Home - Part Three

Illinois.

Illinois was the land of my elementary and middle school years. When I think of Carol Stream, I can almost smell my elementary school -- a comfy, musty combo of crayons and scratchy brown paper towels. The school had little, artificially created green hills in front presumably to add a little interest to the pancake flat Midwest landscape.

I remember church potlucks on our First Baptist Church's lawn. ("Don't eat the potato salad. The mayo has been out in the sun all afternoon. You'll get sick.") I remember playing capture the flag on the lawn and getting purple stains on my feet from berries dropped by a tree. 

I remember playing kickball in my cul-de-sac in the summer. In the winter, snowplows pushed all the snow on our street into huge piles at the end of the cul-de-sac; perfect construction material for the most amazing forts. When discarded Christmas trees went out on the curb in January, we "planted" them way up high on the snow forts as if they were Neil Armstrong's flag on the moon.

Compared to the other three places I've lived, there wasn't as much beauty, diversity, or things to do -- but the people. I loved the people.

Home - Part Two

Portugal.

If I want to make my heart ache, all I have to do is type "Alcobaça" into a Google images search. Most of the images are of the thousand year old monastery in town, which makes me ache more. How can I find pictures of my preschool, the Igreja Baptista that we attended, the cafes we most frequented for pastries and espresso?

Even though my life began in Portugal, I have pretty much said "goodbye." I've forgotten the language and culture. Every time I move, I put a few hundred (or thousand) more miles between me and my birthplace. But, if I had a three month sabbatical where I could hunker down in any corner of the world, Portugal, would be it. I'd get a muffin top from gorging on the food and pastries. I'd visit the beaches and monasteries. I'd re-learn Portuguese.

Home - Part One

Shortly after college, or maybe it was in college, I don't remember, I got into a conversation with someone that turned to the Dreaded Question:

"Where are you from?" 

Up to that point, my answer varied all the time. This time I responded,

"I don't know."

He was incredulous. "What do you mean you don't know?"

"I just don't know where I'm from."

So he sought out to find the answer. "Well, where were you born?"

"Portugal. My life began in Portugal. Though, my parents are American so when we moved to the U.S. when I was six, I forgot the language and culture."

"Where in the U.S. did you live?"

"Seven years in a Chicago suburb. Five years in the Denver area. Then, I came to Southern California for college and haven't left. Yet."

By this point, he was starting to see my dilemma.

"Ok. Where are your parents from?"

"My dad was born and raised on the east coast. My mom was born in California and grew up mostly in Argentina and a little bit in Illinois. Really, I don't know where I'm from. I'm from all over."

He silently nodded his head finally understanding where I was coming from. (Pun intended.)

Encourage Someone

I've recently been on the receiving end of three genuine compliments.

One: "You look pretty today."

Two: "I love your blog. You're a really good writer. When I read your stuff, I feel like I'm right there."

Three: "You're a really good, really chill mom."

I usually go through my days without reflecting too much on how I look, how I write, or how I parent. And if you asked me how I feel about each of these things, I'd probably say that I think I look nice, I write pretty well, and I am a good mom. But, when I heard these encouraging words, I internally reacted with an "Oh really? Are you sure?" My reaction revealed that there's at least a little bit of insecurity in me over how I look, how I write, and how I parent. And it felt really, really good to be affirmed. There's a new spring in my step and wind in my sails.

And since it felt so good, I wonder... Who do I admire? How can I give encouragement to them today?

Sister Love

I absolutely love watching Grace and Cora's budding sibling relationship. They have their moments of sibling squabbles, especially Cora grabbing Grace's hair and Grace yanking toys out of Cora's hands, but for the most part, they really really love each other. When one cries, the other often cries too. Nothing gets Cora happier faster than Grace laughing. When Grace is playing alone, she often asks me to bring Cora over to play with her.

Here are two especially sweet interactions I don't want to forget:

~

After listening to a children's song that references being a best friend:

Michael: "Grace, who's your best friend?"
Grace: silence
Michael: Do you have a best friend?
Grace: thinks for a second "Cora!"

~

Cora's first word is "Grace." Her saying it usually goes down like this.

Cora hasn't seen Grace for a few minutes when suddenly Grace walks into the room where Cora is playing. Cora lights up and exclaims: "Grah, Gah, Gah!" i.e. "Grace, Grace, Grace!"

Cora - Eight Months Old

My petite, blonde haired, brown eyed girl is eight months old. What words best describe Cora? Tiny, curious, mellow, and independent.

Tiny. Cora is slightly below average in the height department and quite a bit below average in the weight department.

Curious. She has mastered the army crawl/baby scooch and spends her days exploring everything from the flowers on Grace's shoes to the underside of her exersaucer to the holes in her knitted baby blanket.

Mellow. Cora is a pretty even-keeled baby and is usually happy and content.

Independent. But, you've got to give her space to do what she wants to do. Especially with eating. So much for neatly spoon-feeding purees. Cora insists on feeding herself and does a very messy job of it.

Cora used to be practically silent all day, but in the last month, she has now found her voice and has started babbling. She also understands a lot. If I say, "Cora, where's Grace?" She looks all around for her until she spots her. If Michael is holding her and she gets fussy from hunger, all he has to say is, "Are you hungry for mommy?" And she calms right down because she knows he's gotten the message. If we repeat a word, she will copy it. i.e. "Cora, this is a banana. Banana! Can you say banana?" "BUH-NUH." "Good job!" And this of course leads me to think my child must be a brilliant genius. :)

In the last couple months she also got her first little teeth. Woop, woop!

Cora's favorite things

• Water. Drinking it, splashing it, bathing in it.
• Playing with mommy's hair, daddy's hair, and Grace's hair. There have been many exclamations of "Cora! No grab Grace's hair!" around our house these days.
• Cora continues to be absolutely enamored with her older sister. 
• Nursing. Cora would probably nurse every hour during the day and three times a night if I let her. She loves snuggling, playing with my hair, grabbing fistfuls of my lips, etc. It's very sweet.
• Cora has a magnetic attraction toward things babies aren't supposed to play with like wires, strings, and plastic bags.

Every night, she sleeps from about 7:45-7:15 with one wake up to nurse sometime between 4am and 6am. She takes two naps a day ranging anywhere from 40 minutes to 2.5 hours. She nurses seven times a day and eats three extremely messy meals of solids.

Here's Cora at her baby dedication at church.

Here's Grace getting a temporary princess tattoo from my parents with Cora intently watching.

What I Learned in April

Here are a few things I learned in April...

Three questions to determine success. I have begun to adopt Emily Freeman's three questions to determine success as my own: (1) Am I depending on God in ways I haven't had to depend on Him before? (2) Am I bringing every care into the presence of Christ. (3) Am I becoming more fully myself? (By the way, it's Emily's blog that first gave me the idea of writing about the things I learn. It's a great blog.)

Tap water can kill fish. Woops.

Regardless of the size of their homes, most families spend most of their time in a space of about 400 square feet. Which begs the question, why do we crave an abundance of space in our homes when we end up spending time in so little? Read this article for more.

I hate being treated as second class because I am a woman. A couple of weeks ago, Michael got preferential treatment over me because he is the husband in our relationship. I felt hurt, belittled, second class, unimportant, and unseen. In short, it sucked. I'm grateful that Michael was as offended as I was.

I've learned a few things when it comes to baby care and baby products. And it's gratifying to be able to share that knowledge with others.

My hair is beginning to gray. Bums.

If I'm ever in need of a laugh, all I need to do is look through old family photos. Like that one time my whole family fed chips to wild birds and one ate a cookie off my head.

I get bored easily and need lots of variety in my life. I get tired of making the same old dinners, doing the same old exercises to keep in shape, etc. But, give me a new recipe or a new workout and I suddenly feel inspired.

Babies can feed themselves from the get go. 98% of the time, Cora will refuse to open her mouth for a spoon wielded by Michael or me. But, if we put chunks of food on her tray, she will shred them, gum them, chuck them, smear them, and manage to consume some. Fascinating to watch.

What a capsule wardrobe is. I'm super intrigued by this idea of wearing the same thing every day.

Even though I've been a Christian since childhood, I don't know much about prayer. But, Tim Keller's book on prayer is rocking my world. I'm excited to grow in intimacy with God.