Layla is now in a Big Girl Bed!

I had a very sweet video of Layla saying goodbye to her crib, but it woulnd't upload. Oh well!

For awhile now Tom and I have been kicking the idea around of transitioning Layla into a big girl bed. When we had plans to leave the middle of January, it didn't seem reasonable to push the issue. Now that we are not sure WHEN we are leaving, and given that I can no longer pick her up, it was open for discussion. What really pulled the trigger was that a couple of days before Christmas I was shopping for maternity clothes at the Arc thrift store and found a beautiful toddler bed with 2 (?) mattresses for $20! Can't beat that! So once we had it home, we pretty much had to start the process.

She's done really well - for her morning reading nap we don't expect her to stay in bed, just to play quietly in her room. She does a great job of doing that for about 30 minutes. Then for her afternoon nap we are still laying down with her for about 20 minutes or so to make sure she is calmed down enough to leave. When she was in her crib she was so energetic at the beginning of her naps she was virtually doing laps in her crib!

Anyway, Tom lays down with her for longer at night, but she's never gotten out of bed once so that is a good thing. An added bonus is that for some reason she is napping longer during the afternoon and sleeping until about 930am! Not sure why we are getting this little blessing but we'll take it (=

Flashback

My parents wanted to take a picture of Layla in the same dress I was wearing at her age in the painting. Back in Taiwan you could get paintings cheaply made from a photo graph. I love this one at the bottom - she is so clearly confused!

My fabulous parents who have put up with us invading every aspect of their lives for the last 15 months. Who knows for how much longer...sigh. Trying to be okay with it all.



Layla reading the books from her Grandaddy - we've read the Little Red Hen about 5 times everyday. I'm reading a card from Tom - he gave me a SPA DAY (= lovely lovely! btw, I'm aware of the fact that for three days in a row I've worn this shirt (= It is finally in the wash, you'll be happy to know. It was the only remotely Christmasy thing I have that fits me (=

More and More pics!

Being a "foodie"

So this term "foodie" is new to me this year. I don't think I remember hearing it before we moved to the Middle East. I've discovered that my whole family - including my husband - are foodies. We love food. We think about it, talk about it, love to eat it, compare it, cook it, know where to go in town to eat it, try to guess ingredients, and so on.

It is one of those things that I've only realized now that I am no longer living in my nuclear family. Family characteristics sometimes show up when you are no longer with your family and your brand of normal is not all around. Hence, I've finally found a term that describes us!

Even in the Middle East our friends would laugh about Tom and I always talking about what to eat where - and we're not just talking fussy, upper class foods either.....there are plenty of road-side stands we recommend (=

All this came about because lately I've realized that when I don't know what to do with Layla, when I'm tired of doing 2-year old things - I cook with her. She is remarkably cooperative and USUALLY asks before sticking her fingers in to taste something. I have my suspicions that she'll be a foodie too. She'll try ANYTHING. And I mean that. Stuff that we turn our nose up at, she says "Just try?" How can you resist? That's how she's chewed raw garlic cloves, onions, ginger, bad mall Chinese food, cold soup/chili/leftovers in general and so on. Unless it will truly hurt her, we let her at least try it (= So impressed with her bravery. Taking a second bite is another thing, but I'm not caring about that at all at this point.

So anyway, I figured that since our Christmas plans were cancelled, we'd bake some Christmas cookies to send to folks. I was dying to see how she'd do cutting them out and decorating them and she really enjoyed herself. The little plastic bottles of decorating things are actually the "spices" I give her to shake around and pretend to cook when I'm doing something that doesn't involve her. She stands on her "cooking chair" and has rattled those bottles around countless times. I thought she'd enjoy actually opening them and USING the ingredients for real (=

Very Fun. Highly reccomend cooking with a 2 year old (= Just have a big enough table to put things out of reach.

Christmas Eve

Pictures at church! It was MUCH more decorated than our home, since there wasn't supposed to BE anyone at the house for Christmas this year! We were supposed to be in Georgia, and Mom and Dad were going to be in Fort Collins!

Fun one of Layla and I (= By the way! The little dress she is wearing is one of MINE from about 32 years ago! It just barely fits her (=

Candied Ginger

One of the highlights of Layla's day at the moment is eating the ginger that my brother-in-law made while they were here awhile ago. She loves the process of taking off the lid, picking one small piece of ginger and putting the lid carefully back on (=

She was so happy to get some ginger that she posed so nicely!

I passed the test!

After three attempts to take the Personal Fitness Trainer test, I passed it yesterday. It is a sheer miracle and God deserves all the credit as I was rather distracted with the baby news from the previous day.

I'm SOOOOO grateful to have this project done (=

It's a boy! And boy do we need prayer....

We went to the doctor today and had our ultrasound which showed very clearly that we are having a baby boy. Yippee!

Unfortunately, the ultrasound ALSO showed that I have a complete placenta previa. A complete previa means it is fully covering my cervix at the bottom of the uterus. I am not on bedrest, but basically everything but that: no lifting Layla, no exercise, no rides in the car up to Denver and of course no flying.

Our plans to go to Georgia for Christmas on Monday are cancelled, as are any plans to move back to the Middle East in January.

Quite tragically, Tom had a SURPRISE CRUISE for us from January 4-8 which is also cancelled. We were going to fly to San Diego and take a short cruise down to Mexico. How sad for him to make those big plans and then to have them cancelled. I’ve told him he still gets all the love points even though we can’t go….

I have another ultrasound scheduled in four weeks to check if there is any change. There is a 50/50 chance the placenta will shift positions as the uterus grows. If it shifts enough, we can fly. If not, we are here in the US until the beginning of May when they would do a C-section at 37 weeks to prevent any chance of my going into labor.

We don’t know what to think about all this yet, but wanted you all to know and to ask you to pray that the little guy will wiggle around enough and make that placenta shoot up to the top where it is supposed to be! There are obvious significant risks to both the baby and myself in this situation, but it seems clear that if I can stay mellow, there is also a chance everything will work out fine.

Thanks for your prayers.

In addition - I am supposed to take my big test for being a Personal Trainer tomorrow at 830am (for the third attempt at it) and Tom is totally sick in bed. sigh.....

Funny things she says now at 2 years 3 months:

I say: Well hello little one!
Lj says: Not little one. Layla actually.

I LOOOOOOVE daddy.

I Looooooooove Ginger (mike made candied ginger while they were here for Thanksgiving. It is a big treat every day!).

I looooooove ________________ (very funny what she puts in here from day to day.)

I do yoga.

Shh Sue bear is sleeping (and we ALL have to whisper until her nap is done).

She is now singing made up songs: I am sooooo precious. I am soooo precious (over and over)

When she puts her babies to sleep she prays for them and says these phrases: bless you, Keep you, Peace. Jesus with you. Good Dreams. Jesus in your mind and heart.

and on and on. It is too much fun to be her mama!!

Angst continues

Well, the test is postposted and screwed up yet again. I was competely frustrated and distraught this morning. I feel like I have given SO much time to preparing for this thing and said "no" to so many things so I can study. And it just keeps dragging on. I WANT IT TO END! I have about 10 other projects and FUN things I'd like to work on before leaving the US. Christmas presents being one of them.

Hopefully I'll be able to take the test on the 18th here in town. The people running it were very sympathetic, but the wheels of bureaucracy must turn before I'll know for sure.

I've resolved to not spend any more time studying. I know what I know and I'm done getting up at the crack of dawn to study before Layla wakes up. Instead, I will sleep in and snuggle with Tom (-; much better way to start the day. I'll end on that happy note.

Big Exam today

So I should have posted this earlier, but I'm fishing for prayers today (= I'm taking a big exam this afternoon and quite worried I'll fail. It covers an ENORMOUS amount of material and I'm taking it on a computer which I don't enjoy and I'm not allowed any PAPER into make notes! Also not allowed to use a calculator so I've gone back to long division with decimals, multiplying by percents and all sorts of horrible problems that take 10 lines of working to solve. sigh.

I started the ACE Personal Trainer program as a way to do something with woman back in the Middle East. Health concerns are a HUGE issue over there and I figured this was something I coudl fairly easily fit into my world. We'll see if it actually works. I'm not expecting to open a business or anything, just wanted something to do with ladies other than sitting and chatting.

Anyway. I'll let you know how it goes....I get the results right after I take it.

Thanksgiving Photos Finally

Our family these days! Trying to convince Layla to join us! It didn't really work....

Mom and her older brother and one of her older sisters. It was fun to have them out. Cousin David was introducing his fiancee Cheryl! His parents flew out for a big family meet. Lots of family fun. Layla is now calling her "our Cheryl" (=

The Elusive Family Shot

We are always looking for a good family photo - There always seems to be something to go wrong (= These were of Tom's birthday! 41!!

Keadryn, Sayla and Layla! Peas in a Pod.

Drew and Jord stopped by on their way to TX. We had a fun time playing together! Fun Fun Fun.

Her Favorite Thing

She still loves to watch the camera more than actually posing for it....
She's talking so much these days but I can hardly get a video of it because she freaks out and runs to me to see the camera.

Yoga!

Yes, she likes Uncle Mike enough to learn how to do "down dog"
Now that he's gone, she takes the mat from the back door and drags it around to do yoga (=

Discovering Pockets

Sweet little Layla has discovered pockets in all her jackets and pants. It is SOOO cute to see her try and find her pockets and to stand around like this posing (= Such a cutie!!

Boy or Girl?

Most folks are asking us this now - we'll find out the week before Christmas! Right before heading down to Georgia for Christmas (=

We'd be happy with either, of course!!

1st time mom vs 2nd time mom

"I can't WAIT to wear all those cute maternity clothes!! Everyone will totally know I'm pregnant and not just chubby"

vs

"Good Grief. I can't ALREADY be needing to wear actual maternity clothes!!"

Happy Birthday Tom!!

Birthday Fun! Up top is our Birthday Breakfast with Birthday Pancakes (chocolate chips added!)
Layla loudly played and sang "Happy Birthday" until the camera was spotted (=
Cake and presents! Sting CD, Flash for the fancy camera, Jazz guitar books and a novel.
btw, Layla is wearing her hat and mittens we just got her (she's been wearing socks on her hands outside!!). She jumped around with SUCH glee, I was so sorry we couldn't record it.