Big Boy JJ

It seemed to both Jared and I that so much changed with both kids while he was away only a few days...another reminder of how quickly these little years go...
One change I made while Jared was away was to pack up the high chair (which will re-emerge with Susie in a few months) and introduce JJ to the BIG BOY chair. He loves his high chair, particularly lounging back (he's been very hard on it--a sign of things to come!), so I didn't know, but since he is all about being a BIG BOY, it went fine:)

It seems like he's grown years in just a few weeks with several of our friends here who see him regularly saying he seems inches taller and he's lost his belly! Oh my! I still have some giggly in the cheeks, but it's diminishing:( I joke about how I mourned his high school graduation the day he was born, but it is so true...and yet I find that I am needing to press through and embrace the essentials of his need to grow and inborn desire to do so. I also feel the need to take good hard looks at the detriments of babying him, even while giving into my heart to cuddle him close often. As my sister says, "parenting isn't for wimps", and honestly, this is the most challenging element for me--more than middle-of-the-night feedings, changing poopy diapers, discipline...it's the letting go that will undoubtedly mark every stage...and I am indeed learning to embrace it for all that it is teaching me of the parent heart of our God.