Spring Break

Teaching is really a great job...maybe not quite as great as staying home with Siena (at the moment)...but the next best thing. Thanks to a little flexibility from some coaches and schedules, Matt was able to take off with Siena and I to Grand Rapids for BSHS Spring Break. It was such a great time to be able to spend some time with family...much needed.
We didn't have a whole lot of things on the agenda while up in GR - which was a treat. When we go up there for holidays, it's always so busy and rushed with running here and there. This time we were able to relax with family a little bit...it was so nice.
Driving up to GR takes 10 hours. We drove through the night again to play into Siena's sleeping schedule. It went perfectly. We drove straight to my aunt and uncle's house to spend the weekend with all of my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It was something I was so looking forward to. We ate great food, made some interesting mojitos, played some Euker, played basketball, and of course, just spent time together. I couldn't ask for anything more. I really do have the best family in the world - we have a lot of fun together. And they sure loved little Miss Siena...and she loved them right back.
Once back in GR, we went out for drinks, shopped in darling little boutiques, ate lots of Yesterdogs, celebrated birthdays, enjoyed home-cooked meals, visited friends, watched "old men" basketball leagues (love you, Ken..and Matt!), held deep conversations, cried, laughed, drank wine, reminisced about being little at Grandma and Grandpa's house, had a encounter with tomato soup and Siena's curiosity, perused the zoo...it doesn't get much better than that! Can you ask of anything more? Once again, I'm a lucky girl...
Siena also had a great time up in GR. The first night was a little rough. Siena is getting old enough to realize that she is not in her own bed and in a strange, dark room. She wasn't a huge fan...and who can blame her? It took a little work to get her to fall asleep, but once she was in Dream Land, she stayed there till morning. After that first night, she was good to go. She tried butternut squash and prunes for the first time. (Yes, prunes were a necessary, intentional introduction...and yes, they did their job.) She loved playing with Oma's glasses, looking at the fish with Opa, sleeping in Grandma's arms, and laughing and hangin' with Auntie Em. Lots of fun little moments for Siena...and those who love her.
I wish I would have taken more pictures during the week...just to capture some moments. When I got home, I realized the only pictures we took were at the zoo. That was a fun afternoon. The weather was way warmer than it had been, so we took advantage of it and spent some time outside. Siena got to meet the monkeys, lions (I was honestly scared of those things!), snow leopards, brown bears, sea otter, fish, alligators, and a bunch of other creepy, totally disgusting snakes and reptiles that I didn't care for too much. She rode in her stroller and just watched all the animals. It made me very excited to take her again when she's a little older and she can understand a little more. I will be patient though! As quickly as she is getting the hang of sitting up, she's going to be crawling and walking before we know it!
A really great week..thanks to all of you who made it so special and meaningful for Siena, Matt and me. There are moments I will always remember...






This picture does NOT in any way depict our parenting skills...just our sense of humor and Matt's ability to use Photo Shop. :)

Sitting Up and Sweet Potatoes

Siena is really getting after things these days! I just love watching her grow more and more every day. She is such a joy to watch...and it forces me to look at the world through the eyes of a child. Who would have thought mashed up sweet potatoes or sitting up all by yourself could be the greatest of things? But they are...
I have decided to take on the task of making Siena's baby food. I really love to cook, and although I can't make great pasta dishes or pieces of meat for her (yet), I thought it would be a fun little adventure for me to take on. I tend to be a little bit of a perfectionist, so sometimes I find that I make it way more difficult than it actually has to be. But I think that may be a common thread in a number of things I do. :) That being said, it's a really great feeling to finally sit down with a small hunk of potatoes and see how she reacts to the new tastes and textures. I never thought I would get so excited.
We started out the first couple of weeks with boring, ol' rice cereal. After 2 weeks of that, I went to the store, bought 6 huge sweet potatoes, cooked them up, threw them in the food processor, and distributed them into little baby ice cube trays to freeze. It's super handy! I just make up a ton of little cubes, throw them in a freezer bag, and now I can just pull them out whenever she's ready to eat! It's great! She really caught on super quick. She of course made funny faces and got the food all over the place, but I didn't hear any complaints! I have fed her sweet potatoes in the morning for 4 mornings in a row, just to make sure she liked them and had no allergic reactions to them. So far so good! Next on the list is avocados, or as we like to call it, "baby guac". It's been really fun to watch her get the hang of eating and start to really enjoy and look forward to food.
At first, she was more interested in playing with the food and the spoon. Now, she actually lets me feed her, and just sits there waiting for the next bite.




Also, in the past week, Siena has decided to sit up on her own. It was kind of an all-of-a-sudden thing. One day she was still pretty wobbly and you couldn't leave her to sit up on her own. Now, she's a pro! It's fun to see her sitting up, playing with her toys, and gaining enough balance to reach for things around her. Every once in a while, we hear a little clunk, and she's toppled over on her side...but even that doesn't seem to bother her too much. I think she feels like a big girl too..or in this case, a big koala bear. :)
Man, Siena's growing up fast! The best journey ever though...

Our Little Snow Bunny

The weather has been crazy this winter! But I must say, it has been beautiful. Blame it on the Michigan blood flowing through my veins, but winter is a really great time of the year. I love the days where it's super cold, crisp, and sunny outside. When you breathe in the air, it feels good going through your lungs. Bundled up in a cute scarf and sunglasses...my favorite. We had one of those days earlier this week. Siena needed to know what that wonderful feeling is like.
We bundled her up and headed outside. What was especially cool was the trees. A few days prior, we had a rain/snow wintery mix. Because we got some rain first, when the temperatures were above freezing, the wet rain ended up freezing on the trees. With the bright sun and blue skies, the tree limbs look gorgeous! It almost looks like they have Christmas lights on them. Driving down a street with big trees on both sides was so pretty to look at...they were like ice sculptures lining both sides of the road. Stunning. Our trees in the back yard were no different. A nice little moment to capture...







PS. A funny little side note...watching Siena with mittens on is quite funny. For that young of babies, they don't make mittens with thumb holes. So, it's almost like she's wearing a sock around her hand. Being that she puts everything in her mouth, including her fingers, it was a strange mystery to her why her fingers felt so weird in her mouth and why she couldn't reach out and grab for things like she normally does. She kept looking at her hand wondering what on earth was blocking her fingers! They sure looked cute covering her little "sausage links", but I'm not sure what a fan she was of them... :)

Photo Shoot!

Siena and I were lucky enough to have Matt home all day yesterday due to yet another snow day! Kansas City hasn't seen a winter like this in a really long time...lots of snow and lots of bitter temperatures. I guess I can't say I'm complaining...for now. Come the end of May, I may wish they weren't still in school making up all the days they had off in the winter. Oh well...
We certainly used our time off together wisely - we created an in-home 6 month photo shoot! Matt takes some really great photos and has a really great eye for it. So, instead of paying a lot of money for professional baby photos, we had a really great time creating our own. Siena was a trooper too. She played along with all my "outfit changes" very well and even gave us some great smiles. Granted, I was jumping around behind Matt like a maniac trying to get some big smiles out of my child, but I have learned that babies make adults do ridiculous things...why should it be any different for a photo?! :)
Speaking of ridiculous, I have to admit, Siena definitely got the last laugh. In the photos with the white bloomers and white bow, I decided not to put a diaper on Siena. I didn't want those ugly things to ruin a cute picture. Everything was going so great, and my favorite pictures ended up being of her in that outfit. She was smiling and having a good ol' time...I found out quickly just how much fun she was having. She peed all over the black sheet she was laying on...and her white bloomers were soaked! No wonder we got such good smiles from her! I had to laugh - that's what I get for wanting the "cute, no diaper" look. :) Oh well, makes for a good story, right?
So, without further ado, I present to you...Siena Grace, 6 months old. Photos taken by Matt Marble Photography. (I got a really good deal on the photo package from the photographer...) :)

Feed Me!!

Siena has finally been introduced to the wonderful world of food! I think "me milk" was getting a little boring to her...so we're spicing things up with a little rice cereal! (I know, watch out...big flavor there!) Matt and I decided we wanted to wait to feed Siena solid foods until she was 6 months old. She has been very content with the "me milk" thus far and well...it's free! So, might as well take advantage of that...it won't last long, I'm sure!
She was ultra curious about all of it. I put her in her high chair, strapped a bib on her, and away we went! She didn't really make any gross or weird faces, but she did give a rather puzzled look as to what that could possibly be in her mouth. What I thought was the funniest part was the fact that she already was proving her independent nature - she wanted to do it all herself. From the very first spoonful, I had to hold her hands down so I could get the spoon near her mouth! Cracked me up. After the first few bites, I gave her the spoon and let her experiment. She knew right where that spoon went, that's for sure! She would get really excited and squeal "da, da, da" and little projectiles got me in the face. I'll let it slide right now while she's learning...but after that, it's on! :) I don't know what most babies eat their first go around, but she almost ate the entire little bowl of cereal. She was a champ! She really seemed to enjoy the food and she didn't mind that it got up her nose, in her hair, and behind her ears. :) That's all part of the fun of eating, right? Matt's still working on perfecting that part...ha! just kidding. :)
She's eating a couple bowls a day for right now. I am planning on making her baby food, so we're going to do the cereal bit for a few days and then introduce some fun flavors...bananas, avocados, squash...mmm, yum. I can't wait to see what that all looks like!
It's crazy to think that Siena is eating food already! She's getting to be such a big girl. It's fun to witness the little milestones in Siena's life. Their little bodies and minds are fascinating! She is still super content, super happy, and she certainly loves her daddy. Her latest "tricks" are: turning her head when she hears her name, rolling all over the place (both ways now!), sitting up with assistance, bringing everything to her mouth - even if she's just doing the motion with her hand to her mouth, squealing, laughing when tickled (and when she gets scared or when people jump around in front of her), and beginning to put her arms up when someone comes to pick her up. Another thing she has been doing lately which is very interesting to us is the backwards wave. Matt and I have been showing her the sign for milk/food before she eats. Basically, it's just the motion of milking the udder of a cow. Lately, she has been doing that a lot. We're not sure if she is copying us or if it is just a coincidence that she is making that hand motion. But all the time, she'll put her arm out and make that hand motion with her little fingers. It's super cute. Maybe we'll just say that she's super smart and is signing to us already that she wants food. :) Ha! Wishful thinking...
Life is good!!!

Love.

Love takes on so many different meanings as we move through life. When you're a little kid, you love everything...the grass, your toys, your teacher, your family, the bugs, etc. Love seems to have no limits when you're little. The innocence of the word at that age is sometimes humbling to those of us who try to put limits around it. They just love. No questions asked. We think we know so much more about love as we get older and yet, maybe we just make it so much more complicated? But then again, as we get older, we learn to love in different ways. I may still love laying in the green grass in the summer but it doesn't compare to the love I have for my husband and my daughter and my family...
And then I think about how much I love Siena and I can't imagine anyone loving anything else more. And yet, God loves us with an unconditional love that I can't even wrap my mind around. He loves Siena more than I'm even capable of. His love for her is unmatched. Blows my mind...
I don't know. I found myself thinking about love and how that word (and all it stands for) has shaped my life. I'm pretty blessed to have love in my life...to love and be loved in return.
Speaking of love, these pictures capture a few people I love a lot...

Grandma and Siena.


Auntie Em and James with a very happy little girl...



Siena, showing off her vocal cords.


Splish-splashin' in the tub...


My precious little Valentine...