Stella Reads to Herself.

Fussy No-Pants.

A few days ago, Stella was a fussy pants; actually, she was really a fussy no-pants.  She's been having little freak-attacks each time I change her diaper...sometimes this involve contorting her body in such ways that I can't get her clothes back on...sometimes I give up trying.  The end result looks something like this:

And this...

 And this...

And this...

I still love my fussy no-pants.

Stella's New, Fake Sad Face.

This one speaks for itself:

Stella's New, Fake Sad Face.

Favorite Moments.

My favorite/funniest moments of the day:

• Cuddling with Stella after her first nap...she's snuggling a lot lately and I'm LOVING every minute of it!
• When Stella nearly pants me as she tried to stand up using my leg as her balancing post; I had to laugh.
• Watching Stella smile when Tim came home and gave me a kiss.  We kissed a bunch of times just to see her smile...and because it's nice.
• Calling home when I was out getting some work done and having Stella respond to my voice, smile, and grab the phone from Tim's hand.
• Dancing my heart out at Zumba tonight while Tim did the bedtime routine with the baby.
• Listening to Stella read to herself - she's using inflection in her gibberish so I know she's modeling what she hears, and she's turning the pages all by herself.

I'm super thankful for my life.

10 Years Ago.

Just over ten years ago, I met my dear friend, Pam.  She was my "randomly" assigned roommate at UNH; I always quote "randomly" because I don't believe in coincidence.  God knows what He is doing and He knew what He was doing when Pam and I were assigned to each other as roommates that fall of 2000.  Pam became a Christian during her freshman year at UNH, and God used Pam to draw me back to Him.  

Today, Pammie brought her sweet, new baby James over to play and there was a moment during her visit when we were both nursing our babies and talking to each other.  I said to her something like, "If someone had told you ten years ago that we would be sitting here with our babies, could you even have imagined that?"  So much has changed in over ten years, but it truly feels like just yesterday that I was moving into room 740 in Stoke Hall...just wondering whether or not I'd connect with my roommate.  

I take such JOY in my friendships, and Pam is no exception.  God has been very good to me by bringing so many wonderful women alongside me to walk this journey.  I now look forward to my child being friends with Pam's children and my other friend's kids, too...wow, that is so cool.

Temper Tantrums

Stella has been throwing what I would call temper tantrums lately.  It's pretty disconcerting since she's not even ten months old.  It's amazing to see such a tiny person express intense joy, gentleness, and love at a very young age, while at the same time I see the seeds of disobedience already making their appearance in her life!  

She loves our wireless router which sits atop our computer, close to the floor of the office.  It has blue flashing lights and probably looks like a toy (note to self:  it would be a good thing to move it, to remove the temptation she feels every day...).  Our daily routine:  Stella plays happily with her toys for a while and eventually makes her way over to the router.  Before I even have a chance to gently redirect her or tell her "no," she looks back at me, looks at the router, looks at me, looks at the router, and then reaches for the router.  I can see the wheels turning in her brain as she knows what I'm going to say to her, and yet she still disobeys and goes for the thing every time.  I remove her from playing with the router and she lays on the floor in a ball and cries, or my favorite is when she flips over on her back and kicks her legs.  This routine lasts for all of 15 seconds and we shift gears into either playing with something else or she tries to get back to the router.

Ever since the fall of man, this nature of disobedience (sin) has lived inside us as human beings.  Thankfully, I get to see the wonderful qualities of God in my daughter FAR more often than I see the sinful nature of man, but there is no denying that this willful disobedience starts early and is evident in the relationship we have with other people and with our Heavenly Father.  This is the first time, however, I'm getting a glimpse into how very much my God loves me as His child; I am grateful for His gentle discipline in my life and for His life-giving words of truth.  I'm grateful to be saved by grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I am so thankful for the privilege of raising Stella, of teaching her right from wrong, setting boundaries, and loving her like CRAZY throughout it all.  Through being Stella's mom, I am coming to a greater understanding of God's love for me and why my obedience to Him matters. 

"This is love for God:  to obey His commands.  And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." 1John 5: 3-5

Stella Head-banging and Conducting