Beginning Our Firsts

Alethia has been home with us for 7 months.  But even more mind-boggling is the fact that she has been a part of our family for nearly 11.  That's almost a year, folks!

All that to say, we have almost reached all those first-year firsts.

You know, the first:

time coming home
meal as a family at the kitchen table
embrace
time running the halls at church
fast-food drive-through
boo-boo
hospital visit
sibling squabbles
"this time last year" memories...

But we still have a lifetime of firsts that we get to experience with our Alethia Grace.

One of the firsts that I was so excited about seeing was the first time Alethia got to experience the beach and the ocean!

This is the first picture I took.

The sand was captivating to her!

She was a little timid of the waves at first...

...but it didn't take long before she was running around in the surf with the rest of the kids.

But her favorite thing was still the sand.

FYI: Ethnic hair + beach sand = BAD IDEA!

P.S. No comments from the peanut gallery about her hair!

I know it looks terrible in the pictures.

In fact I almost didn't post them.

But we had a SUPER busy week, a long car ride

(and she has a bad habit of pulling her hair bands out!).

Besides, I HAD to document this proud-parent occasion.

And if you are still thinking those "poor-white-mama-can't-do-ethnic-hair" thoughts

you can rest assured that we fixed it up right that next morning and I stayed on top of it

the rest of vacation;)