One of the many incredible gifts I received at one of my baby showers was from my Mom. It was unique, sentimental and personal and I loved it! In the pretty box we now hold Addy's toys in was an array of things my Mom had kept from my childhood. It all went along with a photo album that included pictures of me from those years. I would turn the pages, and then get to a picture with a post it marker on it that said a number, then unwrap the wrapped package in the box that went along with said number and picture. It included all sorts of goodies, but I thought it would be fun to put some pictures along with Addy using the gifts here!

One of them was a dress I wore as baby, around 4 or 5 months. You may remember the pictures I posted of her in it-here is a picture of me wearing that same dress, and below is a picture of Addy to compare:



There was another dress in the box from when my family [which was only my parents and I at the time..] went to Hawaii. Here are pictures of me in the dress, and now Addy. [I think her skin color does the dress better justice if you know what I mean haha...]



Lastly, I'm putting up a picture of me using my baby blanket, which was also in this box. It is now one of the blankets that Addy uses to roll around and play on.


The box housed several other wonderful things that I will cherish and hopefully gift to my kids someday-but I just wanted to share these three with you because I thought it would be fun to compare. I remember while being pregnant having no idea what she would look like. Now, I almost always hear how much she look like a little girl version of Lester-but I think these pictures show that both in a physical sense, and also personality one I am in there to. Addy is her own person, but she has parents and grandparents who love her and will contribute to whoever she becomes. I just hope I can give her the gift of a wonderful Mother, the way mine did for me.

I realize I'm a few days late, but I still want to get these memories and things down. Addy is 6 months old now; this is one of those strange phenomenons they talk about where it doesn't feel like she's been here that long, but I can't imagine life without her now.

At six months, our girl is full of personality, spunk and attitude. She now loves her jumpy toy, and uses it to do everything from practice her steps, swing herself, and of course, bounce. I believe she is also the smiliest baby I have ever seen in my whole life. Whether its reactionary or just because she is in a good mood she give us those big toothless grins often. She knows what she likes and what she doesn't but often times she will humor me and try the things she's pretty sure she isn't a fan of.

She eats like a fiend-she is most partial to apples and pears, but will still eat all her squash and peas etc. She loves Blue's Clues and I think she has a crush on Steve-every time she sees him she starts flailing and jumping like crazy, and if she hears the songs she does the same. She also seems to be an extra big fan of her Uncle Luke who will go out of his way to make her laugh and smile, even if it involves looking a little silly.

She likes her schedule, and if we let her, she will keep it fairly well. Two naps a day, an hour each, baby food in the morning and at night, then a bath, then stories, some lullabies and bed around 8:00 like clockwork. Still, if we decide to change it up and have a late night out when Daddy is home, she is all in, and still does just fine the next day. Like I said-she knows what she likes and what she doesn't, so if she is tired, she will fall asleep, and if she is not she won't-end of story haha.

When she plays, she plays hard, banging, throwing, swiping etc etc. Yet she is still extremely focused and sweet-when she feels something that is a new texture or she doesn't understand, she can scratch, stare and rub at it for hours. And if she thinks I am sad she will stare at me and lean in and smile or touch my face to make sure I'm ok.

She still loves bath time, and is now able to stand herself up if their is leverage to grab onto. We've switched her to the toddler side of her bath as a result.

She is semi mobile, which I am grateful for. I knew it would be quite a change when she started crawling or walking, but I didn't realize quite how much I would have to adjust haha! For example-she is able to scoot forward to if she chooses to, but in the process she doesn't understand that you shouldn't scoot into things. I forget how much babies don't know-so as she was scooting on her blanket, I went to use the bathroom. I come back just in time for her to scoot her head right into the entertainment system-as she's looking at it! Not hard or anything, but still-I was in the bathroom a total of maybe five minutes, and when I had left the room she wasn't anywhere near it! The same thing happened in her jumpy toy. She's jump-swinging her self like normal, and I go to work on some dishes, like I have before, and she jumps right into the wall-again as she's looking at it. Both times she wailed and stopped crying about two seconds after I picked her up and we cuddled for a while. Of course, she's learned her lesson and hasn't done it again. But still-I am not looking forward to when she is fully mobile-I can just imagine all the fun we will have then haha!

She loves reading still and right now her favorite is the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar. She especially loves the last page where he turns into a butterfly-she's definitely a girly girl in that aspect, and in the massive smile and head turn she does when we put dresses on her or call her beautiful. Now a days, after I read the story I hand her the book where she promptly holds it and practices turning the pages until the next story is over.

She loves music of all kinds. Lately, we have been listening to of course a lot of Disney music and she is really enjoying that. She also loves to 'bake', or at least she enjoys watching the process as I put her in the carrier while I cook/bake. She gets excited when the mixer is going, which cracks me up because even though its loud, she loves it, whereas when Lester sneezes she gets scared. Granted, he does sneeze louder then anyone I've heard haha..

She is still very friendly-when we are in stores she will sometimes start babbling or spitting and leaning towards a person and smiling in the aisle till she gets there attention. Then she gets all happy, as do they when they see this crazy baby looking at them. At this point though, she has to have me in her sights almost at all times. She will play with most anyone, but only if she can see me. I find that this is a good happy medium. It make it possible for me to get some things done, but I'm still left feeling flattered that she needs me and likes me.

She is unembarrassed about everything, like most babies, and I love this. If she poops or spits up or whatever, she doesn't try to hold back the sounds or look around to see if anyone is listening-she just goes at it no problem; and if people laugh often times she will smile and laugh too because she sees other people doing it. She is just so funny.

She still loves to cuddle and still makes my heart feel like its going to burst with how happy she makes me. I know I am not the same person I was before I had her, and maybe others would see that as negative-but I love the person she is making me and the lessons I am learning from this journey of motherhood. I have never felt so fulfilled as when she lets me rock her to sleep and sing in my not so amazing voice, or as when I get to watch her Daddy make her laugh hysterically. These last 6 months have been full of humbling experiences where I've seen many of my shortcomings, but still they have truly been a joy. I look forward to the next 6 to see how far we've come and where me and my girl are at that point. Until then I will just enjoy this little 6 month old kindred spirit I get to raise. Lucky, lucky me!

What with the weather getting so much nicer, we've been taking Addy to the park a lot more. She enjoys being outside and around other people, and we love the sunshine as well so its been fun, especially on Lester's days off. Anyways, today I called up some girls and we went to the park since it was a work day for all our husbands. One of my friends brought her dog, and between the walking, swinging, and slides we really enjoyed ourselves almost as much as Addy. It was a lot of fun, and we look forward to doing it a lot more in the near future.

Lately Lester and I have immersed ourselves in learning about World War 2. It all started when we decided to re-read a series called 'The Children of the Promise'. They are a 5 volume story based on one families journey in war times, as they try to keep their faith as are tested and pulled to all parts of the earth. They are wonderful books, full of well researched true information and wonderful fictional characters. They are also huge testimony builders, as they cause you to ask yourself important question about what you believe and what you don't. I would recommend them to anyone.

Any ways, this put us on the path to feel even more grateful for the people who worked so hard to fight for our freedoms and for the rights of all people. This topic is also fresh on my mind as I am involved in the important task of editing some of Grandpa's personal history, which he wrote. He served in the war in intelligence, and it is surreal to realize that this wasn't just some abstract thing that we study, but a very real thing that affected so many people I know and love.

Since then, Lester and I have begun to watch the mini series Band Of Brothers, which Lester has already seen before. Seeing these images and hearing the interviews before each episodes with the men the series is based on is also incredible. Again, watching them sacrifice and lay their lives on the line time and time again reminds me what a blessing we have in this country.

I know that Lester has also just finished watching a 6 episode documentary on Auswich, one of the most infamous Nazi run Concentration Camps. Even just hearing parts of the experiences related on the show have caused me to feel over come with remorse that people could do such things to one another-and for seemingly no reason. It is simply a senseless thing.

Today, as it was Lester's day off, we decided to make a trip to the local WW2 museum. We were impressed with all the artifacts and pieces of history they have there. As you can see in some of the pictures, they had all forms of planes, vehicles, weapons, uniforms, propaganda, medals and badges, and so much more. It was amazing the array of feelings we experienced while being there. There were feelings of pride as we saw pictures of our predecessors assisting each other-of their uniforms and their medals. Feelings of gratitude, awe and respect as I heard an older veteran talking to a fellow vet saying 'I still can't watch Saving Private Ryan because it is just to graphic-it is like how it really was for me.' It made my heart swell and feel yet again how much I love my country and its people. At the same time, seeing the amount of weaponry from all countries and a large amount of Hitler's personal possessions from his Munich apartment made me feel sick to me stomach-it was as if they still exuded a sense of disgusting arrogance, extravagance, pride and dominance, and lingered with all that this man stood for and tried to do. There was a specific room dedicated to the Holocaust and the Concentration Camps. There was a sign outside of it which warned of the graphic images that this room held of the poor souls who were held there. Still, we entered and after being in there for even a few minutes I had to leave and wait for Lester outside because of the horror of the pictures. It is still unbelievable to think that these things are real pictures. Its just heart wrenching.

Still, the over all feeling I got throughout the whole museum was again of gratitude and hope. Hope that we always are learning and remembering this, and hope that we will never get to that point again. Gratitude for all those who fought and sacrificed in so many different ways to get us to this point, and gratitude for our beautiful country and that our homeland is still here and still posses people of worth. I feel like lately we keep hearing about all the terrible shootings in school and theaters and what not-and of the bombing this week in Boston. We pray for these people daily and feel so much in our hearts for them. But I know that they will rise, if not in this life then the next, and have their bodies and hearts whole again. Even amidst the tragedies of our past, such as these wars, and the difficulties in our present we can always find ten good people for every bad one. We see the love and support everyone gives to each other and the ways we come together as strangers, friends, countrymen and women and it reminds us that there is so much good in the world. We just need to do our part to be a piece of that-the goodness-and to do all we can to let our acts far outweigh and outshine the bad ones. We must drown out this darkness in the light of our goodness.

Anyways, we finished the evening by watching a movie based on another historical event-42, which is based on one of my heroes, Jackie Robinson. I already blogged about that, so I won't go into to much detail. I will just say that we will be buying that movie when it comes out; it was worth the hype, and both Harrison Ford and Chadwick Boseman should win awards for their performances.

I'm grateful for my country and those who have sacrificed for my freedom, and they way it enables me to have a bright future. I hope that someday my posterity can look back on my actions and have a reason to feel this same way about me. We are so grateful for such a rich history.

My friend Tana and I were able to throw our friend Whitney a baby shower this weekend. I think it ended up being a success, and I was happy to be able to do this for her. I know how much I appreciated my baby showers, and now that so many of my close friend and family are starting to have kids of there own, I wish I could throw them showers too. This made doing this one all the more exciting for me. I think having a baby is such a monumental but also scary thing, so it is always nice to have others celebrate it with you, and reassure you with their love and support. I also know before my showers I had virtually nothing for Addy's arrival, but everyone made sure that wasn't an issue with their sweet gifts haha-I think Whitney felt the same and she got a lot of things she will definitely need. Again, it was a lot fun for everyone, and I enjoyed having our little apartment full of people again, as Addy did as well. I'm happy for Whitney and I look forward to attending the many friend and family members I have coming up! What a wonderful world it is!

There is a book that we have that is all about teaching your children to read. It has nice pictures, and it is in basic rhyme form and not particularly impressive, but it has taught me a few things. The back of it says the purpose of this book is to 'encourage parents to discover the joy and value of sharing books, stories and songs with their children'. I am sure that I have already bored whoever reads this to death with stories about how important reading is to me, but it hadn't occurred to me that I should tells stories in my own words to her. I do sing to her, even though my voice is nothing to write home about haha. She does seem to enjoy it-so I figured, well I'm already sharing book and songs with her-I might as well try to do the last one and see what I think.

So I started telling Addy the story of us-meaning me and Lester. About how we met, how we fell in love, the circumstances surrounding it, etc etc. At first, I felt a little silly. She is after all just shy of six months-its not like she can talk and I wasn't sure if she would respond at all. But I am so glad I kept talking and telling her. Sure she didn't understand all the words-but she could clearly see that I was talking to her and she was so interested. She responded to the different tones that I naturally fell into while telling the story-if I talked fast and excited she smiled really big and would move back and forth flailing her arms and legs in excitement. If I started to tell her about how I was feeling doubtful or sad at some point or another she would be still and even stop sucking on her pacifier and lean forward. If I came to a suspenseful part [not that the story is all that exciting haha] she would go all wide eyed open mouthed. It was just fun telling her about how and when she became a possibility. It was also nice re-living all those moments in my head. All the twitterpated feelings, and remembering how I wanted burst into a million pieces because it was all just so exciting and scary at the same time. I don't really ever forget that I am in love with Lester, but it is fun to feel and remember the steps that got us here and it does make me feel like I could burst again because of how much I love this man.

Anyways-this chapter of our story has been at times a hard one-it feels a bit like the spot in the super long novels you kind of want to skip to make sure everything works out for the better. But I am glad that it is still a part of our book and our life, and I look forward to telling her this story someday. I am glad that I can tell her just how much I truly love her of course, but how much truly love her Daddy. He is my best friend and I think that she can see and feel that through these stories even if she doesn't understand the words. I will continue to tell her stories and I hope she will continue to both hear me and feel my meaning. I would suggest it to anyone out there!

I think we are born into the families we are for a reason. This includes extended family of course, but right now I'm talking about immediate families. Being here has taught me a lot about myself and the people I care about, and I've realized that for the most part, I like who I am I know I can contribute much of that to my family. I have made my own choices, and I have my own unique personality, but my parents did as we often say in our church-taught me correct principles and then allowed me  to govern myself for the most part. I like my family and my parents because they have taught me things through examples, and they have tried to do so in love. But even amidst all these serious life lessons that I needed to learn, my childhood and now adulthood have been laced heavily with laughter. I think about others I know who have learned all the same things I have but in totally different ways-I wouldn't have made it in many of those families because they are so much more solemn or serious, or just differently built. But I don't think they would have made it in my house for all the teasing and craziness. There were times growing up I longed for my own room, for privacy, or to be taken more seriously-but now that I'm an adult and I can have all those things they are usually not what I want.

I guess that my reason for saying this is I know as a kid, people would tell me someday I would understand my parents more. That I would miss my siblings when I was gone. My Dad and I clashed when I was teen and I remember feeling that I would never understand him-I just wanted to live my own life and learn my own lessons. Hillary and I shared a room for what seemed like an eternity at the time, and Mariah and I butted heads hard. But now that  I've grown up, I want my parents to know that not only do I understand them more, but I want to be like them so bad! They are fun and they laugh a lot. I never doubt that they love me and that they love each other, no matter how old I get and no matter how old they get [although they never seem to age, rude!]. Thats something I want for my kids. I want my siblings to know that apart from Lester and Addy, they are my best friends and that I know this will never change-we've come too far and learned to much together for that to happen. I'm glad we have so many memories together and to see how all our different paths are making us happy. I'm glad that they will get to be a part of my kids lives and bring things to the table that I might not think of.

I just feel like what Leslie Knope said to her husband on their wedding day [in Parks and Recreation] applies to my family. "I love you AND I like you." I always knew I would love my family, but I wouldn't have guess how much I would genuinly like them too. I know we don't pick our families and people point that out all the time. But even if I could have, I would pick my family out, and I know Lester would to. So I guess you guys all keep yours, and I will keep mine. Please and thank you!

A friend gave us a bunch of little books at one of my baby showers, and we have since added to that collection. Luckily, Addy loves reading as much as I do! Every day we spend at least 45 minutes [either all at once or spread throughout the day] reading through all of them. She focuses so well and loves to talk with the pages and pictures, and there are certain ones that she always seems to dose off to.  For play time, we love 'The Belly Button Book' and 'The Cat in the Hat'. For singing we like 'Nursery Rhymes' and 'Brown Bear Brown Bear'.  For art work work, we like 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'Hello Ocean'. For night time, we especially love the books 'Goodnight Moon' and 'My Love Will Find You.' Anyways-I have always loved to read and I am excited to see that Addy is enjoying it to. Reading with her is one of my favorite times of day. I hope this is an interest that will continue with her for a long time, and that this poem a friend quoted rings true for her, as it did for me: