3.5 months

 It's amazing to think we have a baby who is almost four months old. 

She's one special little lady, with a budding personality. Just a quick update with a more extensive one to follow after her 4 month check up in a couple of weeks. 

The kiddo is a champion thumb sucker, and as a result has been sleeping through the night (10 p.m. to 8 a.m.) for the past month. She is cooing and even starting to laugh. She loves checking out her hands, gnawing on fingers and cooled teethers, and grabbing toys on her play yard. She seems to be left-hand dominant, but perhaps its too early to tell. Tummy time is still a bit of a struggle, but she's handling it better than before. She sits in a bumbo seat to play, enjoys being pulled into a sitting or standing position, and "flying" with daddy. She's just recently graduated to a size 2 diaper and is wearing 3-6 month outfits. Her favorite songs include "I love trash," "Moon, moon, moon," and "I'm a little duckie." 

She also did well on her first vacation to Hocking Hills. We had a great time visiting, hiking, and relaxing with family. 

Projects

When we found out we were expecting, James and I started having discussions that wouldn't have crossed our minds pre-Baby C. One of the big ones we had right away was cloth v. disposable diapers. Quite a few friends and family members had used cloth diapers and had great things to say, but we also heard from many experienced moms, who had to use them with no alternatives years ago, that disposable were a great idea and the washing/drying (not to mention toilet dunking) of cloth could get old rather fast.

Anyway, to make a long story short, we liked the idea of being "earth friendly" and the idea of cloth diapers being more cost friendly (over time); however, we also liked the convenience of disposable diapers. So we came to a compromise - cloth diapers at home and disposable "on the road." Since we weren't sure how all of this would play out, I decided to try sewing some diapers (under the supervision of a couple of experienced sewers). This significantly decreased the cost of the diapers, which made the idea of them much more appealing. Also, James was able to rig up a diaper sprayer to help with the dunking situation. So here are a couple of pictures of our cute model wearing the cloth diaper (sans cover) and another showing her duck diaper cover. So far, I have been really satisfied with the cloth diapers for home use and am considering making more in larger sizes.

Other projects in the works hit a bit a road block after the birth. (The nursery border is still only half painted!) Yet, we have enjoyed the fruits of our pre-baby projects a bit this fall. The two gardens that were planted earlier this spring have been producing a nice amount of fresh produce that we've started to preserve for the winter season and are enjoying for weekly dinners. Also, we've had enough to donate to a local charity as part of our church's GROWTH project that we started a couple summers ago.

One quick project I was able to squeeze in between nursing and naps was preserving herbs. Normally I dry the herbs from my tiny herb garden. However, I saw an idea on a website that called for freezing herbs in olive oil. I decided to give it a try with a little rosemary this fall, but haven't tried cooking with it yet.

Newest addition

After an afternoon of "nesting" and a dip in the pond with Mom and TY, our little girl arrived two weeks early after a crazy, quick delivery. Since then, she's met many family members, friends, and well-wishers and been a hit with them all. In a couple of day's she'll be a month old, and she's starting to look a little less like a newborn and more like a well-fed baby.  Before long, she'll be moving out of the newborn clothes she's used for the past couple of weeks. 

So far she's not too wild about tummy time or bath time, but other than that she's been a real peach. She loves snuggling, movement (walks and car rides), and exercising her lungs. She's certainly turned our lives upside down and we're enjoying it!

Bump

I'll have you know that approximately 1 lb. of that bump is baby, which is scheduled to arrive late July.

Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains...

This year we're celebrating Thanksgiving in Oklahoma. James' youngest brother moved out here to be a youth pastor this past summer, so we decided to make the trip out to see him.  While I wouldn't recommend the 14+hour drive to anyone, I'm enjoying my first trip to OK. So far we haven't seen a lot of the area but we did get a night tour of his church and we've seen a little of the town. Tomorrow we'll go down town to the shops and specialty stores. We hope that everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving!

Election Day!

Election Day - it's more exciting than game four of the World Series, my birthday, and the opening night of the newest movie all combined. Perhaps I'm a nerd, but I get excited about elections. I enjoy watching the televised debates, reading election updates, political discourse on the radio, checking the polling stats, etc. I love that citizens impact history on nights like tonight! No matter which way this election goes, I hope all enjoyed exercising your political rights and freedoms at the polls today!  

Brief overview of the trip

We started in London, and enjoyed a lot of the sites from the outside.

After London, we made it to Portsmouth and crossed the English Channel to Normandy to tour the beaches and soak in some history.

On to Lyon and a visit with Bertlinde.

Hiking in Switzerland was breathtaking (literally!).

Attending the wedding of Annemarie and Volkmar was a great experience.

Heidelberg was gorgeous and then we headed home.