6 Months.

Our little June turned 6 months a few days ago. They didn't give me a print out of her stats but I remember them telling me she is 13.5 lbs and is in the 12th percentile for height and 15th for weight! She is the total opposite of her brother, just a ting, petite little thing! She is really showing her personality these days and is expecting us to entertain her more and more every day.

At 6 months little June is:
-grabbing like a champ- she's even catapulted several plates
-pinching (still! ouch!)
- her hair has gotten really long in the front and we have to put it up in a pebbles-like piggy tail everyday or she has a hard time seeing through it. In the back, however, she is getting to be about as bald as an old man. It's a pretty funny contrast.
-she still makes you perform for a smile or a giggle but she'll indulge you more often.
-loves to hear you click your tongue or smack your lips.
-loooooves baby talk.
-has miraculously slept a full 8 hours for a few nights!
-nursing like a champ.
-eating more and more solids. She's not super thrilled about it (she clearly expresses this is her face) but she will eat as much as she wants until letting you know she's done.
-has found her voice more. She'll spend a few minutes just yelling and then smiling at herself. I guess she's pretty proud of it. :-)
-blows raspberries
-has gotten a little bit of attachment anxiety

Island Living.

It's official! Tim has accepted an offer to be a pharmacist on the island of Saipan in Micronesia! Kind of a crazy story how we made it to this point but we are definitely happy/excited/nervous/etc. We really feel like through the stress of it all the Lord was really pointing us toward this opportunity. 

We were getting extremely frustrated with the nuclear company that Tim was interested in. After flying him out to several interviews and telling him how great he did but then taking weeks to decide on who to hire we finally started looking into other options. The process was just taking way too long and we didn't have the luxury of time with our apartment lease ending fairly soon. Tim decided to email the owner of some pharmacies in Micronesia since he had heard about it a few years before and had some interest in it. He figured if he was going to work in retail pharmacy instead of nuclear it may as well be on an island. The owner got back to him the very next day and after going through Tim's resume and speaking with him he offered him a job! After the frustration of waiting weeks to hear from the other company this quick response was definitely earning some points. 

We spent the next day trying to figure out if we were seriously considering this option. After all, the other company was still very interested in Tim and was supposed to be getting back to us anyday (it had been down to Tim and one other applicant for 2 weeks!). Soon we found ourselves trying to come up with reasons NOT to go and had a very hard time coming up with any. After much thought and prayer we felt that all of the frustration with the other company had been for a reason. We were meant to make the change in field and go to Saipan.

After the decision was made it was a whirlwind of getting together our passport information, packing like crazy, planning where we were going to go while waiting for our passports and finding contacts overseas. It was pretty chaotic. We left Albuquerque over memorial day weekend. It was actually really hard! I surprisingly had come to love it there. We had built a family there and had many so many lasting friendships. 

We are currently in Southern Utah with my family and will be visiting Salt Lake soon to see Tim's. Having time with both our families before we leave was just another perfect fit to our plan. We are set to leave for Saipan early July and will be there for a 2 year contract and can then decide if we'd like to continue our stay. Personally, I'm torn. I love island living but I think after 2 years I'll want to get back to the city and my blackberry. :-) 

Dr. Wood

I am officially married to a Doctor! It's been a long road and Tim has finally graduated with his Pharm D! I am beyond proud of him. I may or may not have cried at his graduation. :-) I still remember when we first got to New Mexico and he started the program! Phew! What a crazy four years it has been! We are thrilled (probably he more than I!) to have Tim done with school FOR-E-VER. 

Newly hooded and diploma-ed.

Doesn't he look so smart?

June probably got just as much attention as Tim! Total strangers followed us around taking pictures of her!

When Tim and I originally came to NM we planned to both go to school full time and graduate at the same time. (He with his Pharm D and me with my BSN) Kids were not in the plan until AFTER graduation. Whenever I thought of this day back then I imagined both of us in our cap and gowns, just the two of us. Obviously, things turned out a little differently! Now we have two more in the picture than we thought and only one of us has a cap and gown on! It's funny to think back on our dreams when we were first married and  compare them to now. We are so happy things turned out the way they did! Through all the stress, homework, rotations, late night study sessions and oh the surprises, we made it! 

We're so proud of you Tim! I always knew you were a genius, now you have the title to show it!

*there mom! your dreams have come true! I married a DOCTOR! :-)

playing host(ess)

Tim's mother and brother Tyler came to see Tim graduate this weekend. We took them to Old Town today and I took a million pictures since it would probably be our last time and I ADORE Old Town.

We underestimated how hot it was already and had to stop for a drink almost immediately.

June & her bling. A street vender handmade it and GAVE it to her because he thought she was so cute!
We ended up buying a bracelet for me as well and he gave us a discount!

Old man river and Uncle Tyler

Only picture of me and the girl.

I love all the "day of the dead" stuff here in NM. I saw this cake topper and about died. No pun intended.

Chiles, of course.

Street vendors. I LOVE buying from street vendors. I love hearing their stories on how they made everything and how they learned. So much fun.

We found this really cute cafe in the back that had organic/homemade everything.
I couldn't resist a piece of German Chocolate Cake.

I was so in love with her dainty dishes and bright table cloths!

This is all Owen was interested in.

The Cafe.
Love the bright and cheery colors.

Uncle Tyler is man enough to wear the baby sling.

stg.

Tim was in Pittsburgh for an interview a week or so ago and being the wuss that I am I braved a layover flight and took the kids to St. George. Turns out I was overly optimistic about traveling with two little ones and was pretty dead when we got there. I had planned all kinds of fun things to do and thought I would take lots of pictures but we ended up spending most of our time chasing crazy kids around the house.

My sister did snap a few photos of a fun fountain that we took Owen to, hoping it would tire him out. No such luck on that but it was a great time anyway.

Other things we managed to squeeze in:
-shopping
-lunch at cafe rio
-got brave and CHOPPED my hair.
-drinks past 11pm with JoLyn! (I felt so hip being out at a "cool" hour)
-ugly betty marathon
-dress up/make up fun
-strawberry shakes at Judd's

What I wish we could've squeezed in:
-Zumba at the warehouse (A-MAZING)
-photo shoots in our cool makeup and wedding dresses
-a hike with my Dad at Fitness Ridge
-more ugly betty
-more sleep

The kids had a lot of fun and we sad to say goodbye to their playmates. Unfortunately for me, neither of them slept well due to teething and the morning we left I had a total of 2 hours of sleep total. I never even hit the pillow til 5am. How are families of more than 2 kids even possible?!

5 Months.

Little Bug is 5 months old! I can't believe how fast times passes with the second baby. I feel like I haven't had time to realize she's not a newborn anymore!


24 inches 13 lbs

Here's what little Dolly has been up to lately:

-Was starting to be curious about foods so we let her have some rice cereal mixed with fruit and she LOVES it. She can down quite a bit of it.

-Is learning how to sleep at night. The whole "tough love," is a lot harder for her and we're still working on figuring it out but she's definitely not as easy as Owen. On a good night she'll sleep form 8pm-2am, feed and then sleep from 2:30am to 5:30 for her last feeding and wake up around 8am. A bad night is basically twice before I go to bed and several times throughout the night. She still won't take a binkie and will not be coaxed by rocking, bouncing or anything else we've tried. It's been frustrating to say the least.

- Naps like a champ! We swaddle her, lie her in the crib and after 5 mins of crying (if any) she's out. Too bad the nighttime doesn't go like that at all!

-Jibber-jabbering like crazy.

-Is so hard to get to laugh! Dad and Owen are best at getting her to laugh. With Mom she's pretty withholding.

-Starting to love her brother. She smiles at him often and he can even get her to laugh!

-Is still SUPER grabby. Now that she's bigger she grabs anything that in front of her and puts a death grip on it. I cut my hair this month to avoid more fistfuls of hair.

-Drooling like crazy. There are literally rivers of drool flowing down my arms when I hold her.

- Has bitten me several times now! Ouch! What ever happened to not biting the hand that feeds you?

-Loves her playmat & excersaucer but hates the swing now. We returned it to our friends (thanks, Maria!) because she started refusing to even sit in it.

-Licks anything if it's close to her face.

-Sticks her tongue out constantly.

-Tries really hard to sit up.

- Spits up almost every time she burps. Yuck.

-Still has a few exploding diapers.

-Has discovered her toes! I think it's the cutest thing when she grabs on and then rolls to her side.

She has been such a joy! And though she's still smaller than Owen was at this age she definitely is getting chunky!

Hazel.

Everyone in Tim's family has hazel eyes. Tim is the only one that has blue and even they turn greenish depending on what he wears. Owen was born with unbelievable blue eyes. At around 18 months they started turning a little and now they are full on hazel. I am so jealous.