Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Moriah is a roller, as of yesterday. I can no longer set her in a spot on the floor and expect her to be exactly there when i get back. Its exciting to watch her grow and move...but I was hoping for her to remain "infant-like" longer. Three months has flown by, and it makes me realize that crawling and walking aren't that far off! Ahhhhhhh!

Shadrach is learning his letters and counts to about 15. I say "about" b/c sometimes he skips 14 and goes to 18...but usually its every number to 15. Although I do spell things with him and point out letters often, I think watching Word World and Super Why every morning has helped too. Yay PBS Kids!

He also sleeps in his new "Cars" big boy bed. I was hesitant to make the move b/c he hadn't ever tried to get out of his crib. But 3 weeks ago mommy decided she was ready to let her little boy grow up some. The first couple of nights were a little rough, since he thought remaining in bed was optional now that he was able to crawl out. But now he loves it, and he proudly shows everyone who comes over that he doesn't sleep in a crib any more.

Mark is busy as ever with church stuff. We had our official "Launch Sunday" on November 2nd and we had over 100 people there! Our Pastor is preaching a great marriage series, based on the movie that recently came out, Fireproof. We have already seen many people make commitments to loving their spouse in a deeper, more selfless way, and we are so excited to see how God works in their marriages.

If you'd like to pray for us...here are some things we need prayer for:

-Time management with all the church stuff and family. Its so easy to get overwhelmed.

-Wisdom and guidance in disciplining Shadrach, he definitely has a strong will! :-)

-Protection from sickness this flu season, especially for the kids.

-Finances...we are seeing God provide for us in amazing ways, and we are trying to be faithful with all he gives us. We want to be out of debt by the end of next year!

Pictures!

Happy at 3 months!

Don't I look like my daddy???

The kids' "dress up day" costumes. We have so far decided not celebrate Halloween, but we got costumes for our church's Fall Festival. Shadrach loved being a doctor.

We went to our pastor's sons' pop warner football game. Shadrach enjoy watching the cheerleaders, and playing baseball on the field at halftime.

I've decided that getting them both to look in a picture is impossible.

These are my favorite kind of pictures. I think Mark is glad we had a girl!

Daddy is so much fun!

This is what we do during Shadrach's naptime. I've become one of those people who takes lots of pictures of themselves. Who would have guessed?

When I'm wearing a hat you can't tell I'm balding!

More daddy time. This time for a nap!

This is a picture of Moriah and Sophie, who is about 3 weeks younger. Sophie is our good friends'Neal and Charity's daughter. This is what Neal and Mark would looked like if they were baby girls. These girls both look so much like their daddies!

Cooing baby!

I'll be honost, I kind of dread adding a new post to our blog, b/c it takes me FOREVER. First the typing, then choosing pictures (which is so hard since we take so many), loading the pictures which takes like a year...you'd think they'd have a faster loading mechanism, then placing the pictures where you want them, writing captions, etc. Maybe I just don't know how to use this thing. If you have any advice, please call me and let me know!

Anyway, Moriah is 2 months old today! She is smiling all the time and just started cooing on September 30th (again with the dates...still no baby book to write the info in :-)) She likes to sit and talk to Shadrach, until he talks to her in his Cookie Monster voice which sometimes makes her cry. I tell him to talk to her in a "nice" voice, which he does for about 30 seconds and then transitions back into Cookie Monster. It's actually pretty funny.

Here's a video of some of Moriah's noises. I apologize in advance for the obnoxious fake laughing (it was making her smile and make noises earlier) and the poor video quality. I was using my digital camera to film, not the video one. Anyway, if the thought of watching 2 minutes of video for 5 seconds of cute baby noises and 1 min 55 seconds of an annoying adult doesn't sound super-exciting, please spare yourself. :-)

Mark and I are strongly contemplating potty-training Shadrach. He has taken his diaper off after going #2 a couple of times this week. So he finishes the deed, and comes out of his room naked, leaving the loaded diaper on his floor. Thankfully he gets it off without getting stuff all over. How, I'm not sure. Although it is now VERY clear to him that that is not ok, it seems like its time to tackle the monster. So if you think of it, you can pray for us! :-) We'll keep you posted with our progress!

More pictures!

She loves playing in her pack and play!

This is one of my faves!

Shadrach and Daddy modeling 3-D glasses. We tried to go see the 3-D movie "Fly Me Away" but had to leave after 5 minutes b/c the airplane "coming out" of the screen scared Shadrach.

Moriah is 6 weeks old, Shad almost 2 1/2--Time Flies!!!

Life is wonderful! Now am I saying that EVERY waking moment, no. We still have our challenges. But I can't even begin to describe how blessed and happy I am. Things are getting easier with managing 2 kids, the home, a husband, etc. Moriah is growing, changing and looking more like a girl :-). Shadrach is growing, learning, and there is not a day that goes by that he doesn't make me laugh and love him more.

Moriah started smiling over a week ago. Wednesday, September 10th, that is. I need to document that specifically since I have yet to buy a baby book and I want to make sure to have all the major things written down for when I do. Her favorite person to smile at is Shadrach, of course. Whenever he is talking around her, she finds his face with her eyes and smiles right at him. He says, "Look at baby sista! She miling (with no s) at me!" He adores her, its so cute!

Moriah also started reaching for her toys attached to her carseat today. She was staring intently at them and then reached her hand up and hit it. Then she did it a few more times. That really excited Shadrach. We keep telling him that she'll play when she's bigger. So he informed me that she is now "bigger" since she reached for her toys.

Shadrach is a little parrot. He copies EVERYTHING we say and do. We have to be very careful even about what is on TV in the background when he's in the room. Here he is copying daddy's juggling.

We have been working hard on allowing Moriah to fall asleep on her own, without being held or rocked, the last couple of weeks. I am realizing that with having to take care of Shadrach, I can't hold her during her naps. I know not everyone agrees with letting your kids cry for a while when they are so young, and it is heartwrenching to listen to, but the results are so worth it! The first couple of days she cried for almost her entire naptime, but now she cries only a few minutes, and falls asleep peacefully. I am so thankful for this!

A few more pictures for ya!

I tried to get them both looking...didn't work!

No more pictures!

This looks just like me (Kristi) when I was a baby

Moriah loves to cuddle with Daddy!

Loving tummy time!

Here's how Shadrach stays entertained!

Family Pictures taken September 3rd

Finally...I think they look quite a bit alike :-)

(they are about the same age here...3 weeks or so)

Shadrach

Moriah

If you live in the San Diego area, our new church, Cross Church San Diego, begins Sunday morning services this week. Its at 10:30 am, so not to early!!! Check out www.crosschurchsandiego.com for details and directions. We'd love to see you all there! If you already belong to a church, please pray for us...that we'd reach many people for Jesus!

Settling in as a Family of Four

Moriah is almost 4 weeks old...its time for an update!

How do I describe the last few weeks...challenging. Wow, I feel like having 2 kids is MORE than twice the work of having one! We are adjusting well though, and getting into a really great routine. Moriah sleeps all night, except for waking to eat once around 3am. She eats and naps well for the most part during the day, and is generally happy when she's awake. I can tell she's growing, but probably not as fast as Shadrach did. She still fits into 3 month sized clothes, whereas he was in 6 month size when he was 1 month old. :-)

Shadrach is a GREAT big brother!

This is one of my favorite pictures, he likes to hold Moriah's hand while we're driving. One of the things I was a little worried about was if he'd bug her in the back seat when I was driving and couldn't do anything about it...but he takes good care of her. He actually is always very gentle, and loves to give her hugs and kisses. He is adjusting pretty well in all aspects. He doesn't seem to be jealous at all when I'm with her, which I was also a little worried about. The first couple of weeks he seemed to misbehave a little more often than normal but the past week has been much better. And I know that is to be expected, his life has just change dramatically!

I am feeling good, and getting a decent amount of rest. I am healing very well, although I am probably doing more than I should physically. I don't have a choice but to pick up my 40lb 2 yr. old once in a while even though that's a no-no. Mark has been working A LOT so I'm home by myself quite a bit. Honostly, the hardest part is making sure Shadrach gets to play outside a decent amount every day. It would be so easy just to let him watch TV and play inside all day. Actually, that kind of happened yesterday :-) But thankfully Moriah likes to be in the baby carrier, so I can put her in that and walk with Shadrach to the playground. He loves to just run around and climb!

Here are a few more pictures to bring you up to speed!

About 3 days before Moriah was born:

Moriah taking her first bath!

Phototherapy for Jaundice.

First family picture!

First bath at home.

It's a Girl!!

Baby Moriah Joy Salazar was born yesterday, August 4th @ 1:41pm. She was 8 lb, 11 ounces and 20 1/4 inches long! Big baby but not quite as big as Shadrach. Good thing she has an older and bigger brother to keep an eye out while daddy bulks up and shines hit shotgun!

Prayer Requests

Please keep Moriah in your prayers. She seems to be perfectly healthy except they think she may have some jondice (spelling?). We will find out later today if they have to put her under the uv rays/photo booth thing. I guess she has a moderate amount of jondice and they are waiting to see if it increases or decreases to see if she needs any kind of treatment or not.

Also pray for Kristi, she had a c-section! She is recoving well and we plan on going home Thursday together as a family.

For Shadrach, that adjustments would go well as far as adding a new member to the family. SO far he is doing really well and seems to like his new sister!

For myself, that I would get some rest and some work done for this weekend @ Cross Church!

Thank you guys so much for all your prayers!!!

In His Mighty Grip,

Mark

Prayer Request!

Family & Friends,

I have a prayer request for you all. Kristi is going to Scripps Mercy hospital at 11:00 am Monday, August 4th. At 1pm the c-section will begin and Baby Moriah will be born. Please pray for a healthy baby, Kristi's health and for Shadrach as he will meet his Baby Moriah for the first time! As soon as I get pic's and able to get to a computer I will post them as well as give you an update. Thank you so much, I thank you in advance for your prayers.

In His Mighty Grip,
Mark C. Salazar
619-838-8625 cell