I'm a Mother

I've been a mom for two years now, but sometimes I still can't believe it. I can't believe my Father in Heaven has given Philip and I the responsibility to care for this little human being. What a responsibility, but what a blessing! Felix has been such a joy in our lives. Not only do we get to see him experience this world and explore everything his hands touch, eyes see and ears hear, but we as parents learn so much about ourselves in the process. There's been a lot of growing going on in this household and I'm not talking about Felix. 

Becoming a mother has given me more confidence in my abilities as a human being. There's something refining and uplifting about doing hard things and realizing your potential. I now know that I am capable of caring for a newborn/baby/toddler/little man even though the process is sometimes hard and there seems to be no end to the challenges that pop up. And I've also learned it's ok to fail sometimes, as long as you pick yourself up again and keep on going. Its the hardest job I've ever done, but the most rewarding overall. 

Before Mother's Day a friend asked if I wanted to come with her to the park to take pictures of our boys to send to their Grandmas. I jumped at the chance. I felt it was also a Mother's Day gift for me, since I don't have any nice pictures of Felix. These are especially awesome. His smile is to die for. 

Thanks Felix for making me a mama. I love you. 

A Trip to the Zoo with Grandma and Grandpa

While Clem and Rita were in town in early May Felix had his first trip to the zoo! I would say it was quite a success and it was even better to be there with "Papa" and "Nanny" (Grandma and Grandpa seem to be a bit hard for him to say right now). We drove down to the Toledo Zoo and had a great time!

Grandpa and Felix checking out the African animals

Grandpa and Felix particularly liked the Elephants

hippos

One of the big draws for Felix were the many benches throughout the zoo. He loves a good bench.

Apparently his Dad loves a good bench too!

One of the rare family pictures we have!

The Lion was hiding so I had to stand up on a rock to get this picture. I wish Felix had been able to see him.

The monkeys were so fun to watch. Its hard to tell, but that white monkey there has a baby monkey wrapped around her. The baby was climbing all over the netting and and exploring and seemed to get stuck at the top. The mommy monkey had to go rescue the baby. 

Another good bench

Once Felix saw the playground, there was no stopping him! He loves going down slides. 

There were four gorillas at the zoo, but ALL of them were sleeping when we were there. I wish we could have seen them walking around. 

Thanks Clem and Rita for taking us to the zoo! 

He did it!

Well, after two years of hard work, Phillip graduated with his MHSA (masters in health services administration)! I am so proud of him. He has worked so hard and has learned so much.

Clem and Rita came out to celebrate with us! They flew in Wednesday night and graduation was Thursday.

The School of Public Health held their graduation in the Hill Auditorium. It's a beautiful building and was perfect for the occasion.

This is Dr. Philbert, the dean of the school.

The first speaker was an MPH graduate in health behavior and health education, who was done with classes in December and then moved to Boston to start working for the Boston Public Health Commission. Her first assignment was in one of the first-aid tents at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. She spoke about her experiences witnessing the bombing and the casualties. It was a great speech. 

This was the graduation speaker, Thomas Goetz. He did a pretty good job. Spoke about how he got interested in public health. He's a writer and entrepreneur. He did a pretty good job

Now on to the most exciting part, Phil walking the stage! Unfortunately, I did not document this very well. All of my pictures were VERY blurry. Bad lighting. But here's what I got

 Phil chatting in line with his friends. He's the blurry one in the beard.

Receiving his alumni pin. They didn't hand out diplomas, or diploma folders like BYU, just the pin.  

Here's a better picture in his grad garb. No hat because his was a bit small and didn't like wearing it. This is Garrett Bean, another LDS guy in Phil's program. He and his wife Ashley lived in the other Ann Arbor ward, but we still got together with them quite a bit. We love them and are going to miss them terribly. They just moved this week to Colorado!

Here's the four of us, plus baby Henry in the stroller. We love the beans and we're so grateful for their friendship. 

And here's the pants-less wonder...here's the story:

We knew graduation day was going to be a hard one for Felix. Graduation started at 3pm, with a department reception before from 12-2. So we knew Felix would have a hard time with skipping his nap. He was pretty good at the reception as long as he could walk around and someone followed him. Then we had to walk over to the auditorium to get our seats. When we got there Felix threw a huge tantrum. Screaming and yelling. All very embarrassing for me. I finally just gave up and let him walk around and climb the stairs. When the speeches began, grandpa offered to let me go in and enjoy the graduation ceremonies and he would follow Felix around. I was so grateful for Clem! What a great grandpa. After Phil walked the stage, I went out to find them. When I did, Clem told me Felix had just had a blowout. And instead of coming to get me and the diaper bag, he decided to tackle it himself! He offered a lady $10 for a diaper, but she just gave it to him free of charge (though it was a few sizes too small). He changed his diaper and then washed his pants in the sink and put them back on him. Oh man was that kid smelly when I got him! Poor Clem! I took Felix in the bathroom, changed his diaper into one that fit him and put his pants, shoes and socks in a plastic bag. When we went to go meet Daddy, Felix looked like this. I still feel so awful for Clem, who I'm sure hasn't changed a diaper since Phil was little! Felix hasn't had a blowout since he was a newborn, so of all the days to have one he choose this one. Needless to say, we didn't take many pictures afterward because we wanted to get him in the tub. 

It was a very memorable day! 

This will not be our last graduation! Phil has decided that 3 degrees is better than 2 and he's starting a PhD program here in the fall. We're really excited to stay here in Ann Arbor!

Felix Turned 2!!!

I can't believe I have a 2 year old. The past 2 years have gone by so quickly!

We took Felix in for his 2 year check-up and he's huge! 99th percentile for height (38") and 84th percentile for weight (can't remember the exact number).

As you can see he's kind of a lean kid. His six pack is stellar! But he's very healthy and making good progress development-wise. His doctor usually puts 2 year olds on skim milk, but she says whole milk for Felix for another year wouldn't hurt since he's obviously growing so quickly.

The past month has been hard for me as a mother as Felix has transitioned into being 2. I think it's because he's changing so much and is becoming more of a toddler and I need to catch up and figure out how to mother a toddler. So needless to say, we're working on it and I'm working on not getting so stressed about it. But I've been told by multiple people that it's just a phase and things will get better.

Other than that, Felix is a joy. He's very loving and will come up while I'm in the kitchen and just hug my legs. It's the best. He talks a lot and knows his colors (yellow, red, blue, purple, pink, white, black, brown, green) we're working on the hard ones to say like orange and the weird ones to recognize like gray, but he's very good at pointing out colors. He has a hard time saying his f's...he calls himself Peepee. (He does that a lot with words, taking the first syllable and repeating it, but in this case he's replacing the F with the P...its quite funny when he let's us know in the third person that he has a dirty diaper!) He's very much into cars, books, trains, and any kind of animal these days. Almost every morning and after nap time he will just grab a stack of books and plop down on the floor and flip through books for a half hour. Whenever he plays with trains or cars, he always organizes them and lines them up in rows. He definitely doesn't get that tendency from me! Felix loves to run around and kick balls and is always much happier when we get to play outside.

Our neighbor's (2 doors down) have a boy Felix's age. Bevan is just a week older than Felix, so we decided to do a low-key joint birthday party with their little friends a week before Felix's birthday. A few doors down there's an apartment the student housing departments keeps empty for community activities  so we used that and let the kids run around and play with balloons.

Megan (Bevan's Mom) taking Felix's picture

Part of the gang

Cupcakes made by your's truly!

Felix was not a fan of the cupcakes, but chowed down on fruit!

He looks kind of grumpy in this one...

Felix received some new hot wheels and immediately started organizing them!

Felix's actual birthday was on a Sunday, so it was pretty low key. After dinner, we had cupcakes and opened presents. 

He enjoyed this cupcake a lot more than the other one, but still only had about 4 bites. 

A sweet Red Sox shirt from his Singer cousins!

Here he is with all his loot. He literally stayed in this position for a half hour while he inspected all of his new toys. Phil and I bought him a train and gave him the white truck, which has been in our basement for a few years. And then Phil found the animals and cars at a yard sale for $1. 

The most exciting present was his tricycle! Grandma (who Felix now refers to as "Nanny") and Grandpa Singer sent Felix this and he loves it. He doesn't know how to use the peddles, but he does pretty well just scooting around. It's the perfect gift for this summer! Thanks Rita and Clem!

 sugar/toy overload! 

WE LOVE YOU FELIX!!!!!!