Looking back...

Oh what a sweet sweet year it has been with our Little Love.  We thank God daily for her and how much fun she is and how darn cute she is too!  We are so lucky, we get to look at her every day and see her curiosity of life grow!!

I'm so glad I stuck with the boppy pictures this year.  I started to lag and some of the monthly pictures are a little late but it's still fun to look back at her growth physically compared to the same item. It's amazing the rate these little ones grow... 4lbs to 17lbs... most kiddos are a little chunkier than Norah even!

A Typical Night

 It brings me SO MUCH joy that Norah loves popcorn!  We love to chomp on it together :)

And, this picture very clearly depicts how my daughter lives life.  So vibrant and so happy.  LOVE her happy laughter!!

I Made This

And I'm proud!
*Spiced Pumpkin Cake*

Friendship and Motherhood

I'm so thankful my mom was able to visit us a few weeks ago!  She was originally going to come to WA shortly after our stuff was unloaded but... life happens and plans had to change.  We had a great time having her visit as our first official guest!  David and I were both excited to show her around town a bit and also do some exploring with her, but again... life happens and the weather put a a little damper on our plans so we snuggled up inside with Norah and relaxed a lot!  It actually works best to just lay low sometimes because of the baby girl.
We did some decorating of our house, David and I went on a date (!!!!!!!!!!!!!), cooked a little, showed her around the AF base, hit up a bookstore, coffee shop, Costco, World Market and did a little walking when we had a nice few hours outside.  Needless to say, we had a blast having her and miss her company!
It's such a blessing for both David and myself to have awesome mothers who we now count as friends.  I look forward to the day when Norah feels this way toward me, that will be such a joy.  But first I have to be her parent!!

Our Little Secret No More!

Church Search Complete!

Thank you all for your prayers, especially since this post last month.  We were able to visit 8 different churches here in Spokane.  We got a great feel for what was available for our spiritual growth and family here in WA.  We were struggling so much because all the churches we visited had great qualities and there weren't strong things we disagreed with as far as theology and style.  After a few visits to two churches we've settled on the one :)  Here's a link to our new church, hopefully friends and community will follow closely to fill the gap of not being near those we love in the midwest and CO.  Thanks again for your prayers.

In the last week Norah has started to...

*Sign "more" and "water" very clearly and just started signing "baby" too!

*Knows the sign "cracker" and "cereal"

*Says "hi!" with a very sweet girly voice. I'll try to get a video of this because it just melts my heart. She says it to everyone now, including when we leave because she doesn't understand "bye" quite yet.

*When we put Norah down for bed she really likes it when we hum softly to her and if we forget she starts to hum to us as a reminder, once we start she stops. It's so cute that she knows how to cue us!

*Got another tooth and two more are about to come through her sweet little gums!!

*She didn't take a step but almost did so I thought that warranted it's own little bullet :)

*Walked alongside David while holding his hand, precious!

*She's probably saying hiiiiiiii!*

Deodorant Challenge!

I've recently learned more about the negative effects commercial deodorants can have on our body (thanks to my friend Erika). A quote from this blog says, Commercial deodorants contain aluminum salts which helps suppress perspiration. The toxicity in aluminum has been linked to cancer and Alzheimer's. It is especially important for women to take thought being that breast tissue extends up into the armpits.

I read a lot of the comments from other readers on the blog above about how over the counter natural deodorants (such as Tom's or Burt's Bee's) would stop working for them after a few months. Instead they tried the following recipe and loved it! I decided I would see if I liked the recipe, if it worked for me and how easy it was to make (I already had everything in my cupboard) and use.

Recipe:

1/4 cup baking powder

1/4 arrow root powder or corn starch

6-8 tablespoons of coconut oil (you can use refined or unrefined (smells better) coconut oil)

*optional* add a few drops of your favorite smelling essential oil such as peppermint or lavender (I didn't do this since the coconut already smelled so great)

Directions: combine the baking powder and corn starch (which is what I used) in a bowl. Slowly add coconut oil and mash together (you can also use a hand mixer) until it's the consistency you like.

I put the deodorant into an old deodorant container but that didn't last more than two days. It's been in the 80's here and coconut oil melts at 76 degrees. *It's optional to add beeswax if you would like it to be more firm and not melt at such a low temperature for the summers.* So, I moved the concoction into a little glass jar and it works great to just use my fingers to apply. If I have access on my hands I can simply rub it into my skin since it's moisturizing. The only thing I've found I dislike about this recipe is not having that antiperspirant in the deodorant, the pits are not always as dry and I'd like.

So, will YOU join me in this 30 day adventure? It's been great so far, you can ask David... he's smelled my arm pits everyday for a week and the results are yummy smelling pits! Haha! David has joined in and my sister Kim made her own this weekend too!

Why is coconut oil slowly becoming one of my favorite staples around the house?

*No other oil has the anti-viral/bacterial/fungal parasite qualities that coconut oil has

*Healthy option for baking or cooking

*A great moisturizer (and it smells great too)

*A make-up remover

*A leave in or rinse our hair conditioner

*An after shave for men

**Any other ideas?**