Scones, Clones, and Groans

Scones:

Shh, don't tell Ryan, but when he gets home from work there will be delicious scones waiting for him! Actually, they are still cooling so I haven't had one yet. I just assume they're delicious.

Clones:

I love Star Wars. When I hear the word "clones" I think of Star Wars. When I hear "Somebody get this big walking carpet outta my way" I think of Star Wars.

Groans:

Doesn't look like it rhymes with scones, yet it does. I have a headache, hence the groans.

In other news, Sam is still officially the cutest baby I know.

In other other news... I played in my first softball game EVER on Thursday. Ryan gave me a batting lesson (I was channeling Todd Helton) on Wednesday, which was the first time I'd swung a bat since Cassi and I tried to play Calvinball in our backyard with a big red plastic bat. I am proud to say that I made it on base every time I went up to bat! I played second base (this time channeling Clint Barmes) but didn't do so well. Knowing where to throw the ball is tricky. I hope I do better this Thursday.

We don't get to have a lot of family time on the weekends because of Ryan's work schedule, but the time we do have is pretty special. This Saturday we took a nice long walk around our favorite neighborhood. When we got home we sat on a blanket in our apartment court and had popsicles! Sam got little pieces of ours, and needless to say he loved them.

Sam will be a year old in less than 2 weeks. I know this sounds cliche, but I really can't believe that my little boy has been around for so long! We love our Baby Sam so much!

What's in a Name?

This morning I was reflecting on all the different nicknames we have for Sam, and I thought I'd make a list.

Nicknames for: Samuel Grayson Reynolds

The obvious, Sam and Sammy

Baby Sam

Sams

Sammy G

Grumpkins

Grumplestiltskins

Grumpy Bum (and Bumpy Grum)

Stinkerpants

Sammy Sammy Bo Bammy

Bo Bams

Sam Bo Jams

Dinosaur Baby

Samasaurus Rex

Samster Hamster (thanks, Aunt Cassi)

Sammy the Salmon

Booger

Boogerbrain

Boogs

Wushious

Fussious Wushious (good luck trying to pronounce those)

A "Rash" Decision

Today while I was at school Ryan called and told me to hurry home because he thought Sammy was in pain and needed to go to the doctor. I asked him why he thought Sam was in pain and he refused to tell me. If he thought the mystery would get me home more quickly, he was right. I came home to see Sam snuggling with Ryan on the couch. Sam does not snuggle. He can't sit still for more than 5 seconds. He really must have been feeling crappy. Ryan noticed that Sam was crying and flinching while he was wiping him off during a diaper change. We got a quick appointment for him to make sure nothing serious was wrong. Boy were we relieved to find out our baby has an infection in his diapered region! I never thought I'd say those words! He got some special ointment and hopefully the infection will clear up soon. He's having a hard time going to bed tonight, I wonder if it is because his bummy hurts. Poor little guy.

Eggs at Midnight, or "Doesn't anyone else stay up late in this town?"

I made deviled eggs for our barbecue tomorrow. I used all of the eggs so we'd have a lot. Eggs complete, I went to the pantry to get brownie mix for the next part of our feast. Stupid! You need eggs to make brownies!

Ryan is at work, and baby Sam is asleep. I already walked around our apartments looking for lights on in the apartments of good friends (the kind you could say "I need brownies NOW" to and not feel stupid). No one is up. I even asked a guy smoking outside if I could borrow some eggs. YES I am that desperate. Sadly he is just visiting his daughter, and she's already asleep.

I am seriously thinking about waking Sam up and going to the grocery store. Is it worth it? I could just eat the rest of the jar of fudge...

Blog giveaways!

My friend Mary has her own neato crafty blog. This week she is giving away goodies to people who comment on her posts and blog about the giveaway items. I would love to win 2 things-

The Name Banner- I think it would look so cute in Sammy's room when we get a two-bedroom apartment.

The Photo Shoot- I love pictures of Sam, and having people take them who are actually talented at taking pictures is even better!

Go check out her blog! http://maryeclev.blogspot.com

Graduating and Becoming a "Grown-Up"

Graduation ceremonies for the School of Medicine were held on May 22nd. I don't technically finish until August, but I was allowed to walk in the ceremony with my classmates. I must say, receiving the hood for the master's degree is pretty awesome.

Yeah, yeah, I know that's not how you are supposed to wear it!

Even though poor Ryan had worked a 12-hour overnighter at the hospital, he still came to graduation the next morning. His unwavering support the past 21 months has really kept me going. I gave him my "stole of gratitude" after the ceremony.

After some group pictures outside, it started to rain. Once inside, I lost everyone! We did manage to catch up with one of my classmates, Heidi, after the ceremony. She and I have become such good friends over the course of working together through school. I'm glad we'll be colleagues in Salt Lake City. That is, of course, assuming I get a job!

Our friend Elisa (aka THELISA) watched baby Sam for us during the ceremony. She is so awesome. To double her awesomeness, she took some nice pictures of us.

I am in the interview process for a job here in Salt Lake. They say they are taking the hiring process slowly, so even if I get the job I probably won't start working until July at the earliest. Next week is my last week rotating through the Pregnancy RiskLine, so after that I will have some time to be a stay-at-home mom. I'm looking forward to it. It will be great to spend so much time with Ryan and Sam without having homework constantly on the back of my mind. I hope we have some nice weather so Sam can enjoy his new pool!

Topsy Turvy Cake

Being an avid reader of Cake Wrecks, I have been exposed to new ideas in cakery. My absolute favorite is the topsy turvy cake.

The Interwebs has several sites that teach you how to make these cakes, and Ryan and I (well, mostly me) thought we would try to make one for Sam's first birthday cake. Being haunted by our past cake disasters, I decided that we would make a practice cake first, to work on technique.

Not too bad, actually. Okay, there are crumbs in the icing, and the top stack is leaning a little, but on the whole, it looks as it should!

So Ryan and I were dinking around on our computers in the living room, when all of a sudden I hear a noise from the kitchen...

The top stack on our cake fell off! After I spent 30 minutes icing it to be sure it would stay together!! Rage!!!

Picking up a stack of cake bare-handed is messier than anticipated.

Our topsy turvy cake was more of a tipsy turvy cake... and what does turvy mean, anyway? In a nutshell, we have abandoned our hope of making a very fancy cake for our son's birthday. We might still buy some packaged fondant to make pretty designs for his cake, but we're sticking to what we know best: two 8 inch rounds stacked together with chocolate icing.

I need a new hobby.