BABIES

Babies. Do you know them?

Not just any babies, of course. The four stars of the nearly 2 hour documentary called "Babies:" Ponijao, Bayar, Mari and Hattie. We watch them all the time (it streams on Netflix).

ALL THE TIME.

At first it was just a little fun spying in on the lives of other ones--I mean, we even do that in stores! Dia gets so excited every time she even sees a stroller and shouts, "Bebe! Bebe!"

But now, she will sit through the entire nearly 2 hours of the movie. Actually, she stands. She stands at the coffee table (where my laptop sits) and watches, laughs, scrunches her face and calls, "Mama!" (at the interesting stuff) and "Maow!" (at the cats--the universal pet apparently). For nearly 2 hours! (Such an amazing attention span!)

For a family that doesn't "do" television, our babe sure does like documentaries. :)

Isn't it interesting the fascination we have with ourselves, though? We watch Dia's face scan every shot of that film, looking at toys, animals (sometimes an animal will be just out of shot so that she can only see a tail and she'll try to lift up the laptop or turn it to the side to try and see the puppy!), mamas and papas. She absolutely loves it. At Grandma's house she's seen cartoons like Clifford and even live action shows like Yabba Gabba (I think that's the name) and watched it for a few minutes or so. But never, ever has she been so infatuated with someting on a screen. She even asks for it by name: "Mama," (pointing to the laptop), "Babies?" If I smile and nod, she runs over clapping her hands and then holds her hands up as if to say "Where are they?" until the opening credits start. And from then on, she is glued.

To be honest, it all started with watching herself on Youtube. I post all of our videos there for our own record keeping and every once in a while we'll watch through them, all the time she's signing and saying, "More!" Well, one keyword search of "babies" on youtube and the rest is history!

Thankfully, it's made for some great teachable moments--"Oh, no! Did you see him hit Ponijao/Bayar? Ouchie. He/she's crying now. Oh no, that's so sad. Hitting makes us cry, doesn't it, Dia?"

Who knows? Maybe she'll be a filmaker like her Auntie Jess or Uncle Randy! Until then, babies, we're watching (and learning from) you!

The Family Who Mays Together...

We typically pray before meals as a family. I'm a little less routine in praying when it's just Dia and me, but still, typically, we say grace. We hold hands (just Rory and me--Dia likes her hands free to eat while we pray) and Rory usually says, "Let's pray." Then, we pray. Nothing big, but we both close our eyes, bow our heads and talk with the Lord, usually with much thanksgiving. We haven't really incorporated Dia, knowing that she will join when she's ready--that's to say, we have never "taught" her to pray or forced it in any way.

Well, the other night, I guess I was a little hungrier than usual and started picking at my plate before Rory had sat down. More noticably, before we had prayed.

Dia seemed agitated and kept squinting her eyes with much emphasis saying, "May! May!" Rory and I looked to each other--what is "May"? Why is she squinting?

She was asking us to pray.

May, my friends. May. In all circumstances, for all reasons, just may. :)

Confession

I DON"T KNOW HOW TO BE A MOM!

Arghrghrghrgrhg. I watched my mother imperfectly perfectly raise us, so I don't feel like I have many excuses for my ignorance. But I am a different woman than my mom. Dia is a different daughter than I was.

And plus, there's all this stuff that I just DON"T KNOW.

Do you know that my daughter pats the floor next to where she's sitting and grins up at me, saying "Mama!" She's asking me to sit with her and play. Read. Eat. You know, be together.

And do you know that sometimes I say no?!

Don't get me wrong; c'est la vie. BUT I often say no to her and yes to the....dishes?

This is my revelation, my peace to find. When I say only yes to her, then the guilt sets in as she sits in dirt on the floor...vacuum? Play?

Ah, this is not the land of all or nothing. This is life...balance. And more than anything I want to give Dia life. The skills to keep house. The skills to imagine everything. A heart that is heard, loved, valued and secure. In my love, papa's love and Papa's love.

And so I turn back to my Mama...and know the answer lies in starting on my knees, confessing it all and seeking More.

Lord, You know. And You know. And so, You know. Thank You for knowing. Amen.

Friday Night Flights

So I meant to post this LAST Friday night. I was so excited with it that I jumped on right then and there to post this great video when I decided to catch up on blogging in general. But as you can see, I only got a few posts up that night. So, without further adieu, this is what Papa thought up for us to do last Friday night:

Introducing....

...the photography of India June Starks!

She took each of these photos all by herself (as I prayed she didn't she break my camera!). Rory and I are considerably impressed. We see definite talent (in everything she does). :) (The last one looks like a close-up of dog fur, just fyi.)

On Black Friday

We made animal noises....(Puffer fish and elephant hands down are my favorite.)

Oh November....Where did you go?

If I could post just ten minutes of my life with Dia you would instantly understand why my blogging has slacked. (Well, maybe all moms just intuitively know how much more fun it is to live life than blog it.) And by the time she has gone to bed, Rory and I are so desperate to catch up on OUR lives that the computer has been getting a little dusty.

But Ror and Dia are off "making" stuff (I'll post the video last to be chronoligically accurate) so I let the house sit uncleaned to blog.

I have some great pictures from November to catch you up on our fun month:

Ok, so it may not be Christmas morning, but Thanksgiving morning is special, too, right? Plus, she's just so cute in footed pjs!

We had great plans for Black Friday (none of which were shopping!) but I was feeling a little under the weather, so we settled for burgers and fries and then a movie date (just Ror and me). Oh, and talking on our Blackberry.

Auntie Jess is a little like the Papparazzi when it comes to Dia and got some fun shots while she babysat while we went to the movies

Dia-sized St. Nicholas (we are avoiding the Santa Clause name and opting for the more historically-accurate gift-giver while we still have the choice!) at Costco

Dia watching ball-ball (football)--it's her biggest obsession. She laughs when they drop the ball, claps her hands and just stares at all the players. If we go somewhere and she spies it on the tv, she immediately points and runs over shouting "Ball-ball!" It's pretty fun (funny, too!).

Looking up NFL.com with Papa

Decorating the tree...someone got to stand on the coffee table

Could there be a better tree-topper?!

Ornament-hanging with Mama

I am constantly amazed at the mothering instinct in my daughter. She has even pulled off all the ornaments within reach to hug, kiss and put to bed (i.e., laying them down and saying "Shhh"). Here she's sharing yogurt with dollie. :)

Ok, so at the mall a while back, Dia became obsessed with the escalators. "Up, up!" she would exlaim and point over and over until Rory finally held her going up on one. Well, that just fed the addiction! We both took her up and up multiple times. By the second time, she stood on it on her own and started walking up all by herself! (No fear, I tell you.) By the time we left, she was riding it like an amusement ride. :) I love these little joys in life.

In other news, through a series of painful events we discovered Dia has some food allergies, namely wheat, corn and egg (she also tested positive for strawberries, bananas, nectarines, pears and her most favorite food of all, watermelon, but these we can start introducing back into her diet soon). Apparently, according to our naturopaths, diaper rash is not normal. Ever. Anytime urine comes into contact with skin causing it to turn red can mean allergies. So with our already dairy and sugar-free diet, I have had an interesting (read: tear-filled) time finding filling food. Thankfully Rory has taken on the role of Soup Maker Extraordinaire and for the past two Sundays has made a nutritious Dia-safe soup that we can pull out for meals and snacks during the week. I have also become a blog-reading feign trying to find yummy stuff for our Bug. Two blogs I have been relying on for inspiration and recipes are: Spunky Coconut and Sketch-free Vegan Eating. I am so grateful for the two years we spent as raw vegans--Dia loves raw, nut-based cheesecake. It has really helped me with healthy snacks like flax crackers and alternative grains like quinoa and amarinth. Mostly I am just so grateful to still be nursing so I know she is getting lots of nutrients still from that.

We have been laying low, enjoying the weather and our little family. I had been searching endlessly for a meaningful way to celebrate the Christmas season but turns out, having a Christ-centered husband and home makes everything meaningful! From an average Tuesday to a Sunday morning, we are finding Jesus everywhere these days and so I have enjoyed advent stories from others, but we are simply just being us and finding much meaning in it. I have never experienced such a rich Christmas!

And to end this far too long post, lest you think only mamas teach gentleness, watch this:



As we sing with Dia regularly Happy Birthday, Jesus! His big day is almost here....