a ladybug's 1st halloween!

my mom got Mabel this costume and she looked adorable in it!
but then again, I think she looks adorable in everything.

rubber ducky you're the one

this girl enjoys bathtime most when she
has a rubber duck as an appetizer

Poem

read this poem on my friend Sarah's blog and thought it was beautiful...


Real Presence


Let my heart be a wide and welcome harbor
where my children come to rest.
May these arms stretch wide and strong
to hold his fear, her hurt, their tattered sense of self.


May there be a solidness within me
on which their pain may crash
and recede
and I remain.


Let my presence be an island to them
in storm-tossed seasons,
rising up from troubled waters to offer
shelter, respite, and firm dry ground.


May they find in me
a haven to tend to battered souls
until the day the certainty of such solid ground
launches them to sail uncharted waters unafraid.


-Tom McGrath

five months

today little miss Mabel is five months old! people keep saying how fast time has gone....but for us it feels like five months or more! i guess that is the sleep deprivation talking. :) we are in love with watching this sweet little girl grow and develop and we both agree her giggle is the best sound ever.

a few things about Mabel at this age:

• she loves bouncing in her doorway jumper
• she grabs at EVERYTHING (and whatever the object is goes straight into her mouth)
• she has started tasting a few tiny morsels of big girl food: banana, gnawing on an apple, sweet potato

• she enjoys listening to Nate play the guitar
• she could stare at Fritz and Charlie for hours
• she rolled over a few times and didn't think it was that great, hasn't done it again
• she is getting a little bit more hair
• her favorite book is Baby Einstein's "Mirror Me"
• she likes to watch the neighborhood kids play outside
• her pediatrician announced she is in the "tall" category
• she looks like such a big girl when she sits in her Bumbo chair

• she likes to "talk" to her toys
• we lovingly call her "drool girl"
• she is all smiles and happiness when she wakes up in the morning

i am going to try to get back into blogging since I have a gazillion pictures of Mabel and lots to talk about. (we moved!) it has just been easier to use Facebook since i can upload pictures right from my phone....blogger totally needs an app for phones to make it quick and easy. anyone know if there is one?

i sure love this little girl