It has begun...

Wow! Within three weeks Sawyer learned to sit up, crawl and stand up. All she wants to do now though is pull her self up and stand. As parents we are floored that Sawyer continues to develop. We are so thankful that she is healthy and growing. One the other hand, we realize that now, we have to watch her every move and be ready to chase her down. She already obtained a battle wound when her curiosity lead her to try to climb up a 12 pack of soda which toppled down onto her face and gave her a little cut under the eye. That was the first of many spills to come.

Here is a picture of Sawyer with her Aunt Alyssa. There have been numerous comments that Sawyer resembles Alyssa

Franks and Beans

Sawyer for some reason got a kick out of this phrase Brad kept saying to her.

Sawyer and Mason

In early December Sawyer and I flew to Washington to visit my best friend and her new baby. Mason, who was born November 16 was 3 weeks old when we visited. It was not too long ago that Sawyer was that age but I couldn't remember Sawyer being that small. It is amazing how fast babies grow and change in such a short amount of time. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Thanksgiving

The holidays are always a crazy time for us, like most people I am sure. We spent Thanksgiving with my mom this year. It is fun to celebrate all the "first" holidays with Sawyer and as a family of three. It seems that everyone is so excited to see us, but we know that it is really just excitement to see Sawyer ; ). Here are some photos from Thanksgiving with the Coe/ Jenkins family.

Chow TIme

Brad and I just fed Sawyer her evening rice cereal and decided to record it. She takes after her father in this one and I'm not just talking about her aggressive eating ; )

5 months old

(Sawyer and Uncle Dustin)

I cannot believe that Sawyer is 5 months old today. Where in the world has the time gone? Everyday there is something new that Sawyer does which makes the time fly by. Lately Sawyer has been a little fussier then usually because she has cut her bottom two teeth. I am waiting until they grown all the way in before I take a picture to post. She has become very good at holding herself up in the crawling position but all she does is rock back and forth.

Last night was the introduction to "real" food for Sawyer. It was pretty funny watching her react to the rice cereal. Every time Brad would place a spoon full of the cereal into her mouth she made a sour puss face and wasn't sure what to do with it. Surprisingly only about 50% of it was spit out onto her bib. It is going to take some getting used to, but we are on the road towards baby food.

We got her to crack a smile every now and then. She looked so cute in her little bib....thanks Anna ; )

Uncle Den

I have an older brother named Dennis. He is the ultimate Uncle. He loves to see Sawyer and I cant wait for her to get to know him. We were able to hang out with him last night for a bit. Lately Sawyer has been giggling every couple days. It is not so easy to get her to laugh either. But, my brother had her going last night. It was so fun to watch.

Jenny Jump Up

Sawyer loves to stand! We have wanted to get a doorway jumper for a couple weeks and haven't had the time to get one. My sweet mom decided to get us one this week and brought it over on Thursday night. We have a free babysitter now! Sawyer sat in her Jenny Jump Up for an hour without making one peep. Seriously, not a one! She just explored her new found freedom in her jumper. By the time we took her out it was drenched in drool mind you, but she was loving it.

Sawyer is showing her future soccer skills... she is taking on a defending in her head

She saw a bug on the floor and was trying to step on it.... jk

Sawyer is so close to sitting up by herself. We can prop her up and she will sit up for 5 sec before she leans to far to one side and tumbles over. It is pretty cute because she just smiles when she falls over. She also is starting to show the signs of crawling. She can shimmy her way forward on the floor and is starting to pull her knees under her body. All we are thinking now is... uh oh!

Daddy and Sawyer as she gets in her evening leg exercises

We decided not to put Sawyer in a costume for Halloween, but my aunt and cousin did buy Sawyer a super cute outfit. She was over the hat in 5 seconds but she did rock the "Too cute to scare" onesie and the "Boo" socks very well. She is just too cute to be our daughter.

4 month update

Sawyer is such a ham in front of the camera. Whenever we put a phone or camera in her face to take a picture she locks her eyes right in and smiles. Here she is modeling her new orange diaper.

It is amazing how fast babies grow. Looking over the last 4 months there have been so many changes with Sawyer's body and development and she is only 4 months old! I can see why people always say, "Take it all in because it goes by sooo fast". Above are pictures of Sawyer this morning right after waking up at 10 am! (We are so lucky) She is sporting here fab reusable diapers. We have completely switched over to reusable and love it.
On Monday Brad and I took Sawyer to her 4 month check up. She weighed in at 14.3 lbs and is now 24 inches long. The doctor mentioned what a happy baby Sawyer seemed to be. I think it is so funny that we are asked to put Sawyer in a gown when we go to her appointments.
Here is a picture of Sawyer lounging on the couch. The outfit she is wearing is the first outfit that Brad and I bought her when we were pregnant.

Gro Baby Cloth Diapers

 

Before Sawyer was born I had contemplated using a diaper service instead of disposable diapers. I heard numerous opinions about cloth diapers and most comments were negative. I eventually decided to stick with disposable diapers. A couple weeks ago I visited a baby boutique in Claremont, close to where we live. It was full of eco-friendly baby gear, toys and diapers. Actually 1/4 of the store was dedicated to reusable diapers. I was a little overwhelmed with it all and left, but was still curious about the diapers. Last week when my friend Angela was down she was explaining how her cousin uses reusable diapers. We then decided to make a trip to the baby boutique that I had visited in Claremont. We spent so time talking with the owner of the store about the different brands of reusable diapers. So I decided to try them out. I bought enough for 5 diaper changes. Sawyer usually goes through around 10 diapers a day, so obviously I do not have enough for a full set. It is going to be a slow transition because my first purchase of diapers (5 changes) was $45. 

The brand that I went with I think is great. They are called Gro Baby Cloth Diapers. What I especially like about this brand is when the child soils the diaper, you don't have to change the entire thing. All you have to change is the inner lining, which snaps in and out.  The outer diaper shell doesn't need to be changed unless the baby gets it dirty on the inside or out. It is suggested that you have 8 outer shells and 25-30 inner liners. When the baby soils the liner you place the liner in a special bag and later wash all the liners in the washing machine. The liners are all organic cotton and become the most absorbent after 10 washes in the washing machine. 

I bet you are wondering about the cost comparison. The typical cost for disposable diapers over a child's life is $1600- $2000. This reusable diaper system cost $350-$450. There are many other brands with different types of diapers that cost more then Gro Baby. I personally think that this system is the best for us and the cost is doable. 

Also, the outer shells are so darn cute! I love the colors and you wouldn't even know that they were diapers. I have only tried using the diapers at home, and they worked great. I am looking forward to switching over to these new diapers and not having to buy diapers at the store every other week. 

New Developments

This past weekend Brad and I were fortunate enough to have our best friends, JD and Angela, down from Washington. Angela is 7 months/ 33 weeks pregnant and due on Nov. 19th. We went to the L.A County Fair on Friday night with a bunch of dear friends.

While they were visiting we threw them a baby shower and also celebrated Brad's 25th birthday at our friend Alan's house. It was all very fun. Earlier in the week I made a stop at Old Navy, who was having a take an extra 50% off sale items sale. I found the most adorable bikini for Sawyer and had to purchase it because it was only $2.50! I happen to already have the matching hat to go with the suit.

Brad also decided to introduce Sawyer to her first waterfall. She had a good time feeling the water and sticking her hand under the waterfall.

Sawyer continues to change day by day. She is able to hold objects in her hand and also bring them to her mouth. Anything that she can grab goes straight to her mouth. She will even grab a fist full of my hair and attempt to stick it in her mouth. In this pictures she was practicing tummy time while biting on her toys.

Sawyer also learned how to roll over. She has been working on it the last two weeks and on Saturday morning she figured it out. Now every time she is laying on her back she instantly wants to roll over to her tummy and take in the new perspective. She can also roll from her tummy to her back, but that move is not as fun.

We are excited to watch as Sawyer continues to learn about herself and her environment. Watching her development unfold is truly amazing to watch and leads me to reflect on how great our Creator is.

bebe Pod "toot"

I have been looking forward to buying this...

Sawyer has indicated to us that she prefers to sit up instead of lay down. We have been propping her up against pillows only to watch her fall forward and look like she is stretching. A friend of mine told me about this wonderful product which helps babies to sit up when they are just learning how to sit up on their own. I made a stop at Babies R Us yesterday to grab a couple things and decided to get a bebe Pod. I then had to hold in my excitement in my 5 hour class last night before I could plop Sawyer into her new "toy". As soon as I got home I ripped open the box and placed Sawyer in her bebe Pod.
She was exploring her new toy, trying to bit the white part of it with her gums and finished off the introductory session with what we thought was a welcome toot.
Ten minutes go by and a friend of ours who was staying the night, Jared was going to pick up Sawyer (keep in mind that Jared is a clean freak). Much to his dismay, he discovered that not only did Sawyer toot, but she pooped. I guess Sawyer thought that her new toy deserved a grand welcome.

I just got a kick out of the whole situation. It gave me perspective. I was so excited to use this new developmental toy with Sawyer and she just pooped right in it. Babies make their own rules and you have to learn to roll with the surprises.

P.S Sawyer earned her 3rd bath of the day that night :)

"It won't be like this for long..."

Daddy and Sawyer at 2 days old

Today marks three months since Sawyer was born. Brad and I have tried to take captive every moment of this new life. We have endless amounts of pictures and video of Sawyers little life, but documenting all the small developments doesn't help slow time. We are so thankful for all the family and friends who hold and adore Sawyer just as we do. She official moved into size 2 diapers and into her loads of 3 month old clothes. Her hair mysteriously continues to be red. Without a doubt everyone's first response to meeting Sawyer is, "Wow, she has red hair". Then inevitably the next question to follow is, "Who has red hair?". It turns out that my mom's mom was a red head. Only time will tell if Sawyer keeps those red locks.

Last Friday we had my dad, Brad, over for dinner. He was feeding Sawyer and decided to see if she could feed herself. Attention, Attention... we have a child prodigy on our hands! (JK) She held the bottle herself while she ate. I immediately googled the phrase, "When do babies hold their own bottles?". What I learned was that babies ages 3 months- 7 months can hold bottles. We were just smitten over the fact that Sawyer could hold the bottle. I don't think that she has broken the chains of dependency quite yet, but it made for a great picture.

Every time I hear the song, "It won't be like this for long" by Darius Rucker, it reminds me to cherish the small things and not to take for granted the moments that will soon pass.

Labor Day in uncle Al's pool

Our friend Jen Walker

Brad's mom Lila

Aunt Bubba

Grandpa Brad Coe who is silently saying "Just wait Sawyer, when you turn 9 we will have you in the water scuba diving" lol

Drool Monster

(Click on the photos so you really get to see the image)

Lately Sawyer has shown the signs of teething. She chews on anything she can get into her mouth, included all four of her fingers at once. The other sign is the drooling! She started drooling two weeks ago and is not ashamed to let it all out on whoever is holding her. The other night Brad was playing with her and she let him know how much she loved him. He was hold her over his head as he laid on the bed. We find that now with a baby, we laugh more often then we used to because in certain situations, thats all you can do.

Here is the spillage on Brad's chest.

Mid-drool pose

This drool had some spit up infused into it.

Conversations

Yesterday I was telling Brad how Sawyer and I had a 5 minute "conversation". It was so funny. It was like we were talking about the latest hot topics. Brad decided to try talking with her but all Sawyer wanted to do was scream her options at him. I think that she just likes to her own voice. Enjoy the video!

Thumb Alert

Oh yes we have a thumb sucker on our hands! This morning after Sawyer woke up I caught her going to town on her thumb. She had found her thumb a couple times prior to this incident but this time it was serious. I need to google "How to stop thumb sucking" because I am not sure I like this new talent. It is a toss up for me between having to get braces to correct buck teeth or fighting the battle of weening off of a pacifier. A certain sibling of ours was attached to their thumb until the age of 11. Lets hope that if she continues down this thumb sucking road that she will brake the habit long before her 11th birthday.

San Diego

Sawyer and I had a short vacation in San Diego this week. Brad was in Catalina with some of his students from work for 4 days. It was the first all girls road trip! Sawyer did not make much conversation.... she slept the whole time ; ). The newest addition to Sawyer's bag of talents is a very....very....I mean very high pitched scream. It is the ear piercing kind of scream. We showed daddy this new talent as soon as he got home. She is still cute even though she is able to incapacitate you with a yell. Sawyer continues to ham it up whenever we visit family and friends with her crooked smile. Here are some pictures of Sawyer visiting with aunts and uncles at a friends birthday party.