world, hands

These are the words we hear from Arden when she wants to sing, "He's got the whole world in His hands." It's so sweet to hear her say these two words because it's really her first attempt to sing a song. She loves music, always has, but has never attempted to sing until recently. We've bombarded her with songs and sing-a-longs in an attempt to get her singing to help with her speech. When she says "world, hands" she does the hand motions and then before I finish singing the first verse, she tells me what comes next, "Nen, Tur." "He's got Arden and Esther in His hands." And after that comes, "Daddy, Mommy." I'm so thankful we're in His hands.

walking and more

Breaking in her new shoes from Nonie

I think it's safe to say that Esther's officially walking! She took her first three steps a month ago and has been adding more steps each day. This last week she has really taken off and yesterday she walked down our long hallway all by herself, arms stretched out in front of her with a big grin on her face! It's all she wants to do now. As soon as you pick her up, she just wants right back down to take off. I guess she's trying to keep up with her big sis who runs everywhere! Gone are the days of her longing to be held and cuddled by Mommy. Okay, maybe that's taking it a little far, but she is definitely on the move!

And finally after months of saying "more" and showing her the sign for "more" at mealtime, on Thursday, she woke up and decided that she would tell us "more" at breakfast. Since Thursday, she lets us know if she wants more of something to eat, pretty much all the time, and she's definitely not afraid of letting us know exactly what she wants! Who knew our picky eater could eat so much?!

Under New (Wo)management

Greetings all of you out there, AS of Today Dana has been bitten by the Blog Bug and has commandeered this blog. It was fun while it lasted. Woody Baugher