My mum is coming down from Brisbane to celebrate with us. I'm not sure exactly what we'll do. I do know that it will involve a birthday cake, some gifts and some extra loving on our baby girl. Hopefully the weather will be nice and we'll take her on an extra long walk. These days she about hyperventilates if she even thinks she's going to get to go outside.
I thought Ella would celebrate her first birthday with just two teeth. However, she cut four top teeth in less than three weeks. Considering it was tooth after tooth, she did well.
Ella is so close to standing on her own. She tends to be cautious in nature and so far has been diligent about holding on to things as she gets up and down. She has really gone through a surge in her development recently. She can do baby sign language for "more", "all done", "dog" and "milk". Now more difficult lessons are around the corner . . . namely that she can't always have what she signs for.
She loves reading by herself. I love to watch her turn the book up the right way and turn the pages while pointing at different things. Today she kissed a few of the characters in the book, smelled one and thought something in the book was very funny because she was pointing and giggling. So sweet. Even when covered in food.
We've reached another milestone recently . . . six months in Australia. Its also hard to believe. We're getting into a groove more and more and getting better at catching the curve balls that sometimes come our way. I was thinking the other day that one of the blessings of this move has been that we've had the opportunity to bond more as a family. Our lives in the US were so busy. Since moving here though things have slowed down dramatically for us and that has been a blessing to our marriage and our family life. Typically each Monday we have set aside for family day. We're training ourselves now for when ministry life picks up the pace a little, and trying to have a good habit of really taking time out as a family.
With six months under our belt, day-to-day life is running a little smoother. The grocery store no longer seems like a black hole (i.e. I can usually succeed in making a "quick" trip to grab a few things!). Now we have the usual places we feel comfortable shopping, getting haircuts etc. I don't even gripe (as much) about hanging clothes out to dry. Well except for today. I hung out three loads of laundry on a beautiful, sunny and windy morning . . . only to have them get rained on. I digress. At least the view is pretty.
We even have a few new friends, and Ella likes vegemite!
God has certainly taken care of us and blessed us richly during this transition. There are more transitions to come. The most obvious being the birth of our second child. If you had told me that within our first year in Australia, we'd have another baby, I would have told you that you were crazy. In fact, I do believe I said something along those lines to my doctor when he suggested having a second one sooner than later. (his kids were 13 and 15 months apart and I remember him saying "its the way to go"). I'll have to send him a note and let him know!
