Mother's day

Thank you to all the mothers in my life, and especially to my outstanding Mother:

As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord’s secret weapon. Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning. In the pre-mortal world, when our Father described our role, I wonder if we didn’t stand in wide-eyed wonder that He would bless us with a sacred trust so central to His plan and that He would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and leading of His children. I wonder if we shouted for joy at least in part because of the ennobling stature He gave us in His kingdom. The world won’t tell you that, but the Spirit will.

--Sister Sheri Dew

She is a co-partner with God in bringing His spirit children into the world. What a glorious concept! No greater honor could be given. With this honor comes the tremendous responsibility of living and caring for those children so they might learn their duty as citizens and what they must do to return to their Heavenly Father... A mother has far greater influence on her children than anyone else has, and she must realize that every word she speaks, every act, every response, her attitude, even her appearance and manner of dress, affect the lives of her children and the whole family.

--President N. Eldon Tanner

What a glorious mother's day we had!!

 Jared rose early and made us delicious banana wheat muffins from scratch. We made a mess and all ate them together in our bed. Stuart kept eating them, down at the kitchen table. 

Church was delightful. Jared was asked to teach primary and work with the 11 year old scouts, and that always makes me happy. I am so excited for him. The classes were excellent and at the end the young men gave homemade strawberry jam to all the women. We took it home and ate it immediately on some bread. The store-bought bread was seriously lacking, but the jam was amazing!

Jared made us an amazing BBQ chicken for dinner. He worked so hard on this! He cut the meat off the whole chicken before cooking it. He made his own BBQ sauce, and cooked it in the oven with soaked wood chips and it came out outstanding. It went so well with corn on the cob. We ate outside on our deck and the weather could not have been better. Gorgeous. 

Thank you, Jared, for making my day perfect. You made me feel loved and beautiful through words, service, snuggles, food, and worship. Thank you. I wouldn't be a mother without you, Jared. Thank you for giving me Stuart and the lady and for making my day so incredible. I love you!

Peeling bananas

Independence in a child is really important to me. I've tried to allow Stuart to do as many things for himself that he can. Here is one little example (to share with Grma) of him peeling his own banana and working on those fine motor skills. Muy bien hecho, mijo!

We're having a baby....

drum roll please.....

A GIRL! 

Yay! Stuart gets a little sister, and Jared and I get a little lady. We are very excited. Now that my family knows, I can tell the interwebs. Stuart was the first person we told, of course.

I have heard this combination of kids called "a rich man's family" because we have to buy stuff for a boy and then all over again for a girl. Lucky us, however, my older sister had a girl first one month before Stu was born and now is having a boy just a couple months before our lady will arrive. So we plan to swap clothes and save money and time. Phew! Heaven knows we are limited on both. 

So, life is good and we feel very lucky to welcome a lady to the O household. God is good. And there were no problems found during the rest of the appointment. She is very active already and a whopping 10 oz! So tiny. Then why is my belly so big already? :) I know, I know. She is not the only thing in there making me expand. Just saying. 

Jared took the day off to go to my appointments with me and we celebrated with a family lunch and nap (and a trip to the DMV). Now that's how it's done.... :)

just because

Stuart's world: trains, trucks, cars, planes, blocks and balls. He is such a good independent kid and gets such enjoyment from new toys (like the below train; thank you Karen!) and new activities (like the rocking chair race). 

Although Jared and I are both hovering in both these videos, we are not usually right there watching. Most of the day Stu plays just great alone. I am so grateful he had a lot of independent time as an infant.

Linus and maternity clothes

We have our very own Linus in the O family. He might need an intervention one day to deal with the separation from his beloved blanket. He loves to drag it with him around the house (and deck) and it needs a wash very often. Despite my attempts to throw it back in his crib for later, he always finds it, pulls it through the bed rails and takes it with him on his next adventure. :) Love this kid!

 Like our little potted garden on the deck? Chives from last year, cherry tomatoes, basil, tiny summer squash (to be transferred to the ground soon), and parsley. The deck gets more sun than the earth below.... 

Finally, it has happened at last. I got out the maternity tote. I had to put on the pants this week. At 20 weeks I guess it's ok. I had JUST woken up when we took this picture. Yikes. Sleepy head. 

Well there you have it. The baby belly. 

Stay tuned. Tomorrow we find out the gender!!!

Happy birthday Mara and Liz!!

This is so shamefully late. I am so sorry my dear friends. You both know I thought of you on your special days, because you both heard from me. I cannot explain how crazy this past month has been in our household. Unpacking, cleaning, morning sickness, viruses, finals, visiting family, church assignments, meeting neighbors, new gardens, gas leak emergency, the list goes on. I hope you will forgive my terrible timeline. 

First, Ms. Mara. I chose this picture because when I think of Mara I think of Jesus. Weird? Hopefully not. Mara, you love Jesus and it shows. You study him, you live like him, you love like him, and you have helped me do the same. You inspire so much goodness in me, but in the time that I have known and loved you, this is the gift I admire and appreciate the most. Thank you for your dedicated life, and for helping mold mine. Happy (very late) birthday, Mara. I love you!

Mara and her husband at the SLC visitor's center. 

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Next, Liz celebrated her birthday. Liz, this picture makes me so happy. And so do you! Every memory I have of you over the last decade + makes me so happy. Impossible? I think not. Even the sad, uncomfortable, awkward, forgettable, and regrettable memories. How can that be, you ask? 

Who knows where this picture was taken, but it needs no caption. :)

Because of you! I mean, just look at that face. All my Liz memories have happy endings because you are the  kind of person that makes sure that everything that could be unfavorable still has a happy ending. I made mistakes; you forgave me. I was sad; you made me laugh. I was sunburned; you rubbed my back with aloe vera. We disagreed; you understood. I judged; you taught me to accept. And again, you forgave and continue to love me. I seriously owe so much goodness to you. If only we lived closer to one another. Happy (very late) birthday, Liz. I love you! And hallelujah! I am coming to your wedding!! Ah!

Happy birthday Deborah!

To my dearest Deborah Diane,

Happy birthday, love. I am so sorry it is weeks late. Lame. I know.

Deborah, I am so glad that you were born. If you were not my life would be missing so much love, laughter, and learning. Thank you for being my friend from my first awkward moments in the SW program. I needed your friendship and you gave it so willingly. Thank you for sitting next to me, giggling with me and studying with me. Thank you for teaching me about forgiveness, compassion, and acceptance. Thank you for sharing your passion for adoption, counseling, and beauty. I know you are only like a minute younger than me, but being with you keeps me young. Younger than I would be otherwise. Thank you for celebrating my successes and for mourning my losses. Thank you for loving my family. Thank you for going on adventures with me. I may have missed Brittany's wedding if you weren't around. Thank you for giving me rides and calls and visits to VA when I so needed them. Thank you for inviting me to be with you in the temple. Thank you for sharing your spirit, passions, jokes, family, love, and snuggles with me. I love you and am so privileged to be your friend. Happy (belated) birthday, love!!

Happy Birthday mom and dad!

Although this comes weeks after the joyous celebration, it is no less sincere. Sorry for the delay, padres. Thank you Mom and Dad for giving me an outstanding foundation for a secure and successful life.

My mom continues to give me life-long unconditional love despite any mistakes I make. She gives me the best example of sacrifice for her family and friends. She loves people far more than things or selfish time alone. She has always given me a listening ear; a treasure that I can't even begin to describe in importance. Thank you, mom!

My Dad makes for a beautiful compliment to my tender, child-like mama. His greatest gifts to me include his love for the gospel of Jesus Christ and his encouragement to analyze the world closely. His passion for studying and teaching the scriptures will always be the greatest heritage he could have given me. Thank you, dad!

Together they have given me the security of their committed marriage and friendship. I couldn't have been given better parents. I love you both. Happy (belated) birthdays!!

Easter & other April adventures

Playing in the fountain

Decorating Easter eggs

National Zoo field trip - the lions were my favorite!

Up close. Stuart has been making monkey noises and signing "monkey" ever since.

We look "photoshoped"

Practicing an egg hunt in the front yard in preparation for the BIG hunt the next day. He still sometimes says "egg"  pointing to all the places they used to hide.

The BIG hunt at Brenda's house. Stu was the smallest kid there so he got a head start. Rick thought he was SO funny with this little trick.

17 eggs total!

Our Easter decorations at home. The homemade bunny basket Jared used as a kid.  His siblings all have one in their own color. 

My favorite decoration, by far! Jared's mom gave this to us to keep. His little face used to decorate their house growing up, and now it adorns ours. He was such a cute kid!! No wonder Stuart's a heart breaker. 

 Our Easter week also included watching lots of Easter movies about Jesus, listening to talks and lessons about Jesus' life, and preparing sacrament meeting talks for our new ward (aka congregation). Jared and I spoke on Easter Sunday, which also was the first Sunday we had ever attended our new church! They wasted no time in getting to know us. Although the request was unconventional, it made my Easter extra special. 

A daily occurrence.

"Just helping daddy move the dresser." My boys are such a good team!

Home ownership

My apologies for the radio static this last month. I neglected to share our other huge news, in addition to our baby-on-the-way. Of course, as our family grows we need more space. We had been looking for months for a home to buy and we finally moved 4 weeks ago! It is official. We are homeowners and, therefore, cannot avoid adulthood any longer. 

Here is the mess in our little apartment before the move. 

And below you get a preview of the house. These were taken the weekend we moved in. More to come when it is all set up! Stay tuned!

below: the living room, as seen from the second floor "draw bridge", as Jared calls it because it leads to our master suite and nothing else. It is all ours.

 Stu's room

The "draw bridge" and loft office upstairs, as seen from the living room. (Don't worry. That giant hole in the wall won't stay that hideous forever.) 

 Basement play room! Woot!

 Finally, the deck.

And there it is! A little preview with more to come as we set up house. Or at least mostly set up. We LOVE being in our own home with lots of space! However, home ownership is not all roses. We have already worked through some painful thorns. Our lessons learned is a thought for another day. Thanks for looking. 

Any advice for new home owners? 

Our family is growing

Dear friends and family,

Many of you have heard this exciting news already. In case you have not yet, Jared and I are expecting baby #2! Stuart is going to be a big brother!

I've tried to explain it to Stu, but it will make more sense as it gets closer, I'm sure. I also keep trying to explain it to Jared, but....

just kidding. :)

Baby #2 is expected at the VERY end of September. Maybe even the beginning of October. That makes me 13 weeks pregnant. I am hopefully coming out of that weak and sickly time. The last few weeks have been rough at times. I've found that as I stay hydrated, eat whole foods and satisfying natural fats I feel healthy and strong.

However. just a few days ago we had a delicious dinner of pinto bean tacos on hard shells with cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa and avocado. I really liked it. Even after smelling the beans cook in seasonings all afternoon. A rarity these days. As we finished up, Stu wanted a sip from Jared's glass. Jared said, "Stu, are you going to add floaties to my water?" That was it. That was all it took for me to lose it. And my dinner was gone. Never to come back. I returned from the bathroom and was so mad I lost my precious dinner. When I told my mom, she laughed for 5 minutes straight about the simplicity of Jared's comment. She was laughing so hard I though SHE might lose her last meal. :) What a volatile world to live in. When a comment about backwash wastes a perfectly good meal.

It is all worth it. This little one joining our family is well worth it. Bring it on: morning sickness, weight gain, clothing discomfort, not sleeping on my belly, more sitting down, smelling EVERYTHING, middle-of-the-night bathroom breaks, tears, vomit, kicks in the ribs, huge belly. BRING IT.

As long at it comes with naps, TLC from my mister, fluttering and amniotic somersaults, encouraging compliments, Hypnobabies, midwives, and a baby that's ours, then BRING IT ON. I'm ready and looking forward to a second beautiful birth. Thank you God for our growing family.

Remember

19 months. Was it really that long ago that Stuart was born? Such a beautiful experience.

There's so much to remember about his growth and his amazing personality:

He has 4 molars, one in each corner of his giant smile. Four front teeth and one very asymmetrical incisor. He can communicate mostly with me because his pronunciation needs practice, and because we have our own language. Part of that language is sign language. He can sign more, please, thank you, eat, drink, apple, peach, help, bird, cow, horse, airplane, book, pain, bubbles, all done, and up. He does more when we show him too. He asks to go outside and for a banana almost immediately in the morning. He loves cheese. Mostly because it is a treat in our house, along with bread. His current obsessions are ducks (or any bird), bees, books, racing matchbox cars, regular cars, trucks or buses, toes, belly buttons, his blanket (still), lights, and airplanes. He likes to sing the ABC's as we brush his teeth and "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" especially the heads and toes.

We spend lots of time on our balcony: eating, reading, unofficial tanning, painting (pictured above), anything. It overlooks a path and a busy road. He constantly waves to the passing cars and joggers. He especially loves the travelers with dogs. Some of them hear him say "hi" and are so kind in return. We are working on going down stairs standing up. He enjoys having his shoes on. His newest invented game is pushing our knees together when Jared and I sit with our legs open. He giggles like a mad man. When racing his matchbox cars he mimics, "on your mark, get set, go!' although the word "go" is the only clear one.

He sleeps 12-13 hours a night with no interruptions. But it's been that way for over a year. He still sucks his thumbs as he snuggles into bed. He gives hugs and kisses willingly, more so to Daddy. Maybe because he knows Mommy will steal them anyway. He knows all the parts of the face, including teeth, tongue, and cheek. He painted with liquid watercolors for the first time last week. He loves helping with meals, watching anything "HOT!" on the stove or in the oven, and doing the laundry. Especially putting the dirty clothes in the running washer water. He goes to nursery at church now. No separation anxiety.

He can drink out of a regular cup, but spills sometimes. He says "Ah-bee" for Amen at the end of prayers as well as The End at the end of books. He loves being tickled, wrestling, and hiding under blanket forts. He loves balloons, and we love that they are free at the grocery store we go to. He can play on the playground equipment all by himself and loves the slide. He climbs up, sits down at the top and pushes himself onto the slide, shimmies off the end, laughs and runs around to do it all over again.

The little girl that I babysit is such a good friend for him. She is 8 months younger and so laid back. They both have learned which set of bars on the balcony are far enough apart to put their head through. There is only one opening wide enough. So they like to battle for that spot on the balcony. :)

I'm impressed. If you read all that "word vomit" - if you will - then good on ya! I just wanted to write everything that came to mind that I want to remember about him right now.

Pi Day

Yesterday was Pi Day.

3.14

Also known as PIE day. My college roommate (who studied math education) always enjoyed a pie party every March 14th. And I happened to marry the Pi King. After Jared memorized 100 digits of the number Pi for a high school talent show [EDIT (Jared): I memorized approximately 180 digits for Pi Day for Mr. Whitehead's 9th grade Algebra II class which was an excuse to have a holiday more than anything at the time.  Since no one else tried to memorize pi for our class competition, I won!  And the part about them parading me around the school to random English, Biology, and Gym classes is completely accurate.  All 4 years of high school.  Oddly enough, no one ever made fun of me for it, and to this day I get emails/Facebook posts around this time of year about how they remember that.], his peers paraded him from class to class to recite it for the students every March 14th. LOVE Jared and his amazing mind. Just brilliant.

Well, I made a blackberry pie yesterday. Not because I remembered it was Pi day. But because I wanted this pie my friend shared on her food blog. Thank you Adrienne. It WAS pie nirvana. Not to mention I baked with and learned about vanilla beans for the first time. I love learning. Did you know that the vanilla bean is the second most expensive spice (below saffron) because the vanilla pod takes 10 years to fully mature? Wow.

When a friend came over in the evening she pointed out that it was Pi day. What a delightfulcoincidence! Thanks for reminding me, Lisa.

Come on over if you want a piece. Come quickly. It won't last long. :)

Mom O's birthday and quilt

Yesterday was Mom O's birthday. She would have been 52. Too young to be gone. I missed her a lot this week. Luckily she's not too far away.

I have been thinking of her a lot in the last 2 months due to a new textile exhibit at the DC Temple Visitors' Center. I got an email in January about the exhibit accepting original textile creations, like embroidery, tapestry work, hand weaving, needle point and quilting. The theme is Family Ties. Now, of course I thought of the 3 little quilts Mom O helped me create, but more dominating was the thought that I should enter one of her quilts instead. She made an incredible quilt for me and Jared when we got married. A December wedding of course called for red and green. And of course I entered it into the exhibit.

I also entered this quilt that I made, but when decision-making time came it didn't make the cut. Although I am disappointed about that, I can't complain. After all, I did tell the judges I would prefer that if there was not enough room for both quilts that they make sure there is room for hers. I really wanted this exhibit to be a tribute to her. She never would have tried to sell or seek praise for her work; she just wanted to give them away to someone she loved. I decided she deserves some praise for at least this one piece.

So, if you live close to DC and want to see the exhibit and her quilt, come on down! Check out the above link for the Visitors' Center. You will find the hours and address. The exhibit opens TODAY (the day after her birthday) and runs until April 29. See you there!

Happy Birthday, Joe!

Happy birthday to my brother-in-law, Joseph. He's the best pilot I know and I am so proud to have a military man in my family. I recently gained a greater appreciation for all the work and sacrifice all service men and women give, including what my sister and her family may sacrifice. I read a biography, Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. This book was incredible and brought to life the trials of war, the rigors of training, and the uncertainty of military service. I know - Joe - that you are not fighting in WWII. But, you still are a resilient survivor and I am grateful for your service, sacrifice, and love for my sister. Happy birthday, bro. I love you!