Facebook killed my blog.

No, we didn't die. Or move. Or fall off the face of the earth. I am done with school and am now a non-working licensed dental hygienist. Josh is still with AGFA. Two boys boss me around all day long and I generally love it, but definitely have my fair share of 'those days'. Grayson is wicked smart, just finished his first year of preschool, and broke his first limb (right tibia) on May 9. He's 110% brilliant, bouncy, and boy and gives me a run for my money every. single. day. It's exhausting being his mother but oh, so fun as well.

I don't want Trevin growing up as the 'second child' even though he is. There have been fewer pictures and videos taken of his first six months of life than of Grayson's first six, and obviously far fewer blog entries. I want to fix that. Today is July 1, 2012 and he's nearly seven months old. He's a very busy, very happy, very sweet baby. He's crawling all over the house and crawled off my bed for the first time this morning (totally not my fault - I was sleeping!). We just returned from his first Lake Powell trip and he was a champ with the heat, the dirt, and the noise. He is so aware and focused on people and things, especially food, and I give him a lot more leeway than I ever did Grayson at this age. He will literally catapult himself out of my arms to get to whatever it is that caught his attention. He's a tough one to contain. Going to be an interesting couple of toddler years.

My goal is to publish one post per week to this blog. I want to share our pictures, Trevin's milestones, the funny things Grayson says on a near-hourly basis. I need Trevin to see he means as much to me as Grayson does. So my plan is to spend 30 minutes per day organizing the bazillion pictures and videos lying around on four different hard drives and turn them in to publishable tidbits about our lives that my children will cherish one day. I might even play a little catch-up and post some pics to fill in the gaps from the last two years as well. Wish me luck!

Get a grip

I'm two loads of laundry into the weekend and already feeling behind. It's after 9am Friday morning and there are two more to go (towels last week, sheets this week). I just finished the assignment that's due before noon, but Gray and I are still in our jammies, and the floor is screaming for attention. Scrubbed my shower and toilet last week but not my sink; vacuumed the house but didn't dust. Ran out of milk this morning and I haven't baked for ages. Seems I just can't get it all done anymore.

Maybe there just aren't enough hours in the week for my mom-life AND my school-life. Last weekend I spent about 10 hours studying for a test on Monday. I'll do that again this weekend. And the next. And the next after that. And the next after that one too. Between my classes, I will have at least one test every Monday for the next 12 weeks. Throw in a quiz every Tuesday and Thursday, the fact that I'm away from home (and my son) from 7am to 6pm every Monday through Thursday, and I'm borderline tears. Familial responsibilities consume me as soon as I walk in the door - dinner, dishes, playtime, jammies, brush teeth, storytime, prayers, good night. By 9pm (if I'm lucky enough that Grayson has stayed in his bed), I'm ready for bed myself - not up for pre-treating clothing stains, packing lunches and laying out clothes for the next day, or cracking open a textbook for an hour. I just want to fall into an uninterrupted slumber.

But I don't, because I can't. I want to be the best mom and I want to be the best student, so I do stay outside a bit longer than I should when Grayson wants to swing or play on the slide, and I occasionally leave the dishes in the sink until the next evening. And I often stay up until 10:30 or 11pm, studying for my classes the following day. No television, no pleasure reading. But I'm okay with that, because that's what I choose to do. And Josh has gotten so much better at being done working when it's time to be done. He helped make dinner last night, and he occasionally does the dishes. He makes the bed some mornings, helps Gray pick up his toys before bedtime, and picks him up from day care when I have to catch the later bus home. Josh will probably even let me head to the library tomorrow afternoon for 5-6 uninterrupted hours of studying, even though it means he can't work in the garage or basement. He really is the best husband and father.

Already this morning Grayson has asked me to draw him a butterfly, build a tower with him, and sing his frog to sleep. I love being here for him. I love the way his voice inflects up a bit when he says "Mom" right before he asks me for something. I know there's a time and season for every stage of life, and sometimes I'm bummed I chose to intertwine these two very different seasons into the same two years, but I know he knows I love him, and I'm pretty sure he knows he's my number one guy. He's going to help me try out a zucchini brownie recipe this afternoon, after we go grocery shopping together. He's good about helping me fold the laundry, and he still loves to vacuum, so I'm pretty confident I'll get the things done that I need to, even if it takes a bit longer to do them.

I just needed a minute to get a grip on my responsibilities, my priorities, and how to mesh them together. Breathe in, breathe out. One day at a time. Oh my, I just love that little boy so much. My little boy. No one told me I could manage to love him more every time I see him, but I swear it happens. I look at him and my heart nearly bursts. With joy, with pride, with love. He is so funny, and quirky, and boyish, and tender, and troublesome, and sweet all at once. He truly is the light of my life.

A Summer of Firsts

Now that summer is over, I figure I'd better do a quick recap of all the 'firsts' Gray had before I let any more time or memory slip away.

First donut - April 24, 2010

First buggy 'ride' - May 10, 2010

First time passing out in a swing - May 16, 2010

First time away from just Mommy overnight (sans Mexico) -

May 28-30, 2010

First ice cream cone - May 29, 2010First s'mores - May 31, 2010

First time building a tower without help - June 3, 2010First own meal at Lone Star Taqueria - June 21, 2010 First time passing out in Wal-Mart - June 23, 2010 First family reunion - June 25, 2010 First big fireworks show and carnival ride - July 3, 2010 First movie on the big screen - July 5, 2010 First time stuck climbing the pantry shelves - July 8, 2010 First family hike - July 30, 2010 First pinata! - August 22, 2010

As you can see, the kid's been busy this summer! Grayson also got his first bloody nose July 12 and learned how to open the outside doors this summer. It only took a few popsicles before he knew how to push his own Otter Pops up from the bottom, and he can eat cherries, plums, apricots, etc., and successfully spit out the pits. In the last month he's learned how to propel himself on a little scooter we got for him, and he denounced naps entirely. He also ripped out the bottom of one pair of shorts and I fixed them! This summer was a good one. Can't wait for the next!

Reaching goals

I was going to set the goal of blogging every day in May but then I realized May had already begun and I would undoubtedly fail. Instead, my goal is to post 10 times this month. I think I can handle blogging every third day.

Last week I achieved a goal that I set a while back - I baked bread from wheat that I ground myself!

Ta-da! Stockpiling wheat, January 17, 2009

First you grind it up

into whole-wheat flourThen mix it into your other ingredientsRoll into loaves, rise, and bake in the ovenFinally, slice and serve

I forgot to take a pic of the bread pans before baking so you'll just have to trust me that those loaves came from my dough. And yes, it tasted simply divine.

Finally baking my own bread is part of a larger goal Josh and I set at the beginning of this year; the goal to "Get prepared." What a blanket, difficult-to-measure, trite little goal. We were pretty gung ho about it back in January, but our passion died down a bit when my class and Josh's job both became more time-consuming. I waxed some cheese in February for our long-term food storage, but all of my videos and pics from that afternoon are forever locked away on a damaged memory card that will only give me error messages when I try to retrieve them. I waxed a couple of blocks again in March but didn't have Josh available to videotape it, so I only have a few pictures to show you.

Ingredients:

These cheese blocks...

...plus these melted wax blocks...

...equal these wax-covered cheese blocks!

Completely cover with 2-3 layers and you get cheese with an indefinite shelf life. Yay!

Now that I'm out of school for the summer, I've started cracking down on what still needs to be done to 'Be prepared'. We have a long way to go, but thankfully we have a pretty good start.

Finally, there's another, more exciting goal that's been in the works since Josh and I married three years ago: Save enough money to put 20% down on a home. We have finally reached the point in our finances that we are comfortable doing just that and still have a bit in savings for my dental hygiene program and any hiccups life throws our way. It's very exciting to be 'in the market' right now when interest rates are good and the federal government will give us $8k for taking someone else's house off their hands for them.

The sad news about the house situation is that we aren't planting our garden this year because we don't want to leave our boxes and decorative rock behind when we move. Especially disappointing is that a fellow ward member promised to help me can my own salsa this summer using vegetables I grow myself. Bummer. That's a goal I'll have to reach in 2010 instead.

Spring has sprung

A lot has been going on as of late around these parts. Too much, but I promise I've been taking pictures even though I've not been sharing them. One day I may get around to posting Dec08-Feb09 for my sweet baby, but for now, here is the month of April...

Grayson has fallen in love:

We've been spending a lot of time outside (when there is no snow!)Which means yard work has begun:
Note the shudder at 1:07 - that's my boy!

I mailed in my acceptance form:

The Easter Bunny came to visit Gray at Grandma's house and that health nut brought him raisins and a banana in his basket!

But he got plenty of candy at two different Easter Egg hunts:
Grayson's finally begun reading books instead of eating them:

And finally, yesterday I spent 3 hours, 48 minutes on a 217-question Microbiology final that seriously kicked my ass. The good news is I had an 'A' in the class going in to the final, and now I've just the lab final to take Wednesday and I will be finished with this class and semester!

Something I've learned about (so pretty for a nasty tapeworm)