There are not words enough to describe these last few months. Sometimes I have to remind myself to exhale...I am so often in awe I think I subconsciously hold my breath!

India June will be 6 months as of the 18th of March and everyday is new with her. She is constantly learning, taking in and moving forward! And she is a LOT of fun. Lately I've noticed that at some point just about every day, she just wants to laugh! She'll look at me kind of expectantly with a big grin and just about anything I do makes her crack up! Which of course makes me (and anyone else around) crack up, too! We're just a couple of silly monkeys sometimes. :) My mom and sisters have also found that being loud draws big grins from our girl. Hint: think Daddy. Rory is not a soft-spoken guy and Dia apparently loves her daddy's booming voice and playful demeanor.

Our bug has absolutely no fear, knows almost always exactly what she wants and will smile at anyone and everyone (although sometimes she checks my face first to see if I approve a stranger!). We see a lot of the gift of exhortation in her. I have been re-reading (for the third time?) a great book called Prayer-Saturated Kids by Cheryl Sacks and Arlyn Lawrence. In it, they encourage parents to seek out God's original design for the children in their lives so that's a big prayer of mine right now. I love watching the person who is Dia unfold before me.

Tante (that's aunt in Dutch) Sheena stopped by my mom's house several weeks ago and took a few snapshots of Dia (not posed, mind you--these are just a display of Sheena's raw talent), so I thought I'd post a few. (I wish they were a bit more recent--they were taken over a month ago and she already looks so different! But they are simply too beautiful not to display.):

*DISCLAIMER: My daughter is exceptionally beautiful. You may want to take a few breaths before viewing the following as it could cause loss of breath. ;) You may also want to contact the highly talented photographer, a woman I am blessed to call family, who took these shots (again, these are not posed, just raw talent as I changed a diapey). Check out the photographer's website here. Ok, it is now safe to go on... :)


We really do love each other. A lot.



Speechless...


LOL.


Masterpiece of the Creator and daughter of our dreams. Those eyes!!!


Bonded. Forever and ever.

All Things Girl

Let me preface this post with the truth: Rory and I agreed that we would not force our daughter into a life of frilly pink things. That is a true statement.

The other side of the story: I changed my mind!

Growing up, I had floor to ceiling floral wallpaper. Every where you looked were tiny roses and a border of girls in white bonnets. Ugh. I can honestly remember counting the roses and wondering why, oh why did there have to be so many little flowers all over my wall? Alas, being the open-minded mother that I am, I envisioned giving my daughter a white palate with which to paint her own images on.

Until I stopped in a baby clothes store and saw the hot pink tutu! At about 2 months of age, she needed to have it, no question. You have probably witnessed the photographic evidence of said tutu...she tends to wear it a lot. I originally bought it just for our family photo shoot, but since then, it's just been too much fun not to wear.

And then we went to Kid-to-Kid and saw the headbands...and the flower clips...and the sunglasses.

And that is how Dia learned to accessorize:


DD at one of Aunt Jessa's favorite spots, Sola Cafe in Old Town. (She is clutching Gerard, the French Giraffe. We have Monkey, who is a monkey, Bunny, who is a bunny, Bear, who is a bear, and Sophie and Gerard the French giraffes! We like to think they hail from the Paris Zoo....)


All Girl--All Beauty


Stylin! And it should be duly noted that all accessories are never attempted to be removed by India. She has never once even remotely appeared bothered to have things attached to her head or even her face! In fact, as the picture shows, she'll push them back up so they don't come off! You go, Girl! :)

Dusty Shoes

In case you didn't know, shoes actually get dusty--especially boots. So that phrase about dusting your boots off can still ring true even if you aren't a cowboy out in the wild. In fact, my boots had gotten dusty from sitting unused in my closet.

See my boots are these great faux leather 3-inch heeled zipper-up-the-side boots that I used to wear everywhere. Jeans and a shirt? Great, put on the boots! Fun evening dress? Add the boots! Sight-seeing around Times Square on foot? Yep, boots will work for that, too! (And that's how you know you're young--my feet didn't even hurt after hours of walking!)

But there was something about carrying around precious cargo in my tummy that didn't feel right about standing, let alone walking, on three-inch toothpicks (not to mention that my pregnant fullness extended to my thighs so it was maybe just a tad tight when--read "if"--I could fully zip them.)

Last night, however, was a fun night and a special occasion. I got to introduce Dia to my BFF from junior high and high school, Nikki. I don't know exactly how Nikki and I got together when we were younger other than the home-school Park Days and TEC, but I do remember my nerves the first time I dialed her house, imagining that she had the biggest, most beautiful and sophisticated house in the world. (Isn't that funny how when we're nervous we tend to aspire our most enviable qualities to strangers?! "I bet their marriage is bliss on earth," or "I just know that their career, etc, etc, etc") Anyway, as it turns out, while her house and family have all always been glorious and simply beautiful, Nikki was just another girl surprisingly a lot like me and we hit it off.

While there have been few (if any, really) people I don't like, I have never had groups upon groups of friends. And growing up, if it was a weekend or summer in either AZ or CA, you would have been safe to bet I was with Nikki. Nikki has four sisters and I have two and both of our moms are great versions of humble hippies, but over the years we lost contact and through, you guessed it, Facebook we got back in touch.

Nearly 6 years of marriage, my college career and the birth of my beautiful Dia all adding to who I am today, I am not who I used to be (does anybody else miss the blonde Stephanie of yesteryear????), while Nikki, with a marketing degree under her belt and years with an adoption agency, has never looked more beautiful and is engaged to a great Italian man who clearly loves and enjoys her. It was so surreal when I saw her--she is the same Nikki, just....grown up! I sure felt like she was the adult, but I know she felt the same about me--I mean, I have a baby!

It was a lot of fun and I was happy to find out about all the things we still have in common--and some new things, too! So while I am extremely happy to be off of FB and texting, I will forever be grateful to the new fangled contraptions of the millenium for re-connecting me with Nikki.

And even though I was slightly nervous while holding Dia, I dusted off my ol' boots and added some heighth to my bella-band covered jeans for our dinner last night. It seemed like it was time to re-introduce an old favorite.