Halloween 2014

Troop and I took it upon ourselves to cut open and clean out the pumpkins this year while dad was in class. That way, dad could quickly carve his masterpiece when he came home for lunch. 

This is how Trooper really felt about it all. Sometimes when your dad is in med school, the dirty work falls on you.

Practicing trick-or-treating.

Brent: the pumpkin-carving master.

And here he is wearing the garb that he won in the pumpkin-carving contest.

 And here are our little monsters.

At the SAA Trunk-or-Treat. Troop went around roaring at everyone:)

Troop-isms

Boy does this kid make us laugh. Always the talker, here are some of Trooper's greatest sayings from the past few months:

There's lots of talk around here about Dad and school. When Brent brought home all his new doctor tools, Trooper made sense of everything. He said, "Dad goes to doctor kit school. I go to pushing buttons school."

While we were driving, he pointed to himself and exclaimed, "This man needs to go to school! To be a doctor and help people."

He's gotten super into batteries lately because they seem to be the miracle cure for all his toys. Dad always changes the batteries in his toys and the world is right again. One day he asked, "Mom, do you fix dad when he's out of battery?" He must've been thinking, 'Dad always fixes my toys, but what happens when HE runs out of batteries?!'

Navy fell asleep when we were in Wal-Mart and he asked, "Is she re-charging her battery?"

I mentioned in my last post that Trooper's prayers have always been "Heavenly Father, pray the food. Christ Jesus, Amen." Well one day while we were eating lunch, after hearing some good news, I asked Trooper to join me in a special thank you prayer to Heavenly Father. When I finished, he wanted a turn. He said, "Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus gave me chips, and thank you for our family. Amen." I loved that he had really listened to my prayer and thought about some things that he was thankful for and now incorporates those things into his prayers.

We finished a family game together and he said, "Wow! What a great team!"

He was climbing behind me on the couch so I leaned back and trapped him there. He said, "Ugh, I gotta get out of this mess!"

When he gets excited he says, "This is going to be so great!"

We've been reading scriptures with Trooper at night before he goes to bed. One day he wanted to pretend we were reading scriptures together and he said, "And it came to pass, he pitched his tent, and the whole family. Amen." Funny the themes he's recognizing as we read!

Trooper put his feet on the dinner table and Brent asked him, "Do you live in a barn?" Trooper's face lit up and he answered, "I'm a cow! Moo!"

Randomly, "Mom, you know what's funny?"
Me: "What Trooper?"
Him: "Your face!"

Sometimes Brent and I lay down on Trooper's floor while we sing him bedtime songs. Here we're thinking it's fun and kindof special to just hang out with him before bedtime, but Trooper always sees it as an opportunity. He gives us each a kiss and while backing out of his room he says, "Okay, I love you. Goodnight." And shuts us in.

One evening we had the Sister Missionaries over for dinner. I always have Trooper go to the bathroom before mealtime so that he doesn't have to go while we're eating. After going, he was running around naked and I told him he needed to get his pants back on because Sisters aren't allowed to see naked boys. So they arrived and we started eating. Trooper looks at them and asks, "Do you want to see my bum?" Ahhh! I was so embarrassed and just hoping they didn't understand what he had said. But they totally did and laughed about it for a few minutes.

While he was watching the garbage man outside our house, "I can't believe it! The green garbage truck came! I just love it!"

One night we dropped him off to be babysat in a classroom while we went to a meeting on campus. When we got back, we were told he'd had an accident while using the potty because he'd told the babysitter he could do it all by himself and his undies ended up soaked. So he was commando. When we asked him about it as we walked out to the car, he started walking funny and said "Ugh! I can't live like this anymore!"

One day he told me, "Bye bye! Adios Amigo!"

He was telling me how grandma and grandpa are far away and we can't see them right now. "Because they're way down in Old Mexico."

We were watching Planes together and Brent was playing with Navy on the floor. He got out a toy to entertain her that makes a bit of noise. Trooper told him, "Please stop playing with that or make my movie louder.... I'd love for you to stop that."

Sometimes he watches Daniel Tiger and every episode they have a little song that teaches you a lesson. Trooper started making up his own songs for when things go wrong. One day at lunch he started singing, "If something gets stuck in your teeth, you get it out with your finger." One day he spilled a bottle of freshly pumped milk for Navy. I was slightly distraught but he said, "It's okay, Mom." And then sang, "If something spills, we fill it back up!"

He started this thing where we tell each other often "I love you so much, (more than anyone) in the whole entire world, just the way you are, even when your sad."

When he sees Navy, he says one of these: "Oh Navy, I so love you!" "Oh she's so beautiful!" "You're a little cutie!"

At Hy-vee (a grocery store) they have little kiddie carts that Trooper loves to push around. Whenever he has one, he runs around the store, picking up all sorts of things and says so excitedly, "Oh I love these!!" or "These are my favorite!!" Even with things he's never seen before in his life. He just wants to fill his cart:)

We were pretending the Swiffer mop was a microphone. When it was Trooper's turn to say something, he said, "Hi I'm Trooper. And dad is my best friend. And I love him."

He asks to watch something or to play on the iPad a lot. Most the time the answer is no, but when I actually say yes to him, he is so excited and grateful and says, "Oooh you're sooo nice." or "Thank you. You're the best." or even "You're a sweetie and I love you!"

When he gets to play on the iPad, he usually tries to find something to watch, like on the PBS Kids app. So I usually tell him no watching, he needs to be playing an educational game. Well, lately he has wised up and started asking, "Mom, can I play an education game?" Smart kid, because that is a bit harder to say no to:)

..4 months..

So Miss Navy was four months old on October 10th. A few days before that, she rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time and was not happy to find herself there. But she's up on her left side a lot and prefers to fall asleep that way now. She's rolled over a few more times but not a ton yet. She has started grabbing things and is starting to enjoy her little toys. Her hands are constantly at her mouth and she loves eating her blankets. She's starting to laugh more and more, like a real giggle and it's adorable. She is always so happy to have anyone's attention and is also content to just sit and watch the world around her. At her four month appointment, she was only 10.8 lbs! I'm not sure that's even on the charts. But her height is still around the 60th percentile. I've started feeding her a couple bottles of pumped milk each day along with her normal feedings to hopefully get her weight up a bit. But I think she's just meant to be a tiny little thing. The doctor isn't too concerned because she doesn't seem disproportioned or unhappy. She also moves her little legs and arms a lot so she's burning a lot of calories:) We'll see if we've gotten her weight up on the charts at her six month appointment. Meanwhile, here are some pictures of the darling girl.

Love those baby blues.

Love these little toes peeking out at me while I'm shopping:)

The first time she really took an interest in her toys. And she was lovin them!

Snuggles from Trooper are a frequent part of every day.

Love.

This is how she sleeps now! Cutest thing ever, right?! When she starts pulling out this pose, I know she's ready for a nap.

..Three Months..

Navy Bean is three and half months old! It's been a pretty big month for Navy as she has started to laugh and roll over! Her first little laugh was on September 5th when Trooper was popping up from behind my back and playing peek-a-boo with her. It was adorable. It's not quite a giggle yet, but you can tell she's super excited and just a smile won't cut it. Try as I might though, she will not laugh for the camera. But I'll keep trying. She rolled from front to back on September 13th after I helped her out just once. And now she's getting really close to rolling from back to front. Besides these milestones, she coos a lot, is moving/kicking her little legs all the time, sleeps 9+ hours at night, and gives a big smile to anyone who talks to or even looks at her. Since we took away her binky at nap/bedtime (because she would wake up at night crying for it, so we had a few hard nights of sleep training in there), she has become a little finger sucker and also likes to try to eat her blankets when she's awake. She is always happy to see Trooper, especially first thing in the morning. He always comes to say good morning to her and she gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees him. She's probably the best listener in the family and loves listening to her daddy explain everything he's learning about. She also loves getting her diaper changed. As soon as she realizes that's what's happening, she gets a huge smile on her face; like she can't wait for that fresh,clean diaper. Navy is really just a content little baby. She wakes up happy (most of time) and then remains calm and smiley whether she's on the floor watching Trooper, sitting in her carseat while we run errands, or sitting on my lap talking or reading books. Once she gets whiny, it means she's tired and wants to be wrapped up and put to bed. One cute thing that Navy has done since birth (I just kept forgetting to mention it before now) is that she does a funny little yell/sound after she sneezes. It's almost like she's surprised and a little exasperated about what just happened. It makes me smile every time. Hopefully I can get in on video someday soon. Until then, here are some cute pictures from the past month.

People have been telling me that she looks a lot like Trooper. So I decided it was time to do some comparisons. Here's what I've come up with. Tell me what you think!

Missouri and Med School

We have settled into our new lives here in Kirksville, MO as a med school family and I thought I'd quickly share what we've been up to and how our days go down around here. Mainly so I can look back on this later and remember the good ol' days. Brent left Meridian on June 27th in a moving truck and caravanned with his family who decided to take a church history trip back east. They were great enough to plan around our move so that they could drive Brent out and help us move in! I flew out with the kids and my parents on July 8th. It was amazing because I was able to walk into our new place where the boxes were already unpacked and our rooms were put together. So much less stress for me. So thank you Lambsons! It also worked out perfectly because we had a lot of family here to attend Brent's white coat ceremony on July 12th. The white coat ceremony was a really neat experience. All of Brent's class introduced themselves one by one, walked across the stage, and the dean of the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine helped them put on their first white coats, signifying the beginning of their medical journey. They officially became student doctors. It was surprisingly emotional for me. For all five years of our marriage, we have worked together to get to this point. It's been a lot of hard work, uncertainty, and sacrifice but now here we are. I was just filled with so much pride in Brent and gratitude to our Heavenly Father for bringing us here. It has also become crystal clear in the past couple months that we are exactly where we are supposed to be; here at ATSU in Kirksville. I can't imagine any other school being such a perfect experience for our family. But I'll get into that later.

Our new place is super close to the school. Like less than a five minute walk. It works out perfectly: Brent can ride his bike to school in less time than it would take to find a parking spot and walk in to class. That leaves me and the kids with the car all day to get out, go to playgroups, and explore Kirksville. It's also great because the school is connected to the hospital, which means Trooper gets to hear lots of "woo-ees" (ambulances) and "hopters" (helicopters) go by each day. Somedays, we even happen to be on a walk around the school at just the right time and we get to watch the helicopter land. The close proximity to the school is also a plus because it's so easy for Brent to pop home for lunch, which gives us an extra 30 minutes a day with him that we wouldn't otherwise have. Here are some pictures of our place on Sundown Drive.

See how there's a perfect little nook in our bedroom for Navy? Love it!

Trooper's room in huge. You're only seeing about half of it. Definitely room for Navy in there once they're on a similar sleeping schedule.

Extra bedroom/study room/storage room.

I'm actually super excited because I have some decoration overhauls planned for the next few months. I'll be sure to post "after" pictures.

Our street is secluded with little to no traffic. Plus we live at the very end (practically in the forest) so it feels very safe to take Trooper out to play. You don't really play in the grass in Kirksville because there are so many crickets. It's gross. Actually we've seen a lot of crazy bugs here. I kindof greatly dislike it. The fireflies are neat though. Here are a few of the bugs we've seen.

Ok so this one is kindof cool. A Luna Moth.

And then this was the scariest moment of my life. A house centipede. Way worse than the cockroaches in Hawaii! I could handle those. But I really can't handle this. Good thing I saw this at night when Brent was home to take care of it. Otherwise I would've just evacuated the kids and I and burned the place down. Or, at the very least, called it an emergency and called Brent out of class. Ok this caption is too long.

Kindof cool.

Definitely not cool. And this was the nicest picture I could find, because I couldn't even get myself to look at the more accurate pictures. 

Because we live next to the forest we've seen a few deer in our yard. Trooper has affectionately named them all Bruce and we love to watch them from our windows. We also have a woodchuck or something that likes to hang around our house.

Right out our front door.

Life in Kirksville has been pretty great from the very start. Brent's school pays for a family pass to the local aquatic center which has an awesome little outdoor waterpark.

And there are a ton of fun parks around the town.

And the best thing about Kirksville? We have already made so many awesome friends! There are a lot, A LOT of other med/dental families here and A LOT of opportunities to get together and get to know everyone. So many little friends for Trooper and Navy, and they all have awesome parents. The school has a club called the Student Advocate Association and it's specifically for the significant others of all the students. As a part of the SAA, I have been able to jump into life here, learn so much about Kirksville, and meet all the other awesome wives. We actually found our townhome through posts on the SAA facebook page. And the best pediatrician for the kids. And orthopedic surgeon for Brent's knee (oh yeah, because he tore his ACL and meniscus playing intramural basketball). The SAA also taught me where to find the best deals around town, organizes playgroups at least twice a week, has a daily exercise group where moms can trade off babysitting to work out at the gym and attend fitness classes (because the school allows all families free access to their fitness facility), and organizes a night out for us at about twice a week. Once the kids are in bed, Brent studies at home and I head off to cooking club or game night or project night or craft 'n chat or information panels to learn about what's in store for us in the next 4-10 years. As you can imagine, with all of these socializing opportunities (and I haven't even mentioned book club or sofa talk or the socials) it has been super easy to make a bunch of friends, avoid loneliness, and stay busy. And church always helps with that too.

Besides just the SAA, Brent's school really takes extra measures to make sure the families of students are happy throughout this challenging phase of life. During orientation, all of the administration made it a point to tell students to take time with their families. The entire campus and staff are very kid friendly. Once a month, the school holds a "Parent's Night Out" where they have a great sorority of girls from the local state college come to babysit all the kids and parents have four hours to be kid free and go on a date. I mean, what school does that? A graduate school especially? I'm just amazed. And grateful for so many reasons to be here at ATSU in Kirksville.

It's also been neat to live so close to Nauvoo. We are actually in the Nauvoo stake and attend the Nauvoo temple. We've made it there twice in the past few months. It's a two hour drive so it's definitely an all day trip if you throw in a temple session (especially because you need to go with another couple, so you can kid swap while each of you goes to sessions one after the other.) The temple arrival center next to the temple is a beautiful building (feels like a temple itself) that is all set up for people like us who bring kids that will need to be entertained there for at least 4 hours. There is a closet full of toys, a dresser full of games and paper and crayons, a cute little table with cute little chairs, a tv with disney movies, and then a diaper changing room stocked with diapers and wipes, and a mother's room with a crib and blankets and a glider to sit in and nurse. And of course a fridge to hold food and snacks if need be. And on top of all that, it's staffed with cute couple missionaries who love kids and immediately adopt yours as temporary grandchildren. It's really such a blessing to be able to attend the temple and not stress about your kids even though we have to travel to get there. And Nauvoo is just beautiful.

Making the "Lambson Family Rope"

Troop loves it. He says "I need the family rope!"

Okay so here is what our days look like. Navy wakes us all up around 7am (sometimes Brent has already been awake for who knows how long, studying). We eat breakfast and Brent heads off to 8am class. The kids and I play at home or go to playgroup and meet Brent at home for lunch at noon. Then he heads back to the school for another class or anatomy lab or just to study. He comes home around 6pm for dinner. Then we have family time with Brent. We put Troop in bed together at 8pm then Brent goes upstairs to study (sometimes with Navy in his arms if she's still awake) while I either go to the gym or to one of the activities I mentioned above. Then I come home and watch a Hallmark movie on tv while Brent studies away. Then we usually go to bed about 11. Every day is like this. Even Saturdays. Sometimes, if Brent doesn't have a test the next week, Brent will usually take a couple more hours on a weekend evening for us to have a game night or watch a movie together. And thank goodness for Sundays. Sundays are a no study day, which we all really need. Brent doesn't have to worry about anything and we have a whole day together as a family. Block weeks (the week before a Monday test) happen about every three weeks and they are "buckle down and study" weeks. No extra time on weekends and sometimes my gym time has to be sacrificed so that Brent can head back to the school and study right after dinner. But block Mondays are the best (maybe not for Brent  :{ ) They are test day. Brent's test starts at 8am and are usually over by 10 or 11. Then he has the day off! All his classes have completed a section so there is nothing to study until it starts all over the next day. It's like an actual Saturday! This is usually when we go to Nauvoo. Or I can get his help with things around the house that have been waiting for three weeks. All in all, this schedule hasn't been too difficult on me. I actually see Brent more than I thought I would. I think it helps that we came from two years of him having an 8am-6pm job. It's the same as that except I'm watching tv at night by myself instead of spending time with him. So that's why we did decide to invest in DirecTV; for my sanity. And I like tv, not as much as I like Brent, but I'm happy to just sit down and not think at the end of the day. And Brent likes that I'm happily occupied so he doesn't have to worry about me while he's studying.

So that's our life right now. Year 2 will be very similar to year 1. And then everything will change in years 3 and 4 and beyond. But we won't think about that right now. Anyways, life is great. Brent loves school and learning about things that he's actually interested in. And I'm grateful for a student who does put his family first; for the time that he specifically sets aside to be a husband and a father. Some of the single students in his class have asked how he has time for it all because they're studying 24/7 and still don't feel like it's enough. They tell Brent he must be a super efficient study-er if he feels he can put aside 3-4 hours each day and an entire Sunday. Brent told me that those family times are so important to him that it helps drive him to make every hour of studying more productive so that he can take that time off. I think Heavenly Father has helped him to do just that. And Brent does a great job at making sure we know that we are the most important thing. If we need him, he's there. It also says a lot about our future in medicine because I know he'll be the kind of doctor that puts his family first and that will be a major consideration as he chooses what to specialize in. Ah, I just love Brent. This journey will be hard but because of Brent's attitude and the choices we've been led to make so far (like choosing to come to Kirksville) I know we'll survive and even love it. So here's to the next 4 (more like 10) years! :)