August 2012- after several months of praying, discussing and several failed attempts to find a job in Vegas, we moved to Utah! We moved up with little funds and a lot of faith that it would all work out. We moved to Payson, Ut after after my aunt and uncle offered us a place to stay with them. Did I mention it was in their RV? Yep! They just finished their basement and it is beautiful! My parents lease was ending and they didn't want to sign for another year, so they moved into the basement a week before we got there, as a temp place until they could find something. So, essentially we all lived in the basement apartment for a while, and we used the RV as our bedroom. This RV is pretty awesome, as far as RVs go, but still an RV.
So we would bounce Milana inside the house, then once she was asleep we would very carefully walk around the yard, hoping she wouldn't wake up, and put her down in the RV. Bouncing in the RV was hard because it shook the whole thing like an earthquake. Often times she would wake up in the middle of the night, so I would have to make the trek, flashlight in hand, back to the house to bounce her back to sleep. Its impossible to bounce when someone else is asleep. Things got tricky in the rain and wind as well.
My favorite part of staying there was the roosters! Sometimes, when they were out of feed, my aunt would let the chickens and roosters out to eat free range. Every morning a rooster would come and stand right outside the window and crow like it was his last day alive. Often times he would wake up Milana. I would get so tired-angry every time that guy came around! He had no idea I'd been up all night bouncing my baby trying to get some sleep. So annoying. The RV is made of metal with out much insulations, so he was so loud! I can laugh about it now.
I threw Dave a surprise party for his 30th! He didn't have a clue. It was at his parents house and when we walked around back all his friends we there and shouted "surprise" even my sister flew up from Az to come to the party! It was so much fun! I scrapped the bottom of our account to put it together ha ha and everyone brought a dish and the party turned out perfectly!
Daves Dr. Seussical Cake
We were in the RV till November 1st, and there were a few weeks in October that got pretty cold. We brought in space heaters to keep us alive and that seemed to do the trick. Milana and I usually slept in the back bed, and Dave in the front room bed, sometimes we would get so hot in the back cause the air didn't go anywhere, while Dave froze all night in the front room. Poor guy, but he refused anything we had in there to make sure Milana and I were taken care of.
Dave studied for the MCAT constantly! He went to my dad's office, where they set up a study room, and he practically lived there. A few days a week he came home early, and I went to the office to massage. It was our only source of income for about a month. I generated as much business as I could, and somehow, we ate and payed our bills that month. I hated leaving my sweet baby at home, but you gotta do what you gotta do.
Milana loves the farm animals at the house. Dave puts her on his shoulders and walks her out there. She freaks out about the cats! She wants them so bad. She screams and giggles when she sees them and tries to wiggle down to pet them. The dogs are also pretty entertaining for her. I walk her in her stroller back and forth in the horseshoe shape trail so she can see all the animals everyday.
September- Dave retook the MCAT on 9/11 and he aced it!!!! I am so proud of him. He studied so so so hard! This was his 5th time taking it and 3rd time in 2012. What a trooper! He decided to apply to PA school as well as DO school. This was the plan since I met him: try for 3 year to get into med school, if that doesn't happen, come up with plan "B". So plan B for us, was PA school. He sent out applications and we waited. Dave started his job at Install Pro, working for Dish Network. Another reason we are here, is for this job. We were told there was a big earning possibility, but of course nothing is guaranteed. We have to make a major investment in tool and painting the truck white. We paid close to $4000 to get everything he needed and are just praying it was a good decision.
While all living together we talk about just continuing to live together until we move. So we start looking for a place that will accommodate all our needs and the task seems almost impossible.
Milana loves playing with her cousins and they come downstairs a lot to see her. Little Zacky calls her "Mewanna" and the nick name has stuck. Ha Ha.
Milana and Izzy playing
She is spending time on her hands and knees, and is pushing forward, but no crawling yet. The only way I can get any liquid down her is with a medicine dropper. She refuses a cup, sippy, water bottles anything! Its a dropper or mama's milk for her.
She is still having a difficult time with life, so we decided to get her feet zoned. I took her 3x a week for quite a while. Our zoner, Julie found a lot of interesting things. She had mold in her ears and lungs, lots of issues in her bowels (which was a main concern of why we were there) and lots of hormones still pushing through her body. We were hopeful that Julie could help her to sleep, among other things. i felt so fortunate to have the opportunity (she trades with my dad, and she "owed" my dad a lot, so she saw us for free.) I felt like this was a reason why were in Utah again, to have all these options at our finger tips was great. She was able to clear out the mold (we did Back Flowers to help that as well) and after a few weeks Milana started having regular bowel movements for the first time in her life!!! Unfortunately, sleep never came, so I decided to stop going and give her body a rest with the idea of picking back up in a while to see if more improvements could be made. Her favorite food is zucchini from the garden. I steam it and put a coconut oil on, and she wolfs it down. She sits in her chair and says "eh, eh, eh, eh" till I give her more. She'll say that for just about any food these days.
October- Dave got an interview to Touro PA school! We couldn't be happier! Dave called me from work to tell me and we just screamed on the phone together!
Milana get cuter and cuter. She was a lady bug for halloween! So cute.
November- Brent Moser, who owns my dads office building, knew we were looking for a place. He is a builder and one day went to my dad's office and told him he had a town house available Nov. 1! We said we'll take it! The only problem was that the people living there before had totally trashed the place! Holes in the walls, taking off kitchen drawer fronts, scratches in the paint etc. So in order to move in by Nov, we volunteered to renovate the place. We spent about 2 weeks patching it up and it looks as good as new now! Its a really cute place, about 2 years old 3 bedroom 2.5 bath, and best of all about a minute walk for my dad to get to work. Milana loves to take a bath at night and then run around "noony" she squeals and plays, its the highlight of her day before bedtime. Its so cute!
She is growing up so fast and getting so big. We thought she was big when she was born, now we just can hardly believe how much she has grown. Dave and I went on our first date in 10 months for my birthday! He took me to The Killers concert and we had a blast! I love them and the concert was awesome!
Milana is starting to allow grandma Crockett to bounce her to sleep, which is how we were able to get out for some much needed time together. I am starting to get the itch for another baby! AAAHHHHH! Dave got accepted to the PA program at Touro. We sent them our money to hold his seat, and were excited knowing that we were for sure doing something next year. Dave also got invited for an interview in Alabama for DO school!!!
Dave at his interview. The school is brand new and still under construction when he interviewed.
December- Milana is starting to walk around while holding hands, onto couches or her favorite, the back of your pants. It is so cute and she so proud of herself. We had so much fun this christmas!! Milana loved to play with the presents under the tree, especially the curly ribbon. She would occasionally tear the wrapping paper, but never really totally open anything. I am so excited to have her first Christmas! Everyone came home for the holidays and Milana had so much fun being spoiled! She even had her first taste of chocolate chip cookies!
her favorite christmas song. this is soooo cute! She loves to dance!
We went on a little boat cruise on the Provo River, it was really cute and all decorated with lights and christmas displays. Milana had fun until Santa rowed out on a canoe to say hi and she freaked out!
She will eat just about anything I give her. She loves loves loves food. Murphy's came down and spoiled her some more with cute outfits and musical instruments. Baby's first Christmas was a success. DAVE GOT ACCEPTED TO DO SCHOOL IN ALABAMA!!!
We withdrew from Touro and sent our money to Alabama. We are so grateful that Dave got in. 3 years of praying to this and it finally happened! yahoo! Great job, Babe! I love you and am so proud of you and all the hard work you put into this. So proud to call you my man! He also got asked to interview at a DO school in Arizona. I am hopeful that he will like it and decide to go there, but in the back of my mind, I know we are going to Bama. I finally lost all the baby weight! 80 lbs! woot woot. Unfortunately my body doesn't look anything like it used to. So while I celebrate the loss, I still realize there is a lot more work to do!
January 1- Milana takes her first step! So cute and so proud of her. She was quite proud of herself as well. It took her about 2 weeks to master it and now she just cruises around like a champ.
She is really doing a lot of "baby talk" she is practicing a lot of new sounds and its so cute! She imitates a few words. She says "thank you" in her own way, as well as "dropped it". She loves when we sing popcorn and other primary songs, and she does the actions as best she can. Its so cute so watch her pudgy little finger try to follow along. I have pretty much given up on her signing to me. I have been really diligent in signing a few key words that we always use, and she just doesn't do it. I know she has the capability though because when she does pat-a-cake, she claps her hands and even "pats" the cake. She LOVES kids! She loves to play and interact and sometimes just stand there and watch them play. Her personality is getting really fun, and she is becoming a very happy baby! Dave interviews at Arizona and absolutely hated everything about it. We had been praying that he would feel strongly one way or another, so we would know what decision to make, and that definitely happened. So we set our sights on Alabama and started figuring out the logistics of getting out there.
We are getting out of debt before we start school! We sold the Corolla (shorty) to Cass and Byron and we paid off the Vespa. We are just driving my parents vehicles and Dave takes the truck to work, and we will most likely buy something once we get to Alabama, and pay cash, that way we won't have to register it twice. It feels really good to not have those monthly payments anymore!
I love waking up to that cute face in the morning!
Happy Valentines Day! Dave wanted ribs for the special day and it turns out Milana wanted them too! She would eat right off the bone. Ha Ha such a daddy's girl!
we love our beautiful baby girl!!! She melts our heart every single day!
LOVE LOVE LOVED the update!! I'm so excited for you all and Alabama! and Milana is so gorgeous! Miss you! Wish I was closer! I am coming to visit in April so we should get together then so I can see you before you move!
ReplyDeleteWonderful update! Milana is sooo cute. For some reason I haven't been to my parents' house much lately but the next time I am there I will call you so we can try and get together!
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