4 months old!

* Measurements- Leah now weighs 12 lbs., 7 oz. and is 24 1/2 in. long. This is in the 50 percentile for babies her age (meaning she is very average). She got 2 immunizations today at her dr. visit and was still her happy self afterward. This must be the most content baby in the world!

* Sleeping- Her sleeping & eating schedule seems to have finally started to take place! She now sleeps all night, from about 8:30 or 9pm to around 5 am (then usually goes back to sleep until about 8). She takes a full 6 oz. bottle in the morning. She sleeps another 45 min. or so sometime between 10 & 11. Then she naps about 2 or 3 hours starting at 1. And another nap sometime early evening, around 5:30.

* Eating- She likes her bottle as soon as she wakes up and she finishes it off now rather than snacking most of the time, mostly thanks to a faster-flow nipple. Of course, we're traveling in 2 weeks & her whole schedule will probably be thrown off, but that's the fun of visiting family!

The doctor said we can start her on solids any time. We will probably wait till after Texas. Her high chair is set up & ready to go but she still is a little too small for it. She has sat with me while I'm eating and is always very interested in the process, even opening her mouth a little as if waiting for the food.

* Discoveries- She rolled over for the first time last Saturday, the 27th. This was after she'd had a really rough night with air in her tummy and cried for about an hour straight. The blown-up tummy might have helped her roll over, but she did do it about 3 times in a row, and she's done it once since, not to mention she even flipped over from front to back once yesterday! She's mobile now!

We caught it on video, too. It's not great quality, and there's no sound. This is actually the 2nd time she did it. You'll see it took almost the whole 30 sec. of video for her to actually get there. Press play.




- She is so talkative now! She makes all kinds of noises which I'm assuming is what she thinks are words, but of course it just sounds like strings of vowels to me. She sometimes sings to herself when she's in the car. She giggles when you kiss her on her face or swing her around (she's very adventurous!). It's the greatest sound in the world! She also craves for people to talk to her. She will start yammering to herself if there's no one around, and get louder & louder until someone pays attention to her.

Baby's 1st Christmas

Leah saw, did & experienced tons of new things this Christmas season!




A few weeks ago, Leah got to go along on the Cody Christmas Tree search. She watched as her mommy & daddy looked for the perfect tree.





















On Christmas Eve we went to a Candlelight Service at church. Leah got to wear a beautiful long dress given to us by our friends Ben & Sarah. Ben's mom made it & it looked amazing! The service was a great time to think about the true meaning of the season (Leah slept her way through it).


































We didn't wrap much for Leah, just a few clothes, although she got a ton from Grandma & Grandpa when they came Christmas afternoon. She did help Mommy & Daddy open her gifts.

But she seemed to be more interested in tissue paper than the gifts themselves.












Her Grandma & Grandpa Siegrist came to visit Christmas afternoon.










She got a dolly from her Grandma & Grandpa. I think she is wondering why it is staring at her.











On the day after Christmas we went on a hayride light show in Clayton. It was something different, for sure. It was a 30 minute ride through all kinds of different light displays, including a cool one with the nativity scene & one with a huge house made all out of lights. Leah seemed to be looking at them, but I think was too sleepy to care much.








After the light show we went to my sister-in-law Chela's fire station in Smithfield, since she was on duty. Leah and her Grandpa got to play on the fire truck.






What a great time she had on her first Christmas!

Mary pondered these things in her heart...

This Christmas I have been thinking a lot more about Jesus coming to earth fully man, yet fully God. It seems a little more real to me now that I've born a child of my own. Jesus came to earth as a newborn baby. I think about what Leah was like as a newborn. She required constant care-- feeding, diapering, putting to sleep. It's so hard to fathom Mary doing all these things for Jesus. She did all these knowing that her child was the Savior of the world. That her child was part of a much greater plan, one that would save all the people of the world. She may not have known exactly how that plan would pan out, but she knew that her child was God himself, in the flesh. What an incredible responsibility she must have felt!

To carry the Christ child was a blessing God had bestowed upon Mary, but do you think she saw it as a blessing when she was in that stable giving birth at such a young age, with perhaps no help at all? Do you think she saw it as a blessing when she was awake at 1 in the morning feeding this perfectly human little baby for the 8th time that day? Did she feel blessed when the newborn Jesus wouldn't stop crying (I don't know, though, would that be considered a sin)?

And then there's the whole idea that he was going to grow up and Mary would suffer. I'd like to share a portion of a blog I was reading written by Mary Beth Chapman, wife of the Christian singer Steven Curtis Chapman. She says it better than I could say it:

"Mary, mothering the Son of God! She was human, she had a baby, and she raised that baby with the heaviness that she was to see him suffer and thus she too would suffer. I think when Mary was hiding things in her heart; it was a lot more than the reality of whom she carried in her womb. I am certain that she was hiding away the memories of first smiles and steps, as well as the first tears and tumbles. Knowing what was to come, did Mary have the opportunity to live differently as a mom to her little boy? I believe she did. I am sure that she watched him differently, taught him differently, and prayed differently. I can only imagine the discussions that she and Joseph would have when their son wasn’t listening, how they probably begged God to let the cup pass from them, but in the end yielding up the prayer we all hesitate to pray when it comes to our children…. Your will be done."

I can never imagine the type of suffering that Mary went through watching her son die. I hope I will never have to go through something like that. I can in no way even begin to compare myself to Mary. But the way she lived her life and the faith she exhibited even as she saw her own child dying is certainly something I would like to work on in my own life. And it certainly inspires me to cherish every moment with my child. Because she is not my own. She belongs to God. And I only have her for a short time.

Things I've Learned From My Baby Girl

1. Forgiveness-- I mean, really-- I can leave the kid crying in her crib for 5 minutes and yet the second I get in there and give her a bottle, she's forgotten all about it and gives me a huge smile!

2. Unconditional love-- I started to learn this when I got married, but there is nothing like a helpless little baby that totally, 100% depends upon you for all her needs to give you a taste of the love Christ shows for His children.

3. Joy in the little things-- She can stare at a stuffed red rooster that hangs from her play gym for 10 minutes straight. And her fists provide hours of entertainment. When was the last time I was amused that easily?

4. To take time to stop & smell the roses-- It can be so easy to get caught up in all the "stuff" I have to get done, but when Leah's giggling and smiling up at my face, I can't help but stop to enjoy it because I know that she won't be this small much longer!

5. How to laugh-- See if you can not laugh when this little girl lets out a giggle.

6. Trust-- If her mommy is comfortable enough handing her to some random person, than that random person must be okay and she can smile at them.

7. Looking cute really can get you what you want. :)

15 weeks old

- She finally seems to be developing a schedule. Unfortunately, that schedule still involves getting up at 4:30 or 5, but she'll go right back to sleep after she eats and then gets up again around 8. That's almost a full 12 hours of sleep. She'll take one nap around 10 or 11, and then she almost always falls asleep in her car seat in the afternoons on our way home from work, around 2 and will stay asleep for 2 hours or so.

- She has definately discovered her voice. She has learned how to communicate without crying-- it's more like a scream, and knows how to get her mommy or daddy's attention.

- She loves to "dance" to the music on her play gym. She kicks her legs around violently, almost in rhythm.

- She is laughing a whole lot more now! Everything is funny to her. She especially loves people to talk to her. Women make her laugh. Men just fascinate her-- she gets really quiet & just stares when she sees a new man. Also, we're in for a treat when she gets older if she continues to bat her eyelashes as she's learned to do, with her innocent little grin.

- She's suddenly become incredibly oral. Her hands are always in her mouth. She can take a small toy, grasp it in her hand, and bring it into her mouth. Surprisingly, though, she doesn't really care for her pacifier.

- There is nothing like the sweet smell of her little baby hair, the feeling of her little body after she's fallen asleep in my arms, or the sound of her contagious little giggle.

This is how she looks at her daddy.
He's in trouble.










You lookin' at me?

3 month Professional Portraits

2 weeks ago, Leah had professional 3 month & Christmas portraits taken at JC Penny. It's tricky to get her to smile, because she's so fascinated by the camera. But we got some great shots! I don't think I'm really allowed to scan them & make copies since I don't have the copyright, so I tried some of my own at home. I couldn't get her to smile either. Now I have to decide which to use for our Christmas cards!

See more on the photo website!

Three Months Old/ Thanksgiving

Leah at three months old:


* Measurements- I'm not sure her exact weight, since we don't go to the dr. this month, but just from standing on the scale with her, she is between 11.5 & 12 lbs. We are almost to the size 2 diapers, and still in 0-3 month clothes.

* Sleeping- I'm not sure if its from the holiday & change in her routine or if its because she's going through a growth spurt, but she's started getting up in the middle of the night again. Last night it was 1 am and 4 am. She's not really very good at naps, either. She'll have a sleepy day one day and then not sleep at all the next. She's still very unpredictable, and though I would love to get her on my own schedule, it might take a lot of tears, and I'm not sure I can handle that at work.

* Eating-She still eats rather sporadically, 2 or 3 oz. every hour or so, but she's getting there, starting to go longer between feedings.

* Playtime- She interacts more with her toys now. Her favorite is a star that attaches to her playmat that flashes and plays music. She sits and watches it like it's a TV and sometimes cries when the music stops.

* Discoveries- She has definately discovered her hands. She is determined to fit her entire fist into her mouth, and is almost successful. She can sit and look at her hands for long periods of time and finds them incredibly interesting. She also clasps them together when she's happy.

-She doesn't much like baths anymore. She's cried the past few times. Maybe the water's too cold/ hot? She still loves the changing pad, though-- it always makes her laugh.


Thanksgiving at my parents' house was a lot of fun. It was very relaxing and great to have the help with Leah. Of course she was spoiled by her grandma & grandpa, as well as her aunt & uncle. She got to meet her Great Grandma Pohl, also, and I'm so thankful for the time they got to spend together. She took her first trip to the beach and slept through it, since she hadn't slept all day. The weather was beautiful-- sunny and low 60's-- so it was a perfect day for lounging around and enjoying the company of family.












4 generations together













Leah's 1st beach trip, day after Thanksgiving