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!)!!!