Ok that went by fast

Where did the time go? Well, so far this year, it has gone in California and Colorado. And Minnesota.

We went to go find the sunshine, since Chicago seemed to have forgotten what it was. We aimed for Arizona and landed instead in the Bay Area and loved every minute with Grandparents. Please excuse the lack of editing on the pictures, I don't know how to do it on a Mac.

Lilu loved sucking on the animal tail in the toy box, and she loved playing with Popi. We call Grandma Henderson Popi (Poh-pi) because it's short for PoPo (Grandmother in Chinese). I loved letting Lilu roam all over the house - it belongs to a wonderful elderly woman and thus has no stairs and lots of carpeting.

My Dad and Step-Mom live just down the hill from the Oakland Temple. I love the fog in the Bay Area! My Step-Mom speaks mostly Spanish, but she gave a talk in English at their Stake Conference (which was at the Inter-Stake Center on Temple grounds).

She thought she was going to die of fright, but she did a great job.

We came up together during the week to the Visitor's Center at the Temple.

Lilu loved the fountain. Who doesn't?

She was pretty proud of herself for standing up. She barely needs to hold on, but she thought the little puddles on the wall were neat. Late winter is the best time in the Bay Area - everything is warming up but it's still so lush and green!

Grandpa Henderson helped her to fly, and she and he both loved it. (She sticks her fist to her mouth when she's having a screaming good time.)

We had a few minutes to play at the airport while we waited to see if we would get on the flight (We flew stand-by).

We also went to Colorado; we surprised Grandma Quillen on her birthday. We were lucky enough to catch a flight on a Saturday (whaaaat? very challenging in the stand-by world. I suppose it WAS the 6 am commuter, so not that many people chose to fly at that time.)

This face is her new silly face. It's accompanied by snorting.

Grandma Quillen loved our surprise. We snuck into her room before she woke up and stood there while she realized who was there to see her =) Lilu wasn't sure a screaming-surprised-happy bed was her beloved Grandma Quillen at first, but she soon warmed up.

Daddy came too! How did we get so lucky? Oh, and it was so nice to see the sun. 

I drove down to Colorado Springs to see my friend - we've been friends since Sunbeams and it's so fun to also be having babies at the same time. Her little girl is almost three months old.

Lilu loved Riah, the family dog. Riah liked to be patted by Lilu too.

This could be the start of a beautiful friendship.

Of course she loved Grandpa and his beard. And the fact that he held her upside down.

Her first piano lesson. 

Also new are four front teeth - two tops and two bottoms - coming in since our trip to Colorado.

And her love of climbing on stuff. And her love of socks - she will carry them around and sing to them. She loves playing with Teo - particularly keep away.. where she offers him the toy and then jerks it away. (You guessed it, JD taught her that one). 

Ten months

Here are a few things I want to record about Korrali at this age..

Height: 27.5 in

Weight: 16 lb 11 oz

Hair: Fuzzy and just over an inch long

She loves to crawl at top speed while laughing or giggling all around the apartment. 

She still doesn't sleep all of the way through the night, but we still love her.

She loves to play in the bath - to crawl, stand, and chew on the bath toys.

She still has no teeth.

She likes to eat whatever Mommy is eating - and sometimes will utterly refuse if Mommy makes her something different.

Her ability to discover things is immense. Her face gets very serious and studious as she learns a new behavior or how something new works, then she'll try to imitate it. When left to her own devices, she pulls down all the objects off of a shelf, table, or other surface looking for new items. When she gets into something she knows she isn't usually allowed to touch, she waits and looks at me to see if I will stop her.

She is learning how to walk - and puts her feet down first instead of her knees when placed on the floor. Her confidence is growing and growing, and she holds on to us to walk, but doesn't depend on us to hold her up or steady.

She doesn't stay still - even in her sleep she rolls around and moves.

She likes to chat up strangers, and seems to believe the whole world is her playground.

She hates getting into her car seat, but it won't be long before she has a different one anyway.

We love this munchkin!

January

I found this post today! Oops forgot to post it in January, it looks like there were meant to be more pictures.. but I don't remember which ones they were. Enjoy!

In honor of January - a month so named because it looks back at the previous year and forward to a new one - I want to take a moment to reflect and resolve.

Last year we
endured
~ Separation from each other and from good friends as we moved across several states from North Dakota

to Illinois

~Eight months of utter exhaustion as we waited for our daughter to learn how to sleep and nap

mourned
~ The loss of a support network, a hospital and OB, and a familiar setting a month and a half before having a baby

~ The loss of a beloved grandfather and role model, an uncle, and other extended family members

rejoiced
~ to hold our brand new little girl
~ in finding a new support network, friends, family, a better hospital and OB, and finally discover a beautiful new home
~ to see family from all across the country
~ in the knowledge that we do not die forever, and that we will see our loved ones again

laughed out loud
~ at the antics of our healthy, growing daughter
~ when plans went utterly awry (though sometimes we screamed too)
~ at a silly video involving a fox
~ often, and at truly funny things

We loved 2013!
This year, we 
hope
~ our daughter continues to grow and mature as she has so far
~ Lianna's transition into working from home will go smoothly
~ to see more of our family, as their families grow too

know
~ we will have great adventures
~ we will weather the challenges
~ our Father in Heaven is in control and that he loves us

resolve
~ to keep our bodies, spirits and minds healthy
~ to record our good times and struggles to strengthen our family
~ to grow our love and strength all year long

Happy 2014!

Anecdotal Evidence

Here's a charming story supporting my hypothesis that what is on the ground outside is not food.

So my daughter crawled by, stopped and looked at me with an expectant look on her face. The look that usually means "You usually clean me when I get like this". I glanced, then looked more closely. My first thought was "How did you get hold of an Oreo cookie - wait do we have Oreos??"
That's when I realized she had actually eaten a clod of mud off one of our shoes and her mouth was full of dirt; leaking dirt. She smacked her gums together over and over, moving her tongue like she was trying to get rid of the tiny grains. Her expression said "this is not delicious."
I bet it's not.

And this is why we put the shoes away and don't let her near them.

Christmas!

We had a busy busy Christmas here! It was so fun, and included 6 and a half airport runs, some unexpected (though thoroughly enjoyed) overnight guests, a night away from home with cousins and grandparents and several late nights followed by early early mornings.

We received wonderful gifts - Korrali got some new blocks in her stocking, a jingling sock purse, a beautiful velveteen rabbit and matching book, balls, bath toys, perfect books and some light up toys

J and I got a dvd player (though we've been using it for a month), some gorgeous!! pots and pans, an amazing popcorn maker, some cute home decorations, souvenirs from Australia, chocolates, a cookbook and some clothes.
Teo got some new toys too (which are all demolished already)
But the best gifts we got were all the time we spent with family - Quillens, Eldredges and Henderson. I loved spending some one-on-one time with both my Moms, visiting with cousins through the generosity of our Eldredge family who let us stay the night so we could be on the scene for their Christmas morning!
Watching Korrali play light sabers with her cousin Eli, and watching her play with Uncle Jesse.

And watching her get reacquainted with her grandparents

The best part of all, though, was remembering the season celebrates the birth of my Savior, the Savior of the world. Thanks to him and our loving Heavenly Father I have a beautiful family now, am connected to my ancestors and have hope in posterity for the future forever. What better gift is there than that?

8 months a few days ago

What a fun time! Here are some things I want to remember about Korrali right now:

She keeps me hopping with her crawling; she still army crawls sometimes but it's mostly all fours now.
She loves to bounce up and down on her knees to music
Screaming for fun is routine around here - it's especially funny in Sacrament Meeting, I truly can't help but giggle as I try to shush her. At home we have entire conversations in scream.
When she is excited she still kicks her feet like crazy and breathes excitedly
Her pincer-grip is precise and deadly in combo with the desire to put everything into her mouth. It keeps me running around picking up dirt clots (from paws or muddy shoes), those said muddy shoes, cords that dropped to the floor, papers, bits of whatever else came off of a dog toy and pieces of carpet that she pulls up
She has learned how to bump aside the barricade I made to keep her out of the kitchen, and how to unload the silverware from the dishwasher (yup those happened within the same hour)

She naps! O glorious day she naps. Twice in a day. For at least 45 minutes.
She still has zero teeth, but does a great job feeding herself food anyway
Bath time is an adventure because she tries to climb out of her little tub, even when she is distracted by toys.
She loves to say repeated sounds - dadada, babbo, thh. She says dadababa when playing with her Dad (we call him daddy and papa) She only says aaaahhhmmm when she is wanting me. It's usually accompanied by an angry face. It's most common when I'm making dinner or in the middle of the night.
She ignores our attempts to say "good job!" or "yay!" when she falls or bonks herself and just cries away anyway.
She loves to help get herself dressed and undressed, and protests when those things are just done to her
She refuses to stay still when I change her diaper unless she is completely distracted.
She does stay still for massages
She is still a skinny girl - about 27 in and 16 lb.

Happy Tuesday!

It is slightly possible that I put forth a little more effort to dress nuestros chica when I know she is going somewhere to be Oohed and Aaahed over. Like "spontaneously" dropping by my husbands employee-only Christmas Party (ok yes, he asked if we could drop by for a couple minutes to show her off. He's a proud Papa.) At any rate, Happy Tuesday from all of us at Korrali's House!