october sped by...

we have been busy this month, so it seems. two major events stand out, amidst visits with mimi and grampy, oma and papa, and friends...aunt laura and cousin nora came to visit. i'll post those pics once i get them from mom's fantastic camera! and we had our high school church youth group reunion this past weekend. that was such a refreshing and encouraging time. i'll post more about that when i get the pics from karen tomorrow! but, just wanted to let everyone know we are alive and well. lisey is 10 months already and we can hardly believe it! she's crawling now...commando most of the time, but now graduating to the hands and knees crawl as well. she's still itching to walk and loves to hold your hands and stroll around as long as your back can handle it! here's our li'l punkin posing for me. i just can't get enough of her smile! and below is her tired pose :) guess it has been an exhausting month!

snuggly morning

this morning was so enjoyable i just had to share. i had made it a goal to get up at 6 this morning, before elise, so that i could spend some time with the Lord in the Word. when justin left for work at 6 and said goodbye to me, i thought, "i'm so going back to sleep..." but as i lay there, i became more and more awake and ended up getting up (thank you God). i had some good time reading, praying and journaling, and then sure enough around 6:50, elise woke up.

what i didn't realize is how much it would change our morning because i had gotten up before her and already had some quiet time. it changed me! usually, when we get up, i sit her down to play with toys while i get a cup of tea or quick clean up the kitchen or grab something to eat. in return, she usually ends up whining for me, and i end up feeling unproductive, unsuccessful...call it what you like. can anyone else out there relate?

but not this morning! i had already made my tea and eaten most of my breakfast...so that when she got up, we just sat and played together. and it was just amazing to me...every few minutes or so, she would turn around, reach up, grab on, and just snuggle me. we snuggled so much this morning. i haven't held her that much, that close, for that long in a while! what a blessing! thank You, Lord, that justin works so hard, so that i could be home with her to enjoy moments like these.

i don't know that every morning will be like this one, but as i held her, i was so thankful.

elise's baby dedication

this sunday, we dedicated elise to the Lord. more than anything, it was a parent dedication. it was us expressing that we desire to raise elise to know the Lord and follow His ways. and since it was done publicly, it was a call to our friends and family to hold us accountable as well as a charge to us, to seek counsel and advice from those we love and who love us so dearly, along the road of parenthood. after the service, everyone came over for lunch. enjoy the pictures!

nine month reflections

(Side note: this picture as well as the two other really good ones in this post were taken by my amazing sister. So if you ever need a good photographer, you know where to go. This is Lisey holding Mary's hand.)

elise is nine months old today. wow. a friend asked me today, "what do you think of when you think of nine months?" my responses at first were brief..."she's almost a year"..."wow, time has flown"...but as i think more on this, it has the potential to really blow my mind.



in nine months, she's learned to sit, smile, hug, laugh, sneeze and laugh at herself afterwards, eat solids, attempt to feed herself with a spoon, feed herself with her fingers (which she's just starting to really enjoy lately)...she went right to the cup and skipped the bottle completely (which i was thankful for)...

she can roll over, she can scoot backwards and is making more successful forward crawling attempts each day...

she loves to stand and see how long she can balance and she loves to hold our hands and walk across the room...she's even getting so bold as to let go of our hand every now and then (no fear!)...

with her papa, she'll stand against the side of the couch while he encourages her to take a step towards him...she hasn't done it yet, but i'll let you know when she does!...



she talks and babbles...sometimes i'm convinced she's singing with me...she likes to bang the guitar when i let her hold it, and while i'm playing, she'll grab my strumming hand or the strings, which can really alter the sound, but it's so fun to watch her mind try to figure it all out...

she cracks a huge smile when either of us brush our teeth, she takes baths in the kitchen sink because our tub is out of commission for a while (but she doesn't seem to mind one bit!)...



she recognizes the sound of josie's paws coming into the room and smiles at her every morning...she even grabs for her ears now and josie is patient as always, while elise learns "gentle with josie"



she loves, loves, loves being outside, especially when there's a wind blowing and birds flying around..."tweet tweets" as she and her daddy call them, and they love to bird watch together on the deck...



she seems to understand some things that i say now, like "look at mommy" and "diaper"...and even some of the sign language we're attempting to teach her...



she's amazing me daily, and just today i was driving and glanced at her in the rear view mirror and almost cried..."she's mine" i thought..."we have her for the rest of her life"..."she's beautiful"...



nine months...so short in the scheme of a lifetime...but in light of the fact that nine months ago, i was merely walking around with a huge belly...nine months is her lifetime as of now, and it's been wonderful so far!

pictures on my camera

in an effort to catch up on the blog, i figured i'd just share some pictures that were on my memory card from the last couple weeks. here we are during our day trip to delaware.

our little bubby - she loves being outside on the deck...

and she loves it even more when her daddy plays guitar for her

thanks to vanessa for the tip on rice cakes. elise loves them!

and here's our little book bug just this morning. no, she's not crawling yet, but working o' so hard to figure it out. she loves this book with the dog pictures in it and actually giggles at some of the pages. i love how dainty her fingers look as she "turns" the pages. after checking this book out, we practiced our "ready, set, go" game where i hold her hips while she stands and then let go to see how long she can stand on her own. she gets so proud of herself. and today after she stood for her longest time yet, she fell into my arms, i cheered "yaaaaah!" and she just hugged me and held on, while i rocked her and kept cheering. it was one of those wonderful moments you want to tuck away and remember exactly how sweet it felt.

what we've been up to

she's so stinkin cute first thing in the morning :)

doing puzzles - we're just working on picking up the pieces (and chewing on them)...we'll get to putting them back in the right spots later!

chewing on tupperware is always a winner

and of course she's enjoyed a bath in the kitchen sink. everyone has to have that experience at least once in their lifetime, right? :)

happy birthday papa