Sweet as sugar...

...and just as edible, don't you think?!

Click for a closer look!

"Does God play trains?"

Robbie has gone from being verbal to mimicking everything we say to making specific demands and asking questions.  Most of the time it's cute, sometimes it's trying ("applejuice! applejuice! APPLEJUICE!"), but it seems to always be progressing.

This morning he woke up in a very sweet, contemplative mood, and over his favorite breakfast of mini blueberry muffins ("cake!") and scrambled eggs, he let me in on what was going in his little head.

Robbie:  Mommy?  God HERE?... {pointing up to the sky}

Me:  Yes, God lives in heaven.  But remember, he also lives in our hearts?

Robbie:  Yeah, ok!  {nodding}

...silence as he thoughtfully eats his muffin...

Robbie:  Mommy?  God sleep?

Me:  No, the Bible says that God never sleeps!  He is always watching over us.

Robbie:  See God?  Front window!?

Me:  No, we can't see him out the front window.  Remember we can't see him yet, but we WILL see him in heaven!

Robbie:  Yeah.  {nodding again}

...stares at the table for a few minutes while he chews his muffin...

Robbie:  God play toys?  Play TRAINS!  {convinced that God shares his love of playing trains}

Me:  Well, God is with you when you play, so I guess in a way, yes!

Robbie:  {smiles, happy that God is playing trains with him today}

Me:  {worried that I just totally screwed up his theology because I told him God plays trains with him!  How do you answer that?!}

How in the world do you answer these incredibly thoughtful questions on a level that a 22 month old can comprehend?!  It's hard.  I know and am confident about my theology, enough so to not be afraid to train my children in 'the way they should go'.  Mostly because God promises His Spirit to us to help us, and I'm learning a lot right now about what it means to live in the Spirit.  But to get my beliefs packaged into smaller, easy-to-understand concepts that make sense to my little guy... I've got my work cut out for me. 

I have a book called "Big Truths for Young Hearts" by Bruce A. Ware that I should probably start reading now.  I sort of thought I had a little more time until we got to this point... haha! The book was reviewed by Moody's radio program, which my mom heard and thought was very good.  I also noticed that our church (Wheaton Bible) carries the book in their bookstore.

I love my little guy's thoughtfulness about who God is and what He is up to, and how God might overlap with him.  It is so humbling to think about the responsibility we are given as parents for these precious little ones and their hearts!

Lately...

Nothing clever to say today... I think I'm spending all of my energy keeping up with the kids!  And I'm also in the greatest Beth Moore bible study at church (with an amazing, precious group of women), but it is literally taking all of my free time.  Blogging is first on the chopping block when something's got to give.

We've just been hanging out close to home, and had my parents and sister out for dinner last weekend.  I forget all the time to take pictures of people with Ellie, so I snapped one of my mom.  Ellie is proving to be a fairly sensitive little lady, and only prefers to be held by those she is familiar with.  Thankfully this includes my mom!  This picture also serves to show my mom's dear friend Mary that her baby gift for Ellie finally fits!!  Oh happy day.  And it's A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.  Thank you!!  (I will be sick when she outgrows this cutie outfit.)

We got brave and hauled the kids out furniture shopping last weekend so that we could make some decisions about Robbie's new bed (twin bunk).  I am not one to pass up the opportunity to doll up my favorite girl when we go out.  You can tell she was thrilled.  Please note the child's jeans - I found them at a resale shop for 3 dollars.  Practically brand new DKNY SKINNY  JEANS!!  Ha - for a 6 month old baby.  Where do they even sell these things?!  I nearly died when I saw them, and then again when I put them on her.

Having a girl is so much fun.

Ellie cut her first 2 bottom teeth on Saturday!  True story, since I felt them coming through the gums Saturday afternoon, she has slept 12 hours in a row overnight every single night, dropping her usual 4am feeding!  Who knew that wake-up was caused by teething?  She continues to enjoy her oatmeal and steady stream of pureed fruits and veggies, often overeating and spitting up a little once she's laid down in her crib.  My theory is that she has never loved the taste of her 'special' formula, and now that she gets to eat real food, she's horsing it down!  Perhaps a little too eagerly.

The little lady and I went to the pediatrician for a follow up exam of her (big!) noggin as well as 2nd doses of flu and H1N1 shots.  All is well with her head growth, and we also discovered that Ellie is a very tall girl for her age right now.  Following in her brother's footsteps with those Livingston genes!

Robbie continues to display his ever-evolving personality with silly antics and attempts to make us laugh.  This usually happens at dinner time, when he's over-tired from the day.

He's surprised us lately with how much information he is able to absorb and regurgitate.  It's a little frightening when your 'baby' enters this phase.  Every word out of our mouths is tested out and repeated by him.  For some reason he is fixated on Taco Bell - one too many taco commercials during a football game one Sunday, and now anytime we're watching TV and it heads to commercial, he chants "TACOS! TACO BELL!".  The child has never eaten a taco in his life, nor have I ever taken him to this fine dining establishment.  You'd think we ate dinner there every day though, the way he goes on and on.

Other new additions to his repertoire:

"not bibix, CRISPIX!" = repeating our correction

"blue bullies" = blueberries

"oatmeal - blech!!" = when I feed Ellie her cereal, which makes him gag

"Okay, okay, okay" = what he says instead of a simple 'yes'

"tummy time!" = whenever I put Ellie on the ground and he gets down next to her

"donuts, coffee" = his breakfast request nearly every morning

"no waddah chai - dabucks!" = mommy's 'drink'. oops.

"Sa-mommy" = salami

"garage, daddy... front door, Mima" = explaining the point of entry for dad and grandma

"funky", "moto-moto", "bean boy" = words that instantly send him into fits of giggles, from his favorite videos

The words to the opening song for Veggie Tales (he sings along)

He 'reads' (has memorized?) the following books to us:

I love trucks

Baby's 100 first words

Yummy Yucky

Big Little

Airplanes

Ride along with thomas

Boo, Baby

And every night he asks us to read to him out of his Children's bible, saying "Read Jesus!".  Then he quietly hunches over his sweet folded little hands and puts his face an inch from the pages and listens intently for as long as you'll read to him.  I keep praying that this interest in the Bible is deeply rooted and continues to grow into a love for God's Word as he gets older.

The sweetest part about this phase has been teaching Robbie bible verses.  So far he knows John 3:16, Romans 3:23, and Psalm 34:13 by heart.  I start him off and give him the occasional filler word to keep him going, but he knows these verses really well.

He has recently shown an increased interest in using the potty, spontaneously requesting for his clothes and diaper to be removed so that he can "pee-pee in potty".  Rob and I agreed not to post 'potty pictures' for Robbie's privacy.  This is me displaying INCREDIBLE self control, because I have some great pictures of him testing out the potty.  They make me laugh so hard!

Although he seems interested, the attention span for actual training is not there yet.  Monday was an experiment in training, after many successful uses of the potty over the weekend at Robbie's request.  But all we ended up with on Monday were multiple wet training pants and a wet couch cushion.  For now we'll encourage him to use the potty whenever he wants, without pressure.  After talking with friends and even a nurse-friend at our pediatrician's office, it seems that it will be clear when he's ready to really make the transition.  Maybe in a few months!

If you're still reading this post, you must be either very bored at work or have a slow day at home with the kids.  Our lives right now are not very interesting... but I love these days and wouldn't trade them for anything!

Paparazzi

I heard you've been missing me...

I'm a pretty busy little boy, and my chauffeur doubles as the writer of this blog.  She also had to clean up after me today as I ran nakies through the house.  I'll leave the details to your imagination.

I'll try to give her a few minutes this week sometime to catch you up on things.

As long as she keeps making my juice the way I like it:  half water... shaken not stirred.

Open Skies

Praise Him under open skies

Everything breathing praise God

In the company of all who love the King

I will dance, I will sing

It could be heavenly 

Turn the music loud, lift my voice and shout

From where I am

From where I've been

He's been there with me

He's built a monument 

His very people

So let his people

Sing, sing, sing

And it's so wonderful

Just to be here now

Praise Him under open skies

Everything breathing praising God

In the company

Of all who love the King

Praise Him under open skies

Everything breathing praising God

In the company

Of all who love the King

Praise Him under open skies

Everything breathing praising God

In the company of all who love the King

Let us dance, let us sing

It could be heavenly

Turn the music loud and sing

And it's so wonderful

Just to be here now

And it's so wonderful

Just to be here now

Praise Him under open skies

Everything breathing praising God

In the company

Of all who love the King

Praise Him under open skies

Everything breathing praising God

In the company

Of all who love the King

Lift your voice to heaven

Lift up your head and sing

To the One who gave his love

This is our offering

Lift your voice to heaven

Lift up your head and sing

To the One who gave His son

Here our lives we bring

From wherever you are

Wherever you've been

He's been there

So let His people sing

And it's so wonderful to be here now

Wherever you are wherever you've been

He's been there...

* * "Open Skies" - David Crowder Band * * 

I found my zoom lens and had some fun

A few images from this past week... the kids and I are sick, and we're praying that Rob doesn't get our cold as well.  What else is there to do but take pictures of the babes in (and climbing out of) their pj's!?  Enjoy the many new faces of Robbie and Ellie...

My parents are going to kill me

I forget how I acquired these photos, but they've been sitting on our desktop just waiting for a blog-lull such as the one I'm in.  

I'm the first born in our family, and it's a good thing because a) I was NOT a cute baby! and my brother and sister were the absolute CUTEST babies and little kids you've ever seen, b) I was a HUGE baby, and c) photos were more of a luxury than an everyday occurrence.  Therefore, there are less photos of me as a little one than I took of either of my kids while we were still in the hospital!  I'm not complaining.

But what we do have... wow.  This one's a keeper.  

My poor mom was probably trying to get a first family picture.

*Update: My dad is holding a metal Owl.

And I like to call this one  "Giant baby in a red sleep sack".

Have a happy Wednesday!