our trek to bay ridge, brooklyn ::

today, sophia and i went to her buddy's 1st birthday party. it was a beautiful day in new york and after her first nap, we ate lunch and then were on our way. the party was in bay ridge which is abut 1.5 hrs away from our home.

i am amazed by our little sophia. God has given us a baby girl with such a mellow and sweet temperament.

on the subway, she smiled and giggled with people and imitated their hand motions and head bobbles. when we crossed the bridge from nyc to brooklyn, she gazed out the window, her eyes filled with curiosity. when we arrived at my friend's apartment, she played on the ground by herself and had numerous 'conversations' with the other guests. my heart is filled with love for my baby girl.

wordless wednesday.

give . every . day

there's a blog i ran into called give every day. a mama, whom i found via the internet world, and her family have pledged to: spend intimate, quantity (yes, they intentionally wrote "quantity"- read to find out what they mean) time with each other, to actively help the poor, the sick, the lonely and the helpless, to value protect and advocate for children, to de-emphasize the importance of "stuff" in their lives, to bring publicity to good causes and good people, to live with intentionality, as if this year were their very last, to observe the needs in their community/our country - and then do something about them, and to give - every day. when i first heard of this, they were in the midst of selling their home and nearly all their belonging in prep for this journey.

now, they are on day #48. it's amazing to read of their life and see that they are truly living fully with real purpose for Him. i love their answer to the question "what compels you to do this?" their answer is the hope that we have in Jesus. can i get an AMEN!

calvin and i were just saying last night how easy it is to fall into the cultural norm of wanting more. more of everything. we are extremely blessed to have a comfortable home with plenty of food, clothes and luxuries and yet, it's so easy to look around and see what we don't have. or what we want more of. it's a dangerous mindset to have for so many reasons of which i won't go into now. more importantly, it's a mindset that i don't want to own because i know that these things do not matter because this world is only temporary.

i am inspired by the scheaffers, by their pledge and by the fact that they are actually living out true lives of sacrifice and purpose all for His glory. i don't think calvin, sophia and i would ever have the balls to do something like this but you never know.... in Him, lots of things are done that were once believed impossible. in the meanwhile, spending more time with the Lord and in His Word and reading what the scheaffers are up to will hopefully begin the heart transformation i desire within.

{HELP JAPAN} every little bit helps

100% of all proceeds from your purchase via my etsy shop will go to relief efforts in Japan via Samaritan's Purse - Japan Relief Project.

every little bit helps.

sick sophia

sophia woke up this evening crying. our philosophy is to leave her because she knows how to soothe herself. after a little while, she was still crying somewhat hard which is unusual for her. i decided to go in and our poor sweet pea had snot running down her nose and had spit up on her arm and the crib sheet. i felt so bad having waited so long. note to self: trust my instincts. if i had, i would've gone in much earlier and she wouldn't have had to smell her own nastiness with snot running out of her nose. my poor baby.

in better thoughts: sophia is blossoming. in just one week, she went from only knowing how to push herself backwards to dragging her body forwards with mostly the use of her arms and some legs. she has also become much better at standing while holding onto something. all very adorable for parents to witness. she is also getting her 7th tooth which is likely the reason for the running nose.

sophia at 10 months

much to our delight, sophia is finally standing with her feet securely on the ground.
previously, she only stepped on her tippy tippy toes. :) cute but not practical.

pray for kate

please continue to pray for kate. for those who are new here, the short of it is that kate is a 7 year old girl who has a brain tumor. she seemed to be on the recovery and then on february 1st 2011, an MRI showed 2 new lesions. a PET scan was done and unfortunately, the lesions were found to be cancerous.

her mom has a blog which is updated regularly. prayer is all i can think to do.

please join me and pray for her and her family.

new york city with a {baby}

my eyes carry a different perspective now that i have a little sophia in tow. when i walk the streets, i see other moms (and nannies) with carriers or strollers and give them a smile. when i am in restaurants, i am astonished at the lack of high chairs (or broken high chairs) and/or booster seats. i frequent the zoo and playgrounds in central park that in my 9+ years of new york living have not been to. i've learned of fun things for sophia (and me) to participate in - the recreation center has open play time, fao schwarz and the new york public library have story time, etc. it's a whole different city!

in central park on a beautiful february day.

photo taken by a fellow mommy friend.