Faith Kinder Sanderson, born on December 20th, 2005
Her first birthday came so quickly!!
18 months old and such a pretty girl!! 
Faith turned 2 years old last week. It is so hard to believe that she's been with us for that long and yet it feels as if we've always known life with her! (To be honest, we do have pretty fond memories of life before Faith when we go out to eat at restaurants....we NEVER imagined what a gift that was to dine together without any distractions!!)
Here are a few things we LOVE LOVE LOVE about our precious 2 year old, Faithy....
Her smile....it lights up a room as well as our hearts! Her giggle is even more infectious!!
She LOVES her Daddy! My favorite part of the day is when Murray comes home from work. It used to be just so I could see him and hug him but now it's also because Faith drops whatever she's doing and RUNS to Murray yelling "Daddy, Daddy". I can't describe the joy it creates in our home but we all LOVE seeing Daddy!
She LOVES her brother, Eli! EVERY morning she starts the day saying "Shhhh "I" sleeping" (she calls Eli, "I") she immediately does the sign for sleeping and then says "shhh" again. When Eli wakes up she RUNS to him and says, "Morning "I", "I morning". It's so cute. She showers him with hugs and kisses all day long and doesn't mind (too much) when he pulls her hair. She LOVES to share with him which we've discovered isn't always a good thing as we've had to quickly remove chicken nuggets and playdoh from Eli's mouth.
She has started to care for her baby dolls. She wants to diaper them, feed them, clothe them and read to them. She seriously teaches them as she reads. She'll say, "Baby, camel see. Baby, camel." She'll pick up her baby so the baby has a better view of the camel if she's not convinced the baby has understood her.
She loves to read and do puzzles. Her favorite book to read is her Rhyme Time Bible. She flips through her Bible for 20 minutes or so and "reads". It's SO cute. She even gets more passionate as her lesson goes on (we're still trying to catch this on video). Her other favorite book to read is the church's pictorial directory. She LOVES to look at pictures and name the people she knows. She'll sit and flip through the directory for what seems like ages in toddler time.
She LOVES her cousins. We are blessed to live near many of them and she talks about her cousins and asks for them nearly every day.
She LOVES her cousins in Texas too. Being the only girl, she's had to learn how to hang with all the boys (she has two older cousins Bennett & Briggs). It was SO FUN to see her play with them. She really gets along with all of them and loves to play chase!
She LOVES her Daddy! My favorite part of the day is when Murray comes home from work. It used to be just so I could see him and hug him but now it's also because Faith drops whatever she's doing and RUNS to Murray yelling "Daddy, Daddy". I can't describe the joy it creates in our home but we all LOVE seeing Daddy!
She LOVES her brother, Eli! EVERY morning she starts the day saying "Shhhh "I" sleeping" (she calls Eli, "I") she immediately does the sign for sleeping and then says "shhh" again. When Eli wakes up she RUNS to him and says, "Morning "I", "I morning". It's so cute. She showers him with hugs and kisses all day long and doesn't mind (too much) when he pulls her hair. She LOVES to share with him which we've discovered isn't always a good thing as we've had to quickly remove chicken nuggets and playdoh from Eli's mouth.
She has started to care for her baby dolls. She wants to diaper them, feed them, clothe them and read to them. She seriously teaches them as she reads. She'll say, "Baby, camel see. Baby, camel." She'll pick up her baby so the baby has a better view of the camel if she's not convinced the baby has understood her.
She loves to read and do puzzles. Her favorite book to read is her Rhyme Time Bible. She flips through her Bible for 20 minutes or so and "reads". It's SO cute. She even gets more passionate as her lesson goes on (we're still trying to catch this on video). Her other favorite book to read is the church's pictorial directory. She LOVES to look at pictures and name the people she knows. She'll sit and flip through the directory for what seems like ages in toddler time.
She LOVES her cousins. We are blessed to live near many of them and she talks about her cousins and asks for them nearly every day.
She LOVES her cousins in Texas too. Being the only girl, she's had to learn how to hang with all the boys (she has two older cousins Bennett & Briggs). It was SO FUN to see her play with them. She really gets along with all of them and loves to play chase!*she is quick to apologize and does the sign for "sorry" when she's apologizing. The cutest part of her apology is that she ALWAYS apologizes to Aunt Kimmie. If Faith has screamed at me, I'll say, "Faith, we don't talk to Mommy that way." She'll immediately say, "Sorry, Kimmie". I'll say, Aunt Kimmie isn't here. You need to tell Mommy you're sorry." Her response is, "Sorry Kimmie. Kimmie sorry." We are happy to see a tenderness in her heart! We smile at her "Sorry Kimmie" all the time!
*she RUNS everywhere she goes. I hardly ever see her walking. She is super fast too! We're getting prepared to sit through a lot of track meets in the years to come.
*she loves to label things by who they belong to...."I's paci", "Faith's diaper", "Daddy's shoes" All day long she goes through and labels things she sees!
*she LOVES to dance. Her favorite song to dance to is "Superstar" by the Go Fish Guys (check them out at gofishguys.com if you've never heard of them. They have "great music for kids that won't drive their parents bonkers." We all LOVE their music and DVD). She calls the song "Na Na Na" and does her hand in a dancing motion like the guys do on their video.
*she loves to sing. Her favorite songs are "If you're happy and you know it", "Head shoulders knees and toes", "Patty cake Patty cake". "Jesus loves me". Her friend, Annika recently taught her "The wheels on the bus" and she likes that one too.
*she loves all her grandparents...."MaCa" (her great grandma she named her MaCa), "NayNay" (my mom), "Nana" (Murray's mom), "Grandman & Mimi" (my dad & stepmom) and "Granddad & Granlyn" (Murray's dad & stepmom). Lots of grandparents and she enjoys them all! We feel blessed to have so many grandparents loving our children!
*she's always been a great sleeper! She takes naps well and goes to bed without any fuss (most of the time). It's been a blessing for all of us!
*she loves sweets. She'll ask for a sucker. I'll say no. Then, she'll ask for a cookie. I'll say no. Then, she'll ask for candy. I'll smile big and still say no. Then, she'll ask for a treat. I try to convince her that yogurt or graham crackers could be her treat! She sometimes will fall for it.
*there are, of course, many many more things we LOVE about Faith but those are treasured up in our hearts and I'm certain we couldn't find the right words to describe those things so we'll leave them bursting in our hearts.
Faith Kinder Sanderson you are dearly loved!
Going to the Indianapolis Zoo. We saw a swimming polar bear, lions, giraffes, kangaroos, elephants, dolphins, a tiger and so many other cool animals!!!
Faith and Daddy with the penguins
Eli LOVES spending time with Aunt Kimmie!
We had lunch at Red Lobster. Aunt Kimmie talked Eli into touching the lobster.
The cutest little bugs on the block!!!!
Precious little bee
Faith had this dazed look on her face during this set of pictures. We couldn't get her to smile and it wasn't b/c of the candy. She hardly touched her sucker....but she LOVED to hold it.
Nana arrived yesterday, just in time for trick or treating!
NayNay came out for our neighborhood Halloween parade last weekend.
My nieces came out for the parade too. They are both cheerleaders (Haleigh is a Barbie one and Brielle is a gothic one. Brielle lost her "real" costume top so I had to make this one on the fly).
Grandman and Mimi also stopped by for the parade.
Hey everyone, good news! Praise God, Eli is home!Thank God, the tide turned quickly this morning as test results came in, and the pediatric infectious disease specialist got a good look at Eli's records and Eli himself. Except for one test that we don't yet have results for, Eli's bloodwork showed no signs of concern. Bottom line, the infectious disease doc felt that he could send us home with a powerful oral antibiotic that would fight the infection in Eli's foot, which at this time appears to be staph (not MRSA, but some type of staph). He saw no advantage to keeping us in the hospital for observation, and the IV antibiotics did not contribute very well to Eli's rest and/or recovery. (or ours! He had 5 things hooked up to him...)
A BIG Thank You to all for your phone calls, emails, comments, visits, meals, etc. We feel TOTALLY BLESSED to have such wonderful friends and family!!
We are also SO EXCITED to report that our sweet buddy, Bennett, has gone home with his Mommy and Daddy. After 70 days in the NICU, precious Bennett, was released to the wonderful care of his parents. We are THRILLED beyond words and appreciate you all praying for him!!!
