Fun Booth Photos

Sorry I haven't blogged much. I guess it comes with having an 18 month old. I will update soon on whats up in the Lee home, but for now I thought I would show you these great pictures! We went to a wedding recently that had this great fun booth. The pictures came out really good so I thought I would share. A big thanks to the bride (Kristin) and the groom (Brent) for providing it!

Adah started climbed in this cube and we thought it would make a good picture, and it did!

The whole idea was for them to be goofy pictures.

I think Jon totally got the idea.

And my absolute favorite... I think the picture just might be a focal point in Adah's new "big girl" room that I'm dreaming up. More on that later.

Adventures in Potty Training

Adah has been growing leaps and bounds in the last few months. I am amazed even looking at her birthday pictures at how much she has changed. She is such a little talker these days.

A few months ago, I weaned Adah. It was difficult, but I knew it needed to be done; for a few reasons. She was waking up sometimes up to 4 times a night to nurse. It got to be that night time was the only time I was nursing her. She had really never slept through the night. Then the week of my grandpa's funeral I really had no choice but to wean her. I was not getting much sleep at all, and the added pressure of nursing was just too much.

So it happened in about a week. It was more traumatic on me physically, than her. But within a week she was sleeping 12+ hour stretches at night. It was the most amazing feeling to sleep at night long with out having to go nurse the baby. One night she slept from 8:15pm to 9:45am!!! It was glorious! There have been a few nights (when she has been teething) that she has woken up, but all she wants is to be held for a few minutes, but as little as she likes to be held, I don't mind one bit.

Another thing Adah has been doing is displaying signs of being ready to be potty trained. I know your thinking she is too young, I have felt the same way, but it is obvious sings she is ready. She has been taking off her diaper, so I got her pull-up (they are soooo big on her) and have had her in only the pull-ups during the day. She has been telling me "potty," before she goes in her diaper. She even told me she needed to go "poo poo," then she went in the potty.

When I first got out her princess potty that I had gotten as a gift for my baby shower, she was so excited! I got it out the night before, and when she woke up the next morning she saw it and thought it was a new toy. I took off her diaper and had her sit on the potty naked, and I turned on the water in the bathroom to get her going. Well, she started going and as soon as the liquid it the potty bowl, the little song came on, and Adah got so scared, she ran off mid stream. TMI, I'm sorry.

I am taking the whole process really slow, but she is doing so well, we will just keep it up until she is completely potty trained.

Update Via iPhone Pics

As you may have noticed, I have not been blogging as much. It is partly because of what I wrote about in my last blog, but also, Adah is becoming more, and more active, and I cant leave her in a room and expect her to stay there and not get into trouble.

So I was going through some pictures on my phone and thought I would share them.

Being that the weather has been so nice lately, we have been trying to do as many activities outside as possible on Jon's days off. So Thursday, we went up Mt. Rubidoux. It was really nice and we got up fast. Adah slept the whole way up and down.

Adah seems to have finally gotten over her fear of the bath. This is a really good sign, because I have been wanting to enroll her in a mommy and me swimming class but I've been hesitant because of her fear of the water.

Adah gave me two great mothers day gifts this year. 1) She slept great through the night AND let me sleep in! 2) She let me put little pig tails in her hair!

This is more nostalgic for me. When I was little ever since I can remember, my mom would take us to Nordstroms at the begining of the summer to get Salt Water sandals. So imagine my joy when I not only found them, and they fit, BUT they came in this cute hot pink color instead of the horrid pastel colors I grew up on!

Last but not least, Adah is STANDING!!! I have been a bit bummed because she has been so hesitant. I KNOW she can walk because she has taken some steps without thinking, but she has not fully taken the plunge yet. But last night she was playing with a little girl her age who was waling and all the sudden, she just stood up I was so proud!


So that's what's going on now, I am going to try to make an effort to blog more.

Coming out of the Chaos

If you know me well, you know that I am not the most organized person. This is an area that I really struggle with. I always have. But now with a very active, very Mobil 1 year old, it has become increasingly difficult to keep up on household chores. With that said however, I am very diligent in keeping the kitchen clean and making sure that dishes don't just sit in the sink.

One thing that I have noticed in my struggle with the house is how much I miss out on activities at home. For example, keeping Adah's clothes current with her size. She has a TON of size 6 month clothes that need to be rotated out of her drawers. I see them sitting there not being used and taking up clothes space that I need. But I look at her room and feel that my time s better used tidying up the space you can see.

Or Blogging for that matter, I LOVE blogging, but when she is napping have things around the house that need to be done.

Yesterday, I took my mother-in-law up on an offer she has put out for a while now, to drop Adah off for a few hours to play with her cousin, while I get some things done. Being that it was Jon's day off, and that we were having company over we really turned to on the house and REALLY got it clean! When I woke up this morning, the house need minor cleaning as opposed to the previous mornings when a bomb look like it had been dropped in our living room, so I was able to get the house tidy in 45 min. rather than the HOURS in times past. It was really nice to feel so accomplished so early in the morning. And it really got me thing.

I was really noticing how I respond to Adah when the house is clean. We played this morning and I really enjoyed that! Don't get me wrong, we play on a regular basis, but this time there was no time constraint on it, we played until she was tired. It was so fun!

I have really purposed in my heart that I am going to try not to let this be an issue again, but to be constant on the tasks I have before me, and to be diligent in completing them start to finish.

I could seriously go in for days about this topic and how I feel, but I would really like to hear how you fell about it, and what works for you.

Go.....

Adah's Dedication Pictures

As I said in a previous blog post Adah was recently dedicated at church. It was such a great dedication done by my dad, and Adah couldn't have been more cooperative! I am going to try and get the video posted also.

Enjoy...

Photos by Kenton Jacobsen

Special Day

Tomorrow is a very special day for the Lee family. Adah is being dedicated to the Lord. She will be dedicated at the 11:45 service at our church. My dad will be dedicating her and we are all so excited!

I am reminded of Hannah offering her first born, Samuel to the Lord and how that may have felt. She had promised the Lord after he blessed her with a son that she would give him back to the Lord. I love what a picture and example it sets for christian parents. We have been blessed to be parents, and now we give them back to the Lord. Obviously, this is not in a physical sense, but in offering Adah to the Lord, Jon and I are standing before the church saying with the body of believers, we will raise our child in the way of the Lord.

If you would like to see the dedication, again, it will be during the 11:45 service at Harvest Christian Fellow ship. Or you can watch it live here.

Adah Update

It's been a while since I have updated on Adah. She is almost 11 months old and into EVERYTHING, but her favorite is the dogs water dish. I have made great use if the hand me down baby gates someone gave us! She is crawling so fast and I have a hard time keep up after her. She pulls herself up on everything, and I am thinking it is not going to be long before she is walking!

She has 4 teeth now, and they are coming in so fast! She is making great use of them with her food. She loves all kinds of food which is so comforting to me because Jon and I are both very picky eaters. For a long time, I thought she was going to be picky because she didn't like her baby food, but then I started giving her real food and she loves it! She must have a mature pallet!

She is still BFing a few times during the day. I would like to start weaning her around her first birthday, but I have to say I am liking that I can almost eat anything without gaining weight!

This is a dress that I made for her.

It makes me sad that she wants nothing to do with the headbands I have made her, or any headbands for that matter.

Adah's Christmas Pictures

Before we left for church Christmas eve, I took some pictures of Adah in her Christmas dress.

Family Tradition

This Christmas season has been so much fun with our Adah! Getting to see her reaction to things for the first time is just awesome! Jon and I both come from families with lot of tradition, so we are starting this year with traditions of our own, and mixing them with some familiar ones too!

Like opening up her clean freshly washed PJ's on Christmas eve, and going to Christmas eve service with our families. Something I grew up doing.

We started a few new ones too! We kicked it off with our 1st annual Lee Christmas dinner party with some close friends (pictures to come). It was so cool to see our friends who we have known for years starting their families like us! Seeing the Rancho Cucamonga lights was a new thing this year that will turn into a tradition.

One tradition we haven't done since I was little was going to Logan's Candy Cane demonstration. It is amazing! First of all, they are amazing gourmet candy canes that will blow any candy canes out of the water. Second, the demo starts with Jerry (the owner) with a big slab of hot peppermint candy that he forms into candy canes. They you get to a piece of warm candy cane. I promise you will never be able to eat a candy cane without thinking about Logan's candy canes.

They will be doing the demo's until the 23rd. The times are 5:30pm, 7pm, and 8:30pm. We are going tomorrow and I am so excited to see the demo and take Adah as we start this new family tradition.

You can find the directions here.

The beginning of the demo

Jerry and my Dad grew up together, so this is a familiar face

Forming the candy cane

The candy ribbon is really good too!

If you can, you should hop on over to the Logan's candy in Ontario, it is worth the drive!

Here is an article on Logan's.

Whoa, It's been a long week!

Do you ever feel that you are running a million miles an hour and don't know when its going to slow down? That's how we have been feeling. Everything we are doing is a complete blessing and we would have it no other way, but somehow happens all at the same time. Then throw in a sick kind and husband, and we have an interesting week.

As I said before, Jon and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary on October 29th. We had the wonderful blessing of staying at a friends cabin, and it turned out to be a blessed relaxing few days for us as a family!

A few days before we left for the mountains, Adah came down with a pretty bad case of hives. But that is entirely another story. Then Jon wasn't feeling very good, and has continued to not feel good until he went to the doctor this past Tuesday.

All in all it was a great trip! We had fun, we went to Arrowhead, and Big bear. It was freezing, we ate entirely too much, but it was nice to escape the heat of Riverside!

Now, we are getting ready to go to our first married couples retreat! We are both really looking forward to this! it will be nice to stay in Irvine, and in a nice hotel. It will also be nice to get to see all our married couples Friends. Our friends Ray and Erin will be there with their adorable Taylor, so Adah will have a friend. I will also have the amazing opportunity to heal with worship on Friday and Saturday. We are really looking forward to it!

I hope everyone's week is going well, and you are all blessed as we head into the weekend!

PS, I will be posting pics of our trip soon, along with the hives story!

Hope Chest

 When I was about 12 years old my great (step) grandmother past away. She went peacefully in her sleep shortly after my great grandfather had died from lung cancer complications. They both lived on their own in a house close to my grandparents home. When They past we has the daunting task of cleaning out the house so that we might rent it out for the time being. 

 

 While we were cleaning out the house, there were a few things that I got to keep for myself. A portable TV radio, a few blankets, some old jewlery, and a few pieces of furniture. One piece of furniture that my mom insisted I keep was an old hope chest that had been in their patio for years. It was in decent condition considering how old it was. The only thing that needed work was the hardware on the outside of the chest. So I cleaned it up and there it sat at the end of my bed. 

 Every so often my mom and grandmother would give me things to put in the chest. I did as they asked, and would often put things of my own in the chest. As I got older, started to get sick of having it in my room. Especially when we moved, because my new room in the new house was smaller than my old room. But still, I kept it.

 I kept that hope chest even when I got married. When we finally moved into this house, the house we purchased, I realized I need a more permanent space for the chest. I thought about using it as a coffee table. But we have a decently nice coffee table. So as I thought about it I noticed Adah toys were piling up in the living room, and need a more permanent space.

 That's when I decided to use the chest as a toy box for Adah and put the things in the chest in a more permanent spot. So I started to clean it out.

 I found the things that I new would be in there such as my baby photo book and baby scrap book, some of my baby clothes, and some other odds and ends. But then I found the true treasure.

 I found the (Ugg like) moccasins that my mom and dad got me from solvang when I was one They teold me all the time that they tried them on me and I would not take them off o they had to buy them. I found some really cool antique white coffee cups, and dessert plates. I also found some mother daughter aprons that my mom and I had. But the really wonderful thing I found was an email from Jon when we were in our "just friends" stage. It was dated May 28th, 2001, I was 16, and Jon was 18, and getting ready to graduate. Three months into our friendship. And this is what it said.

 Hi bud,

 How was your day? Mine was decent, I worked for 10 hours today, and three hours yesterday. I am so stinking tired. It is like 12 right now, or close to it. I have a question, what time is your daddy speaking on Wednesday? Also, if your could pray for me as the door is opening for me to speak at a church for their jr. high/ Sr. high groups. I am excited, but it is in a couple of weeks on a Wednesday, do I will be stressed. To tell you the truth, God has opened my eyes to allot of things, and I am thankful for the people he has put in my life. The opportunities and to be bold and take them!

I missed you this weekend, and I am looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Really!

In Christ, 

Jonathan M. Lee

 When I read this, I didn't get emotional, but I became very thankful. That was before texting and we only emailed a few times. What I love about that email, was it was mostly about nothing, but the core was about ministry. Jon had such a desire even than to be in ministry and serve the Lord, that is still evident to this day and the Lord has richly blessed us because of it.

It was really cool reading it and looking at our daughter playing on the floor. She is just one of the great things that have come from serving the Lord.

 God is so good!

17 weeks+3 days=4 Months!

I can't believe that my baby is 4 months old today! She is getting so big, and she is so smart. She has learned that with mommy pushing her in the stroller, she won't cry because I won't get her out just for crying. But when Daddy walks by she cries almost immediately because she know daddy will rescue her from the torture device we call a stroller, and or car-seat. She is laughing out loud, with a HUGE Smile that makes me melt. She can hold a babbling conversation with mommy.

She amazes me with how she sleeps. She is now sleeping in her bed mostly throughout the night. She has a routine that she loves, and expects. We get her ready for bed, I nurse her, and put her to bed, and pray for her. No fuss, she knows what to expect, and she likes it that way. She gets that from her daddy. She goes to bed between 8, and 9pm, and will sleep until about 6am, and I feed her again, and then wakes up between 8, and 9am.

Jon and I are enjoying her so much right now, she is so much fun, and it is hard to imagine life without her. I feel so blessed to be able to stay home with her. I am so thankful for that! Adah has a doctor appointment, on Tuesday, with shots, so we are really not looking forward to that, but she is such a trooper. The last time she got shots, 5 minutes later she that the "what shots?" attitude.

She is doing so well, and I am so thankful that she is so healthy. Everything that we went through to get her here was so worth it, and I will always be marveled at how God protected us, and how he has helped us grow through the processes of pregnancy and parenthood.

New Pictures

 I recently dusted off my Cannon SLR camera, and put it to work on Adah. It was really fun to play with it again, and my subject couldn't be more cooperative.

I just love those cheeks!

My Mom just loves those feet.

I love that smile!

And those eye!

This pictures reminds me of one we took of her days after we came home from the hospital.

Couldn't help but get one of Chloee.

Daddy's hand is my favorite to chew on.

The flash was a bit much, but she gave me a great smile.

She loves Chloee.