Musings on life, parenting, Jesus, and more...

Jenica's daddy is off elk hunting this week in Eastern Oregon with a group of guys from our church. He left early Tuesday morning, so he made sure to get lots of cuddle time in with Jenica on Monday night. I'm sure he's missing us bunches (especially since he has to sleep on a cot in a tent in chilly fall weather while we stay in our nice cozy house) but we are missing him lots too! I've already had to kill two spiders on my own...YUCK! We're hoping you come home with a dead animal in your truck daddy...but if not, just have fun looking for them and spending time in the beautiful Oregon wilderness. We love you!

Jenica loves to have Tummy Time! This is probably one of the reasons that her head is so strong already. At least once a day she spends 10 - 15 minutes on this cute mat that Wayne and Carol (friends from church) bought for her. It's perfect because I don't have to worry about getting the dog hair off the carpet before laying her down (a never ending task at my house for those of you who aren't familiar with our dog Kylo...he sheds more than any dog I've ever known). Rob likes the mat too because it has a measuring stick built in so he can check how long she's getting. I think at the last measure she was up to 22 inches. We visited some friends of ours last night who just had their little girl a week ago and were amazed at how big Jenica looks already compared to little Emilie. They really do grow up so fast!

Hi all- Its daddy writing again. We had the privilege of dedicating Jenica Renee to God this past Sunday in the presence of our family and friends. Our friend Kelly took some pictures for us so we can share the moment. Left to right we have Great Aunt Susan, Grandma Judy, Uncle Josh, Aunt Rhianna, Shay, Jenica, Rob, Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Dan, and Aunt Amy. The second picture has our pastors Gary Lee and Carolyn praying for her. Baby dedications are our way of committing Jenica's life to God at this early age. We hope that someday when she is old enough to understand, she will accept Jesus as her savior and choose to be baptized. Thank you to all of you who could be there with us on this special day. Jenica is very blessed to have such a wonderful family.

This picture was just too cute not to post. Seeing her smile is probably my favorite thing in life these day.

Jenica had lots of fun this weekend with her cousin Kayla! Rhianna and I bought them matching outfits and they looked adorable. However, imagine how hard it is to get a good picture of a newborn who can't sit up yet and a toddler who doesn't want to sit still. The girls (all four of us) got to hang out and play while Rob and Josh worked on an electrical project here at our house. Thanks for you help Josh! And thanks to all of you for being here for Jenica's dedication. I will post pictures of that special event later this week.

Today was a beautiful day here in the Northwest, so after church we headed out in search of a pumpkin patch so we could take some cute pictures of our little Jenica. After a scenic drive we ended up near Canby at the same pumpkin patch we visited 2 years ago, before Rob and I were married. You might remember seeing a picture of this on my Christmas card that year. Jena was such a trooper, allowing us to prop her up among the pumpkins. She actually seemed to enjoy the sunshine and although she slept through some of the photo shoot, she was still adorable none the less. I don't know what it is about kids and pumpkins that people find so adorabe, but the place was packed with families similar to ours, kids in tow, sporting their fancy camera's to take those adorable pictures of their little ones in the pumkin patch.

My very talented mother put together this slide show of Jenica's birth. What a great way for us to remember this special day! Thanks Mom!

We added Jenica's name to our family sign tonight. My dad made the Bachelders part as a wedding gift for us and brought the supplies to make Jenica's name while he's been over here working. He finished it the other day and after posing for photo opp's, her name now hangs outside our door as the newest addition to our family. Thanks Dad/Grandpa!

Little Jenica continues to just be a joy to us! She had a couple nights where she actually allowed us to sleep for 6 hours straight before waking up to eat. Her average is about 4 hours at night so I usually just have to get up once, which has been wonderful. I haven't really felt sleep deprived at all and have already started working again (very part-time - and she gets to come with me :). She seems to change so much every day. Sometimes I swear she looks different from the time I put her down for a nap to the time I get her up. She is truly a little miracle from God and we feel so blessed to have her as the newest addition to our family.

Jenica's week has just been full of excitement. She got to meet her Grandpa Casler for the first time this weekend and since he's over here working she gets to hang out with him every night after work. It's been a treat for all of us to have him here!