Crawling

Eve learned to crawl yesterday. She has been getting in crawl position for a little while now, but just yesterday learned how to move everything into first gear in order to go forward.

All by herself

Sam and I sat on our bed and watched as Eve worked for several minutes to sit up by herself. She would try really hard and then take a break laying her head on Sam's leg. Then she would try again. She was breathing hard and even sweating a little with the effort, but in the end, she was able to sit up all by herself! As I watched her work so hard, I thought of how Heavenly Father must feel as He watches us struggle with trials we face. I'm sure in many ways He could just reach out and remove our problem, just as Sam or I could have reached out and helped Eve to sit up. However, Our Father knows that it is through the struggling that we gain strength and the necessary skills we need to progress. But He is near us all the while and will not leave us alone.

So then on a funnier note, once Eve finally sat up, Sam and I clapped and cheered for her. She was at first surprised and then thrilled with the attention. So she got down on all-fours and then returned to sitting position. We clapped again. She then proceeded to just barely get onto her hands and knees and then back up to sitting. She was looking for more praise. She did this several more times, getting progressively lazier on what she would do prior to returning to a sit. The last time all she did was put her arms in front of her (not even touching the ground) and then threw her arms out to the side and sat up tall with a huge grin looking from Sam to me and then back to Sam as though to say "Clap for me! Clap for me! Aren't I amazing?!" - we clapped and laughed at how even at 7 months old praise and attention mean so much!

Moon Bay Gardens

The grounds of our apartment complex are really nice. Last Saturday, since Sam only needed to work about an hour (instead of the half-day he puts in on Saturdays), we spent some time outside just enjoying the grounds. We sat and read while we listed to the water fountain. Eve also loves to watch the fish, and I must admit there is something relaxing about watching fish swim around.

Oh yeah, speaking of these fish... We saw a little boy and his younger sister hanging around with a small blue bucket. We wondered what were they doing. Were they trying to catch a fish? Were they going to try to have one of these for dinner or something? Somehow that idea would not have surprised me. Later on, however, we saw a big orange fish swimming around in one of the pools that is not supposed to have fish in it. Hmmm, I think I know what they did with the bucket...

Chinese New Year in Hong Kong

Since Hong Kong is so close, but also a great vacation spot (a bit of civilization, if you know what I mean), we decided to go there for our Chinese New Year break again this year. It was a little different with a baby in tow, but great of course!

Eve's first boat ride -- the ferry across the HK channel

View from Stanley village

Space is tight in HK and our hotel room was really small.

So Eve got to sleep in the luxurious shower-bed

Jazzed to head out to SoHo for dinner...

a little while later...

The whole family with New Year decorations at the mall

It was great to see old friends! This is Stella, one of the other teachers Sam worked with at the MTC. She was kind enough to babysit Eve while Sam and I went to the Temple.

Tired

Eve is a wonderful baby! We are really spoiled to have such an easy baby. If she had one fault, however, it would be sleeping. She was going to sleep at around 11 pm and we thought that was too late. We've now been trying to change her schedule so that she goes to sleep earlier. Lots of kids go to sleep at 8 or 9 right? However, everything we do seems to push her schedule back instead of forward. She is now falling asleep around 1 am! Not okay, since mom wants to go to sleep herself at 8. Now I just wish she would fall asleep at 11 again - 11 sounds glorious! You just don't know what you have until you don't have it anymore, eh?!

Smiling Girl

Eve with Maya, a friend from our branch. Maya is 2 and loves to hold Eve (even though Eve is half her size) In good Chinese fashion, Maya is giving the Peace Sign =)

Everything goes in the mouth right now! She especially likes to have something in her mouth and then put her arms out straight to the side like this.

That is definitely a smile behind that pacifier =)

Cold?

Some days are already starting to feel hot, but mostly the weather is just pleasant right now. I need to enjoy it because there are only about 2 weeks of pleasant and then it is right on into scorching. Sam and I are from Utah; we are used to cold, real cold, but the people here in Southern China are not. They don't really know what cold is. So they will bundle up and pack their kids in what look like snow-suits when it is 70 degrees outside. The poor kids can't even move! The other day at the grocery store Sam pointed out a kid to me who was laying flat in a stroller and was so bundled up all he could move were his eyes. And his eyes were about all you could see of him too. (unless of course you were to lift him up -then you could probably see a bare brown bottom...) Keep in mind this was in an indoor, heated grocery store -- poor kid. So then they will look at how I dress Eve and are aghast! (Keep in mind I have her in a long-sleeved onsie, a shirt on top of that and a jacket, long pants, socks and a hat) They say: "oh look how little she is wearing!" then they will touch her hand and say: "her hand is like ice!" (I touch her hand and don't think it is even cold) Then they will touch her socked-foot and say "her foot is like ice!" I'm not sure how they are even imagining that one because it is a sock they are touching and it is not cold. Then I may reply with something like "its not that cold" or "I am sweating so I'm sure she is not cold" or "I'm from a cold place, so this does not feel cold" and they will say "oh, but there is wind!". Basically at this point I just ignore them and they continue to talk to each other about what a poor parent I am for dressing my baby this way. Its times like this that I wish I just didn't understand them =)