Troy Strawberry Festival

This weekend was the Strawberry Festival. Although Jenna's a little young, we decided to take her to see some of the festivities. The weather was beautiful, but it was also very sunny and warm so we didn't stay long since we were worried that Jenna would get burned. Our doctor told us not to use sunscreen on her until she's 6 months old. So we hit up the strawberry doughnut line (I'm not a doughnut person, but these are UNBELIEVABLE!!!) and walked by some of the booths. Of course Jenna had to wear her strawberry sundress from Grandpa and Grandma Jones. :)

Had Jenna been a few months older we might have entered her in the baby crawling contest. :) Maybe in a few years she can do the 2-3 year old big wheels race.

Catch up

Jenna is now 5 months old and it seems like she's doing new things everyday. Now that she can roll over onto her stomach, she's started sleeping on her stomach at night. We still put her on her back, but inevitably she'll roll over. We've noticed she seems to sleep better on her stomach, which Mommy really appreciates.

Jenna sleeping on her stomach for the first time

She's been pushing herself up off the ground and working her legs so she can start crawling. I don't know that Mommy's ready for her to start crawling yet, but Jenna would love to.

She's also discovering her voice more and has started making screeching sounds. It's absolutely hilarious! If you weren't looking at her face, you'd think she was mad, but really she's just "talking."

Since it's now summertime, we bought Jenna a blow-up baby pool for our backyard. She's been in it twice and seems to like it. Actually she was very indifferent about it both times - just not sure what to think of it. Today we took her to my sister's apartment complex pool. The water was FREEZING, but she did great! No crying or fussing. In fact, it looked like she was just laying on her floatie relaxing.

The pictures of Jenna's first swim in a "real" pool are on Grandpa and Grandma's camera, so I'll post them once I get them.


We've also noticed she's much more attentive and really responds to her Mommy and Daddy's smiles. It seems we can always make her smile or laugh just by saying her name and smiling. It melts our hearts!

Jenna fell asleep holding onto her toy - what a tired girl!

PEEKABOO!

She's rolling over

Just this past Thursday Jenna started rolling from her back to her stomach. This is something she's been working on for a while now and she's finally gotten it. At first Drew and I thought it was by chance that she rolled over; however she hasn't stopped rolling over since then!

She now loves rolling onto her stomach, but she can't seem to remember how to roll back onto her back when she's tired or to lay her head down and to the side. She just gets frustrated and cries. However, this afternoon when we put her down for a nap in her crib she rolled over onto her stomach and then was able to fall asleep with her head to the side. This might not sound like a big deal, but it is when she's waking us up 2-3 times in the night because she's now on her stomach and can't figure out what to do next. :) So hopefully we'll all be able to sleep a little better now.

I had a wonderful first Mother's Day a few weeks ago! Since even before Jenna was born we've been praying that God would give us wisdom to raise her in a way that is pleasing to Him and that she would grow to love the Lord and desire to serve Him. So, on Mother's Day our church had baby dedications and we committed in front of God and the congregation, to raising Jenna to know and love the Lord. What a great way to celebrate Mother's Day!


Lastly, here are a few more pictures of Jenna. I couldn't resist taking a picture of her playing on her blanket before bath time.

Daddy and daughter

First Bite of "Real" Food

Jenna had her 4-month checkup this past week. She weighs 16 lbs, 5 oz and is 26 inches long. She's in about the 90th percentile in both height and weight. She's getting so big!! She's definitely wearing 6-9 month clothes and she even fit in a 12-month outfit this past weekend.

Jenna's been wiggling quite a bit lately, especially in her crib. It's always fun to see which direction she's laying when we get her in the mornings. And when we have her on her stomach, she moves her feet so much - it looks like she's ready to take off across the floor.

Today we decided to start Jenna on some rice cereal - "real" people food. We use the term "real" very loosely (although Drew did decide to try some of the cereal himself.) Jenna did a good job for her first few bites of real food. Of course some of it would slip out of her mouth and then she'd stick her fingers in her mouth and try to eat those as well. She was too cute!

Afterward, we decided to go on a walk. Jenna loves being in the carrier now that she can face out.

Reaching

Jenna's definitely been reaching for her toys lately. Her favorite thing to do is to lay on her play mat and look at her toys above her.

Teething?

Well, we're still trying to figure out whether or not she's teething right now. It feels like the top of her gums are tight and thin, but no teeth have popped through yet. And she won't let us get a good look at her gums either. Some signs we think that point towards her teething are:

* excessive drooling
* more fussiness than normal
* not sleeping through the night anymore
(although she has done a much better job the past two nights - yeah!)
* wanting to chew on EVERYTHING
* tight, thin gums

We have her 4-month check-up on Tuesday, so hopefully the doctor can give us some insight into this teething conundrum.

Only 4 more weeks of school before summer break! I'm excited, but I already know I'll miss my kids. I am realizing more and more just how much I LOVE teaching. I know without a doubt that this is what God had planned for me. However, I'm still struggling with the decision of either staying home with Jenna or going back to work next year. I never would have dreamed it'd be this hard of a decision. We're just trusting that God will make it clear to us what I should do.

I'll leave you with a video from last night of Jenna laughing. I'm telling you, she is a DADDY'S GIRL. :)

Picture and Video Update

Jenna is now 4 months old so I thought I'd post some recent pictures of her. She's getting so big and she's now reaching for toys.