Here are Meredith and Berkley shopping at Food Lion, they love these car cartsMeredith and Berkley are 17 months old today and I thought it best that I go ahead and jot down some of their milestones from their 16th month. As you can probably figure out from the title of this post, Meredith and Berkley have officially started showing their competitiveness over the past month. Yes people, it's true, my children are not perfect...they do argue with one another in their own little way. I'm wrestling through how to address the hitting, the not sharing and their favorite, butting heads (I don't mean mean figuratively, they literally like to butt heads when they're arguing). I realize that my goal in guiding them must always be focusing on their hearts and displaying the love of Christ to them in everyday small moments; I'm still trying to figure out what that looks like. It's an adventure everyday to say the least:) Hmmm...what else have my little ones been up to this month? They love to flip over now and have even done it by themselves a couple of times, but most of the time I have to help them. They absolutely LOVE music and I love to watch them dance. Berkley dances by moving in robotic movements, predominantly using his head - I think he's going to be a headbanger in the future. Meredith likes to shake her little hips when she dances, which is so cute to watch. Meredith is a dainty little thing, she runs with her arms up in the air and insists on you holding her hand to help her down steps or getting off of furniture; she holds out her hand like a little lady - I LOVE it! Meredith also holds my hand so sweet when we pray at dinner and tries to say amen sometimes when we're done. Berkley is often too busy eating his first bite of food to hold hands, but he's quiet while we pray:) Their language skills are growing everyday; especially Meredith! Meredith said G-Dot out of the blue this past week when we went to visit G-Dot (Steven's paternal grandmother) in the hospital. Boy did that thrill G-Dot and make my heart so happy to see her joy! Berkley is finally calling me Mama on a regular basis, which I love to hear:) One of my favorite things to hear Meredith say is when she says "Nigh, Nigh" a.k.a. night, night to everyone including Larry at bedtimes - she also makes a point to kiss everyone goodnight, even Berkley. Both Meredith and Berkley love getting inside or riding on most any toy. Berkley is absolutely attached to his dog stuffed animal, whom we named Bob after my cousin Bob who gave him to Berkley. Berkley LOVES this dog, he goes everywhere with him and Berkley puts himself to sleep or comforts himself by rubbing the dogs tail on his eyelids. Berkley is also still attached to his paci, which I see I'm going to have to break at some point, as he's growing ever more needy of it. Meredith has finally gotten her 4th tooth and Berkley his 8th this month. Meredith has a gap between her front two teeth, which I think gives her a lot of character. The gap is actually a family trait; my dad has a gap in between his front teeth which we affectionately call "the Griffin gap." I've noticed just today that Meredith is beginning to have imaginary play with her toys, which is great! She offered her bear, "D," her milk at lunch as well as her cheese at snack time. In nursery at church this Sunday, Meredith liked pushing the baby stroller, my mom told me that Meredith made a point to put two babies in the stroller, which I thought was pretty neat. Something cute that Berkley does is in the way he sometimes walks; he loves to take GIANT steps and stomp his feet. Speaking of stomping feet, their favorite songs are on a Wee Sing album that a friend gave us; they enjoy clapping their hands and stomping their feet to the music. It's amazing how they recognize their favorite songs when they come on and start doing the actions. They're getting so big, I'm amazed at how many things they can reach! By far their favorite thing to do is to play outside, especially at Mima and Papa's house. Second to being outside would probably be taking a bath. If Berkley hears the word bath, he just starts saying "bah, bah, bah" until you get him in the water...he's crazy over a bath! They're also crazy about their shoes. They point at their shoes and Berkley will say "zhoo" until I put them on. Meredith and Berkley also get excited anytime they see a horse because they assume it is Papa's horse. When they see a horse they start saying Papa or "Bebe" which is what they call papa's horse, they also get giddy and squeal. They love making animal sounds now; Meredith and Berkley both make a chicken, rooster, dog and lion sound. Again, I'm sure there are so many other little things they're doing that I can't remember, but this is a little insight into how they're growing.
Look at what a big boy Berkley has become!
Here's Meredith getting ready to order at Logan'sOur life isn't all about the babies (toddlers) though. Steven is plugging away at his 3rd year of residency and also doing some work occasionally on Saturdays with the Social Security Administration doing physicals and will work one Saturday this month in the Emergency Room at Pungo District Hospital in Belhaven. We're so thankful for these opportunities to build his medical experience.
Steven lost a fellow-resident this month from a long battle with an autoimmune deficiency as well as cancer. Her name was Anna and she attended medical school with Steven, which means we've been friends for 7 years and gone through some major aspects of life together. I was very shaken by Anna's loss mainly because we did share such a significant part of our lives as well as the fact that she and her husband remind me so much of me and Steven; they were high school sweethearts just like us. She was a believer and I know that she's in heaven, no longer suffering, but it saddens me to think of the profound loss her family has experienced. I would often see Anna in the hallways at the hospital when I worked at Brody; many times she would be in her wheelchair because she was too weak to walk, but she worked diligently nonetheless. She was always an encourager to me! I remember our last lengthy conversation was when I was pregnant and she was telling me how she was hoping she and her husband could one day adopt. She was so happy that Steven and I were expecting, which moved me so much! Anna planned her funeral herself - can you imagine?!! It was beautiful and Christ-centered. I pray that many hearts were softened to the clear presentation of the gospel and I know for certain that many lives were impacted by Anna's life! We will miss you Anna!
