Grad-ge-ated

Well, it's official.  Wyatt went and got himself grad-ge-ated.  As of Friday, June 13th, he's officially "Dr. Wilson, DMD."  I say "officially" since not only does he have the diploma but he also has the license!  Both are in a frame sitting on the shelf in our family room.  I have half a mind to replace our current family picture, the one you see first thing when you walk in the front door, with his newly issued documents.  That is how proud I am of my husband!  

It's been a roller-coaster of four-years.  FOUR-YEARS!!!  I can hardly believe it!  It seems like it flew by and moseyed along all at once.  It certainly was an adventure.  Naturally I'd like to take some credit for Wyatt's huge accomplishment, but I truly cannot.  In fact just today I was thinking how easy my half of our life is compared to Wyatt's.  I haven't had to take a test in eight years.  I haven't had the stress of exams, projects, papers, et cetera in what seems like ages!  Sure I added support, maybe I eased Wyatt's life some, but it was he who had to navigate himself through the obstacles of dental school and cross the finish line.  I am so proud of him!  Admittedly my eyes welled with tears as he crossed the stage to receive his diploma.  My heart full of pride and gratitude for his sacrifice and hard work for our family.  I. Love. That. Man!

I have spent a lot of time recently reflecting on the past four-years.  Remembering how disappointed I was at the idea of staying in Oregon.  How I cried, tears of sadness (what?!), when Wyatt was accepted to OHSU.  Wyatt will never let me forget that one.  But I realize now that that chapter of our life wasn't about me.  I have seen how well Wyatt thrived at OHSU, with his fellow OHSU classmates, how much he's grown, and see that it was the best fit for him.  Wyatt's dental school career was a blessing straight from Heavenly Father to Wyatt.  I know He orchestrated things as such that Wyatt would learn and grow in such a way, that Wyatt has been shaped into the person he is today.  There were numerous times Wyatt would mention how perfectly compatible his class of 72 students was with each other.  That they were the best fit for each other.  Not a random coincidence in my opinion.

Momma G and Papa Lou came to celebrate

(How'd we get ZERO pictures of Wyatt's folks?!!!)

And let's be honest, I've done a lot of growing myself.  My life has been enriched by so many people.  So many people that I might not have made a lasting friendship with otherwise.  I've come to like, maybe even love (gasp!) Oregon.  I love the summers, my running routes, my short commute to the Portland Oregon Temple, my neighbors, my neighborhood, my friends, being so close to Wyatt's family (especially after Ro was born)...  There have been so many advantages!  Now it is me who is hesitant, uncertain about our decision to move away.  This place is so familiar, how can I leave it?  

Ro having the time of his life with "the big kids" (his cousins) 

at Wyatt's post-graduation lunch

I guess this is when I need to remember that this is where our new adventure begins.  The one I wanted four years ago.  It's scary and exciting to think about beginning the next chapter of our life somewhere else.  Which, will be Seattle...  Seattle, the city I've wanted to move to nearly our entire marriage (which, happens to be SEVEN years today!).  Wyatt will be working at a new practice there, estimated to open late fall.  So we will still have summer here - at my beloved swim park!!!  And truthfully, no contacts have been signed, so even though a word is as good as a bond - anything can happen.  I would be disappointed if that were the case...but then, part of me would be okay with it too.  So, we'll see...

In other news, guess who got pass #1 at the Lake Grove Swim Park...yours truly!  I know, I know, you're wondering what the advantage to having pass #1 is...what does it mean?  Well, to the swim park staff and to the average person, it means nothing.  There is no advantage to having pass #1.  Except if you're Brittany Nichols Wilson, then it means EVERYTHING!!!  I've been gunning for this pass for two-years!  (Last year I walked away with pass #3.)  To me, it's a reflection of my deep, unbinding love for the place.  Ha!  

And let me tell you, my victory did not come easy.  My mom and I arrived 15-minutes before the park opened on opening day and waited in "line."  Which line consisted of no one until five-minutes before the park was to open, when one family showed up.  And while all two of us were "waiting in line" some guy swoops in, unknowingly, and proceeds to be issued pass #1!  I was too busy chit-chatting with the other family that I didn't even notice.  NO ONE noticed until my mom's husband, Louis, casually said something to the effect of, "The parks open now, there's someone at the check-in counter."  (I have no idea where Louis was the entire weekend when I announced to the rest of the world that I was hoping to get pass #1.)  So I jumped to my feet, bounded down the stairs, and BEGGED the man to let me have pass #1.  The funny thing is, he actually seemed like he wanted it himself.  He was very polite about the whole thing and quite friendly.  But I think if he didn't have an audience, and had it not been pointed out to him that there was "a line," he would've told me to hit the road.  I'm certain the staff of the park (all teenagers) were looking at us like, "What is happening?"  And more accurately, "Why is this happening?"  Anyway, Wyatt and I refer to the other guy as #2 now.

Ahhhh, the taste of victory is sweet!  Ro likes the swim park too.  Kind of.  We spend most of our time in the wadding pool.  He likes it until it gets crazy with kids, then he gets a little clingy to me.  He'll figure it out.

Finally as mentioned before, Wyatt and I turn seven today.  SEVEN!  We'll be celebrating kid-free tonight, enjoying happy hour and a movie.  I miss the movies sooooooo much.  It's going to be fun!  Oh, and Ro is ten-months old today!  More to follow latter...

A Bun Out of the Oven

Ro has now been out of the "oven" as long as he's been in.  That is if you're using the mainstream nine-month timetable.  Which, as before mentioned on this blog, a pregnancy is usually measured as 40-weeks...or ten-months.  So technically, Ro still has some time to go before he's been out of the womb as long as he was in (even if you subtract the two-weeks a woman is not technically pregnant).  Not to mention the fact that he was eight-days late.  Either way, our little bun is nine-months old.  

Let me just say here how much I love this kid!  I seriously feel so lucky that I get to stay at home with him everyday.  This is the best job I've ever had.  

Which, I've discovered what a recluse I have become since Ro was born.  That longing to get-out-of-the-house I had when Ro was first born has completely disappeared.  I have little desire to be social.  Well, that sounds harsh.  It's not that I don't like being social, it's just that I don't have the need as much as I used to.  I think I've offended a lot of people with my new solitary lifestyle.  My lack to "reach-out" to others.  Let me just say here, it's not you - it's me.  It's not because I've been offended by anyone, or dislike people...I just tend to keep to myself these days.  And I'm okay with that.  For now.  Who knows, maybe I'll feel differently tomorrow...or next week...or in five-months...or in two-years.  I have the right to change my mind.   And I do enjoy being social.  I just don't do it very often anymore.

We spent Mother's Day at Wyatt's parents' house.  Wyatt's brother and family also joined us for dinner.  I had Wyatt snap these pictures of Ro hanging with his cousins.  Dawsyn is holding Ro in the top picture, and Landy is holding Ro in the bottom picture.  Pretty cute!  

Roosevelt still loves baths.  In fact, he first learned how to sit-up by himself (from a lying-down position) in the bath tub.  I'm not sure if this was a coincidence or if there really is something to being naked in the tub to master this particular skill.  He can now do this trick on the outside of the tub too.  It's very fun to watch him "dance" at the waters edge as he waits for the tub to fill with water.  

Ro and I go on near-daily bike rides.  As I suspected, he has warmed-up to the activity and even quite enjoys it now.  He flap his arms with excitement as we head to the garage to retrieve my bicycle.  And again when we're going fast down a hill or on the trails through the trees.  Sometimes he even rests his little hand on mine while I steer with the handlebars.  That really warms my heart.  It's fun to watch everyone's reaction when they see us pass by them.  Lots and lots of smiles!  We passed one little kid today that exclaimed with excitement, "there's a baby riding on the front of the bicycle!"

Ro has broadened his vocabulary.  He now knows two letters.  His current favorite being "M" for "mama."  I admit, I feel a bit smug that he says "mama" before "dada."  Even if Ro doesn't yet know that "mama" is my name.  Or rather, that he's not saying "mama" to call for me. 

Wyatt's birthday was on the 12th.  We had a birthday cake for him and his brother on Mother's Day.  And then a quiet little celebration at home.  I put paint on Ro's hands so he could help me make a poster for Wyatt.  I think Ro takes after me in the department of not wanting to get his hands dirty.  

If I were to choose a future career for Ro, one that I think would suit him best, it'd be a mechanical engineer.  Ro has this way about him where he likes to "see how things work."  Even if it is just staring at it, watching it work.  He loves the swivel mirror in our bedroom.  He'll push it back-and-forth over and over and over, just watching it work...  It will be interesting to see how that changes (or doesn't) as he gets older.  

One thing I love about spending my days with Ro is that we get to do all sorts of things I never got to do before.  Like go on picnics.  Last week we had a picnic at the temple.  

Roosevelt still isn't crawling...we can entice him to army crawl with certain things, like iPhones.  Mostly he just wants to walk.  We discovered the footstool of the chair in our family room glides along the carpet quite well.  So we put it in front of Ro one day and now he scoots himself all over the room.  We call it his scooter.  He still enjoys scaling along the furniture, and even the walls now.  The other morning I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and heard Ro's voice get louder and louder.  I peeked around the corner and he was scaling the wall from the family room to the kitchen.  With a giant smile might I add.  (I'd share a video but it isn't uploading.  Dumb.)

Just today Ro discovered that he can pull himself up in his crib.  That's when I snapped the picture above.  I put him down for a nap but never heard his babbling stop.  When I peeked in his room I saw him playing with the tag on Pangi's ear.  He was so proud of himself!  I was a proud mama too.  Which made it difficult to lay him back down for a nap.  Of course he pulled himself right back up again.  So we just postponed his afternoon nap until he was too tired to try his new trick.  

The fortune in my Chinese lunch the day before the race.

In non-Roosevelt news, I ran my third marathon this past weekend!  Yeah!  I participated in the Green River Marathon, or as Wyatt likes to call it, the "Green River Killer Marathon."  The route ran from Kent, Washington to Alki Beach in West Seattle.  It was a pretty low-production race.  It was free, so I didn't expect much.  And my expectations were pretty much on par...  There weren't any mile markers, so most of the time I had no idea how far I'd run and how fast I was running.  When the trail became ambiguous, there were spray painted orange arrows pointing the correct way.  I ran through business parks, literally.  And industrial neighborhoods.  And along side noisy busy roads.  What I'm trying to say is that it wasn't glamourous.  But (!) it was still fun!  That's what I love about running; it doesn't have to be the best of everything or anything to be fun.  

Of course I was nervous about the race all last week.  For more reasons than just running the race.  Wyatt and Ro weren't able to join me since Wyatt's dental board exams were RESCHEDULED for this past weekend.  (That's a whole other story...)  So Wyatt's brother Tyas and fam were kind enough to accept the challenge to watch Ro for the day.  And Wyatt was nice enough to agree to watch Ro the night before his stressful exams so I could stay in Seattle for the night.  Roosevelt received rave reviews from Wyatt's brother that he was an exceptional baby.  That made this mama happy!  

Lucky for me my friend Beatriz was up for running a free marathon and accompanied me for my 24-hour adventure.  We had a lot of fun!  And, as much as I missed my family, it was a nice break to be away for a night.  I had an entire bed to myself without the unsettling feeling that I might need to wake to tend to a crying baby.  Of course I was so happy to see my boys when I returned home.  Ro was so happy to see me too.  It's nice to be missed.

The best news of the weekend is that not only did I meet my goal to run a sub-four-hour marathon, I exceeded it!  I crossed the finish line at 3:54:40!!!  Six-minutes faster than four-hours.  And eight-minutes faster than my personal best!  I've been on cloud nine ever since!  Of course I paid a price for my hard work.  I lost two toe nails.  Boo-hoo-hoo!  Just in time for summer...nice.  Either Nike tweeked my favored Pegasus shoes, or my feet have grown since I was pregnant.  Either way my newish shoes murdered my toes.  But, it was worth it.  

Tulip Toad - Saga Six with Streit

In honor of Mother's Day, I thought I'd share a fun short story written by my mom.  No doubt, a tribute to me, her No. 6.  Or at least I like to think I was her inspiration...  Happy Mother's Day to all; especially to my Momma.

Another in a continuing series of dramatic vignettes…

Tulip Toad - Saga Six with Streit

Written By 

Georgia H. Nichols

Her mind wasn’t on the outdated “People” magazine she was idly thumbing through as she waited for her turn to see the doctor. 

“I’ll kill myself if I’ve gained any weight this time.  I haven’t even had an appetite, and the rabbit food I do eat sure can’t produce any pounds.  Let’s see, I wore the lightest weight clothing I own and made sure I went to the bathroom first.  Plus I haven’t had as much as a drink of water in the last 22 hours.  Maybe I even lost”

“Tulip Toad?  This way please.”  The nurse led the procession of two to the weigh-in room.

Tulip exuded confidence as she stepped onto the scales.  But her momentary elation was short lived.  The pound weight pushed the bar down at 134, 135, then 136.  The nurse flicked it a few more increments and it rose only a fraction before the weight bar balanced.  “One thirty six and three quarters.”  Four pounds in three weeks—again!

The dazed patient reeled as she stepped backward off the scales.  “Impossible,” she wanted to scream.  “A recheck, please!”

But she had seen the scale herself.  Could it be that there was some kind of conspiracy to make her depressed every time she visited the doctor?  A four pound jump every time was beginning to sound suspicious.

Tulip was numb as she followed the nurse down the hall to the examining room.  Where had those pounds come from?  She was still numb as she stumbled onto the table and mentally reviewed the weight progress in the five previous pregnancies.  At this present rate she could top out at 180 pounds and be a blimp for the rest of her life.  Before, she had been upset with a weight gain of a pound or two and an occasional jump of five pounds but this was too much.  She thought of her husband’s attempts to console her.

“Don’t worry.  I’ve head all of this before and the weight has just dropped off after the baby is born.  It will again.”

But things were different now.  She was 36—and over the hill.  An old woman.

Tulip ruminated over the two alternatives she might employ to get rid of the hated pounds: never eat again or take a knife and cut out a pound of flesh here and there.  Neither sounded like a plausible solution.

Her thoughts were still picturing herself in the before photo of an Ayds ad, when Dr. Streit came into the room and began checking uterus size and listening for the baby’s heartbeat.  “Just about right for 20 weeks,” he announced when he had finished.  “Everything seems fine.” 

“But I’m not 20 weeks.  I’m only about 14,” Tulip intercepted.

“Hmmmm.”  The doctor looked at her chart again.  “Let me take another check.”  This time the probing was more intense.

“Maybe there really is some reason I’ve gained so much weight,” Tulip silently hoped as she waited for the doctor’s second observation.

“First of all,” the doctor began, “an oversized uterus is not uncommon in pregnancy.  It doesn’t mean twins, or even that you’ll deliver early.  It’s just a condition we see from time to time.”

“But I also weigh more at this point in any of my previous pregnancies.”  Tulip seized on that thought hoping it clarified the situation.

“Doesn’t mean a thing.  See you in three weeks,” the doctor reminded her as he left the room.  The door closed.

She’d heard it all before.  So she was just fat after all.  It didn’t seem fair.  It wasn’t fair, she was starving!  Another agonizing three weeks ahead of her.  “Yeah, and since I’m going to weigh 145 pounds by then I intend to eat hearty and enjoy myself.”  Her words bounced off the walls.

Tulip couldn’t resist a wicked glance at the scales as she walked to the receptionist’s desk.  Two could play the weight game as well as one could.  Next time there would be a reason for the four pounds.  Already she was beginning to look forward to supper. 

This Kid is Eight Months Old. EIGHT Months!

Shortly after Roosevelt was born my mom asked me if I could remember what life before Ro was like.  With zero hesitation I answered, "yes!"  Those first several weeks were difficult.  It was hard adjusting to my new life.  It was hard learning the ropes of parenthood.  It was hard taking care of a new baby.  So of course it was easy for me to remember what things were like before Ro.  And admittedly, there were some times - very few - that I actually longed for things to return to how they were before.  Of course I didn't want to lose Ro, so I knew those memories were to be just that - memories.  But here we are eight months later and I can barely imagine life pre-Ro.  How did Wyatt and I survive, just the two of us?  Parenthood, though still very difficult, has been the most rewarding thing I've attempted.  

It seems as if Ro is slowly coming out of his shell.  When strangers speak to him, instead of staring at them like his old-self used to do, he actually smiles back!  Of course every time he does, each stranger squeals with delight.  I know I'm his mom, but it is pretty cute.  In fact he generally tends to smile more than he used to.  Maybe it's just a phase...maybe this is the new Ro.  Either way, it's been a lot of fun to watch.  

Papa Lou

Ro and I flew to Colorado to visit family again.   It was a really good visit.  I helped my mom prepare for her garage sale, along with cataloging some items she purchased in East Germany while my family lived in Berlin.  I'll be posting those on eBay.  Since we were so busy working, I didn't venture far from her house.  Which was really nice since doing anything with a baby is a million-times harder.  Or more accurately, I'm a million-times more lazy now that I have a baby.  

 Aunt Judy and Uncle Brice

 Cousin Cameron (it is soooo cute to watch my niece play with Ro.  Totally uncharacteristic of her.)

Ro was in love with my sister's dog, Butterfly.  She was tolerant with little interest.  She'd let him "pet" her if he was near her.  Which really is quite remarkable since she has very short hair and Ro has a pretty tight grip.  So pretty much it was Ro grabbing wads of her skin in his tiny hand.  Truthfully, we had a bit of a love triangle going.  For whatever reason Butterfly had taken a liking to me.  I couldn't care less about her, I was just interested in what Ro was up to... And of course, Ro didn't care about me.  He just wanted to be near the dog.  That dog.  She totally reminds me of the dog from the Amazing Stories episode, The Family Dog.  She is so skittish.  

 Grandpa and Grandma Nichols

Aunt Burgandy 

Ro's top teeth are really coming in.  I was right about his incisors, they are growing.  Though Wyatt retracted his statement last month and agreed that it looked as if they were cutting through the gums.  You can't really see any of his top teeth until he gives you a giant grin.  And even then, you have to be at the right angle.  Otherwise it's only the bottom teeth you notice.  

Momma G 

Ro listening to Momma G serenade him 

And shortly after I said that Ro wasn't making any consonant sounds...he whipped out his B's.  It's currently his favorite letter.  

Swim lessons were canceled last week.  And we had Wyatt to ourselves(!).  So we decided to take advantage of the family swim time at the local community pool.  Which as it turns out we practically had the whole place to ourselves!   Ro still loves the water.  This time his favorite part was being able to standup in the water, holding onto the one-foot ledge.  He loved this! 

Notice Ro's hair?  It's super fine and toe-head that you can hardly tell he has any until you're up close.  Only when it's wet can you tell he has any from a distance.  I was a toe-head too when I was a baby.  Imagine that.  

With the anticipation of nice weather, we bought a bike seat for Ro.  He wasn't sure what to think about it.  I think after a few more goes, he's really going to love it.  At least he better.  The swim park opens in five weeks!!!  How else are we going to get there?