Not the same....

So.. I think that was for sure a record for longest streak of not writing on my blog. Wow. I had a friend say once that Instagram killed her blog. That statement could not be more true for me. Instant journaling, no need to sit down and type things. So Instagram is just not the same as a blog. Well, for me I need a little writing here and there, but I will say that becoming pregnant killed my blog. I found out I was pregnant in mid December and have been chronically tired/ill since then. I finally got some meds around 14 weeks and they helped the vomiting. I puked a lot less with this baby than with Miles that is for sure. Miles it was a lot of puking. This baby has been just so tired and nauseous but only a puke here and there. In the first trimester I don't puke until about 11 weeks, same went with Miles. My situation is completely different this time around as far as what I am doing but this one has been hard because I have to take care of Miles....and Brad. I have done the dishes 1 time since becoming pregnant. Thank you Brad. :) I have made maybe 3 real meals, and I can't eat onions or salsa or I am very sick for like 24 hours and have to eat tums and take a pepcid and drink carbonation and I still burp five thousand trillion times and still feel like my throat is burning and I need to puke. So...I love onions and its rough without them. Same went with Miles. I crave.....fruit smoothies, hamburgers (in the first trimester) now not really at all. Chocolate is not good to me at all, I try to like it but it tastes like nothing. I crave fruity jelly candies like sour patch watermelons (my favorite candy anyway) and hot tamales. I don't crave anything weird that I normally don't like. So nothing too exciting in the craving areas.

We ate out like 4 times a week in the first trimester because I would spend my days on the couch and food just made me ill, I ate 3 meals of cereal every day. I wonder what goes on in my body that makes me so sick. Its really annoying when people don't get sick when they are pregnant. When I am pregnant I will tell you this is my last baby, then when I deliver I think, "I can do that again".

Exciting happenings:

Got pregnant
found out we are having a girl which is right around when I started feeling better so it was a really good happiness turning point in my pregnancy. Went from not really realizing I was having another sweet baby to it becoming more real.


Brad got Junior AOA (a high achieving award based on grades, research, and extra curricular activities-basically National Honor Society of Med school, and only top 8% in the class are awarded Junior AOA) It sorta kinda maybe made all of med school stress and grades and step worth it. Sorta. :) May I add that this was such a blessing and we have known all along that he has been so blessed in every class and rotation to be able to do so well. He always says he has angels helping him. When he was being awarded at a banquet I thought back to how hard med school has been on both Brad and I, I thought of him driving me home from the hospital and dropping my mom off at the airport because I delivered late, and then dropping me off at home, I sat on the couch, he sat Miles in my lap and left to the library to go study. Then I cried. My first day home with a new baby and I'm alone in this new city with no one to call, no one beside me and my first time as a mom. That's pretty much how 2 years went by. Brad was around at times but it was always, "Okay gotta go study". Does that sound horrible? Ha! It was in some ways, but in other ways I think it prepped me for how life is going to go, residency and life of a doctor are no cake walk, but if Brad gets home before 5 its a nice surprise. Although, 3rd year has been a dream comparatively. Of course he still has to do well in his rotations but its more hands on doing what he likes, so he is happier and he only has 1 test every 8 weeks. So not so stressed all the time in the Clark household.

So first two years were hard, but I learned a lot. We learned a lot as a family and couple being away from family and I have made amazing friends that help lessen the load. So AOA was nice. A nice oh that was worth it feeling. AOA will make Brad very competitive for his residencies. It will get him the interview anywhere he wants and the rest is up to him. I mean...who can resist freckles combo-ed with dimples right?

back to exciting happenings!

I don't even know who reads my blog anymore but I just journal to journal so if you are still reading then you must be SUPER bored today. JK JK.

So Brad decided his 'career choice'. If you think going to med school is your choice think again. The real choosing comes in med school. There are so many options of WHAT doctor you can be. Brad always always said, Orthopedic Surgery. You know bones and joints and what not. They do knees, shoulders, ankles etc, and his brother is an Orthopod. LOL thats not a real word but it sounds good. So his brother does Ortho and Brad has always said, there is nothing else I like, there is nothing else I would do. I remember one night we were laying in bed. (OH HI baby kicking the computer. Love you). We were laying in bed and I said, "Somebody asked me what you were going to do today and I said Ortho and it felt really weird so I started naming all of these other things that I don't think you like but it felt weird to say Ortho, like I was lying to them." He responded with, "Well I am 100% Ortho, so you can tell everyone that is what I am doing". Then I said, "Well I don't think you are going to do Ortho, I get that weird feeling when I say you are doing it."

Wahbam! I was right. After he started third year he really liked Ortho rotation. He liked the surgeries but then he noticed an Interventional Radiologist doing a surgery (I'm not sure of the exact situation). But they just came in did a quick procedure/minimally invasive surgery using digital imaging technology and spent 15 minutes and they were done. Where as these other surgeons were going on and on for 5 or more hours. So he realized #1 he didn't love the intricate tedious surgery. #2 he didn't love clinic-he was good at it, but it drained him to talk to all of these people and he wasn't happy after.

So....IR (interventional radiologists) get to do surgeries and don't have clinic. Wahlah. Bingo. Whazam. It took him a few weeks to 'decide'. That means he watched like 59595959 videos of surgeries on youtube and read everything there is to read about it. He had to make sure it was a good field for the long term. There are always rumors flying around about dying field etc. But, I think he has had several experiences shadowing and what not where he knows its right for him, in the sense that he felt its what he is supposed to do, not only for his personality but for his destiny of sorts. :)

So that was an interesting path. I had never even heard of IR until 3rd year of med school. It was a new thing. So they do all sorts of surgeries from head to toe, all minimally invasive and using digital imaging. From removing fluid from a newborn's lungs, to burning out brain tumors in the middle of the brain. Those I am sure have technical names in which I can't ever remember nor do I try to remember. I am married to a medical brain and I am the ABSOLUTE opposite of a medical brain. How does he live with me!? I just have to have a strong sense of self and realize that my skill sets are not medical. I could probably do CPR if I had to..and thats the cap of my medical knowledge.

So if someone calls me telling me all their symptoms and says, "What do you think Brad would say?" I for sure don't whip out a diagnosis. I say, "Here is Brad, I have no idea." I am married to him doesn't  mean I know anything that he knows, he doesn't come home and teach me what he learned that day. Thankfully. My brain is already fried rice. And I may point out that 3 years of medical school don't make you a doctor. 4 years make you a doctor but even at that point.....you still have (in Brads case) 6 years left before you are an official 'doctor'. So..it takes time.

Wow I got distracted. So IR. He chose it. Yay. That means we have one year of an intern year which could be separate or together with his remaining 5 years of residency. 2 of Diagnostic Radiology and 3 of Interventional Radiology. 6 years total. He begins applying this summer I believe and he interviews beginning in late September through October. He is planning on doing an away rotation (4 weeks) for the entire month of September.

I always said this baby was going to be different. I said, " I don't want to be pregnant during the summer and I want you around for like a month after I have the baby." So he leaves Aug 29 and I am due Aug 18. And I am pregnant all summer. So.....I just ate my words like a sandwich.

I just know I can't be alone again, and if I have to call my 3rd cousin to come stay with me for a week I will. Its not a matter of "Oh Brittany you can come hang out with me" Its a matter of I need someone with me to talk to and to help me not feel alone at night and even during the day. So.. I need someone to stay with me.

I would go home if I could and maybe I will for the last two weeks, but traveling with a brand new baby always freaks me out with airborne illnesses and what not. I would rather keep the baby home safe and sound.

So we are in a fun spot right now, about to finish 3rd year of medical school and start 4th year full of interviewing and deciding what your top choices are. Then in March of 2016 we will open a letter that will tell us where we matched, or where we are going to be spending our next 6 years of life. I really enjoy looking for housing at all of Brad's top school choices. Its just fun. Some of his choices we would have to rent an apt probably less nice than here because they are big cities and some places we could buy a nice house. So there are pros and cons there, but ultimately I think Brad just wants to find a good fit that feels right. So, I'll be patient and in the mean time I'll look at zillow.

Oh, another happening. I started working customer support for Chatbooks in October of 14. It was a really good thing for me, and I can work my own hours at my own time. Not to mention I love it and its perfect for me. Which I think kills my blog too, because I spend all this time on the computer now in all of my spare time just working and that makes me not want to spend any other time on the computer, nor do I really have time to just surf around now. Any spare time I have, I am working for Chatbooks. Which I love and it has been a huge blessing in so many ways.

Miles is growing up and I need to seriously write in his baby book. I have not done a thing in the past 5 months being pregnant. I always say...oh I need to write that down. Then never do. I feel less guilty about it though because I have 2 Instagram accounts in which I flood with pictures and what we are doing so that is a really good sense of journaling. I also take thousands of videos so once I get those to DVDS we will be all set.

Well there was a quick Clark update. Until next time.

Miles 2 years old!

I guess I have been putting this off for some reason. Not because I don't want to do it, but just because I don't want him to keep growing. I feel like I am overwhelmed with trying to remember each adorable thing he does, I can't remember him when he was 1, I only remember him right now, and I have to empty the pictures off my phone, and my computer because I try to remember him by taking thousands of videos and pictures. Man...it makes me sad to think of him growing up right before my eyes. 

Before I talk about my little cheeky bear, lets take a walk through his second year of life.

September 2013-started getting into everything (been walking for 3 months but started being so energetic)

October 2013-camping-longest night of my life-where we also froze. He loved being outside.

November 2013-loves to be silly, taking dad's hat and putting it back on dad.

 December 2013-Christmas was a little overwhelming and he had no idea what was going on, but he hit anyone who tried to get on his car.

 Jan 2014-having 5 guys with friends

 Feb 2014-I cant be sure but I think he was sick in this picture.

March 2014-March he broke my heart and went to nursery, but also made church not so dreadful-just chasing him around most of the time. Now he could enjoy it too.

April 2014-we travelled to AZ for Brads conference. He slept in this dainty mini crib and was recovering from croup.

April 2014-loves all sorts of games with dad, including their "MOM you forgot some laundry" Then I tickle him and he thinks its hilarious.

May 2014-Playing with bestie William at the park, where they found a mud puddle shortly after and William got drenched and Miles laughed his head off at him but wouldnt get in.

June 2014-visiting Utah for our summer break, lovin on the green grass (Lubbock doesn't have that)

June 2014 Saying goodbye to him before our cruise-he wasn't really into it.

July 2014-4th of July Parade in Lubbock-he loved all the eeeohs

July 2014-he started getting the hang of picking up candy but mostly picked up trash and brought it to us.

August 2014-ran my triathlon and he spent a week or more of awful puking and sickness from Utah-probably from drinking all of the pool water at Lava.

late August 2014-Family pictures

late Aug 2014

September 15, 2014-you know how you try to get a picture of them smiling holding the 2 perfectly-well that didn't happen-not even close.

September 15, 2014

So after that walk through his year. I have hopefully documented his stages in thousands of videos that fill up my hard drives-but I guess I will talk about what he does now. What makes him unique and special. What makes him Miles. What makes him my little punkies. 

I call him, toosh, cheeky bear loves, cheeks, baby bearsies, baby bear, punkies, punks,  (short for pumpkin (i think)) babies, babes, baby, love, lovesies. 

He says so many things, but he didn't talk a lot of sense until just recently. He mostly just jumbled. But he started saying ya when he was 1 year old, but we were a little concerned and I work with him a lot on words and talking, and we talk a lot when we are together, but ultimately I just came to the conclusion that he will talk eventually, and not that he doesnt talk, he jibberishes like you would not believe. He thinks he is carrying on a whole conversation with you, but actually understanding him is a different story. So, I think he has a mix of Brad and I's personality-hes feisty and quick to anger like me, but yet he's chill and solemn at times like Brad. I think he doesn't talk a lot, and that's his personality. Like Brad. My next child will be speaking in sentences at 18 months and we wont get them to stop-like me. 

Regardless here is his repertoire of words/phrases:

mom, dad, rock, shoe, apple, apple gaga (sauce), apple juice, gahgee (any sport), ball, watamelon, he calls all bugs "bee" but not because we dont try to tell him otherwise, but because they buzz and he makes the bee sound for buzzing, wawa (water), car, gahguy (pretty much everything he cant pronounce) his favorite thing to say and we copy it and laugh about it all the time- "ohhhhhh guhguy", beebuh (Jesus) gug (Greg my brother in law) Abby, Gaga (William), all wet, (and of course the obvious) uh oh, no, ya, yep, and most recently-yesh (it seems to me he has a double lisp) So instead of saying snake, he says "Shhhake" So for s sounds he says shhh. Its cute right now, and will be until he is like....five. :) (Brad also had this from watching home videos-so we weren't surprised upon hearing it)

He has a night light big gnome in his room and he turns it on and off and says, "Buhbye gnome" Hi! gnome!" He says moon, and he says all the animal sounds and has been for quite some time. He also calls a lot of things by their sound/song- Star he calls "up above" (twinkle twinkle little star) Bus he calls "round and round" (Wheels on the bus) And of course all ambulances-fire trucks-police cars-construction trucks with light up lights he calls eee ohs. Buh bye ee oh. He also says, "Shhee Shee (I see)______ then whatever he sees. When he wants Brad to take him to me, he says Shee Shee Mommy. And sometimes I think he says more than we know because of his dang double lisp. Which is adorable (and developmentally ok until they are like 6-and usually it is from the anatomy of their mouth-my school's speech pathologist taught me that because I had a sweet boy who had it in Kindergarten)

He knows these letters very well-and I'm not just saying this-trust me I am an absolute pro when it comes to testing children with their letters-I have showed him these letters in all different contexts-next to other letters, and out of order, in writing them, in foam letters, in fabric letters, in magnetic letters, recognizing them when we are out and about-so he knows them, and everyday he learns more and more. 

A, I, Y, E, O, B, C, S

and he says M ish for Mileshhh (Like I said he has a shhh sound for s)

Hes obsessed with: Soccer, and baseball, and all types of balls, he didn't have a football (that was true to size-until his birthday and he has been sleeping with it ever since. He sleeps with a ball every night. He cries to play gahgee with dad every night. He screams gahgee as we drag him away from the tball. He can hit the tball so far, and he is starting to break things with his tball skills.

He puts my shin guards on weekly, and just walks around in them and sometimes he puts my cleats on as well. In fact, he loves putting on all my shoes, including heels.

He runs everywhere, and he even has a trot he does mostly everywhere as well. He is sorta spazzy, which I would say is from me but I can show you Brad's home videos and I will say its from Brad-the only difference is he grew out of his spaz phase, and I am still in mine, for example I was standing in heels the other day talking and all the sudden just standing there I tripped (how that is possible I don't know) and I had to grab my friend to stabilize myself. All she said, was "wow-what happened?" So I hope he has Brad's spazziness, meaning he will grow out of it. But he is really like me in that when he is running into the kitchen he hits his arm on the wall, and says "Ow." Then I do the exact same thing walking. So....ya. Spazzes for life.  He can kick a soccer ball like nobody's business, and loves dad to say, "He lines up for the free kick!" He says, "Nooo" when I try to say it, or play with him. Dad's game. Not mine. He loves being tickled and chased, and I do that to him all day long and so he is always peeking around corners smiling in the chase me smile-then I stop what I am doing and get him. He loves playing with his cars and trucks and he got a whole haul of them for his birthday (I just bought a used lot of like 300 on Ebay, and didn't even give him all of them) But he could play with them all day. He is so good at cleaning up, he loves picking everything up and putting it away, and I never have to ask him more than once, he just does it. His nursery leaders tell me the same thing, he is just a clean freak I guess (NOT) He eats his breakfast on the couch everyday-waffle-fruit (usually blackberries-his favorite food) and yogurt drink. While he plays cars/watches cartoons in between.

So right here I wrote another book, and then I went back to add pictures and the book I wrote was not there...so I am sad, and cranky about it, and I wrote all these amazing things he does and whatever but maybe it would have offended someone so it was meant to be that it got deleted. I don't know I have to tell myself that to feel better about the 3 hours I spent on it during his nap time. Precious golden time. Either way here I am typing it again.

Birthday party!

On the day of his birthday I decided to forget everything I needed to make the cake. So I ran to Costco to pick up pictures, then  I ran to United to get him Balloons, one Football (gahkee) and one sports Happy Birthday one (which I could have just stopped there and that would have completed his birthday. We see them every time we go to United and he asks for them) then as we were driving home we pass the Eeeohs every time we drive home, so this day I decided I should give him the best birthday excitement of all time.  We visited it the fire station, his second time ever. The fireman are always so nice and act like he is the celebrity, and they let him drive, turn on the lights, look through the heat finder of people binoculars thingy, and overall they are the nicest people on earth. (Well I have yet to meet a meanie head)

He of course was star struck. He just stood here for awhile, and I have some joys in my life, and one of them is seeing him being overjoyed at small things, small free things like visiting a fire station.

This probably could have been the point where we stopped for his birthday because he was seriously the happiest person in the world. But he doesn't show it, he is his father's son when it comes to emotions (well sometimes-except tantrums, I think he is my son when it comes to anger) he just had a stone cold face the entire time, and I kept telling the firefighters he is obsessed with fire trucks and he says, "Hi EEohs" Everytime we pass, and then "Bye Eeohs" when he can't see them anymore, and if he sees one he gasps a huge gasp and says, OHHHH Eeoh! He also gets distraught when the garage door is down of the eeohs, on rainy or bad weather days. Winter is going to be rough when we drive by, he also asks to see the Eeohs even when we aren't going to drive by, so sometimes I will detour just so he can see them. He can spot an eeoh miles away. (I really like when I use his name, not as his name) Speaking of which a girl at the grocery store asked me his name and I told her and she said, "Is that his real name? Not a nickname"

First off, nobody has a nickname like Miles-if they have a nickname it is one syllable or easy to say, Miles is not a nick name. Mile, could be a nickname, or MY, or MYMY, or some people call him Miley-that is a nick name.

I responded with, "Nope, believe it or not, its his REAL name."

What a horrible mother I am giving him a name like that. (?)

No my friends, Everglade, is a terrible name, not Miles.

As we entered the car of course the sports balloon was sucked out and you know how you chase after balloons? Well I was holding Miles, and my keys and I couldn't wrap my head around chasing after this balloon which was still pretty much dragging on the ground...I thought any second now its going to be ripped up into the sky, but it didn't it sagged across the street, and then I was like, OKAY I totally could have gotten that like 50 times, but is it too late now? And so we just stared at it and I thought Miles would be sad but he as I held him and we looked at the floating $5 balloon he whispered, "Buhbye" Like it was such a good parting. Like it was meant to be, like he understood that balloon needed to be free.

So upon returning home from the grocery store ( I made the cake the day before) I started making frosting realizing I needed like 10xs the amount of powdered sugar. So Miles being in his crib for 1 1/2 hours and still kicking the wall like crazy, I decided to grab him and run back to United.

Then we got home around 2:30 and he was so tired so I just went ahead and put him in his crib, everytime I put him in he says, "Buhbye". I kiss him and tousle his hair then say buhbye back. Sometimes when he is playing in a room I will come in and he will close the door on me and say, "Buhbye" Like Mom please leave I don't need you. So I usually do, he never does anything mischievous he just goes back to playing (I have a video monitor in his room). 

I woke him up singing happy birthday, and gave him his favorite breakfast.

Someday I'll do a blog post of all of these pictures I have, the flash on my camera does not sit well with his eyelids.

EVER.

Blackberries: Fav food EVER.

Frozen Kirkland Waffle

Yogurt Drink

On the couch.

I wanted to go low key this year, so this was the extend of my decor. I made that banner last year, and changed the stickers from jungle animals to bikes to fit the transportation theme.

I had a hard time deciding on the cake, so I went to Hobby Lobby hoping for some inspiration and this was the only firetruck sticker I could find, and I thought it was PERFECT for the cake. So I painted some kabob sticks white and hung some fuzzy streamers behind it and placed the red 2 candle and 2 long white stick candles behind the cake. (Yes I know he had to blow out three candles but I couldn't just let him blow out 1)

I bought car wrapping paper on Amazon for $15 dollars. It only wrapped this much. I really wonder where I got confused thinking I was getting a Costco sized roll. At the dollar store I found pretty much the same vehicle wrapping paper, double the quantity, for $1. 

I am frugal and I research and find the best deal 99% of the time. This wrapping paper falls into the 1% of the time. And I always forget about the 1$ store.

Here he is with his pizza on a fork, because he had just woken up from his nap right before the party (at 6 PM) we are on a late nap schedule.

If you want a flashback Friday. Holy smokes he had NO hair. And he has not had a hair cut yet in his life. This is just all he had.

Amazing what 1 year can do. Hair!

Pizza mouth.

Although I need to crop out the water spout, I kinda like it.

He carried this present around the whole party.

We have been preparing for birthdays, ever since my birthday in August he has been singing it, and now he full on sings it to himself. TO MILE I guess is who he really is singing it to.

He got some great presents, and it didn't feel like I had gotten him that much then....I went into the closet one day and realized...wow, I'm probably good for his birthday. I was so excited for it though so I started in like June.

His friends mostly unwrapped all his presents. He just thought it was great everyone was there.

Next year......we may just do a family party.

I say that every year.

Chaos is the only way.

A little friend kept taking his presents away from him and he kept hitting them and Brad kept putting him in time out. I want to say, he stands up for himself, and that's what I like about him, I also want to say, we are working on hitting.

So pictured here you will see a truck that carries 40 CARS!! A Texas Tech soft Football (which we have slept with pretty much every night) Fire truck hoodie, which I realized is not my style and returned it-I bought it so I don't feel bad about it-I'm really crazy when it comes to liking clothes. I want to like things like that, but then when Brad says "Put a jacket on him" That wasn't the one I reached for.......like 10 times, so I told Brad I was returning it and he said, "Ya I knew that wasn't your style." I'm not like rich or anything, but I have a very basic no nonsense style, I like solids, stripes, and certain things, but anyway, I have a picky style. NUF said.

 You also will see Alpha-Bots which Grandma got him. They are letters that transform, and honestly he hasn't gotten into the transforming yet, but he loves these stinkin things and puts them back in their plastic container spot (Which most people throw away) and taking them out again.
Also we got him a doodle pad, which surprisingly are very expensive-who knew? You know the magnetic writer things. Also he got a Melissa and Doug Vehicles Sticker book, and A ball shooter from Abby & Co, and A lego Motorcycle Police Bike, and a set of 5 Hot Wheels, and a BOX of Ebay Lot Hot Wheels.

He was PRetty Happy.

And very possessive of his toys.

He was awake in this goodnight picture I took. Its the flash. Even if it doesn't flash, he pre closes his eyes.

We invited all of his friends over and they sat at our mini picnic table, and it took me like 3 days to get rid of all the crumbs and ice cream spilled. 

Until next birthday, because as of late, thats how my blogging is going.