A's First Thanksgiving

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits --
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
Psalm 103:1-5


We had a lot of fun spending out first Thanksgiving with A. The day started out at Nana and Papa's house and then we spent the afternoon at Aunt H and Uncle K's house. It was a day filled with many reminders of all that we have to be thankful for.

A and Uncle R bonding alone in the living room while R captured them in the moment.




A and cousin P holding hands without any prompting.



Aunt H and cousin W made place cards for everyone at the dinner table. W had Aunt H write on A's that he is thankful for A because "her make me smile." :) W- you make us smile too!!

After a long day of fun with the family, A was ready for bed....



but not before one last smile...

Pebbles

With Thanksgiving just a couple days a way the people and things that we are thankful for has become a regular conversation piece in our home. Yesterday I heard my friend's husband talking about his trip to Kenya and Ethiopia he made this Fall. He told us about this very, very ill looking woman that he met and next to her was her little baby (perhaps around the age A is). The mother was so sickly she could not properly care for her child. As he watched the baby, he saw him trying to eat the pebbles that lay beside him because he had no food in his tummy. At first, they thought this lady had some type of sickness and were trying to figure out a way to get her medical attention. In the meantime, they supplied her with clean drinking water and food. The next day they saw this woman and the baby again. They were both healthy and vibrant. The woman was not sick the day before but was literally starving to death. All she needed was clean water and some food to save her life. I'm not repeating this story as a downer but to rejoice that this woman and her son now have food and so do we!

As I sat eating my lunch with A today it made me stop and think how amazingly blessed we are to never have to worry when our next meal will be or if we will have clean water. When A was 3 1/2 months old we discovered that not only is she allergic to dairy but also to soy making me have to cut out a large amount of the food I used to eat and limit eating out quite a bit in order for me to continue to nurse her. It has been easy for me to feel sorry for myself when everyone around me is eating my favorite foods and desserts, but hearing that story really put things in perspective. Even though I may not get to eat what I want, I can eat anytime I want and as much as I want. I have clean water at my disposal. I have the ability and joy to nourish my baby girl. There are many things to be thankful for this year but today I am especially thankful for food and water.

..."O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever." Psalm 30:12

Cousin K comes for a visit

Cousin K came from MA to visit his little cousin this weekend. A had a blast playing with K. Afterwards, A was sporting her new hat that her daddy picked out for her.

Happy Birthday Papa!

Pictures of 5 month old A

Time to Brag

Last week I listened to a lady talk about the most incredible gifts God had given her two days in a row. She first saw the most amazing rainbow she had ever seen and the following morning she saw an indescribable sunrise that she could never have imagined. She couldn't stop bragging about what God had blessed her with. So what did I do? I asked God to do the same for me. Sounds silly but as I sit here I can barely contain my excitement of the gift God has given me this afternoon. A few posts down you can see a video of A laughing with her daddy at bedtime. That laugh has been one of the greatest joys I have experienced over the past few months. However, this afternoon there is a different sound coming from A's bedroom that has filled me with excitement. Silence. Yes, silence. A fell asleep on her own in her crib for the second time today; not in my arms, not in our bed, not in her carseat but in her crib. For those of you who have experienced an extremely opinionated and fussy baby you may be able to appreciate just how huge the sound (or lack there of) of silence is to me. After many many weeks of trying everything under the sun to get A to fall asleep on her own and in her crib, God has blessed me with a peaceful sleeping baby in her crib. R and I prayed this morning that A would be able to sleep on her own in her crib and to be honest I did not expect it to the extent that it has happened. She didn't cry, she barely even fussed. I placed her in her crib and a few minutes later...silence. People ask for miracles all the time and I can say after weeks and months of sleepless nights and frustrating napless days today God preformed a miracle!

Thank you Jesus!!

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us--whatever we ask--we know that we have what we asked of him. 1 John 5:14-15

Future BFFs - Cousin P comes for a visit

When we found out that I was pregnant we were absolutely thrilled that our baby would be blessed with the most amazing aunts and uncles and 6 really fun cousins to play with and look up to. Little did we know that A would have two YOUNGER cousins arriving very shortly after her arrival for a total of 8 cousins. A arrived in June, her cousin T arrived in July and cousin P arrived on the first of September. This past week P came for a visit. It was tricky trying to get A and P to look at the camera at the same time let alone smile and look but we did get a couple funny faces captured.

We can't wait to see ALL her cousins for Thanksgiving!

Giggles from A

Over the past few days we have noticed a new attachment and excitement that A has towards her daddy. When he walks into a room where she is her eyes immediately fix on him and her whole face lights up. She smiles as her eyes move to follow him and when he leaves the room she looks all over for him. When she hears his voice she immediately stops whatever it is she is doing and looks for him and when she finally finds him her hands and legs begin to swing and kick with excitement. And as happy as A is to see her daddy, it is obvious that R is even more excited to see his little girl! R LOVES to make her laugh. It doesn't take long for them to be in the room together before she is giggling up a storm. Last night as R was upstairs getting A into her PJ's I could hear from the kitchen her hearty laugh and when I walked into her bedroom this is what I saw and heard.

Crazy Curls

What was A for her first Halloween?  Well after attempts at making a cute homemade bunny outfit I decided to go the cheap and easy route and embrace A's crazy curls.  With not much effort I fluffed up A's hair, rolled up her sleeves, gave her a head band and of course rolled the bottom of her jeans to give her that nice tapered look and presto chango we had ourselves A, the 80's baby.  You will notice in the second picture that we also tried out the side pony tail look.