13 Months

LE's face above pretty much sums up my feelings on the weather this last month. It has been extra dreary. It's snowed, hailed, rained, and whatever other kind of cold precipitation that you can think of. It's as if God is extending winter by a month to make up for the month of sunshine we got in Fiji. It's months like these that I'm thankful we have LE to entertain us, and since she's at the perfect age to keep cooped up indoors. She's started to get more cuddly, loves to giggle and be gently tickled, loves bath time, squeals with delight every time she sees our cat, pulls on her highchair when she's hungry, and is completely weaned from breastmilk and formula. Most notably...

She's still a little wobbly at times, but LE's preferred method of transportation is walking! She just mastered getting up on her own without support, which has opened up a new world. This first set of photos was taken when she could only go about 3 steps before falling. She would cautiously take a step, catch her balance, and then go again.

You'll notice a clip is almost a permanent accessory for her. At least, that's the case until she realizes it's there and slowly pulls it out and puts it in her mouth. Her hair has gotten long in the last two months, and without support, it goes directly in her eyes.

On a "warm" Thursday (in the 50s, I think), John was off of work and our family of 3 took a trip to the zoo. LE's first trip there was with the mom's group and me when she was about 4 months old. This time she actually noticed the animals were there, though, admittedly, I think she was more interested in watching the kids walk around. She wore her grump-face almost the whole time.

Last year, she went on the carrousel and instinctually held onto the bar. This year, she was not enthused with the carrousel. Perhaps me hitting her on the head on her way up to the seat didn't help, but she wanted down the whole time. The only time she smiled is when we would circle around and see her dad standing on the side.

Nanny sent a tent that she found in Spain for us to play in just like my mom and I did when I was LE's age. It was a really sweet gesture that actually made me tear up. After Mom died in April 1998, I carried the photo of us peeking out of that tent until mid-way through college. I looked at that photo every time I missed my mom.

LE instantly loved the tent. It was the best form of peek-a-boo with her inside and me outside. She opens the flap, laughs from her belly, puts it back down, and does it all over again a second later.

One day a huge box was at our front door. It's the type of box that will be perfect to turn into a mini playhouse next winter (but I'd prefer to not think about next winter right now). Inside the box was a gray plush elephant chair named Felix from LE's Godmother, Ashley! LE doesn't quite get the concept of sitting in a chair for any reason other than getting fed, so for now, Felix is more of just a giant stuffed animal, and she loves it! Seriously, I think she thinks Felix is a relative of Sweetheart (our cat). Throughout the day she'll go put her face up to his face and giggle. Or she'll touch his trunk and giggle. Other times she goes and lays across him briefly as if she's giving him a hug. 

Many crummy weather days later gets us to Easter, which was a remarkably pleasant, sunny day. We went to church, stopped by our friends' home to congratulate them on the Easter baptism of their son, and then headed home to light up the grill. We cooked a fabulous lunch with coffee-crusted grilled porkchops and bourbon cream sauce, grilled asparagus, and a simple salad with homemade sun-dried tomato basil vinaigrette dressing. It was so nice to get to have grilled food again!

After recovering from our food coma, we all went outside. LE felt the cold, prickly grass under her bare feet for the first time. She took a few steps and then stopped, looked up at me, and wanted to get picked up. I guess we'll work up to that.

She explored the grass around her, pulling up a blade, breaking it, and then pulling up another.

Meanwhile, John was working on finishing building our square foot vegetable garden. I did all of the studying up on the garden and planning, and John did all of the construction. We plan to have lettuce, spinach, two kinds of peppers, tomatoes, snap peas, cilantro, parsley, shallots, green onions, tomatillos, carrots, radishes, mint, dill, thyme, chives, basil, and rosemary. Whew!

LE wanted to taste test for us. John reminded me it was probably cow manure compost that she was testing. Oops.

Thanks to Granny for the Easter outfit and to Mimi for the tent dress!

Touring John's Office

Anyone who has come to visit us has taken a tour of John's office campus. It's a spectacular place full of creativity, artwork, and whimsy. Just before we headed off to Fiji, LE got baptized (more on Fiji and the baptism to come, I promise). Her Godmother, Ashley, and Ashley's husband, Dustin, came up from Austin for the baptism. Oh how I loved having friends come visit!

Here's a *glimpse* of where John works {when he's not traveling}. There's so much more there that wasn't captured; who has time or energy for a 3 hour tour?

In case it's not obvious, Ashley is imitating the penguin.

LE was sick but still well-behaved. 

Book Review

While we were in Fiji, I spent many hours in our pool reading This is Your Brain in Love by Dr. Earl Henslin. The book is intended to help couples learn about themselves so that they can experience the perfect marriage. Dr. Henslin is a psychiatrist who worked alongside a neurologist for many years, through which he discovered how SPECT brain scans pinpoint the areas that can indicate specifically how individuals can change their diets and consciously adjust their ways of thinking to be better spouses.

I found the majority of the book to be like an infomercial for Dr. Henslin. There were parts here and there that gave insight into how people I know may be partly like one of the five types that he described, but quite honestly, the relationship examples he gave were too extreme or specific to relate to.

Despite the underlying sales pitch, what kept me reading is that I found it interesting how brain damage at even a very early age can affect the way you think and act as an adult. Admittedly, it made me want to get a SPECT scan to see what areas are over- or under-active, thus preventing me from being a better spouse, mother, daughter, friend... and how I can work to counteract that damage.

The last quarter of the book was helpful. It gave relevant and relatable ways to show love to your spouse. They were more or less basic, but a good reminder.

Overall, though the book was interesting, I don't think that it should be marketed as a marriage book since in order to get the "more passionate and emotionally healthy marriage" that it talks about, you'd likely need to go see Dr. Henslin in person.

I received a copy of this book for free from BookSneeze with the agreement that I would write an honest review when I finished it. The opinions expressed are mine and not influenced by the agreement.

LE Turns One!

*Guest Blogger: Dad!**

We’ve been tremendously blessed in the last 365 days to have such a wonderful child. And we’re only just beginning— it’s quite exciting. She’s really active these days: almost walking (only needs to hold on to one of our fingers to toddle along), babbling a lot, and has a renewed interest in all of her toys and things that we left behind while we were in Fiji. Especially the cat—she loves that thing. She’s good at using expressions like clapping and waving, and has learned how to shake her head “no” (though we don’t think she fully comprehends the meaning yet). 

But she’s blessed too—she has a great network of family and friends who have covered her in prayer, and, over the last few days, birthday presents! She got a new tricycle from Nicole and me (a fancy German one that we found 70% off at Oompa), and fun books and games from relatives (thanks!).

Saturday was a nice day to go for the first spin.

We had a pretty low-key celebration for LE over the weekend, with the token give-a-baby-a-cake-and-see-what-happens bit. It was actually an über-healthy carrot-banana-date cupcake (with no added sugar), but I mistakenly gave her the one with the sweetened frosting instead of the whipped cream frosting that Nicole made for her. Oh well. She seemed to enjoy that, almost as much as she enjoyed sharing the icing with her mom.

Pre-cake

LE contemplating the cupcake

Skeptical

\

Getting that finger ready

Excitement sets in once the flame goes out.

First swipe of the cupcake

First swipe of mom's face. 

ta da!

Not much more celebration for this b-day, though; we’re saving up for next year: Bounce house, pony rides, clowns, and an oxygen bar! And we just learned that after the flight to Fiji, LE has now achieved Platinum on Delta- way to go!   OK, that’s not really true, but she has flown a lot, and that’s kind of cool.

Stay tuned for more on Fiji!


**Notes from Nicole:

LE also will hug when asked and is a very social kiddo. She'll make noises and stare at a stranger until they turn around and look at her. She will smile a huge smile and usually kick her feet and wave in excitement. She's a silly girl and loves attention. Every single place we go (or close to it), someone will say, "Now that's a happy baby! Is she always that happy?" and I get the pleasure of saying yes, unless, of course, she's starving, sick, or really tired. 

Now that she's the big 1 year, she allowed to start drinking cow's milk. She's had no issues and is making the transition quite well.  She continues to love eating; she pants, bites, or repeatedly makes a pop sound when she is hungry.

Lastly, John mentioned the walking, and while she is not truly walking yet, she is close. She stands on her own, and on occasion she'll take a tentative step. We thought that she'd learn to walk in Fiji, but they carried her almost nonstop, causing her to regress. The affection she received from them far outweighed the minor walking setback.

Made it to Fiji

We finally made it onto the plane after what seemed like an incredibly long evening. John walked around with LE in her infant carrier to get her to fall asleep without fussing. Thankfully, it worked, and we were given permission to carry the carrier on the plane and keep it in the vacant seat next us.

After getting settled in the half-full plane, three flight attendants came to check on the carrier, verifying that it’s safe for the plane. The last lady to check on it mistakenly told us that we had to take LE out, which woke her up and made her cry.  We finally got her to go back to sleep before we took off, and they brought a bassinet that attached to the bulkhead for her to sleep in during the flight. I must say, she slept well-- certainly better than I slept. John and I were both surprised at how quickly the flight went by. 

When we arrived to Nadi, Fiji, at around 5:30 a.m., we were greeted first by about 6 Fijians right at the plane’s door and then by three Fijians playing guitars and singing loudly as we walked the short jaunt to customs, which, by the way, had no lines and friendly staff.  John and I were both very surprised by the number of people who were awake, at work, and happy before daybreak. 

John and LE at our day hotel, the Mercure, in Nadi.

Since our flights were changed to a more inconvenient route with a long layover in Nadi, our travel agent got us a room for free at a nearby hotel, the Mercure.  We took the hotel’s shuttle, checked in without issues, and made it to our room to rest. John apparently wasn’t tired, but LE slept and I half-slept. We got up, went to the main courtyard for the complimentary breakfast buffet, and then headed back to the airport to catch our noon flight. The people there were very friendly, wanting to hold LE and talk with us.

Here's LE below at the Nadi airport just before we got on the plane. 

For whatever reason, they had us all board, sit down, and unbuckle our seatbelts and sit in the unairconditioned plane while they filled the gas tank. LE was a sweaty mess.

Views in flight

We landed in Labasa, Fiji, ready to take the 2 hour bus ride to our resort in SavuSavu. The airport in Labasa was just a small building with one office and about 30 chairs. There was no security or air-conditioning. Our luggage was simply brought in on a rolled cart, and everyone just grabbed what was his. I walked around with LE while John waited for our luggage, and two ladies asked to hold LE, kiss her face, and take a picture with her on their cell phone. Having a baby makes you an instant celebrity.

Here's the landing strip.

Here I am with LE, standing in the parking lot of the airport. You can kind of see the landing strip in the background.

After we got our luggage, we found our way through the crowd to the man with a clipboard who apparently was in charge of getting the surprisingly large group to our resort, Koro Sun, outside of the town SavuSavu. Almost everyone rode in a van to the resort, but since we had little LE, we were sent in a cab with just one other passenger. That’s when we learned that the reason there was a group going to our same small resort is because there is a Tony Robins conference later in the week at Tony’s resort down the street from Koro Sun. They all arrived a couple of days early to adjust before transferring to the Tony’s resort for the conference.

Our cab driver pointed out a number of highlights along the way and answered a lot of questions that we had about the island and SavuSavu.  There were cows, horses, and pigs tied up along the roadside here and there, and a lot of rainforest and natural flora. It was a pretty drive, but we were thankful to finally arrive at Koro Sun!

P.S. Wholly cow I was pasty when I got there!! I look sickly in that photo. Yikes!