In our church it is traditional for the father to give the child their name and blessing, similar to a Christening in other faiths. Oftentimes special counsel or blessings are given at that time, and it’s just a unique opportunity to get a glimpse into how Heavenly Father sees this amazing little person so new to us. We blessed Evangeline on Sunday, and the Spirit felt there was just wonderful. We feel she will be such an influence for good in the world, and we are so blessed to have her in our home. She is one of the most joyful people I know, and she’s only an infant! We love her so much. Here are some pictures to enjoy:

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So we had all her nicknames picked out already, but we don’t call her those nearly as often as we call her “Bina.” Short for “Bella Bambina*.”Other names include Jellybean-a, Princess, Pumpkin, Miss Bliss, and Snookums. Just kidding about the Snookums.

*Oddly enough it’s from that song by Crowded House. I just kept hearing it run through my head when I was holding her… “she’ll be my bella bambina uh-huh…” Though I’m not even entirely sure that’s the way the song goes, but there you are. She is now Bean-a. Click ahead for more pix.

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So I’ve always felt I had a missing gene… or hormone…which made me a non-baby-person. Don’t get me wrong, I love smelling baby heads as much as the next gal, and I ached to have children for years before we actually were blessed with a pregnancy, but I just have never LOVED that baby phase. It seemed to drag on forever with me just waiting for some way to communicate with that little person! When people would say "it just goes by too fast…" I never could quite wrap my head around it. it’s like a whole YEAR before that child can say much of anything or show you things or go wherever they want to go… It didn’t seem fast enough to me. 

Burke made a comment yesterday about how next time when Jesus is a baby he’d like to hold him, which is so sweet, but I explained that he would never be a baby again, he was all grown up, always and forever. And it finally hit.

My babies are babies once. Ever. In all eternity.

There will never be another time where they are so tiny and fragile and so completely adored and innocent. There will never be so many opportunities for me to just gaze in wonder at what they might become, snuggle their soft skin without objection, and wonder at God’s miracle in making them so perfect in miniature.  This is it.

So when Eve woke up after a way-too-short nap, rather than giving her a pacifier and a pat to encourage her to go back to sleep, I just held her. I snuggled her sweet fuzzy baby head. Kissed her tiny fingers and nose, told her how much I loved her, and carried her around all day. I will cherish every moment with my kids at every sweet tender age of childhood. These days will never come again.

So my post about Micah & Lizzie’s gift made me want to post about all the cool games we got from Matthan and Brenda. I would highly recommend all of them! WAY fun.

Here’s the list:

Coloretto

Vikings

Express

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Mystery Garden

Battle Ball

Bohnanza

I love that they included some great preschooler games like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Mystery Garden, a game with cool little figurines (Battleball), and that all of them are games we can play all together or at least with Neils soon if not already.  Thanks again Matthan and Brenda for such great gifts!

The fun part of our vacation began once we hit the road to Ohio. It was slow going thanks to very cautious drivers in the snow, but we made it by the evening after Christmas. I don’t know why, but none of us seemed to be in photographer mode as we ended up with very few photos, none of Conan’s beloved siblings,  nearly none of our nieces and nephews, and zero group shots, which is sad since it may be quite awhile before we are all together like that again… in fact it’s probably safe to say that may never happen again! We were a little crowded (9 adults and 9 children–three of which were infants– in a 2 bedroom condo!) but it was wonderful to be so close. We played many games, took excursions to the zoo and Chuck E. Cheese, met up with one of Conan’s Middle School friends and his wife, and attended the temple. All in all, a wonderful vacation!

I think it’s safe to say, Grandma was in HEAVEN having so many grandbabies to love. Here is Milo and Peter dressed as twinners! 

She used her zoo pass to get us all in to the Columbus Zoo to see the Christmas lights… apparently that is a MUCH bigger event than I was anticipating! The line for parking snaked all the way to the road, and the zoo itself was no less than crammed. Talk about nervous-making! (Anyone read the Uglies series? Sorry, but that vocab is habit-forming!) It was a good thing we had so many adults looking out for the kids, because if you thought visiting a crowded zoo was difficult in broad daylight, imagine it at night, with a million twinkling, twirling lights to delight and distract them! Yikes. But it was lots of fun, and the kids really got a kick out of the light show set to Christmas music on the pond, though we pretty much just caught the finale with Neils’ favorite Transiberian Orchestra tune, Christmas / Sarajevo 12/24. Kind of a Carol of the Bells meets heavy metal number. Somehow the cutest photos I thought I was getting turned out to be video, which I still can’t figure out how to upload. Sorry kids! 

Our Chuck E. Cheese excursion:

So.. this really was a cute photo-op with Eve being totally delighted with her cousin Peter, and him just gabbing away at her… but we were too slow. Ah well, Peter is still adorable!

The Bella Bambina:

He’s really 3! I have thought of him as a three year old since the torrent of birthdays in October, and now he’s finally really truly three! Umm… in two days. But today was his birthday party, so as far as I’m concerned, he’s three. Oh, whatever. Enjoy the photos.

 (BTW– since there are so many pics I opted to post just the thumbnails, but click on any photo to enlarge it)

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Burke: Mmmm! This is a yummy treat! It’s better even than marshmallows!

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I feel like I’m playing dress up with a doll– but she’s growing way too fast! I feel like I’ve got to snap photos every time she wears a new outfit, cuz next time she may not fit it at all!

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