January 2012 ~ A Daughter is a Reflection of God's Love

January has come and gone. The weather has been extremely bizarre for an Iowa "winter" with 60 degree days and sunshine through most of the month. This is certainly not a complaint although with year-end at work we have not been able to enjoy it as much as we would like but have gotten to take a few walks in the month of December that we would not normally get to do! We are trying to enjoy it and not "fear" what the rest of the winter will bring us as we got dumped with about 8 inches of snow today. But we also enjoyed that as Alivia had her first snow experience as we bundled her up and sat her in it for a few minutes...she loved it! Makes us look forward to next year when we can take her sledding and makes us see the kid side and can learn to appreciate the white stuff a little bit!

So what happened in the month of January? Alivia continues to amaze us with her development and milestones and we marvel in watching her learn her own personality. She has become quite the independent player and actually gets upset with us if we "interrupt" that play time. There is no safe "haven" in our house anymore; Alivia rolls her way to about anywhere she wants to get. The dog toys are her current obsession and she will roll her way over to them to chew on those toys no matter what number of her toys we put in front of her. She gave her mommy her first heart break the other morning in giving herself an owie. While mommy is getting ready for work and daycare I hear a "thud" followed by a wail as she rolls into the corner of the entertainment center. With a ton of kisses and only a couple of cries from Liv, she was all better but made Mommy feel no worst about herself. But that won't be the last of the many owies she gets in years to come so I guess I can't beat myself up too bad about it.
Other than Liv fighting yet another cold (her 6th one to be exact...Spring can't come soon enough!) that has lasted the longest yet going on 2 weeks now, she is a relatively happy baby. Amongst her visit to the doctor for another cold we also weighed our chunky monkey...18 lbs, 5 oz at just a few days over 5 months old! We also believe that she is starting to cut teeth. You say that to a lot of people and they will insist that it is too soon but the amounts of drool and chewing that she does, I am not convinced that it is too early for our girl.
She has also learned to get up on all fours for a short period of time but does not know what to do with it yet so immediately goes back to her belly and does the "superman" waving her arms around. Her mobility comes primarily from rolling and this Mommy is okay with that for the time being. There is no rush in her growing up any faster than she already is.
On January 7th, Alivia was baptized at the Granger Assumption Church during Saturday night mass, where her Daddy was baptized. She was joined in her special day by family and her Godparents, Brandon & Jenny, helped welcome her into the Family of Christ. She was an absolute Angel the whole time and looked as much of one in her white dress!
On January 15th, she got her 5 month photo session done with Becky Henry Nissen. I know 5 month pictures aren't the traditional 3, 6 & 9 but we got off a month so we are doing 2, 5 & 8 months. We did do some fun naked baby pictures and outside of my typical girl doing every bodily function on Becky's back drop...and I do mean every function....they turned out very cute! We ended that weekend with the Jermier/Kern Christmas when we could finally get together in everyone's busy schedules.
On January 28th, we learned that our girl is a total waterbaby!! The Lint family got together at the Ramada Inn waterpark resort where the kids got to go swimming, including Alivia, and to say that she LOVED it would be an understatement. Much to Mommy & Daddy's pleasure she was happier in the water than she was out of it; even being splashed by the bigger kids. This shouldn't have come to much surprise as much as she loves her baths but she loved to swim and we can't wait for summer even more!!

And that brings us to FEBRUARY! As mentioned, we got our first real snow storm today; atypical for an Iowa winter. This Mommy is struggling with the balance of work and home as I delve through my busy time at work and getting through year end. My good friend assures me that the first year is the hardest trying to have that balance and not feel like a "bad mom" because I have to work more right now. But we have something to look forward (and dread at the same time!) Jay and I planned our 5 year anniversary trip a year early. We are joining our friends in Mexico in November to celebrate their 5 year anniversary. I say "dread" only because it will be our first extended stay away from Alivia but I have allowed myself a few months to prepare for it and it will do Jay and I a lot of good to go away together and refocus on us for a short time as well. So with that, I close out January and bring on another month. There are lots of birthdays in our family this month as well as "LOVE" day; my first Valentine's day that I have to share my Valentine with another girl! ; ) And in 6 short months I will be planning that girls first birthday!!

Being a role model is the most powerful form of educating. Youngsters need good role models more than they need critics. It’s one of a parent’s greatest responsibilities and opportunities.
~John Wooden