Will the real Ezra Green please stand up!

The other night Ezra was playing around in the refrigerator while I was putting groceries away. I was laughing to myself and wishing Ryan was home so he could see it, so I pulled out the video camera...and just so happened to get Ezra's first time of pulling himself up on video! I wasn't expecting him to pull himself up, so once my brain registered what had happened, my mad video skills ceased and I almost dropped the camera so that I could catch him in case he came crashing down on the tile (which he did not, thankfully). My favorite part is when he slaps his hand really hard on the shelf...as if to say, "Did it!"...oh, and I just love his little grunts on his way up. :)

our lil' jolly jumper...

Our sweet lil' home has no door frames, so I was bummed when I realized we couldn't get a jolly jumper, because Ezra LOVES to jump! But then, lo and behold...this gem appeared on craigslist: a jolly jumper with a stand! I wish we had video from the very first time we put Ezra in it, because he just cried and cried at first. He seemed totally panicked to be standing up on his own while Ryan and I just looked on. But then a few bounces in he started laughing/crying...and then just laughing. And now, he's hooked!

Naked in the kitchen...

Our little guy likes to be naked. Or, I lean slightly towards the hippy side of life and just let him be free (which happens to work well with EC :). Whichever way you want to look at it...naked baby butts are flippin' adorable!

Last night while we were cleaning up after dinner, Ezra decided to take charge of the pots and pans. It was so funny to hear him banging them around and trying to fully climb into the cupboard.

Pictionary

I thought I'd give you guys a visual of what I meant by Ryan drawing pictures to say what is inside of our tupperware in the fridge. It makes me smile every time I eat leftovers.

(taco meat)


(chicken pot pie)

Pumpkin Party!

Prior to last weekend, it had been years since I carved a pumpkin! (Well, technically speaking, I didn't carve one last weekend either...but Ryan did, and marriage has joined us together to be one, right?)

Our friends Matt and Abby hosted what I like to term "The First Annual Pumpkin Carving Party" (not sure if they know yet that it is to be an annual event...this is their subtle hint. :)

We started out nice and simple...kitchen knives as our primary tool for carving.


Then, it started getting crazy with power tools...



Estrella and Joel won for fastest carving. They completed 2 pumpkins before anyone else finished their first.


The final products!
From left to right...(back row) Michael Landon a.k.a. "Pa" from Little House on the Prairie :), White Sox, Napolean Dynamite (the first place pumpkin, carved by Jacob), (front row) gun shot wound to the head (there are pumpkin guts coming out of the wound, but you can't see it in this photo, jack-o-lantern a and b, and kitty cat! Can you guess which one is ours?


Josiah is helping Jacob celebrate his overall first place win by eating the frosting off the cupcake!

Welcome Moses!

Blanca two weeks ago...


Blanca and Moses one week ago (Moses is 1 day old in this photo)...


It's become a joke among our friends that if you have a boy, you have to use an Old Testament name. Joshua, Ezra, Josiah, Moses... Enoch anyone? :)

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today Ryan is 29! I love it when his birthday strikes and we appear to only be 1 year apart in age, even if it only lasts for about 6 weeks. :)


29 things I love about Ryan!

1.) He makes me (and Ezra!) laugh on a daily basis...and has taught me how to laugh at myself.

2.) He is transparent with how he is doing and open to share his feelings.

3.) He loves to create music and continues to follow the dream God has given him to perform.

4.) He still wears the pajamas I made him 5 years ago (when I didn't really know how to sew). :)

5.) He graciously offers to go to the grocery store for me every single time I need an ingredient for a recipe (which is about every single day).

6.) He is the leader in our family.

7.) He loves Little House on the Prairie as much as I do!

8.) He is a board gamer.

9.) ...and a card gamer.

10.) He continues to be willing to teach me guitar, even though I never practice. :)

11.) He makes me a full-on breakfast almost every morning (and doesn't tease me too much that I eat about twice as much as him these days of nursing).

12.) He hosts "guys outings".

13.) He draws pictures on our Tupperware to indicate what is inside instead of writing on it.

14.) He loves to drive, and always makes me feel safe on the road.

15.) He has an extremely large amount of patience.

16.) He has great perspective on life.

17.) He allows me to dream about living all over the world.

17.) He is the best pizza, taco, and hot dog chef I know!

18.) He writes beautiful lullabies.

19.) He insists on honesty all the time (unless it has to do with how many cookies he ate.)

20.) He holds the record for making Ezra laugh the hardest.

21.) He "hates" the 9am-5pm thing as much as I do, and is willing to go against the norm so we can spend our lives together instead of working.

22.) He likes to eat healthy foods!

23.) He lets me sleep-in in the mornings when Ezra has been up all night.

24.) He can eat Mexican food 7 days/ week.

25.) He is the only person (aside from possibly Jill?) who flosses every day.

26.) He is an expert cloth diaperer and EC'er.

27.) He is a wonderful father to Ezra.

28.) ...and the bestest husband I could ever have imagined!

29.) He always strives to be himself!...and that is who I love!

Happy Birthday Babe!


This past weekend he and a bunch of guy friends went paintballing for his birthday!


And he now has several welts to show for it (it kind of looks like he has a bad case of ringworm actually. :)

White Mountains 2010!

Every year we take an anniversary trip. It generally doesn't happen on our actual anniversary, nor does it usually happen 2.5 months late like it did this year. :)

1st Anniversary was to the Grand Canyon.

2nd Anniversary was to San Francisco!

3rd Anniversary was Patagonia, Arizona.

4th Anniversary was The White Mountains (Northern Arizona).

And, our 5th Anniversary was back up to the White Mountains this year! I must say, it was a bit more relaxing to be 6 months pregnant last year than to have a 6 month old with us this year in the White Mountains...but we much rather be with Ezra than without him! :)

The "prom pose" (a.k.a. it's awkward to take a photo with a sleeping baby in the ergo and get everyone in the shot. :)


The view from the rim walk is soo gorgeous! It actually reminds me a lot of being in the White Mountains in New Hampshire.


How cool is this tree?


And this tarantula?


Even though this trip felt a little less relaxed than before, we still had oodles and oodles of relaxation time. I think Ezra is quickly becoming Ryan's 2nd biggest fan (I remain the holder of biggest fan).


Lots of great floor playtime...


Someone found some new favorite toys...



Lots of fun dada time...





And mama time...



And family time...(a friend of Grammie's knit all of our matching hats :)

Chicago Half Marathon in print...

I just got an email with photos from the 1/2 marathon I can order. They are ridiculously expensive, and besides I don't really have a desire for a 5X7 of myself looking sweaty, exhausted, and about to keel over. :)

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:
(this one actually looks semi-decent, but Ryan said it looks like I'm speed walking instead of running :)

EC 201

As I mentioned in my first post about Elimination Communication, it can be a part-time thing. In fact, it can be a very part-time thing, as in once a week sitting your baby on the potty. In everything I've read, babies are totally fine with going between the potty and a diaper. Ezra on the other hand, has decided he'd much rather go in the potty, and especially at night.
We had a rough 4-5 days in a row of Ezra waking up every 45 minutes at night. And, it wasn't just the wake up and nurse and go back to sleep type of waking up. It was "hello guys, I'm awake!" type of waking up. It was rough, and we were both exhausted. Ryan was gracious enough to take Ezra out in the living room one of the mornings to play (at about 3 a.m.), but Ezra was still really squirmy (as he is when he has to go to the bathroom) and wouldn't play. Finally Ryan put him on the potty, and he went right away...and then was ready to go back to sleep.
Hmm...was this issue? Did he just have to go to the bathroom every time he woke up? But, rather than putting him on the potty, I was filling him up with more liquids and then trying to make him hold it longer? Oops.
Sure enough the next night we decided to put him on the potty whenever he woke up, and he'd go right away and then go back to sleep for a long chunk (since now he was able to relieve himself, he didn't need to wake up so frequently). The past few nights he has only woken up once/night to go to the bathroom (and wakes up dry!), and 1-2 times to nurse, so it's pretty easy. We've switched from having him wear pj's to just putting him in his leg warmers with a pre-fold for easy on and off diapering at night. I'm totally in love with the leg warmers...aren't they adorable?

Brown and Green (and Leeches too)...

Last week my parents visited with two of my nieces, Haleigh (Brown) and Lydia (Leech)! :) Haleigh visited a couple of years ago, and is somewhat of a veteran traveler. However, it was Lydia's first time to Arizona. In fact, it was her first time flying. She is 11 years old and a total conversationalist. She loves fashion and hair, and should have probably consulted my wardrobe while she was here to tell me what could stay and what needed to go. She is as sweet as can be, and I loved watching her quiet excitement about being so far away from home. She took photos of everything. The palm trees, the yards of almost every house on our street (to not have grass is quite strange afterall when you are from Michigan), and a gagillion photos of our lil' guy.

Her first chance to see Ezra on the visit (he was sleeping for the night when they arrived)...


A view of Sabino Canyon before we hiked in...


We told Lydia to pose looking frightened...this is what we got. :)


Haleigh and Lydia enjoying the shade by the creek (it was 104 out!)...


Full-on swimming in the creek with their clothes on...awesomeness!



Ezra wanted to join in on the fun too...



It was a wonderful to have all of them here to visit!!

Life updates

Ezra took the van for a spin the other day...he said he'll be the driver next time we go on tour. :)


Some of you may be wondering what in the world we are still doing in Tucson in October. For the past 4 years we have left by late August to tour colleges, coffee shops, clubs and houses all over the country to play concerts.
But this year, we are staying home. Ryan and Cameron decided this summer that they wanted to take a year off the road to rest, write, and record. And, so far all of those things have happened in abundance. I've been loving hearing all of the new music coming out of Ryan! The current plan is to go back out on the road in May (they just couldn't say no to one of their favorite colleges, and had to be able to get there before the end of the school year. :) (Oh, and they will also be playing a Christmas Concert at the Rialto Theatre on December 18th...couldn't break tradition.)

While we've been home, Ryan has been teaching private guitar lessons. And, starting next week he'll also be teaching guitar for OMA (Opening Minds through the Arts), a wonderful program in certain Tucson public schools to integrate the arts into the curriculum.

I was working for the past several months at Cafe 54 helping to prepare them for an audit, but now that that is done I'll be home! My friend Eileen recently told me, "You can be replaced at work, but not at home"...and I am soo looking forward to getting to spend my days at home with Ezra (and Ryan!).
I've been doing a lot of babysitting for my friend Jen's daughter, Corban. Let me tell you a little bit about Corban.
a.) she is a total bundle of joy
b.) she is the only kid that when she comes over we don't need to use the gate to keep her away from Ryan's computer because she is too busy playing to have any interest in his computer, but rather she wants to make a fort with it.
c.) she sings constantly (and can totally carry a tune)...the other day it was Frere Jacques right into Here We Go Loopty Loo right into Away in a Manger...priceless.
d.) she is one of the most creative and imaginative kids I know. She has several baby dolls that she plays with all day long. I didn't catch what happened to baby anna, but I did see her make all of the baby dolls hold hands and pray for anna's health...too cute.
Oh, and one more...
e.) when she won't fall asleep at nap time, all I have to do is say that the babies are very tired and ask her to sing them a lullaby and it puts her right to sleep too. :)


Starting next week I'll be babysitting my friend Samantha's son, Josiah, while she goes back to work. Perhaps you remember Josiah from here. He and Ezra are 9 weeks apart...and soon to be close friends. :) Last Friday was a trial run while Jacob and Samantha went on a date...I'm really looking forward to it!

(Josiah slept the whole time in the carrier, and Ezra was totally excited about this new hold on my back where he can now play with my hair the whole time. :)

It's supper time!

Just two days before Ezra's 6 month birthday (I couldn't hold out until 6 months...this dude was hungry!), we fed him his first rice cereal! Oh my goodness, I think Ryan took some video of it, and I will soon post it. I never could have imagined giving him food to be so much fun. He LOVES it, and is quite vocal the entire time he eats. After his first rice cereal meal where I fed him, Ezra now insists on feeding himself (I put the food on the spoon, and then hand the spoon to him), so not a whole lot really gets consumed, and he definitely needs a bath after eating. In fact, I think it was the first time in his whole life that he truly needed a bath.


(is that not the cutest bowl and spoon you've ever seen?? it was such a sweet gift...thank you!!)







A couple of days later we tried avocado...he's a big fan! (along with also loving sweet potatoes and bananas!)




We went to the doctor for his 6 month check-up. He's 16lbs 0oz and 26-1/4"!