Riggs Family Updates

A LOT has happened in a month!

First, Clara started to be able to go from being on her stomach to sitting up all by herself.  And then, soon after that since it just was not fun enough for her, she started pulling herself up to standing.  She LOVES standing at her stand up toy.  But, sometimes she doesn't understand that when she lets go she will fall and we have had a lot of falls and bruises lately. 

SO CUTE!! (if I do say so myself)

 She is also a little stinker.  She loves to touch and play with things that she is not supposed to... and she knows that she is not supposed to touch and play with those things!  I tell her NO and she will turn around and look at me like, "what did you just say to me?" and then she will go back to doing what she was doing.  She also giggles when she goes toward things that she knows are off limits.  Again, what a little stinker!

We have also had to lower Clara's crib down.  One night, I laid her down and went to go get ready to go to bed myself.  Right before I started to brush my teeth, I heard some knocking on the wall.  I went back into Clara's bedroom and found her standing up in her crib.  I put her crib down right there and then because I didn't want her to possibly fall out of her crib!  She is just getting SO big!!

An update about Caleb's knee: he starts physical therapy on the 17th of this month.  We are hoping that the physical therapist will see that he needs an MRI and that he can get that before he is supposed to go to NTC in February.  Keep praying!

He also now has a NEW CAR!!  We have been needing an upgrade from his two door Honda Civic to a four door car since... oh... Clara was born (eight months ago).  If you know my husband, you know that he is REALLY into doing research whenever we buy ANYTHING new.  Research for a new car meant HOURS of reading reviews on various cars.  We finally had it narrowed down to a 2007 Honda Accord EXL manual or a 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS manual.  We had test driven an automatic 2007 Honda Accord EXL in November just to see what it drove like and if we liked it.  Then, on December 29th, we went to Dick Edwards in Manhattan to test drive a 2011 Hyundai Sonata GLS manual that it said they had online.  Turns out, they didn't have one, so they had us drive a 2012 SE automatic instead.  We liked how it drove, the features it had, and the room.  They found us some 2012 GLS manuals at other dealerships and apparently had already sent someone to pick one up for us while we were at the dealership!  Still, the price was too high for us (since we were really looking for a 2011 USED one), so we went home... for Caleb to do MORE research.

We went back to the dealership the next day to drive the manual (since they now had the 2012 GLS manual at the dealership).  We were prepared to tell them no deal on the car unless they came WAY down in their price since we had found two of the same car that they now had at two other dealerships each 400 miles away.  We were ready to drive to those other dealerships to pick up the car since the price at those other places were just too good to pass up.  We drove the car, loved it, and crossed our fingers that they would come down in price or we would just have to walk away.  Well, obviously you know that they did indeed come down about $1000 and we got a $500 military credit and a $500 rebate and we walked away with a GREAT deal on a new car!  We LOVE it!  And, Clara likes riding in her new Britax car seat in the new car.  I will have to post pictures of our actual car when we no longer have a wind chill of 12 degrees outside!  But, it is a really pretty navy blue (they call it indigo night).

What it looks like from the outside (minus the color) without having to freeze outside.

   

Now, new things with me:
I am starting a new Protestant Women of the Chapel (PWOC) semester right now.  This semester, the Bible study I decided to take is Discerning the Voice of God: How to Recognize When God Speaks by Priscilla Shirer.  The blurb on the back of the book says, "Do you feel that the ability to hear God's voice is for other people and not for you?  Is it only for people who lived in Biblical times? Not at all!  The God who loved you enough to die for you loves you enough to talk to you.  And wherever you are in your spiritual walk, God will find a way to speak to you in a way you will understand.  Become acquainted with the Voice that has spoken from a fire and a cloud; with visible signs and an invisible Spirit; through a burning bush and burning hearts.  Hear from some of the most well-known Christians in history about how God speaks to them--and discover for yourself how you can discern the voice of God."  I think it sounds pretty AWESOME!  (And, it made me think of what Adrien has been blogging about concerning Evelyn's toes here, here, and here.)  I can't wait to see what this semester has in store for me and the ladies in the class.

 At New Year's lunch with Caleb's family, I was telling them that there were a few things that I wanted/needed: a new phone (it was time for Verizon to give me a discount when I updated... and I wanted to get an iPhone), a bigger SD card (I have a 2 GB one but want a 16 GB one so I can start shooting in RAW mode on my camera), an external hard drive (so I can back up Clara's pictures and other files from the computer just in case), blank DVDs (so I can have a second back up on Clara's pictures), and photo editing software (Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3).  Well, I got my iPhone on Tuesday, the external hard drive came today, and the blank DVDs and SD card will be here by Wednesday!  Plus, Lightroom 3 is on sale at B&H photo until March, so we will probably be purchasing that soon.  I can't wait to use all of them!