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Monday, June 25, 2007

3 W's: Wolfing, Walking, and Williamsburg

"She could have made this snack thing a little easier on me."

Actually, I provided Rhianwen with a nice plastic container of cheerios, but of course, the first thing she did with them was dump them on the floor. This recalled to mind the time that my littlest brother (Rhi's Uncle Skipper) dumped an entire box of cheerios on the floor, thought it hilarious, and proceeded to grind them to smithereens by crawling all over them (also very hilarious in his opinion...and we wonder where this whole joining the army thing comes from). But I digress.

Other wonders of the week: Rhianwen has been taking steps free of any support! She has consistently taken as many as 6 at a time, though admittedly, this "walking" is quite slow and has some mighty long pauses between steps in order to feel balanced for another try. When she took 6 for the first time, she was with Wally and I was out in the yard. He came flying out of the house and said, "We're done!!!" I turned around and was like "huh"? He said, "We're done! She's walking!" Well, I'm sure it will be a few more moons before she really masters it, but she repeated it for me when I came inside...so, only time will tell.

We are now in Williamsburg, VA where Rhianwen got to see the protagonist of one of her favorite books, "The Sheep Says Baa". She was very excited and said "Baa" quite a few times trying to coax it out of the sheep. The sheep was only interested in nibbling tidbits and getting cool in the shade. Oh well. I guess not all sheep say baa on command unlike the one in her story.
"Whew! Something stinkier than my stinky diapers!"

She also enjoyed the colonial parade (aka masonic cultish scary procession weaving their way through Williamsburg and enticing many to scariness). The front runners were normal enough, but the ones bringing up the rear were Masons. She looked at them like they were crazy walking up and down beating on those drums.



On the way back to the hotel, we excitedly walked her up to a horse, but she had zonked out into the land of Nod.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

It's All about Daddy and Dancing

Since this was Daddy's birthday and Father's Day week, this post is dedicated to him. Rhianwen helped prepare a delicious cake for Daddy. She was especially handy with the sprinkles. Not only did they make a nice rattly sound when shaken, they also rolled all over the floor once Rhianwen figured out how to get the cap off. She even left her fingerprint on Daddy's cake (notice the sprinkles strewn haphazardly across the floor).


"Mommy is such an ameteur when it comes to cake-decorating. Let me see if I can fix this."


Daddy's birthday card (texturing by the renown Rhianwen).

Rhianwen did the sweetest thing for me. One day Rhianwen and I were sitting in the kitchen enjoying a lucious snack of graham crackers when she leaned over to me and stuck her graham cracker up to my lips for me to eat. Her first sharing! I was overcome by her generosity...really! I often find myself praying for her salvation, and her sharing seemed like a sign that God's grace is already at work in her life. On the other hand, the mini-tantrums have begun. She loves us reading books to her, but every time we get to the end of a book, she will cry because she wants us to keep reading. I kind of know the sentiment. When I get done with an excellent book/series, I feel slightly disappointed too; as if I had lost touch with a good friend whose life was going on without me. But now we don't quite know how to handle the "end of the book situation" with Rhianwen.

Daddy was gone most of the week, so it was just the girls in the household. We mostly just hung out letting Rhianwen cruise from furniture piece to furniture piece. She really only crawls to get to something she can pull up on, and then she uses the furniture as support for her to move around on 2 feet. I'm a little afraid that she is going to be an early walker! While daddy was gone, Rhianwen also perfected a dance routine as depicted in the movie below:


Daddy was back for the weekend and hence for his first Father's Day with a daughter that he could see and touch (unlike last year, when all that he could see was a big lump of a mommy-belly).

Daddy's little girl (notice the top teeth).

Rhianwen truly is blessed with a fun, consistent, patient, godly Daddy. May God continue to perfect Daddy's love into one like our heavenly Father.


LASTLY, BIG NEWS! Wally got accepted to NC State's EE PhD program on a provisional basis (he has to prove he can make the grades)!!!!! We are very excited and thrilled that God seems to be opening the door for him.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Faceplants, Devotions, and Baas

Our baby has now discovered the world of standing on her own and has taken advantage of this new-found knowledge not only to stand in the crib when she's ready to get up but also to stand without support resulting in either a fall on the big diaper butt or a ramrod-straight face-first descent to the floor. Welcome to the age of bruises and scratches.

Wally now has a new devotion "ritual" that involves placing Rhianwen in her chair, carrying her to our bedroom, and using this cool little devotion book that has a song for each devotion. She loooves it. Wally plays the song first, reads the devotion, and plays the song again.


On the way to devotions.



Listening to the music.



Reading about Abraham and Isaac.

Yes, she does have a big wet spot on her tum-tum. It is a result of the diversionary tactics used at supper time: pouring water into her tray for splashing while mommy and daddy finish their meal.

Rhianwen also can tell us what the sheep says now. We've read The Sheep Says Baa so many times now, that we can say, "Rhianwen, what does the sheep say?" and she will say "Baa. Ba." When we read the book, every time we get to "the sheep says...", she will start yelling out, "Baaa! Ba, ba, ba! Baaaaa!". Amazing? We think so.

I know this seems random, but sometimes my husband does noteworthy things that deserve recognition:


These interesting sculptures were secretly placed by my husband for me to discover...how many kids do I have?



Keeping one eye on the fish.

How many kids do I have?...Wait, did I just say that?

Monday, June 4, 2007

Memorial Day and Reception Firsts

For Memorial Day, we decided to take a trip out to a small quaint town to do a little window shopping and to have a picnic. Well, window shopping was quite the literal phrase since the entire town of Hillsborough was closed with the exception of the Fish and Tackle store! It was a cute old town, and we walked around to the visitor's center where we sat in their garden for a while.

Enjoying the shady garden beside the visitor's center.

Next we walked to the overgrown and delapidating Indian camp reconstruction and then found the only "restaurant" in town that was open, the Mini-Mart, and got those really toxic-red hotdogs that come out of a jar for lunch. Next we needed to find a place to eat them and decided to try Ayr Mount, a beautiful house with extensive grounds that lived up to it's charming name.


"I say old chap, how was that hotdog?"

After lunch, we headed down the poet's walk. In my dreams (literally), I have found myself on a poet's walk, but I never knew that it actually existed! They even had pencils and paper in case you were inspired along the way! We came down to the Eno River, where Rhianwen enjoyed dipping her toes in the water, the first river she has been in.

A try at a family picture...oh well.


Splashing in the Eno.

We went past a lovely pond and an old Indian trade route. Then it was time to head home.

The rest of the week was spent with Rhianwen getting her front top set of teeth and getting better and better at crawling. She is now crawling foward! And just tonight we were able to coax her all the way from the living room, down the hall, and into our bedroom. She's still a slow mover, but I'm sure the jet propulsion will kick in soon.

This past weekend, we attended Jeannie and Jesse's wedding. Jeannie was gorgeous; I wish we had pics, but somehow when we go to York we end up so busy that we don't get any pictures taken! Rhianwen went to her first reception (she was in the nursery for the wedding) where a live band was playing. She looooooved it! This weekend, she learned that she can clap her hands and not just the blocks that she loves to play with. When the band was playing, she would clap, laugh, and squeal. We even took her for a spin on the dance floor. It very likely was the highlight of her week...that or getting her new favorite book Knuffle Bunny from Kathy. Today, was spent recuperating from the big party weekend with a round of very long naps.