Update

Sorry I suddenly went MIA.  Nothing bad happened, I swear.  In fact, lots of GOOD has happened.

Can I just say that I LOVE Albuquerque!? Honestly, when Steven got the job here I was kinda "meh" about the move.  I was glad it was closer to Phoenix, but that's about it.  Really truly, ABQ is a hidden gem! The weather has been so beautiful (best summer of my life!) and Artie and I have quickly made amazing friends.  Our days are filled with play dates, errands, parks, and having lots of fun. I was worried about the transition to being a SAHM, but this place and the people here could not have made it easier.

And now Artie updates:

4 months

-started HATING his carseat...there was lots of screaming on our drives around town :(

-Started jumping in his jumper and LOVED it

-We introduced him to rice cereal 

5 months

-17 lbs

-26 inches long

-73rd percentile for height and weight

-Artie's first sickness: pink eye

6 months

-First tooth! (teeth!)

-Loving baby food (all of it!): green beans, peas, squash, sweet potato and carrots

-Gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth

-18 lbs

Motherhood just keeps getting better and better!  Our little guy gave us a bit of a rough go the first three months, but now that were settled we've gotten into a nice swing.  He is, in general, a very happy, very social, baby! 

Steven is also adjusting well to Albuquerque living.  He likes his job and the people he works with a lot.  His hours, unlike most resident physicians, are actually pretty reasonable.  We see him quite a bit and it's awesome!  

We both have new callings in our ward too.  I am the Visiting Teaching Coordinator, and Steven teaches the CTR 6 class (which cracks me up!).  He does a great job teaching those kids and he loves it.  He's really good at preparing a good interactive lesson for them.  

The Neeleys are happy and thriving! Hopefully I'll be back to blogging sooner rather than later.  

3 months

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but my little baby is now three months old.  Time is flying!

Milestones:

-Rolls from tummy to back

-Spits and blows bubbles

-Laughs

-Searches for familiar faces and grins when he finds them

-Lots and lots of "talking"

In general, when he's happy, he's very happy, and when he's not…well, he's given me a run for my money!  With the exception of a couple rough days this last week, he's a pretty perfect baby.  

Genealogy, I am doing it!

Last weekend we drove down to Phoenix for a photo shoot at the Mesa Arizona Temple.  It occurred to us about a month ago that all 8 of Artie's great grandparents are alive and still married to their first spouse.  They are all active in the church as well.  We realized that this is probably pretty rare, and we needed to get everyone together for some photos.  It was a pretty amazing experience having everyone there, and certainly a special time.

The whole group

 All 8 Greats

 The Great Johnstons

 The Great Tobers

 The Great Neeleys

 The Great Preeces

 Artie with his parents and grandparents

 My little family

 Love the sweet look on his face!

This picture makes me tear up! All of the men.  So neat!

 Four Generations

 Arthur was named after my Grandpa Tober, so we got a picture of my Grandpa with his namesake

 All of the women

 I love this candid photo of the Grandma Beckys.  They look pretty happy!

 Life is always better with TWO Becky Sues!

 My other grandparents will be celebrating their 60th anniversary in just a couple weeks.  Pretty impressive!

 Artie with his Grandma and Grandpa Neeley

 Love this picture!

Artie with his Grandma and Grandpa Johnston

A wonderful day.  

Artie's first swim

I just love summer.  Swimming, bbqs, biking, hiking, popsicles, naps, traveling, family, fireworks.  It's all a good time.  While we were in Dallas for Steven's graduation, Artie went for his very first swim at the hotel.  Despite the look on his face, he was eating it up.  He kicked, splashed and laughed the whole time.  He is just so much fun! 

And if you ask me, it just doesn't get better than these post-swim snuggles! 

He's a Doctor!

I only cried about 6 times during Steven's graduation.  To say that I was overly emotional and exploding with pride is a bit of an understatement.  I wasn't expecting to be so joyously tearful, so I'm going to blame it on post partum hormones.  Words cannot describe the happiness and pride I felt that day.  I think Steven's graduation day makes it in my top 5 favorite memories.

Steven Neeley M.D.

   I cannot get over how cute Artie was in his little cap and gown.  Seriously. And not to make and Asian joke, but all the Asians wanted a picture of my baby and it was hilarious.  

Becky might hate me for putting this picture up, but I just love this picture of Steven with his mom.  As proud as I was, I'm sure nothing can beat the pride a mother feels when her baby boy accomplishes something as big as this.  So special.  

 Steven being "hooded"

Such a special, special day!!

Memorial Day Weekend

An added perk to living in Albuquerque is that I am so much closer to my family now!  Over Memorial Day weekend, we drove out to Heber, Arizona to meet my parents at their cabin.  It was the first time Adam, Matthew, Rachel and Lydia had seen Artie so it was a lot of fun.  We were bummed that my brother Brandon and his boys couldn't be there.  Benson and Nathan got sick and were unable to come up.  We also missed Jordan who is attending spring term at BYU.

On Friday we went to the petrified national forest.  It was the first time for all of us.  In my personal opinion, it was pretty cool for about the first 30 minutes.  Once you've seen some petrified wood, it's all pretty much the same after that.  Steven however, was fascinated the whole time.  Even though I didn't find it very interesting, I love that he gets so enthusiastic about things like that.  It's hilarious.

 See what I mean by once you've seen some, you've pretty much seen it all? 

It was very windy…

On Saturday the boys went golfing and the ladies stayed home and watched movies, played games and napped.  Saturday evening we had a BBQ and my aunt, uncle and grandparents joined us.

Nap time

Sunday we went to church and had a fun day with family.  We played games, including a very heated game of Settlers of Catan (I hate that game.  I always lose just barely and I'm really competitive!).  Sunday evening we went over to my aunt and uncle's cabin and had a nice meal.  It's always fun to be surrounded by family.

 This little boy!! 

My dad and Arthur

This trip was particularly special because I inherited a special antique that I've adored for years.  My Grandma gave me her rocking chair because I just had my first baby.  I've always thought that rocking chair was the most wonderful and comfortable rocking chair I've ever sat in, and I love that it's now in Artie's room.  I'm a very sentimental person; it's probably one of my favorite things in my home right now.

All in all, a great weekend with family.  I love only being 4 and a half hours away from a get together!

The move

A lot of craziness followed the week after my graduation.  The original plan was to pack up that next week and move to Albuquerque on Friday, but Steven rushed me was a little bit excited so my mom, Arthur and I ended up leaving Tuesday afternoon!  We ended up getting there mid-day Wednesday, and Steven and his dad got their Wednesday night with the moving truck.

 Our new home! I am IN LOVE!

Those two were quite the pair.  After Arthur's blessing on Sunday, they flew to Florida to load up Steven's parents' belongings from their rental house in Gainesville.  Then they drove all the way to Houston to pick up some things from their condo, and then to Dallas to load up our apartment!  Finally, they drove to Albuquerque.  They did ALL OF THIS in 3 days!  I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out how they managed that.

Now why did they pick up all of his parents' stuff?? Because they rented a house across the street from us in Albuquerque and we couldn't be more excited about it!  It's going to be so much fun having them near by and I truly mean that.  Can you say 'free babysitter'?

Another fun fact about our move is that Steven and I celebrated our 4th anniversary that very Wednesday!  I wouldn't say it was our best anniversary because I wasn't with him all day, but it certainly wasn't our worst…I happened to have a colonoscopy on our 2nd anniversary and so far that takes the cake for bummer (pun intended) celebrations!  This year was fun in it's own way.  Just like how we started a new chapter the day we got married, we started another chapter this anniversary.

A few days after the move we hit a little bump in the road…or actually I should say large bump.  We got in a car accident our very first Sunday in Albuquerque.  Everyone was fine (minus my sprained ankle and broken toe) but our car was totaled.  Unfortunately we were at fault too :(

How pathetic is this?  Embarrassing…

This put us in a bit of a vehicle predicament.  We still had Steven's truck, but it was 10 years old and had horrendous gas mileage.  So we ended up doing a big switcharoo.  We sold Steven's truck, bought a minivan and a used Nissan Versa.  That way Steven will have something to drive to work that gets better gas mileage and I won't be stuck at home all day!  

 This was obviously before we sold the truck…which was very sad :(

Soooo all in all it was a VERY BUSY first week in Albuquerque!  We feel tremendously blessed.  New house, new cars, new baby and even some new furniture as a graduation gift.  It has been amazing to see how things have fallen into place for us here despite the stress of Steven not matching on match day.  We know this is where the Lord wants us and we are excited to see what's in store for us in our next chapter of life!

2 months

We have been so busy, and I am SO late with this post.  Here's my little chicken nugget at 2 months:

I cannot get over how IN LOVE I am with every part of him! He is becoming more and more "fun" (as Steven would say) every day.  He has such a great personality.

Milestones:

- At his 2 month appt he was 14 lbs 12 oz.  I'm sure he is well into the 15 lb range now

-He wears 3 month clothes, but is already starting to wear 6 month

-He wears size 2 diapers

-He coos and smiles and burps and farts

-Much to my dismay, he started sucking his thumb

-He sleeps for good 5 hour stretches at night and will sleep another 3-4 after I feed him (such a good boy!)

The beginning of the second month brought a few challenges.  I was still student teaching and Steven was at home with Arthur.  It was particularly difficult because Artie would WAIL every time after he ate for a good hour and a half.  This was very hard for Steven, and heartbreaking for me because I was gone.  After much stress, and tears from both baby and myself, we figured out that I can't eat dairy while I'm breastfeeding (at least for now).  Since I've changed my diet, Arthur has been a completely different baby.  He is SO happy all the time, sleeps well, eats well and is just a delight!  He has been the easiest baby ever since.  We got so lucky with him! 

I could just smooch that face all day! 

Arthur's Blessing Day

Because family was in town for my graduation, we decided to bless Arthur that weekend as well.  That Sunday happened to also be Mothers Day so it was a wonderful day for me.  I couldn't have picked a better way to celebrate my first Mothers Day.

Steven did a beautiful job on the blessing.  It was short, but inspired.  He blessed Arthur to have the courage to share the gospel with others. I hope I can help raise and nurture him to fulfill his blessing.

That Sunday was also our last Sunday in the River Trails Ward.  It was very bitter sweet.  I had SUCH a hard time saying goodbye to the primary kids.  I have loved being their chorister and it was an honor being with them every week.  It was definitely a Sunday filled with many emotions.