Sick bebbe

This week, Amanda Snider came to visit and wanted to take 5 month pictures of her baby girl at the Fresno Temple. While we were there hanging out during the photo shoot, she snapped some pictures of Lachlan and I. I am quite impressed. Her blog is here. And her photography blog is here.

This is my favorite.

Cheeks.

Lachlan has so many facial expressions.

Lachlan has a low-grade fever today.

I finished the peach block!

Saturday was 109 degrees. I'm a summer-lovin' girl, but that almost killed me. Nothing can survive in heat like that! We also went and saw After Earth. Although it had bad reviews, I enjoyed it. I think it's cool that Will Smith wants to do lots of father-son movies. The plot was pretty linear and there weren't a lot of surprises, but it had a good father-son message and was still packed full of action. I think it is a good family movie, but there were bloody scenes and dead bodies.

The Kansas Twister quilt that I'm hand-piecing was designed by Judie Rothermel. The pattern itself is called "Twister". She saw an antique quilt and adapted it. I love hexagon patterns, and small piecing. The pattern calls for all Aunt Grace prints. I'm just using what vintage reproduction prints I can find. The directions for this quilt are geared toward the hand piecer, but could easily be converted to machine or strip piecing methods. The finished product should be 72" x 96". I could make it bigger, but it's already so time consuming. I will feel so accomplished when I'm done. Heck, even when the quilt top is done!

Lachlan boy has a low-grade fever today. He started fussing last night and was acting tired so we put him to bed earlier than usual and he passed out without a fight. During the night, he slept a lot better than he has been lately. But I noticed that he felt warm. I took his temperature this morning and it was 100.9. So I'm not too worried. I'm just hoping that it's a small virus thing or teething related. He is just so miserable though. He wants to get down to scoot instead of being held. Because it was such a struggle at the beginning to get him to breastfeed, especially while I was going to school, I feel pride in it. But because I was also so busy, Bear held Lachlan a lot more than I did when he was a newborn. So now Bear is better at soothing Lachlan and getting him to go to sleep. Sometimes I wish that I had that magic touch too, especially because mothers are supposed to be nurturing, but I think Bear feels pride in it too. Lachlan needs us both in different ways. So Lachlan is fine with me holding him today, until dad walks into the room. Then he lunges toward Bear, wanting to be held by daddy. Hopefully he kicks this little fever soon!

The best love story is your own

Well, I promised our love story. Bear might tell it differently, but here it goes.

I was a little giggly freshman at SVU the Fall of 2010. Bear was back at SVU after his mission and was on the baseball team. I went on a couple of dates with other guys, who promised me second dates and then left me out to dry. My little heart was broken. (Don't promise me and then ignore me!) Anyways, I was interested in a guy on the baseball team...a few of them actually...sadly, none of them were Bear. The baseball team would go lift weights for an hour at 5:30 in the morning. So being the silly little freshman that I was, I would go to the gym at 6:30 am towards the end of their workout, and then go to breakfast in the cafeteria not long after they headed over there too. 

Thinking back on this, it all seems so silly. I would never ever wake up at 6:30 to work out any more. And I thought I was being all sneaky, but HELLO, they probably noticed I was only working out 10-15 minutes. Quite frankly, I was shamelessly creeping on them in public. Gosh.

So I met Bear a couple of weeks later at a game night. We both happened to be invited. He was wearing a light denim jacket and light denim jeans - something straight out of the 80's - in a bad way. (Don't worry, I buy his clothes for him now). Bear seemed friendly, pretty cute and fun. We all played a silly game and went home. I facebook stalked him that night. He kind of seemed too good to be true. My roommates started coming with me in the mornings because they started realizing how cute the baseball players were too. I don't know how I missed Bear before, but he was always at breakfast. After the game night, we always sat with him. We were in different sections of the same class and went on a field trip to Monticello together. I started to have a tiny crush on him, when one morning my bold roommate said to him, "you're pretty cute, you should ask me to homecoming!" Immediately, my jealousy flared because I would've never been able to be that bold and because I felt like I had more claim on him because I met him first. But my little heart was crushed again when he told my roommate that he already had a girlfriend.

A long-distance girlfriend, in fact. She was all the way in California and we were in Virginia. But I wasn't going to be a home-wrecker so I decided to stop liking Bear then and there. So we stayed friends and hung out in big groups. But one day, two weeks before Thanksgiving, Bear announced that he was taking his girlfriend home to South Carolina to meet his family during the break. All of the sudden, I freaked out. That sounded pretty serious to me!!! What if he's going to propose soon? They're going to be kissing and hanging out and having fun...and...At this point, I realized how much I still liked Bear. I was jealous. Way more jealous than when my bold roommate asked about the dance. If he got married, I'd lose his friendship. Even though I had tried to stuff those feelings deep down, I knew that I needed him in my life.

I was torn between letting him know before he left, because I knew this was probably my last chance, but again, I didn't want to be a home-wrecker. I stressed out so much about it, until one day I couldn't even sleep because I was over-thinking it. I HAD to tell him. So I texted him, "what if I told you I was jealous of your girlfriend?" What does that even mean? Gah, Lexi. Come on. 
He texted back, "I like you too, but I have to be fair to my girlfriend and talk to her. I haven't seen her in a few months and I still need to give her a chance." Wait, what?! He liked me too???!!! And now I'm turning into a girlfriend stealer. Awesome. And now I'm in a super awkward situation. I shouldn't see him before Thanksgiving.

I didn't say anything else. I went to my roommate's home in North Carolina for Thanksgiving. And I didn't text Bear the whole break. It was torture for me. But he never said anything either, so I figured that things must have gone well with his girlfriend. I was starting to feel my little heart break again. Finally, the Saturday after Thanksgiving (which is the day Lachlan was born, now that I think about it), I couldn't stand it any more. I casually texted him asking how his break went. He didn't text back very quickly and was vague. So this is it. Things went well with his girlfriend, and he just doesn't want to break it to me. 

The plan was to go to church in the morning and drive back to school. But all of the sudden, Bear texts me asking if he can follow us back to school. He had been having car troubles lately, and his mom wanted him to travel with someone just in case. I started freaking out again but didn't see through his plan. Nothing happened on the way home, except that he shared his Thanksgiving leftovers with us. I had no idea what to say to the guy. But as we're getting near to the school, he asks if he can talk to me once we get there. What?! Oh no! He's going to break the news to me! I can't handle this!!!

It ends up that things had not gone well with his girlfriend. She had been keeping some stuff from him, including the fact that she kissed a bunch of other guys and girls (WHAT?!) Bear wanted to end things, and she went home early because she was upset. We talked about how we liked each other, and ended up kissing that night. Everything had happened so fast, I couldn't take it all in.

We hung out every night after that after we were both done working. After two weeks of this, I asked him if he wanted to go to the Christmas dance. My roommates got me ready, and I had a super fun time. There were still a couple of awkward things including his girlfriend calling him while the two of us were hanging out trying to get back together with him. Oh, and sending him a nasty letter. 

So there were three weeks of hanging out everyday until Christmas break started. He was going back home to SC, and I was going straight to Utah to spend time with my grandpa who had cancer. My family was going to meet me there. Even looking back on it now, everything happened so fast, but it didn't feel like it at the time. So I told him I loved him on the last day of finals. I really did love him. But he honestly told me that he couldn't quite say it back yet. Oh no! I've ruined everything! I look too clingy! He doesn't even like me! I cried into my roommate, exhausted from finals and throwing myself out there. 

So we were "dating" for 6 weeks, and three of those were Christmas break, spent apart from each other. I skyped, texted, and called Bear every day. My relatives joked about us and it bugged me. We've only been dating a few weeks and he hasn't even told me that he loved me! Leave me alone! Bear came and picked me up from the airport and he surprised me by taking me to a Japanese restaurant.  And he gave me my Christmas present - a box from a jewelry store. Is he proposing? Is that a ring? asjhfkjdbgnasilfuaj,mnbksfdjlbnkvh Freak freak freak! This is too soon! But it was just a pearl necklace. Phew! I really care about this guy, but we haven't been dating long enough. I wouldn't have even known what to say if it had been a ring. 

A couple of days after I got back to school, there was a back to school dance that we went to, and afterwards, he talked to me about meeting my parents. But he had baseball and had games during all of the breaks in Spring semester. Looking at our schedules, we decided there wouldn't be any parent meetings of any kind until after the semester was over. "Besides, I believe in dating for a long time, and then having a short engagement," he said. Did he just say engagement?!!! I can't handle all of this! He's thinking about marrying me? Well at least I'll have a few months til he proposes and think about my answer. 

The next day after church, I went to have dinner at his house. All of the sudden, he jumped up. "Let's go on a walk!" he said. I looked outside. It was a gloomy, cloudy, cold early January day. "Okay..." I said skeptically. We walked all the way back up to campus. Up the huge hill. It was freezing. My nose started dripping. Great. We made it to Main Hall, built in the 1860's. This big, red, Victorian building with a million turrets is the main landmark at our school. We stood on the old porch and looked down at the rest of the town. He held me close to warm me up. Out of nowhere he asked, "Alexa, will you marry me?" Oh crap. My mind started freaking out again. This time it's real. What happened to the long dating/short engagement talk we had yesterday? He needs an answer! I haven't had time to think about this! But, suddenly, I had such a good feeling in my heart. So warm and good. I immediately knew what my heart was telling me. "Yes." And I knew that was the right answer. I never doubted my answer after that. 

A lot of people criticized us for the way we did things.We didn't date long enough. Bear didn't ask my dad for permission, let alone meet them. He didn't have a ring. He didn't get down on one knee. (He did later, once he bought the ring). But I wouldn't have had it any other way. Bear went and prayed about it the night before and followed the Spirit. If he had waited, I would have over-thought it. And this way I got to pick out the ring I wanted. 

I didn't regret my answer while I was engaged, and I still haven't. Bear is the exact person that I need. We're living happily, and will continue to do so ever after.

2 Years

Yesterday was our 2nd Wedding Anniversary. It's crazy how fast time flies and that we have a baby now. I was hoping to have been graduated by now, but I'm close. It's wonderful to have someone who believes in you. I love him.

Bear is a very good daddy. I had no real doubts before the baby was born, but Bear has been very protective and involved from the first few minutes of Lachlan's life. Even though he doesn't feed the baby because Lachlan is breastfed, Bear has become the expert at putting the baby to sleep. Bear gives me breaks as often as he can and takes the baby a lot in church. When I took Lachlan to his first pediatrician appointments, the doctor kept commenting on how well I was doing. My mom said it was because I was getting so much support and help from Bear. And at church last Sunday, he came in to Relief Society right before it started asking if he wanted me to take Lachlan. An older lady turned to me after he left and commented, "my husband would have never done that for me." I know she was from a different era and now-a-days a lot of dads approach parenthood as more of a partnership with their wives, but it made me all the more grateful for Bear. I can't let myself take him for granted. 

We're going through a rough patch with Lachlan's sleeping. But Bear gets up all night with the baby so that I can sleep (without even having to be asked). And Bear is the one who has to get up and go to work. Even though I'm the stay-at-home mom, I feel like he's the better parent. 

I had fun editing our wedding pictures yesterday waiting for Bear to come home so we could go on our date. We went to the Cheesecake Factory and got cheesecake of course! Bear's team leader Derek, who has a 4-month-old of his own came and sat in our apartment while Lachlan was asleep. Thank you!

In honor of our anniversary, I;m going to post our love story. Stay tuned!

Bear's Oreo cheesecake

My chocolate raspberry mouse cheesecake

Weekend

We had a fun weekend.

It was over 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, so we broke out the tank tops!

I made some progress on a quilt than I've been working on and off since high school. The pattern is called "Kansas Twister" and the blocks are pinwheel hexagons. I'm doing all the piecing by hand. This is my first full aqua block. I have many more to go.

Red block. I love 1930s-40s  reproduction fabrics.

I feed the bebbe, Bear is in charge of bebbe sleeping. I'm always afraid that Lachlan is going to suffocate, but Bear figured out that bebbe sleeps a lot better with his face covered. Especially at church so he doesn't get distracted.

Bear bought waffle bowls for ice cream and was so excited to use them. But they were more like waffle thimbles. He was so disappointed. We fit them into out little tiny garnish bowls. Oh well. At least it's portion control, right?

I made my first roux this weekend. It was really simple, but it made me feel like a gourmet chef. My grandpa loved making them.

And we have an army crawler. It's pathetically funny. That's why you hear me trying not to laugh. I know he'll start getting into things, but Lachlan has been so frustrated. I almost want him to learn to crawl just so he will be happy. So when he started army crawling, I was so excited because it's a step closer to real crawling. 

We also went walking around the mall and went swimming because it was so dang hot! I also made this for Sunday dinner. You can do it on the stove top, not just in the slow cooker. Which I wish I would have done, because I was rushed on time and only did the slow cooker for 5 hours and my vegetables were still a little crunchy. But it tasted great!