Happy (Belated) Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad!

I'm a little late.. surprise, surprise!

I miss you more than I thought I would, it still hurts so bad to think you aren't with us anymore.. and I wish you could have met your most beautiful granddaughter yet! But I know you are living the most extravagant, most awesome.. beyond my comprehension.. life ever! And I know you are having a blast doing it! I can't wait to sing side by side with you the loudest praise to the King Most High!

I love you Dad!

(Claude E. Graham 06/26/1944-11/21/2006)

What I meant to say was,

6.

Jade now has 6 teeth!! The "fangs" finally broke through sometime during the night. At least... I think they broke through sometime during the night.

Anywho.. she has 6 teeth!

Duh-duh-DUUUUHHHH! Jade is 10 months!

Hi Pun-kin Doodle!

I say this all the time.. but you are really growing up wayyyyy too fast! It seems like each day you are getting bigger and bigger. You are really looking like a mini-toddler now.. and losing your "baby" look little by litte! How has it been 10 months since the doctor put this squiglly looking, screaming thing on my belly... that of course just happened to be the most beautiful thing I had ever seen!?! These past 10 months have just been so wonderful, and we thank God every day for the blessing of you being in our lives!

This past month you have really been testing your own limits. You are getting so brave when you pull up now. You scoot around the furniture like a pro and will let go to stand on your own. You think its so funny to bounce a little.. and put your hands in the air. Like you're saying "whoa.. look what I can do!" You also fake laugh and smile.. a LOT. When we do something to make you smile or laugh and you don't really think its funny, you'll give us a fake smile with squinty eyes just to be polite. Sometimes we fake laugh just to hear your fake laugh! Its so cute!

Here are some of your favorite things right now:

• Strawberries, grapes, bananas, cantelope.. well almost any fruit actually (you're not such a big fan of vegetables though)
• Dog Food or anything on the floor (we always try to stop you, or try to get it out of your mouth though... which you really hate)
• Sharing.. you are always so polite to offer Daddy, Mommy and even Sampson your food and sometimes your toys
• Saying anything but Momma =)
• Cell Phones
• Pictures and picture frames
• Wires (we always are having to either grab them out of your hands.. or stop you from getting to them)
• Animals (real ones.. and no matter what it is.. its always "pup". The cat at KK & Pops house is "pup", the deer on vacation were "pup" and of course dogs are always "pup". )
• Saying "bye bye" when we hang up the phone (even if you weren't the one talking to the other person on the phone)
• Anything that isn't supposed to be a toy
• Crawling to the door as fast as you can when you hear it open, and I say, "Where's Daddy?"
• when Mommy and Daddy share whatever food or drink we have
• Music.. you love it! You dance all the time or clap along.

Of course.. that list could go on and on.

I love you so much sweet, baby girl! You bring me more joy than you can imagine!

Love,

Mommy (and Daddy too, of course!)

Waiting

I absolutely hate it! Well.. I mean.. I really, really dislike it STRONGLY!

I don't think its any secret that my biggest passion right now, beyond Jesus, is my family. (Well, if I'm going to be really honest, my prayer is that Jesus would be my biggest passion.. but sometimes isn't truly.) I can't tell you how badly I want to be a full time Mommy. I just remember the feeling of hopelessness I had while I was on maternity leave after I had Jade. My husband is a wonderful provider and the hardest worker I've ever known. (Well.. him and my own Dad.) But to be completely honest, living on his salary alone would leave us scraping quite a bit. When I returned to work, I felt like I would be here FOREVER... that I would NEVER get to be a full time mommy. It has been the cry of my heart for the past 10 months that God would work some kind of miracle. That He would help us get our finances in order, be so frugal its not even funny, and to provide more through my husband's wonderful job. Looking back over the last 10 months, He has definitely been moving mountains in our lives... and I truly believe He has heard and is slowly answering my selfish prayer. You may not see everything from the outside looking in, but I know my God has been moving mightily.

So.. here we are. Promises have been made.. and we're just waiting for them to be fulfilled. I don't have any doubt (well maybe just a teeny, tiny inkling because of my sinful nature) that they won't be fulfilled. But all this waiting is killing me!! =/ I've been trying to pray for patience.. hmm.. maybe I should pray harder and truly mean it?

Dear Ms. Princess,

Do you know how cute it is when you crawl over to wherever I might be, and stand up with the support of my legs, and look up at me? Its just precious. But what's even cuter is the little smirk and the look of yearning in your eyes for me to pick you up! But what may be even cuter than that, is when you do look up at me.. you can only do it for maybe 2 seconds, because you almost topple backwards from looking straight up like that! Its sooo cute!

I love you precious baby and I'm so glad that we have been able to spend so much time together today!

Love,
Mommy

Happy Father's Day

Dear Daddy,

Have I told you lately how you are the best Daddy in the whole entire world? Well, you are.. I promise! I love you so much! Don't worry.. I'm really a daddy's girl at heart. I just put on a show sometimes for Mommy to make her think I'm a momma's girl. (You know.. she's kind of sensitive about that. But think about it, I said your name first! I sure do have her fooled, don't I!)

Thank you for always making bath time so fun! Thank you for spoiling me with all the yummy food when Mommy isn't looking! Cake icing, ice cream, and coke are some of my favorites!

I love you so much Daddy,

Jade-a-roo

Hmmm...

So, in a previous post, you may recall my complaints about my Princess not wanting to eat and then how she was teething on vacation. Well, look what we have to show for it all!

Sorry, I couldn't get much closer.. she likes to eat the camera.

Baby Girl has 3 teeth now! And I think I saw a 4th one starting to pop through also! WOOHOO! Way to go Jade!

Baby on Vaca

A few weeks back, we took a mini vaca to Lake Travis with a few friends of ours. We had such a blast.. just relaxing out in the water and being lazy at the condo.

The day we left for Austin, Jade graduated to a forward facing carseat. I don't think she was all that impressed at first. Well.. I guess it was probably that and the fact that it was nap time. Either way, the first 45 minutes of the trip were just a little rough. Then, she was out like a light.

And as long as her belly was full, she was fully rested, and didn't have the "normal" lifejacket on.. She was perfectly content for the rest of the vacation. I'm beginning to thing Baby Girl is a bit of a diva. =)

Really though, I thought she did really great! Especially since her routine was all out of whack for the duration of the vacation. (HAH, I just rhymed.) Oh, and did I mention that she was also teething?

By far, one of my fav things about Lake Travis, The Pier (formerly shades.) Its just this little restaurant on the water. The food's good, the water's just gorgeous, and the catfish are GINORMOUS! Sometimes, I intentionally have leftovers..just so I can feed the fish! Just imagine their mouths big enough to fit your head in it. (Its not that big of an exaggeration, really!)

And because I know this is the real reason anyone ever reads this blog....

Dear Jade

Thank you for sleeping through the night!

Love,

Mommy

(p.s. To the 4 people that might check my blog regularly =), sorry no real update yet! I've been a bit lazy lately and have just enjoyed "chilling" after the Princess goes to sleep!)

9 Months?!?!?!

When did that happen? (Okay.. I really know when that happened, but I can't believe our precious angel is already 9 months old!)

Jade is still growing like a weed! At her 9 month check up, she was 30 inches tall (^97%) and weighed just under 22 pounds (90%).

She's still slowly transitioning into table foods. Some of her favorites are drinkable yogurt, cheese, anything a "grown up" is eating or drinking, strawberries and grapes. She is still REALLY good about not refusing most things. She'll usually eat a jar food and then some kind of fresh fruit or veggies with it.

And the strong little booger is almost walking! I can't believe it! She is starting to take steps just barely holding on to our finger or something small like a remote.

I'll have some pictures of Jade's 1st vacation and other cute things that have been happening sometime this week.