New Blog Address

Head on over to my new blog http://melismovingon.blogspot.com/!

RIP Blog and Goodbye Med School

I plan on putting this blog to rest since medical school is about over and I am so over it. I plan on having a new brilliant idea for a blog and putting that into action as soon as I feel like it. So yea, get pumped for that. Or not. Do what you like. But as for med school......

Why Do I Blog

Its been awhile since I have used my blog in a more personal way. I think that I get sucked into doing what everyone else seems to do on their blogs. But the reason that I started a blog was not to have a family newsletter. The reason I began blogging was to release my feelings into a place where they may find others who needed a person to be honest and just say it how it is. That is often why I search the countless blog posts about what so-and-so's family is up to. I am searching for some humanity! Humanity is flawed, insecure, and emotional. A lot of the time humanity is eluded. What I do find is perfection. Life is happening perfectly and flawlessly for everyone in the blogosphere and all are content.
So let me be honest with you.
My life is imperfect. I am a tremendously flawed person. I have a hard time feeling satisfied with anything. Being a stay-at-home mom is not my life's ambition fulfilled. But I have no idea what is and that paralyzes and drives me crazy.
I was never thrilled that my husband wanted to be a doctor. But I am willing to stand by his side and cheer him on because that is what his life's ambition is and I love him, even if it makes life difficult for me. I am doing the best that I know how to overcome my feelings of irritability and impatience with my position in life at this time. I sure wish that I did not feel so alone. If there are others like me out there will you please take off your masks once in awhile.

Aurora turns 1!

Today is Aurora's first birthday. We celebrated her birthday all weekend. We went to the zoo on Saturday. The roosters were her favorite. Most of the animals were too quiet or stationary for her to pay much attention to them. We will have to try again when she is a bit older.
On Easter Sunday, she had her first egg hunt. She was so cute. Rather than collect them in her basket, she would open and eat their contents as she found them.
Later we had family over for dinner. The Dora cake I got her, although cute, turned out to have terrible tasting purple frosting. She was not too happy about that.
Today, her actual birthday, we went to the doctors. Shots for her birthday, I am so mean. She is growing great. She is in the 50th percentile for everything except her weight.
She has 8 (almost 9) teeth. Most of them on the top. She can say "hi", "eye","light", and "up" clearly. When you say "dog" she says "wuh wuh." She is super smart and active. She is learning to run! Especially from diaper changes and getting her teeth brushed. She is down to one nap... but she sleeps through the night 7-7, so I can't be too upset about that.
I just love this girl so much. Happy Birthday Aurora!

Are we done yet???

I am so sick of medical school! Its a good thing its almost over. It has been nothing but a pain in the butt... or has it?
How many good things can I think of that may not have taken place without a journey through medical school?

1. I learned that I can still be happy while living thousands of miles from my family.
2. I learned that I am no ordinary women and can accomplish all sorts of electrical, plumbing, auto, landscaping, and financial feats on my own.
3. I saw new and beautiful places and things, like a field lighted by the glow of thousands of lightning bugs and a "real" river.
4. I discovered what it is to be and what its like to have a true friend.
5. I got to learn all sorts of cool words that are fun to say like Shigella, syncope, and parasympathomimetic.
6. I learned the difference between a good doctor and a bad one and how they might have gotten that way.
7. I've watched someone have a dream and then follow it until they made it a reality.

Congratulations to everyone who is nearing the end of this phase of our journey!!

Hope your having a morning as precious as ours!

Hi my name is Aurora!

I am quite the little princess!

I can get my daddy to give me anything I want!

I hate getting dressed!

I love to play with jewelry.

I love kitties.

I love music.

I like to eat whatever my mom is eating.

I am the cutest and I am loved!

What a month!

Today Aurora is 9 months old. Its been an exciting month for her. She started to crawl. She stands up and cruises next to furniture. She loves to walk with help. She has two bottom teeth. Her favorite food is Cheerios and she has many spots where she likes to keep them and will go to them and make sure they are stocked up. She is learning to dance. Anytime she hears a beat she likes she will start to boogey. If she really likes it she will even wave her arms. She claps and likes patta-cake, plays peek-a-boo. She also has started to point. Yesterday, at a restaurant after the person at the counter got the order of my brother and I, my brother asked Aurora what she wanted she pointed to a rock star energy drink she saw on the counter. She cracks me up. She is a sweet soul who is senstive to loud sounds and people. She is a mommies girl and likes for me to be with her at all times. In fact, she normally is.

However, we recently enforced a nap alone policy. It has been a rough trasition with lots of crying. She was used to me bouncing her to sleep on the exercise ball and sometimes even holding her through her whole nap. Well my back is pretty messed up and its only getting worse as she gets bigger. The bouncing needed to be cut down drasticly. So today, for the first time ever, after only a couple minutes of boucing, she has gone to nap in her crip, still awake, without crying!!!! This is the greatest challenge and accomplishment I have ever had. It may not happen tomorrow, but for today, I have succeeded.

Well where you succeed in one area, you must fall short in another. Aurora is now in the scrawny baby percentile. She is an active baby and I do my best to get her the nutrition she needs.

Enough about that stuff. We had fun at her Granma and Granpa Yates in Colorado earlier this month while Brady has been on international rotation in South Africa. We went swimming, played at playgrounds, and caught colds. It was so much fun!

Aurora has something to tell you!

The first time Aurora did this, this last Sunday, she was trying to get the attention of a man who was sitting behind us in church asleep.

She also has some moves to show off too. Here she is dancing! She does this every times I turn on this singing cat.

She is growing up so fast!!

Goodbye Size 2

Who would have thought going a size up in diapers was something to get sappy about. Maybe its because that has been the size I have bought for so long and change is hard. Maybe its because those size 3 diapers are starting to look bigger and less cute than the newborn diapers. But it is definitely a sign that I am completely in love with my baby. I love the way she gets a little crease under her left eye when she smiles big. I love how she lays on her back and kicks her legs to move across the floor. I love her little grunts as she puts so much effort into pulling herself to her knees and then to her feet while holding any tall item. I even love to watch her poop! It is absolutely adorable. I love her little two bottom teeth that are sprouting up. I love this baby!!!! I am obsessed.

Gerber Contest!

Vote for Aurora! Look at that face. Doesn't this cutie deserve to win!!! You can vote once a day per email. Please help. I want her to win so bad.

Score!!! Free Photo Cards for me this Christmas!

As some of you may know, I recently discovered the secret to fun photo cards. I sent out some really cute ones of Aurora in her dino Halloween costume. In the past I haven't really been into sending holiday cards at all. Buying boring unpersonal store bought cards just didn't appeal to me. But now that I can create my own online I am all for it. A great site for creating Holiday Cards is Shutterfly. I plan on using them for my Christmas Cards this year. Above are a few of my favorites. I think it would be cute to put a pic of me, Aurora, and Brady in the Ho Ho Ho card or just stick with the beauty Aurora in the others.
I used online photo service to make Brady's fathers day present last year. I made a photo calendar with some of our family photos that he could take with him on his away rotations. I think he really liked it.
For blogging about Shutterflys service they are giving me 50 Free Holiday Cards! I am so excited!

Blog Change

My blog wasn't fitting me anymore so I changed it. My old title "Medical School Wife's Search for Happiness" was outdated. I am just going to be happy where I am at and stop searching. Almost all my posts these days are about the baby and that mostly what all the people reading my blog want to hear about anyway. I am kind of lost on how to format my posts so that my text will appear where I want beside the pictures. Any help would be appreciated.

7 months old

Aurora is getting cuter everyday. She is a happy baby. She loves to get attention. And flashes her smile a lot. Aurora is on her way to crawling. She is rocking on hands and knees. She does the army crawl with speed and perfection. She recently cut her first tooth. She can sit all by herself. She is saying mama, baba, and yaya. She takes 2 naps. One at 10 and the other at 2 and is in bed by 7. She usually only wakes once and is up around 7. She loves to sleep with her ducky blanket and binky. She loves animals, especially dogs. She is a good eater and her favorites are bananas and carrots. She really cracks me up. She is so funny. Today her new thing is when she is trying really hard she sticks out her tongue, strains, and grunts. What a cutey!

Happy Half Birthday and Halloween!

This year for halloween Aurora is a dinosaur, Aurorasaurus Rex. She is such a sweetheart and I love her so much!

We made it to six months!

These days Aurora spends her time putting everything in her mouth. She is scooting across the floor like a catipillar, faster every day to get to anything new she can find to discover. She likes all the solid foods she has tried so far. She is getting better at sitting by herself, but she really doesn't like to be in one place long enough to perfect it. She still loves to bounce on the exercise ball with me over any other activity. Dora the Explorer puts a smile on her face, but mostly she loves me!! This last month she got her first cold, which was horribly sad. I hope she doesn't get sick again for a long time. After going in reverse for quite some time, she is now getting better at sleeping at night. Sometimes the whole night! Still a rotten napper though. Usually only 45 minutes 2 or 3 times a day if I get lucky.

5 Months!

My little sweetie is 5 months today! She weighs about 14.6 lbs and is about 25.5 inches long. She is a grinner, but she has attitude too. She lets you know how she is feeling. She hardly naps and wakes up a couple times a night. When she is asleep I love to watch her; she is so beautiful. Her eyes are changing to to match mine, hazel. She only lets mommy put her to bed at night and requires a bit of parenting to sleep most nights. She is amazed at the world around her and loves to go outside. She puts anything she can get in her hands into her mouth. She is beginning to love Cabello and he kind of likes her too I think. I am so happy to have her in my life. She is worth all the hard work.

Update

Its been a busy couple months for Brady. Hes been away from me and Aurora on rotations a lot. He spent 4 weeks in Hawaii and 2 weeks in Casper. We missed him too much and we went out to Casper his last week so we could see him. He didn't have much time to spend with us since he has been studying for boards but any time is better than nothing. Plus I got to meet up with some old friends. After he finished in Casper, we drove down to his parents in Colorado. Me and Aurora stayed there with him while he studied until yesterday when we flew home. He will stay another week or so till he takes boards there. Then he come home to us for a couple weeks!
Since I've posted last, Aurora has learned a ton. She can sit alone for short periods of time, she can laugh in response to your laugh, and is always willing to give a smile (sometimes even in the middle of crying), shes always kicking her feet and grabbing anything she can and putting it in her mouth. We have started solids. She has been eating rice cereal, which she loves and today we tried green beans. She isn't too impressed as shown in the posted video. She still isn't the greatest sleeper, waking up every few hours. But I am enjoying her more and more despite my sleep deprived state.

Four Months!

I can:

• Roll Both Ways
• Laugh
• Lift my Head and Chest While on My Stomach
• Blow Raspberries

I am Soooooo Loved!!!!

Changes

Things have changed again. I am no longer in a strange new place supporting my husbands dreams of becoming a physician. I am in a very familiar place, my mom's house in Utah. However, Brady is not here... he is in Hawaii. Don't you just feel so bad for him hehe. He will be there all this month. He has several other rotations away from me and the baby, but will be joining us here in November. We should be here till May and then on to Residency. Not sure where that will be yet. Maybe Hawaii? The little girl is growing fast. She is grabbing at toys and bringing them to her face, rolling over from her back to her belly, smiling and laughing and is just so dang cute! I do feel bad for Brady because he is not here to see her every day like I am.

Things are going well!

Aurora had her two month doctor visit and she is healthy and growing. I am not a fan of watching her get shots, but who would be. She is in the 50th percentile for weight, length, and head circumference. She is now 10 pounds 14 ounces. I am starting to get her into some 3-6 month outfits. She is smiling when you smile at her now which is wonderful for me! She sleeps for at least 5 hours in a row every night so I am not feeling so crazy and feel a lot more love for her. July will be our last month in Wyoming so I need to get the house packed up and ready to store. I will be staying with my mom in Utah for the next year. Brady has some away rotations but will join us there later this year. Life is always changing and I just keep growing and learning!