I love wireless!

Okay, so it's going to be a lot easier for me to keep up with the blogging now. Nathan and I got cable modem service so now I don't feel bad about sitting on the internet for 30-45 minutes to do all of my surfing and blogging. Before, I was taking up the phone line and hording my dad's computer. Now I don't have to do that!

Okay, so it's been almost a month since I last posted! There is so much to say! Let me see if I can sum-up. We've been going to Grandma and Grandpa's house every weekend to visit and go swimming. She has had so much fun! She loves to sit on the side and "jump" into the water to me. And this past weekend she did it for Grandma. She really loves to go swimming. We also went swimming at Aunt Susan and Uncle Ricky's apartment. She had so much fun. And there was another baby there. She was 7-months old. They had fun looking at each other and touching hands. They were so cute.

Bethany has started building a vocabulary. So far she can say: mama, dada, papa, nahna, cat, dog, bird, star, fish, turtle, hi, bye-bye, no-no, bubble, and frog. She just "talks" up a storm. She also has all 4 of her front teeth in now. 3 of them all came in at the same time. Poor girl! She's been a trooper, though. Not much complaining.

She still isn't quite walking yet. We got her on video a couple of weeks ago taking seven steps. But that was the last time. She cruises around like a pro, but just won't do it by herself yet.

We think Bethany is going through a growth spurt. She's been pigging out lately, and on Friday, she took TWO 2-hour and 45 minute naps! She is sleeping a lot!

So the big birthday is coming up. We're having a little party for her on the 9th. It should be fun, I hope! :)

Well, I think that might do it for now. I promise to keep this more up to date now!

back home

Well, we're back home in Orlando. We've been here for about a month and still are looking for a place to live. Thank goodness for parents who let you live with them while you look. We've been very frustrated by the market in and around DeLand. Apparantly, according to one apartment manager we spoke to, FEMA is still paying rent for a bunch of people who are waiting for their homes to be repaired from LAST SUMMER's hurricanes! So there are basically NO 2 bedroom apartments anywhere. So we've decided to look into buying a house. We didn't think that we were financially ready, but we don't have much of a choice, and I guess in the long run, this will be better for us.

My daughter will be a year old next week. I can't believe it. The first 6 months didn't seem to go by very quickly. But the last 6 months have gone by VERY quickly. She is such a blessing to us. We are so lucky to have her. She brings so much joy to our lives. We love you, B!

We're very happy to be back in our church, Grace Fellowship. We really missed it last year. We felt like we were home the first time we went back there.

Nathan is officially done with his degree. He should be receiving his certificate of completion in the mail in a few days. Then we all have to start calling him "Dr." because he'll have the proof. :)

I have also started taking better care of myself. I started going to Weight Watchers with my mom and sister as soon as we got here. In three weeks I have lost 6.4 pounds. It feels so good to feel my clothes get too big! This is the only thing that has worked for me so far. And it started working right away. I could not get the last 10 pounds of my pregnancy weight off all year and now I'm more than halfway there in just 3 weeks. Of course, I want to keep losing after that 10 pounds because I wasn't really at an ideal weight when I got pregnant in the first place. I want to be as healthy as possible when we decide to go for #2. I'll keep journaling my progress here.

Well, that's that for now. Stayed tuned for our search for a home and more about my life as a stay-at-home mom and wife. I'm sure it will be interesting!

Home at last

Sorry it's been awhile since I blogged. You know, we've been kindof busy. :) Anyways, we got to Orlando last Friday around 7 PM. It was a very long trip but we made it pretty easily. Buying a seat for Bethany was worth the $350, let me tell you. We also broke the trip into 3 legs instead of 2. Here's how it went:

Leg one-Honolulu to Los Angeles-5 hours long-Bethany slept the entire time.
Leg two-Los Angeles to Cincinatti-3 1/2 hours - Bethany slept the entire time.
Leg three - Cincinatti to Orlando - 3 hours - Bethany didn't sleep but was quite content to wave and talk to the people around us. She also enjoyed looking out the window and watching Baby Mozart (pics to come). She then fell asleep just after touchdown and stayed that way all the way to baggage claim (about 30 minutes or so). We then came to Mom and Dad's and she went down about 9:00 and slept until like 6 the next morning. She has been on a near perfect sleep/eat schedule since. Thank you Jesus!!!

The following Monday, Nathan took off to Chicago to defend his dissertation. He passed!!! It's over!! Halleluia!!! By the way, thanks to our dear friends George and Joline and Steve and Janet for taking in my husband. Also, thanks to Janet for driving Nate to the airport in the wee hours of the morning and to Steve for dropping off his edited paper for him. You guys are AWESOME!!!!

So, we've settled in pretty well here. Bethany will be 11 months old tomorrow! When did she get so big?

Well, I think I'll sign off now. Nathan and I are going to a MOVIE!! Yes, a movie! A real date! I'm not sure if I remember what one of those is like. Thanks to Nahna and Papa for watching her tonight. Okay, goodnight!