Mother's Day and Birthday Pics

This is a big week for us...Mother's Day (my first!), my 29th birthday (today!) and most importantly, Addie's FIRST birthday (on the 19th!). Our goal is to start taking some of Addie's one year pics over the next couple of weeks since its a little harder to get her to sit still for extended periods of time now that she is so mobile. Most of these are from Mother's Day, but the one at the end is from my birthday lunch today. I can't believe how big Ads is getting! Thanks to our amazing photographer (Matt)...which is why he is never in the pictures. That and he refuses to get in them. 

The Best

A few weeks ago I was asked what my mom was like growing up. It was a pretty easy answer. My mom was the best. She was, and is, probably the most hands-on-mom you will ever meet. In a good way. Occasionally, in an annoying way. But always in a way that you knew no matter what happened, she had your back. You also knew that, nine times out of ten, she already knew what you were going to do or say.

My mom and me :)

Growing up, she was also an odd combination of super strict and crazy fun. The same mom who would not answer a question that wasn't accompanied with a 'please' was the same mom who would declare it was pajama day and tell us we couldn't go to school and had to do everything in our pjs. She was consistently firm on discipline (except maybe occasionally with my sweet-talking brother), but she was spontaneously fun with life. And if you have never heard her read a children's book, you are really missing out. She can entertain any child, anywhere. They all love her. Especially Ads. She could play with Mila all day and still be sad to leave. 

My mom genuinely thought raising kids was a delight, and it showed. We were blessed to have her stay home with us, and both my parents sacrificed to make that happen. She is with-out a doubt the reason I went into motherhood believing it to be a blessing worth sacrificing for. And I haven't been disappointed. Even on its hardest day, it is an amazing blessing. 

My mom and Ads :)

I hope and pray that one day Addie is able to say I am even half the mom my mom is. 

Love you, Mom!

This was going to be a post on our awesome spring break week, but then my sweet husband had a run-in with a homeless guy while riding a bike on his way up to the hospital. so one broken arm later, I am going to do this post instead:

Just for clarification, Matt broke his arm, not the homeless guy. The homeless guy walked away with nary a scratch.

And for further clarification, Matt was not mugged, which was my first thought when Matt called me at 7 in the morning to tell me that a homeless guy had knocked him off his bike. What actually happened was that Matt was biking up to the hospital to start his first day of surgical rotation, when a drunk homeless man stumbled from the bushes where he had apparently been peeing and collided with Matt. My poor husband flew over his handle-bars and landed on his head, shoulder and arm.

What, thats never happened to you?

Thankfully, after two days of meeting with general practitioners, radiologists, orthopedics and advisers, it was determined that Matt doesn't need surgery or a cast, can complete his surgical rotation and just needs to take it easy with his arm.

Since this is Matt's millionth thirteenth broken bone, he doesn't think it is a very big deal.

Since it means Matt can't snuggle with me at night, I think its a huge deal.

And since Matt can't use his arm, Addie and I have been stuck with the task of finishing the reorganization that we started over spring break. And by reorganizing, I mean Matt and I took everything out of the two bedrooms, shoved it in the living room and then put about half the stuff back. Which means most of it is still in our living room, along with the still-packed suitcases from our trip last week. Fortunately Ads, has been really helpful...

Helping me sort through one of the many piles of laundry...

Helping me put away clean laundry...

And doing some reading so I could get some actual work done!

What a week!

Resurrection Rest

All dressed up for Addie's 1st Easter!!

Matt and I have been really tired. really weary. not getting enough sleep. Its been a difficult call schedule for Matt, Ads has been teething (6 total now...4 of those she got within ten days! She is good at growing teeth!) and we have had a broken fire alarm (don't ask). And when you have a baby, you just don't have the chance to recover. Life keeps going. Don't get me wrong, its been a fun and blessed few months as we delight in this fun stage with Addie and enjoy the beautiful weather of the spring (my favorite season). But still, we.are.tired.

So when Matt got Easter off, we were so excited. Its our third Easter married, but our first where Matt didn't have to work. And, most importantly, it was Addie's FIRST Easter. We decided to take full advantage of the day and spend it with just the three of us. 

And we had such an amazing day of rest.

We went to church (albeit 30 min late since we got the time of our church's Easter service wrong. Thankfully they have two services so we grabbed the last half of the first service and the first half of the second one. Whatever works...). After Church, while Ads napped, Matt and I enjoyed a ridiculously simply (but delicious) Easter brunch of bacon and egg taquitos. Then we went to the park for several hours to lounge on a blanket and enjoy the beautiful weather. We topped the day off with an early dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was a perfect day. 

And it got me thinking...

As Matt read us the Easter story from the book of John while we were at the park, one particular part really hit me. After the Last Supper, after the Crucifixion, after the Resurrection, Christ made His disciples breakfast  on the beach. He gave them the opportunity to come meet with Him. To rest with Him. And while Matt and I certainly haven't had a week(s) like the disciples had, watching their beloved Savior die, Christ still desires to give us rest. That's why He created the Sabbath. That's why He commands us to keep the Sabbath holy (i.e.set apart). And its kind of silly that we don't...its for our benefit.

Anyway, I was really reminded of that this Easter weekend, so I thought I would share. It was also part of our Bible Study discussion this week at CBS, so I guess I was really supposed to hear it! 

Here are some pics of our fun Easter day!

Resting, playing and snacking at the park.

Playing at home. Yes, we change clothes a lot!

She is plotting something... :)

I hope everyone had a restful, meaningful and fun Easter!

Blessed

Happy 8 Months sweet girl!!!

Hi!

Matt tells me that sometimes the obvious just slips right by me. And, I have to say that is (sometimes) true. Case in point:

When Addie was about a month old I asked my mom why she was always referring to herself in the third person when she was with Addie. The answer, which should have been clear to me, was: "I want Addie to know who I am ".

What?!?! How is it I didn't realize that I needed to tell Addie who I was??? I had assumed that by giving birth to her, feeding her, and basically spending all my time taking care of her, that she would get it; but she probably thought I was the local milk maid. I immediately began referring to myself as 'mama', and have been doing it religiously ever since.

I am happy to report, she knows I am her mama.

But...that first month must have had some consequences because Addie's first word was...Hi!

Not mama :(.

But she is so cute when she says it that its okay. And Matt and I were both there when she said it, so that was a treat. We were playing with her on Saturday when she sat up a little straighter, looked right at both of us, and said hi. So fun. She has said it many times since then, and each time its just as cute.

Here's hoping I'm second on the list!

Addie and her mama

Raw Foodie

No, we haven't gone "raw".

Although we are trying to increase the amount of raw food we eat. But sadly, I don't think Matt and I are even to 20%. Addie, on the other hand, is beating us by a landslide.

Addie loves...

Broccoli...

Apples...

Carrots...

Avacados...

And Lemons...

Matt and my brother were hoping for one of those sour lemon reactions (on the morning of my brother's wedding, he talked me into giving her a lemon, so we got out the video camera, expecting to get a funny video, but instead, she loved it!). Matt and Will were pretty disappointed by her lack of reaction.

As it turns out, she takes after her Mina. Not sure there are enough lemons in the world for the two of them...

see all the lemons?

Due to a lack of teeth and an inability to chew, Ads has never actually swallowed any of these yummy foods (except for maybe a smidgen of avocado). But she loves being included in mealtime, and chewing on cold veggies is great for teething!

And don't worry she is never unsupervised while she "eats big kid food"  :)