Merry Christmas Gemma!

She was pretty fun this year, compared to last year when she slept all day. She sort of got the unwrapping thing, and really liked her toys. The best was the dolly; as soon as she opened it she hugged it, and patted it on the head and back. It was too cute. She also got a fire truck, and she figured out right away that if you put the little man in the driver's seat it plays a song. She got a doll house and some sweet socks from home (plus the bike helmet). AND Baba's package hasn't come yet so we can make Christmas last a little longer.

The rest of the pictures are already on the flicker (wow, we are on the ball with blogging and pictures)

We're off to the Philipinnes tonight. Pray for safety and fun and good weather.

Talk to you in 5 days.

Christmas Eve

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with friends! Our Christmas package from Grandma Sheri and Grandpa Rod came, so we put more presents under the tree. One was sort of loosely wrapped and too roly poly to stay under the tree so we let Gemma go at it. This is just a teaser, I can see Chester was working on the flicker so there will be more pictures there soon.

New Friend

Hurray for Ryan and Allison! They have a new baby girl to join their family, Ayda Sharon Ruth. She is completely beautiful, and when I talked to Allison she was so energetic and calm...Not how I remember feeling after giving birth;) But I am a huge wimp. Anyway, check out the link here to see the pictures.

Stay Sleeping

One thing I love about having Gemma in bed with us in the morning is that she sleeps longer. She sometimes wakes too early but if we pretend we are sleeping she rolls around, pokes us in the face a bit, flops down on us, wiggles her bum around and eventually goes back to sleep. Today she was so funny, she woke up and was sitting us blabbing away, and then she started doing this thing with her tongue, darting it in and out of the side of her mouth really quickly, like a little frog. Then she would laugh.

She was conducting in her sleep. And talking a bit. :) Mommy's girl.

Injury

Our baby has a booboo. We were in the computer room and she pulled Chris' laptop down off the couch, and the corner landed right on her toe. I saved the laptop from hitting the ground (phewww) but the poor girl was just howling. It hit her toe beside the big toe on her right foot and the nail is pretty much lifted right off. It looks like it is going to fall off at any second. She didn't cry long, and is walking fine. We put shoes on her and went out tonight and she didn't complain at all. When we got home I washed her feet in a sink of warm water with antibacterial soap, trying to run the soapy water over the injury and pat it clean without actually touching it too much, or ripping the nail off. She was even examining it, touching it gingerly and then she lifted the nail a bit. It was so funny to watch her examine herself. Of course when she lifted the nail it hurt again and she cried a little more but mostly she is a trouper. I put a bandaid on it (putting bandaids on baby toes is very difficult) and put some snug clean socks on, and we'll see. My biggest worry is that the whole toenail will fall off and then never grow back. I am not joking when I said the WHOLE nail is hardly attached; What is she loses the whole thing? Where will the new one grow? Will it grow? Will it hurt until then?

You know, people talk about the empowering feelings of motherhood and the strength of women. For me, I feel the opposite. I feel being a mother has made me more weak and afraid then ever. From about 3 seconds into the first push during labor I remember thinking, This is impossible! There is no way this is going to work! And I still fight those feelings. No matter what I do, I can not protect her from all the bad things in this world. I can't keep her from falling down on her head as she learns to walk, pulling computers down onto her toes... Arm's reach is not close enough all the time. I can not keep her safe from everything. I can hardly stand the news, hearing about little babies being abandoned or kidnapped or raped and all sorts of awful things. What is she has autism, or some other disability? It was a miracle when she finally burst out of my womb, and I can honestly say that everyday I in awe thank God for letting us watch over this precious little angel. I am completely dependent. I worry that I won't be able to discipline her, even though I know she needs it and craves it, etc. Heck, I'll be honest and say I have no idea how we are going to even wean her in the next 2 weeks (which is our plan).

You could pray for strength for me to do what I know is right and as I battle my own self doubt.

Baby Einstein

I love these fresh out of the bath tousled hair pictures, like the old Albert Einstein posters. She needs a haircut!

Oops!

The funniest thing happened yesterday...Ok, funny for me, not Gemma.

Gemma was standing in the bathroom at the opposite end of the faucet (If you've been a McKenzie blog follower for a long time, you'll have heard about Taiwan bathrooms; there is a shower and a faucet but no tub) So she was standing at that end, away from the water because I was going to run it to fill her little bathtub. Well, I turned the water on full force and the little knob on the faucet that switches it from tap to shower was UP so instead of water coming down out of the tap it came shooting out of the shower head and totally sprayed the fully clothed Gemma from head to toe. Poor thing was so surprised, but didn't cry or anything. And then I was laughing so hard she started laughing too. (reactions are so key with babies). What a brave little girl. I'm still laughing today.

Gemma at the Concert

What a cutie! Here she is hanging out, chillin' with some friends from school, and sleeping during the finale. It was the loudest part of the concert; all 120 kids singing carols along with the audience and she conked out. Babies!

Just like mom

For those of you that only read Nevada and Gemma's blogs I will repost this post from my blog:

When I took these pictures today I knew they had to be posted. We finally started decorating today and apparently it took a toll on my ladies. Gemma crashed in the afternoon and I kept mom up a little late tonight.




We were trying to get Gemma to pose with the bobble Jesus in the afternoon but she was having none of it. She just ket trying to bite the bottom of it. So when they got home tonight and she was fast asleep I decided to pose her with it. Then later on Nevada fell asleep so I posed her with it as well. So funny that all these pictures happened all in the same day.

The New Gemma

Gemma has entered a new phase... the tantrum phase. When she doesn't get what she wants, she screams and arches back, throws her head back... Yikes! She does this when someone picks her up she doesn't want to, or when she iswalking with a sharp pencil and I take it away. We have managed to be firm with her and not give in, so hopefully they decrease as she learns that she will not get her way if she does it.

A cute story; she has always been a dumpster diver, digging around in teh garbage whenever we look away. Well, since we've taken it away so many times and put things in it so much she has also changed her approach. Instead of taking things out of the garbage, she is putting things in. For example, yesterday Chris found the lid to a sippy cup and a toy fruit in his garbage can.

She is loving all her birthday toys, and learning how to push he buttons, etc. That's pretty cool.