I Like You

Because I don't tell him privately often enough, I thought I'd celebrate publicly all of the qualities that I like about my husband. Though I'm technically still on maternity leave from work, I'm still a full-time graduate student, and that takes me away from home a few days each week. Brandon never complains. Not once has he whispered that he's too tired from work to care for the kids all by himself while I finish up this crazy dream of mine (Granted, they're pleasant kids, but repeated evenings of single-parenting are tough.). It's easy to brag about my kids, but it's high time Brandon gets the credit he deserves. Below, the Why-I-Like-Brandon list continues:
- Though he doesn't always see the crumbs on the floor or the tupperware on the counter, he cleans the kitchen more often than most men.
- He may leave wet bottles on the counter, but he voluntarily empties. the dishwasher, more often than I do
- He scrubs our shower, and I've never asked him to.
- He loves to vacuum, and he doesn't skip the hard to reach spots.
- He waters my plants (and even though I take no part in their care, I still call them MY plants).
- He weeds MY garden.
- He takes Anali to the swings so I can have a few quiet moments.
- He supports me when I'm disciplining Anali.
- He puts the kids down to sleep whenever I ask and often without my asking.
- He tries valiantly to make Anali's hair look decent
- He does the laundry. It may never get put away, but it's clean alright!
- He likes to learn new skills from his friends.
- He uses those skills to build things, like a laundry chute or new cabinets.
- He keeps an impeccable lawn.
- He likes my friends and encourages me to return phone calls.
- He lets me watch movies in bed even though he has to get up at 4:00 in the morning.
- He encourages me to be active and is patient when I'm slow.
- He doesn't sell my mountain bike to buy the kayak he wants, even though I haven't ridden my bike for three years.
- He expects me to speak kindly and is patient when I don't.
- He teaches our children how to play.
- I almost never have to pump my own gas.
- He knows how to fix things; he has this amazing mind to fix things he was never trained to fix. How do men do that?
- He just installed a new kitchen sink for me. Do you know how hard that is?
- Last Tuesday evening, he wrote, "I love you, Rach" on our bathroom mirror.
- He likes alone time - he's his own person - but he doesn't demand it.
- He likes being home.
- He has a strong work ethic and is NEVER late to work, never calls in, and rarely complains.
- He thanks me for working, never takes it for granted.
- He cooks dinner OFTEN.
- He makes pancakes on Sunday mornings.
- He is well-groomed, but not high-maintenance.
- He comes home and changes his shoes and into a sweater - OK, a flannel - like Mr. Rogers. I tell you, it's the tackiest outfit, but somehow endearing.
- I have never had to wash the windows in our house; he does it.
- He mops, too!
- He helps my friends do yard work and landscaping projects.
- He reads me small snippets of the articles he's reading because he thinks they're interesting and I might like them.
- He clips coupons.

Somehow Brandon does all of these things, many of which are stereotypically female tasks, and makes them seem ultra-masculine. It makes me wonder how women ever got away with doing the laundry, minding the children, mopping the floor, and baking peach crisp! He is a HOTTY and a HELPER!

Brandon, I see you.

We're Back in Action

We finally bought a new camera, so the baby picture updates will be back. These pictures are of my experimenting in different modes. I've got a lot of learning to do, but it's fun. Feels nice to have a hobby again.

Anali, 23 months, Asher 10 weeks

The concentrated artist.

Anali's version of hide-n-seek: stand out in the open and hope Mama doesn't look my way.

Recent Family Photos

Hiking at Skookum Flats

Rachel and Asher on the White River

Brandon and Anali at his sister Bryn's wedding

Asher, nine weeks old

Stick with me; our camera's broken. What at time in life to have a broken camera! Our kids change every day! I'm shopping for new one, so you'll have updated pictures soon.

I wish I had a digital recorder to capture the hilarious things Anali has started saying. This week, she's getting closer to sentences. Our pastor is preaching on Jesus' "I am" statements of recent. Anali must be taking God's own syntax to heart, because she's started speaking "sentences" with subjects and "to be" verbs, but she's leaving off the object, or THE POINT, of the sentence. She'll say "Ani, too, is..." or "That truck is..." and leave it at that. It gets me every time. I keep wondering, "What? What is the truck?" It's fun to see her express what's on her mind. It will be more fun when that expression is fully coherent.

Recently, we've been enjoying new activities. She's taken up painting with watercolors, and she's quite good for a toddler. She can even make circles, which is a big accomplishment, I assure you. All I've been studying about literacy for my Masters is making me thoroughly enjoy Anali's emerging literacy skills. I have to make myself not document every minor stage of her reading and writing development.

In the meantime, if I could only document the other things. She'll be two in June and I haven't put a single picture in a single album for her, except to send to family. My friend Michelle made me the most precious scrapbook for her and I'm so indecisive about what perfect pictures to put in it, it's still empty (Forgive me, Michelle. Then, come HELP ME!). I write sloppy notes in a ten-cent spiral notebook, thinking I'll spend one day transferring all of my notes to a lovelier journal I bought TWO YEARS AGO!

Asher is six, no, SEVEN weeks old now. Let's just say he's developing. I'm not really sure what he's doing, but he's growing - BIG. He makes googly eyes at me and smiles with his whole face, though his lips only turn up slightly. He really responds to Anali, who loves to get right up to his face and exclaim, "Hi! Hi, Ash! Hi!" or say very matter-of-factly as I change his diaper, "Yellow poo-poo. Yellow poo-poo" or "Penny, out! Penny, out!" to which I have to remind her, "No, sweetie. YOU swallowed the penny, and I hope it's already out!" Not real sure when it came out, but after TWO WEEKS of scavenging through her diapers with popsicle sticks and Ziploc baggies, I gave up looking. A metal detector at the doctor's office said, "Yep, it's there," but not 30 minutes later, an X-ray revealed, "Nope, no penny." I'm thinking it's a miracle; Brandon thinks she never swallowed it. She had better have swallowed it, or what was the two weeks' diaper diving all about?

Ahhhh, motherhood! There's really nothing danty about it. But every day, I look at my kids and think, "Man, I LIKE YOU. And I'd like you even if you weren't mine!"

Gotta get the whole-body shot!

Anali had adored reading lately. She cuddles with books as if they are teddy bears. She'll get out of bed and get a pile of books and entertain herself some mornings. I like those mornings. It's pretty much the cutest thing ever!

When the Boppy Comes Out: Beware

Brandon and the Kids

Is it just me, or is nursing time full of danger? Anali, 21 months old, is not disobedient, and she is not unwary. She is a thoughtful and responsible kid. YET, suddenly, I find myself praying for a protective bubble to surround her when I'm nursing Asher.

In the past week, she has swallowed a penny; found her fluoride drops, opened them (despite the security cap), and sucked on the dropper like a lollipop; and found a pencil in a drawer, run with it, tripped, and nearly poked her eye out. Two of those three she performed just this afternoon. I am beginning to feel like a neglectful mother. How do moms-of-two-or-more do it? How can I keep her safe AND feed my son?

I try to keep her in my sight and read to her or draw flowers for her on her magnadoodle (which is probably being recalled as I write), but then I forget to pay attention to Asher's nursing and I can't tell if the little lad has gotten enough to eat, OR, as was the case, also today, the magnadoodle and/or book is thrust through the air and lands on the baby's head.

Anali seems to be adjusting beautifully to having her little brother around. She runs to get him his blanket or his Soothie. She tries to share her crackers. She lays beside him and coos at him as she sees Mama doing. She is still greeting him every morning with her precious, squeaky, "Hi, baby Ash."

Perhaps, all of this endearing behavior is masking how she really feels: "PAY ATTENTION TO ME." Moms-of-two-or-more-children, is there ever a night you go to bed without feeling you've overlooked something, or someone?

Doses of Motherhood

These are the precious moments of staying at home with two children.

Happy Nap!

Baking with Mama. Next to making coffee, baking is Anali's favorite kitchen activity.

Then, the not-so-precious moments...that tend to happen one right after the other...if not simultaneously.

We saw a lot of this this evening (I really shouldn't complain, since it doesn't happen that often. Maybe that's why it's hard when it does.) . My face mirrored his after the third round.

This is Anali coloring cute little faces on her fingers. Cute little faces she stamped on the counter, her shirt, the couch, and so on.

Family Time

Anali, Aunt Nan, and Asher

Ani loves to hold her little brother. We're so proud of how she is adjusting.

Dad and Asher sleep in at the hospital.

Siblings

Asher, nine days old

Anali, nine days old

Baby Asher

Anali spoke her first sentence this week: "Hey, baby Asher!" She's very proud of her tiny brother. The past two mornings, when she wakes up, she climbs onto the side of his bassinet, and says, "Hi, baby."

Anali and Dad admiring newborn Asher.

Asher Isaak Johnson, the afternoon we brought him home.

Born 12:15 a.m.

Monday, March 10, 2008

7 pounds, 5 ounces

20 1/2 inches

HEALTHY!

Rachel and Newborn

I WISH! Yes, this is me, holding a newborn. But if you look closely, this is me, still very pregnant, holding a newborn. My dear friend Susan gave birth to this little darling, Haley Meg, a week ago. I was lucky to be there the night she was born. A little eery hanging out in the maternity ward with a belly this pregnant, though. I was praying my water would break right there, walking the corridors of the hospital.

January 2007

Welcome to our first annual "Write the Christmas Caption Contest"!

We've included a picture for each month of this year. All you have to do to enter is click on "Comments" under the picture(s) you would like to narrate, type your caption idea, and submit.

Brandon and I will review and vote: Most Humorous, Most Fitting, and Most I-Would-Have-Never-Thought-of-That! Have fun! I know we will!

While you're online, feel free to review our year's posts (See "Blog Archive" on the right.). It's been a fulfilling year...easily the best of our lives, watching Anali grow and develop into a person of great humor and joy and developing a deeper relationship ourselves as we learn from each other in new ways.

By the way, MERRY CHRISTMAS! If you have an extra pumpkin pie hanging around your kitchen, call me.

February 2007

March 2007

April 2007

May 2007

June 2007 Anali's First Birthday!

On Anali's first birthday, we discovered I was pregnant with our second child. What a gift to us all! We are expecting a son in a little over two months' time. Anali is hoarding cupcakes for that day.

July 2007

August 2007

September 2007