He's studying...

Adam is in the most difficult portion of medical school thus far. I know there will be tougher times ahead, but just for now, this is hard. He leaves around 7:15am and used to come home around 9:30pm, but has been getting home at 8pm this week so he can see Wesley just before bed. It's been great for our family, but it means that we eat, put Wesley to bed, and then he goes back to studying until bedtime (around midnight). It's working fabulously, actually! I am SO happy to have him home sooner...even in the other room. Wesley loves seeing his dada. They are so silly together! He lets Wesley climb all over him and they are just so cute together. Wives, you know, there's just something so adorable about the person you fell in love with playing with the person you spend your days with :)

So, tonight we left the dishes so we could put Wesley to bed. Adam went to study. I sat down to check the computer. An hour later, Adam came out to get a drink and I was super embarrassed inside that the dishes weren't done. (he never mentioned them, sweet guy) Especially since he was talking about how much work he had to get done and how little time he had to do it. (He has a huge board exam at the end of April and pretty much has to know everything about biochemistry, pharmacology, embryology, anatomy, physiology, and even more. And when I say "everything," that's what I mean. From what each muscle, vein, artery, organ, and system does to how they do it and any little thing that could go wrong with each part or system.)

Yep. Here I am, sitting on the couch with the laptop checking out pinterest, facebook, paying bills, checking email...Relaxing after a long day with a busy toddler. But still, I have absolutely nothing on my med-school-hubby! I feel like his job is so much more stressful! Well, no matter what, I was going to show something for my hard work sitting on the couch for an hour. Ha!
I clicked over to my recipe board on Pinterest. I knew exactly what I wanted to make and have been wanting to make it all day, actually. I've made it once before and it seemed absolutely perfect!! No one goes wrong with this recipe! If you haven't tried it...oh my! It's heavenly. And just and moist as it looks. It makes me feel like I'm an awesome wife and mother. It makes me feel like I have awesome baking skills. Really, it's all thanks to those 3 sticks of butter.
Cinnamon Roll Cake!

So there, I just studied too. Thanks butter :)

Another Wesley post

Since I didn't start at the beginning of November with something I'm grateful for, I'll just run down a list of things I've been noticing that I love about Wesley...the little things I wish other people could think are just as cute as I (his mommy) think they are about my son. I've been keeping them in my head for too long and don't feel like getting out my journal.

1. when daffodils tickled his nose on our walk he giggled. (and then ate it as I tried to capture the sweet moment) I am so grateful to live close enough to Target for it to count as a "walk" and "errand running."
2. he ate a whole can of green beans for dinner
3. He can say sssss like a snake. I just taught him this week :) See...maybe this sounds lame, but I just want other people to be proud of his new tricks! And I think S is a difficult sound for kids to say...any one know more about child development that can back me up?
4. He has a book with a puppy in it and I stuck my tongue out and panted like a puppy while reading. Lately he's been opening his mouth and panting (no tongue, but wide-eyed and pointing) when he sees a dog in a book and in person. SO cute that he picked up on it while everyone else things a dog says "woof" :)
5. He panted at a giant stuffed dog at Target :)
6. He panted at the feather boa's at the craft store today! Cracked me up!!!
7. Another thing I love? His hair. It took him a whole year to grow some. (okay, first haircut was at 6 weeks but I had to get rid of that mullet.) I do love his perfectly shaped head (since more and more babies need to wear helmets, I count this as a blessing) and the fact that he wakes up with great hair. I can flatten it out by putting my hand on it. I do want daughters, but for now I am happy putting pants, a top, and socks on my little one. No tights, bows, or other accessories. When I do have a girl, you can send all of these products that your heart desires, for I love love love them...I am just still getting the hang of this "mom" thing and am still late for 1pm church sometimes.
8. To pass the time in lines, I have him identify things or make animal noises. Things like, what does a puppy (snake, monkey, cow) say? or Where is your nose (eyes, ears, head, toes, tongue)? Today I asked where his belly button was and you know what he did? He pursed his little lips together and spat! He's SO smart! Do YOU get it? (made you smile)
9. books make this little one happy. He has been falling and bonking his head a little more often since he started walking, but I have discovered that the simple mention of reading a book calms him down and refocuses his attention. of course, I follow through and actually read him a book. Such a blessing that he loves books so much.
10. On that note, when we read together he leans back against me and gets so cozy in my arms and I melt every nap/bedtime that I get to sort of snuggle with him in this way. He is growing to be such a fun little boy, but I still get my little baby at times :)

Wesley turns one in a WEEK!

Here's what he's been up to lately:

-He is walking all over the place
-What does a cow say? "mboo"
-What does a monkey say? "ah" (We have a book that says ooh ooh! ah ah!)
-I can ask him to get a ball or a book and he does it while saying, "buh."

-He can roll a ball back to me
-He can (still) say "hi," his first word
-He loves to look at books and thinks DVDs are the same so he pulls some off the shelf. He always ends up with this one

-Shows he enjoys food by saying, "num" or "mom"
-he can do sign language for "more"
-he blows kisses by putting his open hand anywhere on his face.
-he blows back at me when I blow on his food
-He understands when I tell him to take a bite... instead of shoving a whole grape in his mouth or when I hold a sandwich close to his mouth
-he really likes grapes, bananas, goldfish, teddy grahams, cheerios (with or w/o milk), broccoli, green beans, yogurt, salmon, meatballs, cheese, mexican rice, fajitas...well, everything for now.

-He really doesn't like: that I am trying to switch him to whole milk from mom's milk. Oh well, we have some time to get this down.
-He loves to play chase. "Here. comes. mommmmmmmeeeeee!" gets him really excited and he squeals and runs down the hall. Every time I get closer he squeals and runs away, which sometimes makes him fall over, but he gets back up as fast as he can and toddles away.
-He loves music. At home, on a toy, at the grocery store. If he doesn't do it on his own, all I have to say is, "Wesley, do you hear the music?" and he moves his little body and bobs his head.
-He gives high fives
-He claps
-He has a super cheesy smile when a camera is near

-He rode in his own seatbelt on a ride at Disneyland

-He sleeps with his bum in the air

And even though he only sees Daddy early in the mornings and on Sundays, there's nothing that can replace the love and pure joy they feel for each other!

Happy (almost) Birthday to my little guy! He sure makes the world a happier place.

A Wonderful Morning...

Wesley and I got up around 6:30, had a delicious breakfast (he had baby oatmeal and some applesauce and I had grown-up oatmeal), crawled around, read stories and we both went down for a morning nap at 8:30! I was going to get up when Adam left for school at 9, but well....kept sleeping until 10. I got ready for the day, made my to-do list of errands, and checked my email. Wesley woke up around 11:30! I fed him lunch and packed myself a pb&j for the car since I knew the rest of the day would be a whirwind of errands and activities.

We were out of the house by 12:30. My thinking: I'll go to the fabric store, then the grocery store, go home, bake a cake, leave the house by 2:20 to be at my eye appointment by 2:30, leave doctor to pick up friend for activity by 3:15 so we can be to activity that I'm kinda in charge of by 3:30. Be done with activity at 4:30, clean up and home by 5. Around 6 I can start his bedtime routine and have him down by 7 and I can whip out a pair of pj pants since I have to teach two girls how to make them next week and we'll be going out of town tomorrow.

Great plans! How'd it go?

That poor little sandwich is still in the diaper bag.

Ch.1
My fabric store plans: pj pants pattern that I have is missing the envelope but I had the pattern number, SO all I had to do was find the envelope, see how much fabric I needed to tell the girls to get, pick out fabric for myself based on that amount, get the fabric cut, grab pins and elastic, check out.
Actual: pattern is currently not in stock. Call mom. She saves the day and tells me I can just measure the actual pattern pieces to see how much fabric I need (perfect-I'll measure those while the cake is baking). Remember that JoAnns has a take-a-number thing for the fabric cutting station so I run to grab one before I pick out my fabric so I won't have to wait later...SO smart right? Well, usually. Today happens to be the only day they decided not to use it and there is already a line of 5 women each with multiple things they needed cut. This was NOT going to work with my time frame. Okay-rethink. I have coupons with me so I'll just grab my other things and come back after the activity around 5 to pick out fabric. Hooray-50% off and 40% off coupons both worked and I left the store pretty happy. In a hurry to get to the grocery store, but happy.

Ch.2
By this time I knew I only had time to run in and grab a box of cake mix since it was going to need to bake for 30 mins. Forget the rest of my groceries...I'll worry about dinner later. Got cake mix. Got home at 1:50. Appointment in 40 mins with 10 mins of drive time. mmmm...not happening. Mixed ingredients together dropped cake batter off at friends house so she could bake it and told her I'd be back to pick her up by 3:15. Run to barely make it to eye appointment by 3:30.

Ch.3
A week ago my eyes were red and itchy, but it was not pink eye. I went in to see this doc and I was out the door 15 mins after I walked in. I found out there was some bacteria in there, got a prescription for eye drops and he told me to come back in a week. Because of the smoothness of that appointment and that my eyes are all better this week...well, that is the reason I scheduled this appointment only an hour before my activity.
Reality:
Wait in office for 10 mins with tired baby, but he's hangin in there. Wait in room for 10 more mins playing peek a boo and just listening to him whine about wanting to be out of the stroller. Doc comes in at 2:50. Asks how I'm doing. Wesley smiles at him and we talk about my happy baby. He shines lights in my eyes.
Doc says, "I'm just going to put these drops in your eyes. Tilt your head back." squirt. squirt. "Okay, so those drops I just put in are going to completely dilate your eyes in 15 minutes. You can wait in the waiting room if you'd like. Your eyes may be a little sensitive to light, but that's all."
Me: Okay, well, I have to be somewhere by 3:30.
Him: what time is it? oh. You should be out of here by 3:10.

I have never had an eye appointment in my life and I had no idea what was about to happen to me. My 20/20 vision went blurry and I couldn't even read the certificates on the wall. Wesley was squirmy. I couldn't use my phone to text or call anyone because I couldn't see! It was the most awful thing I have experienced. With a day already going how it was going...I'd have to say this was worse than labor. At least I knew what to expect with that! Finally I thought the time on my phone said something that resembled 3:10 so I walked back to wait in the room. He came in 5 mins later, shined more intense lights in my eyes, said, "hmm...interesting." Sent me to the room next door so they could take a picture of the back of my eye to check for tumors. I asked if I should take the baby and they told me to leave him. Wesley started screaming by this point because he was the only one left in the room. I thought they said to leave him because someone would stay with him! The guy took a picture of one eye. Then the other. Shows me the screen and says this is the back of your eye...like he was going to explain the picture to me. I just looked over at the room where the screaming was coming from and looked back at him. He told me I could go. I was so frustrated because I couldn't even see the picture he was showing me anyway!! I acted calm, but I was so hurt inside. I felt completely betrayed. At the front desk, they told me I could go home and sent me with some paper sunglasses. The doc walked by and reminded me to come back every 12 mos! :) Seriously, he had the nerve. I asked him if I was okay to drive like this and he said to just be careful, especially because of the baby. DUH! I asked him (which I thought he should have volunteered this info) how long it would take for my eyes to be normal. "3-4 hours." As soon as I walked outside I started balling. All the way to my car. It was 3:30 by now, and I was supposed to have stopped at my house, picked up my 9-year-old friend, and teach a class how to decorate cakes! There was going to be no way I could see the detail to do that. I needed to reset my GPS to get me home. There was NO way I was going to find a freeway with such horrible vision! What's the catch? I can't read my gps to reset it! Just a blur! Still balling, I pulled over, remembered we have a shortcut button that I can push to go home so I found it and went on my way. I wanted to call someone and vent but my bluetooth wasn't charged AND I couldn't read my phone to find any contacts or push any numbers. Seriously. The most horrible feeling in my life! I cried for the whole 15 minute drive home and yelled at my steering wheel. I think I even honked at a car who cut me off in the middle of an intersection. I was not myself.

Breathe.

Conclusion
The rest of the day went much better. Wesley napped in the car. The activity was half over when I got there and the other lady in charge was completely sympathetic to my day. Cake decorating went wonderfully and we made it home safely. Wesley giggled at me and I could finally see him clearly when we got home at 5. It was fun to feed him dinner and play tonight. I have no groceries, no fabric, and no dinner, but I can see clearly again. Hallelujah!

We'll have pizza tonight and see what tomorrow holds.

Salad and Smiles

Strawberries were on sale, but only for 8 hours! I rushed in and got 3 pounds, with no recipe in mind. We ate some plain and they were so sweet and delicious! Wesley even tried some with his dinner :) What DO you make with strawberries?? Strawberry pizza, cake topping, syrup...I found the most amazing recipe on Allrecipes.com! Grilled Chicken Salad with Seasonal Fruit! Heavenly!!! I toasted almonds and they came out perfect! I cooked the chicken so it was moist! (Usually it's dry) The strawberries were perfectly fresh and delicious, and even the dressing was yummy! We don't have any leftover because it was just that good! Definitely will be making this a lot this summer....maybe we'll try some other fresh fruit, too!

On to the "smiles" part. Wesley smiles. A lot.

At Target, I'll see his head cocked to the side to see around me (with a huge smile on his face) and I turn around to find a couple or woman behind me standing there smiling and making faces at Wesley. Just stopped what they were doing to play with my baby from a distance. This happens weekly.

On our walk tonight a lady asked me how old he was. As I'm telling her he's 7 mos, Wesley is sitting in his stroller giving her those sweet eyes and a little smile. She notices and says, "What a happy baby you have!" As she says it...he smiles bigger...open mouth smile this time so she can see his little bottom teeth. "Oh wow! He's so cute!" The two of them just went back and forth - making each other happier and happier.

Had a meeting on Wednesday and we had to wait for about 15 minutes. He smiled at a little girl, and old man, middle aged people...it's like they are all best friends now. He kicks his legs and get's so excited to see people!

OH and Wesley's first word shall go down in history as ... "hi." Not even close to mama or dada. A pleasant "hi" goes along with all of the stories above. He says it to everyone and everything...even trees sometimes. Usually when I open the door he says, "hi hi hi" to show me he's excited to go outside too.

A happy kid makes for a happy mom. If you ever have a tough day, take your baby to the store, any store...even if you don't need to buy anything...and let people admire your baby! It's the greatest advice I'll ever give! I've had my down days and my lonely days and this always works. You are welcome to come shopping with us anytime!

And now for some pictures... what you've been waiting for!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Cousin bath-time! Has nothing to do with this post, but you gotta love 'em!

Time Out

What is a time out?
A corner where you send children when they're in trouble and stop talking to them?
A potty break in the middle of playing Tag?

I believe it's an opportunity to take a step back from the current situation. An opportunity for coaching and listening. A time to reevaluate what you are going to do next. Focus on the goal at hand and recommit yourself to getting there.

I attended a woman's conference this weekend and I have been thinking about taking time outs the last couple days. They aren't bad! I actually look forward to them. I feel like Sundays are my time out from the rest of life and the day that I can reevaluate my next step in reaching my goals. Sometimes I forget my long-term goals. I've made a promise to try to be like the Savior. I'm not saying I'm the opposite, I'm just saying that I love setting new goals and making myself a better person.

I'll say this: I was having a difficult time taking Wesley to the conference with me since he wasn't the calm 4 month old he was when I signed up to go. He's my active, I won't sleep unless I'm in bed or in the car, laughing, squealing, sitting-up, bouncing baby boy! He's such a sweet kid and I love him to pieces, but neither one of us was getting what we needed: me-listen to speakers, him- sleep. He's usually only awake for maybe 2 hours at a time during the day. Friday night we left at 5pm and he couldn't fall asleep until we got back in the car at 9:30pm. Saturday morning he woke up at 7:45 and was still awake at 11:30 when I finally had Adam come get him. Imagine if he would have stayed with me until the conference was over at 4! No thanks! Like I said, Adam was so sweet and put aside his study time to take care of our little one! Thanks to Ashley, too, for feeding both of them and playing with Wes so Adam could study a little.

Adam and I had some great conversations during the 10 hours we spent in the car and shared some of our deepest thoughts and feelings about taking time outs and becoming who we want to become. A carrot seed can't become a pumpkin even if it wants to. The creator had a different plan in mind and it's up to us to be the best "us" we can be! We may think the pumpkin is cooler or more fun to be around, but there's a reason we were created as carrots and we need to find our potential and develop our talents. I loved this lesson so much!

Another thought I loved was all about being happy. The science shows the single most effective way to make yourself happier is to serve others. Random acts of kindness. Months ago I heard it as building the ARK (Acts of Random Kindness). We can also be grateful for what we have. Savor your food. Enjoy your time with loved ones. Find the joy in EVERY day!

These are just a few points I loved from the conference! I'm off to straighten up the house while my sweet baby naps! Oh how I love taking time outs!

(no, I didn't give Wesley a time out)

New Perspective

So, for those of you who know us, which you better if you are reading this, you know that we have worked very hard to get where we are. Our first 3.5 years of marriage were spent in Utah where I worked 40 hour weeks while going to school. Adam worked two jobs, volunteered, did breast cancer research, and went to school. Those jobs carried us through our undergrad at BYU. We made it out of BYU with two college degrees, two paid off cars, absolutely no debt, and a baby on the way. Now, Adam is in medical school! We have a son who's almost 6 months old! Life is amazing!

Is it life on the streets? Nope.

I thought you had to live on the streets and be really poor and have no direction in life in order to be on government programs such as WIC and Medi-Cal.

Yes, we saved our money and counted our pennies when we were at BYU, but our savings could not even cover the amount of one year of medical school tuition and simple living expenses....let alone the 4 years we will have.

So, Wesley gets free checkups, his delivery was pretty much covered, and WIC gives pregnant and nursing moms checks to help out with certain food such as milk, eggs, cheese, whole grains, and peanut butter.

Today was the first appointment that they gave me some checks for Wesley and I realized how truly blessed we are. I got 15 jars of meat, 20 of fruits and veggies, and an 8oz box of cereal! Throughout the month I will end up with a total of 60 (4 oz-stage 2) jars of f&v, 31 of meat, 24 oz of cereal, and 4 bananas. That's just for one month for Wesley! I have the same checks for the next 3 months. They are probably figuring he won't like some of the things I give him, so they plan for extra. (Or maybe some babies eat this much food! Wes has only had a total of 4 little jars of baby food and some rice cereal, so I don't know how much most people go through)

Am I ashamed to be on WIC? Nope. I feel like we are in the perfect position to receive help considering the fact that Adam is in school to be a doctor and cannot work. If I were to work outside the home, that money would go towards paying a babysitter, so I might as well stay home and enjoy watching my sweet baby grow and giggle!

I know we'll give back to the community in the future, and we will always be frugal with our money because that's just who we are. I am SO greatful that these programs exist for people like us. Without it, we'd be paying for this food with loan money that we have to pay back with 7% interest over four years...meaning on top of the value of the food we probably would have to pay an extra $10.