We have been very bad about updating the blog the last two months! My laptop broke in November and Chris's laptop always seems to be in use for schoolwork. We have been incredibly busy with all of our different responsibilities in the home as parents and caregivers, at school, church, and in our community. It seems we never get to take a breath! :)
Christmas was wonderful for our little family. Thank you for the thoughtful gifts and cards from all of you! If you haven't gotten a "thank you" yet, it's because I am falling behind. We had so much fun watching Westley experience his first Christmas and enjoyed Skyping and Facetiming with both sides of the family. Even across the distances we are so grateful for the love and bonds we share with our loved ones.
Chris continues to work like a madman on his homework and studies. He is getting more and more knowledgeable about genetic recessions, cytoplasm, and cell functions. It is fun to watch him become so enthusiastic about his studies. He has recently decided that Chemistry-based football plays are an awesome idea and runs around the house with Westley and a football, shouting chemical compounds like "K2CO3" which is potassium carbonate, if you were wondering.... :D It's pretty cute and I love that science has sparked his inspiration. He does pretty well in all of his classes and often is elected to play leadership roles in his group work. I am allowed to be proud of my man! :)
The other work he throws himself into is his church responsibilities. Our church has a worldwide youth program that incorporates teaching gospel-centered learning, coupled with practical skills for everyday life. For boys, it includes the Boy Scouts of America program, and for girls, they have an equally challenging Excellence program. Every week, assigned leaders devote several hours of their time and energy to teaching and interacting with the youth (ages 12-18) in this program.
At the beginning of last month, Chris was assigned to be the Assistant Advisor over the young men ages 16-18. There are more than 10 of these young men over whom he has direct stewardship. He helps teach their Sunday lessons; meets in counsel with the boys and their leaders about quorum goals, objectives, and needs; helps them achieve things in Scouting and church assignments, as well as helps to prepare them to go on missions, achieve higher education, and get ready for a temple marriage. All of these things are important and hard, but Chris looks at the challenges and opportunities with a great character of devotion to his duties. He really cares about the boys he works with, and their good and bad choices affect him. He loves the work and really enjoys his time there. I am amazed to see him uphold those responsibilities, with school, and still provide meaningful time for Westley and me.
I am holding up pretty well too, considering all the struggles we've experienced in recent months. I am finally getting the hang of my daily routine with caring for Zella and Westley at the same time, while managing our home. Zella, who is the sweetest 96-year-old woman you'll ever ever meet, has been having a roller coaster of health problems, leaving me distressed and worried much of the time. After this last bout of it though, she seems to really be recovering well and has all of her old spunk back, much the relief of us and her family. She loves to sit and talk about just anything most afternoons and sometimes makes the cutest wisecracks that make Chris and me burst out in laughter.
We are so grateful for the opportunity to know her and to be like family. She depends on us so much that when she is away from home for more than a couple hours, she always asks when she come back home to "those kids who are so nice". She doesn't always remember our names, but she knows we love her and says how much she loves and appreciates us all the time.
Westley has reached HUGE milestones this last month. He has learned to self-feed pretty well with cereal puffs and little bits of fruit, has his 7th tooth coming in, AND has learned how to crawl marvelously! He is the cutest little munchkin I've ever seen. He is starting to get mischievous. His favorite thing in the whole world is to eat stuff off the ground. About 6-8 times a day he will be sitting on the floor and will end up with some random lint, food particle, or dirt clod in his mouth. It doesn't matter that I usually vacuum 2 times a day, he finds stuff!!!!
Yesterday we had a scary incident while driving in the car. He was playing with the plastic container to his cereal puffs in his carseat and all the sudden I started to hear him choke. He had partially pulled off the plastic wrapper covering the can and was choking on a piece. Chris pulled over at a gas station because my attempts to reach backwards and scoop it out were unsuccessful. It took a good three minutes and a series of gags for us to get it out of his stubborn jaws. It was scary but he was just fine, only mad that we'd taken away his fun. Chris and I came really close to having heart attacks and were shaken up for a half hour afterwards. Kids!
We love him so much.... his hugs, smiles, laughs, and sweet temperament. Everyone around loves him and we are incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to love and raise him. He is growing fast, has grown out of nearly everything we have for him (he's already in 12 month clothes at 9 months old!) and keeps us on our toes. The other day Westley squealed and gave Chris a big baby hug and Chris turned to me and said, "I didn't think a father could love his boy SO much!" That just about sums up the way we feel about our little guy. It makes the daily struggles and sleepless nights worth it!
Love, The Wymans
