First Two Years of Med School are Officially Behind Us

Joseph got his STEP scores this week and now the first two years of med school are officially behind us!!! I wasn't completely sure his scores would come this week, so when they came on Wednesday we only had a small family celebration that included nutella and strawberries. You can see Nicholas loved this celebration. (Nicholas wasn't sure why we were celebrating, but he was happy to get in on the action. All he really understands about Papa going to school is that he goes on a choo-choo each day. ) We did a slightly bigger celebration on Saturday and went to see Thor and Nicholas got a babysitter!

Dinner at Chick-fil-A

We dressed like a cow to get a free dinner at Chick-fil-A. Nicholas was fascinated by the cow but scared when he got close. We were trying to get Nicholas to say, "Moo." Finally, we used the juice that came with the meal to bribe him into say, "Mmmmm."

Nicholas at 21 months

Weight: 25 lbs (He has really slowed down on how much he eats.)

Height: 33 inches

Tooth Count: 14

Words: Too many to write them all down. He is a talkative little guy. Try as we might, we can't make him be quiet during church. If someone says too long of a prayer, he was shout out, "All Done!" half way through it. If he doesn't like the snack we brought, he is quick to say a very loud "No." If he sees one of his friends, he will shout out their name. He has learned a lot of new words but he hasn't learned to be quiet.

Random Things About Nicholas:

• Nicholas loves cheese. Since he thinks it is so wonderful, he thinks all other animals must also like to eat cheese. So when you ask him what birds, puppies, and cows like to eat, don't be surprised when he tells you they eat cheese.
• We are trying to get Nicholas excited about visiting his grandparents in August. I tell him he gets to go on an airplane to visit them, but he insists he wants to go on a choo-choo to visit them.
• I hear the following every morning when Nicholas wakes up, "Puppy, puppy, uh-oh...Mama, Mama, Mama..." He will wake up and the first thing he sees is his puppy, then he will throw his puppy out of his bed. When he can't get it, he then calls me in to alert me to the situation.
• Nicholas loves to watch Barney and Beauty and the Beast.
• Nicholas loves to wear his fireman hat around the house.
• He still idolizes Papa, but clings to Mama.
• He is becoming a real good climber. He does stairs really well.
• His favorite treat is juice. We use it as a reward as a way to get fluids in the little guy. He sweats so much. He does not do well in the heat. Sweat just drips into his eyes and his little face goes bright red. The heat doesn't slow him down though, but I always get a good nap out of him after he has been outside.
• After a surprisingly successful FHE, Nicholas can now point to the picture of the temple hung up in our house.
• We took him to the aquatic center by our house and he loved going down these really big slides with his Papa. He didn't like the slow slide, he wanted the fast slide and would just get giddy every time he went down. He kept on saying, "Tube, Tube, MORE Tube."
• It is hard to refuse Nicholas when he says, "Please."
• We have a battle every time we have corn on the cob. Nicholas wants to have a large corn on the cob instead of the little one that we cut off for him. He will spend the whole dinner whining about it.

JFK Date

We didn't go on any exciting vacations after STEP. We just stayed home and did chores. We did, however, do a really fun date on Saturday and left Nicholas with a babysitter for around 9 hours!!! (Thanks again Kents!) It was the longest we have ever left Nicholas with a babysitter. It is also the longest I've been away from Nicholas since he was born.

On Saturday June 25th, we left after lunch and started our JFK themed date. I had done some research and discovered that the house that Lee Harvey Oswald's wife lived in and where Oswald stayed on the weekends was only two blocks straight behind our house. This house was searched the day he shot Kennedy and it was in that garage where he kept the rifle. We did a drive by and the house looks abandoned.

Next, we hit the JFK museum. We first went outside and stood on the grassy knoll and where the two shots were fired. We then went in the Sixth Floor Museum. The museum was fascinating. It has a wonderful audio tour that takes you through JFK's presidency, assassination, and investigations following his assassination. The museum lacks actual artifacts. It has Jack Ruby's hat that he was wearing when he shot Oswald. The only other authentic thing is that it is housed on the sixth floor where Oswald shot from the window. The tour was great with just the right amount of conspiracy theory mixed in.

After the museum, we went to Campisi Egyptian Lounge. It is where Jack Ruby dined on the eve of Kennedy's assassination. Jack Ruby was a regular customer there. It is a really good Italian restaurant with fabulous New York style pizza.

Next, we went to Jubilee. (This part had nothing to do with JFK. We were just lucky enough to get tickets.) The prophet wanted the 11 stakes in this area to put on a big Jubilee performance, even though we didn't have a temple being dedicated or any church officials visiting. It was a fabulous 2 hour long presentation with dance and musical numbers. The amount of work that went into this was amazing. The stakes turned it into a three day youth conference.

So that was our big fun splurge post STEP!!

Mavericks Parade

A few days before I sat for step, we decided would go on an adventure to the Mavericks celebratory parade. The plan was to take Nicholas and Whitney (the little girl Maren babysits) on the train to downtown and find a spot. We ended up waiting in Irving for four different trains that came by before getting on one which came from downtown and then turned around especially for our backlogged station. The route was crazy full, but we found a place only about 7 rows of people back so you could occasionally see something if you jumped. I eventually found a tree with only one person already in it and soon made myself at home and was able to get the Dirk shot when he finally came by. The way back was just as crazy, but we did eventually get back to the train. The exciting points included a fight that broke out behind us and the rush to get Maren and the kids shielded from the brawl. I read later that there was one fight with three arrests at the parade. I don't know if that referenced our fight, but it was exciting none the less. Also, I got off early to go study at the school, and Maren got to fight her way to the door with a double wide stroller all by herself. She decided that was less than ideal. All in all, I don't know if we would do it again with this age group, but it certainly was an adventure and I am glad we went.

All Done With STEP

Joseph took STEP on Saturday. I have a husband again for 1 and 1/2 weeks. While he has been studying, I have managed to make a page long "honey do" list that will keep him busy during the break. One of the things on the list was to sort through all his med school papers. He ended up getting rid of 53.6 lbs of syllabuses and handmade note cards. (I think there is another box of syllabuses still in the shed.) Before you get too worried, all these syllabuses are available online if he ever needs to reference them. He also had the option to box them up and put them in the garage, but he thought he would never go to the effort to look through the box to find any information.

We also found some fun stats that he recorded the first week of school.

• 237 students in his class
• Students came from 82 colleges/universities.
• 48% of the class is female
• 14% are under-represented minorities
• 13 home countries
• 13 students have masters degrees
• 3 students have doctorates
• Ages ranged from 20-39
• 32% of the class was non-native English speakers

IT'S A GIRL

We found out today that we are having a little girl. She is still due at the end of October and she looks healthy. We are super excited. Finding out the gender is one of my favorite parts of being pregnant!

Nicholas at 20 months

Weight: 30.2 lbs

Height: 32 inches

Eating Habits:

• He loves to eat and he eats A LOT!
• He loves sitting in new places when he eats. It makes meal time exciting.
• He loves dipping his food in different sauces.
• He is pretty much to the point that he will eat at least a part of whatever we are eating.
• Vegetable Update: He still won't eat broccoli. He will eat carrots, tomatoes, green beans, and sometimes squash.
• He will share his snacks with Papa, but he won't share them with Mama. It makes him laugh so hard when I ask for him to share.
• He can climb in and out of his highchair, but I don't let him do it.
• He has always liked to throw his food, but recently it got a lot worse. He figured out it was a quick way to get out of highchair when he was done eating. Making him stay there didn't work, because he would just enjoy making a bigger mess. So after trying the punishment route, we decided to offer an incentive instead. He now gets a treat at the end of each meal if he doesn't throw things. We have only been doing this for a week, but it has helped a lot.
• His favorite treat right now are juice and Cadberry eggs.
• He clings to Mama, but he idolizes Papa. He wants to wear Papa's hat, use Papa's toothbrush, and do all the things Papa does. For example, he likes to study, ride the motorcycle, and mow the lawn.

Words He Will Say:

• Fish, Saws, Hammer, Tool, Bowl, Ball, Please, Thank you, Eat, More, Juice, Choo Choo, Backpack, Hi, Bye, Car, Airplane, Puppy, Mama, Papa, All Done, Treat, Up, Yeah, Yes, No, Potty, Book, Egg, Bird, Baby, Elmo, High, Shoes, Outside, Inside, Swing, Spin, Barney

Favorite Toys:

• We got the Playskool Explore and Grow Ball Popper. I love this toy. It entertains him for a good 5-15 minutes each time he plays with it. He loves chasing the balls and putting them down different ways.
• I got him a car that has a handle on the back that I can use to push him around. He rides in it when we go to the nearby park.
• He loves the sandbox. We are still working on keeping sand in the sandbox.
• He loves his two trains.
• He loves to sleep with his glow worm. He calls it his baby.
• We have two stuffed puppies that he loves. He also sleeps with them and carries them around the house.
• We got him a little shopping cart and he likes to fill it up and walk around the house.
• He loves the TV remote.
• He loves "playing" the Wii. Right now his favorite games to play are Baseball and Bowling. He can't really bowl, but he asks to do it all the time.

Movies He Will Watch:

• Barney
• Baby Signing Time
• Thomas the Train

Quirks:

• He is VERY active (like a little boy should be). He always has some sort of bruise or scratch from all his adventuring. I keep on putting off getting formal pictures of him until his most recent bruise on his head heals, but he always gets another one before I can take him in.
• He is very quick to tell you when he is bored/ALL DONE. Once he makes up his mind that he is ready to go, there is no stopping him.
• He talks a lot, which can be a problem in church. We feed him lunch during the first 15 minutes of church. Then, we desperately try to entertain him for the next half-an-hour. Then, he usually gets taken to the primary room for the last bit of church.
• He hates water on his head, but he loves playing in the water. He will sit in the sink for a good half an hour and play with the water. He would do it for longer, but Mama usually calls it quits.
• He is getting very good at being watch by other people. He likes going to nursery now. In contrast, he is not good at being passed to other people if Mama is anywhere near.
• He loves to watch and copy older kids. He is very good about taking turns when he is playing with someone older. When he plays with kids that are his same size, he is a little bit of bully. He does it in a sweet way, but he is so anxious to show them how the toy works or to play with them that it can be overwhelming for the kid he is play with.
• When he finds something interesting, he says, "Whoa." Every time I hear that I quickly look to see what he has in hands. Nine times out of ten it is something I don't want him playing with.
• He loves his swing. He loves to go high and to spin in it. He looks like a drunken sailor when he gets out of his swing.