Happy Nie Nie Day

I am one of the many people who has never met Stephanie in person but became deeply affected by her beautiful life. It was actually on a day that I was feeling pretty sorry for myself that I read about her accident. After perusing her blog and realizing what an amazing person she is, I immediately made some changes in my attitude about being a mother. It's still very hard for me sometimes to watch Rick go off on his great medical school adventure, while I feel stuck here at home with an endless to-do list of monotonous chores. But Stephanie's example gives me the hope that I can love what I am doing.

So, happy Nie Nie Day! You can read about it here.

P.S. Rick did well on his test! 89; exactly the class average. Woo hoo!!

SO big!

The first test is over! He doesn't know how he did yet, so we'll just be happy it's over.

We celebrated by checking out a little local restaurant that's sort of like an old fashioned ice cream parlor. The sandwiches were a little on the greasy side, but at least we got plenty of calories for only $4.99 each. And then, instead of getting their famous ice cream, we hopped over to Harris Teeter to spend less money for a half-off half-gallon. Fancy celebration, huh? Eating out does not fit into our recently adjusted budget. Someday.

And, Carson thinks he is "SOOO BIG!!"


So big that, today when I was making dinner (note all the weapons on the floor in the battle to keep baby entertained while mom makes dinner), he slowly let go of the pots-and-pans-drawer to stand on his own for a few seconds! Yikes!

test day

This is how Rick spent the majority of the last 3 days:


He is taking his first TEST of his first year of medical school RIGHT NOW. I definitely get more test anxiety than he does, and I'm not even taking it. I also seem to feel the need to wake up super early when he does, and stay up late when he stays up studying. I just can't go to bed alone, or let him wake up without me. Although while he is stuffing as much information as possible into his brain, my activities are more like planning this week's meals and searching for vinyl wall art on etsy. But I'm exhausted! And so, as he's taking his test, I am going to go take a NAP. (After praying earnestly for a little divine help for the test-taker, of course.)

Goodnight.

And don't worry, this kid just went down for his nap.

Bath Time!

We are back in the blogging business with a new camera!

To celebrate, I made a video. First time. I mostly edited out the inappropriate nudity, and left the cute nudity. Didn't bother with music for this time. Enjoy!

P.S. Turn up the volume to hear Carson's timely bodily function in the middle of the video. Kind of crude, I know, but I can't believe he laughed about it! Who taught him that that's funny?

Thanks, Mackenzie

Some pictures from the interim between Cambodia and settling in NC, thanks to Mackenzie's camera:

Carson discovers silverware. Funny, because now that he's mobile, there's no way he would just sit there on the counter. He'd be jumping off of it.

Carson rides a horse. Now we have pictures of him on a horse and an elephant. What's next?

While in VA, my dad, Mackenzie and I spent a fun day in horse-town, Middleburg. We stopped by this house on the way back. This is where my family lived when I was born!


And a few pictures from my parents' and Mackenzie's visit down here in NC last weekend:

Carson likes playing with Pappy because he lets him eat sticks.

The girls.

A new toy for the baby.

Ahhhh!

The sticker on his belly probably isn't very readable. It says "Obama." This is why Carson looks very put-out.

We walked around Old Salem, which is sort of like Williamsburg, VA. Here, we are eating Old Salem's famous bread, called "Lovefeast buns." You can imagine the jokes.


Mom can keep the orange peel intact: a real talent.

Go to sleeeeeeep.

Thanks, KENZ!

Baby Monkey

My sweet little boy used to go down for his naps so calmly. A little snuggling, a little singing, and he would lay his head down as I placed him in his crib. NOW, he has discovered the art of climbing up the crib rails to stand up. Now, after the snuggling and singing, I lay him down in his crib, and he puts his head down for a second. Then, he sees the crib rails, remembers what he can do with them, and quickly pops up on all fours, bolts for the side of the crib, and scales the rails to stand up. Fortunately, he's not afraid to let go of the crib to get back down. However, since the crib has become a jungle gym, naps seem to have become play time. The last hour-and-a-half, for example, should have been nap time. I watched through a crack in the door as he stood up, sat down, rolled around, cried a little, stood up, sat down, cried, etc. over and over again.

Will he ever sleep again?

P.S. We left our already-dying camera in Utah, which is why I've been lacking pictures lately. Poor Carson's life history will be missing his 8th month. Once we get a certain huge check from a certain branch of the military, we'll finally be camera owners again.