our last beach day

We went to the beach yesterday for the last time. We went in the evening instead of the morning/afternoon. It was really nice. The sun wasn't too hot and it wasn't too crowded. The water was a good temperature and we had a good time. Bethany loves to crawl around in the water and sand now. She would crawl around in the water until she was about under the water. She didn't care, and in fact, was laughing her head off the whole time!

We zoomed her around in her float and also swam with her in the water. Then, later, she and daddy played in the sand.



They had fun. And Bethany just laughed and laughed!! She couldn't get enough!



We will miss the beach here. Hopefully, we can find a pretty beach when we get back to Florida. After going to the beach here, there's no going back to Daytona, Smyrna, or Cocoa, in my opinion.

My daughter makes the worst sound in the world. As we were leaving the beach last night, I heard her GRINDING HER TEETH!!!!! Oh, it's horrible!!!! I don't know what to do to make her stop!! Does anyone have any suggestions??? I just can't stand it!

Well, Aloha for now. I'll be signing off until we get to Orlando. We can't wait to be back!!!!!

4 days!!!!!

a mouthful!!

of teeth!!! So it appears that Bethany is breaking not one, not two, but THREE teeth!! Possibly more! Another mom said it looks like all 4 of her top teeth are coming in. So, when you see Bethany in...6 DAYS!!!!!!...she could have 5 or 6 new teeth. Holy moly! The things she'll be able to eat!

Yesterday was so cute. We met my friend, Amber, and her son, Brandon, at the Honolulu Zoo. We had a good time. Amber bought lemonade slushees for herself and Brandon but Brandon didn't like his very much. So Amber started giving little spoonfuls to Bethany. She seemed to like it, but from the look on her face, she didn't quite know why! It was probably very refreshing, though. She hadn't had a drink of water since she dropped her sippy cup in a puddle of mud. It was uncleanable. So I bet it felt good going down!

We're starting to pack up what we can. We decided today to stop dragging our CD cases around. We put all of our CD's in sleeved cases about 4 or 5 years ago so we didn't have CD cases all over our apartment (we have too many). So we've kept the jewel cases in boxes and moved them everywhere. It was ridiculous to move them so many times. We finally threw them out. Sorry, Honolulu landfill. But, it's partly your fault anyway because we can't recycle hardly anything here. Anyway, that should save us a couple hundred bucks on our move because they're so heavy!

Bethany is getting closer to saying several words. The past few days have been surprising. Nathan was reading "Mr Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and when he got to the raindrop page (Dibble Dibble Dopp) she repeated in her own babble, "dibble dibble". Then he turned the page (He can sound like a clock, he can tick, he can tock) and before he even read the sentence she said, "tick tock". I can't wait to hear more!

Pictures to come!

6 DAYS!!!!!! Did I say that already????

Lots to catch up on

Wow, it's been awhile! A whole week!

We're finally starting to feel like we're actually moving. We spent the morning at Nathan's office packing up all of his books. We had to take enough stuff for a weekend trip to keep Bethany occupied the whole time. We also took the new portable DVD player so we could let Bethany watch her "Baby Einstein" video ("Baby Heroin" as Nathan calls it). She was pretty good. She had to skip her morning nap so she did a bit fussy around 11 but must have caught a second wind. She didn't nap until we got home and fed her lunch around 1. She didn't sleep as long as I had hoped (only 1 hr, 45 min) but she was pretty good the rest of the day and evening and is now sleeping peacefully.

She's cutting two new teeth, but not the ones we would expect. She has a third bottom tooth coming in (on the right) and the one directly above it on the top. She doesn't have her two front teeth yet. I didn't expect that top one to come in yet. I'm not sure why it's coming in before the other two. I hope it doesn't mean anything bad.

She is turning into a walking fiend. She's finally using the little walker (a push toy) that Grandma got her for Christmas. She goes back and forth, back and forth, across the apartment. She can't get enough of it. When she gets to the front or back doors (or anytime she gets stuck on something) she starts to whine so one of us will unstick her or turn her around to do it all over again. She's also getting really tall. She can now stand up at our bed and her whole head is above the mattress. I can't believe how tall she is.

So a couple of weeks ago (when Dayna was here) we were up at Shark's Cove on the North Shore. Nathan and I were walking back toward the beach from the outer wall and I slipped a bit and put my hand out and it landed on a rock with a sea urchin on it. I had two needles sticking out of my right hand thumb. Nathan pulled them out and all seemed fine. The following week my thumb was getting more sore and I could feel two little bumps. I went to the doctor and she basically said that there wasn't anything she could do. A lot of times, a piece of the needle stays behind after you pull it out and the bumps I feel are the pieces trying to work their way out. They could try to cut them out, but since the skin on your hand is so tough that it's hard to get them out. Plus, a lot of times they are flesh colored, making it even harder. My only option, really, is to wait it out. She gave me a prescription antibiotic cream in case it starts to get infected. It could take 10-14 days for them to come out completely. Ugh. I never realized how important my right hand thumb is.

Well, we have to ship our car back. Every place we talked to would only give us the trade in value for it. That doesn't cover what we still owe. So now we won't be a little broke when we get back, we'll be really broke . But, we've trusted God so far and we have faith that he will continue to provide for our needs. Not necessarily for our wants, but definitely for our needs! There are other riches waiting for us in DeLand, and the rest of the sunshine state, that are far greater than what money could bring us.

9 days!!! Woo-hoo!

fun/odd day

We had a pretty good day today. Bethany must be going through a growth spurt or something because she napped for a total of 4 hours today. Woo-hoo! Anyway, we went across the street after she woke up from her am nap to go to the store. I bought a box of zwieback toast, have you heard of it? Bethany loved it! She was so cute eating it while I fixed her lunch. After lunch we went to the mall to pick up some Clinique stuff and the Royal Hawaiian Band was playing on the stage. She watched and listened intently and even clapped for them a few times. Then after we got off of the elevator to go out to the car, this older japanese woman waved at Bethany - RIGHT in her FACE! I mean her hand was like, an inch from her nose. Hello! You don't have to get THAT close! The time we left was past her naptime so I just gave her her bottle as I drove home. She drank the whole thing by herself and then fell asleep. What a good girl. She then slept for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Ahhhhh.

15 days!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, Aunt Dayna went home last night. We had a good time with her. You can read Bethany's entry below for an update on what we did the first half of the week. I'm so thankful for her. I was completely exhausted so she said, "Mom, you take a rest. I will let everyone know what we've done so far." "Thanks", I said. What a great kid.

So Thursday we went to Pearl Harbor. We got there around 12:30 and the next show/boat was at 12:45. And there wasn't any wait! So we were able to just go right in. That was nice since we had an antsy 9 month old with us. They show a movie before you go over that explains what happened leading up to the attack and what the aftermath was. Bethany clapped in all the wrong places! We'll have to make sure she fully understands later. :) Did you know that more people died in that attack than have died so far in Iraq? That just amazed me.

Then we went to Waikiki and walked around the International Marketplace. Bethany got to see a Cockatoo up close. I mean, his handler laid him right down on the tray of her stroller! She got to touch him, too! That was neat.

We didn't do much on Friday. We went to my Mom's bible study where we gave an expecting mom a shower. That was fun. Then the group surprised me with cards and a gift since we're moving. I was so shocked! I didn't expect anything like that. It was really nice.

Saturday we went to the zoo. As always, Bethany loved it. I took some video this time since we have a bunch of pictures from the zoo. Hopefully I can put that together soon. We went to a new Chinese restaurant, Asia Manoa, which is right around the corner from us, for dinner. Nathan and Dayna seemed to like it. I didn't care for it. It seems like ever since the smell of it made me nauseous when I was pregnant, I haven't been able to enjoy Chinese food. I wonder if that's true that food likes and dislikes stay with you after you've been pregnant. Anyway, Nathan tood Dayna to the airport and now she's probably home. It was a fun week.

I had a really nice first Mother's Day. I got a dozen red roses, a box of dark chocolate covered macadamia nuts, and a portable DVD player! The last gift may be more for B! It was great. I hope all the moms and grandmas had great mom's days as well!

18 days!!!

fun days

So, Aunt Dayna is here and we've been having some fun. Sorry Mommy hasn't written, she's just been so tired. So I thought I'd better sit down and let you all know what's been going on. On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy and Aunt Dayna took me to the North Shore. I had fun in the water. On Sunday, we all went hiking up to Manoa Falls. Boy was that hard! It was so pretty, though, and luckily, Mommy brought some water so I could cool off after that long hike. Here's a picture of all of us at the top:



On Monday, Mommy and Aunt Dayna took me to the Sea Life Park. It was great! I got to see all of my friends from Moppets (the babies from Mommy's MOPS group) and all kinds of neat animals. I LOVED the turtles, and the big aquarium with all the fish and stingrays. I also really liked the dolphins and the sea lions. Mommy got me a cool fish at the gift shop. I'll show you a picture of him later.

On Tuesday, we did some light shopping. We were all really exhausted. I mean, take a look at me on the way home Monday from the Sea Life Park:



Today, we went to our usual beach, Ala Moana Beach Park. It was great. We all went in the water and Mommy and Aunt Dayna zoomed me back and forth in my float. Then Mommy spun me in circles. It was so fun! Mommy and Aunt Dayna got a little sunburned, though. They were very unhappy with the sunscreen they used. I had a great time playing in the sand, too. I don't really care to eat it anymore, but digging is fun. I loved how it felt to crawl in the sand. That was really fun. Aunt Dayna got this shot of me:



Well, tomorrow we're going to Pearl Harbor. Mommy said we get to go on a boat ride. Yay! Then we'll do some more shopping. Whew! I hope I don't wear them out. More soon!

Love,
B

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.