Happy Birthday, Becca!

28 random things to know about Becca on her 28^th birthday.

1. Becca has an irrational fear of left-hand turns

2. Becca has an uncanny aptitude for accents and has successfully tricked a few innocent bystanders along the way.

3. Of all the household chores, the one she dislikes the most is washing dishes. It works great because I don’t mind washing dishes, but hate loading the dishwasher, so dishes are almost always a team effort.

4.     Becca has flat feet. Like Flinstone flat feet. When she leaves a footprint in the sand or anywhere else, there’s no gap between the heel and the forefoot. And the toenail on her pinky toe is all of about 2mm long.

5.     Becca had an amazing Southern belle accent when she moved from Georgia to Maryland during Elementary School and purposefully and swiftly broke herself from it so as not to be embarrassed.

6.     Becca has and plans to continue to complete a triathlon between each baby and is signed up for one this summer.

7.     Becca has amazing calf muscles – perfect upside heart shape. It’s from years of ballet. She still does a jete like a champ.

8.     Becca has confused Tom Petty and Lenny Kravitz for as long as I’ve known her. It gets funnier every time.

9.     Becca’s ability to remember numbers (SS#, phone numbers, credit card numbers, etc) went out the window completely when our first child was born. It offers great amusement in our home every time she asks me what our credit card number is because I always make her try to remember it first.

10.  Becca is like the little girl on that Mel Gibson movie, Signs. There are partially filled glasses of water all over our house. I hung a baseball bat in the family room, just in case.

11.  Becca played field hockey and lacrosse in high school and was a cheerleader as well. She's a little sheepish to admit the cheerleader part.

12.  If Becca ever smells something of a fetid odor, you can always tell because you’ll hear forceful, nasal exhalations and see her nose crinkle.

13.  Before she got an iPhone and started tracking her To Do List on it, at any given time, you could find random pieces of paper with lists of tasks all over the house.

14.  Becca has very curvy teeth and when I told her while I was in dental school that she has large embrasures (the technical term), one of her favorite jokes to tell whenever she gets something stuck in her teeth is, “You just like me for my curves…”

15.  When Becca was pregnant with John and had serious food aversions, she could put down a box of Cheez-Its like you wouldn’t believe. Family size – gone in seconds.

16.  We play Animal Cherades with John quite a bit. Becca loves to be a Koala by walking up to a door frame and putting her hand and leg up against the wall. It’s hilarious.

17.  Becca totally gets behind a sports team simply because she likes one player. The Oklahoma City Thunder could have a roster full of convicts and drug dealers, but she likes Kevin Durant. Therefore, she cheers for his team.

18.  Becca sets her alarm at 9:30 every morning to remind her to read her scriptures. She does it at that time because she knows her kids will see her do it and know it’s important to her.

19.  Becca has super boring dreams – dreams full of logistics, planning, and everyday stuff. I know this because she talks in her sleep and says things like, “Matt, are you and Dad both driving or are we driving in the same car?” or “I don’t think I can make it by 3. It’ll have to be closer to 4.” She has also been caught raising her hand to ask a question in her dream class.

20.  Aside from all of the planning practice she gets in her sleep, she is terrible at estimating how much time it takes to do things. Don’t get me wrong – Becca fits more into the time she has than anyone I know, but she still has no idea how long it’ll take to do it.

21.  Becca dedicates essentially the same amount of time to her Church calling, no matter what it is. There is no such thing as an easy calling to her.

22.  If Becca ever gets her hands on a rich, fancy, thick mug of hot chocolate, she will inevitably sit on a couch, curl up with her knees to her chest, place both hands around the mug as it seemingly warms her soul, and sip on it over the course of at least 30 minutes.

23.  Becca doesn’t tease me nearly as much as I tease her, but when she does, every joke is a home run.

24.  Becca was an amazing student and graduated from Stanford with a stellar GPA. However, her B+ in Modern Dance at BYU still stirs up powerful feelings of anger and frustration.

25.  Whenever Becca quotes a teenage boy, she always turns on her dumb-teenage-boy accent, no matter who she is quoting.

26.  Becca looks amazing in a tennis skirt. It’s the only reason I learned how to play.

27.  Becca had a dream that our first kiss was on a basketball court during a date and a few days later, she laid one on me…. After playing basketball together.

28. Becca is the sweetest, most amazing woman in the entire world. She has done amazing things in 28 years and I'm excited to be a part of and see all the wonderful things she will do in the next 28 and beyond.

Happy birthday, sweetheart!

Just John

"Super John, to the rescue"

John's Latest and Greatest developments:

• Creative names for our family members, either through mispronunciations or intentional renaming
• John- Juan, Jonny, Mufasa
• Eliza- Baby Lila, Baby Elila, Dude
• Me- Mom, momma, mommy, Sarabi
• Matt- Dad, daddy, Simba, 'son'

Mufasa and Simba

• My favorite quotes are when John wakes up happy and ready for the day- "My have a good life", "What you want to do today?", "What a wonderful day!", "My LOVE --- (food, activity, place)!", or "That my favorite ---".  I also love his validation of my ideas- "Great idea, mom!" or "Good job!"

• He loves to learn and I love participating as he discovers the world around him.  He has turned into quite the mimic and now teaches me about steam and melting, quizzes me on animal facts, and lectures me on holding hands to cross the street. He regularly questions, "Why", and readily explains "Because...". He loves our little co-op preschool and it's been so fun to help teach this enthusiastic group of 5 toddlers and watch John learn and grow.

V is for Volcano

Excitement over Easter cookies

• He goes deep with his 'favorites'. Cookie monster, animals, and now lions.  His imagination and persistence in sticking with a certain interest have outlasted my imagination and interest several times. Luckily, the interests have all been cute and allow for ample learning opportunities.  He truly is a sponge, soaking up any detail relating to his interests.

• He loves being active- trampoline, parks, climbing our couches or the wall in our back yard, learning to ride a balance bike (needs a few more successes to approach this with confidence and totally buy into it). And he's got the constant bruising to show for his adventures.

• Thankfully, he still naps most days, a 2-3 hour afternoon nap, and I am grateful every day the napping continues. 

Sleep bunny is still his beloved companion

• He can spend hours with puzzles and blocks, impressing me with his focus and visuo-spacial abilities.

• He is two, through and through. "No" is a vocabulary mainstay and he now frequently refuses to do as requested.  He also picks up lovely phrases from movies, shows, and even the grocery store (Example from when I was tying his shoelaces: "What are you doing to me? You are ruining my life."). Timeout is visited multiple times a day, and I spend a lot of emotional energy puzzling over how to handle physical or rude behavior, but overall he really is a great kid. I frequently remind myself that the job of (most) two year olds is to "test boundaries," and I just need to be mentally on top of it enough to kindly and consistently teach him those boundaries.

• He is increasingly verbal and talkative, moving past the need for constant verbal confirmations and he has started exploring story-telling and song-creating.  I love his stories.  So much energy and creativity!
• So many of his statements make us laugh.  Tonight, after his story about a lion, tiger, and BYU cougar playing with their sisters, he states: "I have so many sisters: Eliza, and Dude, and Pierce"... this of course needed clarification (Eliza and Dude are the same person, and Pierce is a male cousin), but his follow-up exclamations of love for Eliza, Pierce, and Aunt Brittany were so fun.
• He has started recited the long songs and poems that he's been exposed to for awhile.  For example, we say the Pledge of Allegiance every Wednesday at preschool.  John has stood, mute, with hand over heart every week for 22 weeks.  Then this week, out of the blue, he recites the whole thing start to finish.  He clearly liked the reaction from us and grandparents, so now he goes around reciting the Pledge at will.
• Diego (a TV character- Dora side-kick) speaks Spanish, so now he often chooses to count in Spanish rather than English.  He sometimes chooses "Mom's favorite" (French) or "Dad's favorite" (Russian), and it's fun to see him show some interest in recognizing different languages.

• John is so loving and thoughtful. 
• He adores Eliza- he is protective, helpful, and constantly asking about her and loving on her. He loves participating in my enthusiastic encouragement of clapping, waving, and crawling, and he is the sweetest helping her (though sometimes a bit overzealous in his physical assistance).
• John adores Matt. One favorite line, John comes out of nursery at church: "Where is my daddy?  I love him. He's my favorite man.  He loves me."
• He frequently asks about any sadness or illness. "Mom, you sick? What you need? I help you feel better?".  He overheard me talking on the phone about GGpa's hernia and surgery, "Oh, my have to say a prayer... please help GGpa that the doctors fix his tummy owie better". 
• John has mastered independent mealtime and bedtime prayers.  His creative list of what he is grateful for is often amusing ("Thank you for eyelids, for my trampoline, and for the white thing" were all in last night's dinner prayer - the white thing was my watch), but my favorite is his constant first line, "Thank you for our happy family."

A self-initiated prayer while we were in the Sacred Grove, either thanking God for meat or our happy family.

John sure brings a lot of joy!!!

Happy Mother's Day, Becca!

This is Matt. I've hijacked my sweet wife's blog to post a video tribute to her and the incredible work she does as a mother.

Happy Six Months, Eliza!

Six months ago today, this amazing little girl came into our lives.

And it has been so powerful to reflect back to those incredible first impressions.

Eliza, you have brought so much joy and love into our family.  We can't imagine our lives without your sweet presence, and we love you with all our hearts!

Here are some of the specifics we love about you:

*Your huge, adorable, crooked smile.  All it takes is one look at you or a silly sound and you break out this heart-warming face.  

*Your happy demeanor. You are naturally so easy-going.  Sure, you have the standard baby needs and you protest if any needs aren't being met, but you are so easily entertained by the world around you. Your demeanor has made the transition to being momma of two so much smoother than I anticipated.  Bless you, little one, bless you.

*Your rolls. I have not lost any sleep worrying about your nourishment, you have always been one healthy little girl!  Here are my favorites:

The back of the neck roll

The mid-thigh roll

And the elbow dimple

*Your noises: Laughs, giggles, cadenced squeals, tongue sputters, grunts, conversive ahhs, and many more. You make us all laugh at your joyous explorations of your vocal abilities.

*Your cuddliness. So soft and sweet, you just melt into place.  Oh how I love this.

*Your fascination with your hands and your constant efforts to eat them.

(Your dad's unused surgical cap.  He thought this was hilarious. )

*Your 'excitement' moves: Open mouth smile, opening and closing your fists (Jazz hands), and powerful kicks. I especially love this response when I come in to greet you after a nap.

*Your squinty morning eyes, when the whole world is so interesting yet so bright.

*And your adoration of your brother. You love watching him play, you love to laugh at his funny faces, and you are so patient and tough with his bursts of intensity.

You are already acting the part of a six month old, and we sure love watching you get such joy and satisfaction with your increasing abilities.

You love to sit by yourself

In high chairs

And even shopping carts now

You love solid foods!  So far, you have loved pears and carrots, tolerated apples, and liked sweet potatoes.

Such a happy first six months! Every day, I am grateful for your health and your happiness.

Thank you for being my little girl.

St. Patrick's Day

For his Spring Break, my brother and his awesome family explored New England and came to see us!

It was so great to see them on bookend weekends, both of which turned out to be quite festive with St. Patrick's Day, March Madness, and Easter.

These two cousins took greater delight at each other's existence, admiring each other's hands, kicking moves, jumperoo-ing, and vocal abilities.

And John loved doting on "such cute little babies" (said low, slurred, and silly)

St. Patrick's morning, we did the green thing.

Green pancakes, green eggs, green juice.

For dinner, we went Irish.  Corned beef and cabbage (oh wait, I forgot about the cabbage until late that night...), mashed potatoes, root vegetables, bread, and (Martinelli's) brews in paper cups.

And it was so wonderful to have the Jensens join us!

My good luck charms, enjoying the party

After a rousing rendition of "who stole the cookie..." (John's latest favorite), we ate our shamrock sugar cookies.

And attempted family photos

Such a fun day!  Sure love this cute crew.