Foto Frenzy!

I thought maybe I’d post one a day, but since I’m here, and all the pictures are ready, I’ll just give you all of them at once:) Above – Analise has finally decided she’s interested in something other than milk! Here she’s seriouly involved in a biter biscuit. I have not been prepared for how messy eating can be!

  
Above – We took advantage of Grandma Toone’s beautiful yard and the beautiful spring weather last weekend to try to get some pictures outside. Unfortunately, Analise was quite unsmiley… at least that we could catch!

Below – My little monkey is at it again. A different end table, this one sandwiched between the computer desk (to the left in the picture) and the sofa (to the right). Analise noticed a leftover plastic egg hiding back there, and while I wasn’t watching, climbed back between the table and the wall! I couldn’t reach to get her out, so I snatched the egg, set it back out from behind the table, and she quickly came out to get it:) I’ve got it on video, and I’ll try to upload it. Quite comical!

   

Lastly, a cute one of bathtime. A far cry from the screaming photo we have of her from her first bath!

I feel like the events of this week have caused the world consider death much more than we normally do and prefer to do. The death of Terry Schiavo forced us to think about the end of our own lives and what we would want for ourselves and our loved ones. Discussions with some people at church this week came back to the fact that as Christians we have so much to look forward to beyond this world. We’re going to meet Jesus and be with God for eternity! How great is that? We think this world is great – and it really is full of blessings. But God’s told us over and over in His Word that this earth is just a shadow of what’s in store for us.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall knaow fully, even as I am fully known.” –1 Corinthians 13:12
But as wonderful as we know it will be, there’s still considerable fear at the thought of getting there – the process of death. I think the death of Pope John Paul II has been very exemplary. I can’t think of anyone on the earth who would be watched more closely, espeically as the end of life draws near. And as his life waned, he was an example of peace. I hope that as people watched and prayed for him this week, they take this lesson away from his death. He walked into the presence of his Lord in peace, knowing Who was waiting for him.
In the words of Jesus,

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.”
Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me… Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
–John 14:1-7, 27

Analise has gone through various phases of sleeping. Back in California, we could lay her down and she’d put herself to sleep without a sound in about 5-10 min. It was amazing. Since we’ve moved, though, she’s fought sleeping so hard. She did get more mobile when we moved here: rolling over, crawling, pulling up. She uses ALL of these after we put her down. I’ll lay her down, she’ll put her thumb in her mouth and close her eyes as I leave. Then moments later, I’ll hear a slight effort over the baby monitor, and we know she’s rolled over. She’ll usually get on her hands and her knees and crawl her head into the corner of the crib and then start fussing. Or she’ll sit up and play with the fish aquarium on the side of the crib. Or perhaps she’ll pull up and stand at the side fussing. I usually let her fuss and get a bit more tired before I go in, snuggle her and return her to normal sleeping position because I’m not sure she can get herself back to laying down. A couple times, I’ve gone in there after she’s quieted herself down to find that she must have been sitting up and gotten tired, so she’s about folded over in a seated position with her head laid down. Poor girl…

This morning she was been pretty good about sleeping. She was tired this afternoon, but just didn’t want to go to sleep. But I just went in to check on her, and she was curled up the opposite direction I laid her down, asleep with her thumb in her mouth. (Just in case you were worried, I always pick her up and put her back into a good sleeping position.) So here’s a glimpse of my angelic little sleep fighter who, by the way, has slept through the night for the last 3 nights – WOOHOO!

I just had to post one of my favorite links to the Top 100 April Fool’s Day Hoaxes of All Time. There have been some pretty amazing hoaxes pulled off around the world! Among my favorites (in case you don’t have time to enjoy them all):

• The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest (#1)
• The Taco Liberty Bell (#4)
• Alabama Changes the Value of Pi (#7)
• Planetary Alignment Decreases Gravity (#10)

Enjoy! I hope you don’t get April Fooled!

I wish I had a comment section for this because I’m sure we’d find everyone likes them differently. But I believe that Brian’s come up with the most original Peep creation – the Peep-a-Latte. Here’s the story:

Yesterday at work, he was enjoying his coffee (with Latte Creations mix) but found he needed sugar. The Peeps I had included in his lunch looked like the perfect solution, so he dropped one into his coffee! Sure enough, it was the perfect amount of sweetener. The only problem, he said, was that the little Peep just floated there, slowly, slowly dissolving, with its little eyes looking up at him. He said all afternoon, he kept hearing little “peeps”… (and his instant messages to me always began with a “peep, peep!”

So I created my own Peep-A-Latte this morning. As the water was boiling for coffee, I HONESTLY was hearing little chirps… was it the Peep that was soon to meet its demise or the eggs I was hardboiling?!? I’m not sure… but my Peep-A-Latte sure hits the spot this morning!

Too much fun going on = behind on everything! I’ll try to catch up with fun stories and pictures this week. Above –We planted a dogwood tree in our front yard for Analise so she can watch it grow as she grows.

My younger (not little, bc she’s taller than I am!) sister, Kat, came to visit last week during her spring break. Analise thoroughly enjoyed her time with her aunt. Every time she woke up, she was looking around to see if she was still there. She found Kat to be particularly funny, and she giggled and laughed more while she was here than I think we’ve ever heard! Kat made herself comfortable on the floor, and Analise quite enjoyed climbing over her like a living jungle gym.

  
The Saturday before Easter, Analise attended her first Easter Egg Hunt at our church, Lakeside Baptist. It was held in the playground area for ages birth-3 years. There were eggs EVERYWHERE! So we sat Analise down on the sidewalk with an egg in front of her. She wasn’t quite sure what to do, and she just kept reaching out and touching it, but not picking it up. We added another one, but she still just kept touching it and getting distracted by the other kids (she loves kids!). We finally set several eggs right in front of her, and she just looked at them. A 3 year old girl came over and reached down to pick them up saying, “Look! Here’s a couple more!” We managed to fend her off, since she had upwards of 30 in her basket already. After all was said and done, Analise came home with 5 eggs. (The infants sleeping in their seats had more in their baskets thanks to their quick parents!>
All of us, including Kat, drove up to Indiana on Wednesday to meet up with my family. Analise sure knows how to be the center of attention:) She did catch onto the easter egg concept, though, when we put a whole bunch around her at Grandma’s house!

I honestly think we humans will never fully understand love. Some days it’s hard to love Brian, but I always choose to do so. I love Brian dearly, but loving Analise is different. It’s baffling how we can love something so much. Thus far, I’ve never had a moment of struggling to love her. She’s got a cold and keeps burying her drippy-drooly face on my pants and shoulder. Last week, we were both all dressed up and ready for church, and she unloaded an entire feeding of milk all over both of us (and the glider rocker, blanket and floor). Late again for church… She still wakes up in the 2-4am hours hungry. She wakes for her morning feeding around 5-6, which is not when I’d choose to start my day. And this morning, she woke at 5:30, sniffly, tired and hungry. And she kept trying to nap from 8:00 onward, miserably unable to sleep until finally she collapsed in my arms at 9:45. I know these are all little inconveniences, and I’m sure we’ll face real challenges eventually. But somehow, I just feel like this love for my daughter is different from my love for my husband.

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! –1 John 3:1

It’s kind of the tiniest glimpse of God’s love for us. We’re His children, and His love for us is unwavering – even more so than ours. Amazing.

Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– children born not of natural descent,nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. –John 1:12-13

Alabama is an interesting place. As we were watching some severe weather coverage on TV last night (in place of our fav Extreme Makeover: Home Edition… Grr!), I was reminded that Alabama has some interesting names for towns. Among them, Oneonta (pronounced On-e-on-ta), Eutaw (pronounced, amazingly, like the state Utah! Maybe this spelling looks more southern?!?), Fenix (pronounced like it looks, or like the Arizona town Phoenix), and Pintlala (not sure how it’s pronounced, but we just love saying it!). Technicallly, we live in the city of Hoover, though I prefer to write Birmingham as our address, in spite of the extra letters:) Other interesting names in my new home state include several that are also more well-known in other states: Ashville (also in North Carolina, and pronounced here as “Ash-vul”), Cleaveland, and Athens (Georgia or Greece, take your pick). I know there were several others I noticed while driving a few weeks ago, but that’s all I can remember for now.
If you’re interested in more comical commentary on another interesting state (Iowa), my brother-in-law wrote a great editorial for the Demoines Register. CLICK Here

As a sidenote, it’s nice to know so many of you are following my rather quiet life by checking in on a regular basis. I know that it’s probably largely to see pictuers of my smiling baby, though. I’ll get a couple up this week, but she’s not been very photogenic in the past couple weeks! I’m glad we had her professional pics taken when we did, because she’s taken to wrinkling her face up into a gummy-tiny-toothy grin, that’s only a little cute. She’s also had a terribly runny nose for the last week, and I can’t keep her face dry. (I used to think it was so gross when kids were out-and-about with runny noses and wonder why their moms couldn’t keep their noses wiped. Now I know… and I’m one of them! Analise gets so mad when I try to wipe it!) Anyway, thanks for reading this far and I’ll post some pics this week, so check back!

Wish you were here! The sunsets over the hills here in Birmingham, and the other evening it gave everything a pretty pink hue. We’ve got a beautiful camellia bush on the right side, where Brian and Analise are standing. We like being homeowners!

So today it’s been kind of cold, down in the lower 30’s at night. (Note: I said “kind of” for my NORTHERN friends, who know what the word “cold” actually means.) Since we now pay to heat a whole house, we’ve learned that it’s kind of expensive to keep it nice and toasty warm:) Thankfully, we have a nice fireplace in the den, where Analise and I spend most of our time. But with a curious, active baby, a fireplace could pose a real problem. Well, our much debated solution was to invest in a Hearth Gate (by Kidco). Kind of pricy, but we’ve found it be be invaluable since she LOVES the glowing, crackling fire, and she would probably climb right up onto our low hearth and right into the fireplace. So all that to say, that’s the thing in the above picture that you see… not Analise in a cage:) I just started a rip roaring fire, and it’s been a challenge to keep her away… but when she’s away she’s off exploring the kitchen while I’m tending the fire. Or at the moment, she’s unloading the bookshelves. Gotta go!

Since this is my blog, I figured I can post anything I’d like… and today I’m inspired to share how much I’ve enjoyed this book. The Busy Mom’s Guide to Prayer by Lisa Whelchel has been a great way to organize the many things that are on my heart to pray for (probably including you!) It has 6 categories per day of areas to focus your prayers, including scriptures, prayers using the scriptures and an extended prayer. It’s also got 6 areas per day for other prayers. I, personally, have used many different manners to get organized praying in the past, and they all work for a season. This works for this season, and I’ve especially enjoyed the scripture references.