There is not a day that goes by without me praising God for being at home with my precious jewel, Isabella. I would not trade a day at work to be away from her, it simply seems insane. With all that she is learning and sharing every day, I blame myself for not recording it on regular basis. I get so exhausted at the end of the day and as I sit down to update the blog, I almost fall asleep and keep putting it off until the time and tiredness just do not matter anymore and I have to do what is important. I honestly can not even think where to begin this little update, she has been incredible to watch and listen. I can easily say that we can have a conversation where she will reply in full sentences or ask questions with full belief for an answer. As I look back on previous posts, it seemed to have been much easier to record the words she was saying or the motor skills that were born, but now it’s almost as I am writing about an adult that is fully capable of everything with many exceptions of course 😉 One of the biggest highlights have been listening to her pray before bed time, we could not help but grin from one ear to another hearing her say: “Dear Jesus, I pray for daddy and mommy and Lissy and Joshua to grow strong and healthy” I thought to myself, what child at 20 months prays to our dear Father. I can’t express how blessed and grateful I felt to have my daughter pray to the Father that loves her beyond our understanding. Teaching her about sin and disobedience has been fun as she gives you her full attention and looks you in the eye agreeing. Ten minutes later, the lesson comes alive and she disobeys after which she gets punished (time out) and a nice conversation again. Lately “Time Outs” have been somewhat of a regular event in our house and it definitely works for which we are grateful. It pains both Barry and I to put her in the corner as she is sobbing and says “no time out”. Raising children is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. There is absolutely nothing in this world more difficult than to bring up a child that would live a life to make our heavenly Father proud. One of the things I have been enjoying more and more is reading with Bella. This girl loves books and I mean really loves to read! We read about two hours a day, she just keeps picking them and bringing them over. The most amazing thing is to hear her recite them while she is playing or on our little errand runs. I am still in awe at how much she remembers. If only I could remember as much, I would be golden 😉 She also loves to paint and that gets me really excited because I love to paint. She is also a little singer; not only does she sing by herself, she always wants to make sure that we are singing with her by saying: “Daddy sing with me, or mama sing with me” It is purely precious. We talk about her little brother that is to come and the first thing she always tells me is “be gentle” as she is rubbing my belly and when asked if she loves him, she always says “aha” and “I will kiss him and hug him and share with him” I absolutely love hearing that and I know it will not be easy for her to share her parents with him, but I am certain that she will love him and will give him kisses nonstop as we have been watching her with her little cousin Silas. Every time she sees him, she just wants to be right there, touching his hands or his face while saying “gentle” Below are some of the things she does or says that have been truly enjoyable and need to be recorded:
Every time she wakes up from her sleep, whether it’s in the morning or after nap time, she calls very loud for daddy or mama and when we come in to get her, she is always standing there with her blankie and sheep, saying good morning or hi.
She loves to pray for her food and always makes sure our eyes are closed during prayer.
Asks many questions and over and over until the question is directed her way and she responds with the answer to the question she just asked a moment ago- we find it pretty funny. It’s almost as if she is checking whether we get it right.
She loves play dough and is getting a very nice play dough set from her little brother upon his arrival 🙂
Her currently favorite books are: Crack in the Track, Christmas Carols books (she has 3), Elmo (about Potty), Good night California, Heads, Thomas the train books, My world, Good night moon, George goes to the zoo and the little toddler tunes books such as wheels on the bus, itsy bitsy spider and etc.
Favorite dessert: lollipop, cake, chocolate chips, pretty much anything that looks sweet 🙂
Favorite sayings: these are more mommy’s and daddy’s favorites but just extremely cute when she grabs on of our faces in her hands and looks you straight in the eye and says: “Mama, you are so pretty” or “Daddy, I love you”. One of the most recent things she has told me was “Mama, you are amazing”, Barry and I looked at each other, asking, did she really just say that? Her vocabulary is absolutely fantastic, I still can’t believe how this tiny person can be such a chatter box. She tells me stories, recites movies and books and it always seems endless. I treasure every second of those moments.
It has also been fun to see her imagination develop as she starts pretending to bring us things or play by herself with her doll house and talk to her dolls and animals. I honestly can not stop but smile each time I hear her having a conversation with them. Some of the things she says: “Come on doggy, come inside and have some water” or “Come on “toy” (her doll) it’s time to go to sleep” and puts her in her sleeping bag. We have absolutely loved every stage of her development, whether it’s a newborn or a toddler running around, screaming “I am going to get you” when she is the one running away 🙂 I love their purity, love, and yet such crazy intelligence. All praise be to God for gifting us this precious girl!
