Happy Birthday Isabel!

Gianna has a brand new friend....finally a little baby girl (most of Gianna's new baby friends are all boys so far!). Isabel Rose, born yesterday to Laurel & Phillips Jenkins. We welcome this precious baby girl into our "family" and look forward to many sweet memories ahead.

One of my biggest concerns when we began planning our family, was that I was going to be the only one of my friends having at this stage in the game. Most of my close friends have school age children or beyond. I would get so sad when I would imagine raising my babies without that shared journey with my friends.

God's providence has been as surprising as it has been gifting. There are so many friends who now have new babies and I am delighted to have them walk this path with. What a gift.

Merry Christmas

Our Christmas was absolutely wonderful ~ so wonderful, in fact that Iain & I almost forgot to open presents with Gianna. That's how you KNOW your Christmas is good. More later.

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Visit with Santa

We went for our first visit with Santa at the Mall last week. The Santa was really good - the photography: mediocre, the set-up: fair; and the price for one sheet of pictures - outrageous! I told my dad that he needed to grow out a beard for next year when we'll set up our own little North Pole and make enough money to put Gianna through college!
Gianna smiled for the 15 minutes Santa held her BEFORE the lady was ready to take her picture. For the photo: no smile. For me: no biggie. I just wanted my baby's picture with Santa. The background was precious, however, what shows in the picture is just the green of his chair. So I had a little fun with photoshop (see photo #2)

Photo #2 - Now, THAT's a background!
And for a little nostalgia: Here is me and Vinnie (my little brother who just turned 40!! Ouch.)

We look pretty darn excited, huh?

More pictures on www.lewisland.shutterfly.com.

Roll over, Beethoven!

Within the same week, our sweet baby girl not only learned to sit up, but also roll over from front to back! How much fun it is watch all these developments and milestones. It just doesn't ever get old. We're some proud parents! Below is her roll-over video. Our other videos are at www.lewisland.shutterfly.com/video.

Sittin' Pretty

Guess who's sitting up? Well, let's just say she's still perfecting her new skill. She's not proficient yet - but she can do it long enough for me to take a picture. That's good enough for us.
She's trying really hard to roll over from back to front and from front to back -- but is just not quite there yet. Wow. This ride is going WAY too fast. Wasn't she a five pound sneeze of a baby just yesterday?

Don't forget our "real" website: http://www.lewisland.shutterfly.com/ .

Let it Sneaux, Let it Sneaux, Let it Sneaux!

No way! I'm still in disbelief. Last night when we went to bed, Iain and I laughed at the reports of snow. We joked that there would be six flakes and it would happen in the dark of night and we'd miss it. How WRONG were we?

I am shocked that my loving husband did not wake me after he discovered this little Christmas miracle in Lake Charles, LA. I was feeding the baby her morning bottle and daylight was just breaking and I glanced outside and whipped my head back around to see a blanket of snow covering the ground and rooftops. Woo hoo! What a great little chilly thrill.

My parents are Italy right now and are not going to believe it when we tell them. But I got pictures!!! ;) (Okay, so the snowman in the first picture was photoshopped in....we can always hope!)

Fundamentally Ornamental

I just love Christmas ornaments. For me, they are not only decorative and nostalgic, but they represent so much more.

You see, I spent many more years being single than the "average" married adult and those single years proved to be both gifting and challenging. Holidays were usually difficult, so one year I decided it would make me feel good to buy a tree for my apartment and decorate it - just like the other "normal" people did. Well, I can't tell you how many people tried to talk me out of it. "Oh, just buy a little table top tree." they would say, "What do you need with a big tree and all those decorations if it's just you?" Ouch. That's all I needed to hear to decide: I was gettin' a tree.
Over the years I've collected ornaments that were meaningful - or just pretty, and when Iain and I met, we started collecting an ornament to represent each year of our relationship, as well as for each place that we traveled to. I even have ornaments that I remember buying on a field trip in pre-school!

So, for me putting up the tree isn't so much of a chore, but a privelege - and a reminder of so many different chapters in my life - especially those filled with whispered prayers for marriage and children to be in my future. So, this Christmas, as I live my answered prayers in a very real way, I honor my Christmas tree - and all the pieces of my life which it symbolizes. I also remember in prayer all those people who are single -and want to be married, as well as those without children - who want to become parents.

Christmas Ornaments '08

Give Peas a Chance!

We began rice cereal about a month ago and after the initial shock of a spoon in her mouth, a taste and a new texture --- Gianna just really likes it. She gets excited when I get the bowl out. And now, she opens her mouth like a baby bird even before she sees the spoon. She only fusses when we’re not fast enough. (I swear the child has our DNA.)

Last night we started Gianna on her first food (other than rice cereal.) I read somewhere that it might be good to try vegetables first – since babies sometimes have a tough time acclimating to vegetables once they’ve already tasted the sweetness of fruit. (Made sense to me – but who knows?)

We decided to try sweet peas – of which neither Iain nor I are big fans. In our minds, if she could do peas – she could do ANYTHING. Well, we were not prepared for what we discovered. We had the camera ready for the crazy faces – well, who’d a thunk it…she LOVES peas. (cringe!) Not only does she love peas, but she gagged on her cereal after she ate peas!

This morning, I got her cereal ready and began to feed her only to be met by a grimace, a gag and an all-out fit. She absolutely refused to eat the cereal. I figured she wasn’t hungry. So just for kicks – I went to the fridge and pulled out the rest of the peas from last night. Her little legs started kicking when she saw the jar. She finished off the jar of peas in less than 3 minutes. (Peas for breakfast!!! Gag.) Little turkey.


This is NOT a typical, "First Try at Peas" picture. She's somethin' else!

What a Basket Case!

I know what you’re thinking – you think that I am going to say that I consider myself a basket case because I’m being driven nuts by a demanding five month old who’s coming into her own. Actually, you would be wrong. I’ve been that kind of basket case for years, but this entry is really about baskets. Basket weaving, to be more exact.

A little over a year ago my friend Chellie and I started taking leisure learning basket weaving classes at the local university. I loved the concept because it was a one-night class and you came home with a finished (or almost finished basket.) Our teacher is wonderful and amazingly gifted and we actually go to her house now to make baskets.

Remember how people joke about really easy classes in college saying, “Oh, we may as well be taking basket weaving.”?? Well, I don’t know who started that little saying, but they’ve obviously not taken a basket weaving class. I have HUGE appreciation for basket weavers….and it’s not as easy as you might think.

Here's the sleigh I completed this week:












I’ve had the base for about a year and decoupaged it, but now it is woven and complete. I'm using the basket for our Christmas cards.