Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sleep. Show all posts

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bang-a-Rang!

That is the only word/phrase that came to mind when I woke up this morning. Why, do you ask? Not because I was dreaming that I lived in Neverland with Rufio and the Lost Boys from Hook, although that would be sweet. Rather, I was astonished and floored and bursting with exuberance at the realization that Khloe had gone to bed at 7pm last night and didn’t wake up until 7am this morning!!!

I had awakened a few times throughout the night to click on the monitor to check on her, but soundly she slept. She had a few whimpers early on in the night, but then not a peep until 7am!

Could this be the start of something new? (You’re welcome for getting that HSM song in your head…) Or perhaps it was the flu shot she got yesterday that knocked her out. I’m hoping for the former…only tonight will tell. Here’s hoping! Yahooo!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Jubilee!

I was on dictionary.com this morning (don’t ask…yes, I’m a nerd), and the word of the day today is perfectly appropriate for what I have to share today!

Jubilee \ JOO-buh-lee \ noun - Any season or occasion of rejoicing or festivity.

Usually I think of the Biblical jubilee when I hear this word, but today it applies to last night’s sleep success. Khloe was exhausted, so I put her down at 8:30pm (thinking I would certainly reap a much earlier morning as a result), and she slept a straight 9 hours until 5:30am, then I fed her a little bit and she went back to sleep until about 8am! That’s 11 1/2 hours of sleep! Wow, what a long haul it has been to get to this point…yay 13 pounds! And it can only get better from here… :)

After that solid night of sleep she was SUCH a delight this morning, cooing and singing to herself in the highchair while I was in the kitchen making her breakfast sweet potato + rice cereal mixture. What a precious little girl we are blessed with!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Sweet Potatoes: Cook, Purée, Freeze, Repeat.

Phew. I am sitting down and putting my feet up for the first time after a long day of taking care of babies, running errands, cleaning, cooking, laundry, and dishes. Did I already say “phew”? Phew. It’s a good kind of tired that I feel, and I am also glad that it was a busy day. Day 2 of being successfully distracted from the fact that my husband isn’t here. Until bedtime…that part stinks.

On a brighter note, Khloe tried sweet potatoes for the first time today…and LOVED it!! I mean, she isn’t quite “devouring” any of her food yet, but this was the closest I’ve seen. In her dainty way, she nibbles on each bite while gazing out the window and cooing and singing to herself. Haha, she is SO precious! By the end she was actually starting to take hold of the spoon a bit and bring it back into her mouth again and again. And she ate the whole serving I had prepared! YEAH!

On a slightly humbling/embarrassing/frustrating note, in the midst of the craziness of taking care of 2 babies today I accidentally left the ice cube trays that held the 26 servings of sweet potatoes I had cooked, puréed, and frozen last night out on the counter for too long…and they thawed. And since I’m not allowed to re-freeze them due to food safety issues, Brittany had some yummy puréed sweet potatoes for dinner. And the rest went down the drain. Boo. So Khloe and I made yet another trip to Giant (3rd time in 24 hours…don’t ask) to pick up some more sweet potatoes, and I cooked/puréed/froze some more. All with one hand tied behind my back! Well, close. With one hand holding a baby on my hip (thanks to bedtime fussiness–all she wanted was to be held by Mommy). Needless to say it took a bit longer with this handicap, but finally just before 9pm I was putting Khloe to bed after just placing the carefully filled sweet potato cubes in the freezer. And again I say, phew.

One more thing I must share before heading off to bed myself. Khloe is now officially a swaddle graduate!! She is no longer sleeping swaddled even overnight. This transition happened a couple of nights ago when she woke up in the middle of the night with the bottom of her swaddle kicked out and both arms freed, and her little body was flailing about. She’s a strong little girl! Instead of putting the swaddle back on her, I put her in her Halo sleep sack, and she went back to sleep. She’s been sleeping unswaddled ever since. :)

OH and since she sleeps unswaddled, she has discovered her favorite new sleeping position–curled up on her side. SO adorable! I often click on the video monitor just to watch her sleep, she is so precious.

Signing off on Day 2 of separation from Hubby. Only 14 more until Khloe and I fly out to see him in Arizona. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…

Please pray for my strength (or more accurately, Christ’s strength in me).

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Introducing: The Sippy Cup

Well, Khloe has had fantastic nights of sleep the last couple of nights. This has coincided with not one, but two new patterns that we have been implementing. Not the most genius thing I have ever done (didn’t we learn in 7th grade science only to change one variable at a time in an experiment?). But the same day I started Khloe with rice cereal I decided to try not swaddling her for nap time anymore either. So…is she sleeping better at night because her belly is more full (although she hasn’t consumed a HUGE amount of cereal yet…still getting the hang of it)? Or is she sleeping better because she isn’t in as deep of a sleep for a long time during naps? Or both? Or neither?

Either way, she is sleeping great…that’s all that matters to me! She slept for 8 hours straight Tuesday night (9 to 5), then I fed her and she slept until 8am. Similarly, last night she slept for 8 1/2 hours straight (9 to 5:30), I popped her pacifier back in, and she slept until almost 7am. It seems like she’s gearing up for a longer night of sleep (even longer than 8 1/2 hours!), because she used to be WIDE awake when I went in to feed her/get her at 5 or 6 in the morning. But now she’s still sleepy, and I put her back to sleep until 7 or 8. Eventually she will hopefully sleep straight through to 7 or 8…what a glorious day (night) that will be! But for now I am so, SO thankful and content with her 8 – 8 1/2 hour stretches. Thank You, Lord. :)

She is also continuing to do really well with naps unswaddled. She has done a couple of 1 – 2 hour naps during the day, which is quite impressive. She’s getting used to the feeling of not being tightly wrapped. I’m also becoming more of a stickler of implementing nap time, as opposed to being tossed to and fro by the waves of her fickleness — “I’m tired, I want to sleep….oh wait, just kidding, I want to be awake and play.” For example, just now she was being very fussy and acting really tired, and it was time for a nap. I put her in her crib and watched the monitor, and all of a sudden she was the most content, happy-go-lucky little girl. Ha, I know that trick. So I let her playfully kick her legs and pull at her sleep sack, thinking…if you were that fussy a minute ago, you are just going to have some rest time. And then, sure enough…a few minutes later she was out like a light. Sometimes things just need to be a little more parent-directed, I think.

So today was day 3 of rice cereal. Probably the most successful day yet! Yesterday did not go so well. I attempted to feed her at dinner time last night, and boy…was that a poor decision. Evenings are her more difficult times in terms of temperament and energy level, so it’s not really the best time to try to build a positive association with a new concept of eating. So today we went back to the morning feeding session, and it went a lot better. She’s slowly but surely getting the hang of it! And I’m also giving her a long grace period. A fellow new mother whose daughter is 3 months older than Khloe recently forewarned me that the first week or two of feeding your baby solids does not fulfill the purpose of nourishment. It’s more of a familiarizing and introductory time…so don’t get frustrated if more of it ends up on the bib than in her belly! That will come. I’m thankful for this heads up, and I’m just enjoying watching Khloe explore this new process, funny faces and all.

Today I decided to get her acquainted with another new concept. Enter, the Sippy Cup. We were given one that has a kind of elastic straw that is supposed to help bridge the gap between a bottle (or Mommy) and an actual sippy cup. Khloe actually got the hang of holding the handles and bringing it to her mouth, which I was very impressed by. She even started sucking on the straw! I’m not sure that she actually got much of the water inside, so I went ahead and just spoon fed her a bit of water. I had read that starting solids is a good time to start giving your baby some water, even just a teaspoon or tablespoon, to help the kidneys and other parts of the digestive system.

Well, Kory will be home soon, and I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of the evening with him. By the way, I’m realizing how easy it is to overlook usual annoyances or pet peeves when I’m so thankful that he’s just around (Clothes on the floor? I’ll happily put them away and whistle while I do it…it means he’s here!). Hmm, sounds like a lesson for everyday life, even for times when he isn’t about to be gone for a month…. :) Lord, make me more thankful ALL the time!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Big Girl Things

Drumroll, please….

Khloe had her first serving of rice cereal today!!

Last night was a bit of a rough night sleep-wise, and I finally just had enough. I thought it would be the perfect time to try starting solids and to see if that will help with her nighttime sleep at all. Plus, it’s good timing with Kory still being home this week to be here for this monumental step. He actually wasn’t home for the very first attempt this morning (he is gone all day today doing training at the Kutztown Chick-fil-A), but that was probably going to be the case anyway with how much he is working each day this week. I wanted her first attempt to be in the morning so I could observe her the rest of the day to make sure she didn’t have any averse reactions to the cereal. Since her body seems to have taken it well, my plan is to have her next rice cereal feeding be tomorrow evening either at dinner or around bedtime to see if it will help her make it through the night better. Here’s hoping!

As for the actual feeding this morning, Khloe did pretty well for her first time! She opened her mouth for the spoon each time and actually swallowed at least part of each bite (although much also ended up on her chin and bib). She did make a face at the unfamiliar taste of the rice mixed in with the milk, but overall she took it pretty well as I encouraged her and made positive “mmm, yummy!” sounds and faces the whole time. It was a slooooow process (as I expected it would be), but I didn’t rush her at all and waited patiently for her to be ready for each bite. She finally let me know she had had enough (she took about half of what I had prepared, since I had no idea how much she would eat), and I just snuggled her and gushed over how well she had done. We’ll see how round 2 goes tomorrow night!

The other big girl accomplishment from today was that she took her naps without being swaddled! This is HUGE for Khloe because she always needs to be swaddled to sleep for a long period of time. I finally decided to try to start teaching her to sleep without it to see how she does. Her first nap today she only slept about 30 mins before she woke herself up with an arm movement. She then went back to sleep and slept for another 45 minutes. Her afternoon nap was then also 45 minutes. She usually sleeps for longer, but for the first day of not being swaddled…not too shabby!

I know it seems silly and these are still just “baby” milestones, but I couldn’t help but get a little emotional today–especially for the rice cereal feeding. She really is growing up! My emotions aren’t rooted in nostalgia for her younger days or denial that she’s getting bigger. She is getting more delightful each day, and I don’t wish she were younger again at all. It’s just this incredible rush of joy and strong tugging on my heart strings to watch our little girl grow and pass through these stages…I can’t really explain it. I’ve watched other children grow up, but it is totally different when it’s your own child. I guess I’ve heard that my whole life, but now…I finally understand. :)

Goodness, listen to me. Imagine what an emotional wreck I’ll be when she starts walking or loses her first tooth. Or even worse…when she goes to take her driver’s test! Gah…

Friday, August 27, 2010

A Sleeping Champ

Khloe has entered a new realm in her baby wardrobe–the 3-6 month size clothes! The last few days she has been wearing some of these new outfits people had given us that I had stored away in bins. She was finally starting to look a little snug in her 0-3 month onesies (although they still fit, and she’s wearing one today with no problem), so I decided to start exploring the next size up. It’s so fun to pull out the new outfits and try them on here…reminiscent of the fun I had when I was little dressing up my dolls (except WAY cooler with an actual, real-life, ADORABLE baby girl!). A lot of the 3-6 month stuff is still pretty loose on her, but it’s amazing to see how much she has grown into them. I remember looking at these when she was first born, doubting whether she’d EVER be big enough for them to fit–they seemed huge compared to her tiny 5 pound body! She has grown SO much to catch up to this point–we sure have worked hard to get her here!

The last few nights of sleep have continued to go well. Although not quite as impressive as that very first night of 9:30 to 6:30, she has come pretty close and is still consistently sleeping through that middle-of-the-night feeding. Her sleep accomplishments the last few nights have been:

9:30 to 6:30 (can’t celebrate that one enough!)
9:00 to 4:30
9:00 to 2:00, 2:00 to 6:45 (woke up with a very wet diaper–so close to beating that first long night!)
9:00 to 5:00
9:00 to 4:30

The mornings that she has awakened before 6 she has fallen back asleep after I fed her for about 15 mins, and we’ve slept until about 7 or 7:15. Not too shabby! Ever since she’s hit that 13 pound mark several days ago, she’s been sleeping like a champ (thus solidifying that theory in my own mind). Many babies hit that weight by around 3 months or so. Our little peanut just had some catching up to do, and that’s ok. It just makes it that much sweeter now that she’s made it!

By the way, many of you could probably care less about her sleep patterns, and that’s ok. You can skip that part if you’d like. I write about this for two reasons:

1) It’s a place for me to document it so I can look back down the road when I want to recall when she started sleeping longer.
2) I cannot tell you what a HUGE relief and victory this is after almost 5 months of being sleep deprived and not getting longer than maybe 4 hours of sleep in one stretch. For those of you who have yet to experience the joys of up-through-the-night care for a little one, mark my words…one day you too will want to shout from the rooftops and share with every stranger in the grocery store when your baby starts giving you more sleep!

Last night Elizabeth and Joel came over for dinner and fellowship, and it was great to see them after almost 2 weeks of busyness and not seeing each other at all. They had just finished registering at Babies’R'Us, which is SO fun, and they will have their big ultrasound this Tuesday! So exciting! This January, Lord-willing, Khloe will have a little cousin–boy or girl?? Either way it will be exciting and fun for them to play together…either with dolls and dress-up clothes or soccer ball and legos (or all of the above)! Only being about 9 months apart, they will practically be the same age and grow up together. It’s so crazy to think back to playing with my own cousins growing up and to realize that this is the next generation already. Wow!

Looking forward to a weekend with two of my best friends from high school who are coming out to visit, arriving tonight! They will get to meet Khloe, and I will hopefully succeed in showing them what a wicked-sweet place Reading, PA, is to live in and explore. Either way, it’ll be great to see them!

NOT looking forward to the month of September, when Kory will be gone for 4 weeks doing Grand Openings for Chick-fil-A in other states. He will be in Missouri for a week, then will head out to Phoenix, AZ, for 3 weeks. Lord, give me strength! We just might revert back to our old skyping routine from when we were long distance dating between PA and Tennessee. Can’t say I ever wanted to go back to that form of communication with him, but I will choose to be grateful for technology that makes it possible for us to see each other even when we’re hundreds of miles apart.

Not to end on a Debbie Downer note like that, but I must go tend to a crying baby. Happy Friday, all!

Monday, August 23, 2010

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

I am finally getting around to writing another blog post now after the craziness of the last couple of weeks. We have moved into a new apartment, just across the street from our old one, enjoying 200 more square feet (including a larger living room and dining room, an additional den, and a full-sized bedroom for Khloe!) for only $2 more a month! We were blessed to have about 25 friends from our church show up to help us move, and we had everything moved across the street in about an hour and a half (thanks to multiple family vans and SUV’s, as well as a couple of large trucks). When we went to turn our old keys in to the office, the ladies who work there were shocked that we were already moved in. When we told them about the huge turnout from our church, one lady said “I want to know what church you go to!” Great opportunity to share about our church…praise the Lord! :)

We then enjoyed a great visit with my parents and with Kory’s brother Kevin, and it’s just been a whirlwind since. This past weekend was the first opportunity Kory and I had just to slow down, hang out, and enjoy our new apartment. It was a very restful weekend, which I particularly needed since I’ve come down with a sinus infection. Hopefully between continued rest and the antibiotics I got we’ll kick this thing soon.

As for Khloe these days…I cannot believe she’ll be 5 months old this Sunday! She is definitely growing up, though, and just last night and this morning she’s discovered her toes and her ability to play with them. She’s also just becoming more interested in interacting with things, like her washcloth during bath time and the hanger her outfit is hanging on. She’s becoming more and more active in her play gym and LOVES the mirror! She can make herself laugh really hard just by interacting with her own face.

She continues to roll from front to back sporadically, and she rocks onto her side from her back quite a bit. We recently introduced a new little book to her (“God Made Me”–a cute little book we found at a discount store before she was born)…and she absolutely LOVES it! It has lots of bright colors and illustrations, and she just loves looking at it, turning the pages, and hearing mommy and daddy read to her.

We have discovered that her favorite song is “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” which we find amusing. It all started one Friday evening when we were on the way to one of Kory’s softball games, and she started fussing in her carseat because she couldn’t hear or see Mommy and Daddy. So Kory started loudly singing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and she immediately got quiet. The second he stopped singing, she started fussing again, and again when he started singing–she stopped fussing. Ever since then, when she has been fussing or discontent, if one of us just starts singing that song (especially when Kory sings it), she gets really quiet and content again. We have tried other songs, but that one in particular for whatever reason is the magical tune that she loves. Perhaps a future baseball fan?

Last night was a MAJOR accomplishment, as Khloe slept from about 9:30pm to 6:30am without waking up or fussing once! She has done stretches from about 9:30 to 4 or 4:30 before, but even then she has fussed for a bit in between. And recently she has been waking up for the 2-2:30am feeding pretty regularly. So last night when I kept waking up from time to time to check the monitor and make sure she was ok, I was shocked to see that she was just sleeping soundly (without her pacifier in her mouth even!). Even when Kory got up for work around 5:15 she didn’t stir. I was absolutely amazed. I weighed her this morning, and our not-so-precise scale said that she is around 13 pounds now…which I have heard can be the weight that they really are able to sleep through the night well. So…we’ll see if this was just a one-night fluke, or whether this will be a new trend for Khloe. Let’s pray for the latter!

August 10, 2010

Eskimo Kisses

Posted in Family Happenings, Khloe, Sleep at 10:41 am by kayefam

Last night as I was changing Khloe’s diaper I decided to give her some eskimo kisses (you know, the kind where you rub noses?)…and she absolutely loved it! She started giggling like crazy each time I gave her one. It was so adorable!

The last several days she has been sleeping better through the night. She has been going to bed around 9:00 or 9:30 and getting up around 6am or so. She usually does wake up around 4:45am, but I’ll sneak in and put her pacifier in her mouth, and that’ll usually put her back to sleep for another hour or so. She’s getting there! And she’s definitely getting bigger, which makes such a difference. I know I say this all the time, but even in just the last week, she seems to have grown SO much…

T-minus 2 days until we move! And I’m afraid I’ve come down with some sort of sore throat/cough yesterday and today. Blah. It’s the first time since Khloe’s been born that I have gotten sick, and it’s really interesting to realize….life can’t just stop for me to get better. Khloe continues to need me, I have to keep caring for her, doing her laundry, etc. If it were bad enough I’m sure Kory could stay home from work….but in these just feeling-lousy sorts of days, I just have to tough it out. The life of a mom!

August 7, 2010

New Haircut?

Posted in Just for Fun at 7:23 am by kayefam

My friend Melissa sent me a link to this little comic, and I had to share…

New Haircut

Taken from www.thedoghousediaries.com

August 5, 2010

Mom Sites

Posted in Links at 1:30 pm by kayefam

Some new favorite websites under the “mom” category. So helpful in the business of being a homemaker/mom!

http://www.momsbyheart.net/

http://moneysavingmom.com/

http://lifeasmom.com/

August 2, 2010

Life Lately

Posted in Family Happenings, Khloe, Sleep at 1:14 pm by kayefam

Hello, all! We’ve decided to move our blog over to WordPress for a new, fresh look and some nicer features. Hopefully we will become more diligent in updating this now that we are out of the brand-new-newborn stage of life and can actually find a spare moment here and there to write entries.

As I write this, both Khloe and Noah are sound asleep (after much tag-teaming this morning with alternating diaper changes, feedings, and fusses), and I am catching my breath over a bowl of cereal.

Khloe is just becoming more and more delightful these days with smiles, giggles, and the beginnings of ticklishness. She began rolling over (front to back) a couple of weeks ago, but she still has yet to do so consistently. She likes playing in her little gym, but she only lasts so long before she wants mommy or daddy to be close by to talk and play along. Definitely a little social butterfly!

She has astounded us recently with her ability to fall asleep unswaddled here and there, but for the most part she still requires being swaddled in order to fall asleep (especially for longer naps and overnight). In the last several days she has also impressed us with no longer needing to be rocked or held to fall asleep for naps or bedtime. We can just put her in her crib with her eyes open, and she will put herself to sleep. Such an accomplishment! Depending on the night she will either sleep through (from around 9:30pm to 4 or 5am) or wake up for a feeding around 1 or 2am. But we are approaching the 13-pound mark (she is currently weighing in at 12 pounds), which supposedly is when their bodies are most able to start sleeping through the night. Beginning her life as such a tiny peanut has definitely presented challenges along the way, but we are thankful that she continues to grow and be healthy with each passing week. She has now jumped into the 20th percentile in size for her age, which is much improved from her first weeks of life when she was only in the 3rd percentile!

She turned 4 months old on Thursday, and Kory and I just cannot figure out where the last 4 months have gone. In another couple of months she will be starting solids, sitting up, and becoming more and more mobile! However, we are constantly treasuring and loving the here-and-now, not wishing a moment away for the future milestones of crawling, talking, or walking. We know that one day we will be wishing she were little again like she is now, so we are just content with each day in each stage the Lord gives us with our precious little girl.

We are currently getting ready to move across the street to another apartment within the same complex. We are slowly outgrowing our 1-bedroom, and when we found out we could upgrade to a 2-bedroom with 200 more sq ft for only $2 more in rent per month…how could we say no?? We will be moving on the 12th of August, and we have yet to start packing boxes. I think the close proximity is making it seem less of an ordeal than it really is. I’m hoping to start packing things up in the next day or so. Of course, my best laid plans for the day are always being adapted or just completely thrown out to care for Khloe (and Noah). I don’t think there has been a day in a long time that turned out the way I originally planned. Ah, the joys of parenthood. :)

The student that I have been tutoring in Algebra and Spanish will be leaving this week to go back to Texas where she spends the school year. It has been such a blessing and example of the Lord’s provision in our lives being able to tutor her this summer 3 times a week. I will now be looking for a replacement tutoring situation, and I’m considering going through the local school districts to get connected to families in need of a tutor. We’ll see what pans out…but I know the Lord will absolutely continue to provide for our little family.

Well, Noah has awakened and is requiring my attention. Look for more posts (and probably pictures) in the near future!

BK

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Eskimo Kisses

Last night as I was changing Khloe’s diaper I decided to give her some eskimo kisses (you know, the kind where you rub noses?)…and she absolutely loved it! She started giggling like crazy each time I gave her one. It was so adorable!

The last several days she has been sleeping better through the night. She has been going to bed around 9:00 or 9:30 and getting up around 6am or so. She usually does wake up around 4:45am, but I’ll sneak in and put her pacifier in her mouth, and that’ll usually put her back to sleep for another hour or so. She’s getting there! And she’s definitely getting bigger, which makes such a difference. I know I say this all the time, but even in just the last week, she seems to have grown SO much…

T-minus 2 days until we move! And I’m afraid I’ve come down with some sort of sore throat/cough yesterday and today. Blah. It’s the first time since Khloe’s been born that I have gotten sick, and it’s really interesting to realize….life can’t just stop for me to get better. Khloe continues to need me, I have to keep caring for her, doing her laundry, etc. If it were bad enough I’m sure Kory could stay home from work….but in these just feeling-lousy sorts of days, I just have to tough it out. The life of a mom!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Life Lately

Hello, all! We’ve decided to move our blog over to WordPress for a new, fresh look and some nicer features. Hopefully we will become more diligent in updating this now that we are out of the brand-new-newborn stage of life and can actually find a spare moment here and there to write entries.

As I write this, both Khloe and Noah are sound asleep (after much tag-teaming this morning with alternating diaper changes, feedings, and fusses), and I am catching my breath over a bowl of cereal.

Khloe is just becoming more and more delightful these days with smiles, giggles, and the beginnings of ticklishness. She began rolling over (front to back) a couple of weeks ago, but she still has yet to do so consistently. She likes playing in her little gym, but she only lasts so long before she wants mommy or daddy to be close by to talk and play along. Definitely a little social butterfly!

She has astounded us recently with her ability to fall asleep unswaddled here and there, but for the most part she still requires being swaddled in order to fall asleep (especially for longer naps and overnight). In the last several days she has also impressed us with no longer needing to be rocked or held to fall asleep for naps or bedtime. We can just put her in her crib with her eyes open, and she will put herself to sleep. Such an accomplishment! Depending on the night she will either sleep through (from around 9:30pm to 4 or 5am) or wake up for a feeding around 1 or 2am. But we are approaching the 13-pound mark (she is currently weighing in at 12 pounds), which supposedly is when their bodies are most able to start sleeping through the night. Beginning her life as such a tiny peanut has definitely presented challenges along the way, but we are thankful that she continues to grow and be healthy with each passing week. She has now jumped into the 20th percentile in size for her age, which is much improved from her first weeks of life when she was only in the 3rd percentile!

She turned 4 months old on Thursday, and Kory and I just cannot figure out where the last 4 months have gone. In another couple of months she will be starting solids, sitting up, and becoming more and more mobile! However, we are constantly treasuring and loving the here-and-now, not wishing a moment away for the future milestones of crawling, talking, or walking. We know that one day we will be wishing she were little again like she is now, so we are just content with each day in each stage the Lord gives us with our precious little girl.

We are currently getting ready to move across the street to another apartment within the same complex. We are slowly outgrowing our 1-bedroom, and when we found out we could upgrade to a 2-bedroom with 200 more sq ft for only $2 more in rent per month…how could we say no?? We will be moving on the 12th of August, and we have yet to start packing boxes. I think the close proximity is making it seem less of an ordeal than it really is. I’m hoping to start packing things up in the next day or so. Of course, my best laid plans for the day are always being adapted or just completely thrown out to care for Khloe (and Noah). I don’t think there has been a day in a long time that turned out the way I originally planned. Ah, the joys of parenthood. :)

The student that I have been tutoring in Algebra and Spanish will be leaving this week to go back to Texas where she spends the school year. It has been such a blessing and example of the Lord’s provision in our lives being able to tutor her this summer 3 times a week. I will now be looking for a replacement tutoring situation, and I’m considering going through the local school districts to get connected to families in need of a tutor. We’ll see what pans out…but I know the Lord will absolutely continue to provide for our little family.

Well, Noah has awakened and is requiring my attention. Look for more posts (and probably pictures) in the near future!

BK