Photo Memory

Regardless of the fact that I've broken some kind of personal recent-mommy-record of wearing makeup everyday this week (you're delusional, it's only Wednesday), I haven't taken many pics of myself with my men this week. 
I mean, come on: looking at my scared-doll-like blue eyes or luscious 10 lbs. of brown keratin on top of my head (translation: hair) doesn't evoke nearly as much adoration as a simple glimpse at my little Jude. He's perfect. And I'm not biased. 
Yes I am. 
Anyway, I thought that instead of posting some beautifully taken picture of me and mine smiling at some nonexistent hilarity, I'd share a photo memory. 

This picture was taken pretty soon after I had my gall bladder taken out when I was 19. It was the fall after high school and I didn't start my college experience until that January. I was home working and ended up needing surgery. All I remember is being skinnier than I had been in a long time and my little sister Brynne being home to keep me company. We had a good time together those last few months before I left for school. She was my bff right then and there. 
Brynne: I love you. And I can't believe that you're coming out to see me in a few months LET ALONE leaving for a mission! 
Stay crazy. It's why I love you. <3

Over the Weekend

Over the weekend we celebrated Chinese New Year (since Adam's brother, Nick, is a 1/4 Filipino, so why not?) and our brother-in-law Chad's acceptance into physical therapy school (!!!!!!!). Other than that, we snuggled. 
Each weekend seems to go by so fast and then we start another busy week, but we're grateful for these moments we can capture together :)
This week: Our BFFS ^billionth-degree, Grant and Natalie, are coming for a visit! 
You can definitely anticipate some junk food binging and bum pinching--cuz my bff is definitely just a sista-from-annatha-motha. 

Dear Aunt Briana...

Dear Aunt Briana,
You're hilarious even through a computer screen. SO glad you're coming out for my big birthday bash in two months. We're going to party-- HARD--on mac n' cheese and juice boxes...because mommy will only let me have them on my birthday.
Love you.


Endless slobbery open-mouth kisses,
Ju-Ju

Noodle Doodle

We rarely ever do pasta for dinner (once I start I juuuust can't stop...) but last night we had spaghetti. 
I was somewhat horrified of the idea of letting our near 10-month-old loose with a plate full of slippery, saucy noodles, but it was quite possibly the most delightful thing ever :). 
If this is what happens every time we decide on love-handles, I'm totally buying a bigger pair of jeans. 

mmmm it was so worth it! such a ham isn't he? 

Today

Today, I miss the man in my life. 
I worked a night shift last night.
He's working late this evening.
aaaanndd I'm working another night shift tonight. 
See the dilema?
I need me some hunny time. 
Come home. This is ridiculous. 
You're totally ruining our Friday night tradition of doing nothing. 

It Happened

Well. It happened.
Jude said it. 
And he's said it a bajillion times over and over again since. 
"Dada." 
It melts my, and especially Dada's, heart!!
Jude: you. are. too. cute. 
Maybe one day soon you'll realize what you're actually saying. But for now, you're hilarious. And you won't shut up. Once you realized you could say something, you haven't stopped saying anything! And we love it :) 



Oh, hunny bunny. All you have to do now is shut those little lips and say "mmmmmmama." 

Wednesday Wishes!

Wishing for pretty dresses and yummy Valentine's Day treats this Wednesday. 

Although, I suppose eating too many treats makes wearing pretty dresses a little uncomfortable.

But oh-so worth it :) 

Both dresses from Asos.com

What does the Pillsberry Doughboy have between his legs?

..easy. Donuts. 
And in honor of our bed frame that was damaged in the move FINALLY being repaired and assembled, we celebrated our ascent from sleeping on the ground by making donuts and eating them in bed. 
I can't think of a better combination: bed + man + donuts. Endless possibilities right there. 

Speaking of endless possibilities, Jude-man couldn't stay up to have donuts, but he was uber cute during bath time tonight. Adam's been having lots of fun quoffing Jude's rather long and mullet-like mane. Maybe we should cut it. Or keep it long so even more people can think that he looks like a girl in his bow tie

You Matter to Him

On this beautiful Sunday, I wanted to take a moment and share with you all an experience I recently had. 
On one of my shifts this past week I had to declare a patient dead. 
I'd never done this before, nor did I feel too prepared to do so.
Really? You need me to do this? Why don't we call someone else? 
But as I studied this patient's lifeless body, closely watching for any final breaths, listening for any distant heart beats, and watching for any sign of life, something became very clear to me: My own nothingness. 
I looked where this lifeless body lied, which had only moments ago been breathing the breath of life, and when all bodily functions ceased, I took everything in for what it was: there is no one left in this room but me. 
One day I will be just as this women--gone from this life and leave my body to remain. What will matter then? 
What will matter was who I became; how I allowed every single life's experience to affect me--both for the good and the bad--and how I enriched or failed to enrich those around me. 
While I had this experience, the words of Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf came into my mind: 
"You could pile up the accumulated currency of the entire world and it could not buy a loaf of bread in the economy of heaven."
Obviously, this was a lesson that someone had in mind for me to learn personally--and, ouch, it stung. 
But in that feeling of nothingness, Elder Uchtdorf further explained, "God sees you not only as a mortal being on a small planet who lives for a brief season—He sees you as His child. He sees you as the being you are capable and designed to become. He wants you to know that you matter to Him." 
My lesson was directed at remembering that many of the things I worry about, the things that I think define me and whether I have succeeded in this life or not, really don't. 
I plan on leaving this life, as I hope this patient did, having loved the Lord and my family with a perfect love and having left little room for worry of things that have no consequence and will leave me when I leave my body. 
I know that we matter to our Heavenly Father--that He knows us personally by name and knows our struggles and joys and wants us to be happy. I also know that He knew this patient  that I watched pass and that she mattered a great deal to Him. 
I definitely recommend reading this truly inspirational message! It was given at this last October General Conference, and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to read it again. 

xoxo

My first Tim Tam Slam

I want to thank my wonderful, beautiful friend Haley for sending me the most deliciously naughty treat I've ever come across. This treat is the kind where you can feel the cellulite packing into the back of your thighs, but you just. don't. care. 
"OMG" is an understatement. 
Thank you, Haley, for introducing me to my newest favorite dessert/treat/morning-afternoon snack/stash-in-the-diaper-bag. 
I couldn't have asked for a better gift--or a better friend! 


Video by Adam Stevens. 

Awkward and Awesome Thursday!

hmmm..I want to say this week has been really busy. 
It's actually the opposite--this week has been pretty uneventful. 
Aside from a night of girl-time with the always lovely Jessica Goodwin, and our broken thermostat which has made uncovering my neck place me on the verge of tears every morning, I've got to say, it's been a little boring. 
But, there's always something awkward to write about. And here it is: 




Awkward:
-The moment you bite into something you thought was something else, but totally wasn't, and then realizing that it just had to also be disgusting, and hoping no one's watching while you grimace as drool simultaneously escapes out of the corners of your mouth. Hey Jude, can I borrow your bib? 
-Sending a text to someone who is not my husband and having auto-correct change my message from "Just a sec" to "Just a sex." Couldn't have sent "sec" with an asterisk any sooner. 
-Complementing Jude's pediatrician on his ever-fabulous hair and having him explain in detail how he uses lotion to style his rather Gaston-like quaff. 
-Being in conversation with someone who looks my age as they confess, "Yeah, I mean.. come on.. it's not like I'm 22 and would do something like that...", and trying really, really hard not to look 23. 
-Noticing our electric bill to be awfully high, and when calling the electric company having them ask, "Wow, you know I'm seeing a spike in your use on Thursdays. What are you guys doing on Thursdays?" Oh, you know--bringing in about 5 extra refrigerators, each full of different flavors of cheesecake, turning up the heat and plugging in a massage chair while I sit on my butt all day eating until I fall asleep. Come on man, seriously, how the heck am I supposed to know?
-Being in a small room with a person with a very loud, unnecessarily exaggerated laugh. Come on, lady, it wasn't that funny. And no one wants to see your fillings. 
-Having Adam comment in a room full of friends, "Oh, yeah I've been doing that since I was a feces." Good one, love. 
- Waking up with Jude in the middle of us and Adam thanking me for getting up to get him in the middle of the night. Uhhh..hunny? That wasn't me. That was you. And then having us sit for half an hour until we both confess that we have no idea how Jude ended up in bed with us. 
Awesome:
-I've recently changed my Pandora station to Carla Bruni and now listen to French music all day. It makes me feel exotic. And sexy. 
-I just found a new favorite herbal tea blend that I am currently sipping on. mmmmm I feel even more European...
-My mom AND sisters are coming out for Jude's first birthday!--and staying for a little while too! 
-I have successfully cooked a full-out meal every single day this week!--and every new recipe is a hit! 
-Thanks to our friends who lent us their space heater, everyone in this house got a full night of sleep last night! 
-sX1Q1W2zas12222222--Jude says hi! 


Happy Thursday! The weekend is almost here, loves!

Best friends

My boys are best friends.
And as best friends, Adam looks for ways to make Jude laugh. 
And Jude humors him. 
Here's their newest game. And evidence as to the origin of Jude's dufus laugh. 

I hope they call me on a mission...

Hey Jude,
On Saturday, we went down to Woodburn to go to Walmart. It's 30 minutes away, but it's the closest one :) 

And while we were there, we got a call from your Aunt Brynne in Pennsylvania. 
She had some great news for us. 

So we parked our bottoms in the Walmart McDonald's, bought some fries, and listened to her news. She read: 

Dear Sister Burwell,

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the...

...Ventura, California, English-speaking mission for 18-months!!!!!

(notice how I squeezed Jude maybe a little too hard there?)

No way!!

Jude freaked out too! 

Congratulations, Aunt Brynne!!! We're so excited for you! You don't leave until April, so we're excited for you to come out for Jude's first birthday! 
Jude, one day you're going to be just like Aunt Brynne and go and serve a mission for our Lord. You'll be a great missionary too--everyone loves you and your big smile and laugh...not to mention how much food you can put down :). Exhibit A:

We found this little porker in the corner. I guess he can now pop open the lid to the baby puffs, can't you bud? I'm glad you got in a few handfuls before mommy ruined all of your fun :) 

Love you forever and ever.

Endless kisses,

Mommy. 

9 Months and Still Irresistible

Today was Jude's 9 month check-up. This is bananas. Buh-na-nas. I'm starting to feel older. The other night I had a dream that it was a year from now and Jude was turning 2 in three-months and I was freaking out that I couldn't even remember what had happened over the past year. And then I saw my life, and the youth of my children, flash before my eyes. This is a beast. A big, cruel, snarl-toothed, pitiless blaggard of a beast that obviously doesn't have children. 
Anyway..we scored some major favoritism points with Jude's pediatrician today--our kid just couldn't have been more cute, friendly, or outgoing. He especially couldn't get over how fun the plastic cups were that Dr. C. gave him to play with. 
I'm done buying him toys. 
Adam wasn't feeling well at work today, so on our way over to the appointment we picked up daddy and he got to come...and so did rubber ducky :). 

I also realized that, due to a combination of rain, laziness, recovering from night-shifts, bracing for the start of a new semester, and Jude not feeling well for a day-or-two, Jude and I hadn't stepped foot in the great outdoors since Sunday. My bad. So we hesitated going back into our place upon our arrival home, if just for a minute. 
Next time we see the good doctor he'll be a whole year old. What the #@$!. 

Another Video...

Last night, we decided to capture on video the pure love that our son has for computers. This love transcends any time, toy, height, comfort, or "no-no Jude." And it happens literally every time a computer is opened within reach. 
It's absolutely maddening. 
Especially since literally almost every time he smacks his sticky little hands on the keyboard he exits the page you're on or shuts down the computer.

I know everyone wants a Mac, for heaven's sake, but save up your baby-food jars and baby Gerber puffs and get your own. 

When Daddy Comes Home...

...it's freak-out time and non-stop playtime till bedtime. :) 

I'll admit it. Daddy's his favorite. But Mommy's got food. So there's no comparison--you haven't seen how much oatmeal my kid can put down. 
Nevertheless, this is just one of the things that warms my heart everyday at 5-5:15pm. 

Bagels For Breakfast

Adam had off work yesterday, and like the amazing man he is, he went and picked us up some bagels for breakfast :). And mmmmmm were they good. We found a pretty legit place only about 2 miles from us--enough distance to ride our bikes to...(yeah, sure). 
We got a chocolate chip bagel with Oregon-berry cream cheese and a nob hill bagel (basically an everything with cheese) with vegetable cream cheese. 
Wow. Amazing. 
Jude just had some cheerios and stole a couple licks of cream cheese. 
Thanks, baby. I'll give you an A++ for providing today--you glorious man.

Our Rockin' New Years Eve

Happy 2012, everyone!!! 

Holy moley, for some reason, I am REALLY excited about this new year. 

A whole new year to: 

watch my little boy grow. 

love on my gorgeous man and buy him sexy clothes. 

be a nurse and learn how to better take care of people while I finish my undergrad. 

save money for a house :)

work on my fitness like Fergie. 

eat sushi.

...

Last night we rang in the new year with a bang--a cool, low-key, kid-with-a-toy-gun bang--with a night of sushi, games, Friends, junk food, and the Times Square ball drop, all with great, great friends. 

There was lots of squirrely laughter, games, snacking, kisses and cuddling, hilarious youtube videos, and of course, the ever present uncomfortable innuendoes. 

My kind of a night. 

p.s. Don't tell me your resolutions. It's like telling someone your birthday wishes--once it's out in the open, it never works out. 

Kind of like adding paprika to a dish and hoping it evokes some kind of tongue sensation. 

It's just fairy dust, people. 

Once again--Happy New Year! 

The Stevens family wishes you a successful, blessed, peaceful and joyful 2012!