2 minutes

As of yesterday, Haven enjoys saying, "Two minutes Mommy."  Probably 10 times she said this yesterday.  The first time I was just driving and she said, "Two minutes!"  I didn't understand until later when she was playing and I told her I was going to go wash dishes she said again, "Two minutes."  I realized that I always tell her things like, "We are going to leave in two minutes" or "Two more minutes and you need to come help mommy."  So, I suppose that Haven is letting me know my time limits until I have to give her more attention or it could be that she is setting her own time limits.  Either way, she cracks me up.

Havenisms

Haven always says funny things and by the time Adam gets home from work I usually forget what she said and I am so mad b/c I can't share it with him.  SO, I am going to start putting some of Haven's quirky little "isms" on the blog as they happen........

I just asked Haven, "Haven, what should we do now?"  (thinking she would say go to the park, or go on a walk, or go outside and play)

Haven replies, "We should eat rice cakes."

It's always about food with her....at least I try to give her somewhat healthy snacks!  :)

23 Months

Haven is 23 months old today. 

I am aware that this is not a significant milestone...or at least shouldn't be.  However, I cannot stop thinking about how this is the last month my baby will be 1 year old.  One of my friends even made fun of me yesterday because I called Haven a "1 year old."  She was like, "Come on!  She will be two in a month!  You are just holding on to every bit of 1 that you can, aren't you!"  She is so right.  I even get teary eyed thinking about it.  Goo.  This reminds me of a post that my friend Meg recently posted on her blog about how having children makes you crazy emotional (or crazy AND emotional..ha!).  I'm right there with you sister! 

Haven Annabelle:  Although you are quickly growing up before my eyes, you will always be my little baby girl and you will always have a special place in my heart as my first born.  You are the smartest, sassiest, most adorable little 23 month old that I know!  I am so proud of you and so blessed to call you my daughter!  I would always choose YOU!  Love, Mommy

Say When

I'm no writer and definitely no theologian....BUT, sometimes I have these crazy thoughts that I want to share! 

So, the first song on my playlist on my blog is "Say When" by The Fray (quite possibly my favorite band ever).  Anyway, I am not really sure what the song is about but sometimes I think it could be a conversation between God and a man.  Sometimes, I think I have no idea what I am talking about.  Nonetheless, when I hear the song it makes me think about how so many times God is probably looking at me and saying, "Say When Nichole and I'll be there."  I know that at times I feel like He isn't there when I most need Him or I seem to look to everything else besides Him to ease my pains until FINALLY I drag my broken self to Him.  I think that God just wants us to Say When and He is there!  He is never not there when we need Him.  He is just waiting for us to surrender to Him.  What do you think?

"And my own two hands
will comfort you tonight, tonight
Say when
And my own two arms
will carry you tonight, tonight
Say when."
-"Say When" by The Fray

“The LORD waits for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for him to help them” (Isaiah 30:18).

Sushi...how I love thee

Thanks to some good friends (Jason and Bethany!) I have found a new love...sushi!  Adam isn't too fond of it so Lindsey has become my new sushi buddy and every once in a while it seems that we read each other's minds and we unite in a sushi eating fest!  YUM!

Last night was one of those nights!  Although, I have to say we ordered too many spicy ones and our mouths were on FIRE!   Ha!

I have to brag that I have come a long way.  It wasn't too long ago that I refused to eat any seafood, was deathly afraid of creamy white condiments, and hated vegetables.  I'm so grown-up now.  haha

Lindsey and I at Taki

It has been a while...

Oh my goodness.  It has been a very long time since I have posted anything on here!   Eeek.  A few people have been bugging me for pictures and updates on life and Haven Annabelle.  So, here is a brief update of the last few months....

We closed on our new home on May 21st and moved in that day!  We were so blessed to have an abundance of help!  THANK YOU!  We are continually amazed at how much both our families and our church family surround us with love and support through every circumstance in our lives!  So anyway, we moved on Friday and Saturday.  The next Monday our church started a week-long missions trip to Des Moines called Mission to the City.   Adam was able to get the whole week off which allowed him to be home to help get "settled" as well as to participate in the missions trip for three days.  It was an awesome week!  The week ended with a Phil Wickham concert (amazing!).  Another huge thing that happened that week was our church moved locations to a new building.  So, that weekend was crazy busy with Adam getting sound stuff up and going as well as me getting the nursery area organized (oh yeah, I took over nursery stuff at our church!).  By the way, we also had a ton of family in town, my brother's high school graduation party as well as his graduation ceremony that weekend.  Looking back, I'm not sure how we survived that weekend!  :)

Most of June was spent getting settled into our new home, discovering our new neighborhood, and adjusting to the changes that come with moving.  I realize how much a creature of habit I am and how change is hard for me.  I was so comfortable with our routine in Ankeny, the parks we went to, the routes I always ran, the library, the pool/splash park, the places we ate, the Ankeny Hy-VEE (which I really really miss), and so many other things.  Despite all my reminiscing...I am so so so happy about our move!  Our new home really serves our family well, is a place we can better "host", and is so much more convenient to the things that we are involved in.

The beginning of July was spent celebrating our independence and preparing for my brother, Brandon, to get married.  Bud (as I always call him) and Becca got married on July 10th.  It was a beautiful wedding and Haven was an adorable flower girl!  We got to spend a lot of time with extended family from out of town which was super fun!

As we cross over the half-way mark of summer Haven and I are looking forward to heading down to Springfield, Missouri next week to spend the week with my sister, Amanda (and her hubby!) while she is on her week off between physical therapy rotations and while Adam has a week full of not only his full time job but also spending every evening working on some new sound stuff for the church.  Haven and I are pumped to spend time with "Auntie Mamanda" and to get to see Amanda and Ross' house!

We are also looking forward to September which will be a month full of celebration and relaxation!  We are heading down to Tablerock Lake with Adam's parents for vacation!  Adam and I also will be celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary and Haven will turn 2.  Wow.  We are getting old!  :)

Ok, now to the stuff that most people actually care about.....Haven Annabelle.  Haven is a character!  Her current favorite things are the Splash Park (she asks to go every day!), talking, dancing, singing songs with mommy, running, watching LarryBob (veggietales), and reading books.  She is also getting so smart!  She knows most of her colors, can count to ten with some help, is learning her shapes, and can match colors, pictures, and shapes.  She has started to recall things and tell stories about past occurances.  She talks constantly and in a very loud urgent voice.  Ha!  Here are some of her favorite phrases:
"Whats happen?" (what happened)
"I'm fine"
"I no like that"
"I wanna eat"
"thanks mom"
"hey honey"
"Mommy Cholee"
"Daddy Adam"
How old are you Haven?  "Two Months"
What's your name?  "Annabelle Tine" (as in Haven Annabelle Cline) or  "Miss B"  (Miss-b-Haven) 
"Loves you!"
"Hey There!"
"See you soon!"
"Bye guys"
"My tummy hurts" 
"I want my binki"
"I want my princess shoes"
"daddy's at work"
"I want Grammy's house"
"I want Grammy's car"
"Silly Mommy"
"I not funny"
"I smart"
"my do it"
"my have it"  (may I have it?)
"I want some snacks"
"I want ice water"
"Havee tired, I wanna go nigh night"

Ok, so this really wasn't a brief summary at all...but, hopefully you are caught up on life in the Cline household and I will try to be better about updating more often!  Pictures to come soon!

She needs a little color????????

Something weird happened last night! 

We decided to explore our new neighborhood by taking a walk.  We remembered that we had seen a Tropical Sno (yum!) about a mile away so we set that as our destination.  Once we made it to the stand, we were pleasantly surprised by how friendly the people waiting in line were.  One guy talked to Adam for a really long time about how wonderful the neighborhood was and asked Adam many random questions.  I bet they talked for at least 20 minutes.  A woman and her high school aged daughter started talking to me.  We quickly realized that we had a lot in common including cheerleading, church, and the daughter was even friends with my brother and had been at his graduation open house last Saturday!  Adam came over and joined the conversation and we talked for a few more minutes.  All of a sudden I noticed that the mother was holding chapstick and told Haven to smack her lips.  I thought, "Did she just put chapstick on my daughter???"  Sure enough Haven asked for more and the woman proceeded to put more of her chapstick on Haven.  I was so shocked that I didn't even know what to say.  Then all of a sudden she said to Haven, "You need a little color."  She then put LIPSTICK on Haven.  Now, I understand that we had a great conversation and that we had a lot in common, but this STRANGER was putting her lipstick on my 20 month-old daughter.  I could tell the high school daughter was super embarassed and was not sure what to say or do.  I was just so shocked that Adam had to politely tell the woman we had to go and quickly ushered me away. 

Am I totally off base, or is this really weird????