What a lovely day it was. Ellie is so lucky to have such a large family and circle of friends who all band together to support her. She stayed with us the night before, after the birthday party, and then we got everyone ready and headed to the church Saturday morning. I'd planned a small reception after the baptism so friends and family would be able to linger, and because the only thing Ellie had said she wanted for her birthday was cake pops it seemed fitting to serve cake pops following the service.
Jim was able to baptize her and I know it was a beautiful moment for him. It was absolutely palpable. I'm not sure there were many dry eyes in the room as everyone who spoke or participated in any way was incredibly gracious and expressed such love for Ellie.
Many thanks to my FIL for the photos. I didn't even take a camera to the church, which is not like me at all.
Since the night before was occupied with party stuff, the morning of the baptism ended up being a little busier than I had meant for it to be. I'd waited until morning to make the cake pops and it ended up consuming the better part of the morning. I made two batches of vanilla and two batches of red velvet, because Ellie LOVES red velvet cake. Aunt Kristi was kind enough to agree to do Ellie's hair and it turned out so darling in these pretty french braids.
Ellie has been so excited for her two brothers to meet. Here she is holding Roque while Aeryn holds Tate.
The group family shot is pretty remarkable to me. Having lived through two divorces (mine and my parents) and seeing first hand the chaos that unresolved emotions can cause, I am amazed that this group of people was able to put themselves last and focus on Ellie and the significance of the day, treating each other with kindness and respect. It's a beautiful thing.
She looked so beautiful in her fancy white dress, and she was just so very happy. I'm so grateful to have been a part of this day in her young life.
I'm falling painfully behind in blogging yet again. It seems that teaching, having a baby, working on the final class for my M.S. and serving as the visiting teaching coordinator makes blogging take last place in the list of my daily priorities. Not to mention birthdays and holidays and the other things that go on, or Jim working on his dissertation proposal. Life is cray-cray - as the kids say.
One of the highlights of this fall has been Ellie's eighth birthday. Her mom let her choose whether she wanted to get baptized in Cali or in Oregon. She chose Oregon since she "has more friends" here. We were thrilled, to say the least! Any time that little girl can be out here is a good time. It did mean that I was in charge of both her baptism and birthday party planning, which gave me ample reason to stress out. I am, after all, a "little bit Monica" as my husband pointed out. I felt a lot of pressure not the least of which was because I had never met her mother and naturally she would be here. I have always felt like I had to be extra on top of things because the way her mom felt about me could influence how she felt about Ellie spending time with us, and I didn't want to cost Jim any time with her.
Long story short, I spent a lot of time planning and trying to get things just perfect. I'm pretty proud of the fact that for the most part I rolled with the punches on the things that didn't quite pan out like expected.
She asked for a Lego party. We had a Lego relay race, played Lego bingo, and I spent way more hours than I'd like to admit drawing this Lego block photo backdrop.
It's a testament to the fact that I let things slide that I didn't keep rehanging it so the seam was perfectly level and matched up.
We had a yellow Lego head pinata that made me cry because it wasn't as Pinterest-worthy as I'd intended, but when Ellie had a blast smashing it open with three wallops that was all forgotten.
I spray-painted baby food jars to look like Lego heads and filled them with candy blox to use as bingo markers, but the paint clearly hadn't cured as much as I thought because all the lids ended up glued on from the paint. We spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get them open.
We served pizza, fruit kabobs, juice boxes dolled up to look like Lego blocks, mini cupcakes, and way too many flavors of ice cream for one party.
The cousins were able to come down, and every single friend who was invited made it. We ended up with fourteen kids and it was a blast. Honestly, just feed kids and let them run amok and they are happy as can be. All the grownups behaved themselves and it was a really pleasant evening, despite some of the potentially awkward moments that could have surfaced with biological parents and step-parents, grandparents, and step-grandparents crammed into the same room. Ellie was spoiled silly and she was so happy that everyone had come. It turned out fantastic.
It seems all I talk about anymore is that cute little man-cub who has come into our world. He is pretty awesome, and sort of consumes my days. I've been meaning to write about his blessing weekend but since it was a little bit stressful for me it has taken a while to regain my grounding enough to talk about it. That makes it sound like it was terrible - it most definitely was not; in fact it was delightful. I just tend to stress myself out at every possible opportunity and this was no exception.
I knew the weekend was going to be nuts. Both of our families were coming and they are very, very different. Plus our house is small and there is not a ton to do in Eugene, not to mention that the star of the show has his own schedule and needs. In order to make it more manageable, I made sure to pump extra milk so we could give him a bottle when needed. I didn't know where we would be or who would be holding him so I thought this was a smart plan.
Things seemed to work very well for Friday evening and Saturday. We found great places to eat, all hung out at a park, and somehow crammed into our tiny apartment when need be. Then sometime on Saturday night after everyone went back to their hotel rooms I became a crazy person. We had taken great care in planning the menu for a luncheon afterward on Sunday and Jim and I each had our plans worked out. Out of necessity and sanity I had already abandoned half my plans (i.e. photobooth) and was determined to make the rest go off without a hitch.
I stayed up until 1:30 a.m. getting cupcakes made, ironing tablecloths, setting up a basket for serve ware and dishes, getting condiments into attractive serving dishes so that we wouldn't have plastic containers all over the place, and setting out all the attractive serving bowls and platters that food would need to be transferred to the following day. In my mind it was all ready to go and would be uber simple to get set up. I had rambled on all night long about what needed to be done and felt I'd made it as easy as possible. Besides, I'd be there to do it all myself...
But then Tate didn't sleep through church like normal. He was awake and starving after church was out so instead of being the one to set things up, I was holed up in my bedroom trying to keep my baby somewhat content. Naively I assumed other people would be able to read my mind and know what was already done and what things just needed to be relocated. I had rambled about everything for hours the night before... however I have told Jim that sometimes I just need to talk and he's ok tuning me out. This was one of those instances that had I been listening I would have tuned myself out. As petty as it sounds now, I was really irritated on Sunday when everything I stayed up making sure was done didn't actually help.
When I walked into the community room and saw plastic containers and plastic utensils where I'd already set things up to be served in nice dishes I pretty much lost my mind. This was such a special day to me that I did not want a single thing about it to resemble a tailgate party. When I frantically started trying to redo it all, Jim's dad just said to me "it's only friends and family, nobody cares." He was right of course, but I cared. I still do. Part of me is still irritated that I couldn't plan it all perfectly. Therein lies the key lesson learned from being a parent: you really have no control at all, only the illusion of it.
It stressed me out so much that I have declared I'm not throwing another party at all until we have our own house. Except Ellie's baptism. And probably Aeryn's next birthday. And Jim's graduation. Oh, who am I kidding? I'll probably throw a party next month, just because.
At some point during the whole crazy post sacrament time I realized that we didn't get a picture at the church. Not one. No picture of Tate in his little dress shirt and tie, no picture of our family all together, no pictures of the kids. Basically, no pictures. None. Zip. That was what really made me lose it and I tried desperately to not cry all afternoon from the disappointment.
The reality is that none of it matters. The blessing itself was beautiful. Jim was choked up at the beginning which brought me to tears. Our family was all together and we were surrounded by loved ones. Tate is healthy and happy, and truly, no one would have cared if it did look like a tailgate party. The cousins were all together and running around outside. Some friends and family we haven't seen in a while came by. Everyone doted on our little man. It was a good day.
The next morning, we dressed him up again in his dapper digs and Jim's dad snapped a few pics of our family. Both families headed home and we returned to life as normal. It was a whirlwind, but the things that really mattered were there.
On spring break we typically head to the coast. At least, when we stay in town for the week that is. This year we were extremely lucky and had near perfect weather. Temperatures were in the 60's, with clear sunny skies. The wind was pretty extreme, but we haven't ever been there when it wasn't. The kids had a blast, as always.
I stayed at the car to feed Tate and by the time I made it out to the water, the girls were already wet past their waists. They don't hold back when it comes to water.
Kick-splash water fight! I'm pretty sure Ellie won this one, in part because of strategic time-outs when Aeryn was closing in on her.
We made sure Tate was quite bundled up and I think we succeeded in keeping him warm. He did not appreciate the wind on his face though.
Jim was determined to have Tate get his first feel of the ocean, despite the chill. He had fallen asleep and didn't even flinch when his toes touched the water. I was quite surprised actually, even though he is extremely mellow and good natured the Pacific is still rather cold.
We tried to get a pic of everyone's feet together, but didn't organize it well enough to fit in the frame so it's just the kids here. Aeryn and I can share shoes now though so her feet can just count for both of us.
My loves. Part of me wishes I was in the picture too, but I really like having one of all my favorite people, especially one that gets genuine smiles from them all. It was a wonderful day.
Seriously, our kids are the best. Really, would you expect us to think any less? This spring break has been so fun. The best part for me has just been seeing how much the girls love Tate. He is by far the most entertaining person in our home, and they would hang out with him every single second if we would give them greater autonomy with him.
We had Tate's blessing scheduled for the first weekend of Ellie's spring break so that she would be here when it happened. Most of our family came out and it felt like half of sacrament meeting was filled with our friends. I'm not going to lie, I stressed about it like nobody's business and had an anxious pit in my stomach all morning the day of. I felt like I had pared my goals down to the bare minimum and I still couldn't keep it organized. That is a story for another day (I'm still a bit tense about it), but the one thing that I most regret is not getting a family picture outside the church. As soon as we were home people started changing clothes and scattering so it wasn't just that we didn't get a pic at church, we didn't get any pictures at all. I don't have a picture from Aeryn's blessing day either and it's one of the things I have always regretted. As it is, I have more pictures of myself on my blessing day than either of my babies. Considering the advances in photography since my infancy that just seems wrong.
To make up for this I declared that today would be a make-up picture day. I instructed everyone to wear the same clothes they did for his blessing and we were going to get a pic after church and all would be well. It was a grand plan, until Tate had a little hunger prompted meltdown five minutes before church was out, I forgot his tie and shoes (because the point was to recreate it exactly), and as soon as we were home the comfy clothes came out before I even realized it and there was no hope of getting a family picture - at church or not. In consolation I took a few pictures of the kids all together. It isn't all of us, but it's the three of them and that is at least something.
It was surprising how cooperative the girls were. Usually one of them is cooperative while the other is distracted, but I think having Tate there made it easier for them. This kid better get used to smooches - the girls are constantly trying to kiss him.
I'm a pretty sappy parent and I'm constantly thinking about how I will never be able to get any moment back. I take way too many pics with my phone and try to memorize every little thing. It may be a sickness. I want to remember the girls with this little baby as he is now because I know all too well that this phase will pass extremely quickly. Before Ellie comes back for the summer he will change so much. He rolled over a few days ago and it was extremely challenging for him, but then today he rolled twice in succession and it looked almost effortless. That's quite a good accomplishment for 2 months old, who knows what he'll figure out next.
These little people make our lives quite fantastic. I want to keep them forever.
I've seen a growing trend of asking kids interview questions on their birthday. I have not done this, but decided that it would be a good New Years activity. At this point it looks like we'll have both girls every year for New Year's Eve so this is my attempt at starting a new tradition. The days are just packed when Ellie is here (not to be confused with the Calvin & Hobbes book of the same title), so it didn't happen until the day she was going to fly home. It was fun to have a few minutes with each of them to find out what they say they like. I was a little surprised by a couple of the answers, but most were right in line with what I expected.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
