Macias Family

10 months old...

2010-05-20T01:33:00.000-07:00

and big enough to push his own stroller!

My first "real" Mother's Day (although I agree with my mom: being hugely pregnant last year should count too!):

Packing Helper

2010-04-21T09:35:00.000-07:00

PeekABoo!

Lately

2010-04-19T21:28:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago:

Eloy, Andrea & Jeremiah came to visit! Oh how we loved it!1 week ago:
Mom-Jeanne & Papa came to visit! Yay!
And we got to go to General Conference on Easter!3 days ago:
Noah turned 9 months old!
And figured out how to stand up by himself:Today:
Noah discovered crawling FORWARD!
(It seems that having bare feet was the trick)

P.S.
Note to our visitors: COME BACK SOON PLEASE!

Text convo just now

2010-03-17T13:54:00.000-07:00

Christian: Babe I am sorry to bother u but I need to get the dates reserved, can u try and get me the number of the person I am supposed to call please

Me: Who are you supposed to call?

Christian: I don't know, can u find out for me please?

Seriously??!!

Hello, Spring? Are you there?

2010-03-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

We keep getting faked out by Spring.

Last Monday it looked like this:Sunshine, 56 degrees, and daffodils blooming everywhere!
We even took off our socks and rolled up our pants to make some vitamin D (something we haven't done in way too long!)Then Wednesday it snowed and Saturday looked like this:Yesterday was our warmest day yet! 60+ degrees, sunny, and so hot that I even took off my sweater at the park and short-sleeved it for a while!We can always tell when the weather is good by how many people show up to watch the water show at the Gateway. Often it's just me and Noah. Apparently most people don't like losing all feeling in their faces by the time the show is over, but yesterday there were dozens of people!

Will it last though? The weather report says thunder storms tomorrow and rain/SNOW Friday. Argh the snow!! I don't care what the groundhog said! We're ready for spring NOW!!!

Mima's visit

2010-03-17T11:49:00.000-07:00

Christian's mom came to visit last weekend! Due to bad weather (snow. ick!) we didn't get out all that much, but it was so nice to see her!

Buddies!

2010-03-03T10:43:00.000-08:00

Our friends JR & Monica and their adorable little boy Bradley were in town this weekend! It was so fun seeing them and seeing our little guys play together!

Mom's visit

2010-02-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

My mom came to visit a couple weekends ago! We had a blast!

Come back soon! We miss you!

P.S. Happy Anniversary to my mom and dad yesterday! 36 years! We love you!

Empty

2010-02-24T09:58:00.000-08:00

My email inbox is empty for the first time since...well, probably since I got it over 10 years ago. I had over 2,000 messages in my inbox today (over half of which were unread). I hated to even check it because there was so much junk in there! I made a folder for keepers and purged the rest.

Though tedious, it was like a trip down memory lane:
pregnancy updates,
honeymoon itineraries,
wedding plan emails from my mom,
ticket confirmations from the first concert Christian and I went to,
3 seasons worth of Fantasy Idol updates,
European backpacking trip details,
letters from my Japanese penpal,
emails from a college classmate asking for the phone # of the high-schooler who stayed with me on her campus tour,
and countless emails from the relentless Slovakian exchange student from my junior year of high school.

Sometimes emptiness feels good!

Bubbles!

2010-02-08T15:16:00.000-08:00

P.S. Whenever I look at videos of Noah, he hears himself on the video and stares at me with the most serious hurt face that pretty much says "how dare you cheat on me with some other baby!"

Snow Tubing

2010-02-08T13:53:00.000-08:00

This was a couple weeks ago, but we just found my camera today. Fun in the snow!Noah and Mama Christian and NoahBreaelle and Noah ChristianChristian tackling Cody

What I do during ESPN

2010-02-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

These were doodled during SportsCenter. In honor of Valentine's next week, they document our love story up to now.

November 8, 2006: First Date

February 14, 2007: First Valentine's Day

March 8, 2007: Engaged!

August 11, 2007: Married!

October 26, 2008: Pregnant!

October 2008 - July 2009: Bakin' some Baby Love!

July 16, 2009: Baby Love!

Chocolate-stalkers

2010-02-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Hatch Family Chocolates, the site of TLC's newest show Little Chocolatiers. We had just watched 2 episodes of the show the night before, so it was weird to walk in and see the shop and all the people in real life! Christian and I are nerds, so we thought it was way cool (although most people have never even heard of them)! Oh well!
YUM!

Please don't eat that

2010-02-02T22:48:00.000-08:00

I used to worry that our big black cat Bear would eat little Noah if he got the chance (like here when Noah was 1 month)

But now my fear is quite the opposite. Every time I turn around, Noah has Bear's paw or tail or head clenched in his fist by the fur as he struggles to shove it into his mouth.
Yuck.

Dinner

2010-01-20T12:08:00.000-08:00

On Sunday we had our friends Cody and Breaelle over for dinner. I'm not a great cook, but things were going alright in the kitchen...

until I decided to make some garlic bread.

Within 90 seconds of placing it in the oven, thick black smoke was spewing through the oven vent. We opened the oven to discover both halves of the loaf covered in flames.

Cody saved the day. He grabbed the flaming bread and ran it out to the snow.

The worst part (besides a house filled with smoke, a blaring smoke detector, and near death by bread fire)? Christian and Cody still ate the rock-hard, pitch-black, charred-to-bits bread!

Who knew bread could be so dangerous?

DOH!

2010-01-20T10:29:00.000-08:00

Yesterday at the museum I leaned in to get a closer look at a ship replica. I could almost see down into the ship's holds when I heard a loud 'THUD' followed instantly by a sharp pain in my forehead.
Yep, the ship was behind glass.
Nope, I was not alone in the museum.

My, how he has grown

2010-01-12T15:48:00.001-08:00

1 week old

5 1/2 months old

6 weeks old

5 1/2 months old

We love Dr. Seuss!

2010-01-12T14:35:00.000-08:00

Noah and I checked a bunch of Dr. Seuss books out from the library last week. They are HILARIOUS!! I didn't realize there were so many that I hadn't read before! Some of my favorites that were new to me include:

The Glunk That Got Thunk
Did I Ever Tell You? (About Mrs. McCave)
What was I Scared of?
and Horton Hatches the Egg

They are so silly! I could read them over and over and still laugh every time! Dr. Seuss wrote about 50 children's books in all, and I want to read every one! I hope our library has most of them!

In other literary news:
I finally read the Twilight books. I finished the 4th one last week. My mom was right...it was worth wading through some cheese to get to the last book!

Noah's newest silly face...

2010-01-12T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yum yum!

2010-01-12T14:22:00.001-08:00

Food Time!

Crawling...backwards

2010-01-12T14:06:00.000-08:00

Noah's been moving around quite a bit lately, only backwards though. He does a big push up and gets on his hands and knees, but when he pushes with his arms, he scoots himself back. He can travel backwards across our living room in a matter of minutes, but he always ends up frustrated because he was trying to go forward. Poor little guy...try as he might, his toys keep getting farther and farther away. Hopefully he'll be able to get out of reverse and put it in forward one of these days! :)

ROAR!!

2010-01-12T14:01:00.000-08:00

Noah has been "growling" since we got back from Christmas...we suspect cousin Will helped teach him this one :)

Jump Jump Jumperoo!

2010-01-12T13:50:00.000-08:00

Santa brought Noah a Jumperoo for Christmas, and he's been jumping like crazy ever since:

Oh snow

2010-01-05T13:14:00.000-08:00

I've always thought snow was so beautiful and wondered what it would be like to live in it...now I know. I love watching it fall outside, and I suppose it would be absolutely perfect...if I were a HERMIT!

Last week Noah had a check-up at the doctor. It was snowing. I typically don't drive when it's snowing. I always wait for Christian to come home and let him handle it, but Christian was at work and I'd already canceled 2 appointments because of snow, so I had to do it.

It usually takes me 20 minutes to get to the doctor. This time it took me 60. The drive home was even worse. It was snowing harder, so I was just creeping along. Cars whizzed past me honking their horns. I wanted to pull over and wait for someone to come get me, but I was too afraid to leave the only clear path carved by the tires of the car ahead of me. So I kept going straight. It was the only thing I could do.

I considered just stopping, turning on my hazard lights and calling 911. I would have been happy to let the police drive me home. I knew this would only get me rear-ended, so I kept driving that straight line.

Eventually I got to the street I needed to turn left on to go home. There was NO way I was going to make it across 3 lanes and into the left turn lane! Instead, I slowly turned right into a grocery store parking lot. I parked and called Christian to come get me.

I was in tears by this point (hysterical according to Christian) and so grateful that my little car-hater Noah was asleep. I don't think I could have handled the both of us crying!
Noah and I waited at the grocery until Christian got off work and got a ride to come get us.

I'm pretty much done with driving in the snow. I think I'll just hitch a ride on a snowplow next time.

If you have any tips for driving in the snow or for not being such a scaredy-pants, please share!

2 months...

2010-01-05T12:29:00.000-08:00

that's how long it's been since I posted last. Noah was almost 4 months old then and now he's almost 6 months! Wow how the time has flown! If I don't recap it now, I won't remember a thing! So...

Highlights from November and December include:

1. My sisters Liz and Katie and my cousin Sarah came to visit from California! 2. All three of us go the swine flu (not so much a highlight)
3. We went to 2 Jazz games and a BYU game (for free!) 4. We got to go home to California for Thanksgiving! 5. We celebrated Christian's 25th birthday! 6. We got to go to California for Christmas! Yay! 7. I discovered that snow, while very pretty, is also yucky! 8. Noah has been smiling and laughing like crazy and has recently started "growling"!
9. And, finally, we rang in the new year at home in jammies...quiet but cozy!

Who does Noah look more like?

2009-11-04T16:47:00.001-08:00

I found these when I was unpacking some boxes yesterday:

Christian
NoahAnnie

R.I.P. TV

2009-11-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

As of Sunday evening, Mr. Phillips 27" is no longer with us. He is survived by Christian, who is taking the loss pretty hard (it's football season after all), and Annie, who is mourning the loss of Stacey and Clinton and the rest of the What Not to Wear gang, Earl, Michael Scott and company, the Duggar clan, and the Russo family (yes, that is the family from Wizards of Waverly Place for those of you brave enough to admit that you LOVE that show like I do). The loss is especially trying considering that date night with an infant = Red Box movie + microwave popcorn.

Maybe life without TV won't be so bad though. I've already noticed an increase in my reading and a decrease in time wasted looking for the remote. But, good thing or not, such is our life...at least until our tax return arrives and hopefully grants us a Mr. Phillips jr. (or, better yet, a TV that is no relation to Mr. Phillips, considering that he died after only 5 years).

Halloween Weekend

2009-11-04T14:15:00.000-08:00

Friday Night: Halloween party with some of our friends

The little giraffe on the way there:
At the party:
Saturday: Dinner and Halloween night at Kristy and Adam's
Sunday: Church And finish the weekend with some cuddling with Bear

Exciting Week!!

2009-10-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning my good friend Andrea gave birth to her baby boy Jeremiah! Yay! Congratulations Eloy and Andrea!

On Monday night my good friend Kali gave birth to her baby boy Harper! Yay again! Congratulations Kali and Anthony!

On Tuesday we woke up to our first snow:
And today is my mom's birthday! Happy Birthday Mom!

Bear's new hangout

2009-10-23T10:44:00.001-07:00

Cute.
But not when you're trying to brush your teeth.

Oh Cuddling

2009-10-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

There's nothing sweeter or more cozy than snuggling a warm baby in your arms.

In Noah's case, he's the wiggliest baby I've ever met.

Since he was born he'd rather lift his head and check out the world than rest it on your shoulder.

He prefers being held upright so he can see everything to being cradled like a baby.

Dangling legs?...not around here. If they're not busy kicking, they're bouncing or planted on the nearest surface so he can stand himself up.

Even when he's nursing, he's usually moving his little arms and kicking his little legs.

All this wiggling is cute as can be, but it also makes me really appreciate the moments when he does cuddle up and melt into me.

Moments like this...when he's asleep.

One is enough...for now

2009-10-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

The mothers' lounge in our church building consists of a rocking chair and changing table in the corner of the women's bathroom separated from the rest of the room by a sliding curtain.

Today while I was breastfeeding Noah during sacrament meeting, I heard small footsteps enter the restroom. Next thing I knew the curtain was flung open and a little girl (probably about 4 or 5 years old) stood there staring at me for a moment before asking:

"What are you doing?"
me: "Breastfeeding my baby."
girl: "Oh. I wonder why there's a curtain here?"

At this point she left me to use the bathroom, but then returned and said:

"I saw your two girls in the hall."
me: "I don't have any girls. This is my only baby."
girl: "He's your only baby? Oh. Well, you can't have just one baby. If my mom had just one baby, I wouldn't of come out yet."

True. Although during some moments of my labor I thought to myself that Noah would have to be an only child, I can say now that I agree with this girl. I would love to meet the other little spirits who are waiting to come out and join our family, but not quite yet. We're loving our time with Noah; he is such a joy, so one is enough...for now anyway.

9 Things I learned at craft day

2009-10-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

I learned...

1. That you stand out as a "non-crafter" when you arrive to craft day in nice clothes (oblivious to the fact that there will be paint and other sticky liquids involved).

2. That the cute decoration you signed up for weeks in advance is NOT what you're greeted with when you arrive. [Apparently it's your responsibility to make bare chunks of wood resemble the adorable sample that lured you to sign up in the first place...who knew?!]

3. That there are over 17 billion different prints of scrapbook paper [which makes choosing 10 small pieces extremely difficult.]

4. What Modge Podge is and how to use it.

5. That it takes at least 6 other women to keep me from ruining my own project.

6. That Noah likes to flirt with the ladies at church and that he can poo through 2 outfits in under 2 hours.

7. That this whole crafting business is much harder than it looks (if you're crafty, I'm impressed!)

8. That signing up for just one craft is about as ambitious as I should ever be [considering that I spent longer on my one project than other ladies spent on half a dozen.]

9. And finally, that it took me 5.5 hours (aka WAY TOO LONG) to make this:
But, despite all the painting, sanding, cutting, picking, sticking, modge-podging, and hot-gluing, we had a fun day! So I can "give thanks" for that [and for the gals without whom my project would have been doomed!]

Inauguration

2009-10-14T17:14:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, LDSBC (where Christian goes to school) inaugurated their new president. The ceremony was awesome! Elder Eyring and Elder Nelson spoke and Elder Ballard and Julie B. Beck gave the prayers! We sat in the back row just in case Noah fussed (which he did), and I sat on the aisle seat, which means that all the apostles walked right past me when they came in!

The men at the door weren't sure if they were supposed to let babies in, but they let Noah in anyhow...thank goodness! I promised he'd be good, and he was...for most of it at least. He woke up toward the end of Elder Eyring's talk and decided he'd do a little "talking" of his own. The building is pretty small, so I'm pretty sure Elder Eyring must have heard! Needless to say Noah and I waited outside for the rest of the event, but it was such an amazing experience anyway! The spirit was so strong there!

Assembly Hall where the ceremony took place:

The inauguration wasn't until the afternoon, so while we waited for Christian to get out of class, Noah and I walked to Temple Square and hung out all morning. We got there before most of the buildings opened, so, other than a few gardeners, we were the only ones around. It was so beautiful and peaceful!Great day

BYU Football Game

2009-10-06T10:25:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours from Stockton were in town for General Conference weekend and invited us to go to the BYU game with them on Friday night. We met up with the Harvey's and Doug and Tai Phipps for pizza and then walked to the game. Christian (the biggest football fan EVER!) was so excited, especially since this would be Noah's first football game! Only 2-and-a-half-months-old and already been to his first game...not bad!

I was paranoid about Noah being too cold, so I brought along most of his wardrobe just in case. I ended up dressing him in:

A onesie (or is it onesy?)
Footy pajamas over the onesie
Socks over the footies
A nightgown with mittens over the PJ's
A hat
And a fleece hoody sweatshirt to top it off
Then, when it got a little colder, I wrapped him in not one, but two fuzzy blankets. Noah was definitely NOT cold, but I think people could tell that we weren't from around here. Coming from California I'm just not used to seeing high's in the 40's on the second day of October!

But at least the extra warmth helped him sleep good! He fell asleep sometime toward the end of the 1st quarter and was out for the rest of the game!
We had a blast, and the Cougars won! (Sorry Nikki and Sheldon...your Aggies got smoked :(

Uncle Shaun's visit

2009-09-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

Christian's best buddy Shaun came to visit for a couple days on his way from New Jersey to California. Christian was totally stoked, and we all had a great time! On Monday we hung out in downtown Salt Lake and ate at Tucano's (Christian's favorite!), and yesterday we went to Gardner Village. It was all decked out for Halloween and so much fun!

Noah was all smiley on the car ride to Gardner Village (which is SO unlike him...he normally HATES the car)! It only lasted 20 minutes before he was back to his usual screaming self, but it was a nice treat nonetheless!There were life-sized witches everywhere, like this one flying a bicycle in the background:

Shaun got Christian this sweet 'stache at the candy store...hope it doesn't give him any ideas about growing a real one!

Halloween Costumes

2009-09-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

FYI to moms: If you have a baby (or will have one by Halloween =), Wal-Mart has some really cute baby costumes for just $8.00, which is the cheapest I've seen so far. They're fuzzy and zip-up and made of softer fabric than a lot of more expensive costumes I've seen. They have lots of options like frog, tiger, Mickey Mouse, Pooh, flower, and more! Christian picked out this cute giraffe for Noah. I couldn't find them online, so you'll just have to check the baby section of your Wal-Mart if you're interested.
Happy Halloween!

Fall is here!

2009-09-22T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today is the official 1st day of Fall, and we are stoked around here! It's our favorite season! Bye-bye uncomfortable, sweaty summer...hello crisp, cool fall!

Yesterday the high was 65! That's right - 65! I wore long sleeves and Noah had to wear a sweatshirt! It was fabulous!

Good Morning!

2009-09-21T08:33:00.000-07:00

Monday morning 8am

Who needs an alarm clock when you've got one of these?
Noah wakes up every morning at 6am. Since I am NOT a morning person, I feed him and snuggle him back to sleep until he wakes up some time around 8am looking like this.

Belly Button?

2009-09-19T14:37:00.001-07:00

Whoever decided to call the navel a "belly BUTTON" must have had an outie. Mine's an innie and trust me, it's no button at all. If anything, it's more of a belly hole, so I've always considered the term "belly button" to be quite a misnomer (at least for the innies among us). But I suppose "belly hole" doesn't have quite the same ring to it as belly button does (it sounds kind of gross actually). So I guess belly button will have to do.

But I will say this, it makes a lot more sense when you're referring to something as cute as this:

A Boy and his Cat

2009-09-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

Our cat Bear loves Noah.
I discovered this one night when I woke up to find Bear spooning Noah in bed. They were both sleeping peacefully, but it scared me because Bear is not so good at cuddling with his claws in. So, unfortunately I had to banish Bear from the bedroom, but he still hangs out with Noah whenever he gets a chance.

Wherever Noah is, Bear is sure to be nearby:

"If Nothing Ever Changed, There'd Be No Butterflies"

2009-09-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

I came across this quote on some vinyl wall stickers at the store yesterday. Of all the quotes they had for sale, this one stuck out to me most (probably because my life has undergone so many changes lately).

Since May I've:

-Graduated from pharmacy school, which means that I'm no longer a student for the first time since preschool.

-Become a mother to an adorable baby boy who has stolen my heart forever.

-Joined the ranks of women everywhere who are armed with childbirth stories to share with unsuspecting pregnant women.

-Traded a lovable baby bump for stretch marks and what my big sister Liz calls my "mom body" (she assures me that looking 5 months pregnant for a while is totally normal...bummer!)

-And, most recently, Christian, Noah and I moved to Utah, making this the first time I've ever lived outside of California and the first time I've lived farther than 45 minutes from my parents and the home where I grew up.

It's beautiful here, and we love it so far; although I miss my family and friends a lot. It's hard to be sad, though, when you wake up to a big toothless baby grin each morning! Besides, home is where you make it, so for now our home is here. Changes are not always easy, but that's how we grow!

3 years ago I was a single college student.
2 years ago - a giddy newly-wed.
1 year ago - a not-quite-so-newly-wed yearning to make our twosome a threesome.
And now I'm a mom with a sweet little butterfly of my own!