Me and My Crafty Self!

So, today was one of my favorite days of the year... that's right... SUPER SATURDAY! For those of you who are unaware, or sadly, don't DO a Super Saturday-- here's what you're missing....

A glorious day filled with different crafts, where people hand you all the materials and you just have to assemble it! I made some AWESOME stuff last year, and this year might have topped it! I was actually on the Super Saturday committee this year and was in charge of a project! It went really well, and it was a great day! This year I made a Note/To Do board (this was the project I came up with and did), a Temple Block, and a Growth Chart! Get ready to be dazzled:

So, here's the project I was in charge of. It's in a frame, and you write with the dry erase marker on the glass of the frame. Pretty fancy, eh?

My awesome Temple Block. I love doing anything where I get to showcase the Manti Temple! I had to tie the bow about 5 thousand different times... where is my mom when I need her???

Ok, the QUEEN of projects this year! How stinking cute is this?? We did all of the painting and everything... it took me all day, but I'm quite pleased with the result :) I almost don't want to mark heights on it... it's so pretty the way it is!

So, hooray for another successful Super Saturday... I hope my next ward is as awesome.

Hair Cuts, Canned Peaches, and Baby Monk...

Well, October has started with a bang! We LOVED Conference and the Bubs was really good so we both got to see/hear almost all of it! Don't worry, we were savoring every moment... we have a feeling that in April, we're not going to be so lucky!

Here are some happenings of the month:

*Brett finished his Derm. Surgery rotation. We're bummed that it's over. He had great hours, liked what he was doing, and wasn't very stressed. Next up is his Surgery rotation... YIKES! He's going to be in Ortho. and is excited to feel like an idiot everday :) The plus to this rotation is that he's going to be working at the two hospitals that are closest to our house. HOORAY! No more 45 minute commute!!

*We had a MASSIVE storm on Wednesday. Literally GOLF ball sized hail and all while Brett was driving home. Lovely, huh? Luckily, the only damage was to our cars. The Saturn has a little denting on the hood and the Mazda got it pretty bad on the roof. Oh well, not like the Mazda was much of a looker anyway :)

*I'm kicking it into high gear since we're down to only 2 months until the Tri. I went to a spin class that our fearless Tri leader held today and am POOPED. It's great to have people in the ward to train with and to keep me motivated!

*The Bubs has officially learned how to wave and it's STINKING cute. He just does an open palm and waves back and forth. We're constantly working on his ASL skills, and he definitely understands a few signs. Funny enough the signs he gets are: Milk, Eat, and Stop. Teehee... he continues to make me giggle everyday. I love this crazy kid! Now for some pictures!

His famous pucker face... he pulls this constantly!

Yep, we had to cut his hair for the 9th time! Luckily, this time he let me use the clippers... HOORAY! We thought this was hilarious, he looks like he has a sweater back :)

I canned 21 jars of peaches with my best bud, Sarah, and this is Bubsy taking his first taste of them. Um... what can I say? I think the peaches are divine, but obviously the Bubs has other opinions. He finally spit it out...

We tried one more time, only to get the same reaction... shoot!

We love the show, Monk. OCD detective with a crazy awesome gift (or curse... as the case may be) The onesy that Bubsy was wearing yesterday has really weird snaps. If you didn't do all the snaps up, he was totally showing off his chest, but if we did the snaps all the way up, he totally looks like Monk. So, we deemed him Baby Monk yesterday and took some sweet shots!

My little OCD Baby Monk

He also decided to pull out of all my pans and play with them while I was cooking dinner. Whatever keeps him happy, right?

Posing with the pans... I love his obsession with raising his arm.

A happy little Bubsy! (Do you see his top two teeth???)

Mid-applause.... for himself :)

Hope this month is going well for the rest of you. We're not sure what's going down for Halloween yet... but don't you worry, there will be many pictures to see!

Projects, Poses, and Post-its

According to my mother, I've been very boring recently. Here's why. Usually, September and October are two of my favorite months of the year. It's FALL! My favorite season. However, living in the desert, we don't have fall. We have insanely hot and then happy weather. But no in between. No leaves changing colors, no crisp morning air, no hot chocolate drinking, no sweatshirt wearing! And I'm bummed about this. I miss all of those things. So I decided that I would just have to bring fall to my house myself. So, as I was searching for a new project, I saw a really cute placemat design that I thought would be perfect. I know what you're thinking, placemats?, really? But I felt like it would really bring in the colors of fall into my home. I went to JoAnn's and scoured the fabric until I found (what I felt to be) the perfect colors of fall. Then I set to work. Here's what I came up with....

Ta Da! My beautiful fall placemat. It took longer than I thought it would... and was kind of a bigger headache than I had wanted, but I got them done!

A couple of shots of my hard work. I actually made myself a set of 8 placemats... but only four will fit on our table for now!

Another one of my placemats. They're no where near perfect, but they'll do!

For those of you who know my son... you know what a ham he is. He tends to be very dramatic-- but that allows me to get some pretty classic pictures. So, here are some shots of some poses I got him in yesterday.

Here he is, singing a cantata for us. (He has a very good falsetto...)

Oh my! What a scandal!

My goofy Bubs! Look at how big he's getting!!!

This next little section is all about Post-its. I was trying to talk to my sister on Google chat and Bubs kept climbing up on my leg and crying at me. So, I was trying to find things to distract him so I could keep talking to Sara. Well, I saw some sticky notes and a brilliant thought came to me. And this is what it was....

Yep, I totally stuck one right on his forehead!! I am such a great Mom, eh? This actually turned out to be quite a fun game. It became a game of peek-a-boo... with a bright yellow post it. :)


Here he is taking the post it off his face for the Peek-a-boo part!

Umm.... can we say stinking HILARIOUS!! Kodak moments like this don't come very often. Good thing I keep my camera handy at all times! If only the post it had said "kick me" on it....


Oh man, this kid totally cracks me up!

This is his most recent favorite pose. He likes to give me little back scratches when I'm sitting down. Well, actually, he's clawing at me, trying to get me to hold him. But I prefer to think of it as little back scratches saying, "Hey Mom, you're the best! Thanks for all of the hard work you do and your patience dealing with me everyday when I scream in your face." Yep, that's exactly what he's saying when I feel those little nail digging into my back on a daily basis....

Where did August go??

(This is how the Bubs feels about August going so quickly....)

I can't believe that it's already the end of August... crazy! Sorry about no updates, we've had computer problems (yet again) and we just got it fixed this past weekend. Whew, I hope that's all we have to deal with for the next little while!!

Let's see, did anything exciting happen in August?? Oh yeah, here are a few things:

*Brett FINALLY finished his Family Med. rotation!! It was the longest 6 weeks of our lives... he was at work for about 12 hours a day, and Bubs and I never saw him. So, onto his Derm. Surgery rotation. He texted me earlier today and said it was pretty awesome, so I hope this next six weeks is a little better for us.

*I've become crazy and have decided to participate in a triathlon in December. I know, I know... seriously? One of my friends in our ward is doing it, and after some coaxing, I've decided to give it a go. I've been hitting the gym everyday and am hoping that the hard work will pay off.

*Bubsy started to crawl!! His first crawling experience was pretty hilarious. I was cooking and cutting up meat of some type. He started to have his 5 o'clock grumpies, but I couldn't pick him up because of my meat hands. So, I told him that he would have to come to me. And lo, and behold, here comes my baby. Every little scoot, he is bawling hysterically... but he did it and grabbed onto my leg. For the first little while, the only time he would crawl was when he was upset and wanted me to hold him. He crawls more now, but still won't go on our linoleum floor... which is totally fine with me for now!

*The Bubs also has learned what a good nap is! For his whole life, he's never made it past a 1/2 hour. And it always had to be in either his swing or bouncy seat. Thank goodness, he finally has started to sleep in his crib and for about 1 1/2-2 hours!! WHAT?!?! It's really like a miracle, and I'm a changed woman! I can actually take a shower AND do my hair and make up while he naps. It's amazing!

*I gave the Bubs his 8th haircut of his life. This was the first time I've done it since he's been mobile, and boy, does that make it more difficult! The child would not sit still for more than .2 seconds at a time. I thought I was going to cut his ear off about 4 times. So, I did the best that I could, and that's just how it's going to have to be :) I don't think it looks TOO terrible!

So, that's pretty much the month of August for ya.... hopefully (barring any more issues with our computer) I can be a little more consistent with this blog.... here's hopin', eh?

(He's really been into sticking things in his mouth and leaving it there...)

(Good morning, Mr. Bedhead!)

(Lookin' dapper with Dad before church)

(Me and my handsome boy!)

(Tee hee... I love putting things on his head and seeing if he notices. Apparently, he didn't notice the girly headband on him...)

(BEFORE the haircut)

(AFTER the haircut... that's about how I feel too, Bubs...)

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!