Dance, dance!

I figured everyone would like to see Jacen dancing to Little Einsteins. He even claps with them at the end of the show! It's sooo cute!
Speaking of him... he's a BIG boy. Just had the 18-month well-baby checkup, and he weighs 29.5 lbs and is 35 inches tall. He's on the 98% for his height. It's crazy how much he grew in the last 6 months! We had to buy him a whole bunch of 2T clothes, and he'll be needing 3T PJ's here pretty soon.
He also has become quite the chatterbox! He speaks in his own gibberish, but he'll go on and on, talking with his hands (that's a Mourao trait). He totally thinks we know what he's saying!
We love Jacen so much!

Wow... really?

I was watching the Rachael Ray show this morning, like I regularly do, and this lady was on there, and she loves to bake. In fact, her husband got the whole kitchen remodeled, and with it, they bought a new stove/oven. Because they got a new oven, her baking took off, and she's so obsessed with it that she will go as far as using a hair net when she's baking cupcakes for her daughter's class. Which is fine, I mean, I wouldn't want anyone's hair in my cupcake! So it's all fun and games until she says something along the lines like "I think it's important for a mom to stay at home with her kids and to have the house smelling like baked goods when they come home from school. It's what moms should do"- or something like that.
Wow.
I admire moms who stay at home. Holy cow, if I could mentally and financially handle it, I would. It takes such an enormous amount of patience to stay at home. But staying at home isn't the best fit for every mom.
Then the other day I was talking to someone, and she said what I was doing was unrealistic and that I needed to give up something (she sounded like I needed to give up school more than work, and that I needed to pay more attention to my family). Ok. To a degree that's true, we don't ever go out as a family much anymore, but that's because our schedules are the opposite... well, the point is: I'm not gonna give up my dream of medical school because society tells me staying at home is more important to my family.
For thousands of years women have stayed at home and done the nurturing and taking care of the children, while the men have gone out hunting and now, working. But since women have become such an important part of the workforce, and some families need that 2nd income (either from working at home or outside the home), women have not necessarily put their families/kids in the backburner, they just learned to adjust to having a work life and a family life.
It's especially a huge problem here in Utah with the LDS church saying it's important for women to go to school, but also to stay at home with their kids. So women are supposed to spend thousands of dollars for schooling only to stay home (because most likely they got married and had kids while going to school) and not fulfill the dream of a career they studied for 4-8 years?
It's possible to juggle both, and be happy doing both. I've been doing this "full time work, full time school, full time mom/wife" role for 6 weeks now and it's been doable. Yeah, it's been busy, and sometimes I felt like punching a hole through the wall, but it's fine. I work because we need the income and it's become my social life. I go to school because it's not only my hobby, but it's necessary education for my future. And I'm a mom because... it happened. LOL I like all 3 roles, and I don't need someone telling me I'm going to fail at one of them, because I can do this. Elijah, Jacen, and I are going to make it work for us. Elijah's gonna be a SAHD for 7+ years and he's happy with that decision. We're all happy with it. But for someone to imply that I was going to fail as a mom and a wife because I want to be happy with myself as a doctor???
Nah, I don't think so.

Dizzy, dizzy!

Jacen figured out by himself he can make himself dizzy. Sorry the video is a little dark, but we didn't think of the room lighting :)

Time doesn't fly at regular speed...

... it flies at the speed of SOUND.
I look at Jacen then...
... and I look at him now and I ask myself, "What happened?!" I had this critically jaundiced baby, who slept 22 hrs/day, and ate every 2 hours at night just 17 months ago, and he grew to a kid who is now holding his own popsicles, sleeps 13 hrs/night, and pinches me when he's angry. Can anyone tell me what happened?! Three years ago I could've sworn I was never gonna get pregnant until I was at least 30, now I've got a toddler...
Life throws you curve balls, and they hit ya in the head (most of the time). I don't catch any of them.
Last night when I was tucking Jacen in bed (AKA crib), I was trying to figure out what I'll be doing when he's 5, 10, and 20 years old.
-When he's 5 years old I'll be no where to be found, except in a library somewhere studying.
-When he's 10 years old, I'll still be no where to be found, except in a hospital somewhere, working 100+ hrs/week.
-When he's 20 years old, I'll be home most of the time... but he'll be gone.
After that thought process, it dawned on me: I need to enjoy the time I have with him now, because in just a short few years, I'll be gone, and I won't get to enjoy him being little anymore. But I hope that I can still make the best of the little time I'll have with him as he's growing.
The guilt I feel for going to school is incredibly intense and hovers over me all day, every day. However, I pray that he'll understand that he can do anything he sets his mind to. I pray that he becomes a strong boy who is smart and helpful to everyone around him.

While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about.~Angela Schwindt

And with football season....

... comes a wide variety of feelings in our household. These would include, but are not limited to:
-hate
-excitement
-anger
-anxiousness
-happiness
-annoyance
Can you tell which ones belong to whom?
Why, oh why!!!!