tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-354558082024-02-21T08:09:00.361-08:00our neck of the woodsJuliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.comBlogger564125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-24074986796388150762013-05-08T21:59:00.003-07:002013-05-08T21:59:33.606-07:00four months in. almost.A few things I want to remember about Noelle's third month:<br />
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She... <br />
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...is still very easy-going. Not that I expected that to change, but I wondered if it would begin wearing off. Not yet. She still eats, goes down for a nap after an hour of being awake, and takes 3-4 naps a day.<br />
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...is such a people-person. Always smiling when she looks at people. She's so social that she starts to fuss when no one is in sight (especially her sisters).<br />
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...began to laugh, especially when she's tickled, or when we play peek-a-boo. Her laughter is beautiful.<br />
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...is loving cloth diapers. Well, really we're loving them-- it was a little bit of an adjustment mostly to the additional time it takes in washing and prepping them. Of course she hasn't been fazed from what we can tell. I'm really glad we're doing it and I'm guessing we've saved 200 diapers, just in the last 5 weeks. (5-6 diapers a day x 7 days x 5 weeks) Of course we also run more water now...<br />
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...rolled over for the first time this morning. It was 5:37am. I'm pretty sure she was upset that she rolled over. Or maybe she was upset that she had to wake me and get me out of bed. Or maybe she was hungry and in her fit of rage rolled over. Whatever the case, it happened. Not sure I'm too excited about this.<br />
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...still adores her sisters. This goes along with being social, but she cannot get enough attention from Eva and Sofia. And they (especially Sofia) are constantly chatting with, touching, kissing, squeezing, holding, playing peek-a-boo with, cooing at, and giggling at her. I would call it smothering, but she seems to love it. Not sure how long that will last. (Can anyone say teenage years?!)<br />
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...is sick. She got some little bug right before we left for Mexico (end of March) with included a nasty cough (mostly in the morning) and some congestion. Unfortunately she still has it. It doesn't seem to bother her, but I hope it's not getting worse. She has a regular appointment next week (four month check-up) and I might wait until then unless it does appear to worsen. The past two nights she has been up multiple times which makes me think it's either getting worse or she's just growing a bit.<br />
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...is growing too fast. Please slow down, child. These past four months have flown!<br />
<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-74091644592768396772013-05-01T20:49:00.000-07:002013-05-01T20:52:33.295-07:00the front yardOur front yard has gone through some radical changes since we bought this house two years ago. When we bought it, the front was covered in dying grass. It had a sprinkler system that was not on a timer and something broke soon after we moved in. I'm sure our neighbors loved us: we didn't really take care of it at all for a while (and didn't really need to because it was all dead weeds).<br />
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Nick and I had a vision for what our front yard would look like but communicating our individual ideas was ugly. I remember having a couple <strike>ton of</strike> arguments where we just weren't getting each other and thought the other person's ideas were all wrong. Mine were way too ridiculous and expensive. Nick's were way to boring and cheap. I drew out lots of different ideas, all revolving on a wall that I wanted to be built outside our front window, creating a small sitting area. It was the one thing included in every drawing. I had lots of different shapes of the wall, different composite materials for the wall, different heights or lengths of the wall. But there was no compromising on the fact that we would have a wall in the front.<br />
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Long story short(er), we don't have a wall out there. And I really like it without it.<br />
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One decision that was easy was making sure our yard was filled with drought-resistant plants. Of course those plants were pretty easy to find in Southern California. If I count right, besides all the succulents in the beds around the steps, we have 27 different types of plants.<br />
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Secondly, if you couldn't tell, I'm a big sucker for succulents. I love the vast array of textures, colors, hues, shapes, and sizes. I'm hoping within a years or so, many of these succulents will have filled in the empty dirt around them.<br />
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Even since these pictures were taken, the plants have grown a ton, and almost all of the succulents are blooming!<br />
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Nick and I did everything here, sometimes with the help of a few friends/family. We (mostly he) dug up the previous sprinkling system, graded the yard to the level we wanted, killed as many stinking patches of nut grass possible, poured the concrete, laid out all of the drip system, rolled out the mesh ground-cover, dug the holes for the plants and decided where each should go, then spread the decomposed granite over the entire surface. Whew. Lots of sweat went into this baby.<br />
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And... we're not completely done: I have found a few new plants that we've added, and we have a few plants that bit the dust with the couple freezes we had this winter. The bottom right corner is ready for us to cover in baseball-sized rocks for another texture, and the parkway on the other side of the sidewalk needs to be done. (Nick already put the drip system there, we just have to decide what to put there.) Ideally in the front we'd get rid of the bench and get some little chairs/table to go in front of the window (behind the two large agave).<br />
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It would also be ideal if our house weren't yellow, or if we could change the facade a little. Ha!<br />
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The view from our front door:<br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-12584536626563978752013-04-17T19:30:00.005-07:002013-04-17T19:30:54.031-07:00to myselfJulie,<br />
<br />
Stop waiting around to blog. Just start with some of the small things and stop worrying about catching up. This used to come so much more naturally and you enjoyed the creativity of it, but it was when you wrote something short and sweet. Get back to that. Every other post is you apologizing to some unknown reader for not posting often enough. They don't care, so stop worrying about that. Catch up later when you have time, maybe in a month. Maybe in five years. Maybe never. But if you keep delaying because of some self-inflicted guilt, more time is going to be lost. This blog is for you: for your memory to stay sharp(ish), for you to have a creative outlet, as a reminder to take or paint pictures of the everyday, normal, but oh-so beautiful moments in life.<br />
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Also, read this letter every few weeks to remind yourself of its importance.<br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-58274464285760723702013-03-31T21:25:00.000-07:002013-04-17T21:26:29.297-07:00mexico: day tresHappy Easter!<br />
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In the morning, we spent a bit of time together in Mom and Dad's talking about what Christ's resurrection means in our lives. It was a nice moment spent all together, talking about the things God has been teaching us in the last few months. <br />
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I'm realizing it's hard to differentiate between the days, because every day had similar components: going down to the pool, hanging out together, swimming, sunning, reading, chatting, swimming some more, etc. That lasted until late afternoon. Then we'd head upstairs, shower off and get cleaned up a little, and have dinner together, either in our room or out of the resort somewhere. I'm so glad we did that. Even though each of our families was in its own room, we saw a lot of each other and hung out with each other all the time. <br />
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I didn't really take any pictures of anything today, not because there wasn't anything picture-worthy. Just because I left my camera in our room the whole day.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-14005200575050367122013-03-30T22:00:00.000-07:002013-04-17T21:16:37.171-07:00mexico: day dos (night)Our first night all together (Evie and Drew came on Saturday) we went out of the resort for dinner to a little local Mexican restaurant. We had fun being serenaded by and dancing with a woman singing all sorts of songs. Our kids had a blast dancing and we did watching them.<br />
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(Pictures taken by Evie and our niece Ashlyn!)<br />
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<i>Auntie Evie and some sun-kissed faces.</i></div>
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<i>Oh man. Sofia and her cousin Cameron were inseparable. It's beautiful that they're such good friends. Here they're dancing to the music.</i> </div>
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<i>Livi singing along!</i></div>
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<i>Me and Noelle (at least the back of her head).</i></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-33307858048246030312013-03-30T21:01:00.000-07:002013-04-17T21:01:28.659-07:00mexico: day dosEvery morning ended up starting similarly: the girls woke up, ran over to their Opa and Oma's room to say hi. They ate breakfast there, and took a dip in someone's little balcony pool. All before 9am. Someone else headed down to the pools to set up our towels in the choice spot for the day. Almost every day was a different spot, which meant every day felt a little different and the kids had new pools to explore.<br />
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Our first day started this way. Infants are always a little unpredictable, especially after traveling. Thankfully Noelle seemed to get on to her normal rhythm right away. We took her down to the pool that first morning (after her first nap in our room), and she was tired pretty quickly. We tried to giver her a nap, thinking she probably wouldn't sleep well there, but as soon as I laid her down, she found her thumb (it's official: she's a thumb-sucker 95% of the time as of 2 months-old) and dozed off. There was enough white-noise with the sound of the wind, waterfalls, pools, etc. It made our week so wonderful: she took most of her day-time naps out by the pool with us!<br />
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Eva and Sofia were constantly off playing and swimming, almost always next to one of their cousins. There was a lazy river that they frequented multiple times a day. They swam from one pool to the next, exploring them all. <br />
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<i>This is the view from my spot our first day. The pool is in front of the umbrella, where the rest of the family was sitting. I loved how much foliage was around the pools: I could stay in the shade most of the week.</i></div>
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<i>the shade-bathing napper herself</i></div>
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<i>a little afternoon mai tai and a good book</i></div>
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<i> the view of the pools/beach from Mom and Dad's window (right across the hall from us)</i></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-70641099238403347122013-03-29T20:42:00.000-07:002013-04-17T20:43:10.302-07:00mexico: day unoFirst off, it was a beautiful week. Perfect weather + family all together + miles of swimming pools + beach + sun + adventures + relaxation + happy kids. How could you not go wrong with that combination. It was quite the gift! (A perfect Christmas gift, Mom and Dad In't Hout!)<br />
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Our trip there went great. Non-stop LAX to Puerto Vallarta. The only pain was the rigamarole once we landed, especially since Noelle was ready to eat or sleep or do something besides get carried around, stand in a customs line, or listen to people try to haggle you into coming to hear a presentation at some paradise somewhere else. She wasn't down.<br />
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By the way, the lesson we learned: travel with small children, whenever possible. Seriously. They are your ticket to cutting in line. On the way there, we got to cut in the security line in LAX and on our way back cut the HUMONGOUS line at customs in LAX (we were the very last people and seriously, that line would've taken us over 90 minutes to get through!).<br />
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Back to the bliss. Our first moments in Mexico were in the afternoon. We finally got to our room, got situated, put Noelle down for a nap, and the girls were already swimming in the little pool on our balcony. One thing we for sure: we were in for an awesome vacation, even if we were forced to stay in our room the whole time (which, by no means, ended up happening!).<br />
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Just look at these digs! (Of course the pictures are a little strange: they're with the panorama setting on my cell phone.)<br />
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<i>View from on the balcony facing inside: Nick checking on the location of our luggage, while the girls swim nude (their swimsuits were in said suitcases).</i></div>
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<i>our bedroom (and where Noelle slept in a Pack 'N' Play)</i> </div>
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<i>view of the kitchen, dining room, living room, and doors to balcony</i></div>
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After ordering pizza in and eating all together in Mom and Dad's room, Nick took the girls swimming. It was a small preview of our whole week there.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-6244864120580546402013-03-28T20:16:00.000-07:002013-04-17T20:43:29.141-07:00hair cuts!Finally the girls got (much-needed) haircuts. This was Sofia's first salon haircut! She had so many questions: Will it hurt? Will it take a long time? Who will cut it? Is she nice?<br />
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Unfortunately Sofia's hair grows. so. slowly. Hoping this cut might help it grow a little more. (She was blessed (ahem) with my thin hair genes.)<br />
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They were thrilled, especially it was originally just going to be for
Sofia. But thankfully Eva could get squeezed in too (for both of them
it took 20 minutes)! Perfect right-before-vacation-haircuts. <br />
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<i> the I'm-not-so-sure-about-this before smile</i></div>
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<i>And done! (By the way. Don't you love Sofia's outfit choice?! She loves matching patterns with patterns.) </i></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-88639618144355138222013-03-22T09:11:00.004-07:002013-03-22T09:14:03.865-07:00the thirdMany have asked how the transition to three kids has gone. A couple weeks after Noelle was born Nick and I were talking and he explained how rough he thought it was, going from two kids to three. We were sleep-deprived and drained. But then we realized it had nothing to do with Noelle: we had all gotten sick at least once and we had guests in our home for over a month straight. That doesn't make for a very flawless transition. Many nights we were up more with Eva and Sofia than Noelle.<br />
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Up until Noelle was born, I would've said that Eva and Sofia were very easy babies. So before Noelle was born, I was gearing up to have a more difficult baby.<br />
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I don't know how I've struck gold three times in a row; Noelle is so easy I'm embarrassed to write about it. (But I thought I'd better, since this is my way of remembering it now that I am too lazy to keep a baby book up-to-date.)<br />
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Noelle was born a good sleeper, napping really well and pulling longer stretches at night. I'm not sure the exact date that this started, but by 6 weeks, Noelle was sleeping between 8 and 10 hours straight on a consistent basis. By 8 weeks, she was sleeping between 10 and 12 hours straight. And in the last two weeks, she's been upping it even more. This whole week, I've feed her around dinner time and, once she falls asleep an hour later, she'll sleep all the way until 7am. (Last night slept from 5:30pm until 7am. 13.5 hours!) It sounds impossible and maybe even sounds unhealthy, but she's still growing like crazy. We just had her 2-month appointment this week and she's still in the 95 percentile for both weight and height, so I'm not concerned. Then during the day, her schedule is comprised of an hour awake and two hours sleeping. It is just plain ridiculous.<br />
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The crazy part of it is the fact that we're not doing anything to force it! She's too young to really sleep train, and clearly figured that out on her own! <br />
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Her current 2-month stats: 12 lbs. 11 oz. and 24.5 in.<br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-16866241024505146872013-02-28T21:14:00.001-08:002013-02-28T21:14:13.968-08:00PetcoSeriously, I have no idea where they come up with these things. I love their creativity, but really. I am not much of an animal lover. I don't hate them, I enjoy them from a distance or with limited time. My students often ask me why I don't have any pets (besides our very lethargic fish named Happy), and I tell them I have kids: they make enough mess. I even had one class of students a few years back who claimed they were going to buy a pet for me and leave on our front door as a prank. That would not have been very cool for either us or the animal.<br />
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Who knows where it comes from, but Eva and Sofia are absolutely positively obsessed with being animals or taking care of animals (not real ones, of course). This <a href="http://indewoods.blogspot.com/2011/09/birthday-bonanza.html">isn't a new phenomenon</a>. And frankly it gets on my nerves often. Recent animals that they pretend to be: horses, cats, dogs, bulls, jaguars, tigers, lions, and rabbits. And when they are those animals they do everything like an animal. One gets to be the animal while the other gets to be the owner of that animal; they take it around on a leash, feed it, yell at it (not sure where they learned that), and make a home for it.<br />
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Thank goodness I got a break from that today. Instead of being animals, they were <i>caring</i> for the animals. While I was cleaning the bathrooms and taking care of Noelle, they came out and announced that their room was now Petco and it was open to the public. This room-to-Petco transformation is also not a new phenomenon, but I had to check it out.<br />
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I love how they have different sections for each of the animals, sorted by type.<br />
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<i>Believe me! The owner of this pet store knows what she's talking about.</i> </div>
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They also had a guard-owl who sleeps in a hammock (designed by Eva). She claims that the owl has laser eyes and can attack people who don't belong with its eyes.<br />
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<i>It takes extra love caring for a sick platypus. </i></div>
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<br />Come on out to our <strike>zoo</strike> Petco anytime!Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-61791906462372357682013-02-27T20:27:00.003-08:002013-02-27T20:27:53.359-08:00re-start and Valentine's DayI loathe having to say the same thing <i>again</i>: "I have lots to catch up on in this blog." But I don't want that to keep me from posting current stuff. So, without excuse, I will be posting some current stuff, some recent past, some from a long time ago. I might even adjust the dates just so I can look back and have the right timing. Either way, I've always said I'm doing this blog for friends and family near and far, and really for myself. For my creative mind and for my memory, I just need to get going here again. <br />
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Valentine's Day is always fun in our home. In the past Nick has done all sorts of things. <a href="http://indewoods.blogspot.com/2012/02/valentines-day-or-week.html">2012</a>. <a href="http://indewoods.blogspot.com/2009/02/valentines-week.html">2009</a> (oh the facial hair!). <a href="http://indewoods.blogspot.com/2007/02/weeks-worth-of-love.html">2007</a>. And the years in-between? Let's just say some times you have to have an off-year.<br />
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This year was very low-key. I had found some little tin mailboxes in the dollar section of Target and put them up in the kitchen the week of Valentine's Day. Each day we left different things (candy, notes, etc.) for each other. Nick left something for them almost every morning so they would wake up to some pretty sweet mail. Eva and Sofia even left notes and candy for each other and for Nick and me.<br />
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<i>Tuesday morning the girls woke up to donuts!</i></div>
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<i>a cute project Eva made in school</i></div>
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<i>My littlest Valentine, on Valentine's Day. (She's so much bigger already!)</i></div>
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-69221274519293060332013-02-07T10:00:00.000-08:002013-02-07T10:00:06.121-08:00you areMy dear Noelle. You have been alive for 25 days and I marvel at the gift that you are to our family. In the past few days, I have been noticing of a few things about you:<br />
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<b><i>You are well-loved.</i></b><br />
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We are so thankful for the flood of cards, meals, visits, comments and likes on Facebook mostly for you, really. You will have no recollection of all the people you have met, all the arms that held you, all of the <i>oohs</i> and <i>aahs</i>. But be assured, many people--many who don't share your DNA--love you to the moon.<br />
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<i>So little here! (Jan. 18) </i></div>
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<b><i>You are content.</i></b><br />
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So far you sleep a lot. You have your moments of awake-ness, but I'm pretty sure if I did the calculations, you sleep about 17 hours in a day. Not sure how long it's gonna last, but we're enjoying it.<br />
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<i>This is a yawn, by the way... (Jan. 27) </i></div>
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<b><i>You are chill.</i></b><br />
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You barely make a peep, unless you're completely un-dressed. Then you create a chaotic storm, even pouting your cute little lip. You've recently begun to fuss a little bit more, but you're easy to pacify. :)<br />
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<i>You started smiling... (Jan. 31)</i></div>
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<b><i>You are an eater.</i></b><br />
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At your appointment last week (Jan. 30) you had gained almost 2 pounds
since leaving the hospital. (You were up to 9 lb. 6 oz.) Needless to say, when your doctor saw you he said, "Well, we surely aren't worried about her growth." Oh,
and the double chin? Enough said.<br />
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<i>Check out the chops! (Feb. 6) </i></div>
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<b><i>You are forever a sister.</i></b><br />
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Being the third girl isn't something that you can change. You will always have your sisters as friends. Right now, your sisters unashamedly adore you. They ask about your whereabouts even when you're four feet away. They hear and point out every grunt and sneeze and marvel at your cuteness. They currently find it amazing that you have your eyes open wide. And they make sure to mention to everyone that you can open your eyes. Ha ha.<br />
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<i>Eva humming to you as you sleep. (Jan. 21)</i></div>
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<i>Sofia loves to talk to you while holding you. (Jan. 31)</i></div>
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<b><i>You are beautiful.</i></b><br />
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You and your sisters are all beautiful in your own way. We still see features from both sides of the family and play the game of guesswork, wondering who you'll look like in a few days, months or years. But really, this beauty is a given: you were created beautifully and wonderfully. And for that we praise Our Great God. (Ps. 139)<br />
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<i>Seriously, you're gorgeous! (Feb. 6)</i></div>
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Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-83066458234269736582013-02-06T20:33:00.001-08:002013-02-06T20:38:19.575-08:00mom (grandma) visitsWhat a gift it was for my mom to spend two full weeks here (minus a couple days while she visited Ben and Jodi)! It meant that my parents were separated from each other for a whole month while Dad was back in Budapest to teach. We missed him, but are so thankful that they were willing to be apart for our sake.<br />
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Mom came two days after Noelle was born. It worked out perfectly. We appreciated a clean and organized home, the laundry and dishes taken care of, and happy girls. Of course Eva and Sofia loved being with their grandma for that much time, for reading books, hanging out in the tree house together, going on hikes, watching home videos together, playing games, taking trips to the park, and doing puzzles. <br />
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<i>Someone's a pie expert...</i></div>
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<i>on a hike in Joshua Tree</i></div>
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Of course Noelle seemed to love it too. Lots of cuddle/burp/change-diaper time.<br />
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<i>Noelle is just five days old here</i>.</div>
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<i>So far, she takes a bottle like a champ!</i></div>
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Thanks, once again, Mom and Dad! We love you to bits!Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-83637872834052004162013-01-30T20:58:00.001-08:002013-01-30T20:58:25.007-08:00Noelle ElizabethOn Sunday, January 13, at precisely 6pm, with great anticipation we welcomed Noelle Elizabeth into the world. She was 8 lbs. 6 oz. and 20 inches long, a perfect bundle of joy.<br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-15741878906157936802013-01-09T21:04:00.001-08:002013-01-09T21:04:14.064-08:00maybe she knowsThis little baby girl seems ready to pop out of me--and sometimes when she moves I'm convinced she's about to. The other night I mentioned to Nick that I wondered if the reason this baby has not yet come on her own is because deep-down she knows I'm not completely <i>ready</i> yet...<br />
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Maybe she knows that we had family in our house every day between December 21 and January 5, at some points 8 additional people in our little home. (We loved every second of it, by the way!)<br />
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Maybe she knows that I haven't blogged in eons and now that family was here I have even more to catch up on. <br />
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Maybe she knows that we didn't have time to put up her crib yet or get a new mattress and she doesn't think a Pack'N'Play will do.<br />
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Maybe she knows that I hadn't gotten any of her clothes out of storage until two days ago. <br />
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Maybe she knows my to-do list is pretty long with stuff I have to get done with at school before my last day before maternity leave--in two days. (Yes, I know it's stuff I really should have had done long ago, but extenuating circumstances didn't allow for it.)<br />
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Maybe she knows that I enjoy the productivity of nesting and once she's around that productivity will plummet. <br />
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Maybe she knows that I'm sleeping way better now than I will be once she is here. <br />
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Maybe she knows that my students have exams next week and would really appreciate me being there this week to help them review. <br />
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I was wondering if there was some way I could telepathically communicate that <i>it's okay</i> <i>if I don't have it all done</i>, that <i>I can't wait to meet her</i>, that <i>we're as ready as we'll ever be</i>. <br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-82155685574886949842012-12-03T21:27:00.001-08:002012-12-03T21:28:05.008-08:00listsIf only blogging were somehow a part of nesting... then this would've been updated every day.<br />
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I've been a little bit obnoxiously obsessive about accomplishing things and getting things ready for this baby.<br />
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Just ask Nick.<br />
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A few weeks ago I sat down in one room and from where I was seated at the table in our dining room, surveyed the dining room, kitchen, and entry (aka space between door and couch). I could've easily named a couple dozen things without looking because my brain has an easy time remembering all the little things that annoy me. But I wrote them down so that I would have to deal with them. I haven't gotten everything on the list done, (and I haven't made any more lists for any other rooms), but it started a wave of obsessive I-don't-know-what-to-call-it. My poor family.<br />
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Last Saturday, after doing nothing in the morning (and going crazy) I expressed to Nick that I think we'll need to get a dresser for our new baby's room. (Mind you, we have done nearly <i>nothing</i> in preparation for this poor child. We've barely <i>just</i> agreed on a name. And the room where she will be? We still call it the guest room.) I went on craigslist that instant, found a dresser about a mile from our house, we went and checked it out, forked over $25, went home and while Nick was running an errand with the girls, I sanded, primed and painted it. Done. <br />
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This past Saturday we cleaned out the <i>entire</i> garage (for the third time since living here 20 months). It's something we both wanted to do, and this time I think we've done really really well. Instead of just reorganizing, I actually went through the contents of all the bins/boxes, consolidated, labeled, threw out a <i>ton</i> of stuff, added to our "to donate" pile and killed a few cockroaches and three thousand spiders in the meantime (that was mostly Nick).<br />
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I really hope to write more often, but I'd better add it to some list or it will never get done!Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-68647356723543408992012-10-27T10:04:00.000-07:002012-10-27T10:06:32.054-07:00g'morningI love Saturday mornings like no other morning. There's no other day that <i>stay-in-your-pajamas until whenever </i>is even possible for me, but we've had a couple Saturday mornings like that in the last couple of months and they're glorious (especially when the mornings are cool like this morning).<br />
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Nick was still out of the house early today, and he's naturally way more of a morning-person than I am. But I'm much happier getting up and out of bed early when it's up to me what the rest of the morning looks like. Today: so far some <i>Backyardigans</i> on Netflix, a breakfast tea latte, filling and starting the dishwasher while I hear the girls whispering about their babies sleeping or barking loudly like puppies at the pet store they've designed.<br />
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Between Eva and Sofia we have two opposite little mornings. Sofia's almost always the first one up, typically crawling in our bed right before the alarm has gone off; Eva can sleep-in late and is a bear to wake up. Sofia's first word is normally something a bit whiny about "breakfast" and she'll keep whining about it until you make her that bowl of oatmeal or scrambled eggs; Eva needs to be reminded to eat breakfast, never knows what she wants to eat, and could wait until early lunch-time before thinking about food. Sofia wants to get dressed within the first half-hour of being awake; Eva would go anywhere in her pjs if it was up to her. <br />
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I love their fresh and still-a-little-sleepy faces this morning:<br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-75216262741960170162012-10-21T14:12:00.004-07:002012-10-21T14:12:48.803-07:00sisterly loveHopefully this is a phase that lasts for a while: the girls have been playing incredibly well together. Of course they have plenty of moments of disagreement and frustration with eachother, but in general they have been really close friends recently. It's been really fun to watch.<br />
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Hopefull,y once they get a new sister that will just add to the fun!Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-31717243299229446342012-10-01T15:29:00.000-07:002012-10-01T15:30:44.069-07:00blurI'm not sure what it has been recently, but I've been really sensing the speed at which life is moving-- moving forward, and it's crazy-fast. September is probably going to always feel that way-- the start of a new school year and Eva and Sofia have birthdays. <br />
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And at the same time, I was noticing in going through some recent pictures that some of the most beautiful ones are the blurry ones. I was about to hit delete on some of the best descriptions of what life is like right now.<br />
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It's sometimes (oftentimes) blurry and messy and awkward, but it's perfectly imperfect.Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-48145146452888451922012-09-26T20:58:00.001-07:002012-09-26T21:00:15.304-07:00San ClementeI'm a bit embarrassed that our good friends came all the way to Southern California to see us, and I hardly got my camera out.<br />
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Lout and Meesh arrived on Wednesday and stayed until Sunday. (When we dropped them off at the airport on Sunday, Eva sobbed for a full half-hour. We were pretty sad to see them go!)<br />
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On Friday, we headed to San Clemente where we had rented a beach house for the weekend. It was great being able to relax there. We headed to the beach already Friday afternoon for a little bit, then all day on Saturday. And Greg, Liz, and Lucy, Rico, Mihyun, and Violet joined up with us for the day. All four of the guys once lived on the same floor at Calvin (1st Schultze!) so it was a reunion of sorts. Lots of <strike>embellished tales </strike>stories were told, reminiscing of those days-of-old.<br />
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Of course the weather was perfect--perfect for sand digging, wiffleball playing, boogie-board flipping, beach walking, wave hopping, castle building, seagull chasing, and sun bathing. Naturally, I didn't have my camera for any of that greatness. Where we had beach access wasn't a huge beach and the access included descending/climbing 100-and-something stairs, so needless to say we basically had it all to ourselves (which was especially nice for the wiffleball players who had re-formed rival teams <i>Ethel vs. Fulton-Fuller</i>).<br />
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But we got back to the house in time to grill up some dinner and hang out for a while. And we even got back to the beach in time to catch a great sunset.<br />
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<i>Violet and some scruffy-haired child coloring</i></div>
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<i>Greg and Liz</i></div>
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<i>Lucy</i></div>
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<i>the grill masters (with ocean view behind them!)</i></div>
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<i>Sofia catching a glimpse of the sunset</i></div>
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<i>Lout and Meesh</i></div>
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<i>Rico, Violet, and Mihyun</i></div>
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<i>our goofballs who really do love each other well</i></div>
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Come again, Lout and Meesh! We can't wait to see you guys again!</div>
Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-74301620439293519942012-09-25T13:42:00.001-07:002012-09-25T13:42:20.117-07:00gender: revealed!This pregnancy has been a bit goofy. We found out we were pregnant right away, but because of Spain I didn't have an appointment to see a doctor until August. Once I got back I found out that my appointment had been cancelled and the earliest I could see a doctor was in September. At that point, I was 22 weeks along-- where typically I would have seen the doctor around 12 weeks.<br />
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Because everything was pushed back we didn't have the ultrasound scheduled until September 10. We had already decided (while I was in Spain) that we wanted to know the gender of this baby. The one hang-up I had with it was hearing the gender from the technician in the room. Call me ridiculous, but I thought it would be fun to find out on our own (like have the tech write it down on something that we are able to see at a later point), but Nick was eager to find out then and there.<br />
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So he did.<br />
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The tech brought Nick in once she was done with the official ultrasound, tilted the screen away from me, and typed in the words onto the screen for him to see. Then she turned the screen back my direction and finished showing us images of our growing baby.<br />
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We got home and had somewhere to be (a babysitter was on her way), but Nick told the girls, telling them not to tell me.<br />
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After the meeting we had, we went out with Ben and Kristen to Baskin' Robbins. Nick had an idea of how to reveal it to me.<br />
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<i>He got a sample scoop of a blue ice cream and a pink one...</i></div>
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<i>... I had to close my eyes,</i></div>
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<i>and guess which one he gave me.</i></div>
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<i>It tasted like raspberry, which I was going to quickly guess girl, but it took me a second: maybe it was blue raspberry.</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">It's a girl!</span><br />
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We are very excited for this little girl to arrive, (even though I never pictured myself as being the mom of THREE girls)! And the girls can't wait to meet their sister, come mid-January.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Thanks, Ben and Kristen for being so thoughtful to take your camera and pass on these pictures!)</span>Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-52007295621759633452012-09-04T21:38:00.002-07:002012-09-04T21:39:58.261-07:00Eva's paint party!We are officially the parents of a FIVE year-old. Holy smokes is that crazy!<br />
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We had a great day celebrating Eva with FIVE friends that she chose. We had a paint party!<br />
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We had some very capable helpers come and do some face painting and they taught the kids a couple dances (thanks Jadyn and Janae!). <br />
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We had blank canvases, a couple dozen little bottles of paint, and a handful of paintbrushes for them to use. They took their jobs very seriously, as you can see:<br />
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And in the end, they created masterpieces. Some of them a bit minimalist, but definitely unique. <br />
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<i>a couple of them also painted aprons!</i></div>
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It was really fun coming up with fun food for the party. Most of it was not very healthy. But that's what birthday parties are for, right!? (Thanks to Ben and Jodi who were in town to celebrate Eva and for their Labor Day Weekend. They were a huge help in getting things ready!!) <br />
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> I'm not sure if we used enough sprinkles...</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i> tasty paint-dipped paint brushes :)</i></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<i>and paint palettes</i></div>
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But truly the best part of all was watching Eva with all of her friends and sister. She's been waiting for this birthday for a long time, and for her to be able to celebrate it with a few special people was so much fun.<br />
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We love you, Evalyn Claire! You are a sweet girl-- full of
laughter and joy, creativity and curiosity. We pray that this year God shows
you ways that He is using you to bring all of that goodness to others.<br />
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<br />Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-31147321771281701752012-08-20T10:14:00.002-07:002012-08-20T10:14:47.437-07:00screen shotsI'm back. Back from Spain, back from Michigan, and back from summer. Everything about this summer was great. Spain was great (and long). Michigan was relaxing and a great transition into motherhood and a familiar routine. And being back in California has been great just to be all four of us in one place again with some kind of normalcy. (Unfortunately the day we came back from the Midwest Eva came down with a nasty flu bug that the passed to Nick and Sofia at the end of last week. Everyone has gotten through it. Until yesterday, when I got it. Sad.)<br />
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I have so many pictures to go through and share, and posts are going to be lots of catch-up mixed in with current happenings.<br />
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Rewind 8 weeks to me in Spain. My time in Spain was really nice this time around given that things were so similar to last summer. There was very little new that could catch me off-guard or that I needed to adjust to or figure out. Similar classes, same group of people (for the most part), similar routine, same friendships, etc. While that may bore some, it was really nice to not have to wonder what things would be like-- I'm not sure if that's my personality or just my stage in life, but I welcomed the already-known.<br />
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My only communication tool this year was my iPad. (I had a laptop last year.) I depended on wireless, which in our residence halls was terrible. Communicating with Nick and the girls could be rip-out-your-hair frustrating, but we got through it. And I documented it a bit:<br />
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I should point out that the time difference was a bit of a pain at times. It typically had to be either super late for me, or super early for me (and late for whomever here). Ignore my just-about-to-go-to-bed or just-waking-up look.<br />
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<i>kissy faces. :)</i></div>
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<i> I love how auto-correct was working here (we were trying to talk about basketball player Pau Gasol):</i></div>
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<i> Here Nick and the girls had made it to Michigan! (Sofia and Opa eating dinner.)</i></div>
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Skype, by the time I left Spain, had somewhat of a four-letter word with me. The connections we had there were terrible and I was sick of interrupted conversations. I look at these pictures and am reminded at just how GREAT it is to be back together!Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-12097365870633538472012-06-17T16:40:00.000-07:002012-06-17T16:40:14.504-07:00NickI feel so honored to celebrate some amazing fathers in my own life: my own father and my father in-law. Both are Godly examples of great husbands and fathers, committed to the right things. They lead an incredible example. And Nick: the best dad I know.<br />
<br />Nick, your love for your girls, the attention you pay to them, the way you play and meet them where they are at amazes me. I always knew you were a people-person, but the clarity with which you communicate with them, the way they reciprocate and look up to you and love you is undeniable. <br />
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Probably the best way you can love them is by loving me. And you love me so well. You're an amazing partner-in-crime, and I am confident in the support I have in you. Like the fact that you were really the one pushing me to go to Spain and offered to make sure the girls were okay. And of course they were great (and didn't really miss me).<br />
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Nick. Thank you for being so easy to celebrate, for being so generous with your love for us and others. We love you! Happy Fathers' Day!<br />
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Love,<br />
Julie, Eva, Sofia, and Bebé Número TresJuliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35455808.post-24261248551605827342012-05-23T14:22:00.002-07:002012-05-23T14:22:23.128-07:00at the car washOur girls love playing outside. I love that they enjoy it so much, but I absolutely loathe all the dirt that seems to infinitely cover our patio.<br />
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A few days ago it was time to clean up. Both girls love playing with
water, so I filled up a giant bucket filled with soapy water and <i>voila</i>! They washed the wagon, their bikes, the table and chairs. <br />
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<i> love the flying soap...</i></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKG2zXKIwIWh0QFfIJOGow7jSkXPy9qtZm_51wt08yYDoas8zUFYbI3WmBK2ReFyTeGyYBzlXQeb1C4pLzUpKvRdbPTWWnZhJiZo2M3YjgwyR_yKUmJtS1WQJS41twamC1N34/s1600/DSC_0038.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirKG2zXKIwIWh0QFfIJOGow7jSkXPy9qtZm_51wt08yYDoas8zUFYbI3WmBK2ReFyTeGyYBzlXQeb1C4pLzUpKvRdbPTWWnZhJiZo2M3YjgwyR_yKUmJtS1WQJS41twamC1N34/s640/DSC_0038.JPG" width="640" /></a> Juliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15080632139395541821noreply@blogger.com1