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Lately

Monday, May 9th, 2011

Suffice it to say we’ve been a bit busy. We celebrated Easter, Megan’s birthday, Mother’s Day, and had our usual run of regular fun. Here are some photos of the last couple of weeks:

Happy Easter 2011

My parents brought up my rocking horse for Beatrice to use and at first, she didn’t know what to think of it. Now, she is really enjoying it! She’ll say, “horsey! horsey!” when she wakes from her nap. She can’t quite get into the seat on her own, but she has figured out how to rock and this delights her!

Horsey!

Beatrice received some finger puppets for her birthday and this week, she figured out how to play with them on her fingers. It cracked her up!

Finger Puppets!

The first Thursday of the month is free admission at many local museums. Last week, we visited the MOHAI with the Rafer girls. We had a really fun time! Beatrice’s favorite part was playing with some magnets:

Magnets at MOHAI

On Saturday, Megan and Christi came over and we cooked up a big batch of food for the freezer. We’re now prepared with several options on days when things get busy. Hooray! Jonathan helped out by entertaining Ezra and Beatrice for a large portion of the time:

Peek-a-who?

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. We did not take a single photo of us with our little silly pants, nor did I take a photo of me with my mom. Boo! Beatrice is sick, I have an ugly cold sore and I didn’t have my camera out. How’s that for three good excuses? We had a great time though. Jonathan and Beatrice went shopping together on Saturday and got me two really great cards, a basket for veggies from the garden this summer, a giant pack of Mexican Coca-cola Classic, and we had a great afternoon with my parents. Mom and I went for a nice walk down on the trail. Jonathan and Dad cooked up a wonderful dinner of shrimp and scallops, orzo, salad and dessert of angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. We were also able to get out and do some work in the yard. Hooray!

Posted in Beatrice, family, holiday, photo | 1 Response »

I’m not fashionable and chances are Beatrice won’t be either

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

It’s true. My fashion is um, a bit old lady-ish at times. I like to shop at Talbots and I know that there are women twice my age who would call that store their favorite. I don’t care; they have some cute stuff sometimes, really! Also, I’m kind of in a weird spot where I’m a mom, but I’m not that old and I’m not that young. I don’t want to wear clothing that’s too revealing and I also don’t want to wear clothing that looks like a brown paper bag. Though brown is a pretty good color on me, the boxy look just doesn’t do it for me. Now that we’ve got sweet Beatrice, I’m even more aware of how I’m dressed and children around us are dressed. If she wants to dress just like me, I better not wear anything like this:

I’d rather we looked like this: Speaking German would be optional, of course!

It seems that the trend for girls to dress like grown ups is getting stronger and stronger. Based on this article, Jonathan and I have our work cut out for us. Now, I must say that we work with 5th and 6th graders every week and I’ve never seen anyone’s midsection or anything resembling the outfit described in the text, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have to have a conversation with Beatrice about why her mean parents won’t let her dress like a hooker.

Sometimes, I don’t think it will kill her to wear a bikini, but when I read this: In 2007, the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls issued a report linking early sexualization with three of the most common mental-health problems of girls and women: eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression. There’s nothing inherently wrong with parents wanting to appease their daughters by buying them the latest fashions. But is getting cool points today worth the harm dressing little girls like prostitutes could cause tomorrow? it matters. It really does. So yes, she’ll be the dork in the class. We’re okay with that. Everyone likes dorks!

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Gift Giving

Monday, March 21st, 2011

Oh happy birthday to our sweet girl! It’s been a whirlwind week of fun! More details on that to come, including the official 12 months blog post, but today I was prompted to share with you about our gift for Beatrice’s first birthday. It’s a big deal; her FIRST birthday! We wanted her gift to be something memorable, something she would love and something that would somehow express our love for her, if only in a small way. Sharing each day with Beatrice means I know her really well. In fact, I’d even venture to say I know her better than anyone else. We (I) spent weeks researching the best options for toys for our sweet baby girl. We wanted it to be age appropriate but not something that she’d feel was too young for her in a few months. It needed to be fun and sweet, just like our daughter. I took Beatrice to several stores to look at toys, I watched her play at our friends’ homes to see if there was something they had that she loved, I read reviews online, I thought about the things she loves most and I recalled sweet memories from childhood of my favorite toys. We decided on a doll for her. Once we chose the item, we shopped and found a perfect doll that looks like Bea, has eyes that open and shut and is the perfect size for her little arms. They wrapped it for us at the store, which was great because otherwise I’d likely have given it to her the same day we bought it.

On her birthday, we had a dinner comprised of all her favorite foods: chicken, peas, string cheese and roast sweet potatoes. After dinner, she got to open her gift from us. We handed it to her and she was delighted in the packaging! We explained to her that she needed to remove the paper and she carefully pulled until it gave way. When the box was revealed she said, “Oooh! Hi Dolly! Hi!” and did her little happy shimmy. It was adorable! Jonathan (Mr. Misty) and I teared up, looked at each other and both said something like, “We would have given her 20 dolls if we knew she’d be so happy!”

In the words of Bill Yonker, I tell you that to tell you this: my joy in giving gifts to Beatrice is absolutely minuscule compared to the Lord’s joy in giving us gifts. My knowledge of Beatrice is slim compared to His knowledge of her. God has known her from the very beginning. Before we knew she was a girl, before we knew she was even alive, God’s own hand was at work knitting her together in the most adorable, booty-scooting, bow-loving, clever, tricky, giggling way. In the book of Matthew, Jesus says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7: 7-11, NASB)

I want to buy Beatrice everything she asks for or shows an interest in having, but I don’t. We don’t buy everything for her because not everything is good for her. If she got every single toy she was keen to own for 30 seconds, we’d have a house full of junk. We don’t want to give her junk. The Lord doesn’t give us everything we show an interest in either, because quite honestly, sometimes we want junk. God doesn’t give junk. He gives us that fancy imported, perfect-for-our-age-but-great-for-us-to-grow-with doll. He’s got good gifts in mind. When it seems like He’s holding out on giving, it might just be that we’re asking for crap. Lately I’ve been asking for crap. Seriously. Big time crap. Things that will only clutter my mind and distract me from living a life that honors God. That’s between me and Him, but maybe there’s some junk you want too….something from the dollar store when the Lord wants to give you the hand-made perfect item but you’d rather have the $1 item because you can have it today instead of waiting. Waiting is hard. I hate waiting. But I’m working on it.

Also, this is one of my favorite photos:

She loves her dolly!

Posted in Beatrice, Jesus, baby, birthday, family, thoughtful | 3 Responses »

Little Beatboxer

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

While Beatrice certainly isn’t worried about figuring out how to walk, she’s picking up new skills all the time these days! Last Sunday, Jonathan taught her to beatbox and we were able to catch some of it on video. For some reason, hearing her “bmch bmch bmch bmch” sounds makes me sing MJ’s Billy Jean, which is really quite fun!

It is a little long, but here is a video of our sweet girl beatboxing and doing a little dancing to the beat. Happy Thursday!

Posted in Beatrice, baby, family, fun | 3 Responses »

Like mother, like daughter

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

For the last ten months or so, I’ve heard many people exclaim that Beatrice is cute! and looks just like her dad! and I agree. However, sometimes she looks just like her mom. As these moments are so infrequent, I feel the need to document them.

For your enjoyment, here is a photo of me at ten months of age:

And here is sweet Baby Bea at around the same age:

The resemblance is even more remarkable in person when she’s not making cheesy smiles for the camera. I think it’s safe to say she’s got my cheeks! Yay!

Posted in Beatrice, family | 3 Responses »

She crawls! She climbs! She makes farting sounds!

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Beatrice really ended 2010 with a bang: on December 30, she decided she’d crawl up on all fours, then she figured out how to go from her belly to a sitting position, and she began to speak using two syllable words (Dad-dy and bye-bye are her favorites). The next day, she pulled herself up to standing in her crib. She was so proud of herself! Then she was terrified because she couldn’t figure out how to get down. Poor girl. She’s no longer a little baby; we’ve got a full toddler on our hands!

Since 2011 began, she’s gotten two more teeth, started sort of clapping, and is now making farting sounds (raspberries?) with her mouth!

Here’s a video we made last night of her newest skill. We’re so proud!

Posted in Beatrice, family | 1 Response »

A Very Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, December 28th, 2010

This year was Christmas in the Northwest for us. It was a whirlwind two weeks prior to Christmas: family visiting, the expansion of our family (yes, we’re now officially an Uncle, Aunt and cousin!) and the usual busy business of life, so celebrating Christmas at home was a welcomed event.

We started Christmas Eve Day with a series of disasters and because this blog is a family album of sorts, I’m going to include them: Jonathan starts a load of laundry in the morning. Beatrice and I are playing in her room when we hear a loud thump. I call out to Jonathan who responds that he’s okay, which is followed by the sound of sweeping. Um, okay. “How much detergent do we have left?” Ha! The short version of what happened was that the scoop of detergent he was placing into the washing machine had spilled onto the floor. No big deal. Clean up is pretty quick and easy and we go on our merry way to breakfast. Jonathan is feeding Beatrice her bowl of oatmeal and I begin preparing fruit salad for brunch with family. I take the fruit salad bowl out of its storage place in the buffet and show Beatrice the bowl. “This was your Great Grandma Bea’s and one day it will be yours!” I say and then go on to explain how it was such a treat for us to help Grandma Bea make fruit salad in this bowl and how I know that soon baby Bea is going to be my big helper when I make fruit salad. Beatrice finishes her breakfast and it’s time for her nap. Jonathan brings her over to the counter to give me a kiss before the nap and she excitedly kicks her foot, catching her heal on the aforementioned heirloom bowl and sending it crashing to the floor. It shatters and I ask Jonathan to take Beatrice so she can nap and be away from the glass and I clean bits of glass and chunks of fruit off the floor that Jonathan had just mopped. Boo! I was oh so very sad. This has been a year of losing my sentimental attachment to things (more to the point, losing things to which I am attached), so I’m not terribly surprised that all this has occurred. I clean things up, praise the Lord for the memories I have with my Grandma Bea and remember that it’s the joy she shared, not the bowl, that was important. Jonathan and I take turns getting ready, trying to get Baby Bea to nap and cut our losses and head out to brunch at Jonathan’s sister and brother in-law’s house. While driving to brunch, Jonathan mentioned that the third thing in the series of “bad things” has already happened! We’re in the clear for the rest of the day! Sadly, this involved slicing his thumb, but hey, we’re glad to know we don’t have the dark cloud of gloom looming over us! Katherine made a delicious brunch of quiche and bacon waffles and we were able to spend some good times with family. It was a delicious meal!

We were finally able to get Beatrice to take a nap after brunch and then we worked on a little craft project:

The finished product is a little reindeer head in the shape of Bea’s foot and a Merry Christmas from us! Beatrice was very patient and careful while I put ink on her little foot and just watched and watched. I am a big fan of homemade Christmas ornaments and I’m so happy we have a little something to remind us of what a sweet baby she is at this tender age. She is already growing up too quickly!

After crafting fun, it was time to travel to A-town for Christmas Eve church. Beatrice was her usual chirpy and chatty self, but did pretty well. She said “Bye-Bye” for the first time, which was adorable! They also had battery powered tea light candles for the children and she was quite pleased to have a candle of her own! Here is our little fire-eater in action:

After church, it was back to the Eske homestead for clam chowder in bread bowls! While we waited for supper, Beatrice got to have her first taste of lefse. To start, I just gave her a little bite:

She LOVED it! So we gave her a little more:

We have ourselves a lefse loving baby!

Not long after dinner, Beatrice indicated she was ready for bed. We packed up and headed home as quickly as possible. Having not napped much at all during the day, she went to sleep without a fight. A Christmas miracle!

We started Christmas morning with family cuddles and reading books in bed. Beatrice really enjoyed having both of her parents right there with her! Jonathan and I were the happy recipients of a delicious Swedish tea ring, slices of which we had for breakfast along with the requisite cup of coffee. After Bea’s morning nap, we had our first annual family Christmas adventure! We decided this year’s adventure was making a movie. Beatrice was a really good sport about us moving her gift just before she reached it and it was really fun to share with our families. It might not be the fanciest movie of all time, but it sure was fun to make and is already a treasured memory.

Dad and Mom Eske, Rachel and Erik joined us for Christmas dinner. This year, we had salad, salmon, brussels sprouts, green beans with almonds, rolls and jello with cranberry upside down cake for dessert. It was a feast! After dinner, we took some family photos. Each one was more hilarious than the last! I think they really say “Merry Christmas!” don’t you?

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

Posted in family, holiday | 1 Response »

First Family Dinner

Saturday, December 11th, 2010

Sunday night, after all the excitement of guests and fun, we had our first family dinner! It was pretty fun to find a meal that we could all eat. Beatrice, it turns out, is quite an adventurous eater! We had butternut squash soup and she really liked it! I was a little nervous about giving her something with curry powder and turmeric, but she likes it! What a good eater! Here’s hoping she stays that way. And here’s an action shot for posterity.

Posted in Beatrice, Cooking, baby, family | No Responses »

The Sweet Peach is Dedicated

Thursday, December 9th, 2010

This past Sunday was baby dedication day at our church. If you’ve spent any amount of time with me or Jonathan, you know that we’re pretty comfortable as behind the scenes people. If you’ve ever been to our church, you know that being on that stage means standing before a big crowd, but dedicating Beatrice and our family to the Lord is important enough that we bravely stood before our congregation and asked them to pray for and with us as we ask God for wisdom to raise Beatrice in a way that honors His holy name. It was a great honor to share the stage with seven other families, though I must say baby Bea was both the loudest and the cutest of the group!

Here is the whole group of us:

Our little family being introduced by Pastor Bob (and up on the big screen!)

Praying (while Beatrice squwaked because she desperately wanted to touch the Rock ‘em Sock ‘em behind us)

Pastor Mike prayed Psalm 121 over us, which happens to be one of my favorites, so I’ll share it with you now:

“I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow your foot to slip;
He who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Israel
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
The Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun will not smite you by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect you from all evil;
He will keep your soul.
The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
From this time forth and forever.”

After church, we had a little celebration at our home that included my Dad feeding Beatrice bits of bagel. Ah Bea, welcome to the family that celebrates with carbs! Praise the Lord for the miracle of your life and the blessing it is to be your Momma!

Posted in Beatrice, OCC, baby, family | 3 Responses »

Enough about the books! What about the baby?

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Here’s what’s happened in our house lately: the baby has started regularly sleeping between 6:30 and 7:00 for the night. Also, we’ve gotten a bunch of “hold available” notifications from the library. Since we try to be responsible library patrons and we’ve got a little more free time once our little Peach is sleeping, we read. Then Jonathan blogs about the books and I don’t blog and you probably forget we’ve even got a baby, but we don’t forget because we see her in person. We’re also trying to keep this from being a baby blog. She’s a big part of our life right now, but she’s not our WHOLE LIFE. We do love her, and we know some of you do too, so here are some highlights from baby land:

It snowed! Grandma E. found a sweet snowsuit for baby Bea and we took her outside to explore. She didn’t know what to think about the snow, but she really enjoyed watching us dance around for her benefit:

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving together and Beatrice got to try some turkey! (She didn’t love the turkey, but she did love that Jonathan shared part of a dinner roll with her!). She also got to wear a special shirt that says “Everyone is thankful for me” which is certainly the truth!

We took her to be part of our Eskebold/Potterson Family tradition of viewing the Christmas Trees and Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont and watching the tree lighting in Seattle the day after Thanksgiving. She really enjoyed the lights, the decorations and the singing! Even though it was pretty late for her, she did a great job.

Saturday, we had a relaxing morning at home, then braved the crowds at Costco and had a family Christmas tree hunting adventure!

We decorated the tree and got out the rest of our Christmas items. Beatrice was confused about her parents wearing reindeer antlers, but eventually got into the spirit. She really enjoys seeing the mistletoe above her when we walk through the doorway and gets really happy to see the tree all lit up! What a fun time it is for us!

Posted in Beatrice, baby, family, holiday | No Responses »

Oatmeal for Breakfast

Or: The New Adventures of J&K