Monday, November 30, 2009

Four Months Old


Today I took Serena to her 4-month appointment with Dr. L. She was very friendly to everyone, but not very polite to Dr. L, as she kept interrupting him with her loud squeals, heehee! ;) She weighed 14 lb, 5 oz (67th percentile) and was 24.75 inches long (70th percentile).

Sunday, November 29, 2009

In the Truck Again

All weekend we've been saying how with Serena's newly discovered talent for squealing, taking her to church will be a whole new adventure. This morning, as the pastor was wrapping up the church service, he had Kari introduce us and then was saying how glad he was we were there. Sure enough, upon hearing these pleasantries, Serena let out a good squeal, which the entire congregation enjoyed immensely! :)

Serena was having fun playing with her toys on her car seat on the way to church this morning. I think I caught her mid-sentence in this picture! Heehee!

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Christmas Decorating at Grandpa & Grandma's House

Today we put up the Christmas tree at Grandma & Grandpa's with Aunt Anna. Serena loved all the brightly colored decorations!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Black Friday

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thirty-Second Thursday

Serena has discovered a new vocal ability! The last couple days she has been testing out her squealing skills. :)

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Thanksgiving Eve


Playing on the floor

Macy and Serena are quickly becoming great friends. Macy loves licking Serena and Serena is fascinated with touching Macy's face and grabbing at her ears.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Snuggle

I was folding laundry and let Serena play with her blankie while she watched me. Made for some good pictures!

Monday, November 23, 2009

Christmas Decorating in Progress


After a big clean-up from our weekend away, I decided to work on Christmas decorating. I started in the late afternoon and had "Elf" playing and a "Home Sweet Home" Yankee candle burning to add to the atmosphere. :) So far I only have the tree up (it took a long time!), but I did carry the other Christmas things up from the basement, so maybe I can get more done tomorrow!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Flying High

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Macy 'n' Me

Today I have no internet, so this is a scheduled post. This picture was actually taken on Friday. But, never fear! I'm sure many pictures will be taken today!! They will be featured sometime in the near future on www.thehoraks.blogspot.com! :) Be back tomorrow!

Friday, November 20, 2009

Mat Time

Having so much fun!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thirty-Second Thursday

It's amazing to think of how Serena has changed! She is very strong and observant (and vocal!), and is constantly growing in those areas! Last night, Jordan was playing with her, and Serena reached out for his hand. She has always liked grabbing on to things, but mostly only if they were either put into her hand or if it happened to be out to the side where her hand happened to be (for example, she likes to hold on to my sleeve while I change her diaper). But this morning, I rattled her little dolly in front of her (I've been doing this for the last couple weeks just for fun) and as she looked at it with her usual great big eyes shining with interest, she reached her hand out in front of her to grab it! Once she had it in her grasp, she pulled it in to herself and hugged it as she opened her mouth wide to give it a big kiss (or something like that, heehee!). And just like that, we've reached a whole new level of play!

This video turned out to be about 14 seconds longer than 30 seconds. (I know, it would have been easier for me to say that it is 44 seconds, but that just sounds longer than 14 seconds over.... Semantics, plain and simple.) I do have a short segment in here of her playing on her mat with some toys above her head. I figured it might be a little boring to watch her play like that for too long, since it's not very interactive; but you have to understand that for me it is SO EXCITING to watch her reach out for her toys and grab them!!! Hahaa! :D At the very end, there's a little bit where I'm clucking at Serena and you can see her reaction to it! Clucking garners a smile for me almost every time I do it, and it's so cute! :D

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Enjoying the Attention

Serena's been soaking up a lot of love from her Grandpa & Grandma and Uncle Grant and Aunt Anna!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

(Attempted) Photo Shoot with the Dogs

Jordan's family is here visiting for a day! I thought it would be fun to get a picture of Serena with Macy and Mia. I found out that Mia is not very cooperative for photo shoots, and Macy was very easily distracted by Mia's antics!

This is the best shot we were able to get

Here's our failed attempts!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Tired Babe


Serena was apparently fairly worn out from our exciting weekend with Grammie & Aunt Jessie. Last night she slept from 9:30 till 4am! Jordan and I woke up a little before 4 and couldn't hear any noise coming from the nursery (although I kinda think she must have been stirring or something to wake us up?), so I decided to go check on her (since she normally wakes us up around 1). She was sleeping soundly. But a minute later she started crying, so I brought her into our bed and nursed her. That was a new record for her! 7 hours! Whew!

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Wanna Talk?

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Sweet Dreamer

Friday, November 13, 2009

My Lil' Punkin

SURPRISE!!! Serena and I are in Minnesota for the weekend visiting Mom & Jess! I'll post more about this adventure on my regular blog next week. ;)

Jess got this adorable costume for Serena when it went on clearance at Shopko. It is supposed to fit up to 24 months, so she'll be able to wear it next year. But we couldn't resist dressing her up in it this afternoon!!!




Thursday, November 12, 2009

Thirty-Second Thursday


Jibber-jabbering

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Little Dolly

Quiz: How many dollies do you see in the picture below?

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

My, Oh, My! How You've Grown!

"Oh. My. Word. This is my very last size 1 diaper!"

Ain't she a pretty little thing?!

Serena's been outgrowing her 0-3 month clothes, so I've been packing them away and making room for the next size. When I came across her bikini, I just HAD to put her in it one more time just for kicks!

This is how she looked when she wore it on vacation at the Lake of the Ozarks when she was 3 weeks old. Awwwwwe!!!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Tired Eyes

Serena was getting tired by the time I pulled out the camera today. I knew she was getting tired, but didn't realize just how much so until I looked through the pictures that I got! You can see it in her eyes.

See how her eyes get kinda reddish and don't quite open all the way

Still managed a grin

"Please point me in the direction of my crib."

Sunday, November 8, 2009

100 Days Old!

Wow! Can you believe it's been 100 days already!? Well, it has! And it's been absolutely wonderful!

Sweet dreamer



"Cute to the core"

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Very Expressive


SO MANY EXPRESSIONS!!!

Friday, November 6, 2009

Love Bug

The onesie Serena wore today said "Love Bug" on it; hence, the title. I'm serious, you guys, these titles are hard to think of sometimes! ;)

I think I got her in mid-sentence in this one. She loves to babble!

The many faces of Serena! ;)

I took this one right after she rolled over! This acrobatic display prompted her obsessed mother to then take about 10 minutes worth of video in which she tried to coax said acrobat to repeat said display with no luck. Not to worry, I'm sure said obsessed mother will try again tomorrow...and the next day...and the next day...and the next day...and the next day...and the next day...and the next day...okay, you get the idea! I'm determined to get it on said video. :D

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Thirty-Second Thursday

One of the things I really like about the Thirty-Second Thursday posts is that I don't have to come up with a title for them, haha!

Today was very nice. It was sunshiney outside, so it felt warmer than it really was (which is always a welcome feeling!). I got the house cleaned in the morning, and then in the afternoon I took a long walk with Macy and Serena. Later, we made a run to Wal-Mart and I scored a set of queen-size flannel sheets for $15. I put them on the cashier's conveyor belt, only to discover that I had picked up the set that didn't have a tag on them. :P Hate it when that happens. The cashier asked me if I knew what the price was. "Oh, good," I thought, "She's not going to hassle with having an associate check the price, she's just going to enter it in and let me get going." I told her they were $15. She looked a little skeptical. I told her they were on sale. She looked even more suspicious. Seeing this was going nowhere fast, I asked her if she wanted me to go find one with a tag. She was like, "Sure," still obviously not believing me. I have to admit I was a little peeved that she was making me, the customer (not to mention, the customer with a baby), go get the sheets instead of calling an associate. Since when does Wal-Mart treat their customers like that?! There was not a little sarcasm behind my agreement when the lady exclaimed over the price (which was, of course, $15) as she scanned the set that I brought back to the cash register a minute later. As penance, I made sure to tell her to "Have a nice day!" in my most cheerful tone as I left.

Tonight, Jordan got home late (7:30-ish). He took Serena as I finished up supper. He brought her into the dining room and put her on her tummy to play while he laid on the floor next to her and played with Macy a little. I was in there talking to him, and then left for a minute to stir the meat on the stove and when I came back, Serena was on her back. I was like, "Oh, you turned her over!" Jordan looked up at me (he had been looking at Macy) and then at Serena and said, "No, I didn't." Apparently she had rolled over while he wasn't looking. After I quizzed him a few times to ascertain his sincerity, we were both like, "Woohoo! She rolled over!" Well, okay, probably I was the only one saying "Woohoo!" Jordan's not really the kind of guy to say "Woohoo!" ;) So, we put her back on her tummy and watched her for a minute or two, but she didn't do it again, so we went into the kitchen to get some food. I was still watching her, hoping she was going to roll over. I took my eyes off of her for like 5 seconds, and, I'm not even kidding you, the kid ROLLED OVER AGAIN! Little booger!!!! When she was a teeny baby, she rolled over when she was only four days old and did it two or three more times in her first three weeks of life, and each time she did it when I wasn't looking. The time she did it at three weeks, my mom happened to be watching. So, here we are with a baby who has rolled over five times in her 3-month life, and we've missed EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!!!! :P And, like Jordan said, it's not like we don't keep an eye on her...she's probably one of the most-watched kids in history, haha! The irony of it was that Julia had just asked me this afternoon if Serena had rolled over again since when she was so tiny! Yes, Julia, she did it tonight, haha! ;) Anyway, that was it for Serena's acrobatics today. She started to get tired, so I took her upstairs to give her a bath and then put her to bed. Thus ends Serena's 97th day of life. :)

Well, here's today's video. Once again long. :P I might have to change the title of Thirty-Second Thursday, haha! Today I video-ed us having 'mirror time.' Serena loves the mirror. I always get lots of smiles and 'talking' out of her when we play with the mirror! I love it! At the end of this video, my phone started ringing (yay, phone call from Grammie!) in my jeans pocket, and Macy's reaction cracks me up every time I watch it!! :D

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Silly Smile

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Moby Baby



We went for a walk this afternoon. It was brisk out, especially since the sun was covered by a thick blanket of clouds. But, Serena and I were bundled up and enjoyed the fresh air! She loves getting to ride in the Moby wrap!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mommy 'n' Me