Friday, May 12, 2017

We journeyed from Homer to Valdez in our neighbor’s Cessna 172. Apollo was a champ and the flight was stunning. 

We put him in his car seat and buckled him in the airplane. We strapped on his ear protection and he fortunately didn’t mind at all! This kid is so mellow and sweet. 

Once we were safely in the air I took him out and had him look around. He was content as could be and when I put him back in his seat, he took a good nap.  

We all enjoyed a meal in the air. Apollo had the usual breastmilk and Chris and I ate delicious bagels from the bagel shop. Seeing this picture makes me want one right now.

The flight was amazing. It was so beautiful. Apollo required some good attention for a while, but once he was asleep I couldn’t help but stare out the windows at our beautiful Alaska. So grateful to live here and to be an Alaskan and to have the opportunity to fly around with my family. 

Apollo woke up crying on descent, so I leaned over his car seat and fed him. Breastfeeding is like the magic cure-all and so far it works for any physical or emotional problem that Apollo may have. 

This kid is the best. Chris and I love him so much and we’re so happy to share our lives and world with him. 

Apollo’s first flight in a little airplane was a great success!

I’m grateful Chris will be home in a number of hours! I’m grateful for all of Apollo’s adorable clothes and for our washer and dryer and dresser to help with those clothes. Dressers are kind of hard to come by and my mom hooked us up with a perfect one. I’m also grateful for our bed and bedding and bedroom and closet and bathroom. I’m so grateful for our walkie or two everyday. It’s really really nice. It takes me some effort to get ready for the walks sometimes, but they’re delightful. And I do often do instagram stories while I’m out, but try not to get too distracted. I love when the cats walk with us because it is so funny! Always cracks me up. I’m also grateful that it’s not too muddy because edelweiss hasn’t been getting very dirty. 

I’m grateful for an app called POST! It’s made by social print studio who has some great photo products and even better customer emails. And with the code BOOYAH, each postcard is only $1. I’ve been sending quite a few lately and I’m grateful for that. 

I’m really grateful that our friend lent us this jumperoo for Apollo. How kind and perfect. This was his first time outside in it, because of the glorious sunshine today, but he enjoys it and I like dancing around to its music. And, grateful for Apollo’s sunglasses, because they’re adorable. Look. He’s so cute. 

I don’t normally wear my boy like this, but we tested it out for a bit. But I’m grateful for his wraps and carriers and car seat and especially for my arms! All these tools help to tote my boy around. Grateful for the time we’ve had together with Chris gone this past month and that I’ve even made food while he’s been gone. And that I rediscovered banana cookies. And that I’m breastfeeding so I didn’t have too much pressure to do a juice fast. And I’m grateful for breastfeeding in general because I really really love it.

I’m grateful for my recent Book of Mormon reading, for the young women presidency, for our car, vacuum, sunny weather, fridge, the russian guy at safeway, my midwife, my instax camera, our keyboard piano, our tall ceilings, hot water, ripe avocados, my phone camera, the notes app, instagram, Simba, planet earth, emojis, amazon.com, and portugues! Grateful my family will be complete in 5-6 hours when husband is home! AND! I’m grateful for my body. I’m appreciating it more and more and am so glad it’s works so wonderfully and looks and feels nice too.

Guess who became a certified flight instructor today!! Duh! My Chris boy!

I’m so glad and proud of him and us. It’s taken a lot of hard work, dedication, and sacrifice, but it’s the path for Chris and it’ll be worth it. I’m really proud of him and so glad I could support him in these worthy endeavors. This is going to bless him and others and our family, and it’s his passion. Wonderful. 

Three thousand million cheers for Chris the aviator at Angle of Attack! He’s done swell.

Nowwww he can officially teach me to land an airplane. Just so I know in case anything were to ever happen when we’re out in the air, galavanting around.

At mutual tonight we made summer bucket lists. It was awesome and I loved it. But I added “learn to land and airplane” to my list, along with find a four leaf clover! I never have. AND the most seemingly daunting item is to read the Book of Mormon this summer. Haven’t done much of that since the mission days! But I read three chapters tonight and gots to keep going.

Thankfully I have a good support team to help me accomplish my goals and bucket list items. Here’s the list I made. It’s open to change, as we should all be. 

I’ve been trying to make a blog post for our second trip to California, and a couple times I’ve selected a load of photos to upload, and it hasn’t worked. Guess I need to upload less photos. :) Buuut the last time I tried, this one photo uploaded hahaha. Thanks to the funny Snapchat filters. 

Chris and I talked on the phone on my walk in the morning. I miss him. But we’re both doing well enough and doing good things in a good way. I asked him what I should do with my day and he told me to read an article that I sent him and then I’d know what to do.

That blog is appropriately titled “the Unexpected Journey into Grief.” It’s written by an Alaskan woman who lost her husband and two of four children in a plane crash in December in Lake Clark. So heartbreaking. She writes beautifully and depicts her feelings so well, that you can’t help but feel with her as you read.

I held sleeping Apollo in my arms, and didn’t want to stop reading her posts. The news articles are also linked so you can find out a little bit more information. Her faith and trust in God is very apparent and refreshing. Her love for her husband and children is great and sweet. I can’t even imagine what she’s going through.

Reading her words reminded me of my uncle and cousins, who lost their Pam 10 years ago. I have no idea what that heartache would feel like, and I don’t want to know, but you never know what happens in life. I’ve had a couple aunts and one uncle pass away, and I feel for my cousins. What sorrow it must be.

Grief and anguish like that seem to stick around for a long long while, and reappear unexpectedly. Time seems to be the only thing which lessens the pain and I suppose the sorrow becomes slightly more manageable as the days go by, but I don’t really know for myself.

Either way, my thoughts and prayers go out to that faithful woman and her family, and always to my uncle and aunts and cousins.

If you feel like you could use more sympathy and compassion, go to beautifullyhard.com and mourn with those that mourn. 

Pretty good. Chris was gone for a long time, but we’ve survived. Apollo and I are a good team, but life is better with husband around.

I’ve done some good creating while he’s been gone and have done a bit of yoga, though I’d really like to do more. It calls me and I hear it but don’t listen usually. Oops.

Apollo has grown so much this past month and my baby boy is on hi way to six months old, which is basically a year, which is basically college/mission. :( Stay little, my boy!

I really am enjoying all the growth and stages and adorableness and cuddles and so much goodness. I love that he’s mine and that he’s so perfect.

My sister and a friend are starting a juice fast today for five days. Whoa. I like food, so it’d be hard. Most people like food. Anyway, it’s motivating me to eat cleaner and healthier. Health is muito importante.

I just am sharing so random thoughts because I want to blog but am not taking the effort to organize my thoughts and photos. I need to do Apollo’s birth story! And I need to sort out our birth bills! It’s stressful to me. Just gotta do it. 

Husband has been gone the past two days. We’ve survived! I much prefer having him around because Apollo and I love him so much, but some time apart is okay too sometimes. I’ve even done yoga the past two days!

I really enjoy doing yoga and think about it everyday but definitely don’t do it everyday. Anyway, life is a process and from small and simple things shall great things come to pass. 

I’ll show you (Alyssa) some pictures from our day today and talk about some things without pictures. 

Not pictured is me being frustrated with dog hair and cat hair and dog dirt and cat dirt – it’s never ending! Sometimes I deal with it better than today.  Not pictured is my toe being run over with the door, my water bottle spilling on the kitchen floor, and getting spit up in my hair. Not pictured is me waking up with Apollo every 1-2 hours last night. Not pictured is Edel’s dingleberry because she keeps eating nursing pads and sometimes diapers out of the garbage when we leave the house… that stuff is not digestible, people. 

Also not pictured is my mom and sister, who live here and make my life much richer. Not pictured is Edel jumping on the bed to cuddle with us. Not pictured is the toilet paper I bought today. Hallelujah for toilet paper. Not pictured is Apollo and me playing el piano. Not pictured are the nice store clerks at saveumore. 

Plenty of other great and less great moments and things from the day are not pictured. Buuuuut here’s some loveliness that I did capture pictures of 

Here’s Apollo in bed last night. He’s so nice to cuddle with. And I love the jam jams from Annette. 

Apollo took an earlier nap this morning because he woke up with less sleep than usual. Here he is happy and fed after his nappy! He’s such an adorable bebe boy.

Then we finally made it on our walkie. I was kind of annoyed on our walk because I’m kind of annoyed with Edel right now, I think because she’s shedding so much. And because she barks annoyingly sometimes. And because I need an attitude adjustment. She’s a good pup. But I tell her she only needs to bark if she’s part of a barking chain to save 99 Dalmatian puppies. 

After our walkie we switched snow suits and sat outside for a bit. It was nice to sit out there and watch my boy looking around.

Then we went and visited auntie Holly at her salon, which is also at our friend Peter’s tattoo shop. It was great talking with them both and I had Holly take a picture of me and the babe. We were matching (on purpose) and I wanted to document it!

Apollo got his car seat buddy toy in his mouth today! He was chowing down on it. He’s so adorable!

And facetiming with Chris. Chris is gone for a month and we do text lots throughout the day, but we’re making sure to FaceTime daily too. Praise the lord for FaceTime. It makes this time apart doable!

My baby boy is over four months old. My heart is overflowing with love for little Apollo. Chris and I are so grateful he’s ours and for the joy and love he shares with everyone. And he’s so adorable. I can’t get enough of him. Here’s some recent pictures in case you haven’t seen the 5 million I’ve posted to instagram and facebooks. 

While Chris is busy working, Apollo and I have lots of great times together. He likes baths and vacuuming and going on walks and being gently dropped on the couch or bed and watching me make food and cuddling lately and reading books and playing the piano and getting the blanket tickled over his face and giraffes and run on sentences. I adore this perfect boy. 

Mr. Apollo had a pretty substantial blow out at 6 am, so naturally I had to put him in his Storm Pooper shirt. Isn’t he the cutest? I can’t get over how precious he is. 

Also, he doesn’t have a blow out at night very often, but he’s usually wearing some of my favorite onesies or pajamas when he does. Darling boy. 

It’s Friday night and I’ve been hanging out with my best little Apollo boy. Okay, I seriously can’t get over how cute and adorable and perfect he is. Like, every picture that I look at I’m just in love with him. He’s so precious to me. I think everyone must have a pretty soft spot for those kiddos that they love. But for real, Apollo is just so so cute to me. I sometimes don’t want to put him down, unless I want to eat or shower or go to the bathroom, then I’m glad to put him down haha. 

My nieces came over this afternoon and hung out a bit, which was great, because Apollo and I have been home all day. I sometimes wonder if he gets bored hanging out with only me. But we usually do see other people at some point during the day. :)

Christopher husband got me this flower arrangement from Alaska Flower Mill and that’s cool beans! They smell lovely and fresh and are so beautiful to look at. And the cats have only knocked it over once! :)

Chris is in Anchorage tonight preparing for a pilot y exam tomorrow. So me and boy and the animals are home without him. I’ve been making lasagna and muffins and doing laundry and listening to the Lumineers and cuddling Apollo and watching the Great British Baking Show. It’s the best show ever. I love it. Britian really knows how to make some good tv. 

Okie dokie, just wanted to do a little update and now I shall slumber! Boa noite gente!

We woke up to a load of snow! And that is always exciting. The snow was very delicious this morning but I didn’t eat enough of it, but fortunately I at least went out to wander in jt. 

Yesterday was snowy too, and look at these beautiful pictures. 

On Valentine’s Day we went on our first annual valentines family beach walk. It was very very excellent.  

And Sunday…. look at my adorable boy! HE IS THE BEST AND THE CUTEST AND I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM. my heart is so full. This little boy of mine fills me with joy. I just love being his mama. I love it. 

PS I’m in bed with Apollo now and Chris is studying for more pilot stuff. I haven’t brushed my teeth and I need to but I don’t want to stop cuddling with Apollo. I’m getting my second ever cold. I’m thirsty. I miss Hawaii. I love our home. I want to update my blog more. And I want to love and serve people more. And drink more water and do yoga yo. Kthanksbye. 

We flew to Vegas and Apollo was a champ on the airplane! No issues at all. I love my boys. 

My goals and thoughts for 2017… I still need to ponder on them more… but as always, I want to do more yoga. And I want to be a really good neighbor! We don’t even know a couple of our neighbors. And I plan on drinking lots and lots of água!

I am so thankful for little Apollo, in case you didn’t know. He’s the best and these past weeks with him have been the best. 

We’re getting ready to leave home for January, and here’s some photos from the last day. 

I totally play dress up with him sometimes. How could you not? These overalls don’t fit him yet, but so cute! I love how he’s looking up at me in the picture. 

We went out on the town, aka we left the house, and visited my Mom at work and went to my sister’s house. 

Apollo was so cute and smiley while visiting grammy!

And at my sister’s house, we had a great time hanging out with everyone and playing with the girls. 

Natalie and Katy sure love their baby nephew. We played uno attack and Katy pretty much held sleepy Apollo the whole time. 

Going on a trip means we have to leave the animals, which is sad. :( Chris and Apollo and I want to do lots of wanderings, but it’s always sad to leave home and the animals. Fortunately we have a good friend staying at our house for us and we are so grateful for that!!!

And a little extra something to brighten your day… haha Apollo is so precious. And this picture of him sort of reminded my mom and I of this princess bride (and clueless) movie star. Funny.