On The Move!!

Yes, the day has come!! Selah is finally crawling! She is still a little hesitant so she is not into everything yet! I know that I will only be able to enjoy that for another few days. Soon, she will be all over the place!

We are heading to Greenwood next Tues. to see everyone for Thanksgiving. We will eat with Wesley at Faith Home. I am very interested to see how Selah does on Kathy and Jimmy's hard wood floors! They may slow her down for a little while!

Jeremy and I are still waiting for the right door to open up. The Lord really has not given us any direction. I am excited to see where we will end up at. He has been blessing us with odd jobs here and there for Jeremy. I have been selling some products from cloth diaper company, Lovable Cloth, and through Pampered Chef. I think that it is all going to work out. This is just an opportunity for God to be glorified and our faith to be strengthened! I am excited to see how all of ti turns out.

I have been couponing a lot and saving TONS of money! Praise the Lord for coupons!! They truly have made things easier for us. Couponing also ends up being an outlet for me which is nice. I feel like by couponing I am adding more to our family's financial peace.

Moving right along...

Things seem to be moving right along for us in the Kelly family. Selah continues to attemp crawling and ends up scooting on her bottom...which is super cute! She has learned where her nose is. Next we are going to work on finding our "eyes". She is becoming increasingly independant. She has little interest in any food that she can not feed herself. This is nice when we want to eat but it tends to be a little messy at times. She does not play with her food but does tend to drop a lot on the floor. We have recently added cheese and yogart in her diet and she loves it! Cass tried beef tonight to see if it will affect Selah. As many of you know, she has not been able to eat or drink any cow products because Selah couldnt handle the protein. We'll let you know how tonight goes.
We heard back from Newhope and are going up in two weeks for a five week trial period with pay. We are all very excited about this opportunity and feel realy good about it. None of the details have been worked out yet but we'll hopefully hear from them on those this week.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers and we'll try to keep you updated on here.

The Kelly Family Blog

So, I was told that this blog needs to be updated more regularly (information I already was aware of) and that it needed to be about the three of us Kelly's. So....I want to say sorry to all of our faithful blog followers...I really am going to try to update this more frequently....we will see how that goes!

Anyway, there is a lot going on with our family right now. Most of you know that Jeremy and I are both out of work. We are spending our days getting our house ready to sell and trying to figure out how things are going to work financially for us over the next couple of months. We are in the interview process with a church that we really believe is where the Lord is leading us. The church is New Hope and it is in NC. (www.newhopenc.org check it out) As of right now, it does not seem that there are any other prospects for a job.

I can't speak for Jeremy, but as for me, I have such faith that God is going to prove himself faithful to us during this time of waiting. I am so excited to see how He provides for us. A few weeks before Jeremy decided to resign the Lord really started speaking to my heart about how He is my provider. I know that was not a coincidence. I believe that He started showing me these things so that I would have the strength and faith to get through this time. I know that Jeremy and I are going to come out of this experience with a great testimony of how our God provides for our every need.

On a lighter note, Selah is growing more and more. I can't believe that this little girl is my baby! She is getting bigger and smarter every day. She continues to love to dance and sing. She says the words "momma", "dadda", and "up". The jury is still out on whether or not she actually knows what the word "up" means. However, she really likes to say it. She still does not crawl but she scoots on her bottom very well. She has also started to stand on her own and has tried to pull up on the furniture. Overall, she is still very content sitting on the floor playing with her toys or mommy and daddy. The most exciting thing to me has been her love of books. She loves to listen to Jeremy and I read her stories. If she is upest, a book will calm her down. When she is playing by herself she flips the pages of whatever book she has and looks at all of the pages.

moving right along...

Well, we have had a very interesting July. After being home only 5 days so far this month Selah is getting very used to living out of a suitcase! She seems to be adjusting to traveling very well.

Here are a few updates for the SC family members that have not had the opportunity to see her in a few weeks!

• She is now drinking juice and water out of a bottle!! We have mastered the Adiri bottle!!
• She loves chicken and peas! Two things that I think taste the worst in baby form!
• During tummy time yesterday, Selah almost got up on her knees!!!
• Selah has started pushing up in her Jenny Jump Up
• She has mastered some new sounds and blends!
• We now have a master grabber on our hands...we have to watch her very closely!!!

It seems that things are moving right along!!

A mouthfull...

Well, last night Selah figured out how to put her foot in her mouth...literally! She found that she likes to chew on her big toe. That is one teether that will always be with her!!! She is really starting to examine her hands, fingers, and toys. She likes to study everything and everyone around her.



Selah went swimming for the first time last week. She had such a good time! This was a spur of the moment decision so Jeremy was the only one out of the three of us that had a bathing suit...or at least a pair of shorts that could double as a bathing suit. Selah went skinny dipping...we figured she was young enough to do that...and I sat on the side of the pool with my feet in the water. Jeremy had no choice but to swim with her the entire time because if he handed her to me to hold she would start fussing. She wanted to be in that water with her daddy!!! She loves the water.



She has been swimming twice since that day. It looks like we are going to have to convince daddy of getting her (and mommy) an above ground pool...wink, wink!!! I think that the little kiddie pools at Walmart will work for right now!



Check out the Connor's blog for some great pictures of Selah playing with her friend Maddie!!! They are SO cute together!!!

No Longer Toothless!!

Selah now has two teeth!! The first tooth was discovered at youth group on Sunday. One moment she was playing with my hand and the next she was biting my finger! I was shocked when I felt something sharp as she bit down! By Wednesday the whole top of the tooth was visible. Now she has two of them poking up!

That said, this week has been VERY interesting! Selah has been very needy, which is really not her personality. She does not want me to leave her side all day long. Which really makes it difficult to get anything done. She was really fussy at the beginning of the week. Even though it was hard on me I tried to be extremely patient with her. I know that she did not know what was going on and why she had a constant pain in her mouth. I tried to give her teething tablets but she was just out of sorts. Things seem to be better now. Yesterday she was back to her old self.

I think that I tend to take for granted how wonderful of a baby she is. Then when she has a bad day, which is never really that bad, I realize that my days with her really are very easy. She likes to lay on the ground and play with her toys or talk to herself. She really is a very low maintenance baby. I am so blessed by her.

Yesterday I was thinking about her new teeth and her rapid development. Everything seems to be going by so fast. She is only five months old and while she is not really rolling over on a regular basis (something I thought she would be doing by now), she is sitting up on her own very well for extended periods of time. She has her two little teeth and seems to be developing more and more each day. They say that time flies by but I never expected her to be changing so much so quickly. It really does feel like I am going to turn around and she is going to be walking and talking. I just did not realize how much it really does fly by. That said, things are bitter-sweet in the Kelly house. We are so excited to watch her grow and develop but feel that is going by a lot faster than we expected. I cherish each moment I have with her. I know that before I know it Selah will be all grown up!

Blessed!!

Well, things seem to be moving right along. Selah is continuing to grow and grow. Three weeks ago she was 17.5 lbs and 25.4 inches. She is wearing 6 month clothing. Selah is having a hard time figuring out that she can roll over. She is VERY social. I am already seeing her little personality show through.

This week she has started sitting up on her own for about 5 minutes at a time. It is so strange to see her sitting up before she is even really flipping over. I feel like she is getting so big so fast. On one hand I really can't wait to watch her grow and develop. On the other hand I want her to stay little for as long as possible!!

This week Selah has discovered her little hands. She will play with them and study them. It is so cute! She also found her toes. I walked in to check on her while she was down for her nap and found her playing with her toes in her bed. It was also very cute!! She can't reach both feet at the same time so she will grab one foot at a time. She has not yet put her feet in her mouth! I don't think that she could reach.

New news in the Kelly house!

We have been experiencing a lot of blessings lately. Yesterday I (Cass) called the insurance company to ask about our hospital balance. We had almost 7,000 dollars that we still had to pay. I thought that this was a large balance considering I did not use any pain medication and we got out of the hospital as soon as we could. After looking at all of the bills with our insurance company we found that all we were supposed to pay was 1,200 dollars. We have already paid almost half of that! So, now we have around 700 dollars left to pay. I was very excited to find that one of those zeros was taken off of our hospital debt!!! We have also been receiving reimbursement checks and anonymous monetary gifts in the mail. This is all just proof that God really is our provider!! I know that He will continue to take care of us. What an awesome God we serve!!!!

Cass' Update

I was told that the blog needed to be updated in detail...so here it goes!

Selah continues to grow in so many different ways! She is wearing some six month things now. The 3-6 month outfits fit her best right now. She just seems to get longer and longer. I never think about how big she really is until we get around other babies. Then it is like she is huge!!!

She is a lot more interested in the things and people around here now. She gets really upset if she wakes up in a place that she does not recognize. She is also dealing with some seperation anxiety. If people hold her that she does not really know or recognize she gets really upset and won't calm down until Jeremy or I hold her. This is not a consistant thing...I think it happens more when a lot of people are around ( like at church ) or if she is tired.

Selah is "talking" a LOT more! She practices different sounds and levels of loudness. I am laughing becuase right now she is really being very loud. She will get real loud then stop and smile...I guess she thinks it is funny!!!

Her thumb continues to be her best friend. She LOVES it! She always has her fingers in her mouth but most of the time it is her thumb that is in there. If you hold her she will most likely try to get your fingers in her mouth along with hers! This will definately be a hard habit to brake. However, right now it keeps her sleeping through the night so I am not that stressed about it!

Selah has started to go to bed anywhere between 8 and 10 pm. Then she will wake up at 5:30 to eat and then sleep another couple of hours. She does not have a regular nap schedule. Sometimes she will not really sleep all day and then other times she will sleep for a couple of hours at a time. I can't really get her to take an afternoon nap and a morning nap. It seems that if she is going to nap she will do one or the other.

A couple of weeks ago we were at Grammy and Daddy Ben's house and she almost rolled over! She got the hip motion down and was half way flipped then she would start working her shoulders and got the top half almost flipped. However, she could not quite cordinate it so that both ends flipped at the same time. She is still working at it though. She has mastered the "on the back scoot", so we really have to watch her!

She is still very social. She does not like to be left alone very long. She likes for you to be close to her so that she can talk to you and watch you. She loves to sit in my lap and watch me work at the computer. She really likes the screen. She is not really interested in TV yet...which I guess is a good think since we are getting rid of our cable! For the most part, as long as she has a blanket or her Taggie to chew on and rub on her face she is happy. She loves to feel cloth on her face and to chew on it!

That is all I can really remember right now. We go to the doctor tomorrow so I will post a quick update on how that goes...I am sure she will still be off the charts!!!

someone else was supposed to do this...

Well obviously a lot has happened since the last post. Selah is now loving sitting up in our lap. She still needs support for her body but she holds her head steady. She continues to suck her thumb and laugh and "talk". She has also gotten a lot better with her hand eye coordination. Her big thing now is she is continually sleeping through the night 8 hours. Mama and daddy are LOVING that. I'll leave the details up to Cass. Till next time - see ya!

3 MONTHS!

Wow! We cant believe it has already been three months! She has grown by leaps and bounds since then. two weeks ago we had her check up and she weighed 15Lbs 4oz and measured 25in long!!! She looks like a toddler. OK so maybe not quite a toddler but she is bigger than most 4 month old babies we see. Over the last two weeks she has really started to expand her baby vocabulary. She has learned so many new sounds, thankfully all joyful ones. She has also become even more responsive and studies our faces more intently. It is so fun watching them grow up and gain stronger abilities of their senses.
Cass has her Lovable Cloth website up and running and is officially open for business! We went to Earth Fair last Saturday to set up a booth at their "block part" and were able to make a lot of connections with soon to be moms, grandmothers, business owners and others. Cass really felt it was a success. She also made two sales. We are hoping and praying that this business really takes off.
She has also started Pampered Chef to help fund the business. If anyone is interested, give us a call. :)

NEW PICS AND VIDEO!!!

We have LOTS of new pictures up on the flickr site and two videos!  Click on the link to the left of this post to go there.  We'll update with an entry a little later.  

Congrats to Chad and Molly on the new bundle of joy - Grayson!!!

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Good
Last week Papa Jim and Kaky came to town and we all had so much fun. We went out to Uno's and then came back to the house to just hang out and let them enjoy grandparent time. They couldn’t believe how big she had gotten. This week I think she’s bigger.
Tonight we are going to Clinton to see Grammy, Daddy Ben and Kristi (Jeremy’s grandparents and aunt). Kristi has not met Selah yet so she can hardly wait. She is flying up from Florida for the weekend and is bummed because she thinks she is only getting a couple hours with Selah. She doesn’t know that we are spending the night so she can get her fill. :)
The Bad (according to parents who think time is already moving too fast)
This past Tuesday, we went by to see Patrick and Ali's, some friends of ours, baby in the hospital. She was born on Monday and was only 18 inch long and weighed 6.5 Lbs. It really made us realize how big Selah has gotten. While she did out weigh Mary Alice by more than a pound and had a good 3 1/2 inches on her it was still neat and sad and scary to see a comparison of about how big she started out and how big she is now. WOW! What a difference! It looked like Selah had swallowed one of those babies.
The Ugly
We went on Monday to get her first shots and it was extremely traumatic! As is always the case, more so for mom and dad than for Selah but still. After the first one and Selah screaming like we've never heard before, :( Cass came back into the room and asked "is that it?" When we said no there’s two more she stressed, left and called her dad. The next two were just as bad. It broke daddy's heart to have her laying in his lap look up at him and then all of a sudden let out a blood curdling scream. It did make daddy feel better when she clung to him afterwards as if to say please protect me. We are already counting the days till round two. Not looking forward to it. Pray that she actually finishes her vaccines. ;)

2 months and growing

Selah turned two months old this past Tuesday and she continues to grow - faster than we would like. Jeremy weighed her by getting on the scale at our house with and without her. The difference was 14 pounds!!!! She has very obviously gotten longer and heavier. You can really see it in her face. I think her cheeks have doubled in size over the last two weeks.

Kaky and Papa Jim are coming up tomorrow and we are all very excited to see them. I can't wait for them to see how big she's gotten and how responsive she has become. When Cass or I walk in the room and get in her eye sight, she throws the biggest smiles our direction. Sometimes just by hearing our voice we'll get a smile. She's already melting our hearts with her own little "I Love You's".

Uncle Patrick and Aunt Lauren came down last weekend and spent the night Friday night. Unfortunately they got there after Selah had gone to sleep and left right after she woke up good the next morning. They did get some time with her and got to hold her. They had not seen her since she was born and they really couldn’t believe how big she had gotten and how much she had changed. We are hoping to take a trip down to them sometime in the next few months to give them a little more time with her.

On another note, Cass is very close to getting her store off the ground. She has her business license and website domain. Last night we ordered our first products. It was so exciting! For those who have not heard, she is starting an online store called Lovable Cloth where she will be selling cloth diapers and diapering accessories. She is working on getting the website up and running - hopefully in the next week or two. If you or anyone you know is using cloth, check her out! We'll let you know when everything is up.

NEW PICTURES

We have new pictures of Selah up on our flickr site.  Go through the link on the right side of this page to see them!

The Usual Updates

Selah continues to grow and develop.  She is getting better about holding her head up and has even begun to recognize us as her parents!  She also appears to be recognizing voices and remembering them.  We can now usually get a smile out of her when she looks at us.  She also has begun to practice moving her arms in a more coordinated manner.  

Papa Jim was in town last Friday and stopped by for a quick visit.  He was in baby world the whole time.  There were even a few times when Jeremy asked him something or said something to him and he didn't even notice.  I think its safe to say that he is still enjoying being a g-pa.  

Jeremy was out of town on a retreat this weekend and missed his two girls a lot.  He got to talk to both of them.  In fact when the phone was held up to Selah's ear she smiled when I spoke.  

Last week she surprised us by turning over in her bed!  One moment we looked over at her and she was on her stomach, the next, she was on her back.  We think her hand was stuck under her and in her squirming and trying to get her hand out she accidently flipped herself.  

It continues to be a fun and exciting adventure watching her grow and discover new things.  We are still waiting for her to sleep through the night.  She actually did make it all the way through the night last night so we are waiting to see if it happens again tonight.  

Until next time - happy sleeping!

poops and giggles

The updates:

As we continue to adjust to parenthood, Selah continues to surprise and entertain us with new things.  As some may have heard, she was having a little trouble with her bowel movements.  This past weekend while at Kaky and Papa Jim's, we helped things along.  Since then she has been moving things just fine.  She is getting so good at it in fact, that she now has the ability to time when she goes.  She has managed to master the art of pooping while naked.  Once is a coincidence, twice is a conspiracy, three times is mastery.  Daddy's new nickname for her is slushy...get the picture?  She apparently likes her new trick because she flashes us a smile every time.  

On a cleaner, happier note, Selah has began occasionally making simple happy noises when she smiles.  Her giggles are one of the cutest things she's done so far.  Along with her giggles she has also discovered a new vocal range.  Her new happy coos are very high pitched and seem to excite her even more.  

Other news-worthy things:

She is gaining more control of her head.  It doesn't flop around as much anymore and she is able to lay it back down with control.  

She is also putting on the weight.  Over the last day or two she has gone through another growth spurt and you can really tell in her face.  She seems to be plumping up nicely.  

Food for Thought:

Isn't it funny how we get excited and even encourage gas, burps and chubbiness when we are infants but then turn them into offensive characteristics when we get older. 

One Month

Well, we went to Selah's one month check up. She is now 10 lbs, 4 oz and her length is 23 1/2 inches. She is getting so big!! Well, I guess she is still small but that seems so big compared to her pictures from the hospital!

Selah has started to make more complex sounds. She will combine two of her sounds to make one sound. It is so much fun to listen to her!! Selah also discovered the mirror! She is so fascinated by her reflection. She is so content just looking at herself...that is probably a female trait!

Last Sunday Jeremy and I had to be at all three services at church because we were getting commissioned as small group leaders...I guess we can officially lead a small group in our church now. So, I went to three services and did not hear one complete sermon. It seemed that she always got hungry right before or in the middle of the sermon! Everyone at the church was so excited to see her. It was nice to finally be able to get out and be a part of civilization. Selah did very well with the whole experience.

Selah found her thumb!!!

Selah had a hard night last night. She had a bad stomach ache. In her discomfort she usually will suck her fist. Last night she found that she could suck her thumb instead of her entire fist! It was so cute!! She did not know enough to ball the rest of her fingers up so they fanned out in front of her face. Eventually she moved the four extended fingers over her entire face. It really was the cutest thing ever!

It is so strange/exciting to watch her discover new things, like her hair and ears. She has changed so much over the past three weeks. They really do grow up so fast! I can't imagine what changes the next week will bring! Jeremy and I are trying to get all of these changes on camera but when they occur at 1:30 in the morning getting a picture is the last thing on our minds!

Finally getting high tech!!!

I have been convinced!! I finally decided to tackle a blog!! I am going to try to keep this blog current so that everyone can keep up with Selah Lee!!!

Selah is the beautiful baby girl of Jeremy and Cassondra Kelly. She was born on January 3rd, 2009 at 1:03 am. She happend to come on her great-grandfather's birthday...that was VERY exciting!!! Selah was 7lbs 12oz and was 21.5 inches long!

We are still getting our schedules straight! Selah was wide awake last night at about 3:30 am. We did eventually get her to sleep. You always hear that sleep will be hard to come by with a new baby but I never would have thought that I would be this sleep deprived!! People keep telling me that she will eventually sleep through the night....that seems so far away at this point!

Selah has already grown so much!! She is almost out of her "newborn" outfits. I am not sure how much longer she will be able to wear her 0-3 month clothes. She seems to be getting longer and longer each day! Her little hands and feet have even grown! I don't think that she will be able to wear any outfit for very long. It seems that we will be buying clothes very frequently!