Wow - I am a Terrible Blogger

I have not posted since July...maybe my New Year's resolution should be to become a consistent blogger...

Anyway...it's Christmas and Kyle has two weeks of vacation! We are enjoying some time to just hang out and be together. Next week our goal is to get the kitchen cabinets painted...those pics should be up on our twotwozero blog.

I am really excited because this is the first year out of our 4 years of marriage that Kyle and I will be at our own home Christmas morning...we have always traveled Christmas Eve or early Christmas morning and last year we were living at my dad and Toni's house. So I'm already anticipating making a delicious breakfast and starting new Christmas morning traditions. I'm thinking eggnog pancakes, homemade hot cocoa, a little sausage accompanied by some christmas tunes, a lit up tree and my family all sound delightful! Maybe I'll post pictures after Christmas.

In other news, Kyle and I are still contemplating names for baby girl #2. The one name we both really agree on is Brooklyn...no middle name yet. Also in the running is Eliana. There are a couple names that we like individually, but we don't agree on them. I know we'll pick the perfect name...it will just take some time. Speaking of B-Stills numero dos, she is quite the mover! She frequently punches/kicks me and is constantly wiggling around in there. It's such a blessing to be able to sit and just feel her move all around. I can't believe the miracle that pregnancy/birth is. I have had a pretty easy pregnancy so far. I dealt with some morning sickness the first trimester, but other than an occasional gag in the toilet after brushing my teeth and weird smells igniting that same reflex, that sickness is gone. I can't complain, some people are sick all 40 weeks! I have also lately been having really weird pains throughout my back. It feels like what they tell you to watch for during a heart attack...sharp stabbing pains that take my breath away. Today it started on one side of my back and spread throughout my whole back. Yuck! I mentioned it to the dr, but I guess it's one of those things you may experience while being pregnant.

Niah is continuing to bring joy to our lives each day. Any one day I could tell you a million funny things she did that day. She's a bright little girl who is really discovering her personality and how to use it to make Mommy and Daddy laugh. One of her latest quirks is to collect blankets. Don't ask me how it got started or what is going through her head. I do not know. But anytime she finds a blanket it is now "mys" (her interpretation of mine). Today she found a scrap of fabric that is now her new blanket. So what does she do with these blankets? She spreads them over all kinds of things, and lays her head on them. She has spread them out on the dog, coffee tables, our shoulders, her toy stroller, the floor, everywhere. The other day she made me sit on her floor while she spread all her blankets onto my back and then just rested her head there for a couple minutes. When we put her down for a nap or to bed at night, her new routine is to lay out each blanket and then her stuffed animals and then lay on top of the pile. The other day I grabbed a blanket out of her closet to put on top of her because the blankets that normally are on top of her were included in this pile, but now even that blanket is part of the process. What a goof...these are the things I can't wait to laugh about years later as we tell Niah stories of growing up. She always says, "Like this" or "Right here" as she's laying down each blanket.

I love watching her grow and develop, going from a little being who just imitated our movements, to creating her own little world of imagination and fun.

Well...I hope this won't be the last post for another 5 months. Pictures and holiday postings to come!

Baby Matthew

Niah and I got to go to Hume Lake this summer with Kyle and our middle schoolers. We stayed with some friends and got to hang out with all the kids during the day. It was so much fun. One of the highlights for Niah was Baby Matthew. Catherine and Johnny, the friends we stayed with, have a new baby and Niah just loved him. She'd follow Catherine all around the house saying, "Baby, baby." When he cried she'd say, "Cying (crying)" over and over and was really concerned for him. It was so cute. Here are a few pictures of Niah and Baby Matthew.

Leaning in to give kisses

Matthew kicked her in the face...not too happy! Classic Niah look

This might be right before she poked his eyeball saying, "Eye!"

Many Things to Catch Up On

I know I said I'd try to be better at blogging. My excuse is that our home computer is lacking in motivation to work and that's where I store pictures. But I will continue to try to be better.

One of Niah's favorite things is to sit on the counter while I get ready and play with all my bobby pins and rubber bands. She puts them in her hair and says, "oo pretty," which I can understand because I know what she's saying, but to the naked ear may be hard to decipher. One day as I was getting ready, this is what Niah did to keep herself busy.

Quite the Personality

Sorry that I am such a lazy blogger. I check the blogs I follow daily so I really should be better at posting on our blog. I will try...

Anyway...Niah is beginning to show very much personality, everything from saying, "NA NA!" (no-no) after I do, to walking around the house making silly faces. On this particular day she was walking around naked after her bath...one of her favorite things to do, and she found a pair of socks in the folded laundry and insisted I put them on her. I did and her next request was to go outside...she thinks when you put shoes on she goes outside. So she went to the door and waited to go outside...

"Mama please let me outside!!!"

Mother's Day

This is my second mother's day as a mom (last year Niah was a newbie on Mother's Day). At church our pastor talked about Mary as a mother and the fact that she was chosen by God to raise his son not based on her beauty or the "things" that she did, but she was "highly favored" because she was morally pure and trusted God with anything. After an angel came to her and told her the unthinkable, that she'd have a baby, the Son of God, her response was first, "Even though I'm a virgin?" and second, "I'm the Lord's servant...May it be to me as you have said (Luke 1:34 and 38)." Oh, how I want a faith like that...that no matter what the Lord tells me, even if it seems crazy to me, I say, "As you wish." I strive for that. That is why God chose Mary...he knew her heart and her response before she even said it.
God has given me the precious gift of my baby girl. I was thinking about this after the message today...I am entrusted by God to raise my daughter (and future kids) in his ways...not my own. I was reading Ephesians this week and was thinking about Ephesians 6:4 "Fathers do not exasperate (anger) your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." That's it...bring my kids up in the training and instruction of the Lord...nothing else. What does that look like? I live my life for Christ to be an example to her.
Dove is doing a "Campaign for Real Beauty." During service today we watched one of the clips, "Evolution"...a realistic glimpse into the world of advertising. Watch all of those videos. It's scary to think that we are so influenced by something that doesn't even exist. That lady in the ad is not real...yet I fall into the trap of thinking I don't look like that so I must need to try harder all the time. I have a responsibility to teach Niah that her beauty is within. I love cute clothes, fun makeup, getting my hair done, wearing jewelry, shoes, all that...that's not the problem. The problem is looking to all those things to make me more valuable or beautiful or worthy. God wants to see her moral purity, her faithfulness to him, her fruits of the spirit, because that is where her true beauty lies. How do I teach this? I model it myself. I live by those standards. I live to please my Jesus before people.
I have a responsibility as a mother to teach my kids moral purity, to teach them to love others as themselves, to teach them their worth is not in the way the dress or look, but in Jesus. And to do this I need to live it. I don't want my kids buying into the lies the media tells them. I don't want them giving themselves away before marriage because of the sexually charged tv shows/ads/music they see or hear. I want them to know the truth, that God gives them instructions to protect them, not because he wants them to follow a bunch of "boring" rules, but because He loves them and wants the best for them. How encouraging to know we have a God who loves us so much!

Happy Mother's Day!

The Pool is Open

Yesterday Kyle and Niah got in the pool for the first time. Niah loves water and really enjoyed it until I had Kyle dunk her. She got a little scared, but in time will get used to it. We are going to get swim lessons sometime soon! Look at the cuties in the pool!

Birthday Cake

I've been wondering what would happen when Niah got her first birthday cake...it wasn't as eventful as I had imagined it to be. She picked at it for a little bit, then started eating it...I thought she would have dug right in! Look at her cake!! My good friend Cortney made it for her. It's so cute! And it was delicious...chocolate chip cake with banana cream filling...mmmm!

Niah and Her Baby

As I said in an earlier post, we got Niah her first baby for her birthday. She LOVES her baby...not just playing with it, but loves it...she cuddles with her whenever she sees her. My sister and brother-in-law Molly and Eric got Niah a stroller for her baby. We didn't discuss the type of baby that I got before they got the stroller, just that it was a newborn...it happened that the stroller and baby go together! Niah loves to put her in the stroller, push her around, take her out and love on her, then put her back in...most of the time backwards :)!

Mommy put baby in stroller

Niah put baby in stroller

Happy 1st Birthday

Niah turned 1 yesterday! It's so hard to believe that a year has already passed. It was fun because at random times during the day yesterday Kyle and I would look at the clock and think about what we were doing at that time last year. So much has happened in the last year and it's amazing to see how God creates these amazing little beings that are constantly growing, changing and developing. Here are a few pictures of the birthday girl!

Kyle and I bought her a doll for her birthday because she is so into cuddling. This is how she holds it everytime :)

Here's my little ham with drool all over.

St. Patrick's Day

This was Niah's first St. Patrick's Day, and if you know my mom's family, you know it's a BIG deal. I even bought her a St. Paddy's Day bib and forgot to put it on! At least she was wearing green. We went to Aunt Ruth E.'s house for corned beef and cabbage and potatoes! Yummy! Here are a few pictures.

This One's for You Daddy!

Kyle's gone this week on a missions trip so it's just me, Niah and the animals. I thought I'd post this video I took this morning for Daddy to see his baby girl. She loves communicating through sign language. She's getting good at telling us what she wants. She keeps saying "DA" looking for dada. We miss you dada!

First Days of Spring

Last week was beautiful. On one of the really nice days I decided to put Niah ( who hates clothes remember ) some shorts so she could have less clothing on. These shorts still fit her from last summer and are her only pair right now (I've made a pact not to buy clothes until AFTER her birthday). So...to celebrate the start of spring, here's Niah's first day of shorts and short sleeves. Woohoo! Also, here's a picture of Niah, Erin (my friend from the last few posts) and me, right before Erin left and we realized we didn't have any pictures of me and her.

Niah's mouth STUFFED full of food. This kid LOVES eating!

Capitola

Last week my favorite Marylander friend came to visit me. Erin and I spent a year as dormmates at SSU. It was so much fun reliving some of our college moments. Even though we don't talk that often, it was like we had never been apart! Wednesday we went to the beach...as people who visit California LOVE to do. Ok, I love the beach too and Niah had never been :). It was a beautiful day, perfect weather to sit on the beach and relax. We got there, got all settled on the blanket and ate lunch...yummy pizza from a local pizza shop. Niah was a little concerned so I stuck her foot in the sand. She crawled quickly back onto the blanket and started wiping the sand off her foot.


So after a walk down to the ocean and back, I just let her sit and play on the blanket. After a little while, she crawled back into the sand...not too much longer she was LOVIN it!



She even loved it so much she kept trying to eat it. I kept telling her no, but she does this thing where she'll put something in her mouth really fast before I can say no. Well she did that with the sand and immediately spit it back out. Here are some other pictures!

Jelly Belly

My friend Erin is visiting from Maryland. Yesterday when we were deciding what to do she brought up the Jelly Belly Factory. Apparently is a "California" thing because the only other factory is in Wisconsin. So we took the Bean Tour and had a great time. Birthday Cake Remix Coldstone flavor is AMAZING! Here's a picture of Niah and me with the "man!"

Smile, Not Smell

I am trying to teach Niah to smile on command. But she thinks I am saying "smell" so everytime I say, "Smile..." she does this!

My Nakie Girl

Niah LOVES being naked. She would much rather have no clothes on than sit around and wait for me to dress her. Last night her shirt was so dirty from bbq chicken and potatoes (she took her bib off 3 times), I just took her shirt off and let her go around in her pants. She loved it and I thought since my camera was newly charged, why not take a picture?

One Joy of Having My Own House

I have always daydreamed, as silly as it may sound, of the day when I would have kids who would get into cabinets, pull stuff out, and make messes for me to clean up. I know it's not something common to dream about but it means a few things; 1 My baby girl is becoming more independent, and 2 I have my own house for this to happen in. Niah has spent a lot of her time growing up at my dad's house and we haven't had many of those experiences yet. So, Kyle is working on our kitchen floor, I was doing the dishes and Niah was playing near us. When I turned around she had all three drawers open and had pulled out all the plastic bags. I had Kyle take a picture because I was so excited :). Now that it's been accomplished, I won't be so excited next time.


If you look closely you can see a little piece of our new kitchen floor...it's under the cabinets. The tiled linoleum is going bye bye.

TwoTwoZero

I have been browsing multiple blogs on home improvements and diy projects and decided to start my own. Twotwozero.blogspot.com is going to be a chronicle of all our millions of house projects we are doing and have to do. Check it out. I am also going to post products and stuff that I find and like!

Post for the Sake of Posting

I haven't updated this in a while, but we have been super busy. Check out my new blog that I'm starting at twotwozero.blogspot.com. I am going to post progress on our new house. We are working really hard to get it finished!!

Niah is as crazy as ever. She is starting to really try to say words. This last weekend I said, "Do you have poo poo?" and I swear she said poo poo back. When we ask what the dog says, she says, "boof" for woof. She says,"dat" and points to things...I think she's saying "that." It's such a joy to watch her try her hand at these things :).

She went to her first birthday party this weekend for Miriam. I can't believe MIriam turned one! GG and Papa (Kyle's grandparents) kept feeding her cake...I just closed my eyes and thought, "If I wasn't here I wouldn't know and she would be okay." She LOVED the cake! I'm excited to see her dive in at her 1st birthday!

Speaking of birthdays...I want to start thinking about Niah's, on top of everything else we are doing. I am working on themes for it...any ideas?

Thoughts...

As I sit here waiting for Niah to wake up from her nap, I was thinking about all the things I've been learning from God lately. 

First, I am amazed at life. Having a daughter of my own and watching her grow literally from day to day blows my mind. The fact that pants I put on her last week are too short this week is incredible. God is amazing when I stop to think he made this life that I am so in awe of. She's learned to clap and is learning when to clap. She's learned to say "wow" and is learning when to say "wow." He has shown me so much about his perfection in the last 18 months both while I was pregnant and now having Niah.

I am learning that it really is in God's timing and it really is in his control and there is nothing I can do about it. We moved to the Bay Area with the expectation of living at my parents' house for a month to a month in a half. Here we are almost 4 months later still at their house. But it's all working together for good. We've been blessed to save money to make the repairs needed, my parents have helped with Niah and spoiled us (and her) and we know he will allow us to move at just the right time. Here we thought we would be starting to work on the house this weekend and it's been postponed another week. But why worry? It won't change things. Like it or not, we aren't closing today so God is teaching me to say, "You are in control and I trust you." He hasn't let me down and promises he won't!

I am learning to give my insecurities up. When I am insecure I am focused on ME. Looking in the mirror at all the weight I haven't lost doesn't make me any less of a person. I am complete in Christ and if I have a few extra pounds, well okay. My body doesn't shape my identity! So why be insecure about it? It's easier said than done, but God is showing me that I don't need to be insecure, that my focus should be on other things.

I am learning to love and respect Kyle better. God is showing me I need to really listen to him and his needs, not just hear him. 

There is more, but Niah's calling. God led me to share this, be blessed!

Little Girl, Big Fit

Niah loves to feed herself. We give her all kinds of finger foods: cheese, peas, bread, cheerios, bananas, the list goes on. Well tonight I gave her some cheese while Kyle was heating dinner I made the other day (pureed chicken, sweet potatoes and apples). He started to feed her and she literally hit the spoon out of his hand and screamed. I tried to feed her and she did the same. I knew it wasn't a dislike for the food because she's had it before and loves it. So I gave her some more cheese and she was fine. I tried the chicken again and she threw the spoon out of my hand and started crying. We came to the conclusion that she wanted desperately to feed herself. The only way she would eat is if she was putting it in her mouth. So...to compromise I put little spoonfuls of food on her tray and while she tried to put it in her mouth I fed her the rest. She was perfectly happy then. The pictures say it better :). Oh what I have to look forward to with my stubborn little girl.

That's better Mom!

A close up of the mess!

Notice the food on the wall from her flinging the spoon out of her hand

Guess where she went immediately after? The tub!

San Francisco

In the 3 and a half years Kyle and I have been married, we've NEVER gone to San Francisco. So, we went today. Kyle's been on vacation for almost 2 weeks and we thought we should do something instead of just sitting at home everyday. We had a blast. Kyle had never been anywhere except Fisherman's Wharf and I'd never stopped at the Golden Gate Bridge. Neither of us had ever been to Chinatown so that was our first stop, only we never stopped :). We got there, drove down the main street and experienced all of Chinatown we needed to experience. We also drove down Lombard St., went to Pier 39, tried to stop at the Golden Gate Bridge but couldn't and ended in Union Square.

Niah had fun too. I kept pointing to the Sea Lions, but she just wanted to look at the seagull that was making tons of noise. She even got a high five from some random old guy who walked down the block talking to us when we were at Union Square.

Kyle and Niah in their beanies and hoods



Niah sitting with monkeys - "what a delight" she says

Us in front of the Christmas tree at Union Square