Pink or Blue

I read about it in a magazine. And I thought it was the best. idea. ever. Well, maybe not ever... But pretty close. It was about cake. Pink or blue cake and a good surprise. The idea was, after your ultrasound, have the tech write on a piece of paper whether you were having a boy or girl, and stick it inside a sealed envelope so you cannot read it. Take the envelope to a bakery and have them make you a pink or blue cake depending on what is in the envelope, but frost the cake neutrally. I took it from there. I fashioned pink and blue flags so my guests could wave them in anticipation and share their guess. I also colored sugar with a few drops of food coloring so we could sprinkle our ice cream appropriately. Tonight we had our party. Adam, my very good secret keeper, kept the secret safe after he passed along the information to our cake baker, who turned out to be my Aunt, since the bakery didn't work out. Check out the pictures to see how it all played out!

Pink and blue flags await the voting!

The mystery cake

The crowd had voted. It's a pretty even vote! Might say 50/50.

"You mean, it's a brother?"

Happy Mom and Dad!

Boy: A noise with dirt on it.

Memories Made

I have been a bad blogger and no New Year's resolution will fix that. December has been a hard month. The rest of the year I count as wonderful. Many wonderful memories were made. I met Ayu, my sponsor child from Indonesia, who has now graduated from the Compassion program. I got to know several wonderful women during that trip and was able to reunite with them this past August in Colorado. I felt a baby kick from inside one of my best friend's abdomen. Sweet joy. And I also was able to visit her for several days in August. I laughed with my little cousins in New Mexico. I watched my own boy learn his letter sounds and complete numerous Rush Hour car puzzles in a row. We took in the most beautiful view of the St. Lawrence River. I am more in love with my husband now than ever before. I joined a small group Bible study and have been challenged to study God's word. We switched churches. We grew. We learned. Gramanita was able to visit this year. Twice. I held my brother's newborn baby girl. My sister and I, giddy with glee, stopped to look at every little girl outfit in Target in the weeks after her birth.

Maybe this next year hold as many or more wonderful memories to be made. Perhaps, we will go camping "up north" in Minnesota. Maybe we really will pay off our mortgage. Or travel the world... Maybe I will have another baby to love... And maybe I will be able to speak to my brother again...

And now to celebrate the last day of 2011. Me and my boy, who loves to cuddle in with me every morning. *love*

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call
his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." Matthew 1:23

Baby Shower Saturday

Last Saturday, myself and two friends threw a baby shower for our mutual friend/sister. I went to visit Carissa in South Carolina in August and last week she came home for Thanksgiving. We seized the opportunity and showered her. She's due (with a girl!) February 4th. I hope I didn't make her feel awkward by how much I had my hand on her belly. Honestly, I think she was fine with it, since she did the same to me when I was pregnant with Josh. Feeling a baby move inside is really the most amazing feeling in the world, even from the outside...I'm counting my blessings in being able to watch my dear friend be expecting her first baby, even if it is from far away. I cannot wait to hold her little girl and kiss her little fingers and feel her soft hair on my cheek. And I secretly hope that little baby will look like her Asian side... :)

A Day to Play

I had four marvelously free admissions to Strong Museum of Play. Aunt Leta and Lucas were invited and, on one fine day, we went. Lucas is two and Josh is three, so being full on inquisitions, they entered the Museum on their toes. Lucas would've spent all morning looking at the fish in the giant fish tank just past the admissions desk, but Josh, who had been to the museum on February, was eager to get on to the good stuff. If you live in the Rochester area and have kids of any age, the Strong Museum is a highly recommended place to go, although it can get pricey if you cannot get a deal somewhere. The boys wanted to see everything and go up every ramp, but their favorite place was probably the "sand" box. Leta and I got a good break from chasing them while they sat and played in the beads. Josh got the grand idea of making snow angels, which caught on with the some of the other kids. Lucas was psyched to ride the train. Josh wanted to shop at Wegmans and Leta and I couldn't wait to go into the butterfly garden. We spent three plus hours traipsing through the rooms, exploring and investigating the ways to play. Lucas was fond of pitter-pattering over the pirate bridge. I almost lost Josh while chasing Lucas through Story land. (Leta was taking a break.) And then we finally made it to the butterfly garden. Josh stood so still and carefully so as not to squish any butterflies. He looked like he was having a horrible time, but he was just trying to be careful. There were butterflies everywhere and little Dr. Suess-type birds running down the paths. I was able to hold a butterfly, but Josh didn't seem impressed. But he was impressed with the carousal we rode on before we left the museum. I was impressed with the picnic lunch we ate on the grassy curb of the parking lot and the grass stains that I got on my shirt... Maybe not the last part there, but we had such a great day together, Josh, Lucas, Leta, and I. Good times.

A St. Patrick's Birthday

May the luck'o the Irish be with you! Or rather, happy birthday honey! See, my favorite guy has his birthday on St. Patrick's Day. That means he shares his day with green, four-leaf clovers, Irish soda bread, corned beef and cabbage, and little leaping leprechauns. Every year (at least since we've been married) he has had corned beef and cabbage for his birthday supper, just because it's that time of year. This year I wanted to be sure I made him what he really wanted. And he requested prime rib. (Okay, watch out for luxury taste buds!) So I tried my best to make a delicious, "luxury", untypical (atypical?), St. Patrick's Day supper. Prime rib, asparagus and mashed potatoes. Okay, mashed potatoes fits the St. Patrick's Day mold... I also made him a cake and Josh helped me put the sprinkles on. He lavished the cake with little handfuls of sprinkles, heaped in little piles. I encouraged him to spread them even, while the colored bits of wax filtered through his fingers and onto the counter. He was proud of his efforts and he smiled broadly while he tipped up the container and let the last of the sprinkle crumbs land on the cake and onto the edge of the cake plate. He even found the candles for our cake. We had a number "2"candle and a number "3" candle. So for Adam's birthday this year, he had a choice of turning 32 or 23. He choose to live some more in his 20's. It was a good choice and he ought to live this last year in his 20's gratefully...

In It Together

Adam and I hit five years last Friday. It's hard to believe that we've been married for that long. That's 1/5 th of my life you know! We have had good times and bad times, rough times and sad times, but we're in this together. I know I can count on him to be there and he's a pretty forgiving guy, which is really good. I'm loving him more and more and I suppose he tolerates me pretty well too. We're making a good team. I love you Adam. :)

Happy Mother's Day

Saturday morning was a stark reminder of what being a Mom was all about. At 5am, when the house was still dark and relatively quiet, I was awaken by a small voice coming from the other room. "Mommy, I have to go potty." Forgive me as I have not kept everyone up to date with the potty news in our household, but Josh has been officially potty-trained for almost a month now, night and day. He had been staying dry very regularly at nights for months, so we made the switch to underwear just before we ran out of pull-ups. So back to my story... 5am potty calls. Groggy-eyed I drag myself out of bed and into Josh's room. It was dark and I sleepily checked his legs for dampness. Yes, I was too late. He had gone in his pants. I lift him out of bed and let him walk to the bathroom so he can finish his business and we can get him into clean, dry jammies. As I pull his wet pants off, I am dismayed to find he was not only wet, but there was diarrhea everywhere. The bug that had been going around daycare the week before had finally caught up to us. And since I had let Josh walk to the bathroom, there was not only diarrhea all over Josh and in his bed, but now tracked through the bedroom carpet and in the hallway. *Note to self: Next time Josh needs me in the night, turn on the bedroom light.* This is the part where being a Mom is really no fun. The poop part. So after he gets a quick bath and some clean clothes, I send him into our bed because I am just not changing his bed sheets at 5:30 in the morning. Just. Not. Doing it. There were 6+ spots on the carpet that I did get scrubbe, at least until they looked good enough in the wee hours of the morning. The first morning rays were peeking there way into the windows by the time I climbed into bed. By then, Josh was awake enough to keep bouncing around, tossing, turning, talking and telling us about his boogers. Yes, now his nose was running like a faucets. And he was laying on my pillow. "Mommy I have boogers." Sure enough there they were, smeared across his face and onto my pillow. I grab a tissue, wipe the snot off his face, turn the pillow over so we have a clean spot to put our heads, and grumble about how now I have to wash his sheets AND our sheets in the morning. More talking, now he has his cars in the bed, tossing, kicking, turning. Now Molly is whining. And I am thinking to myself how I wished I hadn't volunteered to help at church in the morning. 10am comes waaay too soon when you cannot get anymore sleep, especially since we live almost a half hour away from church. Finally at almost 7, Adam pipes up, "Josh do you want to watch cartoons?" On one hand, I felt guilty for letting Whinnie the Pooh and Strawberry Shortcake babysit my son so I can get some sleep and on the other hand I wished he had thought of it sooner. All I could think of was, "Happy Mother's Day to me."

PS (We made it to church by 10am.)

Fascination

Josh loves Christmas. He doesn't know what it is about or even Who it celebrates. He is unaware that he has Christmas presents waiting for him in the closet. He doesn't know that we will go to our Grandparents house and spend precious time with family. But Joshua does know that the Christmas lights decorating our neighbors' houses are beautiful, that the Christmas tree is stunning when the lights are on (and that they should be on during every waking hour), and that Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer make good dancing songs. This December is going by very quickly and although I haven't had much time to do extra special things, the special Christmas things we have done have been fun. Cutting down our Christmas tree together as a family and then decorating it, driving through town admiring the Christmas lights, and listening to the festive songs on the road. Josh has taken it all in with amazement and enjoyment. With the joy and wonder of a small child.

Gathering Up

I love having all of my family around. A year and a half ago my big bro Jim moved to Minnesota. But for the past 3+ weeks he has been home on an extended visit. So last Thursday, I decided to take advantage of having everyone in the area and invited my whole family over for supper. Wonderfully, no had anything else going on and were all able to come, even with such short notice. We cooked hot dogs, hamburgs and a few sausage and I threw some potato salad together. Mom brought a watermelon and it was a miracle-of-the-food. (I love it when that happens.) All of us kids are so rarely in the same spot at once anymore, so we obviously had to pose for a family photo. Unfortunately, my camera lens was smudged for the family shots, but you can still see through the blur, so these will have to suffice for me. And hey, everyone is actually looking in the group shot! That is a miracle in it's self. Since Jim has decided to stay until the end of June-ish, maybe we'll have a chance to gather up again. I hope...

Praise The Lord For He Has Risen!!!

Amen.

Postponed

I think we are postponing Valentines day till tomorrow. I have been sick all day long. Maybe I will be better tomorrow. But Happy Valentines Day anyway, my love.

Six Months

A Mother's Day

Here is a picture of my mom and I on Mother's Day. We could be twins! Today Adam and I spent Mother's Day with both our Mothers. First we went to the Lilac Festival with Bob and Joanne and Adam's brother Andy. We walked around, smelled some flowers, traversed the traffic and ongoing stream of people and then we left. It was fun. Then we went to a little Tex-Mex eatery where they chowed down and Adam and I had soda and/or dessert. We had already eaten before the Lilac Festival. We had gone to our favorite place called Billy's Homestead. This time, though, we did not sit alone. There was this little old lady who came in after us who was going to sit alone. I thought to myself, "It's no fun to sit alone. Especially on Mother's Day. Maybe she would like to sit with us." So we asked her and she gladly obliged. Her name was Helen and she comes to Billy's often. We had a nice chat and I think it was a good lunch/breakfast for all of us. She even invited me to stop by if I ever wanted any flowers because she has spare flowers growing in her gardens. Sweet lady she was.
Anyway, after the Lilac Festival we went to my Grandparents house where my side of the family was. My aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, cousins and parents had all gathered for a picnic earlier (to which we did not attend) and we came to also join the company. Most of the festivities were already over and a lot of us were tired. So we just relaxed, did crosswords, chatted a bit, ate Dave and Leta's fruit salad and hung out. I had bought Mom a lovely hanging basket plant... but I'm not sure what it is... I think she liked it. I did not get any Mother's Day presents because I'm not a mother yet. Leta wishes she was... Maybe someday we can be Mommies together? Anyway... Happy Mother's Day to all you wonderful Mom out there! I love you 'specially mom!!!