Category Archives: People

My First Easter by Paul

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I didn’t wake up for my breakfast until 5 a.m. I didn’t know what time it was, of course, but Mommy seemed so happy when she came up. She kept saying, “I just slept for six hours straight!” with amazement. I ate eagerly and then decided to go back to sleep.

Before I knew it, Mommy was waking me up and putting my white shirt on me. Then Mommy immediately put me in my car seat. There wasn’t time to spit up on anyone at all! Daddy carried me out to the car and put me in the back. I sat in the car seat for more than an hour as Daddy drove us around. Mommy came and sat by me for a while and so did this other guy we picked up. I was sleepy so I didn’t feel like talking much. I just stared at the side of the car seat.

Finally, we got to church. I wasn’t sleepy anymore. Mommy took me out of my car seat and held me on her lap. There were so many people to look at. People kept coming by and telling me I am cute. Do such obvious things even need to be said? I just giggled and ate my tie.

I sat on Mommy’s lap as she sang songs. I was pretty happy to be awake. The whole meeting was about Jesus. As Daddy passed the sacrament, Mommy told me about how Jesus was resurrected. I was happy.

I went with Daddy to the Gospel Essentials Sunday school class and took a little nap. Most of the lesson was in Chinese anyway, so I didn’t feel too bad sleeping through it. I’m having a hard enough time with English these days!

When I woke up, I was in Relief Society with Mommy. A lady at the front of the room was talking, and I wanted to show everyone how I can talk too, so I started speaking up! Did you know I can make really loud noises with this voice of mine? Really loud noises! One lady sitting in front of me kept telling me I was cute, but Mommy was trying to shush me. She walked around the back of the room, but I was so excited about my noises that I wanted to see how loud I could get. Besides, I was tired of being held. I wanted to kick.

Finally, Mommy stopped shushing me. And then everyone else was moving around and talking, so no one could hear my noises. How disappointing!

Before I knew it, Mommy was putting me back in my car seat. At least Mommy sat by me again. So did one of the other guys we had picked up, Shawn. He kept making faces at me, trying to get me to smile, but I didn’t feel like humoring him. I decided to make loud noises again. I was getting tired, though, so I wasn’t very energetic.

I think I feel asleep because the next thing I remember, I was in my crib at home. I didn’t want to be all by myself, so I called for Mommy and Daddy.

Daddy played with me for a little while and tickled me. I love my Daddy! He rubbed something dark brown on my bottom lip, and Mommy was quite concerned. She kept saying, “Don’t give him chocolate!”

Grandma Peggy called to wish me a happy Easter. I was so amazed by the voice coming out of the telephone that I didn’t say anything to her.

Mommy and Daddy found me some toys and put me in my playpen. I ate my cloth book and hit myself in the head with my rattle while Mommy ironed a tablecloth and Daddy made pear sorbet.

After a little while, Daddy was putting me back in to my car seat. “Where to now?” I thought. We headed all the way back to Shawn’s house and then back to the church. I did not want to be in my car seat any longer, and I tried to tell Daddy, who kept driving. But Shawn and Mommy just told me I was cute. Shawn told me that it was his first Easter too.

After another long while, we were back at church. Mommy read to me from the Book of Mormon Stories book. I sat with Mommy and Daddy as we listened to pretty music. After listening to some talks in Chinese, we went and watched Shawn baptize William. Mommy told me that I’ll be baptized in 7 years, 6 months, and 15 days. I’m so excited!

After we watched the baptism, we drove home again. Shawn came with us, and so did a sister in the ward and her kids. I lay on my back in my playpen looking up, and there were so many smiling faces—two girl faces and a little boy face and Shawn’s face. I didn’t know who to smile at first! The two girls were very excited to smile at me and giggle and tickle me. I was happy to humor them. The oldest girl picked me up and carried me around the room.

The youngest kid, the boy, wasn’t quite sure how to hold me, but he sat down and he did just fine. Then he and Shawn played football in the living room with a stuffed bunny. I can’t wait until I’m a little older and I can run around like that!

I was so excited with all the people around that I didn’t realize how tired I was getting. When they all put me down in my playpen and sat at the table and started eating, I was very annoyed.

“I’m still here!” I tried to say. But, of course, all they heard was my noises. “Isn’t he cute?” they said to each other.

Finally, Mommy remembered me. She picked me up and took me upstairs. She changed my clothes and sang me a song and cuddled me. I was too tired to go to sleep calmly, but she helped me go to sleep anyway.

It was a good first Easter.

The Great Big Vegetable Challenge and What’s Your Vegetable?

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I have never liked vegetables. I don’t know why. Maybe I relied too much on bagged iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing in my college days and I got tired of it. I like fruit, however, and always enjoy fresh fruit. I have a sweet tooth, and the natural sweetness of fruit is my favorite.

My husband, on the other hand, prefers vegetables. If I set dinner on the table and I have forgotten the vegetable (which happens more often than I should admit), my husband will ask “Where are the vegetables?” and he’ll prepare something.

I could go a long time and not eat green.

But last night, the meal I was making just wouldn’t work. When my husband got home, the kitchen was still dinnerless. (He got home after eight so it’s kind of sad I hadn’t worked something out by then. I was starved.) He said, “Why don’t we just eat these greens?” I had a bag of rocket (known in the USA as arugula) in the fridge. Surprisingly, none of it was wilted (they usually don’t have very good greens here). I consented. But when my husband put the greens on our two plates, there were two huge piles. I tasted some. It wasn’t very good. (And then I had rocket breath — ha ha.)

“I can’t eat that much!” I protested. There’s nothing like a salad for someone who doesn’t like vegetables to begin with.

My husband wasn’t convinced. He pulled things out the fridge for our salads.

“Cut up the leftover steaks,” he began.

I cut up the steak and added it to the salad. Then, at his suggestion, I added olives, sun-dried tomatoes, and shaved Parmesan cheese.

In the meantime, he sliced some red onions, cooked them in balsamic vinegar, and piled them on our salads. He added mustard and olive oil to the remaining balsamic, whisked it into an emulsified sauce, and heated it with some black currant jam. (He’s so good!) He poured that over the salads.

He says that the dressing was too sweet, too much. I don’t know what to say, other than I ate every last piece of green on my plate: it was delicious!

I admit: I left some of the olives. I’ve never like olives. I ate most of them because I’ve been inspired by some food bloggers at The Great Big Vegetable Challenge in London. Here’s their story: Freddie, age seven, did not like vegetables. To cure him of his vegetable-phobia, his family is eating their way through an alphabet of vegetables, getting recipes from around the world and rating each vegetable recipe 1 to 10 (10 is best) on their blog. I think that if Freddie doesn’t like a vegetable in the end, he doesn’t have to eat it, but here’s the catch: he has to try it prepared in at least two different ways. Sometimes it’s the recipe that isn’t good. It seems to me that he’s always rating things from 6 to 10. That’s inspiring.

I can see how different preparations can make a difference: I don’t think I would have liked our rocket salad last night if I’d tried to eat it with Italian dressing and tomatoes, which is what I would have done. I would have eaten a few forkfuls before being disgusted and bored with the greens and going for desert. But the combination of the black currant balsamic dressing, the steak, and the other “goodies” made it very tasty. I was too full to eat ice cream.

I’m going to take the Great Big Vegetable Challenge in my approach to food: if I don’t like a food, that’s OK, but I have to try it a few different ways before I claim I don’t like it.

I’ve eaten mushrooms a number of ways (both raw and cooked), and I still don’t like them. Find me a “good” mushroom or a good mushroom recipe and I’ll try again.

So far, olives are OK, but not my favorite. My husband says we need to find “good” olives and then maybe I’ll like them more. I love a good olive oil — I’d even eat it by the spoonful — so if I could find an olive that tastes that fruity, maybe I could say I love them too.

On the average night, I simply prepare frozen vegetables for dinner. My default vegetable is broccoli: salt, pepper, butter, broccoli … mmm. My husband will always default to peas: “They are like little explosions of taste in your mouth!”

Note that I don’t consider potatoes a vegetable: I consider them a starch. (We have potatoes in some form every night.)

What’s your favorite vegetable?

One-Year Anniversary

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No, this is not my wedding anniversary: this is my blogging anniversary.

In the past year, a lot has happened. My husband and I moved to Australia. I had a baby. I went from working full-time to being a mom full-time. I learned to cook. I had abdominal surgery.

I guess that doesn’t sound like a lot, but I feel like I’ve learned a lot this year.

In the past year, I’ve written more than 80 posts. Here are some of the things I experienced and learned (and wrote about):

For good measure, here are my favorite recipe and my favorite photographs.

In looking back over these posts, I realize that not many of them have anything to do with being in Australia. I could have learned these lessons anywhere. I guess that’s the point of life: we learn what we need to learn, wherever we are.

As a stay-at-home mom, I know that I need an outlet where I can develop my creativity and my own thoughts. That’s why I like my page: it is mine.

Notice that I call it “Rebecca’s Webpage.” It is not our family page. (I don’t think my husband even reads it; if he does, it’s a month after the fact.) At the same time, I will write about my life, and of course my family is a huge part of that.

This page is my personal forum and journal, online. And I love having a place to write. When I think about this blog, I feel satisfied. And I think that’s the reason I write it.

It’s Official

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When Paul was newborn, I ran a poll asking you who Paul looks most like. The final vote was for Mommy, although Grandma Peggy mentioned that she thinks he’s a perfect blend of both of us. I think she wins the prize on that one. Here’s the result from when he was newborn.

Here’s the result as of last month, which is what I’ve been saying all along.

Paul looks most like Daddy, but Mommy comes in as a close second!

FYI, according to a similar test, he looks 10% more like Grandma Peggy than Papa Paul and he looks equally like Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson.

(P.S. Thanks to my sister for finding this fun link!)

Unphotographable

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This is a picture I did not take of Daddy in pajamas during the early Saturday morning hours, sitting on the couch under a blanket with Paul in his arms, reading “AKLAT NI MORMON BABASAHING-AKLAT” (Book of Mormon Stories, in Tagalog), and showing him the pictures. Paul is staring at the book with interest and probably wanting to rip and eat the pages, and Daddy keeps reading in a loud and excited voice, all about Joseph Smith and the brother of Jared, who is called ang kapatid ni Jared.

(How I love that man and that baby!)

I got inspiration for this from www.unphotographable.com, which is written by a photographer who has missed some great shots either because it was against the law to take a picture or he did not have his camera or taking a picture would not have been appropriate or he just did not take the picture.

Your turn: what great picture did you not take?

Pressure

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On Tuesday, Paul and I went to Mother’s Group for the first time in a month. It was intimidating.

Paul is the second oldest baby (out of 10 or 12). One baby had cut two teeth. A few babies were busy rolling over. Most babies were starting to notice the other babies. All seemed huge! A few babies are already wearing the Crawler-sized diapers; they’re mothers said they’re already 8 kg. Paul was content to amuse himself, he hasn’t started rolling over again, and there is surely no sign of teeth (not that I’m looking forward to the teeth bit…). Paul is still about 6 kg and wearing the Infant-sized diapers.

On Wednesday morning as we ate breakfast, I was explaining to Ryan how Paul seemed to be behind. Ryan went over to Paul, who was minding his own business on his belly in the playpen, and rolled him to his back.

“Good job!” he said. Paul was excited too. Then Ryan made Paul roll over a few more times. Paul didn’t seem so excited anymore. Ryan left Paul on his belly.

As we were putting away our breakfast dishes, Paul rolled himself over to his back again.

I was delighted. I guess it takes a Dad to teach these kinds of things.

(Paul rolled over a number of times Wednesday. Thursday he didn’t do it very much, but he also seemed quite tired and fussy. Maybe Wednesday wore him out!)

Cousins Leah and Samuel and Aunt Jenny and Uncle Chris

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Paul and Mommy got to spend an afternoon with cousins Leah and Samuel and Aunt Jenny. Uncle Chris only had the chance to visit for a half hour before he had to go to work.

I’ve taken a long time to post these pictures. Since they were taken, newborn Samuel has doubled his age! He was five weeks old when they were taken.

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Reid Cousins

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Paul got to meet all of his Reid cousins in February. Paul was a bit oblivious. Cousin Kate was a little mother. Cousin Caden, as the oldest, felt he should get more turns holding Paul (“It’s my third turn to hold him now!”). All in all, it was a somewhat chaotic evening, albeit a good time. Special thanks to Emily, who took some of these pictures (my camera was acting up).

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The Entire Reid Family

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Here are all the Reids!

Alex took the picture using his remote control shutter release, which meant we could all be in the picture, we didn’t have to wait 10 seconds between each picture, and we only had to be trying to keep control of the kids for about 5 minutes. Here are the three best shots.

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If you want me to email you the high resolution, either send me an email at rebecca [at] reid [hyphen] family [dot] org or leave a comment. (I can see your email when you leave a comment.)