More pictures

Hello everyone! Many of you have been asking for more pictures of miss Chloe, so here they are. Sorry it's taken awhile for me to get them up, but my guess is I don't need to explain. Chloe has actually been doing really well at night, I have to wake her up for feedings usually. She'll sleep just about anywhere and we've been able to arrange her fussy periods so they happen during the day. Nursing is going beautifully, I'm finally past the most painful period. All in all, this adjustment is much smoother than I emagined. I know I'll probably be in for a brand new adjustment after my mom leaves in a week and a half, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Thank you all for well wishes, support, and offers for meals, we greatly appreciate it. The best time for meals will be after my mom leaves the first of September.
Love, Sarah

Chloe Paige Is Here!

After much anticipation and excitement, Chloe Paige made her arrival on Sunday, August 13th at 2:20am. She weighed 8 lbs and was 20 and 1/2 inches long. Baby and Mama are doing fine and are recovering at the hospital. She has lighter hair than her sister, Emma, but still carries dominate features of her father. The family is doing very, very well!

Chloe Paige, newly born, resting on her mama's chest.

Chloe being checked out and weighed. She's not very happy about it!

The happy parents, thrilled that Chloe finally arrived!
Emma getting her first peek at the new addition to the family... sister Chloe!

Travis and Sarah with their two beautiful girls. What a blessing!

Fun at the park!

Our good friend Anna met us at the park today to take these pictures. At 37 weeks we know our days are numbered for photos like this. I know I'll always treasure these pictures, and I'm sure Emma and Chloe will too. Enjoy!

Prayer

To all my blog readers out there. I have a humble request for some prayer. As many of you already know, we built and bought a townhome in Salt Lake that we closed on right before we turned around and moved back to CO. This turn around was so quick in fact, that we never even got to move in to this beautiful new place, it was kind of sad. Well, long story short, we put it on the market at the end of June with our good friend and realtor who has been working tirelessly for us to get it sold, but still no luck. Every month that passes is a month that we have to pay both our mortgage on the townhome and our rent here, a steep monthly expense that will drain our savings quickly if it goes on for much longer. With our price and some recently added incentives, our realtor thinks we're in a good price range, it's just a matter of finding the right buyer/buyers. Travis and I know that this situation is completely out of our hands and yet another opportunity to trust the Lord for provision. So we're asking you to pray with us for that very provision. Prayer is powerful and the fact that our awesome God takes the time to hear them is a miracle in and of itself. He already knows His plans for us, and we trust them to be good plans, but we also know that part of those plans include our faithful prayer. Thank you for being our beloved friends and for taking the time to love and pray for us as we hope you'll always let us do for you as well.
In Him, Sarah

36 weeks and counting!

Well, here it is fokes, the wonder that is my huge belly at 36 weeks of pregnancy. For a full monty shot, complete with an array of lovely stretch marks, you'll have to email me at my personal email and ask for it. If you don't have my personal email, you'll have to settle for this covered shot. I had a doctor's appointment yesterday and all is looking great. To my surprise and delight, I'm already one centimeter dilated and 30% effaced! But before you get too excited, a woman can stay at this for weeks, but my doc seems to think it's a good sign that things are changing and doesn't see me going the full 40 weeks. We'll see what Chloe has in mind though. If I don't make it to 40 weeks, I'll try to remember to take a last minute picture before I head to the hospital so you can all see just how humongous I actually get before all is said and done. This next picture is just a fun shot we got of Emma this morning after my little photo shoot. She just couldn't be left out, so here's our little ragamuffin with her signature grin. This will be a great one for her wedding slide show some day, eh!

Our Rental House

This is mainly for those of you who haven't seen our rental house yet, because I know how some of you have so much wanted pictures so you can picture where we are, I know I'm that way too. So Here goes: This is obviously the outside and front of the house. It needs some paint, but we're very pleased with it for a rental!

Next and just above here is our front room, I guess you could call it. It's really one big great room, but this half is our "office" and obviously where Chloe will be doing a lot of hanging out when she's on the main floor. I'm so excited to try her new swing!

Next up, the family/living room area of the great room. I can't even begin to tell you how much I am loving all this space! Those of you who've seen our Salt Lake apartment know exactly where my elation is coming from! And the carpet is in really good shape, which is such a nice change from the indoor/outdoor stuff at the village.




And now for my favorite part of the house, the BIG kitchen! No more using the kitchen table as counter space and I even have some extra cupboards with nothing in them, can you emagine!? And don't even get me started on the luxury of a dishwasher, but it's funny, I have to remind myself at times not to just start doing them by hand. Mindless habits die hard I guess.
The next few pictures are of our ever so spacious master bedroom. We finally have room for the king bed we've always wanted and then some. We plan on getting a rocking recliner for all those night time nursing sessions in the near future. You'll notice Chloe's bassinet, all ready to go and a few boxes I have yet to unpack so as not to appear to "posed". Then notice the GORGEOUS dresser my talented brother made us that we finally get to enjoy! I have a lot more orders to give him when he gets back from his summer internship. I have a few more fun touches to do in the girl's rooms, but I'll post those pictures here pretty soon. Stay tuned for my 36 week belly pictures sometime this week as well. I'm getting looks and comments everywhere I go these days like, "are you due tomorrow!?" or "Are you sure there aren't two in there?!" All of these things make me feel a bit self conscious, but then once in awhile I'll get a tactful, compassionate comment like, "you are such a beautiful pregnant woman!" Those are the comments I live for, amen! By the way, I'm planning to blog about a topic that has been on my mind for some time now, so get your thoughts and comments ready. The topic is female body image and the concept of beauty. Once I get a nice stretch of time here, I'll start the thoughts rolling. And please do make comments in the comments section at the end of blogs. One of my main purposes in creating this blog was to get wise feedback and accountability on areas that I'm growing in. I hope you are all doing well and I'll talk to you again soon!
Love, Sarah

FINALLY!

Okay, so now that you all are probably way past impatient with my lack of blog posts over the past month, I'm back! It's quite the task to move to another state when you are 8 months pregnant and chase a two year old around to boot. But no more excuses, here are some long awaited pictures for you all. First, we have my enormous stomach at ONLY 32 weeks. I'm standing in our new kitchen. I appologize, this is the only house picture I have to share so far, but I'm working on it. I'm 35 weeks today, so you can emagine what I'm looking like these days. Next week, you'll get a peek at the 36 week belly and believe me, I'm looking much less "glowing" and a lot more "swollen" these days. I'm so sick to death of my maternity clothes and I'm very ready to have my body to myself again and be holding my precious new daughter in my arms. The kicks and movements are starting to hurt, the heartburn is getting pretty bad, and I'm getting up in the night several times now to go to the bathroom. Ah, the sacrifices of motherhood, but I guess the ninth month of pregnancy makes you appreciate that little bundle even more once they arrive, amen!
Now moving on to our first big event after the move, Emma Gracie's second birthday! I can't believe my little peanut is two years old now, but at the same time, she often seems beyond her years in the little things she says and does. Yesterday morning was a classic. My mom tells me that when I was little, I cracked them up one time by parroting my mom. When the phone rang, I said "get the phone Michael!" to my dad. Well, yesterday morning, I came to realize there is a phase I must say more often then not, as Emma parroted me, yelling up the stairs, "Trav, you bout ready?!" That gives you a good idea of what kinds of things we hear from her every day. My baby has officially and unquestionably become a little girl! It makes me sad, but at the same time, it is such a blessing watching her become more and more the person God has created her to be with each passing day. Well, I'm not quite sure why, but blogger is giving me trouble right now and isn't letting me upload more pictures, grrr! But I'll try again tomorrow perhaps. All in all, we are settling in nicely here in CO and are loving being closer to family. Travis is enjoying his job and we're all gearing up for the big life change of adding Chloe to the mix. Please be praying for a safe, healthy delivery and for a smooth transition to a family of four and all the having a newborn entails. I'll keep you posted more regularly now.
Love, Sarah