“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace, nor are your best days ever so good that you are beyond the need of it.”
- Jerry Bridges, Discipline of Grace

Those two bottom teeth have done much damage to the crib. As a new mom, I am frustrated that I didn't think about this before...I could have prevented this with a teething rail (I ordered one but I'm sad that it's a little late in the game).
First-time moms beware!!

Aside from Monday when it was sunny and mild, we've been staying in the house a lot this week. It's been pretty rainy and cold. Vivian is learning to explore her toys in new ways and is growing out of others. We'll be able to put some away in storage until the fall!She now prefers to play on the outside of the exersaucer...I guess she doesn't like the confinement of being in the seat in the middle of it. Here she is staring at herself in a plastic mirror. She smiles at herself and gives herself kisses in it.

And I think this is one of the last times she'll play in the jumper...again, she would rather be out in the open on the floor to play. I caught a short video, although I wish everyone could have seen her a couple of months ago jumping in it...she was much more into it at that time and could jump consistently for a long time!

We had an awesome weekend! I've already posted about our fun date on Friday night. Well, on Saturday I met about 25 women at the church and we carpooled down to Charlotte to spend the day shopping at Concord Mills. I'm not a big shopper (7 hours of shopping?!? I actually ended up going to the movies for a chunk of that time haha), but I was interested in the Carter's store and a couple of the other outlets...I'm so glad I went. The girls were hilarious to be around and I got lots of great summer clothes for Vivian and a couple of things for me. It was a really long day- we didn't get back until around midnight! There are lots of stories to tell but it's hard to type it out...

Destiny, Crystal, Lauren, and Jody
We met around 5:30 to leave the mall and get something to eat before heading home. I didn't get a picture of the whole group :(

Once we got to the mall I went by myself to shop, but I met up with Judie and Amber for some Cold Stone ice cream!

Meanwhile at home, Aaron kept Vivian all day and had an awesome Dad/daughter day. At one point he said he needed to cut the grass so he set her outside on a blanket with some toys, and she loved watching him with the lawn mower! He said every time he came around the corner she lost control with so much excitement. I'm glad she's not afraid of it :) They did lots of fun things I've heard, including going to the park for a walk with Gramme.

Yesterday was busy with lots of church things. We are already looking forward to next weekend! It's this warmer weather...it easily makes for happy moods :)

"Hi! I'm Baby Fernandez #2! I love my mom and dad and big sister!" (can you see the hand with the little thumb beside the mouth? looks like baby is waving :))

another profile view...It was hard to get cute pictures of baby because he/she stayed curled up in a ball for most of the ultrasound. These are the best two we got...but soooo precious!

I know these ultrasound pictures aren't the best quality because I had to take a picture of the picture; our scanner isn't working right now. But I couldn't wait to share them! I'll try to scan them soon.

Baby belly is growing fast! I love it :) This is at 19.5 weeks.
Obviously, I had an appointment today and Aaron went along. It was fun to watch baby in action. We asked the sonogram technician to write down the baby's gender on the back of a picture and put it in an envelope. Tonight Aaron took me out to a nice restaurant for a date and we opened the envelope together. It was an awesome moment!! Unforgettable. But sorry, we are keeping baby's gender a secret :) Don't beg, please..haha
You can wait until August!

Baby stats:
healthy. We are so thankful for such grace.
9 oz.
heart rate: 154 bpm

How funny is it that yesterday I posted about how Vivian was close to crawling but just couldn't, and today she started. !! Crazy kid. It's really an effort for her, but it seems like she's so relieved to get where she wants to go :)

Again, if her legs look weird (floppy), it's because I took them out of the sleeper and you're just seeing the legs of the pjs.

Vivian is 9 months old today! We celebrated by going to see Dr. Beazley and hearing him tell her what a healthy, growing baby she is. We talked mostly about food and safety around the house, and I asked him about the diaper rash she's had for about 2 weeks. Here are the stats:
weight: 19 lbs, 4 oz. (b/w 50th and 75th percentile)
length: 29 inches (b/w 75th and 90th%)
head circumference: 18 inches (90th%)

Then we came home and played outside in the front yard, since it was such a nice day. She was content to play with toys and climb all over me while I tried to snooze a little in the sunshine :) And this afternoon we went to the park again. She spent most of the time in the swing, but we also sat and watched other kids play for a few minutes.

When we got home, after dinner, Papa and Gramme paid her a visit and made her day!

We are loving every minute of her being this age. A couple of things I want to remember:

-her sleep schedule is pretty much the same (7pm-7am nighttime sleep, two naps a day for about 1.5 hours each)

-She is drinking less and less formula...she has pretty much dropped the afternoon ounces on her own.

-She is eating most foods at the table now, but she becomes a whiner in the high chair. I haven't figured out what it is yet but it drives me nuts! I guess it's because I feel so helpless because I don't understand what she wants or doesn't want. The hard part is knowing if she doesn't like what I'm putting in front of her, or if she's full. She loves yogurt, and any kind of meat. She loves to chew on a banana. Today was the first time I saw that she has learned how to spit food out (yikes!)

-She is saying the "d" consonant sound...sounds like "dada" sometimes!

-She has her two bottom front teeth and they make her look so cute. They came within a couple days of each other about a month ago.

-She is so close to crawling and loves to be on the floor even if there are no toys in sight, but mostly likes to be on her feet. She is taking lots of steps (while holding on to something).

-I can tell she is becoming a little more sensitive to my presence...she cried when I left her in the Childwatch at the Y the other day.

-Most of the time she's a happy, squealy baby!

-She's really looking forward to being a big sister :)

Vivian loves this new toy. I had it in her room against the wall, but soon after she started playing with it a couple weeks ago, she started side-stepping around it. And now she likes to push it all around her room, trying to get to every side to play with the different toys on top. This morning I moved it into the hall and she went up and down it several times.

If you're wondering why it looks like she has 4 legs, it's because lately when she's awake I pull her legs out of the sleeper so she can get more traction with her feet. I also thought it would help her with crawling (which she still tries to do but just can't!).

Yesterday Kristen and I took Vivian to the park for her first time! I am SO thankful for warmer weather. The park was packed with lots of families and Vivian enjoyed watching the other kids play. She also loved the swing!

We met Brett, Jody, and Ansley there (and several other fun people). Ansley shared her wagon so that Vivian could go along for a ride.

Brett took them around the park...I'm sure she loved it, especially just watching Ansley.

Sweet girl.

I haven't put anything in Vivian's hair yet...no bows, headbands, clips, etc. Probably because she's never had the hair to do anything! But I found this cute ladybug clip that Molly sent us when she was born and thought I'd try it out. Hmm..don't know. We'll use this one sometimes, but I don't think I'll go out and buy more. hehe

This weekend Chris and Kristen came from Raleigh to visit and we had a blast. They got here on Friday afternoon and played with Vivian while we waited for Aaron to get home from work, and when he did the guys grilled steaks and we ate dinner. On Saturday morning Chris and Aaron got up early and drove to Snowshoe for one last ski excursion of the season. It was 60 degrees on the ski slopes! They said it was not crowded and the conditions were okay until it got really slushy in the afternoon. It was mid 70s here, so Kristen and I had lunch on a patio at a local sandwich place and took Vivian to the park. While she was napping we just hung out together at the house! It was great to see them and catch up on much needed conversations.We missed Ruthie terribly! Ruthie is their 15 month old...she was visiting grandparents this weekend. But we did talk a lot about Baby Cutch #2, due in September! Last night we played trivia games after dinner. We were all impressed with Chris's vocabulary/verbal skills :)

Thanks for making the trip to hang out guys!

Vivian has been standing on her own for a while (holding onto something), but today was the first time she pulled up and got to the standing position on her own. I was shocked! She was very pleased with herself :)
I got her one of those tables that has toys all over the top, so she can practice standing and moving around it. She loves it!