15 months old

It's been so long since I've posted, and it seems like every day I think, "I have to write that down!" Daphne is learning so much so quickly and it's so darn cute, I hope I can remember everything!

Sleeping through the night is going AWESOME! We haven't had any problems, really. Cute alert: Daphne learned how to take off her clothes, so sometimes when we come in to get her, she is missing some or all of them. She also turns her light switch on and off repeatedly, which is annoying, but hopefully safe?

Thanksgiving 2011 at Grandma Joan's house. This picture pretty much sums up the debauchery allowed at Grandma's house.

She is extremely rowdy, climbs onto the dining room chairs and onto the table, falls off and doesn't even cry. Well, most of the time. She learned how to use the DVD player and does so REPEATEDLY. I think that with one year olds, repeatedly is like the key word.

She really wants to be like Mama. Well, like Mama and Daddy, really. She has started imitating us and the results are adorable, of course. She puts our shoes on (or clothes) and walks around. She uses her toy phone and makes very familiar hand gestures and tones of voice (ahem), and the other day, oh man, she even prayed like us. She was in her high chair and reached out for Jon's hand. I thought she just wanted his food, but she grabbed his hand and then reached for mine. She then bowed her head and started mumbling in a very serious voice. SO CUTE. We are always trying to get her to hold hands with us when we pray, but she has never done it. This time, she did it on her own!

(You can't really tell, but it was snowing for the first time this year.)

Live Nativity at UMCH

I can never take a picture with this child when we are both smiling and pretty.

At fifteen months old, Daphne knows her eyes, ears, nose, mouth, head, hair, hands, feet, fingers, and toes. She knows what you are saying to her if you say, "Hey, can you hand Mommy that block right there? Can you put your toys in that box?" She totally does it! It amazes me because last year at this time, this is what she looked like and she couldn't even reach for things yet!

Now she can say words like moo, duck, chicken, frog, bath, ball, and that. For real. It's craziness. Well, maybe not, but to me it is.

Sometimes she seems so big.

Then I realize she's still pretty tiny.

Such a big girl...

Glam Friday

 I think it's because my favorite holidays are approaching, but I am feeling a sense of excitement that makes me want to be glamorous! Of course, I have a mom haircut, clothes that are covered in sticky handprints, and no where glamorous to be, but it's fun to pretend. On that note, these are my Glamorous Fill in the Blank Friday ... um.. blanks. Play along at Lauren's blog *the little things we do*.

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is   I actually don't read a lot of blogs, but I've been checking out Linny's Vault lately and she makes me laugh a lot.  

2.   Something I am thankful for is how Daphne reacts when I pray with her. I just started really doing it because she just now has a bedtime routine, so I was surprised she had a reaction at all. She snuggles into my chest and is very quiet and still and when I say "Amen," she kisses me. Seriously? Couldn't be any cuter. 

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was   Daphne dancing while Jon fed her chocolate pudding. It was most definitely a happy dance.

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is   Shi by Alfred Sung. I haven't worn it in years, but I love it and desperately wish I had some now.

5.  I am excited about  Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I hope they don't disappoint .

6.  If I were a color I would be    purply magenta with sparkles. Even with this mom haircut, I have a rockstar inside .

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by   hiking in the woods with Jon.

Praise Jesus! My baby is sleeping!

A miracle has happened in our family: Daphne is sleeping through the night, on her own, NO CRYING. I mean no crying even when you lay her down.

This was a typical day for us: 

Daphne goes to bed between 9 and 10:30. If I couldn't get her to sleep by nursing, she would have to come in my bed with me until I nursed her to sleep there.

Once she was asleep, I put her in her crib where she slept for about 3 to 5 hours. Then, I would have to go get her and let her lay with me. Sometimes, I would put her back in her crib after she fell back to sleep. Sometimes, she would sleep all night with me. 

As far as naps? I just let her fall asleep whenever.

Here is a typical day now: 

Daphne goes to bed at 7:30 without being nursed and doesn't cry! 

She wakes up 11 to 12 hours later!

She naps precisely 3.5 hours after she wakes up and 3 hours again after that nap.

(She is still adjusting to not crying when she lays down for naps, but she never cries longer than 5 minutes).

How did this miraculous change take place? The Sleepeasy Solution.

I was skeptical. Daphne is 14 months old. I have tried to let her cry it out in the past, but I was a wreck. It didn't work for us AT.ALL. The methods described in the book do include allowing the baby to cry, so I had SO MUCH ANXIETY about the process. After I read the book, I was somewhat encouraged to attempt it anyway. I mean, we were tired around here, yo.

So, the first night? Daphne cried for exactly 31 painful minutes when I laid her down without nursing. Then? She slept her typical 4 hours and woke up and cried for about 5 minutes. She woke up a couple hours later and cried for 5 minutes. I let her cry, and she stayed in her crib the entire time.

The next night? I laid Daphne down. She cried for two minutes and then SLEPT FOR 12 HOURS WITHOUT CRYING ONCE.

Tonight will be night five, and she has not cried since the second night. She is consistently sleeping well. 

It's amazing. 

Of course, I highly recommend this book, however, every parent and child is different, and what works for us may not work for everyone. Also? I don't think I could have done this method when she was younger than 12 months. But, I am SO GLAD I finally did it now!

Got to get down on Friday

I am super thankful that our family has made it through October and into November and I have to say: We would not have done so without very, very generous and loving friends. I am COMPLETELY overwhelmed and humbled and grateful for the people who have blessed us so lovingly. You know who you are, friends. <3

On that note, I'm excited to fill out these blanks that Lauren at *the little things we do* has prepared for this lovely Friday! Head over there (after you read mine, of course), and fill some out yourself. All the cool kids are doing it.

1.   My favorite thing about this week was/is   finding a new Alice Hoffman book at the library and devouring it in a few days. Love her. I was CRAZY excited when I saw it on the New Releases shelf. (Side note? There was a BRILLIANT two year old in the kid section who knew all her shapes including octagon.. When the mom told me she was two, I was tempted to tell her that Daphne was five months old so she would think my baby was precocious, too...)

2.   Colder weather makes me happy and sad. I AM a contrarian, so of course, this is the case. I love the feelings associated with the weather: joy of the holidays, zeal for sledding and snowman building, romantic cuddling, etc. However, the reality is, it gets kind of scary in the winter around here. We live in a small apartment and it's like we're in the Shining sometimes.

3.  Three things that make me terribly happy as of late are  um. This shouldn't be so hard to answer. My lovely friends, the weather, and books definitely have made me happy as of late. There we go..

4. If I could only wear one kind of shoe for the rest of my life, I'd choose   cute flats. In fact, I probably will wear them for the rest of my life .

5.  My personality type is   I really don't know. I perceive myself to be impatient, quick-tempered, generous, out-going, and loving .

6.  I have a serious problem resisting    American Horror Story. I keep telling myself it's too dark and disturbing to watch, but I KEEP watching it. I've just gotten over being able to be in the dark when Jon's not home since the last episode, but I KNOW I will watch it again...

7.  My favorite color to wear is   peacock blue or most shades of dark purple. However, I really only wear black.

Daphne Duck

Even though Daphne didn't really understand that the best holiday ever was going on around her, I did my best to make sure she took part in some of the festivities. 

We started Halloween weekend by carving pumpkins. 

Oh, yeah. We actually started by creating this haircut. Pumpkins followed.

This is pretty much how she looked the entire time: Skeptical.

She finally got into it, but did not like the gooshy stuff on her fingers.

I WISH I had taken a picture of the finished products, and I have no idea how I forgot to do that, but suffice it to say they were the best pumpkins you've ever seen (particularly because you will never see them.)

Poor Jon had to work during Trick or Treat, so I got Daphne all dressed up and we hit the town. 

Well, really we went to her Grandma Lil's, Aunt Sue's, Honorary grandparents' Tony and Debbie's, another HGP Cheri's, and my other friend Sherry's. She was given candy, but I made a sacrifice for her nutrition and teeth and promptly ate it for her.

She didn't mind a bit.

We took her to the Kiddie Parade on Saturday, and that was fun. We saw her friend Ella in the parade and said hi, and Ella RAN over to us to hug Daphne. That was the highlight, I think. 

In other Daphne news, she is becoming more cute and intelligent every day.

Example? She says, "HEY DOE," for "Hello." Cutest. Ever.

Punkin' at the Patch

My memories are so tied to this time of year, and as a result, I feel such a strong sense of nostalgia and yearning to recreate past feelings associated with fall. So, taking Daphne to the Pumpkin Patch is one way I've tried to do that.

We didn't have time to take her last year, so this was her very first time. I'm glad we waited, because now that she is one, she had so much fun running around Marlow's, checking out the animals, riding the hayride, and especially playing on the playground.

She loves her Daddy.

Look at my cute baby and ...

 Join the Fill in the Blank fun at Lauren's blog, 'the little things we do'!

1.   Nothing says fall like   brisk winds, hoodies, bonfires and beautiful leaves .

2.   My favorite autumnal tradition is  the Centralia Halloween parade! I love the entire day from the Chili Cook-off to the 2.5 hour parade!

3.  My favorite fall treat is apple pie, apple tarts, apple cake, apple crisp... Give me apples over pumpkin any day   .

4. Fall makes me think of  romance     because   hayrides and bonfires and pumpkin patches are meant for cuddling couples  .

5.  Autumn free form word association, go!  crisp, harvest, cinnamon, crunch.

6.  My go-to outfit in the fall is    similar to my outfits in the spring and summer, except I exchange flip-flops for shoes and socks. I wish I had super cute fall clothes, but I'm poor and have to make things work in every season.

7.  My favorite fall holiday is (Halloween or Thanksgiving)   yikes! Tough call. I love the fun spirit of Halloween and the vibe that anything can happen, but I also love getting together with family and eating delicious food.

Rampage Minor

Our darling princess is really more like a UFC fighter/ninja, so she gets called by her new nickname quite frequently these days. In my life, I have never been around babies on a regular basis, and I admit, I thought they remained pretty small and stationary for a long time, but now I know I was wrong. Somehow, Jon and I have a baby who is not only precociously physically active but also dangerously clever when it comes to getting what she wants at all costs. 

At fourteen months old now, Daphne weighs 21 lbs and instead of that consisting of sugar and spice, she seems to be made of springs and wires. Lately she has been climbing onto everything and has figured out how to scale the ottoman that previously prevented her from wreaking havoc in the kitchen. She's especially fond of climbing onto the couch to reach the light switch that is so incredibly exciting to turn off. Also, she does this a lot.

She can't just sit in it leisurely, oh no, she has use it for acrobatics.

She uses it more than we do.

She is nearly immune to the scrapes and bruises that result from her many tumbles and hardly ever cries. Once, she climbed the couch arm after I repeatedly told her not to and when she fell, she defiantly looked at me! However, just the other day, she fell hard on the bridge of her nose. It was awful. Even then, she hardly cried, but her nose was so swollen and bruised. The WEIRDEST part of this experience was that later during the day, RICE came out of her nose. Yes, you read that correctly. She had apparently shoved some rice up her nose a couple days earlier and the fall dislodged it. Yeah. That about sums her up right there.

She was fine, though, and her nose is healing nicely. However, this incident came just after she recovered from Roseola. That was a scary few days when my baby looked like this.

Happy but rashy

So, finally, she has recovered from both. To celebrate, she had a couch party with her friends.

Some other fun Daphne updates:

She learned how to say "Uh oh!" and uses it appropriately. 

She blows on her food (like I do) even when it's not hot.

She gives kisses to Jon and me and her dolls constantly.

She dances like Justin Timberlake when she hears music ... and sometimes when there isn't any..

The other day, Jon was doing squats and she started doing them too.

As you can see, everything she does is brilliant, hilarious, and adorable.

See?

Friendships

Yesterday, on a FITBF, there was a question about best friends. I admitted that I don't have one. I didn't know how much that bothered me until I thought about answering that question and then when a later commenter told me she was praying for me to get one, it kind of affected me more than I expected.

I look back on my life and there has always been a group of girls who enriched my life with their friendships. I was defined by them. I told them everything and they told me everything. We were sensitive to each other's peculiarities, kept secrets to the death, and never had a crush on the same boy. In high school, the range of friends widened and I had good friends and acquaintances from many social circles. Also in high school, I found out what having a real best friend was like.

It's strange to think back on, to try and define that friendship, particularly because it's been broken and I can only see it with nostalgic eyes. But, I remember being consumed by her. I wanted to dress like her, talk like she did, read the same books, listen to the same music, but I also wanted to be someone about whom she felt the same. Like girls in a movie, we traded clothes, talked on the phone for hours, gossiped relentlessly, and told each other how awesome we were daily.

We had inside jokes that either annoyed everyone else or no one even noticed because we only really cared what the other thought anyway. I could tell her everything, and I did, and I think she told me everything, too.

We stayed friends through college, though it was at a distance. In college, I met another circle of girls who I still absolutely love to this day. We have been through INSANITY together, and we know more about each other than probably anyone ever will. College is where you are most vulnerable, and those girls have my back (and vice versa) forever.

My best friend and I definitely didn't stay as close as we once were when we could walk to the other's house, but we were still close. Even after we graduated, we talked on the phone a couple times a week, we visited, we stayed connected and invested in each other. Looking back, I can say now that is what I thought, but now I'm not entirely sure.

During college and immediately after is the period of my life that I squandered with drugs and alcohol. Honestly? There are blank spots in my memories, periods of time that I can't quite place, even people that I don't recall. It was a very selfish, devastating, and unhealthy time, and I'm sure this is when my friendship started to shatter.

Here's the thing: I didn't know it at the time. I thought we were still forever friends.

When I got married at 26, my best friend was my maid of honor. It wasn't until the day of my wedding that I realized that I was wrong. She was distant and seemed offended by something, but I still don't know what. After my wedding, we talked a handful of times, but then she stopped answering when I called, and she never called me back.

It took me months to accept the truth, that we were over as best friends. I kept calling. I emailed. I tried to apologize, but I didn't know exactly what was wrong. I have agonized over this and grieved over the loss of her in my life for years.

I have created a list of reasons why I think she may have cut me from her life, and I have tried to think of how I could fix our relationship. I finally realized nothing would have made this better, or she would have just told me and we could have moved on from there.

When I was 23, I moved to a small town where everyone knew everyone and I had no reason to invest in anyone. I had acquaintances aplenty and I still had strong friendships with my college girls and my bestfriend. After I got married at 26, everyone started getting married and starting families, and we still love each other but the distance makes strong friendships difficult.

I made friends with some older ladies at my church, who I still love and we are still close, but I really yearned for friends going through similar experiences- being newlyweds, talking about starting a family, just peers who could relate.

At the same time, I definitely feared making those kinds of friendships. There is SO much insecurity involved with "finding" friends. Everyone seems cooler, prettier, more together or whatever and in this town, everyone already had lifelong friends anyway.

So, when one day I was invited to join a small group Bible study with a group of women in exactly my age group and circumstances, I was completely nervous and excited.

This turned out to be the greatest friendship experience of my life. We started meeting three years ago, and we have gone through so much together and have petitioned in prayer for each other in so many different ways. We definitely love each other in Christlike relationship free from gossip and drama.

Unfortunately, lately, it just seems like everyone is going her own direction. I totally understand this, I just regret it. I can't help but have some hurt feelings when I find out other girls are getting together without me or when I call someone all the time and no one is really calling me. I've been vulnerable with these girls and I feel like I have invested so much, and now, it seems like we've gone back to being surface friends.

Friendships are so hard. I can't tell who really wants me to invest anymore. I can't tell if I'm calling too much or what. I know that I need real friendships and I'm willing to reach out again and again, but I'm really afraid to get hurt, too.

I've been in prayer about this a lot. I feel like God is telling me to reach out to other people who feel the same way. So, I have been investing in other people's lives more, girls who don't have strong friendships and who also want to feel that bond. It's hard starting over with new people, but I know from experience that friendships are worth the time and effort and awkwardness.

Getting back to normal with a ...

Things are getting back to normal around our house as Daphne is starting to feel better! So, back to being more positive withhhhhh Fill in the Blank Friday! Play along at Lauren's blog!

1.   The most selfless thing I've ever done was    breastfeeding. Nursing my baby has, at times, been all-consuming, painful, tiring, draining (no pun intended), and inconvenient. Of course, it is also the most perfect nutrition for Daphne and it has led to hours of bonding and has been one of the most wonderful experiences of my life.

2.   When it comes to working out  I actually love it, but I have a million excuses that keep me from doing it.

3.  A woman should always  use the sensitivity that God gave us to be more aware of how we can better help others .

4. I wish I could   train for a marathon     and then I'd   feel amazing about myself   .

5.  A best friend is  hard to find. It seems like I have lots of acquaintances and friends who I love, but lately it seems like everyone is wrapped up in their own lives and it's getting harder and harder to get together. I genuinely wish I had a best friend. I used to, and I miss being able to just be myself with her.

6.  I can't get enough of    OMG Make It or Break It. Lately, I have been obsessed with this show. It combines two of my loves: gymnastics and dramatic soap opera type shows!

7.  This weekend I am   going to the pumpkin patch with Daphne for the first time! I can't wait to spend time with Jon and our baby who is finally healthy again.

Today

This happened.

We took Daphne to the doctor who said, yes, she does have a virus and it is contagious.

As a result, I cannot babysit any children this week.

As a result, we cannot buy groceries this week.

A friend, who was unaware of this situation, gave me $50 because she felt God wanted her to.

Praise the Lord!

Calm during chaos

Jon and I are in a season where our faith and our resolve is being tested. 

Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:20-21

When I quit my job, we knew that our finances would dwindle.  We've been here before, when we first got married. We know what it's like to cut every non-essential item from our budget. We're here again, and God has provided for us. Every month since I've not received a paycheck, we have been able to pay our bills and buy groceries and gas. We were making it!

This weekend, Jon got into a very minor car accident that was legally his fault but really he could not have avoided. Everyone was fine and the other car was in good shape, but our car was smashed. On top of the $500 insurance deductible, we also have to pay his $120 ticket.

To many of my friends, this would feel like an inconvenience. Maybe they would have to scale back on not going out to dinner so often or maybe they would wait to buy the boots they've had their eye on. Unfortunately, for us, it means that's it. We finally can't make it. We are in over our heads with no financial hope in sight.

Now, we know we have hope in Jesus. In fact, He's the only thing keeping us sane. I believe in all my heart that He delights to help His inheritors, His beloved, and I truly believe that this is something that He wants to help us through. I know that it's in these seasons, these valleys, that we have to turn to Him and BELIEVE that what He says is true. We will wait on Him, we will trust Him.

On top of the car issue this weekend, my baby is sick. I don't know what's going on with her. She is definitely not herself. Her eyes are half-closed most of the time, she's had a fever on and off for the past three days, and she CANNOT find contentment anywhere but in my arms. She would've crawled back into my womb, if it was possible.

Again, I know that I just have to trust. God loves Daphne even more than I do, and He will bring her through this.

Ughinspired

That is an annoying combination of 'ugh' and 'uninspired.'

It's ugly.

There is something wrong with my head right now. Mainly, I'm discontent. Recently, my bffs for life and I did a Bible study entirely on contentment, so I've got the tools, but for some reason? It's unattainable right now. Which, from what I've learned, is totally by choice.

See, I could choose to be content. But, I don't. It's the same as this: I could choose not to eat ice cream EVERY SINGLE DAY. But, I don't. (I'm calcium deficient. Don't judge me).

This discontentment creates several problems for me: a poor attitude, a monotonous daily schedule of doom, and a hopeless outlook on the future. Major bummer.

So, inspiration? Laughable. I can barely get through my task list let alone do any extras like 'play with Daphne' or 'be creative on my blog.' (Well, I'm joking on that first one. I only ignore her like 15% of the day).

But, I know me. And, if I don't write something, I will completely give up on my blog (because it's not PERFECT and for some reason, I've convinced myself that means it's worthless). So, even if I think my blog is crappy, I do still hold fast to the reasons I started writing here.

I NEED a creative outlet and I want to document my daughter's early life because I already forget so much.

Here's what I can remember right now:

She copies Jon and me all the time. He rubs his head, she rubs hers (and laughs hysterically).

She started calling her dad Jon. Yeah, he hates it. He gets a slight hysterical twinge in his voice when he says, "No! I'm Dada! Daddy!" He looks at my frantically and says, "Don't even call me by my name, call me Daddy so she gets it!" It makes me laugh so much that I continually call him Jon. Heh.

She fed her dolly some cereal the other day without any prompting. Freaking the cutest.

She is a tank. She runs into tables, falls off furniture, does somersaults and crashes and never cries.

She has 12 teeth right now. Craziness.

She points to everything and says, "That." or at least that's what I think she's saying. As in, "What's that?" This leads to a a lot of grocery store stares. "That's frozen pizza. Those are peaches. That's toilet cleaner." I'm trying to increase her vocabulary, people.

She loves her sock monkey and calls it MoMo. She constantly brings it to either Jon or me so we will make him talk to her in a silly voice.

She still doesn't sleep through the night. Any suggestions? I'm pretty tired, yo.

If you ask her to tell you where her eyes, ears, nose or any other body part is? She will point to her belly button. Every.Time. and say, "Bey but."

We have a lot of fun in the 85% of the time that I'm not ignoring her. Probably soon I'll get used to being poor and bored, and then the contentment will ease in. I mean, she is really darn cute, so that should help.

Friday, ya'll!

 

 

 Thanks again to Lauren at *the little things we do*  for coming up with these fun posts! I hope everyone has a spectacular weekend!

 

1.   You should always take time to     fix your hair. It sounds shallow, but I know I always feel better about facing the world when I've even just blow-dried mine .

2. Kittens and puppies    make(s) the world a happier place to be.

3.  I can hardly wait for the day when I sleep eight hours straight. Surely Daphne will sleep through the night at some point in the near future, right?!

4.   Monday    is my favorite day of the week. Because of Jon's schedule, Monday is like our Saturday.

5.  Something totally dumb and ridiculous that I love is  television. It's sad but true.

6.  If I could, I would  help a lot more people fix all their problems.

7.  I rather like   this episode of My Drunk Kitchen, but the language is totally inappropriate, just to warn ya. Still? Pretty funny.

Oh, Peeta ... I love you more than I do Edward

So. I am kinda obsessed with "The Hunger Games."

If you haven't read the trilogy and you like getting absorbed in fast-paced stories, you may like them. I read the books in about two days each and if I didn't have a toddling baby, I probably would have read them in one sitting. I was on the edge of my seat waiting to find out the conclusion.

That being said... they aren't spectacularly written. They are comparable to the Twilight books (however, much better than the obscenely horrible Twilight movies) in that the characters are relatable and the story engrossing but lacking sophistication and depth. It is Young Adult fiction, so you know, maybe author Suzanne Collins was trying to make it appeal to that audience and didn't want to reach further than what she did.

Though it's YA, "The Hunger Games" (and the other trilogy books "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay") deal with extremely disturbing subject matter. I don't want to give anything away, because I hope you will read these books, but I can say this: After I read them, I told Jon, "Dear God, I hope they don't make these into movies. I would have to watch them but I think I'd have nightmares for weeks."

Of course... they are making the first movie right now.

I loved reading these books the same way some people love looking at disturbing art. They were fascinating but utterly troubling. I'm certain that was Collins' intention, and I can't help but feel the very people she satirizes are those who will enjoy watching these films.

and... I'm one of them. Maybe that's the most disturbing thing of all to me....

Fill in the blank Friday!

Yay! We got family pictures taken, and I'm pretty excited about them. Daphne? Pretty much the cutest baby of all time and now it's proven in print. Also, I haven't done a Fill in the Blank Friday in forever, so I'm excited to see what blanks Lauren at *the little things we do* has come up with this week!

1.   Somewhere someone is   falling in love. That makes me smile.

2.  Music     is/are my muse. It definitely moves me to be more creative.

3.  It would suck if   chocolate was no more because  Jon and I would then have nothing in common. (Currently, our chocolate addiction is holding our marriage together ;).

4.    The weather   is/are my favorite thing about today. It is rainy and overcast and cool.

5.  Life is kind of like   a movie. No, wait. Usually it's nothing like a movie. This is a deep question for FITBF.

6.  If I could have anything I wanted I would want  a house. Right. Now. Please.

7.  A funny thing happened the other day...   Before dinner every night, I take Daphne's clothes off so she doesn't get them all grimy. The other day, I took her clothes off and she ran to her high chair and started banging on it like, "Yay! I know it's time to eat now!!"

Fun blanks! Thank you, Lauren!