Random Shots from the Past Six Months

I know my blogging has taken a serious hit since we left Indy six months ago (wow, crazy!) so I figured I would post a few pics to get us caught up to this Christmas...

And since stupid blogger uploads pictures backwards, you will get the update in reverse order. So prepare to move backward over the past several months with me here!

This is Boston, sick, as he has pretty much been the entire month of December. He has had several colds, two different flus, you name it. Luckily, I have only had to call in sick once, and Mark once as well, to take care of him. So here he is parking himself in front of the TV, which consequently he does all the time now. We'll have to monitor that one...

Here are some beautiful flowers my hubby sent me on my birthday earlier this month.
Here's Boston walking around naked in the kitchen, with nothing but his diaper and, of course, his shoes. My little boy has a fascination with shoes. It's almost scary. He is his mama's son. But I do take comfort in the fact that he also loves tools and cars and all boy toys. He actually shook his head "no" at a lady in church this week who tried to offer him a doll. So I'm not as worried about the shoe fetish as I may have been...

Love it, strut it!

Boston on Halloween. He was Pooh Bear dressed as the hunny bee. You know that one. Too cute.

My camera was seriously sucking, so the pics I got on Halloween were not the greatest.

Gotta have that lollipop. Boston's favorite candy. I kept him quiet at the DMV for two hours with two tootsie pops a few months back. Some dude took a picture of him! He was too cute, I'll admit. Not a peep. Just sucked away!

Here's Mark's office. He has been working with Dr. Bradburn since September. They work really well together and are so much alike. We are really grateful to Keith for hiring Mark, and I think he is also grateful to Mark for how well the practice is doing. It was definitely a win-win situation for all involved. I definitely know the Lord had a hand in setting this up!

Here is beautiful Clayton, the little town Mark works in. It's only about a half hour from our house, so the commute is not bad at all. Much better than the hour long commute I have been enduring since October... But, that all ends now! In January, I move to Manteca, which is a little over a half hour away. And I will be training to take over as the managing dentist. I was shocked to get this news, since I have only been with the company since October. I told them no when they offered me the position at first, because it was supposed to be full time. They asked again, and I said no again. They asked if the only reason was the full-time thing. When I said yes, they said they would work with me, but they really want me to do it!

Here's the house we are living in. We finally got it replenished with furniture. I'll have to take pictures. When we sold our home in Indy, the lady wanted everything in it, as is. So we got nothing, except a sold home. Which is good in retrospect. It all worked out.

Here's Boston one night, when we were living with Nikki. We slept in one room together. And for some reason, Boston thought it would be appropriate to wake up at 3 am and play. So here we are playing tea party. Once again, I go back to being comforted by his other manly interests.

This is Boston discovering that he had a pocket, and could fit Mickey Mouse inside it. He spent the next several minutes putting him in and taking him back out. Too cute.

Boston loves to sit inside little things. This is the tea tray, featured above. I would much rather see him doing this with it than what he was doing before. But what are you gonna do? He always finds something like this laying around to sit in. On Christmas day, it was boxes. At Nikki's house it was the sewing machine tray. Come to think of it, maybe I should keep him away from there... That's where he gets into all these girly things.

Here's Boston thinking he is so big, because he had just learned to climb the stairs, and just made it up all the way.

And here he is mid-way up them. He learned really well over at Nikki's, which made it nice for when we moved into our house, which also has stairs.

So there's a very quick run down, with pictures, of what the past six months have been like for us. Did I leave anything out? Oh, yes. In October, we bought a new car. A 2010 Honda Accord EXL. Beautiful car. In November, I bought another new car. A 2011 Honda Accord EXL. Not because I thought the 2010 wasn't new enough. But because some idiot lady made an illegal left turn right into me. Broadsided me, and then ran me in to a traffic light pole. The car was totalled. It had less than 1000 miles on it. Luckily, I walked away from it with nothing but a laceration on my wrist. Other than that, I think I pretty much hit all the highlights!

Too Cute For Words

Updates on us later... but I had to post these. He posed himself, by the way. Just sat down and starting striking it! It was the cutest thing I've ever seen!

Updates...

OK, for everyone who talks to us all the time, this will be a boring post, since it doesn't have any pictures, and you already know all of this... But for anyone else, read on... This summer (and early fall) has been the most stressed out either of us has ever been. Mark decided not to do a periodontal residency (which he had already been enrolled in and was set to start July 1st) late in June. We had some very quick decisions to make, but the answer seemed obvious: we always wanted to live in California, and I have a sister here who volunteered to watch Boston while I work. So it was a no brainer. We put our house up for sale in July (which closed in August, thank goodness), packed up, and got ready for the move clear across the country.



I finished up my requirements in early July, and we moved out of our home in Indianapolis, and in with my sister in Brentwood, California. We thought it would only be for a couple weeks, but we were grossly underestimating how much time things take. It took Mark until late August to get his DDS license, and it took me until September. We moved out without a real plan (no leads as to where we would be working) but figured since we were licensed in California, if we couldn't find jobs in the bay area, we could always go anywhere in the state. We had interviews in San Diego set up, as well as in the central valley, since it seemed we were getting nowhere on the job front here in Brentwood.



Just before we were about to head out to San Diego (they had two offices within 10 minutes of each other, and wanted us each to take one), Mark got a call from a dentist in Clayton (about a 20-30 minute drive from Brentwood). Mark had been talking with him for a couple weeks. He was looking for an associate eventually, but he just hadn't been ready yet. Well, things changed. He called and told Mark that his hygienist was out on maternity leave, and that he could take over her part time hygiene position for a month or so, and then he would transition him into the practice as a dentist. Mark is now practicing with him, has signed a two-year contract for a full time dentist associate position, and they are already talking about opening a second practice together. As for me, I had been pursuing the only other dentist in Clayton. She is expanding her practice next year. We really hit it off, but until she opens the new office sometime next year, she doesn't have room for a second dentist. So we have agreed to keep in touch, and hopefully the time will be right for both of us sometime next year. For now, I finally received a job offer, and I am actually super excited about it. It was supposed to be a five-to-six-day-per-weeker... but they liked me so much that I talked them into 3-4 days per week, and higher pay (Maybe it also had something to do with how I TORE UP my working interview - I did two root canals on a patient in about 45 minutes, not to mention like 8 fillings in a half hour, and all the work was beautiful!).

So that took care of the work aspect, but we have been stressing about how to afford moving into our own place. Things here are pretty expensive anyway, so 1st and last months rent, plus deposit, adds up to a pretty hefty sum, which we just don't have yet. We have looked at several houses, and there was one that we looked at about three weeks ago that we just kept coming back to. The only problem was, we knew we wouldn't be ready to pay all that money up front for at least another month or so. But, as fate would have it, the people who ended up renting it just found out that a house they were trying to buy was going to work out afterall... So they had already paid for September's rent, plus half of October's, and were hoping someone could step in and take the lease. So that's where we come in... We really lucked into this one (I guess you could call it luck, I don't) and are very excited to be able to give Nikki and John back their house. We really appreciate all they did for us during this transition, but I know they've got to be ready to give Catherine back her room... let's just say that lately, Mitchell's family prayers have involved phrases like, "And please help Mark and Kristin find a house..." Well, we are certainly glad we finally did, and we move in on Tuesday! So there's our life for the past three months. Pretty crazy. I will post pics soon of the new house!

He's Walking!

Here's a short video of Boston walking... he is getting better and better everyday. Check him out!

He's Special Agent Boston!!!

Boston absolutely loves the show Special Agent Oso. It is definitley not my favorite, but it makes him happy. Check him out...

So intent...

So focused...

I don't know what it is about this show, but it keeps him glued!

OK, mom, I think I'd rather play with the camera afterall!

His Sunday Best (or James')

Here's Boston this Sunday, in James' clothes from head to toe (or shoe). I thought he looked pretty dang cute, mohawk and all. Oh, the benefits of having a cousin exactly one year older! Thanks, Nik!

Ice Cream Sundays

And, yes, I meant Sundays, not sundaes. Yesterday Nikki brought homemade ice cream sandwiches to primary. She made, like, 120 of them, so there were plenty of leftovers, much to Boston's delight. After dinner, I put a whole one on his tray. At first, he just looked at it and grinned... Then, he began to taste it...
Next, he began to bite it...
And then he smiled at it some more... Then, he played with it...
Then, he began to devour it...

And finally, he demolished it!
And he was super happy about the whole thing! He seriously ate almost the entire thing - two full sized chocolate chip cookies and the ice cream in between - and he loved every minute of it! This post was for you, Jessica, since you needed your "Boston fix."

Night-Night, Lew-Lew!

So this is kind of blurry, but you'll get the picture... Today, Boston and I hung out with my dad and Rachel. My dad kept falling asleep on us, so we did a number of things, from tickling him with a feather duster, to throwing balls at him, etc. He kept waking up, and then falling back asleep. So we decided to try something that might just help him sleep a little better...

Night-night, Lewey!

Time For Cake!

After opening gifts, it was time to cut into the cake. The first to go was the Rice Krispie Mickey. All my nephews jumped in, calling an ear, a head, whatever they could claim! Then we cut into the cake. The top layer was a yummy vanilla cheesecake flavored cake with chocolate chips and buttercream frosting. The bottom was chocolate cake with chocolate chips and buttercream frosting. Both were equally delicious! And Boston loved them both as well.

Here's Boston trying to decide what to do with it. It was hard not having a high chair there, but we made it work on mommy's lap!
Boston starts by poking in a finger or two, as Grandma watches on.

He's being a little timid at first, so mommy tries to help. Boston won't let me feed him anything else, so why cake?

Nope, I can do it myself, mom!

Yep, I've got it down now!

Such good cake, mom! Thanks for making it for me!

I started getting too much cake dripped on me, so I stuck him ontop of the table and hung onto him from behind. That's when he really went to town!

And here's the aftermath. We headed straight for the tub.

We had so much fun with him!

Boston's 1st Birthday Bash

We celebrated Boston's first birthday in Vegas this year at my parent's house. We had to go to Vegas to do something anyway, so we decided as long as we were out there, we may as well celebrate a little early. Boston was super excited to see everyone and to see all the new toys and his cake. Here's Boston (center-obviously), Natalie (left, top), Brayden (left-bottom), and Addyson (right) checking out Boston's new ride-on Mickey Mouse toy from Grandma and Grandpa Gifford.

I think he likes it!
Yep, he REALLY likes it! Check out that smile!

Here's Boston opening his present from Aunt Annie (or Auntie Anne, as she likes to be called) and his cousins, Jackson, Natalie, and Brayden.

Thanks for my Mickey Mouse tableware and jammies! And I love my piano, too!

Here's Boston and mommy opening his gift from Aunt Angie, Uncle Ron, Kaitlyn, and Rachel, as cousins Stephen (top), Alyssa (left), and Benson (bottom) watch.

I love my lawnmower! Thanks, guys!

Here's Boston with his new Aphabet Pal. Thanks, Aunt Jena, Uncle Ryan, Harrison, Stephen, and Benson! I love it! As an aside, Mark and I have wanted to get this for Boston for awhile. Actually, Mark has wanted it for awhile. He plays with it every time we go to Babies-R-Us and tries to spell bad words, which it won't pronounce. Way to sensor, Leap Frog!

Here's mommy's favorite gift ~ Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Simkins for all my cute clothes! I was super excited to get these clothes for Boston, especially since we only have one pair of jeans, and we will definitely be wearing them all year long, living in Cali!Here's Boston and Natalie playing with his new Mickey Mouse car! Doesn't he look excited!

Happy Birthday, little man! We love you so much!