Milestones - Walking

Seth turned 1 last March. He is very smart but has always liked to do things on his own schedule. He was my first baby that let me see and pass my due date. My others came a few days before their due date. Maya and Luke were also walking right around their first birthday. Seth was content with crawling - he was a pretty speedy crawler after all. Through the spring and beginning of summer he would take a step here or there, but much preferred to crawl where he needed to go. We moved at the beginning of July and during that month he became a pretty good walker. Now he's running all over the place trying to keep up with his brother and sister. He wants to do whatever it is they are doing.

(As you can see from the pic and video - he loves to where his sunglasses. Also a first for one of my babies.)

Below is a video from this past week. As I said, Seth likes to be doing whatever the big kids are doing (my husband is included in the"big kid" category). Luke and Matt were working on their super hero fighting skills and Seth decided he needed to show his off as well. It was pretty cute - er, I mean, amazingly tough.

My 31st Birthday

For my birthday this summer we decided to check out the Exploratorium in San Francisco. ( My birthday was at the end of July - still catching up on blogging about the summer) We were still living in the TLF (temporary lodging facility) on base and didn't have a babysitter, so we needed to do something kid friendly. We were originally gonna go check out a California beach, but honestly, after driving from Texas I didn't want to make a several hour car trip and we were having a cold summer anyway and I knew I wouldn't be able to relax on the beach cuz I'm a mom and need to have my eyes on my babies at all times in a place like that.

Anywho, I thought since we live to close to San Francisco we should check it out. Went to some tourism websites and found out about the exploratorium which is a really cool hands on science museum. So on my birthday, we hopped in the car and headed to San Francisco.

As we got close to the bay area, you could see the wall of fog/clouds wanting to break over the mountains to our side where it was completely sunny clear skies. The picture below doesn't do the wall of clouds any justice. It was really cool looking.

Coming up on the Golden Gate Bridge. It took us a little under an hour to get there. Not a bad drive at all.

Here are the kids climbing in the geomotry area. There were all kinds of cool things to touch and see and learn about. Up in the biology area they were sitting at a table dissecting a cow heart for all the kids to see and explaining all the parts. There were areas where you experimented with light, air, magnets, heat, gravity, all kinds of things. If you are ever in the area, it's definitely a great place to take the kids. We had a blast.

The day before my birthday, Maya and I went out for manies and pedies. It was her very first time. (I didn't get my first until a few days before my wedding.) We had lots of fun and I told her it could be a once a year birthday thing for her. Here are our super cute toes.

Residency Graduation

Back on June 4, 2010 (the same weekend as Maya's baptism) Matt graduated from his anesthesiology residency.

It's been quite a ride starting in the DC area where Matt attended USUHS (Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences) for his medical education. That was from Summer of 2002 through May of 2006. Maya was 2 months old when he started. Luke was born at the beginning of his 4th year of med school plus a few adventures in between.

From there we were moved to Travis Air Force base in California for a 1 year surgical internship. That year is a blur to Matt - very very long hours. During that crazy time we got the most amazing news that Matt had been accepted into the Anesthesia Residency program (There is only 1 in the Air Force so spots are very limited. It's quite competitive.) When that year was completed, we said "See ya!!!" to his surgical internship and headed to San Antonio, Texas where we would spend the next 3 years.
Matt really enjoys what he does and after 3 years of hard work, he's completed his residency and finally feels like he can tell people he's a doctor (even though he's technically been a doctor for 4 years already). We had and amazing time in San Antonio and made some really great friends.

Now we're back at Travis Air Force base for at least the next 4 years. Matt will deploy for the first time next summer. We'll have to wait and see what adventures await us here in Cali.

Time to catch up

It's time to catch up. I've posted about a few of our adventures this summer; but now that we're set up in our new home, it's time to catch up on the pictures as well.

First up is The Ear Piercing Adventure (Tuesday June 22, 2010). Maya's best friend in San Antonio is Emi. They played together almost every day. (We really miss living down the road from the Neilson Family.) As a last hoorah, they decided they wanted to go together and get their ears pierced.

Maya decided to go first. She hopped up in the chair not giving herself time to get psyched out. So here's the excited before shot.

Getting her ears marked

And here goes the first ear. . .

Now there's a break in the pictures because Maya started freaking out and begging to not have her other ear done. After a couple of minutes of crying (and freaking out her friend Emi) we took a walk around the store to calm down.

Now it's Emi's turn. She's still a little freaked, but it's gonna get done. Maya still only has one ear done at this point. Maya's giving Emi a little moral support.

After getting Emi's ears done as quickly as possible, it was Maya's turn to hop back in the chair.
Doesn't she look so excited??

Followed by more tears, here are some after shots. After about another 5 minutes the girls were on a high and so excited that they had gotten it done. It was definitely a bonding experience.

Important Qualities

Matt and I were sitting and finishing dinner tonight. Luke and Seth were off running around so we took a moment to have a conversation with Maya. Matt asked her if she thought any boys in her class were cute. She blushes and says no. Matt says he'd like it if she didn't think boys were cute for 10 more years. I reassure her that it's okay if she likes boys now. Matt and I both agree that she's not allowed to kiss a boy for 10 more years. This is all said very light heartedly.
So I change the subject to old friends back in San Antonio. I ask Maya if she misses her friend Kola. She does. She says that he's a good wrestler. Matt says, "That's an important quality in a man. . . to be a good wrestler. That's why mommy fell in love with me; cuz I'm good at wrestling." He pauses and then asks Maya if she thinks that's true. He asks her silly questions like these often. She usually looks to me for a response but I was focused on my biscuit. She's not sure if Matt is being silly or not. She explains this to us and then says, "I don't know if you're trying to trick me. I don't see you and mommy wrestle." And then she's laughing and joking very innocently and says, "But maybe you and mommy wrestle secretly after me and Luke and Seth are in bed!"
All Matt and I can do is laugh and that's all I'll say on the subject for now.

What are the odds???

Matt and I are working hard these days trying to get settled in our new home. Yesterday afternoon we decided to finally get started in the office. We had our computer set up within the first 3 days so we could have access to internet, but nothing in the room is located in the right spot. It's also the only room that I haven't unpacked any of the boxes. So any important missing items - ie; printer paper, the little box that has all the screws and nails and hardware for hanging everything on walls, wires, etc - are probably hidden in one of these office boxes, all of which are labeled "books". Needle in a haystack, baby. Matt was post call and kids were in school and Seth was napping, so we took the opportunity to start moving things around in the office. We wanted to move the computer to the oppposite wall. We start to unload the top of the desk and unplug wires when we notice that the internet wire that goes to the wall is pretty short and will not reach to the other wall. We can't simply switch it out for a longer phone cord because it is not "plugged" into the phone socket. The Comcast guy hook the wires directly from the wire to the wirebox inside the wall plate. Matt is ready remove the short wire and cut the end of our long one and connect the wires himself. I'm a little more reluctant. I wash my hands of it and tell Matt I want nothing to do with it and that he's making me nervous and I leave the room while he has his fun playing with wires. I come back a few minutes later and it seems that everything is fine. The longer wire is hooked up and Matt is showing me that the internet works. All right then. So we unplug everything and start moving furniture around. We get the computer all set back up on the desk and plugged in and we no longer have internet. I know that sometimes it's a matter of plugging things in and turning things on in the right order, but nothing's working. So I go to call Comcast and realize our home phone has no dial tone. Nothing! So Matt calls on his cell and talks to someone and nothing is working, so they say they'll send someone out the next day. So Matt and I are joking about how he broke the internet and phone and that's the only way he'll learn.
Today the Comcast guy came. He's here 5 minutes and tells us everything is working fine and all set up. Apparently, the tenants who lived here before us had scheduled for their service to be turned off on August 27 (yesterday). Comcast turned it off not realizing they had already started our service. It was an overlap.
It's just crazy that the turn off happened right during the time that Matt had been fiddling with the wires. Seriously, what are the chances?! It cracked us both up and I guess Matt didn't learn his lesson because he didn't actually break anything.

"Our moving adventure" update

So we've been here in California for a couple of weeks now. Our drive from Texas went pretty smoothly and much faster than we were anticipating with 3 kiddos in the car. We got to leave a few hours earlier than we were planning thanks to Matt's car getting picked up first thing in the morning. We said a family prayer before leaving, asking for a safe trip. We get the kids loaded in the car and Matt goes to start it and nothing happens! We have a Honda Pilot and it has never given us so much as a hiccup. At first I think Matt's playing a little joke on me. "Ha Ha, funny! Now start the car!" is what I'm thinking but I realize after a few turns of the key that he's not messing with me. We finally get it started and take it down the road and have the battery checked. Sure enough we need a new one. I'm just so glad that this was figured out in town in a familiar place before we got started rather than in the middle of nowhere Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Calirfornia desert. So that was a blessing and the rest of our drive was uneventful.
We drove all day on the 1st and made it to El Paso (still in Texas!!). It's crazy that the state is so big you can drive all day and still be in it. We made it to Phoenix the next day and then drove to LA to visit Matt's brother and his family. It was the third and there little town does its own fireworks on the 3rd. So we watched some with them that night. The next day we drove to my oldest brother's place in Madera and spent the 4th with them. It was so great to get to catch up with some of our family along our way here to Travis Air Force Base.
We're staying in the TLF (temporary lodging facility) here on base and it's actually pretty decent. It's a 2 bedroom apartment with a full eat in kitchen (dishwasher and all). The kids love having their own beds and a TV in their bedroom. There happens to be a playground right outside our building and that nice for letting Maya and Luke go work out some energy.
We got here on the 5th and started looking at houses right away. It got pretty frustrating trying to find the right fit. We found some beautiful homes but they were kind of far from base and I'm tired of Matt having a long commute. Another home was beautiful and brand new (never lived in before) with an awesome backyard, but the owner seemed kind of difficult. We finally found a home in the school district we were hoping for and it's nice and roomy so family and friends can come and visit and stay with us. We'll move in on the 3rd of August, the day after Matt takes his board exam. I'm so ready to have our things back.
So 2 more weeks in the TLF. It's nice to have found a home and that stress gone. Now we'll just hang out and get things in order for the move into the house.