More CO

Back from Colorado

We had a great trip to Colorado. We saw, we visited, we ate, we played, we attended, we enjoyed, we drove, we caught up, and we ate some more. Here are a few highlights (unfortunately not all of the highlights were captured by photo. I often forgot to pull the camera out...):

We visited where Aaron and I got married 11 years ago!
So fun to revisit our wedding day. And while we were there it snowed.
Gotta love Colorado weather!

Our dear friend Gregg was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest and
we got to be there to celebrate with him

Fantastic friends and fantastic food at our good ol' alma mater.

And the cousins! Montana LOVED playing with her cousins.

And these goofy kids belong to one of my bestest friends from college

While in Colorado we got to see my parents, my sister and her little family (including, Mumba, the dog with dementia), my Auntie Jill, my 3 college roommates/friends, Aaron's 2 college roommates (who are both Catholic priests), a handful of people from college and before, my oldest friend from childhood and her 2 sets of twins, more awesome college friends who we ate at ROMA with, my uncle, aunt, and cousins from SD, and of course Aaron's parents and sister and her husband and kiddos. Whew. Trying to make sure I didn't forget anyone. I'm exhausted just thinking about it, but feeling so blessed by such amazing people in our lives. There is never enough time with anyone and I always leave wanting more.

Rollin'

He's done it a couple of random times before, but we never caught it. Tonight, however, he gave us several chances to watch him and he did it about 4 times in a row. I think it's official...he can roll over!!

Tellin' it like it is

Today at the grocery store, Montana informed me that when she gets to be a grown-up, I will be old and she will take care of me. She said that she will put my jammies on, tuck me into bed and read me a Bible story. Later she was recapping this information for Aaron and added, you will eat cheerios and jello. Aaron and I looked at each other and laughed, and said she's probably right!

And now I am blogging about it, so that when I am indeed old and she is indeed a grown-up, there will be proof (if the internet still exists) that it was HER idea to take care of us and change our clothes and feed us jello.

Love these kids

Amos is 4 months! At his appointment this month he weighed in at 13 lbs 4 oz and is 25 inches long.
You know, when Montana was born I remember thinking that I would never feel so much love or experience that moment ever again. But then Amos was born and it was just as special as it was with Montana. I look at both of my kids and have complete love.
And I have to say, there is something about having a boy that is just great. He is so sweet and smiley and he looks at me so adoringly. Before I had Amos my friend jokingly said about her son that no woman could ever love him as much as she does...and now I get it, even though it was a joke!:)

Here's to my four month old...absolute love...





And here's to my daughter. Full of spunk and personality and 3 year old attitude. Love this girl...

Housing

It's a little silly, but I think one of the more difficult decisions that Aaron and I have had to face in our marriage is where to live. Moving across the world or across the country doesn't bother us, but when we are faced with a choice between price, space, community, and the distance to local coffee shops we get stuck.

When we were in graduate school in Canada, we lived in this tiny little suite above someone's garage. We LOVED it and one of our closest friends lived right next door. Then our landlords had to go and sell the place and so we had to move. We were faced with a *horrible* dilemma. Should we move a few houses down to another garage suite that was smaller or should we move 4 miles away to a much bigger basement suite for the same price?? Oh the drama. We were stuck, we couldn't decide. We got hung up on the assets of the neighborhood and community. Our favorite coffee shops were within walking distance, which was very important to us as students and our neighbor was one of our closest friends. We weren't foolish enough to think that we would see just as much of them 4 miles away. But we were thinking of starting a family and having more space was very appealing. Anyway, after one long evening of sitting in our apartment going around and around, we finally decided on the bigger space.

Okay now you have sufficient background on the drama of making a housing decision for Aaron and Kate. We are once again faced with a similar housing dilemma which boils down to a decision between space or community.

We have lived in co-housing for almost 2 years which has been a great experience. Especially after a day like today. It was sunny and almost warm. Neighbors were out on the lawn playing croquet, Montana was running in and out of the house playing with kids. Friday night there was a potluck and game night. I slipped into the other room to nurse Amos and a neighbor came and gave me a foot rub and talked with me as I fed my baby.

BUT...you knew it was coming...I am feeling a little cramped in our space. We don't have a door on our bedroom and we are constantly trying to keep clutter out. Our closets are always disorganized and I am supposed to be getting my mom's old dining room table which may or may not fit. We are making it work with two kids, but I am curious how it will be when Amos starts crawling and the kids start sharing a room. We have to pay for a storage unit because we have zero storage for things like camping gear, Christmas things and baby clothes.

So by July, we need to figure out what we should do. There are currently no bigger units for rent in co-housing. Do we stay and make our small space work? And while I write this, I am keenly aware of people all over the world who live in spaces smaller than 780 sq. feet with more people. I feel guilty thinking about how blessed we are. And I am longing for a dishwasher...is it even okay to think that??

Well this post has taken a different turn than I expected! Maybe my answer lies therein. Stay in co-housing, count my blessings, get over myself and buy a new pair of dish gloves. That wasn't so hard, now was it?

Theology for infants

Just a little light reading with Ashley at the coffee shop...