Bath pictures

Tessa loves baths!

Here are some pictures.

4 Layer Cake

Yesterday was my birthday (note the new background in honor of said event).

Yada...yada... frankly I didn't really care. I mean this in a good way, I just felt like, big deal. I would have been fine with just knowing myself it was my birthday. But, since other people cared (for which I am grateful, I mean, that DOES make you feel good) I used it to get some things that I wanted (in addition to presents, which were also very nice)...those things were:

Going out to eat at Passage to India. If you live in the area you MUST eat there. MUST.

Sleeping in.

Baking a 4 layer cake. And thus we come to the reason I posted at all. I had to show off my pictures of this delight.

(This is what it looked like under the frosting (I doubled the frosting recipe and still barely had enough to cover the cake)

O have always wanted to bake a 4 layer cake and now that I've finally done it I think I'll make this a regular birthday tradition. If any of you want to invite me to your birthday feel free to ask me to bring the cake, and I'll bring YOU a 4 layer cake.

The Truth

I am very very happy.

I know, shocking huh!

I say this in response to the people who ask, or who may be wondering "So, is this* what you expected." I am lucky enough to be able to enthusiastically say YES!

(*this being motherhood in general and stay-at-home (most of the time) motherhood specifically)

So what did I expect?

Well, I expected among other things,to have more responsibility for the housework. The reality, I don't do all that I should but I do way more than I ever have in the past and I feel much less resentment about having to do it. In fact I realized that I was happy while I was scrubbing the sink with AJAX. I don't think its possible to deny that you are happy if you feel so, while cleaning.

I expected to have times when I didn't get the things done I wanted because nap time happened a bit to early or a bit too late than I "planned." This happens, big deal, this is made a bit less of a hindrance because on the rare occasion I get to take a nap too, and a well rested Emily results in a happy Emily.

I expected to love my baby. And WOAH! do I. She is truly truly the sweetest thing I could imagine. Actually, I feel so much like she is meant to be mine that I can't remember what I expected her to be like "before" - I'm sure I had expectations that aren't echoed in reality, but I can't remember them because the reality of who Tessa is, is all I need.

I expected to be poor. And well, yes, that is true. Actually, its interesting that before we got pregnant we did a hypothetical budget of our life on one income and each time things worked out great. Then the one time we did this budget during my pregnancy suddenly we realized - We WON'T have enough money. This was accompanied by the requisite freak out, but as things have settled we have been blessed with little things here and there that "make the ends meet." I guess this is how life works, but it is still amazing!

I expected to have to work a few hours a week. And I hoped to enjoy it. So of course I have been pleased to find that in fact the job I have seems perfectly suited to my place in life. (And yes, I should be doing stuff for that right now instead of blogging...) I'm particularly happy that I can walk to my office, and often do with Tessa in tow; that I get to work with very intelligent, accomplished people; that I feel at least most of the time, like I know what is going on; that I have a good babysitter for the few hours a week that I need her; that when I need to bring her Tessa is welcome to come along with me; and that just at the point in life when I thought my "career" was over I am doing something that keeps me relevant.

Oh yes, and Aaron. Aaron is a good person. I think that covers much of what I love about him. He is a good husband and a good father. He is sincere about his feelings (in a manly way of course ;) ). I have fun with him, I LOVE talking to him about things. I also love watching a funny show with him because his laugh makes me laugh. Okay, I'm not going to go on because it would get embarrassingly mushy, not embarrassing for me, but for him and for you.

There are other things that make me happy. And, to be honest, there are many many things that I need to improve about myself, but I'm not going to sit around and be sad because things aren't how they "should" be.

And now, I'm going to get up and clean the kitchen ... jealous?

New Years (Blog) Resolution

In the past, on this blog, I've candy coated our lives deliciously. Which isn't necessarily bad but not entirely ... truthful. So my resolution this year is to add just a bit more of the "real" Emily.

This is a bit of a challenge for me considering the wide variety of people that I think might someday read this...I can't be entirely myself while worrying -

"What if a future or current boss reads this and thinks I'm either a moron or unprofessional?"
Or "What if Aaron's co-workers read this and think 'what is he doing with this moron?'"
Or "What if people in my ward read this and think I'm a moron?"
Or "What if my in-laws read this and think 'what is our son doing with this moron?'"
Or "What if my family reads this and thinks ... "

Well, I think you get the point. Yet, I have decided to face that real possibility and press forward. Now, you might not actually notice a huge change in the narrative, after all, I have a pretty sweet life and there isn't much "bad" to write about. And really, I'm not going to tell you anything REALLY bad that happens, or bad mouth any one person, or in anyway admit to illegal activity (not that there is any)...after all this IS the internet! I think what this means is there might be just the same amount of stuff about Tessa, including adorable pictures of her, and just a bit more about me. Lucky you...

Our Mecca (more commonly known as Temple Square)

We spent some time in Salt Lake City before our flight home. We wanted to go to Hyer's Hamburgers, particularly to get some fry sauce, but apparently its a popular place on a Friday night, so we found Mexican restaurant to eat at instead. Then we went to Temple Square to look at lights.

This is a very common outing for many people, but my dad installs Christmas lights professionally so with him it was a in depth research trip. For Aaron and I it was just fun looking at lights and being surrounded with thousands of other Mormons. We snickered at a few of the conversations we overheard, things you'd never hear on the streets of Boston, but we also found a lot of very nice people to take our picture.

This is where I told eveyone to hold still and Aaron made a face instead...I'm posting this to teach him a lesson...

These pictures were ones I took while playing with my camera settings. That is one of my favorite games yet I'm really no good at it...these are the few that weren't (too) blurry.