Family Day in Point Loma

Damein and I enjoyed celebrating 5 awesome years together on September 9th. It is a beautiful thing to be able to reflect on the goodness of God in our lives in the last 5 years. So much has happened! It's funny to think that when Damein and I married, I was fully convinced that is who God intended for me to be with; however, we still had a lot of getting to know each other to do! (and we still do :)
Here we are, 5 years later, in our 4th home, our 2nd state, completed our Masters, enjoying our first little baby, and more in love than ever :) I'm so thankful God knows me better than I know myself and saw fit to put me with such a wonderful man, perfect for me! I loved the tidepools at Point Loma so much, that I took Damein during our anniversary weekend. We went in the late afternoon during low tide and hiked around the cliffs a bit, spending time on some rocks that provided a breathtaking view of the ocean.
We spent some time just taking it all in. It is truly life-giving to be able to experience moments when you can allow the vastness and beauty of God's creation to wash over you. One of my favorite scenes in creation are mountains jutting into the ocean, and Point Loma reflects this beautifully. As we peered out from the rocks, all you could see for miles and miles was ocean and sky, as the breeze literally filled our lungs with fresh ocean air. It was truly surreal. We spent some time talking about God's goodness and his absolute bigness...then took some family pics together before heading out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants :)

New Words

Lots of new words popping up around our household lately! Livy has perfected her 'dadada' into a clear 'Daddy' and for the first time has said 'Mama'! She looks directly at us when she refers to us and clearly loves the fact that she is communicating with us! We've known pretty much from the beginning that she is a very verbal child. Always singing, making noises, and now formulating words! A few of her other consistent words right now are hi and bye, as I have mentioned on other posts. She also says 'boo' when playing peek a boo and has also said 'book'. She surprises us every day with new words!

Potty Time

Ok, so I know many of you are wondering why in the world our 9 month old is on her potty. Well....Livy has been going to the 'potty' since she was about 8 weeks old. If you are into formal terms, it is called Elimination Communication (EC)...but they've been doing this kinda thing in other countries forever! (We have to come up for a technical term for it in the U.S.) In short, it is believing that your child communicates when they need to go potty, in the same way they also communicate they are hungry, tired, etc... So, as the parent, we learned what Livy's signals were when she needed to go to the potty. It does take time and commitment on the front end, but I guess I figured I would either spend the time later (when potty training) or now. So, we decided to teach her from the beginning to go on the potty.
We have enjoyed changing only a handful of dirty diapers in the last 7 months! :)
Here are some cute pics of Livy using her potty now that she is big enough to sit on it by herself :)

Mema Visits!

My mom was in town for a week the first of September, and we had a super fun time. Livy enjoyed lots of playtime with her Mema, and they became great buds! Livy thinks Mema is so interesting, especially her laugh she is so well known for...Livy usually starts laughing too! It is clear at this point that Mema and Livy's relationship is built on having fun. Livy loves when Mema mocks all of her funny noises, laughs, and REALLY loves when she does things that make Mema laugh. (You could tell she always tried to do more of whatever made Mema laugh!)
Mom got to see some of Livy's firsts, like the first time she climbed up a step on her own, and actually got to teach Livy how to make a lip smooching sound, which they loved doing together!
We ate at our favorite breakfast joint together, Richard Walkers, spent a day in Point Loma (which are all the scenic pics you see above of the tidepools there), and we ate at a completely vegan 'fast food' restaurant called Evolution. It was crazy awesome...you see a pic of my mushroom swiss burger here on gluten free bread. Vegan is with no animal products and everything was completely vegan, including the yummy ice cream which I think they made from coconut milk. The burgers were a house-made black bean burger and sooo good. Sweet potato fries on the side! YUM!
We had an awesome time, Livy was sad to see her playmate go :(

Waving

It is so sweet to see Livy waving and enjoying her mode of communicating to people these days! Not only does she enjoy waving at people, but also to many other things. I love her cheerfulness towards life. She wears a bright smile as soon as she wakes up in the morning or from a nap.
It's not uncommon for me to find her saying hi and waving to all of her dolls and books when I walk in the room after she wakes up from a nap. And as Damein says, 'She likes to say hi to the world' when we go outside with her. She waves and says hi to the sky, trees, and anything else she can spot :)

Making Friends

Livy enjoys making friends when we are out and about running errands. She is so intrigued by people and studies EVERY move people make! You can just see her little wheels turning as she tries to understand the world around her. She loves analyzing things, especially people.
She always finds people she particularly likes when we are out and will stare relentlessly at them, often waving and saying hi numerous times to them!

Sweet Moments

Although I have loved being a mommy from the very first moment, I have particularly been overwhelmed with thankfulness for my wee one lately. Livy is seriously one of the sweetest little people I have ever been around! As I was reading a bedtime story to Livy tonight, she stopped, turned and look straight at me, and leaned in to give me a kiss. Just because.
Her kisses always melt my heart, but I mostly get them when I ask for them. (Asking doesn't always mean you will get one, she is selective!) The times when she initiates the kiss simply because she wants to show me she loves me makes my heart so full!!