Hope: 7 months

7 Months: Can it really be so?

Time sure flies and even as I write Hope is on the eve of her 8-month birthday, but I thought I'd go ahead and squeeze in another post, so I seem like an organized mom who tracks their kid's progress by month...oh wait.

Oh Hope, how you have captured our hearts with that one-tooth grin. You are a bundle of joy and I don't think there's been a day since we brought you home from the hospital that we haven't 'oohed' and 'aahed 'at an expression you've made and something funny you've done. Although we've suffered a little less sleep in the last 7 months, we've sure made up for it in laughs. We are so much richer because of you and you already live up to your name in so many ways.

Parenting is such a crazy journey. One minute you think you have them figured out: their sleep schedule, their likes/dislikes, their favorite toys, etc. and then in just a few short weeks it totally changes. This month brought about some pretty significant milestones for little Hopie, including:
1. Becoming a pro-eater. Her favorite food is anything sweet (I blame her father's genes) and she tries to eat pretty much everything in sight.
2. Crawling! It's hard to imagine right now that she ever just stayed in one place. Her favorite thing is just to follow me around the house and do whatever I am doing. We've tried our best to baby-proof, although it's kind of trial-and-error at this point because she somehow always finds the most dangerous things first. Awesome.
3. A tooth! She gained one tooth about halfway through the month and currently has a second one popping through. She's handled it pretty well minus a little moaning in the night and a little droolage. I consider ourselves lucky in that arena.
4. Pulling-up. She's just now starting to pull up on a few things. Not everything, but just enough to get by. Her favorite new game is crawling on mom and interrupting whatever she's doing, which is hard to resist considering the overwhelming cuteness. If you don't believe me, just look at the picture above.

I love that her personality is coming out. She is an extrovert with a capital E. She LOVES people and gets so sad when they all leave. She hams it up for them with her smiles. 

She also loves to jabber. All she really says is "dadadadadada", which Josh and I perpetually fight about. Clearly if she knew what she was saying it would be "mama". I won't go there tonight.

Crouton (our cat) and Ellie (Taylor's daughter) are her best friends. She squeals with delight every time Ellie comes over and they race each other across the floor. She has recently started tackling crouton AND Ellie...sorry Ellie.

She absolutely LOVES being outside. Literally could live there. Maybe her father's genes again..

She is pretty strong-willed (Jesus help us!), but that sweet smile can fool even the best of us. 

Our current nicknames: Hopers, Hopie, Munch, Munchkin, "the happiest baby in the world" (those people aren't around during nap time..)

Favorite things to do: Be outside, climb on mom, pet crouton, go for a walk, swing, take a bath, chew on her toys.

This month's travels included: Dallas, Waco (1st Baylor Game)!

Until next month! (in faith)

Sleeping Babies

There's something oh so magical about babies sleeping. It's like Hope could be super cranky all night (not that that ever happens with my angel child ;) ), and I can be counting down the minutes until she goes down, and then once she's asleep I just want to wake her up again. I've had to hold Josh back from doing just that several times. We keep each other strong. 

Since Hope learned to roll over in Dubai, she has assumed the same sleeping position just about every night...face-plant into sheet, legs curled up, butt up. I'm literally so obsessed with it I could just eat her. 

For your viewing pleasure: 

(In Dubai at 3 months)

The Zoo!

A few weeks ago Josh had a day off, so our friends invited us to go to the zoo with them! Being from Omaha, i'm a little bit of a zoo snob (they have the best zoo EVER!), but the OKC zoo is at least worth a visit. :) Hope enjoyed herself. She was asleep for about half of the time. The other half she was more entertained with the grass, sky, and people than the animals, but hey, there were no tears so I consider it a win. :)

Shades on and ready to roll.

 That was quickly followed by this...

 4 Baylor fans...it's only appropriate.

 Hope & Abby Jo!

 That smile gets me every time.

 Abby Jo was kind enough to share her stroller with Hope for a bit.

 Nothing better than watching these two together.

 She borrowed dad's hat because mom forgot hers...

 I think this is the only animal she actually saw...

 Topped off the day with the elephant show!

Transitions, Transitions...

Since I just posted about a MILLION Hope updates, I thought I'd throw one in about life outside of Hope, just to be sure that everyone realizes we do a little more than ooh and aah over our child for multiple hours a day....sometimes.

Things have been ch-ch-ch-changing around the Terndrup house as of late. Josh recently accepted a job at our church, Antioch Norman, as the new Young Adult Zone Pastor. Which inadvertently means I accepted the job along with him. We were asked to pray about the position several months ago, so Josh and I spend about a month praying through it and asking the Lord what he had for us next.

If you've been around us for more than 5 minutes, you should know that our hearts BURN to be in the nations of the world [as soon as possible]. But, as we sought the Lord and surrendered our will [yet again] to him, we felt like he was saying that our season was not yet finished in Norman, Oklahoma and that he is still in the process of equipping and training us for the road ahead (not that that ever ends). In our hearts, we are so confident that this was the right decision, and that God is still fashioning and preparing us for a life of ministry, whether that takes us overseas or has us stateside at times.

In the meantime, we couldn't be more stoked about stepping into our new role. The Kennedy's, our amazing friends and former young adult zone pastors, laid an incredible foundation in the young adults at Antioch that we humbly get to build upon. What a privilege! We have some amazing, fiery, world-changing leaders that we get to walk with and partner to see both Norman and the ends of the earth touched and transformed by the love of God. We are PUMPED!

It is a super exciting season that we are stepping into, but also a very busy season. Josh has 2 months left as a Captain in the Air Force, so he is juggling both responsibilities right now. Yikes! This means that our nights (and my days) are filled with discipleship, meeting with leaders, casting vision, planning events, and dreaming about all the Lord wants to accomplish through this group. We are so thankful that God's grace is always more than enough for what he calls you to do, so although we are tired in the natural, we feel so filled up in the spiritual!

Just this past weekend we had a leadership training weekend with all our church's leadership teams. It was a great time of envisioning for the road ahead and laying the practical foundation for seeing that fulfilled. We had about 40 young adult leaders there that we got to dream with about all that God wants to do in our city in the coming weeks and months. I mean, who gets to do that as a job?!?

Even just today I heard wind of a girl getting saved in a young adult lifegroup last night! God is on the move, and we couldn't be more stoked about the season ahead.

We are so thankful that God 'forced' us to move to a little town called Norman, Oklahoma 4 years ago. It was quite unexpected, but we would not trade it for anything. His ways are definitely higher than our ways. And for that, we are so [so] grateful.

Goodnight to all.

Hope's Nursery

These are long overdue, but we had a little kink with the bumpers that finally got fixed over the weekend, so I decided to post some pics. Super thankful for my mother-in-law who made the drapes, bedding, pillow, and blanket! Still have some things I want to add to the room: book shelves, photo collage, etc. Just can't seem to get the motivation to...One of these days I will make it happen!

 View from the door

 Crib.

 Don't worry moms--I took the stuffed animals out of the crib after the pic :)

 My one and only Pinterest project. I guess there is hope for me after all ;)

 This chair is the best thing ever. Usually I can never fall asleep on chairs, but I have slept many nights here...actually quite comfortably. It's a Best Chair from BuyBuyBaby. Worth every single penny.

 Bought this combo on craigslist. Josh re-sanded it and painted it. He did well!

 He also painted this nightstand.

 Love this verse! My friend Michelle made this for my shower. She's pretty amazing.

 My one guilty-pleasure purchase from Pottery Barn Kids. Love it!

That little Noah's Ark is from Josh's room when he was little.

Until next time!

Solids

Hope has had quite an exciting summer....Dubai, Colorado, a lake vacation, and graduating to real foods! She's not a pro yet, but she's getting the hang of eating and is sure amused by the airplane game that we play while eating. So far, she's only had rice cereal and sweet potatoes. So far, so good!

 She has no idea what's coming...

 What is THAT?!

 Bahaha.

 Getting the hang of it...

 Trying sweet potatoes

 They're a hit!

Love that smile.

Bathtime!

We finally transitioned Hope from the sink to the tub. I guess once a baby can turn on and off the faucet she should probably move to the tub....:)

 Water in the eyes. Haha!

 Love her.to.death.

She adores daddy!