How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. The day that Jon and I got engaged, Jon took me to the Robert Browning library on Baylor's campus and read me this poem...

XLIII. "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with a passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath, Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.

This was the first time that Jon told me that he loved me. Through 4 years of dating I had seen looks of love on his face and signs of love in his actions, but he waited until our engagement day to say those words, making them very special. That engagement day led to our wedding day on July 27, 2002, which has led to 7 great years together.

To celebrate "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...":

7 Great Attributes of my husband:
1. His sense of adventure
2. His thoughtfulness in decision making
3. His commitment to loving and providing for our family
4. His sweet dance skills that crack all of us up on a daily basis
5. His sense of humor
6. How he loves God by enjoying the outdoors
7. His high standards and values

7 Things we've gotten since being married:
1. 1 Bachelor's Degree
2. 1 house
3. 1 dog
4. 1 Master's Degree
5. 1 used car
6. our son
7. our daughter

7 Places We've Been in the last 7 years:
1. The Big Island (on our honeymoon and last summer)
2. Washington State (2003 and 2007)
3. Albuquerque- lots and lots of times
4. Spain (summer 2006)
5. Portugal (summer 2006)
6. California- several times
7. South Padre island (2003)

My 7 Favorite Things we do together (and as a family):
1. Going out to eat- of course!
2. Going for walks in our neighborhood
3. Dance parties- really these are so hilarious!
4. Traveling
5. Swimming (pools, rivers, lakes, oceans, ect.)
6. Worship- wherever that may be happening (at church or in nature or through watching our kids)
7. Playtime with Caleb and Abby

Happy Anniversary Jon! I love thee!

Bedhead and Teeth

Dear Aiden,

Thank you for letting me borrow your jumperoo. I already like it a lot!

Sincerely your friend,

Abby

New Layout Question

I have been playing with customizing some of the html on our blog. It doesn't look that different considering the amount of time I have spent messing with it! I wanted to ask you readers out there to leave a comment letting me know if the blog is loading at its normal speed. I want to make sure that none of the changes have made it really slow! It is hard to know what is happening on different computers. Thanks for your input.

Firsts: Teeth!

Abby's first tooth has officially pushed through (it is under her fingers), and the second one is working its way up! To celebrate, Abby ate some sweet potatoes for lunch, and she thought that they were the best!

Abby LOVES...

...these fingers!

Goodnight World

Weekend Fun

Caleb has fun at the splash park at Aiden's birthday party.

Abby and Mommy have fun dressing Abby up in her new outfit for church!

Isn't she cute!

Despite the heat, we had to take a few pictures of the family outside tonight. We had just returned from taking our family pictures at church for the church directory. It seems that every picture I have of Caleb is strange. He is just a very hard subject to capture!

Abigail at 5 months

Here is our baby girl at 5 months old. She is starting to become a bit more adjusted to life: taking good naps, playing and entertaining herself some, and not getting upset as much. She is still waking up some at night, but she eats and goes right back to sleep very easily. I am hoping to avoid the whole crying it out stage; I am not ready to commit to it right now. But, I would like her to sleep through the night! We will see what the next month holds. Abby is able to sit in the Jumperoo and play as long as Caleb doesn't come to help. He ends up pushing her around in it, and I get very nervous! Abby sucks her thumb and likes to have something soft to hold on to when she goes to sleep. During the day she listens to "womb sounds" to help her go to sleep. This routine seems to be working for naps. Abby has one tooth about to push through on the bottom, and I suspect the other one is coming too. Surprisingly, she doesn't seem too bothered by it. She is eating rice cereal or oatmeal cereal twice a day and is starting to take in more than she spits out! Abby loves her dad and just lights up when she sees him. She is also entertained by Caleb. We are excited to look forward to all of the accomplishments that the next few months will entail. This is a very fun age!

Firsts

Abby started on rice cereal this week. The verdict: she likes it but is still trying to figure out how to swallow more than she spits out! The other verdict: the rice cereal has not made her sleep any longer at night. She has been waking up 2 or 3 times each night! She is teething and has been sick with a cold, so I am hoping we can go back to sleeping 6-7 hours at night soon. If not, we will be starting some serious sleep training! Hopefully Aunt Katie has been taking good notes on it as she has been working with Merek on sleeping through the night. Look for a more detailed Abby update soon. This week she will turn 5 months old!

New Braunfels

We enjoyed a trip down to New Braunfels with Gpa and Gege this past week. We shopped, ate, and swam everyday and had a great time! Jon and I got up and tubed the river one of the mornings and then we headed to the outlet mall the next morning. Isn't that the perfect picture of compromise in marriage? Actually we both enjoyed each other's activity. Caleb's favorite part of the trip (besides constant grandparent attention) was getting to swim in the river and the pool everyday. He just kept a huge smile on his face the whole time he was in the water. Abby enjoyed the pool as well.

Caleb is decked out to go down and play on the river.

Gege and Abby sit in the shade while Jon and Caleb play.

Caleb checks out the rock, and Jon pulls him through the water.