MY PRIDE AND JOY (AND SOMETHING ABOUT SOY AND TOYS)

I like to make up songs for my baby. I'm SURE I'm not the only one, right?? Either way, I do because I just can't help myself! My motherly happiness comes out in weird melodies and lyrics.

When I'm putting his lotion on him I sing "Don't get mad at me, it's lotion time..."
When he poops I sing "You've got more poop in your booty than all babes combined" (to the tune of More Bounce in California. hehe)
When we're playing, "It's you that I love you, you, you. Yes I do, do, do, do, do..."
And the list goes on and on. If we're doing it, I'm most likely singing about it.

Sometimes I start to sing "Oh, I love my Harvey boy..." and naturally the follow up line to that is something about him being my "pride and joy" (unless I want to sing about toys or soy. There aren't many other 'oy' words in the English language).
Calling him my pride and joy sounds a bit cliche and cheesy, I know, but sometimes it just comes out. And the truth is, I feel like it's true. So why the heck not sing it?

I can't think of many other things that have brought me so much joy in my life as this baby boy. It doesn't matter how many times he woke up through the night or how many hours he kept me up with his crying and eating, pooping, crying and eating, as soon as that sun comes up and his little eyes open, I can't help but start squealing in my high-pitched baby talk voice. I tell him over and over how happy I am that he's awake and how it's such a beautiful morning. His little face is just too cute and his gummy smile- ugh. Don't even get me started! I can't even. When he smiles at me, the world stops, my heart swells with love and that annoying-to-everyone-else-but-us baby voice comes back out. And I feel SO proud of him because he's so stinkin' cute!!

So my baby makes me happy and I'm proud to show him off. That's normal and good, right?
Yes. Totally. 100%.
But what's been swirling around in my head is a matter of attention to my son versus attention to my God, and the joy that I experience being in relationship with Harvest versus with my Lord.

I don't for a second want to feel any less joyful when Harvey opens his eyes in the morning. I do, however, want to experience that same joy when I sit down in quiet time in the morning, when I'm praising the Lord in song, and when I reflect on his goodness to save me and call me His own.

I think of that David Crowder song that goes, "You are my joy, You are my joy, You are my joy..." (And I'm pretty sure it's just those lyrics that repeat forever. If there are more to that song I don't know about them. ha.)

I'm so happy that my baby makes me so happy. I only also want to be happy simply because knowing my God makes me so happy.

I'm kind of just thinking out loud right now... I don't know that I'm sure how to get there.
Maybe it'll just take some more awareness on my part of how much I have to be joyful about as a child of God. Maybe it's something that has to be practiced and learned. Maybe I don't feel as much joy because I don't sense the Lord as close to my heart as I could. Maybe I should practice praising Him more regularly and joy will come as a result.
I'm not sure. But I'll work on that.

What do you think? Where do you stand with all of this and what wisdom do you have to share? I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

And I'll try to bring all this to the Lord, too. I'll talk to Him about it and give it some thought, and maybe gain some wisdom... then we can revisit this together sometime down the road. :)

I leave you with cute baby pictures. Gah, he's the best.