Our baby girl is now a year old.  It doesn’t seem possible at all…we are so thankful that God chose us to be parents of this sweet little girl.  Her personality abounds more and more every day.  Jaida is sweet and sensitive, fun loving, fearless, cuddly, and starting to show her independence a little.  We are starting some discipline with her…mostly stern voices/looks but smacking her hand as well sometimes.  And honestly, she really does crumple with her daddy especially.  He always feels bad for hurting her feelings and snuggles her afterwards though so we know she is learning that we love her even in the midst of correction.

She loves to do this to show affection as well

I think Jaida’s favorite thing to do is eat  She still takes 18oz of formula every day and loves most any food I give her, especially if it looks like what everyone else is eating.  I don’t get much baby food in her these days, unless it’s something she really likes or I alternate bites of “real” food in between.  But it’s so much easier to let her feed herself most of the time so I’m thankful she likes it!  Her favorites are sweet potatoes, green beans (especially when Aunt Wendy makes them), and bread.  The only thing I can think of that she doesn’t like is eggs.  Update:  As of today (2 weeks after her birthday) she is transitioning from formula to milk and no longer drinks from a bottle!!!  Crazy!!!!

We still have a great sleeper on our hands as well…at least as long as we’re home!  She naps for about 3 hours each day but varies in how it’s split up.  Quite often she’ll still take 2 hour morning naps and then shorter ones in the afternoon.  She goes to bed at 7:30 and recently has been sleeping until 8:00…a DREAM!!!  If they continue on this sleeping schedule, mommy needs to start going to bed early and getting up to work out

Jaida’s working hard on walking but not quite ready to do it on her own yet.  If you hold her fingers though, she’ll walk you anywhere you (read SHE) wants to go!  She’s a total climber and still into anything she’s NOT supposed to have.  I did find some of Graceyn’s old toys in the attic though and they are definitely helping.  I guess I really had mostly baby stuff out still.  She likes anything that makes music or other noise and will “dance” along as well.

For her birthday, she got her very own “Abigail” much to her sister’s delight.  She does love it though and immediately gave her hugs.  When daddy handed her the bottle that goes with it, she even stuck it straight into the baby’s mouth!  I was impressed as she held it there, letting baby drink.  It always amazes me that girls have such innate nurturing tendencies.

Her other favorite thing is to be outside, near Jake, and swinging.  As I said before, she’s pretty fearless.  So she really likes to climb up the rock wall, climb over to the slide, and if we don’t move her fast enough, head down headfirst.  Disclaimer here…someone is ALWAYS holding onto her when she goes down!!!  Daddy likes to let her go down headfirst.  So when mommy makes her sit on her bottom, she usually shakes her head “no” and tries to wiggle herself free.  So mommy has to move fast and start the sliding…then she forgets that she’s mad and enjoys the ride down

For her birthday, the girls and I went to a nearby park that has a baby swing.  Ours needs to be fixed so she can’t sit it in right now.  She squealed with delight as I pushed both girls higher and higher.  She also had fun just crawling around the other equipment and hanging from the bar.  She could actually hang for a few seconds on her own!  Very strong girl!!!

Our friends Rylan and Keegan met us there for a bit, then we all met daddy to get birthday ice cream.  Her very FIRST ice cream.  And yes, she’s our girl…she LOVED IT!!!  This shop has baby cones so she got her very own; of course wanted to hold it; and devoured every last bite, cone included.  At one point, daddy tried to take it to “clean it up a little.”  No way dad!  This girl had a death grip on that cone.  Too funny  Unfortunately, we did go the sugar free route…and quickly learned that was a bad idea.  Note to unsuspecting parents…little tummies don’t like sugar-free.  And honestly, we wouldn’t have done it on a regular basis anyway.  We were just trying to keep her sugar free for as long as possible.  Next time she’ll get the real stuff for sure!!!

After a long nap (crashing from the morning’s excitement), Rylan and Keegan (and of course their awesome mommy Aunt Gretchen) came back over to play on the swingset.  We had a fund pizza party, complete with cheese sticks for Jaida (a bad idea on top of the sugar free ice cream, sweet potatoes, and pears from earlier in the day).

When daddy got home from work, she opened her gift and had fun playing with the big kids until bedtime.  What better birthday can a 1 year old ask for?!?!

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving early with David’s family and then went to Roanoke for the holiday weekend.  Somehow no pictures were taken and I am especially sad about that now.  The kids had a BLAST running around outside, even when it was dark and cold.  My cousin Danielle was scheduled to be induced the next day so most of the ladies sat upstairs and chatted with her while the guys watched football and took turns hanging out with the kiddos. By the way…she had a beautiful baby boy the next day…his name?  Jaiden   I love that we now have Jaida, Jaiden, Gracie and Graceyn in our family!  And he is SO CUTE!!!

When we got back, it was time to decorate!  See below for pictures of the fun   I absolutely LOVE Christmas and everything that surrounds this wonderful holiday.  I am so excited to have a daughter that shares that excitement and joy.  What fun we had this year!!!  Graceyn made an Advent chain at preschool so every day we took off another loop and she’d say, “Mommy!  That means we’re getting closer to Christmas!”  She and I made chocolate chip pumpkin bread to give as gifts, she helped me wrap presents, and we talked a ton about how all of this was to celebrate Jesus’s birthday.  We read books, watched Polar Express, and drank hot chocolate.

Tall enough to reach by himself this year!

She almost fell in! Jaida had a great time climbing on the boxes and pulling out everything she could find

Our very special manger scene. My Grandaddy made the stable and the pieces were my moms. I always loved how tiny Baby Jesus is and now Graceyn does too.

Rylan and Keegan came over and all 4 kiddos had fun making the snowmen sing.

Both sets of grandparents and Aunt Allie helped us buy the girls a new playset for Christmas.  We got a great deal on craigslist so we surprised Graceyn with it a couple of weeks before Christmas, when David had time to set it up.  Both girls LOVE it!!!  Jaida is quite the daredevil already and wants to go down the slide head first.  Mommy is not a fan but daddy thinks it’s great

On Christmas morning, we had our traditional Christmas breakfast of French toast casserole and baked fruit.  I skipped out on the sausage/egg casserole this year because we had so much going on and knew we’d be traveling.  The girls each opened their books and ornaments.  Fancy Nancy and the Splendiforous Christmas with a Winnie the Pooh ornament for Graceyn.  Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (with sounds of course!) and an ornament with a boxer that looks like Jake for Jaida.  She also got a “Baby’s First Christmas” ornament.  Then we read the Christmas story together and got ready for church.  After church, we went to Manchester for a fun celebration there…lots of yummy food, more presents, kids playing, and Call of Duty for a few certain adults   When everyone was worn out there, we loaded back up and headed to Virginia.  It was a long long day for David and me but it was nice to travel while the kids were sleeping.  The next day we celebrated with my parents and sister…more yummy breakfast and lots of presents again!  My mom’s sister and her family came that afternoon as usual and we celebrated once again with them.  Pictures to follow as soon as we figure out what’s wrong with our desktop.

And that’s where our holiday fun came to an abrupt end.  As we were cleaning up the kitchen, my dad got a shocking and devastating phone call that my Uncle Rick had died suddenly that afternoon.  Apparently he had a heart attack at work.  This is the 2nd brother my dad has lost in 8 months and we’re all just a little numb from it…doesn’t seem real at all.  The rest of the week was a bit of a blur as we walked around feeling lost and just waiting for arrangements to be made.  I’m so thankful we were there for my dad and for us.  It’s amazing how much you need to be with your family in times like this.  The service was absolutely beautiful and absolutely what Uncle Rick would have wanted.  We were up on his mountain on a beautiful day with family and friends all over.  My sweet David did the service and it was just perfect.  We laughed and cried…his oldest 2 children spoke, as did my dad and Uncle Mike, and 2 other friends.  It was such a testimony to his life…a man who loved God, loved his family, loved his dogs, and loved his land.  A man who would do anything for anyone…and often did.  A father, a son, a grandfather, a brother, an uncle, a friend, a hard worker who is deeply missed.  As we drove up to the country, I was overcome with sadness.  For as long as I can remember, we have been to his house on Christmas Eve.  This year they moved it to Christmas Day but still, we were too late.  We knew we would be but didn’t realize how much we would regret it.  My dad said they had a great night together and for that I am thankful.  He was happy.  But driving there for his funeral, instead of for a fun family gathering, was so much harder than I’d imagined.  Walking into his house broke my heart.  He was supposed to come walking into the room at any moment to give us hugs and welcome us in.  Instead I found myself crying in the arms of his ex-wife, also a big part of my memories there.  After the service, we stuck around for a bonfire…a tradition in their family but the first one I had been to with them.  He would have been so happy to see us all there together.  Uncle Rick, I love you.

And that my friends was quite a post.  But that’s how life has been these days…lots of ups and some major downs thrown in the midst.  David and I spent New Year’s Eve at home on the couch while the girls were tucked in bed.  We needed some down time and that’s what we got.  We have much to be praying for as this year begins…I’m anxious to see what God has in store!

During this month, her favorite new word was “Jake” (our new dog).  She absolutely loves this adorable animal and looks for him outside the kitchen door all the time (see pic below).  She gets huge thrills out of taking him for walks and will cry for him when we have to come in.  She also finally started saying a version of “mama” though I still don’t think she’s attaching mommy to the word.

At 10.5 months, we finally went for her 9 month appt, complete with a finger prick and 4 shots.  Jaida was super brave and didn’t cry long for any of it.  She weighed in at 19lbs 4oz (50th percentile) and was 29 inches long (90th percentile).  The doctor had us continue with formula because her iron levels weren’t quite high enough, but he wasn’t concerned.  She’s eating about 20 oz of formula each day but is starting to decrease slowly.  She still loves solid foods and it shows on those awesome little thighs and cheeks of hers!

Sometime around Thanksgiving, she started to do a “real” crawl…belly off the floor.  Not long after that, she was pulling up and climbing…now she is cruising.  So I’m thinking she may take off walking before too much longer!  She still loves to get into anything she’s not supposed to and the Christmas tree is very tempting for those little hands.

11 Months

We can tell that her language skills are starting to develop more.  She says “uh oh,” “hi,” and “yes” fairly often.  I have even heard her attempt “thank you” several times!  I’m pretty sure she has said “I did it” as well.  She nods and shakes her head, though not usually in the appropriate response   She loves to make different noises with her mouth and will now smack her tongue if she’s hungry and I ask her if she wants to eat.  She’ll also wave for “bye bye” and “night night.”

Mommy is so happy to hear her little girl calling for her “mama” now!  She is starting to get pretty attached, but still doesn’t have any problems going into the nursery at church or being handed off to others.    She’s more of a daddy’s girl anyway and rarely chooses anyone else if he’s around.  I love to watch her lean towards him, arms out, just smiling, kicking and laughing away!  What a welcome home to him after a long day at work too.  My sweet Uncle Rick is the only one she’s seemed “afraid” of until tonight…we learned that she is NOT a fan of Santa Claus!  We have no idea why she cried around Uncle Rick but I’m hoping that she’ll be over that if we get to see them at Christmas.  Santa, I can understand

We are looking forward to Christmas and more time to spend together as a family.  I am so thankful that Jaida is in my class at PMO so I can be with her on those days, even though I’m working.  It’s fun to watch her learn to play with other children.  Of course they don’t really play together yet but she is learning how to interact, be gentle, etc.  She loves to watch other people, hear/dance to the music we sing, and play with all the toys.  What a fun age this is!!!

We started on the Saturday before her birthday with a party at the park...lots of friends were there and she was SO excited!

We had pumpkin cupcakes with chocolate frosting...

And had lots of fun on the playground and by the river.

On the morning of her birthday, she received a special phone call from Gram and Grandaddy as soon as she woke up Note the "I'm oh so grown up" body posture!

We had camp at church that day so I was able to grab this pretty picture...LOVE that she was climbing trees in her dress!

Aunt Gretchen treated us to a birthday treat downtown after camp was over...yum!!!

Good to the very last drop...that's my girl.

Our birthday girl was definitely wiped out after all that fun! She grabbed a quick nap in the car, snuggled with mommy for a few minutes, and waited for daddy to get home. I didn't get a picture of dinner but we went to Cracker Barrel at her request...pancakes and eggs of course! She got a bathrobe and slippers from her future husband, Rylan...books and a movie from her future brother-in-law, Keegan...and a doctor's kit from mommy and daddy.

On Sunday, we had a great time celebrating in Manchester! She had MORE cake, presents, playing in the leaves, and a yummy dinner with our family there.

And to top it all off, she got a new Abigail (this makes #3) from Gram and Grandaddy. For those of you who don't know Abigail, this has been her favorite baby since she got her for Christmas when she was a year old. Number one has a broken arm and number two is lost. Gram and Grandaddy searched EVERYWHERE for this one...twice actually because the first time around they were looking for the wrong doll. Mommy looked online and in Chattanooga. Apparently they are being discontinued at Walmart but not at Target. A friend of Gram's was about to drive to Bedford to look when Gram and mommy both found her at the same time...one at Target in Roanoke and the other at Target in Chattanooga. The look on her face made it all TOTALLY worth it and hopefully THIS Abigail will stick around!

As you can tell, our girl has lots of people who love her and we had lots of fun celebrating her this year!

Graceyn is really enjoying her Wednesday pre-school this year.  She loves learning so much and gets really excited about the new things she can do!  Her class at PMO this year is also more academically oriented so she’s learning how to write her letters, what sounds the letters make, etc.  She’s doing great with tracing, cutting, AND writing!  Last week she learned how to write the letter “P” and was so thrilled that, when I picked her up from Sunday School a few days later, she had written “P” all over her paper

She’s also taking dance once a week and does Pioneer Club at church on Wednesday nights.  She loves dance and is really picking up the different positions well.  She’ll even name them…passe, plie, arabesque.  They do ballet, jazz, and tap all rolled into one class so the girls get a taste of each style.  At Pioneer Club they are encouraging memory work with Bible verses, so I’m excited to work with her on that!  She and I have started using naptime most afternoons as a time to read her Bible together and then either have our own quiet time on the bed together or nap (depending on how tired mommy is!).  I really enjoy that time but it’s also been really hard to give up that “productive” time when I feel pulled to do work or household chores.  For now though, at least on some days, the laundry and dishes pile up, the floors go unswept, and I have that time with my girl

Yesterday was her actual birthday.  Of course, she wasn’t born until just after 7pm so all day she asked, “Am I 4 now?” And I would tell her, “in just a few more hours you will be!”  So when I told her, “Guess what Graceyn…you’re officially 4 now” her eyes got big and she said with amazement, “I am?  I’m 4 now?  Wow!  Let me go see how big I am!!!”  She ran into the bathroom, stood on the stool in front of the mirror, got down and moved it aside, then looked again exclaiming, “WOW!  I AM 4 now!!!”  Soooo cute

We had a great day celebrating our girl.  She woke up super early and had a phone call from Gram and Grandaddy to start the day.  At camp she got to make her own pizza for lunch.  Then we went to get ice cream with our friends Gretchen, Rylan and Keegan.  After a short nap (because she fell asleep in the car) we read books together.  And for dinner she chose Cracker Barrel for pancakes and eggs   No surprise there!  And today she woke up asking, “Mommy, am I still 4?”  “Yes, sweetheart…you’ll be 4 all year!”  And of course she replied, “And then I’ll be FIVE!!!”  She also told her daddy today, “I’m almost bigger than you are daddy because I’m 4 now!”  How we love our girl!!!

Decorating her pumpkin cupcakes before the party

YUM!!!

She loved handing out treat bags to all her friends! She even did that BEFORE opening her own presents

The Party Crew!

In the pictures below, Jaida is wearing the same dress Graceyn wore on her 1st birthday!!!  Our youngest girl is no longer skinny…I think solid food has been good for her.  It will be so interesting to find out her height and weight when we go for her next checkup.  That’s not until later this month though so I’ll have to post those stats another time.

She has started eating 3 “meals” a day most days…I think her favorites are acorn squash and pretty much any fruit.  She also eats oatmeal, avocado, plain yogurt, carrots, and peas.  I’ve also given her a pureed form of Shepherd’s Pie when we had leftovers from dinner.  We’ve discovered that her little tummy can’t handle bananas any more than once a week.  And she’s eating 22 oz of formula per day.

Jaida already loves reading books and playing games together.  She especially loves peek-a-boo and sitting/standing on daddy’s hand.  For those of you fortunate enough to have NOT witnessed this event, I’m sure I’ll get pictures of it eventually.  Daddy is very excited to see glimpses of daredevil in our girl.  She has a great “skydiver” pose as he says…usually because she wants someone to pick her up.  She also likes it when we sing songs and clap her hands for her.

Her daily routine is fairly similar to last month’s except that we’re into a pretty full schedule in the mornings now (Bible study on Mondays and PMO Tues/Thurs) so many of her morning naps are only an hour now.  I try to help her make up that time in the afternoons but it doesn’t always work.  It’s so hard for me to compromise the amount of rest she gets during the day but she’s still getting a total of about 14 hours. And if she’s fussy in the evening we just put her down early.  She’s gotten into the habit of waking up during the night…sometimes fussy and sometimes playing…but I can usually just leave her to fall asleep again on her own.  I think she’s probably trying to get more teeth.

Her Daddy loves it when she scrunches up her nose!

This summer, David and I took Graceyn to see her first theater movie…Winnie the Pooh.  When my dad asked her what we were going to see she said, “Pinnie the…Pinnie the Wooh??” like she knew she had it wrong but couldn’t quite get the words out

While we were on a walk together one day she told me that she wanted to be a police officer when she grows up.  A few days later we were running by the river and she saw someone fishing.  She said she’d really like to go fishing one day so I told her that I was sure daddy and Josh would take her when she got older. “But mommy, I want to be a police officer when I get older!”  She was very surprised and excited to hear that she could do BOTH

David just got back from NY where he was helping with relief efforts from the flood.  Before he left, we were talking with Graceyn and preparing her for daddy leaving again (he’d just gotten back from Japan a week before he was heading back out).  She wanted to make sure he was going to be safe and asked lots of “good” questions but our favorite was, “Daddy do they have grocery stores in New York?”  And when she found out that they do indeed have grocery stores there she asked, “Can you bring me suckers?”  Daddy had started a trend I guess because, on his first trip to Japan back in April, remembering our girl’s love for suckers, he brought her back some special suckers from Japan…and now the tradition has stuck!

This morning she saw me fixing breakfast and informed me that she’d “rather not eat breakfast” because her tummy was hurting.

She can hold her own bottle…a lifesaver for mommy!  Up until the past few days we’ve had to place her hands on the bottle before she’ll do it but now she will grab onto it as soon as it’s in her mouth…at least sometimes.

She sits up with no problem…starting around 7.5 months

She has her 2 bottom middle teeth.

She has just mastered the army crawl and can get around fairly well now.  She gets in push up position quite often as well but hasn’t figured out the real crawling technique yet.

She has said “mama” but it’s still not consistent.  She also says “nana” and “hi” now and loves to wave!!!

She FINALLY sleeps on her own and through the night.  As a matter of fact, she and Graceyn now share a bedroom.  That’s been a HUGE step for her!  They are learning to sleep through each other’s noises and do very well together for the most part.  At first Graceyn would try to sing Jaida back to sleep anytime she made a noise.  That would of course wake Jaida up completely and we’d have to settle them both back down.  But they have learned really fast.  We still don’t put them in the same room at naptime because Graceyn doesn’t usually sleep.  So she’s usually in our bed unless Jaida’s naps are thrown off and she doesn’t go down when Graceyn does.
Her new routine looks something like this:
6:45 – 7:15 Wake up (If she wakes up before 7:15 she plays very well in her crib and we’ve realized it doesn’t wake up Graceyn at all.  Yesterday she played happily for almost an hour, went back to sleep, and then slept through Graceyn getting up at 8:15!!!)

8:00ish Bottle (8oz)

10:00  Nap (Usually 2 hours)

12:00ish Bottle (6oz) and solids – she loves yogurt with pears or applesauce and mango with avocado

2:00 Nap (About an hour)

4:30ish solids

5 – 5:30  Bottle (8oz)

7:00 Bedtime (We have learned that if she’s in bed by 7:00 she will go to sleep SUPER easy but if we push it much later she has a hard time)
This is one of my favorite times with our girl because, as soon as we are in her room with the lights out, her head goes to my shoulder.  I just love it!  We either listen to music or I sing/hum “Jesus
Loves Me” and she goes down.  So sweet, simple and fun

Our girl continues to be a sweet, happy, playful little Jaida.  It’s very fun to figure out things that she loves to do…she pants and kicks her legs when she gets really excited about something.  We are so blessed to have her in our family!

David has been to Japan (Schapayan as Graceyn says) twice since April and is now in New York.  It has been hard on Graceyn for daddy to be gone so much but I really believe God is using this time to train her little heart.  She is learning what it’s like to serve others; have compassion on them; give up time with family to show God’s love to people we don’t even know.  She is learning about sacrifice and hard work.  She is most importantly learning (we hope) about God’s unfathomable love and grace!  We have seen Graceyn’s sinful heart alot lately…mainly at bedtime when disobedience, disrespect, and plain old defiance run rampant.  And today, starting this morning, I begged God for His grace at bedtime.  I am at the point where I HATE bedtime and I HATE that I hate it.  But I dread it every night.  And I kind of think Graceyn knows that and dreads it as well.  Tonight…we experienced GRACE!!!  I reminded her that she would have to go to bed early because letting her stay up late wasn’t helping her make good choices at bedtime.  She of course didn’t like that idea but she didn’t fight it at all and was in bed, silent, by 7:20.  I am thankful.  Today I also read part of a book about how we need to lavish our children with the love of Jesus.  It’s about grace filled parenting.  And I need to can’t wait to read it cover to cover.  The author reminds us that we cannot parent simply to make our children obey.  Discipline cannot be our focus.  Our focus must be Jesus.  If only my focus was Jesus every day…maybe my own heart would not be as stubborn at bedtime.  Because I do know that her fits are not entirely her fault.  By the end of the day I am tired and ready for her to wind down.  She isn’t.  So my focus needs to be on Jesus…I need to start our routine earlier so she can have more time that she desperately needs.  And maybe, just maybe, I’ll start to enjoy bedtime again. Tonight gave me a glimpse of hope

On a lighter note…MUCH lighter…I love this girl so much!  Her spirit is so full of energy, a true high spirited child.  She is passionate about every emotion and I hope to embrace that more and more as I learn more about her little personality.  My prayer is that I will not squelch that spirit but help her learn how to express it and then enjoy it as her mom.  When David learned that he would be heading to New York we decided to collect some stuffed animals for the team to distribute to children who had lost their things in the flood.  Of course I wanted Graceyn to be involved.  When we first chatted about it, she was NOT happy with this idea because ALL of her stuffed animals were “special to me” and she didn’t like the idea of giving ANY of them away.  I was a little annoyed at this selfish attitude but quickly reminded myself that she is only 3 years old and this is the time to teach selflessness, not expect it to come naturally.  And really…does it EVER come naturally?  Not for me!  So why would I expect it from her?  Anyway, after we talked for awhile I decided to drop it and revisit the topic another time.  A day or 2 later, we were walking with a friend, and she brought it up saying that she was going to give some of her stuffed animals to the children in New York.  When we got home, she went up to her room, picked several out, and excitedly walked them down to her daddy.  Of course she does say that those aren’t special ones so she can give them away   But we’ll take it!

Her spirit shows in so many ways in our daily lives.  If she’s hurt, she cries loudly.  If she’s excited, she’s jumping up and down squealing.  If she’s sad she is VERY sad.  If she’s mad, she’s hitting or screaming.  If she’s concerned about someone or something she does everything she can to take care of it.  She’s compassionate and loves to help other people.  She’s animated when she talks.  She is our girl and we love her.

And just because I loved it…we were at the farmers’ market with a friend who offered to share some zucchini that she was buying.  As we were putting a few into our bag to take home, Graceyn bursts into tears and says, “No! I want my own zaqueenie!”  How could I not laugh?!

And just because I know posts are no fun without pictures these are from sometime this summer when we went to pick blueberries with our friends…

“I love running with you you and I love walking with you and I love doing alot of things but I do not love to eat shrimp because I do not like shrimp.”  So random!

“Let’s have a little Graceyn and me time”  (aka mommy and me time)

“Mom, you’re cute.”

“This is what I want to do for my birthday. And then we can eat cupcakes in our mouths!”

“You’re my favorite mommy.” (melts my heart!!!)

And just because a post isn’t nearly as fun without a picture, here is one of Graceyn in front of a mural at our church.  We have been busy re-painting the nurseries there and she got to help with this wall…a VERY big deal!!!