Single Mama

     Last week was pretty momentous for our little clan.   First of all, Sarah Avery turned one month old!  (More on that below.) Secondly, the girls and I ended up experiencing our first week alone........and, miracles of miracles, we survived!    When Peter came home from work one afternoon two weeks ago with the news that he had to take a work trip to Tampa the morning before Nancy was set to leave, I stayed super calm and reacted with complete composure and dignity.  The last sentence is true only if your definition of a calm, composed, and dignified reaction includes crying, ranting, and panicking because that is what I did.   ;)    But it actually turned out so much more smoothly than I envisioned, which was  definitely thanks to the many prayers that went up on our behalf (thank you to everybody who prayed!)  The first night we were alone, Sarah Avery slept for over 7 hours.  She had never gone longer than 4, so this was such a miracle!   And every other night she slept at least 5 or 6 hours without waking.   And now Peter is back and I am breathing a great big sigh of relief that we made it!    Here are the photos from the week......

Sarah Avery did great at her one month check-up.

She was so alert, but never cried.  

We got a great report.....92nd percentile for weight and 93rd for height, she weighed in at 11.2 lbs and measured 22 inches.  

She still prefers to be held all the time, but she will give me a few short 10-15 minutes spurts in her bouncy seat or on her play-mat.  

But her favorite place, hands down, is in my arms or in the Ergo.   She slept in the Ergo last week while I vacuumed and dusted the entire apartment.  

This little ballerina started back to her ballet class and was so excited about being back in her dance outfit.

Susannah was such a big helper to me when Peter was gone.   She is growing up so fast.

Sarah Avery has really started to smile and even laugh a little this week.   She does it mostly in the middle of the night, probably as a little compensation for this tired mommy.   ;)

It never fails to melt my heart.

We keep saying how we can't wait for her to start developing her little personality.   We are starting to see little peeks already and it is so fun.

This is the screaming face.......she does this often and very loudly when she is tired of not being held.   Susannah is such a good sport about it and doesn't really complain.   This shocks me because if I were her, I would complain often.   ;)

After our doctor appointment we went to the commissary.   I wanted to take this pic to send to Peter, but then I felt self conscious for taking a selfie at the grocery store, so I didn't smile to make it less obvious.   That's not weird right??   I was smiling as we left though, because Sarah Avery slept the entire time and I was so thankful that we had a scream-free trip.

We have had the most beautiful fall weather so we spent some time at the playground.

Check out that blue sky.   It seems like the sky is bluest here in the fall and it makes me so happy to see the blue up against the green trees that are slowly starting to show glimmers of gold and orange. 

My sweet big girl helper.

Peter came home a day early and we were so happy to have him back.   Especially because he came bearing gifts from Target!!   Susannah was so excited to get both Anna and Elsa princess dresses.

She wore them all day yesterday, with wardrobe changes every hour or so.

This Daddy missed his girls.

We tried the new pizza place in our neighborhood Friday night and Sarah Avery was well behaved even though she stayed awake the entire time. 

It was a great night celebrating Daddy's return. 

Well, that is it for our week.   Hope everybody had a good weekend.   Thanks again for all the prayers.......I'm convinced that they were the key to our survival.   ;)