Christmas in the "Q"

What a great day! We missed being around family, but knowing that this was our last Christmas without our other loved ones made it all okay. Our dear friends invited us over for Christmas dinner, and we had a great time complete with the Nativity and violin performances by both Brigham and Benjamin. On Christmas Eve I slept on an air mattress at the end of the hall to prevent any little Christmas creepers from getting into the presents before we were all awake. I woke up at 5:45 to Benjamin saying, "Wake up, Mom! It's Christmas!" I made him wait a whole 10 minutes until his other brothers woke up, and then the magic began! All I can say is that Christmas is so much more fun when you have little kids! For all the trouble that Jacob gets into, he makes up for it (well, almost all of it) on Christmas morning. He was SO excited to open presents that he was actually shaking as he opened his first few! It was so cute! And he was so excited about his presents. Santa brought him some CARS pillow books (made of cloth-- maybe these will last a little longer), and he sat and looked at them for probably 20 minutes before he was ready for his next gift. Benjamin was excited and running around and was so cute and so good. Not once did we hear, "Hey, that's not fair!" Little Ty was just content to push one of Jacob's boxes around the room. After opening all of our wonderful gifts, we had a turkey dinner and spent the afternoon playing some of the games that we got. In the evening we watched The First Christmas and reflected on what the day is all about. It was a terrific day!

Jacob-- Master of the House

It has been only minutes since I regained possesion of our house and Jacob Dax. Today is garbage day, so after getting Benjamin out the door for school, I took Ty and pushed the garbage can to the street. Thirty seconds later when we got back to the house, we found the door locked and Jacob twisting the knob from the inside. I called to him to unlock the door, but surprisingly (ha, ha), he didn't. I checked all the other doors-- all locked. Trying not to panic, I went to my neighbor's house to get our spare key I'd left with her, only to find her father-in-law there watching the kids since they'd left for AZ this morning. We called her, but she couldn't remember where she'd put the key. Eventually, my neighbor's father-in-law pulled the screen out of one of our windows and broke in. Jacob was sitting there listening to music-- content in his new-found freedom and power. Little stinker. I think he's got some coal coming his way.

In other Dastrup news, Benjamin made his teacher a Christmas card yesterday.It read, "Merry Christmas Ms. Zuni. You are the beast teacher ever! From Benjamin" It was awesome. I wanted to leave it, but Brigham thought it best to correct his spelling.

For those of you who just can't get enough of our cute children, here's a little video clip for your viewing pleasure:

Not Wanting to Be Outdone By a Girl...

Ty's cousin Emmy (who is about 7 weeks older than Ty) just started walking about a week and a half ago, and apparently, Ty couldn't take being outdone by a girl. Today, right in the middle of Jacob's parent-teacher conference, he just decided that he could walk. Talk about a distraction! Jacob's teacher was in the middle of a sentence when all of the sudden Ty started walking around. I felt a little bad because she completely lost all of our focus, but what can you do when your baby starts walking for the first time? Personally, I think he's been capable of walking for awhile but just waited until he had a good audience. I'll admit that I felt a twinge of jealousy (okay, a flood is more like it) that I was not the object of his first pedestrian experience. No, it was a cell phone that inspired him to go biped. What do you suppose that means???

Thanksgiving Fun

This year we were happy to have many of our Dastrup family members come to join us for Thanksgiving. We all had a wonderful time together. Thanksgiving day started off with a 5k Turkey Trot that Brigham designed for us. We didn't think that Benjamin would be able to run the whole thing, but we assigned him to stay with his aunt and do as much as he could. We were shocked when he was keeping up with us until we forbid him to continue because he was leaving his aunt in the dust. He surprised us not only by running the whole thing, but by finishing off with an 8:00 mile when Brigham went back for him after he was done! We wonder what he could have done if he had been allowed to run as fast as he wanted to the whole time! As it was, he finished the 3.1 miles in 33 minutes and took 3rd place in the race! We were very proud of him! After a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and eggs, we headed out for the Dastrup family football game. Benjamin was a lot better this year, and both teams wanted him, so he took turns playing on both. It was a great game and a lot of fun. The feast that afternoon was delicious, and the company was better. We had a great day. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup, Aunt Lizzie, Aunt Annie and Uncle Tyson and baby April for making the trip and for all your help in making it a Thanksigiving to remember!

Announcement

Yes, in case you haven't heard already, we have an announcement to make. I realize that it has only been just shy of ten months since we had our last addition to the family, but I guess when it's time, it's time. The latest addition to the Dastrup family arrived today at 11:23 am by FedEx. Weighing in at less than a pound, Brigham's new iPhone 3GS has made it's debut! Poor Brigham was not here for the happy event since he is still doing his rotation in Gallup, but he was giddy with joy just talking about the pending arrival. He claims that his giddiness is due to the financial responsibility that comes along with our new arrival (which is nothing since his department bought it for him and is paying for the increase on our monthly bill with "educational money" until we move to Utah and St. Marks kindly takes over the payments), but I suspect the true joy comes from the anticipation of hours of one-on-one time with his new baby and helping it to acquire new tricks. I'll try to post some pictures after this weekend when we can finally spend time together as an entire family unit!

Swined

As much as we love having visitors, I recommend that everyone stay as far away from our place as possible for awhile. Although Benjamin had a day when he felt better, he is very sick again. Yesterday I spent from 3:30-7:30 pm at the pediatric clinic (with all 3 little boys-- can I just say how excited I am that we are moving to Utah so I never have to have such harrowing experiences as that ever again??) while they did chest x-rays on Benjamin and gave him IV fluids. I was sick myself, but fortunately I didn't start vomiting until after we got home. Then I called Brigham in Gallup and asked if he could please come home. Fortunately, he is able to switch his Saturday shift to next week and is here taking care of all of us. Ty woke up with a fever this morning (which could just be a reaction to the 2 flu shots he got yesterday), but poor Benjamin is the one we are still very concerned about. He threw up all night long and still can't drink. Brigham's currently gone to get him an anti-nausea prescription, but unless that works, he'll be back in the hospital by later today. As my sister Cambrie put it when she had her bout with this nastiness, "H1N1 NE1?"

Dastrup Daily

Benjamin and I are reading the second Harry Potter book together, and I've decided that it is a great idea. Benjamin got over his crush on me awhile ago, and while I realize that this is a good thing, I have to admit that I miss his expressions of undying love and even his marriage proposals. The last few days, however, Benjamin has said to me on several occasions, "Mom, you are the greatest mom in the whole world. I'm so glad that you are my mom. Thank you for not being like Harry's Aunt and Uncle... Thanks for being nice to me and not locking me up." Voila! Once again I am the worlds greatest mom! Thank you, J.K.!

For those of you wondering how Jacob's potty training is going, the answer is very slowly. He did go potty in the toilet once yesterday and once again today, but it certainly wasn't voluntary. I can tell that he hasn't made the connection in his mind yet that excreting in the toilet is the reason I'm making him sit there. I know he'll get it, but I do think it will be a LONG project! Last night as I listened to Ty crying for about an hour in the middle of the night, I decided that I must like to torture myself-- potty training Jacob and sleep training a teething Ty at the same time-- while Brigham is gone to Gallup four days a week. Tonight I've decided to pull out my leg hairs with tweezers just to keep it real around here.

Breaking News Flash...

Ty's first upper tooth was spotted peeking out of his gums just moments ago! My baby is growing up so fast, and there's nothing I can do about it!

Super Ty

Scales slides with ease...

Potty Training: Day 1

Success! Jacob goes #1 in the potty twice and #2 once at school!!! (Large amounts of juice + no escape from the potty = success.) A huge accomplishment! Mom, however, is unable to recreate the success due to her need to take care of other children instead of hanging out in the bathroom endlessly. Attempted to potty several times without luck for about 20 minutes each time. Jacob had two accidents before Mom abandoned the effort during the dinner/get kids ready for bed hour. Effort would be easier and quite possibly more successful if husband were not in Gallup until Sunday. Currently seeking guidance from teacher as to how to proceed.

Walk Like a Man

For any of you who missed it on Facebook, here is Ty with his new push toy:

Happy Halloween!

Benjamin was a little bummed that his school didn't have a Halloween party this year (they had a pajama party instead), but as it turns out, it was probably a blessing. After the last two nights, we have WAY TOO MUCH CANDY!!

Friday night was the ward Trunk-or-Treat, and although Jacob was afraid of the costumed treat-givers at first, after chewing through a Twix wrapper and thus disposing of its contents, he decided that maybe they weren't so bad. Both boys got quite enough that night, but the suggestion that we call it good was not received very well. Halloween day we were lucky enough to have Uncle Travis come into town for a job interview, so we had fun sharing our festivities with him. Benjamin had his last soccer game of the fall season, and he helped end it with a bang by scoring a goal!



Halloween night we took all three boys around for about a half an hour, and then Daddy and Uncle Travis took the little boys home, and I accompanied Benjamin on his continued quest for candy. After awhile it got cold and Benjamin was starting to complain about the weight of his treat bag, so I suggested that we call it a night. We were trick-or-treating with Benjamin's friend and his mom (our next-door neighbors), and they were aghast that I would consider calling it a night so early. They offered to take my poor, maltreated child along with them for some more candy hunting, and I gave in. Benjamin came home to unload some of his haul and get a jacket, and then went back out to pound the pavement. When he finally came home, he had an OUTRAGEOUS amount of candy-- it was literally brimming over in his big candy bag! Back in MY day, (when we had to walk to school in two feet of snow uphill both ways, I realize) we came home with a bag with a quarter of the candy he got (if we were lucky!), and most of the goods consisted of Dum-dums, Smarties, Sweet-Tarts, and those disgusting Mary Janes that no one would ever trade with you. A fun-sized candy bar was the best! (And while I'm on the topic of fun-sized candy bars, did anyone else notice that the Mars ones are smaller this year? Not length-wise, but height-wise. They are shorter! Penny pinchers...) As much as Benjamin got this year, I did notice that people actually scaled back from last year. Last year he got a decent number of goody bags given to him on the doorstep-- this year he only came home with one. But I'm worried that we've created a monster here. What if from now on he's disappointed with his haul if the bag isn't full? We are moving back to the land of Dum-Dums and Mary Janes, after all...

After making a respectable dent in the boys' candy after dinner today, we decided maybe we should go for a walk. We went to the Bosque-- the trees near the Rio Grande, and it was a gorgeous fall day! Our caloric intake was in no way neutralized by our sauntering pace, but we enjoyed ourselves very much. We'll be going back again soon.

Sharing

Behold Jacob's "chewy". It clips onto his shirt so that he has something to chew on all the time, which has decreased the overall destruction in our home significantly. Ty's been eyeing it for a few days now, wondering why it was so great that Jacob never goes anywhere without it. Today he decided to find out. And Jacob being the loving big brother that he is, decided to share the joy. I found them sitting together chewing away contentedly.

New Tricks

Well, dear blog readers, now that we are employed, I'm afraid that our news just isn't going to have the same level of excitement for you. No more interviews or speculation about where we'll end up...


To try to make you feel better, I'll start by sharing one of the precious moments of my day. I heard Benjamin yelling from the bathroom, "Mom! I'm going potty and Ty's in here splashing in the water!" I ran in to find Benjamin holding up the toilet seat watching Ty splash happily in the pretty yellow water. Ty's other trick that he started today made me a lot happier: He started waving! Brigham walked into the room, and Ty waved at him! I thought it might be a fluke, but Brigham walked out of the room and then walked back in, and it happened again! Sometimes it's hard for me not to think that he is the most amazing kid in the whole world since he follows Jacob who meets milestones a lot later-- Jacob only mastered waving about a month ago! (I have to confess that even though Ty's milestone achievements amaze me, Jacob's THRILL me.)

Jacob's also learned some new tricks. He learned how to turn the light on a couple of weeks ago, and today he learned how to turn on the CD player. So tonight a few minutes after I put him to bed I was surprised to see the light shining under the door and hear "Old MacDonald" pumping as well. I went in and found Jacob bouncing on Benjamin's bed and partying it up. I had to turn the CD player all the way off and tape the light switch to keep him from pulling an all-nighter. What a kid! He's decided that he REALLY doesn't like to wear diapers, and I am forced to put overalls that are criss-crossed in the front on top of his school clothes to keep him from taking off his pants and diaper every two minutes. Potty training will probably begin next week, and while I am sure that it will be a very LONG and PAINFUL process, I'm ready to just do it!

Benjamin's new favorite past time is playing football with the neighbor boys, and he's taken a new interest in BYU football, which couldn't make his dad happier. He's counting down the days until Halloween and prays in every prayer that the days until then will be filled with fun things so that it will feel like they go faster.

I love a quote that my dear friend passed along to me, "The days are long, but the years are short." It's so true! What a time-intensive, wonderful, fun family I have!

Employed!!!

Yes, it is true: After six and a half years of post-graduate training, we finally have a "real" job! And where are we going?? Salt Lake City, Utah! It's true! The prodigals are finally returning home, so get those fatted calves ready because we are going to party!

We knew that the St. Marks group was meeting last Wednesday to make their decision, but we didn't expect to hear from them the same day. Just as Brigham was walking into his interview with the second group in Las Vegas, he saw an 801 number calling his phone, but he didn't get it since he was just about to go in. He listened to the message though, and was surprised to hear that it was from the director of the St. Marks Hospital in Salt Lake. So all during his interview, he had to sit and wonder if they were calling to offer him a job. After the interview was over, he saw that the director had called again. He called him back, and the director told him that the group had unanimously picked Brigham as their first choice for the job! Brigham asked for 24 hours to talk it over with me, and you can imagine my surprise when Brigham came back to the condo and told me that he was offered the job at St. Marks when I was expecting a report on his Vegas interview. That night the Vegas group took us out for a very nice dinner, and they seemed like great people making a LOT of money (they talked casually about their fancy cars, cabins, and exotic vacations). It was a little painful to say good-bye to the possibilty of making so much money, honestly, but taking the job at St. Marks just felt right. We didn't post something sooner because we wanted to wait until Brigham actually signed the contract just in case, but the deed is now done! So at long last, the Dastrups are homeward bound!

Vegas Part II

What a great vacation this is! It's been the perfect combination between fun and relaxing. Yesterday we spent the morning driving around Vegas with a realtor to get a feel for the city and where we might like to live if we end up here. The truth is that I've been very pleasantly surprised by the city. It's actually quite pretty. It's got a lot of the xeriscaping of Albuquerque, but it also has a lot of palm trees-- making it look greener overall. All of the mountains around it make the landscape more interesting, too. I think that if we end up here, we could be quite happy.

We spent yesterday afternoon on the strip watching the Bellagio's dancing fountain, checking out their indoor fall-themed garden, and just taking in the sights. Then we had dinner at a wonderful Chinese restaurant (which had a bathroom attendant-- talk about awkward! In Vanna-style she showed me the soap dispenser and then hovered over my shoulder with a paper towel for me. The counter was strewn with candy dishes, lotions, perfumes, etc. but I didn't dare check any of them out with Vanna standing there. Then I noticed a tip jar for Ms. Paper Towel, so I got out of there as fast as I could!) and went to see the Blue Man Group perform. What a fun show! I didn't realize that it would be more than percussion-- it had some fun tricks and a lot of comedy involved, too. Brett wanted to know if it was worth the price, and even though it was great, I'd have to say no. It would be worth $20-$40 a ticket I think, but if you have to choose between that and a Broadway show, I'd say go with the show for sure.

This morning we headed into Vegas's red rock mountain area and went for a run there. It was beautiful. We stopped in the middle and did some climbing on the rocks (as opposed to "rock climbing" which actually takes some degree of skill and expertise). Benjamin would have loved it!

Right now Brigham is gone to his fourth and final interview that we have lined up so far. It will be good to get this last piece of the puzzle put into place so that we can see the whole picture!

Viva Las Vegas!

Talk about luxury: I just woke up at 8:45 and crawled out of bed after a night of eating at a delicious buffet (of course I gorged myself mostly on crab and shrimp, but I also enjoyed many tasty things such as seaweed salad, sushi, squid salad, exotic olives, smoked salmon, smoked trout, and finished it off with some amazing desserts!) and seeing the Lion King, which was amazing! And after sleeping in, I just came over and turned on the computer-- no changing diapers, getting Jacob's meds, getting breakfast for hungry boys, getting ready for buses, etc, etc, etc! My dear in-laws are doing all of that while I lounge on the couch here waiting for Brigham to wake up. And while I really do miss my chiquitos, I must say that I am thoroughly enjoying myself! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mom and Dad Dastrup!

Brigham also had his first Vegas interview yesterday. It went well and we are finding it hard to make decisions between so many good options! Obviously, we may not have the choice of choosing between all of them since we may not be offered a job everywhere, so maybe that will make it easier for us. Both Utah jobs said that we should probably know by the end of the month, and this job said by the first week of November, so maybe we won't have to be in suspense that much longer. What did we used to talk about before the job search began??

Angel Hair

From Angel Hair

I just have to share these pictures of my darling baby! He is such a sweet boy, and it pains me and excites me to see him growing so fast. He's babbling up a storm now (to my great relief) and has started standing independently for short periods of time. He LOVES going outside more than anything. This his love of the great outdoors almost gave me a heart attack this morning, actually. I took the boys for a run, and when we got home, we were in a rush to get Benjamin off to school. After that I changed Jacob's diaper and made Ty's bottle. Towards the latter end of the change, I started getting nervous because I couldn't hear Ty. (All moms know that is usually a bad sign.) I thought he was probably unrolling the toilet paper roll in the bathroom (another favorite), and when I took his bottle to find him, I was horrified to see the front door standing open. Apparently, Benjamin hadn't closed it all the way. I threw the bottle and went sprinting out with my heart in my throat, but fortunately, my little escaped Tiger is a curious fellow and had probably stopped to taste every rock and bug he encountered. I recaptured him at the turn in our sidewalk, but it took a good while for my heart rate to return to normal.

Other of Ty's passions include getting into the dishwasher and the refridgerator.

From Angel Hair

One Down...

Brigham had his first job interview today! Obviously, I wasn't there, but it sounds like it went well. It also sounds like there were many applicants for the position. We won't know whether they will offer him the job until the end of the month most likely. Exciting times!

A First!

How many parents cry when their kid brings home a birthday party invitation from school? I realize that I may be in the minority, but I just couldn't help it! Jacob got invited to his first birthday party ever by one of the kids in his class. I've always been worried that Jacob would go through his entire childhood without ever being invited to a birthday party, so it was such a sweet thing for me to find that invitation in his backpack! The sad thing is that the party will be at this place that has a ton of blow-up bouncy-castle things in it, and Jacob is mortally afraid of them at this stage of his life. He falls apart if we even start going near one! So he won't be attending the party, but I will sleep easier just knowing that he was invited!

Meaningful Moment for Mom

Benjamin shared his testimony in church for the first time today. Frankly, I was quite surprised! He's always been a little shy, so to see him step up in front of the whole congregation and say that he knows that Jesus suffered for all of our sins so we can go back to Him someday was a really neat moment for us. What a great kid!

Balloon Fiesta 2009

This is one of the things that we will miss the most about Albuquerque. It is just so awesome to be able to be right there among hundreds of huge balloons! Mom Groneman joined us this year, and we were glad to be able to share one of our favorite Albuquerque events with her. Cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate helped to make it an even more choice experience. Long live the Balloon Fiesta!

Benjamin's Metamorphosis

Since he was a baby, Benjamin has always been our "safety kid." I blame myself, really. As my first baby, I was always hovering behind him, waiting to catch him whenever he fell down. I can't complain too much, however, since his cautiousness has always made my job easier. I never had to worry about him trying out dangerous playground equipment or climbing on things. Learning to ride a bike without training wheels was a long ordeal, due to a couple of minor tumbles. After a couple of weeks of white-knuckled, half-hearted trys, Benjamin announced to me, "I've decided that I don't want to ride a bike anymore. You just need to buy me a scooter." Being out of ideas, I resorted to bribery and told him that once he could ride his bike without training wheels we'd get him a scooter. After a few more weeks, it finally clicked. Since then he's been showing me all of his bike "tricks", such as standing up on the pedals, holding on with only one hand, etc. So you can imagine my surprise when he called me out to see his new trick and I saw him doing this:


Fortunately I was able to restrain the "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?? GET DOWN FROM THERE BEFORE YOU BREAK YOUR SKULL!" that immediately surged to my lips.

You just don't expect Barney to turn into Evil Knievel.

Better and Better

I just have to take a minute to share our happiness in seeing Jacob's progress. He is doing so well! While there are things that he still can't do or doesn't tolerate, the list is a good bit shorter than it was. Only last year he couldn't handle big crowds or new places. Now they don't seem to phase him a bit. Last year when we took him to Disneyland, I prayed for weeks beforehand and experienced a good bit of anxiety about how he would take it. (My prayers were answered, actually-- the morning of Disneyland he got sick and was sick enough to just sit in his stroller the whole day-- poor little guy.) Now I think that he would LOVE Disneyland. He used to cry all durning sacrament meeting because he wanted to go to nursery, but now as long as he has things to do, he'll be happy. He used to refuse to go down the slide at the playground, but now he'll tackle the big slides all by himself. He sleeps in a toddler bed (or Benjamin's bed if it isn't occupied), feeds himself with a spoon, rides the bus without crying, waves "hi" and "good-bye", and even raises his hand at school when the teacher asks who wants to do the calendar (he likes to hold the pointer stick they use for it)!

We are so proud of our litte Jacob and have great hope that his list of "can't dos" will get shorter and shorter as time goes on!

Newest Development

For all of you who are waiting on the edge of your seats with baited breath to see how the job-search drama unfolds, here's the latest scoop: The other group in Vegas that Brigham sent his CV to has offered him an interview... as well as round-trip flights for the both of us, a rental car, hotel accomodations for 3 days, and dinner! From a friend that used to live in Vegas, this group is over the "swanky" private practice hospital. We don't know any information about the job itself yet, but so far I think they're off to a pretty good start. I'm counting down the days until our Vegas vacation!

Growing Up!

Goodness! It seems like every time I turn around, another week has past! Yesterday my baby turned 8 months old, and I can barely believe it! I couldn't make his first three months go fast enough, but now I'd give almost anything to get my hands on some of that "stop grow" that my parents used to talk about, although theirs obviously didn't work so well.

I took all three boys in for well child check-ups on Wednesday (let's just say that "circus" doesn't do it justice-- I was sweating by the time we were finally finished with the ordeal!), and all of them are doing so well! Benjamin is tall for his age, Jacob is short, and Ty is skinny, but all within normal ranges. How blessed I am to have such healthy and active children!

Job Search Continues

The roller coaster ride is starting to pick up speed! Yesterday Brigham was asked to interview at a hospital in Las Vegas. We decided that if we can't live in Utah, Vegas is probably our next choice, so Brigham did a little investigating and sent his CV to a couple of hospitals there. The response was almost immediate, and unlike with the Utah hospitals, he actually felt like he was being recruited, which was a nice change. He got a call from one of the hospitals that has left us pretty excited. As far as the job goes, it is EXACTLY what Brigham wants. It is a private group of doctors at a Level I trauma center (that means it's as big as hospitals get) that is affiliated with a residency program, which means he would be able to teach residents while he is working (which he loves) without all the downfalls that come with a true academic job (pay cut, pressure to publish, lectures, etc.). The compensation is really good and there are a lot of benefits and bonuses that come along with it as well. Very exciting! The second hospital is supposed to be calling him this afternoon, so we'll see what that holds, but this first job would be hard to beat. Brigham will be interviewing there the third week of next month, and I think that my wonderful in-laws are going to make it possible for me to go with him and turn it into a little vaction! Wahoo!

On the Utah front, yesterday we heard rumors that IHC actually is hiring and that it is a "sweet job"-- whatever that means. It's all rumor at this point, but some phone calls have been made on Brigham's behalf, so we'll see if anything comes of it. Even if there is a job at IHC, I imagine that the competition for it would be pretty intense. But for now, at least it's looking like there are some good alternatives!

Ty On Top of the Food Chain

I spend a surprising chunk of my day cleaning up after Jacob (who chews almost everything to bits and leaves little pieces of plastic, paper, wood, or whatever material his latest object of mastication might be everywhere) to try to keep Ty (who has shown interest in becoming a vaccuum cleaner when he grows up) from choking to death. A couple of days ago I noticed our little Tiger doing some hunting under the table, and I quickly ran over to see if it was a surveillance mission only or if there was actually something edible under there. I didn't see any food on the ground, but what I did see was a trail of ants leading both to and from... nothing. Being the great detective that I am, I quickly put two and two together and did a finger-sweep of Ty's mouth. I found there exactly what I was afraid of-- a dried-out piece of bread covered in dead ants. Ty Dastrup-- asserting his dominance at the top of the food chain.

Jacob and the Cheeseburger Song

So It Begins...

Brigham received his first official interview offer from a hospital in Draper, UT today. We don't know much about the job, so we don't know how interested we are, but it's exciting all the same. It reminds me of a thousand years ago when we received our first interview offer from a medical school-- it didn't matter what school it was, we were just excited to have an interview. Perhaps (even hopefully) in a month or two we will look back on this offer and laugh that we were ever excited about this, but for now it's a start.

Submitting a rank list for the residency match was really stressful, but in the end it was almost a relief to know that we didn't have to choose-- that the decision would be made for us. Now our decision is not only for the next three years, but for who knows how long. For a very long time, I hope. And there are so many things to factor in-- not just salary (which can be very tricky if not impossible to figure out due to the way some groups do it) and location, but we also need to factor in if the city is big enough to provide adequate services for Jacob, if the hospital is big enough for Brigham to continue to learn, etc., etc. We are also trying to determine if we should take a substantial pay cut to live near family or to go for the money somewhere to pay off our debts a lot more quickly. Right now I feel like we're on a roller coaster and headed up the biggest hill of the whole ride. You know what I'm talking about-- the slow clickty, clacking as you stare up that steep incline knowing that in just a few moments you will loose your stomach to the rafters and go screaming out of control. That anticipation is exciting but gives you nervous butterflies. That's where we're at-- just before the crest of that big hill, and I can't wait to see where we end up!

Benjamin's Birthday

Yesterday was Benjamin's 6th birthday. Where has the time gone? Has it truly been six years since that moment when I saw him for the first time-- the moment that changed my life forever? I remember just being in awe at how tiny and perfectly beautiful he was. I also remember being scared to death of him. I remember falling to pieces and having my Mom do his first diaper change at home because he was crying and I couldn't bear to see his little circumcision. We've both come a long way since then!

Benjamin is my smart little sweetheart. He skipped kindergarten this year and is still in the top reading group of his class. He is tender-hearted and looks out for his little brothers. He does like to test his limits from time to time, but overall nobody could ask for a better kid. We love our Benjamin!



On a lighter note, after getting kiddos out the door when the party was over, I came back in to find a big chunk of Benjamin's cake missing and a tell-tale trail of crumbs and frosting leading to a greasy, chocolatey handprint on the couch, and then continuing to the Love Sac where I found a grinning Jacob bouncing and licking the bigger crumbs off his hand. We don't call him the Master of Disaster for nothing!

Cute Little Boys

The big news of the day is that I saw a tooth starting to cut through in Ty's little mouth! That explains a lot. I really can't complain though. Ty is the most fun, adorable baby I have ever seen in my life. He is happy almost all of the time, so I figured that he was probably teething since he's been cranky for the last week or so.

Ty has added a new skill to his growing list (which includes crawling all over and pulling up to standing on almost everything). I call it the "flip and twist". He employs it several times per diaper change, making what used to be a simple proceedure more of an olympic event. The name pretty much says it all. As soon as the diaper is off, Ty does this amazing flip over onto his stomach-- even if I'm holding onto his feet-- and he's halfway across the room before I have time to react if I don't have ahold of him. If I do then it's a wrestling match to get him back over and the diaper on before he does it again. Benjamin told me that he thinks Ty will be in the Olympics some day, and at the rate he's going, I'm inclined to agree with his assessment.

Jacob continues to terrorize our unattended electronics and eat his books. He's enjoying being back in his special preschool program and riding the bus. He's decided that he's a big boy now and that Benjamin's car seat at the back of the van is THE cool place to be. Every time he gets in the car he makes a beeline to Benjamin's seat, sits down, and trys to put the seatbelt on. The first time I decided to let him sit there and helped him put the seatbelt on, he shrieked with joy. The same goes for Benajmin's bed. Every night when Benjamin goes to bed we find Jacob asleep in his place. It's so fun to see Jaoob idolizing his big brother like every other little brother does.

Benjamin is counting down until his 6th birthday (only 2 more days!) and can talk of little else. He is excited for a friend party and being able to stay up as late as he wants!

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Today I would like to pay tribute to my middle boy-- the one and only Jacob Dax. He turned four today, and I've been reflecting back on his birth and feeling so grateful for how far he's come. I remember the second time that he was admitted to the hospital when he was around 7 months old, standing and talking with our pediatrician who said, "I hate to say this to you, but maybe you should prepare yourself for the fact that Jacob's chromosomal abnormality may not be compatible with a long life. We just don't have enough information to know." With the little girl in the only case study of Jacob's same abnormality dying at age 3, I was terrified that he might be right. And yet, here is Jacob: four years old, walking, running in his own funny way, loving like no one else can, making us laugh every day, terrorizing our electronics, outsmarting our childproofing efforts, and enthusiastically enjoying life. How blessed are we!

Yielding to Peer Pressure

After years of resisting the growing trend to have a family blog, I have finally caved in. Here's the thing: What if I can't think of anything interesting to put on it? The pressure to be intelligent and witty on a blog is almost smothering! I'm going to be up-front from the beginning: if you are looking for a great blog, I can recommend a few. This one is won't be cutesy and I can't promise it will even be all that interesting, but if you've been invited to see it, then hopefully you care about us enough to look past all that. And if you have a blog of your own that you don't see on our list, let us know so that we can add you to it now that we finally have a place to keep track of them all!