6 Months Old!

Today is a very special day. Our little lady is 6 months old. Originally, we planned to celebrate her birthday on her half birthday every year (since a Christmas Eve birthday seems less than ideal), but we both decided that God gave her to us on Christmas Eve, so we should celebrate on Christmas Eve! Poor kid :) She sure has been cracking me up lately. Although she is a mellow little girl overall, she does have a temper. Jordan's mom told me often that he was so contented as a baby, and I can see that trait in Elyse already. I can also see much of my short fuse when she feels like showing it, but hopefully Jordan's side will win over time :) Six months from now we'll be celebrating her first birthday, so I want to enjoy today all the more. We made a deal in the hospital that she wouldn't grow up, and obviously, she's not keeping her end of the bargain! Here are some of my current "funs" and "not-so-fun's":

Funs:

* smiling so proudly when she manages to sit up for a few minutes without toppling over
* she's awake more than 5 hours a day, now- it's at least 6 or 7 (ha!)
* she laughs sometimes at her bedtime stories- probably for no reason, but it's fun
* she'll just about giggle on command these days
* she started grabbing Jordan's chin and feels the whiskers :)
* her new gurgling sound
* hearing her jabber in her crib (for sometimes close to an hour!) before I go to pick her up in the morning. As soon as she sees either of us, she flaps around like she's trying to fly.

...not-so-fun's:

* the frustration of not having mobility, yet not wanting to be mobile..?
* STINKY diapers. Whoa.
* a very powerful, not-so-pleasant, sin-tainted screech!
* seeing her purse her little lips together after only 2 bites of green beans :)

These six months have flown by, but not a day has gone by that I haven't marveled at God's goodness. The beauty of His gifts reflects the beauty of Him. What a precious gift to us she is! We love you, little monkey!

Hyper girl!

I know it's a little fuzzy, but it was the best I could do with Miss Antsy Pants...

Trying to find Daddy's whiskers :)

Just hanging out on the couch in my diaper...

That's what Elyse did last night, not me :) I love chubby babies, especially this one!!!

So big!

Hey, Mom- I bet I can take off this silly diaper cover!

See? Watch me!

Oh, forget it.

Where's my shirt?

I'm so embarrassed...

Happy Fathers' Day!

For Fathers' Day this year, Elyse and I decided to give Daddy a shirt and a nice picture. The "nice picture" part involved us getting a professional picture done :-/ We went over to The Picture People one afternoon (and Jordan didn't even suspect it, apparently) and had our first mommy-daughter photo shoot. It went pretty well, considering it fell during Elyse's afternoon nap. As the photographer was finishing up, Elyse had a meltdown, but the "keeper" had already been shot, thankfully! Jordan was sufficiently surprised, and it was all worth it. We enjoyed a great day together yesterday, even though Jordan and I were both fighting colds. We went out to lunch at Bakers Crust and enjoyed our all-time favorite dessert, a Crepe Cannoli. If you've never been there, it's worth the trip for this crazy dessert! I'm so thankful for our phenomenal fathers, and now I'm thankful that my husband will be joining their ranks as the esteemed family doctor for boo-boo's of all sorts, family wrestler for tickle fights, family jokester when someone's in a foul mood, family counselor (just in case), etc. Most of all, I'm thankful that he will lead our little family in a biblical, God-honoring way, just like our dads did and still do!

I'm not sure what she found so funny?

YUM.

Daddy's girls :)

I also had to add the proof for the picture the creative photographer took after Elyse's meltdown. I give her props :)

First ID

You can ask Jordan to vouch for this one, but every time I see his very first passport photo, I crack up laughing and can't stop. Something about his little expression in the picture just makes me giggle! Well, last week we took our munchkin to DMV to get her very first ID card. I got the card in the mail and laughed the exact same laugh :) Something about it just hits me so funny! It's probably the fact that they are both so little and have identification, in case they need to run away from home, right? Jordan is about 7 months old in his picture, and Elyse is almost 6 months. Anyway, now I have to post the pictures, and you'll probably wonder why I think they're so funny...

Jordan had to hoist her up to get in the camera's shot :) Yes, that's a fuzzy from my scanner, not drool...

Check out that hair!!!

Babies, babies everywhere!

Have I written yet on this blog about how much I LOVE our church? Well, I do. BIG TIME. I love it for so many reasons, but one reason is the people. We have a unique composition of people, and lately, there seems to be such a baby-boom! We live in a very transitional area, so, sadly, many folks move on to other areas due to changes in ministry or changes in employment. Our nursery in our rented facility is jam-packed, but seeing all the little people join our group is such a blessing! Elyse has lots of little playmates that were born just weeks before or after her, and we were able to spend the afternoon yesterday with the "G-man" who was born just 6 weeks after Elyse (yes, AFTER, in case these pictures make you think I made a typo). God is leading them to a new ministry out of state soon, so we enjoyed what may be one final play date. Elyse is starting to notice other kiddos, which is fun to watch. She got a real kick out of this little guy! And, in case you wondered, I did not do ANY posing. This was the natural progression of their time in the same chair :) I had to remove Elyse from the chair moments after the last shot... Cuties.

Where is my mind??

I just recently found out that it IS true that new moms experience some brain "loss" after having a baby, since baby takes many of the great Omega 3's from you. I have proved that so many times in the last 6 months! Not only have I had total brain lapse for common words like "the" and "water", but I also find myself making the most erroneous mistakes in very common tasks. I can't blame it on lack of sleep since my little gal loves her sleep, so I've decided to shift the blame to my recovering brain. :) Yesterday, I made my first baby food. Boy, was it gross. I made green beans, which I normally love. BUT, something about tasting them pureed makes my stomach churn. I sure hope I will be able to eat them again! Normally, Jordan avoids the kitchen like the plague when I get started on a project, because there is no rhyme or reason to my total mess. Dishes piled everywhere, spills on the floor, counter, rug, table, etc... Well, yesterday he was nice enough to hang out with me on his day off, and some of his time in the kitchen was spent making smoothies for our lunch. He's doing his thing, and I'm steaming green beans so I can get them ready to puree. I leave the kitchen temporarily to check a recipe online, and I hear Jordan say, "Babe, what's that smell?" I had failed to check the water in the steamer, and my pan and steamer were about on fire. The stench was horrible and the beans were disgusting as well. ROUND 2. I manage to keep water in the steamer, but somehow the steam from the pan managed to melt down a candle sitting on my stove. No, I didn't notice. That evening, Jordan was kind enough to help me scrape the wax from the burner, tray, and oven surface. The baby food turned out great, thankfully, or I'd probably have just gone to bed. Please tell me that you other new moms have this? :) N-Y-WAYS! Here are some pics of Elyse with her greens. Yes, she did gag momentarily, but all was well. She didn't LOVE them, but she survived the whole ordeal. So did I. Good news: supposedly, not only will my brain recover, but it will actually end up bigger than it was before Elyse. Whew!

EWW!!! :)

We finally blended them with some rice, but she still told us her foot would taste better than that mess.

"Are you kidding me, Dad?"

"Can we skip this stuff?"

ALL DONE!!!

Dawn at Dusk

Last night we hosted our biennial slip 'n slide event in the backyard. At the end of our 2007 event, we renamed it to "slip 'n bleed," but we played it a little safer this year (no, there weren't really any injuries...). Mom and Dad joined in on the fun, and we soaped up the slide with lots of dish detergent (thus, the blog title Dad came up with), water, four grown men, and two little boys. This year, the ladies decided to spectate, which worked for both the guys' egos and our cleanliness. It was hilarious to watch the guys work on their form, especially Shiloh, who sometimes missed the slide altogether! I wish videos were easier to upload, but you'll have to take my word for it. It was quite funny. It's amazing to think about what has changed in two years. Two years ago, Eli and Elyse weren't around, Shiloh was just learning to toddle around, and Seth and Bethany had just moved to VA. I heard a lot more complaints from the guys this year, too, about how sore they were :) (Not you, honey, the other guys.) Here are some pictures of our preceding dinner with the clan (minus Uncle Seth who got in late). We praise God for family that we love and get along with so well! Thanks for visiting, Mom & Dad!


Notice the stretch of slip 'n slide in the background!

Goofy guys!

The cutest nephews in the world with their parents :)

Dad, Bethany, and Mom

Sweet Eli

Working on a new strategy...

Not ready for the slip 'n slide this year!!!

The new "normal"

Our anniversary this year was a bit different than anniversaries past... we have a baby :) We had such a good time, though, and wouldn't trade this stage for anything in the world. In many ways, we feel like we've always been parents, yet the drastic life change still hits us every once in a while. We were talking the other day about the first six weeks home with Elyse, and how it really was "survival mode." I don't think it really hit us until after those initial weeks passed that we really MISSED each other! We're learning now to be more purposeful with our time together, even if much of it is with Elyse. Thankfully, she usually keeps her thoughts to herself so we can converse :) Ha. Anyway, Jordan's mom was in town, so she was kind enough to watch Elyse while we headed out to the beach for dinner. It was wonderful. So, I know this is the most boring blog post EVER since there are no pictures of Elyse, but I have to change it up every once in a while! Thanks for a great anniversary, hun!






(YES, we ate it :)

OUT-TAKES!

My favorite part of just about any movie is the section with the bloopers. I'm always severely disappointed after watching a comedy when there is no gag-reel. Seriously. Well, last night, I was attempting to clean out some of our pictures (apparently we only have 5 gigs left after all my pictures. Huh.), and I stumbled across some funny shots of Elyse. Almost every one of these was taken just after, or right before a "keeper." She is a kid with many faces! No, it's not exploitation, because she's going to laugh her head off at these some day. I will not post all of them, but here are a few of my favorites.

6 Amazing Years!

You guessed it: today is the sixth anniversary of our marriage! Do we look like kids in that picture, or what? Six years ago today, we committed to put up with each other for life :) In all seriousness, it has hardly been "putting up" with my wonderful husband. I think, rather, he has done his fair share of putting up with me. As well as I know myself, he has put up with a LOT. It kind of makes me laugh to think about all the times I've burst into tears at the slightest annoyance (no laughing, Kris), how I've distracted him from his studies more times than I can count, how I've asked him to kill spiders the size of ants, how I've sat down to dinner in disgust because I'd ruined the perfect meal, how I've procrastinated on laundry until our hamper is bursting at the seams,... the list could go on and on, and those are only some of my minor flaws! And, in response to his needy wifey, he has consoled me without laughing at the pitiful reasons for my tears, he has gladly put his books aside to spend time with me, he has bravely slaughtered every bug in the house, he has praised the crummiest of meals, he has done laundry himself without even telling me,... and none of this with a word of complaint. I truly married up. Last year for our fifth anniversary, we took an amazing trip to Vancouver, BC. This year, we find ourselves pressed for time and money, so we can't go traipsing off to Canada, yet that in no way diminishes how special this day is! Marriage is such a wonderful gift from God, and marriage to the man of your dreams puts the icing on the cake. Don't worry, I'm not going to get all sappy, so I'll wrap it up. Jordan, you're such a good husband and I'm thankful for the wonderful six years we've had together. Thanks for putting up with me and for partnering with me for life!

Beach Day!

I was recently talking with friends about living so close to the beach, yet never making time to go. Well, Jordan and I decided to enjoy the beach this summer since we managed to get there TWO TIMES last year. Yes, only twice. Honestly, I don't think our record this summer will be much better, but it doesn't hurt to hope. PLUS, planning to go to the beach is not near as simple as it used to be. We imagine all the things that could go wrong with Elyse, from sunburn to screaming, from missing a nap to screaming, from heatstroke to screaming... BUT, we want to be flexible parents, so we hit the road. The day was beautiful, if not a bit windy (that will come into play later), so we packed up the kiddo and our much larger beach bags and headed out to Sandbridge. We really began to notice the wind as we set up Elyse's new sun dome- a little tent with lots of SPF to keep her from frying. This thing looked so cool: it snapped out of that case in a jiffy- a perfectly formed dome! Charming. Then the sun dome began to blow over (which is not a good thing since our baby is in it). We finally managed to weigh it down with everything we brought, and things were okay. We set up our beach towels, and I think we both realized how OCD we are when we started brushing the sand off the towel within the first minute. With the day's wind, we could have easily continued in the sand-brushing for hours. BUT, we stopped and determined to enjoy our outing. After all the courtesy pictures highlighting the big first day at the beach, we staked the beach umbrella and got comfortable, only to watch our umbrella blow over. Several times. A few hours later, we decided to leave the gorgeous place that we actually DID let ourselves enjoy, and head home. Remember that cute little sun dome that my sweet daughter napped contentedly in for a couple of hours? Well, it now had to collapse. Jordan wrestled with the now-labeled "piece of junk" for about 20 minutes before stuffing it into the carrying bag. I'm scared to take it out! And I read the directions, folks, and they do NOT make any sense at all! As we finally got in the car to head home, I think we both realized that WE are the inconvenience of the beach! :) Elyse seemed to love being in the great outdoors, feeling the water, and even hanging out with her cooky parents. Believe it or not, we had a blast enjoying our day together at the beach, but, maybe we still have a ways to go in learning to relax...