Life in Pictures

Too much has happened to write it all, so this will be a picture blog!  

1. We went to Cleveland to visit Daddy!!

2. While in Cleveland, we did Sienna's one year pictures!  Elizabeth Videc also took her newborn pictures!  It's going to be hard to narrow it down...

3. Sienna turned one...and had her first cupcake!

4. I went to my 10 year high school reunion, which completely exceeded my expectations.  I had a blast!

5. I went to Texas to see Mattie and left Sienna for three days!  Although I missed her immensely (so much so that I just had to NOT think about her), it was really wonderful to have some "Dara" time...oh and "Matt and Dara" time.  Of course I have zero pictures from that trip. 

6. Sienna is completely weaned and rarely even eats baby food.  She loves real food.  Including spaghetti.

7. In between these exciting events, I have been working on our new house.  I am busier than I have been all year, but I'm loving it.  From repainting Matt's childhood oak bed and organizing closets to finding the perfect rug and throw pillows, I am completely immersed in Project: Lake Magdalene House.  I love this house and am so grateful that it's ours.  Now if I can just get my husband home...

Sienna's First Birthday...And Other News

The day has arrived.  I will no longer be counting Sienna's age by months, but by years.  I am not nearly ready.  My only consolation is that I can have more perfect babies. : )
If I'm being honest, after having Sienna sans drugs, I wasn't so sure about her.  I was utterly exhausted, my body felt ravaged, and for the first few weeks, I wasn't sure I was capable of being a mother to this little girl.  Sienna felt like a stranger to me...a miniature stranger.  I loved her, but I didn't feel close to her.  She didn't feel like a part of me.  Does that make me horrible?  I hope not.
What a difference a year makes.  That blue eyed girl is the highlight of my everyday.  I miss her at night when she goes to bed.  I rush to the church nursery after we have been separated for only an hour.  I hate when Matt and I get home after going out and she has already gone to sleep.  She is my delight.  I can no longer imagine my world without her.  She is the sweetest, funniest, friendliest and most beautiful person I know.  I could not have dreamed up a more perfect baby for God to send me and I can't believe she is mine.

 More on Sienna...
She took her first steps on August 22nd (just over 11 1/2 months old)!  
When I say "Oh no!", she puts her hands on her head.
She holds a cell phone up to her ear.

More on Us...
Matt got called up to the big leagues about a week and a half ago!  (This news is equal parts exciting and absolutely nerve racking!)  Sienna and I went to see him in Cleveland for 6 days, but now we are back in Florida and will mostly remain here until he gets home (which can't come soon enough).  We miss him.  All the time.
I have been busily working to get our house ready!  Putting Sienna's furniture together, picking out wall decorations for her room, looking at tile for our master bathroom, unpacking, getting cable installed, cleaning, etc!  It's been extremely busy, but unbelievably exciting!  Every time I walk in to our house I think about how much I love it and how blessed I am.  

It's hard to believe another baseball season has come and is almost gone.  Sienna's birthday will always represent the end of the season which gives double reason to celebrate.  : )  Sienna's presence this season has created such a perspective shift and injected joy and light in to even the hardest of days.  What a gift she is.