Birthday

So life has been different not what I want it to be lately. I anticipated my birthday to be another day, another stressful how are we going to get all the stuff done kind of day. Well, it began so sweet one of my best friends from home called & sang happy birthday to me, sweet friend-how I love your voice :). Then I was fortunate to go to a class @ work & learn & get paid. Then I came home to a home made card done by Liliana, all by herself of course :)

But then it started~ I began opening mail, bills-why didn't I just let them be, because then the stress came, I began making lists...trying to figure it out. Ends not meeting I felt beat & frustrated, just looking @ Eli I said, "not today, not on my birthday." So we stopped trying to figure it ALL out...at the same time (sweet perfect timing) I received a wonderful message & a surprise at my door.
All I first saw was a daffodil, well 2 on one stem...& I just cried. It was truly such a loving, thoughtful wonderful surprise at a time that i needed it so much. I didn't even have to open the gift & then more tears. Wow, thank-you!!

Then a call from a dear friend saying they could watch Liliana so Eli & I could go out to eat. Well, I had to be honest and admit since things are tight-we were just doing 'free' things today. Which was fine. But they had a gift certificate to give to us for dinner. Again thoughtful & so giving. We enjoyed our dinner out, its been some time since we've had just husband & wife time out.

So my birthday was about family & friends, near & far calling & giving me sweet gifts of love, singing happy birthday to me, words of reassurance that life is good & the bumps in the road are always going to be there and its a matter of knowing that you are not alone.

I am blessed I got to enjoy the day with my two favorite people, laughing, eating, walking through Duke Gardens.
I know I need to be better at meeting God in my place of frustration. He's showing me the way, giving me a lot of grace.

Lili Eats...

Lili eats. She of course began at birth nursing & still does. I was fortunate we both learned quickly.
@ 4 months we started rice cereal-she loved it. @ 6 months we began oatmeal & veggie & fruit purees. @ 7-8 months she's been enjoying more.
Liliana has strong feelings about food; loving or hating it. There doesn't seem to be much in between.
We know she loves cheerios on any given day. Recently she ate pancakes, our oatmeal w/blueberries was a hit & we shared our meatball & spaghetti dinner (think this has been her favorite so far), graham crackers are fun & tonight mozzarella cheese & some of mommy's pesto pizza was good too.

Thens theres nights like last night where we go back to her old standby of sweet potatoes & oatmeal & a newly tried plain yogurt with some fruit~ to my dismay she hated the yogurt. Now should I be surprised by this maybe not, during my pregnancy I couldn't bare to eat my most favorite morning delight of yogurt & fruit...its probably more a texture thing with her~ I don't know, but the look on her face was of pure disgust. Guess we'll try that again, another day.

So most days she enjoys eating but if you catch her when she's tired (parental default), don't even try to carry on, she will let you know she's NOT a happy camper.
But for now we will continue to try to delight her young palate.

Ok Breakfast, make it pancakes ~ is my favorite!!





Italian:




She'll even eat a little bit of nature...
.....was I not suppose to?

8 Months

Yeah for peas & dining outside w/ daddy~

Wow, baby girl the theme this month is being 'Mobile'~ You have perfected the crawl in the last month. You are now enjoying finger foods.

You are:

*Crawling everywhere & into everything
*Beginning to cruise along furniture
*Finding new toys to play with
*Enjoy playing~watching other kiddos
*Napping-goal is still 2 a day but not always the longest
*Enjoys experimenting w/food- Favorites now are Trader Joe O's
*Loves feet, shoes, socks...anything to do w/feet
*Singing songs or listening to mommy & daddy 'try' to sing nursery rhymes

Circling Thoughts

I'm not the friend I want to be right now, but I can be a really good friend. My life lately is this overwhelming, frustrating, tiresome, isolating & yet in the moments in between I feel loved, joy and happiness. I truly need to be better at making these moments more part of my day instead of worrying about the kind of wife, mom & worker bee I am. I tend to get wrapped up in what I feel I'm not doing right instead of appreciating what God has actually blessed me with.
I can so easily get frustrated that we only have one income, money is tight, prepping the house to sell is daunting, realizing we have to pack the entire house seems to be a much bigger task to accomplish, esp. with a crawling babe, my work keeps me away from my family for long stretches of time. When these thoughts go over & over in my head, the hole I feel I'm digging gets deeper & deeper.

But then I step away from it all & being at work actually grounds me. My family is healthy, we all get to be home together, we have food on our table, I can hold my baby, I can enjoy her in all her moods. I know I am blessed. I need to remind myself of this.

Guest Room

We have a guest room.

The last couple days is the most time I've ever spent in it since we've lived here. Why you ask, well we've had contractors here since Monday & this is the only room that is easily self contained & as well as no projects are in the process in this room. I can shut the doors & Liliana can have the run of the room. She crawls plenty & is getting herself up easily by standing along tables & the bed. She also is becoming more adventurous & grabs & gets herself from the bedside table to the bed. She really likes & approves of the Ikea table.






Oh & this room has 5 outlets, pretty good for this small room. I know this too cause if the laptop runs low on juice I have many options out of her site to plug into. Otherwise she is like a bee to honey when she sees electrical cords.

So this has been a 'debbie downer' day. The contractors will be going on day 4 tomorrow. Trying to be positive but its really not working for me today, At All. Plus bills keep rolling in--Ok enough said. At least the pictures bring a smile to my face.


"You must listen to me, I have something very important to tell you"

More proof that Lili loves the table....