He's Alive!

I was thinking about what a great Easter we had this year. That doesn't seem like a typical thought: "Remember the Easter of '11. That was sick." It's usually Christmas, or maybe a birthday (like my 26th, right?)I think that a lot of it was due to the fact that Owen can understand so much. Easter is by far the most important holiday of our faith and it has been fun imparting that to him. I made Resurrection Eggs for us to go through at family worship and the visuals seemed to help. But I forgot to put nails in one egg, so there were two empty plastic eggs. It made the "empty tomb" egg a little less dramatic.

As I thought of ways to teach Owen about Easter, it made me reflect on what exactly Easter celebrates, and how foundational Jesus' resurrection is to our faith.

Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

1 Corinthians 15:12-19

But we know that Christ rose again and is alive. As we (particularly Owen) sing, "Up from the grave he arose! With a mighty triumph o'er his foes." I've been teaching Owen that Jesus died on the cross for our sins (which he now says verbatim every time he sees a cross or some times to his little neighborhood friends). So it was so exciting to be able to explain that now he's alive! He rose from the dead and conquered death and our sins. Now if we see a cross and I say, "Owen, Jesus died for our sins," he'll go on to say how now Jesus is alive, and usually start singing a song that correlates ("Made like him, like him we rise, aaaaa-lle-luuuuuia").

I have never felt more sure of my faith than when teaching my kids about Christ. There's just no way to have those quiet doubts of, "Do I really believe this?" when I want nothing else than for my kids to believe in the same thing. My kids, mind you. Those precious little genetic bundles of wonder I care for each day. My legacy. If I thought Christianity was a sham or even just a little iffy, or if I didn't completely believe that Christ was risen, why in the world would I pray each night that my boys would follow an impotent Savior? A man that was rotting in the ground? I would be of all people most to be pitied.

We've had great Easters before this, of course. Let's have a look shall we?

Easter 2008 - Newlywed Easter in Texas. Made my first ham and had a bunch of people over from church

Easter 2009 - Another Texas Easter; had a 2 and a half month old baby

Easter 2010 - Easter in San Francisco? Yes please!

Easter 2011 - The first of many times our boys will be dressed in matching outfits.

Five Star Day

My 26th birthday was a few weeks ago. Best Birthday Ever. Zach had the day off thanks to Paid Family Leave, and so we had the whole day together. He really made it special and after a relaxing morning we went to the Camarillo outlets. I got five shirts for $25 which made me both very happy and well dressed. Then we headed to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and off to the Oxnard beach.

It was Caelum's first time at the beach, and while he liked it at first, he didn't last long. Probably since he could barely open his eyes the whole time.




Once we got home, Zach did some last minute preparations, then our traditional scavenger hunt began. This year was quite extravagant, as there were presents with each clue.


I had fun running all over, deciphering Zach's clever clues.


The boys each got me gifts too: Memory from Owen and a book from Caelum.

Note the outfit change. Sweet Anthropologie shirt from Zach and leggings from Mom.

The hunt culminated with something ringing in my fab new diaper bag from Cathy...an iPhone! I'm loving it and still can't believe Zach bought it for me!
That night we had shrimp scampi (as I requested) then angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream. Zach worked hard to make the day fun-filled.

I'm definitely feeling blessed to have my two sweet boys and my amazing husband. Thanks Zach!

Let's Spend the Day in Bed

As 3 out of 4 Ashtons are sick (hold strong, Zach, hold strong!), this seems like a good time to post. Caelum had an 101 fever last night and this morning, so Zach ran him to the pediatrician who had him give a urine sample and get blood work done. Are you aware of how baby urine samples are taken? They tape a little plastic baggy around the kid's junk and wait for him to pee. Crazy.

The results came back fine. The doctor was just being cautious since Caelum is so young - 3 months - and we all agree that the baby just picked up the same cold that Owen and I have had for over a week. I'd like to thank all of the possible germ carriers who made this event possible: kid at storytime, guy hacking at church, and the germ-coated, 75 cent ride-on green digger at the mall. You guys are the best.This picture gives a pretty good idea of how we're feeling around here.

Anyway, Owen's finally getting over it and I'm hoping if I can get some sleep tonight (please sleep more than an hour at a time sweet Caelum!) I'll be much better tomorrow...just in time to nurse Zach back to health when he inevitably catches this nastiness. He took today off so that he could care of our sniveling, pathetic selves and I am so grateful! I was not making it. And no, I'm not putting up my picture right now.

Small Potatoes

We're famous! My embarrassing false labor incident is now chronicled by the legendary Ventura County Star which has 80,000 daily readers. Let's count this as Caelum's birth announcement.

Dry Clothes

I read this book called Potty Train Your Child in One Day. I had plans to do so, next week, or maybe the week after. Then I was talking to my mom about it, and she said that she found those potty seat adapters really helpful rather than the potty chairs. I figured it was worth dropping $10 to see if Owen would like it. I got a lovely Elmo potty seat in an attempt to appease both Owen and Zach. Owen loves Elmo and wants him around all the time. Zach hates him and would like him to be pooped on all day. As soon as the boys and I got home from the store, Owen asked to use the potty. He hopped right on it and went pee. This finally convinced me he was ready and the next day was "Potty Party Day."

Last time in diapers

The book explains how you spend the first half of the day having your child teach a doll how to go on the potty and even have the doll experience accidents (which is why I currently have a jar of prunes in my cabinet). We had Owen teach Pooh - eh, get it? - how to potty. The first time Pooh sat on the potty and then got a cookie, Owen said, "My turn!" and pulled off his pants. So, we picked up the pace and had Owen in his own big boy underwear in an hour. My smart little sweet tooth was totally gaming the system too. He'd get on the toilet, pee for a second, get a treat, run back to the toilet, again pee somehow, get a treat.... That's good bladder control there. There was no way I was going to follow the book's policy that the child gets a treat every time they even sit on the potty, whether they go or not. We put him in a Pull Up at naptime and then practiced more the rest of the day. He had one accident while we were out for a walk around the ranch, but the rest of the day went great. The next day at church, Owen went potty twice and had no accidents. He even went poop when we got home. The rest of this week has gone great. He still has a wet Pull Up almost every time he gets up from a nap or sleeping through the night though. I think he's not fooled by the "special underwear" as I call them - Pull Ups are far too like diapers. I think I'll have to let him sleep in real "unnernear" as he calls them. I'm just not ready for the mess yet, but it might be the only way to keep him dry while he sleeps. Also, we're going to Ikea tomorrow to look for a big boy bed, so we'll see how that plays into things.

Elmo slippers and Elmo unnernear? Nothing better.

Today we picked up lunch and Daddy and headed to a park. As we ate, Owen wandered around and then said, "I'm peeing right now!" Sure enough, a puddle was growing around his feet. So, that's like our third accident, which really isn't bad. It feels great to have only one kid in diapers. Overall, the potty training thing was a lot easier than expected and Owen was ready. He also enjoyed that he got to watch potty training videos on Saturday during our party...box office hits like "Go Potty Go" and "Once Upon a Potty." Plus he had candy for probably the second time in his life, namely M&Ms, organic citrus fruit chews, and Raisinets. Some of those are healthy, right? Bribery, or positive reinforcement, works. Just like how a cup of coffee can induce me to sit down and fold the laundry. And not pee my pants. Wait, what?

None But Shining Hours

Hello everyone! I don't know if I am thinking in lists because of Hannah's Eucharisteo, but this popped in my head as I laid down for a nap on this rainy day (huzzah!). I think this will give a pretty good picture of my days...

Most Memorable Moments on Any Given Day

6. Owen setting up all his favorite toys for a "birthday party."
5. After getting both kids down for a nap, pausing, taking a deep breath and thinking, "I can go pee now."
4. Owen getting up from his nap and delivering a monologue, "Owl's in my crib. I hear dat. And the coyotes sleeping. Horsies wake up and eat oatmeal. Baby Caelum's awake too! Mommy hold Caelum."
3. Ichatting with my mom with two kids being very rowdy in the background; Gramma = totally unphased2. Owen singing Rock-A-Bye Baby to Caelum and Caelum beaming back at him
1. Zach getting home.

I Know This Much Is True

"You've had more background changes than blog posts, which is strange for you. It's funny that you'd be attracted to the non-word aspects of the blog." ~ Zach