yay, water pressure!

So we went the whole weekend with miniscule water pressure. It was horrible. It took me like 20 minutes just to wash my hair. Well, today the water guy came and fixed it and it's harder than it was before the problem. Woo-hoo! I can't wait to take a shower tonight!

hehe

Ok, she woke up at 5:00, not too bad. I'll take a mere 45 minutes of actual sleep over 2 hours of fussy baby anytime. But how must she have fallen asleep? Check these out:

ah, sleep

It's always a mystery how Bethany will nap on Friday's. I have a mom's Bible study on Friday mornings which goes right through her morning nap time. A few months ago, I could swing her to sleep in her car seat, but now she's too into what's going on. There is a Costco just down the road from the church where we meet so we stop there for me to feed her lunch and I grab a hot dog for the road. It usually goes like this: she screams her head off from the church parking lot to the Costco parking lot. I take her out, put her in her stroller and grab a table to feed her. I get my food, put her back in the car, and she usually is asleep before we are out of the parking lot. I put her in her bed once we're home, and she sleeps for various times. Here is the mystery. Will she take another nap since she woke at 2 o'clock since her pm nap is usually around 2:30?? Will she make it to bedtime? And if not, how early does that mean she'll wake up tomorrow? And if she takes an afternoon nap, how long will it be? Do we let her sleep even if it may mean she's up past her bedtime? Or do we wake her up and risk being totally cranky up until bedtime? So many questions. I wish I had the answers. Well, today we ended a little early so she was asleep in the car by 11:50. She woke up at 1:00. So around 3:30 when she started climbing all over me and smashing her face into my chest I thought, okay, I have to at least TRY to get you to nap again. So, she was down by about 3:40 and after short spurts of crying and lots of talking and singing, she fell asleep at 4:15. Who knows what to do now?? :)

Remember how I told you how she developed a sort of "animal speak" over spring break in Orlando? Well, I think she has an additional "bird speak". We were playing outside yesterday and some birds came near us and she pointed at them (yes, actual pointing with her index finger!) and made these short high pitched squeaks. It's so cute!

Ok, more later! Have a good weekend!

my cool daughter

Okay, I may be jinxing myself here, but she was so good today (well, so far, anyway!). I went to my mom's Bible study and for the first 15 minutes or so, she just sat on my lap. Then, she played very nicely on the floor and didn't try to do anything life-threatening. Then she just sat on the floor and paid great attention to one woman who was sharing. So polite! And so cute! Days like this help me forget about the insane days I have with her.

34 days!!!

She's got skills!

It's what you've been waiting for! Make sure you're sitting down first. Hope you enjoy!

39 days!

And Aunt Dayna comes here in 10 days!

New techniques and first love???

By the way, here is a pic of her in that hat I got for $.97.





We put Bethany in her tulip dress for church this morning and it's hard to crawl in a dress. So she got to practice all morning crawling on her hands and feet. She's been doing it since we got home, even though we took her dress off after lunch! Hopefully, this will help her start walking.

At church this morning, Bethany got her firt kiss from a little boy named Benny. He looks maybe 16-18 months old. He was walking and when we picked her up he kept pointing at her, waving at her and saying, "baby!". He loved her, I guess. But apparantly that wasn't the only attention she got. The workers said that all of the boys loved her. What a flirt. Does this mean we have to start worrying already?

She's been doing a lot of practice standing alone. She'll pull up on something and then lean back and stay there for a few seconds. Then, she slowly goes down to a squat, and then sit. I know the day is coming when she all of a sudden takes off.

Ok, so she has a new skill, but you'll have to wait to find out what it is. But I'll warn you now, when I post it, it is not for the faint of heart!

Stay tuned!

Dream interpretation

Warning...this post is rated PG-13.

I had two very odd and scary dreams last night. Even though I woke Nathan up to tell him about it, I still had very restless sleep all night.

Dream #1: Bethany and I are on our way to pick up an elderly woman (don't know who or why). By the way, the house is my great-grandmother's in St. Pete. So, we park the car, and her body guard leads me away from the house down the alley and I yell back for her to go ahead and get in the car, I'll be right there. Before I know what's happening, the man breaks a huge glass vase over my head and takes Bethany from me. I am bleeding from my head and I scream and go for my daughter and the man walks away. I continue to follow him to try to get to her because I feel like I am going to die and I want to say goodbye to her. I am then taken back into the house where they lock me in the front bedroom. Luckily, I was able to get my cell phone and I call Nathan. I remember saying, "Something horrible has happened" and telling him everything. It then goes to me back at home with Nathan. I don't know how I got there and Bethany isn't there, but there is nothing to suggest that she is gone, so I guess she came home, too. I tell Nathan how lightheaded I feel and I can feel the blood and dried blood on the back of my head and in my hair. I really wanted to go to the hospital. He looks at my head and says that it doesn't look that bad and I can wait until the morning to go to urgent care. I'm really mad about that but I wait until morning anyway. While I'm there, I sign in and tell them how I feel and the lady basically tells me I have to wait. There I am with dried blood in my hair and she tells me I have to wait. After a while, I go back up and again tell her how lightheaded I am, what happened to me, how scared I am and she laughs at me. I then start yelling and tell her she is a b**ch. I am so angry that no one seems to care about how I feel. They send me home with Aveeno baby shampoo and Advil (not sure why those particular brands). Thus ends dream #1.

Dream #2 was shorter. Basically, I was with some man who was burying two people. They were in boxes with no lids and looked very decomposed with bugs crawling all over them. All of a sudden the man starts to cry and says that one of them looks like his daughter. Then, I can see what he sees. The body all of a sudden looks like a little girl with blond hair. He starts to kiss her head and that's when the body returns to it's actual form to my eyes, but he doesn't yet see it. He then realizes what is happening and jumps back from the body screaming and crying. That is the end of dream #2.

Any thoughts? Sorry for all of the gorry details.

Link for Bruce

A few posts ago I mentioned that Bruce Wilkinson preached at our church. There still is no link to the text, but, the audio would be much more powerful anyway. So click here to go to the page with the links. His is April 3rd. There are two choices: Sermon Only or Full Service. It is a great message. Also, while you're there, check out the one above his: Brenda Salter-McNeil. Her message last week was great, too. I hope you are moved as much as we were.

A deal!...finally!

Well, I think we lost the only hat that fits Bethany right now. She has such a big head. Anyway, we had a little FSU floppy hat from my niece and we had it at the beach last weekend, but can't find it anywhere! So, I was at Old Navy today, just to look and see how much their hats were to maybe buy one next week. I found this cute little bucket hat (I'll take a pic tomorrow) that was on clearance for $2.99! AND, I had a gift card from my friend Heather that still had a couple of bucks on it, so I only paid $.97 for the hat!!! Woo-hoo!! What a deal!

She's been waving for a while now, but today, she would wave back at me when I wave at her! It's so cute! And she laughs when she hears other people laughing. Even on TV. So funny!

Should I start a countdown?...43 days!

Let Cookie Monster eat his cookies!

growing up

So, we're at the age now where she gets REALLY mad if I take something from her. It's full blown now. I used to be able to switch what she had for something else, but that doesn't work anymore. She just screams and has to just get over it on her own. Sometimes a toy that plays music or talks helps or if I just get out a book and start reading to her. But, then, sometimes the book is the problem. I was at Border's today and wanted to buy a book for her. I picked up Touch and Feel Pets. One of the pages is for the cat and it has "whiskers" coming out of the page to feel. Well, I was showing her the book and one of the whiskers was missing so I wanted to put it back and get another one. As soon as I took it from her she started wailing! Luckily, she did calm down when I gave her the other one. Whew! But I only gave the cashier enough time to scan the book and then I gave it right back to Bethany. She really likes it. And most of the afternoon she kept saying, "Ca", like she was trying to say "cat". Now, I don't know if she realizes what "cat" is because she was just saying it randomly, not to a picture of a cat. But, it's cute anyway! She would just look at me so hard and then go, "CA!". So cute!

Sunshine!

Finally! It has been raining for like 2 weeks straight here. We haven't been to the beach since before Spring Break. We finally got to go today. It was beautiful and the water was a little warmer so Bethany didn't have any shivers getting in!

My mom got this cute little float for her.



She loved it! We stood in the water for the longest time and pushed her back and forth between the two of us. She had so much fun. And Nathan just pulled her in circles and she was smiling and giggling the whole time! I'm so glad that she loves the water. Hopefully that won't change. I don't want to have to break her of a fear of water.

Yea, sunshine! Please stick around for a while!

No more...

...vague messages. Some of you know this already, but when we went to Florida for Spring Break, Nathan was actually interviewing for a position at Stetson. He has since been offered and has accepted the position. Sooooooo, we will be moving back to DeLand at the end of May. Yay! We feel really good about this decisiona and are very excited about being in DeLand and about being a little closer to family! So far all of the moving arrangements have been pretty smooth. Please pray for us in this transition. And pray extra hard that we will be able to sell our car before we move! We can't wait to get back!

Last Weekend

I forgot to tell you about last weekend. First we went to the zoo, but you've heard a lot about the zoo! Afterward, we drove up to Punchbowl National Cemetery. Punchbowl is in the middle of Puowaina crater (an extinct volcano). I'm sure that many of you have been to or seen pictures of Arlington National Cemetery and all of the white headstones that go on forever. Punchbowl is more of a memorial garden. All of the headstones are flush with the ground so you don't see anything sticking up from the ground. It was so beautiful and quiet. At the back of the cemetery are steps that lead up to the main memorial (with mosaic maps of battles of WWII) and chapel. Along the steps on each side are walls covered with names of soldiers who never came home. At the base of the steps is a plaque that reads, "In these gardens are recorded the names of Americans who gave their lives in the service of their country and whose earthly resting place is known only to God". It was so moving seeing all of those names and remembering just how many people have sacrificed so that we can live in this great country. One other thing that moved me was the gravesite of two brothers. One died in WWII, the other came home and lived for 45 more years. I can't imagine losing my brother or sister so tragically and living that long without them.

I thank God for those who have served and sacrificed and for those who are currently serving to keep this country the greatest in the world.

Try these other links as well:
Punchbowl 1
Punchbowl 2

checkup

So our baby girl is now 17 lbs 3 oz and 28 3/4 inches.

She is talking up a storm. And not just the "ba", "da", and "ma" sounds. It actually sounds like she's saying stuff, just not in English. So cute. And she's all over the place. Not as cute. And I love watching her talk to her reflection. It's like she's carrying on a conversation with herself.

Just now she was crawling and talking, then sat and blurted out something with an exclamation point on the end and threw her arms in the air. I just have to laugh and then say, "Bethany, I love you".

She gets more fun and more scary everyday.

my little girl

What is it that makes my heart so full when I watch her playing? She loves looking at books and I just love watching her with her touch and feel books. She turns each page and knows just where to touch on each page. I guess it just amazes me that she knows how to do that. And I love watching her play by herself in her room picking up different toys or friends and talking to herself (or them). And I love that she thinks I'm funny.

Of course, I'm sitting here having a moment and now she's going to have a little temper tantrum! That's okay, I still love her!

this week

I forgot to tell you that Bethany's nine-month check-up will be this Friday. I can't wait to find out all her measurements! I'll let you know how it goes!

update

Okay, I just put a bunch of pictures in the at home folder. Hope you like them!

Present-day

Okay, so since it took me a week to sum up the last week, I haven't done anything about this past week! A couple of things she started doing: She clacks her tongue now; sometimes if we do it first, she'll do it back. She loves going through my wallet. I guess she loves figuring out how to open it and really studies the inside and then loves taking out different cards and chewing on them. She really looks at books now. She used to just like pulling them off the shelf onto the floor. But she's been pulling them off one at a time (sometimes being very picky about which book) and turning the pages (feeling them if they are touch and feel) and looking at the pictures and sometimes blabbing at them. Also, when we had our suitcases open (before we'd completely unpacked) she would crawl up to them and pick out things that were hers: a book, a toy, her brush. She's also now at the age where she gets mad if you take something away from her. And it doesn't always help to try to give her something else. Oh, boy!

I also left out a
really funny story from when Nathan's parents had B for the afternoon. We left her stroller with them so they could take her for a walk. They did, but Flannel got tired way before Bethany did. So Grandpa tried carrying Flannel for awhile but when it looked like the weather was going to get bad and they needed to get home in a hurry, it became difficult to continue carrying her. So Grandma said, "Put her in the basket! (of the stroller)". She didn't want to get in at first but apparantly, when they got home, she didn't want to get out! Too funny!

All in all we are finally recovered from our trip and are about done cleaning up from it. I think that's about it.

Oh! Bruce Wilkinson, author of the best-seller "The Prayer of Jabez" spoke at our church this morning. It was really powerful. He is currently living in South Africa and recruiting people to come on 10-day trips to help plant gardens for the homeless and hungry. Last year they planted over 100,000 gardens, and this year they are shooting for 1,000,000 gardens. It was an amazing story. As soon as I can find a link or something to it, I will post it.

Ok, I'm going to bed now.

Monday, 3/28

Well, we left today. Our flights were a lot better this time. REALLY long, but better. Bethany slept a little on the way to Houston, but it was the flight home that we got lucky. The plane was a 767, so the seats were 2-3-2 across. We were in the middle (the section with 3) and the person next to me apparantly found another place to sit so we had all three of those seats! So when B fell asleep, we just laid her down in the seat between Nathan and me and we were able to sleep, or read, or watch the little tv! It was great. She slept 3 times. So when we got home, it was near her normal bedtime so we thought we'd give it a try.

The next few days were spent getting all of our sleep schedules back to normal. Bethany woke up a couple hours early Tuesday morning, then only an hour early Wednesday, and then we were pretty normal after that. The first couple nights Nathan and I got tired at like 8 o'clock. We're back to normal now, too.

Sunday, 3/27

Easter!

We got to go to our church, Grace Fellowship, this morning. We miss that church so much. Mike Adkins is the pastor and is an amazing speaker. It was so great to be back there. It was like being at home.

After church we went back to my parent's for lunch and an Easter Egg hunt. My brother's older kids ran around looking for eggs while Hope was escorted to look for her own. My sister took Bethany and found a lovely orange-dyed egg which she began to suck on and turn her whole face orange! How cute!

We then went to Nathan's parents for dinner. I gave Bethany a whole (very small) plate of mac 'n cheese. She loved it!

Then we had to leave because we had to go back to my parents to pack. :(

Saturday, 3/26

Today was nice and relaxing. My grandparents drove in from St. Pete in the morning. It was really nice to see them and spend time with them. And they got to play with Bethany. Then some of our friends came over to see the baby (and us, too!). Cissy, Kristy and Kristy's boyfriend, Jason came over. And later Katie and her boyfriend, Matt came over. By now, it was almost time to go to Cissy's house for my birthday bash. So Katie and Matt went home to change and we met back at Chick-Fil-A (yum!) to grab something to eat first. I had so much fun with everyone at my party. It was good to hang out with all my friends again. It is something I really miss. We spent time reminiscing about our crazy (not - not mine, anyway) college days. We looked at pictures and had fun remembering that time of our lives. We stayed out late while my parents watched Bethany and it was great. Two nights in a row we had babysitters! I could get used to that!