Bedtime Prayers

Some of our sweetest moments with Jenae come at the end of each day when we get in her room to pray before she goes to sleep. We started by always praying over her. As she grew, we moved into the repeat-after-me prayers, which were also precious. And, now she prays by herself...most of the time.

This journey has been amazing to me. Many nights she would be fussing in her crib and we'd go in there to try to calm her down. If we just talked to her she'd keep crying and asking to get out. However, the moment we'd start to pray she would get still and quiet and just listen. It was wild. Sometimes that would be enough and she'd go on to sleep. Other times, she'd hear the "Amen" and go right back to fussing. During the prayer though she'd always quiet down. I hope as she grows she continues to have such a heart for prayer.

Tonight I just wanted to share some of the things I love about my little girls' prayers:

• She can't pray if she isn't moving. The moment she starts praying she starts to wiggle and she doesn't get still until she says, "Amen."
• If you try to guide her prayers, helping her name things, she will stop, look at you and say, "Sshhh! It my turn. Sshhh! It my turn." She always says it twice. Sometimes even if you didn't say a word.
  
• For a while, she would start her prayers, "God, our Father." We think she got this from a prayer song we sometimes sing at meals...which doesn't count as a prayer to her. Even after we sing it she makes us hold hands to say a prayer. Now, she usually begins her prayers with, "Dear God..."
  
• I love to hear what's going on in her mind. Most of our prayers are "Thank you, God, for..." The ones that always melt my heart, and usually at the front of the list, are: Momma, Daddy and Baby Sister.
• Some of the more unusual thanks include: her diaper, walls, pillows, closet, pink light, fan, door--basically anything she can see in her room. Tonight, wearing our princess night gown, she prayed for Sleeping Beauty, Arial, Belle and Cinderella, and the Mean Cat. She often thanks God for her 'friends' and her 'new friends.'
  
• We always kiss hands and give squeeze hugs after our prayers.
• Her Daddy would want you to know that the first time she, on her own, told him she loved him was with a hug after our prayers. "I love you, Daddy."

I think I'll go now and thank God for a few of my blessings, too. Good night!

Valentine's Day

A Photo Essay

Jenae Pics

As if you couldn't get enough...

Here are some of the ways we fill our days lately:

Playdough!

Drawing pictures

Dancing with Daddy...while singing Little Mermaid songs

She loves her Daddy!

You may have noticed by now that in all her pictures lately Jenae has always accessorized her look. Everything from her jammies, t-shirts, Sunday dresses. The first thing she does each morning is to put on her necklace ("I careful with necklace"), earrings and princess watch. Okay, she doesn't put them on, she brings them straight to me to put on her. Even if I am still in bed, she will hand me her necklace first thing. Most days these are also accompanied by her Cinderella slippers ("Look, glass slippers!") that her Bappa bought for her at DisneyWorld. The only time these things come off is when she goes to sleep. You may think I'm exaggerating, but take a look back at her potty pictures. Purple nightgown, potty chair, and glass slippers.

Is there any turning back?! We have ourselves a girly-girl!

Potty Training, Take 1

You can't say we didn't try. We did. Very hard for four days. Only one of us was trained. It was so frustrating. She didn't care if she was wet or dry. She'd wet herself and still tell me she was dry. She got to where she would "hold it" for up to 6 hours. The only "successes" we had were when I knew she had to go and could wrestle her to sit still. If she didn't need to go, she would sit there for hours. And, the only times she went during the entire four days was when she was in the bathroom by herself, with no books, no movies, nothing. We tried M & M's, prizes, lots of liquids, dances, parties...anything to celebrate but she wasn't impressed. Needless to say, we are back in diapers and I'm okay with that.



P.S. One week later, she is now telling us when she pees and poops in her diaper. She doesn't like it and wants to be changed. So, I guess we made some progress.

Cruise in Review

The last week in January Jordan and I took our last chance get-a-way before this next baby arrives. We did a 5-night cruise on Navigator of the Seas. We love to cruise and just enjoy the down time, sleeping in, great food, laying in the sun and being together! It was a perfect week away. We had great weather all week and our ports of call were in Cozumel and Belize. Truth be told, it didn't really matter. I could just look at the water all day. Seriously, look how beautiful it is...and, no, that's not the swimming pool.
Enjoying the tender ride into Belize City.

The nation's only lighthouse. We took a city tour and learned lots of little facts about this small Caribbean country. For example, the entire country only has four traffic lights, and our tour passed by two of them.One of Jordan's favorite things is to go walk around the deck in the evenings. This night it was so windy! We were walking into the wind which Jordan thought provided a great photo of the "baby bump." So, there you have it... 27 Weeks Pregnant!

Here is our room. This was the first time we've ever had a window. It's actually an interior cabin (so it was cheaper), but it overlooked the Royal Promenade.
It made it nice to watch the parades from our room. :o)
The famous towel animals.
These flowers were waiting for me after our formal night dinner. Jordan takes such good care of me!
Sorry, no pictures of the prego in her swimsuit...actually, I know you are relieved :o)....but trust me, we spent a lot of time hanging out on this part of the ship.
Like I said it was a great week. We took a cruise before Jenae was born too and it was perfect. I told Jordan that I didn't need the typical "thank-you-for-birthing-my-child" present as long as he keeps taking me on cruises before each kid. It's just been a wonderful time for us to reconnect and recharge. I highly recommend it!