Golden Birthday

Yesterday I turned 28 on the 28th, which means it was my golden birthday. I'm not sure how you're supposed to celebrate your golden birthday as opposed to the rest of your birthdays, but this birthday was wonderful--and slightly different from the rest: no cake, no candles, and no party. But that's how I wanted it.

I must be getting older. Normally, I love parties: the friends, the food, the celebrating. So, I usually throw one for myself, but this year, it just didn't seem important to me.

Instead, Brent took the day off and we spent the day as a family. And it was wonderful! We went to the Children's Museum and let Isaac crawl around and play. I received many wonderful gifts for my birthday, but I think the best gift of all was spending time with the ones I love.

Here are some pictures from the day:

And yes, that is a huge light bright! 

Eating Lunch with Dad

About a month ago, Isaac and I went downtown to join Brent for lunch at Discovery Green Park-- that is just across the street from where he works. Just look at these cute boys: 

A friend thought he'd join us for lunch. 

And there was a splash pad, so Isaac got in on some of the action. 

I'm not sure what he thought about it though. 

Isaac-kun

Because Brent's mom is Japanese, he grew up using Japanese words, phrases, and suffixes. And slowly I'm picking up on things. One thing I'm learning about is honorific suffixes, or endings that show respect or endearment towards the person you are talking to or about. For example, when you talk about another adult, to show respect, you use the suffix -san. (So my mother-in-law would be Naoko-san.)  

Another suffix that shows endearment towards a younger person is -chan. This is the suffix my mother-in-law uses for Brent (B-chan) and my sister-in-law Emily (Emi-chan). I just love the way those names sound. To me they really do capture the love she feels for them. 

Kun is another diminutive, endearing suffix, usually used for young boys-- similar to the suffix -ito in Spanish.  And so, one of our nicknames for Isaac is Isaac-kun. I love this nickname because it feels as endearing to me as it is meant to be. Our little Isaac-kun. 

And because he is so cute, I have to share some more pictures: 

He was eating this shoe a split second before I snapped the picture. We try to discourage this behavior, normally. 

Looking out the window:

The only problem with these window pictures is that this is proof that we can NEVER. I mean NEVER! EVER! EVER! open this window. We live on the second story, and just look how easily he could fall out. Does anyone know of any good solutions? 

Feeding a toy to Dad. Such good sharing! 

My little sous-chef. He always wants to be where I am and get in on the action. Just look at that face!!!

Enjoying some peaches in his mesh teething bag. I have to say I have enjoyed that little gadget. I should have bought it sooner because he's already doing finger food now. 

At the zoo with some friends: 

Looking at a chipmunk at the zoo (but I think you know who the real chipmunk is. . . ). 

His favorite place to play these days: 

Oh I just love my baby!!

Playing with Mom's necklace: 

His after-nap smile: 

And can I just say, I really love being a mom! It is the best job I've ever had! 

Also, another random side-note: Today Isaac had his 9-month well check and he was 29 inches (74th percentile) and 19 lbs. 10 oz (33rd percentile). Really? Thirty-third percentile? You would never believe it with those cheeks and thighs. It makes me wonder about the validity of these percentiles. . . .

Entropy in Marriage

The other day someone giving a talk in church mentioned the concept of entropy in marriage. I have always be intrigued by the law of entropy, so it piqued my interest. After a quick internet refresher course, I actually feel less confident than I did before in explaining what entropy is, but I'll give it a try. (Please bear with me as I have absolutely no background in science other then my GE classes in college. If I get something wrong, please feel free to correct me.) Here it goes:

Entropy is the measurement of how evenly energy is distributed, or the measure of the randomness or chaos in a system. It is related to a law in physics that states energy or matter tends toward even distribution or disorder. For example, if you take a warm towel out of the dryer, the heat will quickly dissipate into the room. Or in a more practical parallel-- whatever toys you have in a basket (or whatever clothes you have in a closet . . . depending if you have toddlers or teenagers) will tend to evenly spread across the floor as the day goes on.

Basically, everything in this world begins to unravel or disorganize unless someone/something exerts energy to organize it. And I think we can all see that this is very true when we think about our homes, our schedules, and our relationships. Just like it takes consistent effort to keep the dishes clean, the laundry done*, and our homes livable, it takes simple but important rituals to keep our marriages intact.

Thinking about this law makes me think about the creation in a new light. God created the world by bringing order to chaos. Therefore, it is a godlike attribute to bring order. And in bringing order to something, creation takes place. So by maintaining order in a relationship, you really are building it, creating it. No wonder the Lord said, "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." Our relationships can't be godlike or eternal without order-- or active energy on our part.

The important rituals in each marriage may differ, but I think they tend to include communication, affection, quality time, affirmation, and gratitude. For me and Brent, kissing before he leaves for work, having dinner together, talking every night, sending text messages, going on dates, sitting next to each other in church meetings, praying together, and sharing ideas together are all important rituals to us. These are simple things that if we don't do, I start to feel a little unraveled, or at least disconnected. But once we start doing them again, I feel like our relationship is refreshed. 

What are your thoughts about entropy in relationships? (And this definitely applies to all relationships, not just marriage.) What you do to maintain your relationships? 

Also,  if you are interested, my friend Aimee found this great article on Resisting Marital Entropy. Thanks for sharing, Aimee! It got me thinking! 

*We say "done" but really, is laundry ever really done??  

Who I'm Voting For

Okay, not really. But you have to admit, he'd make a pretty cute president. I'm not sure if the pacifier would be appropriate in the Oval Office though . . .

On a more serious note, I hope everyone is registered to vote and is going to exercise that right and responsibility.


(This picture was taken at the Bush (Senior) Presidential Library at Texas A&M in College Station. Unlike the oval office replica at the Reagan Library, you can actually walk around this one. )

Nine Months

Isaac (or Chunk, as we often call him) is a big busy body. But he never likes to be far from his mama. I can't leave the room without a sad baby crawling after me. It makes tidying up the house quite interesting. As I walk back and forth between rooms--our apartment is tiny, for heaven's sake---Isaac is always one step behind, crying. Today I seriously hurt his feelings when I went on our front porch without him to pick some fresh rosemary. I guess I won't be doing that again. :-)

This month he has learned to eat finger food and loves Cheerios. In fact, he now wants them with every single meal. I think I've created a Cheerio monster because he screams and will refuse to eat any baby food unless there are Cheerios on his tray. I'm working on helping him learn to like other finger foods. 

He pulls himself up on everything, and has started taking some side-steps, but no real cruising happening yet.  Crawling is definitely his preferred transportation mode, and he is good at it! In fact I think he could out crawl me. 

Here are some pictures of this cutie pie: 

                                     

                                     

                                              

Look at those cheeks! They are as soft and scrumptious as they look. I've realized I have an insatiable appetite for both good, dark chocolate and Isaac's cheeks. 

                                               

His eyes are brown/grey/green. We're still not sure how they're going to turn out. But they are definitely dark and handsome like his dad's. 

He always sucks on his upper lip like this:

 

Can you see his two teeth? They're the only ones he's got:

And his "I want something" or "This food is gross!" face: 

To give you a true sense of his cuteness, here's a little video I took today. He had crawled into the other room, thinking I was going to chase him. But instead I waited for him to come back. I think he thought I had gone into the other room, ha ha! 

                                   

So Many Thoughts; So Little Blogging

I think about stuff I want to write about all the time. But then I never do. Here's a list of future blog posts:

• The benefits of having roommates, even after you're married
• Grandma O's emails 
• Blogging: what is it's value? I have mixed thoughts on this one. 
• Entropy in marriage
• Shower quotes-- how I combine daily inspiration with daily hygiene 
• Screaming-- and how Isaac does a lot of ear-piercing (but not the jewelry kind, thank goodness)
• Book reviews: Nurture Shock, Spark  
• How organizing my house helped me learn something about judging others . . .

What should I write about first? Help get me going!