Warning Label...

One thing that I didn't mention about our christmas trip is that Youssef had made some wine that he wanted to take for presents. He diappered each bottle and putting them in zipploc bags we packed them in a gigantic suitcase along with the presents for each other and Lily that we couldn't wrap (because of regulations) and tried to hide them from each other which proved to be rather difficult.

Well... the wine all made it to GA in one piece then to TX still in one piece and to all of our friends and who ever else Youssef found to bestow it upon. Now... I have to say that first batch wasn't so good. We tried it down there after all of the traveling (couldn't open it before because of the ageing it had to go through).. Youssef admits that the first batch wasn't so great. I DO have to say that his second batch of Reisling was quite perfect though!

So... if you happen to be someone that was given the said home-made wine, we've discovered that though it does lack some of the right qualities when used as a table wine it is amazingly good if put in a smoothy! We've just discovered this... some vanilla ice cream or milk/sugar with some frozen strawberries and a little of the "bad wine" turns out quite well. I'd actually thought I couldn't like wine again after Youssef had me taste test so often (or it just seemed often because it tasted so bad) but that I actually will willingly drink.

Also, if any of you out there do have a bottle of his first batch of wine it might be interesting to find out how you've creatively used it... medically perhaps... or for machinery?

(... and if we are fortunate enough to be able to fly all across the U.S. carrying 60lbs of wine ever again, rest assured that if you receive a bottle again it will be quite supperb as Youssef is quite skilled at making it now. ;)

The big catching up update!

Where to begin? (Now that I finally got a chance to use Youssef's computer MwaaahahahahahahahahahHAHAHAaa!) We took Christmas pictures in December when Lily was 11 months old. (I had fun taking the picture in the Christmas globe. ;)



I made a matching dolls dress to match Lily's Christmas dress. The doll was a Christmas gift from her Grandma and she loves to pack it around and pretend to feed it things.

One of Lily's favorate things to do is to help me with the dishes! Now she'll even say please (in sign language--rubbing her belly) to ask to "help" with the dishes. She mostly splashes and hands me things to put in the dishwasher, but I love how curious she is and how she wants to do things with me all the time!

The lights on the tree fascinated her and she kept trying to eat them till we moved the tree up higher. I have more pictures of this time with her enjoying a candy can and a bunch of others with an early Christmas at my Mom's house but they are on our other computer that isn't working with the internet right now.

Playing with DADDY... and sleeping with Daddy too.. awww aren't they cute.

Then for the real Christmas we flew to GA to visit Youssef's Mom and StepDad. It was a very long flight, but we all survived mostly happily, though tired. Here's a picture of Lily laughing at the talking mistletoe with her Grammy!

Opening presents on Christmas day! (No the puppy wasn't a gift, she already lived there... I think she's trying to taste some leftovers or something on Lily's face...)

Bows are so pretty on presents. Lily really got into the whole "opening presents" thing by the time Christmas and her birthday were over!

The glowing thing is actually Lily's gift to her Daddy for Christmas, but as you can see it's really for them both.


Lily's ONE YEAR OLD in these pictures! Jan. 4 (We were now at a friends house in TX visiting other family and friends for the holidays.)



Her special birthday present that I brought from home so she could open on the big day was a toy kitty that mews and closes it eyes when you pet it's head back. As Lily was hugging it it kept mewing over and over and Lily mewed back to it! Lily loves kitties and every morning when she wakes up usually with our cat walking around the house mewing for us to get up she says "Hididdy, hidittty" over and over.


She LOVES whipcream and chocolate especially. We had the Tuckers over for a party when we got back home and Lily and Noelle took a bath (after the dessert eating) together and played with their bathy dolls.


(The pictures are a little out of order but oh well) Lily opened her bath doll in the morning (notice the nighty and sleepy eyes) and was very excited because she loves dolls! (Sounds like me when I was little. ;)



She still loves to play with her bath doll and has taken the diaper off several times and tried to throw it away! (It's so hard to tell her not to when I'm trying not to laugh and I want to congradulate her on how clever she is, but she IS learning not to throw her toys away. ;)




This is her being silly with a wooden puzzle piece inbetween her teethe.


My Christmas present to Youssef were tickets to the "Blue Man Group" in Jan.



It was pretty fun! Youssef really really really liked the music... I liked it too but maybe the glow sticks almost as much.




Lily with her coloring book and playing peek-a-boo.


I made her a bean bag that looks like Bob the tomato from Veggie tales (she has a picture of him in her room and points and says "Bao Bao". Her favorite shows are veggie tales and really won't watch other cartoons for long which is fine with me because I like them too! ... and the Bible stories in them make me want to read the Bible more because I think, "wait, did it really happen like that?" It's pretty neat that we all like it rather than being something that divides our family. Anyway, she really like her new bean bag Bob.

Lily has a little broom that she always runs to get when I sweep the floor so that she can "help" (I think it does help me... to clean faster. ;)

We got the "Starship of Catan" it's a two person game and so far we really like it. Though Youssef still isn't satisfied with it yet because I win to easily. ;)

I don't know why I put this picture in Lily is eating something an being goofey. I love how curious she is about foods and that she will try pretty much anything and there are only a couple things that she's not crazy about. Yesterday she was eating with a fork and being really careful to stab the food just right and slowly lift it to her mouth. When I told her that she did a really good job she got really excited and wanted to feed me too!

This is her big girl bed in the little room off of our bedroom she always hated her crib and therefore we didn't use it much but this is just right for her because if she has a bad dream or something she can get up and find me easily (the mattresses are on the floor so she can't hurt herself when she's half asleep). You can't see it in this picture but there is a little bookshelf to the left of her bed and in the morning she looks at books and other toys. A few days ago she'd found her little snowman toy that her Grammy gave her and was pulling the soft head off of the frame (all the parts of the snow man come apart so that you can stack him differently) and she'd climbed onto our bed while we were still (mostly) asleep and kept putting the snowman head on her finger and then flicking it off and laughing hysterically. It was really funny to wake up with her laughing so hard.

To risk some controversy...

I just read this really great article http://fix.net/~rprewett/womantowoman.html
The part I was really interested in was what she said about Titus and the roles of men and woman she described some things in a way I had not heard before about mothering and so forth.
I'd love to hear any thoughts any of you have (even if they start a controversial conversation!;)
'grin' I'll start
... it is unbiblical for a man to give mothering advice.
(please do read the article before responding to this seemingly wacked statement.)

Eye-opener

I've been thinking a while about parenting and am always keeping my eyes open for new ideas that might work better than what I've done with Lily. Well, a friend in TX told me about the "Baby Wise" books by the Ezzos, and it sounded like it was a really good message. I have other friends who use a like the philosophy, so I looked into it more. If any of you out there use and like his books, I encourage you to see this web site www.ezzo.info. After learning the information that was falsified (like his degree and other health concerns about breastfeeding and nutriton for the babies) and real stories from people following the books, I wanted to let other people know so that they can be fully informed. I'm not saying that if you use his method you are wrong or evil or anything--in fact, I think that if you like it, that it works in your family, and you have a thriving relationship with your healthy kids, wonderful! I'm just putting this post here because this was a big eye-opener for me, and I wanted to share it.