Anna is 4 months old .... 5 months old .... 6 months old???

Dear Anna,

I feel like I JUST wrote to you last week! Where did last month go? Sure enough you are growing again. I had to pull your bouncy seat down from the attic because you don't like laying down anymore. You want to sit up and see the whole world. I love watching you play with toys because you actually can reach out and grab things and pull them to your mouth. You only get the toys about half the time, but I'm rooting for you! You probably don't notice too much, but William has taken an interest in you for the first time in your short life. He asks about you ALL the time. When he wakes up in the morning, he won't let me leave the room without getting you too. And when we leave to go out, he always tries to grab your carseat and bring you. I think he fears I might leave you at home one day. Isn't he such a nice big brother? He also started touching you and feeling your head. Sorry about him poking you in the eye. I'm trying to help him learn to be gentle. I can't wait til you can both play with each other.

4 months old (above) ..................................... 5 months old (below)

Dear Anna,

You are now 6 months old, little girl, and I haven't even written about you being 5 months old. Daddy says you need to slow down. You are now begging for solid food every day and are gobbling it up in seconds. You just said "dada" several times this morning with my prompting. AND you are super close to sitting on your own. You can sit for whole minutes at a time, but still fall over eventually. You are truly a delight to everyone around you. You smile so easily and I love your little laugh.

 6 month photos

Giveaway

 I'm sure many of you will have seen the Necklace giveaway that I did this Month. I was extraordinarily honored to share in the struggles and pain of the women who wrote to me. It was honestly very hard to read most of them. Twelve women wrote on the first day and as I was reading them and crying, my mom texted me that my grandfather was dying. I think I had to remove myself from a lot of the stories after that. 

The response to my giveaway was so big that I had to cut it off a lot sooner than I planned. I am very sorry to anyone who didn't receive one. I would like to do another giveaway some time down the road. 

I found a really neat poem called Little Snowdrop that I included on my packaging. I think I will keep using these in the future.

I found some more kraft labels to match my business card labels and used them for the finishing touch of my packaging.

They are finally ready to be shipped! It has been a long hard month, but it was very rewarding and I will look forward to doing it again next year.

July Update: I wrote this awhile ago, but have only gotten around to posting it now. Thank you so much for honoring me with your stories. In the last 3 months since I did this giveaway, my business has grown dramatically. I have been honored to listen to dozens of women share their heartbreaking stories and ask me to make them a necklace. I decided to write a little bit of my story on my Etsy listings and let women know that they can trust me and they aren't alone in their suffering. It is difficult to get excited about this new development. For every order I get, my heart breaks even more. I want to give everyone more than a necklace. I want to give them hope and peace. My greatest hope is that my nest necklaces do just that. The only other thing I can give is my tears and a listening ear. The world is full of women suffering in silence and I also hope that the necklaces allow women the honor of speaking about their precious children. 

Thank you again, 

Rachelle

www.rachelle-isms.com

Rough night = _______

I know it has been a long time since I posted anything. I have a ton of pictures taken, but no time to write about them. So here is a quick post.

Last night Anna had a rough night. I think I woke up to her crying 5-6 times. She has this problem of rolling over and can't fall asleep on her back. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but then this morning .....


HELLO TOOTH #1!!! And #2 is coming in too. :) What a big girl!

I don't have any pics of the tooth because she just cut though last night, but here are some other pics from today. I love her onesie!

Anna is 3 Months Old

Dear Anna, 

This photo was taken the day before you turned 3 months old. Our camera just broke so we are recording your growth with my phone these days. I can tell that you are growing taller and thinning out. Your face is longer and even though your legs are still chubby, your belly is thinner. I don't think you are close to sitting on your own, but your neck sure is strong and you kick your feet constantly. William just started to pay attention to you a bit. He thinks the bubbles you make with your mouth are cool. Your hair is getting so long. I tried putting it in a ponytail the other day, but I guess I was just hurting you. Poor baby Anna. I'm sorry.

I've been thinking a lot about me and Daddy lately. So I thought I'd give you some advice on marriage. Your mommy and daddy aren't perfect and we have conflict that you probably don't see. But some of the things I am thankful for in our marriage is our ability to repent and apologize to each other. Make sure, when you are looking for your lifelong companion, that you look for a man that will tell you that he is sorry, ask for forgiveness and work on changing. Which leads me to my next point. Don't expect your marriage or your spouse to change very fast. In fact, NEVER marry hoping your spouse will change. Accept them for who they are but look to inspire them to be all that God wants them to be. As a wife, you have the unique honor to know your husband in ways that no one else ever will know him. Remember to take that honor seriously and with fear and trembling. With that knowledge you have the ability to either tear him down or build him up. When you are upset and angry or hurt, take as much time as you need think about what you want to say so that you do not lose his trust in you or hurt him out of your own hurt. My greatest wish for you and your brother is to see my need and Daddy's need for Jesus. We are broken, so very broken. My hope for my marriage is that God will be glorified as He transforms and redeems our brokenness.

I love you, sweet girl. You are such a joy to me. I love your smiles and I am praying for you and your future husband. May God bless you.

Your Mommy

18 months old

My Darling William,

You are just about 19 months old as I write this post, but I can't seem to write much these days. I'm sorry this is late. You have just exploded verbally in the last 3 months. Right before Anna was born you started saying sounds for animals ... it started out with cows and dogs, but now you can repeat almost any sound or word we ask you to say. Although, you only say it once. You don't like to repeat yourself. :) I keep a running list of things that you say, but I'm struggling to know how to spell them. You have your own unique way of saying every word. This week, you are saying sentences. You didn't put them together by yourself ... you are just copying us, but it is adorable! You say, "Daddy, where are you?" and "Hmmm ... Let's see"

I am very sad today. I haven't loved you like I should and you are frustrated with me. I need to repent to you. I forget that you are a baby still. I think of you as being so much older than you are because we have another tiny baby in the house. I'm sorry. I can't expect you to understand everything and I can't expect you to entertain yourself all day. I am broken. My parenting is broken. Please forgive me. I need Jesus so much and I hope you can always hear me say that as you grow up. You need him too. You are demanding, angry, hurt, and unhappy. I am praying for you every night. I think of how sad it would be if you never know Jesus and never know that he can redeem all of our brokenness. "Lord, heal my relationship with my son and give me wisdom. Give William the ability and desire to forgive me. Give him your son and don't ever let him go." 

I love you, Will, even though I need to love you more....

Your Mommy

Valentine's Day

Anna's One Month Blog Post

Dear Anna, 

Happy One Month Old Birthday to my beautiful daughter! The time with you is flying fast. Although, in some ways, I feel like you have been in our family for ages! You don't feel new or different. It doesn't feel strange anymore to wake up with you in the middle of the night or to bring you to the store with me and William. You are one of us ... and it feels like you always have been. I love you to pieces and so does your daddy. We are so proud of how you are growing. You just went 6 hours without nursing for the first time the other day. And your neck is growing stronger every day. Your daddy thinks you are a very serious little girl. Won't you give us a smile? That's ok. There is a lot to study and learn about the world. 

I keep thinking about how you will be in my shoes one day. You will be a mom with a little baby (Lord willing). I think about how hard it will be for you to get used to your postpartum body or the lack of sleep or the constant feeling that you aren't doing it right. But somehow as I hold you now, I know that you don't care about any of those things as it regards me. I am your whole world. And you don't see my stretch marks or flabby stomach. You only feel my softness and warmth and safety. You don't see the bags under my eyes and short temper from lack of sleep. You only know with all certainty that I WILL wake up and feed you at any time of the day. You aren't alone. And you are sure of that fact because of me. And you don't care if I am uncertain of myself as a mom because your needs are always met and that communicates all of my love. One day ... in 20-30 years, I hope that I will be around to remind you of all the things I am learning as your mom. Life as a mom will be hard and it will push your character to grow and stretch every day. I hope I am there with you ... to keep telling you that you are beautiful ... to keep reminding you that you aren't alone ... to keep telling you that you don't need to "get it right" all the time. There is someone else who tells these things too. And you can know with all certainty (because He cannot lie) that they are truth. You are beautiful because of Jesus and His work in you. You are not alone because Jesus promises to never leave you. And you don't need to "get it right" all the time because Jesus did it for you and covers your failures. You are loved, my darling daughter.

And now I need to go because you woke up and are crying for me. I love you, Anna!

Your Mommy