Summer

It has been awhile since we updated our blog so I thought I’d do it since I have a lot more free time now than I have in awhile. I finished up classes a week and a half ago and have loved having free time. I will include pictures of Thomas throughout since all of our pictures nowadays are of him.

Overall this semester was a little too stressful. Coming in to this semester I didn’t think it would be too bad (which is why I interviewed for the Quintiles 20-hour a week job) since I was familiar with 90% of the material (so I thought) that we would be covering. Well, it turned out that although one of the courses I took had the same name as one I took at BYU, it was vastly different and much harder. I haven’t really had a Saturday and Sunday without any homework or studying since January. In February, after talking with Em, we decided it would be best if I spoke with our Bishop about my calling. I was in the young men’s presidency and was assigned to the deacons. I would teach every Sunday (which wasn’t time consuming at all – very easy) but was also required to attend Wednesday night mutual and go on the monthly campouts and attend other service projects. I wished I had the time to do it but it was hard when my Saturdays and Sundays were my ‘catch-up’ days and then I had a campout. It would have equated to very little sleep and no time with Em and Thomas. The bishop was very understanding and moved me to a Sunday school teacher position for the same group of deacons and other 12 year girls in the ward. I have loved it (the kids were really excited when they saw me come in to teach the first time – it made me feel good) and love how it doesn’t require anytime during the week!




My job at Quintiles has been fun. I like working there and it is pretty low stress and still interesting. I work in the Innovation department (specifically the Center for Statistics in Drug Development) and I basically help my advisor, Russell, with implementing new methods to be used in the data analysis of clinical trials. So far I have worked a lot with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Depression, and Anxiety, data – it has been fun.
Overall the semester went well despite me being busy and I am really enjoying this downtime. I love going to bed at night knowing that I have no classes and nothing due the next day! I still work 20 hours a week for Quintiles but that is it. In a little bit I will start studying for my basic exam (the PhD qualifying exam in August – I have to pass it to stay in the program) but I will do the bulk of that studying when we return from our Utah/Hawaii vacation.

Em and I are big in to celebrating milestones (and pretty much anything we can make an excuse to celebrate about – I think I got that from mom) so after my last final we went to the Cheesecake factory for lunch, spent some time at the mall, and then went to Heather and Eric’s house that evening for dinner and to watch Thor. It was a great day. The following Monday we went to their house again to watch Captain America and then tonight we are going out with them to see The Avengers in IMAX 3D! I am very excited. Em is not too into super hero movies but has graciously been willing to watch all these movies with us. I liked Thor more than I thought I would but didn’t like Captain America very much. I am hoping Avengers is good.

The days after my last final were filled with two more celebrations with my friend Doug and his wife Charisse (he is at Duke doing stats) and then with our friends in the ward Keith and Katie. They were both fun nights filled with good food, games, and movies (saw War Horse and thought it was pretty good – althought definitely a one time viewing movie).

Our phone contract with T-mobile ended in April (hallelujah!) and we made the move to Verizon on a family plan with Em’s sister Abbie and her husband Jon. Em let me get an iphone4 while she opted for a basic flip phone. Needless to say, I love the iphone! We have taken SO many more pictures and videos of Thomas because it is always in my pocket. I have also loved being able to check something on the internet (address, food info, etc.) while we are out. Also, I love going running and installing new podcasts, music, or listening to Pandora, while I run – so convenient. The main downside is that there is an Atp tennis app that I have installed that lets me check scores and results instantly… I have now become addicted to checking it. I also find myself checking email too much simply because I can. Em and I had debated for so long on whether or not to get one (me always saying we ‘need’ it and she saying that it wasn’t worth it). Ultimately I think we were both right, it isn’t a necessity but it does provide a lot of things that have made life easier. My main problem with people with iphones is when they pull them out when you are visiting with them. You wouldn’t pull out your laptop when you are eating dinner right? Or when you are it the car with other people and they opt to looking at their phone over making conversation. I can see how it is tempting, but I have made a point not to use it when there are people I could be visiting with.

Em and I have also started getting back into tennis. There is a club about 15 minutes away that has a ball machine that we can play on. We did it the other day and had fun. We also went and played at some local courts just the two of us. Yesterday I played competitively for the first time since Christmas (with Tara) with a 42 year old 5.0 man. I don’t know what level I am in terms of 5.0, 5.5, etc. but because I beat this guy soundly, I think maybe I am 5.5? It was really fun and felt SO good to be out hitting again. He told me that there were lots of leagues 5.0/5.5 that would love to have me be on their team. I think I will do it. Em also said she is going to look for a league or group of women her level that she could get involved with. Have I said how much we are loving summer?!

We have also been taking more walks around the nearby lake, getting fresh fruits and veggies at the local farmers market, playing games every night before bed, and reading the (I am reading the new Brandon Sanderson book – its good). We also are addicted to weekly episodes of Chopped, Modern Family, Food Network Star, and tennis whenever Nadal is playing. Watching cooking shows is fun being married to Em. I can say “Dang, that looks good! We should make it!” and she can. The other day she made a spring vegetable risotto, which looked very complicated and had around 20 ingredients and it tasted amazing.

Thomas is growing up so fast. Em and I looked at pictures the other day of when he was 1 and 2 months old and he looks completely different. In fact, the other day someone told us that Thomas looks exactly like Emily (I was there next to her) which was a first. Emily was thrilled! Mostly people say that he looks like me because of the hair but overall, I think he looks more like his mom. It has been so rewarding having him in our lives. He has a huge smile, and smiles all the time.

He loves Elmo’s song and sometimes dances to it – it’s hilarious. He also smiles and shakes his legs and arms whenever he sees a picture of Elmo. He now grabs things and pics them up and plays with them. He is still working on letting things go – he doesn’t really know how to do that yet. He also has been sleeping through the night (about 10 hours and then a feeding, then sleeps 2 more hours) for a little over a month. It has been great. Em has read in lots of books the importance of keeping the baby on a strict napping/feeding schedule. Also, I know lots of people who do this. Maybe its just me, but then I feel like our whole day is scheduled around his naps and it makes it hard sometimes to do things that we want. So we still definitely give him 2-3 naps a day (usually one between 9-11, another between 1-3, and maybe one around 4)but they are rarely at the exact same time and sometimes he only gets 2. So he is on a schedule which is great, but it is flexible and I feel like the whole family benefits from it.

Thomas can now sit up, just not indefinitely. He will sit up for awhile but if he looks behind him, the weight of his head pulls him down and he falls over. The other day we went for this 6 month checkup and we had to answer this long questionnaire about his development. It asked things like “Does your baby pick up cheerios with his fingers and place them in his mouth?” And after reading the questionnaire I think Thomas may be a little behind in his fine motor skills. But in terms of making noise and trying to talk, I think he is doing very well.

This past week we started feeding him solids. Em made him a avacado breast milk parfait and sweet potato mush, and he didn’t like either of them. He also doesn’t love water. He seems most happy with plain old breast milk.

He is also playing more independently now. We have some toys for him and sometimes he will play with them for 20-30 minutes at a time. He spends most of that time talking to them. Is favorite toy is still his hands. He stares at them and twirls them and talks to them.

The Latest

 How did this little guy......

Turn into this one?

Our little boy is Growing up!  We don't want this to happen undocumented as he is changing so much so fast.  It is crazy to thing that he is already 4 months old!  He is really starting to develop more of a personality.  It is really fun to watch.

He is a very verbal baby.  He talks all the time!  Mostly ohhs, ahhs, and dzzzz with lots of drool and bubbles.  I have heard a da in there every now and then, but it is just one of his noises (at least I have to tell myself that to remain hopeful that he could still say ma first :)).  He talks to mom and dad a lot, but we are not his only audience.  He performs the best for his hands and his feet!  It is really cute, but yes undocumented.  We need to be better at pictures and videos.  Brad is convinced we will do this better if we get i-phones.

Other things as of late are that I have noticed when I get him out of his crib in the morning, or after a nap, he has often turned his body 180 degrees or more in the crib (not from back to stomach...Thank goodness, but from the head of his crib to the foot of his crib).  I am not quite sure how he does this.  I think it has a lot to do with how he plays with his feet as he is falling asleep, and his uncoordinated hands and arm movements to get himself calmed down.  He will also roll from the side of his body to the other side also, to try and find his binky if it falls out.   He doesn't cry to much for us to put it back in, but tries to get it himself.  We like to see that he is becoming more independent.

He is starting to hold toys in his hands.  He doesn't put them in his mouth quite yet (although he does that a ton with his blankies), but he just holds them and stares and talks to them.  He is fascinated by them, and he will pick them up himself if they are in his sight.

He laughs like crazy at certain things like when we blow raspberries on his tummy, when we take his shirt off and get close to his armpits (he is like both parents in ticklishness), when we sing made up songs from daddy and mommy,  us smelling his "stinky" (but not really stinky) feet, blowing in his face, and doing superman and airplane.

Overall, Thomas is a very good baby.  He puts himself to sleep just fine for naps and bedtime.  He had a two week stretch of sleeping through the night, but about a week ago he started waking up more again.  I think it is a combination of us going out of town and getting him off schedule a little bit, and going through a growth spurt.  We have had a couple nights since then where he has slept well, but it is not a recurrent pattern yet.  Hopefully soon!  He also can keep himself entertained.  He is very patient.  I feel like I can take him anywhere and not have to worry about my baby fussing too much.  We do hang out here a lot so he can get his naps, and so we can play.  I am grateful for his good nature, and hope that will continue throughout his life.

Unfortunately Thomas has had an abscess on his bum for the last 6 weeks or so.  It went away for about 10 days, but then came right back.  At the beginning of February we noticed it, and took him to the doctor.  We go to a group of pediatricians and typically see a different one each time we have a last minute appointment.  The first doctor looked at the abscess and thought that we should take Thomas to the Pediatric E.R. at a hospital out here in Raleigh.  It is actually a really great E.R. unit for kids.  The staff is great, and they had the cutest little hospital gown for babies.  It was adorable to see Thomas in it, especially since he was as happy as a clam. Here is a picture.

The doctor sent us there because it was a Saturday, and he just wanted to get a second opinion so we could rule out anything serious.  He also said because of his age, he wanted to be careful (Thomas was just under 3 months at the time).  It made me nervous, but Thomas didn't have a fever, and he was really happy, so I wasn't too worried.  They looked at it, drained it to get a culture but couldn't get enough of the drainage, and gave him a topical antibiotic ointment.  That didn't really work.

Here we are 6 weeks later, and Thomas has had four more rounds of antibiotics, probably about 6 different doctors visits and it is still there.  The problem is they can never get enough of the puss out of it to see what antibiotic to treat it with.  Augmentin made it appear as though it had gone away, but now it is back.  We tried a different antibiotic, but now we are back on Augmentin.  The doctor is going to look at it after 10 days, and hopefully it will be good and gone.

Although it is an annoyance, the abscess and the antibiotic haven't left Thomas unusually grumpy or uncomfortable.  We are grateful for that.

Brad had Spring break last week.  We were lucky to go to Maryland to spend time with Andy and Julia and their darling new baby girl Miriam.  We went for her blessing, and also to just hang out and spend time with them and Paula and Loel who were in town.  It was a lot of fun.  We had a great time, and were so glad to be there.

Here are some pics from this get-away

 Thomas and baby "Me-um" as Bryce says.  This was on Miriams blessing day.  Paula got this beautiful dress at a flee market in Paris when they were there on their mission.

 Thomas in his bumbo chair laughing at Grandma

 Thomas and Bryce

Thomas and Miriam

After Paula and Loel spent time in Maryland, they came here to North Carolina to spend time with Brad and I, and Heather and Eric and their kids.  We had a blast!  Loel and Paula helped us out a ton while they were here.  Loel put up some shelving units in our pantry, and helped us with other handy tasks like putting up a file shelf thing and stuff.

Paula did 90% (or more....I just don't want to look like I didn't do anything) of the cleaning while she was here, and helped me organize Thomas' clothes, my closet, the pantry and other cupboards in the kitchen and etc.  It was nice to have her help and company while we did these things, and to have advice from somebody who is better and enjoys it more than I do.  I like to be organized, I just don't enjoy doing it.

While we were organizing Thomas' room, we found this hat I made for him before I had him.  We tried it on.  It doesn't fit as well, but it sure looks cute on him.

We didn't just clean and organize, but did some fun things too like go to pullen park to ride the train and the carousel.  We went with Heather's family.  Thomas didn't ride the Carousel because he was too small, but he went on the train.  Here is a pic.

While we were there, we had a picnic lunch.  Here is a pic of Thomas and Averie at lunch.

We also  decided to have Loel take some Pictures of the three of us while we were at Heather's house one day.  Loel took some great pictures, and it was also nice to have Heather there too to give us ideas for good spots to take pictures in, lighting, and etc.  Paula also did a great job playing crazy clown to get Thomas to smile.  Heather was nice to let us use her backyard, let me borrow her boots because I forgot my black shoes, and helped me find a nice lip color for the picture.  It turned out really great.  Here are some pics of that photo shoot.

 I had to add this photo of Paula and Thomas as it is the only one we have of the two of them for this trip.

I just wanted to add this last picture of Thomas as it is so adorable.  Brad put this outfit on him because he thought it was so cute, as did I.  It is just a little too big still, but it will fit him soon enough.

Just for a little info on Brad and I.  Brad is still working 20 hours a week at Quintiles, and taking classes full-time, and doing research.  He has been extremely busy.  It has been a little hard for me, as I get bored and lonely sometimes, but I need to get used to it because I know we will have times like this in our lives.  I have been able to make some great friends out here that I go for walks with, hang-out with during the day, exchange babysitting, and etc., so that helps.

Spring Break was really nice, although Brad was still busy, just not as busy.  I look forward to the summer when he can focus just on preparing for his qualifying exams, and work 20 hours a week.   That should free up some of his time so that he can spend even more time with Thomas and I (He makes a point to spend time with us, even during this busy time of our lives). 

Well, that puts us up to date.  Thanks to Paula's iphone for nearly all the pictures posted this post, and for Loel and Heather for taking our family pics.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Surprise! This is Emily posting today as Brad has much less time this semester now that he is doing a 20 hour a week internship, has a busier school load, and has a more demanding church calling than I do right now. He is amazing! He does so much, and still finds time to spend time with Thomas and I. We really appreciate that and all that he does for our family.

Me on the other hand...I get to spend most of my time with this little guy:

He is the cutest, sweetest, most smiley red-headed baby in the world. We love what everybody says about him. We get everything from, "look at that Hair", "I have never seen a red-headed baby before", "He looks like a little man", "He looks just like his dad", to our favorite, "He looks like a mix between Brad and Benjamin Button." But mostly he just looks like his dad. Occasionally, people will say he looks like me, but usually it is said sarcastically.

Since Thomas has been born, we have filled our days, months, and weeks, with lots of things that have kept us busy. We went to Utah to see friends and family and were there for just over 3 weeks! It was a long time to be there, but it was a lot of fun! We were able to introduce Thomas to lots of his Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and some of his Grandparents that hadn't seen him yet. While we were there, we also celebrated the Holidays. Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

Our first Friday in Utah, we went ice-skating with my siblings, and their spouses and kids. We went to the Gallivan Center in down-town Salt Lake. It was decked out with Christmas lights, and we were skating to Christmas tunes. It was a really festive way to celebrate Christmas and be with family.

We blessed Thomas while we were there. We thought it would be really neat to bless him with his twin cousin Emery. Emery was born in Idaho just 2 hours before Thomas. Brad's sister Carin was due to have Emery 2 weeks after I was due to have Thomas. When we were experiencing that long period of time after Thomas' due date up until he was born, the hardest part was hearing about all the people that were due after me that had already had their babies. Each time I heard about one, I was sort of jealous and bummed, but always thought, "at least Carin hasn't had her baby yet". But sure enough, she had her baby 2 hours before me. Alas! But now we both have healthy, happy babies, and celebrated with our family on their blessing day, Dec. 23rd. It was such a great day, and Brad did a wonderful job blessing Thomas.

On Christmas Eve, we had our traditional Christmas Eve Breakfast with Brad's family.  It was really neat, and fun that Thomas was able to play the Baby Jesus in the nativity.  He did pretty well as long as he had his binky.  Brad's parents just got back from the mission in Belgium, so they gave us spiritual gifts for Christmas.  It was really neat to get an illustrated copy of the Book of Mormon for the LDS Family.  It is such a beautiful book, and we are excited to be able to study it with our family.  Thomas got a church board book with illustrations to the song, "I'm so glad when daddy comes home".   They also gave us and Thomas a beautiful delft Christmas ornament from their mission.

We also ate a yummy breakfast and opened presents from siblings and cousins.  Here are some pictures from the party:

We didn't do a fabulous job of taking pictures of everything while we were there.  We also spent Christmas eve with Brad's parents going to see the movie Hugo, and out to Macaroni grill for dinner.  We left Provo at about 8 to spend the rest of the evening and Christmas morning with my mom and sister Eliza.  We didn't take any pictures of this, and again on Christmas day didn't take any more pictures.  We were able to spend time with my dad, my siblings for lunch, and Brad's family again on Christmas day.  Sad we don't have pictures of this, but we will do better next year.


On the 27th, Brad and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary! We went to Snake Creek grill in Heber for the 4th year in a row (on our honeymoon, and then every anniversary after that). We love that restaurant as it has such a quaint, calm, quiet atmosphere, but it also has amazing food. I got a pork tenderloin with roasted root vegetables and polenta, and Brad got a tortilla crusted red-trout fish with beans and rice. It was really good.

Other pictures we took on the trip are:

Napping with Thomas.  I love when he falls asleep like this...as long as I don't fall asleep with him.

Our dear friends Mike and Tiffany Andrews.  We spent 4 weeks with them in Europe last summer, and it was great to see these two again.

 Brad and his family spent lots of time playing tennis, as usual.  It was fun to be with everyone, and watch them play.

 Cute pictures of Thomas:

Our last celebration with my siblings and their spouses at Red Rock in Park City.

 Sammy and her Justin Bieber shirt.  She is probably the youngest Bieber fan out there.