Milestones

Well, I confess I am not good with the baby book. And since I have had kids I am no longer good with the scrapbooking. So here is some milestone updates & new pics.

Faith: (almost 6 1/2 months)

Faith has rolled over a handful of times but doesn't seem to care to master the skill. She is such a content baby. Perfectly happy to stay in one place and play (WOW-talk about opposite her sister) She has started in the last week really sitting up on her own. At this point she has no teeth. We go for her 6 month well baby visit this afternoon so I will add in her height and weight. We have tried cereal she is not a huge fan. (See picture) She could deffinitely take in or leave it. I made baby food yesterday so we will probably try a vegetable in the next couple of days. She has also just started clicking her tongue. She loves it- she just clicks away happy as can be. So far Faith's personality seems to be more like her dad- laid back.

Grace: (26 months)

Well I cannot say we have mastered potty training but she is doing well. Mostly she just doesn't like to stop and take a break long enough to go. She is LOVING getting to be outside more. She continues to be an outdoor girl who is constantly exploring. Everyday her vocabulary expands. Her hair is SUPER curly and she is not a big fan of me fixing it. So we usually only fight that battle on Sundays and when we are going out. She continues to like to help whether it is unloading laundry, the dishwasher or now groceries. The other day she was climbing in the back of the van taking out an item, climbing up our steps and delivering the groceries item by item to me in the kitchen. What a good helper! We definitely battle some days (probably because we are so much alike!)

A Mommy Holiday

Well, we had a "Mommy Holiday" this weekend- all town yardsales. Yes, in our home All Town Yardsale weekend is a bi-annual holiday! It is a tradition in the making. Each fall and spring the town of Hannibal has an offical all town yardsale day. What is all town yardsales, you ask? It is a the weekend when there are tons of yardsales and the paper publishes a map of the city listing them all by zones. For the past 3 my mom has come and went along. This time my mother-in-law joined in and I think will be in attendance from now on. We had a really fun time.

My husband seriously laughs at me. Friday morning I go and get a paper. Then I get out colored markers and mark which ones open on Friday & which ones don't open till Saturday. Then I rank which ones sound the best & make a plan for which ones to hit first. We get up stinking early to be there when the open at 7 a.m. There is some serious yard sale competition in this town!

Here were some of the great buys (& memories) this time around:
-$8 A Little Tykes Car (that you can ride in-good thing the Dora car is highly fought over on the day I have extra kids at my house)
-$2 A Dora riding toy (Grace has already got my money's worth she has "rode" everywhere since Saturday refusing to walk around our home)
-$20 Carseat (For Jeremy's Father's Day gift so he can have his own since Grace has been wanting to "Go with Daddy")
-$12 A Leap Frog Learning Pad & 7 Books (what fun!)
-Free Uncontrolable Laughter (Okay gotta explain this one. While Charlene and I hit a yardsale my mom stayed in the car with the girls. When I opened the door to the van I almost gagged it smelled horrible. While we were gone Grace had an accident. She said I potty. I toot- Uh oh- I poop. Oh, and did she all over everything! My poor mother trying to clean her up. She sported some princess pj's that were purchased at a previous yardsale for the remainder of the outing)
-Spare Change (My mother-in-law brought a whole bag. Which was great for picking up cheap items that cost less than a dollar. Uh Oh again- she spilled the whole thing all over some person's garage floor. Needless to say it went everywhere!)

What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday morning. Did I mention I basically have my girls entire summer wardrobe between what has been handed down to us and what we found at yardsales? God is good!!

Precious Moments

One of my favorite moments each day is putting Grace to bed. While we are still battling it out over naps (Grace thinks she doesn't need one-I do!) she goes to bed pretty easily. We have a routine. We always read her Bible, pray, & then sing Jesus Loves Me. Every day-not matter what. That routine it one thing I don't threaten to take away when she isn't listening because I want to teach her the importance of God's word. For the past two weeks or so we have read the story of Jesus' birth every single night. She requests it each night by saying- "Baby in the tummy." (You can see Mary's pregnant belly in her picture Bible) Her dad and I have tried subsituting other great "baby" stories like baby Moses in the basket but she protests.

She has started praying with us by filling in the blanks. I love when she thinks of people she loves she wants to pray for. Or like yesterday when we prayed, "Thank you God for friends." And she added, "Riley", one of her little friend's name. What a joy to watch your child learning to pray. A two year old truly grasps the concept of "conversational" prayer.

Then she will snuggle up against me and we sing Jesus loves me. Even though I am honestly worn out by the end of the day I truly love our bedtime routine. I dread the day she will begin to gain independence in this area. And yet what and exciting thing for your child to begin reading their Bible and praying on their own. I think every year at Christmas I will be reminded how much Grace loved the story of our savior's birth. If only I could learn to treasure it the way she is!

And now I am looking forward to these same joys with Faith. We chose Faith her very own song, Jesus Loves the Little Children. So right now we just sing and I pray for her.

I thank God for these glimpses of heaven, precious moments, at bedtime.