a night out with our small group...

Last night we went out with our small group (which Josh and I call our "big" group, because well...it's not small) to celebrate our friend Mandi's graduation of Grad school. We went to this cute little pub/restaurant called Hugo's that is underground, literally. It was such a good time to catch up with everyone and have one last time together before we break for summer. These folks are like family to us. We've been in the same group for 3 years now. These people have come to mean so much to us and are truly our family away from family....

5 months...

As each month goes by it is baffling to me how fast she is growing. In some ways she is starting to look like a little girl and less like a baby to me, which is scary! She is such a good baby, such a blessing to us. She's started to sleep really well this past week and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this is the new normal, but who knows. Now if I could only get her to take a decent nap!! :) Below are some pics and videos to recap the last month (really more like the last week or so).

For Josh and I, time is spent mostly on finishing our house. We hope to have a sign in the yard on this coming Monday...so if you know anyone wanting to buy a house in Siloam, send them our way!! And as of this morning, I may be going back to work part-time at the publishing company I was working at before. This is their busy season so I'm just going to help out a few hours a day, a few days a week...still figuring out the details and may even start working at the end of the week! I'm kind of nervous because I've gotten used to being home all day with Syd, but it will be kind of nice to have a couple hours out of the house and of course the extra money will be nice too :)


Ok, ok on to what you really want to see, a 5 month old cutie....

trying her first veggie, sweet potatoes...she loved them!

trying green beans, as you can see..she did NOT like them!

she fell asleep with the silky in her mouth. like mother, like daughter??

(for those who don't know, I was obsessed with the silk edging on blankets from like birth to age 10...yes 10, sad I know)

playing with a cup...

getting ready for a walk...

on a walk...

5 months old...

First time eating sweet potatoes...

Celebrating 5 months...

haircuts, houses, hit and runs...

It feels like we're constantly on the go lately. Josh is spending all his time working on our house (it's looking great, pics below). I'm loving the warm weather and lots of outside time with Sydney. It's been fun hanging out with friends, taking walks, and just soaking in the sunshine. Here are the latest pics.....

Here's Sydney "playing" with her friend Elisa (Our friends Greg and Carolyn's daughter).

Here's my new haircut...it feels SO good to have short hair again. I can't figure out why I waited so long to cut it!!

Here's Josh's poor truck. Saturday night, we had a hit and run. We heard a huge crash that shook our house and went outside to find this. A couple of our neighbors were standing outside when it happened and thought they caught the plate number, but as far as we know the police haven't figured anything out. We're still waiting on insurance stuff to get it all figured out, but we think it might be totaled. The picture doesn't really show how bad the damage is....the back wheel is bent, the bumper is majorly bent. The hit pushed it from the road into the yard...so it was hit pretty hard.

And here's our house :) Josh cleaned the roof and it looks brand new and just put on a fresh coat of paint. We're getting new windows this weekend. It's not done, but we're making progress!!

And finally, here's a video of Sydney "talking". She has a new fascination with her tongue...

um...

On a much less serious note, (and one that needed it's own blog) I was flipping through the new music in the iTunes store and came across this album cover. At a glance I honestly thought it was Barbara Walters. It was disturbing to realize it was in fact NOT Ms. Walters, but Clay Aiken. Honest mistake? I'm just sayin....

a prayer for today...

Josh and I will be making decisions soon. Some of you may know about them. I'll go into more detail at a later date when we actually start making them. In the meantime, I would ask that you pray with us....for wisdom, for direction, for clarity, for peace. Our desire is to know our Father, to serve Him, to please Him.

This is my prayer today... "My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it." --Thomas Merton

first cereal...

So, after a long talk with Syd's doctor yesterday about her sleeping and eating habits he suggested that it might be time to try "solids". I've been thinking about this for a while because she just seems hungry all the time and started waking more often through the night acting hungry. So we decided to venture out and try some cereal last night. I had wanted to wait a bit longer...but I guess when they're ready, they're ready. I was shocked at how well she ate it which just confirmed in my mind that she was definitely ready for this. She chowed down and ate almost the whole bowl. I thought it would be a struggle for her to swallow it since it's such a different texture, but she ate like a champ.

Here's a picture and video of the big event...

growing girl...

Sydney had her 4 month check up today (a little late). She weighs a whopping 14.2 oz and measured 25.8 inches in length. She's 50th percentile in weight and 75th in height. She's almost doubled her birth weight now!! AND she learned something new this morning...she's been rolling over back to front for a while now but she rolled front to back for the first time this morning. We both got to see it, so I'm glad she's waiting for all of us to be together to pull out these new tricks :) Another new thing is her hand/eye coordination has improved quite a bit. She's now starting to be very intentional as she grabs things. Also, her new favorite thing is to squeal...really loud...for long periods of time. Needless to say, it's not Josh and I's favorite thing and we'll both need ear plugs in the near future if it keeps up at this pitch and volume. Regardless of how we feel, she's having fun :)
Here's a few of the latest pictures:

Sleeping in her swing...

Her first time in the "Johnny Jump-up"...

Our genius baby pointing at her nose (purely coincidence)...

Her "excited" eyes... And just a fun smile ...