Lady Layne

What a sweet little girl we have. She is a lover, that's for sure. All she wants is to talk and smile and laugh and be held. The connection she makes with you when she looks at you and smiles makes you feel like she's transported you back to heaven for a few minutes. She has the most intelligent, happy gaze. She can melt you with her slow blinks and dimples. Her little face is so beautiful, I can't get over it. Her raspy laugh is to die for! I think I could go without food or water and be sustained by that laugh alone! Her chubby little body is utterly scrumptious. It screams cuteness. And when she smiles it's like it consumes her whole body. Her first four months of life have gone by so fast. Cruise's seemed to go much slower, giving me more time to enjoy them. She is SO ticklish! I barely lay a finger on her ribs and she squirms and grunts/giggles. She also seems to be dealing with teething already. She wants to chomp on everything and I think her gums are hurting her. Her hair, or what she has of it, continues to be a strawberry blonde--lighter on top and redder on the back. She's doing a lot better with naps. Her night sleeping is still awesome. She's been sleeping 9 to 7:30 since 10 weeks. Gift from heaven. You'd think I wouldn't feel so tired. =)

It was so wonderful to take her home to Thousand Oaks and have her baby blessing. I loved having all my family oooh and aahh over her. They just adored her, which is the best thing to a mom. Her blessing was beautiful, even though she cried the whole time! I knew she would. Not enough one-on-one attention for this girl.

I'm hoping that soon the world will "get" her name. I still receive the most perplexed looks when I introduce her. But we love it!

With cousin Alexis

Those thighs! Too much!

Yum - ay

Mammoth

After the oral surgery match craziness and prior to one of Eric's important board tests we grabbed the opportunity to go to Mammoth for a long weekend. It was gorgeous and there was tons of snow. Now, you know I'm not so huge on snow activities, or anything cold, but Eric showed me how fun it can be. Cruise LOVED it. The second he'd wake up in the morning it was, "Outside, snow, can we go, put on my shoes, build a snowman." The hardest part of the trip was getting him to relax for naps and stay in his bed all night! And I'm pretty sure little kids are immune to cold, because he never wanted to come in--even when his face was completely numb. We had a fabulous time, but I have to admit I think I enjoyed warm Hawaii more ... (pictures to come).

I'm carrying McLayne in a sling under my jacket. =) She kept me toasty warm. I look like the abominable snowman.

Cruise and his good friend, Gunner. We decided that socks worked just as well for their little hands as gloves that wouldn't stay on.

See what I mean about immunity to cold?

Good times and good memories.

Too funny, Cruise

Oh my goodness, I'm just in love with my kids! And my husband, too, of course. McLayne just smiles at me and talks to me likes she's way beyond her months. Cruise is getting a pretty good grip on the English language and has been saying and doing some hilarious things. Unfortunately, I let most of them get away from my memory, but a few of them I have written down.

~ Before bed a few weeks ago, Eric asked, "Cruise, you hungry?" Cruise: "Yesh." He's started saying it that way lately. Eric: "K, what do you want?" Cruise: "Umm, Samrich and football game." Eric: "Alright! How late do you want to stay up? I love this kid!"
~ I went in to get him when he woke up from a nap and he goes, "I know! Gummi bears! That would be fun!" Note: He's only had gummi bears once and that was probably 6 months ago.
~ The other day we were getting ready to go out and Cruise runs out with a hat on and says, "I'm handsome!"
~ He asks about his friends' parents almost as often as he asks about his friends. One of his good friends, whose father's name is Tim, was being dropped off at our house to play and cried a little bit when his dad left. Cruise put his arm around him and said, "You miss your Tim?"
~ Randomly he'll say, "I'm giving hugs!" or "I want hugs!" No problem.
~ Maybe a month or two ago he was watching a show where there was some interaction between a mother and her son. He looked at me as if realizing something for the first time. He said, "You're my mom!" And then he smiled. He continues to say that periodically. I love it.
~ Cruise is a very good climber, which will explain why we invested in a good crib tent a long time ago. Immediately after I put him down for one of his naps I was sitting on the couch and was VERY surprised to see him run out into the living room. He was laughing and said, "Mom, I sleeped good!" "Oh did you?" "Yeah, I sleeped good!" I still don't know how he unzipped the thing.
~You've gotta see this little shrimp climb into his crib. You know how some guys climb over chain link fences? The way they jump up, grab on, and swing their body feet first over the fence? It's very similar to that. Haha. And he always bangs into the other side so hard, but it doesn't bother him. I'm laughing right now thinking about it.
~ Driving in the car, Eric turned on a song that's a little on the hard side. A few seconds later I look back and Cruise is head banging while he reads Mickey Mouse.
~ I was getting ready to go run errands and noticed Cruise carrying one of my bags around as he anticipated leaving as well. In it: an empty snack container and a plastic toy turkey.
~ After family prayer, Eric and I were kissing and we look over: Cruise is kissing McLayne.

~ We made a little road trip to Monterey a few weekends ago where he did some silly things:
 -At the aquarium he overheard a friend's father say to her that the stingrays were trying to jump out of the water to kiss her. Then he leaned down from my arms as close as he could to the water while making kissing noises and saying, "Kiss me, kiss me!"
 -When we pointed out different fish throughout the aquarium, he'd go, "Ooooh-hohoho, it's so ceeuuuute!" You really have to hear the way he says it.
-While we stayed at the lodge there we tried to put him to sleep in the pack and play. We put him down and then went out to the lobby to talk with friends and let him fall asleep on his own. A minute later he came running into the lobby saying, "I'm happy, I'm happy!" I guess I put him down one time saying, "You're not very happy, Cruise. It's time for a nap."
-Also while staying at the lodge, we were getting ready to go somewhere and it was a little crazy getting things ready and talking to some friends that were staying there. All of a sudden we realized Cruise was no longer with us. We all scrambled around to find him and luckily a friend spotted him about 20 yards from the building, sitting in grass as tall as he is and just pulling at it and looking at it. Thankfully his head stuck out bright amongst the yellow grass. What the heck was he doing?? He needs more fear.

- Three of my favorite things to hear him say: One, "That's so silly!" Pronounced--that's so siwwy. Two, "I'm sorry," which he says often, and many times for things he doesn't need to apologize for. It's adorable. He gets really solemn and sad looking and says it SO sincerely, like this, "I'm sorry, Mom, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry." Lots of times when he does something wrong and I'm taking a second to think how to correct him (sometimes speechless because it was so aggravating!) he'll say that and then it completely diffuses the situation. How could I get upset at a kid as sweet as that? And three, "Thank you." He says thank you ALL the time, in the sweetest way you can imagine. "Ooooh-ho-ho-ho!! Thaaaank you!!" Like he couldn't have more happiness in his two year old little body. He says it when I give him snacks, put on his clothes, give him a bath, turn on a show, color with him, tell him we're going somewhere, tell him he'll get to play with a friend, refill his drink, you get the picture.

I'm the luckiest mom. You might be thinking you are, but no, I am. =) Just kidding.       Not really.

*Parkland*

The long awaited day finally came! We were up at 5:30 am on Monday, Jan 31st, waiting for an email that would name our fate for the next 6 years. The only reason to think the email would come so early was that it came that early the year before! So, since we wouldn't have been able to sleep anyway, we were sitting up in bed in the dark staring at our phone. Then all of a sudden, an Inbox(1). Our hearts pounding, we frantically opened the email, and... PARKLAND! Eric did a fist-pump and a "Yeah!" And I went, Dallas. Aaaahhhh, thank you. Warm weather. Nice city. Family in Houston. Where I always wanted to go for oral surgery! What a dream come true. What an answer to many prayers.

Eric couldn't be more excited. A top med school, a premier oral surgery program, a happy wife. 

Here's a blurb on what Eric will be doing the next 6 years:

Parkland Hospital

The OMS training programs include extensive training in maxillofacial trauma, facial reconstruction, orthognathic surgery, preprosthetic surgery, temporomandibular joint surgery, aesthetic maxillofacial surgery, craniofacial surgery, exodontia and other surgery as it pertains to the specialty. An extremely busy in-patient service and out-patient clinic are maintained in each hospital. The programs are designed to thoroughly familiarize trainees in the clinical management of oral and maxillofacial surgery patients.

Additionally, the senior residents may rotate to the Facial Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery Center in Abilene, TX, under the direction of Howard Tobin, MD, where they receive an intense experience in cosmetic surgery.

Biomedical sciences are incorporated into the residency experience by rotations on other services.  Rotations on general and trauma surgery, anesthesiology, internal medicine, otorhinolaryngology, and other surgical electives provide the resident with an extensive background in the management of a variety of medical and/or surgical problems.  Weekly conferences are held on Wednesday evening for the entire oral and maxillofacial surgery service.  Formal lectures in oral pathology are given on a monthly basis.

Our basic program is six years in duration, and is described below:
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Year 1
July 1 to Mid-August - Parkland OMS service
Mid-August to May 30 - Year 2 of medical school
June 1 to June 30 - Parkland OMS service

Year 2 - Third year of medical school (includes 1 month of OMS)

Year 3 - Fourth year of medical school (includes 2 months of anesthesia and 3 months of OMS)

Year 4 - PGY 1 year of general surgery (includes 2 months of anesthesia)

Year 5 - oral and maxillofacial surgery

Year 6 - oral and maxillofacial surgery

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Applicants accepted to our OMS/MD training program receive advanced standing at Southwestern Medical School. At the conclusion of three years of medical school, there is a one-year general surgery internship which will provide additional experience and fulfill the requirements of licensure in those states requiring one post-graduate year of medical residency. The remainder of the program will fulfill the requirements for advanced education in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery as required by the American Dental Association, which includes at least 30 months of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery experience.

Laynie's Little Sweet Cheeks

She just gets chubbier and chubbier.