8 month update

What a fun time of life! John is learning new motor and speech babble tricks almost daily. His latest favorites:

-Saying "dada'!

-Enthusiastic babble sharing his views on the world

-Laughing when tickled

-Feeding himself finger foods

-Army crawling on the tile at impressive speeds

-Crawling over low obstacles (especially climbing up on me until he is standing with his hands on my knees)

-Opening cabinets

-Sitting and splashing with his hands in the bathtub

-General exploring of all corners of the house

-Talking to the mirror (and sometimes attempting to eat the mirror in what almost looks like a kiss)

He also is enjoying making funny sounds with his mouth and trying out different funny faces. Often he'll discover a noise, indulge for a few days, then move on to something else new. So, it's a challenge to document some of these short-lived experiments. Here is one of his latest funny sounds/faces:

Matt is busy in his third year of dental school, which thankfully involves mostly clinical work. Matt loves working with patients, learning and applying new technical skills, and seeing the difference he can make through his dental procedures. He also has been busy with research on cultivating stem cells from dental pulp. He recently was interviewed on local TV for a project he started with his professor last year! Here is the clip: http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/26908947/detail.html. The research group is hoping to publish soon. He also has been busy setting up a State Lobby Day and arranging to participate in the National Dental Lobby Day in D.C. On top of this, we are trying to plan out externships and the application for a residency in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. So, his more laid-back third year has been a little busier lately!

I am keeping plenty busy enjoying John and building up my online tutoring business. I am trying to better utilize social networking to market, and I recently expanded to include applicant essay editing (as in, support in brainstorming and editing essays for college/internship/grad school applications). I now know that I have no affinity for accounting. I enjoy budgeting and finances to an extent, but after spending hours and hours fixing my documentation mistakes in Quickbooks, I have a newfound respect for people that understand and enjoy accounting. Finally, I am loving my calling as a Gospel Doctrine Teacher, and overall I am so grateful for my current work and life situation. It has been so fulfilling to be able to be so involved in John's development.

Now off to another full week and the start of a break filled with fun times with both families!!