Jade

Jade is almost 10 months old and on the move.  She is constantly moving and wanting to be with the big kids.  She just started going up the stairs, which scares me to death because they aren't carpeted.  I wish she would just stay put!

Words truly can't describe how chill Jade is.  That girl seriously hardly ever cries.  She is a GREAT sleeper.  Sleeps 12 hours at night and takes good naps despite a skiwampus nap schedule.  At this age, I was so good about letting Reese have her morning and afternoon naps.  Since I have a toddler who naps and Jade who naps, we would be napping all day long with no time to get out and do anything!  So Jade has gotten used to sleeping on the go, as well as pushing back her morning nap so we can do fun things.  I am grateful she is so good about it.

She is so quick to smile when someone looks at her.  She has sort of sheepish shy smile and turns her head as she does the cutest grin. 

There are two things people almost always comment on when they look at Jade.  First is her tan skin!  She has the most beautiful dark skin!  I have had random people ask me if I purposely put her out in the sun. Of course not!  I hope it stays this way.  Because her skin is so dark compared to Reese's we had her tested for Addison's disease just to make sure nothing was going on.  Since there is a family history of it we felt better safe than sorry.  Her labs came back normal, but they are going to do one more test next week to see how her adrenal glands react.  Hopefully her beautiful skin is not a result of a disease!

The other thing people say all the time is that Jade looks like a baby doll.  It's sort of a weird, strange thing to say but random strangers at the grocery store say it all the time.  Something about her facial features look just like a baby doll!

Jade's hernia is as big as ever. It sort of alarms people when they don't know what it is.  It has a bluish color and hangs over funny.  It doesn't bother her at all but it's just kind of ugly.

Whenever we go outside to play it's only a matter of time before our neighbor Julio comes out to hold Jade.  Julio is a 12 year old deaf boy and so so sweet to my girls.  He loves on Jade SOO much. 

Jade sucks on her two middle fingers to it looks like she is always giving us the I Love You sign.  Neither of my girls have taken a binky, but they love their thumbs.

One of the funniest things Jade does is roll her tongue.  She is doing it CONSTANTLY.  She is way good at it and does different pitches.  She sometimes sounds like a velociraptor.  She also likes to yell and be really loud, particularly during church.

I am so glad this little girl brightens up our home.  She couldn't be a better baby!

Reese

I tend to write the fun activities that are going on and the bigger events that are happening in our lives, but so many of the small simple things are what I want to remember when I am 80 years old.  Here are some of the day to day things that Reese has done that I absolutely love about her (and a few 2 year old things that drive me nuts).

Reese for a very long time LOVED her naps.  When she started to get tired or grumpy she would immediately turn to me and ask for a nap.  It was one of the best things ever.  She totally recognized when she needed a nap.  When we went to Utah this summer, my family thought it was the funniest thing that this little 2 year old would come up and ask to take a nap.  Now that she is getting a little bit older, she doesn't ask for naps as much, but sometimes she will look at me and say she is tired.  I love this about her.

We have called Reese "Reesie Piecie" as a nickname for a while.  She loves it and often calls herself Reesie Piecie.  The funny thing is now she adds Piecie onto tons of different peoples names.  We have Jadie Piecie, mommy/daddy piecie, Clarkie Piecie.  It's her pet name for everyone and so adorable.

Reese is OBSESSED with oatmeal.  We have been working on potty training her recently and I often offer a reward of candy or stickers if she goes in the toilet.  She typically adds oatmeal onto the list of rewards if she goes potty in the toilet.  That definitely wouldn't be my reward, but to each their own.

Reese does this funny thing when she is excited where she gets really close to my face, exaggerates her facial expressions, and sort of whispers what she is wanting to say.  It is hilarious.

The newest thing for Reese in sacrament meeting has been stickers. I bring a page or roll of stickers with me and she is entertained almost the whole meeting.  She will pick them off the page and put them all over Jared's hand or leg or arm.  Then she'll peel them all off and put them on the back of the chair, then she'll put them on her leg.  She does this over and over again. She sometimes sorts them into colors or animals.

She absolutely LOVES being the boss of other kids her age, especially Clark.  At this point in our lives Reese and Clark are basically siblings because they are with each other every day.  Reese bosses Clark around and wants him to follow her everywhere.  For the most part, Clark obeys and follows.  Sometimes he gets sick of it though and fights back and they get in a real tiff.  She'll often talk to him in her baby voice like she is 15 years older than him.  It makes me laugh, but also drives me nuts when she is so bossy!

Reese still can't really sit through a whole movie but she loves loves loves songs.  She could watch hours of little baby bum or super simple songs.  We are almost always listening to songs in the car and she has most of them memorized.  She always wants me to sing the "Daddy finger" song but insert "daddy piecie" or "reesie piecie."

When Reese gets sad or upset she immediately looks at me crying and says, "I wanna snuggle mom's tummy!"  It's really sweet and she just wants to sit on my lap and snuggle while I tickle her back.

If Jade every has her clothes off and you can see her hernia, you better believe Reese will run over and squish in her belly button.  Reese thinks it's hilarious.  Little does she know, she had the same ugly belly button when she was Jade's age.

Overall, Reese is a very good eater.  She will pretty much eat almost anything I make.  She of course has her 2 year old moments and can be picky, but I'm usually happy with her.

Dolls and stuff animals are her jam.  She talks to them, changes their diapers, feeds them, punishes them, sleeps with them, tucks them in etc etc etc.

Books are her other love.  We go to library story time weekly and she LOVES it.  We come with a stack of books and she could read them a million times before turning them back in and still never get sick of them.  I am so glad she has a love for reading.  It makes me laugh when she sits on the ground with a book we have read many times and copies what and how I say things.  She is precious.

We got Reese a balance bike for her birthday and she is getting pretty darn good at it.  She'll lift up her legs and balance for quite a while.  We go around the block and up and down the street a whole lot.

Her favorite little friends are, of course, Clark, Harley, Enzo, Annabelle, Caden, Sam, and Adam.

I love watching the sister relationship grow between Reese and Jade.  Truly no one can make Jade laugh like Reese can.

We sure love our sassy little 2 year old.  I wouldn't have her any other way!

Life Decisions

Recently I have felt like Jared and I have to make some big decisions!  The thought of Jared picking a specialty that he wants to do for the rest of his life is becoming more real.  With that, an opportunity to do a post-sophomore fellowship has come up.  Jared has thrown around a few different specialties that he is interested in (OB, radiology, anesthesia, ENT etc) but the one he has talked about the most has been pathology.  I truly don't think I ever expected Jared to become a pathologist.  He works so well with people.  He is easy to talk to, makes people feel comfortable and just fun.  As a pathologist he wouldn't work as much with patients.  In some ways, that makes me sad a little bit.  BUT HE LOVES IT.  How can I complain about something that he seems to love.  He has been talking a lot to two of the pathology professors at his school and they have suggested he do the post-sophomore pathology fellowship at KU.  I didn't even know this was a thing.  Basically he will be doing what a first year resident does.  Lots of responsibilities.  It is a really amazing opportunity for Jared.  Part of me wants to jump out of my skin and say" absolutely, lets do it."  I do have some reservation though.  The main being financial reasons.  Jared would get paid $22,000 before taxes.  As a family of 4 that is hardly anything.  Especially since with that income he and I would get kicked off of medicaid and would need to pay for our own insurance.  Luckily our kids would still qualify.  The amount of money we get on food stamps would also decrease.  Money would be REALLY tight.  I don't want that to be the deciding factor but it does cause me some stress thinking about living off such a small budget.
My other reservation is the idea of adding another year onto school/training.  Not only do I feel like I am getting old, but I worry about our kids being old when we finish all of this.  I want to be settled and into a community and school and everything before their important teenage years.  I realize it's only one year, but it's something.
Another thought I have had is does Jared actually need this?  I know it will make him more competitive for residency but does he need it?  Pathology tends to be a specialty that attracts introverts, or people who don't like talking to patients and working with others.  Jared is far different than more pathology personalities.  I think he will already stand out in an interview compared to others.
I think the biggest reason I want Jared to do it is to really determine if he loves pathology.  I have been somewhat frustrated with how little exposure these med students get to various specialties before they have to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives!  Often the doctor you work with determines whether you like it or not.  I do want Jared to have a clear idea of what he would be getting himself into, and this fellowship would allow that.
Overall, we need to receive promptings and revelation from the Spirit about what is best for our family.  Recently, President Nelson has really urged the members of the church to learn how to receive personal revelation.  It is a skill we need to develop if we want to spiritually survive in these last day.  What better time to practice and get better at receiving revelation than now when we have big life decisions ahead of us!  I am grateful for a prophet who is inspired and teaches us from God.

Summer 2018

Well Summer has come and gone and we were very busy!  Jared finished his first year of medical school the very end of June. YAYYYY!  He did amazingly well!  He got on the Deans list (top 10% of his class) and he was thrilled!
Right when he finished we hopped in the car and drove to Utah.  That was a pretty looooong trip.  We decided to crank out all 16 hours at once and drive through the night while the kids were sleeping.  Jared drove most of it, but I ended up driving through most of the night.  We got to Utah around 6am.  I'm still trying to decide if that was the best decision.  The next few days were a little rough trying to catch up on sleep.
Jared only had a short time off (10 days) because he is doing the MBA program on top of regular med school.  He is a go getter.  We made the most of those 10 days with daddy. 
We had a Bodine reunion and did lots of fun activities around Utah County.  To start off the reunion, all the adults got together and went to Comedy Sports. It was nice having an adult night.  We went to Tibble Fork and played in the water and on kayaks. 

We had a fun bbq at the Egbert's house and all the kids watched a movie outside on the tramp.  My two girls were dead asleep long before the movie even started.  We also rented big blow up bubbles and played soccer.  It's pretty fun running into each other but you get exhausted pretty quickly.

After the Bodine reunion we took a quick trip to Pineview Reservoir.  My uncle Matt has a condo there which we stayed in.  I had never been there, but it was BEAUTIFUL.  Jackie and her kids were there, as well as the Roho family, my parents, and the remaining kids at home.  We boated, played in the sand, and played lots of yard games. 

 The guys always get way into spike ball and it's fun to watch them.

 Grandpa Kipp couldn't stop laughing as the kids drank juice from the pitcher through a big pipe.

After Jared flew back to Kansas City, the girls and I stayed a few extra weeks in Utah.  We had a lot of fun spending so much time with family and cousins. We switched off sleeping at my parent's house and Bill and Heather's house. We are very blessed to have so many amazing people in our lives.
The scary and very large baby doll at Grammy Tammy's house.

 Catching bugs and cutting them in half with Grandpa Kipp.

 Reading books with Papa.

It worked out nicely that Adam got home from his mission while we were in Utah.  Getting to and waiting for Adam at the airport was chaos.  Not only was traffic on the freeway terrible, there were SO MANY missionaries coming home from the Philippines.  It was packed.  Adam got to meet 5 new nieces and nephews that were born while he was gone.  It's fun having him back!

We couldn't miss out on the Robins Rendezvous with all of my grandpa's siblings and their posterity.  I can't say that I know anyone else who still has reunions with their second cousins but we sure do!  Fun seeing everyone's families grow.

One of the main reason we stayed was for the annual Lake Powell trip!  It is always a highlight. That place is just the best!  It was a little bit scary taking two small children without Jared there to help me, but it turned out great!  I took a tent and the girl's and I slept in there.  It was nice to get a little ways away from the main houseboat chaos and have our own space.  Reese loved jumping in the water and climbing up and down the latter.  She was usually a little nervous about the speed boat and wanted to sit on my lap.  I was sad Jared couldn't go, but he truly enjoyed his business classes.

 It was a love/hate relationship for these two.  Probably more of a hate relationship, but that's okay!

 Jackie always does the cutest  crafts with the kids.  Painting rocks!

 Not wanting to take a nap.

 Grandkid picture.  Reese wouldn't stay there so Grandpa Kipp squeezed her head between his knees to hold her in place.

After all of our fun in Utah, I had the pleasure of driving back to Utah with our two girls and no husband.  That was an adventure.  While a little stressful, it actually turned out much better than I thought it would.  I followed behind Adam and Heidi, and they were super helpful.  We stopped in Burlington Colorado and slept there.  We stayed in a super rundown hotel but it was the cheapest we could find, so we dealt with it.

We were sure glad to see Jared after a few weeks away from him!

Spring 2018

Time truly does fly by.  We have had a very eventful spring.  As always, Jared is hard at work studying, but we manage to squeeze in some fun things here and there.  Here are a few of our latest adventures.

We went to Wonderscope children's museum and the kids loved it.  It is a fun place with lots of different rooms to play in.  Their favorite rooms were the nursery, art room, and water room.

We finally put Reese in her own little toddler bed.  I have had the bed set up for so long, but have been avoiding and dreading actually making the switch.  I have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it was!  Reese loves her "new bed" and sleeps and naps great.  The first night she did fall out of it twice (no toddler rail) but now that I tuck the blanket in around her tightly we haven't had a problem.  She still sucks her thumb at night (dreading making that stop) and loves her white blanket from Grammy Bodine.

Jade is such a sweet addition to our family.  She is SO chill.  She hardly ever cries and most people don't even notice she's there because she is so content.  She started rolling over and now refuses to ever be on her back.  She immediately rolls to her tummy every time.  She will be crawling very soon.  She pushes up onto her legs and wants to start scooting.  I'd love if she stayed immobile for a bit longer.  She recently found her little giggle and it melts my heart.

 I will say though, for being such a good baby, she has been sick A LOT since she was born.  She is constantly going through booger stages.  We still love her though.

This last weekend was Kansas City train day.  We went with friends and rode a cute little train (3x) and attempted the bouncy house but Reese was a little too nervous.  It's fun seeing her interact and play more and more with kids her age.

We also went with friends to a fun working farm.  They saw lots of animals and rode some toy tractors.

We still go to the library fairly frequently for storytime and to get new books.  She has lots of fun sitting in this perfect toddler sized window while there.

We are outside almost every day (weather pending).  We often have lots of neighbor kids come and join us on our patch of grass and porch.  I love having kids come and play with us.  Not only to have Reese play with them, but to get them out of the house!

We were able to participate in the Kansas City Temple Run.  It was a 5k around the temple!  I signed Reese up to do the kids 100 meter dash.  Let's just say that was not a success.  All the kids took off when they blew the whistle and she stood there very confused.  I tried to get her to run but she started crying so I picked her up and ran with her.  It was quite funny.  Jared and I ran the 5k together switching off pushing the two girls in a double stroller.  It's definitely more fun running without a stroller, but we made it.

For my birthday we had Heidi and Adam watch the girls and we finally got to go to the Independence Visitor Center.  It was nice to go without kids.  We unfortunately missed the tour of the other churches on the block.

We got to visit dad at school on national bring your kids to work day.  It wasn't intentional, but we were pretty happy about it when others on campus told us.

We sure do love being out here with the Lewis family.  We do a lot with them, and Clark and Reese have become such fun little cousin friends.  

I'm grateful for these people I get to call my family.  They make my life so happy.