Belly Laughs

I guess spring cleaning came a little early at our house for some reason. About a week ago, we were cleaning out closets and cabinets and creating big bags to give to Goodwill. Sydnee was in the Baby Bjorn helping Daddy clean out the hall closet. He went to open a trash bag and Sydnee must have thought that it was hilarious! This was the first time I heard her belly laugh for this long.

There is a longer version of the video on my facebook page but I couldn't get it to upload to blogger, so check it out if you want to.

Out With The Old, In With The New!

Steve and I decided that for our Christmas gift to each other, we would buy a new oven/stove(one without coils)! Well, after Steve did some "research" on the new oven and realized that if we wanted to stick with the same Whirlpool brand, the only oven that would fit to replace our drop-in still had coils. So, that idea turned into looking at all new appliances. We found some that we loved and decided to splurge and go ahead and get them while they were on sale. Then, we started thinking a little more and decided that since the new oven would not fit in the same place without cutting the Formica counter tops a little, we might as well go ahead and put in granite in hopes that when the time comes to sell our house, it would help to have a new kitchen. We went to 3 places to get estimates, Lowes, Home Depot, and Coastal Kitchen and Bath (a local custom place). Surprisingly, Coastal Kitchen and Bath was $10 cheaper per square foot than Lowes and Home Depot, plus we received a free under mount sink and free edging!

We are so please with the way our kitchen turned out! Here are some before and after photos...

This is what it looked like when we first bought it.

A few years later we painted.

New appliances and counter tops!

5 Months Old!

Sydnee is 5 months old today! We had a well baby check up on Monday and Sydnee is now 14 pounds 12 ounces and 24.5 inches tall. She had to get her second round of shots too and as always, that was NO fun. She ran a fever that night and through the next day, but thankfully she is feeling much better now.

Sydnee has her first two teeth poking thru at the bottom and they are sharp! So, naturally everything she grabs goes in her mouth now. One of her favorite new things is to blow spit bubbles and at first it was cute, but when she did it with a mouthful of cereal, it wasn't so cute anymore. She is trying really hard to roll over but her arm is acting as a speed bump and keeps getting in the way. She is also becoming more vocal. She loves to laugh and "talk", especially when it's supposed to be quiet (like in church or during small group). She went to the nursery at church for the first time last Sunday and did really well. I was watching the screen the whole time expecting for our number to show and we would have to go get her, but it never happened! When we went to pick her up she was laying on the floor with another baby and was just "talking" away. The ladies in there are so sweet and we really appreciate them. Steve and I were really able to relax and enjoy church together.

Sydnee is so much fun and she brings us so much delight! We love watching her grow before our eyes. Sometimes I just want to slow down time because I can't believe how fast these past 5 months have gone!

New Year's Resolutions

The New Year brought about a few changes for Sydnee (and us).

We decided to make her start sleeping in her crib at night. She had been taking her naps in her crib and the only reason she was still sleeping in her pack-n-play at night was because she was still waking to eat once a night and she would lose her paci and wake up so it was so easy to just pop it back in and she would go back to sleep...and so would I. She also was fighting sleep and we were doing everything we could to get her to sleep...walking her, rocking her, bouncing her, etc... However, we decided that it was time for a change.

The first night she did really well. We put her in her crib around 8:30 when she was sleepy but still awake and just patted her for a little while. She eventually fell asleep with a little fussing. She slept all night without waking to eat and we just had to put her paci in a few times when she would lose it and start to wake up. The second night was pretty much the same but it took her less time to fall asleep. Each night she was getting progressively better about falling asleep on her own. In fact, now that we've done it a few weeks she rarely fusses at all when we put her in there and we don't even have to pat her anymore. She watches her mobile and caresses the butterflies on the sides of her bumper and falls asleep. She still wakes to eat usually once in the night around 2:30 and we still do have to go in occasionally to give her the paci but hopefully she will learn to self-soothe and she won't need it.

Another change was Sydnee had her first taste of sweet potatoes. She wasn't too sure about it at first but she eventually decided she liked it. About a week later she tried butternut squash and liked that too. Not sure what will be next...green beans, maybe???

Happy New Year!

For New Year's Day, Steve smoked a delicious brisket so Sydnee and I decided to hang outside with him for a little while. It was a cool, sunny day so of course we had to wear the shades and leg warmers. She loves being outside so we try to get out at least once a day if it's good weather.

Merry Christmas!

Sydnee's first Christmas was exciting for us, but she had no idea what was going on. She did well with all of the traveling we did. We headed for Nixon on the 23rd for the annual Christmas Eve Party. We left Nixon late on Christmas Eve and headed to San Antonio to stay with Grammy and celebrate again on Christmas day. As always, we had a lot of fun eating, visiting, eating, visiting, watching the kids play, eating, visiting, opening presents...oh and eating again! Needless to say we ate way too much but it was soooo delicious! Here are a few pictures to highlight the memories that we made.