9 Months!

I don't know why everything has to be so traumatic in my life recently... but even Michael's 9 month check up was intense. The overall well-check went just fine-- I'll give stats in a sec, it was the stuff afterwards that made my little man miserable! He had to get a TB shot, which was not a super big deal, he screamed a little, but stopped about 2 seconds after it was over. Then the MA gave me a lab work sheet, and told me I had to go get his blood drawn. I was thinking, "Ok, heel prick, and we're out..." So I went straight to the lab. Only after they brought us back did I come to understand, that no, they would not be doing a heel prick, but a REAL blood draw... like, from his arm. WHAT?!?!?! Is this normal? I've NEVER heard of this happening to a little nine month old, but it was a DISASTER. They couldn't find a vein, so they had to get a tighter band, Bubs was screaming bloody murder, his whole arm was purple, and then the guy that was there just told the girl to stick Bubs and see if they could hit a vein. Which she did. Luckily, she actually hit a vein and the blood started coming out. However, she wasn't happy with how slowly the blood was coming out, so she took the needle and SLAMMED it further into his arms. I haven't heard Michael cry that hard since his circumcision. It was horrible. So, happy nine months to him! So onto happier things... here are his stats!

Height: 29 inches (75th percentile)

Weight: 20.6 pounds (a little under 50th percentile)

Head:18 1/2 inches (90th percentile!!! Talk about having a big brain!)

Now just a few pictures.....

Oh yeah, I just chopped 8 inches off of my hair.... hooray for summer!

Here's the little man himself!

I know it's blurry... but can you see the spit flying from his mouth? This was taken mid-raspberry :)

Precious, eh?

And now a little movie for your viewing pleasure. I took several videos and have never uploaded one before... so I hope this is the one that I wanted to post.....

Welp, it's about time....

Well, after our quick hiatus to Colorado, we are back in AZ! I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we had in CO, and how much we're missing it right now! A few highlights from the trip:

* My little sister, Sara, got married in the Mt. Timp. temple and it was BEAUTIFUL!! I did her hair (thank you very much) and while it was stressful, it turned out pretty well!

* The Bubs cut his first two teeth, and now has two little baby bottom teeth (SO CUTE!)

* Brett got to go golfing with my dad and brother-in-law Jonathan, and actually had a good time :)

*Brett got to go to a Rockies game-- so he can add Coors Field to another baseball stadium he's

been too! Woo!

* I got to hang with my mom, and actually take long showers again because the Bubster was being looked after!

* We got to hang out with our buddies, the Seegmillers, which always brings joy to our hearts.

* Brett and I got to have a fun get-away weekend and went to Boulder to hang out for a night. It was SO much fun! Then we walked around CU campus for a little while. It was BEAUTIFUL, but hot, so I didn't last for too long.

It was super hard to say goodbye- and even harder to come back to the stinking heat, but we're starting to feel slightly adjusted now.

Since we've been back:

*We bought a car! Yes, it turned out to be quite a junker and is going to cost us more than we ever thought possible, but we bought it. It's a 99 Mazda and once the wonderful mechanics fix it (and charge us an arm and a leg) it should be a pretty good car.

*Brett started rotation #2 and has been working 12 hour days since.... so fun!

*Bubs had to adjust to the time change and kept waking up at 3:30am (at the latest) everyday for a week. So, I wasn't getting any sleep and having to deal with the car situation and the cranky baby situation.

*I'm trying hard to adjust back to the heat, having all of my friends move on me, and not seeing my husband EVER. It's been pretty tough so far, but I have faith that things will only get better.

Ok, I made a cute little slideshow with all of the pictures from our trip, but it won't load.... so I'm gonna have to figure that out. Until I do- here are just a few of my favs....

Travelin' With the Bubster

This week was quite a doozy for the Waite household. It involved Brett's last finals week EVER (HOORAY!) and an impromptu flight to Vegas for me and Michael. My sweet, sweet Grandpa Andrews passed away a week ago today, and so Bubsy and I flew out for the funeral. Now, those of you who know me realize that I am a planner and am not fond of last minute decisions/excursions. Needless to say, I found out about my grandpa last Sunday and was on a plane the next day. Impressed? So was I.

This was the first time that I would be traveling alone with the Bubsy. The previous times we've flown, he's done exceptionally well, so I was hoping that would continue on this trip. Luckily, when we checked in the nice lady let Brett be my "male escort" (we had several chuckles about his new title) to help me get through security. So, that was SUPER nice because security was the part of the trip that I was dreading the most. The flight also went super well. It wasn't a full flight, and I had a nice, older man a seat away from me. He was very kind to me the whole flight, and even opened my peanuts for me so I could eat while I was feeding Mikey. So, flight to Vegas: AWESOME.

The funeral for Grandpa Andrews was beautiful, and being with my family was amazing. I got to hang with my almost-new brother in law, blow a very secret honeymoon location to Sara, see Meg for the first time in FOREVER, and hang with my favorite aunt and cousins! We had one mishap on Thursday night where Bubsy had a complete melt down. We were playing Catch Phrase, and apparently, got a tad too loud for the little munchkin. He was HYSTERICAL for about 20 minutes before my cousin, Brian, was able to lull him to sleep. (PS-- Brian, I could definitely use your skills today... drop by when you get a chance!) So onto the trip home!

Friday started out well. The two hour trip back to Vegas was great. He slept for most of the trip, and woke up cute and happy! Then we hit the security line. Meg and I thought we could go through together, but had to split ways. So, there I was in line (and it took FOREVER!) trying to hold my baby, get all of my carryon stuff into the cute little containers, and collapse the stroller and get it onto the X-ray belt. This is not a super easy task when you're by yourself! I figured that one of the security people just standing there might offer to help, but no, I had to do it myself. This led to dropping the stroller several times, and almost dropping my baby on his head. Sweet. After finally getting through security, I got to my gate and was ready to relax. Too bad Bubsy had other plans. Another "the world is ending" fit happened right before we were boarding the plane. He wouldn't take a pacifier, he wouldn't take a bottle, he was just crying and crying and crying. Luckily, I met an incredibly nice woman named Joann who saved my life on this flight. She carried my bag for me, collapsed my stroller for me, sat on the plane by me, and held Mikey whenever I needed to do something. She was a LIFESAVER. After one more serious breakdown on the plane, the Bubs finally fell into a blissful slumber and stayed that way for the rest of the flight.

SO, after this long, rambling mess of a story, it all comes down to this: Thank you, Joann and the nice man that sat by me on the plane. Your help was appreciated more than you can know! Someday, I hope to pass it on when I see a struggling single mom trying to travel with an infant. Always an adventure!

6 Months!

I can't believe it, but my little Bubsy is already 6 months old!! We went to the doctor yesterday and here are his stats:

Height: 27 inches (75%)

Weight: 17 lbs. (50%)

Head: 17 1/2 inches (75%)

It seems like just yesterday we were here:

And that he was this small:

And now, here's my goofy kid:

We also had the great adventure of first baby food yesterday. I chose Sweet Potatoes as his first meal, because I love sweet potatoes more than anything in the world, and want to start training the Bubs to love them as well. So, here's the "before" shot. He was salivating just thinking about the sweet potatoes! (Actually, he's teething, so massive drool like this is the norm....)

He ate them like a CHAMP!! He ate the whole container and seemed like he was enjoying them. I had to wear an apron over my clothes because he kept blowing raspberries while the sweet potatoes were in his mouth... I was covered in them by the end too!

So happy to be such a big boy!

Whew! What an exciting day!

Love this little guy... what did we do for fun before he came into our lives??

Wow, We Made It!!!!

I can't believe that we hit 2 years of being married today! We've gone from this:

To This:

To This:

To This:

To This:

To This:

To This:

To our 2 year picture!

I'm so lucky to have married such an amazing guy and to have him forever! Love you, schnookums! :)

Soakin' Up the Sun!

Well, while most of you are freezing in the cold of winter still, we Arizonians are LOVING life. Yes, this is the most wonderful time of the year in good old AZ. It's in the 70's, the sun is shining, and the nights are cool. Ahh, if only it could stay this way forever! While Melissa (aka: Tia Lou) is visiting, we decided to give swimming a go. It was the PERFECT day, so we blew up the turtle, coated the Bubster in sunscreen, and headed out for what we were sure would be an amazing adventure.

How would Mikey take to being in the water? That was the number one question on our minds. He LOVES his baths, but that's nice, warm, water. Would he absolutely go nuts when his little toes touched the not so warm water? Well, let me tell you, the answer to all of these questions was not what we would expected. Not only did Mikey not scream (at all)... he fell asleep. In the water. In his turtle inner tube! When he first got into the water, he seemed absolutely indifferent. He wasn't screaming, but he wasn't excited either. He just kind of sat there. Then as time went on, his eyes started to droop, and he was out like a light! WHAT?? Who is this kid, honestly! Then, we took him out of the pool and wrapped him in his towel and he continued to sleep for another half hour! Melissa and I were able to get some sun, and not worry about the Bubster. We kept checking his temperature to make sure that he wasn't getting overheated, but he stayed as cool as a cucumber. Wow, what a day!

Getting ready to swim with Tia Lou!

First dip in the pool!

Me and my little man!

Starting to get sleepy....

Sleeping like a baby!

SO tired!

So exhausted after such a rough go in the pool...

Turning into a beautiful butterfly!

Don't hate me...

Ok, so I know that I haven't posted in forever, but it really isn't my fault. We've had the computer crisis of our lives ever since we moved to Arizona. Recently, Brett's computer came up with the blue screen of death, and for some reason, my computer wouldn't get onto the internet. So, we've been without internet for awhile now. Luckily, my husband is a genius and figured out how to fix my computer... so here we are!

December and January were both super busy months, but I'll just hit the hilights of each one, and of course, I will post a billion pictures of our adorable kid.

DECEMBER:

*I participated in a stake production of Handel's Messiah. It was an amazing experience, and SO much fun to sing something challenging. It's been a while!

*Our great friends, the Alexanders, came to visit us while they were in AZ over the holiday break. I think I forgot to take a picture though, the silly person that I am. It was so much fun to see them and their cute little daughter, Callie.

*I found out I had a Deep Vein Thrombosis (aka a blood clot... but I wanted to use the cool official term!) in my right calf. This meant that I had to get a shot in my stomach twice a day and am now on Warfarin for the next 9 months. I have to go to a clinic and get my blood level checked all the time (although I don't have to go for a whole month now!) and have found out that when I get pregnant again (if that EVER happens) I have to get the shots everyday for the whole pregnancy, and then can't have an epidural. So, Michael might be the only kid we ever have :(

*Christmas in Idaho! Michael made it through his first traveling experience of being on a plane and then in a car for 3 hours. We had a blast in the frozen tundra-- what a change it was from our beautiful 70 degree weather in Arizona! We ate amazing food, I went to New Moon with the girls, Michael got totally spoiled every second of the day (especially on Christmas Day), Brett celebrated his 26th birthday, and we loved being with his family!

JANUARY:

*Michael hit two months and had to get his first shots. He took them like a champ and was only hysterical for about 5 minutes. The Pediatrician's office told us that he weighs 17.7 lbs.... I think there was a serious mistake there, because my kid is not a fatso! He is chubby, I will give him that, but he is for sure not 17.7 lbs. His 4 month appointment will be interesting to see if he is even at 17.7 lbs by then.

*I went to the doctor about 3 billion times as more and more health issues kept coming up. Let me tell you, going to the doctor with a baby is so my favorite thing ever....

*Michael started sleeping through the night pretty consistently. We still have nights every once in a while where he decides to wake up at 2 or 3, but he usually will go until at least 5 or 6! Wahoo!

*Michael's future wife, Lydia Hayden was born. Our best buds from Provo, Derek and Kori, had their little baby. We are so glad that both mom and baby are now doing well and that Lydia is finally home!

So, that pretty much sums up our lives over the past couple of months. Brett is a busy bee-- ALWAYS studying. It's been a tough quarter for him, and we're SO excited for his Spring Break at the end of the month. I continue to love being at home watching Michael grow, smile, drool, poop, and giggle. Here are some pictures, as promised!

Four generations in one shot! Great Grammy, Grammy, me, and Bubs.

I've been trying to get a smile shot for a while now... this is as close as I've gotten.

One of Michael's awesome sleeping positions.

Team Spirit! Michael all decked out in his favorite hockey gear! Thanks Nana and Grandpa!