The bright side

As an attempt to follow in my Mother's footsteps I would like to do a post focusing on the positive times we had during our two months in Iowa.

This first picture is what I like to call "My Peace" - being a single mom during a difficult time away from home were made easier by my son...my peace. Sawyer took care of me in so many ways.



When daddy was able to visit which was EVERY SINGLE weekend (Bless his heart...and two speeding tickets)he didn't have any distractions like we do at home. He simply spent time with his son. It was a blessing in disguise :)



Grandpa Roth spent lots of time working on the new shed as a release of energy. Uncle Aaron was able to help too and they got a ton done. This first picture is one of the first few days and by the time Aaron returned to Virginia the roof was on and the walls were insulated!




Lots of fun play time with Uncle Aaron, Aunt Jana, and Great Grandma Norris were had during our time together:




Sawyer on Christmas Day



Sawyer got to hang out with his cousin PJ, one month older than Sawyer



Sawyer asleep peacefully in his daddy's arms at the visitation

Inspiration

One of the main reasons I decided to start this blog is because I am terrible at scrapbooking and although I'm not clever with words, this was my best shot at a record of the changes in our lives.


Sawyer knew his Grandma Sandy for five months. She was there the day he was born. We spent lots of time in Iowa, especially at the end. She held him, fed him, and laughed with him. During her time under hospice care she was there and alert for the moment he rolled over, and Sawyer would lay in grandma's bed with her hand on his chest after his morning feeding every single day.

I want him to know everything about her that he possibly can as he grows. Here is my first attempt:

Sawyer: Your grandma is my inspiration. I am who I am today because of her and your grandpa. They were so in love, high school sweethearts even. I didn't know it wasn't normal for parents to hug and kiss and cuddle until I was in high school and had friends over. And it never let up :) They had a deep respect for each other that showed my brother and I stability and strength.

She was a wonderful teacher. She told me once that sometimes she thought she should be paying THEM for her to teach. She had a passion for her job and each student that entered her classroom. Theresa told me once that mom was just as stubborn as she was patient - the perfect teacher :) She was a strong christian. She tought me to live by the Golden Rule, to lead by example, and the meaning of unconditional love. One of the most important things she tought me was not to judge, that it was "between them and God". I work on this everyday.

Something I have always cherrished is that your grandma would listen to me and boy can I talk! She would stay up late talking to me in high school and when I would come home from college. She would answer the phone every time I called and listen to me babble about my day, only for me to get to my destination and have to let her go even though I hadn't had a chance to hear how her day went. She was humble, forgiving, silly, and loving.

I am lucky to have been a part of her 56 years here on Earth. I look forward to enternity with her in Heaven. A huge thanks to my father, my brother, my husband, and every single person that supported us with love, hugs, time, food, friendship, fellowship, and prayers.

Fancy cameras for family memories

We have lots of people in our lives who have fancy cameras. For this we are very lucky because they like to practice on us! Here are a few shots, most are recent except for the ones that I am pregnant in ;)

My uncle Lamar took Roth family pictures when I was seven months pregnant. They turned out great!





Our friend Jodi got a new camera recently and we had fun playing with in during our visit to Denver:





The the famous Megan took some great pictures of the Stover family over Thanksgiving:







Sawyer is four months old now and really becoming interactive. Lots of smiles and he is giggling and laughing now. He loves to stand, play on the yoga ball, and fly in the air. He is still sleeping 10-12 hours a night and taking small naps during the day. He travels great, which is nice for our many trips to Iowa :) We still aren't sure what color his eyes will be so vote in the poll above and we will see what happens!

Our world

November has been a fun month. Sawyer entered the monthly age group instead of the week by week age group. He is now three months old! Lots of things have gotten done, lots of new friends have been made, and new experiences have been had.

Sawyer went to exercise his right to vote for the first time and although we had quite a bit of poo issues that day we enjoyed switching the "I voted" sticker from outfit to outfit :)


Sawyer has made lots of new friends. He has discovered the dogs:


He and Nathan are super friends after we braved a trip to Denver on an airplane!


He hung out with baby PJ at their Great-Grandma's birthday celebration


And we stopped by to see the fabulous Lu and her preggers mama. Megan looks great for 9 months pregnant! :)


Here is a few samples of a day in the life of Sawyer and his mama:

Cleaning out closets - can you believe the amount of tissue paper we have! That is what happens when you get married and have a baby within 16 months.


Find the baby - can you find the baby three stories down? The stairs in our house are insane but the openness makes it easy to move about and still see everyone. Until the crawling and walking begins...


Cloth diaper bleaching. Since we are cloth diapering sometimes a little fresh air is good for them ;)


After a long day of diapers, spit-up, and daytime TV, Heath and I get to be one again as Sawyer sleeps.


Life is good. Sawyer is sleeping 10-12 hours a night and is getting better about napping during the day (instead of cat-napping). He is smiling and beginning to laugh now. He has almost reached his feet and sits up great in his bumbo. We love to love him :)

Change

Change is happening in the Stover household. Of course Sawyer is changing every day. But we have another change: we have decided that I will stay home with Sawyer - and Sawyer is excited! He shows his excitement by handing out smiles as often as possible, especially in the morning! This picture is one of the reasons I cherish being able to spend all day long with my sweet baby:



The month of October was the beginning of many things. We put Sawyer on a strict schedule and he thrived, sleeping 10-12 hours a night now! We used this book given to us by Mike and Kelly, the parents of Triplets and it has worked great! We have modified it a bit to meet our personal needs.

I started seeing my "Little Sister" again now that we can make it work. Both uncles (Aaron and Shiloah) got to meet their nephew which began the battle of the "Hawks" as Sawyer got his first round of Hawkeye apparel and now fits in his Jayhawk gear :)




Sawyer had his first "adjustment" from Uncle Shiloah and LOVED IT! He relaxed right away and let Shi do his thing.



Sawyer went from graduating to a Velcro swaddle instead of just a blanket swaddle to a sleep sack within 3 weeks! He loves having his arms free :) Although there have been strong signs of him finding his thumb....uh oh!!

We also spent tons of time with the Ory family as they were in town for Holiday Mart and Theresa has a booth for her business: Timeless Moments by Theresa. I spent all day long with Brennen, much needed and somewhat stressful time for me ;) It was stressful at times when I was alone with both kids and had to accomplish successful nap times. But we did really well and it was wonderful bonding with Brennen, and he is a BIG fan of baby Sawyer :)

We had a short but sweet visit from Great-Grandpa Smokey and Grandpa Ross so we took a four generation picture:



We also got to dog-sit for Jack. He has been great! Wonderful around Sawyer and doesn't bark as much as I thought he would. He loves the fireplace too! Here is a picture of all three boys napping :)

German Nanny

The Stover family was blessed with a foreign visitor for the past three weeks. Jana came to visit from Germany. Her main objective for her visit was to spend as much time with Sawyer and 'our' mom. A few shopping trips were squeezed in of course ;)

Jana was a wonderful help and it was so great having a friend to keep us company too. We made two trips to Iowa together and I don't know if I could have done it without her! She was the official car seat carrier as I had a routine weight restriction and she loved it. Never letting me even attempt to get him in and out of the car. She was there to help me get things done around the house and manage emergency feedings on our many outings. We were a very efficient team of three :) I can't thank her enough.

Some fun conversations led to many questions about certain things we do here in the USA. I found that most times the only response I could come up with was "its the American way". Here are a few examples...

"Are these chairs common here? We don't have them in Germany" Referring to the 'recliner'

"Why are there 'party platters' for just vegetables? Don't they know they can do it themselves for much less?"

"How do you feel about Arnold Schwarzenegger being the Governor of California?"

To all of which I responded "That's the American way"

Jana came when Sawyer was 4 weeks old and left when he was 7 weeks old, so she was basically here for half of his life! In that time he started making eye contact, smiling, and pushing up with his legs. So that means next time she comes she has to stay the length of his age. So if she comes when he is 2 years old then she needs to stay for two years ;) Here is a picture of a classic bonding moment with Aunt Jana.

Sawyer Nash Stover

Parenthood is in full swing at the Stover household. Sawyer Nash was born on August 12, 2010. Labor started at 11:15 the night before and mom labored in Sawyer's room for two hours before waking dad up. After we took showers and packed up we headed to the hospital around 3 am. With a quick stop for mom to unload her dinner on the side of the road - yikes! We made it safely to the ER to be admitted to Labor and Delivery. We called the grandparents at 6 am and five hours later Sawyer arrived just in time for both sets of grandparents to be present.


The past 6 weeks have been amazing, difficult, interesting, fun, relaxing, intense, hilarious, rewarding, new, and most of all wonderful. We have learned to breastfeed, use cloth diapers, enjoy bath time, etc. We have met new people, received TONS of wonderful gifts, and transformed our house into a baby machine. Here is a video of Mr. Sawyer waking up at 3:00 am for a feeding. Somehow he makes my 3:00 am the best time of the day. Sorry its so long (4 minutes) but its worth it! ;)



We have braved a wedding, travels to Colby, KS and travels to Iowa. So far so good!

Here are some favorite snapshots taken over the past few weeks...


Grandma Stover made this blankets


3 days old (photos via Megan Peters)




Jana came all the way from Germany to spend three weeks with us!


Daddy brought us home flowers :)


Sticking his tongue out at Grandpa Stover!


Napping in Iowa with mom :)