A Blooming Night

I was so excited yesterday when Kevin's dad told us these flowers that only bloom at night, once a year were about ready to do just that! Obviously there is no way to know exactly which night it will be so you have to watch them. Seeing that I don't really care a whole lot about flowers blooming, I was a little surprised at myself for being so excited to see these! Kevin's mom came in last night and announced they had bloomed!!! I ran out with my camera and snapped a few shots. They were SO pretty! Not only do they only bloom once a year, but they wilt after about two hours of showing their beauty! So we caught them and it was great! Until next year...

So much to clap about!

We have been working with Ayda for weeks to get her to clap. The child crawled at 5 months, walked at 9 months, is saying mama and dada, and overall communicates with us great. But clapping and waving seems to be the hardest concept for her to grasp (still working on waving). So when she looked at me the other day and clapped once I was so excited. Then by the end of the day she was clapping all the time!!! We caught it on film last night!

Also Kevin's dad and Aunt have been in town (they run his business in NY) and Ayda has LOVED having them here. She started saying A-Da when she sees Michael. In chinese the word for grandpa is "Agong". So now when we tell Ayda to say Agong she says A-Da. You can tell though she is trying to figure out the G sound but it's not quite there yet!

A lesson learned...

I have debated on whether I should share the lesson I recently learned. No, it is not a lesson on parenthood or marriage. Something more simple than that. But it is a lesson that I have thought about many times since. So here goes:

The Lesson? There is not enough pine straw in Florida to have a piece stuck in the wood of the deck.

How did I learn this? Well, Sunday afternoon Ayda was playing on the deck outside. She loves to just run around out there. Kevin and I were standing by the stairs guarding them and chatting. I looked down and saw a piece of "pine straw" sticking out of the railing and picked at it. How many times have I done that in Georgia? Yea. Well about three seconds later Kevin said "hey look. A lizard." And about two seconds after that my heart sank as I realized I didn't pick off a piece of pine straw, I broke off about 1/2 an inch of this poor lizard's tail. I immediately felt horrible. And in true Rebekah fashion I got down on the ground to find the piece I broke off and confirmed it was indeed the end of the tail. I was a little grossed out, who wouldn't be? But more than that I was so sad that I totally ruined that lizard's day. Abby, my precious niece, came to mind when something similar happened to her. My sister in law wrote about it in her blog. Abby and I have similar hearts for the hurting and I think I felt much like she did in this post. Then I looked around our house and realized there is not even any pine straw around. Insult to injury right there, but a lesson was learned.

This is not the lizard whose tail I broke, but he looks very similar to him. So here is a tribute to the poor little buddy!

And to finish, this is the railing where all this happened. Do you see any pine straw around?

Laughter...It's the BEST!

Ayda was playing in her Uncle George's room tonight and the laughter coming from that room made my heart melt! By the time I got the camera and snuck in there to film it she was winding down some. She loves to go in his room and throw herself on the mat on the floor...over and over and over again! And tonight it was even more fun when her grandpa and Aunt Ivory joined in on the fun! I could listen to that laugh all day if I could!

(Oh yea...sorry it is so dark and the quality is not the best...like I said I had to sneak in there so she would not come over to me. I could not turn the lights on!)

Scrub a Dub Dub!

Ayda LOVES the bath! She seems quite comfortable in water and loves to splish and splash!

Life in Florida

Moving to a small town has been easier than I thought. I love being away from all the hussle and bussle of city life. The air is fresher and it's a whole lot quieter out here. We are living with Kevin's parents till we can get his practice up and going. Ayda loves being here and having all this room to roam around. And I love being in a house again. I have lived in apartments pretty much the past 5 years. We live on 5 acres of orange grove which makes for pretty scenery. Enjoy the pics of Life in Florida!

Kevin's mom grows Chinese Grapefruit in her garden. And it is tradition to wear the peal as a hat if you are a kid! So Ayda wore it and knew she was being cute!

The view from our front door

Oranges are coming soon!!! I love watching them change color and grow. When we got here a few weeks ago they were smaller and still very green!

The other side of the house

One part of the front yard

The road that leads to the house! Country road...I love it!!!

Our driveway

Random pretty flower in the front yard

Ayda after nap time! Her hair is getting thicker and longer which is making for some interesting hair days!!!

Ayda's new nursery. I love it!! She has so much room to play now. I often go in there with her and close the door and we just sit in the floor and play with toys.

The cross stitch on the wall was made for Ayda by my Great-Aunt Cookie. It is so special!

The other cross stitch on the wall was made by my mom!

Ten Months

Wow, ten months. I can't believe I am already planning her first birthday party. This year has flown for sure! Here is Ayda and Tommy's ten month picture!

This month Ayda:

Mastered her walking (lots less falls), Started saying "Mama" when she wants anything related to food, saying "eh" to get your attention (she does it mostly to Kevin I have noticed), moved to Florida, and grown grown grown. I swear (but I don't) that she has grown a few inches! It has been a busy month for us all, but Ayda's amazing smile and joyful personality has made it all that much easier! Happy Ten Months Pumpkin (though a little late!)!!!

Climbing Stairs

Ok, this is the last post for the night...promise! I was clearly behind from the week in Atlanta! So four posts, lots of pictures and two movies later...I am signing off!

Like any child, Ayda loves the stairs. She has not been around many but she has quickly figured them out. Kevin spotted her one morning and she pretty much mastered getting up them fast on the first try. Not sure if this is a good thing or not, but she had fun and as you can see she was quite proud of herself afterward. Luckily, Kevin's mom's house does not have any stairs so that is one less thing to worry about! Enjoy!!

Ayda Dancing

My mom has this goofy Halloween toy that sings and dances. My nephew, Jack, loves it and now so does Ayda. Mom played it a million times while we were there. By the end of the week Ayda started dancing when she heard it singing. It was so cute!

First Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!!

We finally got a sunny day in Atlanta and took off for the pumpkin patch...down the street. There is a church that we have always gotten our pumpkin from. Last year I was 7 months pregnant and felt like one of the pumpkins. So I was thrilled to have my sweet baby with us this year to roam the field of pumpkins and find the perfect one. Ayda had a blast riding in the wagon (which is a definite on her birthday or Christmas list!). She got out for a little while but really was quite content to just ride along. We had fun taking pictures and showing her off!

Ayda smiling at Grand-Pam who had just arrived at the pumpkin patch!

She didn't get far but she tried to pull the wagon along.

Still trying!

Enjoying being pulled along by daddy. So many pumpkins to look at though!

Taking a little break after picking the perfect, though special (notice the warts) pumpkin!

Daddy's Girl!

One of few family photos of us! I love this one!

The whole crew...even Grandma made it to the pumpkin patch with us!

Four Generations! (We try to get these pics as much as possible and take advantage of the four generations!)

My sweet baby girl!

The First Fight...

Ayda had her first fever while we were visiting my mom in Atlanta. She woke up at 2AM fussing and I went to check on her. As soon as I touched her I knew she was pretty hot. As you probably know Kevin and I are very hands off when it comes to interventions. We don't want her to be uncomfortable but we also want to let her body fight whatever it is trying to fight. So I took her temp, nursed her, and put her back to bed. I will admit I was worried about her so I slept in the nursery with her. She slept till 7 and we began what ended up being a very slow, take it easy kind of day. She had gotten checked by our Upper Cervical Doctor the day before so I knew she was not subluxated. Kevin and I took turns holding and snuggling with her. And if you know Ayda you know she does not stop to snuggle, ever! And finally through the night her fever broke. She got up the next morning seeming to feel better, just not hungry. We didn't push it, we just let her tell us. And again we took it easy. By 4 AM the next morning, we had our lil pumpkin back...she was starving! We have been blessed to have a very healthy baby thus far. And now we know whatever she fought this week, her body will not have to fight as hard the next time. It was not easy watching her feel so crummy but we stuck to what we know and she was over whatever it was in 48 hours. As Kevin starts his practice encouraging other people to let the body do what it was designed to do, we were encouraged to see our own baby's body do just that.

She got lots of love from us and my mom all day.

We have arrived

We arrived in Florida Saturday afternoon after much packing and loading Friday. Kevin drove the truck down and Kevin's mom, Ayda and I came in the Pilot. And now we are somewhat settled. Ayda is in heaven having a grandma and great grandparents to give her attention 24/7. She toddles around seeing who wants to play next. We also checked out a park yesterday and she loved the swing. Today she and I went to another park and met some MOPS moms and kiddos. It was good to meet other woman and I hope to begin building relationships with some of them. Ayda had fun in the swing again and loved watching the other kids run around. It will not be long before I am chasing her all over the playground. Thanks for your prayers for safe travel! All in all it was an uneventful move and we are thankful!

Taking a break after hours of loading, cleaning, and last minute packing! Thanks so much to Jim, Josh and Kaitlin for your help!!!!

Playing in the swing! And yes...Ayda is wearing a sweatshirt!!! It was actually chilly here the past couple mornings! I LOVE it!!! My favorite season is fall and I was bummed we were leaving Atlanta just as the air is getting cooler, the breeze crisp and the leaves changing colors. But alas the past couple days the air has been cooler, the breeze more crisp, and well the palm trees will stay the same color but I can't have everything! I am thrilled anyway!!!

Daddy and Ayda having lots of fun checking out the playground!

Holding on tight!!!

Trying to get used to uneven ground to walk on!

Four generations!!!