Twinners!

Which is Will? Which is Elliot? How can you tell?

A Good Grief

Thanks to the blogging world, I am now able to keep in touch with cousins on my dad's side! From this I learned some tragic news this past summer. My cousin David's little boy Gabriel had suddenly stopped breathing at home and passed away. I got an email from my cousin's wife Amy a few weeks ago about a video that their family was featured in. They received help from a wonderful foundation that helps families recover emotionally and financially from the difficulties that come with losing a child.
The following video tells the story of the family who started the foundation and another family they were able to reach out to and assist, my cousin.
A huge benefit concert including performances from Broadway actors and LDS musician/folk singer Cherie Call is set for Thursday, March 17th at the Murray Theatre. 4969 S State Street, Murray, UT.

BYUtv - BYUtv Shorts: See the Good in The Jacksons

Valentine's Day Revisited

We walked by a lonely heart-shaped balloon on Valentine's Day. Someone left a message on it: Love is in the air! It was a wet, cold day and I wasn't really feeling the love on Stanford's campus. Is there something about Mormons and dressing up, decorating, and really getting into holidays? I seem to remember people making a big to-do about Valentine's Day at BYU. Maybe that's just because BYU is full of love-crazed singles and sickeningly sweet newlyweds. I digress.

Will and I donned our rain boots for a morning walk to school with Britton. It was very romantic. I felt really scrubby and hoped we wouldn't run into anyone I knew. Luckily Stanford has a large, sprawling campus and a small student population so running into someone you know isn't very likely. Elliot slept in the plastic-covered stroller for the whole trip.
Will was pretty disappointed that he couldn't really go to school with Daddy. I told him that it was just a bunch of boring computers and nerds inside, but he was still really mad. Splashing in some puddles on the way home helped him feel better. By the time lunch came around he was much happier.
He likes to ride this rusty, old scooter which he affectionately calls "my skateboard". There's no rubber grips on the handlebar so I'm afraid someday he'll accidentally fall on it and impale himself. But he loves it.
He got out the Valentine's pillowcase Nana just made for him, and had a quick picnic by the playground. PB&J with oranges is the default lunch around here.
I felt bad asking someone to babysit for us on the actual Valentine's Day so we waited until Wednesday night when Britton's little bro Derek volunteered to babysit for us. He took both boys and did a great job. He actually got engaged on V Day! A DD devoted post is soon to come.

I was craving seafood so we went to the local Fish Market restaurant and enjoyed some prawns, clam chowder, and spicy tuna rolls. Then we headed to Borders to browse and pick out some books for ourselves. You can see our personalities in our book choices. It was a low-key night, but a treat considering we haven't spent much time as a couple at least since Elliot came along. Hope you all had a fun V Day too.

Beginnings and Ends

In one weekend we mourned the loss of our dear Grandma-lita, and celebrated the new life of our baby Elliot. It was a pretty intensely emotional time, and you couldn't help but think about how short our time on earth is. Of course you can pack in a lot of experiences in one lifetime, like our Grandma-lita showed us.

You may have known her as Justina, Tinin, Abuelita, Grandma-lita, or by the most recent name used by her great-grandchildren, GG. She celebrated her 89th birthday last year, and even though she was slowing down because of illnesses she was still attending her great grandaughter's 7th birthday party at a bowling alley, and hiking with the family over the Thanksgiving weekend. She was very involved with her family right until the end of her life. We're grateful that she was able to visit us in the hospital when Elliot was born. She was overjoyed that we named him Elliot, the name she absolutely loved, and not the other name she really didn't like. I love that she always had such strong opinions about everything. You never had to guess how she felt about something!
She grew up in Panama, one of four sisters. Life was different back then she had told me. There wasn't so much crime, children respected their parents, and followed rules like a strict curfew. She told me about how her whole family had to tag along on the dates of her older sisters.

We had a lovely funeral for her. At the funeral her two children spoke and I learned things about her that I had never known. OK, so I only knew her four years and there's many, many things I'm sure that I don't know about her. But it was fun to hear more about her in the different stages of her life. Her father enrolled her in an English speaking high school, and although it was very difficult for her, she graduated and was able to use English throughout the rest of her life. She had a glamorous job working for Pan American Airlines and was able to fly to many places in South America, and meet some famous people like John Wayne.
She attended a party with some Americans and saw a tall, dark, and handsome man. She said to herself, I'm going to marry that man. And she did. She married Ralph Olson in Panama and soon after moved to California where Ralph had grown up. She worked for a short time in San Francisco, and loved how all the business men and women dressed up wearing hats and gloves. She was blessed with two cute children, Jeffrey Paul and Aileen Sylvia.
She told me to appreciate the time when your kids are young. It is the most joyous time of your life. Ralph graduated from UC Berkeley, and they raised their children nearby in the El Sobrante area. They loved camping in many places throughout California, and spending time at the beach in Santa Cruz.
Both of their children served missions and attended college at BYU. While their daughter Aileen was serving a mission in Venezuela, Ralph suffered a severe heart attack and suddenly passed away at a young age. They were married for about 30 years, but Tinin had about another 30 years ahead of her without her sweetheart.
She was very involved in her grandchildrens' lives. She picked them up from school, asked about their day, and made them fun snacks like toasted raisin bread with cheese. At the funeral Erin, Britton, Derek, Kelsey, and Alex all shared some of their favorite memories with their grandma. I wish I could share exactly what the grand-kids, Jeff and Aileen said about their grandma and mom. There are many things I missed in my short story of her life.

Elliot was blessed in church on February 6th. It's amazing to think about how much potential there is in this little guy. Who knows what kind of things he'll experience in his lifetime, and what the world will be like in the future. There are definitely some important milestones we hope he will have like choosing to be baptised, serving a mission, falling in love and getting married, raising kids and living a long, faithful life. Just like his GG. Britton included all these hopes we have for him in the blessing he gave.

I thought a lot about the purpose life since this weekend where we remembered GG's life and celebrated Elliot's potential. I learned from GG to appreciate where I am right now in my life. Kids grow up quickly. Britton's mom said to remember to tell people you love them while you still can. We are with our families for the most difficult and joyous times in our lives, and hopefully we can become better people through this life's experiences and be prepared to return to our Father in Heaven.

Funny Stuff

Will has been acting true to his age lately. But he's also been really funny lately. I'd rather remember the funny instead of the tantrums.
Britton and I take turns getting up early with Will in the mornings. One morning after Britton had left for school I asked Will what he ate for breakfast. He showed me the empty cereal box, and then decided that it was time for dessert. Will's idea of a breakfast dessert is ham, cheese, and peanut butter with some juice to wash it down. And you have to eat it on the floor. I convinced him to at least put his food on a paper towel instead of the floor, and to nix the peanut butter. He's saying, "Mmmmm" In the picture.
He also got creative with food at dinner the other night. We were eating fajitas, as Britton and I were carefully putting together our tortillas we heard a big "CRUNCH". We looked over trying to figure out why Will's tortilla was so noisy. He had put corn tortilla chips inside his corn tortilla with a little bit of canned corn sprinkled on top. We couldn't stop laughing at his corny little creation. Will loves to make people laugh.
Will is constantly chattering so you always know what he's thinking about. I love hearing how his little mind works. One day he said to me, "Sam and Olivia have a dog a cat. They have a dog and black cat. I don't have a dog and black cat. We have a black car..." I tried to ask him if he wanted a dog and cat, but he had already moved on to the next topic, race cars.
Thinking back on today, I said things to Will like, "Say hi to Gabriel, say thank you to Vivien's mom, go play with Lucas, say bye to Charlie." That might explain why Will became the social matchmaker on the playground this afternoon. Britton took Will out to the playground and apparently looked lonely or something because Will took him by the hand saying, "Britton, come here. You go talk to Joseph's mommy. Come on Dad. Talk to Joseph's daddy." I came outside later with Elliot and they were still talking. Good job Will. You have a bright future in PR or something.

Bellybuttons and Boo Boos

Brothers gotta hug! Will came along to Elliot's two month check-up to give moral support. He stood on the stool and watched everything that was going on saying things like, "It's OK baby Elliot." and "The doctor is just tickle under your arm."
Will watched him get two big shots in his leg. And Elliot has a weird gooey bellybutton so the doctor swabbed it with some gray stuff so hopefully it will dry up and look normal soon.
2 month stats
Head: 65th percentile
Length: 23 in. 56th percentile
Weight: 12 lbs. 2 oz. 25th percentile

He's giving us lots of smiles and Goo sounds! I'll have to get a 2 month picture of him smiling.
I also walked to the appointment... I love my new stroller! And California's February weather.

Adventures in Chile

I thought I would have Britton do a guest post on my blog, but after being gone for two weeks it turns out he has a lot of catching up to do with his research and homework. So I'll just share some pictures from his trip quickly.
The workshop/institute was held at the Technical University of Federico Santa Maria which is right next to the harbor. Britton said you walk out the front door of the university to the beautiful view above.

The city of Valparaiso was very quaint with cobblestone streets. Britton said it had "character".
Here's a street vendor in Valparaiso where Britton bought me some earrings. He also brought home a book for Will that's written in Spanish. Will thinks Spanish sounds so silly.
Unfortunately, the food was pretty bland for the most part. Britton's favorite thing to eat there were the empanadas. Below is pictured a popular dish. It's french fries topped with chopped hot dogs, thinly sliced beef, and a fried egg. It's called chorillana, but Britton chose to call it heart attack on a plate. He and his friend Ankit also managed to find what they think is the only Indian restaurant in Chile. It was definitely the only Indian restaurant in Santiago. They served pretty decent food according to Ankit.
Britton and Ankit spent Sunday touring different sites in the capital, Santiago. Here's the Placa de Armas. Sorry, I can't really tell you much more about this, but it looks like a very beautiful, old building.

Here is Palacio de La Moneda that houses the government.
The guard in front of Palacio de La Moneda.
They were able to go see the LDS temple in Santiago. It was closed, there was no visitor center, and because of the gate there wasn't much to do there.
Here's a view of the city from the hotel they stayed at.
Sorry, these pictures are not in order. On Saturday Britton and Ankit skipped classes that day to hike a volcano in the Andes! They were the only two on the tour so the guide took them for a longer hike up the mountain for a view few tourists get to see.
They started their hike at a small village...settlement?...it was really small. Like two or three families lived there. One of the families had a goat farm, and the 12 year-old boy on the horse was herding the goats across the rocky terrain. Britton was impressed with his skills and confidence.
The hike was an all day event, and they only went to the base camp and back. The elevation for the San Jose volcano is 19,213 feet!
The terrain was very rocky and barren, but next to the streams bright green grass grew.
Britton really enjoyed the contrast between the bright green grass oasis, and the rest of the rocky landscape. They also saw a herd or horses grazing up there. That area is traditionally where people take their herds in the summer to fatten up. The hike had the opposite effect for Britton.
We were able to talk to Britton almost every night through Skype, but we still missed having him around for those two weeks!

Elliot Update

Look at this guy! He's doing really well now despite having a rough first couple of weeks.

Week one: Comes home with a bit of jaundice and a tongue tie that isn't fixed until the end of the week. He's too sleepy to eat much.

Week two: Becomes so sick and congested he can hardly breathe or eat. Is admitted to the hospital. He spends his first Christmas in the hospital!

Week three: Is back to his birth weight! Spends a restful week with family.

Week four: Dad leaves the country and Grandma comes to visit.

Week five: Everyone gets sick again, but Elliot recovers like a champ this time.

He just had his one month check-up and he weighed in at 10 lbs. 5 oz.! He managed to gain two pounds in the last two weeks. Way to go. He might just follow in his older brother's obesely chubby baby footsteps.

Right now he's average for weight, 70th percentile for height, and 30th percentile for head circumference. That explains why it seemed like he could lift his head right after birth!

Somewhere in those five weeks I started co-sleeping with Elliot which is something I NEVER thought I would do. But I'm really enjoying it. Maybe I'm still trying to make up for those days in the hospital when I could only hold him with a mask, gloves, and big, yellow apron. It was hard to feel like I was really his mom with all that stuff, plus all the tubes and cords attached to him.

Will is loving his little brother. I am so surprised how much he likes Elliot. He asks if he can pet Elliot. He lovingly pokes his cheek. He says, "Elliot is so cute!" When Elliot cries he asks, "What's wrong baby Elliot?" and says, "It's OK baby Elliot." He is an expert on reading baby Elliot's mind. He tells me when baby Elliot wants his pacifier and when he doesn't want it. He tells me when baby Elliot is hungry, and when I should pick him up or put him down. It's going well so far. Knock on wood...