Blessings

I write this as I listen to the State of the Union address. I want to be overwhelmed by where we are, the circumstances surrounding us - personally and as a Nation. Yet, my purpose for updating this blog today is the joy of baby giggles and new teeth; chubby cheeks smeared with carrots; tiny fingers grasping toys, and hair, and anything within reach; the tiny rosebud lips of a brand new life; laughter shared with the man of my dreams. These are blessings, and I will not be overwhelmed. We are taken care of' even when it doesn't look like I expected. I'm in the most capable hands of my Father. And so we will persevere, and we will look to the beauty around us. Not ignoring the difficulties, but embracing the life that stands. I am blessed and will continue to choose joy and thank my God for this life.

Chubby Cheeks

My brand new niece, Amirah Grace

More Christmas!

Here are some pictures from the rest of our Christmas celebrations.

A Very Merry Christmas!

Natalie's first Christmas was a lot of fun ... and we still have more festivities to go! We learned that baby's don't care much about tradition. We always open gifts with my family on Christmas Eve - this didn't fit into Natalie's schedule. We ended up putting her to bed and opening her presents in the morning. She was much happier. What a lucky little girl she was - she came away with a lot of presents!

I still can't believe how much she is growing up and all the things she is able to do. Many of her Christmas gifts were things she can grow into, but she really tries to play with them all - it's so fun to watch. She is so, so close to rolling over but just can't quite get over her arm. She gets frustrated when she can't reach the toy she's after. Here are some pics from her first Christmas and her first big snow we had the weekend before.

My first snow!

Snuggling with Auntie Monica and my new baby

Enjoying my book from Great Grandma Harnish

My girl!

My girl is four months old already! I cannot believe how quickly time is moving - a little bit it makes me want to stop time for awhile. The thing is that even though I already miss those precious newborn days, I fall more and more in love with Natalie and who she is everyday. She is quite the little noisemaker (I say this comes straight from her Daddy and Grandma agrees!). When she gets excited she just starts to squeal. Sometimes it's almost so loud you want to cover your ears - I love it! She is playing with her toys now. She loves the opportunity to get anything in her little hands and of course takes it straight to her mouth. She's been sitting in the exersaucer some and she will work and work to get a toy to her mouth only so see it spring away again. We started giving her rice cereal last week. She really likes it, as I thought she would - this girl likes her food! She looks so grownup sitting in her highchair and eating from a spoon! I had her at the doctor yesterday. She weighs 15 lbs 9 oz and is 25 and 3/4 in. tall - a growing girl! I put most of her 3-6 months clothes away a couple weeks ago and we had to go buy her more 6-9 month clothes. I keep looking in her closet at my favorite 3-6 month dress and know that she will be 9 years old and I will still be wanting her to wear it! Anyway here are a few pictures of my girl!

The Big Debate

So it seems every mom has an opinion on whether babies should use a pacifier and/or suck their thumb. I've talked to lots of moms and heard many different thoughts - good, bad, indifferent. Now here is my confession - my baby does both. I'm not sure how to feel about this, except for the facts - both things help her sleep and quite often make her happy. Therefore I have a pacifier/thumb sucking baby and I'm a happy Momma! Plus, she looks adorable either way - see for yourself :)

Flower Power!

I'm not big into Halloween, but I couldn't resist seeing Natalie in a flower suit! As I suspected, she was adorable. She even got some candy out of the deal (or Mommy and Daddy did).

Natalie has started laughing. It is so much fun. The first time she laughed it surprised her. It was so funny; Hans and I just laughed and laughed. Now we've gotten her to laugh several more times. I might try to post a video of it later.

Kicking and talking

Time is flying by! We are well past my last post of Natalie being one month old. She will be three months soon! Can't believe it. She is sleeping through the night (at least for now) and is most often a happy baby. She is smiling all the time now and loves to lay on the floor to kick and "talk". My mom, Natalie, and I got a chance to go to the beach several weeks ago. Natalie did a great job, and she made an adorable beach baby! She's been to two weddings this fall and we have two more to go, and we made a trip to Ephrata to visit her cousins. She's seemed to enjoy all the occasions.