I want to play with him!

Ezra now has the hang of sitting up and is enjoying a whole new view of the world. In the past week, he's learned to tumble onto his belly and lift himself up to see again. He actually has little patience for tummy time and I sort of have to force it on him. Ella was the same way about tummy time and didn't crawl until 1 because she sat up so early and just reached for everything she wanted. I think Ezra will be a bit more inspired to move as he watches Ella run around.

Sitting up
Still "discovers" his hands on a regular basis. They're fantastic traveling toys!

Sitting on the couch like a big boy.

Love that grin!
Ella is incredibly energetic - I think she skips or runs a tiny bit everywhere she goes. She loves playing with friends, mom and dad, and Ezra. This is wonderful, except she hates the idea of playing alone. She gets excited when Ezra's awake and says, "I want to play with him!" I can just imagine the fun to be had at our house when Ezra's mobile!
We filled the pool up with dish soap - tons of fun!

Ella and Brynne after playing beauty shop.

On another note, it seems like this year's been full of surprise baby announcements. My sister Merilee just had her surprise baby yesterday, a little girl named Cora. I can't wait to see pictures of her! A few other people have announced unexpected pregnancies recently. I have to admit, I have a real fear of having a surprise pregnancy and two babies super close together. The opposite thing seems to be a trend in my family, though. There's 10 years between Meredith's youngest and the one above, six between Merilee's, and six between McKinzie's. Hmmm.... I'm just excited to be at the stage where I can start leaving Ezra for longer stretches. My plan for 2010 - a summer without being pregnant or nursing! Cross your fingers for me. ;0)

Thoughts at the Wheel: A Father's Day Post for Tim

My thoughts often drift to my husband as I'm driving in the car. I'm not certain why. Perhaps it's a time of peace to focus my thoughts on something other than my kids and maybe it has a bit to do with love as the main theme of most songs. Whatever the reason, I always think the kindest thoughts in the car. If I've been frustrated, it melts away. If I've been unkind, I long to apologize. At the wheel, I think of romantic cards to write and sappy things to say. Honestly, it's wonderful. I had another one of those moments yesterday and decided to write a Father's Day post filled with my "thoughts at the wheel." Here are my thoughts on Tim with photos of our life together, in no particular order.

* Tim is a wonderful father. He comes home from work, eats dinner with the family, spends time with the kids before bed, helps put them to bed, then finds a moment for himself. I can't express how much that means to me.

* Tim is truly one of the best men I've ever met.

* I love how parenting is shared at our house.

* I hope both of our children develop his best character traits: kindness, patience, intelligence, faith, and sincerity.

* I hope our daughter marries a man like Tim.

* I hope our son grows up to be the kind of man his father is.

* I love the way Tim treats my mother and has true affection for her.

* Being teased by Tim is wonderful because it's never cruel and you'll always be safe.

* Even the things that he does that make me feel a bit crazy don't really bother me that much.

* I love his blue eyes.

* I like myself best when I'm with him.

* I know that some people have given me a second chance because they know Tim loves me. "If he loves her, there must be something more." He's that good of a guy.

* Some of my favorite times spent together are late at night when we should go to sleep, but we talk instead.
* I love how play time with Dad is always done with such enthusiasm.

* Tim has incredible determination and can be so stubborn. But his persistence often pays off. Watch out if he decides you should be doing something!

* I like how I cook and he does the dishes.

* I'm grateful for my previous boyfriends: the jerks, the mean ones, the "bad" boys, the kiss-but-don't-commit, etc. They helped me see how incredible Tim truly is.

* I didn't know marriage could be so great. No, really.

* I know why Ella yells "Daddy!" with delight when Tim comes home. I feel it too.

* I like how sometimes Tim will just listen to me talk. There are days spent entirely with children and it just gushes out of me.

* I love how he encourages me in whatever I'm pursuing and shows genuine interest.

* I know it's corny, but I hate the idea of living without him.
* I feel like I've discovered so much about truly living since I met Tim and I am grateful every day.
* Sometimes I wonder how this guy was single at 24. Lucky me.
* And the list could go on and on.
* Looking for photos of my husband was so much fun and I am feeling so nostalgic right now! I loved seeing photos of our family over the past 5 years and remembering the wonder of it all.

I love you, Tim! Happy Father's Day!

6 Months!

We went to Ezra's 6 month check-up yesterday. They always ask, "Is your husband tall?", which makes me smile. He definitely didn't inherit his height from me! Ezra certainly is tall. He's 29 3/8 inches (97th percentile) and 20 lbs (90thth percentile). His head is finally catching up in the 75th percentile. He is such a chubby, cuddly guy!

Ezra's generally good humored, but he was in an especially good mood yesterday. He smiled and charmed the doctor and nurses. I was so glad when he only cried out a tiny bit for the shots and did great for the rest of the day.

Like every mom always says, it's hard to believe our little guy is already 6 months! I love this age. He lights up whenever he sees me and his smile seems to say, "That's my mom!" It's such a pleasure to watch him grow and change. I love how he and Ella interact together. While it presents many challenging, spending my days with a toddler and a baby is such a delight!

Grandma Cathy's Visit

We enjoyed my mom's 10 day visit so much! Ella loved doing everything with Grandma and always requested grandma's help with eating, getting in/out of the car, storytime, bedtime, and basically any other time. Lot's of work for Grandma, but a great break for mom. Unfortunately, Ezra was sick for part of the week and even kept both mom and I up an entire night with his crying. Poor guy. Poor us. Despite his sickness, we had fun shopping, playing, and simply enjoying each other's company. Our visits together are never long enough and it was so difficult to say goodbye.

We visited the Magic House Children's Museum in St. Louis before taking mom to the airport and had tons of fun. Even Ezra enjoyed watching all of the people from his baby bjorn. Ella, unfortunately, fell asleep on the way to the airport despite our best efforts. Grandma roused her enough to get a hug and a kiss. When Ella woke up about 30 mins later, she said, "Where's Grandma?" and cried when she realized Grandma left.

Thanks for visiting, Mom! We can't wait to see you again!

Grandma!

We walked into the St. Louis airport yesterday and glimpsed my mom waiting by the baggage claim. It's been 6 months since we saw her in person, but we talk to Grandma on the phone and using Skype regularly. I thought Ella'd be a bit shy, but when Grandma called out her name and opened her arms, Ella rushed forward in delight. From that moment on, Mom developed a little shadow who follows her adoringly where 'ere she goes.

If Grandma leaves Ella's sight, I hear, "Where's Grandma." When I try to help her get in or out of the car, I hear, "No. Grandma." If Ella needs to do something, but resists, we just say, "Grandma needs to brush her hair (or insert action here)" and Ella instantly needs to do it too. Plus, Grandma is the ultimate playmate. I adore my mom and I can't explain how delighted I am to see the two of them together.

Grandma came bearing wonderful gifts - including these super fun butterfly wings Ella's wearing

We celebrated Mom's birthday today (she'd say she's 39) and Ella loved singing "Happy Birthday!," going out to dinner, and eating strawberry shortcake.

I'm embarrassed to say that I've been eagerly awaiting her birthday visit, but really didn't have it together with balloons or candles (she had to blow out a "2" candle). I feel woefully unprepared - I was just so focused on having her come! But we had a wonderful day together despite my lack of decorations. I'll make up for it this week!


Blowing out the candle together!


They'll be more pictures and stories to come - Grandma visits for 10 days - but I wanted to say, "We love Grandma!"

A New Way of Living?

I suppose it's only natural to become more interested in ways to cut costs and become more self-sufficient when things are uncertain financially. I've definitely found myself more budget-conscious and interested in ways to be more frugal in the past year or so. Until the past few years, I think I understood frugality mainly in relation to saving at the check-out counter. If I bought it on sale or "got a deal," I was frugal. More recently, I've come to see how frugality encompasses building skills and changing habits, as well as limiting spending, not simply finding deals.

In our church, this is often referred to as provident living. We're encouraged to have savings, 72-hour emergency kits, food storage, a family budget, paying tithing, and develop skills to be self-sufficient. Provident living especially involves joyfully living within our means. While I understood the importance of this advice, I've often found it difficult to apply in my own life for some reason. Tim and I have been slowly, but surely, seriously working on it over the past year and following this advice has changed my perspective so much. I should preface this all by saying that I am still at the beginner stages of all of this, learning as I go, throwing ideas around, and trying things out.

Dwelling on "the good old days" has never suited me. Give me the opportunity to choose a time to live and I'd say now. I don't wax poetic about pioneers or feel nostalgic about the 1950s. This might be one of the reasons I've resisted some of the tenants of provident living in the past. They simply seemed old-fashioned. As I've worked to change my spending habits, improve my cooking skills, and learn creative ways to stretch a budget, however, I've come to believe that the truth is, some ways of living are actually timeless. They are applicable no matter who you are or when you live.

The biggest surprise for me has come in the satisfaction I've found in developing new homemaking skills. As I typed that sentence, the 16 year-old Mindy recoiled. Homemaking skills?! Are you kidding me?! But I've come to see that, just as the workplace helped me to develop and refine essential skills to build my character, knowledge base, self-sufficiency, and confidence, so do homemaking skills. It's surprised me to discover the confidence and security I've found in working on developing homemaking skills and I wish I'd learned more from my mother when she offered. Now I want to learn how to be more self-sufficient and less dependent on ready-made goods. Not that I will never buy boxed food or will sew all my clothes, but I would love to have a vegetable garden, learn basic sewing, improve cooking skills, making my own cleaning supplies, etc.

A recent talk from an apostle of our church, Robert D. Hales, entitled Becoming Provident Providers Temporally and Spiritually has inspired me to seek out new ways to live providently. I would encourage anyone who hasn't read this to do so at www.lds.org. Two quotes really stuck with me:

"I have learned that the three most loving words are “I love you,” and the four most caring words for those we love are “We can’t afford it.”

'We must want, more than anything else, to do our Heavenly Father’s will and providently provide for ourselves and others."

As I said, I'm just in the baby stages of provident living, but it's blessed my life. Cutting excess and debt has especially helped me to understand what a burden these things are. I'm interested in any ideas and experiences my friends and family might have related to provident living. Please feel free to comment here or email me.