The Latest and Greatest

Marissa: Turned 6 months old on the 8th!  She got her first taste of rice cereal, I think she couldn't believe we were actually putting something into her mouth and letting her eat it instead of pulling it out like I do a thousand times a day with leaves, paper, shoes, and anything else left in her vicinity. 

Do you think she liked it?!

I took her to the doctor for her well check yesterday and she weighed 18 lbs 15.5 oz (I guess we'll just call her 19 ;) ), and was 28 inches long.  She is still off the charts in height and above the 90th in weight.  She is definitely thinking about moving, but her efforts usually just result in her scooting backwards, much to her chagrin.  She has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom.  She loves to go out with Shane and I and be part of the action and like a true second child just kind of naps on the fly.

Shane:

Has finally grasped the concept that he is "I" and not "you" and his speech has taken off in leaps and bounds.  I feel like I can pretty much converse with him like I would anyone now and it has been so nice to feel even more like I have a little buddy with me all day.  And he makes me laugh a lot.  A few recent incidences: I was watching the Today Show and they were covering the Michael Jackson trial and they had a picture of him on the screen while they played a tape of him obviously very sedated and Shane looked at me and said, "Mommy, that girl's a little bit scary."  (Sorry if that offends anyone, I couldn't help but laugh though).  Then the other day he was playing with his cars and he said, "Mommy, Holly Shiftwell got hurt.  She didn't listen."  I said, "she didn't listen to what?"  "Heavenly Father."  (Can you tell we've been talking about scripture stories like Jonah and Daniel?  Guess I just better make sure and stress the loving Heavenly Father part huh? ;) )

Josh: finished his first rotation!!!  He really liked family medicine and is seriously considering going into it.  He started ObGyn on Monday and has been liking it too but I don't think he's interested in specializing in that.  This week he's in gynecological surgery and will have another week of that, he'll have two weeks on the labor floor one of which will be nights (yikes!) and then two weeks in the clinic.  He's been really pleased with the program here and the things he's been able to do and see.   

Kelly:  Apparently I am lame because I can't really think of anything new or exciting right now that belongs to just myself!  But these 3 keep me happy and busy enough I guess ;)

Middle America

I loved living out of the country and getting to experience so many cool and different things, but it feels so good to be back in the states too, especially during the fall.  And Josh and I have really only lived in the west, so it has been really fun for us to experience something different.  Sure, I have grown up visiting other places in the east my whole life but it is just different when you live there and really get to know the whole vibe and feeling of a place.  And I know some people don't like it, but to me Saginaw just feels like an all-American town.  I love running through the streets of our tree-lined neighborhood (heck I just love the fact that we even live in a neighborhood!)

 

I have started playing this little game where I will count the cars that pass and see how many are foreign. (We've already established the fact that I'm a nerd, right?)  It is easy to do because I can usually keep track of them on 1 hand.  I usually count 100 at a time and you know how many of those are usually foreign?  Six.  These people sure have pride in home grown things, I sometimes feel like a traitor with 2 foreign cars in our driveway! (But I love them).   Our neighbors are so nice and down to earth, the houses are older but well-maintained and are all so different.  And no, we may not have a city life or great shopping or things like that, but let's face it we can't really afford stuff like that right now anyway so the simple traditions and home town festivals are great for us.  This week we went to a pumpkin farm (where the pictures came from) and we had fun looking for pumpkins, petting animals,

finding some of our favorite characters,

walking through nature trails, eating donuts and cider, and Shane's highlight was watching  them launch giant pumpkins hundreds of feet from that trebuchet in the background.

 Who knows where we will end up (and we're not ruling out here) but we are loving all the places we get to experience on the way!

I told you there'd be more pumpkin pictures

Well, I can't say I got any this time with both of them actually looking at me much less smiling but as I was looking through all the pictures I took I couldn't help but laugh and see on their faces what they were most likely thinking.  It goes something like this:

"Mom!  I didn't want to be set down right now!"

"Save me Shane!!"

"It's okay Marissa!"

"Hey bro, why does mom keep making us sit next to these big orange things?"

"I'm not quite sure."

"But listen, she's giving me candy, so let's just play along with her."

"Oooooh, is that candy?"

"It's shiny!  And bright!  And it makes a crinkly sound!"

"Must. get it. in. my. mouth!!!!"

"Maybe if I distract him he won't notice when I take it from him"

"This is great!  Mom keeps letting me kiss Mairssa and she's not even telling me to get off her yet!"

"Ah!  I love her so much I can't help but clench my teeth and press my face into her until I knock her over!"

Me: "Okay, I think the photoshoot is over!

Motherhood in Real Life

     I had an experience a couple weeks ago that has been making me think about all my mothering flaws.  I was in the bathroom at church between classes and I was waiting to use the sink while a little 3 year old girl was washing her hands.  Her mom was standing off to the side while this little girl slowly did the whole business of washing, soaping, rinsing, and wiping dry and with the limited space in the bathroom I was left to just stand there and watch.  It seemed painfully slow to me at the moment and my natural reaction even though it wasn't even my child was to run up and help her and move this whole process along.  But this mom just sat back and let the girl do her thing, and she ended up figuring it all out.  As I thought about that, I realized how quick I sometimes am to run to my kids' aid and do things for them when they could maybe do it themself if given the chance.  It is quicker and less messy and Shane would oft times prefer/insist that I do it anyway.  But now with 2 small ones to tote around and be responsible for, I am wondering if I had endured a little discomfort earlier trying to teach him to do certain things for himself if I wouldn't feel as overwhelmed feeling like I have 2 people very dependent on me.  And he is still 2 and there are many things he is truly not developmentally ready to do or things I have been trying to do with him but have just been very slow in coming but I have been feeling like a bad mom lately because of it.   That's when I have to step back and remind myself that just like them I am learning and I am not perfect but I am doing my best. I think as moms we see people that seem to have it so together and they have way more kids than us or we read someone's picture perfect accounts on their blog and it is easy to get discouraged and feel bad about ourselves.  Of course it is good to focus on the positive but every once in awhile there is just comfort in knowing that not everybody else has it all together either, so hopefully you know that I sure don't!

A Peek Inside

Our front door leads into the family room

Which opens up to the kitchen (best kitchen I've ever had by far!)

This is the hall to the right of the kitchen.  Bathroom is straight ahead, it's a little old school but does the job

our bedroom is to the right

Josh's office is to the left

and that first door to the left you can see in the hallway leads upstairs to the kids bedroom. After going back and forth on where we would put everyone we decided to put the kids upstairs because we wanted them to get used to sharing a room and the upstairs has a wall that kind of separates their beds so they are not right next to each other. 

Marissa's crib is on the other side of the wall.  So far so good- they both do a pretty good job of sleeping through the other one which is what we were aiming for.  I put them both down at the same time at night pretty much whenever Marissa is ready and Shane thinks it is one big party.  I usually nap him in my bed though because you never know when he will decide it's time to sing instead of sleep.

This is the back door/mud area- we don't usually come in the front door.  To the right is the kitchen and downstairs is the basement.

Playroom- clearly Shane has free reign over this room ;)  We do clean it up at night, but it's nice that it doesn't have to make the whole house a mess!

The washer and dryer!  Loving it.  Not pictured- the random toilet and shower.

Overall- favorite place we've lived in yet!  Here's hoping they just keep getting better every move! (Though with the low cost of living here I'm sure we may have to downgrade if we move somewhere else...)

I ♥ Fall

It's a been a few years since we've had a fall so I am all about it this year!  The season started this weekend and we wasted no time around here getting our festiveness on.  We hit up two orchards on Saturday with friends, the first one had some children's activities,

a little pumpkin patch (Isn't every mom supposed to have a picture of their kids in a pumpkin patch?  Marissa was the only one I could get to stay sitting there and she was clearly thrilled about me taking her picture. Don't worry- I see more pumpkins in our future!)

and lots of apples, apple cider, apple cider donuts, etc..

The second one had a U-pick section

so we got a big bag (1/2 a peck to be exact) and picked our own apples off the tree

and did a little frolicking through the orchard with our friends too ;)

It was so fun and the apples are so good that I think we may go back again in a couple weeks.  My friend Heather came over on Sunday to help me make apple crisp with some of them, and I'm gonna use some for this pork chop recipe tomorrow from my newest favorite recipe blog, also where I got the recipe for this white chicken chili I also made this weekend.  It's soup time again!  (To Josh's dismay and my delight ;) ) 

Can you tell a lot of my love for the season revolves around food?  (Don't even get me started on all things pumpkin!)  I guess it's a good thing that the crisp fall air also happens to be my favorite to run in.

Downright Adorable

Those cheeks!

That dimple!

Those eyes!

I could just eat her right up!!!