Daisypath Anniversary tickers

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Averi Kate Lately

She often comes up to me and holds her finger and gets a pitiful look on her face as she lifts her finger toward me. I will say, "Aw, did you hurt your finger?" And she will look pitiful and I will say, "I'm so sorry..." and kiss it, and then sometimes I will hold her and other times she will just walk away.

PS. Her finger was never really hurt.




She has recently become very interested in all things babies. She loves to push a "be-bee" around in a stroller, or to wrap a baby doll (or on occasion, a tennis ball) up in a blanket and carry it around maternally.

She is making the monumental linguistic transition from "ma-ma" to "ma-meeeeee".

She is sweet but she does have a temper, mostly toward her beloved sissy and usually when that beloved sissy is either crowding her space (which may happen up to 341 times per day) or taking one of her toys (which never happens) (except for always.) Whenever this happens, I will hear a resounding "nooooooooOOOOOOO!" Which is her favorite word, sometimes. Except for "cheese."


One of her favorite things to do is to read (short) books together. She says "bee" for "book" and her favorite (besides her picture Bible, which she loves) is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?" It's fun to get her to say the sounds that all the different animals in the book make. She usually remembers that a bear says "roar", but she is hesitant on all the others. For dog, she makes a sound as if whispering the /f/ sound and nodding her head at the same time. On most animals she starts to make that very (un)intimidating "woof" sound until I give her the correct sound (tweet-tweet, meow, etc.), at which point she laughs and then imitates it.


One of her other favorite things to do is to point out facial features. We can be having a very serious discussion (such as how you do not bite your sister) and she will all of a sudden become very focused on my face, start to grin, and put a finger right up my nose ("noooo) or in my ear ("eeee").

She loves playing in the sand and will stay at the sandbox for long periods of time, just scooping and pouring and stirring and eating.


Sometimes she will say "poo-poo" and point at her diaper. I will say, "Do you need to poo-poo?" And she will answer in the affirmative. So I will take off her diaper and help her sit on the little potty, where she will make a straining face for 3 seconds and then get up. The bowl will remain empty. I will go to get her another diaper, during which time I will become distracted by something else and forget what I was doing. 5 minutes later she will come and find me and say, "Poo-poo! Poo-poo!" And I will say, "Averi Kate, did you poop in the floor?" And she will once again answer in the affirmative. And then Claire and I will have to go on a poop hunt until we find it.

Oh, my life.

As for stats, she is low in her weight for age but average in weight for height (she's just a shorty). She is pretty on target on her clothes sizes (12-18 months) and she pretty much never wears shoes so I don't know what size her feet are. Except I do know that they are tiny. And they turn in pretty dramatically, so that she trips over them all the time. She is nursing just twice a day (morning and night), and she despises all other forms of milk. Really, she doesn't drink much of anything else except water. She loves cheese, fruit, cheese, bread, and cheese.

And that's AK lately!

Monday, June 24, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving

 11 years ago a new kid drove up to the GSW BSU in his green Ford Ranger.


I asked him to play with me in the band.


9 years ago he asked me to go eat supper with him.


 7 and a half years ago he asked me to marry him.


(I said yes.)



7 years ago today we became one.




 


3 and a half years ago we had a baby girl.


16 months ago we had another one.



 This morning we woke up and he said, "Happy Thanksgiving."

And I knew what he meant.

Happy anniversary, Coach. You have my heart, always.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Littles

 Have I ever mentioned how much I love these two girls?



Let's start with the Little Little.

Averi Kate is a bundle of personality. At 16 months old, she knows exactly what she wants and is as determined a toddler as I have ever seen.


She is quick to giggle but also has a serious side. "No" is probably her favorite word right now (to say, not to hear) and she says it with the full force of her 16 month old will behind it. Well, that's one of her favorite words. Her other favorite is "Sissy." It's the first thing she says when she wakes up in the morning.



Some of her favorite activities include playing with sand and water and spoons and cups, putting random objects in bags and purses, and eating. Always eating. Why do my children eat SO much?


She is full of energy but she still lets us know when she is over it. The right thumb goes in the mouth, the left hand goes to the ear, and she's done.


She loves to make people laugh.


She is curious, a natural explorer. She falls down a lot but pops right back up. She can climb better than she can walk. She is brave when it comes to exploring, but not so much when it comes to loud noises. The food processor is not her favorite.


And she is always trying to be as big as her sister...


 Speaking of whom...


What can I say about this girl?


I mean, look how big she is! But she is still Little! She will always be Little!


This beautiful girl has no shortage of personality nor words to express it. As always, as long as she is awake there is no such thing as a quiet moment.


She has this drive that I don't understand, that makes her want to know every detail and every cause and every explanation for everything in the world. It makes me so tired. But so happy too.


Despite her analytical nature, she has free spirit that comes out in awesome dance moves and a million made-up songs.


 Run, Little! But not too fast...


And my girls together?


Beyond precious.

 I pray every day that they will be best friends, that they will encourage one another in their faith, that they will grow together in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.


 It's so fun to watch their relationship develop. They love each other's companionship, most of the time. And although I do hear lots of "NO!"s and cries and yells coming from their general direction throughout the day, I also hear a LOT of laughter, and I really just can't get enough of that.





 I love how when I drop them off for childcare in various places, they will take each other's hand and walk into the room together.


 And we do have our bad moments, and our rough days, and our terrible nights. It's not a smooth ride, these days with the Littles. But how amazing is the grace of God, that doesn't waste a moment in our lives but uses everything - everything - to make us more like Christ, to pull us deeper and deeper in trust and love for Him.




 What a wonderful Creator.


Love Him, Littles. Love Him with all that you are.



Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Amelia Island

We were so happy and thankful to get a few days of real vacation last week. Spencer took a few days off of work and we headed down to meet Dobby in Amelia Island. We did have one good tropical storm day and even took shelter in the bathroom when Spencer spotted a water spout over the ocean outside of our window, but other than that the weather was great. We spent most of our days at the beach or the pool, with one successful day spent at the Jacksonville Zoo. Here are some snapshots in no particular order...

Hanging out at the pool...







Claire was so excited to "swim" with only a noodle for support!



AK and Dobby had an important conversation via the noodle.


The girls spent hours and hours playing in the sand. Sand is officially the best invention ever. They played forEVER without getting bored or tired or cranky. I'm thinking about filling in our entire backyard with sand. Then we can officially retire the 1970 Snapper.



Averi Kate dipped her cracker into the wet sand in her bucket.


Then she ate it.


She did this repeatedly. And no, I did not stop her because I thought it was hilarious.


Sweet running Claire.


These pictures are from our first time out on the beach when we arrived. 


Taking it all in.

Claire was a little, no, extremely nervous about the big big water.


In fact, when we first walked out onto the beach, I heard her mutter under her breath, "God, please help all the animals a little bit to stay in the water."


Averi Kate, on the other hand, was ready to jump right in.

"Wait for me!!!"












One day we took our new bike trailer out and rode around the island.




(Claire cracks me up)





Walking out on the pier, where Daddy was fishing. He actually caught a few things, including a baby shark!




Our best attempts at a family picture.




And then, there was the zoo.





















Claire made fast friends with the otter.




The Jacksonville Zoo was awesome, and to end a great day they had a water park for the kiddos to cool off!










We were tired, but oh so happy.


The end.