Mother's Day

Mother's Day afternoon we went to the park to take photos. Again, why am I not in any? We actually would have taken more, but we ran out of space on our camera and called it a day. Claire was upset that I took her sippy cup away. Good thing toddler emotions don't last too long, at least for now.

Mom & Baby

I'm always telling Rich that he needs to take more pictures of Claire and I together. I would love to have a professional photographer take really artistic and loving pictures of us with great lighting with a simple background and clothing. But, a photographer is not in the budget. So, these pictures with no make-up and messy hair will have to do.

9 Years!

For our 9th anniversary, we went to a crepe restaurant that we found on a visit before we moved here. We savored the carmelized bananas, chocolate, almonds, and whipped cream dessert crepe we ordered. So rich! Of course, we talked about our last 9 years and what's in store for us in the future. I'm blessed to have my husband as my best friend.

Milestones and Transitions

The end of April and the first half of May were full of milestones and changes to come. Rich started playing bass guitar in a band - a real dream for him. The house we're renting was put on the market, so that means finding a new place to live. Claire said "Mama". Rich and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. It was the 15-year annivesary of my mom dying of cancer, she passed away when I was 15. A Mother's Day for me that was happy and peaceful. Claire's 1st birthday. I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease via skin biopsy, blood test, and an esophagogastroduodenoscopy and I will have to eat gluten-free for the rest of my life! Ahhhh!

Baby in bed

One of my favorite pictures of Claire. So serene.

I love my naked baby tumbling sessions.

One of Claire's favorite books is Mommy Loves Me. It has a sweet poem and pictures of moms cuddling their babies. I'm glad it makes her feel good.

Kara's Wedding

Kara is one of my dancer lunch group friends and for the last few months we've heard lots of wedding talk. The wedding arrived and my question was "what am I going to wear to a formal dessert reception?" I wore a skirt that I bought a few years ago and had never worn because it was a tad too big (I bought it thinking I would alter it), but with my post-baby body it fits me. The sweater was a last-minute idea and I love the cream and green combo. I only have black dress shoes so Christine brought me a few pairs to try. I swear we were only a few minutes late and Kara had already walked down the aisle! What kind of wedding starts on time? I hurriedly picked shoes in the lobby and we found seats before the vows took place. It was an old, formal church with stained glass and stone arches and the ceremony was nice. We headed to the reception and had fun with my friends, Amy, Christine, Karen, Sarah, and Natascha. Kara swooped by our table too.

And I have to add how lucky I feel that we have husbands/boyfriends who all huddled and excitedly took pictures of us girls being silly.

Performing Again

In April I performed for the first time since having Claire. Yay!!!

A choreographer I knew from college, Rosa Vissers, invited me to be part of a quintet for women. It felt like a long journey back to a lifetime ago of dancing: working through rehearsals when I was tired and already stressed as well as not having the strength and abilities that I used to. Another big element was battling my skewed view of myself as a dancer. Right before I got pregnant I had an awful dance experience and an injury. The situation made such an impression on me that I had weekly nightmares for a year. So, it took a lot of convincing my self to not jump to the worst conclusion and assume the choreographer wasn't pleased with my work or dancers thought I sucked or they couldn't stand working with me when I messed up. I had to reason with and remind myself that I am a good dancer, period. I've had 22 years of dancing to prove it. However, I couldn't believe how hard it was to pick up the movement phrases and get beyond barely knowing what came next to actually add in dynamics and perform the movement. It basically took the whole 3 months of rehearsals for it to finally come together for me. I'm grateful to Rosa for working with me as well as the other dancers for their patience and trust, despite my slow progress. A bonus was that I got to work with another U of U alum, Laurel, and another dancer, Tova, that I really enjoyed dancing with in classes at Velocity. The performances went very well and I was happy to be part of the show.

*performance photo by Gary Lappier

*performance photo by Gary Lappier

Working with Rosa was the perfect scenario for me to return to dancing. She is so warm and positive. Just typing this makes me want to cry. It was exactly the "care" that I needed to come back.

Cutesy time

She's 11 1/2 months old here.

Fun making noises

Picnic with Mommy

I spent the morning doing the usual routine and I'd planned on meeting my friends for a picnic at the lake. But, by the time I got EVERYTHING packed to walk out the door I would have been an hour late. Since is was going to be a long night I flaked out on driving all the way there. I was bummed about not being outside on such a perfect day, so I decided to take Claire on our own picnic.

This is her first time swinging. I've put her in the swing since then, but this first time was apparently the only time she enjoyed it.

Claire playing at a cafe

April in full swing

I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to get rid of all the cute baby outfits I love, including this whale ruffly jumper. Claire has started to tilt her head to the side as if she's trying to be cute and we have fun mimicking her.

My Dad came to visit us for a few days and we had a great time. The first day he was here we rode the water taxi and met Rich for lunch, we went to the library to play (while Dad napped), we played cards, and talked. The next day I actually spent much of the day at the dentist. They had a few cancellations, so I used my built-in-babysitter-Grandpa to make it easier for me to get a cleaning in the morning and some fillings replaced in the afternoon. I felt bad about leaving him when he's only here for 2 days, but really who's going to watch Claire while I'm at the dentist for 4 hours? And, Dad came here to visit his granddaughter too, not just to visit me. The first stretch I was gone I came home to Claire crying in her crib and Dad reading on the couch. I had to recognize that Dad has parented 6 kids and therefore can ignore crying. :) So, before I left again I was sure to turn the monitor on full-blast so he could for sure hear crying. When I came back she was peacefully sleeping on the couch cozied next to my Dad while he read his book. Awww. In between the dental appts. we went to the library for Baby Story Time (and Dad napped again). For dinner I made one of my best recipes of butternut squash enchiladas, which Dad loved. We also went to our last Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class (which everyone should take!) where we had an appetizer/dessert potluck. I was busy making dinner and Dad asked if he could help, so I suggested he make the cake for the potluck. He confessed that he's never made cake before! I said to this 71-yr.-old, "Well, now's a good time to learn!" He easily followed the directions on the box and made a smooth, yummy lemon cake. Like always, it's sad to say good-bye to my Dad because I never know how long it will be until I see him again and I always fear that he'll end up hurt or dead and I won't have another chance to spend time with him. The longest stretch of not seeing him was about 3 years, I think. This time it's going to be 2 years. He and Karen are going on a mission to HONG KONG! What an adventure. They'll both be working with missionaries across Asia making sure they're in good mental health. Bon voyage.

I've been busy visiting a lot with various friends: my lunch group friends and a few dance friends from college. And I've added in some good activities like dance rehearsals and going to the Art Museum with my walking partner - how long has it been since I visited an Art Museum? Too long. And, my bookclub friends. We discussed the book, "These Is My Words" by Nancy E. Turner. Soooooo Gooooood. Whoever is reading this blog should read that book.

I'm directing the choir at church and for Easter Sunday we sang "All Creatures of Our God and King". We sang it the way it was apparently sung when it was written as a call and response sequence. The choir women stood in a line at the front of the chapel and the choir men stood in a line at the back of the chapel. The women started, "All creatures of our God and King", men responded, "Lift up your voice and with us sing". They repeated that melody phrases until they all joined together for the last, "Alleluia! Oh praise Him! Alleluia!" We had the congregation join in with the women and men singing separately. It sounded so nice and I heard from a lot of people afterwards that they found it really interesting or that they really enjoyed it. Mix it up, people! That's what we have to do. Be creative!

A Serious Mood

It must have been a long stretch of dreary weather and feeling cooped up in the house.