My dearest Emmanuel

E,

Your smile could light up any room.  Your laughter could bring joy to any day.  Your energy is both infectious and draining, especially when mama has not gotten any sleep the night before.  You are my firstborn, my cuddlebug, my mama's boy...I love you so much.

(Emmanuel took the baguette out of the grocery bag and started eating it when we got home)

I love how funny you are.  I love how you'll just bust out singing "Can't Nobody Do Me Like Jesus" (thank you, Smokie Norful).  I love how when you hear me say, "Praise the Lord," you will respond with "Hallelujah!"  I love when you know you're about to do something wrong and you'll look at me or your dad and shake your head and hands and start talking real low.  I love that you respond well to discipline most of the time.  I love that you wake up ready to go, smiling, laughing and making jokes.

(Emmanuel playing with "his babies" in the jumperoo--these are my baby dolls that my mom made for me forever ago...he found them at her house and brought them home.)

I love that you like to be in control (except, of course, when I have to remind you that I am the mama).  I love that you are little and scrappy.  I love that you are a social monster.  I love that you run so fast and that you even like to exercise with me in the neighborhood and on the trails.  I love that you have such a vivid imagination.  I love that you are my little Bobby Flay.  I love that you love being creative.  I love that you love reading books and solving puzzles.  I love that you like singing songs at the top of your lungs.  I love that you like going to church and hearing the choir sing.  I love it when you make up new songs on your guitar.

I love that you are falling in love with Baby Reese.  I like seeing you teach him about construction and sharing your trucks with him.  I like that you read books to him.  I like that you are so protective of him and you don't want anyone else touching him, especially other big kids (unless they are your cousins).

(They are building a house behind us--and next to us--the workers came on a Saturday morning with their big trucks, so E went outside with his big trucks.)

I love how you have such a strong work ethic.  I love that you like to work outside in the yard and inside in the kitchen.  I love how country you are!

(Washing turnip greens) 

(Cracking open a fresh walnut from Granny Myrt's walnut tree)

I like that you are starting to use your manners and saying "please, thank you, and yes/no ma'am."  I am trying to like when you say "no ma'am" when I ask you to pick up your toys or go upstairs to bed.

I love how crazy you are around your cousins!  You totally light up when you see them.  When I question why we are in Nashville, I remember how much you love them.

I love how detail-oriented you are.  I love when I go to the cemetery to visit my daddy's grave that you will say "Mama's dada" when we pull in and you will pretend to cry (because I start to cry when we pull into the gate).  I love how you are just a little taller than his tombstone and you pat the top of it and hug it each time we go (I did not prompt you to do this, but you do it instinctively).

You challenge me in so many ways and keep me before the cross.  There are days that I stop to pray when you are working my last nerve, and you will stop what you are doing and kneel next to me.

I am excited about God's plans for you.  It is my belief that God will use you to turn hearts and minds to Christ and to greatly impact His kingdom.

Lead me to Jesus, son.

Love, mama.

Dear Baby Reese

Baby Reese,

When I think of you, my heart becomes full.  You are the best surprise that we could have asked for in life!      You bring such joy to our family.  You have the chubbiest hands, wrists, fingers and thighs I have ever seen in my whole entire life.  I LOVE how chubby you are!  I love kissing your hands because they are so little and chubby.  I love how you scream with excitement when I tickle your thighs and kiss on your cheeks.  I love how you laugh out loud.  I am totally captivated by you.

You are such a content baby.  You are so sweet and snuggable.  Until, of course, I put you in the car and then you scream as loud as you possibly can.  You also like to be in complete control (wonder who you get that from), and you will let me know when you are not happy with me.  

I love how determined you are--and you've been that way from the very beginning.  I love that you are an overachiever and that you've already proved the doctor wrong by rolling from front to back AND back to front even before you turned 5 months old, despite your chubbiness.  I love that you have the look of a fighter when you try to achieve a new skill.

The thing I adore about you most is how fond you are of Emmanuel (well, most of the time!)  I love how you search for him if you don't see him.  I love how you are louder when he is in your face, as if you are really carrying on a conversation with him.  I love how you try to play with all of his toys.  I love how you laugh out loud at his funny jokes.  I love how you try to kiss him.  I pray that God continues to grow your love for your brother...I pray that you all would know each other spiritually.  I pray that when God calls me home to be with him that you will look out for each other.

Reese Martin Foster, aka "Reesie Pooh," you are my daily reminder of God's peace bestowed upon me.  Thank you for the peace that you bring.

I love you, baby boy.

Mama

4 Months Old--Rolling, Teething, Going Bald

Hey, folks.  I'm a little over 4 months old now, but things have been pretty busy for Team Foster.  The lady with the long locs (I've figured out that she's my mama) has been decorating the house and everything smells of apples and cinnamon.  My big brother, Emmanuel, was all dressed up with his tools and had a bucket full of candy.  My dad (the guy with the glasses who is right beside my mama all the time) has been sick, and I have been sick, too.  

My mama is worried sick about me being sick.  I've still got a smile on my face even though I don't feel that great! 

But, I do get tired.  I've been doing all of these exercises to strengthen my little muscles.  It's called tummy time.  And, I'm happy to report that contrary to popular opinion (ahem, my doctor), I have rolled over from front-to-back, and I even try to roll from back-to-front (I'm halfway there).  It seems as though my doc thinks that I'm too big to roll.  Since I weighed in at 16.6 pounds at my last check-up (I'm still in the 90+ percentile for weight), she said that I may not roll for quite some time.  But, I showed her my moves right there in the office, and she said that I will probably crawl before I'm rolling consistently.  Well, it doesn't matter how I travel, I just know that I need to keep up with my exercises so that I can catch my big brother and cousins.

These days I'm also putting everything in my mouth.  This, of course, freaks my germaphobe mama out!  She says that there are only so many toys that she can sterilize in a day!  I'm in full-swing teething mode, and the doc says that my symptoms will continue for quite some time before cutting a tooth because my gums are thick.  I don't know what that means...I just know that they hurt and I need to put things in my mouth to get some relief.

 And, alas, the hair that I was born with is becoming a thing of the past. I have cradle cap...it's not bad, the doc said I was a 2 on a scale from 1 to 10, but my hair is falling out.  Believe it or not, the new hair is already growing in its place.  It's a little coarser than what I was born with and lighter.

That Emmanuel, he's pretty cool as far as big brother's go, but he is all up in my grill all the time.

Mama said that the picture below of me as I was trying to escape Emmanuel's grasp...

...is very similar to the picture below that she took of Emmanuel when he was 4 months old.

We just want to make sure that people know who they are dealing with.  The Foster Brothers mean business.  We love hard.  We play hard.  And, we work hard.

But, we are still mama's cuddlebugs.

Bob the Builder

After having a fever that ran all Saturday night through Sunday, Emmanuel miraculously felt better after his nap and in just enough time to go trick or treating with his two youngest cousins....

After a while, the tools and the hat came off because, of course, he needed to run to each of the houses and they were slowing him down.

E had a great time meeting our neighbors and hanging with the cousins.  However, mom, dad, and baby Reese are still battling the cold.  Please pray that Reese would feel better soon.  I am most concerned about him.  Thanks!

Annual Pumpkin Carving Celebration

Long before there was an Emmanuel or a Reese, there was James IV, Michael, Mia, Joshua, and Connor.  And every year, the Reese kids and Connor meet together to carve pumpkins, eat a big meal, and run around the house.  Since we live a hop, skip, and a jump away, the Foster children are now able to participate in this grand event.  

The kids all love being together and the parents love that it isn't their place that's getting all messy!  Emmanuel has been inundated with pumpkins this year, so he was really excited to get yet another pumpkin to go on the outside of our house.  

James, Michael, and Mia decided to carve their pumpkins while Joshua, Connor, and Emmanuel chose to paint their pumpkins.

There is one very important thing about Emmanuel that one must know before viewing the rest of the pictures:  he hates having anything on his hands.  When we are eating, he always has a wipe, and once he uses it, he promptly throws it in the trash.  He doesn't mind dirt on his face or clothes, but he's got serious issues when it comes to having anything on his hands.  

Notice the amount of wipes in his hands! 

All of the other kids were using their hands to pull out the seeds.  Emmanuel decided to use an ice cream scoop so that he wouldn't get the pumpkin guts on his hands!

Eventually, he had to grin and bear it.

Reese was in cling-to-my-mama-because-this-looks-like- chaos mode!

Joshua wanted to show Emmanuel that his hands were dirty, too.  I thought maybe that would help E not use the whole packet of wipes.

But, he quickly figured out that he could get his face, shirt, and pants dirty, too...and that, my friends, brought this little boy so much joy!

I have learned from my brother's kids that when they have "hard-to-get-out-stains" that they send those clothes to my mom's house to get washed.  I didn't even attempt to wash the clothes that Emmanuel was wearing.  I just left them with my mom (I always keep a change of clothes handy in my van just in case).  

Here is a pic of Mia with the finished carved pumpkins.

Emmanuel got his camera time, too.  Notice his hands are clean (this is pre-bath).

And, Reese...he was content as long as I was holding him.  I would love to get into his mind to find out what he thinks about all of this family craziness.

One thing is for sure...as long as we can get pumpkins for $2.00 right before Halloween and as long as everybody is within 20 minutes of the other, the kids will gather for the pumpkin carving craziness...I mean, pumpkin carving celebration!