4 Months Old!

Four Months!

C turned 4 months old. FOUR MONTHS! It sounds so old to me. I can't believe it. Month three flew by faster than any of the other months. I think it's cause we were gone for so much of it! In the last month we've been all over! And even when we've been home, we've been REALLY busy!

I've been meaning to blog for awhile, so this will be a bit of a catch up post as well! First things first, C had her 4 month check up on Monday, and passed with flying colors. Here are the stats:

Weight: 15.2 lbs (82-83%)

Height: 24.5 in (60%)

Head Circumfrence: 16.5 in (76%)

So, she's doing great! :) We love her so much!! She's started regularly waking up happy, content to play in her crib for a bit. (Which is awesome, since she is a TOTAL cat napper!) We did a bit of "baby bootcamp" as I call it, because she was so messed up from our t

ravels. She now sleeps through the night (usually 12 hrs!). I'm still hoping for some longer naps at some point, but for now, her short naps aren't affecting her night sleep, so i guess she's getting enough!

Happy to be headed home! (in the airport!)

She's also learned to blow bubbles/rasberries in the last week or so. She's only kind of doing it, but it's super cute. And, on Friday she rolled over from her tummy to her back. I of course tried to catch this feat on video, and of course, she hasn't done it again since!

Go PSU!

We made a trip to Chicago, IL to see C's (and mine!) first Penn State game. We got to hang out with lots of friends which was awesome. Best of all, Penn State won! Woohoo! We even got C to meet the Nittany Lion!

We came back from Chicago to a full house! My college roommate and good friend Jenny and her husband and son came to visit us. They were up checking out Gordon-Conwell Seminary. We're hopeful that that will be their pick-- we'd love for them to be closer than VA! :) It was great fun having them visit. Aaron is very handy (actually, so is Jenny, but she was busy with the baby on this trip! :) and he helped us install/fix 2 ceiling fans and 2 light fixtures! We are SO thankful, because we probably would've electrocuted ourselves in the process! So he saved us a lot of money in hospital, as well as electrician bills! :)

Now it's nap time! :)

Tiny Socks and other preciousness...

Then...

...and now!

My baby outgrew her socks. (Like 3 weeks ago, but give me a break, I've been busy. I've been cooking this blog post for awhile!) I could handle it when i realized she'd outgrown her newborn clothes... I mean, she was a big baby, made sense she'd out grow her clothes fast. But Socks? How did she get big enough to out grow socks?? I can't handle it. She is NOT allowed to do that! So now she is in 3-6 months socks, and I refuse to believe she will outgrow these. She.will.not.

It was funny, as i discussed this horrible fact (sock-outgrowing) with a mom at church, she said it's funny how everything suddenly becomes precious. like socks. there is certainly nothing precious about B's socks, or my own socks.... but C's? her socks are soooooo precious! anything pint sized is precious. and even when i change her... okay, well, that isnt so precious! Seriously though, I've never been this nostalgic. Sure, I was a little sad to leave college, for example, but mostly excited to be moving forward. Same with moving to and back from Colorado... Even getting married, I wasn't NEARLY as emotional as being a Mother has made me. I'm such a sap now! I cry so much more easily. If you haven't read the book Love you, Forever, you should! But beware, you'll probably cry. It's a tad creepy, if you stop and think about it, but the sentiment is so sweet. When I read it to my little baby, (who, incidentally, is usually busy looking ANYWHERE but the book) I seriously cry. every.time. it's so sweet. The old me would've thought it was sweet, but wouldn't tear up. Now Mum must bring the tissues when she reads that book! (Thanks, Beth!)

As I watch her while she nurses, when we play on the change table (she LOVES being naked!), or when she's in her swing or bouncer, I wonder if I will always have this kind of love for her. I imagine I won't ALWAYS dote on her so adoringly... she WILL be a teenager someday, after all... Do our parents still look at us with that kind of love? Or is it different? Maybe someday I'll go back to this post and think, "yup, i still love you like that!" I hope so. (In the very least, I'll come back to this and think, "alright, you rotten teenager, I loved you like that once, I can do it again, as i ground you for life...").

My dad pointed out to me how amazing it is that the human race has survived....Human babies need parental care so much more than other mammals... I mean, after about 8 weeks or so, kittens, puppies... they can (for the most part) survive on their own. But human babies? I don't think a 5 week old would last too long on their own! Makes you wonder if evolution is a valid theory, when you look at it from that way... Personally, I think God made babies so adorable and our love for them so deep (truly, to an unfathomable depth is how much we love her!) so that we will wake up with them multiple times a night, walk hallways, bounce, whatever to get them to sleep...We will smile, talk in goofy voices about goofy things, all to elicit a beautiful smile. Truly, survival of the human race, in my opinion, is based in the deep love that is supernaturally given to us by God.

And when i was pondering THAT thought, I realized, and how much more my Heavenly Father must love me. He DOES look at me with that same adoring, unfathomable love that I have for C. But his love is even MORE deep and pure. While my love probably WILL fail C at sometime... sometime I probably will lose my patience with her... God's love for me, for C, for all of us... He will never lose patience. He loves us in our darkest times... and for that, I'm overwhelmed with thankfulness.

Two Years! :)

It's funny how life has changed since this date two years ago! We've had a lot of adventure in the last two years, including the biggest adventure of them all! :

I'm sitting here with my feet up, while the baby is napping and B is making me dinne r (this is the life!!). I'm just trying to reflect on how much life has changed... I'm so blessed! It's hard to put it all into words, i think partly because my memory sucks, and partly because it has all changed SO much! I think the main thing I have to say is just that I need to be more thankful for my wonderful life! Of course, before I was married, I had a pretty wonderful

life, and I really should've been more thankful then. My sin

ner's heart got in the way, same as it does now.

When I opened up my bible today, I came across an old church bulletin that I saved (or, just never threw away...) It had this verse in it that really spoke to me, today.

Romans 15:5

"May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. "

Of course, Paul wasn't talking about Marriage here, so it is s ort of bad exegesis to apply it to marriage, but that's how it spoke to me today, so here goes it. :) I want to work harder at having a spirit of unity in my marriage. We are united as one, me and B, and i think most of the time we opperate as so. But I'd like to be even better at following his lead and being, well, more agreable. I have a nasty habit of needing to be right! I need to get over it! With God's help, I know I can!

And, the computer shut down without saving a lot of my post, drat! Hopefully I can recapture some of my thoughts...

I want my marriage to glorify God. But with my pesky need to be right, that certainly isn't happening! I also need to be better about spending time in the Word and in prayer. I'm writing this mostly so that my friends and family might offer me some accountability. Please pray for me and ask me how I'm doing being in the word! I so want to be in better relationship with the Lord, and I've been struggling with it lately. I think it is just too easy for me to get caught up in the work of day to day (and let's face it, Facebook...) I need to carve out special time for Him.

I'm going to close this post with a prayer for my married friends. Seems apropos on an anniversary. Please know this is my sincere prayer for you (and me!)! It always seems easier for me to pray for others, so please let me know if you have specific things you need prayer for-- it will help me delve back in to prayer time! :)

"Dear God,

I'm so thankful for this gift you have given me, my husband, B. Please help me to remember what a gift he is! Help all of us, Lord, remember what gifts our spouses are, and help us to remember to treat them as such. You view us all as valuable treasures. Help us to treasure our spouses.

God, please help us to be aware of our selfish ways. For me, one big area is feeling like i NEED to be right. For others, it may look different. But please, Lord, our hearts are for you. Help us to honor and glorify you with our marriages. Help us to die to our selfish ways and become more like you. Only you can transform our hearts!

And God, please help me to continue to be in your Word and spending time

with you. I need it more than I know!

Amen."

Leaving Port of Miami on our cruise to Grand Cayman and Jamaica

8.5 Months pregnant, visiting the "Green Monstah" in Fenway park.

10/28/07 Day after our Wedding, B surprised me with an vintage car ride! :)

First day of our Honeymoon.

Another Catch Up Post... Pumpkin Patch!

So when we returned from the OBX we had a few visitors! Our friends Tim and Brianne and their son came to visit on their way back from VT. It was an awesome time. We got to hang out with them and just catch up which was so great. We are so blessed to have so many great friends!

While they were here we decided to look for a place to pick pumpkins. I found a place and to my surprise, it was a "Harvest Hoedown" that weekend! They had hayrides as well as a bunch of other stuff that will be great when C is older.

We got some good pictures, though for some reason C had a freak out right when we were taking the pictures... Her face is pretty hilarious, even though it's so sad!

Once she cheered up, the pictures improved! :)

OBX

So week 2 of our adventures was in the Outer Banks with my Dad, step-mom, bro & sister in law, niece, hubs and C. It was such a fun trip! My Dad rents this awesome house (yay for "off" season!) and we all get to go for free- thanks Dad!



C slept through the night (as i mentioned) for the first time while we were there! Yay! I'll never forget it! It's been off and on since then, but seems to be back on right now, Huzzah! I think she slept through the night because she was so exhausted from all the fun family times. We even made it out to eat with my dad and stepmom one time! (though someone managed to foil our plans for a night out, but we will forgive her because she is soooo cute!)



I love my brother and sister in law and it was so great spending (1/2) the week with them! I hope that next year maybe they can stay the whole time! I ruled at kill dr. lucky (again!), though i may have lost the respect of certain family members (L!) when my competitive (evil!) side came out!



C got her first dip in the Atlantic Ocean... She wasn't too thrilled (it was a bit too cold, but she recovered as soon as she was out of it, so I'm thinking maybe next year she will like it!). My dad got better pictures of her little face crumbling, which i'll have to post later!



B was sweet enough to give me quite a bit of "anne" time, away from C, I love my hubs! My dad got my step-mom, L and I all facials at this posh place nearby, which i LOOOOVED. It was sooo awesome. Another day I got to take a good swim (I looove swimming and don't get to do it enough!) and another day, shopping! C gave him a hard time, unfortunately, at least one of the days! But she is getting better and better with the bottle, woot!



It was so fun to see C1 and imagine how our C (C2) is going to be so similar next year! I can't believe how much she is going to change. (only, i guess i can, because she has already changed sooo much! :::tear:::)



Here's some links to our pictures, because I can't get them to work right now (I'm writing while in TN visiting B's parents).

C's First Dip
OBX

Entering a giveaway...

Oh I know, I know, I owe several "real" posts. But I want to enter this giveaway, so I'm sharing a video!! :)

Maybe if I keep feeling awake I will blog for real. :)

Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW9navHC7Qo

3 Months Old!

3 Months Old!

I promise I'll post a blog about all our recent adventures to the Outer Banks and elsewhere, but today C is 3 Months old!

She is doing so well! She has started trying to sit up when we hold her reclining, so she much prefers to sit straight up now! (assisted, of course!) She also still likes us to hold her up to stand or over our shoulders to see everything! She did sleep through the night for about a week and then started having (i think!) a 3 month growth spurt. So hopefully she will go back to sleeping through the night here pretty (very!) soon!

She is definitely all smiles! People always comment on what a good baby she is! She hardly ever fusses or cries! She does get a bit sad when she's hungry or tired (which of course is to be expected- so do i! :) but it's hardly anything! She has her off days, which really throw me for a loop because normally she is so good!! :)

She is more alert and more sturdy almost every day it seems! I can't really believe it's been three months. I recently looked at some pictures from when she was a newborn and I already forget what she looked like then!! She is so chunky (in that adorable baby fat way!). I love her chunky thighs, and it really is hard not to just squeeze her!! We love her SO much!

We're gearing up for yet another trip (this time to Nan and GP's in TN!) but in her three short months she's already been to: MA, RI, MD, VA, NC, PA, CT, and NY! And before she is four months she will have added TN and IL to that list! She's quite the traveler! Hopefully I'll catch the blog up soon! :)

C is such a blessing. Really, I feel our marriage is so much stronger with her as a part of our family. I am so thankful to God for all the richness that she has brought to our lives! We certainly have our trying moments (and I usually skip blogging on those days, I guess!) , but I feel like overall, we are SO blessed. :)

Here's a family photo from our trip to the pumpkin patch... C REALLY liked it. (she did, but for some reason was freaking out when we took this!)