Katie at 10 months

Katie turns 10 months tomorrow, and as I mentioned earlier this week, she's a true delight. Even though she's been sick practically this whole winter (including a viral infection this past week), she rarely complains or fusses. She has a cheerful disposition and is quick to smile.

Here's a photo I took yesterday after Katie climbed up her first step. Time to put up the baby gate! But in the meantime, she's pretty proud of herself (and Daddy and I are proud of her too).

Here's also a funny video of a typical evening at our house -- Katie pulling up on the coffeetable, then deciding she wants to be with Mommy and maneuvering to try to get closer to me. In this video, Bella the dog also makes her first video appearance on this blog.

Utter contentment

Do you know that feeling of utter contentment? Those days when you just can't stop smiling? Today's one of those days. I'd love to say it's because of something profound, but really it's simply because Katie is an pure delight.

Often I'm too busy with my "to do" list to really sit with Katie and enjoy her for long periods of time. It's easy to be counting the minutes until she'll nap so I can get something else done. But when I do that, I miss the little joys.

Katie's almost ten months, and is on the cusp of doing so many exciting things. No longer is she content to be a passive observer. She seeks adventure at every turn --What new thing can I explore? Can I reach that ledge, or is it too high for me to pull up on? How close can I get to the dog / dog food / wires / (fill in the blank) before Mommy notices and pulls me away?

Today we borrowed a Fisher Price Learning Table from friends whose baby isn't yet pulling up on things. Katie LOVES it. (I wish it wasn't $70!) She pulls up on it, and then every time a song plays, she bounces at the knees and wiggles her tushy in order to dance to the music. If she happens to be sitting when she hears music, she claps and claps. This week, she's been doing this with every toy she has that plays music. It's so much fun to see her become interested in music, especially since John and I love music as well.

If I put Katie in front of a mirror, she will pose and mug as if she was Madonna in the "Vogue" video. She will squint her eyes and grin, pointing her chin toward the mirror. She will clap. She will grab hold of the mirror and talk to it, or even lick it.

Again, it'd be easy to miss these moments of fun if I was distracted with other things. But when I focus on "being in the moment" and spending time with Katie as I would spend time with any other friend, I find myself really loving being a mom.

The Story of John and Jen, Part 5

July 7, 2002

We had spent the July 4 weekend at John's parents' vacation home in West Virginia and were driving home. I had been hoping for a proposal that weekend, but after an emotional few days (long story) I had given up on it happening that trip.

On our way home, John got off at my parents' highway exit. When I asked why, John said that he wanted to sing worship songs by the lake nearby. We had spent several dates at that lake, and we were both emotionally frazzled, so it sounded like a nice idea to me... although I have to admit, I started wondering whether "this was it" since the idea seemed so out of the blue.

We found our way in the dark to a hill by the lake, and John pulled his guitar out of the case. Strangely, this evening he had trouble coming up with the chords for the worship songs he played every week in church.

After two or three songs, John started playing chords that I recognized, but not from a worship song. We both love the movie "The Wedding Singer," especially the song that Adam Sandler sings to Drew Barrymore at the end, "Grow Old With You." I had told John at one point how much I'd love it if he'd learn that song and sing it to me someday, and in my mind I had thought (but not verbalized) that it would be a great way to propose. It seems John had thought so too. And when John started playing the chords, I was pretty sure I knew what was coming.

I wanna make you smile whenever you're sad

Carry you around when your arthritis is bad

All I wanna do is grow old with you

I'll get your medicine when your tummy aches

Build you a fire if the furnace breaks

Oh it could be so nice, growing old with you

I'll miss you, kiss you

Give you my coat when you are cold

Need you, feed you

Even let you hold the remote control

So let me do the dishes in our kitchen sink

Put you to bed when you've had too much to drink

I could be the man who grows old with you

I wanna grow old with you

(Below is the clip from "The Wedding Singer". John sings it better but unfortunately I wasn't quick enough on the draw to videotape his proposal.)

When John finished singing the song, he pulled a box out of his pocket, opened it, and asked me to marry him (we were sitting on the ground so taking a knee would have seemed ridiculous). I remember thinking to myself, "Say something witty or profound, because you'll be telling this story for the rest of your life" (my mom had answered my dad with the very romantic, "Are you sure?"). But the best I could do was stutter out, "Of course!" and throw my arms around the man whom I would never have to let go of in this lifetime.

Before leaving the lake, we took these photos:

Then we drove the five minutes to my parents' house so my mom and I could jump around the den together and we could call all of our immediate family members.

Happy fifth anniversary to the man I will love forever!

Celebrating Five Years Together

I found the one whom my soul loves.
-- Song of Solomon 3:4

The Story of John and Jen, Part 4

(To celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary tomorrow, I've been sharing the story of how John and I met, fell in love, and ended up promising ourselves to each other forever. You can read the rest of the story here.)

If you thought our first date ended awkwardly, it was nothing compared to the first time John tried to propose to me.

But let me back up a bit. In Fall of 2001, John and I had been dating 3 years and I was getting antsy for a proposal. We had already gone through our church's class for engaged or seriously dating couples (where we had been assigned a wonderful mentor couple, Dave and Gloria), and we had been affirmed in our compatibility. Our families confirmed this to us as well, and my mother already considered John a son (and always took his side when I was mad at him, to my chagrin).

I struggled to be patient. From time to time, I would set up ultimatims or deadlines for John, then God would convict me that I was not being loving toward my boyfriend, so I would back down and try to be patient awhile longer.

When the anthrax scare hit Capitol Hill in Fall 2001, John and the other House of Representatives employees got the week off of work. John wondered what he was going to do with this sudden week off, and I (only half joking) replied, "Why don't you go ask my dad for my hand?" After years of nagging John for a proposal, I didn't expect him to think anything of yet another sarcastic comment.

Two days later I called John around lunchtime and his phone rang and rang. When I asked him about it later, he said he had been sleeping in and had unplugged his phone. I took him at his word and didn't think anything else of it.

The following Saturday, I went to my dad's company picnic and met the receptionist, Jean. Although I didn't know Jean well, she immediately asked me how my "sweetie" was. I asked her how she knew about my sweetie, and she replied, "because he came into the office the other day."

Jean didn't know it, but she had given it away: John had taken my dad out for lunch the day I had called him, and had asked for my hand, which my dad had happily agreed to.

November 6, 2001.

For our three-year dating anniversary, John and I went to Baltimore Harbor and had dinner at Phillips Seafood Restaurant. I didn't know it at the time, but John had the ring in his pocket in the hopes that there might be an opportunity to propose that evening.

After dinner, John and I walked around the harbor. It sounds romantic, but it really was anything but. Everywhere we went, we were approached by homeless people asking for money. One man seemed legit, and we agreed to take him to a McDonalds to buy him some food. But McDonalds was closed, and after 45 minutes we had to give up and just give him money to find food on his own.

The mood was spoiled, but John decided to try again. We ended up on a small bridge where John pointed to the hospital where he had been born. He began to tell me how he had been extremely sick with jaundice as a baby, thinking this might lead to an opportunity to tell me that he believed one reason God had spared his life was to marry me. However, I already knew about the jaundice and dismissed him casually, so that he wouldn't waste breath telling me a story I already knew. (John says my response was simply, "So?" but I still can't believe I would be that heartless, so I'll continue to argue that point with him.)

After I had unknowingly shot down his attempt to propose to me, John was discouraged enough to give up, and we headed home. Only on our way home did I realize what John had been doing, and how I had responded. And I was going to have to wait 8 more months for another chance to respond correctly.

The Story of John and Jen, Part 3

(See Part 1 and Part 2)

Friday, November 6, 1998

Kim helped me get ready for my first date with John. Red sweater, black slacks, makeup done perfectly. I wasn't all that interested in this guy, but I wanted to look good nonetheless. We were slated to meet at 10 pm at Bennigans, and though John's roommate Jeff had told him NOT to be late, he kept me waiting till about 10:10.

We ordered dessert and I encouraged John to order a beer if he wanted to. He jokes now that I tricked him into dating me by getting him drunk. (I kinda doubt that one Corona would have done that.) I will say that I was very impressed with his ability to flip a Corona upside down with one hand to make the lime float to the bottom of the bottle. I still can't do that.

Several hours later, we were kicked out of the restaurant when it closed. Time had flown by, and I remember being stunned that I felt like I was seeing into the heart of this man I had only known casually. After we left, we sat in my car and kept talking. I was having a great time.

And then I began to panic.

What was I doing spending all these hours with a guy I wasn't interested in? Was I simply rebounding from a guy who had broken my heart a few months before? Would I hurt John by leading him on? And I started spurting out warnings to John: "There are warning lights all over me. Be careful."

And suddenly what had seemed like a wonderful evening to him got very confusing. We parted ways and went home to our respective families.

John told his family he had met a girl and they all rejoiced. He tried to make sense of my confusing mixed messages.

I told my family and they were excited too, but the most important message I got was in prayer. As I prayed about the situation, I felt the Lord's peace come over me and an assurance that I was to trust God and walk forward carefully.

Sunday evening I met up with John at our church's evening service. After the service, I walked him out to his car and gave him a bag of homemade cookies. I told him he could pursue me.

Turns out, the pursuit was already over. We mark November 6, 1998 as the day we began dating.

Her name is BELLA!

Thank you to Emily (who turns 10 tomorrow), Jack (age 8), and their mom Deb for suggesting our doggie's new name, Bella!

Deb, Jack and Emily have no way of knowing that the term "Bella" is special to John and me, and a great fit for our St. Bernard mix. It is the Latin (and thus Italian) term for "beautiful".

After learning in Fall 2006 that we were pregnant with Katie, we took a "babymoon" to Europe -- a train through the Swiss Alps, where we got to hug on a St. Bernard in front of the Matterhorn. This is the trip that confirmed to us that we wanted a St. Bernard or Bernese Mountain Dog someday.

During the last leg of that trip, we visited special friends in northern Italy. The granny in the Italian family had been friends with John's grandfather since World War II until he died a few years ago, and we promised Granny and her family that we would stay in touch with them. The granny doesn't speak much English, and we don't speak much Italian, but one word is used often in conversation with Granny: "Bellissimo!" or "Very beautiful!" Here's a photo of us with Granny and our Italian "cousins". We miss them very much!

Back in the U.S., Bella is turning out to be a wonderful dog for our family. We had prayed for the right dog and we could not be happier. She is social and fun-loving -- a perfect fit for our family! She is very gentle and has learned very quickly the few things we needed her to learn.