Freddie Bear's (Impromptu) Photo Session

Just because I can never seem to find the time to write about them doesn't mean that milestones aren't being crossed every day by the one and only Freddie Bear.

He's gotten his first tooth this week; he's starting to laugh, AND he can sit up, though his "sit" quickly becomes a "hunch," as, in the course of a few minutes, he slumps progressively down-down-down until his chest rests on his legs. Oh, and often, there are faceplants. Still, you can't tell me that doesn't count.

He's started on baby food; he really loves it AND chewing on the spoon I feed him with. I give him a fruit at breakfast and a vegetable for dinner. His schedule is set - up around 7 a.m., naps at 9 a.m., 1 p.m., and 5 p.m. (assuming he'll drop his evening "cat nap" soon? Jones never took one, so I'm not sure when he'll give it up), and bed at 7:30. He turns six months on Monday and is the sweetest little love dumpling I can even imagine.

And his eyes.

His eyes will stop your heart. I know this because they stop the hearts of people everywhere we go. I think a lot about my boys' eyes, because I think they're so beautiful (I can say that because they didn't get them from me!). It's been well documented that, when Jeremy picked me up for our first date, the first thing to stop MY heart were his gorgeous eyes. I opened the door, saw them, and, as the last song sung at our wedding reception says, "'Zing! Zing! Zing!' went my heartstrings!"

Through both pregnancies, I prayed that the babies would be born with their daddy's eyes. It occurred to me recently that God answered my prayers both times but in different ways: Jones has the shape of Jeremy's eyes, and Freddie has the color. Isn't that just like God to show me how creative He is? I pray one prayer, and He can answer it in an infinite number of ways.

That made me think even more about artistry of God. Jones and Freddie were drawn from the exact same genetic pool, yet they look nothing alike. God can take the "raw material" - in this case, my DNA and Jeremy's - and make from it an unending number of variations. Had Jeremy and I had a passenger van full of kids, they'd all have been unique, individual creations made from the exact same materials. Like a jazz musician improvising on a theme, God is truly the great Creator, unlimited in both His imagination and His power.

Anyway, I bring up my thoughts on the boys' eyes, because you can't help but notice Freddie's in these pictures I'm posting. We're going to Nashville in early August for Brooke to take some family pictures, and my plan had been that Freddie would wear his dedication outfit. I quickly realized, though, that the outfit may not, shall we say, make it to early August, as my nearly six-month old is very close to  outgrowing its six-month size. I took these snapshots in the Pressleys' yard, so I'd at least have some second-rate shots of my sweet baby in an outfit that I totally loved.

Enjoy this beautiful baby ... she said in all modesty.