A Month of Celebration

In the past couple of weeks, our family has celebrated a number of occasions. About two weeks ago we attended a surprise party for Adam who was preparing to leave to Shanghai, China for a law internship. It was a fun party and it was nice to see him before he left, but we more or less totally blew the surprise. We came late to the party and thought Adam was already there but he drove up while we were standing in the driveway. I felt terrible but luckily his girlfriend Chelsey who was hosting the party was able to smooth over our untimely appearance so he was still surprised by the large group of people inside.

A week later we helped my cousin Brittany pull off another surprise birthday party for her husband Neal who turned 24. We decorated their apartment, made a cake, provided an alibi for their return at a certain time, etc. Unfortunately, we kind of blew the surprise again; when Neal and Brittany pulled into their parking spot they noticed our jeep in the visitor parking. Neal was a little confused but just assumed that we had just beat them home to hang out with them. Luckily, he was still surprised by the other people there and we had a good time. We ate cake and buffalo wings, sang to Neal, played Guitar Hero, stayed up late talking, etc. Overall it went really well.

Here's a picture of Neal, the birthday boy with his chocolate cake and a picture of Eric, Andrew and Andrea playing Guitar Hero.
Just a few days later we celebrated Logan's 3-month-a-versary with a cake, candles and everything. Okay, I'll admit it, I was more or less just looking for an excuse to bake another cake because I had a lot of frosting left over from Neal's cake, but it was fun none the less. The cake was good, but really unnecessary health-wise.
I'll admit it, I have a baking problem. Less than a year into marriage Eric had to ban me from making cakes for a good six months or so. It's not so much that I crave cake (though I do like it), I just get really excited about some decorating idea I want to try out so I need a cake to decorate. It's a hobby I'm not super great at but I really like doing. The problem is I don't always have an occasion for the cakes so Eric and I end up with a full-size cake in our house and no one else to eat it. That's the biggest problem. Nothing spectacular, but here are some random cakes I've decorated.

Eulogy for my hair

Okay, I gave in to being a stereotypical new mom and I chopped my hair! Logan has finally hit that "I thoroughly enjoy tangling my hands up in mommy's hair" phase and after only a week of it, I decided to cut my hair. Now understand, I've had long hair almost my entire life. My mom always encouraged me to keep it long, and I've liked it that way most of the time, but I've always been curious about what short hair would be like. Like above my shoulders short hair. I cut it just below my shoulders my junior year of high school but since then it's only grown longer. Until today. It now barely touches my shoulders and I'm pretty sure Eric is in shock. I was real excited to try something new but Eric's only known me with long hair. We looked at pictures of short hair online the other day and Eric came up with three rules for me before I went in to the salon. Number one, no spikes. Number two, it has to be able to touch my shoulders. And number three, no A-line haircut. Personally I think there are some really cute A-line haircuts out there but I agree with Eric that I would not be able to pull one off. I stuck to his "rules" and here is the finished product before and after.
I was excited that I got to donate my hair to locks of love, but now Eric and I have to come to love it. I'm still kind of excited, but slightly sad too. It's bittersweet.

Sleeping baby = time to blog

So a ton has happened since I last wrote (which is bound to happen in nearly 3 months…) so I’ll try and summarize. First and most importantly, our happy little family of two has now grown to a happy, though slightly sleep deprived, family of three. Logan is coming up on three months old and though there are rough moments every now and then (normally during feedings that fall between the hours of 3-5 in the morning), I can honestly say that I love being a mom. I feel like a mom riding an emotional roller coaster, but it's worth it. Before Logan's birth, I couldn't even imagine how happy he'd make me. Seriously. I can’t see him smile without breaking into smiles myself and I actually cried I was so happy watching him hold and shake a rattle for the first time. I’ve traded my heartburn for the pains of breastfeeding but I know that overall I’ve been really lucky. Logan's been a healthy, happy baby and I couldn't ask for more. He's relatively mellow and I have a feeling Heavenly Father knew I wouldn’t be able to handle much more. I’m pretty sure I would have cracked mentally and emotionally if Logan was colicky, which I was really scared would happen. I tip my hat to moms who’ve survived colicky babies.

In the past months, Logan has made a number of changes. He started out as a baby that frequently slept, was content to just be cradled in anyone's arms, could lay for long periods of time just watching a ceiling fan and rarely made noise. He still sleeps a bit, but unless he's really tired he doesn't want to be cradled because he always wants to be able to look around. He's a fan of people singing to him, especially the little bit of the "Elmo's World" song that we know which makes him grin every time. He also enjoys holding his right fist straight out and staring at it. It's kind of strange, but funny to watch and we assume it's a developmental thing.

It's been neat as well to watch and listen as he's become a bit more active. He makes quite a few noises, including the "oo" sound and a goat-like laugh. Hopefully he'll outgrow the latter. He's always liked to swing his arms and legs around, but it's starting to get a little more coordinated as he's grabbing items that we hold out for him. Lastly, I think he's turning into a flirt. He's got the cutest smile and he's definitely learned how to use it. He just flashes his big blue eyes and that adorable smile and it doesn't matter how frustrated I am with him for not eating, I just melt. Logan even uses it on Eric when Eric's frustrated trying to get him to fall asleep. It's a serious weapon. ;)

Here are some random pictures we've taken over the past few months, mainly of Logan (no surprise).

On another note, Eric's internship in Boise these past couple of months with KPMG went well and we've happily accepted a job offer there so we'll officially be moving to Boise permanently in a year or so. When we left I was just starting to get to know my way around so it'll be nice to be able to use that knowledge in the near future. We had a good time living with Camille, Jacob, Jack, Mike and Nate and we're excited to visit again coming up in July, especially since Eric's parents and Emily and Aaron will be back from Mexico that month.

From about mid March to mid April we got to live with my parents and brothers in Washington which was really neat. My mom and dad got to spend some time with their first grandchild and my mom taught me how to better take care of Logan, especially in the bath department (Logan didn't like baths much before my mom helped me out, but now he loves them!). It was fun to watch my two youngest brothers interact with Logan since they've never really spent much time around babies. They got the "opportunity" to change diapers for the first time and they really seemed to enjoy holding him. During our time in Washington, Eric kept busy helping my parents remodel/finish our garage. He helped build cabinets and shelving, install drywall, wire lights, paint and texture the walls, seal the concrete, etc. Here's a picture of him during lunch on the day they were preparing the drywall to be textured and painted.

Here's also a quick video of Logan eating his first Popsicle while we were in Washington.

All in all we had a really good time both in Boise and in Washington, but it's nice to finally be back in our home in Provo. We've really been looking forward to bringing Logan to the house that was our first home together. We've been hanging out with friends, playing intramural soccer together again and hitting up the public library multiple times a week for free movie rentals and kids books. We've only had one soccer game thus far and we've realized that we'll need to hold some practices to get me back in shape a bit so I won't make quite as big a fool of myself in the following games as I did in our last. Oh well, I embrace and need the exercise after many months of near inactivity. Besides that, Eric's just taking a couple of classes and I'm just chilling at home with Logan. Life is good.

Logan William Channer

Quick update: Logan William Channer was born on Thursday, Feb. 19th at 2:00 pm. He weighed 8.0 lbs and was 20.75 inches long. Tasha and Logan are home and doing great. Per request from some family and friends, here are some pictures of our new addition. We will post some more later.

-Eric

More Happenings At Home

Days seem to fly by here at home in Idaho and consequently everything seems to happen all at once. One major ongoing event has been my weekly doctor's visits. Last week my doctor informed me that I was already nearly 3 cm dilated and the baby had already dropped. She also told me she's pretty sure I won't make it to my due date and if by some miracle I make it to 39 weeks, she'll definitely induce me. That was huge news to me since I was only 36 weeks at the time and I've been planning on Logan coming in late February. Today at 37 weeks I found out that I'm dilated 5 cm and I may have only a matter of hours or days before Logan gets here. I'm really excited to finally see and hold my baby, but I'm just hoping he can hold off until tomorrow when my mom comes in town, and also that he'll be okay coming a few weeks early. The doctor seems pretty confident so I'll try as well.
With my time before Logan's birth suddenly shortened, it's had me a racing around to make sure everything is ready for his arrival, including my first ever rag quilt/blanket that I made for him. I'm not sure why, but the fabric for this blanket just makes me ridiculously happy every time I see it. Maybe it's the marine pattern, maybe it's the shade of blue, I don't know, but I hope Logan likes it even half as much as I do.
Another feat Camille and I set out to accomplish before Logan's arrival was taking pictures of my large belly. Someone at work showed Camille's husband Jacob some cool pictures of pregnant ladies with neat paintings on their bellies so Camille decided to turn my belly into a canvas for the pregnant pictures. This past week Camille and I dedicated a day to the task and here are the results of our/her labors (She did most of the work, I pretty much just sat there while she curled my hair and painted my stomach). :)
If/when I ever decide to do this again, I think the next design might be a ticking time bomb or something like that. The soccer ball was a lot of fun though and quite a surprise for Eric when he got home from work.

Another big January event for us was Nathan's birthday on the 23rd. We actually celebrated it two days later on Sunday because we're a bunch of schmucks (not including Nathan), but it was nice because we got to involve the family in Mexico as well via webcam. We made him a german chocolate cake and tried to recreate a shrimp and vegetable dish he invented a little while back, but I don't think we got it quite right. I thought it tasted pretty good, which is saying a lot coming from me because I'm not a big seafood fan, but those who tried the original recipe said it was lacking something in comparison. Oh well, overall I thought it was a pretty good birthday celebration. :)

Finally an update...

So things have been great but busy for the past couple of months and consequently I've been terrible about updating our blog. We'll see if I ever get the hang of updating it regularly. Anyway, here's a brief synopsis of the past few months for us:

November:
Eric was busy with never ending school and I mainly with work. I continued to grow larger and this month I reached the milestone of buying my fourth bottle of Tums since I've been pregnant. Oh how I loathe heartburn. We drove to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with my family there, and miraculously the roads were wonderful the whole way, even through the Blue Mountains. We had a great holiday with my parents, brothers, and extended family, and with the long car drive we had lots of time to reflect on our many blessings and all the numerous things we have to be thankful for.

December:
This was a ridiculously busy month but amazingly relatively snow-free. No snow actually fell and stuck to the ground until the second week of the month, which has been unheard of as long as I've ever lived in Utah. Here's a picture from our front entry of our first real snow of the winter.
Eric stayed strong through finals and I worked hard to get my projects completed out at work before I left so hopefully the person to take my place wouldn't be completely confused by my mid-project organized chaos. I worked through mid-December and in the end it was pretty hard to say goodbye to all the awesome people I'd come to know out there. Two days after my last day of work, Eric and I said a temporary farewell to our first home together and we headed to Meridian, Idaho where we'll be living for the next semester. It took a good two weeks of nothing but packing and cleaning in our free time to get ready to leave on schedule, plus numerous trips to DI, but in the end it paid off and we actually got to leave a day early. We made it to our new home December 18th and spent a few days helping prepare everything for the arrival of family for the holidays. Things flowed pretty smoothly and we had a wonderful time talking, relaxing and playing games with family. They helped me celebrate my golden birthday on the 22nd and decorated a beautiful cake for me.
I think my favorite touch is the finger marks going up one side of the cake. Apparently Jack was real excited about the cake and when no one was looking, he climbed up on the counter and started to dig in. I think Camille and Mom (who had just finished the decorating) felt kind of bad, but I'll admit, I mainly just thought it was really funny. It still tasted great so, eh? :)

So one of my biggest Christmas surprises came in the form of a phone call from my brother Jacob who's currently serving a mission in Mesa, Arizona. I got to talk to him last year at Christmas because we were with my family in Washington, but I assumed I'd miss that chance this year and the next time I'd hear from him would be October when he gets home. Much to my surprise Eric walked up to me Christmas afternoon with the cell phone and Jacob was on the line. His mission president gave the missionaries permission to make 3 calls to family that day and lucky for me, I was one of the three. It was wonderful to hear how much he's grown and all the work he's accomplished thus far, especially since he's terrible about writing more than a sentence or two home each week so we generally have no clue what he's been up to. Along with the surprise of his phone call came his announcement that he'd sewn me a baby blanket. This blew me out of water since I'm pretty sure the only time Jacob has ever sewn anything before this was in Home Ec in middle school. Apparently he saw a sewing machine at a members house and asked if they would be willing to help him sew a baby blanket for us. They agreed to help him and he sewed two cute blankets using some deer and elk patterned fabric in remembrance of a hideous deer blanket we used to love and fight over when we were kids.
He's so amazing. :)

A couple of days after Christmas we decided to take advantage of all the snow and play a little snow football. We met up with Ben and Heather Jeppsen and a bunch of Adam's friends at a local elementary school to play and had a great time. I was pretty bummed to have to sit out the actual game this year, but Heather and I had a good time documenting the whole experience and trying not to freeze.
Christmas and New Year's with the Channers was great and it was hard to say goodbye, especially not knowing how long it'll be before we see them again.

January:
We spent the first week in Washington with my family relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Unfortunately we were only able to spend less than a week with them because we had to be back in time for Eric to start his internship with KPMG. Eric's now been working for KPMG for a little over 2 weeks and he's liked it thus far. He's done a lot of intern trainings, including a week long national intern training in San Fransisco, but now he's actually getting to start helping audit and I think he's pretty excited about that.
Things are going pretty well here at home. I'm now 36 weeks pregnant, on my 5th bottle of Tums, getting larger every day and anxious to see our baby boy. Camille, my sister-in-law, has been taking good care of me, helping me realize things like the fact I was experiencing Braxton-Hicks contractions and I had no clue. It's also been really nice to have her and little Jack as company at home to keep me from missing Eric while he's at work. Sometimes Eric and I find ourselves missing our old home, but it's nice to know we left it in the hands of good friends and we'll eventually be moving back in. Till then we're just living it up here in Idaho in Eric's parent's beautiful home, enjoying the time we get to spend with family and the break away from school.

Here are some random pictures of the amazing sugar cookies Camille made for us the other night while we were playing games.
Jack couldn't sleep so Jacob brought him down and we gave him a sugar cookie which he truly enjoyed. We thought he looked like a mix between Ronald McDonald and the Joker off of Dark Knight. Kind of creepy, but cute.
Here are the few cookies that I actually decorated. I love decorating cakes and cookies, but it takes me way too long to think up designs and I end up going all perfectionist so it takes me that much longer. It was fun though, especially with the vibrant colored frosting that Camille made.

Halloween

So, this is my (Eric) first ever blog entry. Normally I let NaTasha do it, but she is making sugar cookies for us right now and I decided that I could muster up enough courage to write in the blog. We don't take a lot of pictures, but these past couple of weeks we have taken a few that you all might enjoy. First of all, both NaTasha and I decided that it was time for us to go to the dentist and get a check-up. Well, it turned out that both of us had cavities. I'm embarrassed to say that I had six, and she only had one. It worked out that we both got them filled on the same day, around the same time. So when we came home we were numb and we just laughed at each other, which was funny because neither of us could smile quite right, which made us laugh even harder. Here are some pictures. As a disclaimer, I had a hard time getting NaTasha to let me put this picture of her on the blog (she had a lot of Novocain :)

I'm also embarrassed to say that last year I kind of was a stick in the mud when it came to taking time to do fun things around the holidays. We didn't dye eggs for Easter, carve pumpkins for Halloween, or go and see the Christmas lights at Temple Square. For those of you who know me very well, you'll know that that is just not like me. But, in my defense, it was during a VERY intense part of my schooling. So, this year I decided that I would do a better job. Scott Miller told me that he was in the same boat, so we got together the weekend before Halloween to be festive and carve pumpkins, make caramel apples, cook pumpkin seeds, and watch Hocus Pocus (NaTasha's favorite Halloween movie). While carving the pumpkins my knife broke right in half! But, I managed to still carve a pretty decent pumkin, which NaTasha designed.


On Halloween our ward had a party, and we volunteered to bring chili. However, I wasn't planning on dressing up for this party. NaTasha, on the other hand, wanted us to dress up. She wanted to be a soccer player, because she really enjoys wearing her soccer stuff that we bought her when she had a soccer class. By the way, she is pretty good little player for having never played as a little girl. I just decided to use the stuff I had purchased for the two past Halloweens (I'm cheap, I know). I threw on an old leather jacket, spiked my hair, and spray painted my hair black. As a finishing touch, NaTasha wanted to paint my eyebrows black too, which I reluctantly let her do. When she was done I looked VERY different, and the black eyebrows looked really weird, so I wore sun glasses the whole night. In the end, I actually kind of liked it. At the ward party nobody even knew who I was, it took them all at least 30 minutes to find out who I was (partly because we teach in primary and don't get to know people very well:) By the end of the night I didn't want to wash my hair, I thought it was pretty cool. But all good things must come to an end. Overall, it was a pretty fun Halloween.


Finally, due to popular demand, here are some pictures of NaTasha about 25 weeks along. Isn't she adorable?