23lbs of inspiration..

i am a better person and a more motivated woman because of you. you daily inspire me to be my very best. even when i've had a long day, or someone hurt my feelings and made me feel 'not good enough', or we have had a "boring" day for you-which is it's cold & rainy so we both get cabin fever and you're literally bouncing off the railings itching to get out with my hands on my hair itching to pull. now it's lol, not then-even on those days you inspire me. the way you love so deeply teaches me to love differently so i can teach you as much as i can to love but also protect your massive heart, your energy drives me to take better care of myself so i can have the energy to keep up; your love of pretty things and your love of throwing yourself up on the couch inspire me to embrace my own complexities so maybe i'll be as fun and cool as you. i am a better woman, wife, sister (so the people above have mentioned:)) and am so excited to keep watching, learning and growing just from being your mom..i will draw the line at being inspired by your fashion sense, for now i'll dress us both. no tutu's for mama.

 

 

now for the really cool stuff in 3 days you'll be 16mos old, and you're dying to talk, but mostly words that relate to food..eeeish. as in it doesn't shock us that "cook" & "yum yum". this one is of course accompanied by the licking of your lips. thankfully "oh no" means when you fall for the umpteenth time, you just exclaim it and keep going. thank you Jesus..of course "all done" is like your universal remote.
names so far: "mom" yep you stopped saying mama, now you say mom with an almost british accent, it's bizarrely awesome. "papa/dada" depending on your mood. "nai/nai nai" for auntie chenai, especially when you have my phone, oh i'm sorry your iphone, you like to sometimes call "gogo"
and every 15mos old needs to know where she came from. so when something amazing happens and i sing my line 'God is great' you loudly back me up with "God, God God.." or 'amen'. we're a heavenly duet. and on that note..God is great, for blessing us with you. cue Zoe ..Amen. mama smile.

if it were me...

fun playdate @ the zoo

..i'd be taking 3 hour naps. but for some reason

our efforts are in vain or have backfired. we figure you're afraid you'll miss out on something. trust me baby girl the world will still be waiting, and the best part mama & papa will have had a chance to recharge before your next highly anticipated adventure. but i'm not mad, we're just happy, you're happy so carry on napless ( i made that up, please don't use in school one day) baby girl...

loving your music class

Christmas in Hawaii

now that was absofreaking awesome. best Christmas yet!! your papa & I at separate times got choked up at how great God's grace is, and how awesome His work is. I said to your papa & 'nai a couple of times "this was supposed to be a vacation, and it's turned into a spiritual awakening" God was with us every step of the way and he was LOUD. we were humbled.
and since your papa has ants in his pants and granted 'nai and I did want to have as much fun as possible, we had 6 days of activity packed days. let's just say you've never slept so well at night. ps thank god for the ergo, for naps away from hotel👍. on days when you napped in the hotel, I took full advantage and got some shut eye. not papa. "nap? honey have you felt the water in the beach, I don't and can't do naps in Hawaii". cray cray papa. at the end of the day we were truly ready to sleep. my personal favorite being the day we spent at the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). the shuttle picked us up @10am and dropped us off @10:30pm. I changed your diaper while you slept when we got back, that hasn't happened since you were probably 4mos old. I guess a day of culture and hula dancing will do that to you.
ditching the rental last minute for the bus/shuttle was the best idea. it was awesome walking around the streets of Waikiki day or night amongst the locals and happy relaxed fellow tourists. watching papa make friends on each bus/shuttle ride just like granpa used to do. Australians at the bus stop; an Ohio couple on a bus; a New Zealand student @ PCC. the best was looking over to where he was sitting next to a mature local lady as she told him what Year she got her drivers license and the process. really??!? major Lol. his response was "she liked to talk and i do too, so i let her"" again, really??!? I guess it's true, you marry a man like your father:))); it was also great because we got tips to the best places to/not to go and earning each meal by pounding the pavement:))
it's really hard to find the words to describe each day and the fun we had. how our hearts were filled watching you loving every minute. running around in the hotel lobby, making friends; being so good on the bus/shuttle; completely enamoured by the ocean and so much more. so of course I took as many pics as I could to try and capture as much magic as I could for our Christmas in Hawaii...
Merry Christmas baby girl...pics to help you relive one day. it's a little long because, well, i had to capture as much as i could. so you might start watching when you're 5yrs old and be done by 15.. holler