Am I a good enough friend?

It seems like Paul and I have witnessed some hard troubles - health troubles, and different things in the last year with some that we love dearly. It has made us reflect many times, possibly still not enough though. I have had many thoughts, but one thought I had tonight as I read my friend's blog about her family's health trials in the last year made me wonder if I would have the same kind of support that she described if my family and I had to go through such a hard trial ourselves. This is not about questioning the hearts and efforts of my friends, but about questioning if I have been a good enough friend myself? If I had a life changing event happen tomorrow, would I have been a good enough friend that people couldn't help but want to check on my family and me regularly? I've thought of this a few times as I've tried to help those I love in the last year. It seems like everyone close to me that has suffered hard things in the last year has had an incredible support system, partly because they had always been an incredible support to others themselves. I am definitely not saying that we just make friends so that we will have a resevoir of them to help us in times of need, but it is an interesting question to consider.

I guess I'll just keep trying to be a good friend and family member and resolve to give deeper support and not just be an acquaintance or mere contact. I want to be there for people.

As I read my friend's blog about her family's year of trials, and she described the endless support they received, I thought it said something very positive about her and her family.

Now to analyze it a tiny bit further, I am also not saying that we only serve those who have been good to us. Not at all, I just wonder if we're not more inclined to be a little bit more mindful of those who have been there for us. So I just hope I am there for those around me.

I could probably go on and on about a lot of other reflections we've had recently, but it's almost exhausting. I do know one thing: Miracles happen and I have learned to pray for them more than ever before. I love my friends and family so much and will still offer prayers when I know of nothing else to offer.

This is kind of an odd post and I'm not asking for comments about me. Only the topic. Anyway, I may regret posting this, but hopefully my thoughts have made some sense tonight.

Soon I will post on a surprise that some of you haven't seen yet! But I am waiting for a few more pictures to be emailed to me!

Goodnight!

That boy sure looks good in pink...

So the other day I was in the waiting room at our Dr.'s office with Taya sitting asleep in her car seat next to my feet. She was still wearing her sleeper (7:15 am) which was pink (slightly reddish, but still PINK). The man next to me was trying to make small talk (I am assuming - because otherwise why would he say this?) and he asked ...

"Is that a boy?"

Me: "No she's a girl"

And he said, "Oh, I saw that she was wearing pink, but she looked like a boy."

End of story.

(except when I pulled the sun cover back to show her to him a little more, he commented that she had more hair than what he could see - but still ........)



This reminded me of a story from when Taya was just a couple of months old and I was holding her in the Baby Bjorn carrier facing forward while making a deposit at the bank. While I stood there 3 feet away from the 20-something-year-old teller, he stared at Taya for a minute and asked ...

"Is IT a boy or a girl?"

Guess what. Taya was wearing a mesh headband with a bow smack dab on the front center of her head and staring at him from almost eye level. Believe me, when or if I have a boy, he will not be wearing a bow headband (I'm picky about the few bows, etc. that Taya does wear).

Of course I make fun of these clueless men in these stories, but I've had plenty of times where I just ask about a stranger's baby and find a way to have them refer to it as a he or a she because I feel clueless, but these stories were SO obvious ...

You kiddin me?

Taya is 9 months. Yup! 9 months, no kidding. As everyone says, it has flown by so fast! I can't believe she is a few months away from being 1 year old. I watch my friend's 1 year olds around me and they seem like toddlers! Wow.

Taya has been crawling for a little while now and pulls up to standing. She also LOVES to wave at people (whether they're waving at her or not) and to give kisses. She is very social - she loves to interact with friends and strangers and doesn't like to miss out on anything.

Here are a couple of recent pictures and videos (I want to add another video off of my parents' camera of her waving to herself and giving kisses to herself in the mirror - soon!).

Happy 9 months Taya!

Enlightened 30?

Thirty Something?

Yep, 30 - 3.0. That's what Paul is! (Now you know)
We celebrated Paul's somewhat dreaded, (but turned out happy) 30th birthday a week and a half ago (yep, I am way late on this post, let alone any recent post. After two or three attempted posts on the birthday boy - I had dug out sweet pics of him from his study abroad - hippy lovin', longer hair than he has now, rock climb every chance he got, live off one outfit and two pairs of underwear while seeing the world days in Italy ..... then the pics kept freaking out on me when I would go to post them, and then the computer went crazy on me .........) anyhow, now I am finally posting on the birthday boy). We went camping and rock climbing for Paul's birthday. This first pic is of Paul's old rock climbing days, but I thought it was pretty cool (we'll pretend he didn't help me pick it out). The 2nd and 3rd pics show our birthday camping/climbing adventure! And then there is Paul pushing Taya on a swing during a lunch picnic where Taya and I went to meet him during his work day. Paul is such a playful and loving dad. Taya loves him so much, and so do I :) ... aawwww...
Then there is a picture of Paul working outside of our garage, painting baseboards that he is going to install in our bedrooms/bathrooms soon. In addition to installing our bamboo floors, smooth texturing our walls and ceilings, making Taya's crib, taking charge of home organization (yes, I know, I am the closet/storage designer & I don't do it? .. a little sad), installing ceiling fans, and lots of other home improvement tasks, Paul has cut, routed, painted and installed all of our baseboards. I am really grateful for his huge initiative, talents, and work ethic. It's too bad for him I don't quite match up to him in these areas.

Besides Paul's talents, hard work and handy-man-ness, I LOVE watching him play with Taya - it's a good thing one of us can loosen up around her - (don't know if I'll say this next time he's flipping her around or feeding her chips or ice cream) ... I love Paul's athenticity and down-to-earth sense, and his sense of humor. I appreciate Paul's friendliness and ability to make people feel comfortable. I wish the post would have allowed me to post some of the old pics that I wanted to like crazy faced pics of Paul from a crazy face picture session of his family.
You are thirty Paul! It's exciting! Older and wiser (we'll see ;)!

Happy Birthday Paul!! (Who says you can't celebrate all month?)

So guess who Paul is told he looks like? ..........

Yes, Lance Armstrong, do you see it? Good thing for Paul, he doesn't have to walk around in spandex all the time though.

This picture from our overnight camping trip turned out kinda funny/interesting. I was trying to get a pic of Taya and me by the campfire when Paul walked up and his head lamp happened to shine a lot of light on us. Don't we look like we're in some dramatic play or something? The wind was blowing too (I promise I didn't bring a fan for effects).

Harris Family Reunion 2008

26 of us!!

Over Easter Weekend, my family, the Harris side, got together for our bi-annual family reunion! We all split staying in a beach house in Encinitas, CA - a little surfer town that is one of my new favorite spots, about 20 min. north of San Diego -- and I asked Paul, ... why would anyone NOT live here if they could?

We cooked amazing food and ate like there was no tomorrow. We had 'jam sessions' almost every night -- we all brought our favorite music and danced like there was no tomorrow, lip sanc, made fun of our old talent shows and let the youngins start a tradition of their own talent shows/dance-offs. (Do other families do this? I noticed that each In-Law of the family sat on the couch while the rest of us danced and goofed off like there was no ... yah, you guessed it).

We spent LOTS of time on the beach - easy, beautiful, enjoyable, free entertainment - enjoyed by adults & kids -- perfect!! We had an easter egg hunt of course and had some good discussions about the meaning of Easter. I don't know if Easter has ever meant more to me than it has this year. I am really grateful for the Atonement of my brother, Jesus Christ and for the resurrection: what a great way to spend Easter, with family - that I can't wait to spend forever with!

See my pictures below (can you tell I'm a little indecisive? I eliminated some and still have so many pics!)

Believe it or not, although Paul and I look like we're posing, we're just laughing at Taya -- She performed big time for out little family pictures.

12 of the 14 grandkids of the Harris family.

I noticed a trend in my pictures; sisters and best girly friend cousins! I love these friendships!! ... See the different sets ...

Jillian & Avery ... wild, lovable girls, always ready to entertain ... these two sets of cousins cry whenever they leave each other from family trips/gatherings.

Meet these beautiful girls who are about to turn into young women -- too soon! : Hannah & Sophie -- It was decided years ago that Sophie is a little clone copy of me, do you think so? (Even in personality she is similar, the differences? She's gorgeous & doesn't have snaggle teeth like I did at that age, & she is much more confident and kind that I was at that age too).If only naps could be on the beach all the time ...
Taya loved the beach!
Yes, I had to include this one.
Paul got to rekindle his surfing love! It had been years.
My brother, sister-in-law & their cute little Presley.

We had a GREAT family reunion!!!! Now if I could just move to Encinitas, CA.

Giveaway Flo'eth!!

Hooray for Giveaway!!! Thank you, Thank you Jana! A couple of weeks ago we finally used our giveaway prize from Jana & Art to go to Flo's Restaurant (yes I'm behind on this - hey, I've been piled with work, sick, then at a Family Reunion in San Diego, which I'll post on soon, then SICK again).

When we visited the Avey's a little while back in the postpartum room after they had little Luc, Denise said 'So when are you taking us to Flo's?' since she had come SO close in Jana's giveaway (here is the original Giveaway Post: http://janaleesworld.blogspot.com/2008/02/as-promised.html). I was afraid if I said we wanted to use the Flo's gift certificate ONLY for ourselves, I might get my head bit off by a 'I just had my baby, now give me my money! .. I mean, my Flo's gift certificate! Denise' ..... Okay, okay Denise, you were nice enough to bring your camera, take these pics and send them to me (2x) and now you say, why is she painting this picture of me? Uhhh, I just can't think of other ways to be entertaining! So, don't worry, we just knew we couldn't not take you when you came so close in the giveaway running and we hadn't doubled in too long! We miss you! Why did you move again? Cause that really stinks.

Anyhow, back to the night of Flo's: well, once we figured out that Flo's apparently has two locations both located off of the same main road and that the Avey's were at one locale and we at the other, and after the Avey's followed the directions given from the restaurant workers which led them to a dead end and around again, we met up, and had a blast of a time! We teared up laughing at each of our VERY embarrassing stories (but readers, you don't get to hear that part) - except Denise - We didn't hear one of yours did we? Ahhh, next time. We'll get it out of you. We were also graced by the presence of a lady with her 5 year old daughter who wanted to come see Taya & Luc. We were 'graced' with their presence even past the time that we received our food and wanted to start eating, but felt awkward, yet we dove into our food anyway, and just let this lady and her daughter have at our babies (as long as we get them back at the end of the night right? -- ;) ) ....... We had delectable (you have to use words like this when describing restaurant dishes) Lettuce Wraps & Soup to start with, then followed it with multi-textured, light and airy dishes (more food critic-type words) (despite Chinese food's tendency to feel heavy) like Cashew Chicken, Honey Chicken, and Sweet & Sour Chicken (love our chicken!) (am I remembering our order right Denise?). It was VERY good, er .. I mean delectable, multi-textured and light and airy. I would definitely recommend Flo's, and the prices were actually a lot better than I anticipated. The location we went to was great too (the Avey's have been to other locales and said they really liked this one). It is in a development that was designed by the Architecture Firm that Paul works for and so we walked around for a little while afterward and Seth & Denise humored us while Paul pointed out some of the architectural details that he loves about this development of shops, restaurants, offices, etc. (it was designed way before he joined the firm so he can do this more rightfully). Then Denise had a realization moment when she said, 'You're PASSIONATE about what you do Paul!' And Paul laughed -- 'uhhh, yes, yes I am'. And I said, YES, YES HE IS. Very few people know what they want to do in High School and are actually doing it 12-15 years later. He loves it, and I am so glad for him. But anyway, I just thought that was a funny moment, but this is getting a little side-tracked.

We had such a good time! Thank you again Jana & Art! Your giveaway was much appreciated (you were probably wondering since it had been a while). Hooray for Giveaway - it Flo'eth!!! K, I'm ending my major cheeseballishness now. See you soon when I recap my Family Reunion that we went to over Easter!

Oh yes, and by the way Seth? That girl? -- She's not real. Just so you know. .... Weren't you a little afraid to kiss a girl whose head was almost 2x as large as yours anyway? I hope you're not too crushed.

Things I love about Taya

*How she goes 'Aaeeaaeeaaee' - almost like a little Baby Tarzan (but lower pitched) & moves her body front and back, front and back while she does it. She also likes to say 'mamamamama' and currently - 'Dekadekadekadeka' among others. ... Love it.

*How she flirts big time with people in the stores ... and with friends too, but man does she love stranger attention ... (we may have to keep an eye on this one)

*How she loves to eat. She can never get enough. She wants whatever we're having, whatever she's having, and then some ... (this is also a little frustrating when she's yelling to get some of our food during our meals)

*The way her hand flips quickly forward to back with the weight of my cell phone that she loves to hold.

*How she never stops kicking her little legs. Never. No, not ever.

*How she gets a huge ol' smile when her Dada comes home from work ... (and then she wants me 10 minutes later because she's a Mama's girl like that right now - that part I don't love quite as much when I need a break)

*How she Army Crawls and rolls to get whatever she wants ... and to see her on all fours rocking back and forth is so cute! ... (if only she could avoid that next step of crawling that is going to change my life!)

*How she has about 20 rolls of baby fatty skin on each leg.

*Her floppy ears.

*How everything on her is round. Round face. Round eyes. Round nose. Round.

*How she gets so excited to play with her mobile during her diaper changes on the changing table (our changing table sits on top of the crib) -- Thanks again for the mobile Matt & Kathryn!

*How she loves me and does everything with me! What did I do with myself before?

...Now if I could just find my camera to add UPDATED pictures (she is 7 1/2, almost 8 months old now & I can't believe it! The pictures above are from 6 months. She's had a haircut since then and her hair is lighter).

Delegations for a week ...

For lack of camera use and any creative ideas on my part, I am just resorting to other people doing the entertaining for me. Not to say my posts are really even entertaining ... anyhow ...

I saw this little 17 month old girl on The Today Show this morning - she can read! All I could do was say WHOA & laugh a lot while watching her - it is unreal! Here is the clip:

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23557146#23557146