Jared and Nikki met in the summer of 2007 when Jared was doing an internship in Washington. They dated the rest of the summer and continued a long-distance relationship for two semesters before getting married April 11, 2008.
We are best friends and love being married to each other. Each day is filled with love and laughter.
We have two wonderful daughters, Allie and Rachel, who are continually bringing smiles to our faces and warming our hearts.
As was mentioned in the previous post, we celebrated Bella's 8th birthday when my parents were here. My sister had Tiger Safari come out to the house. Because they were going to be going to another event after the party, they brought more animals than they normally do for a birthday party. It was a lot of fun. The kids really enjoyed the animals, and the man who runs it does a good job of making it fun and educational.
He started out by passing around a ferret. The are small, fuzzy, and cute, so they don't scare kids too much. Allie wanted to hold it, too.
The birthday girl actually got to hold each animal first. Bella was brave and held every animal that was brought out, except for the baby porcupine (I'm pretty sure it was a porcupine and not a hedgehog, but I could be wrong).
They brought a Sulcata tortoise that was big enough for the kids to sit on, as well as a baby one that could be held in the hand.
Bella sitting on one tortoise while holding the other
Allie was really excited to sit on the turtle. I like her smile in this picture.
"I sit on the turtle."
Rachel taking her turn on the tortoise.
The kids helped keep her facing the camera.
Cute baby porcupine was not held by anyone, except the man with a glove.
Such a brave girl! With a smile even.
Everyone liked the lemur, too.
I think Bella is holding an Argentine Tegu
And we ended with cupcakes, singing, and presents - after everyone washed their hands, of course.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, children can get baptized at the age of eight, which we believe is the age of accountability. Bella was excited about her decision to get baptized and become a member of the Church. It was a beautiful night.
Bella Sargent
Family Picture - the whole group
Trudi Sargent, Jason Sargent, Jared
Sierra Risner, Nathen, Breya, Maria, Nikki, Rachel, Allie, Barbara Alton, Dennis Alton
Kylie Risner, Bella
My sister's beautiful family!
Nathen, Maria
Breya, Bella
I adore this picture of my lovely parents!
The women in our family.
Our little family
Rachel
Then here are just a few pictures from the same day that don't really go with the theme of this post. I uploaded them, though, so I am going to include them.
I had done Allie's and Breya's hair. Who would have thought?
My parents came to Oklahoma early December. They flew into the Dallas airport, rented a car, and then were going to drive up to Oklahoma City. However, just a little after crossing into Oklahoma, a semi truck hit them and ran them off the road. The car they were driving was totaled, but, miraculously, they were able to walk away from the accident without serious injury. They were sore after, but they didn't even have to go to the hospital to be checked out. We are so grateful for them being watched after. It was clear that it wasn't their time to go.
After their eventful trip up, we got to spend a lot of time with them. I went to my sisters house with the girls for a few days without Jared since he needed to study for and take a final. Then after the final, we went home and got him and returned a few days later to spend more time with my parents.
The day after their arrival, we celebrated Bella's 8th birthday. She had a fun party in the morning, and she got baptized in the evening. We'll talk about that more in the next post.
We did some fun things with them, and we also worked with them. My sister's house sold and was set to close on December 22nd, so we helped pack, paint, and clean. It was sort of a working vacation for my parents, but they still had a good time. We just loved having them around. Allie was especially excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Bobbie (she still calls my dad Grandpa Bobbie). And they were excited to see her and Rachel, who had changed and grown quite a bit since they were last here after her birth.
Grandpa Bobbie with Rachel and Bella
Grandma Bobbie with Rachel
Allie excited to see her grandparents, standing by Daddy
Since we were at Maria's house so much, Allie had a lot of fun with her cousins. She loves being with them.
Cute picture of Breya, Allie, and Bella
On the day that we returned to the city with Jared, we went to the Oklahoma Cityscape. We had purchased a group-on that got us in at a great rate. And proceeds went to Oklahoma City Educare, a flagship early childhood education center. It didn't end up being quite how we had envisioned, but it was still pretty cool, and we had a good time. Professional LEGO builders (yes, that job exists) had constructed the Oklahoma City cityscape, the buildings and scenes from downtown, with over 2 million LEGOs. They also had three or four table areas where people could build their own creations. We had a good time talking as we built different things.
Allie enjoyed watching the train go around and around.
Jared and Nathen building their creations.
You can see some of the buildings in the background.
Allie with Grandma Bobbie and Nikki all having fun.
Grandma Bobbie showing Breya LEGO man.
We were reminded how lucky we are to have such a wonderful baby during the times we were packing, painting, and cleaning. Though I sometimes felt guilty for "abandoning her," we were able to let Rachel sit by herself and play with toys for long stretches of time. She wasn't truly abandoned or alone, either. The cousins loved visiting with her, especially Bella and Nathen.
Rachel, happy just chilling on the floor.
Nathen and Rachel
While packing, some of Maria's holiday decorations were available for little hands to grab. Allie found a black Halloween scaredy cat decoration that she liked to play with. After carrying it around with her for awhile, she discovered that it fit on Kira's back just perfectly. (Kira is a Husky that Maria was dog-sitting. She was so patient and good with the kids.)
The night before my parents left, we went to the mall for the kids to see Santa. Allie was incredibly excited to see Santa. She didn't end up with as big of a smile as we thought she'd have in the picture, but it was still such a cute picture with the cousins and Santa.
Bella, Santa, Allie
Rachel, Breya, Nathen
When we got home, we tried out a gift from my mom, a complete nail kit system. It is simple and makes your nails look so good. I prefer not to have paint on my fingernails, so I like that this makes my nails look healthy and shiny. Breya wanted to treat Jared to a nail treatment, too. He was so good to let her work on his nails and cuticles. I thought these pictures were precious.
Breya giving Jared a manicure
It is always so hard saying goodbye to my parents. We truly enjoyed having them here and look forward to seeing them again, whenever that may be.
A friend of ours took some pictures of us when we were on campus in October. We were grateful for the pictures since we didn't really have any nice family pics, yet. The only one we had up until then was taken shortly after coming home from the hospital and was just an impromptu picture. But here are some of the ones that we like best. Thank you Gargeyi! You'll notice that one of them is now at the top of our blog (and that one was edited by our friend, Eva. Thank you!)
Jared took a picture of me that day, too. It actually didn't turn out too bad.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, an ordinance is performed for babies in which a name and a blessing is given. If the father holds the Melchizedek, then he gets to perform the blessing. So on November 13, 2011, Jared got to bless Rachel. It was a beautiful blessing, and Rachel was beautiful in her dress.
Rachel has hit a lot of her first milestones in the last few months. It is true that they grow up so fast. But it is so fun watching her grow, learn, and develop. Her temperament is wonderful. She must be one of the most easy-going, patient babies ever. It is a blessing that we thank Heavenly Father for every day.
Rachel started cooing around two and a half months. She is quite a social little girl. She enjoys smiling and babbling for people.
Sept 24, 2011
She has liked experimenting with her voice a lot. She likes to go from high-pitched to scratchy to yelling. And then there are times when she just coos with her sweet little voice.
Oct 26, 2011
We were a little slow to move her out of the bassinet. I think she was 4 months before we moved her to a pack-n-play, though still in our room. You can see how she took up most of the space in the bassinet and how she shook it when moving around. We then moved her into the crib in Allie's room at 6 months, which was later than we planned, but worked out alright. Some nights can be rough, but overall it has been a pretty smooth transition for both girls.
This was taken before moving her to the crib. This is how she would greet you when you go to get her in the morning or after a nap. She still greets you with a smile, but now she is usually sitting up by the time you get to her. Today she actually pulled herself up in the crib. I guess it is time to lower the mattress.
Nov 9, 2011
There are times when Allie runs to say hi to Rachel after she wakes up. Since it entertains both of them, I'll occasionally take a little time to finish whatever I am working on. Sometimes Allie will have given Rachel toys and/or books. Rachel loves it.
Nov 8, 2011
There are other times when Allie will decide to be helpful. One time she very proudly showed me all the nursing pads she had put into the pack-n-play. Apparently it is a better place for them.
It seemed like Rachel wanted to laugh for awhile before she finally did. Here's the first video in which we captured some of her laugh. It was pretty close to her first laugh, which was right around 3 months.
Oct 10, 2011
Though it isn't something most of us would celebrate, Rachel's thighs got to be about as thick as Allie's mid-October. It made us chuckle. We haven't measured them recently, but Rachel is thinning just a little, so they are probably about the same still.
We've mentioned it before, but Rachel really does love Allie. She would give most of her first smiles to Allie, and it was no different with her laughs. It seemed like they would have a daily laughing session for a few weeks. It was so cute and funny that I would usually join them, too. I was a little jealous at times, though, because I would try so hard to get Rachel to laugh and get a few little laughs, but then Allie would always manage to get Rachel to crack up. Oh well. More than anything it would just melt my heart. I sure love watching my two little girls enjoy each other.
Oct 25, 2011
Perhaps one reason why Rachel adores Allie is because she is always getting her toys, A LOT of toys.
Oct 20, 2011
Sometimes the girls like to watch Mommy while she folds clothes. Here's a cute picture of the girls with their blankets on Mommy and Daddy's bed while Mommy was folding clothes.
Nov 1, 1011
Story time seems to be something that Rachel enjoys as much as Allie, although her attention span is obviously much shorter.
Rachel looked at Allie about as much as she looked at the book.
Nov 5, 2011
We borrowed a bumbo chair from some friends at church. Rachel loved it. Mommy liked it too because it meant that she could walk away for a little bit without worry of her getting hurt. It also meant that she could have her on the counter or table near her while cooking or having meals. Allie took advantage of one of the times Mommy was away to play dress up with Rachel and give her a hat. It is a nice cottage cheese bucket (that was clean). Rachel didn't mind one bit. I think she likes any positive attention from her sister.
Allie then read her a book.
Nov 9, 2011
Just another cute picture.
Nov 13, 2011
Here's another little video that we think is cute. Rachel had so much fun with this little stuffed Lady (from Lady and the Tramp).
Nov 14, 2012
Rachel was such a big baby that we moved her to the bath tub earlier than we did with Allie. Allie was long, but Rachel's extra weight just filled the baby tub up that much more. So Allie was very excited to take a bath with Rachel. Since Rachel wasn't sitting up, yet, we had to be extra careful with her. But she continued to love her baths. She is a water baby. She loves to splash and play with the water. I didn't realize that Daddy was recording when this was taken, so I was actually trying to get her to turn and smile for a picture. She was more interested in the water, though. (The splashing in this video is tame compared to what she likes to do now, both sitting up and lying down.)
Nov 16, 2011
First Bath in Big Tub with Sis
Although not a traditional "milestone," we thought it was pretty cute when Rachel first wanted take some swings at a ball. Perhaps we have a little volleyball player in the making. (It was a clean way, discovered by chance, for her to entertain herself in the bathroom when we were spending an endless amount of time in there with Allie.)
Dec 8, 2011
Allie was sitting by 5 months, and I remember telling Jared that I didn't think Rachel would meet that. And I would have been fine if she hadn't because then they just want to get mobile. Well, Rachel could sit fairly well at 5 months. The pictures below were taken on December 7th, one day after her 5 month mark. We had pillows around her, but she was able to sit for up to half an hour at times.
The next picture was taken the same day and obviously isn't of her sitting, but I thought it was cute.
Rachel has been a drool monster for quite some time. Allie was too, and we were certain that Allie was an early teether because of her drooling and putting everything in her mouth. However, Allie didn't get her first tooth until a little after nine months. So when Rachel started drooling like crazy, we figured, "yeah, she won't get teeth for awhile." But on December 10th, Rachel was putting my fingers in her mouth when I felt something, a tooth cutting through. And then the next day I could feel a second tooth. I couldn't believe it. And as is par for her personality and temperament, she seemed to weather it just fine. She now has her two bottom pearlies and is working on the top two. They aren't cutting through yet, but they are incredibly swollen.
Rachel seems to be saying certain consonant-vowel combinations earlier than Allie did, too. She started saying, "mama" and "baba" on January 7th, and then just started saying "dada" on January 19th. We love hearing her babble.
We went to Rachel's 6 month doctor's appointment on January 9th, and when the doctor saw that she could sit, she said that it wouldn't be long before she would go from tummy to sitting and then getting around. I think she gave Rachel ideas, because, that very afternoon, Rachel learned to go from tummy to sitting. In the next few days she started getting around by either slowly scooting on her bum or reaching, going to her tummy, changing directions, and then going back to sitting. It was amazing how much distance she could cover in a relatively short amount of time.
During the next week, she started trying to go forward and would get frustrated by going backward. And then only a little over a week later, she learned to crawl. She still is somewhat shaky at it, and she does it with a little hop in her crawl, but she can get to what she wants by going forward. I know she was going forward a little on January 18th. The videos below were taken on January 20th.
Also on January 18th, Rachel pulled herself to standing for the first time. I was watching her and just thought, "she is gonna do it." So I grabbed the video camera and captured her first time pulling herself up to standing at 6 and a half months. We could be in trouble. We definitely have to keep an eye on her because she is always wanting to pull herself up despite being wobbly and she could definitely bump her head.
Another non-traditional milestone: using a hammer. She has watched Allie play with this hammer and bench toy quite a bit. She got to it and wanted a try at it. Luckily, Allie was okay with it. Sometimes Allie is great about sharing, but other times she is very possessive over her toys. (The bench is actually upside-down, but Rachel didn't seem to mind.)
Stats
We haven't listed her 4-month or 6-month stats, yet. So without further ado...
4 Months: 25.5" long (90-95th percentile) and 16 lbs (75-90th percentile - quite the window)
6 Months: 27.5" long (95th percentile) and 17 lbs, 9 oz (75th percentile) - Allie still hadn't reached this weight by 9 months.
It seems we are going to have two girls who tower over their mother.
