Christmas 2011 Recap

Our first Christmas with Sawyer was great. We had a lot of fun with her and she had a great couple of days! No whining and just overall a happy baby! :)

Here is our Christmas in pictures (and a few words)… 

I wrapped our presents a little differently this year--turned out to save a lot of money because that paper is cheap and it comes on a big roll! I also displayed our Christmas cards differently this year and I loved it. Brightened up our kitchen cabinets quite a bit!

Sawyer made a couple of ornaments at playschool this year and we were also given some great ones as well! I think all in all she got 6 new ornaments! haha!

Sawyer got to see pretty much all of her family members this Christmas season! From Great, great, grandparents to Aunts and Uncles and Cousins galore! I wish I had gotten group shots of everyone. Next year that will be my goal ;)

We went to the Christmas Eve service at c|Life and had a good time eating dinner with Casey's parents afterwards. Then we came home and took some pictures before bedtime:) Meanwhile, Casey had on the Santa tracker - haha!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun! We first got up and read the Christmas story together as a family. Then, we looked in our stockings and opened presents! 

Later we went to Mimi & Poppy's house (Casey's parents) and met up with Chris & Stephanie and their clan. We all opened presents there before going over to Great-Grandmother's house for lunch where we gathered with even more family--Casey's Aunt, Uncle, and cousins!

Around 2 we left and went to my Papa Tapp's house--Sawyer's Great, Great-Grandpa!! He is 92 and still going strong! After talking with family there, my immediate family (my mom, grandparents, and uncle, Casey, Sawyer, & myself) left and went to my Momma Sheila's (my grandma) new house! We opened presents there and stayed til about 8pm. After all that we got home, unloaded the car, and went to bed! We usually go see a movie on Christmas night, but not this year--we were too exhausted!

Sawyer's first Christmas was a success and I just know they are going to get better and better as she gets older. She is so much fun! I can't wait to teach her all about the reason for Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Next year I want to get her one of the Fisher Price nativity sets so we can talk about it as she plays with it.

One last picture of me and my favorite man--He'll even put on a silly Santa hat to make me happy:)

3rd Annual Christmas with the Rickersons!

For the last several years now we have a little Coats/Rickerson tradition of dinner and looking at Christmas lights! This year we went over to Charlie & Ginni's to see their new house and Ginni made us some delicious chicken tacos! We also had wassel (hot apple cider) for the car ride! Yummy!

Charlie & Ginni gave us an awesome Christmas gift! Personalized corn hole!!! We love it, as you can plainly see. ;)

 We took some pictures in front of their nicely decorated fireplace!

Charlie & Ginni looking good:)

 Every year Ginni and I do this little pose and we gotta keep the tradition going! :)

Casey & I :)

Ginni was trying to capture the perfect picture of Casey and I, but he had other plans… 

 Finally a couple of good ones:)  

 

As usual we had a lot of fun! 

Thanks again for the awesome corn hole guys!!! We love y'all!

The Good News

"Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." 

Luke 2:10b-11

Check out this great video by The Village Church that c|Life showed tonight. I loved it. 

The Village Blog - Advent: God With Us

We wish you a wonderful Christmas and hope that you are remembering God's precious gift to us on this special day.

Casey, Lauren, & Sawyer

Sawyer Meets Santa

Sawyer met Santa Claus!

She decided she liked him pretty well. She even pulled his beard. I hope that doesn't put her on the naughty list! ;) 

We got a picture of Aubrey and Sawyer together with Santa, too! They are super cute! :) 

I am so excited about Sawyer's 1st Christmas!

Every year will just get better and better, I am sure.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Video Diaries: Sawyer Grace 3 months-8 months

I haven't been very good at staying up to date with posting videos of Sawyer. I have posted a few here and there and then posted several of her first 3 months here. If you ever want to take a look at my videos you can do so at youtube--my username is AggieMrs. Most of the ones on youtube are just from my phone though as we haven't yet figured out a fast way to upload short clips from the video camera. I need to do that soon though because I am so afraid they are going to get erased somehow!! 

Anyway, the videos start with Sawyer at 3 months old and continue to the present (8 months old). I cannot believe the difference! So much growth in 5 months! What a crazy little miracle babies are. Actually blows my mind. 

I don't expect you all to watch all of these videos - I like to have them on my blog for me, but you are sure welcome to them as well! :) The last 3 are the best for sure (since she is big enough to actually do something at 8 months old)! If you only watch 1, watch the second to last one of her in the bathtub! She LOVES splashing and playing with her toys! So fun! (And yes, I know you people think I am crazy for still bathing her in the baby bathtub, but I think it is so much easier than warming up the big bathtub, plus my back doesn't hurt from leaning over for so long!! I like to let her play a while and I don't want to kneel on the hard tile and lean over, hurting both my knees and my back, so for now, the pink baby bathtub it is! Don't judge me :)

Isn't she a cutie? I love her to death!

My Eight Month Old Sawyer Grace

It dawned on me today that Sawyer's first birthday is only 4 months away!!! I can't believe it! I will turn 26 and just 12 days later she will turn 1!!! I already feel like I need to start planning her party! ;)

AT EIGHT MONTHS… 

• Sawyer is still a champ sleeper. She sleeps around 12 hours at night and takes anywhere from 1 to 3 naps a day.
• She is pretty mobile even without crawling. She rolls all around and can even scoot a little to get whatever toy she wants.
• Sawyer has gotten to wear she can lean down while she is in the sitting position and then get back up straight on her own. She really enjoys sitting on a blanket on the floor to play. 
• She likes to play with paper! Any paper - receipts are her favorite though. This is sometimes what we give her when we are out to eat. She likes a good straw wrapper. :)
• Sawyer grabs at everything! She pulls ornaments off of the Christmas tree, pulls my hair (I have stopped wearing earrings), grabs my sunglasses, etc. She is super curious and loves everything her hand's touch!
• She is still liking baby food. We have had pretty much all of the fruits and vegetables now and will start on meats soon.
• Sawyer takes about 5 bottles a day, but now some of them are 8 oz. instead of the regular 6 oz.
• She likes to eat puffs and we use these as a good way to keep her distracted while we eat dinner ourselves. :)
• Sawyer has 4 teeth!!! She has her 2 middle, bottom teeth as well as her two middle, top teeth! She can bite pretty hard, too, but only if you stick your finger in her mouth. I guess we need stop that or she will think biting is okay. It's just so funny right now though!
• Sawyer's age and clothing are starting to catch up! For the first time she is actually able to wear some clothing in her age range. For the most part she is in 6 month clothing, with some 3-6 month and a few 6-9 month!
• She still has tiny feet. Her newborn shoes all still fit and she has a few size ones and twos that she wears occasionally, but they are a little too big for her still.
• She is still wearing size 1 diapers! She just has the tiniest waist so they still fit her really well…
• Sawyer has started LOVING bath time even more than she use to! She splashes water like crazy and loves to play with her rubber bath animals!
• Sawyer can say 3 words (babble words, but still!): bye-bye, ma-ma, and da-da. She says 'bye-bye' all the time and over and over. We are working on the wave to go with it! :)
• Sawyer met Santa this month and loved looking at him. She even pulled his beard! She didn't cry (I knew she wouldn't). She is super friendly and loves people. 
• I love her sweet little spirit. She is a happy baby and I know I am lucky to have such a good-mannered girl!

Sawyer's Weight Progression:

7 months - 14 lbs 8 oz

8 months - 15 lbs 4 oz

Here is my sweet 8-month old girl!

Love, love, love you, Sawyer! You are so stinkin' fun!

24 hours down…

27 hours + 3,700 clock hours left to go.

I think this counseling degree/license may take me forever.

Because it's hard to explain and I get so confused myself, I am going to write it all out so that I have something to refer back to and also you all can understand (if you want to), as well! :)

Here is the outline of how I've been trucking along…

Summer 1 - 2010
Coun 512 - Career Development
Coun 522 - Counseling Diverse Populations

Summer 2 - 2010
Coun 517 - Assessment in Counseling

Fall - 2010
Coun 501 - Intro to the Counseling Profession
Coun 514 - School Counseling & Development

Spring - 2011
Coun 510 - Counseling Theories & Techniques
*A particularly hard semester since I had Sawyer in April and finished out this class in May.

Summer 1 - 2011
I took the month of June off & it was glorious to just hang with my baby with no work or school looming over my head:)

Summer 2 - 2011
Coun 534 - Counseling Children & Adolescents

Fall - 2011
Coun 528 - Into to Group Dynamics & Procedures

(those are my completed 8 classes/24 credit hours)

Here is my plan for the future…

Spring - 2012
Coun 516 - Pre-practicum
Coun 539 - Intro to Play Therapy

Summer 1 - 2012
1 class (TBD)

Summer 2 - 2012
1 class (TBD)

Fall - 2012
Coun 551 - Practicum
*Required minimum 100 hours at an agency or school setting (unpaid)
Coun 549 - Ethics in Professional Counseling (a 1 hour class)

Spring - 2013
Coun 552 - Internship
*Required 300 hours field experience at an agency or school setting (unpaid)

Summer 1 - 2013
1 class (TBD)

Summer 2 - 2013
1 class (TBD)

Fall - 2013
Coun 552 - Internship 2
*Required 300 hours field experience at an agency or school setting (unpaid)

December 2013 - Graduation!!!

At the time of graduation I will be qualified to be a school counselor. However, I will not yet be qualified to have a counseling practice until I do the following after graduation (the actual link to the requirements in Texas is HERE):

1) Study for licensure…
2) Take both the National Counselor Exam and the Texas Jurisprudence Exam
3) Receive temporary LPC license…
4) Begin supervised post-graduate counseling to get 3,000 clock hours (3,000 hours may not be completed in a time period of less than 18 months).

So if all goes exactly as planned…I will graduate with my masters in December of 2013 (and maybe go to work as a school counselor) and get my LPC license around January 2015 (and hopefully go to work as a family therapist).

Omigoodness…my head may explode.

Growing Up

I recently got an iPhone app called "Growing Up" to keep track of Sawyer's growth. Here are some charts that I emailed myself from the app. :) The gray is average for children in the US. You can see that she is pretty much in the middle on height and head circumference but is a little below average on weight. Also, you will see that she is right in the middle on sitting without support and could stand with support very early!

My Seven Month Old Sawyer Grace

7 months old. Little Sawyer is 7 months old. I can't believe it. We definitely feel like she is growing up quickly now. She has made some huge "growing strides" this month.

AT SEVEN MONTHS… 

• Sawyer still sleeps all night long (almost 12 full hours) and gets up most mornings between 7:30 and 9:00am. 
• She has yet to have a cranky night and wake me up since about 3 months old - from what I hear from most people, this is amazing and I am one lucky momma! :)
• She takes way less naps now and sometimes will go all day with only one one-hour nap. Occasionally she'll take two naps or one long three-hour nap.
• Sawyer rolls and rolls and rolls and rolls. She rolls all around the living room and gets into things and she isn't even crawling yet! I thought I had at least until she crawls to worry about that, but no, rolling can get you into just as much trouble. :)
• Sawyer sits up without any help now. She still falls over some (after several minutes) and will occasionally cry when she hits her head. For the most part she just falls over and starts to roll. Maybe she falls over on purpose so she can roll?
• She reaches for anything and everything. She is super curious and is entertained by everything. I love watching her take in the world around her.
• Sawyer eats baby food once or twice a day. So far she likes sweet potatoes, sweet peas, green beans, squash, prunes, and garden vegetables. She dislikes applesauce (seriously?! I think that's the best one!) and carrots (or rather, carrots dislike her). 
• Sawyer still takes about 5 bottles a day (about 6 oz each time).
• Sawyer has 2 bottom teeth and is starting to cut her 2 middle, top teeth. She is not really fussy when she cuts teeth, so that is nice :)
• Sawyer wears 3 month or 3-6 month clothing now. She is still a tiny thing :)
• She is still wearing size 1 diapers, but I think we're about to move on to 2's as soon as we run out of this last box of 1's :)
• Sawyer has started laughing and it is one of the sweetest little noises I have ever heard in my life. I actually got teary-eyed the first time she did it. It was just so sweet. I got it on video so I will have to post it soon. :)
• Sawyer still enjoys bath time, buggy rides at school, playing in her bouncy chair, and now she is enjoying playing in her walker, too! She can't touch the ground in it yet, but we put a pillow under it and she likes to play with the toys attached to the tray.
• She is still a little chatter box and I am thinking she may always be (like her momma)!
• Sawyer graduated from the StarBand this month! Woohoo! She wore it for 2 months and 3 weeks! Her head is pretty and round :)
• Sawyer loves playing with her daddy and grabbing his facial hair. She looks at him in amazement. It's pretty sweet ;)
• For a while there (between about 3 and 6 months old) Sawyer would only fall asleep in a bed/pack-n-play or her car seat and now she is getting to where she will fall asleep on me and cuddle a little. I had missed it there for a while and would even pick her up after she fell asleep to cuddle with her, so I am taking full advantage of it now that she will let me hold her as she falls asleep :)
• Sawyer is so friendly and everywhere we go people comment on how easily she cracks a smile at them. I love that she is not shy and that she seems to be a friendly, people-person with a sweet, little smile. 

Sawyer's Weight Progression:

6 months - 13 lbs 6 oz

7 months - 14 lbs 8 oz

The light of my life!

We love you, Sawyer Grace. You are the best thing that has ever happened to your Daddy and I. You are already proving yourself to be a sweet and friendly little girl. I know you are going to make us proud.

Pinning!

You should know what that means by now. It's all the craze. Pinning is something you do on Pinterest to waste time (that we all have plenty of). It has different craft ideas, DIY (do it yourself), food, clothes, etc. etc. etc. It has everything! I have redone 3 of my pins so far. And since I am proud of myself for making time to actually do the stuff after wasting my time pinning the stuff, I thought I'd share. :)

First piece of inspiration from Pinterest:

A spice rack redo to hold nail polish! 

So, to complete this task, I first went to Helping Hands in Rockwall and found this old spice rack for $5. Then I went to Lowe's and got some spray paint :)  I came home and spray painted it blue and it now hangs in my closet with all my nail polish on it!! Love it!

 

I don't have quite as much nail polish, but now that I have a place for it to go, I don't mind buying some more :)

My 2nd piece of Pinterest inspiration:

owl cupcakes!

I made these for CG (our Monday night Bible Study) one week! They were a hit! :)

I used Oreos for the whites of the eyes and Reese's Pieces for the pupils and nose! Then you just kind of flare the icing to make ears! Super easy and fun!

pretty yummy, too!

My 3rd piece of Pinterest inspiration:

baby in a pumpkin!

This one is super easy (except for step 1).

Step 1: have a baby.

Step 2: buy a pumpkin.

Step 3. cut off top of pumpkin and clean out pumpkin guts.

Step 4: carve out two holes at the bottom of the pumpkin.

Step 5: put super cute baby in pumpkin :)

Here are some of the more easy "pinning" projects I plan to do:

I am getting a sofa table for my big wall in the living room and am going to do a bunch of pictures, etc. on the wall above

 This year when we pack up our Christmas ornaments I am going to put some of them in recycled egg cartons that I have been saving - great storage!

Just need to buy a basket to do this easy ribbon organizer! 

I am going to velcro the baskets in our bathroom drawer - they easily move around and make a mess! This will be simple and easy! 

Have fun pinning!

We're finally helmet free!!!

Sawyer had her discharge appointment yesterday and is now done with the Star Band (helmet)! I was so excited and Casey even went with us to the appointment. They did a final scan and showed us her positive results. She grew so fast which really benefited her head since it took the helmet's shape so quickly! Many older babies have slower growth and therefore where the helmet a lot longer. Sawyer wore it exactly 2 months and 3 weeks. And if you know me well, then you noticed that she wasn't wearing it very much during the day or in the last few weeks. We pretty much took it off if I wanted her to wear a bow ;) Casey is definitely the "helmet enforcer" as I liked her to wear it at home and during sleep…not so much to church where it clashed with her pretty dresses. ;) Luckily it was pink, and since she wears a lot of pink I didn't mind…sometimes. :) But mainly it just felt like a barrier between us. I like to cuddle and kiss that soft head of hers - not that plastic helmet! So I'm so glad she's out of it, but I would not change putting her in it! Her head is soooo much better.

See? Don't you see a big difference??

 The red lines were from her first scan and the blue lines were from her scan yesterday. 

You can tell where they held her head in (above the ears) and wanted her head to grow (the back left and the front right). So, before her head was wider than it was long, and they held the width and grew her length. Wow, I am so pleased! :)

Thanks Star Cranial! :)

Pretty in Pink

If you know Sawyer very well then you know she's just about always in pink ;)

Here are some cute pictures I took of her just 'cuz.

(She is just a week shy of 7 months old here.)

rolling around and getting stuck under stuff...

 her cutie patootie

 she makes so many different faces...

 checking out her shoes...

Always pretty in pink! 

Pumpkin Patch 2011

We made our way to the local pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin for Sawyer's fall photo shoot. ;) She seemed to be somewhat interested in the pumpkins, but not nearly as interested as she was when she got to go inside of a pumpkin. It made for very cute pics and I got the idea off of pinterest! :) Now I have an 8x10 of Sawyer inside of the pumpkin in our living room that I think I will put out every fall from here on out. So fun! :)

We are thinking about growing a few pumpkins in our garden next year. Would be cheaper and we've had great success with our watermelons (we have picked about 5 very large and tasty watermelons this year!)

Sawyer in her first pumpkin patch!!

I just love her cute little outfit :) It was still really warm outside on this day.

Look at that sweet little smile :)

And now for cute Pumpkin Sawyer :)

She had a little scratch on her nose that you can see in this close up.

 This is the one I blew up and framed :)

 

And then it's as if she said, "okay, folks this is enough of this foolishness."

And then she got a good bath :) 

Needless to say we had a lot of fun with our pumpkin!

Maybe next year we'll carve one for real :)