I've learned a lot in the past 3 1/2 months, and I know I have a lot more to learn. One interesting, though strange, thing I have recently learned is that anytime I'm talking to Baby, if I can add a -y on the end of a word, I'm going to do it. I've noticed Pete doing the same thing, as well as most anyone who talks to a baby. We've got fingy, diapy, toesies, poopy, blankey, lovey, froggy, burpy, chickies, and a million more, I'm sure. Sometimes I hear myself thinking these y-ending words. Ah man, I got some of that poopy diapy on my fingy... I don't think I've added the y to adult conversations, but who knows. When you talk to a baby for 90% of your weekly social time, there's a good chance that other 10% will begin looking like the former.
Anywho-- Here are some pics of our growing girl during this last week of wonderfully warm weather!
Lying on our back started like this...
But ended like this... Poor baby!!
Daddy will make her smile again, though!
She prefers being able to see her surroundings.
Watching her sisters peck around in the yard
We love when Daddy comes home to play!
As you can see, headbands were the theme of the week. I most definitely like them more than anyone else in the house, Susannah included. But let's get serious: those big bows and flowers are SO CUTE on her big head!
Our Valentine's Day week was, of course, full of loving on Baby! She laughs randomly at nothing in particular, so it's always a fun surprise when we hear that little giggle and never enough time to grab the camera. Sus typically stops performing the second I pull out the camera regardless, so it might be some time before I capture the giggle cuteness.
With that said, there are a couple adorable videos for you this week.
Talking with her pal, Freddie the Firefly:
And a little tummy time:
I took Susannah to the grocery store with me today because -- if we're being honest -- I wanted to show her off. I've taken her to the store before out of necessity, but this time was just because I wanted to. I can't get over her cuteness, and I want others to not get over it with me. She just sat in my little front pack carrier, grabbed at my hands every time they came in her line of sight (melt my heart), stared in awe at all the colors, and took all the compliments from perfect strangers as if they were old news. Oh, you think I'm beautiful, huh? Well duh, lady, look at my parents. Sus makes running errands 8,000 times more fun.
And now here's another chance for you to not get over her cuteness with me, too:
This is my view after the dreamfeed each night.
She'd put both fists in her mouth at the same time if she could. She loves sucking on those fingers!
I'm going to keep it short because I have so many fun pictures to post from this past week. We had a wonderful week of spending time with family. From traveling to Richmond and Harrisonburg to see our Acker (and Gilbert and Jones) family to heading back to Carrsville to welcome Uncle E, Aunt Lauren, Hudson, and Holland; we are wiped out from all the fun we had!
One notable before we move on to pictures: Susannah laughed for the first time yesterday! Of course it happened a mere 2 hours after Uncle E, Aunt Lauren, and the boys left... She laughed 3 times within just a few minutes and hasn't done it again since. I can't wait until that cute little giggle happens on a regular basis!
Fun times with the Gilberts
Each of the "big girlies" got a chance to hold Susannah:
Love these silly personalities:
Laying around with Aunt Brae and "cousin bun-in-the-oven":
In Harrisonburg Cousin Chip was taking pictures with a really nice camera -- much, much nicer than mine -- so I ended up with no pictures from that part of the trip! Darn the luck!
The Wares' Visit
Meeting Uncle E and Aunt Lauren:
My precious nephews:
We spent so much time outside chasing chickens and helping Uncle Pete:
I was also informed that my windows were dirty and someone wanted very badly to clean them himself. Who am I to say no to that??
Cousin Pic attempts were hilarious:
The closest I got to a good pic of the three of them:
And last but not least, Eric and Susannah jamming:
We could not have had a more fun-filled week with our family. Having Eric, Lauren, and the boys come in town for the weekend helped to refuel my tank, as they offered some wonderful encouragement, laughter, and insight into this new "life with kids" thing we have going on now. We miss all four of those Wares already! Each time Pete and I get a chance to see our siblings and parents on either side, we are reminded time and time again how amazingly blessed our little family of three is to be covered in so much love, support, and prayer; and we thank Jesus that this is the family into which we get to introduce our sweet baby girl. Susannah will have so many wonderful role models to choose from! Whenever Sus wants to spend the afternoon reading stories with loving Aunt Brae, go on an adventure with cool Aunt KK, turn the backyard into some imagined kingdom with crazy Aunt Lauren, or spend the weekend at SuSu's or Figgy's; I will most readily say, "OF COURSE YOU CAN, SWEET GIRL!" because I know Susannah will come back to me a little stronger, a little more confident, and a little closer to Jesus than she was before. And when she wants to spend time with Uncle E, Uncle Mike, Pops, or PopPop, I know she will come back with raised standards for the men she will allow into her life down the road (and we want those standards real, REAL high, folks...). Susannah will need to see these things from more than just her mommy and daddy, so praise Jesus we can count on our family to help us in the godly task of raising this girl.
Our little baby is 3 months old this week! My how time flies...
We did, in fact, get more snow last week, as we had hoped for since it was going to be so darn cold. It was somewhere around 6 inches, and it was beautiful:
The view from our front porch last Wednesday evening. Unreal.
On Wednesday afternoon, all 3 of us bundled up and headed outside in the 20-degree weather to play in the snow for a few minutes. Sweet Susannah could hardly open her eyes because the snow was so bright! She liked it for a few minutes, until her mean ole mommy and daddy decided we wanted to see how she would react to lying in it...
Daddy had a hard time opening his eyes, too.
POOR BABY!!
We are heading to Harrisonburg for a few days this week since Pete has a conference near there; we are pumped to spend some more time with family! Here's hoping the 3-hour trip there and the 3-hour trip back go better than last time...
And the day after we return from Harrisonburg, Uncle Eric, Aunt Lauren, Hudson, and Holland are coming in town to visit!!!!!! My exclamation points do not do our enthusiasm justice -- we are SO EXCITED to have them come spend a few days with us. I've been researching for 3 weeks things for us to do in our little, rural town without a whole lot of luck. Fingers crossed there's at least a live auction or something that pops up...
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