Merry Christmas from Rebekah

Hello everyone. This is Rebekah here with my first post on the blog. Mommy is typing it for me since I don't know how.

First, please see the most recent picture of me below. I'm in my beautiful new Christmas dress that Grandma Reid gave me. Aren't I pretty?!


I am doing well at three months old. I love my fists and chew on them all the time. I really like grabbing fingers very tightly, especially Daddy's when he's feeding me a bottle. I also like to stand with lots of help, and splash my bath water all over the sink. Mommy and Daddy think that I'm teething right now, but I'm just pretending so that I'll get extra attention! My hair is losing its copper shine, but at least my eyes are still blue.

Daddy is still working hard doing transfers at night. He works late hours, but always finds time to help me with my bath. He is also doing lots of work on something called a Master's Degree. When he has free time, which isn't often, he likes to play video games with his friends or watch movies with Mommy.

Mommy is working hard too--teaching is going well for her. She is glad to have a three week vacation right now. When she isn't busy, she watches TV (which she doesn't like to admit), enjoys playing with me, and tries to keep the house clean.

I look forward to seeing many of you soon for Christmas. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas.

Evil Plans

We think Bekah has a streak of Mad Scientist in her. She is constantly rubbing her hands together and slumps a little while doing so. If she could laugh, we think it would go something like this:

MWAA HAA HAA..

Anyway, we have proof for your viewing enjoyment.

Bekah's Growing Up

Almost three months now and she's getting so big! Well, relatively big. She now has quite a few tricks mastered as you can see below:

Bekah gets lots of tummy time and has learned how to pick up her head pretty well. She can't do it for very long, but she's learning.


Bekah can also sit up to some extent. We have to prop her up against things like the couch or a boppy, but she does a good job. At least, until she turns her head to look around (so curious about the world around her) and throws off her balance and falls to one side. :)


Finally, her last, most crazy trick of late. Bekah moves around A LOT when she sleeps. We put her down in her crib in the predictable position, parallel to the long sides. Then when we come get her in the morning, she's always got her head in a corner! It's a different corner each time. She just scoots along on those little legs and gets herself wedged in there! Sometimes it wakes her up, I think because she is mad that she's run out of room to scoot. Malcom says "Nobody puts baby in the corner," she just does it to herself!

Happy December!

I love December! Of course it's because of Christmas. It's my favorite holiday for many reasons. I love the beautiful decorations and all the festivities. I love the music and the family time. People in the world are usually nicer and happier. I really enjoy the Christmas movies and treats (hot chocolate, cider, egg nog, pies, goodie plates, etc). I especially love the focus on Jesus Christ and his wonderful entry into the world. I love that so many people are focusing on Him at the same time; it seems to make the world a better place for a little while.

Here are our favorite Christmas decorations. First, the "tree." We haven't gotten a real tree since coming to California because we always go home to Arizona and don't feel like spending $70 on a tree that we won't really have time to enjoy. I decided to decorate my plant stand this year. I personally love the way it turned out, even if it is a bit untraditional!


We also love our Christmas Village. Malcom has always wanted one of these, so I picked up a few pieces last year at 50% off at an after-Christmas sale. We hope to add more each year.


We hope your Christmas is beutiful and blessed as well.

Tagged by Rachel

(list several facts about yourself and invite friends to do the same)

I have a pride issue--I honestly believe that I'm smarter than about 70% of the world's population. I'm not proud of my pride (ha, ha), but I can at least acknowledge it.

I've never been to Mexico even though I studied Spanish in high school and college, and have lived in California and Arizona my whole life.

My favorite character on The Office is Michael Scott. He is so socially backwards and has no sense of how awkward he is. I feel pity for him, then laugh at him, then wonder if I'm a little bit like him sometimes.

I really like my hair. People tell me that I have such nice hair and I always agree with them. I take it as a blessing because I know that not everyone gets to have great hair.

My very worst fear is Malcom dying. I'm not just trying to be sweet, it terrifies me. I always worry about him coming home safe (driving at random hours of the night) and frequently imagine him dead on the side of the road somewhere.

My least favorite chore in the whole world is cleaning the bathroom. I absolutely hate wet hairs all over the place even though they're all mine! I can't help but think about all the germs I'm touching while I'm cleaning. I am so happy to be married to a man whose least favorite chore is the kitchen. We made a deal early on that I would always do the kitchen and he'd always do the bathroom. I haven't had to clean a bathroom in almost 6 years! :)

Tagged: Malcom, Holly, Gary, Mitchell, and Lexa. (I would tag more of you, but you don't have blogs. . . yet.)

Thanksgiving in Mesa

We had a great time in Mesa visiting everyone. It was a rough drive there and back--we had to stop every hour and a half to feed the Munchkin and let her stretch. But we really enjoyed all the time we spent with family and friends. Here are just a few pics.

Of course everyone had to hold the Baby:






Also we're happy to have a new addition to the extended family: Cooper Reid was born the day after Thanksgiving:


Dad Reid has lost a lot of weight. I guess just in time for the holidays:


And Bekah's first encounter with a dog, Lacey. We were a little concerned that she would freak out at a barking, furry entity. But she just stared at it with curiosity. She even smiled when it licked her hand.


And lastly, the "Awwww, isn't that cute" photo. This is my new favorite photo:

Signs of Life

Within the last week we've crossed a threshold. We are finally reaping some rewards of enduring the first 2+ months. Bekah is finally settling into a schedule : sleep, eat, play, sleep, eat, play, sleep, fuss, eat, sleep, bath, fuss, eat, sleep.

She is also starting to use her little legs to support herself. She's started "standing" - using lots of support of course. Also, she's started making lots of cooing and voice sounds. One fun game she and Lindsey like to play is "Echo" where they both make "ooo" sounds at each other.

Yes, it's finally starting to be worth it.

Before and After

Rachel asked for some pictures of Rebekah crying so that everyone will believe that she can be fussy. Well, she's really chilled out lately (past the 6-week craziness) and is much happier now. However, she can still be pretty upset when she's hungry. So, here you go!

Before eating:


After eating:

(same outfit, only 10 minutes later, with extra dribble and spitup!)

"New" Crib

With Aunt Karlie's visit this weekend came a great surprise: new bedding! Karlie agreed to sew Rebekah's nursery stuff and here it is. I love it so much! Bekah looks positively tiny in her crib, but so cute!

Happy Halloween!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Basic update

I've been thinking about posting something about Malcom and I, sans baby info. I didn't realize how hard that would be--our lives are really wrapped up in her right now!

I am getting ready to go back to school on Monday. I am very nervous about how that will work out with Rebekah. Malcom will be the one watching her, so I'm not worried about that. I'm more worried about how I will juggle the teaching thing (grading papers, calling parents, discipline problems) with the mommy thing (late nights, unpredictable schedule, losing patience). I'm sure I'll figure it out, but I am thinking it will be hard before it well get easy.

Malcom is already juggling too much. His work schedule has been crazy--two days last week he worked over 12 hours! We like the money, though, so we're not really complaining. He's also going strong on his Master's Degree stuff. He's taking classes online from a school up in San Francisco and really enjoys what he's learning. In two short years he'll have an MFA in Visual Effects. Very cool.

That's all the news that is news.

Our daughter is a genius!

Yes, we have done the unthinkable. We have taught our 1-month old how to read! She just picked up this book today and started sounding out all the words, all by herself! Amazing! We are very proud of her accomplishment and hope to start her on War and Peace soon.



(Yes, we love dressing our daughter up in silly costumes and poses for our amusement--how else do you expect us to be entertained?!)

Blessing Dress

We were so lucky to have Bekah's blessing dress made for us. It used material from my mom's wedding dress, my baptism dress, and my sister's baptism dress. We are so grateful to Jan Klingler for making such a beautiful heirloom for us.

Blessing Day

Rebekah was blessed on Sunday. It was such a great experience, especially because so many of our family members were able to be here with us. Malcom gave a very nice blessing and Bekah was surprisingly quiet for the whole thing. She looked so precious in her beautiful white dress. Good looks and lots of attention couldn't keep her from screaming through all of the pictures--oh well! What can we expect from a 1-month old?! It was a very happy day.





At the park, after the blessing: Sanders family picture, and Reid family picture.

At the beach

Our families came over to sunny California this weekend for Rebekah's blessing on Sunday. We spent Saturday morning at the beach with the Reids and really enjoyed it. The weather was perfect despite predictions of rain.

Bekah had to be all covered up.


A day at the beach wouldn't be complete without building sand castles!


Amy, the perpetual picture taker--love that pregnant bump!


Mom walked with Bekah for a long time, enjoying the beach and her granddaughter at the same time. Very happy grandma!


Dad held her while she was cute and quiet--happy grandpa too!

Recent Pictures

Nothing newsworthy, just more pictures of the munchkin.

An all-to-common scene around the house, but hopefully she'll grow out of her fussiness soon.


Bekah in her bouncy seat.


Still staring at Mr. Lamp.


We love it when she's quiet and cute!

Current Events

Bekah got her first real bath on Tuesday. Her "stump" fell off, so it was time. She liked it a lot better than the sponge bath experiences. She will thank Malcom later in life that he made sure her girl parts are all covered up in this picture!



Rebekah also enjoys sleeping on daddy's chest. She'd do it all night if we'd let her. This is a shot of her today enjoying daddy while he's enjoying TV--two very happy people!

Bekah's Three Best Friends

Bekah has three best friends she relies on daily for support. First are the twins, Lefty and Right Hook. Yes, those are her fists. They are with her wherever she goes. Whether it's sleeping, waking, or accidentally pushing food out of the way when it's offered, her fists are there. She finds great delight in making out with Lefty although Right Hook seems to get a little jealous.



The other, very important friend in her life is the lamp. Excuse me, that's Mr. Lamp. She stares at Mr. Lamp next to her changing table whenever her diaper is changed. It seems to calm her, even though we can't tell what it's saying or doing to charm her so completely; if we could figure that out, we'd be doing it too!

Rebekah's first sponge bath

We bathed her last night for the first time since the hospital. We had her in the tub without any water for about 30 seconds. She really hates to be on her back! Then we switched to Malcom's lap and she was so happy. We learn something new every day. At least we can wait 2-3 days before trying it again!

More Hospital Pics

Susan, the best nurse ever!



Induction begins, but nothing's happening.



Early Labor--still smiling.



Active Labor--YIKES!



Three Generations

Delivery by the Numbers

7.75 - Number of hours of labor
6 - Number of hours to go from 1cm to 4cm dilation
45 - Number of minutes to go from 4cm to fully dilated
19 - Number of pushes to get the baby out
3 - Number of lacerations Lindsey experienced from such a fast labor
100 - Approx. number of stitches Lindsey got from said lacerations
0 - Amount of painkiller narcotics Lindsey received (there wasn't any time!)


After Delivery:
5- Number of times woken up during the night from baby/nurses
4 - Number of poopy diapers in the first 24 hours (The Tar!)
3.5 - Approx. number of hours of sleep Daddy got (I should probably get used to that)
1 - Number of blond-ish babies in this hospital in last 3 months

It's a Girl!

Rebekah Jo Sanders

Born: 9/13 3:14pm
Stats: 7lb 6oz, 19" long
Blond/Strawberry hair
Has her daddy's fingers, her mommy's toes.

I'll let the photos speak for themselves: