Havin' a ball!

Until recently, I was a little worried about Afton's lack of vocab. But she has debuted her first word (besides mama and dada)! She says "BALL" every time she sees something spherical. She loves balls- little balls, big balls, even my big pregnant belly- to her- is a "BALL!". As we walked into the store the other day, she excitedly started reaching for the big red balls along the sidewalk at Target saying "BALL! BALL! BALL!" I guess since it's the only thing she knows how to say, she's enjoying being able to say it. :o)

In other news (does something need to be qualified as news-worthy in order to be called "news"?...), my mom and I recently re-upholstered my couch. YAY us! (mostly YAY for my mom! Who is ridiculously talented and industrious- and generously helpful with her time--- you rock mom!)

Before
(please disregard the super-messy living room, and focus instead on the couch.
If you can't tell, those are reeds, cattails, and loons in the weave of that purple-based fabric)

During...

...And After- Ta-dah!

Oh, and one last tidbit. I got a new MacBook Pro for my birthday! (I'm feeling a little guilty and spoiled just tying that- hehe) So now I get to venture into the world of Mac and see what this little baby can do! So far, I'm impressed (and slightly creeped out) with the face recognition bit in iPhoto... so cool.... how does it do that?!!?

I am dweeb- hear me ROAR!

I am admittedly a huge dweeb. And I find that sometimes, the things that bring me pleasure are just absurd.

Yesterday, after finishing this project and standing back to look at it, I literally chuckled. I thought to myself, "now THIS is a total dweeb moment!".

Most of you who have children know that over the course of that first year, you can go through quite a few canisters of infant formula. For some reason, I saved a bunch of those empty canisters with the intention of reusing them for something. I got this desk from my cousin, who was giving it away, to use as a sewing/craft/hobby desk and storage spot. The side of it has little shelves that are just the right size, and I have a bajillion little craft/hobby items that needed to be organized and put away. And thus, a formula-can storage system was born.

I spray painted the cans & lids white, and used the old paper label strip that was on the formula cans as a template to cut strips of wrapping paper to wrap around them. One can contains cutting utensils (exacto-knife, whole punch, scissors, etc.), another is filled with ribbons. There's a can filled with sewing thread, one with rubber stamps, another with a rainbow of ink pads, one for jewelry-making stuff... and so on.

Now, as I was chuckling, I was also a bit nostalgic. It made me think of my grandpa and grandma Wasche, who both had a knack for making things no one else would think to make. My Grandma could make pretty much anything out of yarn- and she would if she so desired (have you ever seen an air freshener wearing a crocheted dress?!). And Grandpa was just the type to hold onto seemingly useless things (think formula cans) until just the right purpose came along. I loved and miss them, and am thankful for all of the wonderful and quirky things that made them special.

Let the countdown begin!

This baby is due in 88 days!
I do not have any names picked out. I haven't unpacked a single brand-new-baby item. I am nowhere near ready, but am not worried about it either.

The one thing I have done in preparation for the arrival of baby #3 is submit my official resignation from work! Now, I have never not worked- with the exception of a few months of unemployment- and am not sure this whole stay-at-home-mom thing is really my cup o' tea. I have a lot of mixed feelings about it, but I feel like I need to at least give it a fair shot.

I added a "pregnancy countdown widget" to my blog, which is fine... cool... neato! But what I'd really like to do is put a countdown widget for my last day of work on here instead. Unfortunately, all of my Googling and Binging returned no results for any of the following:
"bye-bye-lifeless-gray-cubicle countdown widget"
"sayonara suckers! countdown widget"
"countdown to freedom widget"
"you couldn't pay me enough to stick around widget"
Hmmm.... too bad. :-P

Let the good times roll (or walk, rather)!

Afton, at 12 months old, is walking.
She's taken plenty of steps over the last month or so- a couple here, a couple there- but yesterday was the first day on which I saw her actually walk from point A to point B with balance and intention. :-)

It's hard to believe these little people are growing so fast. In a few months, we'll be adding another little munchkin to the crew. And I'm sure this next child will grow just as fast as Gillian and Afton have. Time to strap on my running shoes- they are going to be tough to keep up with!

Milestone Memories

When my first child was still growing in my belly, I was so sure I'd want to document every milestone... every new ability... every first. I had a baby-book, with adorable little illustrations of bunnies and choo-choo-trains and teddy bears. The kind that has content, like "When I first found out I was pregnant, I felt ____________". I went through and carefully, thoughtfully filled in every page and blank up until the birth page. Then she came out and like a whirlwind she tore through all my good intentions. I guess I was spending too much time working and caring for her and enjoying her to keep up with the book so while I have some vague idea, I have no record of when she first rolled over, sat up, crawled, had her first haircut, grew her first tooth... I don't even know what her first word was!

The second time around, I knew better than to waste any money on the cheesy baby-book. But because I regret all the things I just don't remember, I was really convinced that I'd make an effort to jot these things down this time. But here I sit, my one year old baby sleeping upstairs, already having forgotten exactly what happened when. She was born... eventually she giggled... one day she could sit up... she popped out a tooth... she's popped out several more since... started sleeping through the night at some point... crawled sometime after that... said "mama" and "dada", but I'm not sure which one first... and she's already on to taking steps!

Now, I'm sure I'm not the first mom to have missed some milestones, but I feel incredibly guilty and a little frantic about it. I can't ever rewind and pinpoint the exact day that something happened, and memories fade and warp over time.
For instance, when I think back and remember Gillian, at 18 months old, singing the alphabet- in tune- in the back seat, I may be remembering it all wrong. Perhaps it was really Twinkle-Twinkle... maybe it was off key... what if it never even happened?! I have no proof! No evidence! No record!

So, I find I have two choices. I can either come to the realization that I'm not the only one (please tell me I'm not the only one who stinks at these things!), or I can make a very good effort to do better. And so I will be journaling milestones in my blog (oh goodie for you, huh?). I'm not trying to pretend that these milestones are particularly interesting to anyone else, except maybe a few Grandmas, but this is a convenient way for me to pop up pics and have a saved, dated record of happenings.

So here's one: Afton has recently began taking steps. The first one was back on April 27th, and I've been waiting for an official "she's a walker!" moment... but, well... she's really not that motivated. You can tell that she knows she'll get there faster on hands and knees than on her feet. Smart girl, I say. Nevertheless, we've been trying to encourage the upright mode of transportation because, well, you know, she's gotta get used to it sooner or later, right?

Gillian is outside planting veggies with Joel in the garden. She has so much fun outside with Daddy. Yesterday was our 2nd anniversary (I know!), and we took a nice long bike ride with the girls. Afton rode in the bike-cart that tows behind Joel's bike, and Gillian rode her own bike. She kept up pretty well and we went about 8 miles. Family bike rides are some of my very favorite times. :o)

So that's all I've got at the moment. Hopefully it will be nowhere near as much time before my next post.

To boldly go...

This is new... a wetting of feet, really.

This is not a blog for those who dislike ellipses as I use them abundantly.

This is a log of ponderings, observations and opinions of a young wife and mother of two girls, who finds herself living a much more mundane and yet fulfilling life than she had imagined.

Perhaps it is best that I start with the traditional introduction. I am Emily. I was Emily then, and went through a phase or two as Emily, and now find myself still Emily. I am somehow not who I was then, and was not then who I am now. But I have always been me, regardless.

I started out, as many people do, with a naive idea of accomplishing everything in it's correct order. I would, of course, start out by completing a substantial education. I would then land a fulfilling career, marry the man of my dreams, own a home together, and have beautiful children. But.... I kind of messed up the order of the events on the agenda.

Actually, I maintained their order, but went at it in a backwards sort of way. I started at the end, and have not yet reached the start. So here I find myself having had a beautiful child, then marrying the man of my dreams and owning a home together, then having another beautiful child... but that's as far as I've gotten.

I guess there is a reason to do things in this socially, religiously, morally imposed manner. For, having started at the end, I realize that those first few steps are much more easily taken without the collateral of the last few.

I am more than satisfied with my backwardly approached life. I am incredibly blessed and completely in love with my family, and though I would not necessarily recommend the route I took to get here, I would not backpedal if I were given the option.

So my life is a collage instead of a portrait... love instead of luxury if that makes any sense.

My husband Joel is, without a doubt, the one God put on this earth for me. He is amazingly genuine. Over and over, through the years I've known him, this has been the word I've found to most accurately describe him... to describe just what it is that makes him so different from any other man I've known. Never wavering- never acting. He is who he is, day after day after day. Kind, generous, patient, steadfast... genuine. He is my one love.

My daughter Gillian is now 5. She is my wonderful, rambunctious, brilliant, creative pride and joy. She makes me feel old. I am not old enough to have a child who can read... who can tell me about how we are not made in China or the USA, but by God... who might proclaim to be "incredibly frustrated!"... am I?! It seems like just a season ago she was a tiny, pudgy baby with big, smiley brown eyes and wispy pigtails atop her head.

We were not necessarily planning on Afton... but then, we weren't NOT panning on her either, so she was not too big of a surprise. She was born just less than a year after we were married, and is just the most perfect, smiley, adorable gift God could have given our family. She's 6 months old and is growing much too quickly. If anyone knows how to slow these kids down, please advise.

So, now you've wasted a substantial amount of time reading about me. The sad part is, if you are reading this, you probably already knew most of it and have gained no real insight. But THAT is my point. This blog is not likely to enlighten the reader. I am not a knowledgeable or even opinionated person, really. If you must have a motive for reading this blog, let it be for your pure amusement. And from here on out, I will try to find more amusing things to blog about.

:o)