10 months old...

Kinda hard to believe, but its true. Little Munchkie is 10 months old (well, almost 11 as I am clearly behind). She has changed so much in this month. She began her army crawl and has very much mastered it. It is amazing how quick she is on those knees and forearms! She puts everything in her mouth, which has caused me to be a bit of a neat freak especially in the living room where she plays the most. She clearly says "mama" "dada" "baba" and is signing "more" and "milk."

Her little personality is totally coming out these days. Our little sugar and spice. She seems so sweet and adorable and then BAM! she does something so out of the ordinary. The best example I can give is she does this thing where she sweetly, lovingly touches your face with her hand and stares into your eyes and then out of nowhere she grabs with all her might and scratches the heck out of your face. Like she totally knows she's drawing you into her sweetness just so she can do something a little mean and you'll still think she's cute. Mike and I are accustomed to her ways but I totally see new people falling for it and then ending up with a battle wound.

Either way, she's a joy. And making her presence known in our little family.

i thought our mini photoshoot was going to be a bust because this was all i got from her...

but nothing a little, purple coin purse can't fix

and then she wanted to come and eat my camera

i took this one the next day, i just think its crazy how different she looks from day-to-day

and i had to post this one from about a month ago...seriously, check out that attitude

Next Installment: The baptism

i've never been baptized. i remember my younger sister getting baptized. going through the preparations. up on stage. getting dunked. i never had the desire. not really sure why. i suppose a lot of people get baptized in middle school or high school. i wasn't exactly living a holy life during that time. i was too busy leading the double life of good-youth-group-attending-girl and doing-things-i-shouldn't-girl.

i'd say i really became a christian when i accepted/re-accepted christ, august 5th, 2002. the idea of baptism never really presented itself and even after the first two years of living as a missionary it never occurred to me. but the holy spirit started moving.

we've planned to do it several times in the last two years but things have always come up. i was going to get baptized last year on september 13th, then mike's dad, joe, died on the 10th. then i planned on doing it in the spring after nohemi was born, but an earthquake decided to destroy haiti and those plans were thwarted as well.

but this summer, i went to a youth conference to help with praise and worship, and felt god say, "goody, it is well past time."

so fast forward to august 28th (the same day my godson was born!) and we made it happen. i'll try and just let the pictures speak for themselves but just know that it was an amazing day.

i love watching people love up on our kids (our great friends, will and audrey)

jackie and one of her little ones and dave schwulst (i was baptized at his family's compound)

cherry schwulst, an incredible woman of god, mentor and friend

deb, who happens to look stunning with a canopy backdrop

mike and our friend, isaias, were the ones who baptized me

i love this one...it was so amazing to have my husband baptize me

dominican tradition is to take a jump in the pool, river, lake, wherever after you're baptized. landon wanted to do it too.

i seriously could not believe how many of the people i care about came to this, i was only expecting a handful. it was so surreal.

Deb and Tim Visit the Dominican

i think it was the fastest week in the history of time. i prayed and prayed for God to slow it down but to no avail. but besides the fact that it went fast - it was a great, great visit. super relaxing. we had no agenda. we literally woke up and asked, "so what do we want to do today?" and sometimes the answer was, "nothing." and man did that feel good.

now, in order to thoroughly document their trip in the blog world, it is going to require a couple installments. i didn't even start taking pictures until friday of their trip (they came tuesday) and somehow still ended up with like 300 photos. so this is the first installment.

friday.

we have these good, no, great friends that live in the mountains. dave and cherry are seriously an incredible couple. and they are incredibly generous with what they have. our purpose for visiting them was 1) to see them, cause we rarely ever do, 2) go swimming, eat until our tummies hurt and relax, and 3) baptize me. (photos of the baptism will be in a separate installment)

imagine, if you will, a place that takes you away. reminds you of god's incredible artistic abilities. helps you forget all your worries and focus on the important things in life. heaven on earth. that is the Schwulst Compound.

where fruit straight from the garden of eden dangle from every tree. where kids get bronzed by the sun in the pool. where the smell of food and the sound of laughter ring through the mountain landscapes.

i loved every second of it. just being with our family and friends in a place like that. we are totally going back sometime in the near future for a family vacation. we're not really beach-and-hotel, kind of people. but we are natural-river-fed-pool-and-brats-on-the-grill, kind of people.

landon was a fish. at first he was a little unsure if he wanted anything to do with the pool, but once he took that first plunge, we couldn't get him out. and there's just something that illuminates children's skin, contrasted with a mossy waterfall.

uncle timmy (or uncle bimmy, as landon calls him) was landon's hero. there is something about people coming to the dominican that solidifies their relationship with landon. don't get me wrong, he loves his family back in the states. but if you want him to love you more, you have to come into his territory.

and there's something really cool about airplane floaties.

(this one is especially cool because Gaga, mike's dad who passed away a year ago, gave this to landon when he was a year old)

mike is a different person when all his family is around. he thrives on family. he loves when family is here; in the dominican with us. i think he had this amazing smile on his face the whole week. i heart him.

i realized that i went this whole post without a single picture of me in it. which i actually kinda like. i loved just capturing life that day. watching them breathe it all in. loving each other. feeling stresses disappear. and honestly, i don't know how it all works, the whole angels in heaven thing. but if joe was able to, i know he was hanging out that day, watching his family enjoy life together.

and family can make any normal friday, pretty special.

9 Months!

whelp. another month has flown by.

our baby girl is 9 months old today. i fully intended on just taking like 5 pictures, just to get a good shot of what she looks like this month. and actually she was not cooperating. only wanted to play with the grass and eat leaves. but then, i got the novel idea to throw her (not actually throw her, but gently place her...) in the hammock. so glad i did.

got this idea to pair a photo with a block of color from another blog. i kinda like it. what do you think?

9 amazing months, little nohemi. i love you so very much.

8 Months!

little miss thang is 8 months old. life is flashing before our eyes. i'm still trying to figure out how we can slow it down a bit...but to no avail.

i fully intended on only putting, like, one or two photos up but i absolutely could not decide. she was especially photogenic this day or something. although she would never give me a real toothy grin until someone special entered the scene...

yep. this girl loves her brother. its crazy. and beautiful. and so so fun to watch. he adores her and she wants to be doing whatever he is doing, every second of the day.

nothing especially new in month eight. seems there are a few teeth up top wanting to poke through but are taking their grand 'ol time doing so. she does really really really want to crawl but can not figure out how to get those chubby legs going.

did i mention she melts my heart.

she is such a joy. so laid back. so easy going. everything i'm not. which is probably why we are such kindred spirits.

and i love the look on her face in this one.

it was fitting that she wore yellow because she is my sunshine.

How long has it been?

Just like I can't believe I have a son that is three, it's even harder for me to believe that Mike and I have been married for five years. Even crazier is that we've been together for 7 1/2!

I remember our wedding day so clearly. Getting ready in the morning, I filled up the jacuzzi tub in the hotel room just so I could shave my legs with the best lighting, not to miss any. I went and had my nails done and had fake eyelashes put on. I went to get my hair done and it was so fun chatting with all the women in the salon about my big day. Showing up to the church with butterflies all up in my stomach. Slipping into my dress that I had spent hours and hours looking for with my mom. Putting in the veil and looking at myself in the mirror. I just remember thinking, "this is seriously the best day ever." Even though it was raining and it was probably the most humid Indiana day I had ever remembered, none of that mattered. I was about to walk down the aisle and meet the man I had fallen in love with, grown to absolutely adore and dreamed about spending the rest of my life with. It was really going to happen. My wedding day.

Fast forward five years, two kids, a move to the Dominican Republic and we've got today. Although my wedding day was the most beautiful day of my life, our everyday life is just as beautiful. Even with Handy Manny dominoes strewn across the living room floor, 18 juice cups hidden beneath the couch, a gazillion rattles that i trip on and nearly break my ankle every time, and maybe more than one conversation between the hubs and I that could have been said with a little less, um, snippy-ness...even with all of that, it is beautiful.

Our life together has turned out nothing like I thought it would. I figured we'd have a house with property, maybe even horses. I'd run my photo studio out of our home. Mike would be working with some Parks and Recreation department running and scheduling all of their activities. And even though sometimes I daydream of that life that I had planned out so long ago, what God has done is much bigger. We've made our home in the Dominican, and it feels like home. So much so that when we are in the States it feels a little foreign. God had blessed us beyond measure and beyond what we could have ever imagined. We are grateful for this season of life, with all of its sippy cup disasters and beautiful Sunday morning family time on our bed. I couldn't count the number of times that I've felt this unexplainable surrounding of God's peace as I sit and think about where our family is. And to think...it all began because two people fell in love.

* * *

Because our anniversary is in the middle of our busy season here in the Dominican we can't do anything extravagant until after summer is over. But we always make sure and do a nice dinner. This year, they opened a Chili's about five minutes from our house. All I have to say is YUM-O!

He's three....

i'm going to try and pretend that three years haven't passed by so quickly. that i soaked up every memory, every ounce of our son's life and stored it, only to pull the mental album out on a rainy day. that i was the most loving, most god-fearing, most perfect mother to our little boy. but none of that is true. sure, i remember when he got his first teeth and when he began walking and the first time we cut his hair. i definitely had some awful parenting moments and, unfortunately, being the first born i didn't have previous experience to keep me from making mistakes.

but...

we have laughed, a lot. we have danced, a lot. we have marveled, a lot.

i look at little landon, although not-so-little these days, and think, "mike and i made him. he is made from our very cells." sometimes its so much that i am just overwhelmed by the amazingness of it all.

landon, you have grown into an amazing little man. you are so incredibly caring and sensitive. you test all your boundaries. sometimes to your demise. but i love that about you. you don't just stop, you do what you think you can do. i know it has caused some strife between you and i because i am trying to teach you discipline and obedience. but i have to sit back sometimes and applaud you for your persistence and independence.

you adore your sister and care for her so gently. its like you knew, before you really even knew what babies were, that you had to be careful with her. that you cared for her. that she was yours. the bond you have with her is so beautiful to be a part of, i can only pray that as you get older you feel the same way as you do now. loving your differences and appreciating your uniqueness.

you know you need alone time. i remember the first time that i was working in the living room and all of a sudden realized you weren't around. as i searched the house looking for a mess or something broken, i found you; playing in your room with a circle of toys scattered around you.

there are times when you throw tantrums and scream at me and have a temper beyond what a three-year-old should be capable of, and in the moment i get so frustrated. but as i think of it now, it just reminds me of your passion. your determination. your desire to do things your own way.

god has designed you so intricately. through being your mama you have taught me to be patient and consistent and intentional. and through watching your little mind process things and some of the phrases that come out of your mouth, i know that our creator has a sense of humor.

over the past three years, i have loved you more than i ever knew was possible to love someone. you have solidified my faith in god, my faith in family, my faith in motherhood. you were created to be my baby, my first born. god designed us: you for me and me for you. i love you, bubba. i'm so happy you were born.

7 Months

It happened. Another month flew by. I just can't believe it. Emi is now 7 months old and somehow in a month she looks different, acts different...is different.

She has totally mastered feeding herself her bottle, sitting up and rolling over both ways. Lightyears ahead of her brother. Landon didn't roll over until he was eight months old and she's been rolling over since 4 months. She is eating every kind of baby food you can imagine but LOVES sweet potatoes and mangos.

This little girl brings us so much joy. You can just see in her pictures the sweetness that oozes out of her. My favorite part of the day is first thing in the morning when I go in to get her. She flashes me this huge grin as if saying, "Mommy, I haven't seen you in twelve whole hours and I'm so happy to see your face." I don't have a care in the world when I hold her.

One thing that puzzles us still. Her eyes. We can not for the life of us tell what color her eyes are. They literally change from day to day. They are not like mine where they are more blue if I wear something blue or more green if I wear something green. They are a shade of their own. Sometimes blue, sometimes gray, sometimes hazel, sometimes green. It's the craziest thing. Sometimes I look at her and I'm like, "Whoa, hello blue eyes!" and then the next day there isn't an ounce of blue in them. I like to think she has a little bit of all of us in her eyes. Brown like her Daddy and Gaga. Gray like her A-ma. And blue like my entire family. She's an awfully special little girl.