Mila Evangeline

My beautiful girl is here! She is a bigger blessing than I could have imagined. I'm so enjoying nuzzling her soft sweetness. My heart is overflowing with love and joy, despite the fact that I have more responsibility now than I know how to handle.

Unless the LORD builds the house,
They labor in vain who build it;
Unless the LORD guards the city,
The watchman keeps awake in vain.
² It is vain for you to rise up early,
To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors;
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.
 ³ Behold, children are a gift of the LORD,
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,
So are the children of one’s youth.
⁵ How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them;
They will not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.
-Psalm 127

 It is a blessing to know that just as she was a generous gift from God, He will also take care of us, even when I am too weak. So instead of thinking about all the things that I can't do, I'm just going to rest and know that God is my help.

Sleep in safety and peace, sweet girl. God has got you.

Waiting

All Nora's words

The doctor's office asked us how many words Nora knows. We gave them a guess: maybe about 70.

But that started us counting all the words Nora says. We didn't count anything she says when she is just repeating what other people say; we kept it to words that she's really mastered, knows what they mean, and uses in regular conversation. The current count is 175! We read somewhere that the average 2-year-old knows 150 words. Nora is only 1 1/2 years old! What a verbal little girl we have!

Here they are, in no particular order:

mama, daddy, Iain, baby, blanket

get down, no, yes, sorry, please

thank you, church, bye bye, hello, night night (goodnight)

diaper, wipe, messy, yucky, pretty

bow, have it, go, let go, see you later!

Friday, Jesus, book, Bible, peepo (peekaboo)

Peekaboo (our dog), rabbit, sheep, chichen (chicken), cow

moo, sobbies (strawberries), toast, milk, water

thirsty, Mila, sister, shhh, come up

more please, hungry, Word World, watch (as in look), watch (as in wristwatch)

look, riding, whee (swing or slide), ball, bosch (baseball)

jammin' (pajamas), dress, shoes, on, off

dog, funny, quack-quack (what a chichen says), ee-i-ee-i (farm), hat

glasses, eye(s), nose, ear, mouth

kiss, belly, feet, toes, hand

head, hair, all right!, wuv you, pants

hurt self!, broken, oush! (ouch), dolly, sleepy

bug car, truck, outside, flower, wash

this bear, eat, uh oh!, munch (lunch), phone

nana, stinkies, cracker, hot, ships

cookie, apple, bike, read, stop

help, oh cool!, giraffe, monkey, lion

hippopotamus, gentle, Nora, sit down, fall

clean up, here, open, bop bop (drink), horses

bounce, bouncin', gabbage (garbage), fish, aweshome! (awesome)

shirt, chin, cheeks, guys, house

take that, talking, train, close, deer

chair, seat, gun, bird, airplane

coming, bite, good, growl!, light

ambulance, fasht! (fast), goin', chop!, drivin'

what's that?, done, do it!, elk, other one

fix, hit, now, aw!, covers

game, clothes, tiger, food, cryin'

kick, stroller, pen, climb, strap

doctor, how are you? good, run! yay!