moving! Southbound

ok, so i have 2 posts drafted but not finished...hopefully i'll get those up soon or they'll be old news!

we are moving tomorrow...just a little farther south...and that has occupied most of our time the last couple of weeks. it sure takes a bit more coordination with a baby at home!

we are super excited, but i just want to be settled in and unpacked...the process seems so drawn out. we haven't been fully here but not quite fully there yet either...we have been living in the inbetween. (sounds like a spiritual parallel...)

so tomorrow is the big day :)

i hope Sierra likes her new home...it is a little sad to move out of the only home we've known together (North of the Equator) as husband/wife and as a family of 3. this is where we lived right after we got back from our honeymoon, this is where we came back to after living overseas, and this is where we brought home our baby girl from the hospital. there are a LOT of memories that have taken place here and we will miss it. we are so thankful for God's faithfulness in our lives - through the many transitions, unknown and changes. He has challenged us, stretched us, grown us, refined us and loved us perfectly through it all. He is so good.

we pray that no matter where we live that we will always be a family who seeks the Lord first, who submits to and follows His will, who loves and serves others and who proclaims His name to the world.

...on to the next chapter!

(ps- we will probably be without internet for a few days...)

I-Day 2010

Independence Day, 4th of July...this update is a bit late.

i am also sad that i didn't get any pictures of the 3 cousins together...or of the whole family together (which doesn't happen as often anymore)...or of Sierra with the great-grandmas :( i need to get better at capturing those moments. i know we'll want to look back on those in the future.
here's what i did get...

sometimes she is only happy when "walking", but it requires someone to be bent over holding her hands the whole time! i think she is really close to doing it on her own, but she's too afraid to try! thanks to aunt cat for giving mommy a break :)

at Grandmother's 86th bday party with the whole extended clan - what a BIG family!! Sierra loved watching the big kids play in the pool...and cousin Alex kept her entertained too :)

this was at Anya's dedication (how did i not get a picture of that sweet baby girl!??!), Sierra is playing with her aunts and trying to warm up to grana (sadly she wasn't in the mood to be friendly)

sweet cousin Alex giving Sierra a hug :)

...and another one! she was up on all fours crawling before the "hug" that squished her to the ground! right after the picture he said "I ride her" and he sat on top of her! it was pretty funny but i'm not sure Sierra was too thrilled...she needs an older cousin to toughen her up :)

G.G. has all sorts of fun toys at her house and Sierra got to enjoy a few...well, as you can see Day 1 didn't go so well with the turtle pool filled with balls. she loves her 1 ball at home, but i guess this was just too many?!

but by the next day she wasn't just happy in the balls, she was trying to eat them! she even laid down, crawled and practiced throwing with Capt's and ShuShu!

she also practiced walking with the help of this truck...instead of our hands...and she did it!! it took awhile for her to trust it enough to move forward and not just stand there, but she figured it out for a short stroll

this is how she ended up...sitting on it to play with all the buttons and fun sounds

overall it was a great weekend, we all had lots of fun with the fam!!!

Sierra loves...at 9.5 months

Disclaimer: this post is 1 month LATE, now that Sierra is 10 1/2 months...and it is LONG. but since it was almost finished, i wanted to get it up. pretty much everything still applies except that thankfull the metallic obsession has died down!
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at 9 1/2 months, Sierra loves...

* her mommy and daddy (obviously! hehe); she is still in the clingy/separation anxiety stage, so we are her favorite people right now, which is awesome and annoying at the same time! we LOVE that she shows us that she loves us, but we also want her to let other people hold her and play with her (especially our families) without crying

* stuffed animals; this one is fun. before 7 or 8 months, she really could have cared less about them but now they are her little buddies! her first favorites were her pink puppy, little bear and monkey so those are the ones i keep in her crib for her to sleep with. a lot of times she falls asleep with her arm around one :) a new favorite is the big bear (Peace Bear!) who is bigger than she is - when she spots him she crawls over really fast and falls on top of him, then sits him up and plays with his eyes, nose and ears while laughing and talking to him. it's super cute.

* metal; yes, the child loves all things metal and shiny - not just to look at or touch, but to lick/suck! it's so gross. she likes to suck on the metal snaps of bibs, onesies, purses, diaper bag, car seat, paci clips, etc. also our coffee table has brass hinges and she is always licking them! i do my best to stop her when i notice it or just keep those things out of her vision/reach but she never fails to find something. gross. i hate that taste. i can't imagine what she likes about it. has anyone else ever had or heard of this???

* balls; i know this is common for babies. Sierra loves to chase balls around. she only has one at home - it's pink and bouncy and she loves to throw/bounce it and then go chase it down. a couple of weeks ago i notice that she actually understands when i say "where is your ball?" - she looks around for it. then when i say "go get your ball", she goes to get it! i'm amazed at her understanding!

* the stairs; another common baby love. this fascination started as soon as she could crawl. she figured out right away that she could crawl up them and it seems to be a favorite activity. when i am behind her and let her climb, she just giggles the whole way up! i still can't figure out how to teach her to scoot down backwards - i think she's still too little maybe. when i put the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs, all she wants to do is climb the gate and stand there - it's like another toy to her!

* mirrors; since she was itty bitty, she has loved looking at mirrors/herself. now she has taken this to a whole new level - she stands herself up at the mirror door of her closet (floor to ceiling mirror) and licks ("kisses") herself!!! it is so cute and kind of gross at the same time, but hillarious! she opens her mouth and licks the mirror for a few seconds, stops to look at herself and laugh, and then licks some more! when i ask her for a kiss, that is how she kisses me (open mouth and licks my lips) so i think she is trying to kiss herself!

* books! finally! i have been trying to read to her ever since she was born and she didn't really seem to pay attention or be interested (beyond just trying to put it in her mouth to chew on) until about 8 months or so. now she loves them! her attention span is still pretty short, but she can get through a lot of the short books and then wants me to read the same one again! she definitely loves the ones with texture/flaps/sounds(anything she can touch) the best but she even has some favorite that don't have any of those things. a few of her favorites are Snuggle Puppy, On the Farm, How Do I Love You, Mirror Me!, Discovery Farm

* cats (any animal she can see) - real ones. our neighbor has a cat that sits in the window and every time we walk out our front door, Sierra gets excited (turns/wiggles her ankles and bounces in my arms) and looks over towards where the cat usually is. when we walk over towards it, she does her animal voice - puckers her mouth, tigthens her lips together and makes high but soft sounds. it's the same for "meow", "chirp", any animal sound i make when we see a cat, bird, etc.

* clapping; as soon as she hears someone clap or say "yea!" she stops whatever she is doing to clap. and while she claps she always has a big smile or her mouth open wide making a "hehehe" breathing sound - you can tell she is really excited! if she's crawling, she'll stop to sit and clap...if she's standing and holding on to the table or crib, she'll let go to clap and usually falls but the clapping is more important than the standing up apparently!

i'm sure there are more, but those are the big ones that come to mind. since the beginning we have sensed the spunkiness and spiritedness of her personality and that is coming out more and more. she is definitely a drama queen! she is passionate about her desires and likes/dislikes and will certainly let you know about it - good or bad! this makes things so so so fun when she is happy and excited and pretty frustrating when she doesn't like something. we are praying for wisdom in how to help guide this strong will. we pray that it will lead her to be a passionate follower of Christ, a

back to the tummy

oh how the tables have turned...

as much as sierra hated being on her tummy her first few months, i never thought i'd see the day that she would hate being on her back!! she is all of a sudden acting as if being laid down on her back is an act of torture! she starts to do her protest grunting, which quickly turns to an all out cry...all while using every muscle in her (strong) body to try to flip over to her tummy and then to crawl away.

yes, as you might imagine this is making diaper changes very "exciting". twice in the last week both she and i have gotten poop smeared all over us due to the twisting and turning!! (those moments brought back all sorts of blowout memories...i thought we had outgrown the messy poops!!!)

at first i was just giving in and trying to put her diapers on her while she was on all fours crawling away. it sort of worked, but i didn't want that to be the solution. i tried distraction, favorite toys, holding her down with one arm (which only left one hand to change the diaper - not possible!), using a stern voice, flipping her over to her back again and again and again...nothing worked...so then i tried changing her on the floor and holding her down with my leg (a wrestling move advice my friend gave me!). it sort of worked but just made her more upset.

so far today she has not protested at all and has been her sweet self through the whole diaper change! i haven't done anything different, but i tried to praise her a lot for being so patient and calm while mommy changed her diaper...maybe the positive reinforcement will work?!?! :)

ahh, i hope that we are over that!!!

(and she is the same in her bath - she won't lay back or even slightly recline, which ends with water/soap running down her face causing the grunting/crying and trying to clim out of the tub!)

if anyone out there has any other ideas, please let me know!!

photo update

yep, she discovered how to pull herself up in her crib...can you tell how proud she is!! this has made for an interesting few days of naps. day 1 she couldn't figure out how to get down and would cry, i would go in and lay her down, she would stand up, cry, etc., etc. until i let her cry and she figured out how to fall down. after a few long falls straight on her back she found the better way to her bottom. now when i put her down for a nap she goes up/down (very happily) for about an hour before falling asleep!!! so her naps have been very short because she is so excited about this new trick!

vamos Messi! vamos Argentina!

this table is the perfect height for her. when she is brave, she will walk around it, but always gripping tightly with both hands

loving this new independence :)

the mark of a new crawler. hard to tell in the picture, but at the end of her first day crawling her knees were bright bright red! poor girl has super sensitive skin

her dresses drag and get in her way...this is her daddy's solution :)

she is now officially a clapper! we just need to work on getting some force behind those claps so that she can make some noise...or wait, maybe this is a good thing. especially since she is a LOUD squealer/screamer with a VERY high pitch (ear piercing) girly scream...that's probably all the noise we need for now!

sierra LOVES babies - in pictures and real ones! she loves to find the babies on the diaper boxes and touch them. she is so sweet :)

this is her new nap position! ever since she learned to stand up in her crib, she has napped this way. so after an hour or so of playing stand up/sit down, she falls asleep sitting down! i haven't figured out if this is on purpose or if she literally falls asleep while playing. but with her animals piled up for a pillow it seems pretty intentional!

we are all having a blast and are a little extra tired by the end of the day. thank the Lord she is still going straight to sleep at night and sleeping through!!

the clapper

...and i thought yesterday's milestones would be it for the week, but nope...we apparently are adding to the list by the day!!! it's like all of a sudden a switch was turned on and things are clicking...it is so amazing to watch that little mind learn and figure out how things work!

today Sierra learned how to clap!!! she has been fascinated with my clapping since the beginning and often would put her hands over mine while i clapped, but it wasn't until this afternoon that she started to clap on her own! and she LOVES it!!!

...also, and this is random but she developed a new napping position: sitting down, leaning forward, with her head on top of her stuffed animals. it looks super uncomfortable, but she liked it enough to sleep that way for both naps today!

i'll post pics of both of these tomorrow, i just wanted to get it on the record

oh yeah, and she turned 9 months old today!!!!!!!!!!