Some Lessons

I learned some lessons last week.

Lesson #1
One of my fears as a mother really isn't as bad as I thought it would be.


When I heard a loud yelp followed by lots of crying from the kitchen I figured it had something to do with the electrical outlet, because the only other time I'd heard Elizabeth sound like that was the time she shocked herself by touching a plug that was half out of the outlet. Needless to say, I was quited shocked when I went in and found this. I always thought this kind of thing would kill a kid. Thankfully, it doesn't.

Lesson #2
Stew Meat is called STEW meat for a reason.

I had a busy day Tuesday and knew that I wanted to make Stroganoff using stew meat. I wanted to cook the meat for a long time, but didn't have time because it was frozen, so I figured, it wouldn't be that bad sauteed. It was one of the culinary disasters of my life. So tough, Nate was teasing me that it sounded like I was eating corn nuts. So I took the rest of the meat and simmered it in beef broth and by 10:30 that night, it was tender, moist, and falling apart. The leftovers were quite yummy.

Lesson #3
If you move into a brand new church building and they want to have an open house and ask your auxiliary to make a SIMPLE display and they keep stressing to keep it SIMPLE, it's probably because they know that no one will come to the open house and don't want you to feel bad that you (or in this case, mostly your wonderfully talented secretary) went to a lot of trouble to make it really nice.

Well, they should have know that Mormon women generally don't keep things simple and are incapable of NOT doing our best and making things look beautiful. So I am posting in on my blog so that someone other than the ONE non-member family who came in the THREE hours that we sat there can see it!

Lesson #4

My son is very tender-hearted and sentimental.

Okay, I already knew this, but when downloading pictures from my camera, I found this one from when I was in CA.

He fell asleep holding one of the love notes I had hidden in his sock drawer for him to find while I was gone. If that's not the sweetest thing. . .

Reminded me of when Nate started school again after winter break last year and Harrison was quite distraught not to be able to say goodnight to him. This picture was the next best thing.

Lesson #5

Even the freezing cold weather we've been having doesn't motivate this girl to keep her clothes on.

Maybe the beanie will make up for the lack of all other clothing.

Lesson # 6
Never underestimate the cooking skills of a bachelor.

One of Nate's friends from school and work threw a "dinner party" this weekend. Well, I assumed this guy was married and his wife would be cooking. When I found out he was a bachelor and all the other people would be single, my expectations went way down and I assumed we'd be having pizza or something grilled.

Turns out, this guy's little brother is the executive chef a restaurant and has taught him a thing or two. We had caprese salad, eggplant parmesan, ravioli with butternut squash sauce, garlic bread, and carrot cake. It was better than a restaurant and I was in heaven.

I told Nate that Matt is now my new favorite friend of his and that we need to do whatever it takes to get a return invite over there. Whoever said the the way to a man's heart was through his stomach just hadn't met me yet.

Side note: I get a little nervous going to social events with people who are close to my age, but not in the same stage of life as me. Knowing I'd be the only married, stay at home mom, who doesn't drink or swear, and is pregnant with her third child made me feel a little self-conscious. It doesn't help when Nate says things like, "Can you make sure you look really cute? Why don't you curl your hair (um, okay) and be sure to wear something that makes you look really pregnant (read: not just fat)." When I obliged he was so funny saying that's exactly how he was picturing me to look and that he felt sorry for me because when I introduce people to him it's like saying, "Hey guys look at my new Civic," but when he introduces people to me it's like saying, "Hey, look at my new Acura 3X" (or something like that, some nicer car.) That was so much sweeter than his last car analogy. When I said that it takes me so much longer to show that some pregnant women he said, "Well, if you shove a bunch of stuff into a Civic, you'd totally be able to notice, but if you stuck the same amount of stuff into an Expedition it really wouldn't make a difference." Wow honey. An Expedition? Apparently, I'm morbidly obese when compared with a small woman. I proceeded to argue my case that I would be more like a PT Cruiser (size wise -- not that I like those cars). I also told him that if I die and he remarries, he better make sure she has a really thick skin, or just not say stuff like that. Don't worry, my self-esteem is fully intact and I still love him.


Lesson #7
If you've already been to 3 hours of church that day and you're considering taking the children back to an hour long dedication for your brand new church building, but your husband can't go with you -- JUST DON'T GO.





Sure she looks pretty cute and innocent here, right before we left, but let's just say it ended with me dragging both kids out during the closing song because I couldn't take one more minute of their shenanigans while Harrison loudly yelled, "Am I going to get a spank? I don't want to get a spank!"

I guess that's better than what he said while I was bearing my testimony earlier that day. Thankfully not loud enough for me to hear all the way at the pulpit, but reportedly loud enough for several of the rows around us to hear. When Nate picked him up off the ground in an attempt to keep him from brutalizing Elizabeth, Harrison said, "Ow, that hurts my nuts!"

I'm sure this week will be full of even more of the wonderful lessons that come along with being a wife and mother!

Wedding Weekend

Last weekend I flew to California for my cousin, JR's, wedding. My parents, my sister Laura, my brother Andrew, and my brother Travis and his wife Kat(e) came too. Plus a whole bunch of other extended family members. We had a great time. Beautiful weather. The prettiest part of California that I've been to (Irvine/Newport Beach). A touching sealing of two wonderful (and gorgeous) people that waited a long time to find each other. Fun times with family. And lots of good food.

Laura, my mom, and me after the rehearsal dinner.

My best cousin, Suzanne, and me at the rehearsal dinner.

A bunch of us outside the beautiful Newport Beach Temple.

Lovely angle and posture from yours truly.

Suzanne, Kat(e) and I are all pregnant. Laura wanted in on the fun too.

Suzanne is due at the beginning of December, Kat(e) is due the beginning of January and I'm due at the beginning of February! We're all having boys and hope that they'll be the best of cousins!

The reception was on a boat called "The Eternity." How appropriate! Here's the immediate fam that was there, although it's hard to see all the way to the end of the row.

This was during the "cocktail" hour.

Laura, me and Kat(e), who was sampling the "Thulin Tango."

Andrew, Laura and I. The shrimp appetizer was the culinary highlight of the night for me.

Me and my sis!

It's funny how much we all stressed about our outfits for this "black tie optional" event. I felt like I was getting ready for the red carpet. Then we got there and realized 1) there was quite a variety in people's interpretation of "black tie optional" (not that mine was all that fancy, but really, one guy showed up in skinny jeans and converse) and 2) it's not the red carpet. No one is analyzing every detail of your outfit from the jewelry to the shoes. Even though it was stressful (especially for a pregnant lady who is in the mostly-looking-just-fat stage), it was fun getting all dressed up. Thanks to my friend Tamara for lending me the purple (very "in" color right now, for those who haven't noticed) dress, and some other cute stuff for the weekend!

The fashion police would have probably dogged on my choice of hairstyles. I wanted to do something fancier than my everyday look, so I forced Kat(e) to curl it for me and she did as well as possible with my annoying hair. For me, going curly is always a crap shoot as to how it's going to turn out. So then we put it half up and I felt like I really didn't look like me. I felt bad that I had wasted so much of Kat(e)'s time and didn't want her to feel bad that I didn't love it. Then I was in a funk. I wished I had just left it straight and put it half up like Laura (seriously, I just need to always do whatever she does - I always end up liking her choices about things like that better). Kat(e) pointed out that most people don't look like their normal selves at these kind of events. And Laura pointed out that I am the most indecisive and annoying decision maker ever. Very true. Alright, enough with the vanity.

Love my cousins! Zannie, Steph, me, and Laura.

Here we are with the happy couple. Shae was the most beautiful bride!

The next day we walked around Laguna Beach. We tried to do a cute phone booth picture, but it didn't work out quite as I envisioned it.

We went in an art gallery that had all this original Dr. Seuss art work. My kids love Horton Hears a Who, so I had to take a picture with Horton for them.

We went to BJ's to have the original pizookie (pizza/cookie). A friend told me about these and I have been making my own version of it for years. But I had to have the real thing at least once. Mine are just as good and a lot cheaper.

The disturbing part about BJ's was at the end when I was waiting in line for the bathroom and I saw a sign at the very back of the restaurant that said something along the lines of: Some food at this restaurant contains chemicals that the state of California has linked to causing cancer and birth defects.

Um. Okay. I'm glad to know that now that we're done eating. Especially seeing as how I'm pregnant. I mean, the pizookie was good, but if I have a baby with 3 heads because of it, I'm going to be pretty ticked. Maybe next time you could inform me of that BEFORE I start eating. Or here's a better idea, how about we don't put any chemicals in the food that we know cause cancer and birth defects!!!

Other than that (and seeing Fame, which should have been titled Lame), we had a great weekend! It was so great to spend time with so much family! Thanks mom and dad for the hotel room, food, and movie.

It was great to see Nate and the kids again. I missed my kids like crazy, but it only took about an hour for the reality of having children to set back in (fits, fights, etc)!

It's a. . .

BOY!!!

We are all thrilled. I am so happy and feeling a little guilty, but so grateful, that this has all been so easy. We tried once (literally) and got exactly what we wanted! Nate is smug, just like he was with Harrison, because he thought sure it was a boy, both times. Harrison keeps saying he's really excited that it's a boy and Elizabeth says she's happy too!

So our record is still good. We're 3 for 3 now! Dr. Shettles and

Nate's boss, who let him come home from his business trip for one day,

thank you very much!

Now the pressure is really on to have a girl next! Nate says he's fine with 3 boys and 1 girl, but I really want another girl at the end! As always, we'll keep you posted with more info than you probably ever wanted!

His name will be Jonathan Masahisa Watabe. Nathan Masahisa Watabe has very high hopes for this kid (notice they're names are only off by two letters).

Jonny, we anxiously await your arrival!

Changes

In true Colorado fashion, we sent summer out with a bang. On yesterday, the last day of the season, it snowed and got REALLY cold!

I had forgotten what cold really feels like and had to laugh that I thought all the cute, short sleeved maternity shirts I've been buying on clearance would last through this whole pregnancy. I guess now I need to invest in a long-sleeved maternity undershirt to go under all the shirts. Or a sweater. Probably both.

Anyway, for those who have not had any interaction with me in the past month (because believe me, it's about all I can talk about) I have my ultrasound tomorrow and get to finally find out the gender of this baby.

I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I do not understand how people can wait twice as long as they have to to find out. I am bummed that I've had to wait the full 20 weeks (I'm officially half-way done, bytheway), when the gender can be seen at at 14/16 weeks. This information is life-changing. And I want to start planning and envisioning those life-changes, ASAP. I still feel really strongly that it's a boy, but I may be surprised.

The other day Elizabeth told me she'd cry if the baby was a boy. Then she overheard me telling my mom that. So she said, "No, if the baby's a boy, I'll be happy and if the baby's a girl, I'll be happy, but if the baby's a monster, I'll run away." Well, I thought that was about the funniest thing I had heard, so I proceeded to recount the story to several people. Now she knows I think it's funny, so she says it all the time.

Harrison has also said that he will be happy either way. Nate has strongly expressed that he wants another boy. Period. I really do want another boy, because I want Harrison to have a brother and he's not getting any younger. Plus, I grew up with boy/girl/boy/girl/boy/girl, and liked it, so I wanted the same (minus the last two). But finding out there would be more pink and bows and bracelets in my future would be an easy pill to swallow. And then Elizabeth would have a sister only 3 years apart. As I stated in a previous post, we want one more of each anyway, so really it's fine either way.

Stayed tuned for the answer tomorrow. And pray the baby cooperates.

Sugar and Spice

Still not in the mood for posting about the distant past.

I think every mother of a little girl, who is at all girly herself, relishes in moments like this. Last week, this little doll had her first dance class.

Did I have future visions of an interview of her on So You Think You Can Dance saying, "I've been dancing since I was 2 1/2?" Oh yes, I did. Although, I have mixed feelings about my daughter wearing some of those costumes, and doing some of those moves, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

For the time being, this outfit that we borrowed from sweet Mina, was about the cutest thing I'd ever seen.

I was happy that she didn't cry or make a fuss about being left there. Although I did have to reassure her that I'd be right upstairs.

Her teacher has a video camera set up in her basement that feeds to the TV in her family room, so the moms can watch. So sweet!

If you have trouble spotting her, she's the only brunette in the class.

She wasn't too thrilled about the hair do. I wondered why I didn't do it like that more often. And then I remembered how much she cried while I did it and ripped it out soon after we got home.

I had to bribe her with candy for the post-dance pictures.

Speaking of candy, this little girl is proving to be a little less "sugar" and a little more "spice" lately. She is super sneaky and makes more messes that I can manage.

Some cases in point:

The other day she wanted a piece of candy. Then she said she needed one for Harrison too. Wanting to encourage sharing and thoughtfulness, I obliged. Later Harrison came up asking for candy. "Didn't Elizabeth already give you one?" "No." Well, at least she's not dumb.

The last two times I've watched people's kids, she has gone through the bag their mother has left for them and pilfered out whatever goodies she can find for herself. One day I found a very cute Princess Pull-Up that was Averi's in with Elizabeth's diapers. Another time she went through Logan's lunch, took out his gogurt, pudding, and fruit snacks, went to one of her sneaky hiding places and opened them all. I quickly caught on to the gogurt and pudding, but had no idea about the fruit snacks until I was telling Mina about it and she said, "I think there were fruit snacks in there too." Sure enough I found the wrapper to the fruit snacks shoved in a cupboard a few days later.

The other night Nate said, "There's a stain on the carpet in the office and I can't get it out." I asked, "Well what is it?" He said, "I have no idea." Then Elizabeth matter-of-factly declared, "It's lipstick." So I said, "Oh, did you put lipstick on the carpet?" "No, but somebody did."

(FYI - Grandma's Secret Spot Remover, found in the check out lanes of some fabric/craft/home decor stores, got it all out.)

Although this wasn't sneaky or messy, it was funny, so I want to document it. Tonight the wind caused the door to their room to suddenly slam, which led to much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I went in to comfort them and once Elizabeth calmed down she said, "That willy (really) freaked us out. So bad." That cracked me up. Then she said, "When Daddy gets home you gotta tell him that the door closed and I cried and he'll say, 'Awwww.' And 'Oh my gosh.'"

She is talking SO much. She's more and more grown up every day. She ends a lot of things with, "Okay?" And, "Wight?" She told a little boy at the store today that "We hag (have) a new TV." (That's one of the past posts I need to do.) And, "When you're on the hepane (airplane) you got to stay buckled or the bad guys will come get you." Nate came up with that scare tactic and it worked really well. The flight attendants really do act like bad guys sometimes.

She's completely obsessed with my friend Julie (who all children adore because she's the sweetest person ever.) Anyway, she always wants to see Julie and talks about Julie and tells me that her name is Julie and to call her Julie. When she's not being Julie, she's either being a doctor or a puppy, and insists on being called by those names. "Mommy say, 'Thank you, Doctor. Say, it's time to go now, Doctor.'" The puppy routine is complete with several licks on the face.

Anyway, she's a very funny girl. Let's just hope that most of this spice passes quickly and we're left with all the sugar, because when she's not spilling things or sneaking things, she sure is sweet!

To Go Forward or Back?

Blogging, like scrap booking (which I long ago gave up on) presents quite a dilemma. Catch up before you move on? Or just start where you are and keep moving forward? I am feeling a little tired of having a huge list of posts hanging over my head. But I DO want to eventually get to them. This is my only source of family history, after all.


But sometimes I also want to live in the now. And sometimes I need to ramble on about my own thoughts and feelings to remember that this is my blog, and not just a record of everything my darling children do and say.


So I will say that Nate has again returned from one of his two week "business" trips to Santa Maria. Have I mentioned how old these trips are getting? He has taken an exorbitant amount of them this year, all of which have been at least 2 weeks long!


This one was especially distressing because I am pregnant, and tired, we were all sick when he left, and I had a lot of things to do that required me to leave the kids with various friends and babysitters more often than I wanted to.


The morning Nate left, Harrison get really choked up when saying goodbye and then ran up to his room and buried his head in his pillow, crying. Now if that's not heartbreaking, I don't know what is. We all missed him very much.


Nate got back Saturday and I went on a girl's night out with my friend Libby and her friend Jenny. I felt kind of bad ditching Nate, but 1) we had been planning it since July and the date was picked out before his trip was scheduled and 2)he just wanted to watch the BYU game anyway (which I'm actually a little sad I missed, but I watched the highlights on ESPN with Nate's commentary) and 3)I deserved a break, goshdangit!. So we went to see Julie & Julia which I really loved. Especially the part when Julia Child's SWEETEST husband was trying to help her figure out her passion in life and she said, "I love to eat." Now that is a girl I can relate with! Speaking of eating, I was STARVED by the end of two hours of watching people cook and eat amazing food. So when we went to a yummy Italian restaurant after, I ate to my heart's content.


Today, I also took advantage of having a husband again and went shopping for some maternity clothes. Namely a dress to wear to a black tie wedding in 2 weeks. Let me say that for a person who wants to dress modestly and who is in the not-really-pregnant-just-fat-looking stage of pregnancy, this is not a very fun thing to shop for. Oh well, it will be fun to go to the wedding and see lots of family. And my sister-in-law and cousin are pregnant too, so we'll all be in the same boat (figuratively and literally, it's a dinner cruise).


Anyway, my point in all of this is that parenting is really a job meant for two people. At least two. I am a firm believer in the thought that "It takes a village to raise a child." I like to frequently remind my family of that when we are together and my children need attention. I am in awe of people who do it alone. If I had to do it alone, I think Social Services would eventually have to intervene. Or a nut house. Probably both.


So, we're very happy to have hubby/daddy back and we will enjoy him as much as possible before he goes back to school next week. 4 nights a week this semester. Heaven help me.


Whenever Nate travels he brings us back "omiyage" (little presents). Since he almost always goes to Santa Maria, mine always include:


A pound of peanut butter chip cookies from Cookie Cookery (the only eating establishment in Santa Maria that I actually miss, which has these amazing cookies that I sadly wasn't introduced to until the last year we lived there.)



And one of these.


For those of you who don't know, I HATE, I mean DETEST and am TERRIFIED OF rats. So Nate and the kids think it is hilarious every time he brings home one of these little treasures. The first time he brought a white one, which I could hardly even bring myself to let the kids eat, let alone me. The red ones are slightly less offensive, since there really aren't any red rats. So if I cut it into small pieces and try to forget that it was once shaped like a rat, I can somewhat enjoy the gummy treat. I still let the kids eat most of it, because really, that's just gross.

Alright. Back to living in the past, until I catch up or get sick of it again.

Lots of Cousins!

About a week before we left for Virginia, Nate's sister, Rachael made a last-minute decision to come to the mainland from Hawaii for a month long tour of visiting family. Her trip started and ended in Denver, so we had the great pleasure of seeing her and her 4 kids at the beginning and end of their trip. They arrived Friday night. Saturday morning around 5:30 we got a phone call from another sister, Emi, that they were driving from Ohio to Utah and had the chance to turn off for Denver right then. . .could they come see us? Of course! The more the merrier! So that weekend we had 5 adults and 10 kids staying at our house. I must say I was actually grateful for the last minute nature of all of these visits. I was much less stressed than I would have been had I known they were all coming. Instead, I had the great excuse of having little time to prepare!


Here all the 10 cousins who had a great time getting reacquainted with each other. (Sadly, we don't see either of these families as much as we see our Utah cousins!)

Harrison and Grant are almost exactly a year apart.

We bust out Rockband for any and all visitors.

Elizabeth adored "Mayna" aka Maya.

Saturday we went to Civic Green Park and had a picnic. Here's Uncle Nay Nay with Nathaniel and Faith.

The kids had a blast playing in the pop up fountains.

And on the playground.

Cute Gabe!

Isaac was born right after we found out we were having a baby boy, and we spent all of Christmas vacation that year holding him, adoring him, and anxiously awaiting the chance to hold our own sweet baby boy. He's almost 6 now! He, Harrison and Grant got along great!

The girls: Elizabeth, Faithy, Maya, and Maile!

We didn't get pictures a day at Southridge Rec Center Pool. Or a trip to the library for all the other kids while Harrison went to the Dr. for his 5 yr. check up and lots of shots that he did NOT like!

The last night, Nate took the boys to a Colorado Rockies game.

These three little ladies went to dinner with the mommies (at Hacienda, of course. The only place we take out out of town visitors!)

Then we tried to put them to bed together.

We hope that the Colman's and England's (and anyone else who wants to) will come visit again soon!