Hoping all of you had a wonderful Christmas and were able to slow down enough to enjoy some quality time with your families. We had a wonderful Christmas in our new home. Matt and I really enjoyed watching Alma open presents and playing with her new toys. Here are some picture of how the present opening event progressed:
Having fun and into the toys.
The new hippo toy was a hit (and it sucks toys up as you ride on it for fast clean up).
Some lovin from Momma between toys.
Things starting to go down hill.
Someone wanted to help Mom in the kitchen instead of napping.
And finally, all tuckered out, she gave in and took a long nap.
To show just how amazingly cute she actually was Matt made a special Christmas video of the little lady, enjoy!
I thought I would do a general post of what we have been doing lately which has been mostly getting the house in order, acclimating to Hawaii, and spending some quality time with Alma. Matt had to make up for the month or so of her life when he was here and she was on the Mainland. Its been nice to relax and have some fun together before we both start teaching in January.
It is hard to believe that Alma turned 9-months old on the 21st. It truly does seem like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. I am amazed at how much I love this little girl more everyday. I am blessed that God has untrusted her to us and overjoyed that I get to be her Mommy. Alma is constantly on the move, and man is she fast. She is playing with the idea of walking more and more. We catch her often testing her balance and we are pretty sure once she figures it out there will be no stopping her.
Alma loves the animals and constantly tries to get her hands on them. Klaus tolerates her (barely) and Lili loves her to death.
I wonder why........
When Alma is really checking something out or if she is attempting to play peek-a-boo with you she will turn her head to the side. It gets me every time.
This was a preferred toy for about a week. I finally had to take it back to bake the Christmas turkey : )
But most of the time she is just being adorable. I know I am biased but I really think she gets more beautiful everyday.
We also spend a lot of time at the beach. It really is winter here and that means the water is a bit too cold for Alma to swim but she loves to eat play in the sand.
And for some live Alma action. Here's a quick video of us in Kailua a few days ago.
After a long Monday we all decided to head off to the beach so Matt could try out his new surf board. Alma had fun playing on the beach while Matt broke in the new board.
Alma is still trying to figure out what this stuff is all about.
Matt heads out to find some surf.
Needless to say, we all went home covered in sand.
So at first Alma was not sure what she thought about the new highchair. I'm pretty sure she was thinking, "great, yet another device to inhibit my freedom". But Matt and I love it. No more trying to feed her on the floor or using the Bumbo. This thing is awesome it plays music, it rocks, and its on wheels. What more could you ask for?
This kid loves playing with a toothbrush. So when we are getting ready in the morning a quick and easy way to entertain her is to hand her a toothbrush. Hey, its good modeling!
Alma also got to eat her first baby biscuit this week. She wasn't too impressed but she learned very quickly that these little treats could get her access to a much more preferred item.......
We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent the day with new colleagues and had a very nice time. Of course it would have been much better to have been at home with our extended families.....maybe next year. We are slowly getting settled in and Alma and I are finally starting to acclimate. Now if we can just get the little one to sleep we will be doing good. I thought I would share some pictures from our lazy holiday weekend.
Evening walk on the beach. We needed to get out of the house so we drove towards the North Shore - beautiful drive.
Lili has fallen in love with Hawaii. She is like a puppy on the beach and of course loves the water.
Alma checking out the kiddy pool at our condo.
I love this face...she makes it all the time. The pool was too cold : (
We took Alma to the playground near the pool...she had a blast.
Look at that smile!
This is what Matt and I spend most of our waking hours doing now.....keeping Alma safe. She is pulling up on everything and anything she can get her hands on. She is getting more stable each day but this came after a few hard bumps and scary falls.
This weekend Alma and I hooked up with one of my good colleagues at KU to go to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. I've never been anywhere quite like this. It was like a dream come try for kids. Its suppose to resemble a turn of the century farm but its so much more. There are over 200 animals, activities, playground equipment, learning activities etc. I was pretty impressed. They were also hosting a pumpkin patch which you could only access by a horse-drawn hayride. Needless to say we had a blast.
Alma loved the animals. We got to see a little bit of everything horses, cows, pigs, goats, a bobcat, a bison, ducks, swans, and more.
I was a bit nervous about this at first but so glad we did it. Alma had a lot of fun. And the draft horses were beautiful.
Amy, Micah, Alma and I right before the hayride.
Micah picked out a perfect size pumpkin just for Alma.
Look at this big girl sitting all by herself with her pumpkin!
What a perfect day.....warm weather, good friends, and lot of fun!
Today our baby girl is seven months old. I have uploaded a video to celebrate Ms. Alma. These pictures are from her six month photo shoot. (Don't worry Nanna and Papa and Grandma/Grandpa Schmidt some of these will be showing up at your houses pretty soon).
We were so lucky to have our friends TJ, Staci, and Caleb come to K.C. to help us pack up all of our stuff and to say one more goodbye before we are off to Hawaii. Alma absolutely loves Caleb. She watches his every move. Staci took some great pictures of Caleb holding “my baby Alma”.
