[This is a post I wrote a while ago... I guess about a month ago. For some reason it never got posted, probably because I couldn't get my pictures to load for some reason.]

About a month ago Justin started his new job. I am happy to report that he likes it quite a lot. We're still adjusting to the new schedule, and even though he has to spend many hours away from home now, he does in fact like what he's doing. Also, having him get up and leave early each morning helps me get out of bed and get productive too. I have actually been wasting very little time lately!

I have been trying a different direction with my research lately. I had been losing interest in my current topic (having to do with matching grants in the provision of public goods). After spending about a year reading the literature and trying to find exactly what direction to take my original research, and finding nothing substantial so far, I started praying that God would give me guidance about how to proceed. Should I look for another topic? At the weekly required workshops, in which we listen to a professor from another school come talk about something they've worked on, I often found myself thinking "this seems kind of interesting. Would I be more motivated to research if I worked on this?" Then a couple of weeks ago a fellow grad student shared some topics ideas with me, said it was a good topic to be working on, and asked if I wanted to discuss ideas together. So I've put aside my boring public goods formation work for now to explore coalition formation, which at the current time seems more interesting. Hopefully I'll get some traction here.

Ezekiel is 6-1/2 months old now and he is crawling!!! It's not hands-and-knees crawling yet, but he army crawls. The other day he scooted over to me for the first time and tried climbing onto my lap. Super cute!!! I picked him up to reward him for this cute behavior. Then he started chewing on my shoulder, so I guess he was hungry. Speaking of which, he's been super hog-jaws lately. He doesn't really like baby food we try to give him, but he's going to have to start eating something else soon because I'm having a hard time keeping up with his milk consumption. Then again, as Mama observed while looking at his thighs, "he's clearly not wasting away."

I recently started giving him toys in the bath tub. It's really cute to watch him try to pick up the rubber duckie as it bobs along in the water. Sometimes he uses his plastic dinosaur to corral the duckie towards him.

Eggplant Parmesan

I recently made eggplant Parmesan. I've made it a few times, as Justin and I try to eat a meatless meal every now and then to feel healthy. I've found breading the eggplant is easier when you're well prepared: I set up an assembly line. Eggplant -> flour -> eggs -> bread crumbs -> wire rack to dry. After letting them dry for 30 minutes I'm ready to fry them in olive oil. Like almost anything frying in oil, they smell really good. Here's the yummy crispy eggplant in the pan waiting for the rest of the Parmigiana.


The tomato sauce is super easy now that I have an awesome Ninja blender/chopper/food processor/lightbulb changer. First I loaded up the stuff I need chopped super fine (garlic, parsley, basil, serrano pepper) Ninja it; then I load up the tomatoes and olives and blend it all together!
And it's so easy to clean when I'm all done! What an awesome Christmas present.

Ezekiel's favorite Christmas present is still the ribbon ball.

And he recently learned to stick his tongue out and make that sound by blowing between his tongue and his lips. How do you spell that sound?

2012 Year in Preview

Here is what we imagine our 2012 might look like:
Justin should finish his Master's degree and start his new job.


We plan to go visit Mari and Chris and Isaac in their new home in Pensacola.


This Summer we may go to a family reunion/90th birthday bash for my paternal grandfather in Colorado. We might drive.


Later in the Summer we hope to go visit Luke, Amber and the kiddos in Alaska. It will be a great time to leave Houston behind for a while!

In August we will celebrate Ezekiel's first birthday!

Though there are no specific plans yet, who knows- we may even have baby #2 on the way!

2011 Year in Review

In January of this year Justin and I went to Washington D.C. for a few days before school started. We had a lot of fun seeing the Smithsonians and such, even though it was VERY cold. Unfortunately, none of the food we had was very good. I would attribute this shortcoming to my pregnancy, as I was not quite past the morning sickness phase, but Justin agreed with me that the food was disappointing. Here is a picture of Justin and me in front of the Washington Monument.


In March we flew to San Diego, where we got to see Grandfather (my dad's dad) and both of my mom's brothers and their kiddos. Justin had never been to San Diego, nor had he met many of those relatives. The weather was beautiful. The purpose of our trip was to pick up Grandmarm's (my mom's mom) Passat, which we purchased, and drive it back to Houston. The drive back was fun- our last road trip together without babies. Unfortunately I failed to take any pictures of this whole trip (what???).

In May we bought our house. We began our house-hunting in January, and saw many so-so homes. In April we had a particularly depressing day of house-hunting in which our best option was a home that we referred to as the "bird house" due to the 2 dead birds found inside the house when we toured it. The next day we decided to slightly increase our price range, visited one house, and immediately agreed that we wanted to put a bid on it. About six weeks later we closed on the home and began the clean-up (it was a foreclosure). I am happy to report that we are feeling very settled in and thankful for our home. Here's a picture of Justin and me (about 6 1/2 months pregnant) on the day we closed. Bonus: in the foreground is a portion of the car we bought in March.


The biggest event of our year was the birth of our dear son, Ezekiel Thomas O'Shay, on August 17, 2011.

A week and a half later I went back to school. I had help from several friends who watched Ezekiel while I went to school, including lots of babysitting by my parents. I have found my interest in school to be a bit less than it was B.E. (Before Ezekiel). In October Ezekiel's baby cousin Isaac was born in Japan. Hooray!

In November we got to see my whole family, including Isaac for the first time. He and Ezekiel are already getting chummy.


We have just finished celebrating Christmas with the whole family.

We had a really good time seeing everyone, but it was bittersweet; we had to say goodbye to Luke, Amber, Titus, Joy, Apollos and Constantine. They have been part of our life for the last seven years and we are going to miss them a lot. But we're looking forward to seeing them in Anchorage!


Now we look forward to 2012, in which we hope to make new friends, see Ezekiel continue to grow and learn, and continue progressing in our school/work. Cheers!

Birthday Birthday!

We got to celebrate Titus's seventh birthday with Amber and the kids. It was a lot of fun. It's so cute to see Joy delightedly watching Titus open his presents.




Apollos saw me taking pictures and asked if he could take some.


Here are a few of the pictures he took:






Ezekiel always likes hanging out with his cousins. We are all going to miss them when they're gone.

4 Months Old!

Ezekiel just had his 4 months doctor's appointment yesterday. Here are his stats:
Head circumference: 14.75", 56%
Length: 26.25", 90%
Weight: 15 lbs, 9 oz, 63.7%

The doctor said I should start feeding him rice cereal so he can get some iron!

I am often told by strangers / acquaintances to "enjoy him now... he'll be grown up before you know it." I think it's funny that this is such a common thing to say to a person with a baby. I also think it's funny because of course we enjoy him! We enjoy him every day! I'm torn between looking forward to him getting a little bit older, so that he can actually talk to us and walk around with us, and wanting him to stay his precious baby self as long as possible. But we certainly do enjoy him. Mari and Chris: enjoy Isaac while he's this young. He'll be 4 months old before you know it.

Ezekiel got a "Baby's First Christmas" ornament from his Granny in Cushing. He tested it out and decided he liked it before we put it on the tree.



Ezekiel enjoys some rough-housing with his daddy. He expresses his delight by cooing, smiling, laughing, and then barfing.



We recently got to see Santa at a shopping center near our house. Like many young children, Ezekiel seems a little unsure about being put on a stranger's lap. Actually this Santa wasn't a stranger, but I don't think Ezekiel could recognize Mr. and Mrs. Carico through their awesome Mr. and Mrs. Claus costumes.

Quack Quack!

Here's Ezekiel on the morning of Thanksgiving:

Unfortunately he didn't get to wear that very long before it got dirty and he had to change into something else.

This morning we put him in his Johnny Jump-up for the first time. He seemed to like it - he was finally able to look all around him, and even turn around if he wanted. I think it will work even better once he gets a little bit bigger.