Greetings...

MERRY CHRISMAS Everyone!

Hello Again!

Well it has been a very long time since I posted, and I'm sure you all are wondering "what happened?" Two things: First our camra's motor decided to just quit on us....and it's about as much to fix as it would be just to buy a new camra....and our computer was displaying some problems as well, so I have only been on to check my mail...and I've been doing that at my in-laws house. In fact, the pics I will post today are ones I took with their camra. Anyway, so sorry about the incredible wait....I hated it too. Well, Calista is just growing by leaps and bounds. And she has a birthday this month as well....on the 30th! Our baby will be two, can you believe it? Here are some adorable beach pics for you all to enjoy!

Poem

My Blessing...

A blessing fell from heaven

and rested in my womb
Then God reached down his finger

and caused this flower to bloom.

In growing and in forming

He moved his hand there still,

shaping His creation

according to His will.

To me it isn't evident,

No, I'm not yet aware,

but somewhere deep inside me

my firstborn child is there.

I'm not conscious of this miracle,

but very soon I'll be.

I'll know that God has blessed my life,

To lend this life to me.

Written by: Alina C. R.

The poem above is one I wrote for a lady in our church for her baby shower memory book...but it's written out of experience seeing that I am pregnant with my second child.

Also above is a Victorian era painting by Bessie Pease Gutmann called "My Darling". I absolutely love the beautiful collection of artwork she produced.

Victorian art itself has a georgeous feel to it anyway. I will be finding more beautiful illustrations and photos to post and share with you.

Here is a Victorian era recipe for you to try...

SHORTBREAD TARTS

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

In the bowl of your mixer cream the butter and sugar together. Add the flour and cornstarch and mix until incorporated. Refrigerate dough for about one hour. Divide dough into 24 pieces (20 grams) and using tiny muffin tins (approximately 1 l/2 " diameter) that have been very lightly sprayed with Pam, pat dough into tins using your fingers to form shells. Prick the bottoms with a fork and chill in freezer for 10 minutes.

Bake for approximately 18 minutes at 325 degrees or until light brown in color. During baking time, prick bottoms again if the shells puff up. Cool tarts in pan on racks. When cool remove tarts from pan by using a sharp knife. These are quite fragile so be careful when removing. (These may be made in large quantities and frozen.)

CREAM CHEESE FILLING

1 8-oz. package cream cheese - softened

1 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup lemon juice (freshly squeezed)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

In food processor or electric mixer beat cream cheese until fluffly. Add milk, then lemon juice and vanilla. Process until smooth. Fill tart shells with cream cheese filling and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving to allow flavors to blend. Just before serving top with fresh cut up strawberries, kiwis, etc. Makes 24 mini tarts. The tart shells can be made ahead and frozen.

The cream filling can be refrigerated for 4-5 days.

http://www.bessiepease.com/feature.html

New Devopements

Here I am at five months pregnant with my second baby. I am really looking forward to all of this. Having one child is wonderful, but adding a sibling to the equation gives more meaning to the word "family", don't you think? I can't wait to see the two of them play together....and then there's the inevitable "sibling rivalry". But I suppose the fact that I am the oldest of eight children, would never allow me to have only one child! No. Now, I may not have eight children...but I think I'd like at least five.

And I think Calista is also looking forward to the arrival of her sister or brother. She is always rubbing my belly and kissing it saying, "baby" and "belly". When I ask her about wanting the baby to come out, she gets really excited. Plus whenever she's around a new little baby...all she wants to do is hug and kiss and hold the baby. And I haven't seen any jealousy spring up yet, when I hold another baby....Good, I'm glad!

As for Calista's development: she's no baby anymore....(a little sad, but mostly exciting). She used to do this babbling thing where she'd let out a whole string of non-existing words. I'm sure she knew what she was saying..LOL. Anyway, I noticed that she hasn't done that in a long time....everything that comes out of her mouth is an actual word, and she knows a lot of them! She can repeat just about any word you ask her to, including two, and some three syllable words! She remembers things from a while ago and can put several thoughts together. She's doing those wooden puzzles with no problem, she unscrews and screws lids, puts her sandals on by herself. She says 1, 2, 3 and a, b, c consecutively by herself. She remembers some words and actions to songs...and knows or can copy sign some language (whatever she has learned from her Baby Einstein Signing video). That's all I can remember at this present time, so I guess I'll conclude here. God Bless y'all!
P.S. we will know the baby's gender on October 9th...I'll keep you posted.
Picture Above: Calista at Johny Rockets
with mommy....

Additions to the Family

Here is the sonogram of our new little one! We don't know the gender yet but we will very soon....so check back in.
Well, all is good here....We have a revival at our church this week so we've been a little more busy. Calista has been growing by leaps and bounds...and not just physically...She's forming small sentences all on her own..letting us know exactly what she wants or sees. I am having less and less problems knowing what she's thinking because of how verbal she is. Her hair is really starting to grow too...which makes me very happy. I can't wait to see long blonde locks on my little girl. All you mommys understand!
We have other news....Calista was blessed with a new cousin. Her Daddy's brother and his wife had a little boy: Connor William. Here is a picture of the little cutie: I believe he's nearing 3 months now.

Well, before I go I would like to show y'all a couple of my favorite pics of me and my princess.

Organize or Die!

Well I'm back...I know it's been a few days since I checked in, a week actually! Yesterday they started a Vacation Bible School at my Church that will last till Friday. Then comes the weekend (which takes a toll). Yesterday I tried to take back controll of my house...Explaination? Well I have a long list comprised of: of scrubbing bathrooms, mopping floors, vaccuming, laundry, dishes, cleaning the stove, organizing.....you know the routine~~And I am trying to cross them all off before I have to start all over again if you know what I mean! There is something about me you should know: I am a Neat Freak! The lack of orginazation and order, mostly in my own home, just about depresses me. Whereas a freshly cleaned house is like a shot in the arm. So when I get behind and things start piling up on me I have to do something....and QUICK! LOL!! So all of yesterday was spent on trying to bite a huge chunk out of my list of duties. Plus I clean our church, which is a good 9-10 hours out of the week....Thank God for Grandma....She practically begs me to watch Calista. Which She doesn't have to, of coarse, But I love that she's willing, cause it's really helped me out a lot. And while some days, I am almost brought to tears by the sight of my daughter leaving me...I know how must faster I can work without her there. It's funny, you know, it doesn't matter how tough a day I've had with my blooming toddler, I'm still a little sad to see her go, even though I might need the break.

So I just wanted to say it may be a little bit before I write or it could be tomorrow- Never know....just check in on us.

Love and prayers to all our family and friends.....and an "I miss you!" to all our long-distance loved ones!

"Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice." Proverbs 23:25 KJV Bible

Hello Family!

I recently sent out an email introducing the Blog to some of you. Hi everyone: happy BLOG browsing!
I wanted to tell you all to feel free to leave comments on the Blog. To leave a comment click the "comment" link that apears at the end of each of my entries next to the little pencil. Type your comment in the text box and then click "PUBLISH YOUR COMMENT". Thank you all for stopping by!

Love and prayers for you all!

Cutie Pie

New Stuff...

This morning Calista was watching a commercial for BOZ (a christian cartoon) and at the end of the commercial BOZ laughed and Calista said,"Funny!" It was cute!

http://www.bozthebear.com/home.asp

Little Pride and Joy

So, yes here is my little pride and joy...number one in the nest...eventually to be accompanied by number two...in February. I am excited...and very curious at this point to know the gender...I will be happy either way...but my hope lies with a boy. Not that I don't want another girl...we just have limited room at this time, and I would like the experience of mothering a boy before I have to let my uterus rest for a while. LOL!

Right now my girl, Calista, is nearing 19 months. For those of you without children: that is one year and 7 months....the reason I say this is because, for some reason, in my experience, telling some inquiring non-parent your child's age in x number of months leads them to automatically think "little crawling baby". The other day in the grocery store a sweet old lady asked how old Calista was..."18 and a half months", I responded. Her jaw dropped and she proclaimed...."Oh my, she is walking so good for her age!" I didn't have the heart to tell her that she has been walking for over 6 months now! She may have passed out...giggle!

So anyway, when our second comes Calista will be 2 yrs. and 2months. Great spacing I believe. Calista seems to understand about the baby...One lady in our church asked if she was going to be a Big Sister, and Calista pointed to my belly....I thought that was extraordinary, but I am partial!
She does surprise me everyday, though. Her ever-expanding vocabulary is begining to morph into tiny sentences like..."I see dat", "I like dat", I got it", "car outside", and "I sorry". I am always excited to see what will come next!