|{ April Showers Bring May Flowers }|

I am IN LOVE with my front yard right now! It's super tiny and would not be enough for little kids to play in, but I don't plan to be here long enough to have kids old enough to play in the yard.  We don't even have good grass, actually I wouldn't even qualify it as grass right now...

So, WHY do I love it so much you ask?

It is b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l!!!!!

View from the house

View towards the house

We have pretty purple flowers instead of grass....

A lilac tree right outside our front door...

A pretty flowering tree, whose petals gently flutter towards the ground, and whose branches drape elegantly downwards...

And a stunningly vibrant red tree...

I can't believe how lucky I am to get to look at my own little wonderland every single day! It is purely lovely!

In other news, Jon's takes Step 1 on FRIDAY! It came faster than I thought but still not fast enough! I can't wait til it's over! Jon is stressing like crazy and studying even more crazily! Please say a prayer for him that he will be able to get the score he needs to have the career he wants! We need all the help we can get!

|{ First Time At Drill }|

Jonathan had his first day of drill today for the National Guard and I took some photos of him when he got home! It's so crazy to see him in his uniform, it gives me chills just to look at him. I'm so very proud of him!

|{ Controlling Fear }|

Yesterday, Jon and I were driving in the car on the freeway.  We had recently stopped for gas and had been on the road for at least 10 minutes when Jon put his hand on my knee and I turned to look at him and smiled.....and then gasped in shock and fear and clasped my hands over my mouth.

Jon freaked out from my reaction and asked him what it was.  I told him he needed to exit and pull over....there was a wasp sitting on his shoulder.

*Not my photo

I am utterly terrified of bees!! I was surprised I was able to control myself as much as I did. Had I found it on my shoulder it would not have been the case and we would not have had time to exit before pulling over.  You should see the way I react to them, recoiling with lots of little pathetic girlish wimpers and squeezing my eyes closed, trying to move away without being stung.

After he got out of the car and got the bee of his shoulder I started to think about fears and how to handle them.  I realized that while I don't know if I can overcome this fear, I do need to learn how to control it better.  What's going to happen when I have little kids and a bee comes around? I can't freak out about it or else they will freak out about it, they'll be scared of them too just because of the way I react to them.  I need to be able to control myself so that even though I'm scared, I can look calm and collected on the outside so my children won't have to be afraid.  I'm supposed to protect them and care for them, not make life scarier than it needs to be.

|{ Baby Tidbits }|

I imagine I will be sharing these 'baby tidbits' posts as I get closer to trying to get pregnant and of course once I do get pregnant!

Some of these you may know but I just want to share the interesting things I learn. :)

Baby Tidbit #1
From Parent's magazine:
"Q: Can my newborn hear the high-pitched voice I use with him any better than my normal voice?
A: Yes. His brain is best able to process higher-pitched, slower-paced speech, says Dr. Landry.  Using "motherese" encourages him to listen to language and, eventually, repeat the sounds"

Who knew that the sweet, high-pitched 'baby voice' you with babies is actually GOOD for them!! Awesome huh? :)

p.s. I hate sharing a post without a photo, but I have nothing to share, sorry...

|{ Dunstan Baby Language }|

I saw this video a few months ago shared by a few friends on Facebook...



It's about a program called "Dunstan Baby Language" where this woman who has a photographic memory for sound started to realize that baby's were all speaking their own language.  It consists of 5 words that let you know what the baby needs and ALL babies around the WORLD use the same 5 words!

*This photo is not mine

I was pretty interested in it and looked at more videos about it and then decided to buy the DVDs!  I watched it as soon at it was delivered to my house and I was really excited to try it out, but realized that it would be learned best once I had a baby of my own.

Then yesterday during church there was a baby blessing and the baby started crying.  I was listening to the sound and it took a minute or two before I decided that I thought the baby was saying 'neh' which is the word for hunger.  As the baby was brought back to her mom, who was sitting right behind me, the mom said that she was hungry and pulled out a bottle feed her and she quieted down. I was incredibly happy that I understood the word she was saying! It made me want to watch the DVDs again and keep trying to pay attention!

If I can have even a tiny bit of experience with listening to baby's cries before I have a baby of my own then I will already be ahead of the curve! I can't wait to continue to practice!

|{ Pizza & Gelato }|

I'm pretty jealous because Jon's aunt and uncle and their family just went to Rome, Italy and I REALLY wish I could be there again! I miss it so much!! Every few weeks I get this super intense desire to just be back on those streets and eating their amazing food! It was the trip of a lifetime and I know we'll go back someday, just no plans in the near or partially near future.

Anyway, today I was particularly feeling dreamy about Italy.  We went out to eat with our friend Paul and his family and got NYPD pizza and it was really good!!! I even got to have ham and pineapple (which is my favorite) and apparently my husband complains to people about it...geez... ;)  It was really cool to meet his family, they are super nice!! :)

*This photo is not mine

While we were eating dinner, I was looking out the window and happened to see a gelateria!! I told Jon and we decided to go and check it out after we left! We were pleasantly surprised to find that it was FREAKING AWESOME!!!! They told us that they have something like 300 flavors that they just rotate around!! We got to sample a few of them and they were so awesome!!! Gelato is SO MUCH BETTER than ice cream!! They had some pretty interesting flavors.  They had one that was lavendar and chamomile and it actually tasted like that!! It was impressive!! It's called Iorio's! So if you live/visit Ann Arbor or Lansing (their other location), then I highly recommend trying it out!! YUMMY!!