Being 1 month old is hard work!
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Cousins at Play
The kids and I had an impromptu play day with our cousins. We met them at Starbucks for a treat then headed out on a nature walk. Aaden and Mason had a lot of fun paling around and Elsa did her best to keep up! The babies, Quinn and Owen were content to be carried/pushed by their Mamas.
Dress Up!
Aaden has been interested in our wedding pictures lately. Looking at them and asking, "where am I"? We've talked about the day and what it means. While we were in Portland I thought I'd dig out my wedding dress and try it on for him. He was so surprised to see me in it, he couldn't wipe the smile off his face. It was fairly adorable!
Kristofer caught me as I was sneaking out to surprise Aaden. Still feel like a pretty princess!
Oh, Mama!
A Portland Visit
As I mentioned in my previous post, the boys and I spent the last 10 days in Portland with my folks. It was great fun. Aaden got in plenty of "train" time, I got to go to my parent's gym every day and work with their trainer, Owen got snuggled a bunch, we saw family & friends and celebrated my mom's birthday.
Here are a few pictures that highlight the fun:
Here are a few pictures that highlight the fun:
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
A loss of a home...
I don't often share deep inner thoughts here on our family blog, but have decided to process my grief here. As many of you know the church building that I grew up in was destroyed on Monday morning by fire. I have been reflecting the last few days what the building meant to me, so here it goes.
There aren't many places left that remind me of home. That is to say, the schools I attended as a child have all been renovated, remodeled, torn down or re-purposed. My folks have beautifully redone my childhood home to better fit their needs, including the yard I once played in. The one place that remained, was the church of my childhood. While they did recently complete a beautiful new sanctuary (just 2 summers ago), the rest of the building, including former sanctuary, classrooms and preschool remained. Kristofer and I have not found a church home that truly feels like home, up here. But, we always knew that we could go to Living Savior, and feel at home.
I have memories of the first building, just a multipurpose room with a few small classrooms around its' perimeter. I also have memories of the first remodel back in the late 1980's which added the "education wing". I remember attending Kids of the Kingdom (a small childrens group my mom started with some other moms of young kids). I remember playing sardines at youth lock-ins, it was so dark and so cool to hide in the nooks and crannies of the church. I remember going through First Communion and Confirmation there. I also remember the VERY HOT day in which I wed my sweetheart and danced our hearts out in the sanctuary. I remember the emotional move the church made from old sanctuary to new, a rebirth. And, I most recently remember baptizing our sweet Owen in the new worship space. To say that the building is just a building or a thing is hard. It was so much more to me.
God has a funny way of preparing you for things like this. As I look back on it, I just spent 10 days down in Portland. I drove by the church at least 15 times last week. I went to 3 services, including Lenten Vespers. I took Aaden potty in the Preschool section of the building and we wandered around looking in classrooms that I hadn't seen in years. And most importantly we attended church as an entire family (my brother and his wife included) this past Sunday morning. We sat in the very front row, we never do that! Pastor's sermon was on the serpents that the devil places at our feet that keep us from looking up towards him. All of these things in retrospect helped soften the blow when we got the news early Monday morning that the church was a blaze. A 3 alarm fire, with over 65 fire fighters on scene. A gut wrenching blow. The old church of my childhood, gone. The new sanctuary, heavily damaged.
It has been interesting grieving the loss of a building. But as far as I can say it feels like I've lost a member of my family.
But now...we look to hope. The Living Savior community is far and wide-reaching. The old members have come out of the woodwork to show solidarity. The community at large has taken interest and shown support. In a funny way, I think God is using the church fire as an incredible outreach. Today, Pastor posted pictures of the devastation. I was taken aback to see that the cross standing strong through the fray and the stained glass window behind the large cross, untouched with light pouring through it. Hope, hope for the future and what is to come.
(See updates on the church as we/they rebuild here - http://livingsaviorlutheranchurch.blogspot.com/)
There aren't many places left that remind me of home. That is to say, the schools I attended as a child have all been renovated, remodeled, torn down or re-purposed. My folks have beautifully redone my childhood home to better fit their needs, including the yard I once played in. The one place that remained, was the church of my childhood. While they did recently complete a beautiful new sanctuary (just 2 summers ago), the rest of the building, including former sanctuary, classrooms and preschool remained. Kristofer and I have not found a church home that truly feels like home, up here. But, we always knew that we could go to Living Savior, and feel at home.
I have memories of the first building, just a multipurpose room with a few small classrooms around its' perimeter. I also have memories of the first remodel back in the late 1980's which added the "education wing". I remember attending Kids of the Kingdom (a small childrens group my mom started with some other moms of young kids). I remember playing sardines at youth lock-ins, it was so dark and so cool to hide in the nooks and crannies of the church. I remember going through First Communion and Confirmation there. I also remember the VERY HOT day in which I wed my sweetheart and danced our hearts out in the sanctuary. I remember the emotional move the church made from old sanctuary to new, a rebirth. And, I most recently remember baptizing our sweet Owen in the new worship space. To say that the building is just a building or a thing is hard. It was so much more to me.
God has a funny way of preparing you for things like this. As I look back on it, I just spent 10 days down in Portland. I drove by the church at least 15 times last week. I went to 3 services, including Lenten Vespers. I took Aaden potty in the Preschool section of the building and we wandered around looking in classrooms that I hadn't seen in years. And most importantly we attended church as an entire family (my brother and his wife included) this past Sunday morning. We sat in the very front row, we never do that! Pastor's sermon was on the serpents that the devil places at our feet that keep us from looking up towards him. All of these things in retrospect helped soften the blow when we got the news early Monday morning that the church was a blaze. A 3 alarm fire, with over 65 fire fighters on scene. A gut wrenching blow. The old church of my childhood, gone. The new sanctuary, heavily damaged.
It has been interesting grieving the loss of a building. But as far as I can say it feels like I've lost a member of my family.
But now...we look to hope. The Living Savior community is far and wide-reaching. The old members have come out of the woodwork to show solidarity. The community at large has taken interest and shown support. In a funny way, I think God is using the church fire as an incredible outreach. Today, Pastor posted pictures of the devastation. I was taken aback to see that the cross standing strong through the fray and the stained glass window behind the large cross, untouched with light pouring through it. Hope, hope for the future and what is to come.
(See updates on the church as we/they rebuild here - http://livingsaviorlutheranchurch.blogspot.com/)
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
6 Months
Can you believe it?! Owen is 6 months!
A few highlights -
1. He loves to play in his exersaucer and does so on a daily basis. He squeals with delight as he plays, watches his brother and maneuvers around to the various toys.
2. He loves to eat solid food. He regularly eats 3 meals a day including sweet potatoes, squash, yogurt, avocado, bananas and oatmeal. He has taken to asking for each meal and gets impatient if not fed quickly enough. Another good eater!
3. Speaking of good eating, he's still nursing 2-3 times a night. Just this week he has parred it down to 1-2 times, I'm hoping this is a pattern and will move towards 0 times a night! He's just so darn hungry.
4. All that food = a big boy! We unofficially weighed him this week and he is somewhere between 20-22lbs. I'll be interested to see what he actually weighs in at. Aaden was 19lbs 7oz at 6 months. So Owen, I believe has out grown his brother. He is also incredibly tall, I haven't measured, but he's already fitting easily in 12month clothing!
5. He smiles, laughs and giggles so easily. He's such a happy little guy.
6. He's getting better and being able to sit up for a few moments and getting his head up. Can't wait until he's fully sitting, he'll love being on the floor a lot more. He spends lots of time rolling around and scooting on his back to get places, already mobile.
7. He hasn't cut any teeth yet, but drools constantly and has had a few days here and there where we can tell his mouth is hurting him.
All-in-all, such a fun boy. Aaden is having fun talking with him, and helping him when he can't reach a toy. I can already tell they will be good friends.
A few highlights -
1. He loves to play in his exersaucer and does so on a daily basis. He squeals with delight as he plays, watches his brother and maneuvers around to the various toys.
2. He loves to eat solid food. He regularly eats 3 meals a day including sweet potatoes, squash, yogurt, avocado, bananas and oatmeal. He has taken to asking for each meal and gets impatient if not fed quickly enough. Another good eater!
3. Speaking of good eating, he's still nursing 2-3 times a night. Just this week he has parred it down to 1-2 times, I'm hoping this is a pattern and will move towards 0 times a night! He's just so darn hungry.
4. All that food = a big boy! We unofficially weighed him this week and he is somewhere between 20-22lbs. I'll be interested to see what he actually weighs in at. Aaden was 19lbs 7oz at 6 months. So Owen, I believe has out grown his brother. He is also incredibly tall, I haven't measured, but he's already fitting easily in 12month clothing!
5. He smiles, laughs and giggles so easily. He's such a happy little guy.
6. He's getting better and being able to sit up for a few moments and getting his head up. Can't wait until he's fully sitting, he'll love being on the floor a lot more. He spends lots of time rolling around and scooting on his back to get places, already mobile.
7. He hasn't cut any teeth yet, but drools constantly and has had a few days here and there where we can tell his mouth is hurting him.
All-in-all, such a fun boy. Aaden is having fun talking with him, and helping him when he can't reach a toy. I can already tell they will be good friends.
Civil Engineer
Aaden cannot get enough of building cities, parking cars, engineering trains and creating elaborate parking structures. He is so proud of his buildings and creations, it is awfully hard for me to pack them up at the end of the day. I have been trying to document them each as they are unique, creative and very well thought out. Here's a simple, Jenga city/bridge from today.
We're working on "smiling for real" for mom & the camera. We talked about it for a bit after the picture above. Then we tried again and got the picture below....a work in progress, but adorable none-the-less.
Of course after I got this one he said "that's enough mom". Already tired of my new camera, I guess.
Our Week
Last week we were so excited to have Gramma Nee'Nee' at our house for a few days. She spent quality time playing, cuddling, reading with the boys and she and I watched Downton Abbey. Grampa Terry joined us over the weekend too. The boys loved having their grandparents here for 4 days of fun. Kristofer and I always enjoy having family around and the extra hands made it so we could go to the gym together one evening!
Here are a few pictures from the weekend:
The built a really cool city next to the picture of Seattle. Aaden was intrigued by the skyline and asked lots of questions about the Space Needle and how it worked.
I've moved all of the toys to the corner behind our couch (out of the way)! And the neat thing is, they love to hangout back there and play in parallel. Owen loves watching his brother.
An extra special treat to top the weekend off - a visit from Unkie and Auntie Megan:
Here are a few pictures from the weekend:
An extra special treat to top the weekend off - a visit from Unkie and Auntie Megan:
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