Lincoln Logs

$2.99 at Goodwill. Lo's new favorite toy.

update: I threw the Lincoln Log set in the trash about a day after blogging this post because the pieces were driving me bonkers getting left all over the house.  Later after Lo went to bed I fished it out of the trash and hid it in my closet.  And then a week later (today) I tentatively brought it back out again only to yet again find myself picking up a billion pieces of miniature logs and stepping on sharp log house roofs and so forth.  So back into the closet it goes.  Not sure why this particular toy is so hard to get cleaned up--Mega Bloks don't give us any trouble. 

Baby Blessing

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we do not baptize or christen babies but men who have the priesthood can give what is known as a blessing. Jerry blessed our sweet little girl about a month ago and even though we waited to do the blessing after our move to California, we were able to have lots of family members present. It was an exciting day!

My cousin Jeff, his wife Gena, and two of their girls (Gwen and Mimi...Emma was home sick).  Not pictured is my cousin Lillie and her family who also came. 

 

My Aunt Gaylene gave our baby this cap.  She wore it during the blessing, and looked a perfect angel with her bright black eyes gazing up at her daddy as he spoke the words of the blessing.  She was awake for the blessing, but quietly alert (yes she is a perfect baby). 

Here she is examining the lace texture.  She is absolutely in the "explore with her hands" phase of babyhood, even grabbing toys and bringing them to her mouth these days. 

I had a coupon for a free print at Sears portraits so we took her there for some more formal shots in her blessing attire.  And for these ones we used a bow on her head instead of the cap.  Her dress was a comfy spandex type of material with lace overlay--we borrowed the dress from my sister.  Thanks Boo! 

Clothing

Have we mentioned that Mr. Lo could dress himself entirely over the past summer (shortly before he turned three years old) but then seemed to lose that skill around the time his baby sister came along. He's recently regained his desire to dress himself. Hallelujah. Here he is wearing a backwards tee because he put it on himself. We thought it was cute. :)

Sorry, not sure why that iphone pic won't stay rotated the correct direction. We had to photograph Mr. Lo wearing sweatpants a few nights ago because he has not willingly put on a pair of pants for nearly a whole year now. Last Spring in Boise, Lo accidentally ran into a patch of cheat grass (sp?) and his pant legs got covered in "poky stickers." Ever since then, he is claims that wearing pants pricks his legs, so he prefers shorts. Plus also, "shorts make people run faster." So anyway, Yes. Momentous occasion for him to don those green sweatpants.  He took them off a few minutes later.   I noticed that dressing Baby Ro in Valentine's apparel last month was easy--girl clothes are all about hearts, pink, loves this and loves that, etc. So this is our girl the night we went to our ward Valentine's party.  I thought she looked sweet, but take note of her patchy hair and realize why I gave in to the temptation to shave it all off.  (sorry still have not uploaded photos of the new baldy). 

Things that made me smile today

1. We went on a walk and stopped at a construction site.  Watching my son watch big trucks is true entertainment. 
2. On said walk, we saw an emerald green hummingbird flitting to and fro among the leaves of a stately eucalyptus tree.  Beautiful.
3. This photo (on nights when Jerry works late and the kids go to bed early, I sit here perusing old photo files to keep from feeling too lonely):

 

4. At the zoo today (yes, we spent a lot of time out of the house today, hooray), my son shared his snacks/lunch generously with a little friend he met there.  I remember reading in the nursery manual awhile back that "kids under the age of 3 yrs. don't have the emotional maturity to understand sharing," or something like that.  And now that Mr. Lo is three years old, I am actually seeing the "sharing capability" unfold.   Effortlessly.  Almost. 
5. "Bruce Willis," Jerry's new nickname for baby girl Ro.  We shaved her head a couple days ago and I'm appalled how much less cute she became instantly.  *sigh* I'd been so bugged by her bald spots prior to the hair cut...but anyway, I love my sweet Husby's take on it. 

Lest anyone wonder how we can afford to live in such a great location...

After that last post--replete with my bragging about the awesomeness of our location--I should add a few details just to give a balanced viewpoint. Our apartment complex is next door to what must be the largest homeless encampment in the Western US (we're talking dozens of tents, teepees, etc with a parking lot and that is just from what I can observe as I drive past). Why don't we save a couple thousand a month on rent/utilities and put up a luxury yurt there I ask you.  We could probably arm it with a guard dog/laser alarm system for less than our monthly rent. Jerry's bike, double-locked (our personal lock plus inside our locked apartment complex bike rack) got stolen less than a week after we bought it.  I recently tried to invite over a woman from church so she could drop off some stuff for my new calling, and when she found out about my neighborhood and that she'd have to park on the street she said, "We can just meet at the church."  And most of my neighbors don't speak English (despite the fact that we asked the apartment manager beforehand and he said they were all "second-generation") so I am having an interesting time making friends within our complex. But seriously, the zoo/amusement park/playscape across the street is a huge plus. :)

random photo of baby Ro just because everybody always wants to see more of her. These are some of Mr. Lo's favorite stuffed animals right now.  They all have good stories behind them. 

We invited our son's sunbeam teacher over for dinner and she lives just two blocks away so she didn't mind our neighborhood :) and she brought this gorgeous arrangement as a housewarming gift.  She is really a sweetheart.

Smorgasbord

Wish we had more recent photos of Ro ready to go. In the meantime...

first bath

skinny newborn legs - a couple months ago

We live across the street from a zoo.

And we live across the street from an amusement park.  All the rides cater to Lo's age range, even this fun roller coaster!

 

And we live across the street from the best playscape imaginable.  

Public Accounting, down one week.

The impetus that drove us to California is that Jerry got a job as an auditor with one of the "Big 4 Accounting Firms," following his dream career path. It really is an adventure and we are grateful for this opportunity--but of course moving,having a baby and starting a new job all at once is sort of rocking our world. The first two weeks of work sent Jerry to an out of town training, and the third week (his first time really on the job) has been like getting dunked in an ice bath. Jerry worked a couple of 16 hour days, even a day where he left our house a bit after 8am and got home around 4am.  I held down the homefront miraculously well--saw the hand of God countless times supporting and sustaining.  But we miss that Jerry!  So here I am, needing to catch up on the piles of laundry, dishes and sleep while the kids are napping, but instead I took some sentimental moments to gaze at photos of my man. Sure do miss him. 

Silly hair with Lo.

I love that Jerry likes baby wearing.  Also, I love that clothespin--evidence of Jerry's inventive/frugal nature.  (he didn't want to splurge on a pacifier clip from the store.  i finally convinced him the clothespin was not safe, lol). 

We survived our first week of public accounting.  

Did I mention we moved to California.

Year 2012 was all about "HOME." We moved back HOME with my parents while Jerry returned to school, Baby Ro gave us the HOMEbirth of our dreams, and we made our HOME in four different states (Ohio, Idaho, Texas, back to Idaho, and finally ending up in California). All within the year 2012. Our main goal for 2013 is to NOT move. But this latest move has been remarkable in many ways. My cousin Lillie lives near us now, and she has watched over our little family for the past couple weeks like a guardian angel. More details to follow in a later post. But for now, here's our first week in California, photo style:

Spent New Year's at the Carmel beach house.

Cousin Lillie, practically perfect in every way. 

Sums up the feeling at Carmel.

Why yes I am the only one in this hot tub who is over the age of 7.  Pretty sure the younger kids all nearly drowned a few times each, but I pulled them up again and again...

We kept trying for a family photo at China Cove, but Mr. Lo was TERRIFIED of the kelp that had washed ashore so he wasn't being very cooperative in the photo effort. 

Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

Nursing on the trails.  Sweet baby girl is shaping up to be just as chubby as her older brother was. 

My mom spent her 50th with us!  She was a huge help getting us there and settled. 

Sorry for the lack of posting lately...

Just busy being pregnant and raising a 2-year-old. Also, have internet/computer inconveniences in our current apartment, so I have a hard time motivating myself to get online much. Love you all!

Nomads

We moved. Again. About 12 months ago, we moved from one town in Ohio to another. Then, 8 months ago we moved from Ohio to Idaho. 4 months ago, we had a move from Idaho to Texas. And now here we are in Idaho again, moving into yet another new apartment. All the transitions have been rough on Mr. Lo (FOUR moves in one year!!), so I started praying for God to give my poor child some compensatory blessings. Enter: the Tender Mercy Kangaroo. The day we drove out of Texas about a month ago, we dropped by the library to return our twenty-some-odd books. During our 5 minutes dropping by the library, we walked into the room where a gal was doing the end-o-summer reading party grand prize drawing. Lo Lo walked into the room literally as his name got drawn from the hat--he won a prize! I said, "Oh, he's here!" and my excited toddler bounded up to receive his gift of kangaroo and book. He hugged and kissed the kangaroo all the way back to the car, and it has proved to be a true comfort to him ever since then. He's cuddling it in his sleep right at this moment. :)