All I Want for Christmas...

...is my two front teeth! Thankfully, Keira's two bottom teeth have broken through (last week seemed to be pretty rough for her in the teething department). I recently captured the videos below, which give a good picture of what she's been going through. In the first video, listen carefully for the squeaky sound her gums are making on the rubber ball--it had me cracking up!

Jenny Jump-Up!

Dear Great Aunt Sue H,

Thank you for my Jenny Jump-Up! It is so much fun!!

Love,

Keira xoxo

Time to Eat!

Keira reached another big milestone in her young life today--solid food! She will be 6-months-old on Tuesday (6/15), so we decided to finally take the plunge and introduce her to solids. She has actually been trying to lunge toward our food since she was about 4-months-old, but we've been holding her off, mostly just to give her little tummy more time to develop in preparation to receive solid foods.

Keira's first solid meal--rice cereal! We were super excited to give her the rice cereal, but once she started eating it, she kind of had a blank look on her face like, "This is what I've been waiting for??" We'll keep going with the rice cereal, and then next up on the menu: avocado! We'll see how she likes it!

Enjoy the pics below:

Yay! I love rice cereal!

(Well, not really, but I know how to smile at the camera)

Messy face

Hmm...not sure if she actually swallowed any of it!

Here's some video of her eating...this is the second round of introducing the rice cereal (Noah recorded the very first bites on his fancy new camera that records in HD and the footage doesn't easily transfer to the blog).

She was definitely willing to open her mouth for the spoon, but once the cereal got in her mouth, she wasn't quite sure what to do. She didn't actively try to spit it out, but she would move her tongue around and inevitably, the blob of cereal would fall out of her mouth. :)





The second big milestone of the day was introducing Keira to her first "sippy cup." One of the things I was doing to tide her over during mealtimes while she sat at the table with us in her booster chair (besides give her toys) was giving her sips of water from an open cup. She didn't really know how to drink the water (although she tried!) and would sometimes try to breathe it in, which resulted in lots of coughing and sputtering. Thankfully, the sippy cup will eliminate this problem and she can begin to drink water like a big girl!

I showed her how to hold the handles, but she needed help to tip the cup up to drink.

Here she is having fun biting on the spout.

Such a big girl!

The Most Wonderful Time of Year

We have had so much fun preparing for Christmas and sharing the festivities with Keira!

Sporting her Christmas pjs

Daddy helped her put on her first Christmas ornament

(thanks Grandma Sheila!)

She loves her stocking (even with nothing in it yet!)

We're ready for Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

This is the first year we've put lights up on the house. Great job, Noah!
The house looks so festive now!

Jack is anxious to get going to find that perfect tree!

Keira, always happy to be outside and to do something new and fun!

Noah with our first "baby"

Sitting among the Christmas trees
(it was getting dark by this time)

Cutting down the winner

Let's go home to decorate!!

We love this time of year and we're so excited to share in Keira's first Christmas this year!

More Celebrations

Thanksgiving weekend was filled with lots of things to celebrate and because we had both of our families here, we took full advantage!! A very special celebration we had was Keira's dedication at our church. By dedicating Keira to the Lord, we made a public proclamation in front of the church, symbolizing our desire to raise her in a godly home. Then Pastor Joe prayed that Keira would come to know Jesus as her personal Savior at an early age. Please, Lord, let it be so!

Waiting for Pastor Joe to call us up front

The hand-off (she didn't cry at all, just looked around with curiosity)

Joe sharing

Prayer

Receiving her dedication certificate

The whole fam, all smiles

Another celebration we had was a 30th birthday party for Noah and I. We had a good number of RSVPs considering it was Thanksgiving weekend; however, the day of the party, San Diego decided to have a significant downpour throughout the morning/afternoon. This seemed to put a damper on the party because we had to move indoors (not as fun as being outside, especially for the kids to romp around), and not as many people showed up. Nevertheless, we did enjoy spending time with our friends and family who braved the elements to celebrate with us!

In her party dress, ready to party!

Hanging out with Grandma...

...and her other Grandma

The birthday couple

Our friends enjoying some cake

Keira hanging out with her Great Aunt Janice

Thanks to all our friends and family for making this Thanksgiving weekend so special!!

Gobble, Gobble

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with both of our families here to celebrate with us! This was the first year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house and everything turned out really well! At first. I was a little intimidated about cooking the turkey, but it actually wasn't hard at all and it turned out really yummy (thanks to our pastor's wife, Tricia, who shared her recipe with us!).

My Mother-in-Law, Keira, and me all hard at work in the kitchen

Our lunch spread consisted of various yummy snacks

Noah getting ready to turn over the turkey

Turning over the bird
(This aided in its yummy-ness!)

My mom cooking her famous frito dish

Ready to eat!
We didn't get a picture of all of us at the dinner table because we were too busy gobbling up the yummy food!

Our little turkey

What?! You didn't save any pumpkin pie for me?!

We have so much to be thankful for this season!

One Less Orphan

Our good friends, Mark and April Short (along with their 2 young boys), are on an awesome journey toward adopting a little boy from Ethiopia. A while back (almost 2 years ago), God stirred their hearts toward adoption and they began the long process. As they've been on this journey, God has continued to deepen their love for their Ethiopian son (who they do not yet know, but are currently waiting for his referral), and God has given them a heart for orphans in general. As a result, they want to get the word out about their story and they want YOU to join them in their journey! To learn more, please visit the Shorts' blog page at: http://shortstoriestn.blogspot.com/

On their page, you will be able to read their story and also make a $5 donation toward their journey. Please visit their website and join me in helping to give an orphan boy a forever family!

P.S. Enjoy the pictures below!

Here we are with our friends right after they moved from San Diego to Tennessee

Me, Caleb, and Isaac (2 years ago)

Dinner at a Blues Restaurant in downtown Nashville

Butano Canyon

Back at the end of October, we got to spend a fun weekend with Noah's family on the coast near the Bay Area. Noah's mom is part owner of a cabin/house called "Woodhaven" that is shared among a few other family members. Woodhaven was built by Noah's great-grandpa, sometime in the 1940s and ownership of the house has stayed within the family ever since. The house is nestled in a beautiful canyon filled with redwood trees, located near Butano State Park, between Half-Moon Bay and Santa Cruz (the house is marked by the red "A" on the map below). It is a favorite family getaway and we had so much fun taking Keira there for the first time!

Here we are at the airport, getting ready for Keira's first flight. We actually missed our plane, but thankfully they had open seats on the next plane bound for Oakland. Keira had fun looking at all the people in the airport.

Getting ready for take off!

Hey, what is this thing? I wonder if I can put it in my mouth?

Just lounging on the flight

This is the first morning at Butano. She looks a little shell-shocked in the picture, but she actually had a lot of fun discovering the new toys that Grandma Sheila brought.

Fun with Uncle Jonathan

It was a little cooler than what we're used to at home, so we bundled her up in her new beanie and mittens that her Grandma bought her.

Fun with Grandma


There's a big swing on the property that's always a fun activity. Here I am getting ready to swing.


And here is Noah swinging through the redwoods


Another fun activity is hiking to the nearby waterfall. Keira is ready for the hike! This was the first time she got to ride in her stroller facing out, rather than facing toward us while sitting in the car seat. Can you see how excited she is?!


Happy girl in the stroller

Surrounded by the redwoods

We made it to the waterfall!

Have you ever seen a happier baby?!

Just the girls

Before heading to the airport on our way home, we stopped at Pescadero Beach.

Pescadero Beach

Me-n-my girl

Our little family (minus Jack)

The Wardrip Six (plus Willy)