Teeth

My baby is getting his bottom two teeth.  I'm still a nursing mother so this just got interesting; the other two were bottle fed by this age.  

I've lightly flicked his mouth a few time when he bites and he gets this incredibly cute frowny face that melts me.

I have a feeling my kids are going to have a continued struggle with their teeth.

Maya was born with a neonatal tooth.  She had a tooth bud on her gums when she was born and by the time she was six weeks, a tooth had grown in.  It was brown, very discolored, and loose.  I took her to a pediatric dentist in the area we were living in and he said that we had two choices, 1) have him pull it or 2) keep an eye on it and make sure she doesn't aspirate it.  We opted for him pulling it.  He explained that there was a less than 10% chance that there would be an adult/permanent tooth there later in her life.  We took the chance.

At her three year old check up and cleaning, they saw the adult tooth in her x-rays.  Wahoo!!!  We were thrilled.

Kade had a pacifier up until about a month ago.  We've noticed a welcomed change in his bite and teeth alignment, but still.  Hopefully it just gets better and he won't have to have braces for TOO long.

So far, Jett doesn't have anything crazy going on with his mouth/teeth.  Let's hope it stays that way!

Job(s)

WE FEEL EXTREMELY BLESSED!!

When Arthur was offered the job at Strayer University, we set out and moved to Utah.

Arthur was working there for about two weeks when an opportunity to meet with people at a different company came to him.

He went through the interview process with Qualtrics and was offered a position.

With A LOT of prayer and A LOT of discussion, we decided a job move (already) was right for us.

When Arthur went to let the Strayer people know, they were VERY understanding and Arthur continues a relationship with the VP there; miracle!

Arthur has been at Qualtrics for about two months and he really enjoys it.  Things were finally settling down from the whirlwind of changing jobs so quickly, when Arthur's hiring manager approached him about moving to a sales team.  Not just any sales team, the team over the Asia-Pacific countries.

Once again we were back on our knees praying and spending a lot of time discussing if this would be a good fit for us.  With this promotion, the opportunities would be endless.  His schedule would be completely different, but we decided this would be a great thing for our family and may bring some fun adventures our way.

So here we are, one big move, two jobs later, finally, finally getting the hang of our 'new' life.  I was able to participate in the companies Halloween party and I loved how family oriented the company is.  I like companies that include family in whatever they can.  I was also able to meet many of Arthur's co-workers; they all seem very nice and they think very highly of Arthur.

I've learned over the last few months to, as my daughter's 'friend' Justin Bieber would say (when he was more normal than he is now), never say never.  The Lord knows all and when we put our trust and faith in him, he WILL provide.  

Zojirushi

Do you know what Zojirushi is?

Well, it's a company that makes all kinds of fun, practical kitchen items.  I first became familiar with the Zojirushi water boiler when I served a mission in Japan.  Several members, whose homes I visited, had them.  I always, thought they were so cool...hot water all the time?!  Awesome!!

Arthur bought me one for Mother's Day and it wasn't until about two weeks ago that I opened it and found a spot in my kitchen for it.  It's one of my favorite things.

It holds three liters and is really nice to have out of it's box.

It's so great because I can have hot chocolate, cup 'o' noodles (no messes in the microwave), and all kinds of things that call for hot water quick.  It basically keeps it at the temperature of your choice and then if you need it hotter, you boil it with the touch of a button and it does it in five minutes or so.

It's very convenient I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to simplify (even more) the boiling process for things like I mentioned above.

Utah

We moved to Utah about three months ago and it has been a whirlwind that has finally died down.  I'll go back (quickly) about a year...

Arthur graduated from BYU-Idaho in July of 2012 and we made the decision to move to California and wait to hear back from the PA programs he applied to.

After not being accepted this first round of application, Arthur started putting most of his energy into looking and applying to jobs all over the place.  He had been applying to jobs since we left Idaho, but nothing seemed to pan out.  

While we lived in CA, Arthur worked for ScholarWear, a uniform store for the Challenger Schools.  It was a great job that allowed us to spend a lot of time together and was very flexible; which was nice since Jett was on his way.

In July of 2013, Arthur rec'd some interest from a place called Strayer University.  We compared them to the east coast version of University of Phoenix.  He flew out to interview and within four days he was offered a job as an Admissions Recruiter/Counselor.  

We left CA on August 9th after packing up all of our stuff and stopped over in Tahoe for a few nights; there was a Busath family reunion going on there.

Me, Kade, and Jett traveled in the van and Arthur and Maya drove the moving truck.  Kade was a trooper.

We drove into Utah late on August 11th and moved into our apartment the next morning.  We still had so much to do before Arthur started his job on the 19th.  

We stayed very busy that week and we are so grateful for the opportunities that have been made available to us since we arrived here. 

Marvin

If you recall, this was the first picture on yesterday's post.  And if you'll notice, he has a big giant green monster, I mean, pacifier in his mouth.  Well, Kade is/was extremely attached to his paci.  

This boy was born to suck.  He got attached to his paci about four hours after birth, when I realized I couldn't feed him all...the...time.  

When I got pregnant with Jett, Kade was eight or nine months old (they're 17 months apart - do the math) and I (and kind of Arthur) made the decision to let Kade keep his paci after he turned one.  We took Maya's away the day after she turned one and she was totally fine.  But since Kade LOVES his pacifier, we thought he'd be better off during the transition of adding a new member to the family, and so would we;  we'd approach taking it away when we needed to cross that bridge.  With the new baby, we just let him keep it...and he kept it...and kept it. 

At about 18 months, we started only having it for naps and bedtime.  I was ready to just let him keep it until he went off to college, but at the same time knew that wouldn't be a good idea.  Finally, Arthur and I started discussing 'Marvin's' (we called it that so he wouldn't know what we were talking about) time frame about a week before his second birthday.

We did it...COLD TURKEY!  The first few naps and bedtimes were a nightmare and after about a week he didn't cry at bedtime and he didn't ask for it a million times.  It's been about a month and he only asks for it maybe twice a week.  We just tell him that the paci is no more and he asks for something else...like his soccer ball...lol!!!

I'll be the first to admit that I was one of those moms that couldn't believe someone would let their kid have a pacifier out and about after they turned one.  Well, here she is, in the flesh, taking back those feelings and apologizing to anyone I may have looked at funny or judged; my boy is, well was, the paci KING!! He still would be if we'd let him. 

I'm glad this part of Kade's life is over.  I was very anxious about taking it away, but relieved it went as smooth as it did.  Here's to breaking habits and creating new ones!!  You'll thank us one day Kade.

Little Mister

This sweet little boy turned two on October 10th.  We had a little celebration complete with blue cupcakes and a soccer ball.

We were lucky enough to have cousins come up and visit that day.  I didn't take any pictures of them here and I'm mad at myself for that.  Next time.

For about two weeks straight he asked me to help him put these on him at one point during the day.

This is usually what he does when I say 'SMILE.'  This is the soccer ball he got from us and he does not let it out of his sight.  He'll even sleep with it some nights.

Showing off his new swag.

We had such a fun night making it all about our sweet gentle giant.  He is such a joy to have in our family.

"Pumpkin spice & everything spooky."

Last week was Halloween and it was our first one in Utah.  Since we live in an apartment complex, we were really looking for somewhere to go so the kids could have a legit experience.  After talking with Arthur, we decided we would hit up his work Halloween party and then head over to my brother and sis-in-law's house to trick-or-treat around their neighborhood.

The day began like any other and as soon as I mentioned we were going to go somewhere, besides sit around inside all day, the kids were so excited.  The morning seemed to drag along, kind of like any morning would when you know there's something super fun to do later in the day.  We got in the car and headed to Qualtrics (Arthur's work) to do some pre-trick-or-treating trick-or-treating.

Our pretty princess

"I am Ironman."  He's lucky we found something for him...I almost put him in one of Maya's hand-me-downs, a pink cupcake.

No this is not a picture of Maya when she was a baby...but they do look very similar. Jett with the chicken outfit on.

Qualtrics provided dinner; broccoli cheddar soup in bread bowls and salad.  Broccoli cheddar soup is a favorite around these parts, so the kids were looking forward to gobbling some of that up!!  

There was a Minon wandering around the party that Maya was dying to go see.  We snapped this shot of her and 'him.'  There wasn't a whole lot of walking around to get candy...Russell from Up was sitting at a station putting handfuls of candy into kids' buckets, and I mean HANDFULS.  See the above pics...Maya had only been to Russell's station once and ended up with a full bucket.

After that, we headed over to west Provo and hung out at my brother's house.  

We had a fun group.  The cousins were a cowgirl, a painter, a friendly witch, a mouse, and a baby bear.  Their parents were Superman and a mama bear.

Our kids had so much fun trick-or-treating together; hopefully we can continue doing it until we have an awesome neighborhood like they do.

After the kids set out with the dads, sis-in-law and I went back to the house to hand out candy.  My parents flew in for baby bear's blessing and they made it a few days early to be a part of the festivities.  It was so fun to see them.

Halloween was definitely a success this year.  Maya, Kade, and Jett had a great time...let's hope to an amazing and fun time next year.