We've had a great couple of days around our house, and I just have to document it here.  Nothing extraordinary or exceptionally fantastic, but just a bunch of "precious moments" mixed with some craziness of life that has me feeling especially grateful tonight. 

On Thursday night, Sean and I arranged to have one of our awesome youth group students come over to watch Gia so that we could go on a date!  It was only our second date since she was born, and since she's almost a year old (in 2 short weeks!), you can imagine that this date was overdue.  (Let me just say, date nights are extremely hard to come by and become exponentially more expensive when you don't have family close by.  ::sad face::)  SO.  I decided to actually make dinner this night.  I've been in a bad habit of just "getting by" with dinner... easy stuff, not too healthy but sufficient.  Nothing fancy or particularly delicious, for that matter.  So the fact that I was peeling vegetables and washing chicken was big.  Sean was playing with Gia as I was washing the chicken before I plopped it in the skillet with the already-browning garlic & onions.  Both Gia & Sean were getting hungry and I promised dinner in 25 minutes.  As soon as I had said that, the garbage disposal starting backing up... it made a chug-chug-chug, then just kinda stagnated.  Before I could say something to Sean, a flood of water began pouring out at my feet.  Water mixed with chunks of carrot peel.  Gross.  With the faucet still going high blast (I had to wash my hands because they were covered in chicken yuck!) I started screaming for Sean to grab some towels.  A few minutes of frantic shrieking back and forth, and I finally turned off the faucet.  (Duh- turn off the source of the gushing water, Sheyenne.) Sean cleaned up the floor and under the cabinet while I finished cooking dinner.  Gia was a gem as she sat in her exersaucer, just staring at us in our craziness.  We tried to get Gia to eat in her highchair as we were doing all this, but she really wouldn't touch any of her food.  So once dinner was ready for Sean and me, we took our plates over to the living room and just sat on the floor.  Our baby sitter was coming in less than 10 minutes!  But dinner was delicious- juicy lemon chicken, couscous and carrots.  As we were sitting there, Gia started flitting back and forth between us, picking food off our plates like a little bird.  The carrots and couscous she refused to eat in her highchair, she was now devouring by the handfuls!  Yes, handfuls!  She grabbed a fistful of couscous and shoved it in her face... and the tiny pastas spilled right back out!  She wasn't so sure about them, but kept eating it!

I just had to laugh at this.  It was a crazy night- we were trying to get dinner cooked, a baby bathed, and get out the door so we could get to a movie and things just were not going easy for us!  But it was a perfect night.  We did make it to the movie in time- we even had a few minutes to shop around beforehand.  It was a great date night, and Gia slept well for the babysitter (whew!).  I'm thankful for the normal, day to day life with the occasional craziness thrown in.  Its not glamorous, but its good.  Its better than good- its a dream come true.  A dream I never knew I had, but now that its here, its home. 


This afternoon, we were all sitting together in the living room, and Gia was playing all around us with her toys.  She's been standing up on her own a lot the past couple of days, balancing better and better each time.  Out of nowhere, Gia took 3 steps towards me!  It took my by surprise, she looked like such a natural.  Just like she'd been walking forever.  Sean and I just looked at each other and started laughing!  Our little girl is growing up and its crazy.  2 weeks from today she will be one year old!  Where has the time gone?