"bob, bob, bob"

It's been a while since my last post,
I know.

We've been busy-really. Lots of little projects around here. Spring cleaning, etc.
It feels so good to get organized!

I just wanted to let you know what we've been listening to lately. Nicholas learned to make a new noise.
And he makes a lot of it.

I love how he seems almost embarrassed, but he can't stop doing it.
And you gotta love this kid's eyebrow expression!

chip off the old block

Daddy dressed Nicholas today.At least his head will stay warm, although probably only for as long as that little hat stays on.
These guys have so much fun together.
Nicholas is all smiles as soon as he hears the garage door opening at the end of the day and Dad is home from work.
Moms just aren't as fun as Dads. And that's the truth of it.

Last night Nicholas was helping Dad install a new computer program. I love the identical expressions on their faces.I don't know what I'd do without these two.
I love them. A whole lot.

advice to bring peace

A friend of mine posted this on facebook.

In a BYU Devotional, given on May 14 1996, Elder F. Enzio Busche of the Quorum of the Seventy of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave advice to those listening on how to become a disciple of Christ. The speech was entitled "Unleashing the Dormant Spirit" and can be found at http://speeches.byu.edu.

a slice of nirvana

In the Sunday morning rush I broke a cereal bowl.
Having a baby means adding at least 45 minutes to your getting ready routine.
45 minutes or more.
And the difficult part is, you never know when 45 minutes might turn into 55, or 65.

But we made it to Church, and since our ward is full of young families, getting there in time to have soft seats for the 9 am Sacrament meeting is less a matter of getting there early than it is simply getting there before everyone else does.

We slid into our bench, arranged the diaper bag and other belongings, took off our jackets, and settled in with Nicholas, prepared with a handful of "silent toys," burp cloths, and his binky. We snuggled in close and played with our baby for a few minutes before the meeting started.

After the meetings were over, Kent went over to the bishopric's offices to get some paperwork and our bishop stopped him.

He told Kent that he watched our family come into Church that morning.
He said that we looked like "a happy little piece of heaven," and, crossing religious terminology he added, a "slice of nirvana."

***

I'm not very familiar with what nirvana actually means.

I looked it up on Wikipedia.

"The Buddha described Nirvana as the perfect peace of the state of mind that is free from craving, anger and other afflictive states. The subject is at peace with the world, has compassion for all and gives up obsessions and fixations."

The subject is at peace with the world.

Peace.

"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid" -John 14:26-27

And that is my one little word for 2010.

Peace.

President Gordon B. Hinkley said, "Are these perilous times? They are. But there is no need to fear. We can have peace in our hearts and peace in our homes. We can be an influence for good in this world, every one of us." (from his book One Bright Shining Hope).

I am a champion worrier. Poor Kent can attest to that. I always have been. I worry about anything and everything.

Especially now that I have Nicholas.

But it isn't just worrying that I have a problem with. I get easily upset when things happen that are different from the perfect little plan in my head.

I stew. I mull. I mope and complain.

"We should not live a life of despair and gloom. We should enjoy life in the light of revealed truth."

-Marion G. Romney, former first counselor in the First Presidency of the Church.

I hope that this year I can learn to be at peace. I want to be happy with what I've been given, love the people around me, and trust that our Heavenly Father will look after what I cannot control.

Post-edit: Kent just informed me that the phrase "a slice of nirvana" didn't come from the bishop, but from Kent himself.

Either way, I like the phrase, and the writer in me is loving the sentence structure I've got going on up there, and so I'm keeping it as is.

an island

ninety-percent complete

We have just a few things left to do before it's done:

Trim the damaged edge off of the white panel that goes on the back where the barstools will be,

install one more drawer pull because we grabbed the wrong kind at Home Depot,

and purchase barstools.

Have any of you seen a place we can buy white wooden barstools with backs?

Our kitchen has already come a long way since we bought it,

and we've still got an island to finish, tile to install, a new dishwasher and range to swap out, and painting to do.

And two burned out lightbulbs to replace. Hehe.

without enough words

to say how much I am in love with this guy. Seriously.

The past few weeks Nicholas has become so much more "him" and I love every single thing about him.

He's almost five months old, he's so deliciously fat, and he has a smile that lights up the room.
Let me tell you all about him now.

Because I am his mother. And I get to.

He loves to eat. Sweet potatoes, avacadoes, and peaches.

He's not sleeping through the night anymore. That lasted a whopping three nights. We wake up at around 11, 2, and 5, and then he's up for the day sometime between 7 and 8. But how could I say no to his happy smile when he sees me coming to feed him?

He smiles at anyone and everyone. He has the most awesome full body-wiggling, eye-twinkling smile, too. I've never gotten so much positive attention from strangers before.

Just a few days ago he discovered that he has a voice. And now he is constantly talking. To me, to his dresser, to his toys, to his hands. He moves his tongue around like he's trying to get words out. It's adorable.

He is close to sitting up on his own. Sort of. Maybe it's just his belly fat that props him up.

When we bathe him he splashes as if his little life depended on him getting all the water out of the tub. He stares straight ahead and kicks his legs up and down. (And with legs that big, he's able to displace quite a lot of water!)

If we stand him up, he puts on his "curious eyes" and looks all around.

He no longer lays flat. His legs are always in the air, and usually he has his left toes in his hand.

He has rolled from front to back a total of five times so far.

On his stomach, he puts his head down against the ground, curls his legs up under himself, grips the carpet with his fingers, and tries to propel himself forward. He wants to crawl.
I don't put him on his stomach very often. I mean, he's too little to be crawling...

....right?

He's sporting the "bald spot" style right now, and some of his dark newborn hair is still hanging on in the very back.My favorite thing is when he does his "I'm going to eat you!" face. With his mouth wide open, he stares at whatever he wants to chew on, and then nosedives for it.

He laughs, especially at Kent.

I don't know what I did before this little guy.

He is perfection, and hanging out with him every day is absolutely delightful.

the anniversary curse

On our anniversary, Kent surprised me by coming home from work early.
He had the flu.

So it wasn't much of a fun anniversary for either of us. We decided to make up for it by going on a little trip to Austin this weekend.

Unfortunately, our anniversary trips seem to have a sort of curse. A traveling curse.

When we went to Paris for our honeymoon, our luggage was lost for almost the whole week we were there. It was such an adventure to navigate a foreign country as newlyweds to find things like hair gel and socks.
When we went on our anniversary trip last year, I locked the keys in the land cruiser that we were borrowing from my uncle-luckily the back window had been broken by someone else a few days earlier and all I had to do was tear through the plastic and crawl inside, but it was pouring rain and we were at the airport and it was a bit of a challenge. Very funny, yes. I chuckle every time I see the picture of the mud-smeared plastic window we repaired with duct tape. I can't help but remember squirming through that little slit while Kent stood in the pouring rain keeping watch for any airport security guards or police. (It wasn't our car, after all, and we would have had a hard time explaining that one.)

But we wanted to do something even more exciting for our anniversary this time.
This year, we tossed an 8-foot piece of plywood onto the freeway.

Let me back up a little and give you the recipe for our most exciting anniversary trip. In case you ever want to recreate it yourself.

The Andersen's Famous Anniversary Delight
Begin with
1 uneventful drive to Austin
1 awesome hotel room
1 happy baby boy
2 trips to IKEA (Just so you know, I have discovered my deep and abiding love for this store.)
1 1/2 hours spent picking out all the specifications for a perfect kitchen island
2 IKEA workers to help us stuff all the boxes into our little car
1 particular box that was too big to fit in the car
a couple handfuls of twine and a few knots to secure that box to the top of the car
1 dinner of barbecue from Rudy's
2 IBC drinks (root beer and creme soda)
1 television with cable
1 very relaxing night in the hotel

Stir together gently and let sit overnight.

Then add:
1 last morning trip to IKEA
15 minutes of driving before stopping for lunch

(Nicholas attempted to eat the VW symbol. He was hungry, too!)

Continue for 45 minutes while slowly adding:
75 mph
5 strands of broken twine
1 very large piece of plywood no longer on top of our car

In a separate mixing bowl, combine:
3 calls to the police department
1 police car coming to stop traffic so we could drag the piece out of the left lane
1 grouchy police officer who offers no help but stands with his arms folded while you struggle with said plywood
Zero pieces of usable twine and a section of kitchen island that was simply too large to fit into our car

Oh, and 1 screaming baby. Screaming.

To solve, mix 1 very resourceful husband, 1 blessed pacifier, a slow drive off the freeway, 20 minutes in the McDonald's parking lot, 4 phone calls to parents, and a nearby Home Depot.
Continue on with lots of praying, slow driving, stopping every five miles, and adding approximately 4 hours to the drive, or until the edges are golden brown.

Serve and enjoy in 2 years, when it becomes really funny.

Surprisingly, only the corner of the board was really damaged, and as it was two feet too long for our island, we're thinking we can just trim that part off. Or so we hope.

At least he was happy while we retied the piece down at Home Depot.

Thanks to Kent's skills with twine and nylon straps, we eventually made it home, and we spent lots of time taking turns saying "Well at least it wasn't..." and "It could have been worse if..."

And while we were sitting in the emergency lane with a crying baby in the backseat waiting for the police car, I was really glad that I was sitting next to my best friend, because I knew that we would be able to laugh about all of this when it was all over and we were home.

I was wrong.
We started laughing about it when we were still 25 miles away from home.

And that is why I love my husband. Life with Kent is never sad for very long.
Happy Anniversary, Kent!

Here's to staying at home next year!