Big Changes

Joel is now 12 weeks old! He is growing and changing more and more every day--time really does go so fast. He smiles all the time, and thinks his daddy is absolutely hysterical. His laugh is the most amazing sound I have ever heard. He's doing a little better about sleeping at night, which has done wonders for my sanity. He does really well playing by himself, but also likes to be held and cuddled. We just love him so much--we must say it a hundred times a day. Sometimes when I look at him I am overwhelmed to tears with joy and thankfulness.

Another big change at our house is that Mike got a new job! What a huge answer to prayer! He was able to take two weeks off when I had Joel, which was awesome. However, shortly after he returned to work it became evident to him that he needed an immediate change. He was determined not to miss his son growing up, and we decided it was worth whatever sacrafices we needed to make for that to happen. So, we started praying even harder for a new job with a 3rd shift position. It is really a neat story how it all came about, but the way everything happened reassured us it was from the Lord. He really likes his new job. As of last week I am officially back at work part time, so when Mike gets home in the morning, he stays up with Joel (until nap time) while I go to work for a few hours. It is going amazingly well.

Since Mike wasn't able to take any time off from his new job, Joel and I took a trip without him. My good friend Kim has family in the Nashville area that she was dying to visit, and I really wanted to visit my best friend and her little one so it worked out perfectly. Kim's little boy Joseph just turned one, so he and Joel made the trip adventurous but we had a blast. It was so nice to have quality girl time with Amy. Her son Elijah was born two days after Joel--Amy has a great post about it on her blog.

Now we are just trying to settle into a routine...or as much as is possible with a 3-month-old baby. It isn't always easy, but we are always blessed.