January Update

It's been forever since I updated the blog, and I was feeling bad about it, so here goes. A lot has happened in the last month!

After a great Christmas in Missouri visiting family and friends, we made the long trek back to Norfolk, and Malachi did great. We were glad to be home and back in a routine, though. But of course, just when the routine was going great, Aaron found out that he was deploying to Haiti. He was asked on a Thursday afternoon if he "wanted to go for a boat ride" and then left Friday morning around 11. It was so hard to say good-bye, knowing that he will miss the next few months of Malachi's life, but at the same time, we are so proud of him and glad that he is able to help the people of Haiti. Aaron is stationed on the USNS Comfort, a medical humanitarian ship, and he is having a blast. He stays really busy, but that's good. It sounds like they will be flying him back to Virginia at the end of March unless the Comfort leaves earlier.

So, with Aaron gone, I've been playing the single mother gig. Man - it's tough! Malachi is so fun, and he's really a pretty easy kid, but it's exhausting to be here all day by myself. I find that I have very little time to get things done that I want to to get done - it has definitely been a lesson in humility and unselfishness. Malachi missed his dad at first - he wouldn't sleep well at night, and was pretty fussy, but he's a lot better now.

Malachi is currently 2 months old (9 weeks, actually), and is growing like a weed! Over the last month, he gained a pound a week - unreal! So now he is 13 lbs. and 23 inches long, placing him in the 80-90% for weight. What a beast. He is so alert, and smiling and cooing a lot more too. Just yesterday Malachi reached for toys and was able to grab on to them, showing off his impressive hand-eye coordination. He is able to fall asleep on his own when I put him in his crib, and at night he sleeps for about 5-6 hours at a time, which isn't bad. He is such a joy, and I'm so glad I have him now, esp. with Aaron gone. He already has a great personality - he is extremely social (he is always wide awake and happy when there are lots of people around), and he also has a little bit of a temper. It's pretty cute. It will be very interesting to see how his personality develops, and how much of the nature v. nurture stuff we see in him.

We are so thankful for you all, and welcome your prayers for us as Aaron is gone. Seeing the children in Haiti who have no parents right now makes us so grateful that Malachi does have us both, even if Aaron isn't here. God has been good to us.