grateful

I find myself complaining an awful lot about a lot of things. I have much to be grateful for. Here is a list of some of 20 of those things (in no particular order of importance or grandeur--okay, maybe the first 5 or 6 are slightly more significant than the rest...):

1. Sean--and everything our marriage entails
2. Oliver*
3. my totally awesome and overly-sensitive family (don't any of you dare deny it)
4. my in-laws. I'm not sure how I got so lucky.
5. the Gospel (cliche, but true)
6. baby #2, even though the icky tummy is lingering far too long
7. Sean's job (a HUGE blessing)
8. new bakeware (thanks to my bro)
9. all of my shows I tivo that I get to enjoy after Oliver is in bed--you know who you are.
10. ourbestbites.com
11. meat. and milk. and butter. I can't even guess the gallons of milk I have consumed in the last 2 months. Baby knows what is good for shim (she/him).
12. my new, retro hot-dog cooker. my mom knows how to treat me right.
13. TOMS (a new red pair and a sparkly pair).
14. modern medicine and technology.
15. gossip magazines (mmmm)
16. books--my dad-in-law keeps my shelves full
17. my new shake-weight (I may be a beached whale in Mexico in April, but at least my arms will be toned)
18. a reliable car
19. the new space heater I got for the living room
20. good, good friends :-)

*being a big boy, eating chicken nuggets whole!

(well, not whole, but without them being cut up...)

fun happenings

We took Oliver to his first basketball game on Saturday--he sat like a perfect angel for 36 of the 40 minutes. I was completely shocked. He was also very aware that we were seated pretty high and the fall to the bottom would be long and far (and painful), so when we tried to take a picture with the court in the background, this was the best we could do:

 (if you look closely, you can see the baby bump at the bottom--it's more like I ate 3 burgers)

Oliver was spoiled this Christmas--mostly by my sister, Kristi. One of his favorite things is a really cute barn that makes noises and has animals and a silo that opens at the top and bottom. Well, I was filling out passport stuff for Oliver when his social security card turned up missing. I had to leave for class so I asked Sean to find it while I was gone. I got a text 20 minutes later that said this, "I found a chicken nugget and Oliver's social security card in the silo of his barn." Silly boy. Here he is playing with Auntie Holly:

I think Oliver has the cutest little body. He's totally ripped and has a little bum that I could pinch all day. So I decided to snap some appropriate bathtub shots:

Ok, the last two things are videos (since I have been horrible posting videos as of late). The first one is of his new basketball hoop! He was confused for the first 5 or 10 minutes, but quickly figured it out after mom and dad played a little one-on-one (I won, obviously). We're so proud:

And this video is ridiculous. Oliver thought it was hilarious when he put that green ball in my mouth and I spit it out. I was doing it for about 15 minutes before Sean started taping and another 10 after:

first haircut

The reason there is a picture shortage on my blog is because of the shattered camera screen on our old camera and the whole it-takes-15 minutes-to-snap-a-picture, video camera. Don't get me wrong; it takes good videos, but it's a video camera, so that's its sole function. Anyway, Sean's mom gave us a generous, monetary Christmas present and with my portion, I bought a little Nikon! It's cute (obviously the most important thing), had excellent reviews, and takes a picture in about a second.

Unfortunately, I didn't have it before Oliver got his first haircut! Technically it's his second (I gave him a lovely hack-job days earlier), but yeah. I will post a picture from Christmas of his loooooong and goofy hair and then post the after-shot with the new camera!
 

(pre-cut)

(mid-cut)

(after!)

 (this last one is from my phone)

 I love his ears. And his eyes. And his entire face. He looks like a little boy now! He doesn't look happy in any of the last few pictures--it's probably because he misses his hair. But he's still darling.

a student...again...

I know I need to post pictures. I will get on that when we get back to Provo.

Anyway, I don't know if I mentioned this previously, but I am going back to school next semester.

Yuck.

I know, I know. You all thought I graduated. I walked with Sean in August of 2009 (when I was 20 weeks pregnant with Oliver) because I was only 8 credits shy of my degree and we were moving to Texas and blahblahblah. Funny thing: the classes I need are generals. GENERALS! I know, so lame. Why didn't I complete them, oh, 6 years ago? No clue. I just figured I would do independent study while we were in Texas, thinking that we were never going to be back in Provo.

But Provo always sucks you back in.

So here I sit, perfecting my class schedule. I figured it would probably be easier to just take the classes on campus since we're here. I am 24 years old, 14 weeks pregnant with a 1-year old at home, and taking classes with a bunch of 17/18 year olds. It's going to be awesome.

*Oh! An interesting thing! So, my totally awesome OB (the one who does all the ultrasounds for all of his patients) told me at my 12-week appointment that I would be finding out the gender at my next appointment. What?! I said, "But I'll only be 16 weeks!" To which he confidently replied, "Summer, I have 99.8% accuracy in gender prediction from 15 weeks, so long as baby cooperates." For a guy in his 60's who has been doing ultrasounds as long as he has been practicing, I like my odds. Chinese gender predictor says a girl--they also said Oliver would be a boy, so maybe? I am hoping that with my severe prepubescent acne issues and general lack of physical appeal that it's a girl, sucking all the semi-descent normalities ( mild to moderate skin dryness/acne, and somewhat manageable hair) from me. We will (hopefully) find out January 7th!

 So, boy or girl?

such a brat.

I'm a brat. I hate it when people announce a pregnancy and don't post details. I did it in a hurry (because I wanted the blogging world to find out before the FB world--we actually haven't even FB announced it yet (no reason why not)). I just figured our good friends/best stalkers should find out first. So, here is a little about this pregnancy:

*This was a planned pregnancy. No 'oopsie' moment here. Started "trying" (I hate saying) in August, found out I was pregnant in October.
*I'm 13 weeks--due the end of June.
*I've been sick as a dog. SO much nausea. I have been taking phenergan since week 6--religiously up until about a week ago. I am pretty tired, which probably has more to do with a crazy 1-year old than being pregnant. Maybe both.
*I think it's a girl. But I thought Oliver was a girl.
*I've already had 3 ultrasounds. I know, so lucky. The reason why: I decided on a doctor in Provo after absolutely hating my doctor with Oliver (he's in Texas, anyway) and had my first appt. and ultrasound with him at 8 weeks. While at that appt. I found out that Timp Hospital will NOT do vbac deliveries. Grr. The closest hospital that would do it (that my insurance covers) is in Payson. Per my cousin's recommendation, I am seeing Dr. Crouch in Payson and I absolutely love him. I have had a total of 4 ob's and he is the only doc who does the ultrasounds. I love that. Plus, when I've gone in to see him he says, "I've got a little time, do you wanna see baby?" Uh, yes, please!
*Did I mention I am planning on doing a vbac? Meaning, vaginal after cesarean. I had a c-section with Oliver (I hated it) and will do all I can to avoid another.
*As of right now, I look like I did at 20 weeks with Oliver.
*Oliver and new baby will be 18-months apart--perfect for us.

Oh! I wanted to give a brief update on Sean's law school stuff: he has received 2 acceptances thus far--UCLA (#15) and Duke (#10)! Not bad for back-up schools, eh?

without further ado...

Mosman baby #2:

Cute, huh?

I have a 1-year old. What?!

Our little (huge) boy turned one today! I can't believe it's already been a year. Here's a little update on him:

*He had his 12-month appointment today: he weighs 25 pounds 12 ounces (89th percentile), 32 1/2 inches (98th percentile) and 19 inch head (93rd...geesh).
*He is officially forward-facing in his car seat! We love this and so does he.
*He has 8 teeth, but I have a sneaking suspicion that some of his molars aren't too far off.
*We also think he may have a lactose sensitivity. We've already phased out formula and have been transitioning with a free can of Enfamil's next stage stuff. We are going to try whole milk when we get to Washington and just watch him closely.
*Runs everywhere.
*Loves giving hugs! He loves hugging babies, especially his little best friend Rowan. He will randomly walk up to people and hug them.
*Prefers human food off our plates to jar baby food.
*He can climb onto the couch by himself.
*This one is awesome: he understands ledges and gaps. For instance: today we were getting on an elevator and he looked and saw a two-inch gap and refused to walk on it. He leaned forward as far as he could and reached for us. Another: last weekend at the Mosman/Stellmon Christmas party there was a driveway ledge (like an inch) that he wouldn't walk up to. Ha! He'll stand on the ledge of our front door and just whine.

Anyway, we think he's totally awesome and can't believe he is one! Just a reminder, here are some baby shots (when he was brand new and then a week old):

How perfect is that face? I mean, seriously. And here is our stud a year later:

Happy Birthday, goofball!

(Also, I'm not sure why none of his 8 teeth are showing...)

christmas cookies

I was attempting to encourage Christmas cheer last night by making Christmas themed sugar cookies whilst listening to Christmas music. After a few cursing episodes (seriously, every single gingerbread man's head fell off), we ended up having a pretty good time. Here is proof:

Ok, apparently I only have one picture of cookies and several of Oliver with his new toothbrush. I can't believe he is almost ONE. Can you believe it?! He's such a little gentleman (minus all the biting).

family pictures

We had these done a couple of months ago, but we've been out of town and blahblahblah, so here are some of our favorite, done by the amazing Victoria  of Victoria Baines Harris Photography (you can get to her website HERE):

There were about 15 more I could have posted--she's a great photographer! Also, notice how Oliver is my tiny, male twin?

biter

my son is a biter. if we pull him one way while he is walking he will bite our hands. when he's cuddling on my shoulder he'll bite me. if he's walking around our house and we block the computer with our feet or arms, he'll bite those. he's crazy!