two more chompers

Abigail's top two chompers poked through a couple of days ago. I was expecting her other bottom tooth to pop through, so the top two caught me by surprise:) The drool is still rolling out of her mouth, so she'll probably have 4 teeth before long!

Happy Wednesday!

Memories of Christmas times long past

My husband came home from Bible Study Monday night and made me an amaretto latte in my favorite Christmas cup, bought at a china shop in London many years ago. It's quite amazing how the simplest things can bring back floods of memories. I'm looking forward to time spent with family sitting around the fire reminiscing, enjoying new memories unfold of first Christmases and looking forward to many Christmases to come. Here are some of my most favorite Christmas memories off the top of my head:

1. My mom's cinnamon rolls and tea ring, enjoyed before we open gifts on Christmas morning.

2. Singing Christmas carols at a train station in Japan with our church, proclaiming our joy to the world.

3. Snow on Christmas Eve in Belgium. It was truly a gift from heaven, since we were often homesick and were more used to rain in the winter than snow flurries. And of course, the joy of watching our new puppy enjoy his first snowfall.

4. Enjoying the fondue tradition with my new family on Christmas Eve. My first fondue Christmas I ate the most I've ever eaten in my life! I felt terrible and yet so happy to be with my new husband and his family. I resolved to use more moderation for future Christmases, and I'm happy to announce that whilst pregnant last year, I exercised much restraint and was able to actually enjoy the Christmas Eve service:)

5. Driving to see Christmas lights with my Grandma and Grandpa Higgins and listening to the Bing Crosby Christmas classics on the radio. Grandpa always knew where to find the best lights in town.

6. And most of all -- reading the Christmas story with both families on Christmas Eve. What a blessing to hear tidings of great joy!

These are only a few of my favorite memories. I could blog for hours on memories of Christmases past, but my baby is asleep and there are things to do! Nevertheless, I am looking forward to seeing my Iowa grandparents in less than a week and my family shortly after.

overdue Abigail update

It is 9am on Saturday morning, and Abigail and I are having some girl time before daddy wakes up this morning. We have had a busy 9 weeks, and we're all looking forward to some R&R over the holidays.

Abigail is now 10 1/2 months old, which is hard for me to believe, and has hit several new milestones in the last couple of weeks. I should come to expect that she usually hits her milestones a couple of weeks after her pediatrician tells me she should. This leaves me biting my nails for a couple of weeks, leaving me to trust the Lord.

Abigail is finally pushing herself up to a sitting position all by herself. She's been sitting well for a long time, and all the books said that babies learn to crawl when they fall forward on to their hands and knees. Not Abigail! She would go directly to her tummy and roll. She still isn't crawling, and I expect that she'll go right to walking. She has excellent balance and cruises all over the house, as long as she has something to lean against. She has perfected her roll, sit up and pull up technique, though she's still not pulling herself up on every piece of furniture.

Where does that leave me? Busy! She now needs constant vigilance and some extra consoling when she takes a tumble. She has had a few bumps and bruises in the last couple of weeks, but she's a resilient little girl.

Daddy is awake, so I'll leave you to go make breakfast. Happy Saturday to you all! Hopefully we'll get to see you soon:)

\
I got here all by myself!

If you look closely, you can see her bottom tooth!


Abigail is eating cheerios, puffs, potatoes, carrots and bananas (sometimes...these are a bit slimy and hard to pick up...). Thankfully, she also still lets me feed her pureed baby food to supplement her newfound feeding skills that still need some polishing.

the sunrise from on high

"And you, child, will be called the

prophet of the Most High;

for you will go before the Lord to

prepare his ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to his

people

in the forgiveness of their sins,

because of the tender mercy of our

God,

whereby the sunrise shall visit us

from on high

to give light to those who sit in

darkness and in the shadow of

death,

to guide our feet into the way of

peace."

Luke 1:76-79

I have been living through a period of numbness the last couple of months, opening up my Bible day in and day out for a fresh word from the Lord. I trust that the Word is living and active and will pierce through this numbness, but sometimes the wait is long and my heart feels chilled in this waiting. And yet in this waiting, I am encouraged. At Bible Study this morning I sat and listened to Christ's second "I Am" statement from John 8 -- I am the light of the world, whoever comes to me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life. So I will keep going to the Lord. I love the Luke and Matthew portions that speak of Christ's birth, and with new joy I read of "a sunrise from high." I am thankful for the wonder of this picture of Christ. My prayer for this season is that the sunrise will continue to guide my feet into a way of peace, that I may be a blessing to those around me. I am thankful that I am warmed in this waiting.

Sharing, Thanksgiving and New Things...

Every night before bed, I pray specifically for Abigail's salvation and her character. I pray that she will be a godly woman, selfless and meek. Though she is young and a while yet away from exhibiting a godly heart, she is already learning to share. Unfortunately, Abigail shared her cold with her cousin Ellie, and both girls weren't their happy selves all week. Note, on Wednesday night Rodney and I took her for a drive to get her to fall asleep, something we had never done before...But it was a blessing to share the holidays with the Harms and Day families. I am truly thankful to have such a great family!

On Wednesday night, I discovered that Abigail's first tooth popped through. Finally! I think she's still working on some more teeth. It was special to share a first with more of her family. She turned 10 months over the holday weekend, and she continutes to enjoy cruising around the house.

Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from the weekend. Enjoy!

oh the weather outside is...

Well it's not quite "frightful", but the weather here in Houston has certainly not been warm the last couple of days! We even dropped into the mid forties (at night of course) several times this week. I was sitting with the other women in a church small group, and I was surprised to hear that everyone has turned on their heat for the year here in Houston. For the record, we're still keeping our master bedroom windows open, and the house drops to a chilly 71 at night. It is a chilly 71, though, and to keep Abigail from waking up in the middle of the night from a chill, we got out the fleece pajamas this week. Here are a few pictures of Abigail sporting her fleece pjs.

I celebrated Christmas in November a couple of days ago when I went through my winter clothes. I pulled out sweaters that I forgot I even had, since I didn't get to wear them last year (due to my baby bump). I've been back in my pre-pregnancy clothes now for a while, so it was fun to discover a whole "new" wardrobe. But my doctor was right, though I didn't believe him at the time. Even though the scale says one thing, my post-Abigail body isn't quite the same:) C'est la vie.

The Lord has been doing a lot in my heart over the past couple of months, and it's never a pain-free process. I'm learning that I have a lot to learn about grace, but more to come on that in the weeks to come...

Happy Thanksgiving!!! (Abigail's awake...gotta run)

So Big!

(a special Abigail update for the Grandmas and Grandpas)...

Abigail is starting to make some big leaps forward in her development, which is reassuring for me. She's never been ahead of the curve developmentally, so I get to wait patiently for these milestones. In the past few days, she just started pulling herself up to a stand, cruising in her crib, and taking baby steps while holding on to my hands. She is also scooting more on her butt, and still has her favored roll and twist technique to locomote around her crib and the house. She's still not crawling and still doesn't have any teeth:) We're also still working on getting from her tummy to a sitting position. Since she's not crawling and doesn't stay on her tummy for long periods, this will be a bit of a challenge:) She's not proficient at any of these milestones yet, and I still hear plenty of whining when I don't immediately jump up to help her. But she's making good progress.

Abigail also just started eating finger foods. As of today, she's still not a fun of anything squishy, and makes funny faces when I put bananas, fresh pears, bread and cheese on her tray. But she is a big fun of Gerber sweet potato puffs and cheerios. We'll just have to keep working on all of those new textures.

My hubby has now been home about 20 minutes, and is in bed for a morning nap, hoping to get rid of his sore throat. I pray that some extra rest will rejuvenate his travel weary body. Abigail isn't quite ready for her morning nap, but when she lays down, I think the whole Harms family will enjoy some shut eye.