this little light of mine.

These eyes still pierce my heart + take my breath away every time I catch them gazing at me, and something tells me that will never change. It's still hard to fathom how much beauty there is on this little boy's face, and even harder to imagine how much beauty lies within him. Soon enough, his eyes will behold more than the protector in me wants him to, but I pray daily that his eyes will speak of the kindness + mercy + love of God over everyone + everything he meets. His smiles + stares + giggles + cries are all so innocent + genuine, and my hope is that these will remain as so, even when the darkness of this world tries to steal it from him. He already lights up my world, and I know that he will be used to light up the world of  many others, too. What a beautiful city on a hill this boy will be some day.

"Almost nothing need be said when you have eyes."

-Tarjei Vesaas

squishy.

It almost seems unnatural how plump our baby boy has become in just two months! He was just a long, skinny thing just eight weeks ago, and now he's gotten longer + chunked up to the point where he almost doesn't even look like the baby we first laid our eyes on. Sometimes I opt to just change his diaper + delay putting clothes on him so I can stare at + tickle all of his rolls, and on this particular day we snuck in a few pictures to document more his cuteness. All the memories we make each day cause me to erupt with so much gratefulness to the One who made me perfectly for him + him perfectly for me.

seven weeks.

Nine months ago, during the first week of June, TJ and I started taking weekly pictures of my bump progress. I was just seven weeks pregnant with Baby B, who was the size of an itty bitty blueberry. These photos are something that I will treasure forever, because they remind me of how excited we were to get closer week-by-week to meeting our little one.

Now, it's the first week of March, and we have held our son in our arms for seven weeks. Honestly, it's nearly impossible to imagine what life was like when we were simply waiting for his arrival. As much as I loved that precious season of advent, I love holding him in my arms as a squishy baby even more. There is nothing else like snuggling with this baby laying on my chest while being wrapped up in his daddy's arms at the same time.

I loved him as a blueberry, but I love him exponentially more now. And I'll love him even more with every new second that I get to be his mommy. No matter how old he gets, he'll never outgrow these arms of mine.

bundled in blue.

Mommy, I wasn't too impressed with the snow...

...Just kidding!

I love all the faces this boy makes, and I especially love these. TJ sat him down on the couch when we came in from playing in the snow while we took off all our layers of warmth, and I almost died when I walked back into the living room and found him sitting like this + making all sorts of precious faces that accentuated those cheeks. I always pretend to read his mind with every new look he shows off, and it makes me giggle to contemplate what's inside the brain of our little one. How fun it will be when he starts talking, and I get to write down every cute + silly phrase he says, so I never forget a single one of them! I'll miss putting words in his mouth, but I will be so excited to hear what he has to say about the world he sees.

snow baby | round two.

Two snow days within baby's first two months of life? How fun! Our first family snow day was good, and our second was even better. Technically, there have been three snow days, but we opted to stay inside and stare at the beautiful white covering from our windows while we drank hot cocoa + snuggled in our pajamas on the couch all day long on that third day. Memories are being made even on our laziest of days, and there is no way I can pick a favorite so far. Having two boys to spend my time with + give my love to has made for so many moments I wouldn't give back for anything. Even on my darkest days, you'll still find me smiling.

a brave transition.

Our teeny, tiny baby boy is not as teeny, tiny as he once was. Last Monday, when he turned six weeks old, we said see ya later to the bassinet that he's been sleeping and napping in next to our bed in our room + said hello to his crib that has been patiently waiting for him to break in. He has done such a great job with the transtition, and daddy + mommy are so proud of him! Also, since the big move, he has extended his nighttime sleep to an average of four and a half hours in between grub times, which has made mommy extra proud with a dose of extra thankful. He still loves to be swaddled, and his little eyes love to explore all the bright colors of his new place of rest. Sure, we have always spent a lot of time in his room, but now he sees everything from a different perspective.

Speaking of perspective, my oh my, how he has changed mine.

screams to smiles.

During our fourth attempt at bath time, TJ + I became even more aware of just how big our baby boy is getting. The three that came before this one were full of screams, each one with a few less screams than the previous, none so much as that very first one. Although this particular bath time began with those same screams we've been hearing, they only lasted a few minutes before the smiles and happy wiggles began. Our awareness of his increasing awareness to everything going on around him was displayed when, while he was screaming as I sprinkled him with water, I began talking to him + telling him all the good things about bath time. When he finally locked his eyes on me and paid closer attention to my voice + tone, he began to smile. Not too much longer after that, he started to "coo." Swoon!

It's, also, incredible how much he has grown just in the several short weeks between our first bath time and this one. He's getting chunkier every day, and his little body is filling out all over, especially his face (mmm, those cheeks!) + belly. I can't for daddy to fill the tub back up this afternoon for our weekly Saturday tradition so we can watch all the ways he has continued to develop just in the past seven days. I'm looking forward to putting my persuasion skills to good use again, and I'm even hoping for some giggles to be heard throughout the entire bungalow as he falls more in love with splish-splashing in the tub!