1 Month

This sweet little girl turned one month old on Saturday!  Can you believe it?!  

I cannot.

As far as growth goes, she is just growing!  We are switching her to three month size clothes TODAY!

Here are her stats from her first month:

Birth: 19 1/2 inches tall (53%) and 7 lbs 10 oz (55%).

First doctor's appointment at 4 days old: 19 1/2 inches tall (48%), 7 lbs 4 oz (37%), and 34.9 cm (50%) head circumference.

Second doctor's appointment at 11 days old: 19 1/2 inches tall (39%), 7 lbs 10 oz (44%), and 35.5 cm (57%) head circumference.

She is taking three naps a day and gets up twice at night.  

We love our little Sarah so much.  And she loves to snuggle.  She loves it so much that that is pretty much all she wants to do!  We try and just soak it all in and not think about all of the household things that go undone.  It is such a sweet and short time and we are just loving this little one.  

 We have learned that Sarah is not a fan of the bouncer.  We really don't use it that much but mostly I just liked the idea of her being up and off the ground (since she has an exceptionally active brother in a very small space constantly running around) but Sarah does not like it.  I think the longest she has ever stayed in it is ten minutes which just means that we have more snuggle time!

One thing that has been hard for all of us around here is Sarah has had some "gassy" issues.  Hopefully she won't kill me for publicly writing about this!  Pretty much the more time went by the sadder Sarah got.  Normally, it we just snuggled her for a couple of minutes she would calm down but by about two weeks sometimes that wasn't even enough.  She would just cry and cry and it was so sad to watch.  We got her some "gas" drops and those seem to be helping but she still has a hard time (I am thinking this may be part of her wanting to be held all of the time).  You can tell she just has these moments where she is in a lot of pain and things just don't seem to be moving through as easily as any of us would like.  Poor little girl.  We are hoping it passes soon!

One of the sweetest parts of this last month is seeing Jacob move into his role as a big brother.  We decided before we had Sarah that we just weren't going to push anything with their relationship.  We were just going to let Jacob be as involved as he wanted to be.  At first Jacob was mostly just observant.  But then he started really liking to be involved in "helping."  He loves to get her diapers, wipes, blanket and especially her binkie.  Now whenever she starts crying he will say, "uh-oh" and run and get her binkie for her.  He calls her "Saree" and it is about the cutest thing.  The first thing he says in the morning is, "Where's Saree?"  And it melts my heart every night when he comes and gives her a kiss on the forehead and says "love you, Saree."  Life doesn't get much better than that.  

We were reading stories in Jacob's bed before his nap and Sarah fell asleep.  I got up to put Jacob's books away and he was holding Sarah's binkie in her mouth for her.  Adorable.

We think that Sarah is just about the cutest little girl we've ever seen.  We love her so much and have to resist the urge to just play dress up!  Jacob loves picking out her outfit every day!

We love our sweet little girl.  We feel so incredibly blessed that she has joined our family.  She has brought such a sweet spirit into our home.  We love you, Sarah!  

Happy One Month!!!

26th Birthday

Last Friday was my 26th birthday!  For the most part, it was a day like any other day.  But when Mark got home from work he picked up Jacob and they went and picked up some food from Uno Chicago Grill and it was delicious!  

Mark got me some lovely birthday accessories...

Mark thinks I look like I am about ten years old in this picture...he may be right!

I opened cards and presents and I am so grateful for the wonderful friends and family that I have.  Once we got the kiddos to bed Mark and I had some oreo ice cream cake and fell asleep on the couch.  We know...we are that exciting.  

Part of my birthday present from Mark was a date!  He had arranged for the Zurchers to watch the kiddos Saturday afternoon for us.  I was so excited!  Dates (outside of the house) are extremely rare around here so this was quite a treat.  Mark told me Friday so that I could decide what I wanted to do.  As corny as it sounds, I was just really excited to go out and spend time with Mark - I really didn't care what we did!

So what did we end up doing for two and a half hours - shopping.  We just walked around Target looking at everything and talking about the future.  Yep, we are really this exciting folks.  We bought hangers and everything.  Haha, okay, so it sounds not that fun but we actually had a blast just talking and being with each other.  We then walked around Barnes and Noble and ended the date at Jamba Juice.  It was delightful.  

I love this little family of mine so much!  Thank you for everything!

Ponder the Path of Thy Feet

"I am certain we left our Father with an overwhelming desire to return to Him, that we might gain the exaltation He planned for us and which we ourselves so much wanted.  Although we are left to find and follow that path which lead us back to our Father in Heaven, He did not send us here without direction and guidance.  Rather, He has given us the tools we need, and He will assist us as we seek His help and strive to do all in our power to endure to the end and gain eternal life.  

As we look to Jesus as our Exemplar and as we follow in His footsteps, we can return safely to our Heavenly Father to live with Him forever.  

All of us can walk the path He walked when, with His words ringing in our ears, His Spirit filling our hearts, and His teachings guiding our lives, we choose to follow Him as we journey through mortality.  His example lights the way.

As we strive to place Christ at the center of our lives by learning His words, by following His teachings, and by walking in His path, He has promised to share with us the eternal life that He died to gain.  There is no higher end than this, that we should choose to accept His discipline and become His disciples and do His work throughout our lives.  Nothing else, no other choice we make, can make of us what He can.  

 

We read in Proverbs the admonition, "Ponder thy path of thy feet."  As we do, we will have the faith, even the desire, to walk the path which Jesus walked.  We will have no doubt that we are on a path which our Father would have us follow.  The Savior's example provides a framework for everything that we do, and His words provide an unfailing guide.  His path will take us safely home."

President Thomas S. Monson

Family Rivalry

Last Friday we were a family divided.
It was BYU vs Utah State.
It was girls vs. boys.  

It was a good night to be an Aggie!

Living the Gospel Joyful

Last weekend was the General Women's Meeting and it was fantastic.  I was particularly struck my President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's talk entitled, "Living the Gospel Joyful."  The whole talk is wonderful and inspiring and gave me so much to think about.  Here are my favorite parts:

"It is good to remember that you are always a child of God.  This knowledge will carry you through the most difficult times in your life and will inspire you to accomplish remarkable things...You will always and forever remain a daughter of God.  Your Heavenly Father has high aspirations for you. 

[Heavenly Father] not only knows what is best for you; He also anxiously wants you to choose what is best for you.  

Once you understand the true nature of God and His commandments, you will also better understand yourselves and the divine purpose of your existence.  With this, your motivation for following the commandments changes, and it becomes your heart's desire to live the gospel joyfully.

You are loved.  You are dear to your heavenly parents.  The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you!  He is mindful of you.  Yes, God loves you this very day and always.  

He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits.  He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles.  He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer.  He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed - even in the midst of growing darkness.  He knows of your sufferings.  He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short of failed.  And still He loves you.  

And God knows of your successes; though they may seem small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them.  He loves you for extending yourself to others.  He loves you for reaching out and helping others bear their heavy burdens - even when you are struggling with your own.  

He knows everything about you.  He sees you clearly - He knows you as you really are.  And He loves you - today and always!

He loves you not only for who you are this very day but also for the person of glory and light you have the potential and the desire to become.  

More than you could ever imagine, He wants you to achieve your destiny - to return to your heavenly home in honor.  

Trust in the saving power of Jesus Christ; keep His laws and commandments.  In other words - live the gospel joyful."

ABC

So sometimes I swear Jacob is a little genius.  Maybe everyone feels this way about their children, but seriously, I wonder sometimes.  All of a sudden, about a month ago he started saying his letters.  The first day I was a little stunned but kind of thought it was a fluke thing.  We have some magnet letters on the fridge and he brought them over to me and said a couple of the letters - and was right!

But then he started knowing all his letters.  The kid is a genius.  Now he just goes around pointing out all the different letters around the house, on his toys, in his books and he gets them right!  I am amazed.  Maybe this is the normal time for that, I really don't know, but either way I am so proud of my little guy.  I am so happy that a whole new world of letters and numbers is opening up for him.  It makes me want to start doing preschool with him right now!  But then I remember that I have a three week old little girl and I think that all just let it be for right now :)

I love this little man. 

Family

We are so lucky that we were able to have lots of family come and visit us after we had our little Sarah.  My Mom was able to be here literally minutes after I delivered Sarah and it was so wonderful to have her here.  She was definitely Jacob's best friend and he was so sad to have her leave.  She was such a big help with Jacob and also just being there for me when Mark had to go back to work.  It was such a comfort to know that I had a little time to ease into things because she was there.  I cannot say thank you enough to her and the service that she gave to me and our little family.  We miss you!

A little over a week after I had Sarah my Dad and sisters were also able to come out and spend some time with us.  They were only here for about a day and a half but we were thankful for the time we got with them. 

And then this last week Mark's Mom was able to come out and stay with us.  It was great to have her here and we are so thankful for her coming and spending some time with us.

We are so thankful for the huge amount of love and support we have received from our family and friends.  We are incredibly blessed.  We love and thank you all!