Family photos

I was about 17/18 weeks pregnant here, but because this was my third pregnancy, my body just makes room right away, I guess. We took these photos to mark my pregnancy with David, which then, we didn’t know it was a boy yet!!!! Sara wasn’t yet walking!! 

Dennis turns 40, we celebrate 13 years (2018)

Dennis’ big 4.0 happened September 14, 2018. I planned a surprise birthday dinner for him, invited some of our favorite people, and we enjoyed an evening celebrating him. 

My mom so graciously stayed back and watched the kids, but looking back, I wished she would have been there instead. 

At around 14 weeks pregnant here, I knew that we had one more opportunity to go away for a weekend before I wouldn’t be able to again for at least a year once the baby was here. And, so, we rented a house on AirB&B and spent the weekend in Union, WV. We made a couple of stops along the way. 

We had a wonderful time, and was happy to come home to Daniel and Sara. It was very relaxing. 

Finding out about David

A friend suggested I take a pregnancy test, and completely unaware, I took Daniel and Sara to eat Chinese, stopped by the dollar tree, grabbed a test, and took it. I got the SHOCK of my lifetime. And so, we decided to invite our parents to dinner and share this crazy unexpected news!!!! 

At around 6 or 7 weeks we got our first look, and was overjoyed with a healthy positive report! 

We went to the beach and celebrated Sara’s 1st birthday while there. I was about 8 weeks here and struggling with morning sickness pretty bad. In fact, it lasted until around 20/25 weeks. 

Whoa! What happened?!

So so so so so much has happened since my last blog post. 

We had another baby!!!! 🥴🤣😂 

And for the first time in our lives we didn’t mean to do that, but we’re so glad we did!!!! 

5 months old- Sara Jaymes

On February 6, 2018 Sara hit her 5th month, and it's been a month of adjusting for sure. This month has brought a lot of routine, but it has also been a routine that I have needed to be flexible with because she is changing. 

BIG adjustment #1: SLEEP

She moved recently from being swaddled and sleeping exclusively in our room at night in her Rock'n Play to being moved to her bed fully swaddled, which provided a little solitude until the middle of the night. She is till waking up, which meant that I was getting back up in the middle of the night SEVERAL times to soothe and/or nurse her back to sleep. 

She started trying to roll over in her bed, so that meant that she needed to transition from being fully swaddled to either partially swaddled, or just wrapped around the torso. The one arm out transition seemed to go pretty smoothly, but she was still waking up. At this point she is fully hands free, but we still wrap around the torso as we are transitioning her out of it completely. 

She is struggling with this quite a bit as she is taking her paci out, unable to find it, unable to reapply it, and coupled with rolling over and getting herself stuck around the edges of the crib, nap times are especially difficult and night times aren't feeling much more restful than those early newborn days. I know that this is just a phase, and I know that in the big scheme of things it is very short, but it still has me anxiously awaiting when she has learned to sleep without a ton of help from me. I know she's still so little, but I believe she can do it. In due time. :) 

Here are a few pictures of our progress. 

Transition #2: EATING 

She is still breastfeeding without any supplementation from formula, but I have added a little oatmeal mixed with banana at night right before bed or some smashed sweet potato mixed with expressed mommy's milk to help with practice and also for help staying asleep. I am not sure it's helping, but she's enjoying it and I am comfortable with the amount of food she is eating. 

This girl has lately been VERY CRANKY. And this photo is evidence of an evening last week when I had company coming over, a dinner to cook, no extra hands. Solly Baby Wrap TO THE RESCUE! 

These photos below are a few that I took to mark her 5th "birthday" and I think she just looks so sweet. 

Milestones: 

She is rolling both ways without any trouble, she is sitting up with support pretty awesomely. She is able to grab a toy with either both hands, or just one hand. She can get anything in her mouth it seems. She is giggling more and more now. 

Naps: 

3: morning, afternoon, and sometimes a short one in the evening. 

Diapers: Size 2 

Clothes: 6-9 months 

Sara Jaymes is our sweet gift and we love her so.