Time to Ramble

Ok, so I actually have a moment to ramble...and I feel like doing so. These two events have not happened in I don't know how long.

You know you've watched Cars alot when the following starts to occur:
1) You think to yourself "This is what it would be like to drive next to Mac" as you pass a semi truck.
2) You start saying Ka-Chow in casual conversation.
3) You often have "Real Gone" and "Life is a Highway" playing in your head.

I got to go on a mini-shopping spree at Kohls yesterday -- by myself -- thanks to my dear hubby. I was able to get some in-between-jeans, a long denim skirt, and two shirts. They all were on sale. One of the shirts was only $4.80! I love the skirt. It'll be great for all seasons depending on what shoes and shirt I wear with it, especially winter. One of the shirts is kind of trendy for my taste, but Matt and I both like it. It is SO hard to go shopping by yourself. The $4.80 shirt came in three colors, and deciding on which color is probably what took me the longest. :-P Light blue won out over red or teal.

We had our apt. exterminated for ants (again) yesterday. We have to be away for four hours when that happens, so we went to Monterey. Matt had to TURN IN HIS THESIS DRAFT (praise the Lord in heaven!), and then we decided to drive past Carmel to see the "beauty" everyone has been talking about. Matt even heard on Today Show that our area is one of the 10 most beautiful places in the country (not Salinas, but the Central Coast of Cali). No kidding! It was absolutely, unequivocally gorgeous! We leave in 22 stinkin' days and we JUST now saw what we have lived right next to. If you want to get a feel for what Hawaii looks like without actually going, take this drive. Way better than the 17-mile Drive that you have to pay $9 for (if you've even heard of it). We're going to take Matt's parents on the free coastal drive when they are here...and I'll remember our camera that time! G.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. We capped off our four hours with lunch at Wendy's where Judah received his very first kids' meal of chicken nuggets and mandarin oranges...and of course the toy. It was a fun experience. :-)

You know you've watched Blues Clues when:
1) You sing the "Here's the Mail" song (with correct voice intonation) when you go get the mail.
2) You notice that your husband and Steve have the same dancing skills...or lack there of.
3) You realize you are actually learning the sign language Steve subtly throws into the program.

Judah has started clearly addressing me as Momma now. Melts my heart! Every day it seems like he is babbling more and forming new sounds and syllables. His eyelashes are having a growth spurt to -- a strange observation, I know. His two favorite toys right now are my salad spinner and a remote control car "Elijah" got him. The other day, I was thinking about how I would feel and what I would do if Judah's life was threatened in any way. Woah man, the feelings that welled up in my heart -- I think I am starting to understand the depth and ferocity of a mother's love. And along with that comes the understanding that you just can't understand a mother's love until you are one. It's quite surprising to one's self.



You know what else melts my heart? Today, on Elijah's one month birthday, he focused on my eyes and smiled when I spoke to him...and then cooed. I love my sons. And don't you wish they made adult sized cushy swings??



For those who know and love Patrick the Plant, pray for his survival. :-) I repotted one piece of him to give to a friend here, and the other piece is now in a ziploc bag with some soil...for the next three weeks, part of which he will spend in a box crossing the USofA. I have a feeble faith that he will survive considering all he has seen these past seven years. A one month stint in front of a dorm room heater without being watered (remember that, Leesh?). Multiple splits and repottings. An airplane ride in a ziploc resting in my grandmother's carry-on. And I have shipped a piece of him to SoCal where Patrick's other first parent lives (a roomie from college). So, press on, sweet Patrick. Stay true to me! You have been my pride and my joy -- my one little act of having dominion over the earth, my connection to nature as I nurture you. You're the only pet I've ever had that I am not irritated with nor allergic to. Keep up the good life, Lil' Buddy!



I think it's about time for me to start working out a little. I've discovered firsthand muscles really aid the skeleton, especially while sitting. I hunch way over 99% of the time and I'm sick of it. Having close pregnancies certainly took it's toll. I feel like a jello mold with a few sticks inside trying to hold it up. :-P

You know you've watched Veggie Tales a few times when:
1) You tell your husband "Get thee to a Starbuckery" as a spoof on the play Omlet in which Jimmy Gourd tells toast-searching Mr. Lunt "Get thee to a bakery."
2) You wake up with Veggie Tale songs in your head.
3) You use Jr. Asparagus expressions (and sometimes his voice) in casual conversation.

Matt and I got a couple good coupons for those new Listerene whitening strips that dissolve. So we're splitting a box to see how well it works. For one person, you are supposed to do it twice a day for 2 weeks. So we're each doing it once a day for two weeks. Even after just 3 days, we can already see results. So if you've been wondering whether or not to try it, I say go for it!

Elijah has not liked bath time one iota except for the other night. Matt went to Starbucks to FINISH HIS THESIS (praise the Lord in heaven!), and I gave Lijah a bath by myself. He usually is crying even before you set him in the little tub and then ramps up even more. That night he was just quiet and calm. So I got some video. He stayed that way even while I washed him...until I poured water on his legs. Still a work in progress, but aren't we all?



Dude. I found While You Were Sleeping at Target for $5.50. Has to be one of my ALL time favorite movies, and I finally own it. Matt picked up The Quiet Man for $4.00 at Best Buy. Good times. :-)

Alright, I guess I could be napping instead of rambling. Elijah has taken to staying awake from 7:00 to 10:30 in the evenings (not good for anyone involved), but he is actually sleeping right now. Perhaps the wakefulness on previous evenings was due to my full cup of coffee a couple days ago? Oh, that reminds me. Let me boast a little then I'll sign off.

I have the best husband in the world. I know some of you would contest that, but he really is the greatest. ;-) Wednesday morning, Matt was going to polish his thesis draft so he could turn it in that afternoon. Elijah had kept me up for a long time Tuesday night, so I flat out told Matt he was going to have to let me nap that morning. It was the first time I had right priorities when I knew it would affect someone else -- functioning wife or finished draft. I realized functioning wife was indeed more important. So I napped, hoping Matt would still be able to polish the rest of his draft. I slept for two glorious hours, finally walking to our bedroom door around 9:00. Just before I got to the door, it opened. Judah walked in followed by Matt...who was carrying a plate of eggs, toast, and fresh fruit salad. He even had a nice napkin draped over his arm! The tasty coffee waited for me at the table. ::sigh:: God has blessed me above and beyond, that's for sure. Matt didn't get to work on his thesis that morning, so he simply e-mailed his advisor and turned it in on Thursday. It's amazingly wonderful to see and feel how a family flourishes when you put your spouse's needs first -- when you do, it seems that all needs are met on both sides. ::warm fuzzies::

And with that, I'm gonna go nap. If I can get the Cheeseburger song out of my head. "Cause you're his cheeseburger, his lovely cheeseburger........"

Four Down, Three Left

The countdown continues. I CAN'T believe the movers will be here on Tuesday to pack us up. And then a couple weeks after that, we're officially out of here. Our last big move. ::shakes head in disbelief::

We had some friends from church over last Friday for a "Southern Brunch" dinner. It is so fun to see Judah play with other kids. Here are Ezekiel and Emma. I so wish we had longer here to continue developing our friendship with this family. We are in the same spot in life and share a lot in common. If only we'd started getting to know each other better sooner! We're also having the family that just had Samuel over either Saturday or Sunday. They've got a little girl who is slightly older than Judah, so that will be fun. I look forward to hearing more about their experience with Samuel and seeing the pictures they had taken.



Finally, here are the new dishes! See how perfectly they match each set of entertaining dishes we have? We got them at Kohls while they were 50% off AND an employee gave us one of her 15% off coupons when she saw how much we were buying. Not to mention we had our garage sale money to put towards it. So, we got EIGHT 5-piece place settings (dinner, salad, soup, dessert, mug) for...drum roll please...$50!!! Praise the Lord for His care of the little things! And what's more, we still love the dishes...BOTH of us!



Elijah is growin' growin'. Quite the chunk actually. Nursing is going much better -- I was so ready to quit on Sunday. And seriously, can we rename him Samson? He's rolled over I think eight times now, and the last time I got on video!



Judah's fourth molar finally surfaced a little, so we are probably on the downhill side of teething now. He's now getting into the stage of repeating some words that you work with him to say. He clearly called me Momma today of his own will. ::warm fuzzy:: He also clearly said "up" after I pronounced it for him. He'll be talking up a storm soon! He is still very gentle and precious with Elijah. Judah often wipes Lijah's mouth for him, pats his back, strokes his head, and pats his belly. He's even covered Lijah up with his OWN blankie several times. Now that is sharing. Tell me, how long will this last? ;-)

Well, I better wrap this up. The mover guy is coming in a few minutes to look at what we have and hopefully give us more info about the process for next Tuesday/Wednesday. Hope you all are well!

Never Before Seen Photos!

...well, except for us and my mom who was still here when they got developed. These are pics from the disposable camera. I know, how ancient, huh? And boy was it a good reminder that the digital age is better! But, they are all we have of Elijah's first moments of life, so we cherish them. There are also some good DIGITAL ones we've taken this week. Can you believe at the end of next week Lijah will be one month old already? Sheesh! Sometime I want to do a post comparing Judah and Elijah pictures to see how close they resemble each other (or not). Enjoy!

We enjoyed our couple hours alone in pre-op as just the two of us. Here was our formalwear for our last pre-two-kids date. :-)



Once they pulled Elijah out, they quickly showed him to me and then scampered off to clean him while Matt took pics. After they cleaned Elijah, Matt brought him back to me so I could get a good look at him. I didn't cry -- which surprised me. In fact, I never cried over Elijah's birth. Again, I guess 14 hours of labor followed by c-section would make any woman a wreck when she sees her baby (as happened with Judah). Anyway, this is a pic the nurse took of our first moments together. My face is as big as it felt, no lie. I guess all the pressure and medical work that was going on with my body made my face swell a touch. :-P And as a sweet note, my anesthesiologist (a very cool gal) told me my heart rate increased when they brought Elijah over and went back down when he left again. I think that's very endearing. <3



After Matt introduced me officially to Elijah, they took him off to be bathed and such while Dr. G and the ladies finished up with me. Then it was off to recovery for about an hour, and then we got our own room...later to be upgraded to a different room after Dr. G came in and smelled some sort of exhaust that apparently I had gotten used to. I was on drugs -- what did I care? :-}



The Saturday after Elijah was born, we had a garage sale with the Chews. Yeah, I'm nuts like that; but I was seriously ready to get rid of stuff. I took this pic at their house when he was 4 days old. And we got a whole new set of dishes from Kohls with the profit. I'll post about that later.



Judah really is a kind and gentle big brother. These two pictures were of the first time we caught Judah approaching Elijah and interacting with him one-on-one. It is precious to watch him with Lijah. He likes to kiss him, point out body parts, pat his back, stroke his hair...and most recently has been interested in just how exactly Elijah eats. It's made for some interesting interactions, that's for sure.



And now for the return of digi-pics. :-) We love all of these -- and we love our family!

Notice the Vulcan ear (or Elvish if you so desire) and flat profile save for the nose. Not sure who has the Vulcan blood, but the profile is mine. :-)

Three and Five

This marks three weeks post-Elijah's birth...and only five weeks before we permanently depart for the other coast. Things are still moving along well. Elijah has some issues with wanting to be held when it is time to go to sleep. He's fine being on his own until that particular moment comes. We're working on it though. Matt encouraged me yesterday by telling me he is proud that I haven't made excuses and let things go just because I have two kids. That was so good to hear from my husband. ::whew:: We have discovered, though, that my mind says I can do more than my body is ready for. One walk to Target and I'll hurt all the next day. Oh well. At least I'm ok 99% of the time. :-) Judah is growin' growin'. Babbling more and increasing his vocabulary. He has now added "Where is it?," "What is it?," "Where is the car?." car, and hi. He's still working on those teeth. Sheesh -- I think he's only got two more that need to pop through. Praise the Lord for women who share advice. We got some of these herbal teething pills that women swear by. I am now going to join them in advocating Highlands teething pills!

Well, I need to get some lunch for the Judah-man and myself. Enjoy the pics!

Daddy and Elijah takin' a snooze.



Family time!



The other day, Matt asked me if I had put Judah's shoe on him. Nope. Judah put his own shoe on by himself! A few minutes later, he had both of them on. ::sigh:: They do grow so fast! Oh, and yesterday (by pure accident I'm sure) Eljiah rolled from tummy to back...TWICE. The kid is a Samson-type. No lie.

After 2 Weeks

We're not surviving.

We are not getting by.

We are thriving in this new life!

God has been so good and gracious to us with our new addition and all the adjustments he has brought to our family. Elijah is officially already on a good 3-hour schedule and only waking once in the middle of the night. I havn't taken any pain meds for my c-section recover in several days -- just some for a couple headaches. Judah is still mostly gentle with Elijah, and I believe he is already getting used to having a new baby around. No jealousy issues or anything have popped up (yet). Today was my first day alone with both boys for a few hours while they were awake. It was QUITE manageable, better than I expected for a toddler and a newborn. I know my day is coming when they are both up and around, but for now I will enjoy this particular stage! NOTE: I still claim that the easiest phase of parenting is pregnancy. Make no mistake. :-)

If you remember, I once posted about my friend from Bible study Kristin who was pregnant with Samuel. She was induced today. The delivery went well, and they were able to spend 50 precious minutes with Samuel before he went to his permanent Home. Kristin is doing well and will be in the hospital overnight. Thank you for your prayers for them, and continue to pray for them as the healing begins.

Judah had his first shaving accident on Sunday. We let him "pretend" with Matt's electric razor. I was in the kitchen doing dishes, and Judah tripped up a little in the living room. No crying or anything, so I went about my way. Suddenly, Matt calls out to me with an urgent tone. I go back to our bathroom where he and Judah were -- with Judah's chin all bloody. My first thought was that he had busted his chin open when he tripped but wasn't phased by it. When I wiped the blood off (God bless having red bathroom linens), there were three perfect little cuts. We figure it was from the little part you pop out on the electric razor. So he had a nice bandaid-ed chin for church. Lots of people, it seems, heard it through a quick moving Grace Vine. :-P



Judah LOVES my salad spinner and colander bowl set. Keeps him occupied for a LONG time. He figured out that if you bang that cabinet long enough, the child lock will pop enough to allow the door to open. No, the other cabinets don't do that. No worries. He also still likes to occasionally "lounge" in his crib. How you can sleep like that without hurting your legs when you try to turn over, I still don't understand!



GUESS WHO CAME TO VISIT! Our beloved Jensens! They made a trip up here from SoCal just to see us. It was so nice to be with them. We love them very much, our California parents (now California "grandparents"). ;-) Visiting with them only made us miss them more...and we PRAY that they will come visit the DC area so we can see them again. He is a World History prof after all, so he'd better plan at least a couple more trips to the East coast! Also, Matt and Jeff started talking about the possibility of Matt accompanying Jeff on his month long Europe tour next June-ish. That's right. A month and up to $5,000. My only issues are those, time and money. Of course, I'd LOVE to see all the sights with my hubby; but who am I to say no to such an opportunity just because I can't go? Am I not one with Matt? So if at least half of me can go, that counts for something, right? :-)



Doesn't Elijah just have the most perfect skin tone? We can tell he's already gaining weight. Even his little fingers look bigger. He's just so precious!



Diane gave me a new, beautiful pie dish kind of as a housewarming gift for MD. I like the depth/shape of the dish, and Matt likes pie. My mom bought some cherries and a cherry pitter while she was here. So today, I made my very first FRESH cherry pie. Let's just say it was easy to make and beautiful...before I cut it. I've never seen a runnier fruit pie (yes, I did include the cornstarch). The bottom crust wasn't 100% baked. But it was still a good fresh cherry pie -- and if you haven't tried Target brand (Market Pantry) vanilla ice cream, you're missing out!!!



Well, I redid our fridge calendar yesterday. Funny enough, the LAST day that made it on there was September 22nd. The day we move to MD. The day we leave our wonderful life here in CA and start anew on the other side of the country. Only 37 days. Very bittersweet. Pray for us!

She's Back!

Yep, it's really me this time. I hope no one is in a tizzy if they did not receive a call/return call from me yet. Frankly, this time around, I'm alot more relaxed and mosy-posy about getting things done that aren't as important as caring for Elijah and my own body.

Things are going GREAT...Elijah only woke up once to nurse last night, which means we got two really good sleep sessions in. And he's just now a week old. Praise the Lord! He is SUCH a strong child, unusually so. But I'm not too surprised considering how he felt on the inside. He already picks up his head and turns it from side to side (did it at 5 days old and we got video). He seems to be mellowing a little, but I still think he will be a little fireball -- complete opposite of mellow Judah.

At first, Judah would giggle and shy away from Elijah. But now Judah has warmed up to Elijah and gives him kisses (sometimes voluntarily!) and likes to practice his skills at pointing out facial features -- including poking at the eyes. Judah has been fussy and extra disobedient lately, most likely due to both the family change and major teething. He's getting I think about 5 teeth right now (molars and incisors).

As far as myself, nursing is MUCH better the second time around since at least one of us knows what we're doing. :-P And I think Elijah has just taken to it much quicker than Judah. My incision is healing well. I'm only on heavy motrin now instead of vicatin (only took two of those since we got home). Each day is better than the last, and my confidence that I'll be ok by the time my mom leaves is growing. The only interesting note about the c-section is that they hit a nerve in my back when they were numbing me...and my entire left leg jumped and got a funny bone feeling. Didn't hurt; but I gotta tell ya, it's WEIRD to have someone ELSE move your leg because they're in your spine. ::shiver:: Other than that, it went off without a hitch. Dr. G said that everything inside was beautiful, meaning that I healed very nicely. Oh, and apparently Elijah's head was in the exact same position Judah's was...which means the chance that time would have repeated itself were very high. Interesting, huh?

We had our first family-of-four plus Nini outing yesterday. It ended with melt-down. Judah was already tired and hungry when we got there. Things went downhill from there. He popped open a packet of crackers and made a mess all over the table and Matt -- pure hilarious accident and the first time we left a restaurant with a messy table. Judah also had his first major choking incident (french fry)...it was scary, but obviously he's ok. Then he just started getting so fussy and ornary, so Matt took him to the car to discipline him. The discipline took place in the back seat...and then Matt realized the child locks were on. So he had to climb into the front seat to get himself and Judah out. But as they were getting out, I was walking up with Elijah who had just woken up and wanted to eat. And of course all of this happened nearly simultaneous with our food arriving. So we boxed it all up, sat in the parking lot while I fed Elijah, and then journeyed home. The traffic to Salinas would have been better to battle rather than heading to Gilroy for lunch to wait it out. We know now...and are EVER thankful Nini was present to help during the melt-down!

Enough talk for now. Pictures and video are better...and I want to nap while I can!

At the Hospital...



Coming Home...



First Home Bath & Church Outfit...




Judah Meets Elijah



5-Day Old Head Turn

Precious Lil' 'Lijah