Yesterday we went to see Aaron at work. We do this a lot during the week, if he doesn't come home for lunch. She loves to see her dad.

Thanks to Gramme for the Mommy's Lil Pumpkin hoodie and pants! And the shirt has "mummy's little girl" on it.

This blog is not meant to be anything more than a chance to share what's going on in the Fernandez family, but my comment in the previous post about our feelings on Sarah Palin's candidacy requires more explanation I think. It's so much to get into in a blog post here, so here are a couple of articles that go in depth about our views of Biblical womanhood for those that want to read. They are long, so get into them when your little ones are napping or during your lunch break...

Vision Forum Ministries Responds to CBMW Compromise
Sarah Palin and the Complementarian Compromise
But What About Deborah?
The Palin Predicament Resolved (I haven't read this one yet but it's written by the same guy who wrote two of the others)

Sarah Palin is here in Salem tonight. She is speaking at a rally right across the street from our house at the Salem stadium. Vivian and I took a walk over there to see what was happening and were very surprised! Hours before the rally was supposed to start, the entire inside of the stadium was full. I've heard the stadium holds 20,000 people...there were more than that there. I just hope all those people will go to the polls for her. We're going to vote for this party for many reasons, but honestly we're not too excited about Palin as VP...not sure it really fits with our belief in complementarianism that the Bible presents so clearly as God-honoring.

This is our street...people starting parking here around 2 pm today.

Vivian wasn't too interested...imagine that.

The line was crazy! It wrapped around at least 4 times. And it was COLD. We made our way back to the house pretty quickly.

Last night the youth came over for afterglow. All the youth. This small house hosted around 30 people. Aaron grilled chicken wings and sausage and we had great conversations about the foundations of grace and Martin Luther and part-time jobs and what clothing fads we used to adhere to. These kids are very impressive.

We love our big deck for nights like this!

P.S. Vivian slept through the whole thing and didn't make a peep!

I keep thinking that the warm days are gone, but not so! Today it was beautiful outside. We sat outside for a while this afternoon. View from our deck (you can sort of see the mountains between the trees, but they are really pretty in person...very colorful): These are the plants that Aaron put in a couple of weekends ago:

We tried ear candling today, too. I just heard about it recently and got some candles at some nature store. We're not really sure how to do it, though...we still have two candles left if anyone has a suggestion. If you don't know what it is, this picture of Aaron will be very strange-looking to you :)

We've had a great weekend together. Saturday I went to get my haircut and Aaron watched the baby. Every time he has her alone, I come back to find her in the buff. This is how I came home to her Saturday morning: I can't figure out why exactly, but he always thinks she would be more comfortable without clothes on. Anyone have ideas about that?And then in the afternoon Joey and Sierra came over to show us their new bike. Ahhh! It's really nice and they're excited about it.

Stephen came home from DC this weekend and brought a friend, Ashley. They hung out at our house for a couple of hours on Saturday afternoon, and then we went to an early dinner with them and mom and dad. It was great to get to know Ashley. Stephen has known her since his first year at UVa and now she lives in northern Va too. They came down to see the leaves (and to spend time with his niece!). They also came to church with us this morning.
Last night I invited some of the 9th and 10th grade girls from the youth group over for a dessert night. Unfortunately we didn't take the picture until after Allison had left, but left to right are Haley, Megan, and Corey. It was fun to get to know them better. Since Aaron is teaching the H.S. youth S.S. class, I've taken a small leadership role also in encouraging this age group of girls. They are sweet.

Difficult week. Monday night Vivian didn't sleep well because of the shots she had at her 4 month appt., and it's been hard for me to catch up all week. I had a terrible headache all day Tuesday and Wednesday and then last night I started getting a sore throat, the start of a cold. Today I just have a lot of sinus pressure. Blahh. And I've been nervous about getting Vivian sick...75% of our days usually consist of me kissing on her face!So thankfully, Gramme took her yesterday for a couple of hours so that I could sleep a little. Gramme has a fancy swing at her house that Vivian has started to warm up to (she has never liked swings too much).And she loves playing in her crib by herself...she really enjoys watching this mobile. I got it for her when she was not even a month old, and it's still one of her favorite things to do! It's so tacky, I know, but how can I care when she likes it so much?!

And finally, Papa and Gramme asked for a picture with the pumpkin that's on our front porch, so here it is! I had a hard time getting her to look at the camera because she kept staring at the pumpkin...

How can I complain about anything when this cutie smiles at me? :)

Our baby girl is 4 months old! Her birthday was on Saturday, but Aaron had the camera on his hike, so I had to wait until today to do her photo shoot (still have found no stuffed animal for size comparison). We went to the pediatrician today for the well check, and found out lots of great stuff. She is growing so well! Here are the stats:
13 lbs, 12 oz. (75%)
24" long (50%)
16 1/2" head (80%)

I love how she smiles with her eyes!!
At 4 months, Vivian:
-is very, very sweet!!
-still eats every 3 to 3 1/2 hours (5 times a day) and once at night, still nursing
-goes to bed around 7:30 pm and gets up at 7:30 am, waking up once or sometimes twice during that time for a few minutes
-takes either two good naps or three short naps (we are working hard on lengthening naps but she is sometimes stuck at waking up after 35-45 minutes)
-has total head control and great trunk control
-loves to be outside
-is starting to enjoy her exersaucer and jump-n-go
-squeals a lot when we play peek-a-boo

I think Aaron is going to make this hike an annual tradition. Bryan came up from Spring Hope on Friday night and they left early Saturday morning for the 20 mile hike. I texted Aaron around 11 am and asked if his pack was heavy..."yes" was his simple answer. But I know they had a great time...the crazy part was that this is the first cold weekend we've had so far. It was 80 degrees this past week and then last night it was sub-freezing temperatures. They didn't sleep well (they're both taking naps right now). Aaron said the leaves were pretty but next weekend will probably be the peak weekend.

This is my favorite product as a new mother. These nursing tanks make the day so simple. They are comfortable, and even when I go out I just put some type of cardigan or jacket over it. I wear them EVERYDAY and I have 5 of them in all of the colors. If you are a nursing mom, or you will be soon, you need to get one now!

This afternoon we played outside in the shade of a tree while Aaron planted some shrubs behind our deck. Uncle Joey and Aunt Sierra came to visit and they brought Chase, Sierra's sister's youngest boy. He will be two in January. He was so cute to make sure Vivian had toys to play with...he's great at sharing! Actually, Sierra's sister Lindsay and I played volleyball together in high school, so I knew her before I met Sierra. Small world!

It's been great to have a free Saturday here at the house. Aaron has been working outside all day...he remulched the landscaping and trimmed a lot of plants. Now he's on the roof taking off the satellite dish that was there when we bought the house. Since we don't have TV, we don't need it, and he has always thought of it as an eye sore. Productive day! I've been inside thanking the Lord for Vivian's great naps :)

Last night Aaron and I went downtown to a nice restaurant. I count it as a date... ...a group date. We went with some Interstate Battery guys who were in from Dallas, and Tim and Paula. Tim and Aaron wotk together. It was great conversation.

Don't let the blank expression fool you...she was very excited to go over to Papa and Gramme's.

We have added some big new (well, actually they're both used) things to our home. Aaron bought this Yukon for us on Monday. It's in great condition and he got an unbelievable deal on it. It's also GREAT ON GAS!!! hehe It's pretty big, but I have to admit that it was nice to be able to take everyone in it this morning when we went shopping (see post below).
We also have a new dining room table! Mom and I went to the lake a couple of weeks ago to load this up and bring it home. She is taking her table from their house to the lake, and offered us the one that was already there. It's PERFECT. It matches the hutch that we already had from the lake, and all I had to do was get the cushions reupholstered. So we got this table for about $70. Yay! Thanks mom and dad.