Henry vs. the bulldog

Henry is 6 months old today. I can't believe how quickly time flies, etc,...yada yada yada.

But seriously, it does.

Henry is now a pro at sitting up by himself (unless he turns to watch Adele too much and topples over). I never thought he'd be content just sitting, since all he does most of the time is try to move - bounce, crawl, you name it. However, I think he likes the independence he feels when he sits by himself.

And it doesn't mean he isn't trying to crawl anymore - he is getting so close!! He can scoot around, and now spends plenty of time up on all fours rocking as he tries to inch forward.

Henry now has more teeth as well. But not his top teeth - of course not, Henry has three bottom teeth and working on his 4th bottom teeth. If we could teach him to stick out his chin he might look like this:

Here are a couple of (cuter) pictures of what Henry actually does look like. As always, see facebook for more pictures from the last month!

Love you Henry!

Dinnertime!

There were evenings, long ago, when dinnertime was relaxing. Dull, some might say.

When David and I lived in Costa Rica, we had many nights during the off-season where it was a quiet time, just the two of us. We would take our dinner and sit in front of the TV, and casually watch while we chatted the whole evening. We had many quiet evenings, entertaining each other by coming up with interesting conversation topics - ranging from visions and dreams for the future of QERC to gremlins.

Times have changed.

We have two very different children, and both equally demanding and, well...loud during dinner.

On one side we have Adele. She's never been a big eater, and always been fairly picky. It is simply the best when she will surprise us and eat an entire meal. Half the battle is getting her to try the food. These days she is completely obsessed with eating crackers before nap and bed, so a consequence for not trying the food on her plate is going without crackers for the day. (Funny how it works, too. Over crackers.)

On the other side we have Henry. Equally as noisy, but in a different way. That little chubbers is obviously not lacking in food, and yet still can't seem to get enough. We have introduced solids simply because he was acting so desperate to get the food off our plates. As to be expected, he's done well.

The bonus of Adele not eating much as a baby was not having to clean up a huge mess. I really dislike messy eating. And Henry is messy.

Henry actually wants food so badly that if I'm not quick enough with the spoon, he results in sucking on his high chair.

Anyone who would ever think of our quiet dinners in Costa Rica as dull is a fool. I would probably describe an evening like that as peaceful. Or glorious.

Or heavenly.

Big girl bed!

I can hardly believe my little girl is growing up so fast. Before we left for our travels for the summer we bought a twin bed for Adele off of Craigslist. We hadn't yet purchased a mattress, but set up the bed in order to get her excited for her own bed when we returned.

Since moving into our new home, getting Adele's room (and Henry's future room) set up was the highest priority. She had been with me all summer long (in the pack 'n play at first, and in bed with me the latter part of the summer), and we knew a transition would be difficult.

So we got her bed set up, put a new mattress on it, and built the excitement.

Once the excitement wore off after the first few hours of receiving a new mattress, we heard a few "but I want to sleep wif you". And yet, she slept great in her new bed, all night long.

The girl is a champ.

In the 2 weeks she's had that bed, there have only been a couple nights where she's woken up or had a really difficult time going to sleep by herself. Every other night she has slept soundly all night long and I'll ask her in the morning "did you sleep well?" and she replies "yep! there were no monsters!"

Maybe it has to do with us getting her room super cozy with all her stuffed animals, books, toys, blankets, and pillows. Maybe it has to do with a very long bedtime routine that includes many books, prayers, and songs, and visits from both mommy and daddy. Maybe it has to do with the countless hours we spend in her room on any given day reading and playing.

Or maybe she's just growing up. *sniff*

Here she is, enjoying her room and her new big girl bed. She wanted to take the picture with Henry, because according to her, "he wants to be wif me, mommy!" (Clearly.)

After we played in Adele's room this morning, she found a few dresses she had to put on. And then she noticed her reflection in the fireplace. 

At that point, she was too preoccupied with dancing for herself to pose for a picture.

Never a dull moment.

Zumbaaaa

I love Zumba.

Zumba makes me feel like I can dance. You know, as though I have moves. Which, I clearly don't, if you've ever seen my daughter dance. She's cute now...but she's 2. I am as talented as she is...and I'm a bit older than 2. Those moves are not as cute when I do them.

About a year and a half ago I went to a Zumba class for the first time. I was pretty apprehensive. I'm sure most people are their first time. The beauty of Zumba is that anyone can do it. 

The teacher is usually pretty good. Aside from that, in any class I've ever been to, there are only a small number of people who actually look coordinated enough to look like they belong in the class. Most are like me, or even worse (that's me being hopeful that I'm not the worst one in the class). 

And no one notices. Or cares.

Zumba is a time to let loose, and shake your body under the disguise of working out. 

Try it. You (probably) won't be the worst on there, and you will (most definitely) love it.

A Costa Rica beginning

A young married couple from Point Loma Nazarene University is the new Field Station Managers of QERC down in Costa Rica. They headed down to start the new job just a few days ago. Before they left, they came over for dinner with us.

We talked their ears off.

We couldn't help ourselves. A chance to talk to people about the job of managing QERC? Living in the cloud forest? Traveling around Central America? Our neighbors and dear friends in the valley? How to survive as a married couple in the midst of a different culture while running a study abroad program? Spanish? Food?

As I said, we talked their ears off.

After dinner and a time of sitting around talking and sharing stories, David gave them an out and offered to take them back to the place they were staying. I kindly mentioned they didn't have to leave and we could continue to talk as long as they wanted, or even show them pictures. They perked up at the mentioning of pictures.

They didn't realize that pictures meant four large scrapbooks each representing one year of our time there.

Costa Rica is a special place for David and me. It always will be.

I'm thrilled that this new couple gets to begin their own journey at QERC. May their years be full of laughter, funny culture shock stories, adventure, flexibility, and lots of personal growth. I'm excited for them.

And extremely jealous.

The latest

Well we're getting settled. Does anyone ever truly feel settled in a home? Will we ever get to that point??

We still have a few boxes to look through, and there is nothing on our walls yet, but we ARE making progress. We've also been busy. David's been getting into the routine of classes and work, and my kids are keeping me on my toes. Or more appropriately, they are keeping me on the floor as they crawl all over me.

Our tv isn't up yet, which has been wonderful to stay busy without having a tv to fall back on for entertainment. Adele has loved going through all of her books and we read SO MANY books these days. Probably between 25-50 on any given day. She's been painting (with water colors), coloring, putting stickers on anything I will let her, playing with play-doh, and making Henry laugh.

Adele has the ability to make Henry smile and laugh more than anyone. We even tested this. If Henry is in his ExerSaucer, he will laugh at Adele dancing around him all day. Put David or me dancing in front of him and we are lucky if we get a smile.

We have had some visitors too - my mom and dad came the weekend we moved in and helped with the kids and enjoyed seeing our transition to our new home. The following weekend, my sister Katie and my dad came down for a couple days (perks of retirement for my dad!). Despite the warmer weather, we got out and explored Oklahoma.

Here are some pictures of our recent endeavors:

Out on the Canadian River

At Pops, where more than 600 types of pop are sold - Adele chose "Martian Soda"

Adele and Daddy jumping through the sprinkler

Grandpa running with Adele through the sprinkler

Adele feeding Woody her coffee with a spoon