Sleepy Time

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today we went to the zoo! It was an absolutely gorgeous day (in the 60's) and we had the sweetest day together as a family.  We arrived at the National Zoo around 11, ate our picnic, went to see the panda bears, elephants, the bird exhibit, and then to see the great cats! We didn't feel too much pressure to see EVERYTHING today, because we became official "friends" of the zoo and plan on going back several more times this year (admission to the zoo is free to everyone but we get FREE parking with our membership).  :-) 

We thought this the perfect age for both of our girls to really appreciate and enjoy the zoo! Faith especially was really interested in talking to us about the birds! 

As part of our "membership" package, we got a free stuffed Panda bear!  The girls thought it was the coolest thing to hold the bear and look at a real one in person.  

* The membership is a great value, because you fully pay for it in 3 to 4 visits with the cost of parking alone.  Also, we get an exclusive invite to see the animals on April 17th being fed, brushing their teeth, and all other behind- the scenes at 8 AM in the morning.  Finally, every time we go, the girls get a special Zooanimals snack (a bag of animal crackers).  As you can tell, I am a little pumped about being a FONZ friend! *

The girls loved looking at the colorful birds and listening to their beautiful songs.

A male peacock in the outside bird exhibit.

Daddy's girls walking back to the car together after a fun day at the zoo. 

Xtreme Acro and Cheer Birthday Party

Jillian's friend Lucianna from pre-school had a birthday party at a gym! Jillian had the greatest time and loved the trampoline.  She was a little dressed up for the party because she had her heart set on wearing her dress for her friends (its the same dress she wore for our photo shoot earlier that day). She had an awesome time.  

My Delightful Cowgirl! ;-)

I love having a two year old. Faith is a delight to our family and it has been an absolute joy getting to see her little personality fully develop! Faith is a very determined child and does not easily give up on a task that she is trying to do. She likes to put on her own socks and shoes (she even puts them on the correct feet), get in and out of the van, then in and out of her car seat (which is pretty high for a little 2 year old) and then buckle herself in her car seat. She loves being a "big girl" like her big sister.

She also is one of the most compassionate children I have ever known. About a month ago, a friend of mine called to tell me that her son had gone to the toddlers room for the first time that day and that he was acting very apprehensive about the move (from the nursery at our church) when he got there. But when Faith saw him, she came to him, gave him a hug, and took his hand to find something for them to play together. My friend told me she nearly started crying right there, she was so thankful for little Faith and her gentleness with her son.

A picture of Faith in her cowgirl hat (we have some dress-up clothes along with all of our fun cars and tricycles in the basement) playing downstairs. It seems like many months ago now, when Faith "adopted" this skirt as her own. She found it in her sister's drawer, and it has been her "Bee" (as she calls it) ever since. The only trouble is, it is a 4T skirt on a 2T body. She is very skillful at pulling it up over her diaper while running and playing.

Faith loves imitating me in some of my cleaning duties! One of her favorite sayings is "I CLEAN!!!" She gets so excited to wash a dish, to clear the breakfast table, or to help pick up toys! She has the most precious attitude and I have been very appreciative of all the "help." ;-)

"My Cutie"-- Faith loves being dressed up and regularly surprises me by coming downstairs dressed up in a princess dress, with her crown, and wand. She says "I PRINCESS!" She will then describe everything to me that she is wearing, she is so proud of herself!

Faith was recently evaluated by the Montgomery County to see if she qualified for assistance with her expressive language. She understands nearly everything we say (receptive language) but doesn't always communicate things clearly to us. So we decided to see if it was something that a speech pathologist could help us with, but her "delay" is minimal (10%) and is most likely nothing to be concerned about but instead is a reflection of the large spectrum of children's development. Through this experience (2 evaluations with 4 people) we discovered that Faith is "advanced" in cognition (by 20%) and self-care (by 15%)!

I chose this picture because it demonstrates her great cognition skills. A few months ago, Faith communicated to me that she wanted to put the silverware up in its drawer. So, I took all the sharp knives out and the scissors and then let her to sort the big and small spoons, the big and small forks, and butter knives and put them in their slots!! She did it perfectly and now does it nearly every day! She loves playing with puzzles and matching things (a strength of hers which I definitely think comes from her daddy). **P.S. Jillian has since decided to sometimes help her little sister with this chore!"** :-)

The Early Intervention Specialist Observations:

Faith appears to be a very happy child with many learning strengths. She responded well to encouragement and praise. She was engaged and interested in all screening activities presented to her and transitioned very nicely from one activity to the next. Faith demonstrated good visual motor imitation skills with crayon and paper, activities, and blocks. She has strong social and imaginative play skills using pretend play with her dolls and dollhouse, and toy food.

When I had Jillian, I heard something that I often remember as a mom with young children, "Don't just celebrate your child's firsts, but cherish their lasts". I don't know if this is the last time "my baby" will fall asleep in my arms, but I am so glad that Brad captured this precious moment with a photo.

Black Hills Regional Park with our Family!

Last Saturday, our friend (who is also a gifted photographer) and her husband ("the assistant") took these great pictures of our family at a local park.  It was an extremely bright day, and so unfortunately, some of the pictures turned out a little blurry or we are squinting in them, but overall it was a great experience. We loved all of our friends' props and they did an awesome job getting the girls to smile.  I am super excited to have some last photos with our "BUMP" and family!   Thanks Andrew and Naomi for blessing us with this gift! 

2 More Weeks!!!

I am 38 weeks pregnant today!! When I went to the doctor last week, she told me that she expected this baby girl to come anytime after 38 weeks (and not after 40)!!! So we are definitely getting close.  I have been exhausted and not gotten the last surge of energy for the finishing touches of nesting, but I am pretty sure that's alright.  I am confident our daughter will still feel at home with her sisters, mommy and daddy!   

My incredibly gifted friend Naomi took these photos of me after my baby shower yesterday.    I am wearing a shirt that belonged to my mom and that she wore when she was pregnant with me.  My mom had another shirt that was similar but had an arrow pointing down that said "BABY"!   Brad took a couple of photos of me posing in Jillian's nursery a couple of weeks before she was born in the "BABY" shirt, but I have never had any photos taken in this shirt.  Its very sentimental for me to be able to wear it and I can hardly believe its a nearly 29 year old shirt! :-) 

  

Robert Gates: Our Former Aggie President

Brad discovered this article about Robert Gates (the Secretary of Defense) and sent it along to me. We both found it interesting that he thought his most "stressful" job was being the President of Texas A&M!  

P.S.  My personal connection with Robert Gates is that I shook his hand when I "walked the stage" with my cap decorated with the pink letters "BABY" to announce we were having a girl at graduation. 

What Is Robert Gates Really Fighting For?

By ELIZABETH RUBIN Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010

The Survivor - TIME
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1959013,00.html?artId=1959013?contType=article?chn=politics

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates flies around the world to war zones and allies, to China and Russia and Suriname, on a Cold War relic called the Doomsday Plane. Forged in the 1970s by Boeing, it was designed to stay aloft even in the midst of nuclear war. It's an airborne Pentagon. The plane is so heavy that it needs refueling in midair on long flights. The Air Force crew aboard told me that on occasion, the fuel nozzle from the floating tankers has smashed through the pilots' windshield like an angry space creature. It's one of a handful of planes coated with nuclear-attack shielding and capable of emitting launch codes to all U.S. missile silos.

Just past the flight deck is a conference room outfitted with plugs and portals and a lacquered table at which the relaxed Secretary sat in jeans, loafers and a pressed button-down, on the way back home from Afghanistan and Iraq. We'd been talking about the stress of congressional hearings, the burden of sending young men and women to war, and just as our conversation was drawing to a close, he said, "I always used to tell people that Texas A&M football caused me more stress than any job I've ever had. And they always thought I was exaggerating." I expressed disbelief, but he stood by the statement.  

"I asked my wife one time, Why is that? And she said, 'Because you have no control.' " He paused. "Here, I have a little control," he said, tapping the plane's conference table.

It was classic Gates: droll, attentive to timing, a little self-deprecating, acutely self-aware. It was also revealing. Gates is a careful, restrained player who wields his power with quiet but ruthless efficiency — as he did on Feb. 1, when he fired the military officer overseeing the Pentagon's new F-35 stealth-fighter-jet program for cost overruns and technical failures and punished Lockheed Martin by withholding $615 million in fees. Lots of defense contractors and program managers underachieve, yet they almost always get away with it. Not under Gates.

Like his fellow Cold War survivor the Doomsday Plane, Gates has come to embody power, control and an astonishing longevity. Just 5 ft. 8 in., with small hands and feet, the demure 66-year-old Kansan has outlasted seven Presidents as well as most of his fellow bureaucrats and policymakers. He's the only entry-level CIA analyst to rise to the top job, director of central intelligence. And he's the only Secretary of Defense ever to be asked to stay on in a rival party's Administration. He has thrived through a combination of endurance, pragmatism and bureaucratic savvy. And during the past year, on issue after issue — Pentagon reform, missile defense, Afghanistan and now the Pentagon's move to repeal the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays in the military — Gates has become the most important player in the Obama war Cabinet. It's a remarkable feat, considering that he's the only Republican on the Democratic national-security team.

"Whatever Gates chooses to take a position on, Gates is the single most influential guy," says Leslie Gelb, the president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations and a skeptic of the Administration's strategy in Afghanistan. Gelb points out that in early December, days after President Obama's West Point speech announcing his decision to send 30,000 additional troops (on top of the 32,000 deployed in 2009) to the war zone and then begin bringing them home in July 2011, Gates went on the Sunday talk shows to say the withdrawal would depend on conditions on the ground. "The President didn't challenge him," Gelb says. "That tells you most of what you need to know about Gates' role and power in the Administration."

It also tells you how the White House, if it finds itself in a national-security bind, will wield Gates to fend off Republican attack dogs. When FBI agents arrested the alleged Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, they questioned him for just 50 minutes before reading him his Miranda rights. Ever since, Republicans have assailed the White House: Why was he permitted access to lawyers before a more complete interrogation could take place? Why is he being tried in a civilian court instead of a military one? Somehow the story got around that Gates had approved both decisions. When I asked Gates about it, he was cautious, saying the conclusion about what to do with the alleged bomber had already been made by the time he said he had no problem with it. Abdulmutallab has since begun cooperating with investigators. As for where he should be tried, Gates said, "I defer to the judgment of the Attorney General."