I'm so proud of her

I love reading. I have ever since I was 7 years old. So I get such joy out of seeing my daughter pretend reading. For months now, she has loved flipping through books and even corrects books when they are upside down. Lately all she wants to do is listen to stories.


The other day, however, she really impressed me.

Earlier in the day, I vaguely gestured to the book Twinkle Toes and asked her to get it. She did so right away. That made me wonder if she was recognizing titles. Later, the three of us were in her play room when I asked her to get the book, I Love You All Year Long. She smiled, walked into her room, and brought back the correct book! She did it again with 3 or 4 more titles! I'm so impressed with her. She looked so proud of herself too.

ETA:

Okay I want to expand on this post and why I am so happy with this.

Hannah doesn't really say any words beside mama and dada. We think she might be starting to say "no" (even though I don't think we use it that much!) and "quack". But it seems like every mommmy blog I read or message board I frequent has children her age or even younger spouting off words left and right. So to me, her receiving those books proved that while she doesn't have a lot of verbal language, her receptive language is right there. She understands what we say, and that's such a huge part of language development.

Also, rationally I know Hannah's limited vocab is not a cause for concern at all. She's not even 15 months old yet. And she's really coordinated so I know her strengths right now lie in physical development. Still, I think it's always nice to have confirmation that yes, your child is on the right track.

Month 1 failed

I got confirmation that I'm not pregnant. Oddly, I'm not nearly as disappointed as I thought I would be. We had always planned to try for a May 2011 baby. It wasn't until we heard a sermon encouraging us to let God lead our lives, that we thought of moving up the date. We started trying because we couldn't think of a good reason not to. If our second cycle is successful, I will be due April 29, 2011. Not a May baby, but my cycles have been much shorter than in the past. I really hope it works this time. I know it takes the average couple 3-4 cycles, but it happened with Hannah on the first try.

Summer is half over. I've been attempting to plan several lessons for the fall. My hope is to get lots done before I get pregnant. Or at least before the exhaustion and nausea hit. I'm not looking forward to that, but I'm anxious for another pregnancy all the same.

I finally finished reading the Circle series by Ted Dekker. It's such a sad, yet accurate description of human nature. It's also a beautiful representation of God's love and sacrifice. I'll likely write more on it someday, but not tonight. Tonight I will relax a little bit more until Dave gets home.

We're home!

Washington was such a nice trip. Hannah did okay on the first flight. She cried a bit more and slept a bit less than I was hoping for. She did really well on the flight home though! While in WA, we got to visit the local park, go to an indoor bounce house, take a tour of the army base they live on, and go to the Seattle Zoo. It was so nice spending time with my nephew and sister in law. Her husband got back from training the day before we left and it was great to see him too. Especially since it will be 2011 before we see him again!
Here are a couple pictures from our day at the park:




And now for a secret I will only admit on my blog-we have decided to TTC next month! I am so excited! Dave and I knew for a while that we want children close together. I think that often creates a closeness between the siblings. Dave knows this from personal experience of having a brother only 2 years younger than him. We wanted to wait until Hannah turned 1 to give my body a full year to recover. And we're not trying this month since, um, I don't really want a February/March baby. Silly reason-I know! Prayers though for an April (or maybe March since my cycles are crazy) baby!

I am almost done reading the book Green by Ted Dekker. It is part of the Circle series, and it's the first one I've read. I can hardly put it down! It is such an awesome picture of good v. evil and God's love for His children. And sadly, how likely we are to doubt His promises when He is not visible to us.