A renewed determination

This morning, as I sat in bed trying to ease myself awake, I stumbled upon my old blog. The blog linked to my maiden name email address. I spent quite a while reading posts from back before I was married, reading about what seemed so important at the time, but now I don't even remember. Evidently, in December of 2008 I was very stressed about my Latin final. It was almost surreal reading through some of those posts, most of which I don't remember at all. It feels like it was a lifetime ago.

Reading through those posts made me realize how much I value having written them. It is so easy to forget the day-to-day worries and excitements as time passes. It renewed in me a determination to blog periodically, to document those daily moments that are so fleetingly brief.

So here I am, blogging. :)

On Saturday, Justin and I dropped Jeremy off at our friends' house and made our way to downtown Sac for the Chocolate Salon.

It wasn't super big, but it was a lot of fun! Every table had free samples. We made our way around, hitting the less crowded tables first, then going back to the more popular ones. 

One table (pictured below) had a bunch of different samples of chocolate made using cocoa from different places around the world. It was cool to taste the difference, just from a different cocoa. 

We got a LOT more chocolate than is picture below; that's just what we didn't eat while we were there. Some of the chocolates were VERY fancy. There was definitely a lot of chocolate there that I wouldn't pay the price to get, so being able to sample it was fun. 

We even ran into Mary! Back when we were looking for housing here, we went to Le Grand Confectionary, where we met Mary. We chatted for almost an hour, and haven't been back since. But she remembered us! It was fun chatting with her. She's the one in the middle. 

All in all, it was a great date. We finished off the day by having dinner with the Lowry's, then playing a game called Funglish. It was a great Saturday. 

Friday was an equally great day. I spent the afternoon baking cookies with my friend Katie. Then, when Justin got home, he surprised me with a fun evening all planned out. He brought me flowers, blueberry bagels and strawberry cream cheese (one of my favorite breakfasts), then we loaded into the car and spent the evening at Scandia. It's a fun Scandinavian-themed amusement-type park. They have a few little rides (none of which we could do with Jeremy), an arcade area, and miniature golf. We did a round of golf, and by then Jeremy was ready to sleep. It was a fun surprise though, even if we didn't get quite as much time there as we would have liked. 

There's not really a story behind this picture, other than the fact that Jeremy decided there are better ways to use a fork than the conventional method. :) He's such a silly boy. 

On Saturday morning, (yes, I know I'm going all out of order) I gave both of my boys hair cuts. Jeremy did NOT like it. But we made it through, and he no longer has a mullet. I miss his long hair on top, though. I wanted to keep it longer on top, but I'm still figuring out how to do any style of haircut different than Justin's. 

In the last week or so, Jeremy has learned a new word: Amen! He knows when to say it, too. He usually jumps the gun a little, saying it when the one praying says "in the name of Jesus Christ," but I'm so excited that he is learning language so well already! Occasionally he says it in the middle of the prayer too, if it's a longer prayer. I guess he's trying to tell us to wrap it up. :) 

This means he can say 5 words: Mama, Dada, Amen, Nana (for food - started from Banana), and No. He can also do the sign for "all done", and occasionally "eat". He might say more, but that's all I can think of right now. 

He's also started walking more and more. Up until last Wednesday (Jan. 22), the most he had done was 4 steps at a time, and it was very sporadic. He'd only walk on his own every week or so. Since Wednesday though, he's been doing a LOT more walking. It's exciting and scary at the same time. It's great that he's walking and growing and all, but it means he's going to be more mobile and probably more adventurous as a result. Not sure I'm ready for that. 

Lately we've been spending a lot of time at the park. Supposedly California is in a drought... Coming from AZ it's hard to tell. But we've been capitalizing on the lack of rain by spending lots of time outside. This little boy LOVES being outside. 

The park we like to go to has a playground with this fun little tunnel, which Jeremy loves. It's always one of the things he spends the most time on. The tunnel, and the swings. 

In other news, Justin is going to be an uncle! Sort of. Our stake is doing a pioneer trek, and he has been asked to go as an "uncle". It's basically a support roll, to be extra hands and an extra priesthood holder. He's really looking forward to it. I'm excited he gets the opportunity, too, since he never went as a youth. I wish we could go as a Ma and Pa, but with no family around to watch the bear, we weren't really a good choice for it. Maybe when we move back to AZ we'll have the chance.

Since everyone else is doing it...

What can I say, I'm a follower. :) At least when it comes to blogging.

So, what's new with me? Well, last week we got rid of Jeremy's pacifier. That was not very fun. But he's just about used to it now, and surprisingly, it actually made this last Sunday easier. Since getting rid of it, he has slept less during the day, but that means he could make it through 3 hours of church without having a complete meltdown from exhaustion. On the other hand, it also means he's only taking one nap a day... Oh well, it was bound to happen eventually. 

Isn't he the cutest?!

I'm also in the process of opening up an Etsy shop with my friend, Essi. She can draw really cute little animals, and I make baby shower invitations. I'll post a link here when it's up and running. It's been a lot of fun designing them, and working with my best friend on them has been a blast! 

We watched our friends' two kids on Saturday while they went on a date. They are returning the favor this Saturday when Justin and I are going to an event called the Chocolate Salon in downtown Sacramento. I'll try to remember to post here all about it. 

Another project I'm working on is upgrading my office into a craft room. Justin has a desk in there right now, and it mostly just serves to collect junk. So I asked him if he'd mind if I kicked him out of that room, and he said sure. So, I'm getting a craft/sewing room! Right now there's still a bunch of paper and such that needs filed, but once that's done, I'll get to start rearranging and organizing. 

Quilt blocks

Just a very short brag post. I only have two more months of quilt blocks to make, then I get to start piecing it! I'm quite proud of myself for sticking with it this year. It's awesome seeing how much I've improved. Just compare the very cut off corners of the chevron and Balkan puzzle to the beautiful almost perfect points of the three star blocks!

Oh, and I made some super cute cupcakes for Justin's birthday last week.

Here's the ASU wreath I made for him:

And I have a really cute baby :) 

Baby Beethoven

He loves playing in front of the fan, and I love the faces he makes when doing it!

He could see his reflection in the tv.

This was taken with the forward-facing camera, and as soon as he saw himself on the phone, he got a huge grin!

Chubby cheeks

Stuffing his face with cheerios

Arizona Trip

Just a few short pictures from our most recent trip to AZ:

Worn out from all the fun 

Dustin and BJ (Benjamin Jr. aka Samuel)

Cousins!

This one I had to post. Jenny looks so grown up, just from the way she's standing. I can't get over how fast they grow!

And this is best appreciated after seeing the following:

I know this one is blurry, but it cracks me up. I wonder where Katie gets it?

Matching pink girls, matching dark blue boys

A loving, tired daddy

This little guy was never hard to get smiles or laughs from. The hardest thing was getting non-blurry pictures of them!

Grandma kisses are the best

Or is Grandpa playtime the best? 

Too bad Aunt Natalie didn't get the tongue-out memo

Jeremy LOVES screens. It doesn't matter who is in charge of them!

Very different than any pictures from when I was a baby, that's for sure! 

We had a great time in Arizona. Thank you so much Mom and Dad C for the tickets and hospitality, and Mom and Dad M for the place to stay. It was wonderful seeing everyone! 

Five months old

Today is Jeremy's five month birthday. Can you believe it? It has been such an amazing five months.
Jeremy is becoming more and more playful. He will smile at anyone who talks to him, including little old ladies at the store, who all think he's just adorable.
He loves to play with his feet. So far he has only put his left foot into his mouth. Justin thinks that might be because his left arm is stronger, so it's able to pull it up higher. He really wants Jeremy to be a lefty like him. :)
He also loves to stand. Any time we hold him up on his feet, he instantly starts smiling. It's really funny when he's fussy and we do that, and he doesn't know whether to smile or cry, so he does both.
Jeremy has so far eaten rice cereal, carrots, and yams. The yams are by far his favorite. He screams if we don't get the next bite in his mouth fast enough!
He has one tooth, and is working on his second. Since getting the first, he rarely doesn't have something in his mouth. He seems to enjoy feeling the tooth with his hand and tongue. He also likes feeling mommy and daddy's teeth, which isn't always too pleasant for us.
Jeremy loves reading. He would be content to read for hours if he didn't get hungry or tired. He does get impatient if you spend too long on one page though.
He also loves water bottles and his little basketball. He tries to get them in his mouth, of course.
He loves screens, too. TV, phones, if it's in sight, he'll stare and stare.
He brings so much joy and laughter into our home. He loves to be tickled on his belly with a nose; that's the easiest way to get him laughing. He is a bit of a daddy's boy already. That might just be because by the end of the day, he's ready to see someone besides mommy (and mommy is usually ready for that, too). It is so fun watching him learn and grow and develop.

Quilt blocks and cuties

I finished both May blocks the two days after I did the second April block. I decided to take a break before doing June to make myself a wallet (which I finished, but didn't take pictures of) and some bibs for Jeremy. Now that he's teething, he drools a LOT, and sometimes soaks his onesie enough to irritate his skin. He only has one cloth bib, so I'm going to make a few more for him from scraps I have.
I've also included some pictures of Jeremy, because he's adorable. :) My favorite is the one where he's on his tummy. Such a cutie!