Just Like Magic

 

What awaited our kids Christmas morning.  There are some moments in parenting that I find myself wishing away.  Celebrating Christmas is one that I do not take for granted.  These precious years where everything is magical for them are the best!

The boys were given strict instructions to stay in their beds until 7:00am.  At 6:59 I heard them excitedly ooh-ing and ah-ing over what they found as they burst through the door to the living room.  I nudged Josh, we got Josie and headed down.  Jameson was still sleeping, and we didn’t see the sense in waking him up for it.  We just saved his presents and had a second mini Christmas morning when he finally woke up. 

Some of the fun memories from that morning…

We can’t wait until next Christmas!

Will’s Christm…er…Holiday Concert

Will’s 3rd grade class had their holiday concert.  It definitely was not a Christmas concert.  There were no signs of the baby Jesus anywhere in that one!  Last Thursday, I loaded up JJ and Jo, and we headed over to be filled with holiday cheer.  I brought the camera, and thank goodness I did, or else Josie wouldn’t have been able to document what an amazing program it was.

First there was this…

Then they did this….

Ooh!  I’m so glad she got one of this!

This song was just lovely…

Thanks, Jo, for being so perfectly two during this concert, so we can always have these memories

I did manage to wrestle the camera away for one quick group shot, before the shrieking started…

Fa La La La La!

So Thankful for Hugs

Today, at 3:15 I loaded my babies in the van and drove to the elementary school.  I waited anxiously, wondering if news from the day had been shared with my boys.  They usually take the bus home, but I couldn't wait the additional 30 minutes the bus takes to bring them to me.  As the children excitedly spilled onto the sidewalks, I knew the tragedy of this day had not touched them.  First I saw Isaac.  He ran to me and threw his arms around my waist. I held on tight.  Then out came Will excited to tell me what a great day he had.  I brought them both in for big squeezes, and then held on a little longer, first for their grandma and grandpa serving a mission who surely thought of their many precious grand kids sitting in classrooms back home, and then longer still for a Nana and grandpa who love them dearly and were certainly thinking of them this day.  Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the chance I had to hug my kids.  Please encompass those families who couldn't with your perfect love and mercy.

So Defensive

 

Lately, Josh has been SO defensive. (not Josh pictured below, but this guy does look funny, doesn’t he?)  He has been so defensive, but I’ve got to say, it’s been SO worth it!  On October 29th Josh held his public defense where he stood in front of faculty and peers to present and defend the research project that he has poured his whole self into over the last LONG 4 1/2 years.

Before going through this with Josh, I was pretty naïve to the world of graduate school.  I didn’t know the process.  I didn’t know the culture or climate of scientific research.  I did, however, have an inkling that it would be a lot of work.  I was right about that.  When Josh got into this program I was confident that the MD training would be significantly harder than the PhD.  Although med school had it’s grueling moments, it was nothing like grad school.  This is a chapter of our lives that I can thankfully say is over!  Grad school is a lot like middle school.  I would never want to go back and relive it.  Keep in mind that this is coming from me, the one who didn’t actually earn a doctoral degree.  Josh worked incredibly hard.  The family sacrificed a lot to support him through it, but we made it!

I was able to get a sitter so I could attend his defense.  I listened as he systematically moved through his power point presentation.  There were parts that I absolutely understood, only because the words have been seared onto my brain over the years from hearing him talk about things so much.  I now, with decent proficiency, can tell you about patch clamping neurons, what synaptic plasticity is, the difference between paired recordings—boo, take longer, mini’s-yay easier, long term potentiation, long term depression, good transfection vs. no transfections, cell health, what it means to prepare an animal, BRAG 1,  BRAG 2, Neurogranin, water mazes, hippocampal models, shooting cells, electrophysiology…etc.  Hmmm….maybe I deserve a PhD too!   Ha  What I should clarify is there were a few parts that I understood, but mostly, I just sat there in awe of how smart he is.  While I was at home having babies, he was at school becoming a scientist!  It just blew me away.  It was so fun to get to see him in that light.  When it was all over, I had to ask the girl next to me how he did, (She said good)  because I have no point of reference for what a well-done defense looks like, but it was probably unnecessary, because I knew in my gut that he was pretty awesome. 

Josh is now officially Dr. Brown.  Bring on the rest of med school!  Let’s get ‘er done!

Jameson “Rutherford” Brown

This is my JJ.  Josh calls him Rutherford.  This little guy has been severely neglected on this blog, and that has got to stop.

You would think with him being the baby and all that he would always be the star of the show, but the truth is, since he is the only non-talker in our house, he is often drowned out by everyone else’s incessant jabber.  He is sweet though.  Have you ever seen more round, blue eyes? 

I like this picture, because it captures how his plump cheeks still rest on his chest.  They are ultra soft, and super squishy, thus equaling highly kissable.

I took Jameson in for his 15 month check up today.  Thankfully, only one more to go until he is done with all the immunizations.  There are a lot of things  I love about being a mom, but visiting the pediatrician every three months for the first year and a half stinks.  He is healthy and strong, and doing great.  It’s been fun to watch Jameson over the last couple of weeks.  Ever since Jameson has been mobile, he is in constant motion (unless Curious George, Caillou, or Yo Gabba-Gabba are on).  Now that he walks-nearly runs-everywhere, and has proven to be a masterful climber, that really hasn’t changed.  He is into everything ALL the time.  More than into everything, he likes to be on top of everything.  If there is a chair or other object left in his view, he will find a way to climb on top of it, and then teeter dangerously close to the edge, while squatting up and down squealing with delight at how amazing he is.  It’s what he likes to do, but lately, he has been pausing more to notice his surroundings, and figure things out a bit.  His curiosity is emerging.  It’s fun to watch him build towers, and do the shape sorter, which he can do really well.  He finds an old cell phone and wanders around yelling at someone.  It’s funny to hear him yell, perhaps that’s how he perceives all my phone calls going?

Something that he should not be proud of is magnetic reaction to all things toilet related.  The plunger, the scrub brush, but especially the bowl itself.  Loves it all.  Grosses us out.  We keep him from it as much as possible, but every once in a while, he sneaks in there, and mayhem ensues.  If Jameson were to ever develop some mysterious illness, my first inclination would be to ask the doctor, “Do you think this could be toilet related?  Maybe toilet bowl fever?  or something equally obscure?”  He would be the one to catch it.

He continues to be a spotty sleeper.  Naps no problem.  We still have nights though where I find myself saying at 3:30am, “What the?!…Jameson…this is not play time!”  Only it is.  He’ll climb all over me shrieking and slobbering while I desperately try to sleep, until after an hour or so he is ready to go back to bed.  The worst part is, when that happens, he goes ahead and treats himself to a later wake up time, whereas my day starts as scheduled.  Thanks a lot, J!

Jameson and Josh have shared a special relationship from very early on.  Jameson has been Josh’s solace during very busy, hectic times in the lab.  He would come home, pick up Jameson and just go out and walk with him.  There was something about breathing in that little guy that brought a lot of peace for Josh.   As a result, something absolutely unprecedented, but not necessarily unwelcomed happened.  Josh became his favorite!  This has never happened to me before!  My kids always loved me best!  I didn’t know what to make of this, nor did I know how I felt about it, until it dawned on me one afternoon when Jameson was whining at Josh’s feet for no apparent reason, that it wasn’t necessarily all bad.  I could have picked him up, but he didn’t want me.  He wanted Josh.  Kind of nice.  Thankfully, Jameson’s love isn’t exclusive, and he has plenty of room for mommy and daddy, so I’m not too insecure about his blatant favoritism.  I think I’ll be able to win him over in the end! 

We love you Jameson Rutherford Brown!

Jojee Ann Po

That’s who she is to her daddy anyway. They even have a song they sing together stating it. It goes: “Jo-jee, Jo-jee Ann Po!” repeated several times. They both sing it over and over, and they love it.
There is so much that I could say about my Jo, but these pictures are Josie.

Josie loves her daddy.  She thinks I’m pretty neat too, but there is something magical about the way she looks at him.  Maybe he is magic.  His most amazing trick is that his mere presence brings pure delight and joy to his children’s faces.  All of them.  Magic.  Strong magic, the kind that makes the mommy love him more and more just because he came home.

On this particular day Josie kept putting on her hat and her backpack to tell me she was going to school.  She would give me a chubby–fingered wave and then out the door she’d go with a sweet, “Bye Mama, I’ll see you soon.”  This went on all day.  It was  a good day.

Do you see that look on her face?  That is the look she gives me when she has been very stubborn, and insisted on getting her way.  When I get this look I’m pretty sure she is saying to herself, “You are so soft mommy, but trust me—I know what I’m doing.”  And in this particular case, she went on to say to herself, “now you be a good mommy, and follow behind my lead while I push Jameson.”

There is a post from when Isaac is about this same age, and he had done several funny things around the house.  I’d link it, but I can’t get it to work.  In one of the pictures he had taken several spoons and had them sticking up out of the silverware drawer.  When I found it I thought it was so funny, and I knew that one day when my kids were grown I would miss those kinds of things.  You can imagine how much it warmed my heart to come into the kitchen to find all of my drawers pulled open, cabinet doors swung wide, and two whisks hanging from the drawer pulls.  I love being a mom

Josie loves her brothers.  She gives them a hug every day when they come home from school, and kisses them goodnight before bed, always on the cheek or forehead.  She loves to be right where they are-all three of them.
We love her hair.  You know that weird part in The Wizard of Oz where Dorothy gets a makeover and she asks, “Can they even dye my eyes to match my gown?”  I remember thinking that was so strange as a kid, but in Dorothy-esque fashion, my Josie has hair that perfectly matches her personality.  The messier it is the more Jo is showing.  Love it!
It’s hard for me to write about Josie.  I can’t capture Josie with words.  She is feelings.  If I think about Josie then I feel.  I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for being that little ladie’s mom. 

DIYers

I wanted to be very clever while writing about all of the projects we have done recently, but I’m too tired from all of the projects.  Instead, I’ll consider it a success that it’s only taken me 3 months since we wrapped up the majority of the work that I’m just now posting this.

This is my living room carpet just before demo day.  It’s embarrassing to even put it up.  Can you tell where the furniture and rugs were?

I did a terrible job taking before pictures and there are none from the project themselves.  Far too frenzied work pace for that.

Here are the afters:

I’m proud to say that Josh and I did all of it!  We aren’t really the handy type, so yay us!

-Installed new flooring

-tore out old baseboard trim, and installed all new baseboards

-painted everything

Hmmm.  That list seems too short for how much work it was.  I can say after two days of installing flooring from the moment my eyes opened in the morning until late into the night that my body has never been so tired and weary.  I don’t know how people do that for a living.

 

The kitchen:

I didn’t take any before pictures of the kitchen, but this picture shows, the floor, the backsplash (or lack of) and the countertops. 

After:

Project list:

Painted countertops

Installed backsplash

New faucet

New flooring

New hardware

Painted everything

New Baseboards

New refrigerator

It’s funny when a couple takes on something like this.  These two rooms are the projects Josh and I worked most closely on.  It’s stressful doing this stuff, but I think we found a nice rhythm quickly.  Josh may have called me Gerald a few times under his breath as I was installing the main areas of flooring.  We have a tendency to get a little growly when we work—I mean, my dad and myself, but I tempered it, and Josh was patient with me.   As the project progressed it was awesome to see how what each of us brought to the table proved to be just what was needed to get everything done well.

 

On to our babies:

Josh took on a project that quickly became known as “Garage-majal” by our neighbors. I had very little to do with this one.  It was important to Josh to give us more storage space and a place for all of our bikes.  We have a lot.

Before:

During:

After:

Not great after shots, because his work bench he built is piled high with items that we were donating to the Ward Rummage that weekend, but you get the idea.  The best part-we can now park both our cars in the garage without fear of clipping a bike tire or getting tangled up with a razor scooter.

Now, my baby.  The project that started them all.  I am quite proud of this one, because I had no idea how to do any of it, but really wanted to do a good enough job that you wouldn’t walk in and assume that I was the one that did it.  Does that make sense?  Most astounding to me is that I did it while caring for my kids and while Josh was working ALL. THE. TIME. 

Before:  (kind of)

I don’t have any before of this particular bathroom, but here is one of the master bathroom.  Same vinyl flooring, same wall color, same vanity.  You get the idea

After:

Project List:

-Removing layers of old vinyl flooring,  and self leveling compound.  Crazy amount of work.

-Install tile floor

-Paint walls

-paint and install wainscoting  with new chair rail and baseboard trim

-New vanity top and faucet

 

There you have it.  The first of many overdue posts.  More to follow.