Trip to Atlanta

On Monday and Tuesday we took a 3.5 hr roadtrip to Atlanta since we had never been (except the airport which doesn't count in my opinion :)

It was freezing! And we actually enjoyed it since it's been so hot here in Savannah. It finally felt somewhat like Christmas.

Signing fish!
We went to the world famous aquarium and it was awesome. Azure loved all the fishies. There was a lot of traffic but, we managed somehow to find our way around.

Sea dragons. What a cool looking creature!

The sea turtles and sea otters were my favorites. We've added "sea otter" to our list of future pets, which currently reads: donkeys, llamas, racoons, dog, cat. And I'm not finding any pics or video of those adorable creatures...hmmm. That is really sad.

Tuesday we went to the Atlanta Temple and drove around the city.

It was a short trip, but an enjoyable one.

18 months

Our little Azure turned 18 months on Sunday. Here are some updates of what she can do now:

• She can say, "Stop!" and put up her hand like a traffic officer- wonder who she got that from :)
• Screams, "Mine!" while jerking an object under her side. Oh, the woes of nursery! :(
• Still sings, Badabadabada when she's happy (see 1st video)
• Can identify most of her body parts

• She's trilingual: English, Sign, and Spanish (favorite Spanish word is pies- feet). She knows about 30 signs.

• Shrieks in protest if you try to feed her. She must do it herself!

• Smiles sweetly and warms our hearts in an instant canceling out prior protests

The end of an era

I know most of you already thought Azure was weaned from nursing after the Hawaii trip, but we started back up as soon as I returned. Our car accident in July also made things difficult. It was hard to nurse with a cast on but, we both enjoyed it so much that we kept at it. Sometime in September I think, we were down to just 1 feeding a day, in the mornings. I enjoyed it because it was only once and she is so cute and serene when she wakes up. I think I can say that those 5 mins every morning were some of my favorites of the day.

Two weekends ago I had to skip 2 mornings in a row of nursing her. On the 3rd day she was just not interested anymore. I have kept trying every morning since but, to no avail. So, Azure is now officially weaned. I couldn't help but, cry as I sat there in the glider thinking that this was it, that I would never nurse my baby again. I have come to similiar cross roads with her before as I would pack away old clothes that are too small, but this has been the hardest thus far.

This is the first time it's really hit me that she's just not a baby anymore and that she's gonna keep on growing...

This is what Christmas is all about

Yesterday I went with a group of women from church to sing at a nursing home. We sang about 5 songs. People were wheeled in on wheel chairs to sit and listen. Some sang along loudly, others just sat not being able to say anything at all. As we were leaving we smiled warmly and thanked them for coming to hear us sing.

I felt I wanted to do something more for each of them, but didn't know what. My heart was overflowing with emotion and gratitude but, I didn't know quite how to express it. Then, one of my Young Women reached down and gave a woman, seated up front in her wheelchair, a hug. It gave me the courage to do the same. As I hugged this woman I thought about when the last time she was touched, really touched with a warm, loving embrace. After hugging her, I continued to hug more seated nearby. As I looked up, I saw that everyone from our group was doing the same, thanks to that sweet young woman who set an example.

I couldn't help but think about this moving story in the Book of Mormon that recounts the appearance of our resurrected Savior to a group of people called the Nephites:

"And it came to pass that
the multitude went forth, and thrust their hands into his side, and did feel the
prints of the nails in his hands and in his feet; and this they did do, going
forth one by one until they had all gone forth..."

Each and every person was touched by the Savior. Each and every one. Touch is extremely powerful, especially to those that don't get touched very often. This was a special experience for me and as we were leaving I thought of another scripture from James:

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this,
To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself
unspotted from the world."

I was reminded that doing things like this is what Christmas is all about, it's what life is all about really, but especially at Christmastime.

Christmas Festivities #1

This is Azure's first ever drawing. She finally figured it out!

On Monday for FHE we went to a Gingerbread House display with the Heimdals.


Some of Azure's favorite things as of late:

• Experimenting with the "potty".
  


• Screaming and then saying, "Shh", with her pointer finger pressed against her lips.


• Using a spoon to feed herself (she's getting better at it).


• Saying, "No, no, no", while doing things she's not supposed to be doing (like pulling all of her wipes out of the dispenser).


• Trying to say her own name followed by, "baby".


• Pointing at Jesus in our manger display and saying, "Je-Ji".


• Running to us with a huge smile, arms wide open, and eyes closed when she wants to cuddle :)


• Laughing with her eyes squinted and nose scrunched.
  
  I'm so happy I got this picture. Isn't she ridiculously cute?! I absolutely adore this little girl!

Opinions Wanted

Somewhere along the line I became a little wary of the whole Santa idea. Who knows when exactly it started. Either when Charles and I were engaged or recently married we shared our thoughts on Santa and the Consumer Christmas Crisis (coined phrase by me), and decided we didn't want to teach our kids to "believe" in Santa.

I do think it's possible to keep Christ in Christmas without eliminating Santa altogether but, it just seems easier to not include Santa at all. I know children love the thrill and fantasy of secret, make-believe fairies and what not but, I don't want to have that conversation when they find out the truth, are heartbroken, and then say, "You lied to me!"

So, I am interested in the experiences that you've had. Did any of you grow up or know someone who did without a belief in Santa? What do you think are the pros/cons of eliminating the Clause?

Also, what tips do you have to avoid the inevitable of kids who know the "truth" not telling other kids? The last thing we want is for parents of our kids friends to hate us!

*Please note that this is in no way to offend anyone that perpetuates the belief of Santa.

Thanksgiving

We drove up to North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Evelyn. It was a 5 hr drive, not too incredibly bad. We realized that Azure needs something more than just a few toys to keep her occupied for that long though. We will be showing her DVDs on future road trips.

The day after Thanksgiving we drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway. A-MAZING. I had driven on it once before with Ev in August 2004. And it was green and lush like this:

These are the Blue Ridge Mountains which are part of the Appalachian mountain range. Most of the leaves had already fallen off the trees but, had we gone a few weeks earlier it would have looked like this: Seeing mountains again stirred within our hearts a desire to always be close to them. We've decided we will permanently settle down where there are mountains nearby.

We drove to a cute town nestled in the mountains called Boone, home of Applachian State University.

Exploring the campus.

We also enjoyed lengthy conversations with Ev and her mom, playing Ticket to Ride, and eating chocolate chip cookies and ice cream, along with lots of Thanksgiving leftovers.