Merry Christmas!

From an angel and baby Jesus.

(Photo courtesy of Josh's cousin Sara.)

Intellectual laziness

I've been feeling intellectually lazy of late. There used to be so many ideas that I was passionate about. I miss the voracious reading and discussing I did in graduate school.

After graduate school, I felt like I needed a break from all that. I reveled in working in the garden, exercising, cleaning my house, dreaming over design blogs, taking pictures, watching TV (on DVD--the only way to do it).

And that was good for a while, but now I'm feeling lazy.

Time to think about ways to change that (ways that don't involve revising any more of my thesis chapters for publication--still not up to that).

Projects

These are some projects I've been meaning to blog about forever.

When we got our new couches, I knew we were going to need a table between them. I didn't know that I would find the most perfect table for $15 on KSL. The dimensions were exactly right for the corner and the tapered legs matched our couches. Amazing.

It was, however, in pretty bad shape and not the right color for the room.

After sanding for basically an entire weekend, I got it down to this:

And now it's in my living room and I love it (though the staining job ended up being more of a paint job--oh well). The cool lamp is an oldie powder coated by friends Justin and Nichole. I love it too and want many more of their creations in my house.

Josh stained one of our DVD shelves the same color. And lest you make the massive mistake of thinking that this is our entire DVD collection, know that these are only a portion of one genre: documentaries. There are more movies than square feet in my house, I'm sure.

I've also been slowly sewing new pillows for the couches. Picking out fabric has been sort of agonizing for me and I'm already wishing I'd made different choices in some cases, but this will be an evolving project, I suppose. The tailored pillow is made with this free Amy Butler pattern.

I'd post pictures of our new couches too, since I never did that but I'll wait for the House for Sale post I'm getting ready because they're in those pictures anyway . . .

Riverwoods Christmas

For the last few months they've been putting cobblestones over the streets in the Riverwoods shopping area. I could not understand why the owners thought this project was a good idea. There are so many vacant buildings there to begin with--how would less parking, less access, and months of construction help things? But I have to admit that they've created a rather magical Christmas scene there now that it's done, complete with a Santa sitting in a little house that Zoë got to visit.

Legs crossed, relaxed, and chatty, she tells him about the "pink jumping rope" she'd like for Christmas.

They put in this raised circular stage in the middle of a former intersection and apparently all the children in the world have been waiting for such a structure to run around. They were like moths to a flame or hampsters in a wheel. They couldn't not run around this thing in circles.

There are lots of gas fires around to warm your hands by.

We stopped in a cool toy store and Zoë wanted to try on all their crazy glasses. These were my favorite on her.

And this was Josh's favorite thing.

Nativity

Zoë's been memorizing what the angel says in Luke 2 in preparation for the Christmas play we're going to do this year--with Nico as baby Jesus, of course. (If we're ever talking about Jesus in a religious context, she points to Nico. He may get a God complex if this continues.) She's got the entire two scriptures down, though she recites them in a slightly modified form:

"Fear not. Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy . . . for all people! For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. For all people!"

We decided she'd really enjoy the nativity they put on annually at the Provo tabernacle, not only because there is a camel (which she got to sit on) and other animals outside but because she'd get to see the angel performing her "lines."

It turns out she was delighted by the whole thing. When she saw Mary and Joseph with "clofs" on their heads, she clapped. When the baby Jesus appeared, she clapped. Whenever anyone said anything really, she clapped. And when the angel appeared to the shepherds, she mouthed the words along with her.

The nativity play itself was nice, though quite solemn for the most part. All of the actors seemed to be filling a mechanical role, in rhythm with the prerecorded narration, except for one: the slightly grown Jesus that the three wise men visited.

This little boy--one or two-years-old and probably the actual child of the actors playing Mary and Joseph--was very alive. He repeatedly climbed up onto a box that was part of the set only to be gently pulled down by his parents over and over. It was clear they were slightly embarrassed and wished that their son would behave like a proper Jesus, silent and still.

But that child was the thing that touched Josh and me the most. He was just so human. He was doing the things that Jesus would have done at his age.

There is one line in the song "Away in a Manger" that rings false to me. When wakened by lowing cattle, the lyrics claim, "the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." But just because Jesus was perfect doesn't mean He wouldn't have cried as a baby. And it doesn't mean He wouldn't have climbed up onto a box as a toddler.

In fact, those are the very things that signifed His willingness to experience the human condition--all of the human condition, in the end. His gift to us is all the more precious because He wasn't just a God. He was also a man, a man who started out as a little boy who probably had more energy than his parents sometimes knew what to do with.

Dare

I dare you to watch the gorgeous helicopter shot of Manhattan paired with "I Happen to Like New York" in the opening credits of Manhattan Murder Mystery and not want to move to New York.

Diana's shower

My mom and I threw a baby shower for Diana while she was here for Thanksgiving. I didn't take many pictures after the shower actually started, but I think the decorations turned out nice.

Fireplaces make everything so much more cozy.

I made this ball out of 550 coffee filters (to be exact). I found the link through my friend Bri's blog. I want to make one for the light in my living room, but it's going to have to be a lot less dense because barely any light makes it way through this one!

My mom had the great idea of making these German stars to give away as favors. I got pretty fast at them, though I could have used some longer paper. They're so pretty though--great for Christmas trees or hung across a doorway like they are here. There's a tutorial here.

My mom has this beautiful old quilt we covered the piano with for presents.

And these darling clothes were my mom's as a baby--perfect strung across the mantle.

I loved the contrast of pine cones and milk glass.

It was lots of fun and Diana's a very cute pregnant woman--too bad I didn't get a picture of her!

Craziness

Right before it was time to close on our refinance, I panicked and decided to house hunt. I just hadn't fully realized until then that with interest rates so low, we could probably get into something bigger. And even if I suspected as much, I thought the whole process would be too stressful with a new baby. But when it came down to it, I wanted to see what was out there.

So the last five days have been a little insane.We've seen hundreds of houses online and several in person. We even found a house in Orem that we love. I would buy it in a second. But it's a foreclosure, so they won't accept an offer that's contingent on the sale of our house.

After doing the numbers every which way for the last 10 hours, talking to mortgage brokers, realtors, Provo city, etc. we came to the conclusion that we could swing buying the foreclosure before selling this house. And right after that we decided that doing so would be neither financially responsible or smart (for various technical reasons that I won't go into, but I will say that mortgage insurance royally sucks).

Instead, we've decided to put our house up for sale by owner and see what happens. If we get a decent offer on it and the Orem house is still on the market (or if we find another house we like as much in the meantime), we'll go for it. If not, we'll stay here and enjoy our very low house payment.

I feel like I'm just coming up for air after 5 very intense, stressful days of running around and decision making (not one of my favorite things to do), and it's so nice to feel at peace again. All of this house hunting has really made me appreciate our cute little house and our wonderful neighborhood. We are blessed to be here.

Side note: money aside, many people have interesting choices in furnishing and decorating their houses. Wow.

Next project: general decluttering, organizing, and deep cleaning to get ready to put the house up for sale. I'm actually excited about this. Even if we don't/decide not to sell the house, our house will be so much nicer to live in in a "ready to show" state.

I'll post pictures and info as soon as I have it ready, but in the meantime if you know anyone looking for a cute 2 bedroom house with a huge backyard in southeast Provo, let us know! Their mortgage would be as cheap as rent . . .

The nap

Armsfull of babes,

a head for each hand,

a breast for each head,

breaths in triple syncopation,

I am at once expended

and gloriously expanded.

Two

Zions

We went camping at Zions with Diana and Jon in September. I grew up desert camping (and much prefer it to forest camping), but I'd never been to Zions. I'm used to less developed places, but Zions was actually perfect with a toddler and two pregnant women in tow--lots of bathrooms, drinking fountains, food options, groomed trails, etc.

The trip reminded us that we really need to take more advantage of the beautiful state we live in. We're committed to doing more trips like this in the future!

It was also really great to camp with Diana and Jon. They were amazingly prepared and organized and fun.

Our camera died halfway through, but we actually made it to the beginning of the narrows and walked around in the (freezing!) water a bit. We'd love to go back some time without kids and do the narrows.

Pregnancy pics

Better late than never . . . this is what I looked like 11 days before I popped.

FAQs

1. Are you moving?
No. We recently got an appraisal done because we're refinancing--payments going down by $200 a month! Yes, our house is as small as a student apartment, but at least our mortgage will now be as well.

2. Why would Nico need a spinal tap if he got sick?
Apparently this is just standard operating procedure for any baby under 30 days that gets a fever. Since they basically have no immune system, even a low fever requires automatic hospitalization. The spinal tap is to check for meningitis (thanks, Danielle, for the explanation). So, if you're in my ward, that's why you won't be seeing me for about 9 more weeks.

The good news is, we all seem to be well (for now! knock on wood!) and Nico and I are home. Thanks for your well wishes.

This is not helping

Looking at these photos I took of Zoë at Zions in September . . . missing her even more now.

(By the way, they're completely unedited--the lighting was amazing!)

Sick (at heart)

When Zoë complained that her stomach hurt last night, I didn't think that all of her dinner would end up on the bathroom floor 10 minutes later. And then I hoped that she just hadn't chewed her food well enough and we were done. But when she threw up a half hour later in bed (mostly into a bowl, which she then wanted to inspect afterwards), I knew she had a bug.

And we have a two-week-old. A two-week-old whose doctor had just finished telling us that exposure to even a minor cold could result in a fever in him, which would mean automatic hospitalization and a spinal tap.

So, I did what I do when we have medical (or other) crises: I holed up at my parents' house. I slept here last night with Nico, leaving Josh with Zoë for what turned out to be a night of throwing up.

My poor, poor baby. All I want to do is snuggle her. On the phone today it was so hard to listen to "I miss you so much Mamma Bear. I love you" and not be able to be there.

But it's good to know that she's in the wonderfully capable and loving hands of an amazing Papa Bear.

Post-election day blues

Much worse than the baby blues . . . there is nothing that depresses me in quite the same way as UT County election results the day after. Thanks to all those straight-ticket Republican voters who don't even consider individual candidates, the legislature will continue to be run by people who could really benefit from some checks on their behavior, policies, and attitudes.

But I'm grateful that people like my aunt (Deon Turley) are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to run (twice!) in such difficult races. Maybe with enough persistance UT County voters will someday act in a way that would benefit them, no matter what their political leanings.

Halloween costumes

This year, Zoë was Pippi Longstocking and Nico was a pirate, of course! His costume was supplied by some pirate friends of ours (the hook is from a Mr. Potato Head), and I made Zoë's costume. I've sewn a few things before but never anything from a pattern. I picked the most simple pattern I could find and still needed tons of help from Josh's mom and grandma to decipher it!

Zoë really became Pippi in this costume. No one was allowed to call her by any other name. And her horse Lucky became Alphonso (while Mr. Nielson, the monkey, was attached to her neck).

Nico notes

I've started a blog for Nico so this one isn't completely overrun by baby pics. Not private for now. So if you want more frequent baby updates (Diana), go here. (Hoping this will help me stay on top of photos!)

Before I forget

I can already tell that one of the hardest things about having two is going to be not having the time to record all the thoughts, feelings, and impressions I want to. I wish I could bottle this newborn period up--smell that newborn head forever, watch that little mouth pounce right before it latches on, feel that skin that melts away from my fingertips.

But one thing I really hope to never forget is the sweetness between my two children from the very start--before the start, actually. Zoë loved talking to her brother and giving him kisses in Mommy's tummy (wish I got more pictures of her and my pregnant belly . . . this pregnancy went too fast.)

And the sweetness continued after he was born. From her gentle first touch--"he is very soft!" and excited "Hip hip hooray! Baby Nico got born!" . . .

. . . to her immediately wanting to hold him. She was so happy to take on the role of "big sister Zoë."

And it's been that way ever since. She hasn't been jealous (possessive, if anything). When he cries or wakes in the night, she rolls over and says "It's okay, darlin'" (or "little love" or "my little boy"). "Don't worry. We are here."

She will periodically exclaim with pure joy "we have a new baby brother!" and revels in her baby-caring jobs--like rubbing his head softly while he drinks Mommy Milk and wrapping his fingers around hers.

There's really nothing else that compares to the tenderness of my feelings toward these two (and their daddy) right now.