Monday, November 24, 2008

Seven Years!

Today is Jason and my seven year wedding anniversary! Happy Anniversary Jason!

I have been blessed with such a wonderful man to lead me through this life. The Lord truly knew my perfect fit. Thank you Jason for all you have done, are doing and will do for us. You sacrifice so much for me and now for Ziva also. Thank you for you. Thank you for your smile. Thank you for your warming touch. Thank you for your sense of humour. Thank you for your logic. Thank you for everything but most importantly thank you for your love!


I could go on and on about Jason and our wonderful marriage but it would never truly capture all that is this beautiful covenant. I can only share with you that if you wait on the Lord and trust only in Him, He will bless you abundantly and wholly. Thank you Lord Jesus for this little peace of heaven on earth.



Sunday, November 23, 2008

The New Face

Ziva has started making this face all the time. She'll even do it on cue for the camera as you see below. Her personality has just started to blossom even more. She is such a joy to be around. Don't get me wrong she has her moments, but most of the time she is so positive and happy. She may get engrossed in what she is doing but you can just tell she is enjoying herself. I can't help but praise the Lord for such a wonderful blessing in our lives. She is teaching us so much...like no matter how much droll, spit up and poop your covered with you can still manage a smile.


Look at that drool!





Guess Who's Walking

Much to my surprise Ziva walked Saturday morning. I wasn't expecting it. We were playing in her "pen." I was seated somewhat in the middle and Ziva had her back to me. All of a sudden she turned around and walked to me. Hands free! She took 3 to 4 steps. Its hard to tell with those baby shuffling steps. Sadly, Jason was still sleeping. We played a little while longer and she did it again. When daddy finally woke up it was time for Ziva to walk for him. She did walk again for her daddy. Unfortunately, I was too excited and didn't hit record. I took a still picture instead. So we had our poor baby preform again and again till I could get it recorded. You can tell she's just starting out. This footage is more of a run than a walk. I didn't get any of the slow and steady walks on film. She still prefers to crawl but we were told at church today to expect her to be running by Christmas. Hope your house is ready Grand Jan and Pops.

Ziva has also been standing on her own (hands free) for over a week now. The whirlwind of growing up has started. I did not expect my baby to be able to stand up holding a ball and stay up for at least thirty seconds this week. Now she walking. I can not believe it. I'm just glad Jason was home for the first day!

Play Date

We have started a play date for Ziva's Sunday school class, The Acorns. Bluffton is composed of a lot of families who are transplants and don't have a lot of friends or family around. Our church, Live Oak Christian Church, has allowed us to have it at their recreation area so that the pressure of having a perfect house and all that for company doesn't fall on any of us. It has really turned out next to perfect. It is such a great time and it is so neat to watch our children play along side each other. These pictures are from this past Thursday. I waited to late and some of our lil' friends went home but we'll get them on the blog soon.

Josiah, Ziva and Jacob (Josiah's big brother)



Jacob eating a blue iced cookie in his Bob the Tomato shirt. He was covered before the cookie was half way eaten.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Where's Ziva?

"Where's Ziva?" (AKA peek-a-boo) is one of the popular games in our home. We play it around walls, behind doors, with blankets, with "Taggie," with books. Ziva will even play with her bib. A little over a month ago she started to start the game herself. Then she gets really excited and plays really fast. Recently she has added playing over her fence. Yes, we fence our child in. If not she would be out the door and down the block with car in less than a minute. Anyway, she sneaks "behind" the fence and then pops out. We just can't figure out if she knows we can see her when she is "hiding" or not.

Sushi Baby

Jason and I love Sushi. We can't wait to share the experience with Ziva. No, we haven't fed her raw fish...yet. No matter what the pictures look like. We just think it is funny that this child will eat anything or at least try. Well, maybe it is not funny because the battery out of the remote was scary, but when it's "big people" food we think it is cute.

Ziva also sported her new hat this night. Too cute!


Mmmm...rice.




Mmmm...raw fish. No mom we didn't feed it to her!



The New Hat

Ziva and Her Walker

I am trying my best not to push Ziva to walk. I really do not feel the need to have my baby grow up to fast. Also, I am still trying to recover from her learning to crawl. Life has not been the same since then. Hence the long time between posts. Saying that I can't help but let her walk with her walker. She has so much fun. I didn't catch it on film but most of the time she goes as fast as possible into any solid object then repeatedly bumps into it. It's funny. Hope you enjoy this one.

Happy Baby


Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Video, Finally!

We finally got videos to upload again. We got a new camera it and it takes video in normal...shape. Really it is the ratio but not many people (grandmas understand that). Basically, the other camera shot in wide screen and this camera is normal. Therefore, we can show off our baby via video as well.

This is video of some of her "faces" she makes. It's kind of a mix between a kissy face and a duck face. Once she gets going making this face she will do it for hours. Of course when I want to catch it on film she is only truly interested in kicking the camera.



AHHHHH

This was suppose to go with the 10 month pictures but Blogger wouldn't let me write anything on that post. Who knows why. I still wanted to post it so here it is.

I have gotten really bad at getting stuff posted when it is actually current. Monday, November 3rd Ziva turned 10 months. She is all that a 10 month can be. She is everywhere and trying to do everything. She has really changed this past month. I wanted to post a detailed list of stuff she is doing but I never got around to it. So here it is at 10 months. (See Below) The picture below is from the actual 10 month day. I think she has actually grown since these pictures.

I don’t know if any of you told us that Ziva going from 6 months to 9 months (let alone 10 months) would bring a lot of changes. If you did we didn’t listen. It is truly over whelming what those four short months does for a “baby.” It is really had for me to even call Ziva that. She is so far from the little tiny baby she was. There have been so many changes. Good changes. Necessary changes. And not so good changes or also know as bad changes (She has her Daddy’s temperament).

  • Ziva has been crawling for over a month now.Yes I do regret encouraging this.Really only because both Jason and I were totally unprepared.Now every night I fall into bed exhausted.On a side note: I may have prayed for an active baby.This may have not been the wised of things.I thought it would have helped fight the genetic “squishiness” that becomes Jason and me oh so well.I also thought it would proactively help Jason and me get off the sofa.Lastly, I thought it wouldn’t start till about 2 or 3.Oh, my sweet heavenly Father what you chose to give us verbatim is humorous.I asked for an active baby and you gave me an active baby.Next child we have I am to give Jason a list of what I am praying for so he can mark off the “stupid” things to ask for.That pretty much leads me to the next one.
  • Ziva is very active (remember my prayer). She is up and down and all around everywhere. She is cruising at a speed that makes my heart drop. I have become a human jungle gym. This I thought came later too. We believe that she may be working on a career in Extreme Sports. I fault her father with this since he daily works on descenthsing her fear response. No matter what she is doing she doing it at a hundred miles a min. She can pull on anything and anyone. She uses her little friends at play dates to pull up then she pushes them down. Not on purpose but still!! I have that kid!!! She learned to fall pretty early and pretty easy. I thought this was a good thing. Now I am not so sure. She can fall in any direction from any position and “hop” right up. She may have to roll over to her feet but she keeps going. She has a high pain tolerance. So when she does get hurt it is for real and it is drama!
  • She hasn’t started walking yet but does stand on her own…until she realizes she is standing. Kind of like the Looney Toons. She does walk with one of those walkers. The ones they hold in front of them. She thinks it is funny to run and then slam into things. This fun turns into frustration because she hasn’t figured out how to turn around. My mom said I started walking at 9 months. Other than using the walker, I’m not encouraging her to walk. Remember the active prayer?
  • She is pointing and “asking” what things are. It is too cute.
  • She waves good bye at the appropriate time. You can even ask her if she wants to go bye bye and she will wave.
  • She can sign: milk, more, cereal, food/eat, and mine. For those of you who aren’t so familiar with the sign for mine it goes as follows: You are on the floor and you pick up one of baby’s toys. Baby crawls over, takes toy and puts it on floor. Crawls away. Baby will repeat “sign” until parent stops messing with her toys. This baby is full of nice habits to break. We are working on the signs: please, thank you, moon, cat, dog and a few others. When she is lazy she will just point at the sign you are making and squeal. She has also started punctuating her requests with a hard slap on the high chair tray. Fun times.
  • We get to shop in the toddler sections of stores. I realized this when we were at Target the other day. This made me excited at all the options and sad because no more “baby” clothes. She has been in a 12M since she was 9 months. Only because she’s so long.
  • She loves “big people” food. She hates baby food. This has made feeding time a bit difficult.
  • She is still so sweet and a joy to be around. People flock to her and she loves it. She loves Sunday school and always sets the best example. We never worry about her when she is there. Until the flying breadstick incident, she has been perfect at restaurants.
  • Ziva hasn’t really said anything yet. She has “mocked” us a few times but no real words. She understands a lot of words. With that and her signing, it has gotten easier to communicate with her. I can even ask her where some things are and she will point at them. I just don’t believe she feels the need to talk yet. Which you know what, I am thankful for.
  • She does make all these weird sounds with her mouth. She can click her tongue, blow raspberries and so many other strange things. She can twist her tongue. She is a bit weird…I am so proud.
  • She is still terrified of that monkey screeching sound.
  • She can take things apart that in my opinion she shouldn’t be able to. For example the remote. She removed the batteries the other day and proceeded to try to eat them. Needless to say that was the last time she played with a real remote. She knows where her car seat unbuckles and messes with it constantly. I’m just lucky she’s not strong enough to actually open it. Because of this inherent curiosity and “mechanical” tendency I have started hiding some things from her that I don’t feel she needs to know how to do or that they even do things. This drives her crazy. She tries her hardest to peer around and see.
  • She has started throwing food down on the floor for Sear, our dog. One for Ziva, one for Sera.
  • She loves real pictures of animals and will reread and reread those types of books.


Oh, The Places You Find Sand

When we got to my parents condo we discovered that Ziva had sand every where. So in the sink for a quick bath she went.


Beach - Part I

These posts are actually out of order. I managed to load them backwards. How I did that I have no clue. The good thing is you get to read it in order for once.

While my parents were here we when to the beach. I guess Jason and I take it for granted and drag our feet when company wants to drag us there. Yet, when we get there, it is always a good time. I was interested in how Ziva would react this time. To sum it up in three words - SHE LOVED IT! She had the best time and we had a great time with her.


She pointed with excitement the entire time we were there.




Chasing the Water




She loved kicking the water.



Trying to sit down in the water.





Go Back!

The Beach - Part II

Ziva didn't like her knees on the wet sand, so this is how she crawled when she was on it.



Dry sand is much easier on the knees.



Examining the sand in between her toes. She was very fascinated by this.




My Little Sea Turtle. Which by the way you can watch hatch and go out to see on this beach. She would have crawled right into the water if we would have let her.





Dirty Feet



Clean Feet

The Turkey Cupcake

Okay, so I loved this thing. I was impressed. Being an artist and having worked 3 dimensionally I understand how hard it is to make things take another shape. I believe the baker did a good job. Jason thinks the face looks like poop. Whatever! I loved it. It only tasted okay but it was so cute. The Kroger Bakery is so awesome. BTW, it was a big cupcake. It could have feed 4-5 people.





It's a Little Cool Outside

We had a cold front go through. It didn't last long but it still caused Ziva to have to be bundled up. I thought she would fight it but she didn't. She even left the hat on the entire walk.

10 Months Old


All Smiles

I know that this picture is not in order but I had to put it in because of all the smiles. This is from when my parents first got here. They have left by the way. Hopefully, I can get back to staying current on posts.


Monday, November 3, 2008

No More!

Clothes! Ziva was glad all that "dress up" was over. She had fun just hanging out in her diaper.



GO HOGS!




Trick-or-Treat with Poppy and Nanny

Since my parents can't seem to stay away, they ended up here just before we left for trick-or-treating. They may have missed Friday night. But they talked Ziva into a few treats and getting back into her costume. Actually, they had to talk me into allowing the treats but I figured with all the organic food she gets and little won't hurt her...I hope. I was so worried she would slip into a sugar induced coma. She did okay...till we took the sweets away.


Ziva and Poppy in his costume. A hopeful investor. Actually this isn't a costume. He wears this tshirt. He says you get it free when you lose 20K. (Not true)



A little chocolate.


Then she took a huge bite. Gotta remember those teeth.


The Lolly Pop...I can't believe I said this was okay.





Dressed back up with Nanny, who said Z looked like a dog tick. This did not make me happy.