vocab list

Remember when we had those in elementary and middle school? I hated them. Well, here's one that I love! All the words that Bethany can say. Up to frog are the words I named last time.
mama
dada
papa
nahna
cat
dog
bird
star
fish
turtle
hi
bye-bye
no-no
bubble
frog
night-night
duck
purple
baby
shh
ball
book
shoe
ears (the bunny from the hospital)
chair
diaper
phone
cup
bottle
milk
(from Mr. Brown)
knock-knock
hoo-hoo
doodle doo
pop pop
(from Moo, Baa, La La La)
moo
baa
la la la
oof (little dogs)
meow
bow wow wow (big dogs)
neigh
(letters she can name)
A
B
C
D
E
G
I
J
K
L
O
P
R
T
V
Y
Z

I think that's it! More to come, I'm sure!

First Birthday

Well, Bethany is now a year old. I can't believe it. She is so amazing. It is so cool to watch your child learn and discover. And the older she gets, the more amazing it seems. I remember how excited I got when she rolled over for the first time. I cried I was so excited! Now, she's learning letters, repeating words, walking. Soon she'll be using sentences, running, jumping, going to school...okay, maybe I've gotten a little ahead of myself.

We had a fun party on Saturday. Bethany (and our guests) had pizza, popcorn (just the guests), strawberries, pineapple, and some veggies (just the guests). Then we opened presents. Bethany got some new clothes, books, a big purple frog, a cute puppy that plays songs and helps learn colors, etc., sorting blocks, a bike seat and helmet, new shoes, and I'm sure I'm leaving out some stuff. Then we had cake and ice cream. She didn't care a whole lot for the cake, but LOVED the ice cream! See the pics below.

I'll post again with an updated list of her words! I bet you are so excited!

Bethany's first Fourth of July

Yesterday my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, Nathan, Bethany and I all went to Cypress Gardens. We planned on staying out for the fireworks, so this was our first time keeping Bethany out ALL DAY. She was amazing. We had a lot of fun and she even rode some of the kiddy rides.





She had a short morning nap before we left and didn't nap at all while we were there. About 6:30, we decided to leave and go to dinner. Nathan and I ended up going to see fireworks at Universal with Susan and Ricardo. Bethany slept all the way to dinner (about 30 min). We were able to then get her from her car seat to the stroller and keep her asleep! She slept all the way through dinner and to Universal!! She is awesome! (She was also really tired, but I prefer to look at it the other way.) She was pretty alert once we got to Universal. The fireworks were supposed to start at 10PM. It had started raining and there was some lightning so they were delayed about 45 minutes. But once they went, they were awesome! Bethany just looked up and a couple of times she pointed at them. So cute!





Leaving was very difficult. So many people all going one direction. Not fun. But we made it out and Bethany slept all the way home. We got to bed around 1 AM. But it was a great day.

Thank you to all of the service men and women who have served or are serving to continue to make this country the greatest on the planet.

God Bless America.

bubbles and ice cream

Last night we went to an ice cream social for our church. When we got to the house where it was being held, there were a bunch of kids outside and two huge bubble tumblers. The tumblers had three wands in each of them. Bethany is obsessed with bubbles right now. That was the first thing she saw. She just kept saying, "Bubbow!!". So, she plopped right down in the driveway and pulled out two of the wands and started chewing on them. We had a good time outside talking to some people for about 5 minutes, but we wanted to see who was inside, too. So, we tried picking Bethany up and she screamed! Beth, the Children's Ministry Director, offered to stay with her while we went in and got some ice cream. So, we went in and talked to some more people and took our ice cream outside. Bethany ate some of Nathan's vanilla ice cream and loved it! She kept saying, "num-num-num". So, we'll have some at her party next week. We had a good time last night and she was so good even though we kept her up 1 1/2 hours past her bedtime.

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!

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.