Snippets of Memories...

To my Blueberry--moments I don't want to lose:

• You play happily for 5 minutes and then suddenly stop, toddle over, give my knee a kiss with a large "mwah" to accompany it, and resume your game.
  
• The tender way you hold your baby dolls, teddy bears, anything that might possibly be construed as a teddy bear/baby doll/crayon, bestowing lots of kisses
• The look of concentration on your face as you carefully transfer scoops of Calista's food from her food bowl to her water dish
• The way you try to throw a temper tantrum but do so gingerly so you do not actually hurt yourself. If you wish to lay down on the floor, you carefully scoot yourself downwards to a prone position. If you lay on your tummy, you delicately place yourself face down before beginning to wail. and the rub of the nose as you inevitably hit it a little and come up really crying.
• The way you'll pick out a book and walk over to me with the expectation of being read to
• The delight you take in making us smile and laugh
• The plaintive cry of "Mama Mama" that emanates from your room when you wake up. inevitably followed upon your rescue by "doggy!"
• The way you use calista as your pillow/jungle gym/baby doll whatever else you are in need of at the moment.
• The delicate way you will feed her your food--sharing as it were (or getting rid of whatever you don't want to eat)
• Your consistent and charming use of "da ku" for thank you whenever we give you something (accompanied by a giggle of anticipation if that something happens to be a marshmallow).
• The way you walk around the house swinging your arms and clapping as you go find something to explore
• The careful and deliberate manner in which you practice doing something, whether it be using crayons (and proceeding to draw all over the floor, the door, the wall, books, and occasionally the paper you're allowed to draw on) or clambering down a step.
  
• Your fascination with phones and how anything and everything can be converted into a phone which you will hold up to your ear and clearly say "Hi!" to
• How you discovered twirling and take great detail in spinning in circles (slowly)
• The way you will deliberately tug and pull at my shirt when I don't respond to your signs for "milk" quickly enough
• The hum of satisfaction you make as you cuddle up to nurse
• How you've learned naps are not horrible things and will now not only give the sign for nap when you're tired but, once you're sure we got the message, will happily run along ahead of us to your room--all ready to sleep
• Your fascination with all things doggy or that might be a doggy or could possibly have legs and therefore can be called doggy. or might not have legs but you have no other word for it yet so you stick with doggy.
• Your attempts to climb in the tub to take a bath (you are so my daughter)
• Your amazingly neat capabilities of putting things back exactly where you found them--combined with your incredible destructive abilities at emptying the tupperware cupboard/toy box/bags---anything that you feel needs emptying--in two seconds flat
  
• Your love of blowing raspberries
• How you'll chatter to Eeyore and doggy in your crib (accompanied by lots of kisses, the blowing of raspberries, and occasional commentary about Mama) for 15 or 20 minutes before going to sleep sometimes.
• How you've discovered your nose and will triumphantly point at it when asked where it is, but have not yet made the connection about what eyes are or where they are located
• Your love of wearing sunglasses and how proud you look when you have them on
• How you know to fold your hands as soon as we put the bible down at bedtime
• Your fascination with books, picking them off the bookshelves (pictures or no), and flipping through the pages, "reading" constantly
• Your love of helping me do the laundry: consisting of me handing you a few small items from the washing machine, you carefully and painstakingly putting them in the dryer, and then trying to swing the door shut regardless of whether or not I'm still putting items in the dryer.

No doubt to be continued....

7 Quick Takes (vol. 22)

#1 - It's Friday and we're off duty as of this morning. thank goodness. This has been the world's longest week. Lots of activities, one girl down sick for 5 days, and add in a heavy dose of the crazies, and I'm exhausted! On a positive note, though, I've been feeling re-energized about unpacking again, so progress if getting made in a fashion that makes me feel content.

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#2 - Blueberry's verbal communication skills seem to grow daily. Doggy is still her favorite word; however, more attempts are sneaking into her speech. Nani or Nana generally indicates food, but she's said a few times now something that sounds like an early attempt at Banana. Thank you is definitely being attempted. Rather vague in actual diction, but clearly a consistent response to being given food. And the garbled babbling is hysterically cute.

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#3 - Making friends--is beginning to happen. We have a built in community around us, but its very easy to find yourself isolated in this community if you don't actually go out and try to make acquaintances. Found another housemom with an interest in learning how to coupon, so that's been a good launching point there. And there are others on campus that we are beginning to develop rapport and non-work related connections with--yay! And in the meantime, I thank the Lord nearly every day for one of my best friends being on campus with me.

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#4 - I have to confess to a splurge. We needed a new entertainment stand. We found the most gorgeous shelving unit (I can't think of what the word is for this piece of furniture...perhaps it will come to before I finish writing...if not...oh well). Cream with Japanese Cherry Blossoms painted on the front. Love it. And it now stands in my living room ready to be coordinated with. Yay!

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#5 - I think one of the hardest things about this job is actually going off duty. First of all it takes some mental work to detach from the day to day running of the home. Second, when you have little girls who get all sad and depressed every time you go off duty because they legitimately want you in their lives every day, it's hard to walk away. Time off is important, because what they don't understand is all the extra responsibilities that come along with the job that make us more than just parents. It's the extra paperwork and coordination with others that I find the most exhausting part of this position--not the actual parenting of the girls (crazy as they can sometimes be!). So getting those breaks of just being able to focus on our lives and home is important. But definitely is hard to create that separation for a few days.

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#6 - I'm editing papers again, which is nice. God has placed us in a position where, if we proceed carefully, we should be able to get various students loans, medical bills, and potentially even our house completely paid off in the next few years. And having extra pennies along the way only make it go that much faster. Besides, that's a skill that I don't want to get rusty at. Yay for at home capable jobs!

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#7 - Because what would a Quick Takes be without pictures?

Blueberry meets the resident goats on campus. Not so sure about them close up, but thinks they are hysterical at a distance.