2013 Memories

Oh, wait, I have a blog you say? Yes, sorry about that. Instead of trying to backfill posts from the year to fill you in completely, below are some of my favorite memories from 2013. I still may plug in some more holes, but hope this will suffice for a bit. Overall, the year has been wonderful, though I'm still grappling with the idea that my baby is a bonafide toddler.

February: Lil’ O turned one and was dedicated at church! We hosted a fun, little Lego-themed party, but I think the most memorable part of the party was Lil’ O’s reaction to his first taste of pure sugar. Those cupcakes were amazing, but he showed jaw-unhinging delight. That same weekend, Lil’ O was dedicated at church. It's such a blessing to be part of our church community and share the joy that our little man brings.

May: My lovely sister-in-law married her prince charming! The wedding was beautiful, she was stunning, her groom is a wonderful man, and the couple honored us by not only having Husby and me in the wedding party, but also by inviting Lil’ O to toddle down the aisle. Sadly no pictures of his long walk, but, trust me, it was adorable.

Photo by Christopher Keels

July: Husby got a scholarship and started an MBA program. Nicely done Husby! The beginning of classes wasn’t a big celebration like some of these other 2013 highlights, but it certainly caused some adjustments for our little family. I’ve taken on a bit more around the house, while still working mostly part-time and our puppy, Knute, gets a bit less attention on Mondays. Husby is doing great with his classes and could be done toward the end of 2015. Thanks to some credits applied and six months of classes, his first year is now complete! I'm proud, but clearly his first master’s degree wasn’t enough. Over achiever.

July: This month also marked Husby and my first getaway without Lil’ O. We went to Sonoma and it was beautiful. But, it was also really, really hard to be away. I definitely overestimated my ability there. In hindsight, we should have planned an overnight trip to work up to this sort of thing instead of starting with a four-day, three-night excursion. Delicious food and wine, but lesson learned.

September: My wonderful, caring father-in-law retired after 40 years of ministry, more than 30 of which have been leading the congregation at the church where Husby grew up. He finished well and all of us in the family are so proud of him and constantly learning from the example he sets. Love you G’pa.

Summer/Fall: Lil’ O is talking! Gulp. It started slowly and then something connected. Now, his vocabulary just grows with each new day. Some words are still hilarious and need a Mommy Decoder ring, but overall it’s so helpful to know what’s on his mind. Hint, we hear a lot about trucks. My favorite “word” remains how Lil’ O says spider: spee-oh-wee. Hehe!

October: Halloween costumes were epically adorable this year. Thanks to outfitting by my mom, G’ma, we had hand-knit Gryffindor scarves for our little threesome and Harry Potter glasses for Lil’ O. He made an adorable Harry Potter, and Husby and I tagged along as Ron and Hermione. There was also a crazy cute lion outfit worn earlier in the day. See? Epically adorable.

 

Spring and Fall: Work trips this year included some quick stops in a couple cities I’d not been before! I got to take a quick spin around the outskirts of Portland and see the California capitol city, Sacramento. Portland was so lush and while in Sacramento, I even got to see a long-lost friend, weeee!

December: Christmas festivities! I’m happy to report that I did much better with my stress levels than last year. It got close a few times, but I successfully planned ahead and started prep in November so we could have family photos; get Christmas cards designed, printed and sent; make adorable DIY ornaments as gifts; request and receive a knitted stocking for Lil’ O from my mom, G’ma; do all my gift shopping; and do a little bit of baking. Whew! Now, I’ll admit a lot of these things were done in the wee hours of the night, but I paced myself and am proud of all I accomplished to make the season festive for my little family, especially considering we left early for Christmas in Ohio with the extended family.

Now, on to 2014! I aim to be a bit better about blogging in the New Year, but have yet to compile my full list of resolutions, so stay tuned. Have a safe and blessed New Year!

A Dose of Real, Real Craziness

In case anyone thinks I only post beautiful experiences, let me set the record straight that life is crazy here. As a sample scenario, here’s a peek into our last week. It’s gotten to the point that we just have to laugh. Because, yes, it really is that stressful/insane/unfair, aka real.

It all began last Tuesday...

Last Tuesday: While hosting Bible Study, a member asks if we have any small pets. “No, just the dog, who you can hear whining the entire study. Why do you ask?” “Are you sure? There was just a small animal running by.” We check it out and nothing. No worries. I stayed up later working, just to be visited by a mouse! Twice! Ick, mice!! I refrained from jumping/dancing on our bed to wake up Husby and make him be the big, strong man of the house. Instead, I wrote an urgent note for him to set traps FIRST thing in the morning, which he did.

Wednesday: Come home from work with Lil' O and we caught a mouse! Wow, so gross, I’m still squirming. Made Husby deal with that grossness. I'm not normally a damsel in distress, but figured it was ok to be so every now and again. Mice definitely warrant damsel status in my book.

Thursday: No mice caught…Crazy cleaning to hopefully avoid mouse invasion.

Friday: Still no more mice caught. Getting nervous, though, as droppings continue and bait is eaten clean from traps. There’s never just one mouse I’m told.

Separately, while Husby was walking Knute, doggy got scared and somehow managed to wiggle out of his leash and into the street. All the cars graciously slowed, and Knute was more scared than in danger, but Husby’s adrenaline was pumping when he came home!

Saturday: All hell breaks loose. Lil’ O falls with an empty shampoo bottle in his hands, hits his tooth and now has a tooth bent at a 45* angle inward. A front tooth, classic. One ER visit and a dentist call later, we know it’s stable, but to feed him mush. Gee, thanks.

Aside from the new snaggle tooth and bruised gums (poor lil’ guy!), once Lil’ O had a nap and snack he was acting totally fine. Totally fine! So, we stuck to our plans for a coveted evening out. Parents of the Year Award?

Husby purchased a new mouse trap during the day (before Lil’ O’s tooth incident) and three mice were caught in the evening before we even fell asleep. ICK!! But, yay?

Today/Monday: After tag-stalking the pediatric dentist, who we’re told by our family dentist is the best, we have an appointment for Lil’ O first thing tomorrow. Huzzah!

Come home with Lil’ O after hearing about the great concern they have for him at daycare, and Husby shares that he thinks Knute has an ear infection. Sure enough, pup is squirming and whining if we so much as pet his ear. Great.

Then, in the midst of fact-checking this blog post with Husby, a wine glass falls to its death, shattering into a crazy amount of glass shards and pieces. No joke! Thankfully (?), this isn’t our first rodeo. We’ve done this twice in the past few months. Who knew when my mom called me Eagle Eye as a kid that it was an actual life skill? Not me.

Hopefully, this peek into the craziness has provided a laugh. That’s all we’re doing; there’s no other cure for coping.

Oh, and in the midst of this crazy week, I got promoted last Wednesday. Promoted to VP. Maybe the biggest single promotion of my career. But, it’s cool. We didn’t really celebrate, because we had all of this craziness to deal with. Sigh. It’s not normally like this, and of course parenthood takes precedence and I love it, but sigh.

Introducing Puppy + Baby

One of the (many) things keeping me busy over the past few months has been our new puppy! Husby and I had a moment just following Christmas where we caught our breath and took a collective sigh of relief. In that moment it was clear we could add one more thing to our plate. And, somehow that something became our new addition, my and Lil’ O’s first pet ever, our new puppy Knute (pronounced kah-NEWT).

Now, just to be clear, if you’re eager for balance and streamlining activities, combining puppy and baby is not a good idea. Oblivious to all the work that a puppy, or even a dog for that matter, requires, I was eager for the addition. I’ve never had a pet. Nope, not even a fish. And, by getting the puppy now, Lil’ O would grow up with it. And, at least in theory, the pup would be fully trained before Babe #2 (this is a hypothetical babe, not an announcement). It all sounds lovely and would complete our happy little family. Well, we do adore Knute, but he is certainly a lot of work. Especially in that first month when he wouldn’t sleep through the night and wasn’t yet potty trained. It really is like having another baby! Except feeding is a lot easier. And it was a lot easier to be stern. And he got the whole potty training thing faster. Goodness, we haven’t even started that process yet with Lil’ O! So, easier than a baby, but still soooo much work.

The good news is that Lil’ O and Knute get along quite well. They don’t really know how to play with one another yet, so we often have to separate them, but they so clearly want to play with one another. It’s adorable! And, after a few months and clearly establishing our dominance as alpha, we’ve mostly fallen into the groove of being pet owners. Husby has done a wonderful job of training Knute and he is a very sweet dog.

For those who are wondering, we got Knute from a lab rescue group in town. We don’t know what his mix is exactly, but suspect some combo of lab with pit and/or boxer. There could be more in there, but there’s no real way to tell. Regardless, we think he’s a cutie!

Dedicating Lil' O

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Ours was a bit clouded by Husby running a fever and being sick, but we had a wonderful celebration nonetheless. It was just quieter than planned. Still, it was fun seeing Lil’ O “hunt” for eggs at church (he likes the orange ones and doesn’t understand why you’d want more than two since that’s one for each hand), and a wonderful opportunity to reflect on all we’ve been given by God.

For us, that includes Lil’ O. Ever since our little man was born, we've known we didn't create him, God did. Creating another life is altogether too much for a person to do and we give the credit to God. We see ourselves as stewards of Lil' O and know we are truly blessed by him. He is such a joy. Oh, he's plenty of work too, but it’s so incredibly worth it. To cement and declare our decision to bring up our Lil' O in a home that believes in Jesus, we recently had the joy of dedicating Lil' O to God at our church. It was a beautiful opportunity and we’re so grateful to everyone who made it possible and who joined us. Thank you!

The Fam: Grandpa, Meema, Husby, Lil' O, me, Grandma, Sistah, Granddad

(Explanatory Side Note: Many choose to baptize their little ones, and it is a beautiful thing. Our church leaves baptism for adults who have chosen Jesus as their own. Children haven't yet made that decision for themselves, so dedication shows the parents' desire for the child or children. It also serves as a public commitment by the congregation to help the parents raise their little one for Jesus. Hope this helps provide the back story behind this tradition and to our celebration.)

Lil’ O’s First Birthday!

Lil' O back when he was just a lil' guy.

Somehow my baby boy has turned one! It seems just yesterday that I felt as big as a house and we were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the little baby that would become Lil’ O. But, it also feels that it’s been ages since we were footloose and fancy free of the stresses and obligations that parenting brings. We wouldn’t change the chaos of our life for anything and Lil’ O brings so much joy into our home and our lives.

To celebrate the all-important first year, we threw a casual gathering for family and close friends. Since all the boys in the family, but especially Husby and his brother, love Lego, that became the theme of the party and my excuse to buy lots and lots of Duplo “as decoration.”  ;) 

 

We kept it casual with food on the grill and easy sides. No matter what we served, we knew the highlight would of course be Lil’ O’s first real taste of sugar. No surprise, it was a hit! We did have to feed him a taste before he realized the cupcake was something worth eating, but then he stuffed as much as he could in his mouth and barely bothered with chewing.

 

We had a blast, though we did have a lower turnout than expected as a few whole families were sick. Seems our minor bought of sickness concluded while other families were just getting started. Bummer for everyone. Boo! On the positive side, it did make the shindig more casual, which I appreciated. The party was wonderful, but was just one piece of a celebratory week, which also included celebrating Lil’ O’s birthday on his actual day with banana bread for all the kiddos at daycare and reprised with family that evening, lots of gifts, hosting my in-laws (from Ohio) for a week-long visit and visiting the zoo. So much fun!

We are so grateful for our dear friends and family that celebrated with us and more importantly who help us care for Lil’ O (and stay sane). Special shout out to my dad and Ms. E’s husband for taking such beautiful pictures at Lil’ O’s birthday party. Thanks guys!