First Class or Coach?

Courtesy of pilot Tim Nations: If you have ever wondered whether it is better (or worth the extra dollars) to fly first class rather than economy, this photo might answer your question.

Snapshots at Nine Months

It's hard to believe that we are into the home stretch of the first year. Ava turned nine months old last Saturday. It's hard to believe that she's been with us that long, but also hard to believe that we ever lived without her. She's gotten so much easier, and is doing so many new things. A sampling:

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Morning is our favorite time together. Perhaps I'm projecting. Morning is my favorite with Ava. I usually go and get her, bring her into bed with me, and nurse her. It is the only time of day she will lie still. After she's done eating, she crawls all over me, and rests her head on my chest or on the pillow next to me. I think most people feed their babies solids first thing in the morning, but I'm just not willing to give up that special time.

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For the rest of the day, of course, Ava is on the go. She gets into everything now. Toys only amuse her for so long. Mostly, she likes exploring. Her current favorite places to get into mischief are the recycle bin, the pile of shoes by the door, and the guitar. She also enjoys yanking at any electrical cord she can find.

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She is, for whatever reason, oddly interested in my mouth. If I'm holding her on my hip, she quite often will have her hand stretched above her head, fingers cupped around my bottom teeth. Even more fascinating for her is if I have something in my mouth. When I chew on ice cubes, she loves to stick her little fingers in my mouth and push them around. And the other day, while I was eating some Tostitos, she stood up and tried to pry her way into my mouth, all the while screaming at me. It was like she was a little baby bird, wanting me to feed her my chewed up food. She was pretty upset with me. I couldn't help but laugh.

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She is starting to eat finger foods, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet. I bought her some Gerber puffs. She seems to know what they're for, but she hasn't figured out quite how to chew them yet. Mostly we end up with soggy puffs stuck to her outstretched tongue or her upper lip.

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She has two teeth now, and has bitten me on several occasions, drawing blood once. When I fussed at her, she looked up me with this awful non-expression. It was the kind of expression you would see on the face of a class bully two seconds after he kicked somebody in the shin. "Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it?"

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Just today she started shaking her head no. I guess doesn't look so much like she is saying no, just that she is fascinated that she can make her head do such a thing.

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One of Daniel's favorite things to do with Ava is to bounce her up and down on the bed. She giggles and squeals. Today, accidentally bounced her, and she was so excited, I kept going. When I stopped (it actually takes a substantial amount of strength to bounce her up and down), she stood up on her knees and bounced herself up and down. "Keep going, Mom! That's fun!"

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The potty thing is going pretty well. She pretty much tinkles anytime I put her on the potty, and she is doing pretty well with pooping on the potty too. She went twice today, and I cheered her on. She loves praise. Her little face lights up as soon as she goes, because she knows she's done a good thing and mommy will cheer for her. We have such a good baby.

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That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned. I'll try to get some videos up soon.

Keys!

Daniel and I are now homeowners. I think it's been official for a few weeks, but it really just hit me as we walked into our condo today. Let me show you around.

The view as you walk in:

The kitchen:

The bathroom:

Ava exploring:

View from the lanai (click to enlarge). The ocean is peaking through in the distance on the right. The football field you see is Moanalua High School's--where I used to teach. Notice that there are no elevator shafts obstructing our view:

The proud owners:

It's small, but it's new and it's ours. It means a lot to us to have something that is ours, and it especially means a lot to live in a building he designed. Though we are downsizing for sure, we are so thankful to have this little place to call home. We'll post more pictures once we've moved everything in.

A Prayer for My President

One of my friends posted this prayer she found on World Mag the day after the election. I found it fitting for today:

Almighty and sovereign God, ruler over all that you have made: As we awoke today to a new president, some of us are surprised, but the outcome of yesterday’s voting is not a surprise to you, who know and ordain our beginning and our end.

Thank you for the precious truth that, in Christ, your mercies are new every morning. We confess that too often we have put our trust in chariots and horses—and presidents—instead of your perfect rule. We confess our fretting and, instead, rest this morning in your sovereign governing over all that you have made.

We pray for our new president, making intercessions and thanksgiving for him. Through our voting, you have appointed a ruler to govern your people; work through him to promote that which is good and to punish that which is evil.
Protect his and his family’s lives, and make him a defender of life.
Guide him as he guides our government.

You have elevated him to a high position, but we pray for his good and for your glory that you would keep him humble. As men honor him and his office, remind him that all flesh is like grass, and its glory like the flower of the field; that the grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Bring that word to his mind as he assumes the awesome mantle of his office.

Keep him from pride and from confidence in his own strength, that he might find it in the One who has been strong in our weakness.

Give him to rule in a way that your people might live a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

For the sake of your own Son, who intercedes every moment for your people, give us grace to honor everyone, love the brotherhood, fear you, and to honor President-elect Barack Obama. In the name of King Jesus, we ask. Amen.

A Song About A Wife

Yay!

When Ava tinkles in the potty, I always say "YAY! Good job! You're so big!" and clap. She loves this. You can see her face light up. Yesterday, after I cheered her on, she looked at me and said, "YAY!" Daniel and I are willing to concede that this is her official first word. It's just so Ava.

Update

Since Sunday, when we first tried, Ava has tinkled on the potty five times. This morning, she actually went number two. I cheered for her, and she looked very proud of herself. We'll see if it sticks, but right now, she thinks this is just so exciting. And so do I.

A Few Tidbits

Ava's taken to nodding emphatically again. It's the cutest thing ever. I hope she keeps saying yes to me, but....

She just learned to say her n's. Right now, it sounds like "nananaNAna." My prediction is that quite shortly this will become "no." I think this because 1)Ava is advanced in the strong willed department and 2)because we have been saying no to her a lot. As in, "No, that's not a toy...no, don't pull over that trash can...no don't bite Mommy," etc, etc.

She did bite me today, and I looked down at her and said "NO. DON'T BITE MOMMY," and gave her a little thwap on the lips. To which she replied, "he." As in, "hehehehe, that's funny mom. Is that all you've got? Oh, and aren't I cute when I'm defiant?" We have a child who likes punishment and thinks harsh tones are hilarious. Fantastic.

In fact, Monday evening, Daniel told her several times not to touch the guitar. The third or fourth time she started over to it, she turned and looked at Daniel and waited for him to tell her no. As soon as he did, she smiled and crawled over to the guitar. This is a fun game, you see.

Everything seems to be funny. She walks around all day giggling. At the cat. At a toy. At mom and her funny faces. At strangers. I must admit, her levity reminds me to not take things so seriously. I do need to figure out how to get her to take me seriously when she needs to, though. It will come, I guess. It will come.

The Philippines

I am asking for your thoughts and prayers as I consider an opportunity to go on a mission trip to the Philippines this May. Our church partners with a missionary who runs a refuge for girls who have been abused on the island of Mindanao. I wanted to go when we sent a team out last July, but school started immediately after the team left, and I couldn't make it work. Now, he wants our church to send a group of women to mentor and disciple these girls. I am extremely excited about this new opportunity to go, but I am conflicted about whether or not to leave Ava here.

What excites me most about this trip is the opportunity to build relationships with girls who are hurting—to share the love of Jesus with them. I know that I cannot fathom the pain that these girls have experienced in their lifetimes, and I don’t want to go so that I can teach them from a place high above them. But I am excited to encourage them in their faiths, and to share God’s good news with them.

I have never been on a mission trip. I am excited about the opportunity to go. I want to increase my heart for missions, and share in God’s heart for the world. I hope that by going, God would give me a greater love for those who don’t know him. I feel like I have much more to learn than I have to teach. I hope that this experience will give me a greater commitment to the Great Commission.

Most people I have spoken to have been very encouraging, but several people on the missions committee have expressed concerns about me leaving Ava because she is so young. The possibility has been raised that all three of us would go together, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea because of the safety and health concerns.

I know that it will be harder than I know to be away from Ava for two weeks. But I also don't want to say no to something God is calling me to. If you have any wisdom to share, please feel free to leave a comment.

Cushie Tushie

I bought a little potty seat at Walmart the other day (called a Cushie Tushie, for those who are unlearned in the ways of potty training). A book I read recommended starting potty training as soon as they can sit by themselves. Perhaps it is more like parent training. The idea is to sit them on the potty at opportune times, and to praise them like crazy when they happen to go on the potty. The basic idea is to get them to make the connections between sitting on the potty and bodily functions.

Tracy Hogg recommends early potty training because children, in general, are more happy to please you and less strong willed at this age than they are when they are toddlers. Because I am already seeing her stubborn streaks in her, I have decided not to wait until her willfulness is full blown to try to potty train her. I was a similarly stubborn, and my mom informed me over Christmas that I was not fully potty trained until I was 3 1/2. So we start now.

I figure, worst case scenario, it doesn't work. But if it does... oh, how wonderful.

Update: guess who went pee pee in the potty!

Catching Up

I had grand intentions of live blogging our trip to the mainland, but you know how that goes. Christmas shopping and baking and time with family and sick babies and lots of activities got in the way of that. I think that is better though. We enjoyed being in the moment, rather than wasting precious family time trying to analyze it. Some noteworthy things happened while we were gone, though. So, here they are, in no particular order.

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We spent three days in Chicago on the front end of our trip looking into a job opportunity for Daniel. If I had to pick one word to describe our time there it would be COLD. I mean, really cold. Wow. Subzero temperatures and 20 to 30 mph gusts on the day we left.

The good news is that it snowed. I can't remember the last time I saw falling snow. On Saturday, we bundled up and walked around Millennium Park. Ava was wearing the nice, thick coat I bought for her, tucked in the moby wrap, and zipped up into my coat. Even then, I worried about her. As we walked around, I looked down and saw a face that said, "Mom, what are you doing to me?" and a little tear sitting below her eye. I pressed her face to my chest for fear that the tear would freeze.



Very quickly we headed across the park to a little coffee shop, where we warmed ourselves with hot cocoa and apple cider.


Sunday we drove up to Palatine (where Daniel's office would be) and tried to get a feel for the area, then headed to the airport. Upon check-in, we were offered a chance to fly standby on an earlier flight. Getting into Dallas ahead of schedule sounded good to us, so we agreed. After getting though security, though, we were informed that there was no chance of getting on this flight. So we headed over to the gate of our scheduled flight, which had already been delayed several times. We did finally get to Dallas, but unfortunately, our bag got lost in the shuffle. It was not returned until the day for something like 4 days.

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Sickness prevented Dustin and Corrie from coming to my parents' house Christmas day--Isaiah and Addy had ear infections. And in addition to the ear infection, Isaiah had a nasty cough. So it was just my parents, Daniel, Ava and myself on Christmas morning.

Ava loved Christmas. She wasn't quite into tearing off the wrapping paper yet, but she very much enjoyed the gifts. It wore her out, though. She took a big nap after it was all said and done.


Unfortunately, we had a bout with a stomach virus that evening. Seven or eight times she threw up. I felt so bad for her. I ended up calling my doctor. On Christmas. I hated to do it, but I was so worried. She was so sick that she fell asleep on my chest. She never does that.

The day after Christmas found her miraculously healed and the Baker kids doing better, so we got to get together with Dustin and Corrie and the kids after all. We spent the rest of our time in Dallas hanging out with family and friends.

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While we were in Dallas, Ava learned to pull up. It was so funny to see her stand. She seemed very proud of herself.

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When we arrived at Daniel's house, Ava was very fascinated by the stairs. When she climbed on top of the first step we were impressed. "Way to go, Ava!" we cried. She then proceeded to climb the next 16 all by herself (with her mother making sure she didn't fall down them, of course). We could tell she was pushing pretty hard on the last few, but she did it and was just so excited--as she is about most things. (Brian: pictures please!)

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We got to meet Brian and Maggie's foster kids. We were so blessed to get to spend time with them. Such a beautiful family.

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I think (no, know) our baby has a little bit of Grandpa Roy and Aunt Amy in her. Like the former, she never knew a stranger. Like the latter, she is always the life of the party. She made friends with the surrounding 3 rows on every one of our seven flights. Preteens, soldiers, college students and more fell under her spell. She has to cut this out before boys enter the picture. Daddy, get your gun.

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That's all for now. Peace out.

Live Nativity

For those of you interested, here's the video of our church's annual live nativity. Beautiful singing, awesome hula, and tons of fun. Enjoy!



Faith Baptist Church - Live Nativity 2008 from Greg on Vimeo.