Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Our First House


Home sweet home!  We bought a house!  We can't wait to make this place home.  Trust me, lots of before and after pics and project recaps will be forthcoming.  For now, here are the highlights:
  • All brick
  • Sidewalks and street lights in the neighborhood
  • 3 bed/2 bath
  • Gas fireplace
  • Fenced in backyard with a deck
  • Laminate wood, tile, and carpet (Hopefully replacing the carpet soon.  The sellers had two indoor dogs.)
  • Vaulted ceiling in the living room
  • 8 minutes from work/church and 10 minutes closer to family
So, who wants to help paint? ;)  We hope to paint the whole house and possibly get new flooring in the bedrooms before we move in.  Everything else can be done while we live there and as we have the time and money.  We want so badly to be semi-settled before Christmas.  We're so thankful for this gift from God and look forward to using it to host others and provide a place for people to feel like they can be themselves and relax.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Sarah At Four Months

No more pillows to prop her up!
Stats
Length: 26.3" (97%)
Weight: 15lb 6oz (73%)
Head circumference: 16.3" (59%)

Sleeping
I'll go ahead and say it.  Sarah is the best sleeper in the history of babykind.  Say what you want - "Wait til your second kid."  "This won't last."  But we're loving every minute of it as long as it lasts.  Sarah's night is from 8:00pm-8:00am without any wake ups.  She usually takes naps around 10:30-12:00, 2:00-4:00, and 7:00-8:00.  She falls asleep quickly by just sucking on her pacifier for 10-30 seconds.  We've started swaddling her with her arms out, and it's working well.  We started with one arm in and one arm out and worked our way to both arms out.  Eventually we'll switch to a sleep sack instead of the swaddle.  She sleeps well in her crib but can also fall asleep in the car seat when we're out and about.  She has a certain cry when she's sleepy, and if you just whisk her away quickly enough and head upstairs to her crib she'll fall right asleep.  We've also started tucking her in while she's sleeping but not actually asleep so she can learn how to fall asleep on her own.  There's never any crying.  She usually just falls right asleep, but sometimes in the afternoon if it's really bright in her room she'll play for 5 minutes or so and then fall asleep.








Eating
Sarah loves her bottle.  She loves it so much that we even wrote a song about it.  For real.  "Drinking bottles, it's my favorite.  It's a special time for me.  Drinking bottles, it's my favorite.  It gives me all the food I need.  I like to drink my bottles, morning, noon, and night.  I like to drink my bottles to help me grow up right."  We tried the size two nipple when she turned three months old.  It was awesome how much faster feedings went, but she'd spit up a lot so we switched back to size one.  It's okay.  She eats 8 ounces four times a day: 8:00, 12:00, 4:00, and 8:00.  I think we'll be starting baby cereal soon.

Personality
Sarah loves smiling!  She also loves "talking."  She's really been experimenting with her voice this month and making lots of new sounds with her throat and tongue.  She squeals, coos, screams, and makes all sorts of noises!  She likes to stare intently at things and raise her eyebrows while studying.  She likes to tilt her head dead and smile shyly.  She hates the cold and wind.  Stroller rides have become very short even while bundled.








Health and Physical Ability
Sarah is still working on her bottom two teeth, so it's made for a few sad moments, but she's doing well overall.  It's caused her to be a drooling snot machine.  She can hold toys in each hand at the same time.  She still loves tummy time and reading while in that position.  She still loves her activity mat.  She's gotten very good at putting anything and everything in her mouth - toys, books, hair.  She has started getting more hair and it's much blonder than it was at birth.  Baths have become much more enjoyable, and she enjoys splashing around some.  She's in between sizes right now.  Some outfits are 3-6 months, and others are 6-9 months depending on the brand.




Superficial
Sarah is the world's cutest baby.  I'm glad we've established that.  She has gorgeous blue eyes and eyelashes.  She has the softest skin ever.  She loves snuggling and holding on tight to your shirt like she never wants to let go.  We call this her koala bear position.


Highlights of the month
Celebrating Pepaw's 85th birthday

A visit from Grandma!

Sarah's first Thanksgiving

Sarah's first Christmas party
Dear Sarah,
Seriously, you are a cool girl.  It's obvious that all the other babies want to be like you.  I hope you grow up to be a good role model to your peers, those who are younger than you, and even those who are older than you.  You can be a great leader.  If you have Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior He will guide your steps and help you to make good decisions that please Him and will be good for you.  Sarah, my greatest desire is for you to know the unfathomable love of your Heavenly Father and that you will choose to be His servant and follower all the days of your life.  Things in your life won't always be as easy as they are now, but God will never change, and you will always be His precious creation.  God will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go (Psalm 32:8).  Thank you for making me a mom.



Wednesday, December 2, 2015

November 2015

November was another full month!  We started out the month with Robert having his fall retreat for the youth.  Sarah and I weren't up for the weekend trip, so we went to stay with my parents.  The retreat went well, and we enjoyed our time with my parents.  This was Robert's first time to be away from Sarah overnight. :(

Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house means lots of fun activities!

I've started running.  Eek!  I meet with a group of ladies from church as well as some of their friends on Saturday mornings at 8:00, and then I also run a few times with my friend Madison during the week.  I use the word run loosely.  Right nose it's more walking than running, but the end goal is a 5k.  I've lost the baby weight but haven't lost the flabby belly.  It's time for this mommy to work it!

Robert and I got new phones this month.  I've had a cell phone for nearly a decade now, and I still don't understand why it can't take less than two hours to activate a new phone in Verizon.  Ugh.

Sarah and I started going to story time at the public library on Monday mornings.  It's so great!  It's for birth through 18 months.  The director reads a story, we sing songs with actions, she recites some rhymes, and then we just hang out and talk with each other.  I love giving Sarah opportunities to make learning fun, and I don't mind the interaction with humans who can actually talk.

We enjoyed celebrating Sarah's first Thanksgiving.  We started out by volunteering to serve at our church's preschool party for families.  Sarah and I were in charge of monitoring desserts. Ha!  We spent Thanksgiving with my family.  Sarah got to meet Great Uncle Nelson and first cousin once removed Michael.  This was a topic of discussion, and we established that he isn't her second cousin.  Why was this so funny to me?  We got to spend so much time with dear friends this week!  Again, more laughing and talking than I could handle.  It was awesome!  Grant, Michael, Keegan, and Monica got to meet Sarah for the first time.  It's weird seeing people who you haven't seen since before having a baby.  It feels like a lifetime ago.





This month we started Parents As Teachers.  The public school district offers this service.  I school employee comes to our house once a month to check in on Sarah, give me ways to challenge her, and talk with me.  Our first appointment was mostly just a time to get to know each other, but I really enjoyed it and am looking forward to the next appointment.  Sarah showed off, of course.

Elise, Leigha, and Tarah came to town for a girls' night out.  This was awesome.  My only question is why on earth did we not start doing this months ago???  The next night is already scheduled.  Tarah's husband, James, hung out with Sarah and Robert.  It was so perfect!  I hadn't laughed that much or talked that quickly in way to long, and I know Robert enjoyed spending time with James.  He didn't have too bad of a deal since Sarah went to sleep shortly after I left.

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