Maggie at 10 Months

When Henry was 10 months, I thought he was so big, so old, so ready for a sibling. This time around, I am loving how much I still feel like Maggie is my baby. I just love her and cherish that I can occasionally hold her like a baby, even if only for a few seconds. She is perfect and can do no wrong. Nor will she ever do wrong (I think I said the same thing with Henry). That's why I always need a baby around, to remind me how innocent these little children are and how they simply need to be loved, hugged, and kissed.

Maggie is officially out of the "easy baby" phase. At nine months, she started crawling and within the last week I have started to monitor everywhere she is crawling, just to pull out everything she gets into her mouth. She can do no wrong, it's true, except for choke on something when I look away.

Maggie remains a content, easy-going, happy girl who is tough when she wants to be and easily annoyed the rest of the time. When Henry comes around and she's not in the mood to rough house, she looks at me with a certain look and starts moaning and/or crying. She gets scared by certain noises and a certain small dog (who is harmless). Although a crier (which may be part of simply being a girl) when she wants to be, she is usually a pleasant, happy girl who doesn't mind the occasional bruise from an older brother.


Fortunately, she shows no signs of walking on her own. Dad will hold her hands to get her to walk (while Mom shouts, "Noooooo! Don't teach her that," in the background) and she moves one foot in front of the other, but never initiates walking on her own nor does she pull herself up on anything. She has started to feed herself small items of food while in a high chair but most of the food ends up in her lap before she can get it into her mouth and she is now a formula-fed baby.

Maggie has two teeth, fits into her 6-12 month clothes but is transitioning to 12-18 month clothing (thanks to her long legs) and loves to flail her arms all around, especially if she wants food or is happy. She loves "One for the Money" while flying through the air, being tossed into the air, and swinging at the park. She laughs when she is tickled or when we chase Henry together. Her sweet spirit is continuously evident and we all love her for the laughter and love she brings into our home. That cute face of hers is just an added bonus.

Five Years & Counting

We celebrated five years of marriage last Saturday. We spent the morning with the kids at a nearby pumpkin patch. Henry was in heaven, even showing his excitement in his prance/run as he went from one animal cage to the next. He wanted to hang out with the animals forever, but we convinced him to ride a horse, go on a "cow train" ride, then a hayride to pick our pumpkins fresh off of the vine. But the kid loves animals. The first thing he said to me when he woke up from his nap was, "A...an-mals...cow...pi" (translation: I want to go see the animals, the cow, the pigs...").











After showing Henry the horses, he was excited to ride one but, while riding, seemed to be more enthralled with the other horses. He kept pointing to the other horses, saying to the man leading the rope, "Look! Horse!" But he did love his horse ride. He loved it so much he threw a little tantrum when he had to get off. Thankfully, the rides were enough to capture new excitement. He and Dad rode the cow train together. Then, he loved the hayride to the pumpkins and when it was time to pick our pumpkins, he walked around for a short while with Dad then was ready to get back on the hayride. Dad won us a drink at the corn cannon activity and we enjoyed the smell of smoked meat the entire time we walked around. It was a fun morning with the children and throughout the morning I felt so much appreciation to them for the added love and joy they have brought to our marriage and family.

After naps, Brendon and I spent the evening together. Alone. Just the two of us. I love when that happens. We went on a mountain bike ride together, something Brendon has wanted to do ever since he got into mountain bike riding. Every time he tells me I need to join him, I remind him it's better that we do different things so that someone can watch the children. But I ended up loving our time together riding trails. I enjoyed the ride, but I really enjoyed riding together. I wanted to ride all night together.

Our dinner was amazing. The best place in Lubbock thus far. We ate at Manna Bread and Wine and enjoyed every bite of both of our meals. For dessert, Brendon stopped at the hospital to pick up pint-sized Blue Bell ice cream using his food card. Yum, yum!

I told Brendon I never realized how much I would learn while married. As a young woman, I thought all learning would end after marriage. I would know everything, I would have every skill mastered, I would know the answers to everything. Little did I know marriage has brought an accelerated learning curve. And I'm grateful that we are learning together. As I watched my wedding video last week, my main thought was how grateful I am to have Brendon to experience life with. I love the good-bye kisses, the welcome home hugs, the joy of watching our children learn, the alone time talking, the words of songs exchanged between us, and playing footsies underneath the dinner table. Yay for five years and for many more to come!

Sibling Love

I am loving watching my kids play together more often. We have our fair share of crying, stealing toys, and hitting, but we are also seeing more times with playing and laughing together. We go to the park a lot. Maggie is slowly getting in on the action. She and Henry are loving it. This day at the park was a fun one.

Miss Maggie getting in on the action

Sibling love

It melts my heart.

Apple Festival

While Dad was busy working on a Saturday, we decided to get out of the house and keep ourselves busy at the Apple Festival. Henry says, "An-mals" everyday while I'm getting ready, requesting that we see animals (at the local museum). Fortunately there was a "petting zoo" (if you can call a pig and 4 goats--3 of which ran away from people--a petting zoo). I'm pretty sure Henry could have stayed there for a good half hour but our time was limited so we played with the animals for ten minutes, went on a quick hayride, and searched high and low for some good apples on the trees.

Although it wasn't the greatest petting zoo, Henry didn't mind and was happy to see "an-mals."

Our hayride was fun. Henry jabbered his "muck-a-luck" talk nearly the entire time. He occasionally pointed to the apples and the birds and then continued jabbering. 

Our search for amazing apples was a let-down, but we came away having picked and eaten some decent, small apples. It was good to get out and the kids were happy to be outside, as always.

Clinic Month

We love it when Daddy works at clinics, 

because that means he's around a lot. 

And we love it when Dad is around.

Just look at these happy faces.

Our Medical School Journey, Part IV

(Click here for Part I, Part II, and Part III for long, wordy posts lacking pictures.)

Because I think it is important to document our life and this time of our medical school journey, I have wanted to journal each year of medical school. The following entry is a summary of our third and fourth year of medical school: rotations {working along side doctors at clinics and hospitals in the major fields of medicine}.

Although there was a big adjustment at the beginning of our third year of school (because Brendon was home a lot more than I anticipated), we quickly realized how lucky we were to have Dad around so much and rather than feeling like he should be off learning, we decided to enjoy our time together. 

Our rotations (in Utah) were primarily clinic-based, meaning Brendon worked alongside doctors in a clinic whenever the doctor worked. Turns out that most doctors work four days a week and many work nice hours, starting their day around eight and finishing up around five. Dad was home for dinner every night and was able to help mix up Henry's day with "Daddy Time." It was great. Our third year of school seemed to go by so quickly with each month changing with a different job and different hours. 

Towards the end of our third year and the beginning of our fourth, Brendon had scheduled some much-needed out rotations. {An out rotation is when a student travels to work at different hospitals to gain exposure and education in a particular hospital/location. An audition rotation is working in a hospital where a student hopes to do residency. There is no formal "audition," but the student is hoping to make a good impression on fellow residents and staff members in hopes of ranking high on their match list for residency.} 

Brendon left for California in April and we experienced our first time being a part for longer than two weeks. He was away for four weeks and, despite having family around--which helped tremendously--I vowed never to be a part for longer than two weeks. It was hard on all of us. Brendon doesn't prefer it and neither do I. My Dad noticed that Henry tended to cling more to him when Brendon was away and put it well when he said, "Henry is a boy's boy." He loves and needs men around to rough house and do "boy stuff" that I just don't do.

From April to October, Brendon had four out rotations, which meant he was alternating every other month in California and Utah. In June, Henry and I traveled with him and stayed with family (Mike & Dejah). In August, Henry and I traveled with him and stayed with family (Grandpa and Grandma Holmes, Brendon's parents). In October, I surprised Brendon after two weeks by meeting him at his brother's house. The out-rotations were a great opportunity for us to be with family and we really enjoyed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do what we did. We were so grateful for our life/family situation where it was fairly easy to pack up our life and live in California for a month at a time. Everything came together perfectly and Brendon got a lot of really great experience working in hospitals. At the beginning he was a little overwhelmed, but he quickly caught on to his responsibilities.

After out rotations were over, fourth year was amazing. Maggie was born in November and, aside from a few trips for residency interviews, Brendon was home a lot. He had several easy rotations. Having him around was a huge help as we transitioned to a family of four.

When all was said and done, Brendon felt like he got the experience he needed out of rotations. For the past couple years, he has said, "Residency training is really what makes you the doctor you become," so he was never too concerned about the quality of his rotations. That's not to say he didn't work hard and put in an honest effort, but he understood that ultimately residency would be more influential in making him the doctor he wants to become. 

The clinic-based sites in Utah had several advantages, including: (1) Brendon was "first assist" and was able to perform sutures and help with other surgeries, (2) he developed great interpersonal skills with patients, and (3) he had a great schedule. There are also a few disadvantages, including: (1) a lack of familiarity with resident responsibilities (out rotations helped with this), (2) less formalized training with doctors who, sometimes, weren't experienced with teaching students, and (3) not as many opportunities to witness as many cases as would be available in a hospital. Overall, however, Brendon enjoyed his rotations and was glad things worked out the way they did. 

From my perspective, I loved having Brendon home as much as we did, especially during the latter part of fourth year and I was so, extremely grateful that we spent the two years of rotations near my family. We thoroughly enjoyed our short time in Utah and loved the opportunities to be with family in California.

The much-anticipated graduation day arrived and we were able to share the day with our parents and friends. During the white coat ceremony (when you first arrive to medical school), someone said, "Medical school is like purchasing a sail boat. There are two exciting days: the first is when you buy the sail boat and the second is when you sell the sail boat." The entrance and exit to medical school are truly two very exciting days--maybe even the best days--on the journey to becoming a doctor. I'm thinking the day we finish residency will be pretty exciting, too.

Speaking of residency, how did we end up in Texas for residency? In the fall of Brendon's fourth year, he applied to pediatric residency programs. He chose to apply to several programs in California, including those hospitals where he did rotations. Needing more places to apply, we looked at places in the west who were D.O.-friendly and in an area we were willing to live in. Texas quickly came to mind. We have never met anyone who has lived in Texas who hasn't loved it.

When interview season came, Brendon had one invitation to a Texas program along with several California programs. He had two small trips and one week-long trip in California to have all of his interviews. Every time he called me, he would say, "I love this program..." and he wanted to go every hospital for one reason or another. But he also realized several of them would be very financially difficult with a family or wouldn't be in a great location.

When the match came {a matching system where applicants and residency programs rank the order of preference for who/where they want for their residency program}, we had finalized our list after a lot of prayer and a lot of revising. We had Loma Linda ranked first in anticipation of living near Brendon's family (our plan since day one of school), with Texas Tech ranked second, Fresno ranked third, and several other California programs. We were very confident that, if not our first or second choice, we would end up with our third choice.

When match day came, we both thought we were going to Texas Tech. My dad was over at my apartment the day before we found out the results and asked, "Where do you want to go?" I replied, "I really want to go to Loma Linda, but I think we're going to Texas." And so it was. We matched with Texas Tech in Lubbock. But after many tender mercies, we felt the Lord directing us to Lubbock, which we knew would be a good place for our family during the three years of residency.

Overall, medical school got better for us during third and fourth year. It wasn't as stressful, demanding, or intense. All the while I tried to enjoy it, but I knew around the corner we would have residency, which would be stressful, demanding, and intense. We have arrived to our next chapter of medical journey.

More on residency to come in Part V, after experiencing at least a year in residency.

Henry is 2 1/2

When Henry was born, I went through some serious adjustments as far as parenting was concerned. Nursing, sleepless nights, and being home by 8 PM to put a child to bed were all a challenge for me. And, with Henry being my first child, I feel as though every stage is a series of adjustments, from walking and talking to pushing and tantrums. I am constantly asking other parents for advice, wondering what I'm doing wrong, questioning my parenting techniques, and learning what kind of mother I want to be. Henry is my little guinea pig child, and I'm sorry it has to be him, but he is surely a champ with my trial-and-error parenting and still loves me. Thanks for taking one for the team, Buddy!

Henry is now two and a half. I am enjoying this stage (most of the time). He is so much more trust-worthy than a few short months ago. He is typically obedient, following my commands to "hold Mommy's hand" instead of running at every opportunity. He stills loves to run, but he understands when it is and is not appropriate. Can I get a "Hallelujah!?!"

Henry is fun to play with, interacting with whomever is around and playing pretend with his toys, stuffed animals, and puppets. We are just staring to do role modeling with stuffed animals, teaching him to share and we'll get to other important behaviors. In our first attempt with role modeling, Henry was quick to share his toy car with the lion, but then walked over to Sister and took her toy (a common occurrence around here). We'll keep practicing that one. But playing with Henry is more fun than ever. I love watching him have two or more animals in his hands while he talks for the animals and I love listening to him play in his crib with his toys--sometimes for up to an hour--before falling asleep. We don't know what his toys are saying to each other, but I'm sure Henry does.

Running and playing chase are still Henry's favorite activities. He used to run circles around the couch, but now with a bigger area, Henry runs all around the house. Both he and Maggie love chasing each other (with Maggie being carried). The laughter between the two of them is adorable. Henry will play chase with anyone who will run from him, even the kids at the park who are running to get away and don't want to be chased. It's hard to differentiate between the two because all Henry sees is a kid running. And when somebody runs, Henry chases.

Being the busy boy he is, we try to get out of the house every morning to play with friends, go to the park or museum, or go shopping. Maggie is a trooper as she often misses a nap as we cater to Henry. This busy-body of Henry's does best outdoors with a lot of space, but even when we are indoors Henry manages to be active, whether he's using Mom or Dad's legs as a slide, spinning in circles, rough housing with Dad, pushing over Mom or Dad (picture a football drill with Henry driving his legs and pushing his parents sitting crossed-legged on the floor--pushing, driving his legs, pushing, driving his legs--until we fall over), jumping off the couch, jumping on our bed, and running around the house.

Henry is doing great playing with friends who are his size or bigger. He seems to know, however, when he is bigger than others and has been pushing a fair amount. He is constantly learning what acceptable behavior is and I am constantly learning how to teach him.

With all his activity, Henry is a great sleeper. He usually sleeps at least three hours in the afternoon and twelve hours at night. When he doesn't sleep well, we know it. Henry still sleeps in a crib and I am not in any hurry to move him to a big boy bed because I am not about to compromise his sleep (aka: Mom's break time). Besides, Maggie sleeps in her pack n' play just fine.

One of the greatest joys of parenting is watching your children learn new skills. There are countless times when Brendon and I smile at the things Henry does or says, especially when it is something new. Within the past six months, Henry has learned so many new words and phrases. My favorites right now are, "Mommy, a ow-wee...knee," "Mommy, cowd (cloud)...sa-sore (dinosaur)" (which I figured out was from "A Land Before Time" when Little Foot's Mom appears to him in the form of a cloud), "Ma-ggie!!!" "Soft...saow-wee" (I'm sorry), "Kiss better," "Mommy, a an-mal" (I want to go see the animals), and "A pider" (spider). Henry has also been learning fun skills, like hitting a baseball off a tee and climbing up ladders and rock walls at the park.

Our biggest battles as of late are tantrums, food, and the bathtub. Henry wants something, I'll get it, he doesn't want it, I'll put it away, and then come the tears and the whining and the body on the floor. I don't understand. Or there's the tantrums that accompanies any "no" from his parents. Henry is also a very picky eater. He loves peanut butter sandwiches (and eats one every single day for lunch), yogurt, cheese, milk, bottled peaches and pears, applesauce, bananas, and anything with a lot of fat or sugar (the two basic food groups, my grandpa used to say). Everything else is something he will eat occasionally (all other fruits and chicken) or not at all (beans and vegetables). And as for the tub, well, Henry's on a tub strike. It's a fight every time. I usually wait until he really needs a bath to battle bath time. Lately, Dad has been around and has been so helpful with coaxing our little toddler into the tub.

Right now Henry is fun, hard (but getting easier), busy, and happy. My favorite things about this stage are that kisses fix every owie, a hug fixes tears, and tickling brings laughter. Henry loves Skype calls with his grandparents, "sa-sore snacks," and when dad comes home. He is becoming quite the protector of Maggie, making sure others (besides himself) do not play with her toys or play with her, for that matter, and loves to give her hugs. Henry is still my little buddy and I love when I get to go somewhere with him, just the two of us. I remember what it was like with one child, how much I cherished him, how often I kissed him (every time I put him in his car seat), and how much more I need to appreciate him even though he isn't my only child.