Back in Ol' Virginia

Okay... Cora is asleep so I am going to try and quickly throw a long over-due blogpost together.  (It's hard to say how long she will nap these days.  I am trying to teach her the value of a nice nap, but she's hard to convince!)  

Our new place

Here is a photo of our new place. We are still renting.  Don't worry.  At this point in time we don't have a million dollars to buy a house in Arlington.  (I'll keep you posted when that time comes!) This house is actually divided into three apartments, but we have the main floor and absolutely love it.  There are no stairs for Cora to toppel down.  There's a a yard, 3 bedrooms, a weird old kitchen, a little sunroom, and it's walking distance to the metro, mall, library, grocery store, park, and good friends.  We feel so blessed to be able to be here.  Now, don't get me wrong, there are definite perks to living in a hotel for several months like we did in Australia, but it just feels so good to have a place where no one is going to barge in yelling, "Housekeeping!"  Actually, on second thought, maybe I wouldn't mind that every once in awhile...

MOTHERHOOD IS NOT A HOBBY

Since having a baby, it has become crazy difficult to get to the temple in a regular basis.  Fortunately, our wonderful friends, Nate and Ashlee Morris, made us to leave our child with them and go!  I'm so grateful for them being so willing to take care of Cora so we could have beautiful morning, just the two of us.  (And then we went to Cafe Rio.  No trip to the temple is complete without a pork salad.)

I was particularly touched by the comments the Temple President made before the session.  He reminded us that the temple is the literal house of God.   Usually, when I think of the temple, I focus on its symbolic nature.  While it's true that most things in the temple are symbolic, the actual structure itself, is indeed where God dwells.  

We are taught that apart from the temple, our homes can be the most sacred places on earth.  I've been thinking a lot about this lately, especially in light of a talk given at the Semi-Annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints given by Elder Neil L. Anderson.  He quoted a blog of a Christian mother of five.  This woman had written the following: 

"Growing up in this culture children rank way below college, below world travel for sure, below the ability to go out at night at your leisure.  Motherhood is not a hobby, you do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. 

 It’s not something you do if you can squeeze the time in.  It is what God gave you time for."  

Anderson concluded by saying, "And Jesus took a child in His arms and said, whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me, and whosoever receiveth me, receiveth Him that sent me."  The exerpts from his talk were made into a short 2 and a half minute video on www.mormon.org.  It really is well done.  (Note:  Me embedding this video, means that I think you should watch it!)

That last line:  "[Motherhood is] not something you do if you can squeeze the time in.  It is what God gave you time for," has been playing over and over in my mind all week.  When I remember that, the decision to go with Cora to the library because so much easier.  Deciding to vacuum or play peek-a-boo is practically is such a non-issue.  God gave me time to be a mother and I'm going to take it!

Having Children in Fath

So after an enlightened weekend, of course, today, I had a slight melt-down.  (I'm sure this was God testing me to see if I could actually apply what I learned :) This morning Cora broke a glass all over our coffee table and then would not take her medicine and spewed it all over our leather couch.  Long story short, I can't nurse her to go to sleep because the milk slows down the absorbtion of the medication for her anemia.  And it has to be dilluted, but she won't drink it out of a bottle with juice.  (I'll spare you all of the details...)  Anyways, this means that she's tired, but won't take a nap.  So at only 10 am I was exhausted from today on top of yesterday's fatigue and not quite ready to do another one.  These things sound so not hard as I am writing them down, but in the moment, I couldn't handle it!!!  Fortunately, Sterling was around this morning and helped calm my crazy by helping me give her the medicine and getting her to sleep.  He listened to my tired complaints.  I'm feeling much better now, but sometimes the whole mother thing is tiring/frusterating/exhausting/lonely/crazy/(insert any adjective here)!  There is nothing I would rather do than be a mother, but all I wanted to do this morning was take a shower and get dressed!  That's all.  And I felt like I couldn't even do those very simple things.  Let alone have a few minutes to read my scriptures, work on the cookbook, or exercise.  (How do I have time to write this, you may ask?  Sterling took Cora to run an errand with him.  He's a good one...  And now I have cramps and don't feel like doing things that need to be done like cleaning the bathroom or making dinner, so I'm writing this blogpost to catch my splatterings of thoughts and feelings...) 

Well, that is probably too much information, but I figure you want the real Larsen story--not some inaccurate, Pinterest-able glimpses of our life!  Right?  Maybe?  

Hangin' on the couch together between General Conference sessions

NEW YORK TRIP

My brother Levi did his final show for his MFA in sculpture at The Pratt Institue in Brooklyn, so we took a little trip up there (MegaBus style) to support in late March/early April.  His show was wonderful and we are so proud of him.  If you want to check out his work, here's the link to his stuff: http://www.levij.com.

Here's one of my favorite pieces by Levi.  

Just as we arrived in New York, Cora had a huge diaper incident on the bus.  As soon as the bus parked, we scurried to find a place to change her.  We were very close to just laying her down on the sidewalk, but we decided to have at least a tiny bit of class--for once.  Fotunately, the security guard at the Fashion Institute of Technology let us into one of the buildings and let Sterling use the men's room to change her.  When we finished, we realized that we didn't have Cora's suitcase!!  This meant that we didn't have any clothes for her, any diaper, any wipes, blankets, or anything.  This was going to be an awesome trip :)  We must have forgot the suitcase on the bus!  Or maybe the unloaded the suitcase on the sidewalk and someone stole it?  Also awesome.  Sterling miraculously found someone that worked for MegaBus and I guess they noticed that the bag wasn't claimed, so they just but it back on the bus.  The bus had another stop several blocks and avenues away and the guy told Sterling he could try and catch it there before they took our bag to the lost and found in New Jersey.  Sterling sprinted through the city in his street clothes to hurry and get to the other bus stop to try and find it.  About 45 minutes later, Sterling texted me this photo:

Sterling sent me this photo when he found it!

Sterling's kind of a rock star.  I can't believe he actually found it!  We didn't have to replace all of her clothes and diapers.  Whew! 

Our friends let us stay at their place in Harlem for the week and recommended that we check out this delicious bakery in the 'hood.  Le Vain.  Totally go.  For breakfast Sterling had one of their famous walnut and chocolate chip cookies.  I had a cinnamon brioche.  The breakfast of champions.  We may have gotten a muffin and cookie to go.  And maybe we went later that week again to get more cookies. Maybe...

Eating a delicious cookie for breakfast. 

My parents and brothers, Noah and Asa, all meet us in New York, too.  We had such a good time eating our way through the city, exploring shops, and helping me find a bathroom every two seconds.

Chillin' in SoHo

Pineapple bun in Chinatown

Loitering in Chinatown

Walking on the Highline in Chelsea

Deciding which art gallery to go to next in Chelsea

Making Noah feel awkward by taking photos of him

Cora with Grandpa Aaron

The group

Watching street performers in SoHo with Grandpa Aaron.  Cora loved the electric violin! 

Our friends, Emily and Will Perreauly, suggested that Sterling and I try the Hampton Chutney Company in Midtown.  We got the dhosas.  I didn't even know what they were!  Apparently, a dhosa is largesourdough crepe made from rice flour and lentils.  They are a popular Southern Indian food.  And gluten-free for all you gluten-free people.  Emily and Will are constantly enriching our lives.  They always have good food, music, life suggestions.  Thanks, yet again :)

Noah and Cora at Smashburger before Levi's show

Another at Smashburger

Concerned about her parents decision to bring her to New York and be hauled all over the
place into the wee hours of the night

About an hour after we got back from New York, Sterling's mother arrived for visit.  (We knew she was coming!)

Reading with Grandma Carol

Easter basket from Grandma Carol

RANDOM SHOTS FROM THE LAST FEW WEEKS

Cora's first time sitting in the cart, in front of Costco.  She was so, so excited and kept twirling her toes the whole shopping trip.  She also couldn't stop smiling and laughing at everyone she saw!

Saturday morning walk to an estate sale

Sterling fell in love with this concrete deer at the estate sale.  Now we have a deer in our studio..

Getting bundled up to go outside

Reading/eating books before bed

Our dear friend Janelle Parker with Cora.  This photo is totally blurry, but I love it.  I am pretty sure Cora gets more excited and does more arm flailing when she she's Janelle than when she sees me or Sterling.  Janelle and Cora are definitely best friends.

Another one with Janelle at the Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival.  I started sewing Cora's dress when I was pregnant with her and I just finished it this week!  I had forgotten about it.  So glad I finished it because she won't be able to fit in it for too much longer :)

There was a scupture by Michelangelo on loan to the National Gallery of Art so way had to make a quick trip downtown to check it out.  You could see Michelangelo's chisel marks and everything.  

Too tired to eat

First time swinging at the park!

Sterling playing with Cora

Cora with Sterling's family dog, Lancer

CULINARY ADVENTURE
In effort to keep developing my mind, Janelle and I have started a little daytime book club.  For our first meeting, I wanted to introduce everyone to pavlova, an Australian dessert that we fell in love with.  It was gone by the end of the night.  Delish!  The recipe is at http://www.foodiesite.com/recipes/2000-08:wattlepav (just subsitute the wattleseed for vanilla and you are good to go!).

Pavlova for Book Club

I hope you are all doing well.  We miss being so far away from family and friends, but are so grateful that we can keep in touch through this amazing techonology that I don't understand.  Love you.