Legally Blonde

The Dog Pound

2012-02-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

The house we currently live in attracts dogs, much to Charlie's delight. I feel like we live in a dog pound.

Seriously, though.

The first day we were here we spent it painting various rooms. I looked out the window and there was a large Great Dane, with her six very large puppies, prancing around our fenced-in yard. The gate was closed, and I kept searching for an opening somewhere in the fence. They were such big dogs that I was too intimidated to go make their acquaintance.

The second time we had a visitor, I was on my way back from a run and saw some sort of Husky breed in our yard. Again I was intimidated and had Charlie in a stroller so I waited and waited for the dog to get far enough away to head in.

The third time we had an over night visitor at this pound. A really skinny, beautiful, and abnormally sweet Pit Bull was curled up by our front deck one night. It was brought to our attention as some friends were leaving, and came back to ask us if we had a dog. We felt so bad for the shivering, obviously neglected dog. We fed her what food we had, gave her water, and let her come in and sleep in our laundry room (since it was below freezing, and she didn't have ANY fat on her). The next day she went running with me. I came back and left the gate open and she disappeared. It was a sad relief.

The fourth time we had a German Shepard sitting on our front porch barking at any car that drove past the house. I was so confused with this one. It had a collar and just sat there protecting our dog pound. I was again intimidated to leave the house with Charlie, but we had to go pick Sean up from work. I carried Charlie above my head and loaded him in the car. By the time we returned our little protector had left.

This fifth time was my favorite. I was out for a four mile run, yesterday, when suddenly I passed a house with several loud and ferocious dogs (the house looked like an eery one you'd see in a creepy movie). All of a sudden two little puppies came running across the yard, crossed the street and started following me. I tried taking them back three times, but they insisted that they wanted to go for a run. They followed me all the way home. The little things ran three miles. I fed them (by this time, the dog pound has plenty of food to feed it's tenants) and gave them water. They were friendly, but afraid to come too close. Sean said that is a sign that they have been mistreated? I am not familiar with dogs, although I should be by now, so I didn't know. Charlie LOVED these little puppies. I fell in love with the copper one. As they started following me, being rebellious and not wanting to go back to their home, I called them Laman and Lemuel. Then, the more playful they became, I started calling them Sean and Phillip. We sat on the back deck and the three of us played with them. Charlie would hold his hands out for them to lick and would shriek, with delight of course, when their little tongues would cover his hands and then his face. He LOVED it and would cry when we would take him away from them. They stayed in hotel laundry room and then were taken to a dog clinic this morning. Sad. We liked these ones. (We did attempt to take them home two more times, but were wondering if they were just dropped off at that random corner, cause they didn't act happy to be back at 'home'.)

Anyways, we've been able to do a little dog sampling, and will have fun when we actually get to choose a dog one day to keep.

Trying to get pictures, and they thought my lap was open for relaxation.

Snuggled up on my lap. I am a sucker.

A happy, thankfully temporary, surprise for Sean to come home to.

Insert happy 11 month old shrieks

Hotel laundry room, Charlie's face and hands, and anything else that the dogs have touched have all been properly sanitized!

Bad Decision

2012-02-06T09:41:00.000-08:00

I enjoy going to thrift stores.

One day I found a little battery operated book at a thrift store. It plays various songs as you flip through each page. Some of the songs are 'Old MacDonald','Hey Diddle Diddle', 'Hickory Dickory Dock', etc.... I bought it.

Bad decision.

Charlie isn't really amused by it, but it usually gets pulled off of the shelf with all of the other toys.

It has no 'off' button.

Usually I clean the toys up and put them back on the toy shelves, after Charlie goes down for the night. I switch all of the toys to the 'off' position, that toy being the exception because it can't be switched off.

Two random nights, in the past month or so, haven't been pleasant ones. Around 2-3 am I'll suddenly get chills down my back as I hear "Old MacDonald had a farm E-I-E-I-O......".

The possessed toy goes off all on it's own. You never know when it's going to start singing.

The first night it happened, I was WAY creeped out, but I got out of bed to fix the problem. I was imagining mice running across the toy, setting it off.

The second night it happened, I was WAY creeped out, but so was Sean. He got the privilege of being woken up by the possessed toy. He got up to deal with it and told me he was imagining Chucky was standing by the toy, ready to greet him.

The toy is going back to the thrift store.

Sunday Checklist

2012-01-29T20:29:00.000-08:00

1. Wake up to Charlie wanting to get out of his crib.
2. Roll over and wish there was a snooze button.
3. Don't fight Sean as he says he'll get up and get Charlie.
4. Have Charlie crawl all over us, in bed, which gets us up and moving.
5. Sean showers as I get breakfast going.
6. Eat breakfast
7. Lay Charlie's clothes out (so he doesn't end up in something completely mismatched), and the two of us (Charlie and me) jump into the shower.
8. Sean gets Charlie ready as I get ready.
9. Nurse Charlie
10. Pack bags (diaper and lesson) and load them into car.
11. Quickly get my clothes on.
12. Try taking new routes to church that have fewer traffic lights (cause we are late).

Today we needed to add a couple more items to the list.

13. Turn bright red as a kind soul wanders up to the front of the chapel to tell your husband that his wife's shirt was on inside out.
14. Run out of the chapel, bright red, to switch clothes around.
15. Thank kind soul on my way back up to sit with my family.

And that was a fourth of our day. Thankfully the last half included pajamas (which were put on correctly), naps, and good food!

We need a full length mirror. Today proved that!

(I had a couple other people tell me that they saw my shirt on inside out, but weren't brave enough to come up and let me know)

The After Party

2012-01-19T15:40:00.000-08:00

The partying did not die down, once Christmas day passed. We played games, went shooting (guns and archery), spent a day in Seattle (Pike's Place, monorail, H&M, and the Ballard Locks), attended a family baptism, exercised, hiked, purchased lots of great children's books at Value Village, went after Christmas shopping, got pedicures, and took family pictures.

After a crazy week like the one we had, I have drawn a conclusion: I LOVE FAMILY!

Family members love you despite your quirks, mood-swings, lack of sleep, when you have a running nose, if your zipper is down, if you have bad breath, when you beat them over and over again at the same game, and so forth.

I don't want to imagine what life would be like without family.

I went through a family 'cleanse' the week after break. It was more like a week of withdrawals. Severe ones. I was SO homesick, lonely, tired, etc.

We left the kids at home and went for a relaxing pedicure. The two hours away was the only time the women were completely without children. Bless those children, but bless those two hours!

Visiting one of Seattle's hot spots-- the gum wall

On the monorail

A nice way to end each day

Robin Hood (my dad) took little Sean and the others out wandering through the woods, shooting cardboard animals. Apparently it was tons of fun-- I was on baby-sitting duty.

My FAVORITE picture from the week! I love Sean, Micah, Emily, my dad, and Eve's expressions. I also love Shane sneakily applying his mustache.

Love the mustaches and expressions on all of the men (and Ryder)!

I am Charlie's favorite person in the middle of the night. Sean and my dad are the favorites during waking hours. He is always reaching, crawling, or climbing up on those two. I get slightly jealous. They go out and have fun, I stay home to watch the little one and he STILL prefers the other two? Unfair!

Teaching Ethan to shoot

Couples' therapy.....

And we lived happily ever after.....

So did they!

Christmas Day

2012-01-11T20:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas day was a lot more fun with a baby, even though he didn't know what was going on.

*Side note* This blog won't let me upload vertical pictures, so I was unable to post some of my favorites: sitting on the stairs before coming down to see the tree (all of us--crowded stairs), Charlie with his first gift from Santa (a little walker that he can push around the house instead of our kitchen chairs), Eli morphing into batman as he put on his cape and mask and Ryder with his new jeans.

Still unsure as to why we woke him up.... Didn't really pay any attention to the tree or gifts.

Happy to leave his wrapped gift to play with Lincoln and his unwrapped gift.

When we decided that Charlie just needs a giant box, with wrapping paper, next year.

Seriously LOVED every minute in this box.

Koby decided to see what it was all about and was pretty pleased with his decision!

First granddaughter/niece to join the family, Ivy. We went to her baby blessing before heading home for more festivities.

Such an easy-going, beautiful baby! I don't think Charlie ever slept as much as other babies do, so I was amazed at how she would just lay in your arms!

And that's what it was all about...

Dress-up for men

2012-01-05T14:35:00.000-08:00

Oh Sean. He's goofy. He's fun. He's smart. He's hard-working. He's handsome. He's entertaining. He's a wicked mullet-grower. He's mine.

For Christmas this year, we all gathered at the DeFreese household. Sean thought it would be funny for the guys to grow out/cut their hair into mullets. I was used to dress-up, I grew up with an older brother (who laughed at dress-up) and three sisters who were constantly dressing up. Sean, James, and Shane brought dress-up to a whole new level. Not only did I keep cutting just the sides of Sean's hair (for 4 months), but I flat ironed the back. It was wonderfully hideous!

Here are some of the 'additions' to the family, in their finest. They go by 'The Mullettes'.

Looking for an album cover for this righteous boy band....

And now for the head shots....

Man oh man am I a lucky woman!

Emily's heart throb

Megan has the privilege of being married to the trendy mullette. I believe this style can be seen across the country, in various cities.

An album's not complete without a jumping shot.

please excuse the gift wrapping in the back

The wives lived Happily Ever After the haircuts/shave.

Thanksgiving

2012-01-04T20:22:00.000-08:00

We had Thanksgiving with Sean's family this year. We enjoy spending time with them, and wish we lived a little closer.

I think this post was neglected because the day after we came home we had mice (plural-- four to be exact). We got rid of the mice and then problem numero dos crept in. Sean had a lump in his arm. We met with a surgeon, I was in a puddle of tears for a week and a half, lump was extracted, lump seems harmless and benign, and the Thanksgiving post was lost.

The start of the trip wasn't the most wonderful, but it had to happen. I got pulled over. Well, I got my first speeding ticket. Oops! We were on the way to the airport and I got caught in a speeding trap after I had climbed a hill and was descending. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Thanksgiving was wonderful for various reasons. It's ALWAYS wonderful being with family, either mine or his. The food looked as amazing as it tasted! It was especially fun this year to watch the babies, Lacey and Charlie, play. They are only seven weeks apart and are doing similar things. They were babbling in baby talk the whole trip-- that was my VERY favorite part! I am a big fan of the baby babbling!

Post-bath picture cause we forgot the before picture. Their bums are pinchable, but we'll leave the viewing to us.

They were crawling and pulling themselves up on everything. Poor Charlie had daily bruises from falling and bonking his head. He has learned how to land safely now.

The dads (brothers and best friends) cheered the babies on as they climbed all the way up the stairs, for the first time.

Playing with the 'motorcycle'. Always next to each other playing.


Sean's oldest brother (also best friend) and his beautiful family, at the lights on Temple Square. It was freezing, but beautiful.

We did get in a hike, party night at my sister's place, shopping, pedicures, eating, and Temple Square with siblings, brothers and sister-in-law, nieces, nephews, and cousins. We had quite the group.

I am pretty sure the baby babbling was all about how Charlie is supposed to hook Lacey up with his friends and vice versa, when they get to be 25, of course.

I love holidays! I love family!

Lucky Lady

2012-01-01T21:19:00.000-08:00

Even though I have Thanksgiving and the recent Christmas Extravaganza to blog about, I had to share my favorite pictures from this past week.

My favorite gift from 2011. Still can't believe he is mine!

Trying to get everyone to smile and pose perfectly was impossible for this massive group-- I love this picture because it shows the chaos, charm, and love. Love my family

The men

The women

Too many words come to my mind with this picture. Sean got a 'daily mustache' kit for Christmas, and pulled it out at the perfect time-- Micah didn't need a fake.

Mom's Notes: 9 months

2011-12-15T20:55:00.000-08:00

This little guy gets a workout all day every day. Mom gets a workout all day every day. You should see the battle we go through each time a diaper/an outfit needs to be changed.

I can't believe how strong he is. I can't believe how weak I am.

Charlie enjoys playing with his toys for about five minutes. He loves loves loves books! We can sit and read four-five books before each nap. Hopefully this habit will be kept up.

We go to the library for story/singing time each Wednesday and Friday. He sits on my lap and listens pretty well. Afterwards he gets down and plays with the other little kids-- or just tries to take their toys. We are working on teaching him to share. It seems like a lost cause.

He's fearless.

He's curious.

He's quick.

He's a man without a desire for naps. Bummer.

He's charming. He can do something bad and turn around and give you a sweet smile that makes you forget what he did.

He already knows how to manipulate his parents.

(Sidenote: He loves playing with tampons. Sean is mortified. He finds them in the bathroom and grabs one in each hand. He bangs them on the floor as if he is playing the drums. Sean is disgusted.)

He loves table food and hates baby food.

Anything we eat, he wants.

Grandpa introduced him to pickles. He loved them. His hives told us that he shouldn't love them anymore. Sad.

Taking after mom already. He knows how to examine your hair thoroughly. He checks for lice. He leaves slobbery gifts. He grabs handfuls!

This kid makes us happier than we could've imagined.

We love our Charlie!

STATS: Weight: 16.9 lbs (3%-- he's so active that the doctor isn't concerned)
Height: 27.5" (11%-- destined to be in the front row for class pictures)
Head Circ.: Can't remember the exact measurement... (63%-- genius!)

pill popping

2011-12-07T21:38:00.000-08:00

I have had a pounding headache for a few hours now, but I vowed to post all our harvest pictures before going to bed. As I was posting the pictures I was wondering why the medicine hadn't given me any relief. I sat here thinking about the two giant pills that I popped into my mouth, and realized that I had taken two prenatal pills instead of Advil. The advil is working, much better than the prenatals, and I am off to bed.

Harvest Time

2011-12-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

Finding the perfect pumpkin for us

Playing with Grandpa B while we rested from moving.

Three apples for a dollar gets you some fun fruit flingin!

Between Sean, my dad, and me, we almost hit the target at least three times. Almost doesn't win a box of home made pumpkin donuts though.

My FAVORITE harvest treat-- fresh squeezed apple cider!

Spent!

My parents came to visit, and got to enjoy one of the orchards.

Sean's number one fan!

Charlie's number one fan!

Hanging out with Grandpa R in his skeleton costume.

Our only family shot-- Sean the lumber jack, Charlie the skeleton, and me the snowboarder (idea stolen from my friend Sara's costume last year)

Finally looking a little like mom. It makes me so happy whenever anyone tells me that!

Charlie's friend Joe. Really they just take toys from one another, grunt, babble, drool, screech, and crawl over the other. Still, it's the beginnings of a great friendship-- I can see it now!

This small town is at it's finest when it's time for the yearly harvest. Not only is there tons of produce around, there are harvest parties, fruit flingin', pumpkin patch visiting, corn maze wandering, cider pressing, and yada yada. It was fun to be here right as all of that commenced.

The Three Not-So-Blind Mice

2011-11-29T22:01:00.000-08:00

I saw how they run.

I am shocked.

I am horrified.

I am wearing shoes around the house now.

This is how it all happened:

I was sitting on the couch today, during Charlie's nap. Just a usual day. I had showered, cleaned the kitchen, put laundry in, switched laundry, checked on the little one (five times), and finally felt I could sit down and catch up on blogs, pinterest, and other mindless time-wasters. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw it. It darted out quietly and quickly. Then it froze, when it saw me, and darted back behind our bookshelf. I quickly did as any farm wife would do-- shrieked and stood on the couch. (Yes, I am ashamed at my reaction)

Finally, after I was through panicking, I put barriers on both sides of the bookshelf. It was trapped. I instantly felt like a warrior. I also instantly felt dirty and itchy everywhere. I had the chills, and was terrified to move off of the couch.

I called my dad.

I called my sister.

I received some sympathy, laughs, and mostly good advice.

The conversations were great, and towards the end of my sister and I's phone call, I SCREAMED! Then Charlie started screaming. I had just witnessed ANOTHER mouse jump out of our Christmas tree stand and run into our bedroom. This one was double the size of the first one, and much much darker. (it probably had fangs and a cape). I, again did what any other farm wife would do, closed the bedroom door, stuffed towels under it, went to get the screaming baby, and vowed to burn my bedroom down.

Sean came home from lunch with a goodie bag. Mouse traps! Ah, my knight-in-shining-armor. He set them with peanut butter, and we strategically placed them. We then nibbled on lunch, cause we had no appetite, and I took him back to work. I tried to run all my errands, so that I could stay away from our mouse-infested home, before Charlie had to take a nap. We headed home. I read, rocked, nursed, and put Charlie down for nap numero dos.

It was silent in our house, cause I had paused the Christmas music.

All of a sudden it wasn't silent anymore. I heard a mouse running across our kitchen floor. YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! I tiptoed and stood on a chair in the kitchen. I watched as mouse NUMBER 3 crawled up onto our cereal boxes. That was just too much! I made a little noise and it scurried under the stove. AHHHH!

Apparently the mice threw parties while we were away for Thanksgiving. I am not amused.

I have sanitized the floors-- all of them. I have vacuumed the floors-- all of them. We have set the traps-- all of them.

It's 10 pm, and we have seen three mice walking around as if they owned this place, ~~cleaned~~ sanitized the house, put a baby to bed, found three holes that the mice are probably coming in through, thoroughly examined all of our shoes and put dryer sheets* in each one-- because I am terrified of finding a surprise when I slip my shoe on, scheduled someone to come and inspect and set traps in the crawlspace below our house tomorrow, decided that we are probably going to become outside cat owners, dreamed of moving, and caught and killed two of the dirty rodents.

I documented it. I'm spent. I'm going to bed. I am sleeping with dryer sheets* and shoes on (I am dreading getting up for the mid-night feeding).

*dryer sheets keep the mice away from areas you don't want them to venture through/in/around/under/over/etc.... (they are placed under our dressers, in shoes, under the crib, in closets, and anywhere but where the traps are.)

Grape Juice 101

2011-11-14T11:50:00.000-08:00

Step 1: Grow grapes, or move next to someone who is growing grapes

Step 2: Wait patiently for 5 years for your grape plants to produce grapes, or just wait for your neighbors' plants to produce.

Step 3: Take scissors out to the vineyard, as well as someone with muscles-- they get heavy. Snip grapes. Get a mixture cause it makes the juice sweeter: Niagaras (green) and Concords (purple)

Step 4: Wash the spiders and all the spiderwebs off of the grapes, as well as de-stem the grapes. This takes awhile, so put in a good flick to distract you, OR have a baby play at your feet and keep taking mysterious items from out of the baby's mouth-- great workout, all the bending.

Step 5: Steam the grapes in a juicer, or clean your feet and squish them in a big bucket/basin with your toes.

Step 6: Can the grape juice, or else your fridge will explode from all the un-canned bottles/jars.

I couldn't believe how easy it was to make grape juice. I will definitely do more next year, maybe with my toes.....

*Side note* You probably get a few spiders in each container of Welches that you buy. YUMMY!
*Side note #2* Even though both juice and jelly is wonderful, we prefer to have grape jelly, so make sure to can extra so that we can make lots of jelly!
*Final side note* If you feed baby grapes, the diaper will have seeds.

the life of a ping-pong ball

2011-11-08T11:34:00.000-08:00

I am a ping-pong ball. I go back and forth and back and forth.

One night I am in bed telling Sean that I need to be a better mom, and then the next day I am apologizing and telling him I need to be a better wife.

On the days I feel I've been a 'good' mom, I feel I've been a terrible wife and visa versa. If there is an unexpected day where I have been both, don't look at me-- I have bags under my eyes, zero make-up on, the dishes are in the sink, the bed isn't made, I have the worst hair-do, Charlie has bruises from being adventurous around the house, and I cry in the shower that I take at 11 pm before I go to bed because it finally feels good doing something for me.

The daily goal of finding balance has to be practiced each day because I have failed at it the day before.

Thankfully I always have tomorrow to perfect it once again.

Thankfully they both know how to forgive.

The unexpected, not drug-induced, trip to employment

2011-11-03T15:24:00.000-07:00

While in dental school, we spent a lot of time discussing where we would end up when the books finally were able to rest on the shelf. This topic was discussed until we couldn't discuss it anymore. We talked about it with friends over dinner, with friends at holiday parties, with strangers on plane rides, with doctors at my many prenatal appointments, with family members over the phone, with church members at weekly church events, and on our knees in prayer.

Deep down, we had a feeling that there was a place that was meant for us. I don't think we shared that with many people.

Sean started searching for employment possibilities early on and even interviewed for several positions. We looked for opportunities for him to buy practices as well as be an associate. He received different offers, we even had them send us contracts to accept, and then we always knew, in the end, that those offers weren't going to be accepted.

The long days of not finding 'the position' turned into long weeks and even longer months. Poor Sean.

We made the move to the area we thought we were supposed to be, but before that move, we lived with Sean's parents. We then stayed with my parents as we continued our search. We even house sat and then moved back to my parents' place, to then finally move to the area we are currently. Before we moved into our new, semi-permanent location, we even lived with a family in our new ward for a bit.

Needless to say, we were SICK of living out of our suitcases. We lived out of them for 5 MONTHS!!! We finally got our stuff out of storage two weeks ago and it was like Christmas-- we were sooooo excited!

So, as for the rest of the story.... After losing track of how many places/people we looked at/interviewed with, we finally found 'the place'. For four months our search consisted of looking in our ideal location/state. We set a date to look outside of that ideal place/state as of September 1. Ironically enough, Sean happened upon a position available and had a conversation with the owner that same day. Sean found out that they had served in the same mission in Chile and that they were both married in their third year of dental school, and the commonalities continued. Sean found out that the offer was by far better than other offers, he'd get to speak spanish, it was in the country (which is what we wanted) right outside of a couple of cities, and it was within an hour from a temple, airport, and Costco (our other requirements). We drove to interview on August 30 and accepted the offer the next day. THE DAY BEFORE OUR 'DEADLINE'.

Even though we felt that we were forgotten about and that the position that we were looking for didn't exist, someone was on the other end of our prayerful pleadings. It is a better set-up than we could've imagined, but we would've never picked the location on a map.

There have been lots of blessings in the relocation, including:

1. The ward has lots of young families just out of school.
2. I was able to learn all sorts of canning, jamming and juicing techniques from my mother and another canning expert here in our new ward.
3. We live on a vineyard
4. There is GREAT shopping close by
5. I am in a knitting group, book club, and exercise group
6. There is LOTS of fresh produce (ie: items to can/jam/juice)
7. We are a drive away from both sets of parents
8. We have lots of sunny and warm days
9. ETC....

It was a LONG and stressful five months, but we are happy and both feel we are where we need to be.

Onto the pictures....

Charlie doesn't want baby food anymore, just our food.

Cousin time with Simon

Cousin time with Lincoln

At a local orchard/pumpkin patch

Charlie was fascinated by the corn maze or just the leaves

Searching for our pumpkin

Picking apples-- Charlie likes to have his arm in front so that he can be completely face out.

As Sean and I painted our new place, Charlie caught up on some much needed sleep. When he wasn't sleeping he could be found pulling our hair and causing our straight lines to be less than straight.

Where we take our evening walks-- it smells like grape juice

Charlie loves bath time and mom loves those cheeks!

Mom's Notes: 6 months

2011-09-23T00:08:00.000-07:00

STATS: Weight: 15.85 lbs (11%), Height: 25.75" (18%), Head Circ.: 44.7 cm (70%)

You are busy busy busy! We love you more every day, even if naps aren't high on your priority list. We fight (nicely, of course) over who gets to snuggle you. We hate when you have to get shots. We love waking up and seeing your smiley face each morning. You smile at EVERYONE, which makes running errands extra LONG cause EVERYONE comes up and talks to you. You are a people person already, but love to come back to familiar arms. We love love love you, sweet Charlie ~~Brown~~ Blue!

canned underwear

2011-09-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

I am obsessed with building a food storage right now. Thankfully the ward that we are in has been pushing 'preparedness'. I've been to every canning and preparedness class that has been offered.

The preparedness 'fever' that I currently have is just getting hotter. I've made different jams (not freezer jam), and canned peaches. On the agenda for this week is canning chicken, brown sugar, and chocolate chips.

I am ill.

Sean better watch out, cause one day he will be looking for his underwear and it will be on the food storage shelf....canned!

Charlie enjoys jumping in his jump-up, bouncing in his exersaucer, and playing on a blanket with his toys, while his mom is canning like a freak.

My favorite picture of him this week; proof that he is teething. Poor guy grinds and chomps his gums, and is drooling quicker than I can cut peaches.

Best Friends

2011-09-12T23:32:00.000-07:00

Whenever Charlie’s friend is here

he holds his little hand.

They forget that they are tired,

and are off to happy land.

They are in the same sweet stage of life;

drool drips off of each chin.

Surely they’ll still be good friends

when their teeth come in.

The kisses that they give each other

are not the least bit dry.

We hope that Charlie keeps his friend;

we think he’s quite the guy!

Employed

2011-09-08T21:44:00.000-07:00

Just like that he is driving off into the sunrise. His blue scrubs are crisp and clean. He is a man on a mission.

Gone are the weekdays spent:

JOB HUNTING IN JAMMIES

WALKING THE BEACHES

SITTING WITH CHARLIE IN HIS LAP AND HIS TOES IN THE SAND

TORCHING WEEDS IN THIS SEXY GET-UP: CHURCH SOCKS, BOOTS, BASKETBALL SHORTS, AND A DARLING TAG-A-LONG

TEACHING ME THE FACTS AS WE PLAYED TOURIST

PICKING WEEDS IN GRANDMA'S GARDEN

PUNCTURING OUR FINGERS WITH THORNS AS WE PICKED BERRIES

WATCHING FROM THE SIDELINES AS COACH SEAN PLAYED THE 'NAME GAME'


WATCHING SOME MORE AS HE LEAD HIS MICRO SOCCER STARS

SPENDING TIME TOGETHER AS A FAMILY

We will miss spending all of our days with Sean. Charlie will miss him and the fun adventures he took him on. Poor little guy is stuck with mom canning, making jam, and obsessing over food storage-- I guess I'll need to put a twist on it to make it enjoyable for all. Or just wait until nap time, which seems lost and never to be found.

Even though it's probably healthy for our marriage to spend a little bit of time away each day, I'll miss turning around and having him here. It's been a fun couple of months. We've learned to live below our means and enjoy the simple things in life.

We are proud of our working husband, father, doctor, and entertainer. We secretly hope he misses us as he's swimming in saliva and plaque (ick!).

Sean's To-Do lists

2011-08-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

Every day that Sean is at home he makes a to-do list. Every day. The man cannot have an unproductive day and apparently having a crossed off to-do list makes him feel super productive.

He tries to get me to make to-do lists, but I don't have the desire as often (or ever) as he does.

Today he had me fill one up with him.

I may or may not have added several simple 'to-dos' just so that I would look so productive. His items are slowly getting crossed off, but mine-- well, let's just say that I am sitting here writing a blog (which is one of my to-dos), while my little guy naps (another to-do), baking cookies (yep, another to-do), and looking oh-so-productive according to the 'list'.

Every now and then I may or may not add goofy things onto his list. If ever he steps out onto the porch to howl at the moon you better believe that he is doing that to check it off of his list. Sometimes he has to stop and dance the macarena, which gives him another check. All for the sake of productivity.

Oh, I love playing games on with my husband.

Growing up way too quickly

2011-08-21T22:21:00.000-07:00

Time used to be measured by years (in dental school), semesters (in college), quarters (in high school), and Christmases (when I was a child).

Now time is measured by the small or large things our little guy does.

Since I haven't updated all of the things we've done (post to come), I'll give a pseudo-synopsis of what Charlie has been up to.

These two guys are the happiest when they are outside-- if they had tails, they would be wagging!

Charlie dropped several hints that he was ready for solid food: always reaching for our food, putting everything in his mouth, waking up every 2-2 1/2 hours at night to eat, and not sleeping well in the day. He doesn't like sweet potatoes, but enjoys peas, prunes, applesauce, avocado, pears, and plums-- yum!

If mom and dad don't want you to suck your thumb, go for your big toe-- they are too busy laughing to stop you.

He has always enjoyed being read to, but lately wants to be the one doing the reading.

First, he grabs for the book and gets a good hold on it.


Then he looks at the pictures and babbles for a bit-- as if he's reading to himself. I LOVE when he does this!

That should feed the grandparents' appetites for now. I promise to post about all we've done soon.

4 Month Firsts

2011-07-28T22:19:00.000-07:00

Height: 25" (49%) Weight: 12.15 lbs (10%) Head: 16.75" (54%)

This month has been full of firsts. My how they grow!

*First time Charlie got two shots at the same time from two different nurses (kind of reminded me of getting your ears pierced).

*First 15 hour road trip

*First time I played single mom for a week (helps me realize how much I love Sean)

*First poop and pee combo without the diaper (fun mess)

*First taste of watermelon

*First toe/foot grab (he now grabs at his feet while rolling over)

*First signs of crawling (when he's doing tummy time he gets up on his knees and rocks)

*First growth spurt that's affected his sleep at night

*First signs of teething (clenching his gums, chewing on anything, fussy nights)

and a few more firsts........

BOYS

2011-07-26T23:07:00.000-07:00

Charlie is a lucky guy-- He was born into a family with great cousins (on both sides)! It just so happens that we've been able to see each cousin in the past month.

Ironically, on my side of the family, we produce boys. Finally after six grandsons, there will be a granddaughter this winter. We are excited for Micah and Eve, and are even more excited now that we can shop on the pink side of the store.

I love my nephews! Again, Charlie is lucky. He has one little guy his age, and then four older boys to look up to.

Bound to be best friends...Lincoln is 2 months old (2 1/2 months younger than Charlie)

Koby will teach Charlie that ice cream tastes better when you eat it with your hands. (2 1/2 yrs old)

Ryder will show Charlie how to play sports and Eli will teach him about swords, or is teaching him currently. (Ryder is almost 7 and Eli is 3--in a couple of days)

Ethan is sure to teach him about all the super heroes out there. (Almost 5)

Ryder is sooooo good with Charlie. I guess he's had practice. He plays peek-a-boo with him all of the time.

Charlie will just stare at Ryder-- not really understanding the peek-a-boo game completely

Words

2011-07-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

Since becoming our own family, Sean and I have set lots of goals and talked a lot about the future. We are frequently discussing when we should plan for the next family member to join us (not really in that driver's seat), where we want to be in the next ten years: financially, physically, spiritually, and pretty much anything else that you can add a 'ly' to, what we want to have our house look like, how we are going to have to get a larger car, what we should be teaching our children, family vacations to take, and yada yada......

I enjoy the moments we can discuss what we want to teach our children. If our children are like me, they won't be easily teachable without learning on their own, but if they are like Sean (which I pray often for them to be) they will come down knowing what to do or not do.

This week we have come across two of our biggest pet peeves that we hope to have our children catch on to.

Lesson #1: Do not litter. Sean loves to go hiking-- the mountains are his jungle gym. Each time he comes home from a hike, he heads to the trash and empties out his pocket or backpack with the litter he has collected along the trail.

Lesson #2: Put your shopping cart in the cart holder and not against someone else's car. This one KILLS me! I had a job once that required me to collect carts and I was always so annoyed that there were carts left right next to the cart holder.

Enough of my irritating, self-righteous rant.

As family has been on my mind a TON lately, I have realized that I don't have nearly enough answers, as to how to raise them. I did find a quote that hit me with a punch and realized I would try my hardest to keep this from happening.

"If the family breaks down, everything breaks down"

To Dad, Love Charlie

2011-07-14T21:49:00.000-07:00

Hey Dad,

I thought I would give you a nice blow-out for your birthday, but mom said I should put a little more thought into it. So instead, I thought I would finally let you in on the workings of my ever-growing mind.

It's pretty great to be your son, and here is why:

I'm pretty much just telling you that I think you are the coolest. Happy birthday!