The Funny Boys

We love our funny boys!!

William turned 4 this last week. He was 42 inches tall and 40 lbs. He has big feet and still has abnormally large hands, but he's so healthy and funny - and the things that come out of his mouth are hilarious.

Today, we decided to watch Snow White (good Sunday flick I guess) and William asked me what Snow White's powers were.

Me: Singing - I guess.

William: Oh right. Then she is going to have some apple and fall asleep (lays his head down on his hands.) Then the new different prince (I guess he has not made the connection with the earlier one - who can blame him? - the animation is not great) is going to use his kissing powers to wake her up. I guess he's going to have to use his powers every day. (rolls his eyes like "poor guy.") So then Snow White is going to go live with the 7 Doors and the animals will help her.

We are having conversations like this all the time. I know that when I recount our conversations my part is always like "umm" or "well" but I'm always so surprised by what comes out of his mouth.

When he got his birthday package from Meemie and Papa, William loved the neminems (M&Ms) and he asked me is he could "eat them - all of them." It's his birthday right? So he did. By the handful. He has a way of eating food like a wood-chipper. Just holds a handful of his food to his mouth until he can fit it all in. (We're working on it.) Anyhoo, this is the result. He loved them. Thanks Meemie and Papa!

Wesley is his own kind of fun. He is such a sweet kid. He is always smiling and is so helpful. He goes and gets his clothes so I can get him dressed and always find my phone for me. Seriously - he's helpful. Today at church he was pilfering through another young mom's diaper bag (we have an open diaper bag policy in our ward. Informal of course, but if it's on the ground anyone else is welcome to come pilfering through it if it will help to keep them occupied) and Wesley found a small baby doll. His reverence for the thing was hilarious. He gently picked it up and then mashed it against his chest and face in the most intense hug. He did it so hard he was shaking. Then proceeded to kiss the thing until it was pretty much wet all over its face. Apologetically I told the other mom I was sorry - I had not expected him to react that way. We don't have any doll-type toys. But she was sweet and just laughed.

Of course, this was after Wes fell off the stairs this morning and I was tracking down the med students in our ward to ask them the symptoms of a concussion. Yikes. (I know that Jared knows - but wives of doctors sometimes don't believe them. See - we knew them before they were doctors.) But I think we're in the clear.

Other than that - we are surviving school. Jared is up against WREB and Mock WREB which are his licensing exams and I am working on finishing my last formal semester in law school. We head up to Lincoln during our Spring Break in a few weeks to do some house hunting and have a little getaway from our stress here.

I leave you with this picture of the boys. It was freezing and Wes was giving a little attitude. Wes is only cranky when he's cold. PS. Its currently 28 degrees in Lincoln. Aren't they cute?

While I have a few minutes...

I am sitting in a boring class - that can only be made more boring by the lecturer we are currently enjoying. So I thought I would include a few pictures of our recent doings. Here are some pictures that was had taken over the holidays. I think the one of William really captures him, but I'm not sure we ever really got one that looked like Wes to me. But here they are anyway.
They are cute. If I find myself in another boring class (which is a solid bet), I will post some video of the boys. They are hilarious and make us laugh all the time.

All our love!

Family Pictures

We hope you all are enjoying another wonderful holiday season. We finally got our act together and took some family pictures that have us all together. We hope to share more of them with you soon. Thankfully we were able to get a few before lips got too blue and noses got too drippy...

Things at the Roberts house are exciting as always. Both boys keep us laughing, and the challenges life throws our way keep us holding on to one another. What a blessing it is to have shoulders to lean on and situations to laugh at. Thankfully our cars have proved useful lately at providing the latter. How we love transmissions and starters :)

Thanksgiving was wonderful. We were so glad to have family and friends to share the day with and experiences we can remember. Thanks to all those who joined in on the fun (including the nail-biter football game on Saturday).

We are grateful for our family both near and far and for our wonderful friends. Thank you for your love and support. Our best holiday wishes to you all.

J&M + boys

Yes, honey

While doing the bedtime routine the other night:

William: Mom, what does Jesus do?
Me: Well, He loves you and wants you to be happy. He also made it so we can be together forever.
W: But Mom, what does He DO?
M: Um, well... what do you think He does?
W: (very matter of factly) He helps us wait for marshmallows.
M: Yes, honey. He does.

He is referring to this video we watched for FHE more than a month ago.

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pictures of our wonderful boys in their Halloween costumes having a wonderful time. We love these two guys so much.

Birthday Boy

Happy First Birthday Wesley!

A few weeks ago we celebrated Wesley's first birthday, and here are a few highlights from his special day. We're so proud of our little man :)

Also we thought we'd post some pictures from our recent visit to the local corn maze/pumpkin patch in honor of the fall season. We asked Will to smile and he went the extra mile with his cheesiest grins ever. He enjoyed holding the map with clues as we tried to keep from getting completely lost in the maze. Thanks Jim and Marlaine for joining in on the fun.

Big Weekend!

Jared and I spent a fabulous weekend celebrating our 5th Anniversary at a resort here in San Antonio. My parents came and watched the boys for us so we could relax. There just isn't a better gift than that. I will admit to missing the boys desperately by the time we got home early Monday morning, but it was a nice break.

For all the people who have been calling and been so thoughtful to us: Thursday morning I woke up with severe chest pains. I couldn't breathe so Jared called 911 and I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. And since I didn't die of the chest pains, or the embarrassment of leaving my close little quiet neighborhood in my super flattering pajamas strapped to a gurney with the ambulance all loud and lights blazing, I figure I can survive anything. The doctors in the ER were understandably nervous considering my history of open heart surgery and so decided to keep me overnight for observation. (It was at this point that I had an epiphany. Always keep your phone charged. Always keep a copy of your insurance in your purse. Know where your purse is. Know where your phone is in case you need to call 911. Buy cuter pajamas.) So Thursday night I stayed at the hospital and my parents just came down a day early so Jared could make it to school Friday. I was released Friday after some more testing and they found I had a viral infection in my heart. Symptoms can present like a heart attack - which seemed to be my situation.

Although this is long it is the short version and ultimately I'm fine. Doctors said to take it easy which I did all weekend! And I had a blast! So thank you everyone for your phone calls and your offers to help. You're wonderful.

Another explanation to clarify an earlier post: Jared decided to specialize and become a periodontist. (Mostly dental surgeries that involve the gums, bone grafting, and implants. Gross. But inexplicably, he loves it...) We had a whirlwind summer doing applications and then quickly making plans to interview all over the country. One of Jared's top choices was Nebraska, and as soon as he got into Lincoln he called me to tell me he already loved it. He interviewed and loved the program there. We had some previous offers and we were lucky enough to get another offer there before the day was over, and accepted about that fast. We felt so good we knew it was right.

Sooooo.... that means that I need to be done with school sooner than we originally thought. I'm taking 18 credits this semester, 18 credits next semester, 3 credits over Christmas in Phoenix, and I'll be ready to take the bar this summer. Jared and I will both graduate in May 2011. Whew. What a year it's going to be! I'm so excited. It just feels like a fun challenge.

Musings...

I usually use this blog simply as a way for family to see pictures of my little guys, but several people have been asking me about law school. I just try to keep laughing and it's not very hard. Sometimes we hear about situations like this one:

"I'm sorry I can't tell you the paternity of my daughter. After all, when you eat a can of beans, you can't tell which one made you fart."

Priceless.

The Ever-so-sought-after Update

Wesley in April

Greetings everyone! You may have wondered what we've been up to since our last post, so here's the rundown:

• May: Spring finals for Mikail and Jared (all passed, sigh of relief), full-time summer schedule for Mikail (which she rocked), Jared=Mr. Mom for a few weeks while applying to residency programs, Wesley crawls all over while we smile and try not to trip over him.

The crawling days

• June: Was there a June this year? We finished another furniture recovering project, went to the circus as a family, and we spent hours requesting, printing, signing, and mailing the seemingly endless sea of application forms. We were all a little beat, and this was when our back yard started looking like the untamed Amazon...

Wes relaxing and William exploring the back yard

• July: Preschool for William (awesome), Wesley starts walking on his own, Mikail rocks more summer classes as her 2nd year of law school wraps up, perio interviews start and go well for Jared, we enjoy almost an entire week of mutual summer break, and dental school starts up again.

William before his first day of Preschool

• August: Uncle Bryce comes home from his mission, Jared finishes residency interviews and accepts an offer at Nebraska (sigh of relief), our boys chase each other around the ottoman in the front room almost constantly, and the laughing never ceases. Mikail is taking 18 credits in stride this semester, and we celebrate 5 wonderful years of marriage.

Wesley chillin' in Dallas

And here we are in September. We're grateful to our friends and family for all the support over these last few (crazy) months--and years.

All our love,

The Roberts Family

The Great Butterfly Send-Off of 2010

We did it! And we didn't even kill any during the whole process. Here is the video. Please pardon the homeless look Will has going on. He needs a haricut. (Man - I feel like I'm saying that every other day.)

I won't bore you with the first video. I was hoping for a "white dove" effect - you know - open it up and out they majestically fly. I guess butterflies are not that smart because we opened it and they didn't budge. So I pulled out their food plate and then some flew off. Then this video started and Will was a little upset that they left. But when he talks to them isn't it so cute?

Then I got a picture of Wes watching the whole thing. He is adorable.

Yes That's Right - We've Got Butterflies

Here - William is asking me if I can see the " provocus" (he means proboscis. Its the long nose/tongue thing that butterflies use to eat.)

We had some larvae (caterpillars) sent to us by mail. We watched them grow them hang themselves upside down and form chrysalides. The it was a boring week while they did nothing. Well, nothing we could see anyway. Then they came out! And we loved it. We now have 5 butterflies we'll watch for a few more days then (if the rain ever stops) we'll set them free outside.

This has been fun for me and Will. Jared has not been around much because school has been nuts. So we have distracted ourselves with nature in the dining room. I couldn't get any good pictures through the mesh habitat but believe me. There are 5 butterflies in there.

Next: Tadpoles!

Getting better with the new camera. Thanks Jan.

Monday's Moment of Zen

Saturday is a special day

We decided to dedicate this last Saturday to some much needed spring cleaning, and we thought that having some fun with it would be great motivation. Here are some of the highlights.

My car was kicked out of our garage last summer to make room for a few things and we decided it was time to clean up our act. The love seat you see moving around is up for an overhaul soon.

Our junk room 3rd bedroom was also home to lots of odds and ends, and we tackled that too.

And last but not least, our bedroom had more than a few corners we'd neglected to tidy up recently, so we worked on those as well.

Well, if nothing else, it was fun to see a few changes around the house this weekend. Saturday sure is a special day.

And we're back!

For those of you who don't know, we didn't have Internet at home for a few months of this year. We felt like it was taking away from family time and since Jared and I both had access at school it seemed redundant. Unfortunately, this meant the blog did not get updated and we basically fell off the face of the planet.

But today...all that changed. We are back. So email us - send us pictures - and comment to your heart's delight because we will now be able to see it all. And I'll be emailing all my friends who I've scandalously neglected.


In other news, I've recovered a couch. I know. My life is riveting. But I had a really good time. Our friends finished dental school and went off to be real people - leaving their well-loved couch behind. I felt it still had some life in it so I've recovered it. It was actually a sofa and love seat, and as of yet only the sofa has been recovered. I don't have a before picture of it, but the love seat is pictured to show what the sofa looked like before its face lift. My parents came and helped - well, they did most of it because I was very pregnant at the time. But I'm really happy with how it turned out.



Before:


After:

We made it! ...mostly

Yes this is our amazing gingerbread house. We literally slaved over this for a whole 3 minutes, but by the time Will knocked it down a few times before the icing could harden we realized the futility and just ate the candy instead. I think Will was a little upset there wasn't a decorated house in the box.

Our Christmas tree was much the same. I also spent literally minutes decorating our tree, and I'm not exaggerating when I say that there was a whopping half dozen ornaments. I won't make you jealous by showing you a picture, but I'm sure you can imagine it in all its glory.

So, we survived this semester for the most part, but only barely. All of our Christmas gifts got out late, you can basically consider this our Christmas card, and at this point we're just trying to catch our breath before school starts up again and church moves to nap time. Just another adventure!

On the bright side, this has been a wonderful year. Our two terrific boys are growing faster every day and we're all enjoying the Christmas season together with family. There's definitely something magical about spending Christmas with little kids again. Will got a little trampoline from Santa and Wes got some clothes. Ah well. We got video of Wes laughing for the first time - and - although we did not get it on video - I got an "I love you Mommy" for the first time from my toddler.

It's officially all worth it.

Last Sunday I became what I used to mock! (Such is life!) I dressed my boys in matching outfits for church. And I do not regret it in the least. They were adorable, and - miracle of miracles - well behaved. How could you not love these smiles?!

Brothers

Will is so cute with Wes. When Will is getting a little fussy, we ask him to help us take care of Wes, and immediately he grabs what we need to help the baby. We know this won't last forever, but we feel so lucky that Will is such a great big brother. (Man - that kid needs a haircut. Oh well. We are juggling a lot. Something's gotta give.)

New Addition

The new baby boy is here! Wesley Michael Roberts was born on October 5th and weighed in at 9 pounds 2 ounces. As much as we loved hearing “wow, that’s a big baby” from the hospital staff, we’re just glad that he’s here and that everyone is healthy. The hospital stay went well for everyone, and even got to go home a day early.

Wes has been a real joy. He has been sleeping and eating well since before he came home from the hospital, and that has made recovery much easier for his mother. We have enjoyed getting to know his personality, and so has William. He is already very happy to be around his little brother and has been very affectionate. He asks to hold the baby often, and comments whenever Wesley makes a noise or cries. I don't know how many times he's taken us by the hand over to his little brother and said "look--cute!" We're glad they're getting along, and we enjoy hearing William remind us that "it's a baby."

As for the delivery, it could probably be summed up in one word: wonderful. We checked into the hospital in the morning and went to maternity triage where Mikail waited calmly to be checked out while women nearby where struggling through contractions. Mikail was 3cm dilated when we arrived, and her doctor told her that she would probably have gone into labor that same day. The surgery went very well and before noon, Wesley was here. Everything went so smoothly. We felt calm and happy and when Jim and Marlaine brought Will to see us at the hospital, we felt a special kind of happiness seeing our family together for the first time. We are so lucky.

Back to the Grind

After sharing a full summer of hot humid days here in San Antonio, the inevitable end of summer came to the Roberts family. We had so much fun, but we are also grateful to see it coming to an end. Enduring a pregnancy in the middle of a record-breaking hot summer, and a toddler that can’t be outside for too long without overheating has been quite an experience.

Jared has started working in the clinic at school. I guess it was a little nerve-wracking at first because of all the things he had to remember, but now he has hit his stride and loves each new challenge. I try to be a supportive wife and listen to each story and each new experience, but something about my pregnant stomach makes me a little queasy when he gets to talkin’ clinical. I’ll leave it at that.

I start school again on Monday and I have mixed feelings. I’m excited to start my new classes, but I have been enjoying evenings home with Jared and Will. I’m also nervous about having a baby smack in the middle of the semester, but no matter how much I worry, it’s going to happen. It’s like being strapped in a roller coaster: knowing as you’re being pulled up that first hill that there is no turning back, and it’s scary, but its going to be awesome.

Update on the pregnancy for those who have asked: (everyone else can skip this)

I am 32 weeks along and doing fine. I’m the size of a house, but luckily, not as big this time as I was at this stage with Will. My due date is October 12, but there is a good chance I’ll be delivering before that (although with my school schedule, I’d be glad if the little guy wanted to chill for a little while.) Several people have asked about my expected delivery and here is the situation: I am going to see if nature takes it’s course. If labor is going well, then we will choose a VBAC. Last time I went into labor on my own, but I felt like my epidural (which was awesome, I was a big fan) slowed my labor and created complications. So as long as I’m making it ok without any pain meds, then we’ll go that route. If not, then we will opt for a c-section. I’m not sold on “VBAC or BUST” because there really is a medical risk that I will bust. So VBAC if possible just because I’m not going to opt for major abdominal surgery. But if things get even a little dicey, or if labor is not progressing as it should, I’m hoping to avoid the “17 hour labor + 3 hours pushing = c-section anyway” situation I had last time, by just opting for the c-section. I thought I might feel cheated because I might never have the “real” labor experience, but I’ve realized, as I’ve thought and prayed about it this pregnancy, that this is my real labor experience. And for me, that’s enough.

Will is the cutest most hilarious kid these days. When he talks (which is becoming more intelligible) he sounds like he is reading madlibs. His inflection is hilarious. He’s getting better about repeating what we say, so we know he’s learning, but we have to make a concerted effort not to laugh. He’s started to pretend (a lot) when he’s playing with his toys. For instance, last Sunday I could not do anything with Will that I did not also do with his Pooh Bear. So I made a bowl of cereal for Will and had to get some food for Pooh. Pooh also needed to get dressed for church and be strapped into the car. It’s so fun to watch him develop his personality and the things he likes and dislikes. He can successfully drink from a cup and manage utensils, loves cheerios, broccoli and pizza (but nothing else with cheese on it or that’s easy to cook…) He is healthy as always, and is looking like such a big boy these days. At his last doctor’s appt, his pediatrician said that he was “built like Schwarzenegger” and we can see why. At this point I’m pretty sure he has no real idea about the baby, although we try to tell him all the time. He just looks at us like we’re crazy or fooling him. Like “a baby? in your belly? whatever.”

Here are some pictures we had taken of William shortly after his second birthday by Brian Kuntz, a family friend and our wedding photographer. Enjoy!

Vacationing

It finally feels like summer. Mikail finished her summer finals and I passed my national board exam, so we were finally able to start a real summer vacation.

We spent most of last week in Austin relaxing by the pool. Will had a great time floating around and it was really nice to feel like we could let loose and relax without any deadlines to worry about. It felt like we basically lived in Mikail's parents' pool for three days.

Mikail was able to go see the play Wicked with her mom here in San Antonio last Saturday, and they had a wonderful time. They now join the massive sorority of Wicked lovers. Will and I joined the massive fraternity of guys who stayed home while the women they love went to Wicked.

And finally, as of Sunday we are out west visiting family for the last week of freedom before school starts up again at the dental school. William had fun on the plane and feeding/chasing geese at the park, and in the next few days we'll be hanging out with his new cousins and the rest of the Roberts clan. Here are some pictures from our vacation so far.

Finally, here's the baby update. For those who haven't heard the news, we're having another boy! Mikail and the baby are healthy and feeling well. We're now officially 26 weeks into this pregnancy and we are all very excited. Thank you all for your love and support. We'll have more updates posted soon.