Weezer

On Thursday, August 4, we went to a concert held at the OC Fair with Neil and Casey. It was Neil's favorite band, Weezer. We went a couple of hours early so we could eat as much fair food as possible (including funnel cake, a huge barbecued turkey leg, chocolate-covered stuff, wine tasting, but--oddly enough--nothing deep fried). The concert itself was fun. There were no opening bands, which I loved because that meant I wasn't already tired by the time the headlining band came on. It was a GREAT concert and a great time with sweet friends.

Two anniversaries

Jon and I celebrated 9 years married yesterday! He took me to Trabuco Oaks, a steakhouse with tons of unpretentious atmosphere and really good food. They are famous for "no ties allowed." Jon wore an old tie so he could add it to the thousands of ties adorning the walls and ceiling.




We ate a great dinner and enjoyed some time just the two of us.

Here's the only pic of both of us (taken with Jon's phone):



This is also another cool anniversary of sorts: my 1,000th blog post. One thousand--whoa! I think it's appropriate that my 1,000th post would be about Jon and me, not about the children, not about school or homeschooling or some semi-temporary stage in our lives. Because our marriage is the common thread that has run through everything, the foundation for our family life (based on Christ). I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, who loves me, understands me, and provides balance for me. I love you, Jon!

Happy day

Happy birthday to my husband! His good friend Scott came and surprised him at 6:30 this morning to take him to breakfast (Jon's favorite meal of the day), and we'll have some cake later. I love this man!

P.S. The kids and I also drove up around lunch time and surprised Jon at work with a balloon. I didn't include that on the original post, which I posted before we went, in case he read it. :)

Cambria

Jon and I had a wonderful, relaxing, good-food-filled weekend. My favorite place we ate was Indigo Moon, where we shared the roasted pumpkin poblano soup and each had a delicious entree. We drove up the coast and saw the elephant seals on Saturday morning and also found a different beach to stroll on. We visited a winery in the afternoon and did a tasting. It was just so nice to have the whole weekend together.

Happy anniversary

Happy anniversary to my sweet husband of 8 years!








We are going on a weekend trip to Cambria this Friday-Sunday and I am SO excited.

Time to retreat

Our church's women's retreat is this weekend. I have gone for 5 or 6 years now, sometimes taking a baby along, too (Nate when he was 10 months, Lucy when she was 6 months). Taking the baby prevents it from being a true retreat, but it's still fun. Levi is 10 months old right now--still nursing and "needing" me like a baby does--but my wonderful husband is keeping all the kids, including Levi, at home this weekend so I can enjoy the retreat alone. If you think of it, would you please pray that Levi is extra good for Jon and that he takes the bottle? :)

Seven years

I haven't had time for many substantive posts lately, but I'm sure no one blames me for that. :) I wanted to spend a few minutes, though, posting about my wonderful husband, since our anniversary is today.

He works hard and commutes each day to provide for our family.

When I call him at work "just to say hi" and see if he's coming home soon, and he hears unhappy chaos in the background, he tells me, "I'll leave right now."

When he can tell I've had an especially tiring few days, he suggests I take a book and go to Starbucks for an hour or two on a Saturday while he stays home.

When I come up with a hair-brained idea (like "I want to get a toddler bed for Lucy this weekend and put her in it even though she isn't yet 2"), he lets me run with it (instead of telling me it's probably a bad idea, which it might be).

He doesn't complain--ever--when I spend an entire evening after dinner at the sewing machine.

He is calm, patient, and slow to anger.

When our kids have a "sick episode" or sudden injury, I freeze, but Jon has the "parenting reflex." He jumps into action with towels, buckets, wipes, whatever the situation calls for.

No matter the type of day he has had, he always plays "ticklefest" with the kids when he gets home.

He is our kids' favorite person in the world.

And he's my favorite person in the world.

Happy 7 years, Jonathan!

Here is the most recent picture of us. The only other one I could find was when I was still pregnant with Levi!

Odds and ends update

We had a great weekend here, highlighted by a successful surprise birthday party for Jon on Saturday night. I wasn't sure I'd be able to pull it off--it's hard to surprise him--but he had no idea. We had 25 people (or thereabouts) and their kids (about 10) at the house. It was close to max capacity, and it was great. (As you can see, I got barely any pictures; I was holding Nate during Jon's entrance, which is why the one picture is not good at all!)




Our first real week of summer last week was nice. I want to give Nate lots of the fun play time he misses out on during school, so we had several fun activities: a pool/water park day in Ladera Ranch, a couple of hours in the fountains at the Spectrum, etc. He also came with me when I took Lucy to her hour of therapy on Wednesday at Cornerstone, where he used to go. He was really excited to see his favorite former therapists, and he started getting shy when so many adults were coming up to him to say how big he is, how much he is talking, and to ask him questions.

Today I'm in Long Beach for part of the day at the graphic design studio I do work from home for. The kids are at Ray and Colleen's house and, I'm sure, having a wonderful time.

I am not joking

Do you remember how I started the "I'm serious about losing those last 10 pounds" commitment several weeks back? And how I only posted about it for the first couple of weeks? I'm usually a very committed person; when I set out to do something, I stick with it. So what happened this time? I'll tell you: the day after I posted my first update, I found out that I'm pregnant! I had my first appointment last week. I'm 9 weeks along today and am due December 15. Jon's reaction when I told him was to laugh for about 10 minutes straight. This was not in "our plan," but I'm glad it was in God's. I'm feeling pretty good--just super tired. Crazy!

Refreshed

We had a great weekend in Big Bear on the marriage retreat. Eight other couples went, including all of our closest friends, so we had a great time going out to meals, talking, hanging out in the cabin, going on walks, etc. Jon and I went on the Alpine Slide--that was fun. We also found Pine Summit, the Christian camp where he went to AWANA scholarship camp as a kid. Perhaps the best part of the weekend was sleeping all night through 'til 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. two nights in a row. Woo hoo! :)

An exciting week in mothering... + Happy Valentine's Day

So, Nate almost stuck another piece of cereal up his nose this morning. (Actually, I think he did, but not too far since he got it out on his own.) The last time was 6 or 8 months ago while we were in the post office, with a Cheerio. That one he sneezed out.

On Monday, I went to Costco with Lucy while Nate was at therapy. We arrived before the store opened, so I played with Lucy in the back of the car for a while. (We keep the third row of seats down, so it fits the stroller, pack n play, lots of stuff.) I decided to change her diaper, but the diapers were in the front of the car. I don't know exactly what my thought process was, but I decided to leave her in the back of the car instead of take her with me to get the diapers. So I closed the car's back door. And then remembered that I had already locked the car. And my purse, keys, cell phone were in the back of the car next to Lucy. That was a definite, "Oh no oh no oh no!" moment. There were people getting out of the car next to me, so I asked to borrow his cell phone. I called Jon, but he didn't answer. The man asked if we had triple A, and I remembered--yes we do! He had the AAA number programmed into his phone (thank you, God). I called, they came, Lucy was fine, and I hope I never do that again!

In other news, Jon gave me some new comfortable pajamas for Valentine's Day. I had really been wanting some PJs that actually match and are somewhat presentable, and these work great and are really cute. He also gave me a thoughtful card--I can always tell he spends time looking for one that says just the right thing. As my gift to him, Lucy and I stopped by his office today with some cinnamon streusel bread (which I made last night thinking I'd be done before he got home, but he came home early. So I had to tell him it was for a church thing and not for him. That was a sad thing for me to do, because I obviously picked that bread because he would love it. I asked, "Why, would you like this kind of thing?" He said, "Anything with the words cinnamon and streusel in it I LOVE.") and coffee. This was a special surprise, I think, because he works pretty far away so we don't ever go to his office. I also gave him a Barnes & Noble gift card I bought with flute money. Happy Valentine's Day!

I was tagged

Here are my answers.

On Marriage...

How long have you been together?
9 years, married for 5 and a half

How old is he?
30

Who eats more?
Sad to say, but I think I do. As my friend Casey says, Jon eats to live, and I live to eat.

Who said I love you first?
Jon did. It was on my sister's birthday and we were in my parents' kitchen.

Who is taller?
Jon

Who sings better?
I do. :) But Jon has a good voice.

Who is smarter?
Jon is way smarter in the street smarts/general knowledge category. I can handle book smarts pretty well, but that serves barely any purpose outside of school.

Who does the laundry?
I do.

Who does the dishes?
I usually do.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed?
I do.

Who pays the bills?
I recently took over this job, and I like it for the most part.

Who mows the lawn?
Right now we don't have a lawn, so neither. When we do have a yard, Jon takes care of it.

Who cooks dinner?
I do (does making sandwiches count too?).

Who drives when you are together?
Definitely Jon. I get a little nervous driving when Jon is in the car... silly, huh?

Who is more stubborn?
Hmmm.... probably I am.

Who kissed who first?
Jon kissed me.

Who asked who out?
Jon insists that I threw my phone number at him, but he asked me out. Our first real date was seeing "October Sky" in the theater.

Who proposed?
Jon did--when we were visiting Hanshill (in VA) with my family.

Who is more sensitive?
I am.

Who has more friends?
Jon does.

Who has more siblings?
We both have two younger siblings. Good thing Jon isn't a "typical first child." I am.

Who wears the pants in the family?
Jon does.

Big family update

Nate
Now that he is mostly adjusted to the enzymes, Nate is back to his usually-chipper self and is even doing better at therapy. This morning, he gave his therapist a hug when she came out to get him, and then he walked with her away from me (usually, he wants me to hold him and doesn't want to let go, and then he'll reach begrudgingly for the therapist and often will cry as she takes him away. Sometimes he still waves goodbye to me while he's crying--it's cute but sad). Will, Nate's in-home ABA therapist, mentioned yesterday that Nate is attempting much more vocalization and did really well yesterday with transitions, which have been the hardest thing for him. (Nate doesn't like changing activities, especially if it means he has to stop doing something he likes. In general, he just hates being told what to do.)



Nate's favorite things to do as of late are play with his puzzles, point out any numbers he sees (he knows 1-10 and at least tries to say them all; two is "boo," three is "ee," seven is "asha," and nine sounds pretty close), play with a toy he got for his birthday--cars and a track with a loop-de-loop, go on walks, wrestle with Jon, and kiss Lucy's head.

Lucy
Luce slept 8 hours again last night--woo hoo! She's taking a great nap right now too. Oh, and I've caught her doing this funny thing with her thumb several times. It is exactly what my mom does! Must be genetic.



Also, I've noticed Lucy definitely has the "45-minute intruder," as described in Babywise. She is taking a good nap and then wakes up after 45 minutes. I let her stir/fuss for a while, and then she goes back to sleep and sleeps deeply for at least another hour. I don't remember noticing Nate doing this, but I also hadn't read the book yet then. ;)

The house
It's a deal! (Don't you love how I waited until the third section to tell you that?) Escrow opened today, and if all goes as planned, we'll have the keys on July 11 or so--just before we head to Virginia for a week of family visiting. I already have some boxes, so I'm hoping to get started on packing tonight.

Because we're keeping our current house to rent out, we are doing a 100% loan for the condo. This means a higher payment per month than what we've been doing on the house, so we are going to have to cut down on quite a few of our luxuries. We go out to eat at least twice a week (lunch after church on Sundays and usually one other weekend meal, if not more). We have cable TV and DVR, fast/nice internet, cell phones, gym membership, Starbucks addiction (Jon), eBay addiction (me)... Reevaluating our budget has made me see that we really do live comfortably (especially considering I get to stay at home with the children), even if we don't seem to compared to many of our Orange County neighbors. God has really blessed us! And I am praying that He will guide us through this next phase as we trust in His provision.

Here is some more info on our new house!
- It's in Laguna Hills, just about 5 miles from our current house.
- It is in a pretty condo community that is just behind the church where Jon and I got married (near the intersection of Lake Forest and Moulton, for those of you familiar with the area).
- Jon will have a little bit longer drive to work each day (but tacking 5 minutes onto an already-40-minute-without-traffic drive isn't the end of the world I guess)..
- We are 5 minutes closer to church.
- I think we'll put Nate in the upstairs bedroom and put Lucy in the room next to ours downstairs. Nate is still in his crib (and loves it), so we'll probably set up his crib and his "big boy bed" in the new room and let him choose. If he chooses the crib, we'll probably wait a few weeks to transition him to the bed and then put a gate on his door so he can't go out of his room during the night.

Well, I have just used up all of nap time! :)

Small picture (today) and big picture (five years)

Today has been another hard day with Nate so far. He is beginning to refuse the enzymes, no matter what way I give them to him. (At first he did fine with the applesauce, but it does make it taste funny, and he noticed. I've also tried juices; baby food fruit; peanut butter; and just today I made a chocolate wafer by melting chocolate chips, putting the enzymes in, and freezing the chocolate. I thought he would love this, but he threw a fit and wouldn't eat it or any of his lunch instead.)

On a much happier note, today is Jon's and my fifth anniversary. It's funny how life's circumstances sometimes take over and things like anniversaries get lost in the fray, but I do think Jon and I are going to go out to dinner tonight (one of my very favorite activities). Here are some of my favorite memories from the past five years...

- Our second anniversary trip to Solvang, where we went wine tasting and took leisurely drives in the countryside.
- The births of our children and getting to experience them together. Jon is terrific under pressure and a great support. During my labor with Nate, Jon wiped my face with a washcloth and held his breath at the same time I did while I pushed. With Lucy, we didn't have time for a washcloth, but Jon did nearly hyperventilate while breathing with me.
- Working on our house together when we first bought it in January 2003. This is one of those things that was mostly terrible when it was happening, but looking back on it is nice, and it reveals the growth and togetherness it fostered. We scraped the ceilings (I sprayed water and Jon scraped) and painted nearly every paintable surface before we even moved in.
- Our trip to Germany to visit Nate and Louise in September 2004.
- Jon's 27th birthday, when I surprised him with a racecar driving package (he got to take a racing class and drive a stock car at the California Superspeedway).
- The weekend cruise we took with Neil and Casey in October 2004.
- 4th of July 2005 in Virginia and the fireworks show Jon, my brother, and my cousin's husband Adam put on for us. Nate was two months old and slept through the night for the first time while we were on this trip.
- There are many more wonderful memories, and I am so thankful we have more time to make many more!

On a completely different note...

Jon and I usually don't make a big deal out of Valentine's Day, so I was very surprised on Wednesday when I got in the car to drive Nate to therapy to see a note on the dashboard telling me to look in the center console. That's where I found my new iPod Nano! I've never had an iPod before, but our new car has a hookup in the dash for one, and with all the extra driving I'm now doing for Nate's therapy, Jon thought it would be a good gift... and he was right! I love it. I spent several hours yesterday (nap time and after bed time) putting songs on it. Yay!

Then, on Wednesday night, Ray and Colleen came over to watch Nate while Jon and I went to the Clippers game. What I didn't know is that Neil and Casey were coming too, and we all went out to a really nice dinner first. It was relaxing, fun, and almost perfect! (It would have been perfect if the Clippers had won, but we fell apart in the fourth quarter.) What a great Valentine's. :)

Weekend

We had a wonderful time on the retreat. It was a low-key retreat without much planned; we all just played games, went on a nice walk, some went snowboarding (not me), ate out twice, had some times of worship, some of us girls scrapbooked, etc. The cabin we stayed in was REALLY nice (it belongs to one of the participants' uncle). It has 6 bedrooms, 4.5 baths; Jon and I had our own room and own bathroom. Two couples did have to share a room, but that's it. It was relaxing, fun, and beautiful!

We came home to a happy but sick son. :( Nate has a fever, cough, and stuffy nose. He is still acting OK, though, so it's good to know he isn't miserable. I pray that he feels much better by Thursday, though, because he and I are going to Virginia for a last-minute trip! I'm very excited.

Retreat

Jon and I are going on a marriage retreat this weekend to Big Bear with 6 or 7 other couples from church. I've really been looking forward to it! Nate will be staying at Ray and Colleen's house. This is the second time we will have left Nate with grandparents for more than a quick overnight (the retreat is 2 nights). Nate likes it so much at Ray and Colleen's house that he most likely won't notice we're gone. It's nice not to have to worry at all.

I'm looking forward to some time with friends and with my husband... without school! Since Jon started University of Phoenix a few months ago, he has been so busy with it. I am so proud of him for doing so well--working a more-than-full-time job, taking care of a wife and son, and getting great grades in full-time college classes! But doing all of that means that he gets home from work every day, eats dinner with me, and goes right to work on school work. He's usually still working when I go to bed. Weekends aren't much better, since his classes have work due usually on Fridays and Sundays. Anyway, he's trying to have his work done for the weekend so we can have a true retreat. I can hardly wait!

My husband

I knew it already, but I'm realizing even more what a blessing my husband is. Lately, through random conversations, I have been hearing about what other husbands/dads are like around the house with the family. Some believe their only "job" is making money for the family, and any other responsibility falls on the wife. My husband is definitely not like this. He works hard to provide for our family, spends many hours each week doing school work (did I tell you? He started University of Phoenix a few months ago to get his BA), takes care of our cars, mows the lawn--you know, all the "man" stuff. Then he also plays with Nate, often gives him his bath, always puts him to bed, kills every bug or spider I ask him to, and always gets up during the night if Nate needs one of us. The thing that makes this so much of a blessing is that he does it naturally, without thinking he's doing anyone a favor. He really has a servant's heart, and I am so thankful for him.

It's hard to believe that our baby is over 5 weeks old now! Nate's still mostly just sleeping, eating, crying (but not much), and getting bigger. We should start getting some interaction (like real smiles) from him in the coming days!

For our third anniversary, we dropped Nate off with Jon's parents and went to dinner at the Fish Market. Leaving Nate wasn't too difficult--I knew he was in good hands, and I was looking forward to some time with just Jon and me. I wondered if we would be able to talk about anything but Nate, but we did. It was nice!

The other day, Jon and I looked at each other and laughed as we realized our 3-year anniversary is in a few days. We had both not really been thinking about it. I think we will end up leaving Nate with his grandparents or some friends for a few hours and going out to dinner for our anniversary; I've really been missing sushi!

Things are still going well as we continue adjusting. Nate is still sleeping great at night, though he has gotten a bit fussier during the day since something is bothering his stomach. That something is something I'm eating--I just have to figure out what. I stopped eating dairy 4 days ago, but that isn't doing the trick, so I'm going to try something else next (either soda--because of the carbonation [but I barely have any soda anyway]--or acidic foods like orange juice and tomatoes). I started teaching flute lessons again this week and also started editing again. The flute lessons are great--just a half hour or hour and I'm done. The editing is a bit more stressful as I always feel like I have something hanging over my head when I have a job to be working on that isn't done. I did just finish a job today, and I have one more to work on, but it isn't as rushed. My goal is to work on editing just one to two hours a day when I have a job to do.

Time to sign off!