Church Nursery Drop-Out

It's official: Emmy is a drop-out. We have been called out of church now THREE times due to her incessant crying and need for Mama. Joel gets his feelings hurt sometimes, but I know it is merely a phase. Pretty soon she will want nothing to do with me when he's around, so I am living up my few moments of glory. I have a weird combination of emotions when she has her separation anxiety: on one hand it is super annoying because she is so needy. On the other hand, it kind of makes me feel needed and special.

So here comes another lesson I am going to have to learn: my worth does not come from my children. I cannot base my sense of value on whether or not my kiddos like me. I also must fight the urge to pick apart every decision we make as parents. It's a given: we will make mistakes. Let me rephrase: we will make LOTS of mistakes. My prayer is that when we do screw up, Joel and I would have the good sense to be humble in our weakness and ask for forgiveness. I want to instill in Emmy a habit of saying sorry and meaning it. That will only come from having parents who model that well. I also want to have a household that is full of grace. I hope Emmy will grow up knowing she is loved no matter what decisions she makes. We may not be pleased with her actions when she makes poor decisions as she grows up, but we must make it very clear our displeasure does not supercede our love for her. Joel and I both grew up in homes where this was modeled well.

We can only offer her this love because of the love God offers us. I am so thankful that God does not require us to "have it all together" in order for us to be called His dearly loved children. He simply asks that we trust Him and come before Him with humble and repentant hearts.

On a lighter note, Emmy is getting pretty quick at her army crawl. She loves to chase the broom, although I was slightly horrified when I picked her up yesterday and her front was covered in dirt and dog hair after crawling on the kitchen floor. Needless to say I quickly pulled the mop out and got to work. My friend told me about a new product on the market. It is basically an outfit you put on your baby so she can "clean" your floor as she crawls on her belly. Genius.

In the morning Emmy likes to peek through her crib to see if anyone is coming to get her.

We play peek-a-boo for at least ten minutes. It never gets old.

When we go on walks, she likes to kick back and prop up her feet. So cute!!

Her friend Landry does a great job of holding her and playing with her.

These are her pals, Zeke and Chase. They had a blast at the lake...that is, until they all started to have melt-downs because we stayed too long. Side note: Chase (on her left) is only one month older than her!! He has a future as a football defensive lineman I believe!