really quick pics

Ok so it has been a while since we have posted anything on the blog but really quickly to sum things up. Star is having one heck of a rotation up at IMC a.k.a Death Star in Murray. She has to leave the house by 7 in the morning, get there by 8 and have most of the patients ready for the heart failure clinic before they open. Usually they have bout 25 patients to see a day. She works hard all day, and then to top it off her preceptor gives her about 1-2 hours of homework a night to research and to report back to her the following day. She doesn't get home usually till about 5:30 or 6 because of traffic and then is able to relax for a little before she hits the books again. Today though she did see a kidney transplant, and has seen stents, valvular angioplasty done on a stenotic aortic valve, and almost saw a heart transplant.
Work/clinical is going good for me (mike). Dr. Allen is pushing me every day to be the best sonographer that I can so when he lets me on my own, I will have no problem letting the doctors know what I see. Other than that, things are going really well. Alex is growing up so fast, he is crawling all over the place, talking(babble) like crazy, and has 4 TEETH NOW!!! Last time we went to the doctors he was 85% in height, 60% in weight, and 96% in head size, so he is growing into his head :). He loves animals, outdoors, playing with papa dave who constantly makes him giggle. He favorite foods are top ramen, watermelon, pickles, celery, and pretty much everything else. You name it and he will try it out by using his pointer finger and making sure it feels right, and then shoving into his mouth and gagging because it was to much. Star and I have become really good at trying to get out all the stuff from his mouth.
Enough said, we love you guys, and hope all is well and we hope you like the pictures.
P.S. Alex got a condition called Black Hairy Tongue(he got it after taking an antibiotic) EEEWWWWWW!!!!!!

Our little man , He loves the camel back , Our fun day in ghost towns

Grandpa Salmond Cowboy hat,

more pics on our ghost town day


older one but cute, Best family picture yet,

alex's great grandparents (he just turned 90),


His first sucker, turned his tongue blue for awhile (he loved it!),

his first car,happy july 4th

He is mobile

So Xander is mobile. He started crawling around 2 weeks ago (well its more of a scooty thing, but the Dr says that is not important) and now has some speed and a little more independence. We went in for his 9 month appointment last week and he is in the 50-60th percentile on weight, 85th percentile on height and 97th percentile on head size. You would think his head would just look huge but it kind of just fits his body. He is just super-sized and no longer fits in outfits less than 12 months. He is developing a strong personality and becoming more of a little man every day. He also LOVES the outdoors, if he is fussy all you have to do is raise him to the window, open the door, go for a walk, really anything where he can see the outside. I didn't think anyone was born with that but he really adores it outside and has since day one. Oh and Mike got a road bike and we bought a bike trailer for Xander and go road biking now. I LOVE IT!! I used to road bike a couple years ago and did not realize how much i missed it till we started. We are going about 5 miles a day and its truly one of the best part of our days.
I finished the lecture portion of my school and had 4 whole weeks off to spend with Xander. I loved it so much but admit there were days I missed school. There was one day he just wanted to scream for 2 hours, did not matter if i bounced, rocked, tried to feed, sang or hummed he just wanted to scream. Mike walked in the door and he just fell asleep in his arms. I felt relieved and upset at the same time, what magic did he have that I lacked. The 4 weeks are now over, the house is spring cleaned and although I will miss Xander, I was excited to go back to learning.
I started my 1st rotation, "Alcoholism and other drug dependencies". It is amazing so far!!! I have learned so much about addiction and the brain and the struggles facing those in recovery and addiction. I hope I can find the ways to apply it once I am done. Mike said to say "Booo" here since its been a little hard to have me gone more (hard for me too), but you do what you have to do and hopefully enjoy the path.
So Mike is finishing up his summer semester this week and still working full time at the clinic (doing ultra sounds of the heart). He LOVES it there and is really picking it all up incredibly fast. His preceptor is amazing and helps him so much to become the best. He pushed him really hard but most days Mike appreciates that.
He is the BEST daddy!!! He makes Xander (or Alex to him) giggle and laugh all the time and is constantly helping out with him. I am so glad I married the man I did, not only because he is my best friend, but because he is the most amazing father and I know that Xander will learn from him and be a better man because of him. For fathers day I thought a lot about the amazing father he was and how grateful I was for all those that had helped him become who he is and for the man he pushes himself to be and for the inspiration that gives me constantly.
Well sorry for the length, its just been awhile. I will get some pics/videos on soon.
Loves,
Star

one more video

this seems to be at the end of our to do list :)

Sorry there is such a delay from post to post, we seem to focus on other stuff (school, xander, work, sleeping etc) and this gets kind of put on the back burner. So I have one real test left!!!! Well till September when I have to make up what I missed from the pregnancy. But one test left till I am off for 5 weeks!!! SO SO HAPPY! Mike is amazing at his new job and the doctor he is working with said he wants to hire someone new that is "just like mike". Such a nice compliment to his hard work. Xander is growing like a weed - he is 7 1/2 months old and we are in the transition of switching him into 12 month outfits because he is outgrowing the 6-9 months. Crazy and cute. Oh and he is the proud new owner of 2 new teeth :), he gets a little grumpy for about a day when they come in but it has not been that bad. He is such a strong kid with an amazing independance to him (mostly just comes off as stubborn right now) and he LOVES the outdoors! We are going to try and post some videos so hopefully you can see his cute personality. We are so thankful for all the support we have and the love from all our friends and family (xanders grandparents are really his best friends right now), we could not be doing what we are doing without their help and can not say enough of how thankful we are. Loves, Star, Mike, Xander

Missed Pics

Sorry just realized I never posted some of my favorite pics. These are from about a month ago. Sorry there are kind of a bunch - you kind of go camera crazy :)