The unexpected, not drug-induced, trip to employment

While in dental school, we spent a lot of time discussing where we would end up when the books finally were able to rest on the shelf. This topic was discussed until we couldn't discuss it anymore. We talked about it with friends over dinner, with friends at holiday parties, with strangers on plane rides, with doctors at my many prenatal appointments, with family members over the phone, with church members at weekly church events, and on our knees in prayer.

Deep down, we had a feeling that there was a place that was meant for us. I don't think we shared that with many people.

Sean started searching for employment possibilities early on and even interviewed for several positions. We looked for opportunities for him to buy practices as well as be an associate. He received different offers, we even had them send us contracts to accept, and then we always knew, in the end, that those offers weren't going to be accepted.

The long days of not finding 'the position' turned into long weeks and even longer months. Poor Sean.

We made the move to the area we thought we were supposed to be, but before that move, we lived with Sean's parents. We then stayed with my parents as we continued our search. We even house sat and then moved back to my parents' place, to then finally move to the area we are currently. Before we moved into our new, semi-permanent location, we even lived with a family in our new ward for a bit.

Needless to say, we were SICK of living out of our suitcases. We lived out of them for 5 MONTHS!!! We finally got our stuff out of storage two weeks ago and it was like Christmas-- we were sooooo excited!

So, as for the rest of the story.... After losing track of how many places/people we looked at/interviewed with, we finally found 'the place'. For four months our search consisted of looking in our ideal location/state. We set a date to look outside of that ideal place/state as of September 1. Ironically enough, Sean happened upon a position available and had a conversation with the owner that same day. Sean found out that they had served in the same mission in Chile and that they were both married in their third year of dental school, and the commonalities continued. Sean found out that the offer was by far better than other offers, he'd get to speak spanish, it was in the country (which is what we wanted) right outside of a couple of cities, and it was within an hour from a temple, airport, and Costco (our other requirements). We drove to interview on August 30 and accepted the offer the next day. THE DAY BEFORE OUR 'DEADLINE'.

Even though we felt that we were forgotten about and that the position that we were looking for didn't exist, someone was on the other end of our prayerful pleadings. It is a better set-up than we could've imagined, but we would've never picked the location on a map.

There have been lots of blessings in the relocation, including:

1. The ward has lots of young families just out of school.
2. I was able to learn all sorts of canning, jamming and juicing techniques from my mother and another canning expert here in our new ward.
3. We live on a vineyard
4. There is GREAT shopping close by
5. I am in a knitting group, book club, and exercise group
6. There is LOTS of fresh produce (ie: items to can/jam/juice)
7. We are a drive away from both sets of parents
8. We have lots of sunny and warm days
9. ETC....

It was a LONG and stressful five months, but we are happy and both feel we are where we need to be.

Onto the pictures....

Charlie doesn't want baby food anymore, just our food.

Cousin time with Simon

Cousin time with Lincoln

At a local orchard/pumpkin patch

Charlie was fascinated by the corn maze or just the leaves

Searching for our pumpkin

Picking apples-- Charlie likes to have his arm in front so that he can be completely face out.

As Sean and I painted our new place, Charlie caught up on some much needed sleep. When he wasn't sleeping he could be found pulling our hair and causing our straight lines to be less than straight.

Where we take our evening walks-- it smells like grape juice

Charlie loves bath time and mom loves those cheeks!

Mom's Notes: 6 months

STATS: Weight: 15.85 lbs (11%), Height: 25.75" (18%), Head Circ.: 44.7 cm (70%)

You are busy busy busy! We love you more every day, even if naps aren't high on your priority list. We fight (nicely, of course) over who gets to snuggle you. We hate when you have to get shots. We love waking up and seeing your smiley face each morning. You smile at EVERYONE, which makes running errands extra LONG cause EVERYONE comes up and talks to you. You are a people person already, but love to come back to familiar arms. We love love love you, sweet Charlie Brown Blue!

canned underwear

I am obsessed with building a food storage right now. Thankfully the ward that we are in has been pushing 'preparedness'. I've been to every canning and preparedness class that has been offered.

The preparedness 'fever' that I currently have is just getting hotter. I've made different jams (not freezer jam), and canned peaches. On the agenda for this week is canning chicken, brown sugar, and chocolate chips.

I am ill.

Sean better watch out, cause one day he will be looking for his underwear and it will be on the food storage shelf....canned! 

Charlie enjoys jumping in his jump-up, bouncing in his exersaucer, and playing on a blanket with his toys, while his mom is canning like a  freak.

My favorite picture of him this week; proof that he is teething. Poor guy grinds and chomps his gums, and is drooling quicker than I can cut peaches.

Best Friends

 

Whenever Charlie’s friend is here

he holds his little hand.

They forget that they are tired,

and are off to happy land.

They are in the same sweet stage of life;

drool drips off of each chin.

Surely they’ll still be good friends

when their teeth come in.

The kisses that they give each other

are not the least bit dry.

We hope that Charlie keeps his friend;

 we think he’s quite the guy!

Employed

Just like that he is driving off into the sunrise. His blue scrubs are crisp and clean. He is a man on a mission.

Gone are the weekdays spent:

JOB HUNTING IN JAMMIES

WALKING THE BEACHES

SITTING WITH CHARLIE IN HIS LAP AND HIS TOES IN THE SAND

TORCHING WEEDS IN THIS SEXY GET-UP: CHURCH SOCKS, BOOTS, BASKETBALL SHORTS, AND A DARLING TAG-A-LONG

TEACHING ME THE FACTS AS WE PLAYED TOURIST

PICKING WEEDS IN GRANDMA'S GARDEN

PUNCTURING OUR FINGERS WITH THORNS AS WE PICKED BERRIES

WATCHING FROM THE SIDELINES AS COACH SEAN PLAYED THE 'NAME GAME'

WATCHING SOME MORE AS HE LEAD HIS MICRO SOCCER STARS

SPENDING TIME TOGETHER AS A FAMILY

We will miss spending all of our days with Sean. Charlie will miss him and the fun adventures he took him on. Poor little guy is stuck with mom canning, making jam, and obsessing over food storage-- I guess I'll need to put a twist on it to make it enjoyable for all. Or just wait until nap time, which seems lost and never to be found.

Even though it's probably healthy for our marriage to spend a little bit of time away each day, I'll miss turning around and having him here. It's been a fun couple of months. We've learned to live below our means and enjoy the simple things in life.

We are proud of our working husband, father, doctor, and entertainer. We secretly hope he misses us as he's swimming in saliva and plaque (ick!).

Sean's To-Do lists

Every day that Sean is at home he makes a to-do list. Every day. The man cannot have an unproductive day and apparently having a crossed off to-do list makes him feel super productive.

He tries to get me to make to-do lists, but I don't have the desire as often (or ever) as he does.

Today he had me fill one up with him.

I may or may not have added several simple 'to-dos' just so that I would look so productive. His items are slowly getting crossed off, but mine-- well, let's just say that I am sitting here writing a blog (which is one of my to-dos), while my little guy naps (another to-do), baking cookies (yep, another to-do), and looking oh-so-productive according to the 'list'.

Every now and then I may or may not add goofy things onto his list. If ever he steps out onto the porch to howl at the moon you better believe that he is doing that to check it off of his list. Sometimes he has to stop and dance the macarena, which gives him another check. All for the sake of productivity.

Oh, I love playing games on with my husband.

Growing up way too quickly

Time used to be measured by years (in dental school), semesters (in college), quarters (in high school), and Christmases (when I was a child).

Now time is measured by the small or large things our little guy does.

Since I haven't updated all of the things we've done (post to come), I'll give a pseudo-synopsis of what Charlie has been up to.

These two guys are the happiest when they are outside-- if they had tails, they would be wagging!

Charlie dropped several hints that he was ready for solid food: always reaching for our food, putting everything in his mouth, waking up every 2-2 1/2 hours at night to eat, and not sleeping well in the day. He doesn't like sweet potatoes, but enjoys peas, prunes, applesauce, avocado, pears, and plums-- yum!

If mom and dad don't want you to suck your thumb, go for your big toe-- they are too busy laughing to stop you.

He has always enjoyed being read to, but lately wants to be the one doing the reading.

First, he grabs for the book and gets a good hold on it.

Then he looks at the pictures and babbles for a bit-- as if he's reading to himself. I LOVE when he does this!

That should feed the grandparents' appetites for now. I promise to post about all we've done soon.