Little Person

Another month has gone in a flash. Here I sit watching my now 10 month old angel sleep in her crib via the video monitor. A brief halt of my typing as she squirms to a new position, head in the corner, butt at an angle, legs to the side. A smile crosses my lips as I remember her daddy saying that she's just like me in that regard, can't sit still, even when sleeping. So many changes in this little person, in fact she's now becoming just that, a little person, with her own personality beginning to surface as she explores the world and reacts to its challenges. Some recent observations of this new little person.

She loves socks! Not wearing them, but pulling them off of her, and I've learned from daycare, off of other babies feet! She loves to hold them in her hands, examine them, talk to them, and toss them into the air to watch them fall, only to pick them up and do it again... until she tires of the exercise and moves on to some other interest.

She loves music. Any of her toys that play music, she'll sit there rocking her little hips or clapping her hands with the music. And if someone is there to dance with her, all the better. Today when I got to mom's to pick her up they were dancing to a dance beat that grandma found on her phone. But since it was just a short preview, whenever the music would end, M would listen for a second and then start moving to the beat like, "Play it again!"
I also call her my xylophone prodigy because when she takes that little mallet to her xylophone, it's like she's playing a tune she hears and she hits those tiles so matter-of-factly!

She doesn't like peas. (We'll have to work on that one.)

Dada can always make her laugh. Sure, she's got mama's heart but dada can tickle her funny bone just with a silly look. It's good to see that they have a connection. I hope he can always make her laugh.

She's smart. I've been trying to teach her sign language we've watched the sign language ABCs online at least I try to do once a day. Just in the last couple of days, when I start singing the ABCs and I'm signing them to her, she puts her little hand up and starts to move it and her fingers like she's signing! It's adorable.

She's all smiles. At least 99% of the time and it's the most beautiful smile. I wish I could share it with the world. Marc said last night as he was giving her hugs and kisses and she smiled at him, he said "if babies smiles could cure cancer there wouldn't be any!" Amen to that!

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday was a great day in more ways than one. First of all, it was our pup's 4th birthday! Which in dog years makes him around our age! Although it seems like he has infinitely more energy. Before celebrating his birthday we took M to the Pumpkin Harvest at the museum. I had been waiting to take her to this because I thought it would be a good outing for us all. It turned out I was right :) It was great because grandma and granpa brought Little E and J and Sara visited with Mark before they went to a shoot. It was a bit of a chilly fall morning but we had M dressed warm and wrapped in a blanket. I didn't have a chance to go buy a wagon which would have been perfect because poor Marc ended up carrying the pumpkin we picked, luckily we weren't there much longer after that. As I said, it was a great outing. Little E had fun running everywhere and getting lost in the kiddie maze. (Which is a really cute maze for the short people and even though they can see the outside they work hard to find they're way out. It's neat to watch their growing minds work). We even got him to sit still for a couple of pictures. M looked adorable because she was wearing a knit hat that Marc's colleague's wife had knit for her that looks like a pumpkin. She was the cutest little pumpkin there! :) See for yourself

Our Little Pumpkin

We timed it perfect because she wasn't yet ready for a nap until just as we were leaving. Can't wait until next year when she'll be walking! I plan to take a wagon for sure!

When we got home, and while she napped, I made Drake a birthday cake. The perfect blend of peanut butter, honey and shredded carrots... some of his favorite snacks. Marc took him for a ride to Sportsman's Warehouse where he loves to be around people and when they got back we sang to him. Oh, my pup, seems like just yesterday we brought you home and you pooped on the carpet :) Here's to many more healthy and youthful years!

Happy 4th Birthday Pup!

Life lost

I'd heard the news just after I picked up my little one from daycare. I honestly don't listen to the regular radio that often anymore, but I turned it on to distract the little one's obvious annoyance that we weren't heading home. The song they were playing had just ended when the DJ came on to share the sad news.They had confirmed that the remains found in the open space area 7 miles from her home were in fact those of Jessica Ridgeway. My heart sank and my eyes welled. But I couldn't cry. My little one was in her carseat still protesting that she was... in her carseat. We were on our way to visit daddy at work so that some coworkers who are moving back to their home country could see her before they left. So I turned off the radio and sang the alphabet to her in the most upbeat tone I could muster. At daddy's work I smiled and beamed as everyone enjoyed my little one's beauty. We got home and went through our routine of dinner, play and then her pre-bedtime nursing. It was then, holding my little angel in my arms as she drifted off into peaceful slumber that I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. I did my best not to sob so as not to startle her and there she nursed and drifted off to sleep. Cradling her gently I prayed. I prayed for Jessica, her family who will never get to hold her again. I prayed for the countless children that go missing everyday that we don't know their names. And I prayed for my baby girl. That she'll always be safe and protected. I know it's every parent's prayer and that life is full of uncertainty, but all we can do is take each day and be thankful for every blessing.

My heart is with the Ridgeway family, the community and every parent praying for the children. God Bless you Jessica.