Sephira and her Giraffe Galoshes

Sephira loves giraffes...of course all thanks to us because they're all over her bedroom!...but when I saw these boots I just couldn't resist! And now she can't resist wearing them, even though they're still 3 sizes too big!

Sephira Dancing to the Blues

Sephira loves to dance. This just shows how much! But you gotta be playing the blues!!!! Oh, she is a riot!!!



She is 14.5 months old in this video from Thanksgiving 2009, rockin' out to Etta James at Nana and Papa's house in Lorane, Oregon. Her other fave is Marvin Gaye.

Sephira Dresses Herself

Sephira loves to put on pants and shirts...and sometimes they get reversed. Here she put her coat on her legs, too cute, and proceeded to walk around the house.

This video also shows how good she is at communicating with us, with her signs and such. We find it hard to edit out too much of these little clips because of these precious moments we share with her. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!

Our Little Thrill Seeker

Sephira loves activity that gives her a "rush". Swing, by her arms or legs, and in conventional playground swing equipment...and recently discovered is her radio flyer wagon! We've been able to instill good safety habits by having her wear her bike helmet anytime she wants to go for a joyride. Now she'll try to put it on herself without any complaints!!!

She's also able to use her Baby Signs to communicate her playtime fun: more, all done, down, etc. We have SO much fun together!!! And with this sport, Mama and Dada get really tired!!!

Sephira and her Christmas Giraffe

Well, you wanted to see a happy baby, here you go!!! Thanks Granpa and Grandma Siverts for making Sephira soooo happy!!! There was no way we could hold off giving her this present before Christmas, and the timing couldn't have been better! She loves her Giraffe Pillow Chum. She sits on it everyday reading books, relaxing, and just generally having a happy place to call her own. We tell her, "go sit on your Giraffe", and she knows exactly what to do!!!

Sephira and the Pillow Chum

Sephira loves throwing herself on pillows on the floor, and a friend just received a Giraffe Pillow Chum as a birthday gift during our baby group birthday party on Sunday. All ten of our babies are now officially one year old, so we had a group celebration - and costume party!

Well...Sephira monopolized the Pillow Chum! It was hilarious!!! Just two days prior we had been talking about getting her a bean bag or something to enjoy like this, and when we saw how much she loved this we knew this is what she really needed. Besides, we have a little giraffe theme going on in her bedroom, so the giraffe is most fitting.


We went straight out to our local Costco warehouse where our friend had purchased this, but unfortunately they were sold out. Costco.com only offered the "lion" and was sold out of all the other animal creatures, and when I tried to buy one on eBay Sunday night the seller (who had 6 listed for sale) was sold out! Target offered a variation, but it was more expensive and just not the same, and I couldn't find these ANYWHERE else online! So, in an act of desperation and enlightenment I called the Costco off of Barnes Road and N Powers in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Granted we live in Eugene, Oregon, but with family living in Colorado Springs we thought, 'other Costco's are bound to have these still in stock, and if they have one there our family can buy it for us and ship it to us!'. Well, to our luck they had 92 of the pillows still in stock...though they couldn't tell how many of the "giraffe" remained. Step 1 was a lucky guess! Step 2, I sent the email off to family stating the request.

Yesterday afternoon I got the call from my father-in-law, Eric, stating that he was standing in front of what looked like a spotted hippo, and I said, "That's the one!". How exciting, for all of us! Dirk was thrilled that I was so resourceful, and Sephira is going to be tickled to have it to play on...considering we won't be able to wait for Christmas to give it to her! That night Dirk laid out pillows for her to play on again and we know, without a doubt, she's just going to love having her new Giraffe!

Thank you, Granpa Eric!!!!

Here's video from the party of Sephira playing on her friend Avery's pillow. Enjoy!

Costume Birthday Party

Our Birth To Three group got together the day after Halloween to celebrate all our babies turning "one year" old! We celebrated with a costume birthday party. Sephira wore her ladybug costume that Dirk's co-worker, Pat Dickison, made for her before she was born!

We've been meeting with these families every two weeks since our babies were three months old. We are a big group of 10 families, so it's a lot of fun and activity when we get together. Sephira is the oldest by 10 days...ending with Avery who is 6 weeks younger.

Sephira dressed up as a ladybug for our Birth To Three birthday/costume party celebration!

Our baby group! Ten families in all!

The babies playing together...

And sharing together...