Tubes Part 2

We are home and doing great! We woke RG up around 6 this morning after a very restless night (for Josh and me anyway!) She was very alert and sweet in the hospital. She enjoyed walking around and learning lots of new words! She was very brave and we are so proud! Everyone fell in love with her, of course! As expected, the hardest part was watching her get rolled away in a hospital gown and socks...I so wanted to hold her hand...in contrast, Josh and I stood helplessly in the hallway, praying for our little girl. About 20 minutes later, the Dr. said it was worth it b/c there was a lot of puss and taking the adenoids out, too, should really help. We kept seeing other children getting rolled by and wondered if it was her...finally, I heard someone say what a precious girl! I told Josh, she's coming! Indeed it was our little honey...she was disoriented and a little angry...she saw me, grabbed her bow out of my hair, attempted to put it back in her own hair, laid her head on my shoulder and immediately went to sleep...so sweet!

Sorry- I got confused and put the hospital pics in backwards order...





This was at the ENT- she called it her kitchen!

Bundled up in stinkin' cold weather!

Last week at church- still a ham for the camera!

Tubes

Well, I took Rebekah in to see the ENT this morning- she still has fluid in both ears, so TOMORROW (?!?!) she is getting tubes and having her adenoids removed. It is supposed to be a short procedure, about 5 minutes, but we have to be there 2 hours early with no breakfast! Actually, she should be fine, but she does love her milk! So, those of you who pray, please pray for her tomorrow at 8:15 am.

While at the ENT, the nurse introduced herself to me as Lisa blah blah blah and she talked for a little while. Rebekah said, "Hi, Lisa." Rebes then fascinated herself with "Lisa's stool" and "Mama's stool" and "Rebekah's chair." She also called a machine that had knobs a "kitchen!" I guess it reminded her of her kitchen in our kitchen. :) The doctor commented that the ear problems sure hadn't slowed down her language development!

Fix it...

Sweet Bunny...before I even knew it, Rebekah was tempted beyond her endurance by our cable cord on the wall. She had never messed with it before, but today was her limit. The cord was already loose- you can tell the outlet has been tampered with before (our house was a rental for many years and shows some of that wear and tear). Anyway, she had pulled out the cord, exposing a live wire in less than 3 seconds. I was sitting right next to her and got her away from it- she knew something had gone awry because she looked at me fearfully. Since this had not been a previous lesson, I did not really even scold her, I simply told her to stay away from it while Dada fixed it. She seemed to process that a while...then, I told her that she had broken it. She repeated, "Bekah broke it" for a minute or so, probably remembering the injustice of Sammy breaking her ball. Then, she asked me, "Tape?" I always "fix" her books by taping in the pieces/pages she tears out...Sweet girl- of course, tape should fix it! :)

The Yellow Ball

I had no intention of buying this ball...until Rebekah's eyes lit up and she started sweetly chanting "Ball! Ball! Ball!" I pointed to each one and asked her if she wanted to hold the red one, yellow one, or green one...? She immediately pointed and and said "Yellow Ball!" We carried around this ball while she delightedly dropped and chased after it...I decided it was worth every penny of $4. How could you say no to this face?

Sadly, though, there was only one afternoon of yellow ball enjoyment...we left to run an errand and upon our return, Rebekah reached the living room before I. I heard a loud lamentation and rounded the corner to see her crying "Ball!" Apparently, Sam thought it was his yellow ball and had punctured it. I quietly told Rebes that I was sorry that Sammy had broken her ball. We spent the rest of the afternoon mourning the loss of the yellow ball...Rebekah would glare at Sam and say, "Sammy broke ball" over and over.

This brings me to my next point..we are way past one-word comments...full-on phrases all the time! Really quite amazing...actually, Rebekah has a predictable bath play routine in which she quickly "dip it" for each animal (to rid them of offending bubbles) and places them on the edge of the tub, all right next to each other, facing her, of course. As she was lining them up last week, she soberly confided in me that "Cow gas"...I asked, "Oh really? Cow has gas?" She nodded and said "Cow has gas." Then, she further confessed that each animal ("another cow...pig...chicken...sheep...horsey") has gas." I could hardly keep a straight face.

She also has become preciously tender- I can't tell you how many times a day I find myself saying "Oh, Rebekah, I love you!" So, she sometimes tenderly touches my face and says "Oh, Mama..." and then wraps her arms around my neck...seriously. She loves to give mouth to mouth kisses...in fact, kissing is a high priority...after every ouchie, she commands, "Mommy kiss it."

Rebekah still asks for "Woo Hoo"...now she asks for "Shake it" (Outkast). I know, I know...we need more wholesome music.

Her new car game is "Sunny! Not sunny!" She yells out sunny when the suns shines on her face and then when shadows block it, she says not sunny and giggles...this morning, when I flipped on the light in her room, she groggily said "Sunny..." :)

Josh and I commented tonight that we can't imagine not hearing her chatter during every meal and activity every day. Rebekah loves to name everything she sees, even in books. She knows so many words, it still startles me! In fact, I am amazed at her memory- she is starting to memorize her books, anticipating coming pages even. Last week, she pointed out "Abraham and sarah" in her Bible. I had never told her who they were specifically- I guess the stories are starting to make sense! So, she is till obsessed with babies- I told her their baby was Isaac. She now either calls him "Isaac" or "boy"- another word she has only heard in the story! She also picked up on Daniel in the Lion's den- she loves to talk about him praying- "Daniel pray!" Funny thing is when he is being thrown in the lion's den, she excitedly remarks "Slide! Daniel slide!" Such an optimist! There is nothing she won't repeat! (side note- we now have to pray before naps, too...I lay her down and she reaches up her hands and beseeches me, "Mama pray?" How do you say no? Granted, she'd do it as long as I would, so we have to draw the line somewhere...is the Lord cool with that?

She is even getting into colors, especially orange- probably b/c it is the same as a color and food. She told me out of nowhere the other day that her spoon was orange...indeed it was.

The next 2 pics are so funny. Rebes is still super-particular about snow not being on her shoes...she asks me, "Mommy clean it, Mommy wipe it," which I usually do. I told her we would get them clean inside. She charged ahead of me, saw the towel on the floor, perched on the step and meticulously cleaned each shoe. What cracked me up was that she felt she needed to put the towel back exactly where she found it.

Mama's Little Helper

This is the infamous poo poo potty picture...there are 3 in the book and Rebekah excitedly asks "Poo poo potty...? Another poo poo potty?...Another poo poo potty?" She is really into 2...she likes to talk about things in pairs. She can answer that she is 1 but that she has 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 hands...sometimes 2 noses! She likes 2!

Rebekah only eats olives if she can stick it on the tip of her finger...she cried when i cut it the other way...apparently this is pretty important to her.

My little helper- last week making cookies...

Today making a coffee cake, which she enjoyed eating...she also said "coffee cake" all day.






Yesterday at the Sterners- 4 of the Sterner kids and Rebes helping Carrie make cookies...she is so patient! Look at Rebekah checkin' out Isaac...her future husband!

Sportin' her hat from Aunt Sarah...
Her fake smile...

18 month appointment

Well, Rebekah weighed in at 24 lbs (50%), her head was 50th % and she was 34 1/2 inches tall (off the charts). We also learned that she chipped her tooth- I had been wondering b/c the bottom front tooth looked groovy instead of straight. I even remember a bad fall on tile in November so I think that was the culprit. Additionally, Rebekah does have her 6th ear infection for crying out loud!! Poor baby! She doesn't fuss about it too much and doesn't get fever with every one, so it's almost always a surprise. We might try to take her to an ENT and see if there's anything we can do.

Rebekah is talking more and more! She is even using full phrases/sentences sometimes, like "Tie my shoe" "Mommy fix it" etc. It is so fun to watch her learn new things literally every day!

I am loving our reading time- Rebekah picks a book ("gook") by name and says "Mama, read gook"...her books are "Puppy" (McDuff book), "Ark" (Noah's Ark), "Bible" (Toddler Bible), "Boom Boom Boom" (Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You- this is my absolute fave right now b/c Bekah knows all the sounds and gets really excited about doing them, especially Boom, Boom, Boom, which she shouts really loud and high and shakes her right hand at the same time), "Doggies" (Doggie book- I used to hate this one b/c you have to bark 10 different ways for each of the 10 dogs, but now that I have a fellow barker, I love it!), "Poo Poo Potty" (this one cracks me up- it's the Going to Bed Book, which has nothing to do with potties, but it is set on a boat and the portal windows are white, with the opening pulled to the side and you can see water thru it- essentially, Rebekah gets really excited about each of the 3 windows, calling them poo poo potties).

Tonight, Rebekah was able to see herself in a reflective window and loved talking to herself and watching herself eat...such a diva!

Hugs and Helicopters

Just some fun pics from the past few days...Rebekah is struggling with a nasty cold and even woke up last night 3 times between 9 and 10:30 with....gas! She even sadly said "gas" when I went in to figure out what was wrong...

Rebekah has still been doing her fishy face she learned from Nana...she told Josh this morning that it was her "Nana fish."

Hugging Sammy- poor old boy couldn't get away!


Making her "helicopter fly"...

Detox

Josh and I always tease our parents that when we return from being with them, we have to go thru "detox" with Rebekah...I'd like to say that it is just her that needs detox, but it's also me! I love visiting our families for obvious reasons, but also because we get so pampered! My ob/gyn definitely noticed my weight gain ;) from all the eating out and desserts, not to mention absolutely no exercise!! Plus, we get free babysitting from families who could not adore our precious little one more! Who could ask for more?!

So, we are back and in detox- I finally don't feel hungry every second, just every other...I hit the gym yesterday and even ran a little (and by "ran," yes, I mean jogged at a very slow pace)- pretty impressive for being 26 weeks pregnant...Rebekah has adjusted amazingly well...she does ask for her grandparents at least a few times every day...she'll say "Papa/Mamama/etc., are you?" It breaks my heart. She is learning how to say Texas and south Texas for the answer- Grandy would be so proud!

She also asks for music in the living room, as well as in the car- in fact, today she asked for music, I turned it on and she asked for "Woo Hoo"- her way of asking for that Gwen Stefani song that's so catchy! Josh blessed me with a mixed tape ;) for Christmas and it's my favorite!

Rebes also loves washing her hands, complete with soap. So, today I got her a step stool so we can do it more often and not wear my arms out so much. However, she discovered the stool has a lid and place to hide things, so she is hiding her ABC's (the magnetic letters on the fridge) in there more than climbing on it . So cute!

She is also really into possession- praise God we're not to the point of her insisting "mine" or anything, but rather "Mama shirt....Dada coat...Mommy's (typically refers to things she intuitively knows she shouldn't touch), such as a computer....Mama coffee (that's right, I'm an official coffee drinker!)..." She also loves 2-word phrases, such as "coffee hot" or "Sammy eatsy" (eatsy means hungry).

Another fun development is Rebekah and prayer...at Chili's the other day, Rebekah grabbed my and Josh's hand and said "pray." We had to pray about 10 extra times and she would say "amen" at the end. I guess we're pretty spiritual!


Rebekah has also learned that Dada works at church- she'll randomly comment (I guess when she realizes that Dada isn't home with us) "Dada work church...Mama work home."

Rebekah knows the names of all her family members and friends, as well as their moms. Today she asked about Sarah, Rachel, and Pat.

She is still very picky about how things should be- not a rule-follower per se, just extremely sure of how she wants something- I have to keep a towel in the car to wipe off her shoes when she gets them snowy (she talks about "snow and ice...ice and water...snow and water" several times a day) or she'll cry. Tonight in the tub, we taught her how to quickly dip her bath animals in the water to get the "bubbles off"- she doesn't like things not to seem clean.

Rebekah is such a darling girl! We always have our ups and downs, but we are in such a sweet time. Allow me to mention a few things I am loving about my girl:

-she holds my hand whenever possible
-she often takes breaks from playing to sit on my lap or hug me
-she she loves going outside, even if it's cold
-she loves baths (I owe this to my sweet Mama who apparently gives great baths b/c Rebekah comes home from those baths just loving them!!)
- a couple nights ago, Rebekah hopped into my lap, soaking wet (this is her routine with Mamama), and then decided she was just too cold to leave, so she turned around, and clung to me like a little tree frog- arms and legs totally wrapped around me!
-she loves her Dada and recognizes his car and gets really excited about seeing him
-she and Dada play "Dada git choo!" (Dada get you), but she still can't stand the wait and runs into his arms instead of letting him catch her
-she still looks for airplanes wherever we go- in fact, Monday night, we were leaving the mall and it was dark. We could see the highway and with the intense fog, all you could see were the headlights on the cars and trucks passing by. Rebekah excitedly exclaimed, "Airplane, airplane- fly! Zoom!"
-last week, Rebekah was in the middle of a good play, stopped, headed straight for me, said "Mama" very tenderly, kissed my mouth, then resumed playing. Seriously? Does it get better than that?
-R calls her pj's her "jammies" and says "Jammies on!" when she's ready to get them on
-she now labels her sneezes and coughs and then blesses herself, hoping that you will bless her, too


Rebekah's first craft- proudly displayed in a prominent place on our fridge. Billy and I both love to put stuff on our fridges b/c our Dad never let us!! ;)

(she rather haphazardly colored the snowman green)

Rebes also has perfected her fake smile when asked to smile:




Josh assembled our Christmas gift to Rebekah- her very own kitchen!! She calls it "cook" and we try to cook together! Sadly, R quickly discovered that the sink faucet was faux...since she now loves washing her hands, it was quite a disappointment.
We thought she looked like a little Sherlock Holmes for church- had to document it!

(admiring the fish)




(after Josh preached Sunday: check it out at Parkviewchurch.org)

These are my new FAVES- we call them "tree frog" with a little fake smile: