Lawton, OK?!

Do YOU know where Lawton, OK is? I certainly don't. But we do know that it is the 8th most dangerous city in the US for women. That sounds like a winning combination right there!

Well that's where we're headed for 3 months in 2014. Yep. Sooooooper excited.

So the husband's in optometry school. We go around the country and do rotations next year, and we lottery-pick our order of picks for each quarter. Each person gets some high number picks (you get a better choice than the low number picks), and each person gets some middle and low number picks.

The rotation sites are here in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Vegas, Utah, and a couple random ones all over the rest of the country. I had my eye on the Bethesda, Maryland one because of it's proximity to New York, DC, Boston, all these beautiful (in the fall!) places we'd never get to really experience otherwise. Steve had his eye on Utah to be with his family and because he likes what he knows. He doesn't like being unprepared or the unknown. He's not what you'd call a Christopher Columbus. I told him we could stay in Utah for 2 rotations (there are 2 different sites there) if we could do Maryland (which the thought of obviously freaks him out, but he's still excited). So we went into the picks meeting having a plan, but other people had plans too. Dang people and their plans....

1st roation (May-August 2013): here at the eye clinic (required)

2nd (August-November): Maryland (we were quite lucky to get this coveted site! esp during fall)

3rd (November-February): Salt Lake City (also lucky to get it with our number that quarter, 

but it'll be winter which is pretty sickening)

4th (February-May): LAWTON, OKLAHOMA.

What?

We had a pick number toward the end of the line and this was the best option we were left with. 

But after Steve bitterly blurted out "Lawton, OK", we realized a couple positives...it's only 3 hours away from Dallas, so we'll be able to go down throughout the quarter to look at houses for after graduation, he can network for jobs, and most importantly, they have a Taco Bueno and sell Bluebell.

So if any of you know of any decent, furnished apartments that do 3-month leases in any of the above-mentioned places, or know of any moving companies that move stuff for free, please, you know where to reach me.

On to the baby.

Love his little bum bum!

 He recently discovered that these things make a really funny noise and wiggle around like crazy when you slap them around.

 "I went to In-n-Out and all I got was some of this stinky tomato!"

 Jason and Geri moved to North Carolina. Steve and I aren't even them and the last month has been pretty emotionally draining for us. But they got off without a hitch and are attempting to get settled. We had so much help here from everyone with their move, it meant a lot.

 Jason was pretty entertaining the night that they left, he was on some meds that altered his personality a little bit. It was the perfect way to end their stay here :)

 Thanks for the memories guys.

 So we drowned out our sorrows at the Orange County Fair. Well, we ate our way through the OC fair. We had fried snickers (So gross! I was envisioning crispy fried chocolate, but it was breaded like a corn dog. Sick.), the leg of a turkey on steroids, a foot-long corndog, and funnel cake. Holy toledo I bet the nearby cardiac units had a peak in admissions that night! When we first walked in, the first food stand was selling turkey legs for $20. TWENTY DOLLARS for ONE. We later found others for half the price and settled on that. We also took Parker to the petting zoo, those little pigs, dear, and llamas were so precious! OK the llama wasn't precious, it was weird and awkward and creepy but everything else was precious! I tried to keep myself from thinking of the inhumane treatment these little furry things' lives probably consist of and focused on my sweet little boy giggling at and pulling the ears of the little Bambi. Steve and I are excited to take him back next year and watch him squeal with delight on some rides!

 We got a babysitter and hit up an Angel's game with a bunch of Steve's classmates. Baseball is So. Boring. Half the time, they just stood there staring at each other! Steve said they were talking to each other with signs and stuff but I think they were just boring themselves silly.

The company was great though, especially baby-free :). We brought some peanut butter M&Ms and some Funyuns; I would normally be stoked about getting a hot dog, but my 1-footer from the fair did me in for the week.

 After the game, The Goo-Goo Dolls put on a show on the field, so we all went down to get a better view. Steve and I sang along to our favorites and watched the intoxicated ladies dance. It was a good time.

Introducing the cutest little movie star you ever did see!

The 4th-years at Steve's school had to do some research project for which they were doing a pediatric video. Obviously they needed some pediatric stars, so Steve volunteered Parker (in exchange for a Target gift card). The resident mock-examining him was really good with him and he cooperated decently well (for a 1-year-old!). At one point, Steve was supposed to hold his head steady and she was assessing a couple different things, he obviously didn't like his head being mashed into one spot and kept swatting at her and Steve. Another time Steve was supposed to cover one eye while she did something and apparently babies don't like for a giant hands all up in their business.

Go figure.

 This was Monday (Newport Beach harbor, no waves!), Tuesday (splash pad), Wednesday (Carlsbad beach with cousins Emily and Sarah), and Thursday (playdate with girlfriends Peyton and Claire) of last week. Phew!

Loves balls. That's how he says it most of the time too, holds it up and proclaims, "baaaaaaaah!".

Being manly and playing cars with some new toys

We had his 1-year appointment today, little man is still tall and skinny.

22 pounds, 40th percentile

31.5 inches tall, 90th percentile

head 47.5 cm

Little man is also still not walking or standing on his own (he will stand for a while leaning against something, but not on his own). Doc said to call him and bring him in if he's not walking by 15 months.

We've got 3 months! I can't wait to see his cute little face teetering around this place!

Then he got 5 pokes. Boooooo.