Creepy Crawler!

The gate is up, the electrical plugs are hidden, the "keepsakes" are off the floor...all because Siena is officially crawling!!! It's hard to believe she is old enough to do such a thing, but she's on the move!
Saturday, Siena and I went to Jefferson City to watch a bit of Matt's track meet. Okay, in all honesty, we went down there to pick Matt up from the track meet so we could spend some daylight time with him. He left at 7:00am that morning and wasn't going to be getting back till 10:00pm. I considered it worth it to drive down there, see a few of the boys run, and then drive back with Matt. That gave us the evening to spend time together...well worth it.
Anyways, Siena and I are were in the car quite a bit on Saturday. When we all got back home Saturday evening, we sprawled out on the floor and played with toys and stuffed animals. I stepped out of the room for a minute to get something, and when I came back into the family room, Siena got up on all fours, and CRAWLED over to me. I looked at Matt and said, "That's crawling! Siena just crawled!" Sure enough, away she went. No army crawl, no scooting, a full-out baby crawl. And it must have been a "decision" in her head because she didn't do any working up to it throughout the day. She went from the car seat to a crawl, just like that. Man! (Pesonally, I think she just wanted to wait for her momma and daddy to be home and in the same room at the same time so she could show off to BOTH of us...how sweet of her.) :)
So now, as parents quickly find out, she's getting around into anything she likes. We had to put a gate up to block our stairs. (I had a healthy warning from my friend Amanda, whose Brady crawled right to the stairs to "have a look" and about got more than he bargained for!) We have moved stuff out of her reach, and basically, always keep one eye on her. :) She really likes the freedom, though. I think she likes being able to crawl to get the toy she wants, or crawl to the person she wants to see, or crawl to find something new that we accidentally left on the floor. :) And it's fun for us to watch her too! She's a determined little thing!
I will attempt to show you crawling through pictures. It's not as good as the real thing, but I think you'll get the point. (Don't mind the almost naked baby...we all like our freedom sometimes, right?!) :)

For Siena, a cell phone is the perfect motivation to move!










And now, off to bigger and better things...

8 Months!!

Our little sweetheart is 8 months old already!! Where has the time gone? Siena is getting so big and she's got quite the personality to go along with it! Everyone always says that whatever stage you are in with your kids, that's the one you love. It's so true! Each time she grows into a new stage of life, it gets that much more fun.
Siena is doing all kinds of fun things these days. She is quite the chatterbox, for sure! She is not quiet about it either. She loves to say, "Da, da, da..." (that was inevitable - she loves her daddy!) and "Go, go, go..." and "Ba, ba, ba...". She has lots of other sounds too. She has her "chew-backa" sounds (a weird sort or gurgling in the back of her throat) and her "ah-ah-ah-ah" sound. She tries to whistle and sometimes, she just makes really loud noises, simply to hear herself, I think.
Siena is also waving. She gets her whole body into it when she waves! Her legs get to moving and her arms and shoulders bounce up and down. But she really is intentional about her waves. We were sitting outside on the front steps and she waved at cars as they passed by! She also loves to wave to people. Who doesn't love an innocent wave from a baby?!
She is also very mobile. She sits up with no problems at all. She now can "gracefully" transition from sitting up to laying on her tummy. Just recently, she has also learned to scoot around. She gets up on all 4 and does some major rocking! She's "getting her engines ready!" But, to move around, she does the "injured army crawl" - lots of upper body strength to carry her weight around! She's not officially crawling, but that doesn't seem far off in the distance. And she can definitely get where she wants to go - even if it's not quite as fast as she would like. :)
She's eating all sorts of foods too. She's a huge fan of pears. On the other hand, asparagus seriously cleans her system out (to put it politely) and I don't think I will be feeding those to her again in the very near future. She's a great eater and for the most part, eats whatever I put on the spoon. She's nibbling on some puff cereal bits, which she likes to play with just as much as eat. I will have to say, I look forward to the day when she can eat with us and eat the things we do. It will be way more fun for her too! But for now, I'll continue to cook up, steam, roast, and puree her food! :)
We have truly been blessed with a really content, happy baby. She is smiling all the time (and making us smile) and really goes with the flow pretty well. She loves to be outside. She has found a new love - sitting in the shopping cart without her car seat...total freedom! She loves to bounce and jump and hop around. She loves to stand up. She loves music - especially on Sunday mornings during worship. She loves to "clean up the carpet" by finding every little speck of dirt or lint and meticulously picking it up with her 2 fingers. She loves to try and scratch my freckles and moles off my skin. She loves to swing. She loves to play peek-a-boo. She loves to "read" her books that have different textures and colors. She loves her mommy and daddy - a bit of a stage that makes it difficult for us to leave her in the nursery or with a friend. :)
As a mom, I am so proud of her. I love spending time with Siena. I love watching her grow and learn and discover new things. She totally slows my pace of life down and forces me to enjoy the simple pleasures in life. God is constantly teaching me about patience, confidence, understanding, beauty, and what's really important in life. She is a blessing and I am so thankful she is a part of our family.



Swinging and playing outside! (So excited that it's spring now and weather is so nice!!)







A new toy that Siena is learning to love! :)

Picking "Flowers"

Just the other day, Matt thought it would be a good idea to pick out the dandelions from the front yard. You never know if a potential buyer drives by!! I was making dinner, so he took Siena to pick them with him. In the pouch she went! I must admit that I stopped cooking for a few minutes to watch my husband and daughter out in the yard. I must also admit that I chuckled out loud at the sight I saw. How cute is that...daddy and his baby girl spending time together, picking weeds. Precious. :) I know Matt got a workout bending down every time he saw a dandelion with Siena attached to him. It's good for him!
Another thought that popped into my head while I was watching them...someday, Siena is going to pick those "pretty flowers" and we're going to put them in a little vase and think they are the most beautiful flowers ever. And really mean it.
For now, however, they're going into the trash so we don't have to look at all the weeds in our yard...

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all!
What a beautiful day to celebrate a very beautiful realization of what Christ has done for us.
This Easter was extra special for us, simply because of Siena. She does make the holidays better and the celebrations more joyful!
Every girl has to have a beautiful Easter dress, right? I found Siena's a few weeks ago at a really great restaurant/shop. I totally fell in love with the dress, actually wishing they made one in my size. I paid way too much for the dress, as girls usually do when we find something we just "can't live without"...but, there's only one first Easter...and I rationalized it by saying she would wear it to a wedding this summer and as many other times as I can get her in it before she outgrows it. :) Grandma Sharon also got Siena a darling little lamb coat that was too cute for words. Siena was set for her Easter entrance! Before putting Siena in the dress, I definitely had a pep talk with her. I begged her not to spit up all over the dress right after eating asparagus or have a major blow out and destroy the dress completely. Yes, I begged a 7-month-old not to do what she does best, but I had to at least try. And she granted my wish! She wore it most of the day and looked absolutely adorable in it. Thank you, Siena! I owe you one for that... :)
After church, we put on a little Easter Egg Hunt in the church's lawn. All the kids ran around and picked up eggs and pencils and treats. It was fun to see all the girls in their pretty dresses running around and scooping up eggs. After the egg hunt, we went to Aunt Linda and Uncle JD's house for Easter dinner with the family. We also had a little Egg Hunt for all the little kids in the backyard. Matt and I packed a couple eggs with cereal puffs for Siena. You can't tease a child by putting candy in an egg and then not let them have it! If Siena's going to find eggs, she might as well be able to eat what's inside! She sure liked that treat! When did we grow up enough to have our own kids searching for eggs? Just yesterday WE were the ones searching for the eggs! To keep us a little young at heart, the "big kids" searched around the yard for some candy too. When big kids search, it's an all out war. Every man for himself (and his candy)!
The rest of the day was spent relaxing and spending time with family. It was a really pretty day outside, so we spent a lot of it outside. A great, spring day! We will look back on Siena's first Easter with fond memories...

Siena packed in tightly in the lamb coat, ready to go to church!


Our little lovely...






It was a pretty sunny day out, so Grandma Sharon to the rescue with some sweet shades! Hollywood, here we come!!

Teeth Poppin' Up!

Yep, that's right...Siena's got a couple of teeth sprouting up! We have been waiting for them for months! At three months, we noticed a couple little "holes" where the little baby teeth were going to be coming through. We thought the teeth were going to be following shortly. On top of that, Siena was putting everything in her mouth - I mean everything! That's a clear sign, right? She's been gnawing on fingers, toes, toys, necklaces...anything she can get her hands on. Every time someone saw her doing her usual gnawing, they would say, "Oh, teeth must be coming soon!!" And each time, I had to respond with, "Yeah, that's what we thought too...for the past 3 or 4 months!" Who knows, right?
But, last week, I noticed Siena's little tongue really going over her gums like crazy. Way more than normal. I hesitated thinking that teeth were coming because I have been thinking they were right around the corner for like 4 months! But, sure enough...up they popped! All in her own time...could that be the story of her life? Maybe seeing her same-aged buddy Brady's SEVEN teeth made her a little jealous. :) She wanted to join the club!
Now, the tricky part: trying to capture a photo of a baby's tooth! But I know the family and friends in Michigan are chompin' at the bit to see the tooth...so it was my mission to get it. Here's what I could come up with...look closely!! (And in the process, I got some other cute pictures - so enjoy those too!)

Can you see the precious little tooth...on her right side? Booyah!



She's got a cool tongue trick.


And then, just some cute ones...

The Sleepover

Siena and one of her best buddies, Brady, got to spend a lot of time together the past few days. Rusty and Amanda left town for a few days and we got to watch Brady! Brady and Siena have grown up together...all 7 months of their lives. :) Amanda had Brady one day after I had Siena. Since then, they have had no choice but to hang out together!
We had a lot of fun! They are both on such similar schedules. The only time that got a little tricky is when they were both due for a little food. They weren't very patient with one person trying to feed them both. :) But watching them play together was fun. They both liked the same toys at the same time. When one would pick up a toy, the other one wanted that toy too. I didn't think that started so soon!! Brady loved Siena's hair...and wasn't afraid to pull it! Siena didn't seem to mind, so I took the opportunity to snap a few pictures. Bad mom moment? Brady was a trooper and handled the new environment very well.
On Saturday, we got to watch Bryce, Brady's older brother, too. He's at such a fun age and Matt and Bryce love to play around together. All would have been great and fine...except we got a call from our realtor that they were going to show our house in an hour and a half and we needed to be out. Normally, no problem. With 3 kids and a "kid trashed" house, we had our work cut out for us. First off, we had to find a car seat for Bryce to use so he could be in the car with us when we finally got out of the house. Emily saved us on that one! I had to feed both the babies and occupy Bryce while Matt threw toys and blankets and stuff in the van, just to get it out of the house. We had to vacuum and spruce up while the little ones wanted nothing to do with any of that. And to add a little more laughter to the picture, while trying to get them all in the car, I find Bryce covered in vaseline from Siena's room! I had to just stop and laugh! We were a complete circus! And if you can't laugh at it, well, I just chose to laugh. The plan was to drive to Rusty and Amanda's house and let the kids play there while we waited for the showing to finish. About 10 minutes in the car, and all 3 were zonked out. Smart parent move: keep driving!! We ran a couple errands, ate a little lunch, and then finally back to our house - all while the 3 little ones slept.
A really great weekend. Bryce and Brady are such special boys and we love them a lot. Siena's got her work cut out for her trying to keep up with them!! :)

Brady and Siena love playing together!





"If that's the toy you're playing with, that's the one I want..."



"Fine, if I don't get the toy, I'll just play with your hair!"


"And if you pull my hair, I'll tweek your piggies!"


Off for a walk in the beautiful spring weather!



Gotta love bath time!

God Is Good.

There are a million things I could say to follow up the title of this blog. God has richly blessed our family. I look at my sweet baby girl every morning and get teary-eyed sometimes...we are so blessed. I kiss my husband on his way out the door every morning and smile, knowing I have a partner for life. God is good. Here's another reason why...
Before Siena came into our lives, the plan was always set for me to go back to work after having the first year off with her. That was the plan, and I was good with it. Then Siena was born. That changed everything. I didn't think I was going to be able to leave her and go back to work. I craved the time we spent together every day. I missed her when I wasn't around her. In my head, I struggled with the idea of going back to work. I knew that if I HAD to go back to work, I would need the perfect opportunity, the perfect team, the perfect place to go back and teach. My prayer for about 6 months was to make it very clear what I needed to do...as a mother and for my family. After looking at our financial situation, it really looked like it was going to be best for our family if I went back to work. (Our decision for me to stay home with Siena for this year was one of the best decisions I ever made.) I think because that didn't really give me a choice, I very quickly became okay with it. God totally changed my heart and showed me that maybe I'm not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom and that going back into the classroom was an exciting thing to think about. So, that's when that prayer for the perfect opportunity came right back into play. Again, God totally blessed that.
I will be teaching 3rd grade (again...and I LOVE that!) at Thomas Ultican Elementary. There are a lot of reasons why that is perfect. I have a couple friends that teach there, one being my future "teammate" in 3rd grade. She assured me that I was going to LOVE my new team...great girls to work with! I hear nothing but really great things about the principal, which is huge. TUE just had a whole bunch of renovation and work done on its building to make it look beautiful. It's a north school, meaning that someday, Matt will teach the kids that I had in 3rd grade. How fun will that be!? It's an early school, meaning I get out of school a little earlier, which is always nice. In other words, the perfect spot. A complete answered prayer.
That all being said, FSE was a wonderful home for 3 years. I had students who I will never forget, friends I will continue to have for a long time, a principal who was nothing but supportive and wonderful, and memories that will make me laugh for a very long time.
So, long story short, I have a wonderfully funny and amazing husband, a daughter who is pure joy and contentment, and now a job that I am excited to go back to. God is good.

PS. Check out our church's blog. Some AMAZING stories of mercy and what people are doing in the community for one another. Speaking of God being good...
gwcbs.blogspot.com