Meet Maggie Zurbrugg-Johnson 🙂 She was born February 2012, and joined our family in March 2012.  Although massive, Maggie is still a puppy so as you may have guessed she is quite the wild child. She greets everyone with a huge hug, launching an entire 60 pounds on you while she kisses you all over.

She was one of six puppies, the biggest of them all but the saddest of them, laying next to her siblings, missing her mother and that’s what made her so cute! Luckily she came home with the best parents a dog could ever ask for, Grosi (grandma in Swiss-German) and grandpa Steve.

Maggie starts her day off every day with a run with her mommy, running 45 minutes around town, which soothes her for about 2 hours before she is up and actively looking for trouble. She has destroyed expensive phones, shoes, hats, all her dog beds, a jacuzzi cover, chairs, tables, baby toys, all her toys, hoses, gutters, a water fountain gifted to Grosi for a birthday…and her latest victim, Natey’s orchid. Natey was given an orchid the day he was born and up until a couple days ago, the orchid was still alive ( well not exactly, I forgot to water it and it was nearing death, Grosi came to the rescue as the plant whisperer that she is and began her work to bring this orchid back to its normal state, mind you she is extremely good at this).

The good news is that Maggie is now in obedient school, getting some one on one training and thus far, she is well on her way to becoming a tad less wild. So you can see why you wouldn’t overlook such a puppy, she yearns for everyone’s love and attention. Well, Natey didn’t care for Maggie until Sunday, when he discovered Maggie was part of our family. There really isn’t much to this post other than this super cute video I wanted to share. I hope you enjoy listening to Natey’s giggles as much as we enjoyed watching him discover his soon to be best friend.

My phone rang last Monday, I answered, “Karla, you have to go outside, its the most beautiful sunset I’ve ever seen.”  My phone rang Tuesday, I answered, “Karla, you have to go outside, its the most beautiful sunset ever.” I looked out my window on Wednesday, out in the middle of the street I saw my father in law capturing the most beautiful sunset he had ever seen. My father in law and his camera are like peas in a pod, they are always together. The sunsets, along with thousands of items surrounding us, be it a plant, the way a calendar looks hung a certain angle or the way the sun hits the building across the street, they are all art pieces as seen through the eyes of my father in law. He is passionate about everything he captures and deleting a picture from his camera is like taking one of his children away.

 

On Wednesday I went to the LA Art Show in downtown LA. It was the premiere party for the opening night of historic, modern and contemporary art. You knew walking in that you were surrounded by artists by all the different pieces of clothing everyone was wearing, from a paper bag necklace to a silk prom dress with a tail. The Southwest wing of the convention center had all the sculptures. Scary. It was as if I had walked into the made up world of Guillermo del Torro’s Pan’s Labyrinth. Enough said. But there was also art that I found breathtaking like the painting below, part of the Tibet Pure Child series by Li GuangLi, Trustwin Inc. from Beijing China. When I look at this painting I feel like I’m looking into this baby’s soul.

Tibet Pure Child

So it is true, the old cliche, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to art. Then the next question is how do you put a price on what you believe to be beauty? How do you place value on what you deem important and how do you get everyone else, or at least a niche of people, to see the monetary value you have given your item. For example, this door, or what appeared to be some kind of door, to me, did not look to be painted with half of the intensity that the Tibetan child was painted with. But how do I know this? I don’t. Grey Painting #6 by Tom Kirby may have been painted with just the same amount of intensity but what’s coming through when I see this door is no emotion. I feel cold and alone. But this is my interpretation.

Tom Kirby

So maybe I should look outside more often when my father in law tells me to check out the sunset. After all, life is a series of events bound in a book, each one of us decides what we put in it and that’s how we form our memories.

Check out the LA Art Show, it will definitely give you something to think about.

Happy art shopping 😉

This Thursday Natey turns 6 months and will be having his second pizza party. He had a pizza party when he turned 1 month but he didn’t quite make it to the party, at all, he slept through the entire thing. My mom thought bringing him out to take pictures with the cake was mean and the little newborn should have been left in his crib, doing what he enjoyed best, sleeping. Looking back, I’m glad I took the pictures, he looks so funny and cute.

It seems like just yesterday he was in my tummy, growing, growing and growing. And now he is doing the same thing but we can all see. Natey has done a lot considering the short amount of time he has been around. He started swimming when he was 3 1/2 months old, going under water and diving even though this little one couldn’t even sit without assistance.

We’re learning how to sign so we attend a sign through dance class which he really enjoys. He is in love with his teacher and smiles and giggles at her the entire time we are there. She is quite the catch, she plays several different instruments, including the piano and drums, Natey’s favorites, and lets Nathan play the piano as she serenades him good bye. I guess I would be in love as well.

We celebrate at mommy, Jesus and me every other week, watching kites fly, hundreds of baby’s running around (ok, maybe its more like 30, still it feels like hundreds) while marching to a sister singing praises to the top of her lungs. On a weekly basis we also meet MB moms at a local elementary school, where we eat, play and talk to other mommy’s.

Yes, Natey has quite the schedule, but out of all the things we do, our favorite, hands down, is morning cuddling! We love to cuddle. All the time. Aunt DD gave Natey a book about cute monsters from planet dance, Natey loves it, we dance the entire time we are reading it. Some would say perhaps Natey and I too came from this world but please do not be mistaken, we are definitely from cuddle planet, we cuddle in the mornings as we lazily get out of bed, we cuddle before every nap throughout the day (3), after bath time, before bed time, and sometimes in the middle of the night (ok, ok, I also feed him at this time), but it’s cuddling that we love to do best, especially on the weekend when we get to cuddle with daddy.

I have many things to be grateful for, and a healthy, happy, cuddling baby is definitely at the very top of my list.
  

Happy Monday Everyone 🙂 

Needless to say we have moved on to carrot puree and the adult dish should have been a side of honey baked carrots. I made a few mistakes here, one I should’ve used more carrots. period. Two, I should’ve adjusted the recipe the moment I decided to modify the type and amount of carrots I was using. Three, when my mom, who happened to be over yesterday, said something smelled like it was burning, I should’ve gone over to the oven and looked inside, instead I replied with ” Really? I don’t smell anything” even though I have a slight cold and my nose is completely stuffed. Of course I don’t smell anything. 

Aside from having to throw almost all of them away, I was able to salvage some and boy did they taste delicious! Assuming you are unlike me and make this side dish, you are in for a splendid surprise. Natey doesn’t have a say quite yet as he doesn’t start the carrot puree until Sunday.

Natey is currently eating Butternut Squash which I am happy to report has made his poopy a lot easier to deliver ( the baby cereal was making him a bit constipated ). I pureed the Squash a couple days ago and made roasted chicken breasts with herbed wine sauce. The recipe called for 3 tablespoons of white wine but I went with a glass of wine and more of the suggested spices. In almost every recipe I have ever followed there seems to lack sauce, so I always use more that the suggested quantity to ensure I have extra should I need it. The dish was very good and the Squash tasted like fries, except you didn’t feel guilty about having so many of them 🙂

Happy cooking everyone!

“Just listen to me!” I shouted at my sister today without realizing the depth of the word listen. In hindsight, I was frustrated as I felt my voice wasn’t being heard, but I too wasn’t listening to my sister. See listening goes  beyond the spoken word. A person speaks just as loud through their actions (arguably louder), as they do their voice. Most of us have heard the cliché “actions speak louder than words” and have probably even said it to someone but most people don’t listen, they only hear.

It’s like that new I Phone commercial with the orchestra playing in the background. All the world around you continues as you make a phone call and with the push of a button, the phone mutes out everything but your conversation.

A few days ago my sister was over and said some very insightful things to me. She said something that stood out the most from our entire conversation when she told me to simply try my best at being the best mother, sister, wife, etc., I could be, and in doing so I would be the best because my best is all I can give. A very simple idea yet so hard to put into play because so many of us get caught up in life and begin to just get by, by doing the minimum. It’s like having a job you really dislike but you need the income so you won’t quit and you’ll do just enough not to get fired…I know because I had one and it’s awful.

So how are these two things related, yelling at my sister and trying to be the best at everything I do, especially my most important roles in life. Simple. They all entail listening. Had I listened today instead of demanding it so loudly, the conversation would have gone very differently. Moving forward I want to be an active listener, more like the I Phone, so as I watch Natey sleep through the baby monitor propped up right next to me, I make a promise to myself and my loved ones, especially my sister, that I too will listen. I love you Bella.