Festival of the Arts!

When I booked my ticket to come to Michigan, I didn't even think about the fact that it would be Festival of the Arts weekend in Grand Rapids. When I was growing up, Grand Rapids wasn't much of a city (though it seems to be quite happening now)...and Festival of the Arts was the one of two cool things that happened every year. (The other was the fireworks display on the 4th of July.)

Festival this year was no exception. Good food. Good music. Good people watching.

Ezra knew just who to go to for a tasty treat (and he held his stomach as if to say "yummm" everytime he got a bite)...








He stared at the people through the fence long enough that they finally came over and gave him a toy...


He danced for all to see...


And went home nice and sweaty with a balloon...

One year ago...

Around this time last year Ezra and I were in Michigan for his first visit! He was 6 weeks old at the time and as snugglebuggy as can be. It is amazing how much babies grow in their first year of life!! I couldn't help but to look back at my posts from this trip to Michigan last year...
Ezra Goes (mid)West
Lake Michigan, oh how I love thee

A taste of today

Hello friends!

Today was a fun day. Ezra decided not to stick with our agreed upon plan of staying on Arizona time, so we woke up early (8:15am). But, to be honest, it was kind of nice to be up early again.
My 3 year old niece Lizzy was over, so we went to the zoo to celebrate her birthday! The Reid Park Zoo membership also works for the John Ball Park (grand rapids) Zoo...so it was free!! YAY! I haven't been to the John Ball Park Zoo since I was a kid, so I couldn't really remember what all they had there. My favorites: the penguin exhibit, the frog exhibit (they even had blue frogs!), and the petting zoo! Lizzy was petting a pig and kept saying, "I'm petting a cow!" :)

In the aquarium...


Lizzy brushing the "cow"...


Then this afternoon I got together with some friends from high school. Which, I really need to thank the social networking of facebook for. Although we knew each other in high school, we weren't close enough to where I would normally just call them up to see if they wanted to get together when I was in town. However, now that I have Ezra, and I knew that they had kids too, I thought, "we need to get out and play with other kids...and I know just the people to 'facebook'!" It was soo nice to see them, meet their kids, smile at the ways they so lovingly interact with their kids, etc. It was one of those afternoons where I drove home from the park feeling refreshed and full of "there are lots of good people in this world" thoughts.

Nicole and Norton (she also has 2 older girls that were both in school during our time at the park):


And, I forgot to pull out my camera until after Laura left, but here is her facebook profile pic. I figured that since we got together due to facebook, it would be fitting to use this photo.


Oh, and they are both married to their high school sweethearts. Love it! :)

In honor of Ryan being in China we had Chinese take-out tonight and used chopsticks. As you can tell by the rice in Ezra's hair, we have some practicing to do...

40 Weeks

I just finished reading 40 Weeks by Paige Beselt. My cousin is friends with Paige and told me about her book, and based on my cousin's description of her friend alone, I was eager to read it. Paige is mama to seven kids and two other of her children have already gone on before her.

The book is a novel, but heavily influenced from Paige's own personal experience with miscarriage and loss. Written as journal entries, you are able to see into "Anna's" grief, joy, fear, and excitement surrounding her pregnancies as well as her miscarriage.

I found myself able to relate so much to "Anna", both in terms with her grief and feelings surrounding her miscarriage as well as her fear and anxiety that accompanied her next pregnancy. It's a tear-jerker for sure.

If you have experienced a miscarriage, or know someone who has (and chances are you do know someone who has considering that 1 in 3 pregnancies ends in a miscarriage), this book is great for helping you walk through your own grief, or allow yourself to understand the grief of others.

Now go read the book and spread the word! :)

Guess what...

...we did tonight? Went to the park! Shocking, huh? I know, we are quite predictable these days.

Ezra took a FIVE and a half hour nap today...and that was with me waking him up finally at 6pm. So to be sure he'd be sleepy for bedtime, we ran around outside and then went hot tubbing this evening.

Picnicking...


Even grandma and grandpa were game to play on the playground equipment...




...and Haleigh is always game to play...


He fell sound asleep right at bedtime (well, Michigan bedtime that is :).

cuddle bugs and park bugs...

I forgot to mention that over the weekend we also got to meet my cousin's baby Noah for the first time. Here he is snuggling with my mom...

...and celebrate our godson Micah's 2nd birthday!


Today I met up with two of my girlfriends from high school. We now all have kids, which makes for lots of fun, but also very little concentrated chat time. :)
Kelly just had Jackson at the end of April! She never thought she wanted to have kids, and yet makes such a wonderful mama to this sweet little boy. He pretty much slept on her chest the entire time we were there. So precious.


And, here is Kelsey with 7 month old Evie.


...and this is her son, Harper! He is one of my favorite 4 year old boys. Loves to tell you all about the solar system, human body, and the Wild West (which he reminds me, is where I live :)


I've always known Ezra was a very curious and energetic lil' guy. But wow, putting him next to a cuddly newborn baby really made that obvious! Here are Ezra and Harper exploring in the backyard...


...and discovering that under the crib makes for a cool fort...


Here's our troop!


This evening we took a walk to the park. The mosquitoes were out like crazy, and poor Ezra gets massive welts with each bite, so we re-applied bugspray quite frequently.

Mom, Ezra and Haleigh swinging away...


And Ezra on the merry-go-round...who knew these even still existed?!


With my peanut-allergic husband in China, I have a batch of peanut butter ice cream in the ice cream maker right now (gotta make the best of things)...yum!!

Ryan!

Ryan is doing well in China. Here is a photo he sent the other day...

So far the food has been great...dim sum for pretty much every meal. He has only accidentally brushed his teeth with tap water once, and didn't get sick from it. Yay! I believe they are going to see the Great Wall today.

We have been missing him like crazy, but being in Michigan has helped the time go by faster. Before Ryan left he made some videos for Ezra...which Ezra loves to watch everyday.

Here he is rockin' out...after about 45 seconds though the blueberries rolling off the table take center stage for him. I didn't know how to edit the video though (my editor is in china...). :)

Weekend fun!

We had a full weekend of playing! The weather was very Michigan-like. Cold and in the 50's one day, and humid and in the upper 80's today. Who can complain about that? We get a little of everything... :)

Playing on my parents' trampoline with Haleigh. Though his face doesn't show it in this photo, he really was having fun.


Playing at Wahlfield Park. He loves playing around "big kids".


Meeting sweet Natalie for the first time!


Ezra liked her, but preferred that I not hold her. Or if I did, to hold him at the same time as well. :)


Ezra and I went for a couple of runs, and would stop at Westgate Park partway through. This is the park I grew up going to (it's in our neighborhood)...so funny to be bringing my lil' guy there now!






And a trip to the cabin...
(a piece of cereal is what's sticking out of his mouth...)


He was quite excited that he could enter the cabin all by himself (the screen is loose and makes for a great "kids door".


And, it's also light enough for him to open on his own (although he is getting a little help in this photo). He was quite pleased with his independence.


Eating lunch in the same chair I used as a toddler...


Our post-lunch nap in the hammock...


We played for a while in the creek, but for safety reasons, this was the only (not-so-good) photo that I took... I should also add that the water was probably not even 40 degrees, but somehow Ezra didn't seem to care one bit. In fact he even went past his belly...I on the otherhand only went in past my ankles. :)


One sweaty/dirty dude. :)

musings...

I used to think I wanted to have a baby who would go to anyone...
...that was before I was a mom and realized the importance of attachment.

I used to think I wanted to have a date night once a week...
...that was before I was a mom and realized babies go to bed early and we can have a date night every night!

I used to think babies slept through the night starting at just a few weeks old...
...that was before I was a mom and realized babies need to know their mama is close by even at night.

I used to think I wouldn't give our baby food in the car (just to keep the car clean)...
...that was before I was a mom and realized food is a great pacifier (ummm...I mean a great way to practice fine motor skills :).

I used to have a clean house...
...that was before I was a mom and had a baby to play and snuggle with all day.

I used to think homeschooling was dorky...
...that was before I was a mom and realized that I wanted to have more time than their teacher with my child.

I used to think a strong willed child wasn't a good thing...
...that was before I was a mom and realized that strong willed people are the ones that make a difference in the world.

I used to think 9 to 5 jobs were annoying and in the way of living life...
...I still do.

dos toddlers

Wow. How do mothers of multiple children do it without napping in the middle of the day?? My niece Lizzy who just turned 3 was over from 7:45am to 7pm today. I can't take full credit because truthfully, Ezra and I didn't even wake up until 9:45am...and we had a 2 hour errand to run in there...so my dad dutifully played My Little Pony and had a tea party (or two) with her as well. I love both kiddos to pieces and had a fun day, but will be crawling into bed momentarily myself!

Emma-day!

Yesterday I picked Emma up from school to take her bowling for her birthday. It was her first time bowling, and also really fun to have some 1:1 time with her to hear all that is going on in that sweet little head of her's.

She took approximately 52 photos on my camera of our bowling experience, to make sure it was well documented. I have photos of all of the plaques and championship bowling balls. Photos of all the bowling balls in the alley. Photos of the vending machines and the claw arcade game. She decided to stop herself at taking a photo of the tv that was showing the winning lottery numbers. I'm not sure what stopped her, but it was funny to me to see her decide it wasn't photo worthy.

We went to the bowling alley just around the corner from my parent's house. I had been holding onto some coupons that I finally remembered to bring with me. Only to find out that they stopped accepting these particular coupons 10 years ago. Oops. :)

Emma in action...


Her victory dance...


Me and my companion...


Our bowling balls...


Our bowling shoes...


Our shared cherry coke...


Her cute-as-can-be gap smile!


I can't believe she was just Ezra's age at our wedding...just able to toddle down the aisle. :)