Life as of late. . .

I often wonder why I even have a blog because I never, ever update it and most of the time feel guilty about not updating it and have people ask me why I am not updating it and then wonder what I would even update anyway. . .but, there is definitely reason to update, because we do have some exciting news. . .Roland matched with a residency program in Indiana. . .Muncie to be exact (and no, it is not the town from the musical "Music Man". . . that is actually Gary, Indiana, which isn't too far away from Muncie and probably about the same size). That being said, we are so thrilled to be going there. . .it was our first choice and we've been out there several times and have absolutely loved it. Here is Roland on Match Day with the lucky envelope that is about to tell us where we will be spending the next three years of our lives. HOORAY!


In other news, life is great. . .we spent the month of March doing a rotation in Idaho Falls and living with my parents (which some may think would be a nightmare, but if you knew my parents, you would know it was wonderful and we had a fabulous month being there with family). William is 17 months old now and is hilarious. He loves life and smiles and laughs all the time. He has the funniest personality ever and we love watching him grow into a little boy. Here are some pics:

William is a multitasker to be sure. . .he doesn't want to take the time to put down his spoon, so he just tries to grab his sippy cup with his teeth. Needless to say he had to use his hands.

He loves his Grandpa Batt. . .he got William and all the grandsons matching hats to wear and they love to wear them all around the house.

He continues to love trucks and cars and makes the cutest truck sound ever (except when you are in church and he does it really loud and everyone turns around to look at you. . .not so cute then). But if he sees a car or truck in a book, on the street, while he's playing, he starts making his car sound.

Being the good mom that I am, I gave him chocolate pudding and graham crackers for a snack the other day. . .as you can tell, he definitely liked it.

While we were in Idaho, he loved going outside and playing in the yard (I can't wait to have a yard of our own). He grabs his shoes and goes and stands by the door and looks longingly outside till we take him out. . .it's pretty cute.

His hair is insane. . .it only grows in a patch right on top of his head, so sometimes we spike it and it is seriously a couple of inches tall.

Sitting on the bed with some of his cousins in Idaho.

He absolutely LOVES brooms, so my mom bought him one while we were in Idaho. He carried it around and swept to his heart's delight. It's even more fun with Grandpa.

William loves taking things out of the fridge. . .enough said.

My dad made him a little wooden corral that he loves to pen himself up in with his animals.

Getting ready to go outside in the snow (in March. . .who else is ready for spring?)

Well, I can't promise when the next blog will be. It could be tomorrow or it could be when William is 21 years old. . .you never know. . .we like to keep people guessing!

We are here. . .we are here. . .we are here!

(I just watched Horton Hears a Who and thought this would be a fitting title for this WAY overdue post!)

Well, it's true, we are still alive and well, we have just been out of the blogging scene for quite some time. But we have a good excuse. . .we have been having tons of fun traveling across the country on a great adventure. . .and honestly, I just didn't want to blog. So here is a little update on us and I"ll post some catch up pics later (hopefully).

William is 11 months old and is about the funnest kid ever. He loves to laugh (and does so all day long) and loves just about everything else! He walks all around the furniture, but hasn't taken that first step yet (but we are not in any hurry for that), he loves to talk to himself and to us, but so far the only words we can understand are mommy, daddy, dog, and bottle. He loves toothbrushes, footballs, dogs, picks (like the hair kind. . .weird, I know), trains, and throwing anything he can get his hands on (which is cute unless it is during dinner time).

Roland is in his fourth year of medical school (hooray) and we are starting the interview process for residencies. This year has been great so far because we get to see so much more of him and he doesn't have to take any more tests (double hooray!). I am staying home with William and loving going on walks and playing with friends and doing projects (when I can). Overall, life is great!

Here are a few pics:
William LOVES riding on the fourwheeler with Grandpa Batt!

With cousin Grant in Idaho. . .his cousins LOVE him and are so nice to him!

Cousin James playing soccer. . .it was a great game and as James would say, "we were the champions" or, in the spirit of true sportsmanship. . ."good game, I win"!

William intently watching the soccer game!

This is how I found William one morning after he was supposed to be taking his morning nap. . .he had been "napping" for about 45 minutes when I went to check on him and found this. . .what a turkey!

I left him for two seconds to throw away his dirty diaper and came back to find he had pulled out all the wet wipes from the box. . .he loves being mischievous and I found him yesterday pulling everything out of the garbage. . .only minutes after I found him playing by the toilet. . .only seconds after he rolled over during a diaper change and got some icky stuff on the floor. . .I LOVE THIS KID!!!

What's so funny???

I know I'm pretty biased, but I just have to say this is one of the cutest videos ever. We were at my in-laws house and William's cousin, Asher was inadvertently making William laugh. . .it's pretty funny. I'll try to post more later, but I thought this was worth seeing!

BACK TO WORK. . .BACK TO REALITY!

WHAT A DRAG!!!!

Well, it's true, I had to go back to work. My school district was great to me while I was on bedrest. . .they even continued to pay us (I was kind of on disability leave) and provide insurance for us. . .so. . . .I have to finish off the school year. I have been working for about six weeks now (full time) and I just have to say that I have a new found appreciation for working moms. . .I don't know how they do it! William doesn't have dentist appointments or school plays, or ball games, or anything--and it still seems pretty hectic working full time and being a mom. But luckily, he gets to be watched by both grandmas and his dad, so it really doesn't get much better than that. . .and I only have to work until June 10th, so it is very doable (if that is even a word).

I must say being back at work is quite the shock to my system, since I haven't worked since last June! For those of you who don't know, I'm a speech therapist. . .this year I am working a couple of days in the preschool for children with disabilities adn then with grades k-6 in another school with kids with various disabilities (i.e. autism, down syndrome, etc.) It has been crazy getting back into the swing of things, but things have gone pretty well so far, the kids are cute and everyone is cutting me slack and so it is working out just fine. And, even though I would much rather be with William, the kids at school definitely keep me entertained. . .Here's a list of some of the funny things that have happened thus far this year. . .

1. On my first week back I had a little boy run away from me and hide in the boy's bathroom. . .I had to make sure no one else was in there and go in and get him out of the stall. . .he thought it was pretty funny. . .me, not so much (I need to work on my discipline skills)

2. That same day that same little boy was in my office and I turned my back for one second and turned around to find him triumphantly standing on top of the table. . .I was not in the mood to play king of the mountain/hill/table so I made him get down and go back to class. Since then he has run away from me several times and I have had to physical pull him out from underneath my table pretty much every session. . .and he's not a small kid by any means!!! That being said, he is probably one of my favorite students!

3. One of the kindergartners I work with was using her /k/ sound in conversation and decided to tell me all about serial killers. . .interesting topic for a 5 year old. . .but at least we got a bunch of good /k/ sounds!

4. My little first grader told me all about how he chased 'real' girls (not fake ones) on the playground. . .and he even caught a few (does that bring back any gradeschool memories. . .I wonder if he ever pointed his milk carton at any of them)

5. While walking down the hall, one of the boys I was working with pointed to a picture of Yoda (from Star Wars) and said. . ."Look Kim, it's you!" (What a self esteem boost!)

6. That same boy asked me this week if he could fix my hair. . .what does that say about a person when a little boy sees the need to fix your hair. . .maybe I should wake up earlier and put in a little more effort

7. The other day one of the little girls in preschool informed another little girl that she needed to share. . .she said "You need to share because God says so". I've decided to use that line with William whenever we want him to do anything. . ."you need to brush your teeth because God says so", "you need to make your bed because God says so". . .I love these great parenting ideas I get from these 4 year olds!

8. While getting a kindergartner from his class last week, he looked in the other kindergartner class and said to me: "I wish I was in that class". When I asked him why he said. . ."Because I hate this ABC stuff!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that switching classes probably wouldn't fix his problem!

Well, in other news, William is doing great. . .he is now 5 months old and cute as ever. He is rolling over now (although he still doesn't love being on his stomach) and he laughs and smiles all the time. Roland just finished a rotation and has the next six weeks off so he will be Mr. Mom during that time, while I work. . .William is a lucky little boy. . .they are going to have a great time!

Here are some pics:

Roland got an ant farm for Christmas (his favorite present by far!) and here he is showing William all the tunnels the ants are making (I don't know if William was as into it as his dad!)

Ready for his first walk OUTSIDE!!! He is obviously pretty excited!

Taking a bath in his whale tub! He loves the bathtub!

MR. SMILEY PANTS!!! (Look how big he is in his car seat now!)

A trip to the park with mom and dad. . .he slept through the whole thing!

Yes, he still has red hair. . .

He is now trying to shove both his hands into his mouth. . .he gets pretty close. . .he has a big mouth!

How To Get a Job in An Economic Crisis

My brother Mike sent this to me and I thought I would share it. . .it's pretty funny!

Mr. Chunk

Allright. . .I guess calling William Mr. Chunk is a slight overexaggeration, but the kid weighs in now at 11 pounds 11.5 ounces, and since he started out at 4 pounds 2 ounces, to us, he is MASSIVE (and very, very cute). Just as un update, things are going super well. William is doing great. . .he's still confined to the house and we still are super careful as far as having him around other people, but he's just doing great!!! I will have to say that I'm a little concerned that he might be developing a kind of Pavlovian (is that even a word?) response to hand sanitizer. . .the reason being that we never pick him up or touch him without sanitizing our hands first, so we have about 6-7 bottles of sanitizer placed throughout the house and I get the feeling that now when he smells the sanitizer or senses that we are putting it on our hands he starts getting pretty happy because he knows he's going to be picked up. . .he can be crying and screaming and the second he smells the sanitizer he starts to calm down. . .I hope this doesn't have any long lasting effects. . .but, oh well, what can you do.

He was lucky enough to qualify for these RSV shots that high risk kids get once a month. . .they cost about $3500 a shot, but since we've pretty much already reached our out of pocket maximum for our insurance, they're free!!!! Isn't it funny how that works. . .you pay a ton load of money to the insurance company, hospital, doctor, etc. and once you've reached a certain amount ever thing else is "paid for". You forget that you've already paid into insurance your whole life (which amonts to alot of money if you think about it) and that you will continue to pay into it for the rest of your life (again, alot of money) but for this one year, everything is "free". It kind of plays with your mind. . .it's like when we were in the NICU, and one day they gave me this diaper bag with formula and wipes and a bunch of other stuff in it. I asked if I needed to pay them for it and they just laughed and said that no one had ever asked them that before and that I could just have it. I started thanking them profusely, but then on the way home I realized that really, that wasn't a free diaper bag, it was just a mere token of appreciation for us (and mostly the insurance company) having paid the NICU and hospital $30,000. . .I think that's why the nurses were kind of laughing at me. Anyway, that being said, I have told Roland that if he is going to have to need any kind of major surgery or anything like that, that now is the time to do it. . .because it's FREE!!! I wonder if they take out appendices or other miscellaneous, extra body parts even if they aren't rupturing. . .it sure would save us money in the long run! But really. we are grateful to have insurance!

In other news, we blessed William on February 1, 2008. It was wonderful and so good to see all of our family at the blessing. We took him in, blessed him, and kept him covered the whole time, but it definitely was the most people he's been around ever and I think it took him by surprise that more people than just mom, dad, and the grandparents exist. . .poor kid! But it was a beautiful day and we are just so grateful that he's doing so well!

Well, I think I've written enough. . .most people don't read the blog anyway. . .they just look at pictures, so I've included a bunch. . .ENJOY!

Oh, and just in case you were wondering. . .yes, his hair is still red. . and his eyes are looking like they might be blue. . .go figure!

This is the William look. . .he seriously always has this half grin, content look on his face. . .he's a great baby!

Enjoying some time on his tummy!

Look at that double chin--he loves sleeping and is actually sleeping through the night now--hooray!

William and mom

On his blessing day

He smiles all the time now. . .it's the best!

"What the heck do you have me in?"

William and his Christmas stocking

Our Little Miracle

Miracles come in all shapes and sizes and ours happened to weigh in at 4 lbs 2 oz (and 17 inches long). We were blessed with a beautiful baby boy- William Roland James - born on November 11, 2008. William was delivered after I developed toxemia and the doctor felt it was in the best interest of both of us to go ahead and perform a C-section. William spent 11 days in the NICU because he was premature and very small. We had known beforehand that he would be in the NICU, but I don't think, no matter how prepared we thought we were, that we were ready to see our little baby hooked up to monitors and machines. We were so blessed, however, to have good nurses taking care of our baby and explaining to us what every thing was for and what it all meant. While in the NICU, William was in an isolette to keep him warm enough, he had to be under phototherapy lights for jaundice, he had an IV in his head (this was probably my least favorite thing), and a feeding tube going down his nose into his stomach. He was hooked up to lots of monitors to measure just about everything it seemed like! We were able to hold him 2 times a day for thirty minutes at a time. The rest of the time he had to be in the isolette in order to keep him warm enough. It was hard not to be able to hold him longer and be with him, but we are grateful for modern medicine that made it possible for him to be okay.

We saw blessing after blessing while William was there and after a mere 11 days (we thought it would be much longer) he got to come home. There is a certain moment when you are overcome with complete panic when the doctor tells you that you get to take home your 4 lb. 9 oz baby. I remember thinking "NO WAY. . .you can't send me home with such a tiny baby. . .I think he needs to stay here until he is a LEAST 7 lbs!" But really, it was wonderful to bring him home so soon and it only took me about 2-3 weeks before I could actually sleep without waking up every 5 minutes to see if he was okay!

William is now between 8-9 lbs (we find out tomorrow how much he weighs, so that is just our guess) and doing great! He eats well and is healthy and strong and is such a wonderful little baby! One of the most interesting things about William is that he has red hair. . .now, that may not seem all too weird to most of you, but when you take into account that Roland is half Japanese and I don't have red hair, then you might start to wonder. The first time the nurse pointed out his red hair I admit I thought to myself "Well, they have made a mistake, this can't possibly be our baby because our baby can't possibly have red hair!" But, Roland and I are finally getting used to our little Red Headed Asian Baby!!!

We are just so grateful to have William here with us. There were so many complications surrounding this pregnancy and yet each time after the doctors found something else that could possibly go wrong or had gone wrong, we immediately saw blessings and felt at peace knowing that everything would turn out the way it was supposed to. We are also grateful for all the wonderful family and friends who visited while I was on bedrest and who constantly prayed for our little baby. . .he is definitely the product of alot of people's prayers and love! We love being parents and are excited for the years to come, although we already think he is growing up too fast! Here are some fun pics of William's first weeks of life!


William all snug and cozy in his little isolette

Hangin' out with dad an hour or two after he was born

Roland right before the C-section

We got to hold him twice a day for 30 minutes at a time.

He slept alot at the beginning!

Holding on to Roland's finger. . .isn't he so cute (and small!)

Sleeping peacefully in his little isolette

Not too excited about eating. . .we decided we could call him

"One-Eyed Willy" (from the Goonies)

Looking pretty cool with his shades, made especially

for being under the phototherapy lights!

Eating with Dad

He had to have a feeding tube for a couple of days

to make sure he was getting enough nourishment. . .

He probably would have had it longer, but he pulled it out. . .

he definitely has a mind of his own!

Alot of stuff for such a little baby!

Gaining his first 1.1 oz. . .he was up to 4 lbs 3 oz. . .

it was a very exciting day!!!

Burping a 4 lb baby is a little scary!

"Get me out of here already!!!!"

His first clothes drowned him. . .and they were even preemie!

The bottle was so big compared to him!

After 11 days in the NICU, he got to come home!
He only weighed 4 lbs. 9 oz

He looked so tiny in his car seat!

Grandma and Grandpa James

Hmmmm. . . .

Grandpa Batt

Look at the red hair. . .where did that come from???

Grandma Batt stayed with us for a WHOLE MONTH!!!

It was great!!!

First bath at home