Bed Head

Who would have imagined that this sweet face would be accompanied by this hair?!



(Josh thinks the above pic looks like his sister, Sarah...I have to agree!)

Baby Jesus

Some funny things Rebekah said this week...


Some marketing genius came up with Backyardigans fruit snacks...of course we now buy them weekly. Anyway, Rebekah loves to describe their colors...however, today, she pensively looked at the pictured fruit snack, then confidently said, "Baby Jesus."

2 nights ago, we had broccoli for the first time in a while. Rebekah was enjoying it and asked for..."More............grasshoppers?"

She also is loving "drawing"- we confine her to washable markers and crayons at the table...anyway, as she was "drawing," this week, there were a bunch of little disconnected lines, so I asked her what she was drawing. She proudly said, "Sammy's treats!"

Rebes has also learned my mommy phrases and she chastises herself with "slow down, Bekah...sooooooo careful, Bekah..."

She was really excited today because someone on tv said "back up"- she was sure they said "Bekah."

We LOVE Rebekah's version of Jesus Loves me...she LOVES our attention and clapping for her! She grins and grins and grins and sings "Jesus I knoooooooow...Bible tells me soooooo!" I so wish y'all could hear her!!!!!!!! We wipe tears from our eyes...these are the times Josh says- I really like her. :)

We visited Dr. Wenzel today for my weekly appointment. Rebekah was very excited to see"Dr. Wenzel!" Anyway, it's always fun to have her get excited about hearing the baby's heartbeat and getting mommy's blood pressure. I am dilated to a 1...at least it's something.

Updates

There are some things people have been asking me to update on-

1. Rebekah is doing great in her big girl room and bed! She is napping really well without any fighting and is waking up every morning chatting and really happy. I also hung some new art- really colorful ABC's (like the baby's numbers)- she was delighted to see ABC's!! I only had to tell her once not to touch them...so precious! I told her they were a present from Mommy, which she thought was cool. However, she seemed to pick up on "decorations"- this morning at 6:31, I awoke to "decorations- no touch!"

2. I am 1 1/2 weeks away from due date...however, though I am 38 1/2 weeks along, I have no contractions and apparently no dilation! I was the same way with Rebekah and she still came 3 days early...we'll see! I am still jogging and working out, which is awesome. Hoping to be able to drop the pounds faster this time!

3. Looks like we're going to Scotland for Josh's PhD in Systematic Theology...we're really excited and nervous! We're praying for all the logistics to work out...Josh would start school late-September and we can only go 2 weeks early as per our visas, so depending on the sale of our home and closing date (no news yet), we probably will spend some time in Texas beforehand.

Rebekah still is a doll! She cracks us up every day! She's my little songbird and chatterbox...Josh calls her "Windtalker," which she has picked up on and calls herself Windtalker sometimes... :)

Just looking at her overwhelms me- I love her so much! It's exciting to think about having another one...

More Easter festivities...

Rebekah has been her usual funny self the past week! Lots of talking- shocking...she has gotten really opinionated and bossy...maybe that's not new...

I saw her spank her Lamby in the car, while telling him "No, no, no, Lamby!"

She also is really into play-acting...she likes to strap her animals into all her various seats and cover them with blankets and feed them, etc...I even saw her lay out a towel, put her bunny on it, and then she asked to get a diaper (good girl!)...out of curiosity, I said yes, and then she proceeded to diaper Bunny's face....very sweet.

I had the privilege of getting a maternity massage yesterday thanks to my sister-in-law's(Rachel's) great gift idea for Christmas...Josh kept Rebekah of course and when I walked in afterwards, I got a delighted "Mommy!!!!!" Then, she said "Mommy got a massage..." Josh asked her, "What is a massage, Rebekah?" After a little reminder, she answered, "A special rubby-scratch!" :)

Rebekah is also getting really good at "right here, right there, this one, that one..." I love it!

Still enjoying Mommy hugs...in fact, a couple days ago, as I was laying her down for her nap, she stretched over to me, rubbed my face, and said, "I love you, Mommy." Oh my gosh.

New songs: Jesus Loves Me (aka "Jesus I know, Bible me so"), Have Patience (aka Have Pay-shensh- all sung very high-pitched), ABC's (aka ABCDEFG), & Mary has a little lamb (aka Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, lamb).

New favorite books: still sticking with "the Bunny Book"- now added to the list,the "Shannon Morton book" (aka Tumbily Tumble Me given to us by you know who!)- it's a great book!

Rebes loved learning how to Easter egg hunt....she got to go to a city-sponsored hunt with her pal, David, last Friday...we missed the hunt, but David was kind enough to share his eggs with her. Thus, Rebekah learned that the eggs opened and there was chocolate inside. She tucked that little nugget away...then, on Easter day, we hunted for eggs at Grace's house...Grace was precious, but Rebekah threw a fit b/c she saw all the "hidden" eggs and knew what was coming...apparently the "have patience" song had not done the trick...she did not want to wait! Grace loved getting each egg and organizing them...Rebekah did one egg at a time and worked on opening it and procuring the treasures inside...a little sugar rush! ;) Then, that afternoon, the Sterners (Carrie's family) invited us over to do a 3rd hunt...Rebekah had a blast! She loves all the activity over there!


She wanted to drive...


Walking into Olive Garden with Aaron Sterner...which reminds me- the other day she told me Lamby was eatsy...I asked her what he was eatsy for...she thought, then replied, "Olives and strawberries!" You know those are her 2 faves right now... :)

She insists on sitting "couch- next Dada" for Backyardigan watching...so sweet!

Strapping Lamby into the stroller...he apparently was cold...


Playing with David at the mall...

Playing with Grace's bunny ears on Easter...


Easter egg hunts...it was 30 degrees...






Her one sweet moment at Grace's...
She just spied an egg on a shelf on the wall...so observant!

Bunny says Happy Easter!!

Thought y'all'd enjoy seeing the 2-hour progression of trying to get this one smile!

Lots of examining her own legs...I'm thinking she was mourning the loss of the tights...



Looking at me saying, "No touch" while touching...

Not sure what this was- seems pretty disappointed about something...

Taking a little Backyardigans break with Dada.

Sam can always use a good hug!

Some quality reading time...

More Backyardigans...love this pose- this has Josh written all over it! Those legs and her posture could not be more of her Daddy (and her Nana Phyllis)!

Things I love about my daughter

I need to keep paper in my car so I can write down all the funny things Rebekah says and does as we drive around and just enjoy our days together...

Here are some I can think of off the top of my head- just from the past 2-3 days...

As we drive, Rebekah insists I "drive!" even at red lights. So, I proceeded to explain to her that I had to wait until the light turned green. She quit telling me to drive. However, the second the light turned green, I got an emphatic "Light turned green- drive!" At least we're learning colors!

We also look for "red stop signs" anywhere we can, as well as any potential sightings of the Iowa River. R seems to have kind of figured out when we should pass the river, tho, and that it doesn't magically appear just anywhere.

Rebekah loves her big girl room- she gets "room time" every morning so "Mommy shower, Mommy dress." She loves this time- as I close the door each morning, I tell her I'll get her after my shower and to "have fun, Rebekah!" This afternoon, I was using the restroom and Rebekah strolled in and out, then closed the door from the outside- as she did it, she smiled at me around the closing door and said, "Have fun, Mommy!"

Today, as I pulled up to Sonic, Rebekah said "Diet Coke cherry and lime"....yikes!

She also knows a lot of her colors and is starting to count a little bit- she can guess which number should come next- like if I say, 1, 2,3,4,5, she might say 6....she also is getting good at changing singular things to plural, which is a form of counting in my book- like she'll say, "1 dragonfly, 2 dragonflies." Speaking of, she knows some random insects and really enjoys finding them in books! She is beginning to memorize her books- she'll say some of the shorter lines, such as "Bunny's yawning, too" when she sees we're on that page.

As we pulled up to the mall Monday (Josh's day off), she asked about the play area. We said, yes, that's why we came. She squealed and shouted "Excited!"

At Carrie's yesterday, all 5 kids were home for Spring Break- Rebekah LOVED it! She was blessed with great attention from Ewibabeth ( aka Elizabeth) and Hannah in particular, although all 5 kids were super-sweet to her and very inclusive- way to go, Scott and Carrie! She loved being a big kid with them- they even watched a funny video clip from the Incredibles online and Rebekah thought it was hilarious and even pointed as she laughed when she thought something was funny!

Maybe not my favorite thing is taking a 20-month-old to my weekly ob/gyn appts...she is a doll, but she gets very worried about me (so precious), even getting my blood pressure taken. She wanted to weigh with me today, but I didn't want the extra 26 pounds, thank you very much! Convincing her my urine sample wasn't apple juice was interesting, too...

Rebekah can now say "like it" with a happy face and "don't like it" with a sad face to explain her preferences...

She is also really into "this" and "that," altho she prefers "this" and "this one"- like she'll hold out her foot and say "this one" if she wants that shoe on, etc...

She's also into me holding things for her- I can't tell you how many times I get "Mommy hold the milk/puppy/the cheerios/etc..." The addition of "the" is new, too...

She is still my helper in the kitchen- favorite words there are "frosting, cake, flour, powdered sugar, sugar, cinnamon, brownies, blueberries, Mommy's drink, biscuit, hot coffee, and M&Ms."

She is still really lovey- lots of I love you's and hugs and kisses...she has a special bear hug that she calls a "Mommy hug." Hard not to adore her!

Sorry, no pics- I'll try to get some...

Pretend nap

Rebekah, as always, was eager to "get up there"- her way of asking to get in the baby's crib... anyway, yesterday she got in and pretended to take a nap- she said "nuh-night time...go to sleep...blankie..." She "cover up" with the aforementioned blankie and requisitioned a stuffed bunny to play the role of her special handheld bb (a small blankie). She closed her eyes and pretended to sleep...so funny! She got bored with that and began to kick the mobile animals, which delighted her immensely!

She continues to delight us- we are amazed at her ever-expanding vocabulary and understanding of context. Today at lunch, she figured out that someone doing an impersonation was being funny and so she said, "Dave's so funny!" and began to laugh...I know I'm the proud mom, but that seems pretty smart to me!

Rebekah also has figured out where the baby will sit in the car and points to the empty seat and says, "Baby's carseat!"

Another great one- my mom (aka Mamama) introduced her to peppermints a while back...anyway, Rebekah loves them and after every TX trip, I have to avoid them altogether to break her of the habit... :) it's not that I mind, I just get tired of biting off mints for her...anyway, this week, Rebekah convinced herself that I was eating a mint- let me tell you, that girl is good- she even recognizes the sound of the paper coming off the mint- however, I truly did not have a mint at this time. So, I said "I don't have a peppermint, Rebekah" and I showed her my tongue. She looked at Josh, who told her the same thing. To confirm this, I said, "No one has a peppermint right now." She looked thoughtful for a minute and then confidently said, "Mamama has peppermint." I reluctantly agreed. :)



Another cold day in Iowa...

Did you know that West-Mex existed?

Phrases and Sentences

List if things Rebekah is saying:

Mommy, come here.

Mommy/Dada/Bekah do it.

Mommy help.

Mommy's hands are cold.

Socks get dirty/Keep socks on.

Mommy, clean it.

Dada's so funny!

I love you, Mama/Dada/Baby's name/any of her grandparents.

Mommy's sleepy/Mommy's yawning.

Pop your bottom...(yes, referring to spankings.)

Sleep- dark outside/light outside. (referring to my plea that she sleep when it's dark...apparently, she's sharp enough to realize it's not completely dark when I put her down!)

Push Mommy's garage button. Push Dada's?

Give Sammy treat. Break it (we break them in two). Sit, Sammy! Good boy!

Mommy exercise gym...Bekah play play area!

The last 2 mornings, R has slept until 7-ish (it had been 6-ish last week), so I have gotten her fairly quickly after awakening...honestly, since the big girl room, I have been in there pretty quickly, so as to reward her for staying in bed. Anyway, apparently, I came more quickly than expected b/c she was sprawled on her bed the past 2 mornings and I was greeted with an estatic, chipper, "Hi!" I wish you could hear it! The other mornings, I have given in at "Mommy, hold you!?"

On another note, on Sunday I tried to wear a loaner maternity shirt...needless to say, size small didn't work out for me. Rebekah was a little baffled at me changing in front of her, which I don't normally do b/c she is all too aware of any differences in our bodies. Anyway, I told her my shirt was too small. The next day, she saw the shirt and started talking about it. I asked her to tell Dada what was wrong with it (the shirt!)...she promptly said, "Mommy too big!"

Fun times in the crib

Now that it's not her bed anymore, the baby's crib holds fresh appeal for Rebekah. :) Evidently, she doesn't remember her mobile...just checkin' it out for fun...


I love her pensive face!
Quite a pose...

Now, that's a ponytail! Josh suggested I wear one, too that day...it definitely eased the fascination a bit.


Rebekah is such a delight! Our favorite thing right now is that every day she tells us she loves us...so sweet! She also is outstanding at mimicking almost anything, including inflection...you have to hear that one.

Yesterday, Rebekah needed me and she said, "Mommy, come here!" It was adorable- maybe a bit bossy, but that's my kid!

As we passed the hospital yesterday, I reminded R that's where her baby brother would be born...she thought about it, said "Baby Brother," then said "noises...bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum" I was a bit perplexed until I realized she was doing the baby's heartbeat...she now calls the noises the baby's heartbeat...very cute. She actually took a flashlight last month and sonogramed me...hilarious what she remembers!

As for the big girl bed, much improvement! R is doing very well. A few challenges here and there, but overall, the promise of M&M's for staying in bed keeps her going...the time change has presented a new challenge, but so far, so good.

Trading Spaces

I wanted to show y'all the nursery and Rebekah's big girl room. I am really excited about both rooms- they turned out better than I anticipated. However, I wasn't able to really capture them well on film...oh well!

The baby's room has green walls, with brown and green accents. I LOVE the bird counting cards!
I have started spending my quiet time in the chair...enjoying the last few weeks (5) of peace. :)





Rebekah's big girl room....



Apparently, Rebekah is sleeping just fine in her room. Things are going well in the bed- a few hiccups here and there, but much, much better than I anticipated- thank you, Lord!

Update on Big Girl Room

I am pleased to report that, for the most part, Rebekah has been sleeping well in her big girl bed! Nights have been flawless...she goes straight to sleep and even stays in her bed until I get her in the morning, even if it takes me a few minutes to go to the bathroom etc. Naps on the other hand are interesting... :) You may remember the first nap was awake a long time, asleep on the floor. The second nap was awake the same amount of time, but then she crawled back into her bed and took a great nap. I had told her if she slept in her big girl bed, she could have 2 M&M's after...she apparently remembered b/c she stayed in it til I got her and asked for the M&M's...I guess the M&M's weren't as exciting yesterday b/c she played in her room for 2 hours!!!! She refused to sleep, little nut. She was exhausted and a mess last night, so she went to bed early and seems better this am. We'll see what today holds...like I said before, I am shocked it is going as well as it is and am just praying for her to get adjusted quickly!

We have a new favorite book- a 1980 edition of Pete the Parakeet- Josh's first book he read aloud! She loves it and when it says to say hello to Pete, she grins and says "Hewo, Pete!" WE have to hide it sometimes just so we can do something else!

We also have a new favorite pastime- well, 2 actually- going downstairs to our cold, unfinished basement and playing around down there...and feeding Sammy treats! I'm not sure where she learned that one, but she loves to give Sammy a treat and even hand feeds him his morsels of food if he'll let her...it's so funny. I think she likes his tongue and how it tickles her...

I was also impressed with R the other day when we went to target- I outfitted her room months ago, so now of course some of the bedding is on sale! One of her decorative pillows was $6 instead of $24, so I grabbed it- Rebekah saw it and said "Bekah's bed! Bekah's big girl room! Bekah's pillow!" I was surprised she recognized it, then wasn't so surprised- she's a genius...

Oh my gosh! You will not believe it- as I was typing this I heard little footsteps going behind me...I guess I didn't close the door as well as I thought- we have antique doors and knobs, so the curse is that we can't open them to check on Rebekah without making a ton of noise, but the blessing is she can't open them yet. Anyway, that scared me to death!! I am still recovering...

I'll keep ya updated!

Big Girl Room and other interesting things....

So, we knew when Rebekah and I returned from Texas, we would transition her to her big girl room. This was a big deal to me- a new room, no crib (i.e. no containment), a double bed, etc....anyway, we have been promo-ing the big girl room for months...she loves hangin' out in her big girl room, but I wasn't sure how sleeping in the bed would go. So, we talked about it a lot for a couple days, then decided on Wednesday. Yesterday, we changed our minds and decided on Monday. Then, last night at 6:45 (15 minutes b/f bedtime) I thought to myself- self, she had a marginal nap, is really tired, and has had a great time in her room today and tonight (she and Dada had a tickle war for about half an hour), maybe this is the night! I hate dreading things, so I decided, with Josh's approval, that it was then or never! You won't believe it! Not a peep- just a sweet nuh-night after several comments about "big girl bed..." She slept thru the night- we now share a wall, so we heard every peep...a little moaning at midnight, a little thump and cry at 4:30, some kicking the wall at 5:30, and a dismount and Mama! at 6:15...all in all, we were very pleased. The only tear time was when I took her blankie away from her- she seemed confused as to where I was putting it. I normally have her drop it in the crib, but now I needed it out of reach. As soon as she knew she would get it back, she was fine. :) I was a little apprehensive about nap time- Rebekah has the gift of chat at naptime regardless of how tired she is, so with no way of making her stay in her bed other than asking her to, I was sure she would just play/fuss and skip the nap. I knew we had a head start in that she loves her room, so there shouldn't have been fear, etc...anyway, she was up early- 6:15 and I kept her up 'til she was talking about nap time, and then put her down at 1:30. I told her to stay in bed and I'd be in there when she woke up. Well, not quite as impressive as bed time...she stayed in for a minute or so, then I saw the shadow of two little feet under the door. She played, called out, played, fussed a little, and after 45 minutes or an hour, nothing. After an hour of quiet, I looked under the door- right behind the door was a naked little foot...she fell asleep behind the door! She woke up pretty quickly after that and was in a surly mood! She had a big red mark on her forehead from the floor and a poopy diaper...poor girl!! Anyway, we told her good job for sleeping, but it would be better in her bed. So, was curious about tonight...not a peep once again- I think the darkness is on our side!

Anyway, here are some pics from the great shower my sweet sister-in-law, Becky, threw me for our son...this precious one is of my darling niece, Riley Jane!!

My large belly...
With my Aunt Elizabeth...
Becky and Ali (my cousin's wife) and her baby Kennedy...
with my Aunt Martha and Becky...