Alaina's dedication

"Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it." 

Proverbs 22:6

This past Sunday we dedicated Alaina to the Lord.  In this way, we publicly declare that we desire to raise our children in the Lord according to His will, to know Him and all His ways.  

The dedication was at the same church in Seoul, the Doguk campus of Onnuri English Ministry, that we have been attending since moving here and where Marc and Emmalyn were also dedicated.

During the service, Jarrod repeated these vows:

"I promise before God and His people, as the spiritual leader in this family: to raise up my children in the ways of the Lord; to lead by example in trusting God first, each day of my life; to lead my family into His presence with prayer and Scripture; to love and cherish my wife. 

Then we both repeated these vows:
"We promise before God and His people: to train our child in the instruction and discipline of the Lord and to encourage our child to one day trust Jesus as Lord and Savior.  We dedicate and surrender our child to the Lord today.

Pastor Eddie Byun prayed for Alaina and for our family.  

We intend to raise Alaina, along with our other children, in a Christian home of love and peace, to raise her in the truth of our Lord's instruction and discipline, and to encourage her to one day trust Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord. We ask for accountability and prayer.

We were so happy to share this special ocassion with Alaina's Grammy Puff!  

We are so thankful for our littlest blessing, Alaina Lee!  It is our prayer that Christ will dwell in her heart through faith. May she learn and truly grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, and be filled with all the fullness of God.  To Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

5 Months Old!

 Hooray! Alaina is 5 Months old and counting! She mastered bedtime, and will go to sleep at 6:30pm without crying. This has changed my life! ;)  We are working on as successful nap times.   She will roll from tummy to back when propped up (the lean roll), but prefers to be on her back, playing with the floor gym, tasting her toys, and up in the Bumbo or Jumperoo.  She is very aware of her surroundings, watches the activity that is always around her, plays with her hands, sucks on fingers and any thing else she can get her hands on! I think Marc is her favorite person, second to Mommy.  Emmalyn and Daddy are close in the running.. but she has a special bond with that boy who knows how to talk sweetly to his sister!   

The lean-roll

We are enjoying each stage that Alaina is in, not trying to hurry her - too quickly - to the next one, because we know how fast they all go by!  I am especially enjoying the stationary stage.. I can leave her in one place and come back to find her in the same place.. (though it is the big kids I have to watch out for!)

That stage seems to be coming to an end soon though, as Alaina discovered the "lean roll"... when she is propped up on her arms, she can lean her head to the side, and her body follows!

She is quite pleased with herself!

AND Marc is pleased to recover his "guys" from Alaina! ;)

Alaina's 100 Day photo shoot

 Woo-hoo! 100 days old! And we celebrated... what a photo shoot! (surprise, surprise..)

I guess she's had enough.  Happy 100 days, Alaina!  Now on to the next milestone!

3 Months old!

Alaina is 3 months already!! She is more and more alert, and found her hands! She interested in looking and batting at her toys, but LOVES eye contact and flashed a genuine smile every time she catches you looking at her.  Alaina was moved into her new bedroom at the beginning of this month and - gasp - has begun the dreaded sleep training.  She is proving... stubborn.  But we are working it out. :)  AND now, for her PICTURES!

What a beautiful 3 month old!

Sleep training, once again...

It is official, Alaina is not a newborn any more.. she has grown into size 3 month clothes and doesn't
sleep all day, anywhere, any longer.  She has put herself on a 3 nap/day schedule and naturally wants to go to sleep around 6-6:30pm for the night.. up twice during the night to nurse and then waking between 8-9am.  It is a great schedule...  and most would say, "why are you complaining about that??"  Well.. I'm not.  

But she is pretty attached... so she requires ME to go to sleep, and to stay asleep. That isn't all bad.  I love the snuggles, the bond... except, we both don't rest well when we are together.. she wakes me up, I wake her up...  AND I honestly don't think I have been without this child for any extended amount of time since she was born.  I need some time alone.  I will be a better mother when I get some time alone. 

It is time.  Tonight, she is learning to sooth herself to sleep.  And I am blogging about it to keep myself distracted and out of her room.  I have been dreading the sleep training, but I love the results... with Marc, we waited until he was 6 months old... and had a terrible time getting him to sleep every night until we finally bit the bullet and trained him to soothe himself. He became a different baby (not overtired and crying so much) and it really helped all of us.  With Emmalyn, we trained her at 3.5 months, and she took to it much easier.. and it really changed my life: going from struggling to keep her asleep vs stimulate her when she wakes every evening until 11 or 12 at night to her going to sleep well at 6:30 and sleeping soundly for the night.  They both came through it all right, and I was a changed Mommy having the evening to myself once again.  

So here we are again, praying for our girl as she takes some of her first "steps" toward independence.  Alaina actually tricked me tonight... I did the nighttime routine (nurse, pray, rock, sing)... and put her in her bed.. and she went right to sleep for 30 minutes before realizing she was in her bed without her Momma by her side.  But then she woke up, and instead of rushing in for another session of soothing, I am waiting through this intermittent crying for her to learn how to sooth herself and go back to sleep.  

It is not easier this third time, but when is letting go ever easy? I know that it is worth it... and it only gets better from here.

The Great Room Swap, take 2

A little over a year and a half ago, we had the first great room swap.  It was the time when we moved Marc into a new room and a toddler bed, while moving Emmalyn out of our room and into the nursery and Marc's crib.   Yesterday - after all the festivities and nap time - the great room swap commenced once again: Emmalyn moved out of the nursery and into the "big kid's room", and Alaina moved out of our room and into the nursery, and Emmalyn's crib.  

Here are pictures pre-room swap:

The Nursery - aka "Emmalyn's room" 

 The Big Kid Room - aka "Marc's room"

Emmalyn didn't really understand what was going on until it happened, but Marc was so excited about Emmalyn moving into his room... and he was even making a space where Alaina could sleep. He is such a great big brother. :)

The move in progress!

It's done!  The swap is complete! Aren't they cute in the "big kid room"??

Emmalyn still has a quasi-crib... we didn't want to give her complete freedom yet to climb in and out (even though she can easily do it), since she isn't even two yet (could have fooled us!) this is kind-of a stepping stone to a toddler bed.

 And Alaina's Room:

 Now to read a story before a good night's sleep!

Yes, sleep.  I know you are wondering about that.  Last night (the first one in the new rooms) was rough.  We have a new strategy to get the kids down well tonight, and are praying that they cooperate!  This is a learning process for Jarrod and I, and I am thankful he has another week and a half off of school for us to figure it all out!