Happy Easter!

It is a yearly tradition (with the exception of last year since Ezra was only 3 days old) to go to an outdoor sunrise Easter service. I love being outside, surrounded by the mountains, and others who also want to watch the sunrise as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus.

The air was sort-of crisp (afterall Easter did fall much later this year causing for summer to be well underway already in Tucson). Ezra talked throughout the entire service, picked some flowers, clapped whenever he felt it was appropriate, and laughed whenever everyone was quiet. And even though no one knew us (we went to church just down the street...I am not ambitious enough to wake up early enough to have to drive somewhere at that hour of the morning)...we were greeted with lots of people thanking us for all of the baby sounds after the service. I love it when people love the realities of having a baby around, and not just the cuteness that also comes with babies.

When we got home, Ezra found the Easter bucket of goodies that Mary, Ray, and Rachel had dropped off. Who knew Easter eggs were so much fun to open and close? I think I may have to pack some with me for our next plan ride...



Later in the morning we went over to Lori's for brunch. I ate lots of cheesy quiche goodness, and so far Ezra seems to be just fine...yay!

I forgot to bring my camera, so the photos I have are sized a little funky. Here is Ezra looking for Easter eggs...




And after we both took a nap, we went to the park. (sidenote: For those in Tucson, Erik Hite Memorial Park on Old Spanish Trail between 29th St. and Houghton Rd. is wonderful!)






Happy Easter!

Ezra walks!

For your weekend viewing pleasure, here are some videos of our lil' guy starting to walk!

This video was taken on Monday...


And this video was taken on Thursday...

Little Toidey

When our friends Chris and Melissa moved to California last month, we were graciously gifted with many of the things that they didn't care to move with them.

One of those items was The Little Toidey. I swear it has to be from the 1940's.



I'll be honest, I took it because no one else wanted it. I knew that it would be hard for them to throw it in the trash, so I thought I'd do them a favor and bring it to goodwill without them knowing it.

Once I got it home though, I realized that perhaps this was just the thing we had been needing for our EC (elimination communication) to move forward. Ezra was still using his little potty when he woke up in the morning and after naps, but at other times throughout the day, he would just stand-up off the potty before going. Because really, playing is way more fun than sitting on a potty afterall. Given that EC is about meeting a child's needs and not potty training, I didn't like forcing him to stay seated, so I would just let him get off and crawl about playing.

I decided to put The Little Toidey on our toilet, and see if Ezra would want to use it. Sure enough, he did! He went on The Little Toidey almost every time he had to go for two days straight! He requires some (acutally, a lot of) help with aiming. I am starting to learn why families with little boys sometimes have bathrooms that smell like pee. Please feel free to tell me if ours ever gets that way. :) He is still using it quite regularly, but likes to go back and forth between his old little potty and the Little Toidey now. It has definitely been reassuring for me to realize that he hasn't lost his ability to know when he has to go...he just isn't always wanting to use the potty. :)







When asked what he thinks about his new Little Toidey, this was his response:


I recently wrote for Uncommon Childhood on the topic of Elimination Communication. You can read the article (and also see a cute photo of Ezra when he was 10 weeks old on his little potty) here.

The Internet.

I have been reading Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. It's a great read and has had me thinking a lot about how I manage my time, money, stuff, goals, etc. She has been very inspiring with lots of practical tools. There is a section where she has the reader list what they do in a day, and see where they are wasting time. Although I don't feel like I spend a ton of time on the internet on any given day, over the course of a week, it is more time than I'd want to be online. And definitely time I'd rather be doing something else, like hanging out with Ryan, reading, or sewing.

The irony of it, is that Tsh has the blog Simple Mom. I like her blog a lot. But through reading this book, I've realized that I spend way more time reading blogs than I'd like. So for the past week now I've only been reading the blogs of people I know, or blogs that have a title I can't resist. :) This makes it sound like I read a ton of blogs, I don't really, but there are probably 6 that I read on a regular basis...and really enjoy reading.

The internet is a great and very useful tool. I love that I could google "Father's Day 2011" earlier this evening and know within seconds the date of Father's Day this year. And I love being able to find so many recipes and sewing tutorials for free.

However, the internet is definitely the "new TV" when it comes to wasting time. I feel like it's not that big of a deal for someone in the 21st century to be without a TV. We have a TV (sans cable), but have not watched it together as a couple since we were married. We use it to watch movies (ahem, and Little House on the Prairie which we have on DVD). :)

But to be without the internet in the 21st century sounds a bit crazy. How would one check their email three (or more) times per day? Catch up on everyone's Facebook status? Post blogs? Or watch the latest viral youtube video?

Well, we are about to find out. Without knowing that I had been thinking about this, Ryan recently brought up that he'd like to cancel our internet because it sucks up so much of his time that he'd rather spend creating music. So, we both quickly agreed, without hesitation, that we want to cancel our internet so that we can spend time doing things we'd rather be doing.

We spend $50/month on internet, so we are instead going to give ourselves each a $25 allowance per month to spend on whatever we'd want to be doing instead of being online. For me this will probably mean crafting supplies, and for Ryan music gear or software. I am super excited about this.

In fact, by the time you read this we'll likely have already been off-line for a week. (I had to gear up for the change by post-dating some blogs. :) We do plan on still being internet users, just not at home. So, if you want to get in touch, the phone is probably the best way. Leave me a comment if you need my number.

Side to side

Corban was over a few weeks ago and requested we watch the side-to-side video. Which naturally means the Kathy Smith Prenatal Aerobics DVD. A month or more before Corban had watched it while here, and loved saying "side-to-side" along with Kathy Smith. I wish I could bottle up Corban's little voice and play it regularly. I'd make it my alarm clock, "it's time to wake-up mrs. abby".

So to give a little background of what was happening at the beginning of aerobics...
Corban was wearing a dress, but decided she needed to take it off and just wear shorts so she could be more similarly dressed as Kathy Smith. And then towards the end of the video, Corban tells me that I just need to take my dress off and put shorts on to join her...

Oh, and by the way, I sound like a shmuck when Corban asks me to join her, but I can't because at the time I was helping her brother eat. But fret not, I did get up and get my side-to-side on.

Seven Falls

My niece Haleigh lives with my parents and comes to Tucson with them whenever they come. She always wants to go for a hike. Which I love, because I love to hike. But it is without fail that every time the hike is not high enough, long enough, or risky enough for her total satisfaction. So this time, I decided I was going to go one-on-one hiking with her and make it a nice, long hike. We chose what we thought was going to be a cool day, but really turned out to be the hottest day of the week.

Our destination was 7 Falls. We entered from Bear Canyon Rd to avoid the "road" walking you have to do if you enter from Sabino Canyon. (It also takes off about a mile or so, but I didn't dare tell her this...I just told her this was the more 'hard core' route because it was all trails and no roads). :)

Part-way...


I think my tactic of finding a long hike worked, because several times on the way up Haleigh would pause at a rock and say, "I think we are almost there." And on the way down, she stopped at every creek crossing to splash her face with water...and rest on the rocks. :)

Our shady picnic spot at the top...


The pool of water...


It was a nice 5-hour hike together!

A day on the town...

It is tradition when my family comes to town to stop at the sonoran hot dog/ taco stand...at least once. :)



Ezra was feeling a little disappointed that all he got was some leftover rice and beans...


And then we headed for the zoo! I had purchased our membership through Groupon a while back, and just found out that it is good for lots of zoos all over the country...including the Grand Rapids Zoo!


In general, the animals at Reid Park Zoo are a little on the lazy side. Perhaps it's the heat. But, on this cool-for-Tucson spring day, even the bear was out swimming!


At this point in life, Ezra's favorite part of the zoo is definitely the play area...

Quick Change Trousers!

I have been reading many blogs lately that rave about the "Quick Change Trousers" pattern in Anna Maria Horner's book, Handmade Beginnings. I finally got around to making (my first) pair...(I am sure I will be making many more of these). I love them. They were easy to make. And, they are reversible...so it's pretty much like making two pairs of pants (although if they get wet...it soaks through both pairs of pants and back-ups are needed :).









And here is our snacking lil' model...

God made dirt...

My family was in town visiting last week (yay!), and with them came a new surge of energy to get some stuff done around the house.

My dad installed the child safety latches on the cabinets (something that has been our to-do list for weeks, maybe even months now).


My mom and Ezra planted lots of flowers...






And since Ezra loved digging around in the dirt so much, we decided he needed a sand box. We partitioned part of a flower bed off using curved brick we had, and made this little space for our guy...








Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Decluttering the kitchen...

So, I have fallen a bit behind in posting my pics from the decluttering game. Last week we were to clean out our pantry and refrigerator.

I did clean out our pantry, but sorry no photos...

However here are photos from our fridge.

Before:


After:


I have to say that washing down the shelves and inside the drawers felt quite satisfying. Now if only we can keep things from leaking or spilling for at least 6 months.... :)

One last birthday post...

We had a family birthday party for Ezra on Saturday. We planned for it to start at 3:30pm since Ezra usually wakes up around 3pm from an afternoon nap.

However on this particularly Saturday he decided he wanted to take two morning naps, and then an afternoon nap starting at 2:45pm (he normally sleeps for 1.5-2.5 hours, so I knew this meant he wouldn't be up by 3:30pm).

Around 3:45pm Ryan and I decided that we should probably wake him up. We went into our room (where he was sleeping) and started to gently wake him by opening the blinds...then turning off his sound machine...then rubbing his back. Nothing. So we rubbed his back some more and sang happy birthday. At this point he picked up his head (eyes still closed) and turned over...still sleeping. Oh, waking up a sleeping baby is never fun, yet so cute at the same time. Eventually he woke up. He is normally a happy baby when he wakes up...even when woken up. However not this day. He was sooo tired and just wanted to be cuddled...preferably by mom or dad...for the first almost 45 minutes.

Don't take my picture guys...just hold me!


Playing catch is always a sure bet for making Ezra smile...


Gluten-free strawberry/banana birthday muffin...


They were plate-licking good!


...couldn't get enough...


Happy Birthday sweet boy!

Ezra is 1...no foolin'!

Ezra's actual birthday was wonderful, even though it didn't go exactly as I had pictured. But then again neither did his birth...so perhaps I should learn that parenthood takes many unexpected twists and turns, but it all works out wonderfully in the end.

He started cutting his first tooth, which as you know, is a hard thing to do. I can see the tooth, but it just hasn't popped through the gum yet. Most of the day he just wanted to be held and cuddled...so that is a lot of what we did. We snuggled in the chair. We snuggled on the couch. I wore him in a carrier while I baked cupcakes and gluten-free muffins. I was feeling sad about how miserable he seemed to be feeling on his birthday, and finally it dawned on me that he needed a birthday balloon! So I wore him while we walked to Fry's to pick out his birthday balloon. If you have a 1 year old, or even an almost 1 year old...balloons are magical! Ezra was in awe of his balloon and would not let go of it for a second. He carried it all the way home from the grocery store and would smile when he saw it across the room at home...I'm not kidding when I say that I have never seen him light up about something so much (except for when he sees his dad walk in the room).

In the morning Jessica and Eleanor came over, which was very fun. Jessica and I did a little sewing.

Ezra and Eleanor wanted to help too...


When playing with sharp needles and heavy machinery was not an option...they tried to break free and get into the backyard...



As always, playing with balls was a highlight...Ezra is not to sold on the idea of sharing yet though...


Ezra serenaded us...


And Eleanor checked out the potty for size... (that long thing next to Ezra is the draft blocker we sewed!)...


The both enjoyed climbing...on the same thing at the same time of course...


And here's just a head shot of him, because he is the birthday boy afterall. :)


(most of those photos should be credited to Jessica Howard :)

After Jessica and Eleanor left, Ezra spent most of the day right here...with his hand in his mouth like so...


But then we got the balloon and his face lit up like this (the balloon is on the top of the string, but sadly I didn't get that in the photo)...


The balloon even received a round of applause.


...and some open mouth kisses...