Daddy goes back to school!

Last weekend, I made my first trip to Memphis. The main reason for our visit was Daddy's 20 year high school reunion!! He was a Memphis Harding Academy Lion!!! Go MHA!! Here we are at the Homecoming football game with Prowler! I had lots of fun visiting all of my Daddy's friends from "back in the day".One of the first stops we made was Corky's BBQ. It's a Memphis fave (and my Daddy's fave too!). I didn't get to eat any BBQ but Granddad slipped me several bites of their yummy rolls! I also had a GREAT time playing in the grass at Granddad and Granlyn's house. I think it's Bermuda grass...not really sure but it was REALLY soft and fun!!

This is Granlyn. She was really good at getting me to laugh!!

Here's my friend, Nora Kate! I've been waiting to meet her! She is so pretty and so much fun. I shared some of my Puffs with her and she liked them!! Her mommy, Mrs. Angie, was really nice too. She's got a great office. She works at MHA!

Thanks, Memphis for a great time!!!

9 months!!!

I am 9 months old today. I weigh 17 lbs. 12 oz. I haven't been for my 9 month check-up yet so the rest of my stats will come in next month's email.

Boy, am I growing!! I have learned so many new things this month. The most exciting thing to report is that I pulled myself up for the 1st time yesterday. Mommy ran to get the camera and I got tired so you'll have to trust me when I tell you that I stood up. It was pretty cool. I also like getting in the "football stance". I am getting geared up for the season and have been watching closely. I'm not doing the "traditional crawl" yet but I scoot around like nobody's business. I'm hardly ever still!!!

I'm eating table food now and am really enjoying it. My favorite things so far are rice (Chinese and Mexican), grapes, cheese and jello!! Yummy! I still LOVE my Puffs too. Mommy gave me a biter biscuit last week and I loved that. She thinks it's the perfect thing to give me when we go grocery shopping because it keeps me entertained for awhile....and I NEVER drop it...it's too yummy to let go!

I am "talking" to Mommy and Daddy. My favorite thing to say is "a" (the short "a" vowel sound). After I say it, I look at them and then they repeat "a" back to me. I giggle like crazy, smile really big, look back at them and say "a" again! It' s REALLY fun. My favorite place to say "a" is in a restroom in a restaurant because there's usually a great echo in there. It really makes me smile. I can also repeat the "s" sound when Mommy & Daddy say it first.

My FAVORITE thing to play is peek-a-BOO!!! I love hearing "BOO"!! It's so funny! I think it's my favorite word!! Mommy & Daddy are really good at playing this with me. I NEVER get tired of it! I also like playing the piano. Daddy gave me my first lesson last week.

Daddy & Mommy took me to Target to get my 9 month pictures taken today. The pictures are REALLY adorable . The photographer thought so too. She asked Mommy to sign a release so that they could use my pictures in their magazine. So if you're ever at Target or JCPenney and you see a Focus Magazine laying around, flip through it, you just might see a cute little red head smiling back at you!!

Well, it's getting late. I need to get my bath (another one of my favorite things) and then go to bed.

Thanks so much for your friendship and prayers!!

Love,

FaithyMy 1st piano lesson with Daddy!!
Alright, Daddy....I got it now....listen to this....

I've got some calls to make!
And now it's time to help Mommy with the laundry! I'm such a big girl!

Fun with the Martins....2!!

This is Ezra. He is super funny. He's pretty fearless too. I had fun watching him play.

Here I am with Erin. She's really athletic. She can do cool tricks on the trampoline. She is pretty quiet but is super-talented!
Joel is fun to hang around. He's so kind and super smart. He knows lots of cool stuff. This is Luke. He's a GREAT guitar player. I could listen to him play guitar all day. He likes to get me laughing too!
I think I want to be like Leah when I grow up. She is so good to me. She carries me around just like my Mommy does. She plays with me and giggles at the silly things I do. I can tell I am going to continue to look up to her as I grow-up.

Thanks, guys for being such good hosts/hostesses to me and Mommy!! We had so much fun at your house. PLEASE come visit our house soon!!

Love,

Faithy

Fun with the Martins... 1

Last month I visited my friends and family in IN for a week. The first stop was at The Martin's house. I had SO MUCH FUN!! There were lots of new firsts for me.....first time on a trampoline, first time to swing, first time to spend the night with friends....it was a blast!! Mommy and I spent the night. I laughed so hard at all my friends...and Mrs. Heidi and Mr. B. They are pretty funny too! Here are some pics of me during this fun day!!My friend, Eden is bouncing away. I don't know how to do that just yet but I really enjoyed letting her bounce me!
This swinging thing is FUN!!!
Here I am with Mrs. Heidi. She is a great friend to my Mommy. She cooked us the best meals and played with me a lot. She's a really good Mommy to her kids. I really enjoyed being with her.
Here I am looking angelic with my friend, Eden. She's the youngest of the Martin kids. We are almost exactly a year apart but I think I look just as big as she does!

Busy, Busy!!

Well, things have been busy at the Sanderson house. We've been traveling or have hosted guests for the last several weeks. Lots of great pictures and stories to tell. Here I am with my cousin Brielle. We went swimming nearly every day of her visit. I loved wearing my hooded swimmy cover. More pics and updates to come soon!

Love,
Faithy

Summertime and the livin is easy

Let's see, how do I feel about turning 8 mos old...my face says it all.

Sweet summer swimmers...I'm in the middle with the hat on...."now friends, let's avoid those UVA and UVB rays. Thanks for calling everyone to attention, G!"


And here's Mommy, on the left, working hard with her friends to help ladies at FXCC know the sweetness of the Lord. (registration for fall ladies' retreat) No, I'm not in this picture, I took the picture.

Thanks for visiting our blog, friends!

My friend, Nelson!

This is my friend, Nelson. We've been pals since the day we were born. Nelson was born 4 days after me. Even though I am older, Nelson has been a fast learner and is already crawling!

Nelson tells the funniest stories!

So Nelson, do you think you can teach me how to crawl?Fine, if all you're going to do is show off, I'm not going to watch!
Ok....how can I resist! Here's a little kiss but don't tell my daddy that I'm giving you kisses!

I am so glad that your my friend, Nelson! I'm looking forward to many more fun memories with you!!

Faith's 1st doll!

On Friday, we spent the afternoon with some of Faith's friends. Her friend, Bailey, has a special doll named "Baby Faith". She was kind enough to let Faith play with her. I've never seen Faith take to a toy so much. She held on to "Baby Faith" the rest of the time we were at Bailey's house. Bailey's Mommy, Mrs. Emille, said Faith could take her home with us for a couple of days. Bailey reluctantly but graciously agreed. We found a sweet little shirt that we thought appropriate for "Baby Faith" to wear (see pic). Faith continued to hold onto "Baby Faith" the whole way home. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever. Murray agreed and we decided to make a run to Toys 'R 'Us so Faith could pick out a doll of her own. I just love watching her hold her doll. She "lights up" when she sees her. It's the cutest thing ever!!!
This is how Faith holds her baby dolls...both hands on the doll's head. She's happy as can be!

Faith, Daddy and "Baby Faith" outside Toys'R'Us.Here's Faith admiring her own baby. We decided to name her "Libby".
Faith and "Libby", Friends Forever!!

No more tears!

Well, our sweet little one is now an "independent sleeper". Thanks to Dr. Ferber, Faithy now goes to sleep on her own. We were told this would take 4 nights but being the "advanced learner" that she is, Faith mastered this skill after night #1! Our first night was ROUGH....I nearly caved in but Murray encouraged me to let her figure this out. It took her 1 hour to stop crying and fall asleep. On the second night, Faith nearly lept out of my arms during our nighttime routine so I said a quick prayer for her and put her in her bed and left. After about 5 minutes of playing she went to sleep....with no tears at all!!! I tried our new sleeping plan this afternoon during naptime...thinking there's no way it would work b/c she never sleeps longer than 30 minutes unless I'm holding her and I am sitting very still....but I went through our "routine" and again she tried to get out of my arms so I put her in her bed and left. Not a peep out of her for nearly 2 hours!! Wow!! Tonight makes night #3 and we had another tear free night! Why did we wait so long to let her learn to fall asleep on her own?? (the books say you can start around 4 months but sometimes kids aren't developmentally ready until 6 months). Well, we are believers in Dr. Ferber's method. I hope that typing this post doesnt' undo all our progress!!!

P.S. We haven't been able to post any pics for the last several weeks. One reason why I haven't been blogging much. Anyone else having trouble or have any suggestions on what to do???

Special Visitors Part 2!!

Grrrr....after NUMEROUS attempts, I couldn't get blogger to post the rest of the pictures from my sister's visit IN JUNE!!! Sorry Faulds family for the lenthy delay. Here's the rest of our recap (without pics). We REALLY enjoyed your visit!

Monday, June 26th: We called Grandman and sang Happy Birthday! We went to the indoor pool at our neighborhood rec center because the rain wouldn't go away!

Tuesday, June 27th: We went bowling! I watched Aunt Kimmie and the boys throw lots of strikes and spares!

Wednesday, June 28th: The rain finally stopped!! But the damage was done....we had planned to go see some dinosaurs at the Smithsonian but it was flooded and there was no power inside so they had to close the muesum. Plan B: We went to Splashdown Waterpark instead. It was so much fun. My cousin Anthony rode down some really big slides by himself and made it all the way across the lilly pads by himself. He's so amazing!!

Thursday, June 29th: We went to Hershey Park and Chocolate World in Hershey, PA. Daddy got to join us. It was a lot of fun. I rode the choo choo train and watched the boys ride rides. My favorite part was the simulated tour of the Hershey Factory. We got a yummy treat at the end!

Friday, June 30th: It was time to say goodbye. We had so much fun, I hated to see them go. Aunt Kimmie had a hard time getting home (her tire blew out about half way home). She was a trooper though and made it safe and sound. We were so glad!! Thanks, guys for the great time!! I love you so much!! Baby Faith

**Stayed tuned for my next post and learn about my 1st trip to Toys'R'Us to purchase my new favorite toy!!

Special Visitors...part 1

At the end of last month we had some special guests at our house. My younger sister, Kim and her two boys, Anthony and Andrew came to stay with us! We had a lot of fun with them and got to do lots of really cool things. Here's a quick recap:

Saturday, June 24th: Aunt Kimmie and the boys arrive! They drove 9 hours to see us. Aunt Kimmie made great time and surprised Mommy before the house was cleaned!
Sunday, June 25th: We went on a special tour of the White House!! It was really cool. Later Mommy, Daddy, Anthony and I got flooded in at The Holmans house. We had to wait an extra hour or so before the firemen would open up the roads and let us drive home.

*more pictures to follow later...blogger is'nt letting me add any pictures now! (grrr!).

Thanks, Mrs. LeaAnn

I am now living my dream!! I am a stay at home mommy!! I've longed for this job since I was a little girl playing house with my sisters and dressing up our cats in baby clothes, taking them for rides in our baby stroller, etc. This past March I had to do one of the hardest things ever. I had to go back to work after giving birth to the sweetest baby girl. I dreaded the day before Faith was even born. I knew it would be hard and it was. The only comfort I found was knowing it was temporary (3 months) and that our daughter would be staying in the very loving arms of our dear friend, LeaAnn. We had the "ideal" situation for any working mom. I worked half a day Monday and LeaAnn kept Faith in the morning. Murray kept Faith all day Tuesday. LeaAnn kept Faith all day Thursday. Her daughter Joanna was there in the morning until time for Kindergarten. Her niece, Shannon was there in the afternoon after her preschool let out. The three of them loved on Faith the entire time they were with her. It was so fun to see her watch the "big girls" as they tried to get her to smile! LeaAnn was the biggest blessing to us during those three months. She loves babies and is EXTREMELY gifted with them. Faith enjoyed her time with Mrs. LeaAnn. We enjoyed knowing that she was in the care of someone who loved her almost as much as we do! Thank you, LeaAnn!! You made that last stretch of work bearable!! Now we can do playdates together!! You are a blessing to us still!!

Here I am with Mrs. LeaAnn. She's the best babysitter!!
The girls! L to R: Joanna, me, Shannon. I loved playing with them!!
Joanna is so sweet and does such a good job holding me!

Shannon gives me really great hugs.

July 4th!!

We went downtown to the National Mall to watch fireworks this year. We watched them from the Pentagon last year but wanted a closer view this time. When the Hinckleys invited us to join them we eagerly said yes! It was such a neat experience....a "must do" for those that live in the area because you not only saw the amazing fireworks show with the Washington Monument in the background, you FELT the fireworks!! It was so cool!! We set up "camp" on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial...
When we first arrived, Faith decided to catch some zzzzs to make sure she didn't miss the big show.She was all smiles after she woke up!
She played with her friends George and Gillian for a little while.
Here we all are from L to R: James, Gillian, Ramona, George, Murray, Jaime and Faith. What fun to experience this with great friends!!
The Hinckleys (they are veteran firework show watchers...they've been making the trek downtown for many years!)
The Sandersons (we are standing at the same spot where Murray proposed in November 2003. It was fun to share that story with Faith)
Watching the fireworks show with Daddy!

She couldn't take her eyes off the show!

Hope everyone else had a wonderful experience as well. We love our country and are so thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. We love to celebrate our nation's birthday each year!!