Bassinet

As it turns out, the bassinet that I bought from a friend for Gavin is recalled (only the co-sleep but not the bassinet itself).  And the only reason I found out about it was because we were trying to put it on craigslist.  So we thought anyway.  Tried to take it back to Walmart hoping to at least get something but without a receipt or UPC code of some sort they really didn't know what to do.  I didn't feel right selling it or even donating it so it ended up on the curb with trash pick up this week.  I felt so wasteful to be throwing away this cute little thing not to mention adding to the landfill, but there wasn't really anything else to do.  Oh well at least I only paid $20 for it. 

Favorites

*video to come (if I can figure out how to transfer it from Brian's phone)

To counter the long and crazy week last week, we spent a lazy Saturday morning at this new park called Lubber Run Park.  So far, it has become our favorite because it has just a little bit of everything.  A clean, shallow creek to play in with a trail path on one side (for my adventurous boy) and a paved path on the other side (for the stroller).  They even have an amphitheater where we sat and had a picnic lunch.  The only thing that was missing that day was Kaika since we left him at home =0(.  He would have loved it!  Anyway, we promised him we'll be back again...and next time with him.

Then on Sunday, we ate at one of my absolute favorite restaurants here called Cafe Rio.  We took Brian's parents there when they came out in May and ever since then I've been thinking about it.  Totally hit the spot. It was SO good!

And my new favorite recipe: Chicken Katsu.  Used to eat this all the time in Hawaii!

For Brine:
2cups Water
2 1/2tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
3 cloves Garlic, grated
1tbsp Lemon peel
2tsp rosemary

Add 6 pieces of chicken breast and refrigerate for 24 hours. Take the chicken out and dry it off with paper towels. Slice the chicken into two pieces.  Dredge the chicken in the flour, then beaten egg, followed by the panko (bread crumb).  Deep fry both sides until the chicken is done.  *You can freeze the brined chicken when you are not cooking them all at once

"Twittering" on Blog

Finally went and got a haircut tonight.  Pretty short this time.  But oh I feel so fabulous and chic.

Water & Wheels

What a gorgeous morning to be outside at a play date!

Growing Boy

Gavin turns 4 months today

and below is Ethan at 4 months

Much more of a chunky monkey don't you think?

You know this time around it is going by SO much faster.  I can't believe he's almost scooting already!  And it's such a bittersweet thing where I don't want him to get too old too fast but at the same time, I do so that Ethan would have a playmate.

 

 Tried out the exersaucer this morning and seemed to love it

"Twittering" on Blog

What is your wake up call?  Everyday mine is, "MOOOOOOMY, MOOOOOOMY, WHERE ARE YOU?" continually repeated until I go into Ethan's room to get him.

Disarrayment

Since moving into this house, we tried to get organized and find a place for everything.  But I just cannot get ahead on this one considering the house doesn't have the same amount of storage or counter space as our old one does.  So, I feel like I'm constantly in this state of disarray where everything is everywhere.  We either can't find a place for them or in Brian's case, can't find them.  The biggest struggle seemed to be with the dishes and the laundry.  Love doing them.  Hate putting them away.  Oh how I hate it!  But I tried really hard to get on top of these two or else they start piling up fast. And don't get me going on Gavin's room because there are just baby clothes and other random baby stuff that I just don't know what to do with.  So right now they're pile in the bassinet, which I like to call organized mess.  One of these days (hopefully sooner than later), we'll get to his room and rearrange the furniture instead of that's how they got set up and that's how they're staying.  On top of that, Brian's cousin moved in with us last week (which is working out a lot better than I had thought it would be) and is now occupying one of the rooms downstairs.  So everything had to be moved and rearranged...AGAIN.  Feel like we're in such a limbo stage right now.  Trust me, next move there will be more purging for sure!

I also have a list that I need to get to but just haven't had time yet:
-go shopping for Ethan (since he has outgrown all his clothes)
-go shopping for me
-get a haircut
-go to the chiro
-find a dentist, doctor

Peacefulness

For us, more important than gifts is having some time away.  So this Father's Day, Brian got just that.  I gave him these notes on Friday night:

 

 which led to a beautiful 5 mile run at Burke Lake Park.

He really enjoyed it!  Then today, we took him out for brunch at The Original House of Pancakes, one of our favorites.  It was SO yummy!  Happy Father's Day Babe...couldn't ask for a better hubby and daddy!

"Twittering" on Blog

It's crazy that every time Ethan's outside he gets bitten alive by mosquitoes.  You should see his arms, legs, face and neck.  From now on, bug spray is a must!

Hot Potato

What started out as a great day didn't end up so great.  I took the kids to the park for a couple hours this morning and Ethan quickly found some friends to play with.  Their Filipino mom (of 2 boys) and I hit it off and we exchanged phone numbers before parting. Then we came home for lunch and that's when it all went down hill from there.  While holding Gavin in one hand and my freshly microwaved lunch on the other, Gavin stuck his pointer finger and part of his middle finger in my hot mash potatoes.  He wailed in pain as I quickly wiped it off and ran them under cold water.  Instantly, it was red, blistered and peeling and looked really awful!  I just felt so HORRIBLE!  I tried not to panic while managing to calm him down and thankfully, he eventually cried himself to sleep.  Then I called the ped, got him in and the doc said it was a 2nd degree burn (apparently 5 of the 12 skin layers).  He instructed me to wash them with antibacterial soap twice a day, put this burn ointment on and put a sock over his hand to prevent him from sucking on his fingers.  He finally drifted off to sleep now and I hope he feels a lot better by tomorrow.

Perspective

So this is a continuous thought of the previous post...

It seemed that in my discouraging moments, God often times would bring a different perspective to mind or just something small to lift up my spirit.  The first one was realizing how the sacrifices that I was talking about is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING compared to those missionaries who go through true hardship and persecution for Him.  It's so minute in the grand scheme of things.  And the second one was my daily battle with Ethan, especially at meal time and bed time.  It gets old, you know.  But after talking to a fellow MOPS mom with three kids whose husband is deployed for 6 months and realizing she is really on her own.  I guess my day doesn't seemed so bad after all.

Anyway, so that post about dinner time rules?  Yeah totally back fired on us.  So now Ethan's doing this thing where he comes to the dinner table, says "Eww" to whatever I've made and asked if he could go to his room to play.  Then at about 8 pm when we start getting him ready for bed, he decides that he's hungry and wants to eat.  But wants one of us to sit with him and feed him.  Are you kidding me?!  Well that was the end of that.  We made him sit with us and eat at the dinner table at dinner time.  Brian had to discipline him sternly the other night and even though he cried and cried, I think we finally had a breakthrough.  As I sent Ethan downstairs to give Brian a hug and a kiss before bed (like I always do), I guess Ethan said something along the line of "Sorry for yelling at you..." and a whole heartfelt convo about what had happened.  Brian thought that I had prep him with what to say but later that night while talking in bed, we both come to realize that it was all Ethan and the Holy Spirit convicting him.  What a sweet moment!  It seriously almost made me cried.  He does have a good heart.

Comfort

This past Thursday, we had the privilege of hosting the very first Launch Team meeting for Harvest Bible Chapel Fairfax. It was a sweet time not only to meet some new faces but also to finally come together for worship and fellowship. What a significant moment in our church history and we got to play a big role in it! They were able to secure a meeting room at a nearby university which will be our meeting place every Thursdays from now through August.

Then today, we attended a church that met in a middle school, which is what we'll be doing when September comes. From the stand point of attending an already established church (all our lives really), that was difficult to see. The reality of what we're called and committing ourselves to do for Harvest hit me hard. THIS is what it's going to be like...for us. Getting there early. Having to drive separately. Setting up, helping out. Tearing down. Every.single.Sunday. for I don't know how long. Sundays will no longer be this casual family day because it'll probably be tiring and somewhat stressful between church and the kids. And I just felt so overwhelmed by the thought that I can't do this! I know I wanted to move out of the Midwest to get away from the snow and the cold so God moved us here. And I know that He also moved us here for the church plant. But many times since we've been here, I really struggle to see the big picture of what He has ahead for us. The flesh part of me don't really want this. The sacrifice. The serving. The dying of self. I mean who would want to choose this right when everything back home was comfortable? We go to church, we drop the kids off and we worship. We pick the kids up and then we go home. But what if, we as Christians have been living a "comfortable" life for too long and that comfort isn't the goal or end point? What if he's calling us to sacrifice...for the souls and His kingdom? Anyway, it has been really hard and I'm struggling. But God already knew that.

On Being a Mamma

You know, the two boys' personalities continued to amaze me. They are like night and day.

• The fact that we can hold Gavin and sit down is totally something new. Ethan liked to be held, but you're required to stand like the whole time.
  
• Gavin will sit quietly and contently in his car seat when he's awake. If Ethan's awake, he wants out like RIGHT NOW!
  
• If Gavin's tired, he'll just shut his eyes and go to sleep. Any stimulation when Ethan's tired makes things worse. It would wind him up and then he can't shut down.
  
• Gavin is my night owl. Ethan is my early bird
• Thankfully, they are both good sleepers.

It seems that this continues to be true now that Ethan's older. So we'll see if this holds true for Gavin and how they'll interact with each other. Should be interesting that's for sure.

-----------------------------------

On a different note, this week has been trying with Brian having the flu bug and Ethan seeing how far he can push the limits in every possible way.  Through all that, there were a few sweet moments that just melted my heart.  Like right when he got up from his nap, he took my hand and insisted on helping me put every single item of grocery away.  Or today, when he again insisted on helping me do the dishes that had been piling up.

Just For Laughs

I think it's hilarious that Gavin is balding in the back and Ethan is balding in the front (from banging his head every night).

Discouraged

Everyday I tried to get everyone out of the house.  And wherever we go, we tried to make new friends.  Ethan will get along well with the kids and I seemed to have a lot in common with another mom and right when I thought about exchanging phone numbers for play dates.  BAM!  Oh my husband's in the military and we're moving.  Seemed to happen a lot and it's so discouraging.  The concept of moving and making new friends feel like a dating game to me.  Not that I even really dated in high school or college really.  But I guess it just takes some time, the right chemistry (your personalities + kids personalities) and living locations.  It's so not like the QCA here because everyone could be from everywhere.  And not to be picky or anything, but 45 mins to an hour drive in traffic is just not realistic you know.  Anyway, still continuing to pray for God's provision in this area so I can start feeling rooted here.

Anyway, a few people have asked what we're doing for church in the mean time and that's part of the "weirdness" of this whole process.  Normally, we would find a church and try to get plug in ASAP.  However because we ARE the church planters, we can't really do that.  So in this waiting period, we've been attending a church that's about 10 minutes away.  The message is okay (more for seekers) but the worship is awesome.  I just felt like I needed to find something consistent for my sake and especially for Ethan, too.  We're really, really missing our church back home. 

Puddle Fun

After dinner tonight, I mentioned something about having Ethan go play outside in the rain.  You should have seen the way his eyes got big and his face lit up at that suggestion.  Now I know this is really sad to say but in the 3-1/2 years that this kid has been alive, I've never EVER let him play in the rain.  Well, tonight is the night.  The shirt came off, the crocs went on and out the door he went.  He ran...and jump...and sat...and crawl...and splash in the puddles until his heart's content. Had the BEST time of his life with so much giggles, laughter and screaming from all the excitement!

Gavin's Birth Story

I always love hearing other people's baby story because each one is so unique as to that baby.  I finally got around to Gavin's so here it is.  Enjoy.

Monday,  February 20th

• 3:09 am - Woke up with some contractions and laid there watching the clock to see if it was Braxton Hicks that I kept having
  -Woke Brian up to let him know, they're consistently 6 minutes apart and that this is the real thing.
  -Got up to use the bathroom and realized my water broke with some bloody show.
  
• 3:57 am - Called the hospital to let them know we're coming in
  
• 4:00 am - Called Patty, our neighbor to come over to watch Ethan
  -Tried to calmly and quietly get our stuff together but couldn't stop the shaking from the adrenaline
  
• 4:23 am - Called Brian's parents and told them to start driving our way
  
• 4:27 am - Called my midwife to let her know we're on the way
  -Brian didn't know at the time, but he was speeding as we drove across the river
  -Got to the hospital and they checked me only to find out that I was at 1 cm
  -Walked around the room, relaxing and breathing through each contractions trying not to feel anxious knowing/remembering how much pain I'm about to go through
  
• 7:30 am - The contractions got more and more intense and after being checked, I was already at 9.5 cm
  -From then on, I lost track of time.  Not sure when I started pushing or for how long, but it felt like FOR-E-VER.
  
• 8:47 am - Gavin was born all natural.  When I saw him, two thoughts went through my head: Relief & Awe.  What an intense but incredible experience!  Brian was able to catch him and cut his cord this time since I didn't have him in a headlock. =0)

So proud and excited to finally meet his li'l brother!

A few fun facts: -Both Ethan's and Gavin's due dates were on a Tuesday but they both were born on a Monday
-Ethan was 8 days early and Gavin was a day early
-Ethan was born at 8:48 pm and Gavin was born at 8:47 am
-Ethan was 8 lb 2 oz and Gavin was 8 lb 13 oz
-They both were 20.5 in long