Sweet BabyJames

Today my Sweet Baby James is two. Two years ago at 5:50 am he entered the world with a bang and he has been dazzling us ever since. He has a wonderful (albeit painful for mom) birth story and I love to tell it over and over. Especially to Mark when he thinks I am being wimpy.



James has changed the way I parent completely. With my first three they were all born in four and half years. I was figuratively trying to hold my head above water and literally trying to hold my head up for continuous night-time feedings. Add to that a hubby who was traveling most weeks and a crazy compulsion that I had to have it all together at all times and you ended up with a tired, depressed momma. I call that my Black Hole. I really don't remember much about it except it being hard. Oh, the babies were wonderful. I LOVED being a momma. I couldn't get enough of the babies; it was everything else that was expected of me, real or imagined.



This time though I have had enough sense to enjoy James. And to watch my kids and my family enjoy James. I knew that the middle of the night feedings were to be treasured ~ they were my time alone with him. I knew that babies make messes and you might as well laugh instead of cry. I knew that all the "firsts" were really the end of something else and I wanted to take it all in. Don't get me wrong, there are many nights I still fall asleep on the couch at 8:00 pm and days when the only fruit he gets that day is apple juice, but there is such a sense of joy around here. He makes us all laugh with his antics and seeing the older kids interact with him, love, and take care of him literally brings me to tears sometimes. Seeing James out in the garden with Mark or the way he kisses and hugs Mark goodbye each morning is joyful. Watching him sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and hold his little fingers up likes stars his joyful. Seeing him eat doririto chips with abandon is joyful. He is messy, likes to scream when he doesn't get his way, gets great delight out of tearing things into shreds, and likes to hide things like keys, cell phones, and his puppy that he has to have to sleep with. But I cannot imagine a life without him.


You see, even though he does cause more work, and school and the older kid's activities are harder now, and I haven't been on a date in who knows when, James is an image-bearer of our God. We are made in His image and it is a privilege beyond belief to change James' diapers and discipline him, and teach him of His God. There are only two things that will last forever ~The Word of God and the souls of men. I love the little soul named James.