Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Random Pictures

I don't really have anything to post about today, but I figured pictures are always a hit with the family. Mercy's hair is finally long enough on top for a little pony tail or two little pigtails. This was the first time I had tried putting her hair up, and she squirmed a lot, so it is kind of messy. Love it, though!
She has started opening up her mouth really wide to make a face! She cracks us up!

Mercy likes to go outside with her daddy and help him do yard work. She really likes looking at leaves and flowers. This leaf is from one of our many giant leaf maple trees.

She really just loves being outside. We bought her this wagon a couple of months ago. She likes to go for walks in the wagon down our dirt road. This picture makes it look like autumn with all the yellow and brown leaves on the ground! It is still pretty warm here, but since we haven't had much rain this summer, and we've had lots of unsually warm days, the leaves have been drying up and falling off.

Monday, August 24, 2009

I Love Your Mercy

Yesterday at church we sang a song with the line, "I love Your mercy", and I think Miss Mercy thought the song was just for her! Every time we sang that line, she would grin and look around at everyone while clapping. Too cute! Yes, Lord, we do love Your Mercy!

AND, I am so excited to announce that Mercy stayed in the nursery for almost 45 minutes! I got to hear most of the sermon! For those who don't know, we like to keep Mercy in the service with us during the worship music. She loves it and is well behaved. I take her into the nursery just as the sermon is beginning (which usually only lasts 30 minutes, but we had a guest speaker this week). I dropped her off on Sunday and she didn't seem too interested in me at all, so I left. She did cry at one point, but she allowed the nursery worker to soothe her. Yea!

It seems going cold turkey on the pacifier was the worst route to start out with, so we have moved on to plan B. Mercy seemed like she was going to adjust fine in the beginning, but each day got worse and worse. The breaking point for me was Friday, when she woke up at 5:30 a.m. and didn't go back to sleep. I got her to sleep for about 40 minutes later that morning...but that was it until bed time at 7:00 p.m.! She was sooo cranky and it is pretty unusual for her to go a whole day with only 40 minutes of sleep. So we're trying a few different things with the hope that a slow weaning from the pacifier will do the trick. Sigh. I almost wish we'd never given her one to begin with.

And, my last update for today- I begin the FINAL class of my graduate program today! The research class spans the entire school year, and requires that I work in a classroom on a regular basis. Before we moved I had just planned on stealing a former colleague's classroom a couple of times per week, but now I'm starting over somewhere new. It will be nice to get to know the school system here a bit!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

31!



Happy 31st Birthday sweetie! Thank you for being such a wonderful husband and father. We love and appreciate you!

Love,
Sadie and Mercy

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Such a Simple Thing

Have you ever noticed how the simplest things can turn into big blessings? Yesterday I received a phone call from a new friend. She was simply calling to talk, to see how I've been this week. I don't think I've had a friend call just to talk since...well, since college! It was such a blessing to take a few minutes during the day to chat with her and receive encouragement from a sister in Christ. My new friend shared with me some of her trials this week and asked for prayer, which left me feeling even more blessed, knowing she felt comfortable enough to do that. I'm thankful for friends who care!

On another note, our efforts to abolish the pacifier seem to be a success. Poor little Mercy cried for about twenty minutes at the beginning of both naps and at bed time yesterday . It just broke this mama's heart. But I persevered. Today she rewarded me by only crying 5-10 minutes at the beginning of her morning nap. Yea! I hope it continues to get easier!

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Putting the Pacifier to Rest

Now that Mercy is almost one, we have determined that it is high time we made her pacifiers disappear. Luckily, the little miss only takes a pacifier at nap time and bed time. What is the problem then? Well, once Mercy falls asleep, the pacifier falls out of her mouth. If she wakes up a little and realizes her pacifier isn't in place, then she cries until one of us gets up and pops the paci back into place. It's really for selfish reasons. We don't like getting out of bed for the sake of the pacifier. SO, today is day 1 of no pacifier. She cried for the first twenty minutes of her nap, then fell asleep, and stayed asleep for the remainder of her nap. I'm hoping she will cry less and less with each nap!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Friends and Stuff

Living away from all of my family has been hard for me. I miss them everyday, and I’m always aware of the everyday things we miss out on by not living closer to them. However, I am beginning to feel like I have more friends and more opportunities for fellowship here than I did in Idaho. Our church is full of young families, and full of moms with little ones at home. Mercy and I have had our pick of play dates for the past month. I have really been enjoying getting to know other stay at home moms and their kiddos. The break in our day to day schedule is nice and the fellowship is a blessing. Even though in most cases Mercy ends up being the youngest child at our play dates, she really loves being with other children. It has been good for her. And good for me! I am truly thankful for our new friends. I look forward to building strong friendships with these gals!

In other ramblings, this summer has been a summer for family. We spent a week at my parent’s house in June, spent a long weekend with Tyson’s family in July, this past weekend Tyson’s dad came for a visit, and next month my parents and Tyson's mom are coming for several days for Mercy's 1st birthday (Already! My baby is growing up too fast.). Below are a few random pictures.
Trying to pull herself up!
Playing with Daddy

Wearing her Daddy's new Mariners hat.

Grandpa Randy