Swim Lessons!

Before showing her swim lessons, let's first start with the old adage, "You have to crawl before you can walk." It seems Julia didn't get this memo, just like she didn't get the memo about turning head-down in mommy's womb before delivery. The girl still isn't close to crawling - won't get on all fours, doesn't rock back and forth, etc. But here is her walking!

She loves her swim lessons, and the videos at the bottom show some of the activities we do in class. She is now going "under" for 1 second at a time, and she doesn't seem phased by it whatsoever!

Look-alike

For 9 months, we've questioned if Julia looks more like her mom or dad since people have told us both. We asked Beverly (Jarret's mom) to pull out pictures of Jarret when he was a baby, and his baby pictures don't look a thing like Julia. Then Beverly pulled out pictures of Larry, Jarret's dad. Um, I think we have a winner! Notice in how the 3 month photos, their fingers are even positioned the same way. Wild!

Amazing Valentine's Date

It started earlier this week when I mentioned to Jarret that we had nothing planned for Valentine's Day. He replied, "Yes, we do! I put it on our calendar, but you just haven't noticed." Sure enough, our calendar was marked for Saturday evening: "Surprise Valentine's Date".

I *love* suprises. All I knew is that we were supposed to be somewhere near downtown at 6:45. Dinner reservations, perhaps? On Saturday afternoon, I finally asked Jarret what I needed to wear. He said I need to be casual and comfortable. I felt like what I was wearing already fit that description, but he suggested I get even more casual. Clearly, we were not going to a swanky restaurant. Perhaps some sort of fun activity?

I changed clothes, we dropped Julia off at Gran & Poppy's, and then enjoyed a matinee movie (such a treat!). Afterward, we started our drive toward downtown. Soon, we were veering off on roads I've never driven down, and then I started getting nervous...truly nervous. Where were we? I suddenly felt like we were in a different city, and not the nice part of the city.

As we pulled up to our destination, Jarret gives me the go-ahead to read my Valentine's Day card. In it, he wrote, "I am blessed to serve alongside my 'Miss Debbie' for the rest of my life." That's a reference to the book we're reading, Same Kind of Different as Me. It tells the story of a rich art dealer in the DFW area who, at the prompting of his wife Miss Debbie, begins serving the homeless through Union Gospel Mission and befriends a homeless fellow. Of course, they both end up changing each other's lives. The book has been reshaping our lives.

Since we're on a very tight budget right now and can't afford Valentine's Day in the traditional sense, Jarret decided what better way to spend Valentine's Day than giving our time to serve others. So, we spent three hours talking to these men and getting to serve up some food. It was an incredible Valentine's Day, and I am so blessed to have a husband who thought to do such a wonderful thing! Our goal for 2009 is to become more focused on truly loving and serving others, regardless of whether they can do anything for us. Thank you honey for planning such an awesome date night that was focused toward our goal!

Courtesy of fellow Watermark member Todd's cellphone camera. Thanks Todd!

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' (Matthew 25:35-36)

Heaven On Earth

Attending Dallas Boat Show
+
Showing off daugther in wakeboard attire
+
Chattin' it up with wakeboard pro Keith Lyman
=
Jarret's version of heaven on earth!

JARRET'S EDIT: Great post Honey! What a great moment in my life! haha If you all want to see a small glimpse of why Keith Lyman is one of the greatest wakeboarders on the planet, then check out this video.
http://vimeo.com/2208996?pg=embed&sec=2208996

Birthdays!

My sweet, wonderful husband turned 30 last Friday (January 23). We celebrated with his family at Bob's Steak & Chop!




And Julia turns 8 months old today! At 8 months: -

• She is trying to pull up and loves standing up, but has zero interest in crawling.
  
• One of her top teeth is about 1/2 way in, and she clicks/grinds it against her bottom teeth. The sound is absolutely worse than nails on a chalkboard!


• Her personality clearly takes after her dad more than her mom (hooray!). She is mellow and calm, and she's generally very happy but doesn't necessarily show it on her face 24-7.


• Also like her daddy, she can still sleep like a champ. She sleeps 11.5 - 12 hours at night and still takes two good naps during the day (every once in a while, 3 naps).


• She's a fantastic eater. We'd heard plenty of stories of babies who ate great until green beans were introduced. The child eats them like applesauce. Many times, she has her mouth wide open before we can even get the next bite ready! We call her our little birdie. This is how wide she opens her mouth (yes, we were letting her sip water from a straw):



• She likes to "dance" to music. She'll bounce up and down to music when she's sitting (see video below), but she also gets a big smile on her face when I hold her in my arms and boogie to upbeat dance music.






• Her favorite discovery of this month has been to hold an object in each hand and bang them together. She gets such a giddy grin on her face as she makes "music".

A cute picture of my two favorite people together: