Phew!

It has been an eventful month indeed! I feel like we've been gone more than we've been here. I'll start off with my little surprise jaunt to Arizona! Deliciousness! My sister Bethany lives there and Vanessa (my other sis) had been planning the trip for quite a while from San Fran. Little did Bethany know, I booked a flight as well and landed in PHX 10 minutes before Nessa! (She already told this whole story on her blog but it was pretty funny so I have to tell it here too.) We decided to switch babies on her, so Nessa went out and waited curbside with Lucy while I was inside watching the events unfold with her little morsel Leah. I've never seen anything like Bethany's face as she was going to hug Nessa and looked at Lucy, biggest furrowed brow ever, utter and complete confusion, trying her hardest to make sense of it- trying to make Lucy into Leah! Then it dawned on her what was happening... she nearly peed her pants, jumping and squealing all over the place as I came skipping out the door with Leah, and we all jumped and squealed around together for a good 20 minutes. Our excitement quickly got the best of us, as jumping and squealing turned to pushing and shoving... a mosh pit soon erupted between us and a security guard ended up having to break up the scuffle. It was unfortunate that Bethany left in handcuffs for breaking a glass beer bottle over Vanessa's head, but man! What a memory! hahaha.

Lucy couldn't keep her little mits off her cousins Leah and Isaiah, who are both rather large in comparison to my little stink. They could both easily defend themselves, but I was a proud aunty as they chose the path of passive resistence to her advances. Seriously, she made them both cry repeatedly, following them around constantly with her little crooked smile as they plotted how to "ditch the runt". There's no denying the harrassment. We caught many instances on film.

Who doesn't love a naked baby or two?

The trips are never long enough! I couldn't live without my sisters.

Motherhood.

I know I'm late. But I loved Mother's Day. I LOVE my mother. I love my mother-in-law. I love my sisters, who are mothers. I love a countless number of others who are mothers. And I love LOVE being a mother. Lots of love. What a club to belong to. What an association. We make tiny people. And then we nuture them and love them once we've made them all the way up until they are big people. I look at Lucia and feel my mind blowing all over again, every time. Never fails. And it's weird for me to consider that this is how we all got here, that same journey. Billions and billions of times over since the world began. Poor Eve. Do you think anyone told her what was happening to her the first time she was pregnant? I mean she knew they were instructed to multiply- but still. There must have been someone who came and let her know that she wasn't just getting chubby- that there was another human inside of her who was gonna bust out of her body within a few months. Think she had any kind of prep course?? I think she must have. I have to believe that she did. Here's to Eve. Here's to all Mothers, of every kind.

So easy to love this Lucy. Easiest thing in my life. (And I adore the fact that at almost 10 months she still is elated to let me tuck her in my pouch and carry her kangaroo style).

Hip Hip Hooray!

I am a colleje grajuat. Who new?

Yes folks, it finally happened. I am pleased to announce that I have a diploma in hand. Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. I loved loved LOVED my major. Things got complicated when I still had about 40 credits to go and realized there was a bun in the oven. (Had to pull each and every professor aside and explain why I was bringing 3 course meals to class and why I'd be needing very regular potty breaks- along with a warning not to make me angry.) But alas, we pulled through. FEELS GREAT!

Delirious.

Right before her naps, Lucy turns to one or another extreme.  She either becomes insufferably irritable or deliriously slap happy.  Just like her mother when she is tired.  No middle ground.

If only it were this easy to entertain the masses.  She gives me false security in my comedic genius.  In fact, I am now completely convinced that there is no other career route for me besides stand up comedy.  I try to feed her a bite, she shakes her head, I shake my head back, and there's the magic.

Thoughts on Easter.

I know I am a couple weeks behind schedule, but I wanted to share this video. Elder Jeffery R. Holland of the quorum of the twelve apostles is one of my very favorite speakers, and this is part of what he shared during General Conference for our church. I wept through the full duration of his talk and, as expected, felt more resolve than ever to try harder and be better. I'm sure many of you who heard it did the same. "One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so." I know that these things are true.

I'll be having nightmares about this.

I was playing the piano this morning and brought Lucy into our front room with me. It is hard for me to play with her because she grabs onto the piano bench and stands herself up, says “mama,” repeatedly (which breaks/melts the heart) and then usually falls down and starts crying, or hits her head on the bench. She has been completely accident prone these last few days. This is the routine, over and over again for the 5 to 10 minutes I can get in of playing time. This morning I was prepared to occupy her by bringing along with us a large wooden spoon and a wire whisk, her objects of preference of the household, and she seemed to be very content.

Out of the corner of my eye while I’m tickling the ivories I see her crawl out into the front entry way of our house, but I can still see her. With one eye on the sheet music and one eye on her (reptile style) I see her sit up and pick something up. I look over and see that she has something clinched in her fist. I say, “Lucy.” She looks at me and as I’m getting up to come see whatever she’s picked up to add to her bag lady collection, (she has a marvelous collection of lint balls and food crumbs), she shoves it in her mouth. I say, “Lucia!” with a little more firmness and get to her as she is taking it back out of her mouth and clinching it tight once again in a closed fist. Then the horror. As I am prying, I realize it is nothing less than a nasty DEAD WASP!! I can see the butt sticking out from her fist! I know I’m the parent and supposed to remain calm and collected but that wasn’t really the case. I immediately start freaking out, which makes her start crying, (not an all-out cry, more of a whine cry) as I’m prying the disdainful carcass from her white knuckle grip, and all the while I’m not sure if she’s crying because I’m freaking out or because the stinger found its way into her tender little skin! Bee and wasp stings can kill babies if they are allergic, just in case you didn’t know! I got that thing as far away from her as I could and swept her up into the bathroom to wash her hands (10 to 12 times). Luckily, turns out she was in fact crying from my reaction and not a sting. Phew! Every time I think about it I totally shudder. Gives me the biggest creeps. I keep replaying the whole ordeal in my mind, (post traumatic stress syndrome) and as it replays in my mind I can’t help but start screaming in panic, making her cry all over again. Hahaha Can you imagine? No, no I’ve been able to regain full composure but still!

For your viewing pleasure I was able to grab the camera and snap a few shots of the critter on my hand before chucking it out the door.

Haha. Okay, so maybe that isn't the actual wasp that we had our encounter with and maybe that's not my hand after all, but look at the size of that thing!! Good grief!! UGH they all give me the willies. And I don't care if you're dead or alive, you stay away from my baby!!

Busy Bees

First of all, let me just say that exhaustion is definitely setting in. These last few weeks have absolutely blurred by. Jason had a security convention in Las Vegas for a few days, then my parents were in town conference weekend (How inspiring was General Conference?), then we had more guests that stayed over Easter weekend, and back to Southern California we went this past week for Jason to do more training. We have been going non stop. So, girlfriends, if you feel like I haven't called you for a while, and maybe my love for you is weaning, kick those nasty thoughts right out of your head and let forgiveness and love replace them. Are we really already this far into April? It is by far the busiest time of the year for Jason's profession. Don’t know how he keeps up with it all and maintains his sanity. I have so many exciting stories to tell you about everything that has been going on! But, I don't really have the energy for it. And I really cringe to think of what the length of this blog post would be should I endeavor. So instead I guess I'll take everyone by surprise and talk about Lucia in this post. Fooled you all!

She's finally taken to the water. (Her male pattern baldness in these pics is due to the greesy sunblock I rubbed all over her little head.) I guess you could say she was just like... a duck in water... practicing a syncronized swimming routine by the time we were about to get out of the pool.

And this is today right before her bath. She has now graduating to half army crawl/ half knee crawl. She has also been saying, "Mama," while crawling towards me or to get my attention. It definitely makes me feel even more smitten than I already was, if that's possible.

We have been blessed with such a happy girl.