Fall Fun!!

We are having SO much fun so far this fall. Even though the weather is still a little warm sometimes, im loving it. A few weeks ago my good friend Sara took some pictures of my little princess in not one but TWO costumes. Now to settle everyone's question, she is only going to be ONE costume on Halloween...who can guess it? Yep...the ladybug:) The other was just for fun! My cousin Natalie's precious dog Sammie is in a few pics with her, enjoy!







Saturday evening we went with my parents to a friend of theirs' 50th birthday party. My papa used to be in a band back in the day so they all got together and played for us. Julia LOVED listening to them play, she was dancing and running all over the place.


Sunday we took Julia on her second trip to the pumpkin patch, but this time Grandma and Papa joined in on the fun. I am so blessed to see how much my little girl is loved by them. I love watching them play with her and the way they look at her brings so much joy to my heart. Julia was walking around playing the drums on all the pumpkins:) She had a ball. I posted some pics below, enjoy!!

She's Walking!

I cant believe it! Today.....October 11, 2009....my little princess, the love of my life reached a HUGE milestone! She is walking! She looks like a little drunk right now...lol....but i love it! She's been taking little steps here and there but today she just lost all fear and went for it. She wabbles a bit and takes little tumbles but she's doing it!

This little girl continues to amaze me everyday! She is SO smart! I may be bias, but what mommy isnt?! We have been working with her everyday with some flashcards and she is catching on quick! She recognizes and can say banana(more like nana), she was in the store and while passing the produce section pointed out the banana and started repeated it...nana...nana...! We recently went to the LA County fair and she was pointing at ALL the animals saying...moo...moo...lol, that one needs a little work...and her cow sounds like BOOW...LOL! But she's getting it:) Im so proud of her.

Sometimes I just sit and stare at her, i cant believe how fast this has all gone and what a little personality she has!

Yesterday was her 1st trip to the pumpkin patch! She had a ball. She was banging on the pumpkins like they were drums...LOL!
They had a little petting zoo and once again she was pointing at the goats and rabbits saying...moo.....moo! I love it!! I posted some pics below. Enjoy!

Well i guess thats all for now! Like me cousin Jess said.......The Chase Begins!!

The Halloween Dilemma

So I have always gone back and forth as to how I feel about celebrating Halloween. When I learned the true paganistic origin of it, i was convinced that by joining in any of the halloween traditions I would be condoning paganism and opening myself up to some major problems. I do feel now at this time in my life that I was giving way too much credit and attention to paganism and satan himself!

Now that I have Julia and as we approach this holiday, I have really been torn whether to let her take part in what she would just see as fun, dressing up, getting candy, and carving smiley faces into pumpkins. Would we go to the church festivals or avoid it all together? I decided that I would not let the devil have the power to steal my daughter's joy over something she doesnt even understand. By giving him credit he does not deserve and making my little girl feel left out, I may just be fueling the fire of rebellion later. Now, there is something to teaching her that we do not completely fit in this world. It's true that we are in but not of the world. But I know that my daughter doesn't have the intellectual capacity to understand this yet.

So we will not celebrate with witches, ghosts, black cats, etc. We will allow the girly costumes and go to the church festivals and get candy. And we will let her dress up for school because thats all it really will be for her "dressing up".

I read a great article from a website called carm.org, and it talked about this very subject. They also raise the question about Christmas tree's. The Christmas Tree was originally part of a festival to worship a fertility god. Does this mean that if we have a Christmas Tree, we are worshipping the fertility god? No, because of it's cultural context. That being said, I have heard of Christians who don't have Christmas Trees, for this reason. It is a matter of personal conviction.

When I thought about whether it would be ok for us to carve pumpkins with Julia, I started to do some research on that and found this wonderful devotional using a pumpkin.

"Being a Christian is just like a pumpkin! Let me try to explain, I brought this pumpkin here to help me illustrate what I mean. (Proceed to carve the pumpkin.)

First, God picks you from the pumpkin patch and brings you in from the field. The Bible says He selects us out of the world. We are in the world, but no longer of the world.

He then washes all the "dirt" off the outside that we received from being around all the other pumpkins. All the outside influences of our former life must be cleaned up. Old things are passed away and all things are become new.

Then, He carefully removes all the "yucky stuff" called "sin" out from the inside. Look at this! Yuk! He then changes us from the inside out by the Power of His Word. That's why it is important to go the church and learn about God's Word.

He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. After Jesus is invited inside, you begin to experience the changing power of God's love in your life.

Then He carves a new smiling face. Our countenance is changed by the power of His presence in our life. We then become so grateful. It can even show on our face!

Now we are going to light this candle inside. Look! This pumpkin now reflects the light from inside out. So too, when Jesus, who is called the Son of Light, lives inside of us, He shines through our life for all to see. We can let His light reflect through us to reveal His presence. "Let your light so shine before men that they may be able to see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven."

So you see, we Christians are really like this pumpkin! We will never be the same with Jesus inside of us. We can say like this jack-o-lantern, "Thy presence, my light!"


We will use the above story every year when we carve our pumpkins and also use the prayer below in conjunction with it. I love to start traditions now that we have Julia and I am so excited for this one:)


{cut off top of pumpkin}
Lord, open my mind so I can learn new things about you.

{remove innards}
Remove the things in my life that don’t please you.
Forgive the wrong things I do and help me to forgive others.

{cut open eyes}
Open my eyes to see the beauty you’ve made in the world around me.

{cut out nose}
I’m sorry for the times I’ve turned my nose at the good food you provide.

{cut out mouth}
Let everything I say please You.

{light the candle}
Lord, help me show your light to others through the things I do. Amen

Crockpots and the quest for balance!

I have found some balance, I credit it mostly to a crockpot. Also, frozen vegetables, pre-sliced deli-meat, paper towels, disposable diapers and hundreds of other mundane short-cuts! This is not an info-mercial for convenience products. Its an admission, for the first time, im learning that it isnt possible to do everything well. I would love to be able to cook a slow-simmered meal, with all freshly chopped meats and vegetables every night, but on weeknights when im exhausted and the little one is EVERYWHERE, taking the time and dirtying those extra dishes just isnt worth it.
Balance is a nice word, but the reality is not so pretty. I think what comes down to is what you really care about and sort of giving up on everything else. Which sounds easy, but is of course, the work of a lifetime:) Its suprisingly hard to know what really matters to you!
Some of the decisions are pretty simple, clothes are sometimes wrinkled, weeds in the yard, and the car sometimes overdue for a little TLC, but some of them are a little harder. I care about reading, cooking a good meal, and tending to friendships near and far. Everbody knows that life is a series of choices. The process of growing up is a paring away of dreams, a pinching back of sprouts of yourself that you never fully took off. For me these tend to pop up in my New Years resolutions. I will loose a bunch of weight, I will do my New York City Ballet Workout everyday, I will learn a new thing. I want these things, year after year. But i dont want them badly enough, at this point in my life, to follow through on them.
I think this is less a failure of discipline and more a failure of realism! I know whats important to me right now. Spending some peaceful time with my family, Spending time with my wonderful Creator, raising a well-mannered, God-fearing and loving daughter and keeping in touch with a small circle of loved-ones:) The way I know is that even faced with a lot constraints, these are things I chose to spend my time on. And really, thats plenty! It's easy to second guess your choices in this whole balance game. Why did I spend another evening on the couch watching Veggie Tales, when i could have gone for a run or prepped the next days meals, or gotten a headstart on laundry or taken out the old dance workout video?? But that time on the floor with my little girl is a sweet haven these days!
Sometimes I am greedy and want too much...Why cant I have the sparkling house, the clean car, the always nicely ironed clothes, and the slow simmering meals?? But, my mission these days is to stay focused on the tiny handful of things that really matter and cheerfully give up on the rest, even if it means another quick crockpot meal with frozen veggies:)

Happy 9 Months Julia Noelle!

Today my little ladybug is 9 months old! I cant believe it! Watching her grow these last 9 months has been amazing! She continues to amaze me everyday. We are so excited for the next few months. I am starting to get more serious about Julia's First Birthday, its hard to believe that its only about 3 months away! We are planning it for December 19th, so save the date:) We are very excited for the upcoming holidays, and we are contemplating new traditions now that we have Julia.

Julia is so close to walking, its starting to get a little scary for me. She is always standing and cruising along the couches and whatever she can hold onto, she can stand alone and even bend down and pick up a toy and stand back up. Yesterday she took one step forward but then grabbed onto the couch:) We are so excited for her to walk but also very sad for her to be growing so fast! She's learning more and more words everyday, and it constantly blows my mind at how smart she is:) Cant wait for whats ahead!!!

Learning New Things!

So my little Lovebug is almost 9 months now and it amazes me everyday how smart she is. Maybe I have a little bias, but oh well:)She isnt walking quite yet but she loves to walk while Mama holds her fingers:) She can stand by herself for a few seconds but then gets a little wobbly and decides sitting is the way to go!! She is VERY impatient when it comes to mealtime(sounds like her daddy), so we have been trying to get her to say MORE instead of giving an impatient SCREAM! Well the repeating paid off and she now says MORE! So now that she's got that we are trying to hook a PLEASE onto the end of that because the last thing I want is to hear my precious daughter screaming MORE from across the room:)

I think i am starting to get a small preview of what a hard time i am going to have with disciplining this little princess of mine. Yesterday my mom and i went to the grocery store with Julia and for the most part she was a good girl, but after awhile it seemed she was getting bored and trying to amuse herself, well she decided that the way to do this was to let out some loud little ear piercing screams and wait for the reaction! OH NO! So i gave her a very stern, No Julia! She preceded to laugh and do it again! So I repeated the No Julia, thats not good! Well that didnt work either, again I got a smile and another little squak! So i gave her a little tap on the mouth(not hard of course) just to scare a little and said again Julia, Mommy said NO! It definitely took her back but her response was a mad look and a errrrr noise! OMG! I am SO in for it! Haha!

This past month or so she has really been breaking my heart. She gets so sad when i leave for work and it totally crushes me. Luckily her sitter says she only cries for a few minutes and then shes fine! So great, she only does it long enough to make me feel bad?!? LOL....The welcome home reaction I get from her is awesome though. She kicks her little legs and waves her arms and yells...MAMA...MAMA!! That makes my heart ALL happy:)

OK well I guess thats all for now! I could go on and on about this little girl!

Summer Fun!!

So Tuesday marked Julia's 8 month bday!! I seriously cannot believe how fast time is going with her. She is learning so much and getting so big. Our summer has had its challenges but we are having a blast regardless:) Julia is crawling EVERYWHERE and she is pulling herself up to standing all over the place! Walking is not far behind;)
She can stand on her own for a few seconds, but i think she gets a little nervous and sits back down...LOL!! She can wave bye-bye and even tries to say it sometimes! Julia's first words were MAMA...of course:) and my heart melts everytime i hear her say it!! She loves to clap her hands to music and loves when mama sings to her...actually she loves when ANYONE sings to her!! Monday we noticed that her 1st tooth is cutting through.....YAY!!! It definitely explains the grumpiness lately:) Julia LOVES to go swimming and we learned on Saturday that she loves the swings at the park. I am going to post a couple pictures of her on the swing! I am taking her on Monday to get some pictures done, i am SO excited!! I will post them as soon as i get them! Tomorrow Julia and I are going to go spend sometime with our friends that are visiting from Chicago, so excited for a little fun beach time with my girl! Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

AskDrSears.com - AUGUST 09 NEWS

AskDrSears.com - AUGUST 09 NEWS

Shared via AddThis



Some good advice for mama's with little ones. I am always so concerned with my daughters safety in the car and her facing forward is even now a worry of mine!

Julia is 7 months!!

So saturday marked my Julia's 7 month birthday! Time seems to be flying by and its very hard for me to believe that she will be a year old in just 5 months! I dont even want to think about it, it makes me get all emotional...lol! So my little girl started crawling this last week, like full on mobile style:) She's been taking little strides and scoots for the past 3 weeks but last week she decided enough playing around, im outta here!! And she is literally out of here! She loves her new found independence and is roaming around the house like she owns the place:) She now thinks that she is a big girl and can do whatever she wants, the last few days she is deciding that she can pull herself up on things, unfortunately her body says "im not ready for this" and she's fallen a few times:( Saturday was also her first trip to the fair. We went to the Orange County Fair, it was a lot of fun and MUCH cooler over there!! Papa bought her her first red wagon. She loved sitting it in, and being pushed around the fair, who wouldnt:) Sunday we went to my cousin Nick's house for a Birthday BBQ for my Auntie Roxey. Julia got to go swimming with her cousin Jayda! It was SUPER hot so it was nice to get her in the cool water. I posted some pics from our weekend below. Enjoy!

First 4th of July!!

Beach Trip!!

Vacation!

Sorry for the delay! I was on vacation all last week and yesterday as well. We had such a great vacation. On June 27th we took Julia to her first beach trip, she loved it! We had such a blast watching her enjoy the ocean for he first time, the water was pretty cold but Julia enjoyed getting her little feets wet:) Our friends from Colorado came down for a visit for the first half of the week. We went to Knotts Berry Farm on Tuesday, it was a lot of fun, but i could kick myself for not taking pictures except like two! In my defense, we were there with 5 other children, all 10 and under, there was A LOT going on...LOL! We had a blast though:) Wednesday we walked around Victoria Gardens and had lunch and also got to see Aubrey get her ears pierced for her 8th Birthday, what a brave girl she was:)

Thursday my brother suprised us and showed up for Julia's First 4th of July weekend! It was awesome:) We went to a family party in La Mirada and had a blast hangin with the fam:) I am going to post some pics of Julia's First Beach Trip and also her First 4th of July....enjoy:)

She's Half A Year!!!

6 months ago today, God blessed me with an angel!
6 months ago today my life changed for the better!
6 months ago today I fell in love with someone at first sight!
6 months ago today I experienced the most special thing I was created to do!


So I know it was actually yesterday, but i didnt have time to post it:)
My little Julia Noelle celebrated her half year birthday yesterday! I cant believe its been 6 months already. It seems like just yesterday that we brought her home from the hospital in her little ladybug outfit, she was swimming in it...haha!

I just wanted to take the this opportunity to thank God for blessing me with a happy, healthy and beautiful little girl! She is so much fun and i cant wait to continue to watch her grow and learn new things!

Beach Shoot 2009

So Saturdays shoot went amazing! He got a lot of really cute ones:) Here are some of my favs!! Enjoy:)

Almost Six Months!!!

So we are less than one week away from our little princess being 6 months old!! I cant believe it!! Time is definitely flying by these days! Tomorrow we are taking Julia down to my uncle's house in Laguna Niguel and he is going to take some pictures for us of her, hopefully the weather will cooperate:) I cant even begin to explain how this little girl as changed my life. She is my motivation, i never imagined i could feel this way about another person, but i do! Just thinking about it makes my heart ache and i start to get teary eye'd...haha!! Although, i am a crybaby to begin with:) I feel myself wanting to be a better woman, wife, and mother everyday i spend with her! I am really learning what is important in life.

Julia has definitely developed her own little personality. She is very strong-willed and very impatient. She is definitely ahead for her age, but she's still is eager to learn more and move forward. She's been rolling over for about 2 months now and in the last two weeks has learned to scoot herself backwards but cant quite get herself to go forward...haha!! Well, because she is so impatient and eager to get going she gets VERY frustrated after awhile of trying and makes it known to the whole household!! She's learning to put her arms out when she wants someone to hold her and I love it!! It makes me feel special when she reaches for me:) Were also on to the next homemade vegetable, which will be......green beans!!! MMMMMMM:)


I will definitely post the pictures that we take tomorrow as soon as i can, which will probably be Monday. I dont like to use the computer on weekends unless Julia is sleeping and Robert's not home and even then that is usually the perfect time for me to be spending in prayer and in my bible:) Hope everyone has a great weekend!

New Pics!