First Steps

Mothers’ Day

I felt very loved on Mothers Day. Eric got up with Emily and let me sleep extra long. I even got to shower in privacy without Emily trying to open the sliding glass door so that the water would spray her in the face.

We walked to Starbucks (my favorite weekend activity) to indulge in some mochas and breakfast burritos from Taco Mesa. Emily was in heaven because pretty much every other family there had a dog with them and the birds were in full effect collecting the scraps off the ground. She LOVES animals.

On our walk back Emily fell asleep in her stroller. I managed to get her unhooked, pulled out, up to her room, changed her diaper, put her in a new pair of sleeping clothes, and laid her down in her crib without her ever stirring or opening her eyes. She was completely limp, it was so precious.

During her nap Eric gave me a full body massage. I fell asleep while he was massaging my feet, so he tucked me in and let me nap for an hour. Ahhh heaven!

After Emily woke we headed over to his parents house for some ladder golf, a pork chop dinner and gifts. Eric and I had made each of our moms’ a scrapbook containing each of Emily’s monthly pictures along side her monthly blog posts. We also made DVDs of all the movies I’ve made of Emily in her first year, which we included in the backs of the books. They turned into the most fantastic, comprehensive little books. They were actually really hard to give away, so I set on making myself one too.

We headed home before Emily’s bedtime, laid her down and enjoyed a quiet evening together. A simple day that made me love the life I live.

Weekend Away

Eric and I enjoyed our first weekend away from Emily. We headed up to San Luis Obispo for a relaxing weekend and a Campus Crusade for Christ reunion with a bunch of Eric’s college buddies.
I must admit I cried for a second, but was totally fine before we made it to the freeway. We stopped off at my favorite little cafe in Westwood on our way. Its French, but it means The Daily Bread. Its a tiny little vegan place that makes the best daily soups, served with the most fantastic bread. We contained ourselves and did not splurge for the Diddy Reece ice cream sandwiches before getting on our way.
Eric and I love this drive to SLO, especially from LA on. It’s beautiful, and mellow, and being in the car together for so long often lends to some fun conversations.
When we got to SLO it was drizzling a little bit and our first plans were to hike Bishops Peak. The rain didn’t stop us and we got to enjoy a 2 1/2 hour hike – just the two of us getting our recreational companionship on.
After our hike we showered up and headed to Firestones for the best tri-tip we know of. There was a long line so Eric got us a slice of Woodstocks pizza to share while we waited. Which achieved eating at our two favorite restaurants for the same meal. Since it was raining outside every seat was taken inside and people were even eating in standing up. A little case of “right place at the right time” got Eric and me a little table right in front of the TV showing the 9th inning of the Yankee game. We had a great meal and the Yankees won – It was our night!
Our plan after that was to go to a bar for some drinks and dancing. But that didn’t sound like fun at all. Instead we mozied around town holding hands, and ended up in a coffee shop playing cribbage and sipping mochas with lots of whipped cream.

The reason why we were up in SLO was for a Campus Crusade for Christ reunion with a bunch of Eric’s college buddies and their families. We went to a BBQ in the afternoon with everyone  and got to visit, catch up, eat etc. Then we went to eat some more with Eric’s college roommate Bubba, his wife Andrea and their little girl Emery (she’s 11 days older than Emily). We had a great time with them, and being with Emery gave us our fill of kiddo time as we were starting to miss the bean a bit. That night they had a night of praise and worship led by the old Crusade worship team. As much as we missed Emily, especially being with friends and their kiddos, it was amazing to be out at night worshiping God without any distraction or agenda: such as thinking “Emily’s probably crying in the nursery”, “I hope they remembered to give Emily her bottle”, “we need to hurry up and get home to put Emily to bed”, etc. All to say, we had a great night worshiping God together. The whole night was a real blessing to us.

The next morning we slept in until 8:30! Then we had breakfast at our hotel with Bubba and Emery. Our hotel had those make-your-own waffle stations and they made some fantabulous waffle goodness. I can’t say quite as much about the coffee.

On our way back home we stopped off in Corona Del Mar to go to the beach since we weren’t expected back home to pick up Emily until later that evening. We laid out our towels, dipped our toes in the water, and then proceeded to take an hour long nap on the sand. It was bliss.

When we got back to Betty and Lyle’s to pick up Em she saw us and screamed and then started climbing down the stairs at super speed to get to us. It was so rewarding.