Setting the Table

Hope set the table a couple nights ago. Here are the results:

Robbie's place setting

Kelli's place setting

Hope's place setting

When setting table

Upside down for others fine

Make own place perfect.

Accident-Prone Much?

Haven bonked the corner of her eye on a door-jam last week.

Then she skinned her knee.

Yesterday she slammed her cheek into the edge
of a headboard.

And today she has a black eye from that slammed cheek... and she
slammed the other cheek on the cement.

Hopefully she grows out of this phase soon. I don't know how many more injuries I can handle, but she is one tough girl!

Fifteen Months

No, that's not a real potato...

This is the best picture that I could get of Haven during our short attempt. Actually, the real reason I was shooting pictures today was because I wanted to document the "owie" on her right cheek. She was attempting to lay down on Hope's pillow, and smacked her cheek very sharply against the corner of the headboard. It bruised immediately. You can't see it all to clearly here because this was taken after icing the bruise for a little while.

At fifteen months, Haven is quite the talker. I haven't even counted how many words she says, but she knows so many.

She is walking and trying to go faster than a walk sometimes, resulting in her first skinned knee last week.

She is accident-prone. Her face has been more banged up than any other part of her body recently. Poor girl. I think she's learning from her stumbles and falls though.

I weighed her again today. I actually weigh her quite often, because I have been concerned about her weight gain... Maybe I should back off on it a little bit. Anyway, she has finally hit the 18 lb. mark for the first time! Yay for weight gain. She's slowly but steadily putting on the poundage...

She definitely has a different personality than her big sister. I can see her own funny, loving, independent and strong-willed spirit emerging more and more as she is growing. Every month brings new accomplishments and challenges. Right now I think she is getting more teeth :)

Fifteen months! My how the time just keeps flying by...

Flight

A friend of mine shared this poem with a group on FB. It speaks exactly of my feelings for my two girls! Just had to share...

Flight
……

I know women
who would lose their children
like throwing off a robe,
unbraiding a red ribbon
and discarding it, to let
their wild selves fly free.

I know women
who put aside their children
like cheap jewelry by the side of the bed.
I know women
who never seem to wear them at all.

My girls, I do not want
to be free of you.
You are like my wedding rings
which I could have easily slipped out of
but wear
every day that my heart beats.

I want you near me.
My girls, my husband,
when I see a sunset
I want these two eyes
to be part of the eight who see it.
I want our laughter and stories
to be so tangled
that our memories weave into one dream.

This is my time with you.

Soon enough, you will be off
swimming your own new seas.
Soon enough, we will step back and watch you
blooming and bursting in solitary ways
in your own fresh, separate skins.

How could I waste this?

Oh my darlings, you are not my cage.
You are my wings.

~Alicia Bayer

On High Ground

Hope watching the water rise, feeling secure up on the porch.

Two Years Past

Who knows what would have happened if not for the sorrow we endured two years ago.

I still think about that baby. The little lifeless form on the ultrasound. The pain and heartbreak that I felt. I never attached a name to that child. I don't know why not. I know some people do. I know that Jesus had a special name for "him" though. I always believed that baby was a boy.

Without that disappointing sorrow, we wouldn't have the joy of Haven today. I know that God is Love. I will never forget the child that might have been, but I am so thankful to God for the joy and laughter He has blessed us with through our two wonderful girls. 

Taking Hope to the zoo during that weekend two years ago.

Fingers and Toes

Both fingers and toes

Two young sisters reaching out

Fast friendship forming

Thirteen Months

Haven turned 13 months on the first. Thought I would snap some photos of her 13 month old self. This one turned out the best.

Just today she hit the 17 pound mark. Yay for weight gain! Also, she's gaining new vocab daily. Today she's been saying water (wawa), bottle (baba), open (opeh), and also just babbling things that sound like sentences. She's amazing.

Marker Face

I guess I took Sabbath off when it came to putting a photo on here every day. But here is one of Hope. I don't think she even realized what she'd done.

Veiled

Haven hiding in the cheesecloth.

Beneath lacy cloth

She plays and sits for moment

Not long will she stay

Poll Results

The poll that I created to assess your interest and what you would like to read is now closed. Actually, I'm not sure when it closed, but I just saw that it is. The winner of the poll is A Photo A Day. I was disappointed to only get 9 votes total, and one of those was my own. But now I know that most people don't care what I write about, and I guess that is a good thing in a way.

So, for the next month I'll be doing A Photo A Day. Here is today's:

Hope riding her new bicycle

Dragonfruit Face

As Haven was eating her lunch

She was wanting some more to munch

Red dragonfruit food

She smeared it in good

And ate it all up without crunch.

Curly Cue Haiku

Hot humidity

Wispy spirals all over

Framing funny face

Flowers in Her Hair

We just received a package from some friends in the States with some flowers for the girls' hair. Thought I'd share some of the pictures.

Funny face

A good hairstyle for keeping long hair from getting tangles.

Practicing zooming while shooting. This is one of the best pictures
I was able to get while practicing. I like the flower and Hope's
profile.

New Teeth and Watercolors

Three teeth! There's another one coming in on her right side.

Hope has really been enjoying her watercolors. That was a great purchase
on our part.

At One Year

Newborn Haven

At 1 Year Old, Haven is:
71 1/2 cm. long
7 kilos, with a head circumference of 44 cm
Pulling up to stand
Cruising along everything
Taking 2-3 sturdy steps in a row, once in a while
Babbling all the time

6 month Haven

At 1 Year Old, Haven says:
"Hi there!"
Hi
Bye-bye
Baby
Bye-bee (diaper)
Byla-byla (banana)
Papay (papaya)
Daddy
dahdee (doggy)
chickie
ba (bath)
dtaw (stop)
duh (done)
mama (although I think she uses daddy interchangeably for both of us)
bee-bee (peek-a-boo)
ja-eh (this is Thai peek-a-boo)

11 month Haven

At 1 Year Old, Haven:
Is starting to actually look through books
Gives hugs, kisses and high fives
Still nurses at least four times a day
Takes about three naps a day, and sleeps all night (7:30-6:30)
Enjoys playing with Hope
Loves nodding and shaking her head, especially when copying someone else
Imitates what others say, often quite clearly
Likes to sip out of a straw, although most liquid goes down her front
Is a snuggle-bug, and loves to roll around on beds and blankets while saying, "Aaaahhh."

Another newborn pic of Haven

We're so blessed to have had one year so far with our Haven Anne.

Haven's Skype 1st Birthday Party

For Haven's first birthday we decided to do a Skype family birthday party. So I sent out invitations over Facebook to our family members. I let them know not to bring gifts. I also told them that we'd be having carrot cupcakes, but they wouldn't be able to taste them. I did invite them to make their own carrot cake to eat along with us during the party.

It turned out very well. We chatted with family in Idaho and Texas, some simultaneously, and some one-on-one. Haven didn't have much of a clue what all the fuss was about but she enjoyed smushing her carrot cupcake all over the place.

Hope ate all her frosting and left her cupcake. There was some good thinking done before-hand so that Hope and Haven both got some homemade applesauce in their tummies before they loaded up on cupcakes and frosting.

All in all it turned out very well for a first birthday party. Happy Birthday to our little one!

Cardboard Box Fun

We bought a countertop oven the other day. The box has become a toy for Hope. She's fixed it up as a home for her favorite stuffed animals and dolls.

She loves to pretend to sleep in the box along with her animals
and dolls.

They Grow Up So Fast

Our chickies on their first night as our pets.
They were falling asleep in my hands.

Our chickies about two weeks after becoming our pets.
We still have no names. We're waiting until we
are sure of gender. I think the two darker ones are male.

We love our little chicks, but if we have two males we'll get rid of one. We wouldn't want them fighting with each other. They've been growing so fast. So have our girls... Haven turns one in three days!!!

Outdoor Fun!

We have a great yard for our girls to play in. The other day I went outside with Hope and Haven when it was starting to cool down a little, and I had some fun taking pictures of the girls playing sweetly together.

Crawling in sync

A hug from Hope

Sitting pretty

Something has their attention

Smiling adoringly at her little sister

What sweet girls. They are such a blessing to our family.