Dear moms of fussy babies...

Last week when I picked her up from the church nursery, I was told that my daughter--the one they used to turn away at the door, the one who wouldn't sleep, the one who did nothing but scream for the first year of her life--MY daughter was "PERPETUALLY JOYFUL." 
I can't say it enough: IT GETS BETTER!!! 
I've gotten quite used to my delightful child by now, but anytime I get one of those comments it makes me pause and remember the way things once were. It fills my heart with wonder and deep, deep gratitude.
I remember those days all too well, and I wish I could travel back in time so I could tell myself how different things would be, how they would soon become "immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Eph. 3:20). So I am passing it on to you. They are NOT colicky forever. They grow into such amazing and wonderful people, and as long and as hard as your road is, your "present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed" (Rom. 8:18). It's awful, but it's worth it. It gets so much better!
Tonight I sat in our rocking chair, cradling my daughter, and sang the hymn I used to sing through all the watches of the night. Same chair, same child, same song, new perspective. "Praise the Lord in joyful numbers, your protector never slumbers!"
God is faithful, praise the Lord!

Before: Her first day home from the hospital. We had no idea what we had gotten ourselves into...

After: This is the gusto with which she attacks everything in life now
(seriously, she runs to the breakfast table like this)!

Our Home

I looked around at our apartment tonight, thinking about how cluttered it was, listing all the projects I wanted to try, looking at the floors that need to be refinished, wondering if I was ever going to fix the organizer that got ripped off the wall, sighing as I saw the chaotic piles closing in on me from every corner, realizing how very different this place was from the way I thought it would be.
Then I looked around at our home and saw our life.
I remembered the brand new wood floors, put in just before we were married, and I saw the ground-in dirt at the entryway from all the guests and family we've welcomed into our home, and the scuffs and stains around the table from the meals we've shared.
I remembered the pristine walls, freshly painted, giving a clean, open, serene feel to the room. Then I saw the pictures of our lives together, the messy artwork our toddler so proudly taped up herself, the stains behind the couch(!) from the food our daughter devoured so happily, the gaping hole from that poor organizer, torn down by a child we took in for a month so his mother could get back on her feet.
I remember how spacious and airy our living room once felt, then I saw how full it has become from all the furniture, books, and toys which inevitably come when you add more people to your family.
I remember how I spent the first few months of our marriage meticulously organizing every nook and cranny, a place for everything and everything in its place. Then I thought of our toddler sleeping in the walk-in closet, our valuable storage space now holding something far more precious.

It's so easy for me to look around at this place and see the mess, the clutter, the scars, and the lack of space. So often I grow discouraged at how out-of-control the mess feels, how poorly decorated our apartment is compared to my friends, how I just don't have the time, space and resources to do with this place what I would have liked.
This place is so very far from what I imagined it would be when we first moved in as newlyweds, but our lives have turned out so very different from what we expected.
Tonight, I remembered that this apartment has been our home for the last three years. We have lived our lives in this place, not some fantasy daydream life where everything fits perfectly in lovely bins bought with coupons at the dollar store (and now you know what I daydream about...). This place has been our home through the exhaustion of medical residency, the sleepless nights with a colicky baby, loss of loved ones,  the heartbreak of miscarriage. This has been our home when we held each-other and wept, and when we jumped around laughing for joy. It has seen insecurity, sickness, fear, depression, defeat, bitterness, and sacrifice, but it has also seen healing, comfort, growth, hope, unconditional love, and faithfulness.
It has welcomed family, hosted dear friends, been a home-away-from-home for college students, taken in at-risk children. It's where our marriage started, and the only home our daughter has ever known.
It may not be as pretty as a magazine, but to me, and I hope to the many others who have graced it with their presence, it is a thing of beauty.

Our lives have not been serene, but they have been full. Our lives have not been organized, things did not happen "as planned," but praise God, we are learning to be flexible and receive each moment, each new adventure or challenge as a chance to learn and grow in Him.
This is the story of our family, this is a reflection of our lives together, this is a testament to the goodness and faithfulness of our marvelous Creator.
It's not pristine, it's not pretty, but it is magnificent. It is a thing of wonder, and there's no place I would rather be.

And the best part is, we're just getting started!!!

Consonant Blends and other quirks

We have a remarkably articulate 2 year old who talks up a storm in a very clear and precise manner, so whenever she does have difficulty pronouncing something, we feel compelled to document it.

Some of our favorite quirks over time:

When she was 18 months, her vocabulary was already fairly substantial, and consisted of English, Mandarin and sign language, but for some weird reason, she couldn't say "water." She could sign it, but no matter what, she called it "Gaw." We have no idea where it came from, it's not close to "water" or "Shui" (the Mandarin equivalent), but that's what she would say. We worked so hard, saying "Wa, wa, WA-TER" slowly and clearly so she would get it, and she would lean in, raise her eyebrows just like we did, and reply very deliberately "Wa, wa, GAAAAAAAW" The funniest part was when her grandparents decided to just adopt her word into their vocabulary. I'll never forget hearing them say "Do you want some gaw?"

We just about died laughing when she tried to say "computer" and instead all that would come out of her mouth was "potato." That's the one we decided to adopt, and suddenly all our computers were renamed. The kindle fire even became our "hot potato." We were crushed the day she pronounced computer correctly. We're not changing our network names back, though. Those stay, a reminder of the adorable days of yore.

Her current and ongoing quirk is very specific, and no less cute. She can say the "S" sound just fine, but cannot pronounce it when it comes right before another consonant. If a consonant blend starts with "S," she will just say the 2nd consonant. In a cluster of 3 consonants, she can actually say the latter 2, but still no S's. It makes for some very cute (and slightly confusing) words!
Here are a few highlights:

scrubs = cwubs (oh yeah, she's also got the stereotypical r=w quirk)
stop = top
stretch = twetch!
stepstool = teptool!
story = towy
squish = quish
stinky = tinky
sticky = ticky
stuck = tuck
scooter = cooter
stairs = taiws
small = mall
smile = mile
snake = nake
sneaky = neaky!


If we really push her, she will sometimes make an effort, but it will either sound like "S, S, cwubs" or she'll blow air through her nose to approximate the initial S sound, but it ends up sounding more like a funny H. So occasionally you'll hear her say something like "hmall," or "hnake."

I doubt this is unique, there must be tons of toddlers out there calling people 'neaky 'tinkers, but I wanted to make sure I wrote it down somewhere. Because I know that someday, just like "water" and "computer," she'll be able to pronounce the initial S in a consonant blend like a pro, and I want to remember.

Thank you, Pinterest!

Today was a "sick day" for me. I've been fighting a cold for days and finally succumbed this morning. Nothing terrible, just your run-of-the mill sore throat, swollen sinuses, runny nose, headache and fatigue deal, but certainly enough to make me want a quiet day doing "nothing" at home.

Of course, my 2-year-old felt just fine and was wondering what new adventures we were going to have today?! Thankfully I've been collecting ideas for fun activities on Pinterest and happened to have the right supplies handy (didn't take much). Today's post is a photo journal of how I kept my toddler busy while I sat idly by and convalesced. 

We haven't really worked on lower case letters, but I made an upper- lower-case match-up card set and she caught right on! She really enjoyed putting the "daddy" letters with the "baby" letters (her words, not mine)!

Next, I cannibalized an empty cereal box and a sweet friend let us raid her yarn remnants for some lace-up cards!
Again, she's never done anything like this before, but got it pretty quickly.

"Hey! I was playing with that!"

Q-tip painting! Who knew they made such good little paint brushes?! Again, it took a few minutes for her to figure out how to paint in the little circles, but after that she was unstoppable! She could have done this all day!

Super cool templates found here:
http://therapyfunzone.com/blog/2012/12/q-tip-painting-with-templates/

Isn't that just delightful?
I cut the Q-tips in half to extend my supply and pack in a little fine-motor-skill oomph.

I'm so thankful for the creativity of others who are willing to share, and the resources we have on the internet! Not only did I keep my daughter busy so I could rest, but we also had quality time painting together and the day was filled with great educational/developmental activities. Honestly, in some ways it almost feels like we did MORE today than we usually do! Time to look around for more ideas in case I'm still under the weather tomorrow...