Life is more of a rollercoaster than a highway sometimes

What an up and down week. Sometimes, life just rolls along in a normal routine. Other times, it turns into an avalanche. This past week was one of those.

We started out last week in Portland with my family, ending the celebration of Christmas with our Time of Jesus dinner. Dad made chicken with garlic and a pomegranate vinegar sauce, along with the cheese, crackers, olives, and fruit that we always have. The grandparents came over. We even had a kids' table, though the youngest at it was 28. We packed up the next day and headed back home, where we were able to spend more time with family at FHE. The next day we had a Second Christmas with Brian's famly, opening our presents to and from them. We went and saw True Grit. We found out that their plane tickets home weren't for the 29^th, as had been thought, but the 30^th. Woohoo, one more day!

The 30^th started out like any other lazy vacation day. But about 4 in the afternoon, Brian was trying to help Joseph calm down by giving him some milk in a bottle. The phone rang and I answered, but his mom wanted to talk to him...it was important. She asked him how he felt about wearing white and getting wet. He said, “What are you talking about?” She asked him if he'd like to baptize his dad, who wanted to get baptized. That night. Now, the story of Reed's conversion could (and probably should) be an entire entry on its own. He'd mentioned to us about a month earlier that he was seriously considering it, but there'd been not a peep since then. We had simply assumed it wouldn't be any time soon.

When we got to the church, Reed was holed up with the missionaries, who were going over the entire set of discussions again because it had been over a year since he'd met with them. Even though it was an hour late starting, even though the audience was mostly family, even though they had to warm up the font by boiling water in the kitchen and carrying it down the hallway, the baptismal service was peaceful, joyous, and full of the Spirit. Brian baptized Reed and then Kyle, Brian's brother, confirmed him soon after.

Thursday evening, Brian and I took Joseph out to Shore Acres to see the lights. They have over 300,000 now, some in beautiful animated displays, and we want to make it a yearly tradition. Joseph's big, beautiful eyes and rosy mouth, along with his fuzzy white suit, led the woman taking our picture to say, “She's so beautiful!” Yes, he is. :)

That night, Joseph made the transition from bassinet to crib for the full night. He doesn't seem to care much at all where he sleeps, and this way, he wouldn't be awakened by Brian getting up early in the morning for work.

Friday morning, the 31^st, we woke to a world frosted and white outside. There was no snow, but we could skate down the street on the ice. We wondered what the weather was like in Portland, so I got online to check Facebook and see if anyone had mentioned it. The first post at the top of the page was from my mom, and she wrote that my cousin and her husband has lost their seven-month-old son. Little James was in heaven. I felt so much sorrow and sympathy for my cousin. I struggled with tears all day. It breaks my heart. I simply can't imagine it. I have no words for it.

We decided to do something to get us out of the house. Last year, we'd gone out to Golden and Silver Falls on New Year's Eve because it had been raining like mad so we knew they'd be roaring. This year, with the sun shining, they were equally powerful. Brian's dad came with us and Joseph rode along in the front carrier while we hiked to the top. Of course, we forgot the camera, but it was a beautiful trail.

On the way home, I had the thought that we should stop and look at a house we'd looked at before and liked. It was way out of our price range, but it seemed like the perfect setting for us. The sign out front had something new...the words “short sale.” Interesting. Obviously unlived in for a few months, we felt it was okay to peek in the windows and see what we could. When we got home, we looked it up online. There it was. The price had dropped by $120,000. Wow. Time to get serious. I don't want to get my heart set on a house, especially when our plan was to not look seriously or think about buying one for another two years or so. But maybe, just maybe. We sent an email to a realtor we knew. We'll meet with him today and see what he says.

New Year's Eve seemed to take a backseat to everything else going on, but we had a fun night with family, playing games and eating too much food. We rang in the new year with banging pots and pans on the front porch and trying not to wake the babies.

Sunday was yet another change as we switched the time we started church. We were all ready to sleep in, but we must have forgotten to tell Joseph. Darn it. My new calling meant I was back in RS for the third hour. I missed the young women.

Today, Brian is back at work and Joseph and I are back on schedule. We got the dishes done, worked out, and are getting to the laundry. Life is back to rolling.

All of these experiences will take some time to digest and get used to. Our one constant is the love of the Savior and Heavenly Father. No matter what life brings, we know we can always turn to Them. We are so grateful for our friends and family, who share this life with us. You all bring so much joy and happiness to our hearts!

Happy New Year!

Reading A-Z

I've been looking for some new things to read recently and came across quite a few lists of what are proclaimed as the "Top 100 Novels of All Time" and such. Here are some examples:
Time's Top 100
100 best novels by Modern Library
 I haven't read a lot of them. As a teacher, I started offering extra credit to my students when they read books from the AP English suggested reading list:
APliteraturebyauthor
I've read maaaaaaybe a fourth of these.

And since September, I've been in a non-fiction book club and have had my world expanded through reading these books:

1491

Freakonomics

and...

Skeletons on the Zahara.

Also, Meg recommended a series to me,  http://www.rangersapprentice.com, and I thought the first book was a little cliche but each one has gotten better since then. I'm in the middle of the series now and looking forward to getting to the library soon where the next two are waiting for me.

So, my question is now, what should be next? I know I'll finish the Ranger's Apprentice series and continue with the non-fiction because of my book club, but what else should round out my reading? I decided to add more of the "classics" to my pile, so I put The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow on hold at the library. I'm considering going through the alphabet in titles...what are your suggestions? I'd love ideas of books you read that surprised you, were emotional, made you think, or just stuck with you. Or, ideally, all of the above. :) Fiction or not, adult or juvenile, all are welcomed...share the treasures you've found!

Life with Joseph

If you are bored by minutia, yawn through details, and don't have kids, this entry is not for you.

I think it would have been nice to have had some inkling of what to expect in a typical day when I decided to be a stay-at-home mom. I do not regret my decision for one minute, but it would have been nice to have seen this from another mom, just to know what my future would hold. This has just been my experience, and it seems to be different for every mom, baby, and family out there. But this has been mine. This week, at least. It changes all the time.

6-6:30 ish: Joseph wakes up for feeding and Brian leaves for work. I put Joseph back to bed afterward, but his sleep, and mine, is fitful. I imagine that some day I'll have to actually stay up at this point, but not yet. :)

8-8:30 Joseph's fitful sleeping has turned into crying. We get up. I release the velcro on his swaddle wrap and he smiles and stretches for the next half hour. Lately, he has discovered the mirror in his bassinet and loves playing with it.

9:00 Joseph eats.

9:30 I eat breakfast, do dishes, brush teeth, workout, and finish getting ready. Joseph sits in his chair and kicks and coos, smiles and laughs. We get him changed and dressed. I put him on his tummy while I work out and he starts sucking on his fingers furiously. He'll lift his head while I'm holding him, but he doesn't equate that with tummy time yet. He works on one pushup while I'm working on fifty. Sometimes he gets sleepy, sometimes he gets fussy.

Tummy time. One day I'll get a push-up done!

We may go outside, pet Vader, water plants if needed, pick up apples in the yard, and get the mail together. When we come inside, if he's still in a good mood, we might read or dance.

This is also our best time for errands. If needed, we go to the library, the bank, the post office, the store, or for a walk in the park or down the road.

Around noon is a feeding, then a nap for Joseph.

Sometimes he sleeps with his eyes open. I think it's his superpower.

I: eat lunch, clean, organize, read, write, make phone calls, watch Netflix shows, browse online, work on projects. Today, a pretty typical day, I had lunch, washed dishes, called Charter about their terrible website, cleaned the spot in the garage where Vader peed, updated wish lists, wrote this and a Facebook note...and we have one more hour of nap to go.

Between 3 and 4: Joseph eats again, unless Brian is home to distract him or his nap runs long. He sits in his bouncy chair in the kitchen while we make dinner. Some days, he takes a shower with his dad, which he at least doesn't cry through, though he isn't laughing either. He's only had one actual bath so far in his life.

He sits with us on the couch or in his chair while we eat, watch movies, talk, etc. He might have one more nursing session if he woke up from his nap early, or he might make it until 8 or 9 at night. He gets wrapped in his swaddle before eating and goes to sleep between 9 and 10. I try to follow shortly afterward to get the most out of his sleep. He loves to play while lying in his changing area, maybe because he can see us best then. We love to get him laughing as hard as we can!

*I started writing this almost two weeks ago. Since then, Joseph has started sleeping in later (until 8 or so) and cut out one feeding per day. He also eats for twenty minutes now instead of thirty. He is now pro at lifting his head from his tummy and loves blowing bubbles. He is always changing!*

I know I've been a tad bit consumed with the new little one in my life, and who wouldn't be, him being so adorable and all. But we have another little one that we've tried hard not to forget about. Our Vader girl.

An introduction if you haven't ever met her. She's a cat.

She's all black. She has long hair and likes to spend all day lying in the sun (when it's out). She was a stray that Brian had since kittenhood and had no problem accepting me into the household, probably because I could pet her and give her food. She was, Brian tells me, nameless for a while, but was always fiercely protective of her house, yard, etc. One day a goat came to stay in the backyard next door. Vader approached said goat, decided she didn't like it, swiped its nose, and drew blood. She was named that day, in honor of Brian's favorite villain. She consistently runs off all other cats from our property, along with any dog that is equal to her size or smaller. We have received presents of dead birds, a shrew, and a rat at our house. Her food used to be kept on the back patio until one day Brian heard noises, looked out the back window, and found three raccoons eating her food. Vader was less than a foot away from them, hissing and ready to take on three full-grown raccoons. Needless to say, her food has been inside since then. We love her courage, worry about her safety, and brag about her to everyone. She is our defender and our entertainment.

Since we brought home our little man, she has shown a few signs of neglect and jealousy, but overall is weathering the transition quite well. This post is in celebration of her and her curiosities. One thing about our Vader is that she never stops exploring and never settles into a routine. Of course, once she picks a spot, she'll stay there for ten hours, hardly budging an inch. Over the past few months, I decided to document some of the many spots I found her sleeping in. Any indoor pictures are from last winter (she's outdoor-only during flea season).

Here's a nice shady spot behind a bush, a favorite on sunny days.

She also likes this spot...

and this one....

One day, I found this view...

Here's a better look.

She's been staying in the garage more, now that it's raining. Evidently, she couldn't find a better spot to sleep than this...

Oh wait, dirty work pants! Perfect!

A clean table! Half on and half off sounds good.

A spot just my size.

If I can't be ON the mattress, I'll lie next to it. But not long enough to get a picture taken.

Stinky shoes, outta my way. I claim this chair.

One of the best spots of all.

And the other favorite:


She doesn't mind being tucked in.

We love you, Vader.

Before Baby list?

I was reading on the pregnancy site I visit today about things moms wish they had done before they had kids. Some of them made a lot of sense...finish school, spend more time alone with my husband, travel. But I came upon a couple posts towards the bottom of them all that were more in line with what I've been thinking. The basic gist was that doing things with kids is certainly a different experience, but there's no reason why you have to stop being you once you have kids, or doing the things you enjoy. I recognize that most moms are tired all of the time, but is sleeping now going to somehow magically add up the sleep hours so that it doesn't make me quite so tired when I get up multiple times every night? The idea is probably just to enjoy it while you can, because you'll miss it, but I think the lack of sleep is not something I can really do anything about right now. Another woman made the great point that alone time can be accomplished at any time with a sitter (or grandma and grandpa to watch) and I agree. I really liked what this woman had to say:
"I made the foolish mistake of not appreciating the early months enough because I was so tired and wanting just one moment to be “me” instead of “mommy”. I thought it was a forever thing and that life would always be that way… but it changed as she changed and grew. I wish I didnt wish away those early months!!! Treasure them and just think of it as a vacation from your old self. The old self that was a bit spoiled, selfish and stuck in a rut anyways!"
There are things that I don't do now that I'm married that I used to do all the time when I was single, but I don't miss them, because I'm not the same person. I'm a wife, and that is so much more important to me than watching obscure foreign films (something Brian doesn't like), grading papers at home (not that I really enjoyed this to start with, but I have to use my time more wisely at work now), or spending as much as I wanted every month (we have a very ambitious savings goal this year and I think we're going to make it!) My priorities have changed and I'm not the same as I was when I met Brian, and it's definitely for the better. I don't miss the old me...I'm still the same person, but with, in my little opinion, a better perspective, more patience, and a wiser outlook. I can't imagine that this same transition won't happen when our little Bee makes an appearance. We will be better because of this extra person, because we will have to be, for one reason, and because we will WANT to be. That is what sacrifice means, I believe. A change of heart and a change of desire...it will be more important to make the little one happy, comfortable, safe, etc., than to fulfill my own wants that don't take others into consideration.
Just on my mind today. I'd love any feedback, especially from those who have new little ones. Loves to you all!