5 months old!

Anna turned 5 months old yesterday! She is really starting to develop her little personality and let us know what she likes (being held) and dislikes (Will biting her). Some of her favorite things to do right now are chew & drool on everything, roll over and over, hold her feet and bite her toes, grab onto faces and hair, and watch Catherine and Will. She smiles and laughs for us and makes sweet baby "talk". I think she smiles and babbles more for Catherine than she does anyone else. It's really sweet.

Holding her feet--her new favorite thing to do--and checking out this bunny

Sweet smile and laugh!

Anna has had such a busy month. She's been to Milwaukee, the beach, and Montana and been baptized. Needless to say, her sleep schedule has been a little crazy and we're hoping that in September she can get back to more of a routine and start sleeping all night again.

We're still trying to figure out what to do with her feeding issues. We now have a formula that she's not allergic to, but she refuses to drink it. Twice I've been able to mix a little bit of it in with breast milk so she doesn't taste it, but every other time she won't have anything to do with it.

As of this past week, I have also dropped all dairy products from my diet to see if that will help with her spitting up (and therefore fullness and weight gain) as well as her eczema. It's only been about 5 days but already the spitting up has decreased significantly. I probably should have done this about 2 months ago, but it took me a while to convince myself to give up my cheese, yogurt, butter, and ice cream. I'm hoping I can hold out on the dairy because it looks like I may be nursing her for a while if she refuses to drink anything else. I have not started any baby food yet. I think it's best to wait a few more weeks until closer to 6 months to try that. We'll have to take that part pretty slowly I think to make sure she doesn't have any reactions to anything.

Overall she's a healthy, happy girl and we love spending our days with her!

Our Artist

Catherine LOVES art projects. She would do 3 or 4 a day if possible. I, on the other hand, have never loved nor been good at art projects. So she's begging to do an artsy craft and I'm trying to muster up all of my creative abilities to make it through. I know, I know--I should enjoy it more, but I'm just being honest.

Catherine has one Fancy Nancy book in which Fancy Nancy makes a book report about Sacajawea. It talks about how she goes to the art store, buys beads & yarn, and makes this fabulous cover for her book report. Ever since we got this book (last year maybe?) Catherine has been asking if we could make Sacajawea like Fancy Nancy did. And seeing as how I love projects like this, I have been putting it off. In the spring, I said we'd do it this summer. This summer, I said we'd do it after vacation. Well, last week she finally called me out on my procrastination and we headed to Michael's (the craft store) to get our supplies.

I have never seen that child so happy as she was in Michael's. Every aisle was pure joy as she saw stickers, paints, ribbons, and the greatest variety of craft projects her little mind could comprehend. She was literally dancing in the aisles with joy about picking out her beads, yarn, and a piece of felt for Sacajawea. So we made our Sacajawea page and she was so proud. And ever since she has been gluing the remainder of the 400 beads on random pieces of paper in the whole house. I think we may invest in art lessons!

(I have no idea why Sacajawea is sideways and won't turn around!)

Anna in Montana

Anna went with Jay and I to Montana. We really enjoyed having some time with just her for a few days (even though we missed Catherine and Will a lot). I think Anna really enjoyed having our undivided attention too!

Anna has done a lot of flying the last month--a total of 10 airplane rides. Other than the initial up and coming down at the end, she does really well during the flight. We're now pros at nursing, changing diapers, and taking naps on airplanes.

Anna and Daddy relaxing on the porch one morning in Montana. What a gorgeous view!
The 3 of us getting ready to go for a little hike to the overlook at the property where we stayed. (That's the house where we stayed behind us. It was so amazing....I can't even talk about it or I'll have to keep praying not to covet!)
Anna hanging out on the bed in our room. The house even had a nursery with a crib where she could sleep. Perfect accommodations.
Anna and her friend Charlie (Jill's baby) at the bridesmaid luncheon. They are exactly 5 weeks apart (Anna is older). Charlie was definitely charming the ladies all weekend.
Thanks for being a good traveler Anna. We promise that you can sleep and take naps in your own crib now.

F301 Fun

Our last year at Furman, we girls lived together in apartment F301 (so we still use it when referring to ourselves). I can't say enough about how much I love these girls and how thankful I am for their friendship. You know they're good friends when you can pick up the phone and start a conversation just like you had been together the day before, even if you haven't seen each other in months. I think Marianne described our relationships well at her rehearsal dinner. It's really about commitment. All of us live in different places and are in different life situations right now, but we committed to being friends when we graduated and have continued to make the effort to do that. Relationships, whether they be friendships, marriages, or family, take work. So I am blessed to have friends that find me worthy of that effort and time.

at the rehearsal dinner
at the bridesmaid luncheon
so Marianne was doing fancy wedding reception stuff at the time, but the rest of us took a minute to stand in the really beautiful and really cold Flathead Lake. We wanted to jump in, but couldn't justify ruining the silk dresses and didn't have a change of clothes :(

Marianne and Jim's wedding

My college roommate Marianne got married this past Saturday in Bigfork, Montana. My other college roommates, Sara and Jill, and I headed out to Montana (along with Jay & Anna and Jill's baby Charlie). We are so excited for Marianne. She has been patiently waiting for her husband for a long time!

What's a wedding in Montana without the cowboy boots??

A German tradition of sawing a log as your first challenge together as husband and wife. They're going to have their wedding vows engraved on the piece they cut off.
Such pure excitement and joy! How beautiful!

Anna's Baptism

On August 15th, Anna was baptized at our church. I know some churches do baby dedications, some baptisms, some don't do anything at all. But for us this is an important service showing that we are trusting God for her salvation and entrusting her to Him. Jay and I are promising to raise her up in the church and our faith and relying upon His grace as we parent her.

We were very honored to have Jay's parents (Marcy and Steve on the left) and my mom and grandmother (Melinda and Helen on the right) there with us.

I thought this was a really sweet picture during the prayer. There's no way Jay and I can do this job without each other as we both trust God with our family. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband.

Sweet baby baptism

We are so thankful for our church and the fellowship of believers who will support and encourage us as we raise our children.

Family Time

We really enjoy having a week at the beach with our family. It's great to have uninterrupted time together to just play and enjoy each other's company. We are so thankful that everyone makes the beach week a priority to be together. This year, I had an idea that we're going to start a beach journal. We'll put our beach family photo and everyone's favorite memories in a journal each year. It will be a special treasure when we have 20-30 years of memories to look back on.

Beach Babies

The kids really had lots of fun playing on the beach and in the sand this year. Jay loves to play in the ocean (I like to look at it and listen to it) and so he got lots of beach time with the kids. Many mornings, he would have Catherine and Will out by 8am running in the waves and collecting shells.

Anna loves being outside and liked the ocean breeze. She even took her nap out there one morning for an hour and a half.

Catherine thinks it's really funny to bury her hands and feet in the sand.
She was also very proud of her sand castles. Her favorite part was looking for shells to put on top of them.
Will really likes the water. He's totally fine to get splashed and knocked down by waves. He went out one morning with PopPop and I asked him if he went in up to his tummy. He said, "no, up to my head" and he did!
His favorite activity was just running back and forth chasing the waves.
We had lots of pool time too. We'd usually alternate beach/pool in the morning and then the other one in the afternoon or evening. Somehow I never took my camera to the pool though. But they had lots of fun swimming and jumping in. I foresee lots of time at the beach and pool in the years to come.

Beach Anniversary Surprise

Marcy and Steve (Jay's parents) celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary while we were at the beach. Melissa, Andy, Jay, and I had decided to surprise them for their anniversary and take them parasailing! When we were at the beach in May they both said how they thought it looked like fun, but we knew it was something they would never go do on their own. So we scheduled a trip and the morning of Jay told them to put on their beach gear because he was taking them somewhere. I think they were a little apprehensive at first, but ended up loving it!! Marcy especially seemed thrilled and we were glad to let them have the chance to do something fun and carefree! Happy 39th anniversary!

The boat took them right in front of the beach where we were, so we were able to stay out on the beach and see them. That's them way up high!

Meeting Marshall

We were excited to meet baby Marshall at the beach. Jay got to see him when he was only 1 day old the weekend they adopted him, but the kids and I have been anxiously waiting to see this precious addition to our family. It has been a long road for Melissa and Andy and we all know that God had specifically prepared Marshall to be their son.

A few people have asked, so just to clarify, he is an African American little boy. Melissa and Andy were very open to adopting a child of any race. We know that this will have its own challenges as he grows and will present some unique situations and conversations along the way. We know that God will use him to help us see some of the prejudice that still exists not only in our society, but also in our own hearts. It has already brought up some interesting conversations with Catherine and Will. Melissa and Andy are very open and willing to talk about this aspect of their adoption and we are excited to see how God uses Marshall in all of our lives.

Here's Mommy Melissa and little Marshall at the beach. He turned one month old the week we were there!

Daddy Andy putting Marshall in the ocean for the first time. Marshall wasn't bothered by the ocean or the pool all week. He pretty much slept through the whole experience.
Big cousin Catherine with Marshall. She has been praying diligently for Melissa and Andy while they waited patiently for their baby and was excited to see God's answered prayers. When she plays with her baby dolls, she now adopts them in addition to pretending that she's pregnant.
Big cousin Will with Marshall. Will continually walked up to Marshall and sweetly said "baby Marshall" over and over again. He couldn't get enough of him. And thankfully he was much gentler with Marshall than he is with Anna!
We're glad you're part of our family Marshall and we look forward to many more beach trips together!

The Wedding

Jay's good friend Garrett got married on August 7th in Huntington. Jay was asked to be a groomsman and decided that this should be a special father-daughter date. So the two of them headed to WV on Friday, when the usual 6-7 hour car ride turned into a 9 hour car ride because Catherine kept wanting to stop and go potty. Jay also got to hear lots of stories about all of Catherine's babies. Catherine spent some time with Mimi on Friday evening while Jay went to the rehearsal and dinner.

Catherine was so excited to go to the wedding on Saturday. She has been talking about and planning for this wedding for months. She has been in a few weddings as a baby, but she really doesn't remember any of them. She was really excited to see the bride at the wedding and go to the reception for food and dancing. One day she had even suggested that she should wear her tap shoes to the reception so she could dance!

Here's the handsome daddy and beautiful little girl before the wedding:

Catherine and Mimi at the wedding
Jay enjoyed spending lots of quality time with his friend Billy that weekend too. Billy mentored Jay when he was in high school and is the pastor who married us. They liked modeling their Toms shoes for the wedding.
Apparently while at the wedding, Catherine met a new friend. Bennett (the son of a high school friend of Jay's) took a liking to Catherine. He kept coming over while she was eating and asking her to dance. She held him off until she finished her dinner....
and then they danced the night away! How cute are they!
While Jay, Catherine, and Marcy were at the wedding, Steve came down to G'ville and we all headed to the beach. Melissa, Andy, and Marshall drove down on Saturday also, and then Jay, Marcy, and Catherine met us there on Sunday. So beach pics to come soon....

4 month checkup

Anna had her 4 month checkup today. She is growing pretty well--she weighs 13 lbs 11 oz and is 25 inches long. This puts her in the 45% for weight and 72% for length. This is actually a big drop from where she was (83% in weight and 95% for length at 2 months), which confirms to me that she may really need a bottle of formula each day to supplement her feedings. Because of her allergic reaction to the formula the other week, the doctor gave me a special kind of formula to try that's made for babies with milk allergies. Hopefully she'll take it (she refused to drink any today) and it will provide the extra calories she needs. We'll just have to wait until she's a little bigger to determine if she really does have a milk allergy or not. Until then, we'll act like she does just to be on the safe side. Otherwise, she's a happy and healthy girl and we couldn't love this sweet little baby any more.

She wants to sit up and see what's going on these days. If I put her in the bouncy seat or swing, she can basically sit herself all the way up and I'm worried she's going to fall over in them. So today we tried the exersaucer and she loved it. Catherine and Will thought it was great to have her in there too.

(photos courtesy of Catherine!)

4 months old!

Last week Anna turned 4 months old! She is growing so quickly and is smiling and laughing so much. We love seeing her little personality develop. She laughs the most at Catherine, and often laughs at Will but then starts crying because he's pulling on her or laying on top of her. We're still working on him giving her some personal space! There's nothing better than picking her up and her looking at you with a big grin.

(She was smiling at Catherine in these pics.)

Will loves playing with her, even sharing his bulldozer and school bus. Again, he doesn't really understand the space issue and this is pretty much how he is with her all day--all over her giving hugs, kisses, pulling, licking. I need a recording that says "Will, back up." I'm so glad he loves her but at times it's overwhelming.

Anna is getting very good at holding onto toys and putting everything in her month. She chews and drools a lot, so I'm not sure if she's starting some teething already. I don't feel anything on her gums yet, but it wouldn't surprise me if she gets a tooth in the next 4 to 6 weeks or so.

For some reason, Anna has decided this month to start waking up again at night. My sweet baby who starting sleeping through the night at 8 weeks is now getting up once or twice at night to eat again. I'm a little concerned that I'm not getting her enough milk during the day and she's hungry. I had this same issue with Catherine and Will and had to start giving one bottle of formula each day to supplement around 5 to 6 months. I tried giving Anna a bottle of formula the other day. She actually drank it (I was shocked) but within a few hours she had broken out in a rash and hives all over her body. We're not sure what caused the allergic reaction--just that kind of formula or milk proteins?? She has her 4 month checkup at the end of this week and I'll talk with our pediatrician more about it then. I'm hoping she doesn't have a milk allergy and that we can find some formula to help supplement her feedings. Because of the allergic reaction, I'm definitely going to hold off on any baby food for a while longer. Overall though, she is growing well and is a great baby. We love our little Anna!