You've Had a Birthday Shout Hurray

I told Darin that I wanted a picture of him looking fly with his new Orioles hat on. This is what he gave me. (Also the camera decided to die after one picture so yeah, this is what you get).

As I've already mentioned, Sunday was a pretty busy day and I don't even feel like I was with Darin for most of it, but the nice thing about Sunday birthdays is that you get to celebrate on more than just Sunday. I wrapped a few little presents before Sunday and stuck one in the mail box each day as a little surprise. Then Monday night we went out to eat (thank you Jessica for watching the boy!). It was pretty weird to go out without Shae. It kind of felt like we were dating again and we were overly oober flirty and it was really pretty fabulous.

We went to a Mediterranean restaurant ...and it was closed! That was a big bummer. So instead we tried out a Latin restaurant and stuffed our faces with pupusas and charred to perfection Carne Asada (oh-my-gosh-it-was-SO-good). After which we skipped around Yankee Candle as if we were recently engaged or had just had our first kiss or something pathetically lovey dovey. By the way, only 91 more days till Christmas. Still can't get over how awesome that place is. 

And in honor of Darin's 27th birthday, I put together a little list of...

 My 27 favorite things to do with Darin:

(In no particular order)

1. Go to a candle store and guess candle scents.

2. Drive around together while jamming out to songs like Let It Die by Foo Fighters or singing parts to Les Miserable.

3. Playing games that we randomly come up with while laying in bed together before falling asleep.

4. Try new foods.

5. Sleep in together. (maybe this will happen again someday, maybe)

6. Take goofy pictures.

7. Cook.

8. Read in bed before going to sleep.

9. Play catch.

10. Choose a TV show to watch and then--clearly--watch it together. (and back before baby I loved staying up late watching episode after episode after episode just because we could).

11. Reading talks from General Conferences together.

12. Walk around somewhere and window shop.

13. Go on vacation.

14. Having companionship inventories (aka: communication. Sometimes there are tears involved but we always feel so good afterwards and understand one another so much better which makes for a happier relationship).

15. Go to baseball games.

16. Make and eat a yummy breakfast while listening to Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.

17. Go to the temple.

18. Practicar Español.

19. Play/read/sing with the baby together.

20. Go for walks.

21. Cuddle, Kiss, Hug, etc.

22. Text message throughout the day.

23.Go bowling.

24. Run together.

25. Camping/Hiking.

26. Talk in bed before falling asleep--He hates it but it really is one of my favorite things to do with him.

27. Everything! I'd much rather be doing anything with Darin than something by myself. 

Happy 27 love!

P.S. Last year for Darin's birthday we were at an ultrasound finding out that Shae would be Shae. So much happens in a year. Crayyy-zee.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Well well well, how can we make nap/bedtime more difficult? Bingo.

He nailed it.

I laid him down in his crib and a few minutes later heard squeals and screams of pure bliss and joy coming from his room. The above is what I found. Yeah, guess we should probably lower that mattress about now huh? I helped him lay back down but then a few minutes later he was up and at it again. Not gonna lie, as much as I wanted him to just lie down and take a nap, it was pretty darn cute listening to him and peeking in every so often to check on him/lay him back down, because once he's up he doesn't know what to do with himself.

There's just so many cool things to learn and discover as a baby! They just keep coming. 

Now off to lay him back down for the umpteenth time to see if we can get some type of an afternoon nap in. Or who knows, maybe I'll just sit back in the rocking chair and observe those wheels turning in that little brain of his as he explores this new world that he seems to so thoroughly be enjoying. I mean, look at that face. Does that not just scream who-cares-about-nap-time-i'm-no-longer-tired-this-is-so-cool to anyone besides me? Dang he's cute. Even when we're both tired.

Manic Monday...Wish It Was Sunday...

Is it really Monday already? Holy fast and exhausting weekend. 

Saturday started at 4:45am as we woke up to get ready to go to the temple. An hour later we were out the door and on our way. Thankfully the only "traffic" we hit was a race that was going on all around the temple. It took us many turns and U-turns to find a street that would take us to the temple and not just to an orange and white barricade with groups of runners behind it. 

Spent most of the day either inside the temple or outside of it wrestling Shae and our friends toddler who we were watching while they did a session. We arrived home at 6:15pm. Talk about a day trip to the temple. It was long, but great to spend the day with my boys and I'm really grateful for our friends who watched Shae so that we could go in together.

Saturday night. Of course after an exhaustingly long day BYU had to be playing Utah at 10:15 that night. Darin left me to go watch the game with some boyz. I made it till half-time at midnight and decided that I couldn't keep my eyes open any more (oh yeah, and something about having an early rising baby kept coming to mind). I didn't want to miss anything good so I was so torn when I got in bed, but I was out in a second and clearly didn't miss anything good.

Sunday morning Shae decided that it had been fun to get out of bed at 4:45am the previous morning, so why not do it again. 

Darin had to run out earlier than normal for Sunday meetings (he was called as the executive secretary last week...no more going to church or coming home together. Boo). Long story short, I locked my keys in our car, Shae didn't get a good nap in before church which was my fault really because of the key incident, primary is slightly overwhelming me because we don't have any teachers called so me and the Primary president and our music lady are trying to juggle everything. We came home and had people over for dinner/dessert for Darin's birthday. It was a long and busy Saturday AND Sunday.

I didn't even take one picture over the weekend. Crazy right? I'm all about picture documentation but when was there time to take a picture?

The best part of the weekend was probably looking through these awesome six month pictures that my friend Sarah took for us. They made me happy.

Footsies

I prefer sleeping with my feet sticking out of the blankets too. It's just more comfortable. 

Seven Months

Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Shut the front door. Where did six months go?!

 Someone asked me at the library this morning how old my boy is and I replied quickly, "Six months...wait...(cue the calender popping up in my mind) ...no, he's seven months, yeah, seven months." 

Seriously, how do mama's get these beautiful pictures of their babies to put on their blogs? I got lucky with the one above, really most of my pictures look like this ("give me that camera! Omnomnom. I'm going to eat it!"): 

 Or this..."Shaeeeee, show me your teeth...shaaaaee..pleeeeasse...show me your teeth sweetheart..."

Yeah, no. I will NOT show you my teeth mother. Noooo way.

I guess I'm just not as patient and persistent as the rest. I mean, did you notice that he's only smiling in ONE of the pictures I put up last month in his month-to-month comparison? Ain't nobody got time for that.

Okay, enough of my difficult-baby-photo-smile drama.

At seven months Shae:

~Is all over the place! The kid has the army crawl DOWN. Down I tell you. He knows what he's doing. We wonder if he might just skip the knee crawl all together.

~Loves to climb/pull himself up on things. (Lay me or Darin on the floor for him to climb and the boy is happy). Here's proof:

~Eats anything and everything that we give him. Although still trying to figure out how to get things in his mouth on his own. So far he's figured out that if he sticks his entire hand in his mouth, whatever he is gripping onto has to get in somehow. 

~Has two little teeth.

~New favorite toys include: Bowls, spoons and the Clavinova that grandma and grandpa are letting us borrow.

~Total three a day napper. He can't live without em'.

~Night time sleep is the best it's been. Most nights only wakes up about twice (I say only because this really is a good thing for us).

~Is a total morning person. And by morning, I mean MOR-NING. Five o'clock. Every. Day. He'd be up and about playing if we'd let him (the fact is, WE aren't ready to wake up yet so he just has to wait an hour).

~Went to his first Orioles game.

~And his first BYU game.

And there you have it, the Shaesternator at seven months.

Remembering

I remember sitting in my freshman Spanish class. I remember hearing many names called over the intercom as parents showed up to pick their children up from school not wanting to keep them on the military base. I remember hearing my name called. I remember driving home with my mom and brother. I remember hearing the news on the radio and not really understanding what was happening. I remember my mom explaining to us what was happening while tears rolled down her cheeks. I remember arriving home just in time to see an airplane fly into the second tower of the World Trade Centers. 

I remember everything feeling so close. New York. The Pentagon. Pennsylvania. I remember schools and airports being closed, sporting events postponed or cancelled, Disney World being closed. I remember  walking outside and feeling something different than I had that morning when I left for school. I remember the silence in the air as the usual airplane filled sky was quiet. I remember going with my mom to a red cross station that was filled with people giving blood, trying to do whatever they could to help. 

I know that there are terrible things that happen every day. I know that many terrible things have happened throughout the history of the world, yet there is something about September 11th that feels so close. Maybe because I remember it so well. I remember how I felt that day and the weeks following. I remember how I have felt every September 11th since then. 

I didn't realize when I woke up this morning that I would be in tears before nine o'clock. Perhaps being a mother makes this year seem that much harder than the rest. I was watching the news while nursing my baby, listening to some of the survivor firefighters tell their story when I burst into tears. Shae looked up at me confused and watched me cry. Clearly not understanding why his mother was weeping, he shined his two-tooth baby grin at me and laughed. I couldn't help but smile and laugh with him as I held him close thinking about all the lives that were lost that day.

It's days like today that make me feel terrible for complaining that my baby decided to wake up at 5am again. It's days like today that make me grateful for my belief in a loving and active God and Jesus Christ who truly can heal all wounds and bring understanding to the sadness and confusion that abound in the world. My heart really does hurt for those who lost a loved one that day. My prayers and thoughts are with you this day.

Donut Moments

About a year ago, Darin and I were in bed talking before we fell asleep. I don't remember exactly how it came up, but Darin mentioned something about eating a donut that morning. "A donut?" I asked. "When did you eat a donut?" 

He replied that he had eaten a donut at the Masters brunch that morning. He hadn't mentioned anything to me about a Masters brunch when we gave our daily "day-in-review" over dinner. He told me that it wasn't a big deal, nothing "news" worthy.

And that's how our beloved Donut Moments came about. Things that happen throughout the day that aren't really "big news" but might be interesting to the other person.

For example, I might ask Darin, "So, any donuts today?" He'll think for a minute and then say something like, "yeah, I saw one of my comps on campus that I haven't seen since the mission" or "I slipped on some ice and almost fell while walking and felt like an idiot" or "My boss said that he's going to give me a bunch of craftsman root beer." 

Get it? 

After rereading the above, this kind of makes me sound like a micromanaging-tell-me-EVERY-detail-about-your-life kind of wife (and who's to say I'm not) but really, it's fun to hear about the small details of our day and share those little donuts that we experience while away from each other.

Now after that long explanation, here are some donuts from last week:

~I was called to serve as the 1st counselor in the primary presidency in our branch.

~We had seven missionaries in our little house for dinner on Thursday night.

~Skyped with my mom for the first time ever.

~Signed us up for our first 5K next month.

~Made cookies for the first time in three months.

~Had a fun game night with some new friends.

~Finally fit into some "before baby" skirts that I've been waiting so patiently to fit into again.

~All three us got to take a Sunday afternoon nap at the same time.

~Shae was a little less than thrilled about our visit to the park (actually I think he was "less than thrilled" about taking pictures with mommy.

haha! This picture kills me. He looks fat and tired and angry and nothing like my baby boy!

And there you have it: First week of September donuts hand-made just for you.

Up In Here Up In Here

Allow me to introduce you to my wanna-be helper:

I decided to put my creative hat on and try another quilt and this little man was all kinds of "up in here, up in here."

Lately he's really been trying to make me "lose my mind" "go all out" "lose my cool" "act a fool." (Okay not really but thanks for indulging me while I break out a little DMX).

But really...he just wasn't satisfied playing on the floor. As soon as I put him on the mat on the table he was happy. Didn't even try to go after the fabric, just kept spinning in circles all over the mat. 

He's really been having fun scooting his way into things these days. He's constantly at my feet while I'm blow drying my hair, shimmies his way into the kitchen to "help" load the dishwasher (aka: lie underneath it squealing, and scoots his way over to us the second he sees us with our bowls of cereal in the morning. 

I can see why everyone always told us "just wait till he moves" (crawls/walks/runs/etc.). He definitely gets into things quickly, but it also feels like he is integrating himself more as a family member as I see his little eyes look up, saying, "I want to be a part of this too." I mean, having a baby for a quilting partner really isn't  that bad after all. 

Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra

Saturday was Ka-RAY-ZEE. Little did I  know when I woke up Saturday morning just how crazy it would be. This was the plan:

9:30am: Leave for Richmond.

10:40: Pick up Darin from Richmond Airport (he had a conference in Chicago).

12:00pm: Arrive in Charlottsville and hang out with the Hunters until the game started.

3:30-7:15ish: Football game.

10pm: Arrive home

That really wouldn't have been too bad right?

 I get a call from Darin Saturday morning telling me that there was a change in plans. His flight from Chicago was delayed an hour because the crew needed more sleep...(thank you for being safe flying crew, but an hour? Does it really make that much of a difference?)...so leaving an hour late would mean he'd miss his flight to Richmond. Awesome. He was able to have them reroute his flight through Charlotsville but the flight didn't arrive until 2:40pm. 

Really I'm thankful that it was 2:40 and not any later. How terrible would it have been if he had to catch a flight that would have made him miss the game? Pretty terrible.

Also thankful that I was still able to hangout with the Hunters, that we found parking quickly and made it to the game just as the first quarter was starting. Phew.

Then there was the lightning delay. Let's just say that emptying a stadium full of tens of thousands of fans = not fun. Total disorganized crazy mess. When we finally  got out, we made our way to a building where we waited...and waited...and tried to get Shae to sleep...and waited some more.

After about two hours we finally got back to the stadium, watched the second quarter and then during the half of half-time, it began to pour. We took cover and decided that we'd better just take a picture out by the concessions or we may never get one. The boys finally just went back in to watch the game but I didn't want the babe to get all wet as it was also cooling off so quickly. 

Once the rain passed we went in and finished the game. This is the face of a baby who has been forced to be awake for far far too long (talk about overstimulation). 

And after all that, the game ended awfully. We pulled into our parking spot a little after midnight, exhausted and wet from crazy humidity when the game started to raining downpour during the game.

Although there was a depressing game changing interception right at the end (and after everything else that happened), I have to say that it was really really cool to be there. It felt like home watching the Cougars play again. Standing up to sing the fight song with all the other BYU fans was hands down my favorite part. We sure do love our Alma Mater.