasn't too worried about it, even with a baby on the way, because I knew we were faithful in our finances and that we wouldn't starve. Well, one month turned into two, turned into three, into four. Here we are in October still talking about half paychecks, if we're lucky to get one at all. Last week was really the first week I started to worry. Why did I even start to worry in the first place? I know not to doubt God's mighty power yet I still let a dark corner of doubt creep into the back of my mind. However, just when I let that happen, God clapped His hands and said, "Here, child, trust Me. Let me show you just how I roll." (Maybe God doesn't say "roll", maybe He does =). I found out at work that day that we were just approved for our employee incentive program- a bonus- and our market increase- a raise. I don't know yet if I am one of the job classes that will have their salary raised to market BUT I also realized something else that day. In September, it just so happens to work out that I get 3 paychecks (because there are 5 Wednesdays) and on the 3rd paycheck, insurance costs are not taken out of my check. The amount of the extra salary from not taking out the benefits pay for insurance plus my bonus happens to equal Brandon's paycheck that we aren't getting. I'm talking within a hundred dollars. God is good. He said to let Him do His thang and boy did He! That'll teach me to waver!! Geez! So, don't worry, we aren't going hungry this month and the bills are all getting paid. Don't ship us to the poorhouse just yet =)