It's Christmas In July

I woke up this morning so incredibly excited that I could not go back to sleep. I knew some sound of Levi's had woken me up, but he didn't make any more noises.

I started analyzing my feelings, and the only one I could come up with was that it felt like Christmas. Seriously. Christmas still has that delicious anticipatory feeling about it for me, even though I don't care as much about the gifts.

And why, do you ask, does it feel like Christmas this muggy July morning?

Let me show you:

I SEE MY FAMILY TODAY!!!!!!

Ok, so I won't see all of them today, but today is the beginning of it all. And the anticipation is killing me!


Also, I'm inordinately pleased with myself for being able to fit all of Levi's and my things for a week in these two bags:

What? Don't look at me like that! Clothes are squishier than you think ;)

A Love Story

I didn't want to fall in love with my husband.

Oh, no. I sure didn't! There were so many things working against him: I met him on my mission, he lived far away, he was younger than me (still is, surprise!!!), and had a lot of schooling left to do.

But I couldn't help myself. He was irresistible to me [still is :)].

I met him while we were both missionaries in Las Vegas. He was witty, cute, and my district leader. He was nerdy. He wasn't cocky. He was kind. After a few weeks, I had hope that if someone existed like this that there might be another one of them out there--somewhere--in the world, and there was hope that I'd get married. Because, of course, Austin (or shall I say Elder Whipple? Meow.*) was out of the question.

Even though he was completely out of the question, I resolved to write him when I returned home from the mission. Oh, the irony.

I waited a WHOLE WEEK after I got home to write him. You know, so he wouldn't get creeped out by me writing him the moment I got home. I was quite delighted when I got a reply from him--he had written me right away! We exchanged six** letters--three letters each--before he came home. The only encouragement that he gave me was the promptness of his replies. I tried to keep my letters very friendly but not flirty in the least so he wouldn't get trunky. Those letters were not "juicy" at all, but they were so funny!

I started dating someone in the single's branch that I was attending, so the last letter I wrote had a postscript informing Austin that I had just started dating someone (let's call him Steve). I wrote this as soon as I started dating the guy; I believe in being open and honest. In the postscript, I also asked if Austin and I could still be friends.
A week passed, and things weren't going super great with Steve. I wasn't even sure that he liked me! (why did he want to date me? I don't know.) I tried to break up with him, but he talked me out of it. Another week went by. At the end of that week, Steve and I had planned a date: We were going to have dinner (prepared by yours truly!) then go to an a capella concert performed by the talented men of Voice Male. Dinner was ready a little early, so I got on Facebook while I waited for Steve. I saw a notification indicating that I had a friend request. As I moved my mouse to click on the notification, I wondered who would send me a friend request. I had already linked to my new friends in the branch and friends from the mission, so I had no idea who it could be.

It was Austin Whipple! I of course accepted the friend request and looked at his page. As I looked, I had many fond memories of good times back on the mission. This was in spite of a profile picture from when he was in high school and one that I thought was very unflattering. Since then, Austin's removed the picture, so you won't find it. Anyway, even with that picture that didn't look much like my friend (Austin), the memories came flooding back to me.

At this moment, I heard a knock at the door. I jumped up from the computer, excited to spend a fun evening with Steve. When I opened the door, I had a happy expression on my face. I saw Steve (who I was expecting), and felt my expression change. I knew that he had seen the disappointment that I felt before I could cover it up. Understandably, he was confused.

"Are you okay?" he asked. "Yes," I replied, and invited him in. My mind was racing. I was disappointed to see Steve, my boyfriend, but incredibly happy at the thought of renewing a friendship with a friend from the mission. Something was wrong here. What was I to do?

I didn't say anything during the meal, but decided that a breakup was in order. Not having a large repertoire of breakup experience to call upon but knowing that they were painful, I wanted to do it nicely. Long story short, at the end of the date we broke up, and it turns out that Steve was ready for a breakup too.

I didn't think that things were going anywhere with Austin, but we continued sending messages and e-mails back and forth to continue our correspondence. Austin was real smooth here and asked if I wanted to keep writing letters. Of course I said yes and gave a hint that he should call me. Disappointingly, he didn't ask for my number, so I kept hinting, getting more and more obvious until I finally gave him my number. Without him asking for it. Seriously--I told you he's irresistible to me!

From there it escalated. We talked on the phone several times a week and sent frequent e-mails and Facebook messages. Becky, my roommate at the time, called our phone conversations "phone dates," but I was in denial (how?) and insisted that nothing was going to come of it; we were just friends. I also didn't want a long distance relationship, because I thought they were silly. I had seen enough of my friends in long distance relationships that were disintegrating, and I wanted none of that!

I told Austin that when he started school at BYU, he should go on lots of dates. I didn't want him to feel obligated to continue our friendship or to feel that because we spent so much time together that he shouldn't date other girls. He said he would, but when he got to BYU, he didn't go on any dates. And he didn't for a couple weeks. Finally, Austin told me that while he was looking, he couldn't find anyone that he wanted to date; none of them could hold a candle to me. How romantic!

After two and a half months of denial, I was finally able to admit to myself that I really liked this guy and that things might work out. We decided to become "official" and I knew I had met Mr. Right before a month was up. I didn't tell him, of course, but he came to the same conclusion about me, and we were engaged a little over a week after he arrived in South Carolina to "woo" me, as he says.

Now, four years after we met (has it really been that long?? we've only been married for a little over 1.5 years), we are so in love. Austin is my best friend, and I am his. We love each other.


A little timeline:
August 2008: We meet
August 2009: I start writing Austin
November 2009: We start talking on the phone
January 2010: We become "official"
May 2010: We become engaged
December 2010: We're married!!!
November 2011: Levi is born
July 2012: Now


*Meow is an expression that I picked up from one of my companions (she's from Hong Kong). It is used whenever something is awkward.
**I think. I wrote the first and the last letters, though, so I don't really know how it could be an even number! Maybe there were 7 letters. I'm pretty sure I have 3 from him, so that would make sense.

I dreamed a dream...

Last night I had a very strange dream. This is what I dreamed:

-Levi could climb up and down the stairs easily. In the dream, I dreamed it was something that he must've been doing already and I just happened to notice when I was dreaming. I am SO GLAD that it was only a dream! I would hate to have to worry about him falling down the stairs!

-My sister Rachel found a mansion floating on a lake, and commandeered it for my family's use--meaning my dad and his wife, my siblings and I. I don't remember Levi or Austin being there; I guess I was just visiting. We had to anchor it, and then went inside to explore. That was a really fun and interesting part of the dream!

-Then I went shopping. That was weirder to me than finding a mansion on a lake. I've dreamed about exploring mansions before, but I've never dreamed about shopping until this very morning. While I was shopping:

-I dreamed that my cousin Alyssa was the most popular model at the store I was shopping at. Alyssa is very pretty, but to the best of my knowledge, she has zero interest in being a model. If I remember correctly, that was part of her appeal as a model. (What the random?!?!) 

-I dreamed that I tried on some dresses, and that I'd decided to buy them because they were really cute. It was at this point that I woke up, and when I woke up, I was incredibly disappointed! I was so sad that I didn't have the dresses that I'd decided to buy. That part of the dream experience was also very foreign to me. I don't expect to be disappointed that I don't have extra clothes. Oh, well! Maybe being a mom is feminizing me :)

Dreams are fun, and I don't usually remember mine, so now you get a peek into my nighttime ideas!

A Baby's Hidden Needs

I was leaving a large event, and the crowd was thick. Everyone was trying to get to their cars before everyone else in order to beat the traffic. It was not as easy as usual to stay with my group because we all had to weave in and out between people, signs, and other obstacles in our way.

Then I saw a terrible thing happen: a mother holding her son by the hand so he wouldn't get lost in the crowd walked next to a sign, and her son walked into the sign at full speed. The boy immediately started crying, and the mother immediately stopped to comfort him. She was obviously horrified by her oversight and that she had caused harm to her child. I made a mental note to do what I could to avoid a similar incident for me and my child[ren, in the future].


I feel that as a new mother, a big part of my new responsibility is making sure that my child's needs are not forgotten when other people are around. Many people assume that unless a baby is screaming his or her head off, the baby's fine. This is not the case, however! 

When Austin, Levi and I go out to do something and we're in a large group of people, Levi is pretty quiet about his needs. He usually doesn't cry or even whimper if there's a lot going on around him and if he's being held*. I can tell when he's sad even if he doesn't cry, but other people can't. They say, "What a good baby!" and think that he doesn't have any needs.

I guess my point is that as a mother, I need to be aware of and ready to respond to my child even when it may not appear to others that he needs my attention, or greater consideration.



*Levi is not so obliging when we're at home, especially if we aren't holding him or walking around with him. He's quite vocal then about what he wants!

Know the Child

The kids in my family loved going to the library, and we would go often. I tried to keep track of my books, but every now and then, they would be returned a little bit late, and I'd have a fine to pay. When I returned books late, I'd bring some money to pay my fine. Otherwise, I never really thought to bring money with me to the library, because I usually had turned in all my books in on time. Any time that I had a fine that I didn't know about, however, I'd ask my parents to help me pay the fine. Usually they would. Sometimes they would make sure that I paid them back (it really did foster good habits, even though I'm sure it was a hassle for my parents to keep track of all the kids that owed them spare change).

One time we went to the library, and I didn't find out until I was checking out my books at the counter that I had a fine. My mom had already gone out to the car, so I told the librarian I'd be right back. I ran outside and asked Mom if she would give me the money for the fine (it was $1.50 or less). She said no. I was heartbroken! I was really excited about the books I had picked out to read, and now I couldn't read them. I was so disappointed that I started to cry.

"You're just trying to get me to pay the fine."

 

"What?" I thought. Then I said, "No, I'm not," through my tears. And I really wasn't. I was crying just because I was that disappointed. I even tried not to cry, because it was embarrassing.

Mom ended up giving me the money because she realized that I was sincere and she felt sorry for me (looking back I wonder if it was more the time spent at the library and not the money that was the issue--maybe she had somewhere else to go.).

The point I want to make with this story is that it's important to know people as individuals, even if they're children. If a child never manipulates and then an isolated incident occurs where that child seems to be manipulating to get what he or she wants, then that child is probably not trying to manipulate you. I know that when I was little, I wasn't devious enough to manipulate to get what I wanted (besides, it probably wouldn't have worked). 

There are many more characteristics that a child may have or not have that should affect how you interact with him or her. Be sure to get to know children before you make a hasty judgement.

Kid discovers freckles for the first time...on my arm!

As many of you know, I have freckles, and I have a lot of them. They are most prominent on my arms, especially in the summertime. Recently I was asked by a little girl (about 5 years old, I think) what they were. The exchange went kind of like this:

Little Girl (L.G.) [looking at my arm]: You have spots!

Me: I sure do! They're called freckles.

L.G.: What are they?

Me: I told you, they're freckles [short pause while L.G. looks like she still wants to know what they are]. Um, basically they are places where my skin tans a lot. The rest of my skin isn't very good at getting a tan.

L.G.: Oh. Like a tiger???

Me [laughing inside]: Well, yeah, kind of like a tiger!

L.G.: COOL!


I've never experienced a kid finding out what freckles were for the first time, so this was fun!

A Moral Rant

I just finished reading Mockingjay, the last book in the Hunger Games series. I think the series is interesting on several different levels. I'm not sure yet if I would read it again. It also made me stop and ask myself about right and wrong.

To give a little background, the series follows the life of a teenage girl through her life under an oppressive government, through an uprising, and finally through the success of the rebellion against that government. In the course of the series, there is a lot of violence. There is a lot of death. There is a lot of moral deviance, mostly on the part of the "bad guys," but also on the part of some of the "good guys".

For example, the protagonist (Katniss) is extremely devoted to her family and would do anything to protect her younger sister, or keep her alive. In one of the books, Katniss describes a situation where some of the girls in her village would become prostitutes in order to obtain the food they needed to survive. Others lie. Katniss herself breaks the law to provide food for her family. Many incorrect behaviors are justified because without them, loved ones would suffer. The book made a convincing case for the actions of the characters.

I took away the message that certain behaviors are ok if the situation calls for them, but the situation must be changed as soon as possible.

It made me sick.

I think it was supposed to, and I think that the author hoped her books would do just that. I thought to myself, "If I were in that situation, what would I do?"

I realized that I would do those things that I believed were morally correct, even if it meant that innocent people would suffer. I thought of how Alma and Amulek were forced to watch innocent women and children dying by fire because of the wickedness of the people of Ammonihah. Amulek asks Alma to do something about it, but Alma refuses because "the Spirit constraineth [him] that [he] must not stretch forth [his] hand" (Alma 14:8-11).


For those of you not familiar with that part of the Book of Mormon, Alma does go into more detail in response to Amulek's question. You can read more at the link I posted above.


Anyway, I know that not everyone in the world agrees with me on this issue. However, in the words of my last stake president, "wrong is wrong, and right is right." Truth is always truth, whether it's convenient or not.

Hey, Baby!

Hey, baby!

I hear it every time I go to the grocery store. I hear it at the library. I hear it even when I'm taking a walk with Austin!

Yes, Levi is a celebrity.

I mean, who would miss a chance to talk to this little guy and try to get a smile out of him??? I know I wouldn't!

Yesterday when I was at the grocery store, at least five people came up to talk to Levi. This happens every single time, sometimes with more people saying hi to him. Since Indianapolis has less babies per capita than Provo, more people come up to us. People love babies. It's fun having the person behind me in the checkout line talk to Levi, especially if we have a long wait.

I enjoy it when people tell me how cute Levi is, or that he's cuter than other babies (yes, they tell me that! and it does make my head a little big about him. The other day I was told he should be on a commercial.), but sometimes, it gets to be a little much. For some reason, people think that just because he's a baby, it's ok to stare. Let me tell you, that makes the person carrying the baby feel really strange! I never realized how uncomfortable I was with people staring at me until Levi came along.

And some days, I'm just not in the mood to be social, but I try to be polite anyway.

On the up side, Levi's great for breaking the ice. If I'm bored at the laundromat, it's easy to start a conversation with someone nearby who thinks Levi is cute, and the time passes more quickly. It's especially easy if that person also has a baby. Levi has also made it easier to get to know our neighbors, who always ask, "How's the baby?" after they ask how I'm doing. They watch out for us, and I think it's partially because Levi is so cute (I also think us being friendly has something to do with it, too).

Well, he's a cutie! It's fun having a baby that everyone admires, even if sometimes it gets a little old :)