Nelda musings...

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Lizzie you are two!!!

So dear Lizzie had her two-year birthday on Saturday, March 23. I can't believe we have a two year old. She had a fun-filled day, I'll tell ya, what, lil apple of our eye. We started off the day by walking into her room with a banana bread muffin with candles on it. She ate that up and then we celebrated with her over breakfast and had her open her presents. She got a cute dolly and doggie from her Mami Vicki and Opi and some Mr. Potato Head stuff from us and we got her an awesome little kiddie picnic table and a whole kitchen which we showed her and placed in the basement for her to play with. She loved that and giggled with delight over it!

I took her to her swimming class a little later on, which she loves and then took her home for lunch and a nap. After her nap, I took her down to Salt Lake where we met up with all of her cousins and family there to tour the Living Planet Aquarium which she loved. She was mesmerized by all the fishies in the glass aquariums and really loved that. I liked that it was the perfect size, not too terribly large. Then, we took her to her grandma Irene's home and had pizza and cake and sang to her. She loved all the love and attention she got there and more presents. She got a dolly from Tiffany's family, a Mrs. Potato Head from Martha's family and some darling British clothes from her British cousins. Then, we drove home and put her to bed. She had a lovely day and seemed very happy.

A few days later, I took her in for her two-year check up. She has a perfect bill of health and guess what?? She measured 35.5 inches which means that she will grow to be 5'11"!! You go girl. I see a volleyball player in the future but also I don't want to hinder you by only pushing sports. You pursue whatever talents you'd like, my darling, as long as you are pursuing something good and noble. I look forward to my tall, lanky lady.

Also, Lizzie has never been sweeter in her life. Every day she says something smart or cute like today she picked out the word "o" for "Opi" in the word "mommy." And to think I wasn't sure if she was really picking that up! She also turned to a little girl behind her in the library today and said to her "my mommy, no mine!" The little girl just looked at her confused. So funny. Everything is "no mine" but at the same time she is so sweet and giggly. I just wanna eat her up. Well, here are a few pics of her special day for your viewing pleasure.

The new kitchen

With all her prezzies

I am obsessed with looking at her when she is asleep

She and Bethany are such great buddies

She was a little scared of the huge catfish

With her sweet cousins

I love this pic!

Her special Winne the Pooh cake

She loved the frosting!

Wearing her cute new little British outfit

Sunday, March 10, 2013

Spiritual Sunday

It's been too long since I did one of these but it's also been in the back of my mind and I have something to share this week. LDS Living came out with a best pieces of advice column and a lot of people contributed. I love getting nuggets of wisdom this way and there were a lot of gems but my favorite was a poem that Elaine Dalton, young women general president, shared.

You don't have to tell how you live each day
You don't have to tell if you work or play
A tried and true barometer stands in its place
You don't have to tell, it will show in your face
If you live close to God and His infinite grace
You won't have to tell, it will show in your face

Wow. Ever since I read that last night, I can't stop thinking about it.

It will show in your face...

It takes me back to Alma 5 which talks about having His image in our countenance. I need to remember this more. In fact, I am going to make it a goal to focus on this during sacrament. Does it show in my face? Maybe if I think of this every Sunday, it'll stay with me all week. That's the hard part for me, remembering to keep up with my goals all week.

Paul shared something really neat too which I've been trying to focus on. He said that during his mission he spent every sacrament thinking only of others and how he could serve them. I tried to do that this Sunday. It was helpful.

I was trying to think about the best advice I've ever received. I think something that our friends the Shamo's told us the other day was one of the best. They said:

Treat everyone like they are truly a Child of God from the people in your family to the person whom you can barely look at between their tattoos and piercings. They are all children of God.

Anyway, that's what I've got today.

Have I told you about my little girl?

She is as sweet as can be
Her spirit comes straight from heaven
Her kisses make my whole world come alive
Her eyes are so bright and full of life and love

Have I told you about my little girl?
I love her more each day
Her breath is so sweet
Her toes are so perfect
And when she hugs me, I feel complete

I miss her when she's sleeping
I dream of her at night
I love to watch her run and dance and jump
She does it all so right

Have I told you about my little girl
I will love her forever

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Lizzie is 23 months!!

Paul sent me this pic of him and Lizzie playing with the foam letters and shapes in the basement. I love it! Because it shows Lizzie in motion. She loves to play with them and loves to take off her clothes and just keep a onesie on. Lizzie is really really developing this month. It's truly incredible. I can't believe she'll be 2 in a month!! Here are some things she is doing:

She is starting to show concern and care for others - at such a young age! For example, she bonked her head yesterday and I cried and I got pretty worried, so worried that I began to cry. When she saw my tears, she stopped crying and grabbed a kleenex to help me dry mine. So touching. Also, later that day, I was coughing and she looked and me concerned and said "you otay"? How cute is that?
She knows what she wants and what she doesn't. When she really doesn't want something she says "nononononono" in the cutest way.
She is not a pushover in the playground but she is not a bully either. I enjoy observing that about her.
She does like to imitate the "big kids" and loves that attention
She says "yuv you"
She has gotten out of and into her crib a couple of times by herself. Egads!!
She has no idea a baby is coming. Not sure how to explain that to her but she does love babies.
She says a lot more words now. Sadly more in English than Spanish. It's hard to do Spanish in an English-speaking word but I'm still plugging along.
She likes to play in her crib and says "sleepy" when she's tired.

Of course, I can't think of many more when I need to but suffice it to say she's a love and we love this age she's in. Here are some more pics.

First real haircut at cookie cutters

Once she got a lollipop she was a-ok

Running to daddy when he picked us up after our trip to Colorado

Her favorite cubby at the library

Lizzie with her bestie daddy

She loves her stuffed animals

Minimoon for Valentine's Day!!

So we went on one more minimoon before we have our next baby boy. We went down to St. George and just had a wonderful time! We left the day before Valentine's day and came back the day after and stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn for two days. Simply lovely!

One thing about minimoons, it's like we have a minimoon angel watching over us. We often run into little blessings and just fun stuff and free stuff like I hit my 10 meal mark with Cafe Rio so I got a free meal, yay! We also happened to be there during the Parade of Homes which was a ball. And we got to go to the temple, and go hiking in Snow Canyon, and Paul even brought his bike so he could go for a ride. We slept in and ate well. We discovered this yummy place in town called the Riverwalk Grill, pretty fancy but perfect for Valentine's Day and we also ate at the Brick Oven, yummy. The weather was perfect, a balmy 65 during the day. Just the weather we needed to have a fun getaway. Now, we want to own a condo there so we can return a lot and return with our kiddos. Here are some pics.