Summer Loving

It's summer time and the living's easy. At least that's how things go here in Blacksburg. It's sort of a ghost town with the large majority of Virginia Tech students scattered across the land for the summer. I have to admit it's not really my favorite time of year. A lot of "the locals" love it because you can park anywhere downtown without driving in circles for 3o minutes trying to find a spot, go to any restaurant you'd like with virtually no wait, and enjoy all the benefits of living in a small town. Besides the fact that there is no line at Chipotle (good for my tummy, bad for my wallet) I could care less about those things. I really enjoy having students around but I'm learning to appreciate life for where I am now and not where I think the grass is greener.

So here I sit on the "veranda" of our local Starbucks, enjoying the cool summer breeze with a little Matt Wertz streaming through my headphones.

(Forgive the lack of makeup and baseball cap friends, it's been a long day)

It's my weekly "me" time thanks to my precious husband and I'm blogging, what the heck? I did a little self evaluation last week and discovered writing is something that I actually really enjoy, whether I'm good at it or not is still up in the air. If you looked at my blog lately perhaps you wouldn't think that but life hasn't been quite what it used to be the past five months either (love you Sadie).

I watched a video by Jon Acuff a few weeks ago and he mentions the "all or nothing" principle that most bloggers adopt. He says they either commit to posting daily (which quickly gets overwhelming unless you're getting paid for it) or they leave their blog deserted for months on end, there's simply no happy medium.

Hello that's me, guilty as charged, as evidenced by my complete failure at the 100 joys challenge. So I'm stepping forward with a realistic goal this time. I'm *hopefully* making a commitment to blog one or two times a week from here on out. Maybe I'll even throw a few 100 joys posts into the mix. Who's excited? This girl.

Happy Five Months!

My dear little Sadie,

These months come and go so quickly! You started eating solid foods this month and my oh my do you wear food well :)! You've picked up the whole "using a spoon thing" pretty quickly. So far you've had rice cereal, carrots, squash, and peas.

The first part of this month you had a daddy-daughter weekend (Friday night/Saturday) with your dad. Mom ran a 5K in Charlottesville and your dad was super sweet and kept you so I could be focused on my race. Speaking of overnighters you had your first week away from home too. We went to stay with Nana & Papa the first half of the week and then down to Charlotte to visit the Haynes (including the newest Haynes, Lydia), all while Daddy was in school. You were very smiley with Lydia, in fact I think you guys are going to be best friends!

You've become such a curious little baby over the past few weeks. You're reaching for anything and everything within sight. It's like you've realized there's a whole new world of discovery out there just waiting for you! You learned how to roll over from back to tummy this month. You've done the opposite a handful of times too but I think you got a little amnesia about how to do it again.

You're still a pretty calm, easy going baby. The lady at CVS asked me the other day if you were always this calm and when I said "most of the time" she said "Well I guess you've just got a little Buddha baby." While I'm not sure what to think about you being compared to Buddha, I do appreciate the symbolism she was getting at and the fact that you remain a chill baby.

You said goodbye to lots of your friends this month. That's the stinkiest part of this whole college ministry thing. Some you'll see again in August but lots of them are moving on for good. I bet you'll still be able to make them smile whenever you seem them again though!

Our love for you continues to grow more and more each day. We love you lots little girl!

Day Number Next

So obviously I failed at blogging consecutively throughout the month of April BUT I am determined to reach 100 joys. So here goes a few more!

57) First solid food feedings. Rice cereal everywhere (including on mom) but so cute while we try it!

58) First Post-pregnancy race. Marissa and I headed to Charlottesville this past weekend for a 5K organized by my friend Lauren (and others). It was so much fun and I pretty much ran it all (with the exception of about .2 miles)! The start of races are always such a spiritual experience for me and this one was no exception. I may have even teared up a bit :).

59) Healthy babies. Although Sadie may not agree with me, (this picture was taken while we were waiting for the nurse to return with her vaccines) I am so thankful that we are able to go to the doctor when we need to.
60) Lunch outside with friends. Since the weather has gotten nicer I've been taking every chance I have to be outside!

61) Breakfast pastries. When I was pregnant one of my cravings included breakfast pastries, chocolate chip scones, pumpkin muffins, you name it really I liked it. Well even though I'm not pregnant now, I still enjoy a good muffin every now and then.


62) These fabulous people are graduating on Saturday. And even though it makes my heart ache to know they won't be back this fall I'm excited to see what God has in store for their futures. Thank you Class of 2011 for all you've taught me. Know you are loved!

Happy Four Months!

Dear Sweet Sadie,

It's so hard to believe you're already 4 months old. At your doctor's appointment today you weighed 13 lbs 11 oz and were 26 inches long! You are definitely becoming quite the curious little person. You are so observant of the colors in books, the looks on people's faces, and every thing else in this big new world. Your friend Mr. Darrell said he thinks you're smiley about 70% of the time and I would have to say I agree with that statement. You certainly know how to get our attention with those lungs of yours but you're still such a sweet baby.

You learned how to roll over this month (from stomach to back) although you've only duplicated that move a few times since. Your poor bald spot continues to get larger (we gotta work on those back muscles) and the rest of your hair still refuses to lay down! Some people say you're starting to look a lot like your Mom but I still think you've got a good bit of your Dad in there too.

Now that it's warmer outside we've been going for more walks outside and you really like your stroller. You're learning to "talk" more and you've even been known to let out a few laughs. Sitting in your baby La-z-boy chair is still one of your favorite activities. The way you pull on your toys from that chair makes me think you might be a future gymnast!

Our love for you continues to grow more and more each day. You are such a blessing. We love you lots!

Day Thirteen

50) To you this might look like a mess of clothes but to me it's a whole new wardrobe. I love changing my closet out each season with "new" clothes from the attic. It makes me feel like I just went on a shopping spree!

51) Every holiday I fall victim to the powers of seasonal candy. For some reason a Reester Bunny (or egg) tastes a whole lot better than a regular Reeses Peanut Butter Cup. Just to be clear this basket is a combination of all the Uebel family's Easter candy :).
52) A new washing machine that works. I will never take my washing machine for granted EVER again.
53) Cute little babies in their Easter dress and a new sun hat (thanks Nana)!

54) New haircuts and a sweet little baby.
55) A baptismal service on Easter Sunday. A great way to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!

56) Sweet little Charlotte (this photo is another cheat by the way, it was taken on 1/9/11 but I forgot to take a picture of her this weekend). We went to an Easter Pageant on Saturday night at a local church and Charlotte played the part of Baby Jesus. She stole the show for sure. At one point she let out a few cries and had the audience in total "ooos and awwws." Precious. Oh yea, the pageant was pretty incredible too!

Short Break

The past few days have been a whirlwind and it seems that wind swept my camera away with it. I have a feeling this means my 100 joys challenge will go on past the month of April. I hope to take lots of pictures this weekend though. Hope you have a great Easter!

Day Twelve

46) TV on DVD. Addicting. We watched all of season one right after Sadie was born and then my sweet husband bought season two for us to watch.

47) We're making several of the rooms at our church into kid friendly spaces. We had a work day today and I got to paint this lovely piece of art. Turns out I'm not so good at painting but it was good for the soul :).

48) I found out one year ago today that I was pregnant. It's crazy how times flies and even crazier how much my life has changed since last year.

49) Here I am demonstrating that I can now wear another pair of pre-pregnancy jeans. Praise the Lord! P.S. Please ignore the funk that is my hair in this picture. It was taken at 9pm after a very LONG day.