On to Year 2

Carmen is 1 years old!!!

We celebrated her first year of life and our survival of the first year of parenthood last week. Or maybe two weeks ago now. It was so awesome. I will share highlights once I get the professional pictures back.

I'm also very grateful for those of you aunties who gave her new clothes for the fall. Chilly weather has set in - anything under 85 degrees is chilly as far as this summer lovin' gal is concerned - and Carmen would have nothing to wear if it hadn't been for you all. Thank you!

All the mommies out there should be glad I decided not to enter Carmen into the Gerber Baby search. She would have won, I'm sure of it. ;) Here's a picture when she was 8 months old:

See? Tell me that's not a true Gerber baby. Don't be jealous. (However, my friends Lindsay and Michelle have pretty gerberish babies too. 3 way tie.) She's even doing something funny with her mouth here and it's still adorable. I don't even have to say the whole "I may be biased but" deal because I know it is what is. A lot of our friends have cute babies right now and that's a good thing.

Talking about Carmen that way isn't prideful right? RIGHT??...The Lord is always humbling me. If I look super great in a picture my BFF takes, then in the next 5 pictures of me are disgusting faces that are just natural shots but I remind me to deflate my ego because that's the real me. Or when I bake these fantastic, amazing, super perfect cupcakes from scratch and think to myself, "wow, I'm so good. I'm a fabulous, healthy cook. AND I can bake like nobody's business when I try," then the next thing I bake is like poop and I wonder what went wrong. Or when I'm so happy because all my clothes fit me so well and I think I look good, the next day my pants are too tight. Or when I think I have the house together and garden all pretty, food splatters and all the plants die. The Lord humbles me, almost immediately. Which is a blessing. I want to be more like Him. I want ugly pictures of myself hung up on a spaghetti stained walls with poop flavored cupcakes roasting in the oven. Cutest baby or not, my identity and hope is in the Lord and nothing else. He is so faithful to teach me His truths and it is most rewarding to rest in Him and His goodness alone!