The start of a new season

I don't even want to look at the last time I blogged, but just know that life has been very busy and fulfilling being a mom and a wife. I don't know where to begin to catch up on "life," so I will just start with what is going on here and now.

"Tis' the season to be jolly"...or at least "tis' the season to try." Caleb just left today for two and a half weeks and so begins the toughest part of his pre-deployment training. Although he won't deploy until sometime in May this year, he will spend the majority of his time training with his unit, only coming back home for a few days in-between them. There is no explanation that I can put into words to describe the sadness I felt today when he left. I know this will be a hard year (for all of us), but I also know that this will be a year of growth.

I have been preparing myself for the deployment (or at least trying to!), but when I sat down and saw the calendar days of when he will be gone for training, reality sank in and I dreaded him leaving this morning. His deployment feels like it starts today and that realization came as a sudden surprise to me as I was overcome with a wave of emotions. This will be our fourth deployment, but everything is for a season, and I pray that in this season of our lives, we will remain strong and choose JOY in spite of our circumstances and our time apart. Caleb often reminds me that we are so blessed to love each other so much that our complaint in life is not spending enough time together...and for that, I am thankful.

I pray that God will watch over and protect him.
I pray that I will lean on God every day and look to Him as my comforter.
I pray that God will strengthen our marriage.
I pray that the doubts I have will be set aside as I seek His wisdom on how to parent our precious little girl.
I pray that this year will be a year of faith and of growth in our walk with Him.

....and a quick update of our little girl...
Sophia is now 15 months old! She is independent, curious, playful, loves exploring, very strong-willed {wonder who she gets that from!}, sweet, and such a quick learner! She loves cuddling on mama and dada, loves cuddling all her stuffed animals as she squeezes them and kisses them, picks up new abilities so easily, and loves imitating people! Here are some words she knows how to say now:

- "Mama"
- "Dada"
- "Po Po" (grandma in Chinese)
- "Andma" (Grandma)
- "Andpa" (Grandpa)
- "Angel"
- "Mac-Mac" (Angel's boyfriend)
- "Ni-Ni" (Auntie Denise)
- "Apple"
- "Nana" (banana)
- "Peaches"
- "Yellow"
- "Purple"
- "Please" (she says this as she puts her right hand out)
- "No" (her favorite word)
- "uh-Boo!" (Peek-a-boo)
- "Nigh-Nigh" (Night Night)
- "Mi-Mi" (drink)
- "Gah" (Agua)
- " Mo" (More)
- "Hi" and "Bye"
- "Mmm-mah" (kiss good-bye)
- "Up-AH!" (Up)
- "Uh-Oh"
-" Oh NO"
- "Shhh"
- "'men!" (Amen!)

She makes these sounds when we ask her "what does the animal say?"
- "woof- woof"
- "maow" (for a kitty)
- "hoo-hoo" (owl)
- "mooooo"
- "cah-a doo" (cock-a-doodle doo)
- "baaa"
- "rawr" (lion or tiger)
- "ah-ah" (monkey)

She loves imitating facial expressions and sounds, and I just love seeing her grow so much each day. I am so blessed to be her mom.

Here are some of my favorites of her from this year:

Sweet smiles! 

Eskimo kisses with grandma

Squeaky clean

"HI! I'm Sophie!"

One of her favorite things to do is play with dada's shoes

Minnie Mouse overload?

Playing Airplane with dada

All ready for boot camp...haha, not!

Smiling for Chinese New Year! 

Looking so grown up...

Having fun painting! (Pinterest idea...food coloring + yogurt!)

When I say, "Sophie, can you give me beautiful eyes?", this is the face that she gives. 

Close up

How I love these two together

Smiles with her favorite dog

CHEESE! 

Ready for her tennis match

Hi Mom! 

Pretty in pink for Valentine's Day

HI! SO in love with her...

My precious love bug! 

I will definitely try to write more, but we will see! I love being able to look back and read older posts and see how much life has changed. Hopefully, I will make it a point to update more often. 

XOXO

“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever” (Psalm 73:26).

Sophia's First Steps! She's Walking!

This morning, Sophia took her first step all by herself! We were in the living room and she was holding onto her jumper, then decided to let go...and took a step towards me all by herself! Of course, this mama jumped up, grabbed her iPhone, and said "Sophia, you have to do it again!...We have to show dada!" It took 11 hours of trying to capture her "walking" on video, but I got it! She has been letting go of whatever she's holding onto throughout the day, and taking little steps, and the most I counted was 4. So, without further adieu, here she is, taking her first steps (today)! 

To watch the video, click on the link here: Sophia takes her first steps!

I'm one proud mama. She's growing up so much each day, asserting more independence, yet is still my sweet little Sophia Lee, who I love with all my heart. 

Here and now

I can't believe it's been more than a MONTH since I last blogged. Time has just flown by the past several weeks. We have been thanking God for the opportunity that we had to be together in Virginia Beach. We look back on the memories and are so grateful for every moment, what a blessing it was indeed! I have so many memories to blog about from our last few weeks in Virginia Beach, but I'll write about what's going on right now in our lives. 

Caleb left early this morning for a one month training exercise in the mountains. The Gowan girls are already feeling his absence so much. When he gets back, he will have four days with us before he goes for another week for training. Although he's gone for a little over a month, this is the start of him leaving in and out for training purposes until he leaves on his next deployment. We have been told that a MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) deployment is probably one of the hardest for the family because all the training that leads up to it is basically like a deployment in and of itself. Because we have heard so many negatives about it, we are praying that we can beat the odds and grow closer despite the distance...and with God anything is possible! 

It is definitely harder not having an extra set of hands to help out with Sophie at night...and at the stage she's at, every bit of help, HELPS! She is discovering the world with a force, and always wants what she can't or shouldn't have. Discipline will be in tow in the near future! =) 

Before Caleb left, we heard that the reception service is terrible up in the mountains, so he told me that I shouldn't really expect to be in communication with him, but he's been able to text and even send me a picture of the scenery, and will be calling in 10 minutes! God is good indeed, and my prayer is that I will continue to seek Him and draw closer to Him through these times and show the abundant love that He gives me to our precious Sophie. 

Picture he sent me of his view when they got there...

This was my view tonight that I sent him! 

And Sophie basically sums up how we feel about 'dada' being gone!

And if you can, please also be thinking and praying for my sister, her husband, and their baby as he will be deployed very soon...for God to make time go slower until he leaves so that they can also soak up as much family time as possible!

XOXO

Our little Angel

We have two little Angels in this Gowan household, and many of you have been asking how our other Angel has been doing. 

Before we left for Virginia, Caleb and I were worried about where we would leave Angel while we were gone for the summer. We prayed that God would provide a place where she could be happy and not miss us too much, since she has separation anxiety. We knew we couldn't just board her up in a kennel, and our options were looking slim, but then God answered our prayers and provided, once again. One of Caleb's Marines offered to take her in! He has a dog who she could play with and a big backyard to play in. We had them meet a couple weeks before we left and they got along great. His wife has been taking pictures and we are so happy that she is in a great home and being well taken care of. It makes me happy to see her thrive and get along with other dogs, as this has been a constant issue that we have had to deal with. She looks like she is having the time of her life, with her new boyfriend, Mac. 

Playing a game of catch. Mac is a German Shepherd/Chow mix, but both of them have similar features! 

Angel is seriously in LOVE with Mac. When they first met, she couldn't stop giving him kisses/licking him on the face. When he moved away from her, she would cry and he would come back so she could continue kissing him. How sweet is that?! 

Mac now joins Angel in her Kennel. It's their little home together =) 

Having a little treat session with the neighborhood dogs. 

Mac injured his paw and had to go to the vet. They told us that Angel knew he was hurt and was crying for him because she felt bad. True love, indeed. 

A little cuddle session 

Puppy love

And here they are in a little tent for movie night! 

I'm grateful that she has been posting pictures of them together, letting us know that she is doing great, 

but my heart misses my sweet Angel SO much at the same time 

and as much as we are enjoying our little vacation here, 

I cannot wait to see my sweet Angel again. 

Sophia Lee at 7 months old

Sophia Lee is now 7 months old!

I'm more than a couple weeks late in posting (OOPS!), but better late than never, right?! Sophia Lee turned 7 months on June 12th.  It is crazy how fast she is growing each day...SO fast that it's hard for this mama to write about it and keep up with her. It is amazing to see how she masters old concepts and how fast she learns new ones and it truly is a blessing that both Caleb and I are here to see it. Here's our sweetheart's mini shoot with mama (it is getting much harder to take photos of her as she is a fast and wiggly baby, always on the move) :

She continues to amaze us at how fast she progresses. 

Before we left San Diego, she was still a little wobbly when sitting, 

couldn't quite crawl properly...but was scootin' her little tush forward. 

Now, she sits up perfectly without our help, 

and crawls like it's her profession. 

She is even able to get into standing position 

and we know it won't be long til she starts walking! 

She is extremely observant of everything around her.

She loves looking at people, especially when we're in the elevator at the hotel. 

She holds her gaze as she stares at a new person,  

furrows her eyebrows and remains pensive. 

She's quite the thinker and so serious! 

She loves little details like shoelaces, strings, and zippers,

and when she's on the floor, she looks around until she spots what she wants and then goes for it! 

She enjoys listening to me talk while I work,

explaining what I'm doing and showing her how I'm doing it,

especially when I'm making my coffee in the morning! 

She enjoys walks along the boardwalk in her stroller  

and lasts about a mile before she wants to be carried by daddy or be on his shoulders, 

as she looks up at the birds in the sky and all the interesting people that walk by. 

She has many facial expressions that make us laugh...

one being when she puckers up her lips, scrunches her nose, and closes her eyes!   

She transfers objects easily from one hand to the other,

She enjoys listening to us read to her and her new favorite book is Animal Farm. 

She loves the water, especially at bath time 

and we're very happy that we have enrolled her in swim class this summer! 

She's an overachiever, she's a bit mischievous, sweet as honey, laughs at peek-a-boo, 

she's our sweet Sophia Lee! 

7 months old and we couldn't be prouder parents of this sweet angel of ours. We can't wait to see how God will use her for His kingdom and pray that we will always lead her towards Him. 

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 

XOXO