Signing time with Alex and Leah :)

The "signing time" song will get stuck in your head and drive you crazy! (Ask Grandma Nancy). But the best part is that the signing time videos work! Ophelia started watching those since she was 8 months old. I mean, she is glued to the TV, she LOVES it! We started to see the fruits of it by her 11th month - and still more and more every day. Ophelia is almost 1 and she has been noted to sign: eat, milk, water, bird, dog, ball, flower, more, mom, dad, and sleep. It's pretty amazing to me - to see my child communicating without words! And Ophelia feels content to realize that she is being understood. I definitely recommend it to any parent.



On this video she is signing "dog" and bonus: barking too :)

Crying-it-out...

So, sometime in the beginning of the summer Ophelia starting waking up at night again. This went on all summer long and I missed the 12-hours of peace a lot!!! I have no idea what started it - it could be that her crib was moved into our bedroom (while my parents stayed with us) and she knew we were right there at night, it could be that she hit so many milestones this summer and started doing so many new things, it could be because she was growing so much and thus was hungry at night..I don't know. But by mid-August she would wake up every 2-3 hours at night and it was not fun!

Soon after PJ got from Mexico, we started trying different methods to get Ophelia to sleep through the night. We tried coming in laying her down again and patting her back. She would not have it - she immediately would stand up again and cry,cry,cry. We tried feeding her water, thinking that it would help her realize the "milk factory" is closed for the night. She would go for that either and still kept waking up every 2-3 hours. We also tried rocking her (well, PJ did). It did make her go back to sleep, but only to awake again within 20-or-so minutes. I tried feeding her a big dinner...that didn't do much either. Breastfeeding worked like magic and put her right back to sleep, but that didn't solve the waking-up-all-the-time problem.

We both agreed that we would have to try the cry-it-out method. It was one of the HARDEST things my motherly heart had to endure. The first night was awful. She woke up several times and cried for about 40-45 minutes each. Each time I was standing by my bedside ready to go console my sweet little girl. It was sad and very hard! If not for PJ, I would have never gone through this. The second night she woke up one time and only fussed for maybe 15 minutes. The third night -AAHHH- I slept like an angel, along with PJ and Opehlia. She did NOT wake up AT ALL! It was a miracle. Ever since then, she's been sleeping through the night again - and I get my 12 hours of peace :) I love it!

New floor mat in Opehlia's room

Ophelia on foot!!

Today was a big day for Ophelia. She finally started walking! It wasn't just a couple of steps that she takes on occasion. This was crossing the room on her own!!! It was really special for both PJ and me to be there for this moment. Out little girl is almost a toddler!

North of the border again!

Yesterday PJ got back for his month-long trip to Mexico. What a happy reunion that was! Ophelia recognized Daddy right away, she had a smile on her face the whole time and wanted to be held by PJ.
He had a good time in Mexico, despite missing us a lot. He spent three weeks in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City in a Spanish Language Institute and then the last week he was in Chicahuaxtla (good luck pronouncing that!), which is a small village high in the mountains, where an indigenous tribe of the Triqui indians resides. Here are some pics:





PJ drinking his first coconut



Tepoztlan



How would you like to buy some shoes from this store?



The temple of the Sun



A cactus tree



The Triqui girls in their native dress called "huipiles"

A piece of Mexico that PJ brought home :)

Lack of wisdom

So, I finally got my wisdom teeth out. It was a good experience, actually, except for a few minor hang-ups. I got them out Friday afternoon and by the time I came back to reality, I realized that I didn't get any take-home instructions and my pain meds prescription was made out with someone else's name on it. All in all, I didn't have much pain and I had lots of help from my mother-in-law and my friend Kathy. Here are my pearly whites of wisdom...Now I am left with wisdom sockets :)

The swing!!!

The swing is another joy in life of Ophelia. She LOVES swinging. This goes back to the time when PJ and I would swaddle her and put in the swing to fall asleep. My Mom and I took her to the park last week and she thought the park swing was pretty cool. Every time she gets really quiet and just enjoys the swinging motion. Check it out:

The dog!!!

Ophelia LOVES dogs! Whenever we read books to her with pictures of dogs, she immediately barks. Sometimes she barks at other animals that look like dogs. At cats for example. When we visit friends with dogs in their homes, Ophelia follows the dog everywhere, barks at it, touches it. It is so cute! We are not going to get a dog anytime soon, but a battery-operated one we can handle! So, my Mom got Ophelia this puppy. Check out how excited she is!

Welcome!

I've been inspired to start a family blog by many of my creative friends. I don't consider myself to be a good writer by any means. In fact, PJ is the creative half of us two, but I do think that it's a fun way to capture the little moments of life an also to keep in touch. The name for the blog comes from a talk given by President Monson a couple of years ago in general conference:

"This is our one and only chance at mortal life—here and now. The longer we live, the greater is our realization that it is brief. Opportunities come, and then they are gone. I believe that among the greatest lessons we are to learn in this short sojourn upon the earth are lessons that help us distinguish between what is important and what is not. I plead with you not to let those most important things pass you by as you plan for that illusive and non-existent future when you will have time to do all that you want to do. Instead, find joy in the journey—now".

Amen to that!