My Favorite Things

Having a dishwasher is the BEST. Especially when you've been washing dishes by hand for five years.

A new vacuum is pretty nice, too. Per takes the cake, though. Look at those cheeks and lips. Don't you just want to pinch 'em?!

Playing in his room on the new carpet -- and loving it!

Such a sweetie.

Per will always be one of my favorite things.

Random Pics

This was Christmas morning. Not sure why Zak is making that face.
We went to Salt Lake to hang with Rhett, Burke, and Candyce! Per is in one of those sling-things restaurants provide.
A funny one of Zak = only fair to put a funny one of me on too

Zak is responsible for Per's ensemble. Nice.

The Big Move

Okay, okay. The first sign that said, "Don't move in here!!" should've been the dead mouse in the kitchen sink. And the other dead mouse behind the door in one of the bedrooms. But, I was 9 and a half months pregnant, and we had just found termites in our old place which was only one bedroom, and we needed two bedrooms, what with Per about to be born. We moved into what we call "The Rathole" in July last year. The carpet was horrible and it smelled funny. Like wet plaster and old funk. Whatever that is.
Not long after we moved in, Per was born and we brought him home. We planned to stay there for a while, chalking it up to one of those "when-we-were-first-married-we-lived-in-the-worst-apartment-but-we-survived" kind of stories. That was okay until one night, we realized that we were smelling cigarette smoke. I have nothing personally against smokers, but I don't want to live in their smell. And I certainly don't want my baby to be living in their smell and damaging his young lungs. So we moved his crib into our bedroom and the three of us became roomies. We began the hunt for a new apartment right away and shut the door to The Smokers' Lounge to try to prevent the smell from permeating through the whole apartment.
Nothing worked out until the end of January. We have finally found a new place and moved! We have new carpet and new paint and best of all -- no funky smells! We are so excited. And Per loves finally being able to be on the carpet!
The pictures above are, of course, of painting and cleaning the new place, not the Rathole. Who cares about the Rathole anymore anyway?

Dude Days

Like father, like son.
Both of them can fit their entire fists in their mouths. They are demonstrating this amazing talent above.
Yesterday was Zak's birthday and his brothers had the idea to make matching shirts for Zak and Per. Zak gets to stay with Per some days during the week and he calls those days "Dude Days" where they just hang out and have fun. Rhett designed these great shirts for Zak and Per. So cute!

More Per Pictures

Per is so happy! In the picture above he's making happy noises. He squeals and chatters and it is so cute!

Per loves tummy time now! He is getting better and better at reaching for his toys and grabbing them.

Look, Mom, no hands!

Happy, happy guy.

Mama-Per Time

Zak wanted me to post some Mama-Per pictures. Please excuse the schlubby clothes and hair-do. Also, please excuse the unmade bed and clothes strewn across the bottom of it in the second picture. Though, those are all Zak's clothes, just so you know.

Showing Mama how BIG he is!

Yep, I'm gonna do it. Just you watch.

Mmmmm... I love the taste of toes in the evening after I've been sweating in my socks all day. And look at the way I can spread them apart! Yum, yum.

What a happy little baby!

More Carrots

Mmmm, carrots!

Big mouthful of baby food + baby sneeze = Big Mess

Daddy-Per Time

Daddies and babies have a special bond, and that is especially true for Zak and Per. The first picture needs no explanation. It's just really cute. The second picture is one that Zak took while he and Per were playing. Per looks like he's totally into it, doesn't he?

In the morning after I've fed Per, I put him in bed with Zak while I'm getting ready for work. Per immediately rolls over and starts touching his daddy's face, as if to say, "Wake up! I'm here! I'm ready to play!" It's pretty stinkin' cute.

Mmmm, cereal!

Per gets so excited when the blue spoon comes out! He loves his rice cereal, as you can see. Yum!

My Grandma

My grandma passed away a week ago today. My sisters posted a few of their memories of her on our family blog, and I wanted to share some of my memories of Grandma here. They mentioned the trips we would take to her house in the summers, how we always had Froot Loops cereal there, and how we would tell each other that there was a dead cat buried under the side of the porch. Grandma would tape Bob Ross episodes and send them to us in the mail. I remember those things, too. Especially the Froot Loops for some reason. I still like Froot Loops. And I still like watching Bob Ross paint his happy little trees.

These memories are mostly from the 9-12 years of age time for me: I remember the way her bathroom smelled like Coast soap. I still love that smell and get nostalgic when I catch that scent as I walk down the soap aisle at the store. She had one of those toilet seats that was padded. I remember thinking it was pretty swanky. Why do I remember all this stuff about the bathroom? I don't know. I must've spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Weird.

I loved to get letters from my grandma. I remember when I was 10 years old (or so) she sent me a nice pen and some exercises to improve my penmanship. I wish I had actually done that.

Zak, Per, and I went to her funeral on Saturday. It was nice to be able to be there and to see some of my family members and my two cousins from my dad's side that I haven't seen for years. I am grateful to have known my grandma, and I'm especially grateful that we lived close enough to see her several times a year for the last four years. She also really loved Zak. Every time we would visit, she'd always hug him and say how tall he was. She was a good woman, and I loved her.

One closing thought -- Zak and I randomly decided on Monday the 15th to go to Salt Lake. At least, we thought it was random. We had a couple of reasons for doing so, but one of the reasons was to see my grandma. We hadn't been to see her since Per was born four months ago and we wanted to introduce them. Luckily, everything worked out and we were able to see her. She was so excited to see Per and to hold him. I am grateful that we got to see her that day.

First Christmas

We knew that Per wasn't going to give us anything for Christmas this year (or probably for several years to come, either). However, we were pleasantly surprised on Christmas day to receive a gift from him -- we noticed his TWO TEETH peeking out of his bottom gums! I don't know what Zak and I did to be blessed with such a great kid, but honestly, we didn't even know he was teething. He hasn't been extra fussy or even extra drooly. It was a bittersweet moment for me as a mother, because while I'm excited for him to reach milestones and to grow and progress, I also want him to stay exactly as he is right now -- my perfect little guy.

He wasn't particularly interested in any of his presents, except to chew on them, as shown above. We mostly opened his presents for him. He is also sitting up really well now (with help) and is starting to love tummy time. He likes to stand up, too, and is so strong! We love our little {big} guy.

One Word Answer Tag

It's been a little while... so here's a tag I found this morning.

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Where is your significant other? Smithfield
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your mother? home
5. Your father? working
6. Your favorite thing? Per
7. Your dream last night? strange
8. Your dream/goal? security
9. The room you're in? basement
10. Your hobby? reading
11. Your fear? heights
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? house
13. Where were you last night? Millville
14. What you're not? alone
15. One of your wish-list items? MacBook
16. Where you grew up? Florissant
17. The last thing you did? work
18. What are you wearing? gray
19. Your TV? off
20. Your pet? none
21. Your computer? on
22. Your mood? stressed
23. Missing someone? Per
24. Your car? dirty
25. Something you're not wearing? watch
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? short
28. Love someone? YES
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? morning
31. Last time you cried? morning

Tummy Time

Per isn't a big fan of tummy time.

But he really likes Berry the Fairy Frog, as you can see. And he's getting better every day at holding his head up.

What a handsome kid!

An Observation About Inopportune Moments

I have noticed that it is always j-u-s-t as Per is falling asleep that I get an itch behind my ear or on the back of my head, or on the back of my knee... really weird places that I can't reach very well with a sleeping baby in my arms. I do my best to remain still and ignore the itch so as not to disturb Per, but it doesn't always work. And sometimes I sneeze just as he's going to sleep, even though I try really hard not to. Normally he wakes up a little, and then I rock him back to sleep and all is well.

In those moments, I know that in another time and place I would have been annoyed and upset that the baby had just woken up, whether it was a niece, nephew, or someone else's baby who I was tending. Now, I just enjoy the fact that I have my little boy in my arms and that I get to rock him to sleep again. Besides, look at that sleeping face. Absolutely priceless.

I think having children is one of the most wonderful blessings we have in this life. We think that they need us, and they do, but I think that we need them much more.

Little Cuties

These kids belong to my sister Karen, and her husband David, and they are all very, very cute. I think the picture of Peter (last one) is my favorite, though. Doesn't it bring to mind Elder Cook's conference talk, "Hope Ya Know, We Had a Hard Time"? James's picture is a very close second favorite of mine -- just hangin' out, relaxing, watching some football.

I didn't get a picture of Mark because he was hangin' with Jacob and Alex. They were all very involved in a computer game. Mark really seemed to hit it off with Alex. I saw Mark showing Uncle Alex his very cool Leapfrog game player thingie with his and his siblings' games at one point in the day. It was so fun to see you guys!

Catching Up

These pictures were taken when Karen, Carolyn, Nicole, and I got together (with our respective families) in mid-October. Hazel is three months older than Per, and yet, they look like they are about the same size. They are both pretty adorable, in my opinion! It was great to catch up with my sisters and really fun to see all of Karen and Dave's kids -- see next post for a couple of pictures. They are so grown up! It was fun to listen to them and watch how they interacted with each other.

The second shot of Per is very typical for him, even though the picture is a month old now. His tongue is constantly sticking out of his mouth, but now he's added a twist -- he curls it up to one side when he sticks it out of his mouth. It's just cute. The frog in the pictures is Berry the Fairy Frog. He was named Berry by Per's cousins Beck and Kaiya, who thought it was very funny that Per was named after a fruit. (Which he wasn't, but to their 6- and 4-year-old minds, he was. Therefore, they gave him a frog also named after a fruit.) I added the Fairy Frog part of the name, partly because it rhymes and partly because he has fairy wings on the back of his shirt for some inexplicable reason. They aren't visible in the pictures, but trust me, they're there. I think he's a very cute frog.

The Art of Grilled Cheese

Not everyone is aware of this, but making a grilled cheese sandwich is an actual art. A few weeks ago, Zak, being the kind husband that he is, offered to make us some sandwiches while I fed Per. This was a welcome offer, since Zak generally does not trust himself to cook anything other than hot dogs or mac & cheese after a mishap with oil and water in a frying pan (the stove was on and quite hot -- let your imagination go!) early on in our marriage.

After the first three sandwiches turned out like those you see on the left, I offered to take over and make the sandwiches, which turned out like those you see on the right. You see? Making grilled cheese sandwiches really is an art.