Three Years

I usually post about Will, I know. It's easy to gush about babies and all their precious doings. It is less easy for me to say how I feel about the most important man in my life. When we were dating and it was all fascination and excitement, it was easy to tell people I liked him.

And when I fell hard for him, I kept my mouth closed a bit. This man's love has humbled me. I hardly know how to tell anyone how strongly I feel for him--as though just speaking about how blessed I feel, God will think I'm boasting and think of some awful way to humble me. Before him, I didn't know men this honorable and kind existed in this world. And I didn't know that anyone was so unfailingly nice. He always tries to do the right thing by people, and he talks about it like it's his duty, a solemn responsibility--not just this thing we do because it's a good idea. He honors his priesthood and his covenants. And he's definitely the smartest person I know.

And yet while many of these things are the reasons I fell in love with him in the first place, the thing that keeps me loving him is all that we've shared since. I know that "all that we've shared since" is a vague label for specific things that, no, I'm not going to share with you. That's our history, our secret, our own sacred path. It's ours. He's here. And I'm so thankful for that. Love you, babe. Happy three years tomorrow.

The Amazing Blur

These days, this is mostly what I see of my son:

He is always, always moving. And he talks about as much as he walks. But it's all right with me. I love his sweet little voice. I'm amazed at how much he understands, but every time I ask him if he wants to go on a walk, he goes to the front door, and when I ask if he wants to take a bath, he goes to the bath tub. He's so smart, and he's really trying to say "Mama" which just makes me happy. Sweet kid. He loves, loves strawberries and yogurt (but not together, as I found out yesterday). Still thinking of ways to beef him up a bit. My recent good ideas have been full-fat Greek yogurt (also one of MY new indulgences) and pudding. Since he's only got four teeth (his two bottom, and his two upper "vampire" teeth) it's tricky. But I learned the other day he likes turkey lunch meat so that'll be a good addition. This boy is so skinny his pants are always falling down while he runs around.

We bought him a floating toy for the pool, and took him swimming for the first time last week. He seemed unsure at first, but after a short while of Mom and Dad showing all the funny things you can do in a pool, he decided he liked it just fine, and some of the TF neighbors came out to hear the laughing baby. I have to have my camera on "sport" mode to catch him at all, which is why some of these are a little grainy. But, finally, a couple of still shots. :)

He reminds me so much of someone in this photo and I can't figure out who. I think it's the eyes. My dad, maybe? My brother Rob? Can you believe those eyes? Gorgeous kid.

Adventures in Tingeyland

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I've posted anything! Things have been busy lately. I've hardly had a moment to relax, so you can bet I wouldn't use it catching all y'all up. Love ya, but you know, I also love sleep.

First, we headed west for the Tingey family reunion in Rio Vista. The whole family was there, meeting up for the last time before Nick leaves on his mission to the Seattle, WA mission. Yay for Nick! Also, my brother-in-law Joe got engaged that weekend to the lovely Victoria. I have the greatest sisters-in-law and it seems Victoria will be no exception, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better. We had lots of fun with the family, taking the kids one day to ride on a train (I got car sick on the way up the mountain and opted to be photographer and stay firmly on the platform). We also had a family Easter egg hunt. We especially enjoyed getting out of the gunky SLC weather into the more temperate climate of the Sacramento River delta. This only reinforces our suspicion that once school is through, we need to make our way to a warmer climate ("Oh we're going to a hukilau, a huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau..."). I love, love, LOVE getting to know my sisters-in-law better. You girls are the best! All my in-laws are amazing people. I'm always so touched by their gestures of selflessness not only to us but to all the members of their communities. These are awesome people, and I'm humbled to be part of the clan. I also got some great story ideas from some experiences while there--things that will work nicely in a story idea that's been mulling around in my head for quite a while. So, who knows? Maybe I'll pick up a pen again for the first time in... I don't even remember how long it's been.

Will got his first and second colds. One from his cousin Henry, and the other from his Pop-pop (Grandpa Higgs). The first one was mild and not much to worry about, but the second one had us worried as it came with a stubborn fever that took a couple of days to break. Luckily, we had Will's year check-up scheduled already, so we were able to have the doc assure us that: no, he doesn't have an ear infection; and, no, we don't have to worry about him choking to death on his phlegm in his sleep (hey, we're first-time parents; everything scares us). I did my first up-all-nighter with Will, comforting him so he could sleep. Really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, though I'm still catching up on sleep. But he's invented a new cry since getting sick that is driving me and Chris nuts. It's a fake cry designed to make us give in to his every whim by striking just the right nerve that curdles our spines and makes us long for nails on a chalk board.

Nevertheless. Our once tall and skinny boy for his age is now only skinny. His refusal to eat his formula for almost a month I think cost him a growth spurt, and his weight has fallen off his growth chart. He's not even 18 lbs, which is only the 1%. He's 29.25 inches which is the 32%. His length used to hover more around the 60-75%. So as far as I'm concerned, now that we're into solid foods, I'm going to try to make them pack a caloric punch. I'm thinking healthy foods that naturally have healthy fats (bananas, milk, avocados, peanut butter) paired with other foods to help the poor boy stay regular (grape juice, pears, sweet potatoes and Miralax, which our doc informed us was originally formulated with infants in mind--who knew?). Aside from all this, the doc gave him a clean bill of health and says he's developmentally advanced for his age, so that's good news, because, you know, we are in fact trying to raise a genius to take over the world.

My mom came in to town over her Spring Break to teach me some of the fancy-schmancy things she's learned in culinary school. In the end, we only got around to homemade soft pretzels (YUM!) but we had heaps of fun. She also received externship offers from EVERY one of the bakeries she applied at, but has settled on a lovely little bakery called Les Madeleines close to the city library. This bakery is quite the thing, really. It's even been spotlighted on the Food Network, because the woman who runs it makes this really rare pastry called a kouign amann. So. Delicious. Probably worth wrecking your diet over every single time. And it doesn't even have chocolate in it.

And last but not least, Will turned ONE last week! We had some friends and family over for cake and ice cream. Even Sam and Laura and Andrew came down from Logan to join the festivities. Will loved his cake which he dressed himself in from head to toe. We bought him a family membership to the Discovery Gateway children's museum a few blocks away, and my parents bought him a family membership to the zoo. This means lots of adventures for our little family, especially this summer when the weather is good and we want to be outside wandering around the zoo (you know, something tells me it's all happening at the zoo. I do believe it. I do believe it's true! Oooooh, Ohhhhh). The fun thing about the pass to the children's museum is that we discovered that it gets us into many many museums across the country, including a few in California where Chris said he used to go to on field trips.

So anyway, those are the most recent haps. Hope y'all are doing well.

Daydream Believer

Does anyone else out there decorate their dream home in their minds? I find myself doing this a lot lately. A lot. I've always been a daydreamer (this is mainly what fuels my creative writing projects, though lately my dreams at night have been fascinating story ideas), but lately, probably because of the weather, I've been daydreaming a lot more about all kinds of things. These are what I entertain myself with while I try to fall asleep:

This is the bedroom I'm currently daydreaming about. When I saw this on the Real Simple Web site, I sat and stared at it a good 5 minutes before realizing that that's our bed frame! So recreating this actual room is somewhat possible! The only thing I don't really care for is the bed spread, which the caption says is really the whole point of this design. In this room, I'd opt for a bed spread that was plain, and go for a piece of art that drew attention. I love the flowers on the night stand for a splash of color. And decorating with books is ALWAYS beautiful. I read an article in their magazine once that showed you how to use fun, vintage books to make-what else?-a book shelf.

This is where we spent our honeymoon. In a word, perfect. I'm pretty sure I have thought about this place every day since we got home almost 3 years ago! We're thinking of Oahu for grad school, so let's all keep our fingers crossed, eh? Mahalo.

Last but not least, this. Lots and lots of yarn to open an Etsy shop, and I LOVE knitting with cotton, as well as bamboo and merino-cashmere blends. Baby blankets, washcloths. MAYBE hats. MAYBE scarves for adults. And once I'm a little more refined in my sewing skills, cute applique tote bags as well. Things that are simple, essential and everyday. Function, meet beauty and elegance. That's my vision in a nutshell.

Walk On, Walking Man

My little boy is taking steps. This is from last week, and since then he's only grown more confident. He can take several, albeit awkward, steps in a row before plopping down. He's naturally pretty cautious, so the walking so far has actually been less traumatic than the cruising. I'm so excited for him to be running around. People say, "But when he's walking, then he'll be in to EVERYTHING!" Which is a moot point, since this kid is already in to everything he could be into if he were walking anyway. Walking child=Mom without back pain.

I'm just so excited with every bit of progress he makes, and he's starting to become our little mimic and it's too funny. He "pops popcorn" when we sing the "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree;" sings and jumps to his own version of "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam;" and just tonight he threw up his arms triumphantly when we sang, "Hurrah, hurrah!" in "The Ants Go Marching." He's definitely understanding language a lot better, and it's fun to hear him try to say things. He definitely says, "Yes!" and nods, which is surprising, considering how much he hears, "No!" Although today, when Chris asked him if he was from Mars, and Will emphatically nodded and replied, "Yes," I realized that, while he is definitely agreeing to something, it's obvious he's not always sure what. It's interesting how much your tone and intonation communicate without any words at all. When we carry him around places, he points to things, and asks, "What's this? What's this?" He also says, "that."