My favorite moment of 2010

2010 brought us many exciting changes. What will 2011 bring?

Merry Christmas 2010!

We spent Halle's first Christmas at home. Both of our families were able to come over for Christmas morning as well. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and watched Halle open a ton of presents. Santa (aka the grandparents) was VERY good to Halle this year!

Here's a picture of our Christmas baby to enjoy. Merry Christmas!

6-month stats

Halle had her 6-month well-check today. Here's the stats:

Weight: 18 lbs, 6 oz (88%)
Length: 27 inches (88%)

We seem to be tapering off in the growth area - but our pediatrician was very pleased with Halle's development! She is sitting well on her own and able to grasp small object (such as cheerios) with her pointer finger and thumb and bring them to her mouth. Halle still will only roll when she feels like it (less than 10 times so far) and she has made minimal effort in the crawling are, but she loves to stand and walk in her activity center!

We are looking forward to spending our first Christmas with the little bug!

Look who's 6 months old today!

Wow! We can not believe it's been six months since our little boobah joined our family. Here's a look at Halle at 6 months:

I sleep like an angel. 12 hours a night plus two naps.

I do the laundry. Just kidding - but I like to help!

I eat like a champ no matter how the food comes.

I'm a pro now at solids and will eat rice and oatmeal cereal, butternut squash, peaches, corn, bananas, mango and applesauce, as well as the occasional plate of french fries!

I sit up all by myself now and I get so frustrated when I can't move. I also love to play play play! I like peek-a-boo and chewing on my toys the best (but chewing on Mommy and Daddy's faces is also fun).

It's a Scentsy Christmas Party!

Come enjoy a night of fun and delicious eateries!



Monday, December 6, 6:30 pm @ my house



(need directions? email or facebook me)



Please come enjoy good company, good food/beverage, and good scents!



(also appreciate the fact that my house is a: decorated in a pleasing Christmas-style and b: doesn't smell of dirty diapers!)

Thanksgiving 2010

Here are a few pictures from Thanksgiving 2010. I went to work while Jim and Halle went to dinner at his parents' house. We weren't able to get many pictures of the little bug in her Thanksgiving outfit (we'll stage a picture for you once it's washed) but here are a few pictures of her interacting with her friend Calvin. Do you notice how well we pose for the camera?

Little Chubbie!

This picture makes us laugh every time. We love our little chub-chub! Teehee!

Snow, snow and more snow!

We have been seeing some awesome snowfall here this past week. Jim was especially excited to have snow for his birthday. Here's a picture Jim took measuring the snow on Tuesday (11/23) and our house in the winter wonderland. And yes, we've had our Christmas decorations up since the middle of November!

Of course no post would be complete without our little snowflake!

Happy 30th birthday Daddy!

Jim turned 30 this year on November 24. We celebrated at home this year with friends and family. As many of you know, I love doing a big "birthday surprise" for Jim every year... and this year was no different. Jim and his friend Keith are off to Seattle this weekend to enjoy their first live NFL game (Seahawks vs KC Chiefs)! Jim is SO excited and I am glad to be able to do this for him (although I am slightly nervous about him traveling across the state in this weather).

As exciting as the game is, I've included some pictures of Jim's favorite 30th birthday gift below. We love you Daddy!

Snow!

We had our first winter storm of the season hit on November 22 this year... which is uncharacteristically early for us. I think the final snowfall was somewhere around 7 inches. Now it is bitterly cold which means the streets have turned to ice-rinks. Needless to say, Jim, Halle and I have been pretty much home-bound the past few days. We feel very blessed to have a warm home to stay in!

This is a video from Jim's birthday looking into our backyard. The grill is lying on it's side like that from the wind storms prior to the snow. The gusts at our house were 60-80 mph and that old grill blew about 15 feet from it's original location.

5 Months Old!

Miss Halle Arianne is 5 months old today! Here's what our little boobah is up to these days:

- Standing. Not rolling or crawling. That's for babies and I'm a big girl!

- Putting anything and everything on our mouth. We especially like to pull on Mommy and Daddy's hair while trying to eat their faces. We also really enjoy rubbing our hand over Daddy's facial hair!

- Giggling. We giggle all the time... especially at other people (babies and adults). We are extremely social and love to interact!

- Playing with our feet. If our thighs weren't so chunky we would have them in our mouth!

- Eating... sort-of. Rice cereal was an epic fail. Bananas were a little better. We still aren't sure about that whole spoon thing either!

- Drooling out our outfits... but still no teeth. Yet.

- Wearing 9-month-size clothes ad size-3 diapers. Yes, we are a big girl!

- Sleeping 12 solid hours a night. Be jealous.

- Talking up a storm. No real words but lots of sounds (and giggles!).

- Observing EVERYTHING! Daddy and Mommy put up the Christmas tree today and I'm fascinated! I also love o check out lights, fans, fire, and Daddy during worship.

Happy Halloween!

If I was really on the ball these would have been posted yesterday.

However, between church, taking Halle "trick-or-treating" at the grandparent's, and putting on a party at our house, blogging was the last thing on my mind when Jim and I took our collective sigh at the end of a VERY busy weekend.

So here are a few pictures from Halle's first Halloween. I wish I had been smart/thoughtful enough to get some of her at the 2nd annual youth bonfire night (Saturday) or at our Halloween party (Sunday) but I confess I was barely able to accomplish the bare minimum this weekend. Sadly, the next few weeks will not be any better.

Enough of the depressing thoughts... enjoy the world's cutest little kitty!

4-Month Stats

We had our 4-month well-check today.

16 lbs, 8 ounces.
26" long.

Roughly 95% for height and weight.

And Mommy is pained to realize our 6-month onesies are tight. And to realize we may outgrow our infant carrier before we turn 1.

Of course that's not completely sad as Halle + infant carrier = 26 lbs. Did I mention I'm getting some nice biceps?

4 Months Old!

Hi! My name is Halle and I'm 4 months old today! Here's what I do at 4 months:

- I roll from my tummy to my back and ALMOST from my back to my tummy.

- I LOVE to stand and will bounce from side-to-side (just like I do in my favorite toy - the jumperoo!).

- I eat a solid 8 ounces at every feeding. And I stare at Mommy and Daddy's food intently.

- I sleep 12 hours at night (unless I'm growing or didn't get good naps the day before!). When I wake up, I will smile A LOT at Mommy and Daddy. I love waking up to their faces!

- I am a drool-monster and put everything in my mouth! So far I find the taste of my teething toys lacking (and usually make the funniest face after chewing on one).

- I'm SO over those Baby Einstein videos. Now I enjoy watching the animals on Planet Earth and NFL with Daddy (I love staring at the bright colors and sounds those football games have!).

- I will only tolerate car rides if Mommy has "The Jesus Storybook Bible" on audio cd playing. It's my favorite!

- I love when Mommy and Daddy teach me about Jesus! I get to listen to Pastor Mark teach about Jesus with Mommy everyday. I don't yet sit still enough to read Bible stories but I certainly get excited when Mommy and Daddy talk about Jesus!

- I love watching Daddy worship every Sunday morning and I will bounce from side-to-side, shake my arms, and jabber excitedly the whole time. However, when Pastor Keith starts to talk I've been getting fussy and Mommy and I have spent the past few Sundays in the nursery.

- My favorite time of day is bedtime. I go from tired and fussy to happy and excited as soon as Mommy pulls my jammies out! I love to tell Mommy and Daddy about my day on the changing pad, then I snuggle in to feed while Mommy and Daddy pray and sing over me.

- I'm such a big girl! I celebrated my 4-month birthday with a new wardrobe... 6-month-sized clothes, 9-month-sized jammies, and size 3 diapers!

- Speaking of diapers, my favorite place to *ahem* do my business is my bouncer. Mommy and Daddy call it the "laxa-bouncer"!

- My favorite toys are my kitty and Sophie the giraffe. I love chewing on my kitty and can ALMOST get the paci attached into my mouth. When Mommy makes Sophie the giraffe squeak my whole face lights up!

- My favorite activity is watching Daddy when he makes silly sounds! I get very excited and giggle every time he does! I love my Daddy!

- When I don't feel very good there is nothing better than snuggling with my Mommy. I love to bury my face into her shoulder!

- Mommy and Daddy still call me "Littles" but they also have new nicknames for me! Daddy's is "Little bug" and Mommy's is "Boo-bah".

- I love posing for the camera. Every time one comes out I will look straight at it!

One year ago...

... I opened my eyes to find this:

Today, I open my eyes to find this:

And this:

Doesn't that just make you smile?

How far we've come

This picture was taken about six weeks ago. Jim was out of town and I was at home with Halle by myself. I was trying to convince myself and everyone around me that I was NOT dealing postpartum depression and that I had Mommy-hood down.

And that is when Halle stopped sleeping. Seriously. At her worst, she went 28. hours. straight without sleeping.

I thought I was going to kill her. Or myself.

I took this picture when she finally slept for a few hours and I remember cringing because she is sleeping face-down on my bed which means she was now 1,458% more likely to die of SIDS and the reason she was finally sleeping was because I shoved as much formula down her throat as she would take without choking. In the back of my head I heard the SIDS- and breast-feeding-Nazis lecturing me on my parenting abilities. Also, the laptop in the background reminds me that I was watching non-child-appropriate movies on Netflix while my daughter cried nonstop. The NEVER-expose-your-child-to-TV lecturers can feel free to crucify me for that one as well (The worst part is that prior to Halle I was the SIDS/breast-feeding/how-to-correctly-parent-your-child Nazi... and all the parents smile smugly here.)

I pretty much lost it that week. Between the depression and the crying and the not-sleeping and the being alone I turned into what one wonderful mother calls a "bonafide nutjob".

I wish I could say that I turned to Jesus during this time. But this post is all about honesty and repentance so I will tell the truth.

I became filled with anger.

Angry that I was a mother. Angry that God had chosen to give us this "little monster" when I was NOT ready for a child nor asking for one. Angry that I had given up my entire life for this child. Angry that I wouldn't be able to continue working full-time at the job I loved. Angry that the oneness I had once experienced with my husband turned into bitterness that his life continued while mine did not. Angry that I was unable to participate with him in his activities. Angry that he seemed completely oblivious to how I was feeling. Angry that this baby WOULD. NOT. STOP. CRYING. Angry that my milk supply was tanking and I couldn't even provide for my daughter's basic needs. Angry that I would not be able to sleep a consistent stretch EVER AGAIN. Angry that I was confined to my house. Angry that my body was not as resilient as I had hoped and I was pretty certain my stomach would never again be flat.

This anger led me to despise God, my husband, my daughter and my situation. I had my "escape plan" figured out - down to exactly when I would leave and what I would take. Thankfully I still possessed one small fragment of motherly instinct that kept me from abandoning my child (also the same fragment that kept me from throwing her down the stairs).

I am grateful Jesus still chose to take the cross for me.

So here is where I am at this moment: Mommy-hood is hard. It is especially hard because I am a selfish sinner with two capital S's. However, God is good. I have not yet allowed Jesus to be enough but I praying I will be able to soon say (honestly) that He is. I no longer despise my daughter and I am working on not despising my husband by choosing to love him daily and asking God to change my heart and attitude. God is teaching me to view being a wife and mother as a high calling and ministry and giving me small bits of grace throughout my days to remind me.

Mark Driscoll says that repentance is not sweeping sin under the rug and pretending it doesn't exist. I hope and pray to be the sort of wife and mom who can be transparent with her family and admit that she is a filthy selfish sinner capable of no good apart from Jesus. I pray that Halle will look to Him, and not me, as her example of how she should live and conduct herself.

The moral of my story? I am a selfish sinner. Left to myself I am capable of even more selfishness and sin. Fortunately, Jesus not only went to the cross to take the punishment for my sin but He also sought me at my worst and rescued me from myself. Thank you Jesus.

The BEST way to fall asleep!

Today we were spending some quality time with our Aunt Jordan telling her all about our day and it was getting close to nap-time...

We love our Daddy!

Attempting to make water fun!

I bought Halle a "Tummy Tub" in hopes of improving bath time. This is a special round tub that is supposed to create a womb-like experience. All the reviews on Amazon reported that babies who HATED their baths all loved this tub. One mom even reported that her baby cries when they pull her out! I thought I'd give it a try.

Day 1? We played happily for five minutes before giving Mommy a terrified look and trying to push ourselves out of tub. This tub may not help us like water but it may help us learn to stand!

3 months!

At 3 months, we are...

- playing all the time! We love to bat at the animals on our toy gym and stand with Mommy and Daddy's help. Our favorite animal is the ferocious lion. We have a lion on our crib mobile and one on our gray toy gym that we favor above all the other animals. We especially find it funny to watch lions roar and pounce on their prey! (Jim and I discovered this after letting her watch "Baby Einstein World Animals" and "Planet Earth". The octopus sock puppet on "Baby Neptune" is a close second. The other "Baby Einstein" videos seem to bore her!)

- sleeping VERY well. We love our schedule and accomplished sleeping 12 hours through the night last week (BTW here's how I did it: "The Baby Sleep Solution" by Suzy Giordano. Highly recommend it!). We take two naps during the day and everyone knows when it's close to naptime! Don't let our crankiness fool you - we go down easily and actually will go from tears to smiling when Mommy and Daddy start our bedtime routine.

- eating like a champ. We recently moved from taking 5-6 oz at a feed to taking a full 8 oz. Mommy was able to stop supplementing at 11 weeks and we are much happier on an exclusive-breastmilk diet.

- "talking" a lot! We love to coo at our animal friends and anyone who will talk back. Our favorite time to "talk" is to Mommy and Daddy while on our changing pad - especially when we are getting ready for bed. Sometime we try hard to mimic what Mommy and Daddy are saying and othertimes we just jibber-jabber! We also laughed for the first time at 11 weeks at Daddy.

- drooling a lot! Bibs are now our favorite accessory (and teething tablets are Mommy's new best friend). We love to chew on anything that we can get into our mouths - especially the thumb on our right hand.

Halle's day at 3 months:

8:00: Wake up, talk to animals on mobile, have "breakfast" bottle with Mommy and Daddy
8:30 - 9:30: Shower and get dressed
9:30 - 10:30: Morning nap
10:30 - Noon: Play with Mommy and our animal friends while listening to Pastor Mark (currently we are listening to his sermon series on Luke)
Noon: Lunchtime!
12:30 - 2:00: Play some more. We alternate between our gray toy gym, our blue toy gym, our bouncer and standing or staring at Mommy's shirt.
2:00 - 4:00: Afternoon nap
4:00: Dinner!
4:30 - 7:30: Play with Mommy and Daddy, sometimes take a quick power-nap around 6.
7:30: Bedtime routine (put on pajamas and nighttime diaper, talk about our day on the changing pad, say goodnight to Daddy, bedtime bottle)
8:00: Bedtime!

My favorite story of Halle at 3 months:

Last Sunday I was holding Halle during worship. We always sit in the front row right in front of Daddy so Halle can watch him. Daddy began reading from Psalms during the worship time and Halle instantly become very still and focused and started to "talk" excitedly when he would pause between words. I strongly believe she recognized the difference between when Jim was talking and when God's Word was being read and was encouraged to see her response - I will treasure that moment in my heart for a long time to come. May our precious daughter come to know and love you Jesus!

Daddy's girl

We did it!

Halle is 12 weeks today.

And just slept 12 hours through the night. No night feeding!

(Ok, so she did stir briefly at hour 11... Thanks super-loud garbage truck! We do appreciate you taking away our smelly diapers so I suppose you are forgiven.)

For everyone not on Facebook...

Jim and I occasionally take video and post it. Here's my attempt to post a particularly cute one on the blog!

Did I mention my computer has been on the fritz now for months and I've been doing most of my blogging from my iPhone? Also the iPhone - for all it's wonderful features - does not interact well with Blogger. So if all you see on this post is text and no video you'll know why!

From this...

... to this!

2-month check-up

Here's the stats from our 2-month well check:

Weight: 13 lbs, 8 ounces (90th percentile)
Height: 23.5 inches (90th percentile)
Head circumference: 15.1 inches

Halle also received her first round of shots today. She was such a brave girl! We're a little sore and tired now, but no worse for the wear. Halle even was willing to still smile for the camera!

It's a trade-off...

Halle has moved up to taking eight ounces per feeding. Great. Did I mention I'm still only pumping 4-6 ounces at a time? Thank God for those Enfamil coupons! (Speaking of, Jim discovered how much one of those little cans cost. I think he has a lot more respect for breastfeeding!)

However she did sleep until 6:30 this morning. No night feeding. And we are only 10.5 weeks old! We can do this!

Also we had our house sprayed for bugs today and the guys were able to remove the snake who has been living in our window-well for the past month. But then I went to the dentist and discovered I have two cavities - the first I've ever had. Like I said... it's a trade-off.

Warning: Cute-ness ahead!