Goodbye Louisville

Today is the day Sawyer and I are leaving Louisville. We will be arriving in Oreland, PA Tuesday afternoone (Lord willing). Yesterday was packing day and it was PERFECT. Clint had so many friends come out and bless us by helping us load the truck. It was such a great day. Sawyer was so happy and friendly, we had good food, good conversation, and loaded the truck with all our stuff in 2 hours. I was so content and peaceful during the whole day, and then to top it off one of my dearest friends who lives in Nashville, drove in and surprised me, it was such a gift!

So next time I update a blog post I will be in my apartment in Philadelphia...I can't belive it! Please pray for safe travels, Sawyer's adjustment, and good transition into our apartment. We are getting ready to leave!!!!! Bye Bye Bye Louisville, I will see you soon!!! Get ready Philly the Casabellas are coming to town.

Love, Alex

Hope

Right now Sawyer has been asleep for over an hour...whoo hoo!! I now have hope that her 30 minute naps might be over, or at least know that she is capable of taking longer naps again. This is such an answer to prayer.

Last Wednesday our Community Group prayed over Clint, Sawyer, and I. It was a beautiful thing and a memory I will always cherish. We love the friendships we have built here over the years, and know that because these friendships are rooted in Christ they will last forever, and that brings me such hope. And what is exciting is to think of the relationships and friendships we will build up in Philly, I am praying now for the men and women we will live near, work with, and just do life with. We already have some amazing friends up in Philly and Clint and I are so excited to "do" life with them again. These friends are one of the main reasons we decided to make this move, they are our spiritual family and we are looking forward to be reunited with them very shortly!

Again, please be praying for this next week for us. We will be doing lots of packing, organizing, and loving on family and friends.

Solids and Walk

Well I decided to start Sawyer on solids this week, and here is why:

1. She still has silent acid reflux and doctors say that once they start solids it will help with that
2. Her naps are still 30 minutes long, I have tried EVERYTHING, so I thought maybe solids would help
(on a side note today when she woke up from her nap after 25 minutes I went in and put her on her tummy, she went right to sleep...of course it only lasted for 10 minutes...we'll see, I still have hope of longer naps one day!)
3. I have been DYING to give her solids, she seemed ready a few weeks ago and the thought of starting to make her food brings me such delight!
4. On our way up to Philly I thought it would help occupy her by feeding her cereal.

Sawyer Loved her rice cereal, she acted like a pro. It was as if she had been eating this stuff since birth. So far as of right now I am giving her just a little bit of rice cereal in the morning and evening. My plan is to do this for about a month and then start adding veggies and fruit to her diet!

Here is some pics of her first bites of "solid" food:




The weather here is starting to warm up, I am so excited for warmer weather. For walks, and just relaxing outside with Sawyer. It is going to be so neat watching her explore this world. Today I took her on a walk in our jogging stroller, she did great! She sat in it and didn't make a peep for 20 minutes. I am going to try to take her for a walk everyday this week. I really want her to get use to sitting in there so I can try and get some exercise!!

Here is a pic I snapped real quick after our walk:




Now for a quick Philly update:

We should be moving next Sunday...typing that made my heart race. I have so many mixed emotions about leaving. I truly believe this is what the Lord wants us to do, and therefore because of that I have peace. We are trying to spend as much time with family and close friends these next two weeks. Please be praying for the transtion for Sawyer, pray for Clint's job ( more details later), and pray for safe travel.

Sawyer's Valentine

Sawyer had a date today with Gabe, he was such a gentleman


And here is Sawyer's Valentine's Day picture



Hope everyone feels loved today!

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4: 19

Family

Here are some sweet pictures of Sawyer with her cousin Ezekiel. And some pictures of Sawyer with her Papa Casabella. Sawyer loved being with her family, and she is soaking them all up before we move to the city of brotherly love. Now for the pics:

4 months

Sawyer is 4 months old, whoo hoo!! She had a pretty good month..some highs and some lows.

Highs:
-Still sleeping through the night, usually from 8 or 9ish till 6 or 7ish am
-Has laughed out loud several times ( mainly for her daddy)
-Eating great, nursing every 3 or 3 1/2 hours
-Is loving playing in her exersaucer
-Loves to roll over on her side and play with her toys
-Smiles a lot
-Sucking on her fingers, and loving sucking on mommies fingers
-Chewing on EVERYTHING she can get her hands on
-Starting to watch us eat and wanting to touch anything we have in our hands
-Has rolled all the way over several times, but prefers not to
-Starting to squeal and "talk" a lot more, especially when she wakes up in the morning, it's so cute!

Lows:
-Started taking 30-45 minute naps
-Drooling A TON
-Usually takes a few minutes to warm up to people
-Cries sometimes when strangers hold her
-Has a little temper
-Had a cold for several weeks and still has some congestion
-Still has acid reflux and is on meds for that (tried to get her off meds and didn't work)

She has had some AWESOME days this month, but she has also had some rough moments where she wants and has to be entertained ALL THE TIME, we are working on this!

Here are her stats:

Weight- 14 lbs 11.5 oz 75%
Height- 25 7/8 90%
Head circumference- 15 3/4 15%

She is doing great according to the doctor and said we can start her on solids as soon as we want. I think I will wait for us to move up to Philly, don't want her to undergo too many changes at once.

We are loving our precious girl so much, I am really excited for these next couple of months...they are going to be so sweet watching her grow and learn more about this world. Please pray for our transition up to Philly, we are in the process of getting an apartment and Clint is finishing up the details with a potiental job up there. So we will probably have a crazy busy next month. We are trusting God to provide all that we need and learning to rely only on Him, it's hard but so worth it!

Here are some sweet pictures of our big girl:










Until next time,

One happy momma

What to do...

This week we have been house sitting for Clint's mom. It has been wonderful having a house to ourselves, but our little girl has been having some trouble. We took her to the doctor yesterday because she has been having lots of congestion in her chest, but the doc said she just has a little cold and there is not much we can do about it. Anyways, her naps this week have only been 30-45 min long. She goes down for her naps pretty good but then wakes up and is crying. I try letting her cry for awhile, but she just gets more worked up and starts screaming. Once I get her up and bring her downstairs she doesn't act too tired but I know she is. She is eating really good, and for the most part content during her awake time, but she is for sure fussier than she has been in awhile. Last night I put her to bed at 9pm and she woke up at 6am...which that is another issue, I would prefer her wake up time to be 7am...I know I am rambling but I am just not sure why she is not napping longer and why she is starting to wake up earlier. Her naps use to be 1 1/2 to 2 hours long. I'm a little concerned she is not getting enough sleep during the day, AND I don't want her to get in the habit of taking short naps. I'm thinking it is teething related, I haven't given her any meds yet cause I would prefer to wait and be sure that is the issue. I just put her to bed and now she is crying, I sure hope this isn't a long night!!! Any moms out there have any wisdom???

She is almost 4 months old, I will do that post later this week!!!

Please continue to pray for our move, we still don't know when we are going to move. Still waiting to hear about a job.

A confused mom,

Alex