our sweet miracle

I'll post more later, but for now here is a picture, taken moments after she was born, and a quote I stole from Katie's blog, which so accurately describes the experience of becoming a mother.

I believe the act of giving birth to be the single most miraculous thing a human being can do and it is surely the moment when a lot of women finally understand the depth of their power and connection to all of nature. You think it can’t possibly be done, you think you can’t possibly take the pain, and then you do — and afterward you look at yourself in a whole new way. If you can do that, you can do anything.

–Ani Difranco

The Nesters

So, we're at 37 weeks, which technically means this baby could come any day. Zeke was about a week early, so I am not expecting anything to happen for a couple more weeks, but I have been doing some serious nesting. I am generally a pretty neat person (although not quite as neat as my husband), but at the end of pregnancy something crazy takes over and I have this great need to clean and organize. Thankfully I have gotten a lot of help from Jeff, my mom, Courtney, Jeff's parents and even our sweet neighbor.

Zeke's closet--which Courtney and I organized while my mom kept Zeke occupied.

My flannel from 7th grade!! Courtney made me get rid of this. Can you believe that? I think her exact words were, "Tiffany! That looks horrible on you!" Giving it to Goodwill was like saying goodbye to Kurt Cobain all over again.

Oma and Opa Westra came over with JP and the boys had so much fun. While they played Jeff and I cleaned out the garage. It felt so good to go through everything we own and get rid of stuff!

Another dinner idea...
As I am looking for ways to simplify and organize my life, I decided to try a new Smitten Kitchen recipe. We had this for dinner tonight. It was tasty, easy, inexpensive and (my favorite part) left us with very few dishes in the sink.

Check out our new stroller

We also decided that today was the day to say goodbye to the mullet Zeke has been sporting for a week or so.

I bribed him with some fruit snacks and in about 15 minutes he was looking much better.

Don't judge us just because our kid has a mullet and prefers to travel around in a cardboard box.

Easter + some time away

A few pictures from Easter and our last vacation as a family of three down in San Clemente. Despite a major earthquake, a sick boy and a flat tire on the way home, we had an incredibly relaxing and very fun week.

Notice the blue mouth...I didn't realize how much Easter egg dye pellets look like candy.

Easter Sunday fell on Jeff's birthday this year. Here is the birthday boy with his Mini-Me and biggest fan.

He has become absolutely fearless in the water (which totally freaks us out). His favorite pool side phrase is "Look guys!"

Changing the tire on the way home was a big adventure for our little man. Seeing him so excited made it less frustrating for us, although things did seem a bit out of control as he rode his scooter around the gas station parking lot and through the mess of our unpacked car.

We were finally able to keep him contained in the trunk of our car...I know that sounds cruel, but look how happy he is.