The Picture-less Vacation

Something horrible happened.

We were on vacation in South Carolina and accidentally deleted all our pictures. Has this ever happened to you? It makes me sick to my stomach just thinking about it. And even though I tried to brush it off like no big deal, I almost felt like if we didn't have any pictures, it's as if it never even happened. Which is silly, right?! I think I rely too much on pictures to remember little (and big) moments in our lives. I need to be better at writing them down and keeping the mental images in my head. But pictures are great too when they don't suddenly disappear from your dumb camera and make you want to cry.

So, this may be boring as a blog post (only interesting to me), but I can still see a number of images in my mind and I want to hurry and write them down so that hopefully I will always be able to remember them.

Dear Lauren,

Remember how wonderful it was to stay at the Prieto's in Chapel Hill. Luke totally tackled little Gigi when I tried to take a picture of them together. Gigi's wispy black curls were adorable and Metta and Marcos were, as usual, the perfect hosts. Listening to Ace of Base in the background while they "threw together" the most incredible breakfast I've ever had. They even sent us away with a mix cd to listen to on our way to Myrtle Beach. Everyone should be friends with the Prieto's and the world would be a much better place.

Remember the pictures you took of gorgeous UNC and Duke!? I was expecting some good things from Duke but I had no idea that UNC was one of the most idyllic campuses I've ever visited. I wanted to hop out of the car and walk to class with the rest of the students. Gorgeous buildings and an outdoor theater that is unreal. Why don't they build college campuses like these anymore!

Remember Myrtle Beach and visiting the State Park. Luke ran through the forest like a wild man and threw sticks in the streams. You could hardly keep up with him and most of your pictures were of him running away down the tree-lined trail. But he cried when you took him to the beach to take pictures. It was so windy! Your hair was in your face in every single picture. Andrew left Luke's jacket on top of the car before we drove off and so he was extra chilly and voiced his disapproval loudly. You bribed him with chocolate so you could run out and take a family picture on the pier. He agreed but still whined and hid his chocolate-covered face when you tried to take pictures of him. Andrew had you take a video of him chasing the sea gulls and all you could do was hope that one of them didn't poop on you.

Remember Broadway on the Beach. It was sunny and warm and we couldn't believe that weather like this could exist on March 2nd. No one was there, it being off-season, but you still found someone to take your picture on the bridge overlooking the lake. This was going to be thee vacation picture. Everyone looked pretty good...even Luke was looking and smiling at the camera. He was standing next to Andrew on a little platform and had his arms folded like an Indian chief. He looked so tall and confident. Usually strangers take awful pictures, but this guy actually did a great job and didn't cut off any heads or anything. Ouch, it hurts to remember this one! But at least I can still see it in my head.

Remember Luke and his Dad swimming together for the first time (because you are awful parents and haven't taken him swimming yet ...well, maybe once or twice but those times don't count). We went to the indoor pool and Luke had an absolute blast. You got a video of him kicking his legs and pretending to swim while Dad towed him around. Then you got in too (Mom) and played a game of tag that Luke thought was hilarious. Ouch, this one hurts too. Especially the video. Luke was laughing so hard and having such a good time. He had a permanent smile on his face. You should take him swimming more often.

And lastly, remember when you first arrived in Charleston, SC and were absolutely blown away at how beautiful it was?! You took waaaay too many pictures of all the houses and even got one of the concrete walkway next to the Atlantic Ocean where people run while getting sprayed by the waves hitting the high walls. You wanted to live there and go running next to the palm trees and the Atlantic Ocean every day. It was after this that all your pictures were accidentally deleted, and you almost cried. Then you tried to make up for it by taking lots more pictures. In fact, you once again took waaay too many pictures of all the beautiful houses. But walking around that city with your family and chit chatting with all the friendly southerners was just so much fun that you were scared to death of ever forgetting it...so you just kept snapping photos at every turn. You should live there someday...everyone should at least once.

And even though you didn't really take any pictures of the car ride, you should still try to remember it. Remember how messy your car gets during road trips? Sometimes you feel absolutely buried in stuff like it will all just bust out of the doors when you open them. You always make the goal to keep the car neat and organized but it all just goes south by the second or third day (or hour). Still, road trips are the best. Remember that Andrew made you listen to Nelly about a hundred times (but you really didn't mind cause you like it too and always play songs you like over and over again...like the new Linkin Park one). Remember when the car suddenly got quiet and you realized that Luke was watching Little Einsteins in French?! How in the world did he do that? And then you kept seeing a sign for Bojangles and made up about a hundred other possible uses for the word 'Bojangles' ("Are you bojangling me?!"). Remember how great road trips are for nice long conversations with your husband where you discuss/debate such unimportant things like whether or not the northwest passage was worth dying for and how West Virginia is sort of like a beautiful woman smoking a cigarette. You have some important talks too and hopefully those are the ones we never forget.

So Lauren, just because most of your pictures from your family vacation are gone, it doesn't mean that it didn't happen :) You had an unbelievable time because you were with the people you love to be around the most. And now you can always remember it.

Love,

Yourself.

p.s. sorry that you jump between 3rd and 1st person throughout this whole post but you wrote it at midnight so give yourself a break!

Last Chance

It's your last chance to give me your address so I can send you a baby announcement. Okay, not really. I actually had to order 100 to get the deal I wanted, so I sort of have baby announcements coming out of my ears right now. I'll probably be handing them out for years to come. Still, now would be a good time to give me your address if you haven't done so already (family: don't worry...I will include you no matter what :) unless you are a cousin and then it might be a good idea to give us your address in case we can't find it). Just scroll down to the bottom of my previous post, fill out the form, and click 'submit'. It goes straight to my google docs account (of which only I have access to).

Oh, and the baby blessing is tomorrow if you want to come...

Cameron's Photoshoot & Blessing

Our friend Amy is not only a med student but also a photographer in her spare time (don't ask me how she manages that...amazing). She took some newborn pics of Cam that turned out so cute!

We will be blessing Cameron at church on Sunday, March 6th at 1pm. Anyone is welcome to attend. Please email me if you would like directions to the church (laurenmstacey[at]gmail[dot]com). If you aren't familiar with our church, this is basically a special prayer that Andrew will perform. Cammy will most likely cry during the whole thing because that is his favorite pastime of late. But he has a couple weeks to put his big boy diapers on and ease up on the fussiness so we'll see how it goes :)

Also, I'm trying to put these cute pictures to use and send out some baby announcements. If I get the job done, I will need your address. I know, I know... you read our blog so you really don't need a paper announcement, but humor me. It will be so fun to think of our friends/family one by one and send you a little note from us. And who doesn't like to see pics of cute babies on their fridge (Little Gigi still holds a coveted spot right next to the door handle...and she is nearly a year old!).

So, if you have a moment, please fill out form below...

Aunt Marilyn

My Aunt Marilyn passed away last week. She had lived a full life and we had time to express our love for her so the blow wasn't as traumatic as it could have been. Everyone who knew her can say with perfect honesty that she was the sweetest woman you could ever meet. I concur and can add that she always went out of her way to show me kindness even though I have never lived close by. It is sometimes easy to forget about extended family when you don't see them often or when you are a part of an enormous Mormon family with an insane amount of cousins, second cousins, etc. But she always sent me kind notes and remembered important events in my life. I will miss her dearly.

At times like this, when death feels extremely real, I remember these verses from the Book of Mormon that reassure me about the life to come. I believe them to be absolutely true.

"Now, concerning the state of the soul between death and the resurrection—Behold, it has been made known unto me by an angel, that the spirits of all men, as soon as they are departed from this mortal body, yea, the spirits of all men, whether they be good or evil, are taken home to that God who gave them life.

And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

Alma 40:11-12

My Valentines Confession

Happy Valentines Day!

I have to give a special valentines shout out to my favorite valentine of all. You wouldn't believe what Andrew has to put up with to be married to me:

-I am almost always the reason we are late to church. Sometimes it's just because I'm busy getting the kids ready but most often it's because (a) I decided that 2 minutes was plenty of time to blow dry and straighten my hair (b) I can't find my keys/scriptures/shoes, etc., or, (c) I keep changing my clothes until he makes me leave with what I have on.

-If I'm 10 minutes away from being home, I always tell him I'm only 5 minutes away; If I spent $20 dollars, I tell him it was around $15 (I don't know why I do this...he always knows and just adds a few more minutes or a few more dollars in his head)

- I rearrange our furniture about every month. He usually is recruited to do the heavy lifting and I know he hates it.

- I grind my teeth at night and apparently snore (I still demand proof about the latter).

- I talk too loud when we are right next to each other or on the phone and too soft when we far apart.

-I am pretty much the most whiny pregnant person you can imagine.

Okay, that's all I'm willing to admit. I'm so grateful that I'm married to someone who is willing to laugh about these things or at least endure them patiently. I don't talk much about Andrew on our blog because I could easily be accused of boasting. He is pretty amazing and has passed on that amazingness on to our two boys. Thanks miele, you rock!

Growing Up

There has been a lot of growing up going on around here lately... for all of us.

Saturday was Cameron's 1 month birthday. I can't believe that he is already a month old. I know that I am literally attached to him all the time, but I still feel like I've missed so much. With Luke I had ample time to just sit and stare at him and take a million pictures. I'm still enjoying Cameron as much as possible but our time is often interrupted with other demands. He is a sweet baby but I can already tell that he has a passionate streak in him. He can go from fussy to all-out screaming in 2 seconds flat. People always tell me he looks just like Luke. I see that too, but I think he has more Stacey in him. Especially his deep, intense eyes....we have staring contests all the time.

Here is Luke when he was about the same age:

Cameron:

What do you think?

10 pounds 4 ounces and counting... (only a mother could think that these are clearly 3 very different photos)

Luke has been growing up too. He LOVES Cameron and is very attentive to his needs. As much as he loves his baby brother, I can tell that this is an adjustment for him too. For the past 9 months I have been in survival mode and, because of that, Luke has pretty much had his way. However, now it's time to put order back into our lives. We've started instituting some rules and have tried to be very consistent even when it is SO HARD and I just want to give in and take the easy way out.

This is the face that Luke makes when you tell him to smile :)

We did have a major breakthrough this week. One of our new rules is that Luke has to eat at least one bite of his meal (my friend had this rule growing up and they called it the "gratitude bite"... I like that). You must know that Luke is a TERRIBLE eater and almost never eats what we are eating. We are hoping that this is a baby step towards getting him to eat only what we are eating. The first few meals were an all out battle. There were repeated time-outs and many tears (from Luke) as I kept repeating to him that he needed to take at least one bite before he could play or eat something else. Ultimately he took a bite but they were always foods that he usually eats anyway.

The real test was on Thursday night when we had chicken pot pie...something he had never tried before. I was dreading the enforcement of our rule. Surprisingly after only about 5 minutes of protest, he broke off the tiniest piece of the crust and put it in his mouth. VICTORY! I actually was a little embarrassed at how happy I was. I mean, seriously?! He chose the most nutrient-empty part of the meal and the piece was practically microscopic.

Here is an example of how big it was with a cheerio as a reference point. You may think I'm pathetic but I have never felt so victorious. I won! Oh yes, we're definitely growing up around here.

Luke's favorite book of the moment. We read it several times a day.

I'm also doing some growing up too. The Friday after Cameron was born, we came home from the hospital and by dinner time I was completely overwhelmed with our family of four. My mother-in-law had cooked a great dinner and we all sat down at the table. Luke started crying because he wanted to eat suckers for dinner instead. I looked over at Luke and realized that I had no clue what he had been doing for the past several days while I was in the hospital. Something triggered in me (probably hormones) and I realized that my life (and specifically my life with Luke) would never be the same. His whole childhood flashed before my eyes and for a moment I missed it all so much. So I started crying. I don't mean "teary-eyed"... I mean "trying desperately to keep breathing" type of crying. Andrew sat between us, looking at Luke on one side crying about his suckers and me on the other, crying about who knows what...I'm pretty sure he wanted to throw himself out a window at that very moment :).

Needless to say... Luke got his sucker. I don't think I'll ever forget that moment. I had to let go of the old and move on to our new family of four. Hormones always makes that a little more dramatic than it needs to be. However, the fear of what the future would hold only lasted a moment. Everything has turned out great. Everyone grew up a little and is adjusting to new responsibilities. I have felt so grateful to my Heavenly Father because I know that He gives us the extra strength and abilities we need to rise to new occasions in our lives. He always knows how to calm me down and give me, bit by bit, the new game plan I need to tackle the challenge of the moment.

This whole growing up thing is better than I thought it would be.

Still Pregnant

I thought I had the baby, but apparently he wants to pretend he is still in my belly. This is the only way I can do anything during the day and at night he sleeps next to me in the crook of my elbow. I never thought I would be a "co-sleeper" but after two nights of NOT A SINGLE WINK OF SLEEP, I quickly converted. Now I'm a believer. I love snuggling up to this big lug! I try to keep a good 3-5 inches between us when we sleep but he always body rolls his way over to me like a little inch worm.

I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to break it to Cam that he needs to sleep in his own bed. But if Andrew thought a queen bed was too small for the two of us, he surely isn't going to think it's big enough for the three of us. Our snuggling days are numbered...