Monday, February 13, 2012

6 months: Rockin' and Rollin'

Eden turned 6 months last Thursday and we are excited to enter into the new phase of babyhood with her!  I thought it'd be fun to list off a few personality traits she's already exhibiting.  Who knows if they'll last but it is so amazing to watch Eden emerge into who she's going to be.

determined
If there is a toy or object or person in front of her that she wants, Eden will do whatever maneuver it takes to get herself there.  She spins, she rolls, she scoots backwards and she s t  r   e    t     c      h       e        s.  Until she finally gets it.  Then 30 seconds later she sees something else and the determination kicks in again.

mover
Eden is on the move.  Constantly.  If I lay her down in one spot and then leave for 30 seconds, I come back and she is on the opposite side of the room.  She is our little wiggle worm always on the move.  We can't even feed her a bottle without her trying to squirm out of our arms.  We may have to administer a weight lifting and reflex test before anyone holds her to see if they can handle her.  I'm sort of serious.  She's almost leaped out of my arms on multiple occasions.

In other moving news, Eden is SO CLOSE to crawling.  Our determined little girl wants it so badly.  She gets up on all fours and rocks.  Even a few times I've seen her sort of jump forward.  We'll keep you updated when she actually starts.  It'll be so fun to hear the sounds of thud thud thud again on our floors.  We cherished the sound of Owen's crawls all around the house.  

Don't judge me for letting her cry!  She gets crazy frustrated if she can't get to something - there's no way around it but letting her cry through it.  It's good for her anyway. :)

social
Eden continues to just love being around people.  Especially her mama.  To illustrate my point, today she and I were playing on the floor.  She was content and playing with her pacifier.  Not a care in the world.  I got up and walked to the bookshelf and out came the whimper.  Then I walked to the kitchen to grab a drink and then came the wailing.  I walked back over to her, picked her up and a huge smile spread across her face.  She loves other kids.  Anytime she is sitting facing another baby she just wants to grab their face and kiss them.  Its so cute.  Her little body gets into excite mode and she can barely sit because of the pure joy.  I'm still unsure if she will be an extrovert like her brother, but one thing is certain - she will be a loyal and caring friend.  



With cousin Ben at his 1st Birthday party last saturday.  They already adore each other.  Happy Birthday Ben!

loud
Our house is anything but quiet.  Especially because of being in college ministry, we constantly have friends coming through our doors.  And our friends have some fun-loving (ehem, loud) personalities.  Okay, okay, I'm sure Jon and I are not quiet either.  And when Owen is awake there is constant laughter, roaring, neighing, oinking, mooing, jabbering, running, jumping, "boo"ing, pillowing fighting, dancing, singing, and you get the point.  So Miss Eden has decided she too needs to be heard.  She talks, she cries, she coos,she squeals, she grunts, and some even say, she roars.  When she is awake she lets you know it.  I hear of babies who are easily forgotten because they sit so quietly content.  Not Eden.  She wants to be a part of the action too and can't wait to tell you all about it.

I had a video of Eden's sweet laughter during a game of peek-a-boo.  But it wouldn't upload.  maybe I'll try another time.

Favorite photos from the past few months.  Isn't she so sweet???








Monday, February 6, 2012

Christmas in Des Moines

Christmastime is here... Well, it was when these pictures were taken!  Even though its February, I thought I should finally get around to the task of documenting our first Christmas as a family of four!  I'll post a few different parts so there aren't a million pictures on each post.

We had fun getting ready for Christmas this year.  When we set up the tree, Owen immediately said "Oh!!!" without any prompting from adults.  It was perfect.  Also, Carol helped liven up our tree by giving us each a Christmas ornament for Christmas.  Owen's was a dog which was also perfect.  Grandma Deb got Eden her Christmas stocking which is so cute.  






Something I always enjoy about the Christmas season in Des Moines is being with the students when they don't have school!  There's always a smaller crowd which means everyone still sticking around hangs out together most of the week.  One night we had the students over to make Gingerbread houses.  I thought they turned out wonderful!




Another night, the girls from our DTC Bible study had a cookie making/exchange/swap thingy.  It was so delicious.  I love spending time with those girls!


Jon and I had fun making a couple batches of caramels this year after we had so much fun doing it last year.  Hopefully, it'll become one of our family's Christmas traditions.  No pictures though...

On Christmas morning we were in Kansas City, so the four of us had our special time on the Tuesday before Christmas (because Tuesday's are our family day).  We had a big breakfast, opened presents and then played a game of cribbage while drinking hot chocolate.  It was a great day together.




Post coming soon... Christmas in Memphis!