So Long, Fare Thee Well, Blue!

Yesterday Jonathan's car, "Blue," went to live with its new owner - my sister's boyfriend, Terrill. It hadn't been running, and he got it running and drove it home to care for and love it for the rest of its life.

I must confess, after years of hoping Jonathan would get rid of it, I found myself a bit choked up to see it drive off into the sunset. And I was kind of glad Jonathan was out of town and didn't have to watch it happen. How can you not be sad to see something you've had for 24 years drive away?

Ironically, Honda Civics are among the most stolen cars in the Phoenix area. I said to my sister, "But surely not a 24 year old Honda!" Turns out, even older Honda Civics are a hot item - both to would-be thieves and to owners. People like to restore them, put fat engines in them and show them off. Who would have guessed that little car would actually be considered cool to lots of people!?

Terrill knows people who can help him get the car running and a give it a new paint job. So, we're eager to see what "Blue" looks like in the future.

Congrats, Terrill ... enjoy your new treasure! Just remember there is no A/C and Phoenix gets hot! :)

Nine Years Later ... and 24 Years Later ... and One Baby Later: WE BUY A NEW CAR!

As noted in a previous blog post, Jonathan's 24 year old Honda Civic CRX has passed away. My own car is nine years old, and was a make-shift family car for the first 10 months of Christian's life.

The car buying process was detailed and tiring. I wanted to do thorough reserach on a good family car and it just became too time consuming. I'll spare you the stories of visiting various car dealerships, the "bait and switch" tactics, etc.

We finally went to the Saturn dealer just to look around. We decided to say we were looking for a car early next year so as not to get the cheesy sales guy treatment as opposed to the truth, "We have just one car right now and we desperately need to get a car!!" But as you might know, Saturn is a bit different. The sales people don't make a commission.

I was wanting a white vehicle, but we didn't say that. As he walked us into the showroom to show us the just-arrived 2009 VUE, he commented that he had a white 2008 VUE left and it was the only four cylinder they had left ... but that he'd just show us the 2009 model because we'd be getting something in the spring.

Well, well, well ... turns out the 2008 model was no different from the 2009 model, and it was several thousand dollars LESS. So after our artificial oohing and aahing over the pretty red 2009 VUE in the showroom, I said, "You mentioned something about having a white 2008 model?"

Long-story-short, here is our new car:



Here is the amazing part of the deal: We bought this VUE on Sunday, September 28. We got a very good interest rate though their finance company because I told them how low my credit union's interest rates are. The stock market crashed hard on Monday, September 29. I have heard several news reports this week discussing the difficulites in obtaining any kind of loans right now ... home loans, car loans, etc.

So just like with our house selling last week, the timing was perfect to get this vehicle! Had we waited even 24 hours, its possible we couldn't have gotten a loan and wouldn't have been able to get this VUE.

We had planned on getting a used car, so a brand new car is quite a treat! Jonathan will use the Cavalier as a "commuter car" to get back and forth to work. The VUE will stay home with me, and it will be our family car when we're all out together.

I must give kudos to Jonathan for driving the same car for 24 years ... virtually unheard of in today's throw-away society. And he was driving a car without a/c in the Phoenix heat. What a guy!!

(Side note to that comment: today is Sunday and Jonathan is at Palo Verde in a protective suit hanging "lead blankets" in the contamination area of the plant. There is no air conditioning and these lead blankets are 45 pounds. Jonathan has a bad back. I hope he's okay!)

Christian Turns 11 Months Old

Our lil' guy turns 11 months old today!

He's got five teeth now - two on top and three on the bottom. He likes to test out his bite ... on our clothing (often getting some skin in his bite - ow!) and sometimes while breastfeeding (double ow!).

His favorite play things lately: doors, door stops (the springy kind on the wall that prevents the door from slamming into the wall) and clothes hangers. He also really enjoys books, which is wonderful! He has lots of toys, and they stay untouched in his toy box in favor of whatever book he can find.

He also loves going up the stairs. Any chance Christian gets, he quickly crawls over to the bottom of his stairs, looks to the top and starts his climb. We've got to be quick around here!

I think he's on the verge of walking now. He pulls himself up to whatever we have: the couch, the bed, my desk chair and the stair railing upstairs. Since we don't have coffee tables, he's pretty limited on what he can pull himself up to.


Mealtime has become challenging lately. I know Christian is hungry, but he protests whatever I give him. I try to shake it up by offering new foods (i.e., bits of waffle, chicken, pasta) and different locations, since he often gets very upset about being placed in his high chair. So every day is different ... yesterday he ate a lot, and had a good breakfast today ... but lunch later on might be a complete failure

Bathtime has also become a bit of a challenge. He ususally wants out the moment he gets in. I have no idea why ... its a nice temp and there are fun toys. He seems to just want his Mommy instead.

SOLD!

39 days. That was all it took! A modern day miracle, in my opinion ... especially considering the lousy housing market and general condition of the economy.

God brought a wonderful buyer to us: A Baptist pastor and his wife who had a $140,000 down payment! They made their offer, we gave our counter-offer, and they accepted. WOW! They hired an inspector, as any smart homebuyer would do ... and he found only minor things such as a missing screw to affix the dishwasher to the countertop. So, we offered them a $400 credit at closing for the cost of hiring a handyman for a day to fix the very minor issues.

The buyers asked for a quick, two-week closing - and got it. Every time we spoke to our Realtors, they told us how amazed they were at how quickly the sale was progressing, and how easy the buyers were.

The only potential problem was the events on Wall Street on Monday. I was told yesterday was a rough day for home sale closings, because lending essentially froze. But ours went through and we should have the money deposited into our account this morning.

God's hand has been on the house situation since we first signed the contact to build the house in 2004. Jonathan had just graduated with his Ph.D. and was starting his new job at LANL. We were engaged and had no money for a down payment. That was during the time when lenders were doing 100% financing, so we were fortunate in the timing. A new subdivision was opening just as we were looking at homes, and we were able to get an amazing lot to build the house on. Our Realtors really liked us, and so they didn't make us pay the usual earnest deposit to hold the lot.

And it is that beautiful lot with its amazing views that got our house sold so quickly!!! We didn't make much money at all ... but, we got it sold and only had one month of having to make a mortgage payment and the rent payment on our house here in Arizona. So many people are losing their homes, and so we feel extremely blessed to have been able to sell our house at all ... and get a little money to put in the bank.

THANK YOU, GOD, FOR WATCHING OVER US!!!

Jonathan sent me this e-mail today ... I don't think he'd mind if I shared it with everybody. It kinda choked me up:

I was thinking about the house and remembering all the good times we had there. The sad thing is that it seems so brief that we were there. I was remembering our Sunday afternoon naps in the TV room with a cool breeze blowing over us. The many times in the kitchen running in to each other while we make our meals and watch the TV. Chasing Bella in the living room as she did her figure 8s around the white couch. Our time with Christian in the jet tub. Waking up in the middle of the night to feed Christian and taking the short walk to his bedroom. Seeing the sunrise reflecting in the mirror in the master bathroom. And finishing my runs stretching on the front porch looking at the view. The perpetual question, "do you want anything from down (stairs)?" I'll miss our house. It was all too brief. I Love You! Now time for some new fun memories.

The Invisible Woman

Being a mom is tough sometimes ... actually, a lot of the time. Jonathan was gone last week, and that was a hard week for me as a mom. He'll be gone again in a couple of weeks, and I'm sure it will be another hard week for me as a mom. When they say, "Parenting is the toughest job you'll ever have," they aren't kidding. (And yes, I realize that my journey as a mom is just beginning and things will only get harder)

My sister sent me this video today, and it touched my heart. I hope you moms who follow this blog enjoy the video.

Jennifer

Brian and the Blurb

Today's post title sounds like it could be a book ... or a TV show. Like "Pinky and the Brain" (which I never saw). But really, its all about a visit from Brian.

Who's Brian? Well, my cousin, of course. Brian was in Phoenix this week for some training and Liz, Christian and I met him for dinner.

Unfortunately, dinner was preceded by Christian having a bit of a rough day. He hadn't eaten much (he's going through some kind of phase) and he was tired. A hungry and tired baby is a bad combo.

We walked into the restaurant and one of my worst fears came true: a quiet restaurant and a fussy baby. I hoped for the best, but wouldn't get it. Christian refused to be put into his chair, so that forced me to hold him standing up. We were right in front of the restaurant focal point: a huge plasma TV, so I felt that all eyes were on me. Thankfully Brian, who has two young children of his own, suggested we get dinner to go. Doing so and eating at his hotel room bought us some more time with Christian.

Side note: If you double-click on the second picture down to make it bigger, you can see Christian's oh-so-cute two front teeth!

We had a very nice visit, and in Jonathan's absence for the week, it was wonderful to interact with adults who didn't cry and need their diapers changed. :)

Brian and his lovely bride Cheri embarked on a six week African Safari earlier this year, and Brian had some great stories to share. Which brings us to the second part of "Brian and the Blurb."

Brian and Cheri put together a wonderful picture book of their adventures on http://www.blurb.com/.

Here is their book, Africa 2008 Glimpses of God's Glory: http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/264260. If you click on "Book Preview," you can see the first few pages ... wow!!

I was impressed ... and inspired! What a great idea for putting together Christian's first year of life! So that is my new project in my "free time." (Free time? What is that?) And so I wanted to share http://www.blurb.com/ with all of you. Many of you have children, and some of you have taken fabulous trips around the world and might like to chronicle your adventures this way.

Brian, we thank you for visiting with us this week and for a tasty dinner. And thank you, especially, for being a dad and understanding about Christian's fussy mood. Safe travels back to Cheri, Natalie and Kendra!

Jennifer

All the Latest

Here's the latest scoop on the Lucero family:

Our house is in the process of being sold - yay! More details will come soon, as the closing date is on 9/30 and I don't want to jinx anything. :)

Jonathan is in North Carolina this week for training. So its just me, Christian and Bella. I'm pretty certain I'll be insane by week's end ... mostly from walking Bella twice a day with Christian strapped into the Baby Bjorn on my chest.

Jonathan's 24 year old Honda has died for the last time. So, Christian and I went car shopping yesterday with Liz. We won't buy anything until Jonathan is home next weekend ... so stay tuned to learn what car we'll be driving next. I can assure you, it will not be a two door. We've had just about enough of trying to get Christian and his car seat out of the back of my car. Its frustrating, difficult and hurts Jonathan's back. Not to mention that Christian is heavy and its very hard for me to get the car seat in and out.

Its still very hot here. The locals have informed us its "cooling down." I don't know if I consider 101 to be cooling down, but I guess its all relative. Certainly better than 114 from July.

Jonathan took Christian to "Gymboree" last week, and so once Jonathan gets back, he'll be taking Christian to Gymboree once a week for some fun and "daddy/son bonding." We also attended a "Baby Signs" demonstration on Saturday and we were most impressed with the instructor's 16 month old baby was signing to her mommy! So, we've signed up for a six week class.

Christian is quite proud to be able to pull himself up to the side of the bathtub (both when in the bath itself, and when making his visit into the bathroom several time a day), the stair case railing upstairs, and his crib. He especially gets a kick out of climb up the stairs. As soon as I put him down in the living room and he sees the stairs, he makes a beeline for them. So I've learned to become very watchful of him downstairs. He's quite good at climbing the stairs, but can easily lose his balance if he turns his head to look behind him. So I'm always there with a supporting hand.

Splishin' and a Splashin'

This morning we met Ashlee and her son Isaiah, and Stephanie and her son Parker, at a "spalsh pad" in my neighborhood. It was so nice to get out of the house during the day and do something fun - thanks Ashlee and Stephanie!

The weather was warm (as always) and so was the water shooting out, so the babies had a nice time! Christian and I may need to make a weekly visit to the splash pad since its forever summer here.

Good News in the Works!

I hesitate to make this post, because everything is still fluid and happening very quickly. But ... we received an offer on our house yesterday! Our counter-offer is being submitted today. They want everything to move very quickly ... and want to close in two weeks! Our Realtors say they've never seen a request for such a quick closing. The buyer is extremely well-qualfied and is putting a HUGE amount of money down on the house. So this is for real! STAY TUNED!

Our First Dust Storm

Yet another new experience for the Lucero family:

Jonathan called me as he was leaving work just after 5:00pm yesterday and said, "Look out the window! Do you see that huge dust storm coming?? Its right behind me!"

It was our first dust storm, so we were both excited - ha ha!

I said, "Well, you'd better drive fast then! I'm going to check it out!"

So I loaded Christian into his stroller and walked to the southern-most empty lot in our neighborhood to see the storm.

It seemed far away, and so I figured it wasn't headed towards us. HA!! Suddnely the storm was upon us and we had to run home (a funny sight to see, I'm sure!).

We returned home to find the power was out. I expected it would be brief, but no ... it was an all nighter. By God's good grace, the storm had significantly dropped the temp outside, so we were able to open our windows (hesitantly, because there are all sorts of bugs outside who would love the chance to come inside, and our windows don't have screens).

Sounds like most of Buckeye lost power, but we could see the lights of Buckeye in the distance.
I was stressing about having to be home with the baby all day w/o air conditioning. When I called the utility company at 5:00am today, I was told power would be restored by 6:00pm. UGH! So thank goodness the power came back on much earlier than they told me. WHEW!!!!
I can't pull the storm photos off my camera to share, so below are the pictures I pulled from a news website:

Aw, how cute!!!

A Month Later ...

Today marks one month since our move to Arizona. Here's how things are going:

It's still HOT here. But the mornings and evenings are cooling down a bit, so that is nice. Christian and I try to take a hour-long morning walk each day. We try to start out before the sun rises over the mountains because as soon as the sun appears, it starts to get hot.

We've had encounters with two of the desert creatures mentioned in a previous post: a black widow spider (who had spun her web in a place Christian could have easily discovered - fortunately, that room had not yet caught his attention and I spotted the spider before he did) and a scorpion. It wasn't the huge variety that I envisoned from "The Mummy." It was about the size of the tip of my finger, but I have since learned that those scorpions are especially dangerous. Needless to day, I think we'll need to have an exterminator come out on a regular baiss.

Last night we attended a BBQ for members of "Buckeye's Busy Bees," which is a local parenting group I got involved with at my mom's suggestion (thanks, mom!). The BBQ was our first event with the group and we made friends with a family, and the husband/dad also works at Palo Verde. So he and Jonathan visited for a while last night while Christian and I mingled with other moms.

We attended Calvary Goodyear today for the first time. The pastor follows Calvary's traditional style of "verse by verse" teaching of the Bible, so we felt right at home. It’s a small church, and only provides childcare for the later of the two services on Sundays. We were at the early service, so we sat in a room at the back of the sanctuary with a window separating us from the sanctuary. Prior to starting his message, the pastor walked into the room and said, "I don't know if anybody has said hello to you, but I wanted to come in and welcome you." He made a point of saying hello to Christian, and I said, "This is Christian." And actually, at that moment, we dind't really know he was the pastor, so when he stepped onto the stage a minute later, we were very impressed that he stopped in to say hello to a family he didn't recognize. After the service, he greeted people as they left and somehow even remembered Christian's name and told him goodbye.

Jonathan is really enjoying his job – and having every Monday off. Because last week was a holiday week, he got off work at 3:30pm every day. He's made several friends already, with whom he eats lunch frequently. He's also found a Bible Study group. He attended his first meeting last week and he plans to keep attending.

Stay tuned for continuing updates!

Jennifer

Study: No Link Between Measles Vaccine and Autism

Like most parents, we were a bit concerned about the MMR vaccination and Christian. He's a long ways off from getting the shot, but the media and Hollywood celebrities make sure the autism topic stays at the forefront, scaring so many parents and creating confusion about how to vaccinate our children.

I once asked our pediatrician about autism and he spent a few minutes explaining that from his experience, research and readings, there was no link between the vaccination and autism. He told us there are a lot of conditions that are now classified as "autism," whereas in years past, they had been classified as other kinds of conditions, i.e. mild retardation. So that helps to explain why there seems to be an explosion of autism cases in children.

He assured us the vaccine was safe, and it was far more risky to a child's health to not get the vaccination.

So for the parents and grandparents who read our blog, I wanted to share the findings of a recent study with you: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/09/03/measles.autism/index.html.

Jennifer

Carefree, Arizona

Here in the Phoenix area is a town called "Carefree." I saw it in a list of farmer's markets in Arizona and was intrigued by the street name that the market is located on. Which led me to see what other street names exist in good ol' Carefree. Here's the list:

Lucky Lane
Easy Street
Nonchalant Avenue
Happy Hollow Drive
Tranquil Trail
Sleep Hollow
East Ho Road / East Hum Road
Lazy Burro Drive
Rocking Chair Road
Dream Street
Pleasant Place
Serene Street
Primrose Path
Margarita Way
Linger Lane
Breathless Drive

Last but not least is a street name that doesn't fit: Bloody Basin

What???

Goes right along with the street called "Bucket of Blood" in Holbrook, Arizona.

Weird!

We may need to take a little drive one weekend and check out Carefree. I want to see what the houses look like!

Jennifer

Christian Turns 10 Months Old

Christian's just two months shy of turning ONE (my goodness!). Here are the latest updates:

Those Pearly Whites: His top two teeth have finally broken through (how cute!) and in checking those out, I saw a third bottom tooth is also coming up quickly.

Getting' Around: And so it begins. In the last few days, Christian has really learned a lot. Suddenly he was able to pull himself up here and there … and now he's climbing on anything he can – like boxes. Another good reason to get unpacked ASAP. This morning he crawled into the bathroom and when I checked on him, he'd pulled himself up to the side of the empty bathtub and was looking in. This weekend, Liz and I were visiting when I turned around to find he'd started climbing the stairs. Oh my goodness!

Chowtime: I was wondering when Christian would figure out he can put food into his mouth on his own … and then one day he did it. He's now a pro! I've been making food for Christian here and there and he seems to enjoy it. I still use the commercial baby food, too – depending on how much time I have. Sometimes he eats really well, other times he doesn't. It can be frustrating at times, but we get through it.

Location, Location, Location: Christian now sleeps in his own room, which is good for us and good for him. Many times he wakes up … its still dark (he's an early riser) and he's just sitting in his crib looking at whatever book we put in there the night before. He's become quite good with his board books … he knows to turn the pages – if we're with him or if he's looking at a book on his own.

Other Tidbits: Because Christian is so active now, its become quite a challenge for me to watch him during the day and keep up with work. Consequently, most nights are spent catching up on work with bedtime for me around midnight being the norm. I am so envious of moms who don't have to commit their time to an outside job. Christian is at such a fun age right now, and when I'm not working and focuing on 27 different things, I am so relaxed and just enjoy him so much! He's such a wonderful little boy!

Christian has also upgraded to an inflatable bathtub. Its give him a lot more room and he even has bath toys now!

We took him on his first playground adventure:

Crazy, Crazy Weather

Though we live in the "Phoenix area," we're 40 miles west of central Phoenix and get very different weather out here. There are times that cities in the Phoenix area, such as Chandler, get 2 inches of rain in a single storm and all we got out here was a few clouds. So when a weather alert is issued for Maricopa County, I get all excited for something interesting to happen way out here in good ol' Buckeye. After two weeks of hot weather that wasn't particularly exciting, things finally got really exciting last night!




It started with an amazing lightening show across the entire valley ("The Valley" is how Phoenix and all of its many surrouding cities are referred to). Above our home, the skies were clear and stars were shining, but in the distance it was the most amazing display of lightening I've ever seen.

As the multiple storms passed through, TV shows were constantly interrupted with weather reports and warnings. We heard of hurricane-force winds, sometimes reaching 100 mph. They would show a map of lightening strikes, "Chandler has had 800+ lightening strikes in the past five minutes."

Here's part of the story from local news:

Unusually powerful thunderstorms ripped across the Valley on Thursday night, bringing heavy rain and winds reaching 100 mph that broke the windows of a condominium, shutdown two runways at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and downed hundreds of trees, leaving at least one child seriously injured.

Most of the damage appeared to be concentrated in central Phoenix and Tempe, but the storms' violence hit all parts of the Valley.

The storm dumped almost an inch in parts of Mesa, while almost two inches fell near Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. The heavy rains flooded numerous streets across the Valley.

Nearly 40,000 homes across the Valley remain without power Friday morning as utility crews try to get electricity restored.


Scattered debris forced the closure of Sky Harbor north and central runways. By around 7:30 a.m., only the central runway was closed. Street sweepers were working to clear the runway, and the airport had reported no major delays for travelers Friday morning.

Downed traffic lights throughout the Phoenix metro area have forced several road closures, including 40th Street between Cactus Road and Shea Boulevard.

Eventually what was left of the storm made it to our house. We were awake for some of it, asleep for the rest. We lost power briefly and the cessation of the white noise in Christian's room woke him up and we had one heck of a time getting back to sleep - all of us.

You'd think it would have led to Christian taking super-long naps today.

No such luck. Mommy sure does need a nap, though.

Jennifer

That Wascally Wabbit

Here are some current pictures of Christian. You may be albe to click on an image to view a larger version And below the pics are some stories about what the lil' guy is up to these days.

Enjoy!

This last photo is particularly special to me. I took earlier this week after having realized on that particular day that Christian had learned to sit up by himself. I put him down for a nap and didn't hear anything from him after that. I assumed he was sleeping ... but I walked into the room and was surprised to find him sitting up in his crib, quietly entertaining himself with a book. (Fortuantely, a camera is never far away ...) It was sooo cute!

Since he was content, I walked out and assumed he'd fall asleep in a few minutes. However, the next time I walked into check on Christian, I was shocked at what I saw: Christian was standing up at an angle, holding on to his "Buffs Mobile" - imagine the way a water skiier stands. I had no idea he was able to pull himself to a standing position! He lost his balance and fell backwards onto his mattress. He was fine ... I was horrified. Needless to say, the mobile has been removed from his crib.

That night, we watched Chrsitian has he grabbed onto the rail of his crib and pull himself up to a standing position, with his head dangling over the edge. I am so thankful he did that little move right in front of me. The crib mattress will now be lowered to its lowest setting.

I knew these things were coming, but I didn't expect we'd be faced with it so quickly and immediatley. There seems to have been no learning curve for Christian - he's a quick learner!

We tried the local church today, and decided it was time to leave Christian in the nursery. It was only his second time to be in the care of somebody other than Jonathan or me for more than a few minutes. It was his usual naptime, so we weren't sure how he'd do being away from us ... and being tired. We returned an hour and a half later to find him happily playing with some toys next to another baby. We were told he did great and needed minimal attention from the nursery workers. We were so relieved!

As Jonathan noted, it was the first time we actually sat together at church in 10 months (since at Calvary Santa Fe, I was in the nursing mom's room with Christian during the service). It was nice to be together again.