Daffodils

So many books

...so little time (to pick them all up). That being the case, we are trying to train Nora to bypass certain areas in her explorations. Not a lot of progress yet. Maybe next week...

My reward

I have had some of the most rewarding moments of motherhood the past couple of days. Nora has learned how to give "kisses." I'll hug her and give her a kiss on her check and then she'll turn her head, grab my face and then, with her tongue out, put her face against my check. It is one of the best feelings in the world. For months, Stephen and I have cared for our infant daughter, and now she's at the age where she can begin to express affection. Priceless.

Under the pine trees

Nora has a phobia. It's grass. Don't worry --she's in therapy and taking baby steps towards becoming a grass-hugger. I discovered her fear during our afternoon walk when I excitedly took her out of her stroller so she could stand barefoot. She screamed. It was actually quite funny. She frantically pulled on my leg and then when I didn't respond right away she lifted one foot as far up as she could and then just looked at the other one "stuck" on the ground. So, I eventually picked her up and we went in search of softer, greener grass. We found some under a "grove" of pine trees (if four skinny trees can be called a grove). It was actually a fun little spot. I have fond childhood memories associated with "playing house" under pine trees and using the cones as food and the needles as bedding. It is so precious to see my little girl explore nature and discover new things. By the end of our outing, she was beginning to warm to the prickly green stuff :)

Grocery shopping

I HATE grocery shopping. When we were first married, I assumed I didn't like it because we were on a budget. We're still on a budget, I still detest the chore, and I'm beginning to wonder: Will I ever learn to like it? I'm doubtful. When we have a bit more padding in the bank account and space in the kitchen, I look forward to building up my pantry -shelves of canned goods, spices, flour, etc. Then I'll only have to go to the grocery store like once a week to get milk and eggs. If even then. Maybe I'll get a cow and chickens. What a happy thought :-P (Bet you can't guess what inspired this post. Yep. The sales in the flyer expire today and our fridge is practically empty. Yeah. I'm going, I'm going.)

Bachelors beware

Stephen: [removing a pile of hair pins from the end table beside our couch] "This is one of the defining moments of how life is different for a married guy. Before, I had superfluous electronic equipment laying around, now it's beauty supplies."

Poor guy. While an otherwise orderly person, I do leave beauty products, especially hair pins, everywhere. No place is safe. It's come in handy more than once to have a hair tie or lipstick in our car's cup holder. So, I don't have a lot of motivation to change except to maybe keep my husband sane.

Spring is in the air...

The weather's still a bit cool, but IT SMELLS LIKE SPRING! And the daffodils are blooming. And the trees are budding. How glorious.

Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bechtle

Best wishes!

We are F-A-M-I-L-Y, family.

Stephen had the camera with him for the Bechtle/Mangione wedding this past weekend, but I was able to get a couple pictures of my sibs before he left. I wanted to post them along with my congrats to Melanie, Abby and Nathan who all made it into the top ten for the Grant County Spelling Bee today. A-W-E-S-O-M-E, awesome!

Good morning, life~

Do you know that Dean Martin song? For some reason, even though I haven't listened to it in months, it's going through my head this morning. Maybe it's wishful thinking that spring would get here soon. Technically, today is the first day of spring, but tomorrow it's supposed to snow and right now the wind is bitting. Last Monday it got up to 83 degrees. What a difference a week makes. Actually, last Tuesday dipped back down into the 50s, so really the warmth lasted just long enough to be terribly tantalizing. Just when I started to break out the flip flops...

Family visits

If you live a ways from your family and don't see them as much as you'd like, I would offer a bit of advice. Have a baby. (if you're life situation is suitable, of course =)

It's worked for us very well. The first part of last week, Stephen's sister, Anna, spent part of her spring break with us and the week ended with a short visit from my family. Sigh. Never have I wanted so strongly to live in a number of different places simultaneously. Catching up is nice, but it really just shows you what you're "missing out on" with family/friends.

I had a wonderful time getting to know my only (currently) sister-in-law better over make-overs, manicures and hair cuts. We had a blast! She is a wicked Boggle-player. Even Stephen got whooped. Needless to say, I was toast in that competition.

And then with my family, I realized, again, how spoiled we all would be if aunts, uncles and grandparents lived close. Nora loves being the center of attention. My sisters have a gift with children. They can make an independent, active child, such as ours, cuddle. It was adorable and made me doubly sad to see my family go.

I was immeasurably happy, though, to see my hubby return tonight from a three-day trip to a friend's wedding and know without a shadow of a doubt that he's the one person in this world with whom I really couldn't stand to miss out sharing my life.

Itchy feet

I have itchy feet. I desire to be somewhere different. I'm content with leaving "the house," "the garden" and "the white picket fence" that I own and not rent for future days. But, I'm finding it very hard to consider that I may be in the same place next year. I want to "escape" my current surroundings and frustrations for new experiences and scenery. Even so, I realize that contentment is a condition of the heart and isn't to be found by changing location. I'm praying that I learn more fully how (in whatever situation I am) to be content.

You know you're a hoosier when:

1. Vacation means going north or south on I-65 for the weekend.
2. You measure distance in hours.
3. You know several people who have hit a deer more than once.
4. You often switch from heat to AC in the same day and back again.
5. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.
6. You see people wearing camouflage at social events including weddings.
7. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.
8. You carry jumper cables in your car and your girlfriend knows how to use them.
9. You design your kids Halloween costume to fit over a snow suit.
10. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.
11. You know all 5 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, road construction, & It's Hot.
12. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.
13. Down south means Kentucky to you.
14. A brat is something you eat.
15. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.
16. You go out to a tailgate party every Friday.
17. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.
18. You find 0 degrees a "little chilly."
19. You actually understand these jokes.

I could identify with some of these points more than others. #2 was particularly apt given my current residence. I've lived in Northern Virginia for the past almost-six years now and I still have to fight the habit of converting miles to minutes. It leaves me constantly frustrated as I never make it anywhere in the time I think I should. You'd think I'd learn my lesson by now...but, what can I say, Hoosier habits die hard.

Nora with Aunt Anna

A quandary

The longer I live, the more I am convinced of this observation.

Most people have either time and no money or money and no time.

Randomness

It seems like every blog has at least one post with this title. Sometimes that's all you can say.

It's a late night...too late for me...in a series of late nights. Life recently has felt more like my college days than it has in a while -with, yes, late nights and deadlines of various sorts. It's a good kind of busy...mostly.

So, as today soon becomes yesterday, Stephen is working on a website for our church. Handermann is the technical and all-around genius behind the site. Stephen's job is "to make it look good."

I realize Stephen isn't featured much on this blog, so I'd like to congratulate him in front of the whole world wide web for his second acceptance letter for grad school. I am so grateful for his leadership in our family and for persevering during a grueling application process. For now, we both continue to wait and praise God for His continued faithfulness. It's very exciting to think that we could be anywhere next year...or we could be here...and that would be fine, too. I'm much more at peace about our future than I was last year. Maybe it's the fact that we have the security of a job to "fall back on" should grad school not work out. I'd like to think it's that my faith has grown a little. It's so silly to worry when I see over and over again how faithful God is in directing our path.

Nora is in transition with her eating/sleeping cycles now that she is nursing less frequently. I hope this phase balances out soon. Another thing I'd like to have balanced is Nora herself. I think she has fallen and hit her head every day this week. So far, there haven't been any bad bumps, but I'm bracing myself. I kept putting off truly "baby-proofing" our apartment. Stephen and I aspire to train Nora rather than lock away everything in our home (within reason... we do plan to cover our electrical outlets). However, as I cleaned part of a planter off the cream carpet in our apartment tonight, I decided that some baby proofing is in order. Soon.

Stephen just showed me the website. I'm impressed. When it's truly complete, I'll post the link.

I think Stephen is starting to regret that he bought me a recliner...because it's comfortable and I'm tired.

I think we should buy fish... but they always die.

I get more verbose late at night. I don't think I ever wrote a college paper during the day. So, as I search for a conclusion to this post and end up instead with just more words, I have decided to stop now.