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.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter

We had a great first Easter with our little girl. No Easter bunny or egg hunts or chocolate candy...maybe next year when she'll understand it better. We did enjoy our Easter Sunday service. What an amazing, LIVING God we serve!!

Jenna was completely wiped out after a long day at grandpa and grandma's house on Easter.

Since we haven't been able to post updated pictures of Jenna lately (after losing them all when our computer crashed), here are some recent pics of her...

Thank you Carrie and Christen for the adorable sweater and jeans. I just LOVE them on her!

Jenna LOVES laying on her diaper changing table!

Jenna's already wearing 6 month clothes (and she's only 3 months old), so we decided to try her 6-month swimming suit on her. We just might be in trouble for this summer...it already fits her and it's only April!

Jenna just "lights up" with her daddy. She sure loves him!

Jenna and Daddy playing. Can you see how excited she is? She's sticking her tongue out and smiling at Daddy.

And my NEW favorite picture of Jenna....

Sorry for the lack of updates lately. A few weeks ago I was planning on updating the site with some videos and pictures of Jenna, but our (new) computer crashed on us and, unfortunately, all of our pictures and videos of Jenna are on that computer. We're praying that we'll at least be able to access the hard drive so we can get the pictures and videos off of it. So, in the meantime, here's a pictureless update...

On March 10th, Jenna rolled over for the first time. We thought it was maybe just a fluke, but she did it consistently for the next few days. However, she decided to take a break from it and has only done it a few times since then. :)

Jenna's also getting closer to actually sucking on her thumb/fingers. She still tries to stick her entire fist in her mouth and gets frustrated when that doesn't work very well. This morning I found her with her hand at her mouth and her fingers open instead of in a fist....so I think we're getting closer.

Jenna is able to hold up her head well. She's very attentive and loves looking around. We've found that we can't hold her in towards our body because she wants to see the world. We always have to hold her facing out.

She also prefers sitting up when she's held. She doesn't want to be reclining at all. If you lay her back, even slightly, she'll straighten her legs and tighten her stomach muscles trying to sit up. It's too funny! If it were up to her, she'd be sitting by now.

Jenna's been much more vocal lately. She's making many new sounds including squeals and a few little giggles. We're looking forward to when she really laughs out loud. That should be coming up soon. Many times we'll wake up in the morning to Jenna's noises - it's precious.

This is my last week home with Jenna. I go back to work next week. It makes me sad to think that I'll have to leave her for most of the day, but I try to keep telling myself that it's only for 9 weeks and then it's summertime! I just pray that those 9 weeks go VERY quickly.

Hopefully I'll be able to update soon with some new pictures...