What a week!

(Getting ready for my stroller walk!)

The little man and I have been super busy this week! I've finally kicked myself in the rear and gotten super serious about getting back in shape. This week we went for a walk every day, which made me feel energized and refreshed, and Will loves to look around and see what's going on outside. Plus, we met up with several friends for walks! Monday with Kate, Tuesday with Niki, Wednesday with Karen, and Thursday with Vicki. So mom got lots of social time, exercise time, and Will enjoyed the great outdoors. Thursday I decided to try out the ErgoBaby carrier instead of the stroller for our walk. He really liked it. When we went out Friday morning, he fell asleep in the carrier on the way home! It was so sweet having my little man snuggling with me as we strolled along, taking in the ocean view.

(Ready to meet Mommy's friend for a walk!)

(Loving my ErgoBaby walk with Mommy!)

I brought him in the house after our walk, and he was so happy! I turned around to put down my purse and stuff, and he started fussing really loud. I turned around to see this... That darn hat!

So it was a great week! I was feeling like I finally understood his nap schedule and where I could squeeze exercise in between his naps. Then this weekend... was a mess. Our great napper suddenly decided he didn't want to nap at all. UGH! We have no idea why. Teething? Wanting to hang out with daddy? Growth spurt? Low milk supply? Change in my diet? I seriously have no idea. At least still slept through the night on Saturday. We'll see how tonight goes. Oh well. Babies are weird.

5 Months of fun!

(I'm 5 months old. I like to stick out my tongue.)

Will is 5 months old! (Well, 5 months and 12 days, so I'm a little behind). He had a wonderful Christmas with the family and was such a trooper during all the festivities. Christmas Eve we spent with my mom, "Grammy" Eneyda. Christmas Day was with Nathan's parents and siblings, then we drove up to Nathan's grandparents' to be with all the aunts, uncles and cousins, including Mini-Cousin Audrey!

(Will on Christmas with Grandma Nancy)

(Hanging out with Grandpa Larry)

(More Grandpa Larry time with all the extended family, too!

Check out my cute vest!)

"Sheesh! Women are so emotional!"

(Hanging out with Mini-Cousin, Audrey)

We spent the next day with the other side of Nathan's family. More grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins, including Mini-Cousins Cooper and Callie Jean. Phew! Lots of driving, but such a blessing and so much fun. I still get choked up at these events. Just can't believe we get to live near all these amazing people again and raise our amazing boy near such a loving family.

For New Year's, Nathan and I celebrated by sleeping. Yep, when you have a 5 month old that sleeps through the night really well, you celebrate by sleeping. Because you are still making up for sleep lost in those early weeks. And you are just so thankful for the gift of a sleeping child you don't want to take it for granted or jinx it by not sleeping. After all, the day I decide to party past midnight will surely be the day Will decides to stop sleeping through the night for no apparent reason. So we put our boy to bed and enjoyed sushi delivery, watched "Bridesmaids", and ate Ben & Jerry's "Schweddy Balls" Ice Cream. I wonder what that combo says about 2012?

The last couple weeks I've finally started to feel a bit more settled. Will has a more definite nap schedule which makes my life so much easier! I now know when to plan errands and outings with friends without ruining his sleep schedule and risking sleepless nights. I've been trying some really tasty healthy recipes (will post my faves soon) and reading a bunch of books. It's amazing how much you can read when your baby takes 40+ minutes to eat and eats 6-7 times a day. That's a lot of reading, folks. I was watching TV most of the time, but now Will gets too distracted by noises. Books are probably better then Housewives shows anyway.

Today, we went to the library for the first time, and Will got to experience baby story time! He LOVED it. He was enthralled by the stories and, of course, loved the songs and motions.

(Listening to a story. So attentive!)

(Miss Ally, the story time leader, and her "baby")

At 5 months, his list of preferred activities is growing. He loves watching sports on TV. We used to think it was just TV in general, but it's definitely sports, and mostly football. He loves to grab faces, especially Daddy's, and also Daddy's hair.

(What is this stuff on Daddy's chin!)

(HA HA! I got Daddy's hair!!)

He also loves listening to Mommy sing. It's kind of awesome that my singing is like a magical spell. He will be fussing and instantly quiet when I start singing. I now do most of my shopping to the tune of "You Are My Sunshine." (Good thing I don't embarrass easily!)

He also loves to talk to himself. He talks himself to sleep and talks to himself when he wakes up. He talks to himself riding in the car and playing on his play mat. He pretty much talks everywhere, unless he would rather be watching what is going on.

Will talking himself to sleep

The last 4 months...

Our little man has been with us for 4 MONTHS now! Wow! It's really gone by quickly! He has changed so much! He is a much bigger fan of his Yoda toy, and he even puts up with his mom taking silly pictures of him (on occasion).

(Will at 1 week old. Not a Yoda fan.)

(Will at 4 months. He and Yoda are one.)

He is such a smiley boy and very curious, loves looking around and observing everything going on around him with his big blue eyes. He is "talking" more and more everyday, often waking up from naps to chat with himself for up to 15 minutes before going back to sleep. He thinks his daddy and mommy are hilarious (but then again, who doesn't?), and often squeals with delight when we play with him. He also loves grabbing things and putting them in his mouth and has made several failed attempts at doing so with my chin. (He's very determined, so I'm sure he will figure it out very soon.) He has a knack for spitting up when we are least prepared, which tests our ninja spit up catching skills. (Yes, Nathan got spit up on the face already. We now where plastic ponchos during playtime.) He loves to cuddle, play on his new gym, chew on plastic rings, and fart like a man. Every little part of him is loved!!

A delicious recipe and a HUGE oopsie...

On Saturday, I decided to make myself a delicious pumpkin smoothie. I got the idea from a friend and changed it around a little to suit my taste. Here's the recipe:

1/2 can pureed pumpkin

1 cup frozen peaches

1 cup milk (I use vanilla almond milk, but you can use your milk of choice)

couple shakes of cinnamon and ginger OR pumpkin spice

(add honey or agave as desired)

** TIP: I like the pumpkin to be cold and slushy, rather than room temp, so I put the can in the freezer for a day, and then in the fridge for a day. But if you can't do this, just add ice with ingredients listed above.

So I was getting ready for my delicious pumpkin treat! I got out all the ingredients, opened the can of pumpkin, then picked it up to start scooping it out ... and that's when my hand slipped. The lid totally sliced my right thumb.

Thank you, Jesus, for an easy baby. Will just played on his playmat while Nathan wrapped my finger, and I cried, and we called a friend to babysit, and we took breast milk out of the freezer, and I cried, and we rushed to the ER, and I cried. UGH!

Thank you, Jesus, for helpful friends and family. Our friend rushed right over to watch Will, and then my mother in-law came over for the rest of the night. I got 5 stitches and a giant bandage on my right thumb for my trouble.



The first day the pain was seriously ridiculous. Worse then my whole birth experience, but that's not saying much since I really had the most pain-free c-section and recovery in the world. My thumb felt like I was in a cartoon. You know, when they slam their thumb, and it swells up larger than their head and throbs red with pain. Exactly like that. Day two was much better, only cartoon-like throbbing in the morning. I don't get the stitches out for 10 days. For the next couple weeks, I can't immerse my hand in water (no washing dishes, etc.), and I have to wear a plastic bag over my hand in the shower. This is an extremely inconvenient time for me to be so clumsy. I have a 3 month old to care for! Seriously...Thank you again, Jesus, for giving this clumsy mama an easy baby.

Here we go again...

Well, it's painfully obvious that I'm terrible at blogging. I do well for a period of time, but then life takes over. I never get to it. So here I go again, taking a stab at this blog thing, if only to organize my thoughts about being a wife and stay-at-home mom in sunny Southern California.

Our wonderful Will!

Will has been with us now for 3 1/2 months, and it seems like forever! In fact, it was this very weekend, one year ago that Nathan and I discovered we were expecting a baby. We spent most of the last fantastic year with our friends in Peoria and then made a sudden and quick move back to SoCal in October. Now we're settling in so close to our amazing family just in time for the holidays.

So what have we been up to in the last year? Well, I took a job at our church in Peoria, Richwoods Christian Church, as the Children's Ministry Director for their new multi-site in East Peoria. I started there in September 2010 and helped launch the new campus in January 2011. I love working with the amazing staff and volunteers, meeting so many new people in East Peoria and serving their families in the Children's Ministry. I worked there until July 2011 when I stepped down to be a stay-at-home mom!

We were so looking forward to the arrival of our little guy in August. I had a really easy pregnancy, and Nathan and I even had some fun weekend get-aways during those nine months, just enjoying our time alone together before we met our little man. Then on August 6, he joined our family at 7 pounds, 3 ounces and 18.5 inches. We were so excited to see his big blue eyes staring up at us and a head full of red hair!



We spent the first few weeks with family visiting us in Peoria and just trying to get a handle on this whole parenthood thing. Just when we thought it might all be settling down, Nathan got a job back in southern California! And there we were, with a 5-week-old planning a move in just 3 weeks! It's crazy how fast it went, and now we are living "back home" once again.

Our little guy has been growing so fast in this California sun! He's 3 1/2 months old and is very calm and happy. He loves to sit in his swing and play in his play gym. He thinks Nathan and I are hilarious (but then again, who doesn't). He is laughing more and more everyday. He loves "talking" to his grandparents and cuddling with his aunts and uncles. He just celebrated his first Thanksgiving with the whole family, and it just brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't believe how unbelievably blessed we are, to have each other, plus this beautiful boy, PLUS this amazing family, AND we get to live near one another again!

This year has been a great one, and I'm so excited for the year to come! Let's see who this little man turns out to be.

Adventures abound!

Well, I have made a commitment to post more often so here I go.

Nathan and I have been trying to fill our summer days with all the adventures we can get. One of the greatest things about Peoria is all the stuff going on during the summer. There are festivals and concerts and food and sports and beautiful weather, all for our enjoyment. Last week, we went to the Irish Festival called Erin Feis (click here and here to see the PJ Star info on the event). There were Irish bands on several stages. Beer and corned beef and cabbage (of course). Nathan got a potato perogi and a corned beef, cabbage and potato sandwich (Yum!). Since we didn't know much about the event, we didn't know when the best stuff was happening, so we missed some of the coolest stuff like the Irish dancers, Highland games, bag pipe performances and whiskey tasting. Bummer, but at least we know how cool it is for next year!!



Well this next story has nothing to do with a festival, but it's still pretty exciting to me... I have two new grocery stores that I love! Hy-Vee and Fresh Market. Fresh Market is like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, awesome and so convenient! Hy-Vee is more of a regular grocery store, but it's really neat and organized, has a nice big health food section, AND has a food court! It's pretty much the bomb. Also, when I pulled up to Hy-Vee the other day, the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile was parked in front. The best thing ever!!!

Nathan and I like to take pictures of ourselves with attractions like the Eiffel Tower or Arc de Triomphe, where we are giants attacking the attraction in the background. Nathan was at work, but I thought it would be fun to go across the street and take a picture of myself eating the Oscar Mayer Weiner Mobile. Yes, I was standing on the street corner with my mouth open snapping pictures. Yes, people were driving by staring at me.

It took me several tries, but I finally got this one:



This made my day...

This weekend has been particularly exciting. On Friday we got our long awaited COUCH!!! We are so excited to finally have a couch in our living room. It took so long for delivery that we both sort of forgot what it looked like. So it was a double surprise! But.... this also meant that I finally said good-bye to our recliner. This may not seem like much, but it was my dad's recliner and a very fond memory from my childhood. I used to sit on his lap and watch old musicals with him. I almost changed my mind about having them haul the recliner away, but it was older than I am and it was time for it to go. I sat in it for a little while, got a little choked up, and then realized how old and gross the chair was... if I had a child would I even let him/her sit in this chair? No. Out with the old and in with the new I guess!

Now we have a new couch, and of course, Nathan couldn't wait to put his feet up and enjoy our new "sitting area":



On Saturday, we had the birthday part of a friend's baby (1 year old), but the day was just too beautiful to leave it at that! We decided to go to a local museum and see "The Art of Brick" which was an art installation all made of Legos. Awesome. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that the museum had a few interactive elements, which Nathan and I love. Here is more info on the artist and his work, http://www.brickartist.com/gallery.html, and a few pics of the exhibits we saw:

There was even an area where you could build your own stuff with Legos... Nathan built a robot friend.



Next we drove out to Manito (about an hour away), and went to the Manito Popcorn Festival. Sounds delicious right?! Strangely, it had nothing to do with popcorn. They just decided to call it a popcorn festival a long time ago and stuck with it, while not really introducing any sort of popcorn theme. Oh well.

Regardless, Manito is a lovely little town, and the Popcorn Festival was really fun. Like a much smaller version of the San Diego County fair, with concessions and live music and craft booths. Really cute. Funny story: We went into a gas station to use the restroom and right when we walked in a lady turned around, looked right at us and said, "What are people from California doing in Manito?" I stopped in my tracks. How did she know we were from California? Was it that obvious? Then Nathan said "Hey!" and introduced me. Turns out it was one of his coworkers. I thought she was psychic. Or that the whole town was already talking about the weirdos from California who were looking for popcorn.

Two extra fun things about Manito: 1) "Walking Tacos" and 2) Creative garden decor. What is a "Walking Taco" you ask? Well, you take a snack bag of Fritos. Put lettuce, tomato, cheese, taco meat, and any desired condiments inside. Eat with spoon while walking!

Creative garden decor. When you aren't going for the cute, garden gnome thing as much as the scare-away-unwanted-wild-animals-and-visitors thing, go to Manito and purchase a ceramic life-sized growling bear. (I think this will be showing up on some California Christmas lists this year. Just a hunch.)



Today was the kicker. We went to Kewanee's Hog Days with our friends Doug and Candace.

Hog Days is AWESOME! Totally, pig themed. The town of Kewanee is really cute, too. Some really adorable Victorian homes, and everyone seems to be super excited to be in the Hog Capital of the World. There were Hog Days flags in front of homes and pig pictures in windows. It was great. They had a giant grill that apparently serves over 32,000 pork burgers and pork chop sandwiches during the several Hog Days. They had a crafts and flea market area with all sorts of interesting things for sale. I squealed when I came across a Monkees record for $1, but it had writing across Peter Tork's forehead. Bummer.

They also had carnival rides and games and food (funnel cakes, elephant ears, etc.). The best game was a giant roulette wheel. You put down your bet on a number just like in regular roulette, but you aren't guessing where a ball will stop when they spin the wheel. No, they spin a giant wheel and release a rat in the middle, and whichever number he runs to wins. Awesome.

And of course, we couldn't leave without having a famous pork burger. Delicious.



We've really been having a lot of fun, and there are more adventures to come, especially when I start my job on Tuesday! Here are some more pictures of our adventures:

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Summer is the season... for fun!!

So it has obviously been way too long since our last update. Summer has been pretty busy, but still, that is no excuse. Here is a quick update of the last few months:

May - Nathan's cousin Emily and her fabulous husband Kenny came to visit us n the middle of May. We had such a great time with them, showing them around Peoria and just catching up. Nathan had just installed a new x-ray machine from his work at a local doctor's office, so Kenny, Emily and I were models for the practice x-rays. Oh, and Gnorman, our family gnome, got an x-ray too. He has been traveling all over the world, visiting the various cousins, so a quiet weekend in Peoria and a full medical examination was definitely long overdue for Gnorman the Gnome.



May was also my BIRTHDAY MONTH!! I love celebrating my birthday for as long as possible, and this year was even better because I turned 30! My wonderful girlfriends took me out for dinner at my favorite cafe, Cyd's, and then we went for pedicures! My friends at work took me out on another night for dinner at Bar Louie and some games at Jillian's. Then, for my actual birthday Nathan took me to Bloomington-Normal, IL for a day of shopping, exploring a really cool antique store, and a delicious dinner. And of course, there were the wonderful birthday cards and gifts from friends and family in California. I got a card from Emily, Vicki and Heather that made me cry! I felt so loved by everyone, but still miss all my friends and family so much. It was a great birthday month. Here are some pics from my birthday with Nathan, including probably finding probably the best devotional book ever created.

June & July - We have been hanging out with friends a lot and trying to soak up the beautiful weather. It does get pretty humid at times, and we have been getting used to the frequent rains and thunderstorms, which is strange for two California kids. A lot of really fun activities happen around Peoria in the summer months. We went to the Olde English Faire in June and saw some real jousting (though they were out of turkey legs, which was a bummer for Nathan). In July, life sized replicas of The Nina and The Pinta sailed into town, and we went to check them out at the Riverfront. And of course, for the 4th of July we got together with our wonderful Life Group for some delicious BBQ and watched fireworks over the river. (Click on the links to see the Peoria Journal Star coverage of these events).

Then, the highlight of July, was having the Osborne clan visit! We had an amazing time, eating our way through Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, and Chicago. While we were in Chicago they were filming Transformers 3 which definitely added some excitement. Most of all, it was really fun showing all of them around Peoria, and then relaxing in Chicago with our wonderful family.

July also marked the end of my time teaching my little 2-year-olds, and in August, I was hired as the Children's Ministry Director for Richwoods Church-East Campus. I don't start my new job until September, and I couldn't be more excited!! I also finished my summer semester and started my fall semester of classes in August. With a new job and school, I'm sure I'll be pretty busy, but I will do my best to update the blog more often. Here are some pictures from our summer adventures:

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