Team Schuurman: Standing on the promises of God

     This week, Marcus has TAKEN OFF with standing on his own and now pulls up on EVERYTHING. I think it was Monday morning when I was putting clean dishes away in the kitchen that I heard him pulling the glass coasters off our coffee table. I now have to clear the end tables of everything but the lamps, otherwise he gets a hold of it, and it's over. He pulled himself up to the window for the first time, unassisted, this week and made all kinds of sweet noises as he stared outside. He LOVES being outside, but especially when our neighbor's dog, Max, is on his porch.
     There are down sides to this whole standing phenomenon as well. When we put him down for a nap, and he's not quite ready (at least not ready in his own mind), he stands and cries until we lay him back down. He hasn't quite mastered the how-to-get-down part of standing, but a few times when he's fallen back on his bottom, in our living room, he'll look at me all stunned, and I'll clap and say good job. So I'm trying to show him that it's good to just plop backwards if you have no other way to get down. We'll see how that goes. But back to the nap thing, we've gone toe-to-toe a few times of letting him cry for long phases in hopes that he gets so tired, his legs will give out and he'll get back down to his crib, and fall asleep. So far, this hasn't happened. The most successful we've been so far is putting him down, setting the timer for 10 minutes, and letting him get good and tired of crying and standing. After it goes off, we go in, lay him back down, and leave the room. So far, it worked well with his past 2 naps.
     Speaking of sleeping, we had a BREAKTHROUGH this week. Marcus had been waking up between 6-7am daily, no matter how late we put him to bed. We bought the black-out blinds for his room, and they helped, but it was still quite bright in there by 6. Well, earlier this week I covered his window with a thick afghan that we have and then (get ready...) used blue painters tape to seal the edges where little shards of light shine in. The next morning he slept until 8. Every other day this week, he's slept until 8 or 8:30!!! Even though it looks terrible, we're quite excited about his new sleeping in habits. And so far, it's made for a happier baby and mama. I have time to shower and read God's Word in the morning - Marcus is well rested and wakes up cuter than ever.
     But about standing...if we're not standing, hypothetically, on God's Word, we're just in sinking sand, aren't we? Here in the Schuurman household, Jesus is the ROCK in which we stand, so when things get hairy or don't go the way we'd like, we cling to His Word and His promises. Without it, we'd just be barely getting along, just trying to survive. Instead, we thrive, knowing we're children of the most high God. Here's a clip I play often and sing along with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ9ZJPIDkis

Enjoy! :)