thanksgiving

this time of year, everyone talks about what they are thankful for...it seems to be the thing to do

well last year, i was more panicky than thankful...although the thankfulness came shortly thereafter

last year on thanksgiving day, i had this weird feeling i needed to take a pregnancy test-no reason, just a feeling

so i told john i needed to shower, went into the bathroom, and peed on a stick

lo and behold it came up positive...like really quickly positive

they tell you to wait two minutes to read it, but within 30 seconds it was positive

i just stood there...we had been trying and i should have been jumping up and down, but i had no clue what to do right then

and you know how in your head you have all these cute ways to tell your husband...like becky on 'full house' did? well, they left my head at that moment

so i asked john to come to the bathroom...he was in the middle of installing our kitchen cabinets

finally i convinced him to walk into the bedroom and all i could think of to say was 'is this positive?' needless to say he just stood there and stared at me

then we were both excited

we waited about a week (john claims it was 3 weeks) to tell anyone...which was 10 times harder for john than it was for me

and now this year we are so thankful everytime we look at our little bundle of joy

i guess this year i am more thankful than i think i've ever been before! thank you God for my little sophia and all the joy she gives us day after day!

God moments

normally when i go grocery shopping, i am quite organized-list, bags to put groceries in, time it so sophia will be napping, etc

well, today God had other plans

i had a list, and bags, and sophia was close to napping...in fact she fell asleep on the way to our first stop-sherman & lins (our local scratch 'n' dent store)

i usually find most everything i need there..and for cheaper

not today though...i found one whole item on my list

waste of gas if you ask me

so i then headed to aldi's...sophia is still sleeping in her carseat while cuddling her stuffed puppy dog :) so cute and of course i had forgotten my camera at home

i get to aldi''s and all if goshen's amish community seemed to be there...along with the rest of warsaw

i walked in the doors and sophia woke up...but was thankfully happy and cute, so i talked to her as i did my shopping (now i have an excuse to talk to myself :) )

as i found my final items and got in line (which i might add was enormous), two people cut in line as i was getting my now fussy baby out of her carseat

i was slightly annoyed but something about holding a cute little baby girl made me not care that much

when i was done and paid, we went out to the car

sophia continued to be cranky if i put her in the carseat...so i held her (God's idea)

see normally when i shop, i park right next to the cart area so when i'm done i can load her in her carseat and the groceries all in the car, put the cart up, and head home...not today

since she was fussy i held her, put the groceries in the car, and for some odd reason decided to take her along when i put the cart up

as i push the door to the van closed, i then decide to check which pocket i put my keys in...none of them...i locked us out of the car

on a normal day when everything would have gone according to my plan, i would have locked her in her carseat in the car too

God thankfully had a different plan for today and allowed me to only lock my purse and groceries in the car

my mom then came to the rescue with a spare key a little while later and reminded me that thankfully God made me continue holding sophia while i locked the van up

so thank you God for 'messing things up' so that sophia and i weren't crying on opposite sides of the van door in 40 degree weather!

new things

every time my dad, my mom, john's mom or dad, or anyone close to us that goes about 4 or 5 days without seeing sophia says 'wow! she has changed so much!'

i tend to not see the little changes that happen every day as sophia grows

i can tell she is growing as she grows out of diapers and clothes, but not the little inches

but i do notice when she does new things

for instance, earlier this week i was folding laundry on the couch with her next to me on her activity mat

well i looked at her at one point to interact with her and she was on her side...crazy

then she has decided that it is fun to grab anything and everything that her little hands get near

she grabs any toy that is within her line of vision

she grabs my shirt every time she nurses and stretches it as far as she can and lets go (as if it will snap me :) )

she grabs her toys when i change her diaper

she grabs her pacifier every time it goes in her mouth...which can be problematic when she then pulls it out

she grabs hair and john's beard (which he tells me does not feel very good)

it is a lot of fun to see these things happen, especially as she becomes more interactive...which is SOOO much fun

needless to say, with each new thing she does, i fall deeper in love with her

genetics

you know those times in your life when you stop and go, "oh crap! that's something my mom (or dad) does!"

what's even worse is when your dad laughs out loud and says "did you just do that? your mom used to do that all the time!"

guess i'm more like my mom than i thought

see, when i am about ready to nurse sophia, i check to see which side is fuller and start her on that side

the way i check is to just test with my arms (so i'm not grabbing myself in public...sorry, but true)

well i guess that's EXACTLY what my mom used to do before she nursed us when we were little...and i guess i do the EXACT same thing that she did

so weird

i know i look like my mom and at times i hear myself say something that sounds just like her too

then i watch john and see things that he does and it is so like his dad

like when john tells a story, he leans forward...if there is a table nearby, he leans on it too

john's dad does this too (it is fun for me to watch and see this :) )

i wonder what parts of me sophia will get?

screamer

sophia has discovered the joys of her own voice...mainly in the high pitch scream sense

she is almost always happy when she is screaming

and she cannot get enough of it either...if you lay her on her back or talk to her, she gets happier and louder

it is actually quite fun to hear her scream in happiness

here's a short clip of it...and funnily enough, she is quieter on video

she seems to like to freeze up on camera

4 month birthday!!!

so 4 months ago, we became parents

and ever since then, we've had a ton of fun watching sophia grow and develop

some of the things she has started doing lately are even more fun

she can laugh now...only does it when she feels like it but it's so much fun when she does

she loves the sound of her scream, so she does it often :)

she grabs everything in sight and brings it straight to her mouth

she can sit up in her bumbo and exersaucer...and love both (which is awesome because i can do the dishes, do my hair, or get ready to go :)

every once in awhile, she can sit up by herself for a few seconds

she loves to see everything around her

she is recognizing people...which is fun for us and of course my parents :)

sophia is a little joy, and we can't wait for the next 4 months

sleeper

sophia does not like to sleep with covers on her

sophia does not like to be swaddled

when we brought her home from the hospital, she liked to be held

but she cried everytime we would swaddle her up all tight and exactly like the nurses say that babies like to be swaddled

she would cry and cry until she got her arms free...and then sleep the day or night away

whether it was a nap or at night or in her swing or wherever, she would wiggle and wiggle until her arms got free

at night, she is still this way

i have to make sure she is truly sleeping and then tuck a blanket around her body...under her arms

if i do this, she sleeps like a baby and is content

if i try to bring her arms down and cover them up, she wakes up and cries until she gets them free

in the morning when i get her, i wonder if she even moves at night...if she doesn't, she may be taking after her daddy wen he's really really tired :)

exersaucer

during this past summer, as we excitedly anticipated the arrival of our little sophia, my mom and i hit the yard sales...and hit them hard!

for the first time ever, i, rachel stangland, went to a yard sale before it was supposed to be open

the newspaper said 8am, and it also said 'exersaucer'

unfortunately i had a doctor's appointment 45 minutes away at 8:30 am

so i went to the yard sale at 7:45 am and slowly walked up...since the garage was open...and asked if i could look a little early because of my appointment

well the girls running it were awesome and let me look around

and i got my exersaucer! and funny part 3 of my friends with little kids have the same exact exersaucer

we hadn't used it and it was getting annoying in the shed as it takes up so much space

since she was sitting up perfectly in the bumbo and liking it, i decided to pull it out and give it a go

well, she likes it

she loves the part on it that spins

she gets all excited and spins it and closes her eyes every time in surprise of the noise...so cute

although it was not that cute when she spit up on the spinning thing and continued to spin it, getting spit up everywhere

but at least she smiled during the whole time :)

here's one of her most frequent looks while sitting in the exersaucer

the buck

one of the many things that has happened in the last week and a half is that john shot himself a buck with his bow

he has been incredibly busy with school and work and had about two days that he could hunt

God must have known this because the second day he went out this season, he got a buck!

as he tells the story, he was in his tree stand, about to fall asleep, when he heard a noise

he looked down and saw a buck...looking at him

he had to get his bow ready, which meant he had to pull down his facemask, hook his release on his bow, and pull the arrow back...all without the buck hearing him

well, God must have been wanting john to get this buck bad...because the buck did not see or hear him at all

john shot the deer; unfortunately, he spined the buck, but john got down and shot the deer again...and killed him

so now we have good, organic, all natural deer meat filling our freezer up!

which means i now have to learn how to cook deer meat

catch-up

i have not been on here in forever...who knows why

probably between work, my baby girl, my husband, a broken dishwasher and broken car, and being a mom, i guess i've let some little things slip :)

it's been a fun few weeks since halloween

sophia is almost 4 months old...this sunday marks that event

i cannot believe that 4 months has passed

i love being sophia's mom and watching her as she grows

she is a gorgeous little girl, and i feel blessed to be her mom

john and i have so much fun with her

in fact, this week john got her to laugh

of course we didn't catch it on video...we caught the little noises that are her attempt to laugh, and then hiccup

it was so much fun and john and i were laughing even harder than she was

what a cute little girl she is! here's her laughing...or right after laughing and trying to recreate it

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

so we didn't really trick or treat at all...i guess when kids are this age, the only purpose for trick or treating is 1-because they are so darn cute in their outfits and 2-the parents want candy :)

but since she had an outfit and looked so cute in it, i dressed her up

we only went down to the boathouse, a local restaurant that both bekah and kristen work at

she made the rounds there...the kitchen, the waiters and waitresses, the busboys, random people who came in and happened to know my mom, etc

and of course, melody had some candy there for anyone who stopped by, so i stole some :)

we had fun and sophia was cute

maybe next year when she's up and walking it will be slightly entertaining for her too...still more for the cuteness but a little more for her sake

ps sophia's costume was a lion if you can't tell...and it said 'roar' on it and had a tail