Too much on my mind

I had intended for my next post to be about my trip to France, but I haven't been able to sleep--there's been too much on my mind. Recently, there has been so much heartache in my family. My Nana died while we were in France, and it has been so sad. My sorrow was that I wish I had known her better. I also felt great sadness for my father and his siblings and his father. What must it be like to lose a mother? Having so recently become a mother, this parent and child bond resounds to me as one that carves out so much of who you are. My youngest sister, who shared with Nana the pain of dealing with cancer, had her own sorrow in losing her grandmother. And I don't know what it must be like for my grandfather to lose his love and his partner. And now it seems that there is so much anger in this family. All my life, family was the place I went for shelter from the storm--for comfort and unconditional love. If that was not there... I couldn't even imagine. I just know that anger is so corrosive, wearing away at the hearts of those who give and receive it.
My prayer for my family is that we can find peace. None of us are perfect and God chooses to love us despite this, I hope that we can do the same. I hope that Nana's legacy can be a family that knows this love and peace.

Ciao bebe!

Well we are mostly packed and are ready to go to France!!! I couldn't get to sleep last night at all because I was so excited. It has been almost a year since I have seen my sister and her family... I can not believe that I am finally going to get to hug them! They haven't met Scarlett yet, so I am looking forward to showing her off. I went through her closet to find her very cutest clothes. Her Great Aunt Julie has given her some really adorable outfits with French phrases on them that I hope I am translating correctly and do not say something like "I hate the French!" Nate has planned tons of great activities while we are there, and I am trying to be a good sport about it, but I really just want to hang out with my family (and go to the Louvre, of course!) For those of you who have watched as much Full House as Lane and I have, we have been refering to this as Nate's clipboard of fun!! We've been listening to a French phrases CD to learn useful questions like, "Excuse me, where is the train station?" Most of the time I end up just making sounds that remind me slighly of the French language and moreso like a stroke patient. What I wonder is, how useful are these phrases if you can't understand a thing the person says back to you?!? Luckily my brilliant sister will be doing all of the talking for me, else I will probably just try to act out the question--I am pretty good at charades!
I plan to completely ruin my diet with this French cheese (Kirk, I am counting on your #3 best reason to live there-- a new one for every day!!!!!). Also I am looking forward to the pastries. In fact, I am excited for so many new and exciting things to eat. Well alright, I am pretty much excited about everything at this point....I'll be sure to post pictures of our adventures!

All in the Family

After a week at the beach with my family, we spent the weekend with Nate's family. Scarlett got to meet her Great Great Aunt Claire for the first time and see her Great Grandparents for the first time since Christmas. We also had her Aunt Sarah and Uncle Wes visiting for the 4th. Scarlett's little feet barely touched the ground as she was constantly being enveloped in hugs. She smiled and enjoyed all of the admiration. She showed off her new teeth, babbled her favorite sounds, and continued her determined attempts at crawling. All the while we discussed who she looke like. There were so many theories about which parts of her took after which parts of family members (looking like me seemed to be one of the least favored theories). It was agreed by all (mostly me) that she was simply adoreable.
What a great gift that Nate and I can share all of our loving, fun, and unique family with our daughter. I just kept thinking how cool it was that Scarlett so many people in her life that love her so much.

Adventures

Scarlett enjoyed her first hike on Sunday. She rode in her pack on Nate's back and seemed amazed by the trees above her. She also liked being able to grab on to her father's hair. She would look around a little puzzled when he talked, wondering where he was. We had a very nice time, even though we got a little lost and followed the wrong trail for a while. Nate had a new appriciation for his parents' heavy load on the AT after our short trek with Scarlett. She mostly wanted to taste the leaves that she could reach and occasionally turned around to be sure that I was still there. I was just glad to see that she was excited about our newest adventure!

Sun, Sand , and Smiles

Scarlett and I have been enjoying every minute of the beach so far! The weather has been perfect--the sun shining and the water perfectly blue and refreshing. Scarlett was a little afraid of the waves at first, but has now begun to enjoy them. She mostly wants to play in the pool with her cool cousin Layla and eat sand. I am trying to be cool and not freak out when the sand reaches the lips. Today, while Scarlett napped on the beach, I rode around in the kayak with my sister Margie and thought about what an amazing time this has been already. You won't find me getting anything accomplished, but you will definitely see a big smile on my face.
Now if we could only get her daddy here!.....

The race is on...

Recently Scarlett has been babbling with consonants. This results in sounds that verge on sounding like words. Now we know that it is a coincidence when these do actually come out sounding like words, but still there seems to be a little bit of a competition beginning...
When Scarlett starts chatting, I am sure to throw in a bunch of "Mama" sounds and am Bob-Doling it (you know, refering to myself in the third person all the time). I have noticed that Nate has amped up his game and gives her a lot of "Dada" sounds.
Considering that Mama is harder to say, this will make the victory even sweeter when we hear Mama first!!
Here are some of her first babbling (excuse the grunts--nature called!)

Just hilarious

I have recently begun to hate everything on television (which is great, since I have no time to watch it!) Now there are a few things that I look forward to every week: American Idol (sorry, I can't help it!) Project Runway (makes me wish I could sew) and The Office. A couple of weeks ago, though I stumbled upon this gem of a show that originated on the BBC and now has an American counterpart. It is called Creature Comforts and takes real interviews and adds in claymation. I love this!