Simba turns one!

Yesterday, Simba turned 1 year old. We had a quiet day with balloons, a cupcake and fun playtime. (More partying is to come next week!) Our little girl welcomed in the end of her first year with much of our usual routine and few new things thrown in. As I was reflecting on her first year I am struck by the simple joy that this baby has brought to us and the fact that this year has FLOWN by.

Simba takes in the world and carefully processes it all before she gives out smiles or anything else. She is cautious with others but delighted with her family. She laughs hardest at her sister. And she likes to be rocked by her mama (though Mimi will do in a pinch)! She giggles for her daddy and enjoys lots of people watching in her life. She is a thinker who has started to study books (she will pull each book out of the bin and focus on the pages for quite a long time). Simba is also mellow and seems to take life in stride. She likes to sleep but is not too keen on crawling yet. She is just right for our family and we are grateful to have her.

Happiest of birthdays baby girl!

The waters will hold you up!

Right before Simba got a bit wet

All smiles.. at 8 months old.

Pastor Dad splashed Simba pretty good but she was unfazed by all the water!

Simba and titi

Simba and Grandma-Great

Mama and Simba

Today we had the pleasure of standing up in front of our community and making public our intention to raise Simba in a certain path. It was a good day, similar to Nemo's baptism a few years ago. What I wrote then is still certainly true. I see baptizing babies as a way to form a covenant with God and to be held accountable to that decision. Our community welcomes in adults, adolescents and children warmly. But is also true that we are making a decision for our daughter, one that she may choose to embrace or reject as she gets older. Which will be her choice, hopefully guided by God's presence in her life. I look forward to seeing what decisions both of our girls make as they get older. I'm sure that they will be interesting!

Through generations...

Grandma-Great and Simba

I already posted this picture on instagram and facebook but it's worthy of more adoration. It's one of those captures that makes me pause and just look. My daughter with my grandmother. 

It's as though I am looking through time. I have pictures of my grandmother looking at me just the same way. And Simba's face is just delightful in this picture, she is doing her thing enjoying life. 

I love how it captures these two people, so special and important in my life. 

A few shots of the day...

This face ...

This is how she feels about tummy time.

Nemo is showing off her fruit...only moments before Simba tried to get her hands on it...

Five months old...

Simba is five months old this month and it's fascinating to watch her interactions with Nemo. As you can see below Simba loves nothing more than watching Nemo. She laughs at her sister's antics and finds her generally delightful. 

The admiration is mutual! (most of the time)

Yes she picked out this outfit herself. And she was very proud of it.

Nemo was introducing Simba to all of her "guys". 

These girls are something else. I often watch them and think about how my relationships with my sisters have developed over time. I am so grateful for my two sisters, they really are amazing and gifted people who enrich my life everyday. I hope that I can somehow help my girls to see each other as precious gifts, even when they argue or get frustrated with one another.  

Sleeping...

I posted this picture to Facebook/Instagram earlier this week and it's one of my recent favorites. There is nothing quite as nice as wearing a sleeping baby against your chest. Simba is still at an age where she will fall asleep anywhere when tired enough. It's quite delightful. Tonight I just want to remember her delicious baby smell and totally relaxed body when she releases herself into sleep. Also those cheeks! So kissable and delightful. She is quite the baby, I know that soon she'll be moving onto her next milestone but I just want to remember her tiny babyhood, I know it will be gone so soon. Love you girlie, to the moon and back.

Pictures of our doll baby....

I think she may be the very best baby! We love her so and love having her in our family. She is the most delightful little one who seems to bring joy everywhere!

Girls together...

The other day while I had my camera out and was snapping a few pics of Simba I heard Nemo yell from the other room, "Take pictures!" and she came running out to see what was happening. She must have heard the click of my shutter and recognizes that this means it's time to pose for the camera. I know I have my camera out a lot but gees! So she was delighted when her dad suggested she hold Simba for some pictures. I was equally delighted that she was distracted by holding the baby that she left her headband in for the pics. Of course when we were done she promptly removed it.

She is becoming quite the big sister who pays attention to what Simba needs, whether that be eating, sleeping or a burp cloth. Often she will bring some toy to Simba and say "Show Simba??" It's very sweet. And though it may look like she is torturing her sister in some of these pics, I assure you she was being very gentle and not holding her too tight.

I look forward to taking many many more photos of my girls together. Also for a laugh check out MSD's blog to see his take on one of the photos.

Birthday kitchen

For Nemo's 2nd birthday MSD and I dreamed up a play kitchen. We weren't thrilled by the mostly plastic options out there. They are fine but usually pretty big for our small house and this kitchen lives in our living room so I wanted to like looking at it. Thus we turned to Ana White, the amazing builder! She has easy plans for a play kitchen and I emphasize EASY since MSD and I are totally inept when it comes to building things. We have way to many educational degrees between the two of us to be any good with wood projects! But we had fun and we both really like it. 

I was determined after I saw the plans to make a kitchen for Nemo and eventually Simba to share as well. And this is what we came up with. We are pretty happy with it, though it's far from perfect and not even close to square!

Kitchen built by MSD and myself, food from Melissa and Doug and Ikea

A real faucet and a dog bowl as a sink

We made the oven door open to the side because it seemed easier to play with.

Dressing Up

So this post is late but I have a four week old so I am cutting myself some slack. In addition to welcoming a new baby we have had a number of other interesting visitors in the last few weeks...

First there was a renegade Tigger roaming the halls...

But terms out she was pretty tame, though a bit suspicious of this photographer...

Then a bumblebee showed up..

And this pumpkin (there are no words)

Bumbo! (pumpkin in Nemo speak)

Turns out more than one pumpkin hangs out around here...

Nemo's first experience Trick or Treating (though she still doesn't know what candy is..)

With her wand!

Oh and a really cute skeleton stops by occasionally ...

We've been having a good time with all these visitors...