Forward Progress?

Yesterday, Maggie woke up and decided that she wanted to be potty trained. It was wonderful. She used the potty 7 times yesterday and still relativity dried for the day. We bought her princess panties that night, which she was so excited about wearing the next day. I even had it planned how I was going to announce that Maggie was potty trained. Picture this: a picture of her wearing a dress with the caption, "Knock, knock. Who's there?" "Pretty Princess Underwear" with a picture of her flashing the social media world her new underwear (well, let's be honest, the ten people who read our blog). It was going to be great.

Then today happened. She woke up and developed a 103 degree temperature. We could feel her little body getting hotter by the minute. I felt so bad for her. She has been miserable all day, barely lifting her head off the couch. So instead of potty training and saving us from the nastiness of changing poopy diapers, we watched The Little Mermaid, Frozen, Hercules, and soccer. We also cleaned up vomit, take a couple of cold baths, changed clothes, laundry, read books, and cuddle for hours on end. Let's hope that tomorrow she feels better. And that Sam doesn't get sick.

6 Years of Marriage: Texas Style

For our six year anniversary, we left Maggie with some friends and headed up to Amarillo for the night to watch the Texas Show. The show is on the outdoor stage in Palo Duro Canyon. The play was a fictional story of the settlement of west Texas. Very entertaining. Very corny. I came out of there wanting to sing out "Texas Forever". 

We spent the night in Amarillo since the play went late. The next morning we visited the RV museum. Yes, I said that right, a RV museum. It was actually really cool.

These six years have been incredible, starting in a dinky studio apartment, upgrading to cinder blocks, and then moving to the dust bowl. We have brought two kids home-and have kept them alive. I think these six years have been a success. Here is to more years to come!

Three Months

With Maggie, I didn't do the monthly pictures on our family blog because I would post so many already. With Sam, he deserves his own blog post. He is the most chilled, chunky, cute baby their ever was. God knew exactly what I love in a baby and put it all into Sam: cuddly, calm, great sleeper, fast eater, content, and happy. He is totally fine with laying on the blanket, but also enjoys singing songs together.

This month he started to laugh, which melts my heart. Maggie laughed for Mike first and Sam laughed for me first. He can grab for hanging toys and can "balance" on his belly for a bit when in the sitting position. He does not move much, especially when on his tummy. I am fine with a late bloomer. Keeps the house cleaner. We love our little man cub.

2 months

3 months

What a cutie!

Sam's First Swim Trip

So, I lied. This isn't technically Sam's first time swimming. It was his third time. But let's be honest, when it is your second kid, you are just grateful you took picture of them. I don't know if I can say that Sam likes the water. He doesn't hate it. It is just that every time we take him, he falls asleep. Yes, he sleeps in our arms while everyone splashes around him and going around the lazy river. I was nervous to take both kids to the pool by myself (not having my hands free to help with Maggie). I went to Joann's fabric, where the guy suggested using swimsuit fabric to make a moby wrap. BEST IDEA EVER!!! The wrap keeps him strapped to my way above the water and now I have two hands to help with Maggie. Most of our med school friends buy passes to the Rec Center pool so it has been fun meeting up with the other families there in the evenings.

The end of Spring

Spring is probably the worst season in Lubbock because once it starts to get warm (around February) and get really excited to play outside and wear shorts, the wind comes. It can be so deceiving. The forecast for the week will be sunny and 80 degrees, but in the corner is what really matters- wind mph. I have learned to check that corner first because that can make or break our day. With that being said, I am so happy that Spring is finally over and summer is here (though now we have to welcome the 100+ weather). This is how we finished our Spring.

1. Sibling love: Maggie absolutely loves Sam. She will bring him toys during tummy time, give him a kiss when he cries, and wipes the drool off his face. Sam loves all of it. He coos a lot around Maggie, which she informs me that he is talking about her. Yes Maggie, I am sure that you are all that he thinks about.

2. Tummy Time-I am trying to be better and give Sam more tummy time in hopes that he might actually crawl. It looks like he might follow his sister's footsteps and have no desire to move. At least I can tell the doctor that we tried.

3. Enjoying the outdoors-When we can, we try to go outside as much as possible. I loved growing up with a forest and green belt in our backyard. I want to raise my kids loving the fresh air and getting dirty. I think it is working. Maggie has learned to open the door and will come in and out as she pleases. Good thing she hasn't learned how to open the gate.

4. Spring Cleaning-Yeah right. The idea of cleaning went out the window the minute Sam was born. I decided just to train Maggie how to do all the chores.

 She exhausted after all the child labor that I put her through. Actually, I have had to limit what she can "clean", for example, Sam's face doesn't tend to need a wipe down.

 5. Enjoying all the rain-Yes, it heard it right. We really did get rain. Memorial Day got so much rain in such a short time, all the roads flooded. One grocery store closed for an hour so the employees could push cars out of thigh high water levels in the parking lot. Maggie enjoyed all the puddles and flooded sandboxes and backyards. Her friend taught her how to take off her clothes and go naked in the water (don't worry, the blog will remain G rated, but yes, I have pictures of her naked playing with her friends).

1. Arts and Crafts-When Sam takes his afternoon nap, we get "Mommy and Maggie Time" (Thanks Papa Matthews for the idea). We start by cuddling on the couch while reading books. Then we finish usually with some sort of art project. Maggie is a multi-media artist and believes her body is a canvas.

Humanism Award

Mike always joked about how this blog is really our kids blog. Which is about 98% true. This post is one of the rare 2% post about us. The other month, Mike received the Humanism Award and was inducted in their honor society. This society focuses on the compassion and humanistic side o medicine. I am so proud of him and the kind man that he is. It was really fun to get dressed up for a formal night out without kids.

Happy Moments

We have had many happy moments and smiles. First, Sam is smiling a ton lately. It can been hard to capture, but it sure does melt my heart when I see it. This past week, he has been cooing more with his smiles. I feel like his is flirting with him.

Second happy moment for me was Mother's day. Mike really made the day special for me with my favorite meals (I bought the food so I knew that I was going to like it). For dessert, we had this ice cream that reminded me of something I had in Romania. It wasn't as good, but it sure brought back memories of all of us working hard to reach our goals so we could buy it on Friday.

Maggie's happy moment was a field day for play group. We painted our faces, played games, and ended it with a water balloon fight.

I am sure that Mike had some good moments this month, mostly being able to sleep since he has been working long hours, but I don't think that he would appreciate a picture of him past out on the bed.