Our recent adventures: Graduation

Once we returned to Lubbock from Virginia, we quickly packed up the rest of our house. We had slowly been packing over the last two months so that the task was a little less overwhelming. We barely squeezed all our belongings into the 28 foot UHaul, with the help of a local moving company. We could not have done it without them. Paul said, "I can't play Tetris like these guys - they are good!" Just a few hours after we loaded the truck, Paul took off for Dallas where he picked up his dad, and they headed north on the 20-hour drive to Wisconsin. In the meantime the kids and I hung out at our empty house. With only 10 toys to play with, and no furniture except our camping chairs and air mattresses, we tried to get out of the house every day for a bit, spending lots of time at the park and with our friends.

Lots of my friends have had babies recently...Here's Easton at 6 weeks, Niels at three months, and Tanner at 4 weeks. Yup, Niels looks like a monster in comparison.

Anna LOVED her camp chair. She even insisted on napping in it.

Of course the girls enjoyed playing everywhere that they usually weren't allowed.

After unloading our belongs in Milwaukee, Paul and his dad flew back to Texas just in time to attend his hooding ceremony on Saturday. This picture is just after he received his hood - the fabric that is draped around his neck and hanging down his back.

Three generations of Iversons

The girls were really excited for Dad, besides the fact that the ceremony lasted 2 hours. They keep calling him Daddy Doctor. And I can now officially refer them to him any time they whine and complain about something hurting them. I let him deal with all those complaints.

The kids all wanted a turn with Paul's graduation cap

Sunday was the commencement ceremony for the entire Health Sciences Center. So after watching Paul receive his diploma, we watched hundreds of nurses, pharmacists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, etc also receive their degrees. After 3+ hours, we were very glad we had taken the girls to friends house for the afternoon.

Gratefully Niels behaved quite well

On a totally different note, we have always driven past this church in Lubbock and were always amused by their sign. We are still trying to determine what church without religion would be like.

Then of course it was time to leave Lubbock. My friend Cassie threw a goodbye party for us, complete with lots of Blue Bell Ice Cream. I loved Lubbock so much - not because of the wind or the dust or the less-than-beautiful landscape - but I found so many friends there. I was always overwhelmed by people's willingness to love and accept everyone, to welcome each other into their circle of friends. I have never lived in such a friendly place. I was blessed to serve in a wonderful Young Women's presidency for the last two years, making even more friendships and being blessed in so many ways. I am so glad that Lubbock was our home for the last four years and I will truly miss being a Texan.

Me with Tammie Stoker

Sad but true

Our house is officially on the market today. We've loved our first home. It has been the perfect place for us, with so many things that we love. Although I am thrilled to be done with school and starting another adventure, Lubbock has been our home and we have loved it here. I have such an amazing group of friends. Living away from my family, I have felt a greater need for friendships than I have before. Lubbock has given me so many friendships over the years, some who left after our first or second year here. But they have all been such an important part of my life and my children's lives. 

Now it's a countdown to tomorrow at 11:00...

Around the house

Niels is a month old...it's hard to believe. Since we haven't been out much with a new baby in the house, we've got a lot of random and cute photos from the last month.

 He loves to sleep on his tummy, especially on Paul, but we still make him sleep on his back.

This was the girls' Valentine's Day lunch. My mom thought of all sorts of food we could cut into heart shapes. They loved it and now always want tortillas cut into shapes. My mom also spent all of Valentine's Day, and quite a few of the following days, cutting out hearts for the numerous Valentine's Hattie wanted to make for her friends.

 We got out our St. Patrick's Day decor the other day and the girls loved it.

 He's a crazy little baby, proving to be more work than the girls were. He's a good eater, but he's just not very content...even with a full tummy, clean diaper, and freshly awake from a nap he'll often cry and want to be held/bounced/pacified. But he is ridiculously cute and we are quickly adapting to be a family of 5.

Here's a picture from Paul's phone that I didn't have earlier when posting about his birth. This was taken in the OR just minutes after he was born.

We've also had to get used to not having my mom's help. During her 2 weeks in town, (in addition to cleaning, cooking, shopping, washing, etc) she cured Hattie of waking me up every night in the middle of the night, as well as curing both girls of their TV addiction. Sure, they still  like to watch shows, but now it's not the first thing they ask for in the morning, and constantly throughout the day. We've gone many days without turning it on at all. My home is so much more peaceful, even with a 3rd, crying child. I was blessed with such an amazing, talented mother. She understands children and has so much patience with them. Every time I am with her I learn so much and come away with so many ideas of how I can be a better mother. Thank you again, Mom, for everything you have taught me and done for me.

Random Lubbock Weather

Lubbock's weather is remarkably sporadic. Last Monday we went to the park...in shorts.
Then this morning, we woke up to the first snow. Hardly anything, I know, but the girls were anxious to go play.

Of course we have no real snow clothes, so they are bundled up in multiple layers of pants, socks, and shirts. Poor little Anna struggled to walk with so much on! And of course the snow is gone now. Maybe we'll hit the park again tomorrow - you never know!

Lesson in humility

Yesterday morning, despite having bad head cold, I ventured out with the girls to sign Hattie up for a soccer class. Being low on gas, I stopped at our corner gas station to fill up. I left the radio on for the girls while it filled up. When I got back in the car, it wouldn't start. Nor was I able to get my key out. I had power, for the heater, radio, etc, but the engine wouldn't turn over. I vaguely remembered having something like this happen before, but I couldn't remember what I had done to fix it. I called my neighbor Cassie to see if she had suggestions. After looking through the owners manual, I called the Toyota dealer. They gave me some suggestions, none of which worked. By now the girls were freezing in the backseat. The dealer suggested I get a jump, then come into the service department. I saw a policeman and asked for a jump, but apparently they can't because of all the electronics in their car. Whatever. So I called Cassie again and waited for her to rescue us. Now Anna was whining and Hattie wouldn't stop talking about getting signed up for soccer. Cassie arrived, we set the van up for a jump, but it didn't work. I was annoyed, flabbergasted, and freezing. I'm not super car savvy but I know how to jump start a car. Just as Cassie and I were getting out of the car to check the cables for a third time, a man walked up and asked if we needed help. I quickly explained how the car wouldn't start and that I couldn't even take the key out. He quickly took a look and in seconds fixed the problem. He put the van into park.

I couldn't have felt more stupid! I sheepishly thanked him, not believing I had overlooked something so simple. He walked away, silently laughing at me I think. So now I have been humbled a bit...just because I know how to jump a car doesn't necessarily mean I know how to operate one :)

November

Right before Halloween I took on a task of motherhood that I had been dreading: potty training. I had put it off as long as possible. Most of her friends were potty trained and I still didn't feel like my little girl was ready. Then one day, she suddenly hated having a wet diaper on. She would lay down on the ground holding a clean diaper while yelling, "PEED!!!" at the top of her lungs. I guess I could finally take the hint that she was ready.

Gratefully, I have 5 older siblings, all with a lot more parenting experience than I. Sharee introduced us all to a method called "Potty Training in Less Than a Day," which Laura used last year to potty-trained her twins. Like her, I am a total believer. I love how Hattie instigates going to the bathroom...I don't have to ask her every 10 minutes if she has to use the potty, nor did I waste hours with her sitting on the toilet trying to force her to go when she didn't need to. It really only took a day for it to click. It was such a breeze (at least in comparison to what I expected - months of dealing with accidents). On the contrary, she had accidents randomly for about two weeks, and has now gone about two weeks accident free. Well, I guess she did have an accident the other day, but it was our fault - she was in time-out and we told her she couldn't leave her room...at least she was obedient!

The girls have been fun this month, besides battling a little sickness. At least they are snuggly when sick.
(For some reason this picture rotated and i can't get it to turn back, so just angle your head a bit) Anna only gets chubbier...around the belly. I pulled out the 18-24 month clothes (she's 16 months) and put this shirt on. See that I can't button the buttons by about 3 inches? And I thought Hattie had a belly...this shirt was loose on her!
They love the box that our turkey fryer came in (never baking a turkey again!)
And they love it when I grind wheat...I think they think it's a mini sand box.

We also got family pictures taken, but I'll post those tomorrow...

Night call

Last week Paul was assigned to night call. This meant that during the day he was home, and any time after 4:30 pm until 7:30 am they could call him if there were any new admits into the psychiatry department (Psych is his current rotation). Most nights were okay...he was typically called around 5:00 pm and was home by 8:00. So it was a great schedule for a few days, working about 3 hours a day (there was one night he was gone til 3:00 am...lame). Having him home all day was like Saturday everyday. We tried to keep busy. Sadly, Lubbock is not the most exciting place on the planet, so we struggled to find fun stuff to do, but we did visit Apple Country in Idalou, Texas. I was excited because Fuji apples were ripe that week. I am somewhat of an apple snob...I don't really like anything but Fujis. So we went picking.

Gratefully they were dwarf trees, so Hattie could enjoy it too. They let you eat as many apples as you wanted while you picked...yummy.

We picked about 12 pounds total. I eat about 3 of them a day. We need to go back!
Here we were trying to find an Arkansas Black, which we were told were also ready for picking, but it turned out to be a Red Delicious...not so delicious in my book.

Now night call is over, Paul is finishing up his last 2 weeks in psychiatry, I'm getting used to having the girls alone all day again, and gratefully he is done by 2:00 a few times a week. I'm not really looking forward to the end of psych...the schedule has been pretty nice!

Random happenings

Here's just some random things we've been doing/capturing on camera lately:
Hattie LOVES it when people come over. Every morning she asks if Brooklyn, Juliet, Grandma, Jonas and Anson, Callie, etc are coming over. So when the answer is actually "Yes" she gets overly excited and positions herself in front of the door to wait. She is a little socialite.
We went to the mall, and Paul actually put quarters in the machine. I was hoping Hattie would live in ignorance about what those toys were really for. The girls loved it, but now Hattie always asks if I have a quarter when we pass.

Boxes, a child's favorite toy

18 de septiembre! Chile's independence day, so my buddy Kristina came over to make yummy empanadas.

And this is my personal favorite. We have had a few awesome thunderstorms recently, turning our back porch into a mini swimming pool. Anna toyed with the idea of going into the water with Hattie for about 20 minutes, then finally fell in. She was not happy.

Recent fun times

I am still working on a post about my visit to Iowa, but in the meantime, here's what we've been up to:

Visits to the Science Spectrum with Callie and Reese (we'll sure miss you when you are gone!). Hattie loves this place, especially when there are not a lot of kids there. She loves being with friends but when too many people are around she kind of panics. Hum...she sounds like her dad.

Crafts. I went to Hobby Lobby the other day and kind of went crazy. I came home with this flower mirror, 3 picture frames, and 3 flower pegs, all of unfinished wood. I have big plans to paint/stain them all and add them to the girls room. Why the sudden urge to decorate the girls' room and get crafty? Well we recently bought a toddler bed for Hattie from Julie when she moved, so we put it in the same room as the crib (where Hattie had been sleeping...Anna is in the Pack and Play). Now that the beds are in the same room, we have moved all the toys to the spare room and have dubbed it the playroom (which has actually helped Hattie play there more, I think because it has a better name:). With all the rearranging the walls looked really bare, so my trip to Hobby Lobby inspired me...it's been a lot of fun. Hopefully I can get it put together soon.

Side story: The first night in her new bed I was terrified that Hattie would be in our room by midnight and wouldn't go back. But she was perfect. She never even made a peep. But the next day I asked her if she wanted to sleep in her big bed, and she refused. Every day I ask her if she wants to sleep in her bed and she always picks the crib...weird girl! You would think she would jump at the chance to be able to get out of bed by herself. I never would have guessed she liked her crib so much.

Baking...well, this is pretty normal for me, but I really do love making my own bread. My recipe is great, thank you Laura. And thanks Erika for the fun loaf pans.

Trips to Sheridans. I must admit that we have been addicted lately. Their frozen custard is delicious and it's close to home, so it makes a great study break for Paul (besides Church, Paul didn't leave the house all week except to go to Sheridans). Hattie likes to dance on the cow and relishes in the attention she gets from other customers.

Eating bananas. Anna has finally mastered self-feeding. She loves mealtime now, especially when bananas are on the menu.

Photo shoot! Thanks Kristina! More to come...

Paul is studying for Step 1, possibly the most important test of his life. We have moved a table into our closet and he spends about 12 hours a day in there. It's nice having him home, so that I can run errands during nap times, or chat with him during lunch and dinner breaks. But we are anxious for when the stress is over and we get past this milestone.