Adelyn, 9 months

Every month I say the same thing: How can my baby be so big already? This month is no exception. I'm actually a day early posting this as she'll be 9 months exactly tomorrow, but I have a few free minutes. The big girls are entertaining themselves playing "baby" (Sarabeth is covering Anabelle up with blankets and putting her to bed) and Adelyn is still napping. Here's what Adelyn is up to these days:

~crawling, mostly on her belly still, occasionally hands & knees

~walking holding onto our fingers (her most favorite activity lately- she cries when we stop!)

~eating small bites of most things, just had chicken for the first time last week and loved it

~looking at animals. Her favorites seem to be birds and dogs.

~sleeping ALL night! She went through a phase a few months ago of waking up around 3, we seem to be past it though.

~watching her big sisters, laughing at them, and eating their toys, papers, crayons, whatever they leave laying around.

Josh has gone to Houston every week for the last 7 weeks for work. We're used to him being down there once, sometimes twice a month. This was a lot for us to manage. It was hard on him, the girls, and me. I had to get creative juggling all 3 kids by myself. One night the girls were refusing to eat dinner and Adelyn was tired and ready for a bath. This was my improvisation...

I had to sneak a few pictures of the big girls in!

On a different note, it finally cooled off yesterday. Today it's 70, sunny, and beautiful. Windows are open, kids are happy, all I need now are some fall candles burning!

Stories: Sarabeth

We've been having more in-depth conversations with Sarabeth as she's getting older. She loves to ask why, ask how things work, find a reason/explanation for nearly everything. I have to remind myself that this is how she (all kids, really) learn. As much as I sometimes get annoyed at, "but why, mom?" I need to fulfill my responsibility as a parent to teach and encourage their curiosity.

Two funny little stories from the last few days...

Earlier today while driving in the car

Sarabeth: Mom? What will I do when I'm grown up?

Me: Whatever you want. What do you think you'd like to do when you're grown up?

Sarabeth: I'm going to think about that during nap. But will my name still be Sarabeth?

Yesterday afternoon I was reading to the girls out of their children's Bible. We recently started in the New Testament and got to the story of the angel appearing to the shepherds to tell them of the birth of Jesus. When the shepherd saw the angels, they were afraid and fell to their knees. After finishing the story, I asked the girls a few questions to see how much they comprehended.

Me: Sarabeth, why did the shepherds fall to their knees when they saw the angel?

Sarabeth: Because they had no bones!

We'll be re-reading that story.

The Best.

I love when I can look back on a specific day/weekend/week and it makes me smile, no matter my mood. We had one of those weekends. I don't want to forget a minute of it, so here goes.

Friday

Josh had been in Houston again the majority of the week. We got a lovely cool front and the temp in the morning was in the 70's, it was a little cloudy, but gorgeous. The girls & I spent part of the morning swinging out back, sidewalk chalk out front, talking to neighbors...it was wonderful. Josh was on the road heading back home and had the great idea to meet us at the zoo. We got there just before lunchtime, minutes before him. We had lunch, walked around, saw the giraffes (Anabelle's request) and the penguins (Sarabeth's request) and everything in between. We came home for naptime (pretty sure all 5 of us slept!) and the girls played with daddy when they woke up. They miss him so much when he's gone! The night before, Sarabeth had asked if we could have breakfast for dinner. I wasn't up to cooking with Josh out of town trying to hold down the fort by myself, so Friday night was the perfect time for that. We had omelets, bacon, scrambled eggs, hard boiled eggs, fruit...you name it. Delicious! No "breakfast for dinner" meal is complete without a trip to the ice cream store, right?! This one wasn't. So off to Blue Berries we went. Then home again, followed by a good bath and bed.

Saturday

Just as great of a day! Our family trip to the gym which we hadn't done in WAY too long was followed by pulling weeds out front, a little cleaning/straightening inside and out, and a handful of other things on our "to do" lists. I love productive mornings! They set the tone for the whole day. After lunch and putting the girls down for a nap, Josh and I got ready to head out to the TCU v Oregon Stage game at the Cowboy's stadium. We had a sitter lined up for the girls so we got to spend 7 whole hours together. To make it even sweeter, TCU decided to pull out an awesome win.

the ONLY picture I took all weekend that I was able to upload

Sunday

Went to church and enjoyed a great message from the youth pastor. I really enjoyed seeing the youth rise up in the church and put on such a powerful service. It gets me so excited for the day our girls are doing that! After church we went out to brunch and spent the rest of the day at home. Quality time speaks wonders to 4 year olds and 3 year olds!

Monday

I slept in a little after a looooonnnngg night of being up with all 3 kids. They must have planned it. They were all up at different times, all for different reasons. Once I woke up I hit the ground running, though. We went over to see Josh's brother and his family who just moved into a new place. The girls got some time to play with their only in-town cousins while the grown ups talked. From there, we had lunch with friends of ours from Houston who we hadn't seen in at least 3 years. Even though it had been so long since we'd seen each other, we talked like it was just yesterday. They have two daughters, the younger of which we had never met. Their oldest, Sarabeth & Anabelle were practically best friends by the time lunch was over. After getting home and taking naps (except for me...grocery store!) we had 2 families over for dinner/football. Grilling, visiting, eating, kids running around all over, football game on in the background...perfect way to spend Labor Day.

I wasn't ready for the weekend to end, especially because that meant Josh was headed back down to Houston. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to make memories like these with our girls, and hope it makes them smile as much as it does me.