The Ramirez Family

Zoe - 7 month update

2012-01-10T11:01:00.001-08:00

Zoe is just over 7 months old now, and such a sweet girl! She is almost always happy, and she still smiles with her whole body...it's adorable! She isn't "officially' crawling yet, but she army crawls like nobody's business, and she is FAST. She was enamored with the Christmas tree, and we saw our first proof of original sin in her when we told her "no" as she started for the tree. She would stop, look back, grin at us, and then lunge for the tree with all her might. Pretty funny! Her speed doesn't just come from crawling, though....this girl is a real roly-poly. She will get going and just roll her way across the room, which is also pretty funny. but efficient! And on top of the crawling and rolling, she can now push herself to sitting from her belly. I think it's going to be time to lower the crib any day now!

I don't have any new stats for 7 months....we won't have another check up until 9 months. But she is definitely growing like a week, and she likes to eat! So far the only baby food she has flat out rejected is green beans, which is no surprise to me. I was only surprised that Ziva actually would eat them!

Zoe still has just her two bottom front teeth, but she seems to pretty constantly exhibit one symptom or another for teething, so I'm expecting several to erupt all at once here one of these days. She has taken to sticking her tongue out a lot:

That little lamb just keeps getting smaller....

Peek-a-boo! Crawling has opened up a whole new world for Zoe, and she loves exploring the house, especially the kitchen, and playing with her toys. She and Ziva play well together...here's hoping that lasts into the teen years!

Ziva update

2012-01-10T10:44:00.001-08:00

This year brought a lot of changes for Ziva....lots of growing up for our little peanut! I have to be honest, sometimes it was hard to see her growing up so much, so fast, but I know that's a part of the deal. :) Some big firsts for Ziva this year: becoming a big sister, moving to her very own house, starting pre-school, mastering potty training (hallelujah to that one!), and meeting Uncle Ross and Aunt Amber.

It's so much fun to watch her little personality continue to blossom. She definitely has an inquisitive mind, and a growing interest in and openness to spiritual things. She typically sees things in black and white and is quick to tell whoever is listening the way of things. She loves ballerinas and anything to do with dancing, so we're thinking about the future...dance may be an option soon, although we also think she would benefit from a team sport. Her 2nd quarter report card came back with lots of positive growth, but also some room for improvement on those developing social skills. The queen bee has to learn to relate to the little guys, you know :) Ziva is always a joy and a blessing, even in the challenging moments, and she is growing into a fun, funny, sweet sister and daughter. Can't wait to see what the next year holds for her!

Ziva's first Christmas program at school. It was super cute! She's in the middle row, right in the middle of the shot by the microphone stand.

Another first....going to see The Nutcracker! This was a special time just for Ziva, Mommy, and Daddy....Zoe will get to come one day when she's bigger. We ended up on the very front row on the end, which turned out to be GREAT seats for a 3 year old! She stood on her booster seat and looked down into the pit almost as much as she watched the dancers....it was a big success, and we plan to make it a new tradition!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-10T10:31:00.001-08:00

2011 ended sweetly for our little family. We missed Ross and Amber after thinking they'd be here for Christmas, but it was still a wonderful first Christmas for Zoe and for all of us in our new home. We grilled the traditional Christmas Eve burgers and I made a pretty tasty batch of homemade fries (my first time!), and there was some pretty mean cookie decorating going down. Next year I will be better stocked with proper cookie decorating supplies, but we improvised pretty well, I think. Sadly, my cookie picture seems to have been deleted accidentally. But this one's much more fun....these girls are definitely their Dad's, trying to sneak a peek at what's under the tree:

Opening stockings Christmas morning :)

Both girls in their matching Christmas dresses...

odds and ends

2011-12-09T21:30:00.000-08:00

Zoe had her 6 month check up on Monday, and she's a picture of health....I sure am thankful for healthy, happy children. She weighs 16 lb 12 oz (63 %) and she's 26 in. long (57 %). She has her two bottom teeth now; both came in pretty close together about a week before Thanksgiving. I think she's working on another one, but I can't see it coming yet. She's been more cranky than usual lately (which still isn't much), and I think maybe her immunizations have been tough on her this time, too. She's starting solids, and I know she's mine and Vince's for sure, because she does not like green beans!

We put up our Christmas tree two weeks ago, and it is so much fun decorating for Christmas in our own home for the first time! Our tree looks great and Ziva still has fun rearranging the ornaments at least once a day. Some of them she even sleeps with! She's been singing lots of Christmas music lately, in preparation for her pre-3 Christmas program next week. I can't wait to see it!

Zoe is getting to be pretty solid at sitting on her own now, and she's SO close to crawling. I think technically we still have to call it creeping, but she's getting around pretty good, and she's getting those knees up under her too. Just yesterday she started rolling over from her back to her stomach with a lot more ease, so she's practically independent! Her favorite things to play with right now are the remote control, Vince's phone, her pacifier, and her monkey ring. But mainly the remote control. I'm thinking about just getting an extra one for her for Christmas!

Zoe at 6 months

Can you believe how much she's grown?

a few pictures

2011-11-27T07:28:00.000-08:00

New pjs

Ziva's Thanksgiving feast at school. She was putting food in her mouth every time I took a picture, so this one was as good as any

Mmmmmm, peas :)

What was the pee pee thinking?!

2011-11-27T07:24:00.000-08:00

This was Ziva's opening line today, to tell me there was a mess in the bathroom.

"Mom, what was the pee pee thinking?! I went potty. I went potty and now the pee pee is all over outside the toilet! What was it thinking?"

She's been doing great on going potty, but sometimes, even if she's ON the toilet, it doesn't all make it IN. That was the case today, since her potty seat wasn't on. :)

5 months and some picture updates!

2011-11-05T06:33:00.001-07:00

Zoe is 5 months old now! The time is just flying :) She's rolling around more and more (which makes for more waking up in the night, but oh well!). She's reaching for toys and people more and more (right now she's a bit of a mama's girl, which is fine by me, since Ziva's always been a bit more of a daddy's girl!) And she's really starting to get her knees up under her and scoot around, so we're hoping to see some crawling soon!

I've probbaly said it before, but Zoe LOVES her big sister. She just watches and watches her, whatever it is she's doing....and occasionally we get a belly laugh if Ziva's really being silly.

They love playing together! We have to remind Ziva to be gentle, but Zoe seems pretty resilient.

And here's something new....Ziva is old enough to start helping out, and she absolutely loves feeding Zoe. It's messy, yes, but it is when I feed her too! So this week while Ziva was feeding Zoe, I actually got a few dishes washed...before the girls were in bed!! It felt a little surreal, but it opens up a whole new horizon of life with more littler helpers!

And Monday night we took Ziva trick-or-treating for the first time. It was kind of a last-minute decision, so we dressed her up in her Rapunzel play dress that she's had for a while, and it worked great. She had so much fun. When we got home and I put her to bed, she said, "Mom, trick-or-treating was awesome! I loved it and I love you!"

firsts, revised

2011-10-21T20:54:00.001-07:00

Adding to the list of recent firsts, Zoe has moved into the world of "solid" food! She had her 4 month check up last week, and the doctor gave us the green light to start her out on solids. Last Sunday was our first try, and she got mad pretty quickly, but she's done better every day, and today she finished the whole 1/4 cup or so I prepared for her! Her 4 month stats look like this: 25.25 inches long (74%), 14 lb 13.5 oz (64%). She is still just as chill and smiley as always, and she's really getting the hang of reaching for things she wants and grabbing on.

And now an update on Ziva's field trip--it didn't happen. Well, the field trip happened, but Ziva did not go. Last week was one of those parenting-well-really-stinks-sometimes kind of weeks! A couple weeks ago Ziva started having some potty issues again, and she was pooping in her pants at school. (When the preschool director asked her why she was doing that, Ziva informed her it was "Poop In Your Panties Day") After several days in a row, we told her if she did it again she wouldn't be able to go on the field trip. She had several good days with no accidents, but wouldn't you know it, the day before the trip, she pooped. And she's smart, and she remembered what we said, and boy, she would have known and rememberd FOREVER if we backed down. So as much as we hated for her to miss the trip, we followed through. We took her up to the school to watch the rest of the kids load the bus, which sort of backfired because we parked where we couldn't really see and then they all came out so fast we missed it completely. But the backfire turned out to work even better, because she had wanted to see her friends get on the bus, and not seeing them, plus seeing the bus leave and us not follow, truly made for a lesson learned. After we left the school, we went to the library and got the book "Everyone Poops." And guess what? Since last Thursday, she's had no accidents. I think there's another field trip in the spring....

Last weekend was Rejoice's Eagle Fest (fall festival). Ziva had a blast with Daddy, Mimi, Papa, and lots of friends.

a whole host of firsts

2011-10-10T17:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy month around here! School is going full swing, and we've pretty much settled into our routine. We love hearing about all the things Ziva is learning, and she has become the world's greatest expert on the letter Z. Anytime, and I mean ANY time, she sees one, she gets so excited and points out "her letter" to us. And of course she's learning other letters and lots of songs and prayers. One big first for her this week is her first field trip. She will get to ride on the school bus (oh, the wonder of it!) and go to a pumpkin patch. I'm going with her (can't imagine why they need parents to come with a bunch of 3-year-olds on an outing, can you??) and we're hoping Vince will be able to come too. Should be lots of fun!

Zoe at four months

Zoe has had a lot of firsts lately, too. We reported last that she had rolled from her stomach to her back, and about two and a half weeks ago she rolled from her back to her stomach. She doesn't do that as often, but it's still a pretty big milestone! Zoe also had her first ear infection last week. :( We actually haven't been in for her 4 month check up yet, because the doctor told us to just wait until her two week ear follow up, and she'd combine the appointments. So we'll go back Wednesday or Thursday for that. She's starting to talk a lot again, after going through a pretty quiet phase. This girl LOVES her sister. If Ziva is in sight, Zoe just watches her every move, smiling and laughing. It is so sweet to see.

Looks just like Ziva, but we think she's going to keep those blue eyes!

Sweet sisters. Ziva looks soooo much like Vince in this one!

Another fun first for Zoe was meeting Uncle Ross and Auntie Amber. Ross graduated from officer training school a little over a week ago, and they got to stop for a night on their way to El Paso where he's stationed now (woo-hoo, so much closer than Hawaii!). So glad they didn't have to wait until Zoe is 3 like they did for Ziva. We're excited to have them a little bit closer. Ziva loved playing **bossy**princess with Amber :)

Rollin', rollin', rollin'!

2011-09-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

We had another milestone this weekend--Zoe rolled over from her stomach to her back! I heard her start crying as she woke up from a nap Saturday, and when I didn't go in right away she stopped. When I did go in to get her, she was on her back, looking up at me! I think she surprised herself enough that she stopped crying, plus she had a much better view of her room that way. She can get pretty far over on her side when she's lying on her back, too, so rolling the other way may be in the near future. I can hardly believe she's already so old and growing so much! I know it's cliche, but the time sure does fly.

Our other news this week is that Ziva got her first bladder infection. Not so exciting, I know. But it was almost a relief to me to at least figure it out. Starting the Friday before last, she started wetting her pants again every day, sometimes multiple times a day, and I was at my wit's end trying to figure out what could be causing it. Every one had their opinion--regressing is normal, she's doing it for attention, adjusting to school has been hard--none of which seemed to fit Ziva in our current circumstances. She wasn't trained until AFTER Zoe was born, she's been to school already for three years and acts like she owns the place (seriously, oh my!), and she still gets plenty of attention, or at least I think so. So when her teacher said she thought it might be an infection, I asked Ziva if it hurt to go potty and she said yes, so I scheduled a doctor appointment. Let me tell you, Ziva is one tough cookie. If "handling pain" were an Olympic sport, she would be a gold medalist. She hadn't complained about anything hurting until I asked her, and maybe it had been getting slowly worse, I don't know, but when we were at the doctor, she finally broke and was screaming just in dread of having to go, and refusing to drink water because she knew what would follow. So the sweet doctor determined she had all the other signs and we didn't need a urine sample, and prescribed antibiotics. And we are back in business. Ziva was allowed to wear a pull-up to school Friday, which she kept dry all day, and we had no accidents over the weekend, but did a little potty-training refresher course anyway. And she stayed dry all day today, at school and home...victory! I'm proud of her two-fold...I know how much those bladder infections can hurt so I'm pretty stinkin' impressed with her lack of complaining. And I'm proud she's using the potty again. It's the little things, right? :)

First day of school and 3 months

2011-09-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

As if I weren't bad enough about blogging when I'm home for the summer, I'm sure you can tell that school has started from my silence. Yep, we're back at it, and it's going well. Ziva LOVES preschool, and came home the first two days spouting off verbatim what she'd learned. I'm so thankful she's already been at Rejoice for three years...it made this year an easy transition, which I realize and appreciate all the more when I hear there is still one little boy who cries all the time at school.

Zoe is also "at school" in the staff baby room. That baby room and the teachers, Donna and Angie (we miss Angie this year but it sounds like she's loving K4), have been one of the biggest blessings of all during my time at Rejoice so far. Zoe does great and is getting herself on a pretty good schedule. Donna reports just about every day that Zoe is happy all the time. She is just a joy!

Ziva's all ready for her first day of preschool!

September 1, 2011...Zoe is 3 months old, and that little lamb is looking smaller and smaller!

Hmm, another failed picture rotation....but still, check out that grin!

Are these girls sisters or what? It's Ziva and her mini-me!

Apparently I need to practice rotating pictures....I really do rotate them the right way before I put them on the blog, but I must be missing some secret step :)

Zoe is 2 months old

2011-08-03T12:50:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe this little girl is already 9 weeks old! We had her 2 month check up on Monday, and she's doing great. The little trooper did well with her shots, and the only way I could tell it was affecting her was that she was extra sleepy. She weighs 11 lb, 10 oz, so that's about 2 more pounds in the last month! And she's 23 inches long....she's right around the 75th percentile for both her weight and height. She's outgrowing that lamb at a pretty fast clip!

Here's a smile we caught on camera...she's smiling, talking, and laughing a lot more now, so we're having lots of fun!

Killing bad guys

2011-07-08T05:01:00.000-07:00

Ziva has been talking a lot lately about killing. She frequently makes comments about Daddy killing the bad guys at work, she talks about police and soldiers killing people, and occasionally she voices fear that someone will kill her. It has concerned me that my 3 year old is thinking about killing, and I wondered where in the world she's been getting such ideas, until a light bulb went off and it occurred to me--the only place Ziva hears about killing is in the Bible.

And it's had me thinking. These stories we read her, in any other context, I would probably shelter her from. But since they are in Scripture, we don't. We read them and talk about them, and even at this early age, try to teach her truth, even though it's hard. A lot of what Jesus taught was hard to hear, harder to live. Still is. But we can't gloss over it or leave it out because of that. It's there for a reason, and it's an important part of the puzzle, a very real aspect of the life of faith.

I think all those war stories, all the killing of the Old Testament, are visible, in-the-flesh reminders that the life of faith ultimately is a battle. No longer do we see God's people fighting against God's enemies, fighting for their home--at least not in the form of Jews fighting against Philistines, fighting for a piece of property. Today, Goliath comes in the form of "spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm" (Eph. 6), all the more dangerous because unseen; the home we're fighting for is one we've not yet seen. And the not seeing makes it so hard for us to remember there's a war going on all around us. Perhaps the war scenes of the Old Testament are trying to remind us....this is happening right here, right now, all the time. Killing is still an important part of following God, but now it's putting to death self, killing the sinful nature, destroying anything that tries to turn my heart away from God toward something less, something empty. Now that's a concept that a 3 year old can't grasp...most adults still have a hard time with it too. So we continue to read the stories of battle and death and pray that what Ziva--what we all--take away from it is the knowledge that good must be fought for, in the world and in our own hearts. And victory is ours if we remain in Him.

A good night's sleep

2011-07-05T21:07:00.000-07:00

Last night was Zoe's first night in her crib. We put her down and let her cry herself to sleep, which she did pretty quickly. She whimpered some off and on but finally settled into a good sleep. She woke up a couple times to eat but went straight back to sleep every time, and I felt like I got the most rest since we brought her home. Hopefully tonight will be a repeat! Here are a few pictures from this week...

I thought I rotated this one, but I guess it didn't take. Oh well. We have a picture of Zoe with this lamb her first few days at home, and they were the same size then. What a difference a month makes!

I think she looks like Grandma Ramirez in this one....what do you think?

Happy after nap time!

All dressed up in their red white and blue for the 4th!

Zoe has her eyes open more and more all the time, and she's so much fun. She's starting to "talk" and smile more...can't get enough!

Chunker - 1 month check up

2011-07-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today was Zoe's one month check up, and she weighed in at 9 lb 2 oz! Our doctor laughed at how much she's gained...2 pounds in a little over 2 weeks! She's in the 45th percentile for both weight and height (21 inches), so she may not end up tall like Ziva, but time will tell. The best news is that I don't have to wake her up at night to eat anymore. I forgot to set an alarm last night anyway, and she slept 5 1/2 hours before waking up, so I'm hoping I can start getting a teeny bit more sleep. We'll see :)

24 days

2011-06-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

First of all, let me say "Happy Birthday" to my brother Ross! I didn't get a chance to call him today, so this is my birthday shout out...we love you and can't wait to see you again! I will try to call you tomorrow :)

And since Zoe has yet to reach the one month mark, we're still counting by days, so today is 24. She is growing fast, and I can't wait to see what she weighs at her check up next Friday. Breastfeeding experiment #2 hasn't been as miserable a failure as it was the first time around with Ziva, but it has been a failure nevertheless. So I'm pumping again, which I said I wouldn't, but this way Zoe's still getting breastmilk, just in the bottle. And I'm pretty much guessing on how much I should give her, based on how often she gets hungry and how much she drinks, and she seems to be a bigger eater than I remember Ziva being. So we'll see in a week how she's packing on the pounds!

Overall she's a pretty easy baby....she still sleeps a lot, and sleeps pretty well at night, which is great. She's not usually too fussy, sometimes just for a while in the evening. Typically she's fussiest right at Ziva's bedtime, so my stress level is maxed out, but it's okay. At Ziva's 3 year check up, our pediatrician quoted a saying from Bill Cosby, something to the effect that you're not really a parent until you have more than one kid. I scoffed at it then....one is plenty of work! But oh man. It's kinda true. One to two has been challenging in some ways, but mostly ways I hadn't expected or thought about, which makes it seem harder than it probably is. Post-partum hormones probably also make everything seem harder than it actually is :) The biggest shock to my system is just not having Ziva as my baby anymore. Suddenly she's a BIG girl, and it's funny how my expectations of her changed so quickly. She's doing great and loves being a big sister, but I know it's hard on her sometimes, and that's hard on me. But just tonight I was praying and remembered that it's a really good thing for her to learn that it's not all about her, to learn to share and have to wait for things and think about someone else besides herself. Even if it's painful at times, those are great life lessons and if we could somehow go through this transition without her learning those things, she'd be missing out in the long run. And I will keep reminding myself of that, day after day. I will need it, I'm sure.

Vince with his girls on Father's Day...we got to go to church for the first time with all four of us.

How sweet is this?

We're seeing more and more alert time, and I've even gotten some coos and smiles in the last few days. I know it's early but I swear they're real smiles....

We had family over for Father's Day, and Uncle Nate was able to come meet Zoe for the first time. Ziva's looking very serious in her big sister role.

Already climbing over the couch :)

Welcome Zoe!

2011-06-09T14:45:00.001-07:00

Zoe Kaitlin arrived on May 31, 2011, weighing in at 6 lbs, 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. I know I'm late in putting up pictures......we'll keep more coming!

Love this one...Ziva is a great big sister!

Entrusted to us...

2011-05-18T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is our new home! And oh, what a journey it has been to get here. "Here" is knowing that this really isn't OUR home; it is the house God has entrusted to us, and we have seen His goodness so tangibly in the way He has provided for us. I know the blog has been a little quiet lately, but that's because we've been working through some opposition to God's plans. Two weeks before our original closing date, we found out that Vince's overtime counted as "salary," and that there was an income limit on the loan type we were getting, so all of a sudden our choice was to change loan types, which meant coming up with almost $4000 for a down payment, or walking away. We did not have $4000, so we prayed for God to provide and waited hopefully, but started making strategic plans for adding a baby to our current apartment situation. One week after the news, my aunt found out about our situaton and wished she could help. The next day she found out her tax return had gone in early, and she had enough for her needs plus enough to help us, so she loaned us a down payment. We never would have dreamed of God providing the way He did....dropping that much money in our laps seemed improbable at best, but I knew He could if He wanted to. And He did....which blessed us in so many obvious ways, but also it just confirmed to us that this house really is a part of His plan for us. We probably could have eeked it out somehow on our own, but in the back of my mind I wondered if we'd be trying too hard to force something God was trying to say "no" to. So the outside provision was a resounding "Yes" and "Amen", and we are taking that blessing with open arms! We already have plans to host youth over the summer, and our prayer is that our house (and we) will always be open to anyone in need. Because it's not really ours, you see. We're taking care of it for God and we want to use it the way He wants us to.

So yesterday we closed, today we got the right keys (that's another story for another time....), and this Saturday we move in. Oh yeah, and I'm scheduled to induce labor on the 31st, unless Zoe decides she wants to come sooner. I think the nursery will be ready for her...I know we all are!

T-minus 25 days!

2011-04-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

We are scheduled to close on the house May 12! Two weeks from tomorrow we have our initial walk through to make sure everything's right, then a week and a half after that it's a done deal. I can't believe how fast it's gone, but we're so excited that we will be able to get in before Zoe makes her entrance to the world! We have to pay for our apartment through June no matter when we move, so we can take our time on the non-essential stuff. That's a good feeling! We started packing a little bit this week ("we"=Vince). Ziva has always loved climbing on boxes! Hopefully this is the last time she'll have the opportunity for a LONG time.

Here are some shots of the hosue with the brick done. The last time we got to go inside they had tile down and all the wood trim and cabinets up. And they've poured the porch and looks like the driveway will be going in this week. There's still a lot to be done inside, but in two weeks, it will be finished!

The Princess Turns 3

2011-04-03T18:17:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Ziva turned 3. Of course the weather was bad....we're three for three so far....but we crammed everyone in the apartment and had a grand ol' time. I think this is the most presents Ziva has ever had to open at one time in her life! We spread the gifts out at Christmas so she's not in shell-shock and not overly focused on the presents. I think it works great....our heart has been to make a BIG DEAL out of birthdays, to celebrate how special she is (and same for siblings and any family members), so that when Christmas rolls around, it's a BIG DEAL because it's Jesus' birthday, not because of what she may get out of it. So I love that she had tons and tons of gifts--we were blown away with everyone's generosity! Ziva loved every minute of it, and we were all laughing at her natural talent at pulling tissue paper from a bag and tossing it into the air. Hers was a joyful soul! Our joke, for those of you who may be familiar with the TV show Friends, is that Ziva is just like Chandler--she can have a normal smile on her face UNTIL it's time to take a picture, and then....well, it turns out looking like this. But she's three so it's adorable. And we're working on it for the future. :)

Taking a picture with "her Mitch". Of the Uncle Mitch/Aunt Rachel combo, Rachel has always been the favorite. But Mitch came out to dinner one night when Rachel couldn't come, and she was deposed, big time. Ziva will always love her (who wouldn't?!), but Mitch now has a very special place in her heart, and it seems to be sticking, even when Rachel IS around.

Blowing out her candles, and I think she actually blew, instead of spit. Hope so....we've been eating it all week. ;)

And here the princess is showing off her new princess gear. One of my old students, Lena, has been babysitting for us on small group nights, and she sent this gift up to my classroom this week. Did anyone know they even make baby snuggies?! Pretty cool. Ziva's even been sleeping in it, despite the 70 degree temperatures. We sure love our princess!

House update #3

2011-04-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

Last week the sheet rock went up! Vince and our friend Will worked on their own to insulate the garage the night before the drywall guy was coming, since that insulation doesn't come standard....it sure is nice to have friends driving by checking the progress every day! We drive by a lot already, but between 4 of us, we don't miss much. They started on our neighbor's brick over the weekend, so hopefully ours will be up in the next couple days. You can see the stacks of bricks ready to go out front.

Vince took this one from the backyard....there's a pretty good slope down toward the water we back up to. It will be a great backyard for fishing!

Hard to believe it should all be done before Zoe is all done! :) But not really when you consider how infinitely more amazing than a house is a human being. I have to keep reminding myself that....not loving 3rd trimester or the fact that I still have 8 weeks to go. But she'll be worth it!

House update

2011-03-20T12:51:00.001-07:00

The house is really taking off. They poured the foundation this week, and in a matter of days we went from nothing to a completely framed house, with a roof!

Still in diapers

2011-03-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

I always forget to post the pictures until I'm halfway through and they go to the top, so here are a few aquarium pictures from our spring break last week. We had fun, and Ziva especially loved the sharks and turtles.

Well, the potty training was a bust. You may have already guessed that since I posted nothing about it all week. We tried a couple different times, but neither time was very long, and both gave me the impression that she genuinely may not be ready yet. Although, she turns 3 a week from today, so I will be pushing her along. :) I got a book from the library that I've heard great things about; I just need more time to read and process it before I dive in, so I'm hoping to read it this week and try again on Saturday. *fingers crossed*

One reason it didn't work out so well was that mid-week I went to Arkansas for the funeral of a dear friend's mother. You can read all about her remarkable 3-year battle with cancer on her blog http://vickidees.blogspot.com/. The funeral was a pretty amazing celebration of her life and such a gripping reminder of God's love for us and what that can (and should) look like in our lives.

Spring Break = Operation Potty Training

2011-03-12T09:16:00.000-08:00

Ah, today is the first day of spring break. Yes, I did bring home a lot of school work that I just couldn't catch up on, but I'm not thinking about that now. I'll put it off until Sunday.....don't tell my kids. :)

And since I have a whole week home with Ziva--and it's the last week home with Ziva before Zoe arrives (a little surreal!)--I am determined to get our little princess out of diapers and into panties. To say she has been reticent is probably an understatement. She shows strangely mixed signals of being ready and of not--hiding when she's going #2, insisting she's not wet or poopy when I ask about her diaper, wanting to wear panties, NOT wanting to try on the potty....I just don't know what's happening in that little head. And I don't really have a game plan or know what I'm doing, but it's do or die time. I'll try to keep you posted with pictures and funny stories (as they are just bound to happen), and hopefully by the end of the week I will report back with total success!

Anecdote from Target

2011-03-05T21:23:00.000-08:00

This morning Ziva and I were shopping for some clothes at Target. As she was looking through a pile of t-shirts, I accidentally bumped into a rack and knocked several shirts to the floor. I heard a little gasp and then Ziva said in a partially horrified, mostly scolding (and completely hilarious) tone of voice, "Mommy! You have to be careful! I love you very much and I don't want you to trip!"

Ultrasound #2

2011-02-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

This week was a busy baby week. I had a normal check up, my glucose tolerance test, and a 2nd ultrasound to check out my low lying placenta. Check up was good and I passed my GTT (hallelujah, I don't have to drink that nastiness again!) although I do have to start taking iron supplements. I'd much rather that then be diabetic, so no complaints here. The ultraasound was a little tricky....apparently my placenta is somewhat mysterious. The tech had a hard time telling for sure where it ended, so she called in the radiologist, and since he was not the same doctor who read my first ultraasound report, he couldn't tell either without having something to compare it to. So, I still don't know if my placenta is too low, but neither of them thought it was. Zoe is still breech (breach?) though, so if she doesn't flip at some point, it really doesn't matter because I'll have to go c-section anyway. I've heard lots of people say that there are a lot of perks to having a c-section, and the scheduling factor is awfully appealing even now, so I know I'll be fine either way.

Probably more exciting than all that.....they started work on our house this week! Monday my friend Renee texted me a couple of pictures of the builders starting work on the footing. It's not much to show on a photo, so we're waiting until they get some plumbing in, or something more than just lines of concrete in a bunch of mud, but nonetheless, it's exciting! It's great having our friends living right down the street so they can keep us updated without us having to drive over every day when there may be nothing new to see. We've started buying smaller furniture and things for when the house is ready, little bits at a time. We just can't wait to have our own house with room to invite people in and see how God can use our house and our availability for Him!

And now I'm off to clean this little apartment. I am a wee bit worried that as bad as I am at keeping this place clean, a bigger home just means more mess. But I keep telling myself that A) there will actually be a place for everything in a real house, and B) I will care a whole lot more when it's actually MINE. We'll see.

10906

2011-02-20T19:04:00.000-08:00

That's our new address....or will be, once our house is finished. If you haven't heard yet, we are building a house, and we're hoping it will be done in May. We're REALLY hoping it will be done before Zoe arrives. (Which reminds me, I don't think I ever announced on the blog that we're having another girl! Zoe Kaitlin will make her debut just as we are packing, closing, moving, and finishing school. We like to do things with style, you know. And as much insanity as possible, apparently.)

This shot is from early in January, the first snow we had. Doesn't compare to what we got over the last few weeks, which I unfortunately didn't capture on film. But if the almanac is right, I will get a second chance this winter, as there is supposed to be an even bigger snow storm sometime this year. Joy.

Here's a picture of our lot. We got a great spot that backs up to a water reserve area, so we have a nice view and no one can build behind us.

Our building permit and address! This just went up this week.

And this is Ziva's new big girl bed. She's had it for probably a month now (maybe a little more?) It's super comfy and a "real" big girl bed...none of that toddler stuff anymore. She has taken a few tumbles, and she prefers to sleep on top of the quilt instead of under it, but all in all it was a great transition and she likes it. The only down side is that when she's supposed to be taking a nap, she inevitably spends an hour + reading books since they are in such easy reach. It's too much temptation. Friday we had to stay home because she was sick Thursday night, and after the third time I went to tell her to stop reading and go to sleep, she said "But Mommy, I'm just not good of that." She seems to have developed a belief that if she says she's not good at something, she magically will be off the hook. If only it were that easy. :)

And this is the new storage unit we got to replace her old toy bins. These are great because A) they're just so cute, and B) all the toys stay hidden, instead of piled up in open bins in an unseemly manner. So Ziva's room is all set and ready to transfer over to the new house....we're working on the rest of the house slowly but surely.

Funny story

2010-12-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Today we took Vince to the doctor. He's been sick for weeks and turns out he has a sinus infection. While were waiting in the lobby, Ziva attached herself to an older couple who "took our seats" when I was up at the check-in window and Vince had to run back to the car for something. She was talking to them non-stop and had the lady read her book to her. Right as Vince returned and I was finishing up at the window, we heard her ask the lady "Is that your baby?" while pointing to her stomach. Oh. My. Fortunately, the lady just laughed and said, "No, I'm just fat." I'm not sure how to teach the subtler social dos and don'ts to a 2 year old. After the couple was called back to their doctor, we tried to tell Ziva it's not nice to ask people other than Mommy if they have a baby in their stomach. The guy sitting across from us started laughing, and he said the whole thing was really funny, especially because it wasn't his kid. So we had a funny moment to pass the time this morning.....we were laughing about how you always hear about people inappropriately asking someone if they're pregnant, and now we are those people....or at least her parents!

Christmas pics

2010-12-22T19:40:00.001-08:00

We had our family Christmas yesterday, and Ziva opened her presents from Grandma and Grandpa Ramirez. Here are a few of the action shots....she loves her new toys!

She has been playing with "her computer" or her easel non-stop today. I can't count the number of pictures she has painted and colored. She loves it! After we opened presents yesterday, we had a special Christmas breakfast and then later made Happy Birthday cupcakes for Jesus. It was a good day.

Christmas vacation, finally!

2010-12-20T18:33:00.001-08:00

Today we were accused of being azy about taking pictures. And I'll have you know, we haven't been lazy about taking the pictures, just about posting anything on this blog. So sorry. Here you go. :)

Today was our first official day of Christmas break (for me and Ziva). My favorite thing about school breaks is that we're home with Vince on his days off. Since he will be working on Christmas, we're doing our little family Christmas tomorrow. We let Ziva open one present tonight, a tent with a sleeping bag, backpack, and headlamp, and she's sleeping in it tonight. Brings back fond memories of (not) sleeping on Christmas Eve with all the excitement looming in the air.

Nothing major in life to report. I'm still pregnant :) 17 weeks today. Most days I really don't feel like I'm pregnant...the only reminder is that I'm already starting to lose my belly button. People keep telling me, "Oh, you look great!" But I'm not buying it. I feel huge. Which really makes me dread the end, but babies are worth it. Anyway, hopefully I'll start feeling some movement in the next week or two, and we will have an ultrasound to find out the sex after the first of the year. And then maybe we'll tell you the name. Probably we will. You all know how we are about secrets.

Here are a few photos from the last several weeks:

We bought our first Christmas tree this year (can you believe Vince and I have never had one in our 3.5 years of marriage? Either we didn't have the room or didn't have the moolah.) To make up for lost time, we bought it about two weeks before Thanksgiving, and yes, we put it up then. But we didn't decorate it....right away. We made the decorating a whole big thing like we did when I was a kid and made cookies and hot chocolate and played Christmas music.

The finished product!

Here Ziva is helping me make banana bread. I think the flour situation got worse before we were done, but isn't that the point of baking?

And here she is with her Christmas story book from Grandma and Grandpa. She loves it and we read it at least once every day. And at the end she almost always says "Thank you!" after Grandma and Grandpa say "Merry Christmas Ziva" Pretty cute.

So there's a start to my (hopefully) vacation blogging time. No promises once school starts back up again, but I will try to put lots of Christmas pictures up over the next couple weeks. Love to all!

Thank you, Jesus, for washable markers

2010-09-30T08:25:00.001-07:00

Dinner Conversation

2010-09-28T19:32:00.000-07:00

Here's the scene: last night at dinner, Ziva declared she was full after just a couple bites. I took three green beans from her bowl, set them on her plate, and told her that she needed to eat at least those three before she could get down. If she did not eat them, she would go to bed early (we're finding this to be the only consequence that even remotely fazes her). After a while, the conversation went like this....

Ziva: I want to get down.
Vince: You need to eat those green beans or you will have to go to bed early.
Ziva: (a beat) I want to go to bed early.
Vince: I don't really think you want to go to bed early.

(Out comes the lower lip, and Ziva begins to pout and cry)

Vince: Ziva, you need to stop being fake. That won't work on me. (Pouting continues) Do you know who the biggest faker is?
Ziva: Yeah (still pouting/whining/crying)
Vince: Who?
Ziva: Me (STILL pouting/whining/crying)

And at this point, the discipline loses its effectiveness since we're both laughing. And Vince corrected her that no, HE is the biggest faker. At least she comes by it honestly. :)

Announcing...

2010-09-27T04:50:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard yet from some other means, I'm pregnant! Baby #2 is due on June 3 (which is our anniversary...we always manage to have due dates on significant days!), and we are very excited. We actually planned for this one so we're feeling a little more prepared (although the "shock and awe" of Ziva is something we wouldn't trade for the world!). The timing couldn't be better as far as school goes, and we are just thanking God for how He blesses us. Ziva wants to see the baby in my belly already, and even Vince can hardly wait. Yesterday he said, "I need to go to sleep, but...I want to have the baby!" Cute daddy, huh? My first prenatal visit is November 3, and we should get to hear the heartbeat then. We'll keep you posted on every little milestone!

Life in August...and half of September, oh my!

2010-09-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

I forget how quickly time goes by once the whirlwind of school begins. Last time I was talking about how we survived the first week, and here we are now almost 5 weeks in! We're starting to settle into a routine, especially now that Vince has finished his training in OKC. He is working the midnight shift now, so that's taken some getting used to, but he is starting to adjust to the new sleep schedule, and I think I'm adjusting too. We still get lots of good family time, like dinner together every night and playtime after school, so it's working out well. He's loving the job, so that's really about all that matters. I'm enjoying this year so far...a different mix of classes than I expected, but they're good. And I love that I get to teach AP Lit again, so I'm a happy camper.

Ziva is loving school as usual. She got to call me the other day at lunch to tell me that she ate all her food and got a treat--an M&M. Lately she's been sticking food--chewed or not, it's never the same--in her cheek and leaving it there....forever! Once she had several pieces of corn in there for at least 2 hours (from dinner until it was time to brush her teeth) before I noticed. We have no idea why she's doing it, and it has lead to some tearful mealtimes, thus the victory call on Thursday. (Wednesday was a day of no food at all because she refused to swallow what she'd "hoarded".) I did notice a couple days ago that she has two bottom molars coming in, so maybe that's a part of it. Who knows.

I can't think of any really funny things she's said recently, except one a few weeks ago. We were all in the car and she was speaking gibberish for the sheer joy of it. Vince said, "Ziva, what language are you speaking?" And she responded, "I"m speaking KIDS!" at the top of her lungs. Hilarious.

Here are a few pictures that aren't as recent as I'd wish, but they'll do for now....

At the zoo a couple weeks ago. Sorry you can't see her face that well...

All decked out, ready for the pool.

This one should have been a video so you could hear her declaring, "I. AM. PRINCESS. ZIVA!" She's wearing a posterboard crown with "jewels" from a broken necklace glued on it.

We survived the first week!

2010-08-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

School started this past week. It was a welcome event for me since Vince has been gone the last two weeks for his training in OKC. He comes home on the weekends, but a whole week with just me and Ziva gets a little boring for her, poor thing. There are two weeks left of the training, but now we have school to keep us busy, so it's good. He just heard today that he will probably have the midnight shift when he gets back, which is what he wanted, so we're happy with that.

So far school is going well. Ziva is doing great.....no one can get over how much she's changed and how much she TALKS! She cracks us all up every single day. I ahve to try really hard not to laugh sometimes when she needs discipline. I'm still a work in progress.

I will work on getting some pictures up soon. I haven't even begun to recover from the 6 months (and counting) where we were without a laptop and HOW FAR BEHIND I am when it comes to taking, uploading, printing, and organizing pictures. It has to happen, I'm just scared. But I'll make myself sometime soon. Keep checking back!

She IS listening!

2010-08-11T12:28:00.000-07:00

Just have to share some of the funny things we've heard come out of Ziva's mouth lately....proof that she hears everything!!

Last week at small group, she had Vince's Bible and was "reading" to herself. When I realized what she was saying, I cracked right up, interrupting a serious moment in group. She was saying "'Never!' Triton shouted. (this part over and over) 'He's a human! A fish eater!'" (we've been reading "The Little Mermaid" a lot lately)

The other day we had on a Veggie Tales video about being patient. Ziva wasn't really watching it and was busy playing. Vince said, "Hey Ziva, come here." She replied, "I'm doing something. Just be patient!"

And just now, as I was getting ready to write these and we're sitting in the business center at the apartments, she said, "I need to check my email!"

Maybe we're better parents than we think we are...

2010-06-27T08:03:00.000-07:00

Lately the biggest parenting struggle we've faced (at least in my opinion) is getting Ziva to eat good food. The foods she eats aren't bad, they just don't add up to a very balanced diet. There only a few things she will always eat: string cheese, applesauce, and muffins (or any other member of the bread family). I try to make healthy muffins using pumpkin, zucchini, applesauce instead of oil, and whole wheat flour, but still. Only muffins isn't much of a diet. Then there are the things she will usually eat, but sometimes flat out refuses: corn, green beans, oatmeal, peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, chicken nuggets, ham, cereal. And there are the every once in a blue moon (but don't count on it) foods: blueberries, bananas, carrots. Pretty much any other fruit or vegetable is a never, although I keep trying (I sure hate throwing it away when she licks it and then wants nothing to do with it!). And of course, she is my daughter and a part of the Calvert clan, so she will ALWAYS eat sweets if we let her.

Now here's where I get to the part about maybe we're doing better than I think. I look at that list (and that is truly all that she eats...on occasion I'll give her some of the "grown ups' dinner" if I think she'll eat it, but other than that, what you see is it!), and I think, oh my. But last night we went to dinner with some good friends who were visiting, and Ziva mainly at the french fries from her kids meal, with lots of ketchup (she LOVES ketchup). Now, you can see from our sorry little list of foods that, pitiful though it may be, there's no grease. So she ate a meal of french fries, and then we went to the park for a little bit where she swang for about an hour (probably didn't help....), and then on the way home, she PUKED all over herself and the car seat. And as gross as it was, and as much as I hate cleaning vomit from the carseat, I was encouraged. Obviously she's not used to greasy foods, so at least that's one positive in our parenting. Am I weird?

God is a Provider

2010-06-17T12:24:00.001-07:00

Today we brought home a new car, for FREE. It's not brand new, only new to us, but it is one of the biggest blessings of late in a long string of blessings. Now that God has provided Vince with a wonderful job, he's driving about 50 miles one way to work each day, so he needs some reliable wheels. Until today, we'd just had one car; my little Prizm was on its last legs and we weren't needing it, so we gave it to a friend from church for him to fix up and give to his brother. At the time, we both felt that was what God wanted us to do with it. But with the Explorer draining the gas at 100 miles a day, it was clear we needed a 2nd car for Vince. Our original plan was to find something on Craigslist for $1000 or less that we could pay cash for, even though that would have been a stretch on the budget. Then we started thinking since we want something we KNOW is really dependable, maybe it would be better to take out a small loan and get something a little newer, that we know for sure will be reliable. So I put in an application at the bank for pre-approval on a loan, and when I called to check on it, they said I'd been denied. What?! I still don't know why or how that could have happened, although after today I think the hand of God had A LOT to do with it.

Last night before I went to bed (discouraged and doubting, I must admit), I read from Streams in the Desert, and the concluding thought said something about faith meaning you remain confident in God, even in the apparent denial of your request. We were facing an apparent denial of our request, of our actual need, for a car, but I prayed as I fell asleep, telling God that I know He knows our need, and I know He is able to and will provide what we need.

This morning as we were eating breakfast, Vince got a call from a man at our church that we had not yet met. He had a car and wondered if we wanted to come look at it. We got ready, drove into Tulsa, and were GIVEN a car by this sweet couple who just didn't need it anymore. Vince was able to drive it a little, and it runs like a new car, even though it's a 1990 Oldsmobile (it reminds me of a smaller version of my old Stupid, for those of you who remember it!). It has fairly low miles, great AC, and even cruise control....blessing, blessing, blessing. I didn't get a picture before we dropped it off for an oil change, but I'll try to put one up soon so everyone can see our "new" car.

We are amazed at God's goodness and power to provide in such remarkable ways. This journey we've been on the last few months has been so good in how we've seen His glory at work in our lives. Thank you Jesus!

Bedtime instructions

2010-06-08T18:00:00.000-07:00

Me: Okay, Ziva, it's time to close your eyes now and go to sleep.

Ziva (to her baby doll): Close your eyes. Close your nose. Close your mouth. Right now! Okay? Okay.

In all her glory...

2010-06-01T11:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the promised post about Ziva, with pictures. :) The biggest things in her life lately have been the end of the school year, which she almost missed because she had strep throat AND the flu at the same time. She is one tough kid, because the first day she was sick, the only complaining she did was to say "My tongue hurts" a couple times. Never did I dream it was strep! But she pushed through a 103-104 temperature and would still play until it wiped her out. When the temp we thought was going down spiked again, we took her into Urgent Care and heard the double diagnosis. We're one day away from finishing antibiotics and she is a happy camper.

Since we're out of school and Vince still has one week until he starts work, we're filling our days with as much fun as possible. We've been to the park several times, and tomorrow we're meeting one of her school friends and Miss Angie at the park, then going to a baseball game with the youth group tomorrow night. Thursday is Vince's and my three-year anniversary, so we're planning a zoo day with Ziva and then we'll go out Friday night. We may try to squeeze some swimming in there, too. We went to the splash park yesterday, but Ziva HATES water on her head, so that was pretty much a bust. We have to get her used to water some other way, it seems.

Other than events, she is still her bossy old self, and talking more and more all the time. Yesterday my dad went out to the back porch while Ziva was eating breakfast, and she threw her hands up in the air and declared, "Papa has no shoes on!" She narrates just about everything that goes on around her, and has most recently started saying "Hey!" when she wants our attention. She loves to sing, all the time, and her funniest song right now is the Veggie Tales theme song. I don't know how she settled on these as the words, and maybe I'm not hearing it right, but when she sings it, she sings, "Veggie Ta-a-ales, margarita"....?? We have neither been drinking margaritas or talking about them, so who knows. :)

What can I say? She is just too awesome. :)

Baking muffins....

...and eating them.

Dance party!

Here she is having her first corn on the cob the other night. It was a success!

Summer!

2010-05-28T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, we're still here. I don't know how I let two months go by without posting, but it happened. I'll try harder now that it's SUMMER. (Yay! Yay! Yay!)

So the biggest, most important thing to update the blog world on is that Vince got a job! It has been a long and sometimes tough 5 months, but he has had the best attitude in the world and has shown so much faith in waiting on God's timing......which is a big part of the story of his job. Right after we left the Greens (I'm talking early January) Vince heard about an opening at a nearby prison for a corrections officer. He applied and went through a crazy long process of paperwork, then waiting, then a test, then waiting, then an interview, then waiting, and at the end of March he heard that he did not get hired. We were pretty deflated after that; I had been putting all my hopes in this particular job because it was just that good (benefits, insurance, growth potential, ministry potential...) rather than putting my hope in GOD. So I was convicted and tried to truly let go and just trust the process to God. We thought that job was a goner, but oh no! God's ways are so much bigger than ours, remember? Only a few weeks after the "no," Vince heard the same place was hiring AGAIN. So he began the process a second time, which wasn't quite such a headache since he'd been through it once before. After his (second) first interview, he heard back within a day that they were scheduling a second interview. We were pretty excited because that was further than he'd made it the first time through. After the 2nd interview, things were looking very promising; it sounded like they just wanted to check his references and then as long as they were fine he could get hired. The references took a veeeeerrrrrry long time, and I was getting nervous (I confess.....that whole trust thing again!) but we figured no news was good news. And we were right! A couple weeks ago they called him with a conditional job offer; he just had to pass a physical and drug test. Piece of cake. Tuesday he got the call that everything was great, and he starts June 7!!! We are really excited and so thankful for God's provision, and even for His timing that is so different than ours. I got a good faith workout in having to wait until the last minute (of school ending and along with it my paychecks), and Vince has been able to do so much ministry with the youth in our church during these last few months. We still don't know the WHY, of course; but we believe 100% that God had some big reasons for moving us out of the Greens and into a season of "hardship" (ahem, wouldn't really call it that, but relatively speaking) and waiting. Can't wait to see some of those little strands come together and make sense over the next weeks, months, or even years. So. Summer begins here with some mighty celebrating!

Sorry for yet another novela of a blog post. I'll end it here and save a Ziva post for next time. Don't worry, I won't keep you waiting too long. And there will be pictures!

Happy to you!

2010-04-03T11:55:00.000-07:00

We started singing "Happy Birthday To You" about a week before Ziva's actual birthday so she would really know what it was all about and just so she'd feel special. She loved having it sung to her, and she would sing along, "Happy to you!" Very cute. Her birthday last Saturday began with waking up to an Elmo balloon and eating Mickey Mouse-shaped chocolate chip pancakes and chocolate milk for breakfast. Then she got to open her new "basketball game" as she calls basketball goals, and play in the driveway all morning. Vince built her a soccer goal to go with the new soccer ball she got, and then later in the day we had a cookout and little party for her. She got a new umbrella which she loves, and some playdough and new clothes for the summer. Mimi taught her how to show that she's two, and she loved her Elmo cake (which I bought, instead of making and decorating myself as I had planned...). It was a very good 2nd birthday!

Playing ball during the good weather (which was supposed to turn bad but never actually did) with Daddy

Ziva's new umbrella from Mimi and Papa. We have yet to use it in real rain, but it's really fun inside the house too.

Elmo was her special birthday friend. He's still hanging around. :)

She snuck a lick (with Papa's encouragement)....brings back memories of the 1st birthday party!

"I'm 2!"

She can't hold up two fingers on one hand very well, so Mimi taught her this way of showing she's 2 years old. She seems pretty happy with it!

New do

2010-04-03T11:38:00.001-07:00

In the month since I posted last, a couple of big things have happened: Ziva got her first haircut (Daddy cut her bangs) and she turned 2! Here's our life in a few pictures lately...

Spring break play date at the park with Ziva's friend Gabbi from school. She still talks about it just about every day!

Vince taught Ziva this pose, the "I look like I'm listening to Mommy but really I'm not" look. Ha ha. At least you can really see how good her bangs look. :)

Pony tail and ear phones

This is a post-blanket cave destruction pic. I love her face in this one!

She loves hiding and then jumping out and yelling "Hewwo!"

And speaking of what she says, Ziva no longer just knows words, she TALKS. She pulls these complete sentences out of nowhere and leaves us all in shock and awe half the time. A few weeks ago we were all racing each other around the house and she beat us into the living room and called out "I beat you guys!" over and over. She's also very bossy and likes to tell people where to go and what to do. "Mommy, do this." "Daddy sit there." "Go away!" "Ziva do this!" This morning when she woke up, she pulled up her pants leg, pointed to her knee and said, "Mommy look at my boo boo." It's so much fun to have her talk like this!

Pictures-a-palooza

2010-02-27T15:03:00.001-08:00

Okay, here are some long overdue pictures, in no particular order. I've got three or four posts' worth, so keep scrolling down. Enjoy!

Here's the Christmas dress that Grandma and Grandpa sent. It was adorable! This was by far the best shot we were able to get with her wearing it.

This was when we went to see Christmas lights at Rhema. Always a fun trip!

Playing in the snow with Daddy!

She threw a snowball at me...

Ziva's favorite thing about winter is definitely snowmen. When there was snow on the ground, everywhere we went in the car, we would count how many snowmen we saw. This is not a snowman we built, just one she's admiring at a neighbor's.

2010-02-27T14:52:00.000-08:00

We decorated cookies for Valentine's Day. Ziva enjoyed all aspects of it...the decorating, the sprinkles, and the eating!

This is her "cheese!" face. We're working on how to give a real smile for the camera. :)

2010-02-27T14:41:00.000-08:00

Check out this monster icicle! It has been one amazing Oklahoma winter. (But we're ready for it to be over.)

Fashion guru, don't you think?

This one's a classic.....I have a feeling it will make an appearance when she starts bringing boys home to meet us.

2010-02-27T14:29:00.000-08:00

I just love this picture. She looks so big.

Playing golf with her new clubs.

She looks like a pro, right?

Snack time! This picture is from today, so it's the most current shot of what she actually looks like....tall!

Nice to meet you!

2010-02-24T04:39:00.000-08:00

Somehow I'm ready a few minutes early this morning and Ziva is still sleeping so I thought I'd try to dash off a quick post. Ziva has grown quite entertaining these last few days and weeks. Case in point, this past weekend we went to some friends' for dinner and to play some games, and there were a few new people there, so we introduced ourselves the way normal people do, shake hands and say "nice to meet you." Well, the next day, Ziva kept saying something we weren't quite getting, and holding her hand out to us. Finally we realized she was saying "Nice to meet you"! It was so cute, and she's been doing it ever since.

It's a tad bit scary, though, how fast she picks things up without us realizing it. A good thing to remember....

(not much of an) update

2010-01-27T18:41:00.001-08:00

Not a whole lot new around here, but it's been a little while so I figured I'd better post SOMEthing. I suppose the big news is that yet another icy snow storm is headed our way. Woo hoo. This one might actually kill the power, though, so I'm really praying that doesn't happen. The last time that happened was before we were here, and my parents went to bed every night at 6 because it was dark and cold and there was nothing else to do. Oh Lord, please spare us from going through that with Ziva on the loose! :)

We've all been sick the last week or two. Vince had a cold, and then we had a few good days, and then I got pink eye, which turned into a cold or something else bad that I still have and am consequently almost voice-less. Ziva also got the pink eye and yet another ear infection. Boy oh boy, are eye drops fun!

Vince's job search is coming along. We've been blessed to be surrounded by lots of helpful people who have give him some tips and leads, and there are a couple promising things that we're waiting on to see what happens. When there's something a little more substantial to report, we will. I was reminded today, though, of just how much we still have to be thankful for, even in these "trying" times. Really, things haven't been that hard. The money's not too tight yet, and living at my parents' has worked out better than any of us, my parents included, expected! Blessing. And today I was talking with a woman I work with whose husband is going on 11 months without a job. He's waiting to hear this week if he got one he interviewed for which would require him to move to Louisiana for a year and half, and then AFRICA for one month on, one month off. They're in a place where, as hard as that would be (because the rest of the family would stay here), they don't have many more options because he really needs a job. It just makes me so glad to have Jesus here with us, knowing that even if we end up in that same place, He will have led us there and has a really good reason for it, and will give us the grace and strength to live that moment to the fullest....just like He's given us today.

Best soup I've ever eaten!

2010-01-12T19:26:00.000-08:00

We made this new soup last week, and it was so good I've deemed it blog-worthy. It started out as a simple recipe I found in a magazine I wanted to try, and Vince made some additions that were awesome! Here's the recipe exactly as we made it:

Black Bean Soup
2 cans chicken broth
3 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, rinsed and drained
24 oz. salsa (we used cilantro-style)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
chopped fresh cilantro

Mix everything but the cilantro and bring to a simmer. Simmer until heated through; add the cilantro at the end and then serve it. Squeeze lime juice and add some shredded cheddar on each bowl....yum!

We made it for a game night Friday and again tonight for our small group....delicious both times!

Christmas pictures

2009-12-28T08:39:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures I was able to get from Norma's camera:

On Christmas Eve, in her new pajamas and slippers

Christmas morning with her new play kitchen from Mimi and Papa

Our white Christmas!

Hamming it up on her new bike from Grandma and Grandpa Ramirez!

Ziva, baby Jesus, and poo poo

2009-12-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

Norma has a carved wooden nativity set that she brought back from the Philippines years ago, and on Christmas Eve, she used the figures from the nativity scene, along with the angel from the top of the tree, to tell the Christmas story to Ziva. Since then, Ziva has been intrigued with baby Jesus. She points, says "Baby!", holds him, carries him around, and puts him back in the manger when it's time to sleep (face down, the way she sleeps). It's cute, but here's the best part. This baby Jesus has a bit of cloth covering his front but on his back side, his behind is bare. Ziva noticed this, and after examining Jesus closely, she declared, "No poo poo!"

We're getting closer and closer to potty training...

What we never knew about Christmas Eve (sorry, Mom and Dad)

2009-12-24T19:00:00.001-08:00

Okay, Vince and I decided tonight that THIS is what officially makes us parents: working all hours of the night Christmas Eve putting toys together. We've been saying, "So this is what it was like after we went to bed on Christmas Eve!" My dad is probably re-living all those long moments. As I write, he and Norma are working on a ridiculously intricate play kitchen set. Vince has finished the toy bin organizer (with a tad, tad bit of help from me), and he is now working on Ziva's first tricycle, which is a very cool hot pink. We are taking pictures, but I'm going to have to work out a new way to post pics now that we're out of our place. All our pictures are on our laptop, but we don't have wireless here, so it may take me a little time. I'm sure there's a fairly simple solution, but I'm not that tech savvy.

(Interlude while I tend to a crying Ziva who has fallen out of bed, which reminds me...)

In the midst of all our craziness this week, I forgot to announce that we have moved Ziva to the "big girl bed," which looks a whole lot like her crib except it's missing one side and has two small guard rails on the ends. She has taken two excellent naps in her new bed (the very first one yesterday took her about 45 minutes to fall asleep, but ultimately it was successful), and last night was her first full night. We have nothing to compare it to, but we thought it was a pretty huge success. She only slipped out once, and went right back to sleep. She didn't wake up and cry any more than usual, and during daylight hours, she LOVES climbing in and out (and jumping) on her "new" bed. I am extremely thankful for the training she has received at school....she already has a good understanding that a bed is meant to be stayed in during sleeping times, so that's not something we really are going to have to train her in. (I hope.)

Now before I go, to our Florida parents, Vince would just like to say "sorry" for always orchestrating such early Christmas morning risings, now that he knows how late you stayed up the night before. Thanks for all you did and do for us. We love you!

A Christmas Adventure

2009-12-23T18:11:00.000-08:00

Hmm, where to begin?

I don't know that I've posted anything about how icky Vince's job has been lately because of the new apartment managers. But to understand this story, you need to know that it has been icky with a capital I. The new people are just...well, we're trying not to be bitter and angry and strongly dislike them, so I won't say. By now you probably want the bottom line, right?

On Monday, Vince was fired. For no good reason. And since he worked at our apartments, we had to be out in three days. Today is the end of day three. Whew.

From the very first day (literally!) that we arrived in Oklahoma, we have been what I can only call opposed by the enemy of our souls. We always have and still very much so believe that God has extraordinary plans for us (and I believe specifically for Vince, in ministry) here, and that makes the devil angry. Think back over our time here so far: our moving truck was over three weeks late arriving from Florida; despite two solid job leads when we got here last year, it took Vince over three months to find a job, and it wasn't one that made him happy; all three of us have probably been sick more often than ever (although I'm not sure we can really count Ziva in there since her "ever" is much short than ours); we were stymied again and again in finding a church to call home; and now, most recently, when Vince had spent less than 6 months at a job he originally loved, he got fired. 4 days before Christmas.

And we're excited! Because we see these struggles for the warfare they represent, and we know we are on the victorious side, and God's plans for us won't fail. We trust Him completely and know that He has an amazing, bring-tears-to-our-eyes-beautiful kind of plan up His sleeve, and we just need to sit back and watch Him work. We know that He will take care of us every step of the way. Already He has blessed us so, so much. In my two scavenger trips to Walmart, looking for boxes, I scored more boxes than I ever have in my life. Small victory, I know, but it felt huge since we had to pack everything in three days. We posted our couches and ottomans and a few other odd things on Craigslist, and sold them for just a shade under our asking price. The weather, although drizzly, held out for us to get everything moved. Three wonderful women came to the rescue yesterday and helped pack and/or keep Ziva happy. And my parents have welcomed us in for as long as it takes for us to figure things out.

So, as we've been telling Ziva, "God is taking us on an adventure." We can't wait to see what's next.

Mental Health Day

2009-12-11T18:33:00.000-08:00

Today I played hooky. It was for a very important reason, though. :) Our tail lights have been out for quite some time, and we've been driving at night when necessary in spite of the lack of lights, but it definitely needed to be fixed. I took it in yesterday afternoon and got it fixed, but the lights went out again almost immediately. So I called in, took today off, and planned to spend the whole day if necessary getting those lights fixed. I dropped Ziva off at 7:30 for PJ day at school, and the lights were fixed by 9:00. I do feel a little guilty about this, since I missed a whole day of school (and right before finals), but the day off was good for my soul. I got to clean, de-clutter, organize a bit, plan meals, catch up on laundry, pray. Good day.

We have one more week of school and then, Christmas break! I'm counting down the hours, and now with even a little more excitement. Vince and I are thinking of making the switch to a big girl bed for Ziva over the break, since sleep won't be quite as important for me while I'm out of work, and I can train her to stay in bed and not be a zombie at work. AND, I think Ziva is on the verge of readiness for potty training! So we may even give that a shot during break too, who knows? I talked with Angie, one of Ziva's teachers today about it a little bit, and was beyond thrilled to hear that she and Donna are happy to help with the potty training when she's at school...how cool is that?

I think Vince is going to post some more tomorrow and we'll do pictures. Check back soon!

Our funny girl

2009-11-25T17:47:00.000-08:00

I know this blog is already mainly about Ziva, but since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and we're thinking about how blessed we are, here's another post about how cool Ziva is and just how much we love her and are thankful for her!

Today I discovered just how much our little one likes to draw. She was especially fussy this afternoon (crying for a cookie for close to 2 hours!) when I finally plopped her at the table with a few pens and some paper, and she got busy and sat there drawing for about an hour and a half!! Sometimes she wanted me to sit and draw with her, but for most of it, she just happily scribbled away on her own. (and I got LOTS of dinner/Thanksgiving food prep done!) I realize it's probably a little early to start telling what her "bent" will be, but it's fun to dream about, wonder about, and pray about. Maybe she'll be an artist some day....

Speaking of prayer, that's another thing Ziva is developing quite an interest in. She loves to hold everyone's hand, bow her head, close her eyes, and then say a very loud AMEN! at the end. Again, who knows how much real spiritual tenderness that indicates, or if it's just a love of mimicking us, but Jesus did say that when it comes to matters of faith, children get it more easily and more completely than adults. We certainly pray that she learns to love Jesus as a young girl!

Cuddling with Daddy at our bonfire last week

My dad always used to play horse with us and give all four of us rides around the house. I now have a new appreciation for that....especially since all I did was "trot" a few circles around the living room and I was definitely feeling it the next day.

Is she precious or what?

He is STRONG!

2009-11-23T13:46:00.000-08:00

Pardon my singing...I thought I was a little better than that, but apparently not. It doesn't matter, though, because Ziva is the star of this show. She does do more defined movements to the song, and she does sing more of it, but I think this time she was a little camera shy. Enjoy!

Bye-Bye, Tia

2009-11-22T18:40:00.000-08:00

I know I keep saying I'm going to do better about blogging, and then I keep not doing better about blogging. Sorry. I don't think I'll say it this time, and we'll just see what happens. :)

Today we said goodbye to Daneli (Tia) after a great weekend visit. It's just so wonderful to see favorite friends, especially when they don't mind just sitting around and not doing much. We did have a pretty cool bonfire at my parents' last night (where everyone wimped out on the s'mores so I HAD to eat three so they didn't go to waste) and Ziva LOVED having Tia here (she's so cute when she says "Tia"). We didn't get any pictures with Daneli this time, and I haven't downloaded our most recent so we'll save some of those for the next post.

Let's see, what else has been happening around here? Last week at school was Spiritual Renewal week, which was a really great time. I saw new sides to some of my students, and was reminded many times of how much I love my job and how crazy hard life can be for teenagers these days. Both great things to pray over. We are loving our church, and last weekend we did finally meet with another couple about starting a small group. The plan is to wait to start anything official until after the holidays are over since this is such a busy time, but we're going to try to get together to just hang out and get to know them at some point. So far it may just be the four of us (six counting Ziva and their little one due in March), but we're excited about the possibilities there.

This week we are looking forward to some time off together, good food, and great times with family. I also have a short list of "projects" I'd like to accomplish during the week off of school. When I wrote it I felt it was fairly realistic since there are only 3 or 4 things listed, but I'm not so sure. One of the things is to do a baby scrapbook for Ziva. Yes, she is almost 2. And I still haven't done that. With my track record, the chances of it happening this week are not that good. We'll see. :)

October's over?

2009-11-06T18:25:00.000-08:00

Let's see...I guess I'm a little behind on the blogging. Nothing spectacular has been happening around here, just lots of good days (and some somewhat sleepless nights, thanks to coughing or new teeth or ear infections or who knows what else).

Last weekend we went to a pumpkin patch for a little bit and had some fun with Ziva. Then Vince and my dad took a guy's trip to Stillwater to watch the OSU-Texas game. They had fun, even thought OSU lost. And Norma came over and we girls hung out for the night. Fun times!

We've been checking out the youth group for a few weeks now at our new church, and so far we're liking it. We're planning to meet someone this weekend about joining a small group, so we'll keep you posted on that.

Other than that, not too much happening. Tonight we're kind of sad since our friends here at The Greens are moving tomorrow to Texas. Good friends are few and far between so it stinks to see them go, but we know God has great plans for them there and for us here.

Here are a few moments from the last few weeks...
Reading in a diaper box. I got a good video of this too, but it's several minutes long and might literally take an eternity to load to the blog...sorry.

We're creating quite the little ham

When I saw her feet poked through the bars like this during her nap I just had to get a picture. I've got one of just her feet, too. Precious.

Running through the hay maze at the pumpkin patch

You may remember this one from last year, when Vince perched a 7 month old Ziva atop this giant scarecrow. I wasn't much less nervous this time around. :)

The best $3 dollars I ever spent

2009-10-20T17:41:00.000-07:00

We have been unusually busy lately. Last week we met with two different pastors on two different nights, and Vince got to go see the TU vs. Boise State game last Wednesday. Friday I got a call at work around lunch time that Ziva had a fever of 101, so I packed up my books and picked her up early. She conked out before I even got her car seat straps on, and then slept for about 2 hours without even eating lunch first. When she woke up she was still burning up, so I gave her some Tylenol and by the time we got to the doctor her fever was gone. It turned out to be an ear infection, so she's on antibiotics for 10 days. Which is where the best $3 I ever spent comes in. I wish I could shake the hand of the man (or maybe mom) who came up with the brilliant idea of adding flavor to kids' medicine. Ziva has always taken medicine pretty well, but this time, other than the very first dose, she just wasn't having it. We tried every thing we could think of--forcing it down her throat, mixing it with yogurt or juice--all things everyone knows you're not suppsoed to do. And they didn't work that well anyway. So yesterday I headed back to Walgreens in desperation and paid $3 to add grape flavoring to the yucky amoxicillin. (no idea how to spell that) Ziva loves grape Tylenol and actually asks for it ("peez!") whenever she sees the bottle. So after we added the grapde flavoring, Vince had the awesome idea to rinse out an old, almost empty bottle of Tylenol and use that dropper to give Ziva her meds. And it worked!!! It takes about 8 droppers worth to give her each dose, but she sucks down all 8 without one bit of protest. Our home is peaceful once again!

Ziva showing us her grill

Showing off Uncle Mitch's hat

Go Hurricanes!

Bedtime story with Daddy

Finding Home

2009-10-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

After many, many months of searching, we have finally found a church to call home, and we are EXCITED! Monday night we met with an associate pastor at Discovery Bible Fellowship and did all the "official" business of joining the church: sharing our testimonies, discussing our talents, interests, and spiritual gifts in order to find a place to serve, and signing the church's membership covenant. At some point we'll be introduced to the congregation, but even without that, we feel finally at home. Another pastor emailed us about finding a small group to join, and we're meeting tomorrow night with the youth pastor and his wife to find out if/where/how we can work with the student ministry. Did I say we're EXCITED?

I have to confess, when we moved up here from Florida, finding a church was the last thing I expected to be difficult. And yet, that's been one of the toughest parts of this season for us. We both loved Calvary so much, and were so plugged in there, that the leaving was definitely an up-rooting, and left some painful reverberations in our life. There were some weekends when we didn't even want to visit a new church, because we could never find something as great as Calvary, and wasn't it just so easy to watch Calvary online?

We know that God has many different seasons for us to walk through, and when we're in one we really really love it's hard to move on to the next, but we trust His heart and His plan for us and move forward on our journey. It's been a long (to us) walk in the dim light, not fully seeing why we had to leave what we loved so much, but God in His goodness is giving us more and more glimpses into the "why," and we are feeling more and more settled in our new life, in this season. Of course, the moment we begin to feel settled may be the next time He moves us (like we're finally making some good friends, but found out this week they're moving to Texas. Boo.), but every change draws our eyes back to Him and reminds us that we just don't know. And that's okay. And it's EXCITING. Because only He could plan exactly what we don't even know we need.

(And yes, Ziva pictures will come soon. And maybe some awesome video, if you're lucky. You've got to see her show her "grill". We love our gangta girl!)

Bye-Bye, Bottle

2009-09-30T10:51:00.001-07:00

I'm so excited to announce that we have easily, almost magically, even accidentally taken the bottle out of Ziva's life. I had planned on breaking her of the habit over the summer, knowing that she wouldn't need or be able to have one at school this fall. She was already down to just one bottle a day at bedtime, so I didn't think it would be too hard, but then the summer ended being much crazier than we expected, and I've always heard that babies and toddlers can only handle one big change at a time. So between packing, moving, a visit from Grandma, a vacation to Chicago, and starting a new school year that brought several big changes with it, there was never a good time to pack the bottles away. I had heard that if you don't take the bottle away by 18 months, it becomes a hard and fast habit that's much tougher to break. So as 18 months snuck up on us, I was feeling a little worried about how Ziva would handle not getting a bedtime bottle. And then, lo and behold, God in all His wisdom and mercy let Ziva get a cough. Sounds strange, I know, but let me explain....we wanted Ziva to sleep, and since milk always makes her cough worse, toward the end of last week I started offering her a bottle with just water in it. She would drink a tiny bit, and then be ready for bed. We did that for three nights. On the 4th night, she didn't want the bottle of water at all, so I put her straight to bed and she did fine. Slept great, as a matter of fact! And I realized after that night (which was just Monday), that perhaps we had broken the bottle habit without even realizing it! So last night, I didn't offer a bottle at all, and she didn't protest or even seem to notice, and went straight to sleep. Hallelujah! I hope any and all of our future kids are this easy!

18 months!

2009-09-28T17:52:00.000-07:00

Ziva is 18 months old as of yesterday! We went to the doctor for her check up today, and she is right on track and, thankfully, perfectly healthy! This week she started saying "I love you," which we are super excited about, since Vince has been trying to get her to say that one for a long time. One of Ziva's new favorite activities is turning on the radio on my alarm clock and then dancing like crazy. We dance like crazy (and probably look crazy) with her, and it is so much fun!

I was able to get her hair in pig tails once last week, so here are the pictures. They were so cute! She really likes standing on her little stool and "brushing her teeth" on her own.

Good weekend

2009-09-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

We had a good weekend! It turned into a 3 day weekend for me and Ziva...she wasn't really sick but she had too many diarrhea diapers (TMI, I know, sorry) at school Thursday, and they've got pretty strict rules so we got to play hooky on Friday! Vince was off this weekend so we had fun just hanging out, and Sunday we went to my parents for a birthday lunch for Mitch and Rachel. Here are a few moments from our weekend...

Nap time with Daddy

Not sure why the rotating didn't take on this one, but isn't it sweet?

Okay, and these two crack me up. This is the face she made when I asked her to smile for the camera. Both times!! This is what we call her "mean face". She's usually playing and being funny when she makes it, not actually being mean :)

A Few Pictures

2009-09-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

How sweet is she?

Ziva loved climbing on the boxes!

My two "basket heads" :)

We're back!

2009-09-06T18:07:00.001-07:00

After a long silence, we are back! Or still here, I guess I should say. We moved in to our new apartment a few weeks ago, just two days before I went back to school. We got it done in record time, and after just a few days we felt like we'd been here quite a while. We finally got our internet back up this week, so we should get back into a pretty good blogging routine. I don't have many pictures of these past few weeks, but now that we're settled hopefully we'll get back to taking lots and lots of pictures.

School is going well; I've got some great groups of kids this year. Ziva is adjusting pretty well to the toddler room. The hardest thing was (well, still is) getting used to just one nap.....she wasn't quite ready for that, but last week they let her move back into her old crib instead of sleeping on a mat, and that has helped. Vince is still loving his job, and we are all happy about that!

So, we're back....check back soon for another update!

We're moving....finally!

2009-08-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Today we got the good news....the new buildings are finally open, and we can start moving in! The plan is to move a couple truckloads over the next couple nights, and then do the heavy stuff this weekend. I confess I came close to being bitter and had given up hope that we'd get to move before school started, but God is always good! We'll get moved in a whopping two days before I go back to work! :) We'll probably cancel our internet here in the next couple days, and who knows how long it will take to get it set up again, but we'll see you on the other side, with pictures. Stay tuned!

Chicago recap & Moving update

2009-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

We've been back from Chicago for almost a week, so an update is long overdue! We had an amazing time, and I'm so thankful we were able to go. I had a great time meeting so many family members. Special thanks to Aunt Myrna for not only letting us stay with her, but for giving up her bed for us (which Ziva subsequently threw up on!) and being so understanding and flexible with us and Ziva's sleep (or lack thereof at times).

We got in Saturday night, and on Sunday we had the big reunion/birthday party for Grandma. We took TONS of pictures...this is Grandma with her grandkids and their spouses/significant others. She was such a good sport, sitting through so many pictures. It probably lasted about an hour for her...we were all joking about the paparazzi. Finally we had just one camera finishing up and every one got a disc. Next reunion, we'll remember!

Here's Grandma with her great grandchildren. Pretty amazing!

On Monday we went to Lincoln Park Zoo and spent most of the day there. It's a great zoo, and we all had a lot of fun. The weather in Chicago was beautiful the whole time we were there....it was a perfect zoo day! We got most of the family that was there together for a group picture by the flowers.

Thursday night we got to see Mexico play (and beat) Costa Rica in one of the Gold Cup games at Soldier Field, where the Bears play. It was awesome! The stadium was packed out...I've never seen so many Mexican soccer fans in one place! It was exciting, and quite an experience. When Mexico scored for the first time toward the end of the game, everyone was throwing beer in the air....we got a little drenched, which wasn't so fun, but it was kind of funny. Like I said, an experience. :)

We had planned on seeing Cubs game, but ended up just going to the soccer game instead. However, we took a drive down to Wrigley Field just for fun and to get some pictures. We were there during the game, so it was crowded and there were lots of street vendors selling Cubs stuff, and we stopped and got a stuffed Cubs bear for Ziva. She napped during the drive, so she'll have to see Wrigley next time.

All in all, we had a wonderful time. Our favorite part was just spending so much time with family. A couple other highlights were the food (amazing!!) and going to Millenium Park downtown, where we saw the Bean and played by the water towers. Ziva adjusted pretty well to sleeping in bed with us (after a couple nights, that is) and she loved having her cousins to play with. It was a great trip, and we're thinking we should just do it every year!

Back on the home front, we still haven't moved....now it's looking like NEXT weekend. I am praying even harder that we actually get to move before I have to go back to work on the 17th. Apparently the fire marshall in charge is on a little power trip and keeps finding new reasons to postpone approval of the certificate of occupancy. Oh well, we'll make it eventually. I'm just still waiting for a good reason to start packing!

Just a few more hours...

2009-07-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

We are finishing up our packing at this very moment, and in a few hours we'll be heading to Chicago for a week to see family. We are so excited! Check back in about a week for pictures!

But before I go, we got a special treat last night in seeing my Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave, who are in Tulsa for the weekend. They came over with my cousin Katie, and Dad, Norma, and Mitch came too. We had a great time just hanging out, catching up, and reminiscing. Aunt Julie hadn't seen Ziva since she was about 3 weeks old, and Uncle Dave had never seen her, so that was fun. This was Vince's first time to meet Dave too. Ziva was a little shy at first, but eventually warmed up to them and had a lot of fun. Julie and Dave brought a child table and chairs that used to belong to my mom and Aunt Kristy, so that was pretty special and we're looking forward to setting that up in Ziva's room once we move. The bad news: I totally forgot to bring out the camera and get some pictures, despite thinking about it all day before they got here. Bleh! Next time...I just hope it's not too long! We love you Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave!

Funny Face

2009-07-15T17:56:00.001-07:00

I've started packing a few boxes....they are Ziva's new favorite seat.

This face cracks me up!

She wasn't doing a cheesy pose, although it turned out that way :)

We took a little road trip to Arkansas today to have lunch with Cherissa, Max and Maggie. We got to stop by and see Vicki too, which was a treat, especially since Vicki was feeling pretty good. Ziva was a great trooper in the car, even though she only slept 30 minutes on the way back, and that was it for the whole day...contrary to the "plans" I had made!

Park Play

2009-07-10T11:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday wasn't quite as hot and there was a great breeze, so I took Ziva to the park for a little bit. She gets so red in the face it scares me, so we only stayed about 25 minutes, but it was fun. Rayola Park is so different than I remember when I was a kid....they've got toddler sized gyms, which Ziva liked climbing around on, and which I liked because I didn't have to worry so much about her falling off!

Ziva likes sliding down the slide, but she LOVES trying to climb back up it! This tunnel slide proved a challenge, though.

Procrastinating

2009-07-06T08:27:00.001-07:00

I'm procrastinating. Ziva is sleeping, so I should be tackling my to-do list. Blah. I made the bed, washed some dishes, and got a load of laundry in the dryer, but none of those things were even on my to-do list, so I don't feel like I've accomplished much. Maybe I'll go back and add them to the list so I can cross them out. (I LOVE crossing things off lists!)

My biggest to-do task is to start packing, since we're hoping and praying that we'll get to move to our new apartment before next Saturday, when we leave for Chicago. Even if all we do is get everything moved in but not unpacked, I'd be happy. I know the time will fly once we get back from vacation and it will be time for school to start before I know it, so I'm hoping all that time in between will be time where I can focus just on unpacking, organizing, and getting settled. BUT, since we don't have a definite date, I'm unmotivated to pack, and also overwhelmed. I used to not mind moving too much, but I guess the older I get, the less appealing it becomes. I know once I get started I'll be fine, but it's sort of like writer's block at this point. I have packer's block...instead of staring at a blank page, I'm staring at empty boxes. As a teacher, I would instruct students to just write whatever comes to their heads, whether it makes any sense at this point or not. So I guess I should just start putting SOMETHING in a box.....

Okay, here I go.

Happy words, happy heart

2009-07-01T11:33:00.000-07:00

Vince came home from work yesterday evening, and as he walked in the door he said, "I love my new job. It's so great to come home and be happy!"

Thank you, Lord, for Your good gifts!

Hot, hot, hot!

2009-06-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

It has been HOT lately....you wouldn't think we ever left Florida! But in spite of the heat we took in a little bit of baseball this weekend. My dad's work sponsors a family night in the summer, and this year's event was a Tulsa Drillers' game. We got there early for some free food, and then watched less than one inning before Ziva had had enough. She did have fun, though, as you can see. We love this dress that Ross and Amber sent...although it fits more like a shirt so we put shorts underneath it. The material was nice and cool, perfect for the weather. Thanks Uncle Ross and Auntie Amber!

Ice cold water, yum!

Watching the game with Grandpa

Love this face!

I signed Ziva up for the summer reading program at the library today...I didn't realize kids as young as her could participate, but when we checked out, they said I should. My little reader! We like taking trips to the library...it's nice cool fun, and Ziva loves running around the children's section and having great "conversations" with other kids.

Vince's new job

2009-06-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Vince was officially offered a new job yesterday, working on staff at our apartment complex doing maintenance. This is such a huge blessing, and we are so excited! It's amazing how God has been leading us in this direction when we didn't even realize it. Vince has been wanting a new job for a while, something that would allow him to be home more and be in a more positive environment. But in this economy, job searching is tough, obviously. We had already planned on moving to a new apartment this summer, downsizing a little, to save some money each month on rent. The Greens is building a new phase, and we applied for one of the brand new apartments. When we heard a couple weeks ago that they were hiring, Vince applied. He had his first interview last week, and it turns out they were super excited that he had applied, since they knew he was already planning on moving to the new phase and that's where they wanted him to work. So....he got the job, which is a huge blessing in itself, but it comes with so many perks...God is good! Since Vince will basically live at work (or work at home), when he's off, he's home! No rush hour traffic, no driving to and from Tulsa, more time at home with us. Yea! Also, we don't need a second car, which is a very good thing since my poor little Prizm is on its death bed. It has been a good car, but it's done. It gave out during my last week of school, and we thought then, "perfect timing...summer is the best time to only have one car." We figured we'd make a new plan once school started again, but now we don't need to, since we only need one car! (Cheaper insurance, save on gas, wear and tear...yea!) And as if all that weren't enough, we get a major discount on our rent, plus we get the best of the new apartments, which means a little more space than we have now, rather than less. Yea!

So we are thrilled with this new season, especially about all the extra time we'll be able to spend as a family. God is faithful, and this is such a great reminder to me that He can (and does!) do more than we could ask, think, or imagine.

Dear Grandma,

2009-06-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Mommy wanted to put your picture on the blog, but I wouldn't let her. I'm so glad you came to visit. I had so much fun! I can't wait to see you soon in Chicago! Love, Ziva

Vince's mom got to come spend a week with us, and it was so great to see her! We showed her a little bit of Owasso/Tulsa living, but we mostly just played with Ziva.

We went to Cherry Street one night to have dinner with Mitch and Rachel, since Mary had never met them. We ate at Bourbon St. Cafe....yum! Ziva ate alligator bites, dirty rice, and bread pudding, among some other more appropriate toddler food. :)

We got a great video of Ziva dancing like crazy to the live jazz, but it's so dark it's really hard to see. Use your imagination. :)

Fun with Uncle Mitch and Aunt Rachel!

Sporting one of the new outfits Grandma got her and reading to herself. (It is SO fun to watch and listen to her read on her own.)

Water day!

2009-06-16T11:58:00.001-07:00

There's a great little water park where the old pool used to be in Owasso, and we took Ziva there one day while Vince's mom was here. She wasn't too sure about the water, but she really liked watching the bigger kids playing.

Vince took her underneath the big buckets that dump out once they fill up. It was COLD!

After the bucket :)

Two GREAT years!

2009-06-03T17:22:00.000-07:00

Today is our 2nd anniversary! These last two years have been so great, and they have flown! I've been reflecting today on our life together, and we have certainly had some major adventures. I don't think either one of us could have imagined two years ago that we would be where we are today (mainly: in Oklahoma, with a 14 month old daughter!), but it has been an amazing journey so far. I can only dream of what else God has in store for us after all that He's done in, through, and for us in just two years!

Happy anniversary, Vince....I love you more every day!

Dance party, Ziva style

2009-06-03T17:01:00.000-07:00

I grabbed the camera too late, so we missed most of the dancing, but you can still get the idea. :)

ah, summer!

2009-06-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Lovin' summer! Today's highlights:

discovering that the inside of the dryer makes a great drum, and echoes if you yell into it
whisking lots of imaginary food in a big bowl
putting puzzle pieces into the big bowl, then taking them out....over and over (which is very exciting becase until very recently, putting things back was not a skill Ziva had mastered...she only took them out, creating fun, but large, messes)

As a side note, our daughter is a giant! We went to the doctor this week for an ear infection, and they went ahead and did Ziva's 15 month check up, even though she's just 14 months. She weighs 23 pounds, which is pretty average, but she's 33 inches long, which is above the 95th percentile for 15 month-old kids! I did the math and realized she's already taller than half my height, and she's getting close to half of Vince's height! If the old wive's tale I heard from an old wife (really!) at Walmart holds true, that a person's full height will be double their height at age 2, then Ziva will definitely be one tall lady!

School's out!

2009-05-23T07:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I officially finished my sixth year of teaching! I've passed the burn-out stage by a year already, and I still love it....but I'm so glad we're done! :) Hopefully the slower pace of summer will find me doing much better about blogging.

Lots of new things are happening in Ziva's life. She's growing so fast! The latest addition to her vocabulary is "shoe", and she constantly takes her shoes and puts them on top of her feet if she's not wearing any. She also puts shorts on her waist and shirts on her head...she just can't put them on herself yet. And, we think she has the makings of a true girly-girl. Stephanie makes jewelry and gave Ziva a tiny little necklace for Easter, and whenever Ziva sees it in easy reach, she takes it and holds it up to her neck for us to put it on. If she can't find that one, she likes to wear mine!

Another new found interest is the trash can. She loves to put things in and take them back out (yuck!) Every once in a while she actually puts paper in the trash can, but the rest of the time it's her cup or the magnet letters from the fridge....who knows how many of those we've thrown out without realizing it! In this picture I think she's pulling out a dryer sheet she just deposited. I usually end up moving the trash can to the top of the bar until she goes to bed.

Here she's playing with the box from my Mother's Day flowers. You can see that instead of a security blanket, Ziva has opted for the security belly button. Lately she has to have a hand on her belly button at all times. It's a good thing she's almost outgrown most of the onesies we have left, because if I put one on her, she pulls at it until she gets the snaps undone....she just has to have that belly button!

Here's the bathing suit Tia Daneli got for her. They had two water days this week to celebrate the end of school (which I didn't get any pictures of :( ) We hear it was a lot of fun. Isn't she cute?

Ziva is really into dancing lately, too....she twirls and stomps and waves her arms. It is too cute. And she likes to take us by the hand and lead us around the house. Her ultimate goal is almost always to get us to take her outside....by far her favorite place to be. Maybe I'll actually get a little color this summer!

We are excited about the summer...Mary is coming in a couple more weeks (yea Grandma!), and then we'll head to Chicago in July for some Ramirez family fun! In the meantime, we have a couple of pretty major summer goals for Ziva: transition from two naps to one, learn to use silverware proficiently, and practice sleeping somewhere other than her own crib, in preparation for naps on a mat in the fall, and sleeping who knows where in Chicago! Should be fun. We'll keep you posted!

I've got friends in low places...

2009-05-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, high places! Yes, that is our daughter in the arms of Garth Brooks! Last week Rejoice school had a big fundraiser and Garth went to the elementary campus to help support, sign autographs, etc. And since everyone there just loves they babies, I guess they got special treatment and got to have their own special time to meet him and Trisha Yearwood and have their pictures taken with him. I wasn't there for any of this, but Stephanie got some good pictures! Thanks Steph!!

Looks like she's about to kiss him, huh? :)

Telling Garth a story. We hear she did NOT want him to put her down!

Garth and Trisha signing autographs

Ziva's class picture with Garth and Trisha

Sick day

2009-05-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Ziva had to come home today because she had a rash, so we went to the doctor, got some antibiotics, and spent the day at home. When we got back from the doctor, she wanted to play with the keys, and then she kept trying to unlock the door....pretty smart cookie!

After that, she continued playing with the keys, this time putting them in and out of the laundry basket over and over. I'm glad she has so much fun with funny little things like that!

Tomorrow we're home again...looking forward to more fun playtime!

Rainy day

2009-05-04T17:52:00.001-07:00

Saturday was a rainy day so we had to entertain ourselves inside. I decided to see how Ziva would do with crayons, and it was pretty fun! She "made her mark"...and she actually put that crayon between her toes on her own. For a minute there I thought we had an artistic genius on our hands, but in reality, I'm thinking it was an accident. :)

We finally had to quit when she started eating the crayons instead of coloring. Yep, we're still in the everything-goes-in-the-mouth stage. Anyone know when that ends??

Look out...she's climbing!

2009-04-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

We have entered a new era of Ziva-inspired danger. She is now able to climb onto the couch and ottomans by herself! Just when I think I can't take my eyes off her, I realize there's another level of can't-take-my-eyes-off-ness. Keeps us on our toes! I have been sorely lacking in the picture department lately, but I'll try to remedy that soon. We had a great day at the park this weekend and I was so sad I forgot the camera because Ziva happily launched herself down the slide over and over again, loving it. Next time!

Little Things

2009-04-25T13:45:00.000-07:00

Ziva really has an eye for little details, we're noticing. Today I took her out for a little walk around our apartments, and here's a list of some of the things she noticed while we were out:

the bumps and ridges on the yellow pedestrian crossing part of the sidewalk
half a leaf blowing around the parking lot
a tiny red dot of paint on the edge of the curb
a dried up piece of gum on the edge of a flower bed (gross!)
grass growing in the crack of the sidewalk
a tiny piece of blue paper, probably from a candy wrapper
the fact that every parking space had a parking curb, evenly spread out

All that reminds me of a story from school a few weeks ago. Angie and Stephanie saw her staggering around on the carpet, which isn't really that strange, except she was doing it more than usual and cracking up. They finally realized she was chasing an ant, which is pretty hard to see on that speckled school carpet!

Tia Daneli

2009-04-18T11:34:00.000-07:00

We had a very special guest over Easter weekend--Daneli!! We hadn't seen Daneli since before Ziva was born, so it was great for Ziva to finally get to meet her and to show her a little bit of Oklahoma. We had lunch one day at a Chinese buffet...Ziva enjoyed it!

Ziva with Tia

Of course, Ziva loved Daneli, and you never would have known that they were strangers until now! We had a relaxed, laid-back time, and it was so much fun. We tried a new recipe while Daneli was here, Grilled Bean Burgers, and they were AMAZING. Click here for the recipe if you want to try it. We put lettuce, tomato and avocado on top instead of the salsa. Yum yum!

Speaking Ziva-ese

2009-04-16T18:02:00.000-07:00

Ziva's vocabulary is starting to grow, and she's added some new words recently. For fun, here's a list of the words she says.

Daddy
Mama
duh-ty (ducky)
no
no (nose)
Noah (friend at school)
Jo (teacher at school)
uh-oh
boo
boo (blue)
Zia (Ziva)

And I think the other day she said "dirty" but it sounded a lot like Daddy or ducky. However, she said it after carefully examining her messy hands at dinner. Sounds pretty smart to me. :)

Ziva's First Easter

2009-04-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Ziva's class had an Easter party and egg hunt. Vince and I both got to go for a little bit, and it was fun to watch the kids at their party. This was the best shot we got with all three of us looking at the camera, but Ziva threw a piece of macaroni at me. Look closely...you'll see it.

Getting ready for the egg hunt.

WIFE OF THE YEAR

2009-04-08T09:53:00.001-07:00

April 5th was my 33rd birthday, and those who know me know that 3 is my favorite number. My Honey, known to most as Rita, decided to make this a very memorable birthday for me so two months or more before my birthday she decided to send out a letter to family and friends asking them to think of a favorite memory that included me. She asked them to write some encouraging words for me and to send photos as well. Rita then gathered everything together and created a scrap book for me to enjoy. Now of course this was supposed to be a surprise and of course I found out about it, as I always do, but I did not know what anyone wrote until my birthday and it was still incredibly thoughtful and romantic of Rita to do. Words of encouragement is my love language and my honey knows that more than anyone, as she daily encourages me as her husband, as Ziva's dad, and in all things. I greatly enjoyed each word of encouragement from everyone and the photos that accompanied the words. There was much laughter and some tears as I read through and remembered memories of each of you. Although I enjoyed what each of you wrote, I enjoyed my dad's letter most. I learned the my grandfather was adopted into the Ramirez family just like I was, which adds fuel to my desire to adopt one day. I was also touched to know he remebered a goal I had in a soccer game many years ago. To close I just want to say thanks to all, especially my honey the wife of the year.

From this day forward

Talking with Ziva

2009-04-07T18:03:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun video of a little conversation we got to have with Ziva. You'll enjoy her talking for sure, but if you listen to me and Vince in the background, I think you'll get a good laugh too. We love each other. :)

Cake Video

2009-03-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

More Birthday Pictures

2009-03-31T18:13:00.001-07:00

Let her eat cake!

2009-03-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Vince and I stayed up late Saturday night and decorated a teddy bear cake for Ziva. We also made cupcakes in teddy bear cupcake holders, but I didn't get any pictures of those. I've got a better picture of the "before" cake but I haven't uploaded it yet....all these pictures are from Stephanie, one of Ziva's teachers, who is a great photographer! (Thanks Steph!)

Checking it out. It took Ziva quite a while to warm up to the idea of cake. I took a video and after 4 minutes she still wasn't doing much so I stopped, and recorded more later once she got into it. (And I mean into it!)

Now we're talking! She worked at it and broke the bear's leg off!

And here she's poking his eye out. She likes to poke people's eyes too. :)

All done! Note the icing in her hair.

Party Pics

2009-03-29T18:23:00.000-07:00

Today was Ziva's birthday party. We had originally planned a barbecue at the park, but after the freak (or not-so-freak-for-Oklahoma) snow storm on Saturday (I think we ended up with over 6 inches around here!) we moved it inside to our apartment and grilled on the balcony. It was still a great time!

Ziva opens a gift. She got two baby dolls, one a Cabbage Patch Kid and one that giggles.

We enjoyed having Gabbi, one of Ziva's school friends, and her parents come by for a little bit.

Gabbi always wears cute bows, which Ziva likes to steal :)

Ziva just had to be outside with the boys for some of the party!

Happy birthday Ziva!!

Happy Birthday Ziva!

2009-03-27T17:17:00.000-07:00

March 27, 2008

March 27, 2009

Can you believe how much she's grown? It's amazing!

Future Soccer Star

2009-03-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Playground, Ziva style

2009-03-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

This video just shows some typical play time for Ziva. She has lots of fun in her bathroom, exploring and pulling all the towels and washcloths from her little bin. Nothing extraordinary, but it's cute, and make sure you have the volume up so you can hear her talking to herself. She's been a chatterbox today!

Table Manners

2009-03-17T17:35:00.001-07:00

We're starting to teach Ziva to use utensils on her own. That paper towel commercial that says "It takes a certain kind of strength to let them learn on their own" hit it right on the head! With very little practice, though, Ziva has figured out how to put the spoon in her mouth the right way to eat the food. Getting the food on the spoon in the first place is another story. For now, I put the spoon in the bowl and leave it there for her to pick up.

After cleaning up the prune and apples mess, I decided to feed her myself for the main course, but she didn't want the spoon from me, so I just gave her the bowl...she needs to learn how to use those too!

Yum!

And next came bathtime, to clean up after her learning experience!

Ready for bed in cute new big girl pajamas (she outgrew her footy pajamas so quickly we had to cut the feet out of one pair until we could get her some new ones!)

Getting big!

2009-03-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

Norma took these pictures while Ziva was at their house during my parent-teacher conferences last week. Doesn't she look so grown up? (except for the toys in her mouth, of course?)