Far More Than Rubies

Laura is amazing. She's been coming down with a cold, Grace just got her first tooth, and work was really busy at the end of last week, so she hasn't been able to rest very much. I was able to stay home from work today and take care of Grace and let her rest. Even though she hasn't cooked for several days, we've been enjoying delicious meals thanks to the stores that she puts away when she's feeling better. We had enchiladas & rice last week, which gave us burritos this weekend, I've had homemade granola for breakfast every morning and sandwiches for lunch on homemade bread, and we ate tacos for supper tonight (spicy food is good for a cold). She brings food from afar and provides food for our household, and I don't have to worry about anything except for giving her rest and figuring out the defrost settings on the microwave. :)

That's not why I love her, but it is lovely. I love you, Laura!
- Caleb

Grace's Fifth Month

I can't believe how the time flies by! Grace is about 5 and a half months now, and it's been an amazing few weeks!

Around January 5th or 6th, she started rolling from her back to her tummy, and she's discovered she'd much prefer sleeping on her side or tummy than her back . After being inundated with "babies must be put to sleep on their backs or they'll succomb to SIDS" for so long, this was a little alarming at first. As soon as I'd put her down on her back, she'd roll right back over. But I figure Caleb and I both slept on our tummies as babes, and we seem to be ok, so we'll let her be. :-) Unfortunately, she hasn't quite got the hang of the tummy-to-back flip, so when she wakes up in the middle of the night, she'll cry until one of us rolls her back over. And she only rolls to her left side.

It's really cute though when she wakes up happy; some mornings when I peak in her room she'll be propped up on her elbows just looking around and talking to herself. And man, she loves to talk! Especially during church service.

Speaking of talking, she's officially babbling! Especially when she's mad, we get a string of "Mamamamamama!" I'd been thinking I heard a "mama" sound every once in awhile for a few weeks now, but early last week she really started going for it. And within a day or two, we were hearing some "Dadadadada"s too. Needless to say, we are two very proud parents.

She's just about mastered the art of sitting as well; she can hold herself up for a few minutes at a time, before she starts slowly tilting to the side. Sometimes she'll topple over backwards and look a bit startled for a second, but then she'll go right back to happily playing with whatever object her hands have found now. All this moving about has made diaper changing a bit more challenging, so we've started keeping a special "diaper changing" toy. And as long as she's got her little yellow duckie to suck on, she'll generally hold still long enough to at least get the diaper fastened.

And lastly, Grace tasted her first "solid" about a week ago. I'm not convinced rice cereal should count as a solid, as her first feeding was about the consistency of split pea soup, but it comes in a spoon which she finds quite thrilling. She is most determined she can feed herself, and getting the spoon to her mouth while dodging her hands and keeping it's full load would keep any fighter pilot on their toes.

All Clear!

I threw on clothes to check out our building. Our hallway was clear, but it smelled like smoke outside, so I checked upstairs. Don't worry -- I touched all of the door knobs before I tried to open them. There was smoke in the second floor, but nothing seemed urgent, so I came down, we got Grace up, and we went outside. By the time we got out, the firemen were lugging fans inside (instead of fire hoses), and the alarm had just switched off. The fireman said that it was just food on a stove, and it sounded like everyone was okay. Praise the Lord!

What did we grab on our way out the door? The laptop and back-up hard drive. Things are just things, but since we had two minutes... I think it's probably time for an online backup subscription.

Baby's Sleeping! But we're not...

Caleb and I actually got Grace to sleep around 10 tonight, and just falling asleep ourselves when our condo's fire alarms started going off. Still not sure what's up, but like any sensible adult, I thought I'd blog about it while Caleb's checking it out.

Home for Christmas

So a little belated, but better late than never! Caleb, Grace and I spent a wonderful two weeks down in Texas with our families, and Grace had a fun time getting to know her grandparents, aunts and uncles. We've discovered we all sleep better now with Grace in her own space outside our room. (Well, Caleb, Grace and I sleep better at least.) She's started playing with her toes, and making raspberries. She came extremely close to rolling over the last evening we spent with the Bells, but she waited till we got back to Seattle before completing the move. A few times now I've found her on her tummy in her crib, just starting to get fussy when she realizes what she's done. She's still not a big fan of tummy-time!

I think in this first photo we were on our way to the Carroll's Christmas party, and I at least thought there was a canny resemblance to Bing Crosby.

Nannie

I sent an e-mail to Gramps, Dad, and Uncle Bob:

I was looking through this set of slides that Bob marked as being from 1964. Who is the elderly woman (not Mom-mom) in these pictures? There's one right before these of someone's yard with a sign that says "The Kenworthys", but I don't know if it's connected.

Gramps wrote back:

The "elderly woman" is my grandmom, Sarah Ann (Nannie) Wright (Nee: Anderson) on her 92nd birthday. I believe that she lived another five years. She's the one that had only one grandson, ME! She had four sons: one died at birth, one at age six, one in WWI, and Samuel. Only Sam and the two daughters lived to adulthood. Kathleen had no kids. Sam had one daughter. Then there was me! After she was saved she started praying for a "preacher" in the family. Everyone laughed at this silly old lady... especially me! How could even God do anything with that rascal? Ask me if I believe in the power of prayer.

Love,
Gramps (the Rascal)

Grace, if you read this someday, that's your great-great-great-grandmother, born in 1872. If she lived to see your birth, she would have been 136! The people in the top photo, from left to right, are my Uncle Bob, Nannie, Gramps (my grandfather), Mom-mom (my great-grandmother, Gramps's mom), and my dad, your grandfather. Never be afraid to ask the Lord for great things, and don't despair if his plans take longer than you think that they should (Genesis 15). We love you!

She rolled over!

This past Friday I'd put Grace down on her back under her play gym while I worked on the computer, and the next time I looked up she was on her tummy! I'm sad I missed the actual rolling over after she came so close several times while we were home with family over Christmas, but it was still pretty exciting. And then she did it twice more yesterday while home with Daddy.

And even more fun - I woke up last night and heard her start to whimper a little, but just as I got out of bed, I heard her little aquarium music box that's in her crib start to play. And then it stopped. And then it started again. And of course, I had to wake up Caleb to come look at her waving her legs in the air, but by the time he got to her room, she'd stopped. It was really cute though. :)