Love Thy Neighbor

When James was just a wee baby, I flew with him from California to Las Vegas. I was a bit nervous about how to take care of James while handling my luggage, baby's car seat and stroller, tickets, ID, getting through security, and so on. I was feeling worried about just getting ON the plane and not to mention the looming flight I was doing this all for. It was stressful but James and I made it through security and on to the plane in one piece. I was feeling a little better because I could now cross off "get on the plane" in my mental to-do list. But then I was on to the next task: get through the flight.

I was one of the first people boarded because I was flying with a child. I climbed aboard, picked out my seat, and then proceeded to give James some attention while the rest of the travelers boarded.  It was obvious that no one wanted to sit next to me, people were quickly moving past me, some even with what I thought were glares towards me. I guess the lady with a baby isn't the most popular on the plane. I then noticed a woman that boarded the plane who I had seen earlier at security. This woman's appearance was a bit horrific. She was overweight, with full facial hair, dressed poorly, and her carry on was a dirty pillowcase with clothes in it. When I saw this woman and she was headed down the aisle and getting ever closer to me, I looked away to avoid eye contact and my mental mantra became, "don't sit next to me, don't sit next to me, don't sit next to me". Next thing I knew, this woman was talking to me and saying how much she loves babies and asking if she could sit next to me. I half-smiled and said sure and moved to let her in next to the window. The woman kept talking and I was politely nodding to assert that I was listening while in my head I was really ranting about how this flight was going to be horrible with this frightening woman next to me and on and on I went. After a few minutes I calmed down and started to actually listen to the woman next to me. She was very friendly and chatty (How I usually am, but wasn't this day and regretfully I wish I had been.) Soon the flight took off and we were in the air. And soon after that things started going very badly. Quite literally, the plane experienced the worst turbulence I had ever seen while James had the worst blow-out diaper I had ever seen. We weren't allowed out of our seats and even the flight attendants sat down and buckled up. So I wasn't able to go to the bathroom where there is a changing table and privacy. I started to panic. James and I were both a mess from him and I desperately needed to change his diaper and clothes (and even my own). I was debating whether or not to crawl down to the floor and change him in the isle. It was such a small plane with very little room. This kind woman next to me - and even as a type this now I cry - noticed my struggle with my baby and sweetly and unselfishly told me I could lay my child on her lap so I would have a place to change his diaper and clothes. She then proceeded to help me with the task, handing me wipes and pulling clothes up over his head. What had I done to deserve this woman's kindness? I had judged her and thought horrible things about her. I was barely even polite, let alone nice, to her. This woman that I so desperately did not want to sit next to me was in reality the person I so desperately needed to sit next to me. I don't know what I would have done had she not offered to help. I don't think anyone else on that plane would have been so willing and eager to help me. No matter what I did or didn't do, this woman was unconditionally kind. This woman - that I don't really know - is a woman I think about often. In just a short plane ride she made a forever impact on my life. This situation of a young, struggling mother may seem unimportant and uneventful to some, but to me, as that young mother and receiving such love and support from a stranger was a great life experience. This woman, whose name I wish I knew, truly exemplified what it means to "love thy neighbor".  This woman is a person I now try to be like. I regret my behavior that day. I hate that I hastily judged this woman based on her appearance and I couldn't have been more wrong about who she was. I hope that I can follow this woman's example and be more like my Savior Jesus Christ, showing love and kindness to all people. I think that all the outward accomplishments in life, whether it be beauty, wealth, power, property, etc. are all of little consequence to our Heavenly Father. I think what God cares most about is how kind we are and the love we show to others - those are true accomplishments to God. 

If you want to read more about having love for God and others below is a link to a great talk given back in 2001 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint's General Conference about love.

The First and Great Commandment

My "sucky" vacuum

I can't even begin to tell you how grossed out I am by my vacuum. I really debated even posting pictures of it because it's so vial! This accumulation was just from the last 2 or 3 days. I just don't understand how my house is this dirty! Maybe it's because this vacuum rocks! I love my Dyson Ball (Thanks honey!)

I mean it's my own family's filth and dirtiness, so you'd think it wouldn't gross me out as much. But it does! And don't get me started on having to clean it out - that is the nastiest part!

I try to convince myself that the dirtiness must still be from the people that lived here before us, because there is no way my house could have gotten that dirty in just a few short days from the last time I vacuumed! (But I do blame some of the dirt and sand on the backyard project because that tracks in a lot of stuff.)

This year I've been into the show Monk. Great show! I've always considered myself an organized and cleanly person but I think Adrian Monk is really onto something. His cleaning and organizing habits are yes, necrotic, but quite insightful. So much so that I have been trying to incorporate them into my household. (Much to Brian's dismay - he just thinks I'm a little crazy.)

So what if I like to keep my laundry room looking like this?

I think it's wonderful! And every week I tackle new projects. Last week I organized all the DVDs (but now that I think of it I am going to have to redo those because they are not alphabetized...) I guess I try to control the entropy in my house by controlling other aspects of my house! Housekeeping is a constant battle (especially with James and Brian wrecking havoc on things)!

weight gain & weight loss

How I gained the weight is obvious. I was pregnant! Super excited of course! During my pregnancy I had gestational diabetes which can be dangerous to the mother and baby if your blood sugar is not controlled. My diabetes was controlled by a restricted diet and an exercise regime. This of course was very annoying because I had to measure all my food and eat constantly to keep my glucose levels steady. And of course I could not have sweets or desserts. But looking back I think that my diabetes may have been a blessing because it helped to control my pregnancy weight gain. Which even with the diabetes diet was about 40 pounds. So all of this to say is I am scared to know what my weight gain would have been had I not controlled my diet and exercised during my pregnancy.

So after sweet baby James was born I lost half the weight in just a couple weeks. Unfortunately my weight loss plateaued there. And I blame this on nursing. For those of you that don't know, I am a huge advocate for nursing. I nursed James for over 13 months. (I am not intending to bash nursing and I in no way regret nursing for as long as I did because the positives far outweigh my temporary fatness). James was a perfect little nurser! (Is the baby or mother the nurser? maybe the the baby is the nursee... I don't know...) But I'm pretty sure that my body went into like starvation mode and every pound I had on my body and every calorie I ate was reserved to make milk for baby. As you can tell from these pictures the nursing was very effective!

So my point to all this is that no matter how healthy I ate and how rigorously I worked out my weight was just stuck. After 13 months of nursing I called it quits and I was able to quite quickly lose my pregnancy weight. This obviously included a healthy diet and lots of running (at least 3 miles a day)! And as of today I have officially lost 30 pounds since I stopped nursing this past summer!

So here are before and after pictures

 Before (Obviously people!)

After (Scooop! Sorry for the DIY pictures---Brian wasn't home so I had to take them) 

But it doesn't stop there! Nothing helps weight loss like a competition! (I love The Biggest Loser, by the way.) Over Christmas, my dad, Brian and I started a competition. We each have to lose 10% of our body weights (from back at Christmas) by my dad's birthday on May 9th. If my dad does not lose 10% or more of his weight he will owe Brian and me two plane tickets. If Brian and I both do not lose 10% or more of our weight then we will owe my dad one plane ticket. So I only have 9 lbs left to go and Brian has 12 lbs. I will post more pictures in May of a sexier Brian and me!

Tackling the Backyard

We have started to tackle our backyard so it's ready to go for the spring and summer. We want it cleaned up and landscaped for James to play and for us to have seating and a fire pit and the like such as (reference to Miss South Carolina 2007).

 This is the before picture. As you can tell its a tiny backyard so we are trying to maximize it's potential. 

And these are the work in progress pictures.

Brian started by grading and leveling the ground and then he poured sand down. Unfortunately the local felines took notice and took it upon themselves to take a part ownership if you catch my drift. I guess soft dirt and sand is hard to come by in Vegas. I think their little paw prints are so cute though. Brian disagrees. 

So the plan is to lay down pavers in the the entire backyard because they are low maintenance and don't have to be watered! After this is part is done will come the fun decorating part. Brian was starting to feel overwhelmed that the project was taking longer than he thought. 

Back to work.

Recently James figured out that chairs are his new best friend and mom's nightmare! He can get into everything including climbing up onto the kitchen counters! Yikes! So when dad was outside he was trying desperately to get out. 

So we gave in and let him out to help.... or maybe just play!

Dad's determined little helper.

A fun family day

One of the great things about living in Vegas is that we can go to the park in the middle of January! Coming from New York this is so foreign to me. (It's not foreign to my SoCal hubby---they go to the beach on Christmas. That's just crazy to me!)

Notice my Diet Coke?

Brian and his Mini-me.

My squinty and light sensitive eyes. My dad would always yell at me because my eyes are closed in every family picture we have ever taken outside. He thought I was faking it. I promise I wasn't! He will be glad to know that James does not appear to have inherited this trait of mine!

I love how he is sleeping with his books in his hand. James is just such a nice and fun boy he makes us want to have like a million babies (that's for Doug ;) ). 

Bye-bye baby, hello BOY!

Before 

(So handsome and boho!)

 After

(Still handsome, but tamed)

I was only sad to cut his hair because it had a little curl to it and it was so baby soft. He's still adorable of course, he just now has a very boyish look. But sadly it's now pin-straight. Oh well - such is life.

Pre-Christmas

I am not huge into getting tons of family pictures. But time seems to be flying by very fast, so I got a friend to snap a few pictures so we'd have a holiday family photo this year. Here are a few that turned out well. (We are pretty amateur models---with lots of blinking and awkward smiles in the rejects.)

Since we are traveling to see my family in New York for Christmas, Brian's parents were so nice and spoiled us with gifts before we left for the holidays. Grandma and grandpa got James this car which he loves!

Here I am posing in my Christmas gift from the in-laws. It is a gorgeous Calvin Klein coat I had been eyeing. They were sneaky and had Brian pick it up for me! I love it and it will be very warm for NY. 

Brian got a smoker. He's been wanting one for some time and we are excited to use it to make some smoked pulled pork. My uncle makes the best smoked pulled pork and once you've had it you will know that it is the only way to eat pork! So yummy! 

We feel so spoiled with the gifts from Brian's parents! Thank you so much!