Go Mariner’s July 4, 2008

Growing up my family was big into baseball.  Of course because of my father.  But any time I get a chance to go to a baseball game, though I have a hard time staying focused on the game, I get excited because it brings back so many fond memories of my childhood.  So- wednesday night, as part of the family wedding week for Nic & Rebecca, the family headed to a Mariner’s game.  Not usually something to hip-hurrah about but it was Ezra’s first game.  We packed peanuts and licorice into our backpack and made the trek downtown!  Ezra’s favorite part about Safeco Field: the boat that was used for advertising on the second level, the foam hand toys that everyone carried (he got one too thanks to zjiddo), eating the inside and outside of those weird things called peanuts- yes he ate half a shell while I wasn’t watching!, sipping uncle Nic’s lemonade while I monitored closely his intake :), and playing in the kids play zone- mostly just chasing after other kids and their parents who had no clue who this little kid was that thought they were so cool.  We made it to the 8th inning and then Ezra started to fade so home went.  It was a great evening- and bonus: the mariner’s one- finally…

for all the mothers May 28, 2008

The following is an excerpt from an email I sent last night to my weekly moms group friends.  I figured there may be a few other mothers who read this blog who might enjoy my ranting and my aha moment.  to all the mothers out there who have had a bad day- or several consecutive bad days as I seem to be having- YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

may 27,2008 I have had a rough day…my patience is SOOOO thin!  And I’m grumpy.  Yes I know I can blame it on pregnancy hormones, but that would be an easy out :)  I’m sure many of you can relate.  Isn’t it awful that when I should be filled with compassion for my sick child, instead I am frustrated with him that he won’t sleep, that he won’t eat anything but raisins and strawberries, and he won’t just be happy when I’m trying so hard to make him feel comfortable?!!!!  In these moments when I want to cry or pull my hair out, or just give up trying I can only turn one place.  And today I had a quick thought of pity and sadness for mothers who don’t have a heavenly Father they can turn to.  Sure they may have a group of friends like I do who can comfort, encourage and empathize…but ultimately it’s a heart issue and we need Christ to transform our hearts.  Only he can provide us with the ultimate measure of love, patience, joy, peace and perseverance to not just get us through a day- but a life time.

I’m not saying that I’ve turned to God easily today.  In fact I haven’t done anything but grumble until just now when I needed to share (because the only adults I’ve talked to today was the unfriendly man at the eye glass store, the kind grocer, and my tired husband), and as I was writing this I was realizing something about how my heart needs to be redirected.  Okay, what was meant to be a short email has turned into a blog length email- my apologies!  This is why blogging (or why talking to other human beings, adult beings, can be so helpful!)

If all this post does is make you laugh- good.  I’ve done my good deed for the day.  Now I will continue wiping a snotty nose and drying the never-ending tears from my precious son’s face.

it’s a boy! May 22, 2008

Corey, Ezra and I drove downtown today for our “we’re halfway there!” ultrasound appointment. I could not sleep last night, it seriously felt like Christmas Eve back when I was 8. I kept waking up thinking about what today would bring. I think because we decided to be surprised about Ezra’s gender, choosing to find out what this one was, was extra special. Corey and I sat in the waiting room in nervous excitement.

Of course the ultrasound technician was pretty much all business, no pleasure. About 1 minute into the ultrasound she casually threw out the fact that indeed she saw “boy parts” (I won’t use her exact words in case any children happen to read this) and then she quickly moved on to the next medical check point on her list. Corey was dealing with a tired, fussy Ezra, so as the moment passed and the surprise was over it wasn’t quite as dramatic as I had hoped it to be. I expected to get teary-eyed and emotional. Be filled with extreme joy or surprise. But it was rather an ordinary moment.

It wasn’t until we got in the car and drove home, saying to Ezra over and over, you’re going to have a baby brother that both Corey and I got the silly grins on our faces and couldn’t stop talking about how exciting it would be to have another boy. A best friend for our first born; a child who we would already be familiar with as far as things like circumcision and how to dress him, and what to put in the nursery. And of course he is the 5th grandson for my side of the family. I’m placing bets that the next sibling to get married in my family is going to have ALL girls since my older brother already has 3 sons Not that that would be a bad thing.

So today was a good day. I made Corey climb into the attic today to bring down Ezra’s clothes and things from the first 6 months. I’ll probably spend the evening refolding clothes, remember what happened when Ezra wore which outfit, smelling the smell of Dreft baby detergent, and getting excited about this new baby boy who will enter our lives in the beginning of October. Bonus material: the doctor at the office bumped my due date up a week. It’s all relative really, but still…one less week of pregnancy is one week closer to meeting my new son!

a billion thoughts May 14, 2008

There are a billion things I could be writing about right now. But all I can think about at the moment is how tired I am. I should write at a different time of day, but it seems that evenings are my only time free (not that I’m complaining!). I could write about how much I love getting back involved in the worship team at church. How I began to think again about writing more songs and maybe recording them- at the most amateur level- I must be clear. Recording for me is not about giving the world something, it’s more to document a song I’m sure to forget, or lose the music to in the next few years (it’s happened several times already). I could write about my amazing son who every day makes me smile, giggle, laugh hysterically and want to pull my hair out all in the same 24 hours. His latest developments: lots of sign language (please, water, hot coffee, blowing kisses, and lots of other crazy arm gestures that we still can’t figure out); babbling to us as if he were speaking sentences that we should understand; the cutest coy look, inquisitive look, shy grin, and the best bright-eyed, open mouthed, big white teeth smile you’ve ever seen; bringing in 3 molars at once (which equates to a completely swollen gums/mouth that looks quite monstrous in my opinion); walking everywhere, getting faster and faster each day; vacuuming the floor with a real vacuum EVERYDAY (mind you it’s not the big kind that most kids are scared of); fascination with tractors and any machines related to construction sites; dogs, birds, flowers; pride in his little pictures he brings home from sunday school (they are posted on the fridge; praying with us at the dinner table and raising his hands in the air when we’re done; curiosity of little babies and all kids smaller than him; playing on his fire engine on the back deck, digging in and eating the dirt in the planters…the list could go on forever. I could write about how proud I am of Corey and all his hard work- finishing previously unfinished house projects, continuing with the wedding photography and working hard to increase business…I could write about the little baby that kicks me very regularly these days and how we are going out if it’s a boy or girl next week- and I can’t wait. I could write about all these things but that would be a lot to write and that’s a lot of work. maybe next time

weddings and walking April 29, 2008

At sixteen weeks, I think I’ve finally turned a corner with this little baby growing inside me. My energy is coming back, and just in time for a busy spring!  Last week the fam was in san diego celebrating jenny and kyle’s wedding.  It was beautiful despite the chilly weather on the actual wedding day. Two more family weddings to go this year. We had an unusual surprise while there.  I got to hang out with two of my brothers- which NEVER happens!

We took a trip to sea world with Nic, Rebecca, Wendy and Mike.  It was so cool.  Ezra’s favorite sign right now is water and everywhere we went that day- he was signing water, water, water…

Ezra turned 13 months today.  Corey and I are trying to wait patiently for him to walk.  He is very content to speed crawl from place to place or cling to whatever object is closest by that can keep him balanced.  But tonight, right before bedtime he took three baby steps!  It was so exciting.  Corey and I were screaming and clapping (probably scaring the heck out of Ez).  We can’t wait for all that is to come!

baby fame April 8, 2008

Here’s a video of Ezra and his buddy Jack a few weeks ago. Enjoy!

Compliments of my new brother in law Kyle

excuses April 7, 2008

I have a great excuse for not blogging very much since January. Life these past 3 months has been a complete blur. With three of Corey’s and my siblings getting married in the next few months and another due to have a baby any day- we thought- heck, we should add to the family pandemonium. So Ezra will be a big brother somewhere around October 12th of this year. Ezra was born on his Aunt Annie’s birthday, we’re shooting to deliver the second on Uncle Danny’s birthday

Here is what I have been doing the past three months: First priority- take care of Ezra and try to have as much fun with him as possible, despite the sickness. Second- Eat and not be sick. Third- Sleep. Everything, and i do mean everything else has gone by the wayside. Thankfully Corey is forgiving. An incredible, though not uncommon, wave of fatigue has completely taken over my life. It has sucked pretty much all motivation out of me as well as my ability to think or function at even a half-normal level. Though I haven’t been vomiting and nauseas, I have had the most bizarre (as far as i can tell) and unrelentless stomach ache which has been equated with a need to consume food every hour to hide/curb/diminish the pain. I can’t tell if the eating really helps or not, because the pain doesn’t really go away. However, I am beginning to see glimpses of light at the end of the first trimester dark tunnel because I get spurts of “slow motion energy” that come in 15 to 30 minute increments a couple times a day. this allows for dishes to get done and the toys to get picked up off the floor.

Poor Ezra. He would prefer to be outside petting dogs, pointing to birds and airplanes and swinging at the park. I have basically imprisoned him in our house. His one connection to the outside world is our big picture window in the front room. We sit on the couch and stare at the people, animals, cars, and other things moving around us.

Besides church on Sundays and the grocery store a couple times a week, we don’t get out at all. Except for our weekly time with the moms group at quest. It is my favorite time of week. Ezra gets to play with other human beings his age, gets to take a break from boring mommy, and I get to laugh, cry, and find comfort in friends who understand exactly what I’m going through. While I’ve seriously slacked in my leadership of the group as of late, I always find a measure of hope and strength to finish my week with from the group. thank you ladies.

okay, now that i’ve written a novel…chapter 2: Ezra just turned one! More to come later

moms can’t always be the hero March 17, 2008

A funny story to share, which will emphasize the point, that try as we might to save our babies from all harm, it’s just not always possible!  And sometimes when we try to hard, we end up doing more damage than good.  Case in point:  I laid Ezra down for an afternoon nap last week.  I was tired so I decided to take a rest as well.  A few minutes into it though I heard a thud and suddenly Ezra was crying.  After hearing the story of a friend who son climbed out of his crib and broke his arms just week earlier, I could only think the worst.  I jumped out of bed, completely disoriented- apparently I had been more tired than I thought.  You need to know that my bedroom is literally 2 feet from Ezra’s bedroom.I raced out the door of my bedroom, but as I turned the corner, I got dizzy, my socks were slippery and I went banging from doorway, to wall, to doorway, into Ezra’s room, into his doorway and fell on the floor at the base of his crib with an even larger thud than he had made.  I couldn’t even stand for a minute I was so dizzy, and in pain from banging around all the doors.  Corey rushed up from the basement, after hearing all the commotion, to find me on the floor and Ezra still crying, with blood coming out of his mouth from banging his gums on the crib rail.  Poor baby- no, poor mommy!

I still have bruises on my leg, evidence of my attempt to save my son.  Lesson learned- when baby cries, make sure you have equilibrium before rushing to save the day.

If you are concerned about Ezra- he is fine, and has not attempted to do whatever he did that afternoon, yes, to get out of a nap (in which he succeeded).

will you be my valentine? February 19, 2008

who could resist that face?

sunni cali February 10, 2008

Last week Ezra and I went on an adventure to San Jose, CA…our first trip without Daddy! Ezra did really well on the plane. He almost lost it on the way down, because he was skipping a nap, but he held on and stayed composed the whole way. A couple bottles of formula later, we arrived to visit our dearest friends Steve and Stina and their new baby James. We had so much fun just catching up and sharing life as new moms together. Our boys hit it off so well- taking naps at the same time, playing together and even going to bed around the same time so us moms could party hard :). We hope they will be BFF’s!we tried unsuccessfully to get a group shot of all four of us at Santa Cruz, but alas, my camera skills still prove poor. oh well!Ezra was sure glad to make a new friend and he keeps signing “baby” now that we are back home. I’m pretty sure he’s thinking about his best buddy in sunny california! love you jamesy poo!