First Haircut

Personally, I thought Zach's long, gorgeous, corkscrew curls were perfect. However, while in Hawaii, about a dozen people made comments on how cute "she" was, and Corey started sharpening the scissors. I don't find anything wrong with long hair on little boys, as long as it's not shaggy or gross. Both of my brothers had the cutest, sweetest curls for quite awhile.

In this next picture, it's a little more out of control, but it's full of a day's sweat and sunscreen.

Anyways, when it's wet and straight, it's pretty long. Since he turned 18 months old today, I conceded that we could give him a little trim.

I just hope we get a little girl in the future, and that she has Zach's luck with hair! :)

We turned on Finding Nemo, wetted it down, and I took the scissors and clipped about 1.5 inches all the way around.

It kind of broke my heart. The part I cut off was the tiny mullet he was born with! I really am not interested in my baby growing up.

It's quite a bit shorter once it is dry. There is still plenty of hair left, but I miss the little corkscrew curls! Plus, I doubt that they'll grow back.
Something funny about it today was that his little cowlick in back did have a puffy spiral curl! It gets curlier when it is wet. I guess it's cute still, but I miss his long baby hair.

Zach Likes to Hold Hands

One of the most endearing things about my precious baby boy is that he has always liked to hold hands/fingers/thumbs with whomever is closest to him. Some kids twirl hair to calm themselves, some prefer pieces of soft cotton or "silkies" (Missy:)), but my Zachy likes holding hands. It goes beyond a simple preference--he gets downright honery if you don't let him hold it just the right way or if you have to borrow your thumb to scratch your nose or anything! He held my mom's hand a good portion of the drive to Texas from Utah, and it kept him perfectly happy! So while it sometimes gets annoying to have to position my thumb just so while he snuggles in bed with me in the morning (before I join the land of the living), I will be sad when he outgrows the desire to hold his mommy and daddy's hands. How I love this sweet baby boy!

More Zach Videos

We are nearing our fourth month of being away from our families, and I am sad that they are missing these precious months where Zach is learning and growing so much. His vocabulary doubles or triples every months, and he does the funniest things! Here are a few things he's done this past month.

Yep, that's the wall.

Those are big shoes to fill.

Child labor laws?

He randomly started doing this on his own--kind of cute.

This one has a happier ending

Zach's first popsicle experience-watch the look on his face.

We bought him this little lawn mower and the first time playing with it, he went down the hall and came back wearing Corey's ball cap backwards--just like when Dad mows the lawn! We broke out laughing so hard at this random mimic of Zach's. We know we need to watch the example we are setting for our son.

So Zach is recently obsessed with Finding Nemo. He won't really sit in front of anything else, but anything with fish or sharks or water immediately has him chanting, "Nemo" about twelve times in a row! We sure love this kiddo!

All You Need is Love

Did I mention that we LovE this kid?

Videos of Zach at 16 Months

The following videos are for my mom's birthday present, as well as for the enjoyment of the entire family that doesn't get to see each step of Zach's growing up as we are so far away. For those of you that get this notification emailed to you, you have to go to http://www.wilhelmsens.blogspot.com/ to actually watch the videos. Be sure to mute the playlist on the left and turn up your volume to hear his little voice. They may take a few minutes to buffer, depending on the speed of your internet connection, but they're worth it. Enjoy!

Swing Delight

Nana and Bapple

Cat Rider

Eager Drinker

Mini-Extreme Home Makeover

When you've lived in a home as colorful and comfy as ours was in Pleasant Grove, it's tough to move into something less than half the size and as hideously appointed as our rental here in Dallas. The walls in this house ranged from chalky white that looked like they forgot to paint over the primer, to tacky, multi-colored wallpaper. But with a few gallons of paint, a few new fixtures, and a lot of time (why does painting always take SO much longer than you think it will?!), we are much more at home here.

I still have a few rooms to go, but it may take a little while longer until I start the next project. The owner lives in CA, and the agent said we could paint in neutral colors. (Red is neutral, right?) Also, keep in mind there are dozens of other things I would love to do if we owned the place, but we will be out of here within a few short years, so I shall refrain for now! Unless I get really bored or we get rich!

BEFORE: Lovely mauve wallpaper made me want to spend even less time in the kitchen than is already programmed in my genes.

AFTER: I know some of you will have a heart attack, and others of you don't know any better, but I painted over the wallpaper in several rooms. *gasps* I actually researched it online and found several experts that agreed that if you're absolutely not willing/unable to take down the paper (which I have never done, but have heard it is a pain, not to mention there was no way that was happening with a 14 month old), then you can use an oil-based primer directly on the paper to prevent water from getting through the paint and paper, followed by regular latex or oil paint. Of course I did not research this until AFTER I had already painted over the bathroom wallpaper. You will soon see why the oil primer is recommended.

Anywho- I used what I thought was going to be a light beige, but it tuned out to be a darker, grayish beige that contrasted unpleasantly with the counter tops. Oops. I redid the small molding bright white to contrast. Not my favorite room or colors still, but better than before, right?

BEFORE: This guest bathroom wallpaper was reminiscent of Rainbow Brite. I could not find a decent matching shower curtain, so I shopped the "Oops" shelf at Lowe's. I hope we love the color, because for $35, we found a 5 gallon bucket of this relaxing taupe. We also bought some lighter paint we can tint it with so every room we use it in doesn't have to be the same shade.

MIDWAY: We also spent about $15 on bronze fixtures (which were surprisingly complex to install. You'd think toilet paper and hand towel holders would be a standard size, right? Wrong.) I love bronze lately. Really, anything but polished chrome will suffice.

AFTER: I seriously bought at least 5 different shower curtains in varying color schemes looking for the least expensive, acceptable option. A surprisingly valuable lesson I learned in this process was that it turns out that it is more economical for me to buy the more expensive one I liked from Target in the first place, because every trip I took to TJ Maxx, Ross, Marshalls, etc. to find that perfect, discount-priced pattern, I found many other items I liked, as well. As a result, much of January was spent bargain shopping, spending way more than I ought, and then taking twice that time to make returns. With a bit of luck, the Target curtain went on sale, and I haven't looked back! I could even use the red towels I already had, which saved me even more.

What's that, you ask? Oh, 2 tiny drops of water got on the wall after I washed my hands one night. I brilliantly decided to get a towel wet and mop-up the drops. Streeeak! So it turns out that water goes right through latex paint into the wallpaper, causing "water stains" to stay forever. Oh well. It still looks better than Rainbow Brite, right? And I know for next time to use an oil based primer over wallpaper first. I'm sure that water will rarely come into contact with the walls in there- we mainly use that bathroom to bathe Zach!

BEFORE: Whoever originally decorated this home when it was built in the 80s had a knack for picking out gorgeous wall coverings, as evidenced by this stunning floral border, no? I was actually going to leave it and just paint the rest of the wall (and no, that is not a shadow on the white wall. It is a line where the chalky, primer-looking substance on the left meets the grayish white on the right. Classy, huh?), which I did. But it still looked so hideous, and we were expecting dinner guests in an hour, so I just painted right over the ugly, peeling border! Don't you all want to hire me to be your interior decorator? I don't know why I waste valuable time fixing teeth when I could be making millions on HGTV decorating for the stars!

AFTER: One great thing about making over a hideous room is that even minor changes make for a world of improvement. I was especially happy with how the taupe makes the dining room more formal and inviting, rather than the chintzy white breakfast nook appearance of before. And kudos to Corey for picking out the gorgeous orchids for my Valentine's gift. (Although I have dangerously been pining for the Islands ever since...)

BEFORE: And lastly, the living room, where we spend most of our waking hours. I knew we had to preserve some of the spicy color from our PG home. I apologize for the before picture- I already had the blue painter's tape up- I couldn't cover this monotonous white fast enough!

AFTER: Not bad, huh? It immediately felt so warm and cozy, in contrast with the stark blahness of the white. We only did the two opposing walls, as the others are vaulted and we have no ladder. It will also save us work if we have to repaint it a neutral color ("oops" taupe, anyone?) when we leave. Just a little splash of color is all a lot of rooms need to give them a whole new feel. I absolutely love my new living room, and found the perfect shade of red after much study and prayer ;)! Just don't ask me the name of the color, because Zach peeled off the label and ate it, which is better than eating the paint, right?!

I also bought several items to put on top of the ledge, and as part of my Valentine's gift, Corey hung the clock. Don't ask me how he did it, as I previously mentioned that we do not have a ladder. It must be those sweet basketball shoes he got for Christmas. The wooden block "W" looks a little out of place amongst the other metallic, scroll-script objects. I love the globe, though. I may change things up a little, but it works for now.

So, there you have it. Our little rental house is becoming a home, not just as a result of it looking more warm and comfortable. We are already making memories here in Texas. It will be the place where little Zach grew from infancy to childhood, where Corey became a doctor, and where our little family will hopefully grow bigger.

My New Job

I am enjoying my new job as an associate dentist at the office of Steven Titensor, DDS, in Flower Mound, TX. It is a beautiful office, as you can see from the photographs. The aroma of baking cookies fills the air, and we offer our patients comfy blankets, neck pillows, and paraffin hand treatments. Dr. Titensor has been practicing about 25 years and is a master in the fields of cosmetic and general dentistry. I am excited for this opportunity to learn.

I am still in the process of building a busy dental schedule for myself, but as word gets out, I am sure I will be booked solid in no time! It is quite different from the public health dentistry I have been practicing for the past 5 years in Provo. Most of our patients are earning a regular income, or flat-out well-to-do, whereas many of my Mountainlands patients were living in poverty. I do feel like those underserved patients were more grateful for the services I performed and less demanding. I miss using my Spanish, too! I was doing a lot of extractions and root canals on severely decayed teeth, and have not performed anything like that in Texas yet. I felt quite useful in my old practice, as the patients were in great need of dental care. These patients have "high dental IQs," as some would say. They have had insurance and regular dental care most of their lives, for the most part. I do look forward to utilizing skills that I did not have opportunity to use much in Utah, such as crowns, veneers, implants, and other cosmetic procedures.

Our front desk

Our waiting room

Our operatories look like this

If you need some dental work in Texas, come and see me!!

SAHM

So now I know what it's like to be the wife of a graduate student rather than the student. I always felt so out of place in dental school, being in class with all the husbands while all those valiant wives and stay-at-home-moms stitched quilts and scrapbooked and had play dates and talked about potty training and such. I was a little jealous at the time as I studied for my Immunology and Pharmacology exams, and a little not. Now I can start to see why and how they banded together so tightly. It is a wee bit lonely to be a grad student's wife and a mother. Corey arises at 6 am and is gone studying until just before Zach's bedtime most nights. Tonight is the first night (likely of many more to come) he says he will not make it home before Zach goes to bed. I am so proud of him and grateful that he is taking his schooling so seriously. It makes us really appreciate the time we have together.

Zach and I chowing on PB&J sandwiches for lunch

It is different for me to go from working fulltime to only working 2 days a week, and then taking care of Zach single-handedly for the time Corey is at school. I love the time I get to spend with Zach, and hate that I missed so much during that first year (thanks to the rigid stipulations of my student loan repayment contract). But it is exhausting to be his sole source of entertainment, care, comfort, discipline (sort-of), etc. for so much of the time. I seriously do not know how single parents function. I am not complaining- I really can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. (Besides hanging in Maui, of course!) There is honestly nothing better we could be doing with our lives right now than to further Corey's education so that he can take on the role of bread-winner and provider. I'm sure it will fly by and be totally worth it, just like dental school.
But don't be surprised if I start blogging all about potty training and scrapbooking!

And painting. I am "remodeling" our rental house one room per week, so far. Last week it was the guest bathroom, this week it was the living room. I LOVE the deep red I painted it. It instantly made this house feel warm and homey. I will do a future post with all my before and after pictures.

Zachy will occasionally play with my old Cabbage Patch Kid. Corey has tried to throw it out on numerous occasions. He is well-known for taking dolls away from our nephews, and doesn't feel a bit of remorse when the boys cry like girls about their stolen babies. He feels he is doing them a great service by preventing future gender identity issues. Big fat meanie!!

Luckily, Zach has obvious overflowing testosterone levels, as shown in his latest truck-surfing expedition. I don't think Corey has anything to worry about!

White Coats and Such

He looks good in it, doesn't he?! We just enjoyed a fabulous weekend with Corey's parents, who who flew in from blizzard conditions in Idaho to attend his White Coat Ceremony at Parker College of Chiropractic--and to go golfing in the 70 degree weather, of course! We absolutely LOVED having company--it's getting lonely out here already! Zach had a ball with his Nana and Papa nearby, giving him all sorts of attention and snuggles and slipping him treats on the side. My mother-in-law and I painted the town- and our bank accounts- red with all the shopping we did. There are outlets and about 20 TJ Maxx, Ross, and Marshall's stores out here. We had to check on most of them! It was great fun, though, and I plan on taking some trips to the "Return" lines soon.

We also went to the JFK 6th Floor Book Depository Museum in downtown Dallas, where Lee Harvey Oswald is thought to have assassinated the President.....or did he? If you go to the museum, don't spend too much time in the first half. The last half is more intriguing and analyzes the assassination and its accompanying theories/studies. It made us want to watch some JFK movies, but most all of them are rated R. If you know of any good ones that are not R-rated, or can recommend some specific documentaries to watch, I'd love that!

So the white X in the middle lane on the right of the picture is where he was thought to have been shot and killed. Lee Harvey Oswald was believed to have done it from the building on the far left, from the window in the upper right corner, I believe. On the left is the Grassy Knoll, where another shot may have been fired. The area has been preserved and remains largely unchanged from that 22nd of November, 1963. It really is sad and shocking that our President was assassinated in such a manner, especially with his wife right next to him.
This is our 2nd bathroom. I was not fond of the hideous Rainbow Brite wallpaper, and since we were having company, I decided to do a Mini Extreme Makeover on it! I know this is a big no-no, but I heard that removing wallpaper was quite an ordeal, and I only had a few hours before our company was to arrive, so I painted over this ugly stuff with some lovely taupe. I felt a little justified because someone did the same thing in our master bath. Anything is better than that wallpaper! I was quite pleased with the results, which is a good thing, because the paint came in a 5 gallon bucket from the "Oops" shelf at Lowe's! There's enough of it to paint the entire house, but we'll throw a little color on the other walls along with the taupe. I'll post pics of my makeovers as they happen.

The Stars at Night are Big and Bright

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

During the first few years of our marriage, we moved from a tiny apartment on Hansen Avenue in Idaho Falls to the classy El Dorado Apartments in Orem to Grandma's apartments in Provo to our Victorian townhouse in Old Upper Arlington, OH, to our own condo in Columbus, OH, to a house in South Provo on Slate Canyon to our most recent and beloved residence in Pleasant Grove, and now to a rental home in Coppell, TX, just outside of Dallas. That's 8 moves in just over 10 years!! I know it's not a record, but it's a lot of work still the same. We have had so much assistance from friends and family, it's been unbelievable. Moving is a sure test of who your true friends are, I have found. Right by our side during our moves have always been Sam and Tessa, Nick and Meadow, my parents, Missy and Adam, the entire Terry family (Meadow and Adam's family), along with various other family members, friends, and ward members.

So, as you can see, we started out to Texas in a snowstorm. The entire first day of driving was a nightmare. The roads werre snowy and we averaged about 45mph over 10 hours of driving. The next day we sailed through the remaining 700ish miles at about 70mph- NICE! It honestly went by so quickly, and Zach was a peach through the whole thing, thanks in part to my Mary Poppins momma who came along. Due to the holidays, we were unable to schedule the utilities to be connected until just yesterday, so we ended up staying 5 days in a hotel (thanks again to James and Rachelle for Pricelining for us!). It was ridiculous.

When we arrived, a moving party from our new ward was already assembled and helped us unload the truck in 2 hours flat! I am so grateful for the worldwide network of the church and for the selfless, Christlike service of its members. We could not havecompleted any of our moves without that assistance. Luckily, my mom was here to help us unpack many of our things the first few days. It was too cold to be in the house for too long. My sweet old roomate from BYU, Janet, lives here and has brought us food and invited us to her home for dinner with her darling family. It is so nice to already have a friend here!

I actually really like our house. It is a ranch twinhome with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It is less than half the size of the 2600 square foot house we left behind, but it is still big enough for the three of us. We wanted the bigger home in Utah so that we could have family stay with us whenever, and that space was well utilized. We don't count on having many frequent visitors here in Texas! It has a few faults, like the ugly linoleum and wallpaper. Plus the walls are a bit colorless compared to what we came from. I can't wait to splash paint around on them! I don't know if we'll mess with the ugly floors or wallpaper, but if we do, I think we could make it quite nice. I doubt Corey will have much time for remodeling with his school, but maybe during the breaks....

Note the unraveled roll of toilet paper accompanied by that mischievous expression.

And that is the lovely linoleum I was referring to.

And then the Buckeye jacket- what an awesome year for OSU!!!

These are mostly pictures from our last going away get-together at Carl's Jr. with my family.

My darling Tressie Girl

My beautiful sister Melissa

My stunning sister-in-law Meadow

Zach is going to miss his doting Grandpa Alexander so much!

And here is Zach at Walmart on New Year's Eve. It was a smashing party with the duck and carousel and all, if you can't tell by Zach's face. Talk about your white trash event!

Coming Together

So we went to Dallas this weekend to see if we could tie up all the loose ends and get everything set for the big move in a few weeks. We really wanted to purchase a small home, because it is a less expensive monthly payment than a rental. Unfortunately, I will not qualify for a loan because I will be paid on a commission. So we found a little tiny rental. It is cute and in a nice neighborhood. It will be even cuter after we add some nice paint and personal touches. There are other upgrades I would like to add, like tile in the bathrooms, but we'll have to see if Corey has any time to do so. It is dirt cheap for the area, so we cannot complain. Hopefully we will be able to save all the money we would've spent on nicer housing and put that toward future housing or business expenses. Things seem to be lining up nicely for my job. Again, it is just kind of a leap of faith. It is different than being guaranteed a set salary. But capitalism allows a much greater income potential than does a set salary. We'll just hope and pray that it pans out.

It was weird celebrating my birthday away from friends and family. Corey was extremely sweet and patient as we drove from one end of Dallas to the other looking for a restaraunt without a 3 hour wait. We settled on Cheesecake Factory. Mmmmm.....Godiva chocolate cheesecake never lets me down! I gave Corey a hard time about not bringing my present. He said that with not checking baggage, there was not enough room in the carry-ons. (There are lots of things that don't take up much space-- keys to a new Lexus, gift certificates, plane tickets to Italy, to name a few!) I guess it's my fault for being so cheap. I have trained him too well!! (Though I doubt he'll make that mistake again!) At least he got me this nice hotel room at the Hyatt.

To be fair, he changed all of Zach's diapers the entire day, which was nice. Poor Zach has been sick for awhile now. He rarely gets ill, but when he does, he makes it count. He's had a fever between 101 and 103 for 3-4 nights now. He has some kind of respiratory infection/sinus infection. He's been as sweet and snuggly as can be, though.

I just had to mention that the other morning in the hotel room, Corey and I were waiting for Zach to wake up after a long, feverish night. We are not usually present when he arises in his bedroom at home, and we usually just go get him when we hear him crying to get out. So we were surprised when, after a few moments of thrashing in the bed, he popped up into sitting position, blinked his eyes, and wide-awake, said, "Huh?", just like he'd been in the middle of the conversation with us. You had to be there, but it was hilarious to Corey and me.

It's Rented!

We just signed a contract with a nice little family to rent out our house for the next year. They are about our age, the wife is an RN, the husband works from home doing loan modifications, etc, and they have 3 cute kids, ages 2, 4 and 6. I hope everything works out with this. It is really hard to let someone take resposibility for one of our most prized and expensive possessions. I really hope they take good care of it.

We will be sad to leave. It is such a wonderful, warm place. We brought our little Zachary home to it, celebrated holidays, and have made countless other memories within these walls. There is nothing to compare this location and view to in Dallas. We will be visiting Dallas next week to look for housing there. Now all I need is my job contract...

Decisions, decisions

WHY am I so hesitant to go forward with our move to Texas?

There are a lot of factors. I do not yet have a firm contract for my job there. Our house is not yet rented out. We do not have a place to live out there yet. Texas is ugly. No offense, but compared to Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Hawaii, etc, it is just plain flat and ugly. I think the main problem is that I have just not truly received an inspired confirmation that Texas is where we should be going. We felt really good about Oregon, but nothing seemed to point that it made any sense to move there. When I say we felt good, hmmmm, I don't know that I could said it was an inspired good, it just was beautiful, close to home, the mountains, and the beach, etc. And I can't say I feel like we shouldn't go to Texas, or should go anywhere else. But it also doen't make any sense to stay here. We are excited to get on with Corey's education. Confusion...

When we were deciding on where to attend dental school, Corey and I were Gospel Doctrine teachers. In the midst of our decision, while preparing for our lesson, we seriously came across a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that says, "Go to the Ohio." Answers don't come more straightforward than that!

Why can't we get a similar answer for Texas? (I already checked the Topical Guide and Index- there are no references for either OR or TX!)