Anastacia is five months old!!

Ok, so I am a day late with this post, but my baby girl has turned five months old and I couldn't let that pass without saying something. I cannot believe she is already five months. It is flying by so quickly, I just want to stop the calendar!!!

Really, I am enjoying every single day with her. I have finally learned not to take it for granted. I think that with my other two, I spent way too much time wishing that the baby stage would pass so that I could get some sleep. I have set my mind to enjoy this little one!!! I don't even so much mind the sleepless nights cause I know it won't be long before she is toddling around and then running and then riding bikes, etc.....I just want to enjoy babyhood.

Well, let's see....what milestones has she met? She has learned to put her two hands together to grab things. She loves for someone to stand in front of her while I am holding her so that she can grab their face. Also, I can put a toy in front of her in the highchair and she will reach for it and grab it and put it in her mouth. She is very social now and will "talk" and smile at almost anyone. She gives "kisses" with her mouth wide open and she loves for me to get her sugar. I can say "I'm gonna get your sugar!!" and she will smile and stiffen in expectation of it. She still adores her daddy more than anyone else. She gets so excited when he comes near her. She also really likes her Bubba. He plays with her a lot and has started changing diapers on a regular basis. He is such a big help with her. Anastacia likes her sissy, too. She loves for Mahala to sing to her and tries to mimic what Mahala is doing by doing a sing-song voice.

She is rolling from front to back on a regular basis, still hasn't mastered back to front. I've actually only seen her do that move once. I started putting her on her back more so that she can work on it (she spends a lot more time on her tummy). She does the airplane a lot and she pushes up and looks around a lot. She can still scoot across her crib pretty quickly when she is trying to get herself to sleep. We don't rock her to sleep, she lays down in the crib and either goes straight to sleep or fusses for a few minutes and then goes to sleep. This is wonderful when we are at home, but poses a challenge when we are at church or somewhere that she can't lay down.

Oh, we started giving Anastacia water in a bottle and she can hold the bottle. She will hold it between her hands and chew on the nipple. She still doesn't care for the water, every once in a while she will get some in her mouth and she just spits it out. She has had the following foods: bananas, pears, sweet potatoes and squash. And yesterday I got homemaker-ish - I boiled some carrots until they were very tender, then I used the hand blender to puree them. I made a few servings of it and put it in the baby food containers I have been saving. So last night for supper, she had carrots. She loved them!!!! I think they were her favorite so far. I was so excited that I was able to make her something to eat!! I did this a lot with Mahala b/c that child would not have anything to do with baby food, but this is the first time I've done it with Anastacia. I'm so excited to be able to cook for her - next time I go shopping I am going to buy some more fresh veggies and work on making her some more baby food. I read somewhere about putting it in ice trays to make individual portions and freezing it, then bagging it for later use. That way anytime I need food it's already there. I think that is a great idea. Any of you other moms out there have any ideas, send them my way!!!!

Sleepover....

Mahala had her first sleepover last night!!! Abigail spent the night and they had a blast!!!! Abigail was here yesterday for most of the day and when her mama called to say she was coming to get her, we decided she could spend the night. So instead of coming to get her, Brandy brought her toothbrush, pj's and clothes. Abigail has never spent the night with a friend before, so this was a very new experience for her and she did awesome!!! She did not cry for her mama and daddy at all.

We started off with the girls in Mahala's tent, but they could not get to sleep. Mahala kept coming out of her room saying "Mommy we can't get to sleep." So I prayed with them for Jesus to help them sleep. The 2nd time I told her and Abigail to pray themselves to sleep (that's what I do when I can't sleep). By the third or fourth time, I figured out that it was not gonna work out cause the girls were hot and the space in the tent was too tight for two wiggly little girls. So I put Abigail in Mahala's little toddler bed and Mahala in the big bed. Mahala said she didn't want to sleep by herself, so I told her that Bubba would be in there soon. That did it for her, she was out within minutes. Abigail went straight to sleep after we figured out that she needed her sippy cup of water to hold.

This morning, Colten woke up first and checked on Abigail, who was waking up. She told Mr. Shawn that she was hungry, so they started going through the cabinets looking for breakfast. Abigail said she wanted cereal, which we didn't have. So she said she wanted pretzels. Then she said she wanted marshmallows. Then she went to the fridge and wanted to see what was in there. Finally, Shawn said "Hold on" and he came to me for help. I told him to give her the choice of oatmeal, eggs or toast. She chose scrambled eggs. She is so cute b/c she talks like a grown up in this little kid voice. When she saw me making a cup of coffee for myself she said, "Mrs. Larena I would like to have a cup of that." I told her that I didn't think her mommy would want her to have coffee. She said "Yes, but do you let Mahala have that?" I told her no and she said "Yes, but I would like to have a cup of that." I got so tickled at her.

Over all, it has been a great experience. I love it that Mahala has a sweet little friend who can spend the night with her.

I'm baaaaaack!!!

Ok Kristi, you gave me the little push I needed! I've been a little tired lately cause I have this cute little baby girl who keeps waking me up over and over and over and over....well, you get the picture. She is teething and she stays up late and wakes up multiple times. I cannot WAIT for this little tooth to come in!

Anastacia has this new little thing she's been doing that is so darn cute!! I think that she has just discovered that she has a tongue, or maybe she is just using it to rub her gums where that little tooth is gonna come thru - either way, it's really cute. So here are some pictures (don't mind the sweet potatoes all around her mouth - she had just had supper):

Isn't she just the cutest thing?? I love that girl. Oh, and here is a video of her laughing. Colten was playing with her on his bed and I heard her laughing, so I grabbed the camera and ran!! I caught a little snippet of her - it's short but so adorable!!! (I've been waiting forever to get a video of this laugh!)

Mighty women of God

Yeah, yeah, Cortnee beat me to it - but now's my chance!

We had Word Works last night and it was amazing, as always. I agree with Cortnee, I am watching my women grow in leaps and bounds already!!! I cannot believe the hunger these ladies have inside them for the Word of God!!!! They are so excited about what He is doing in their lives and eager to share that with others. It's really cool to sit back and observe how they interact with one another and I am more than honored to be allowed to do so. I am learning how to see others as God sees them and I get so excited about the gifts within each of my beautiful ladies. They are truly mighty women of God and I cannot wait to see what God does over this next year in their lives.

I was just thinking about something - have you ever watched a new baby and tried to experience life through their eyes? I look at my little Anastacia and I see all of the new things that she is learning and I wonder how the world looks to her: she gets excited over all of the bright colors and when she sees a shadow on the wall, she will "talk" to it. She smiles at the sound of my voice and she feels comforted by the smell of her daddy. She laughs at her Bubba when he acts silly and she loves to hear her sissy sing. She is experiencing all of the same things that I am, but they are "new" to her and she appreciates them a lot more than I do.

That is how it is with a new Christian. There is really nothing new about Jesus - He is the same yesterday, today and forever. But to look at Jesus from the perspective of a new Christian, He is so exciting and so new. A babe in Christ sees the same things that I take for granted and they get excited. They revel in the smell of His presence and they take comfort in the freedom of worshipping Him. They laugh just because they can and they get joy from being able to sing in His presence. They are thankful for each new day, they look at His creation around them and they are in awe. The colors are brighter to them and the smells are sweeter. They want to talk about Jesus and share Him with others and they aren't ashamed to do so. There is a bounce in their step and a smile on their face! Oh, the things I can learn from a new Christian!!!