Christmas and anniversary

When Nate and I got married two days after Christmas two years ago, I was just thinking about whether or not we'd be able to get through a wedding and Christmas in only three days. I didn't really think about the fact that we'd also have to forever celebrate our anniversary just two days after Christmas. Oh well I guess, too late to think about it now. So, our anniversary was low key and I have a feeling they will always be a little low key. We got to go to dinner and see a movie and I honestly can't remember the last time we have done that. Maybe a year ago? So sad, but movies and such have kind of taken a back seat to life. We're happy now just to get in an episode of Parenthood together(my favorite show) or an episode of Seinfeld together( Nate's favorite show.) I guess that's life at the stage of life we're in. So just getting to talk leisurely with Nate at dinner and getting to see a movie without having to pause it for Oscar, was a really nice treat for us. (Thanks to my grandparents for dinner and for babysitting!)

Christmas was wonderful. We got to spend it in flooded and rainy San Diego, with my grandparents and with Sally's family. It was awesome and I can't believe I am family now to the Shields family I've known for 13 years. I will post pictures as soon as I can borrow some from Sally since I didn't take a single picture on my own sucky camera of my child's first Christmas. I did however, have these pictures taken by my sister in law photographer Emilia. So enjoy these for now...



A few things about Oscar... He looks JUST like Nate. I rarely see any of myself in him right now. I see Oscar's face and it makes me think of how adorable Nate must have been as a baby too. People in public love to stop and squeeze his cheeks and he smiles at them like they're the only person in the world to him. He's a charmer already.



This little guy melts our hearts every day. He LOVES to laugh and smile. He's trying to crawl now doing the rocking back and forth thing on all fours. He knows his house and his bedroom and crys when he sees his crib or bedroom cause he knows it means bedtime. It's impossible not to laugh when he crys seeing his crib.

He loves to snort and grab my hair or Nate's chest hair. He has accepted his car seat as part of life now but doesn't like his high chair. He loves ALL food and likes to go #2 in his bouncy chair, I think it's the bouncing that helps.

After about 6 1/2 months of life, Oscar finally sleeps through the night. It was after he started eating baby food that he started sleeping through the night. Our big boy just needed some solids in his belly the whole time.

His bedtime is about 7pm and he hates life his last hour of awakeness, except for his bath. But, he still hasn't put together that he is the one splashing water in his face. He gasps and scrunches his eyes and nose when he gets water in his face. He's close to sitting up on his own but still not there yet.

He loves to growl and do really aggressive energetic/spastic movements that remind me of my brother when he was little. I don't know if this is his personality developing or if they are just baby things, but he definitely is displaying his boyness. We're just loving everything about our boy right now.

Merry Christmas

Nate's brother Eric took some cute family Christmas pictures for us. Hope you all get your Christmas cards from us in time. (Please leave me your address if you haven't already.) Merry Christmas from the Jensens!! We love you!

Oscar doing what he does best

I wanted to post this cause you can see his two front teeth. Plus you see how much he loves food. Please excuse my silly voice. He was so distracted by the camera string, he kept grabbing and pulling it.

do you hear what i hear

This is a little Christmas post I stole from one my favorite blogs/bloggers. I loved it so much I thought I should share it here. If this doesn't make you feel warm and in the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will...

One of my most cherished childhood memories is making plates of holiday treats. Every year my mother would emerge from the pantry, arms overflowing with typical ingredients like flour, sugar, chocolate chips, and other holiday only items like those little gold dragees that we used to top the sugar cookie Christmas trees .

Just as essential as to the baking process were the stack of 33s stored in the credenza next to the nativity set. I loved those Christmas albums. Some we bought but most were handed out in November at the gas station when you got your tank filled. They featured a potluck assortment of singers. I can picture the faces of Mel Torme, Doris Day, Jim Neighbors, and Mahalia Jackson smiling at me from the record cover. My sister and I belted along in Spanish to Jose Feliciano’s “Feliz Navidad” and giggled our way thru John Denver’s “Please Daddy, don’t get drunk this Christmas.”

But the song that always gave me goose bumps as I rolled out sugar cookies was “Do You Hear What I Hear?” It was as if Bing Crosby were asking me personally, “Do you see what I see? Heather, do you see the star?” The song would stay with me as we loaded up the station wagon and delivered plates of cookies to neighbors and friends. On the drive home, I remember laying in the way back of the car (seat belts were optional in the 70s) and staring out the back window at all the stars, and feeling blessed by them. Each one a small echo of the star that shone on the stable, alerted the shepherds, and guided the wise men. “Yes,” my heart said. “I see what you see.”

Fast-forward 15 years to the hills above Bethlehem. A big part of the Jerusalem study abroad is to trace the steps of the Savior. One night we stood huddled in the cold as our professor talked to us about what it must have been like to be a shepherd on that night of nights. He read to us from Luke 2. “Yes,” I thought. “I’ve heard this all before. The taxes, the innkeeper, the swaddling clothes.” But to my surprise, the words from verses13-14 pierced my heart: “And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of Heavenly Host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” I closed my eyes and imagined I could hear the angels sing their message, voices full of joy and praise. On that hill, for just a moment, I heard what the lamb heard, and it warmed my soul.

Now I am the mom, hauling out the flour and dragees (Which are sometimes illegal in California–go figure.) and my ever growing collection of Christmas CDs. As we bake we take turns controlling the iPod. I let them play Glee’s version of “Last Christmas” and then I get to crank Judy Collin’s “The Cherry Tree Carol.” They are learning the lyrics to the carols and last night I heard the 8 year-old serenade her 5 year-old sister on the top bunk with the sweetest version of “Silent Night.” I listened in and wondered, do they know what I know? That though life is tough, there is peace to be found in the Gospel of Christ. Truly, He will bring us Goodness and Light.

motherhood

I saw something today that really affected me. I immediately cried when it happened of course because when I gave birth to Oscar I received these new ULTRA sensitive set of emotions. I don't know what to do with them, sometimes they seem unbearable. I can't watch any story on the news that involves a child being neglected, abused, or about the wrongful death of a child without becoming very upset. It will eat at me until I fall asleep if it allows me to fall asleep. I can't hear about the horrible things being done to children in the world without being consumed by sadness. I'd call it a curse except it's opened my eyes to the need for each of us to do good in the world and to make a difference.
So what I saw today was a mother that had no food to feed her 3 yr old daughter. She was at a government agency trying to deal with someone probably to be able to get food stamps. I have no idea what happened but she slowly starts raising her voice until all of a sudden she's shouting. She starts screaming in defiance saying she will not leave until they rectify the situation they had messed up. She was screaming about how they had messed up and how she had been in there every day for two weeks trying to see someone but that no one would see her. The employees told her to calm down and that's when she really lost it. She screamed "No I will not calm down! I have no food and I have a 3 year old daughter asking me for food! What do you want me to tell my daughter that's hungry! What am I supposed to tell her!?"
The sound of her voice ripped my heart apart. I could hear the desperation, fear, and determination of a mother trying to feed her child. The sound of her voice was something I'll never forget. I thought about what I would do if I didn't have food to feed Oscar, what I would or wouldn't do to take care of his most basic needs. It was overwhelming to even imagine the scenario.
I honestly don't know how these emotions just came as a package deal with the birth of my child. It's truly amazing. I can't think of anything more powerful than the love of a mother. So here's a video that I enjoyed. Here's to you mommas


It's 8 minutes long, just to warn you.

delicioso

Who doesn't love a good bag of nacho cheese Doritos? I guess there are some people that don't but I am not one of them. I like to indulge in Doritos about as often as I indulge in ice cream or frozen yogurt. But, these little fakies right here do the trick. No they're not Doritos, so don't expect a Dorito. Nate tried these and was angry because he expected Doritos. They definitely are the next best thing though, and will for sure satisfy any craving you have for something like nacho cheese Doritos.

The sad thing about these though is that their nutritional info is very similar to the real Doritos. The only thing that's better health wise is the amount of fat. I don't count calories but I was curious to see how many less calories were in these quaker chips, and the calorie intake is almost exactly the same as real nacho cheese Doritos. So I guess I can still have my real Doritos. But, just FYI these quaker things are pretty darn delicious.

the many faces of oscar

I can't ever seem to document this little boy's life enough since he changes daily. Sorry for the picture overload but it needs to be done. These first few pictures are of him in his little walker thing. He of course thinks it is for bouncing. He'll bounce the heck out of it even though it has no springs or any way he can get the jumping satisfaction he gets in his other toys




His shirts are always permanently wet like this from the uncontrollable amount of drool he produces. I used to try to put a bib on him all the time but I got over that quickly. It doesn't usually make him cold cause his body temperature is always sooo warm.






My grandparents came to visit us Thanksgiving weekend. Oscar loved them a lot. He's in my favorite outfit here: his bed time crayon fleece zip-up sleeping sack. It's the coolest thing for babies. It's like a snuggie for babies except there is an enclosed sack type of bottom to make sure their legs and feet stay nice and toasty inside. This crazy guy throws all his blankets off at night so we needed to find something like this. Every time I put it on him we can't stop calling him the little crayon.



We had our first family Thanksgiving at Nate's parents' this year. Everything was so yummy. This is one of our few family shots.


Stole this one from Nate's mom. Brother's and their babies. That's Mabel, Oscar's cousin only 2 months younger than him.



Oscar on Thanksgiving going to town on the sweet potatoes from my plate. He loved them. He wasn't a fan of the mashed potatoes though. He has officially eaten his first Thanksgiving dinner.





Oscar doing what he does best, laughing like crazy. I'm pretty sure he got his giggles from me. He thinks almost anything you do is HILARIOUS. It's pretty great, we love that about him. I was trying to get him laughing hard like this so I could get a picture of his two teeth that came in a few days ago.


Can you see the two bottom teeth right next to each other? That's the best picture I could get. He's been pretty uncomfortable because of them, but they look so cute.


This is his adorable little head of hair. He looks so darling. I thought he was cute when he was bald, and I didn't even really realize how bald he was until he got all this gorgeous hair. We love it. He has a cowlick on the top back of his head just like Nate does. It swirls around right there and makes his hair stand up straight in the back. He really couldn't get any better. Thank you Brenda & David for the high chair he's sitting in! We love it and it's been soooo nice having it since he started eating.