Our family verse

We do not fear bad news, we are confident the Lord will take care of us. Psalm 112:7

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength


It has been far too long since our last update! Here you go.

O has been having a great time with physical therapy the last couple of months! It is making her more and more confident which is making her stronger. Each week we alternate from pool (it has a floor that raises and lowers to change its depth for each child's need) to land therapy.


She started out clinging to Ms Emily (her therapist) and now she is walking all over the pool. She is confidently walking in 2 ft of water, which hits her at about her shoulders. She is jumping in to Ms Emily from the side of the pool, learning the basics of the doggy paddle, and we are working on the back float (she is still clinging on for dear life on that one). On the ground, she is walking up and down half-size stairs with railings all by herself. With assistance, she is walking a balance beam. She is strengthening her balance to be able to balance on one leg (not quite there yet). Because of the weekly therapy she is gaining confidence at home too. Just a few weeks ago, she was asking for help to walk around the back yard. Now I am sending her outside with her friends to play and she is walking all over the yard by herself.

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She is making some pretty cute observations these days (almost 3 yr old!) like "Daddy calls you babe" and "actually, I don't like this one, I like that one". She has been such a wonderful baby/toddler and I can already tell that 3 is going to be a lot of fun! Just recently she has been talking a lot more, telling stories, and making us laugh. She will go one for a good 10 minutes, changing the subject a few times. While Robert and I were dating, we meet with some friends who then had a 3 year old. They told us that "if you want to understand the mind of a woman, listen to a 3 year old". They have no restraint over their thoughts. They just all come out.

Her imagination is awesome too. Her cousin was in town over the weekend and they were playing beauty parlor.


She fills our lives with so much laughter and joy. 

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Physical Therapy

We are now in full swing with physical therapy. Liv is really doing great, in both the pool and on land - we have been alternating for a couple of weeks now. She has been having fun with all kinds of activities that are making her stronger and more confident to try new things all by herself. There she confidently walks up and down stairs all by herself - with the use of railings on both sides that she can reach - walks balance beams, one foot in front of the other - with a hand for assistance - plays with all kinds of "new" puzzles, balls, and a wall filled with a "her-size" wooden kitchen with food and dishes in every drawer, door, and on every shelf. It has become a fun weekly trip.

We sadly moved our favorite tiny cousin and her mom and dad to Des Moines (happily helped they unload boxes and share their few first meals in their new home.) We will greatly miss them being here, but we are so glad they are close enough for what will hopefully turn into frequent weekend visits!

Monday, March 11, 2013

We still miss you just as much!



For those of you who don't already know, 2009 and 2010 were both full of excitement and full of sadness. Robert and I were engaged on Christmas of 2008. While we were planning a September 2009 wedding, we toured Israel with our church that March. We planned and participated in a wonderful missions trip to Malawi, Africa in June. We bought a house in August. We celebrated with 740+ of our closest family and friends. Feeding them all in less than an hour due to my dad's amazing organization skills. It was a beautiful celebration of the love of Christ and the gift of love He gave us to give to each other. That Thanksgiving we were telling our families that we were expecting. That Christmas, it had only been one year since we had been engaged. In February of 2010, we had a sonogram that confirmed we were having a girl. The following Sunday, on my desk in the church office, I found a framed photo of our daughter that said, "love at first sight", a gift from my dad.

On March 11, 2010, my dad passed away suddenly. Today, we miss him just as much. We know that he is celebrating eternal life without anymore pain or sadness with our Lord and Savior Jesus. The only things that make it "easier" is remembering his life here and knowing that we will see him again.









Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Snow days


She wasn't sure at first that she wanted to go outside in the cold.


This is the first time she was actually old enough to think of asking to play outside in the snow.
She loved warming up with a good bowl of chicken noodle soup. In her own words, "dad made it" but "mom made it good". She also had her first taste of hot chocolate (as far as I know.)


We made our first snowman and stopped to listen to the train going by in the distance.


Monday, February 11, 2013

Raising food lovers... physically and spiritually

I am doing a lot of searching online and in stores for food and drink items LOW in calcium and Vitamin D. Everything is calcium and Vit D fortified! I am enjoying coming up with healthy delicious meals for our daughter. It brings me joy to see her enjoying food so much more now.


My husband and I are food lover's. He once actually cried over a Cheesecake Factory Banana Cream Cheesecake. And we have had passionate conversations about food countless times. I love preparing meals and it brings me joy when anyone enjoys one I have made.

Sweets stood on the big kid scale at the doctors for the first time. Before this she wasn't able to stand long enough to get her weight. We've always used the baby scale. In 2 years, she has gained a total of 7 lbs. In the past 2 1/2 months, she's gained 2 of those pounds.

Even more importantly than growing to love food for her physical growth and development, we desire to teach her a love for the Word of God. One of my favorite childhood memories was reading the Bible story about wise King Solomon and the mother who lost her baby in the night and took another mother's baby. In searching for a good children's Bible, I came across this helpful blog post: Toddler Bibles Reviewed





Sunday, January 20, 2013

Happy Plate, Happy Momma

When it comes to eating, I am so happy to finally hear the words, "I want some more, momma." We never heard that before our trip to Shriner's. Gaining some more weight, along with simple exercises with play will help O get stronger and more confident with walking. She has already been standing for much longer periods than she ever did before her fracture, and she almost always chooses walking over being carried.

Our first week of potty training was a success. A few minor accidents, but nothing major. We've always said we had an easy baby and this proves it again.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Successful Potty Training Weekend

This has been a lot more fun than I thought it would be. It is such a joy to watch my daughter grow, and learn, and get excited about her accomplishments. Those sweet moments when time seems to stop and she is telling me a story or singing a song, while waiting to "go".... I love those moments. 



I have not followed it to a T, but I used a lot of the ideas this mom used:

We are not done yet, but we are a lot more far along than I thought we would be.
There was a song CarrieSueMist made up in high school that I have been singing to O this weekend. Day 2, she had already started singing it all by herself. Robert says, "You guys need to finish that song! Write some verses to it."

I gotta go pee pee, I do, I do
I gotta go pee pee
I gotta go, go, go
I gotta GO... GO

(I couldn't figure out how to rotate it, but it's still cute)