Trust Me, I'm ALMOST a Doctor

dan has a t-shirt from med school that says this and people comment on it every time he wears it. it's weird that he only has a little more than a year of school left and that this time next year we will hopefully have matched with a dermatology residency program! dan has been working so hard for the last three years and i know he has learned so much and is going to be an outstanding doctor, but we have started getting a few calls from people wanting his medical opinion and it's so weird to me! he knows what he is talking about and i trust his opinion, but it's still weird!

yesterday, one of my friends from the ward called and her son had split open his chin playing volleyball and she wanted dan to come look at it. not unusual, except they had already been to the doctor to see if it needed stitches and she still wanted dan's opinion. her son has prom this weekend and he wanted to be able to go to the lake for their date. dan checked it out, gave his opinion, and it was no big deal. but it makes me proud that his hard work is paying off and that people respect his medical opinion, even if it is just a matter of stitches vs. butterfly bandage. i am so grateful for all the work he has put into school and i know both of us can't wait for it to be over! i love you dan and thank you for being such a wonderful husband and the best dad madison could possibly have. muah!!

My Little Girl

i sometimes feel like i don't have anything to blog about because super-exciting things don't happen to us very often. but i have a beautiful little rambunctious toddler who never stops moving and keeps us laughing everyday that i haven't written very much about! i thought i'd make a list of some of the things madison is doing right now.

1. she loves to read books! she sits next to the book shelf and pulls one off, skims through it, and if that’s the one she's looking for she will bring it to me to read together. sometimes we read the same book MANY times in a row before she's ready for the next one. it's great when dan gets home because madison is excited to take all her books to HIM to read. i love to watch her point and feel and talk and lift up flaps while she's reading them to herself.
2. she is starting to imitate animal sounds and it is so cute! she tries to inhale and snort like a pig like i do, instead of saying oink. she says, "a..a..a..a" trying to baaaaa like a sheep. her favorite are kitty's, and she is pretty close to saying meow, except it's like "beow..beow". and then the fish. she is a great fish. she puckers up her lips and opens and closes her mouth - it's hilarious.



3. madison likes to dip her food. i was eating chicken nuggets w/ sweet and sour sauce and madison wanted to dip her green beans in the sweet and sour sauce. she hated the taste and kept making faces, but she wanted to be just like me and dip her food into the sauce. she does it now with chips and salsa too. she doesn't care if her chip TOUCHES the salsa, but she makes sure she gets to dip the chip before she will take a bite.
4. she has started to laugh when everyone else does, even though she has no clue what’s going on. and it's a cute, fake, corny laugh that just makes me laugh even more.
5. she is becoming quite a climber. she has a Bumbo chair from when she was younger and she knows that when it's close to the couch, she can climb all the way up on the couch. thankfully we haven't had any spills yet and she is pretty good at going down backwards. i also caught her last week almost sitting on a kitchen chair. she had both feet on the bottom rung and had lifted her knee up to the seat when i stopped her.
6. madison LOVES cell phones!! if she sees one, she wants it. if we hide it, she knows it's still there and she looks for it. she opens them up, pushes buttons with a huge grin, and as soon as she hears it start to ring, she quickly hands it back long enough for us to stop the call and then give it back to her.



7. she loves her babies! she has two little baby dolls and she loves to carry them around the house, one in each arm. and their eyes open and close which fascinate her.
8. she would love to always be outside! madison loves the grass, the rocks, the dirt, airplanes that fly over us, and any little animal that she can see. i am sure all kids love to be outside but she gets so excited and starts pounding on the door when i say,"ok, let's go outside!" unfortunately az gets so darn hot i don't want to be anywhere near outside starting in may.



9. madison will eat ANYTHING! but she has to be able to eat it herself. she refuses to open her mouth if i try to feed her anything with a utensil. so we have started giving her a fork or spoon at mealtimes so she can learn to feed herself. not everything can be a finger food so hopefully she will pick up on silverware quickly!

10. she loves cat food! not to eat, but to play with. her favorite thing is to pick up cat food out of the dish, by the handful, and drop it into the water dish. of coarse this turns into a soggy mess that the cats want nothing to do with and we have to throw everything away and start all over. sometimes madison just throws the cat food all over the bathroom floor which i actually prefer - it sweeps up easily.

these are just a few of the things that first came to mind but madison keeps us busy and keeps us laughing every day. i can't believe how my life has changed since she became part of it. i feel a purpose and a responsibility that i never could have imagined. i love being her mom and am so glad we were blessed to receive in our family. she teaches me so much and i love her more than i can even try and explain!

Proud to be an American

ok, with Easter, my family coming into town and everything else going on it's been awhile since i have blogged about anything. and now it's going to be about my brother again, chris, the one who just got his mission call. he's an Air Force ROTC cadet at Utah State and hopes to eventually be a fighter pilot (he already has his private pilot's license!). my mom forwarded an article with this picture to me. (http://hjnews.townnews.com/articles/2008/04/09/news/news01.txt) i am so proud of him. this picture brought me to tears as i saw him standing there in his full uniform, honoring our troops. i am impressed with his willingness to work hard and commit to this country and for our freedom. i guess it just made me feel very patriotic. i love this country, what we stand for, and that we fight for it. i know America isn't perfect, but i know this is the promised land and i feel so proud to be an American. (i love that song too!!) chris, thank you once again for your example.