Nothing Better than Finding a Cockroach . . .

to start a frenzie of deep cleaning. This morning Emily came into my room while I was feeding Isaac and said, "Just so you know, you might not want to walk around in the bathroom in the dark. I just almost stepped on a cockroach!"

She told me that because she knows I always am in the bathroom in the dark. I don't like to turn on our bright bathroom lights after 9pm because they are not conducive to getting ready for sleepy time. And we have a little night light, so it's not that dark in there anyway. But egh! I am going to have to be more careful!

This is luckily only the second cockroach we've found in our apartment--and the first big one. So I can't complain at all. Especially, I'm assuming, compared to my friends Elizabeth and Dave who live on Kawaii. :-) Paradise has its price, you know. But Houston-- although lush and green and quite beautiful in parts-- is not paradise. So I'm not sure what the cockroaches are payment for.

But they are good motivation to deep clean. So today, I poured bleach down our sinks, vacuumed in and under and behind our couches, and wrote down a long list of all the deep cleaning that needs to happen in the next few days. Anyone want to come help?

Half a Year!

Isaac is 6 months old!

Isaac's Milestones Since Last Month:

• Sitting independently
• Rolling from front to back (still learning to master that one)
• Sleeping on his tummy
• Grabbing Mom and Dad's glasses from off their faces
• Taking consistently longer morning naps (and sometimes longer afternoon naps too)
• Finally enjoying peek-a-boo
• Sitting in a shopping cart (although I realized he's not completely ready for that one)
• Crying when we take something away from him (and so it begins!) 
• Swimming in the pool

Mom and Dad's Milestones:

• Going on our first double-date (since having a baby)
• Letting Isaac cry without getting too worried
• Finally feeling semi-normal
• Paying off all our medical bills-- ha ha! Just kidding. That actually hasn't happened yet. 
• Realizing I will never, ever be able to kiss that baby enough. My appetite is insatiable! 

(going swimming!) 

(in a big-boy shopping cart)

 (our little chicken nugget)

(serious about his toys)

Taking Off Shoes

One of the first things I noticed about Brent is that he took off his shoes whenever he entered someone's home-- even my college apartment. I didn't think much of it, until one time, as we were heading out, he realized he had left something in the apartment, and instead of just running in and out, he took off his sneakers, ran in to get what he needed, and then amazingly slipped them back on in a jiffy. This guy was serious about taking his shoes off!! And as our relationship got more serious, I knew this was something we needed to talk about. If we got married, what would our home be like?

I grew up in what I suppose is a typical American home, which means we wore our shoes in and out and often kept them on all day.* And even when I would take my shoes off to relax, sometimes I would purposely put them back on if I was going to be on my feet for a long time-- cooking a labor-intensive meal or cleaning for a couple hours.

But Brent was raised by a Japanese mother and American father, who fell in love with his future wife's culture before he had even met her. As to be expected, they raised their children to take shoes off at the door. (In fact, their house has a large mudroom with a huge cupboard that stores everyone's shoes downstairs. Brilliant, if you ask me.) For Brent, this habit was further reinforced on Brent's mission to Ukraine, where the culture also dictates taking off shoes. So he has always lived this way and does it without thinking. He even has a handy dandy shoe horn on his key chain (which he got in Ukraine) to help him get his shoes back on in a flash.

Brent imagined his future home the same way he was raised, and I wasn't opposed to that. But I also wasn't sure I could really change my habits . . . and couldn't help but think that it seemed a bit of an inconvenience.

Our courtship proved a testing ground. From the beginning whenever I visited Brent's apartment-- and eventually when I visited his parent's home-- I always took off my shoes. But as our relationship progressed, I decided I should really try it out and started taking my shoes off in my apartment. I'm not sure how much my roommates liked my shoes by the front door, but it wasn't as inconvenient as I had imagined. And I realized I could do this.

But things really clicked for me the first time I cleaned my kitchen floor after we got married. I had lived in BYU student apartments for 7 years, and I had cleaned many, dirty kitchen floors. Dirty as in the mop or rag gets black in the process. However, when I finally washed our kitchen floor-- after living there much too long to admit to my mother-in-law who reads this blog (and who wipes down her kitchen floor every day)-- the wash water was hardly tainted and my white rag was still white! I couldn't believe it. You mean, I could get away without mopping for that long and still have a practically spotless kitchen floor? I knew it was the shoes-- or lack thereof. And anything that helps me clean less is a great plan to me!

But the thing that I love most about taking off shoes is the symbolism of it. When you come into our home, you leave the dirt of the outside world outside. Similarly, I hope our home can be a refuge from other kinds of dirt in the world-- a safe place that is free from immorality, consumerism, strife, bigotry, and anything that is crude.

Today, just to test my theory, I washed my kitchen floor and the tile in our front entryway. Kitchen floor rag: white. Entryway rag: black. But as much as it pleases me to have clean floors, it is so much more important to keep my mind, words, and actions clean. I have to keep working on that one.

* I know there are plenty of American family who do take off shoes, but I would argue these tend to be more rare. 

Questions I Would Ask Eve

How did you learn how to be a mother? 

Did you ever have problems breastfeeding? What did you do?

What about giving your babies solid food? What did you feed them? 

Did you even worry about your babies sleeping through the night, or was that the least of your concerns? 

What about allergies? Or developmental delays? Or discipline? 

What did your babies wear? And where would they play?

How did you manage taking care of them on top of everything else you had to do? 

What was your typical day even like? 

What were your fears? Your worries as a new mother . . . the newest of them all?

Tell me, what was it like for you, oh great and noble Mother Eve? 

Memorial Day Weekend

Brent had both the Friday and Monday of Memorial Day weekend off work. And, amazingly enough, he actually did not work for 4 days straight. It really was a vacation! Woohoo! So, we crammed in all the fun we could get:

The drive out to Brenham, TX to visit the Blue Bell Ice Cream Factory:

Note how the bottom of the sign says, "We eat all we can and we sell the rest." And it's a true motto. I saw multiple workers eating ice cream while on break. :-)

We couldn't take pictures on the tour, but it was fun. And very low key. Basically, we just got to see what was happening in each part of the factory, but we had plenty of time to watch, which we liked. Isaac kicked his legs excitedly. Could factory work be in his future? Or maybe just a lot of ice cream . . .  Either way, we definitely think he could be their new mascot: 

When we got home, we decided it was about time to take a swim in our pool-- especially since we've been enjoying swim whether for about 2 1/2 months now!

We haven't bought swim gear for Isaac yet, so he watched from his stroller with Emily:

But they blew bubbles: 

And it looks like Isaac tried to blow some of his own: 

Then we let him put his feet in the pool, and he loved it: 

Is there anything cutter than chubby, splashing feet? 

On Monday, he had his first real swim-- in a swimming diaper! He was a little unsure at first, but I think he enjoyed himself. 

And here's a picture of him sitting up on his own (the latest milestone!), at Lisa's request: 

Not sure what this face is about, but I had to throw this one in too: 

As you can see, life in Houston is pretty good. :-)

Brent's Birthday

We celebrated Brent's 27th birthday on the 18th-- and the two year anniversary of the day Brent proposed to me. :-) Unfortunately, even when you're the birthday boy, it's easy to be overshadowed by a baby's cuteness. So, sorry, Brent. I think you're only in one picture . . . 

We had a few friends over for some birthday grub:

Jeff showing us how it's done:

Emily and Andrew were a huge help when it came to preparing food, setting up, and running to the store for last-minute ingredients:

And one more of the un-birthday boy: 

Uncle Bryan

My little brother Bryan is pretty much the coolest teenager I know. He is friendly and honest, works hard as a student, and serves in the Church. He plays the trumpet-- as well as baseball, volleyball, tennis, and golf (not all at the same time). And he is a scout, a gardener (more like a botanist), an outdoors-man, a chef,  a scientist, an explorer, an artist, a swimmer, a net-flix addict, and an all-around fun and happy guy. There's no doubt about who is the favorite child in the family. And honestly, Bryan deserves the title. He's the most obedient and easy going-- compared to all his sisters. :-) And as the only boy in our family, I'm sure he is happy to have Isaac to play with now. Isaac just needs to grow up fast so he can join in on all of Bryan's adventures. 

No pressure, Isaac, but we hope you turn out to be at least a little bit like your Uncle Bryan. 

Grandparents

Aren't grandparents wonderful? It has been so fun to watch my parents become grandma and grandpa for the first time. And even though Brent's parents were already grandparents, it's been such a fun experience to see them be Baba and Jiji to our son.

In the last few weeks we have been able to see lots of grandparents and great-grandparents. And Isaac has received so much love!

Here are some of my favorite snap shots of Isaac with his grandparents:

My mom seeing Isaac for the first time since Februrary. She and KaRynn hopped in the back seat of our car as soon as they got to the temple (we were in Draper for my cousin Jackie's wedding). 

My mother-in-law playing peek-a-boo with Isaac. Yes, that is a ceramic platter that she was going to put away in the cupboard. We really hope she never does this again. We want you to stay in one piece, Okaasan! 

A four-generation shot with Great-Grandma Monson, or Bunga, as we affectionately call her. Brent was actually the one who gave her that name. It was his best attempt at "Grandma," and it was so cute, it stuck. 

Isaac's favorite exploring companion is definitely Jiji. Every day they went outside to find something new. The cherry blossoms were a especially fun. 

Another four-generation shot, this time with Great-Grandma Ogles--who we call Grandma O. I say that name is definitely sticking for the next generation. 

Isaac and Baba at Temple Square in Salt Lake. Baba is short for Obachan, which means grandmother in Japanese. 

Isaac and Grandpa! My dad had only been able to spend two short days with Isaac when he visited Houston, so it was fun to spend a week together. Isaac laughed and giggled for him. In fact, he laughs more readily for all of his grandparents than he ever does for us!

Great-Grandpa Sheranian sang Isaac his classic baby song, "Pony Boy" and played "Trot Little Horsey" with him too.  

Here is the four-generation Sheranian picture. We took this on a special bench dedicated to Great-Grandma Sheranian who passed away last year.

And, finally, another picture with Grandma in her library. Can you tell Isaac loves reading books?

Thank goodness for wonderful grandparents! BYU Magazine reports that "While many studies have shown that grandparents' involvement helps children develop 'prosocial' behaviors such as being kind, encouraging others, and giving service, the BYU study goes a step further. It shows statistically that even with very good parents, children get an extra benefit when grandparents are involved" (Spring 2012, pg. 24). The article continues to explain that grandparent's don't have to live nearby to have a positive effect. 

Even though we wish Isaac's grandparents were closer, we are glad they make efforts to stay connected.  FaceTime has made it possible for us to share many of his milestone's with them. It's fun to watch Isaac listen to their voices and see their faces. Even though he is young, he already knows his grandparents love him!