Last weekend, okay 2 weekends ago… we have a 2 month old for crying out loud… we were able to go down to San Diego for the day to visit with our friends Rob & Maria and their new son Andrew. Besides the usual baby related activities (changing diapers, crying, etc.), we had lunch and walked around La Jolla. Mitch and Andrew had a great time “playing” together… you know, lying in their respective carriers next to each other.
I have come to realize that the old saying, “it takes a village to raise a child,” is completely true; and you are our “village.” In a season that has been marked by pay-cuts, reduced hours, and loss of job security Marissa and I have been completely blown away by the generosity of our family and friends to help us prepare for this child. Whats more, is that we know that most of you are experiencing the same economic hardships that we are, too, if not more so; yet you all have gone out of your way for us and Marissa and I, and baby Mitchell (we reserve the right to change our mind, but we are probably going to name him that) are eternally grateful. Technically, the baby will probably be about 17 before he realizes the significance of what you have all done for our little family though. Without your help, I can honestly say that I do not know how we would have been able to do it. The Bible says that God will provide for our daily needs, and it is pretty cool that He used all of you to do that.
Thanks to all of you for the Chanukah and Christmas presents, the miscellaneous baby gifts, and the 3 baby showers – especially Sharon in Kirkland; my mom (Jean) in Rancho Santa Margarita and her committee of Jen, Lisa, Kamala, Marilee, and others I am sure; and the crew for the Tustin shower consisting of Jessica, Kerry, and Kim. Not to mention the guys that took their time to hang out with me during the showers… someone has to play Wii and watch football after all.
As you can see, the baby’s room is almost ready to go now. As usual, we have probably used an unorthodox aesthetic for the design of the room – yes, those are brown walls that we kept, but we think it looks really great! I am sure Baby Mitchell will agree… right before he puts stickers on the clean white furniture and draws all over the pristine brown walls.
So I’ve been tagged by Marilee to blog 7 interesting things about myself. I am not so sure how interesting these things are, but here goes:
1.) I love the beach. When I was a teenager, I spent a week every summer camping at the beach with my youth group. Those were some of the best times of my life. While my husband hates the feeling of sand on his skin and burns easily, I can’t get enough of the beach. My first trip to summer camp, I tried to clean the sand off me for the first couple of days. When that proved to be a useless effort, I gave in and just enjoyed the sand. Now I love the feeling of sand in my toes. I even like how after a trip to the beach, I find sand in everything. Every once in a while, I still find a few grains of sand in the pages of the Bible I used to take with me to camp.
2.) I have wanted to be an architect since I was 14. I like how architecture combines logic and problem solving with design. Of course I have my days where I get frustrated with work, but in general, I love my job. I like having a creative outlet. I like that I can draw a little sketch of a building and that someone will build it. And I like that what I have drawn becomes someone’s home.
3.) I like wearing Converse shoes. Currently in my closet I have a brown pair, a red pair, and not one, but two, pairs of charcoal gray Converse shoes.
4.) I love ice cream. I used to eat a bowl before dinner nearly every day. My favorites are mint chip and vanilla.
5.) I used to have a great sense of direction. Now I get lost all the time. I think my husband’s even better sense of direction has caused mine to atrophy. I can get myself to a few places that we go to regularly, but outside of my daily or weekly routine, I am sure to get lost.
6.) I don’t like last minute plans. For example, last Friday afternoon I won 2 tickets to a hockey game for the game that evening. I almost didn’t go. Fortunately, my husband likes to be spontaneous, so we went, and we had a great time.
7.) I started drinking coffee when I was 10. Now, before you think that I must have had a terrible mother, I started drinking a pretty frou frou drink… a raspberry mocha… and I had one a week during my sister’s music lesson. Besides, I grew up near Seattle and that just isn’t too strange there.
Now that I made it through that, I am going to tag: Carrie, Kerry, Allegra, Ashleah, Tiffany, and Erin.
It’s a boy! If you didn’t know, we are expecting a baby in the end of February. Tonight we had a few friends and family over for the big gender reveal. After dinner, we had everyone pick a box… pink if they were guessing it was a girl and blue if they were guessing a boy. Once everyone had a box, they opened them at the same time. All of the boxes had the same thing in them; a cupcake with XY written in blue frosting (for the Scientifically Challenged).
We also took name suggestions from the group. The boy and girl name lists were more even until after the reveal… And even though it seemed to be a group favorite, we probably won’t be naming our baby Darth Vader. (Sorry Joel)
Almost 6 years ago, we began planning our own wedding. The first place we looked into having our wedding at was this gallery space in Laguna Beach called 7 degrees. Although it is a very cool venue, it didn’t end up working out for our wedding. However, when our friends began planning their wedding a few years back, we suggested that they look into it. So last night we got to go to their wedding at 7 degrees and it was beautiful. The bride and groom put their personal touch on every last detail. Everything from the martini bar with an ice luge and a full coffee bar to the bagpiper at the ceremony and framed paintings painted by the groom’s grandfather around the gallery.
This weekend we went to a friend’s wedding up in Somis. While not the most convenient of locations, it was beautiful. And it was great to see old friends and be a part of Gina and Caleb’s special day. Both the bride and groom are particularly goofy characters, so the wedding was definitely a party. The event also turned out to be somewhat of a group effort. My friend Jessica and I helped with the wedding invitations. Another friend, Marilee, made a gazillion cupcakes (they were delicious)! Other friends helped with wedding favors and make-up. All in all, we had a great time.
Since we like reading all our friends’ blogs so much, we decided to start one of our own.
It took a little brainstorming to come up with a blog name that we feel represents us. We like to think of our life as a rock concert… only quieter… but with extra bass.
Enjoy!
