Phinally Phinished with My PhD

Even though I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation in September, commencement was this past Friday. I didn't want to participate, but my former mentor (The Good Doctor, as Jeremey and I fondly referred to her) told me that if the other graduates and their parents were flying in from Washington state, Washington D.C., and Colorado...then I HAD to come. So I did. Fortunately it was a pretty brief ceremony...whew!

Here are some pics my brother, Jared, took of me in my graduation regalia.

This is my dissertation...The Good Doctor had a copy bound for me...the actual "book" version is yet to come.

A special thanks to all my family and friends who supported me throughout my college experiences...especially graduate school. And a very special thanks to my husband for putting up with many years of long hours away from home. Love ya, babe and can't wait to spend the summer hangin' with you and the boy! Muah!

Mmmmm...dirt!

Sterling helped me with some yard work today. I let him play with the mini-rake while I planted some new shrubs in front of our house. He played by himself for nearly an hour. Finally, he got bored enough that he thought he ought to sample the soil. He didn't seem to mind it...b/c by the time I reached him, he'd had at least two tastes. He needed a bath anyway...LOL!

It's a bird...it's a plane...it's SUPERMAN!

Jeremey took Sterling to the store to pick out his own halloween costume this year. He was torn between Superman and Yoda...but Superman made the final cut.

Back in Blog-Land!

We took Sterling to the pumpkin patch for the first time. We had a great time for the cost of the pumpkin we bought ($4). Sterling kept trying to pick up the smaller pumpkins, which he was able to do a few times. We all had a great time.

Birthday Blessings

Last year Sterling got to come home from the hospital on my birthday...this year, Jeremey is coming home from Texas on my birthday! Yeah!!! My life rocks!

Our Little Karateka

Check out Sterling's new skill. We are PROUD, PROUD, PROUD!

Happy Birthday, Sterling!

I just cannot believe it's been a whole year since our little man was born. The last 365 days have been filled a wonderful mix of emotions. Sterling was born so early and by emergency c-section, so last 4th of July was very, very scary for us. But every single day since our joy has hitched a ride on a logorithmic escalator. We smile and laugh so much sometimes that our cheeks burn. One of my most favorite memories of Sterling is when he used to make "kissy lips". He started doing it from day one outside of the womb and continued for about three months. It was just the most adorable little pucker-lipped face you could ever lay eyes on. These days, Sterling is cruising along furniture like a pro, playing chase with Daddy all over the house--including up the stairs, and using baby sign language to communicate all sorts of things. Here is a list of the things he's now able to communicate to us:

milk

food

more

mommy

daddy

plant

duck

He's actually able to recognize a lot more signs than these...but he's still working on mastering them. I'm certain it won't be long before we are going to be getting signed sentences from this little guy. He's really into sign language and we just have the best time as a family learning to communicate with our hands. :)

My parents (Nana and Papa Cox) weren't able to make it to FL for Sterling's first birthday, but they sent us a party in a box and the money to buy Sterling's first birthday cake. It was a wonderful gift and such a great idea! Thanks, Nana and Papa!

Jeremey's mom (Grandmother), two sisters (Jessie and Amanda), and two nieces (Mya and Laurin) were able to come to FL (from Kentucky) to celebrate with us. We were soooooo happy to see them and get to enjoy our little boy's first birthday with them. Thanks for coming, guys...we loved having all of you!

Okay, enough gab, now for some pics:

Laurin helped me decorate for the party...we had a great time and it was fun hanging out with her. The birthday boy!
Sterling LOVED helping unwrap his gifts...well...he LOVED all the tissue paper!
Check out this awesome book that one of my labmates gave Sterling...he really likes it...and so does mommy and daddy!Here is Mya (one of our Karate kids) with Sterling in his outfit that his Nana made for him. There is a matching hat to the outfit (which is VERY cute), but he just wouldn't wear it. :(Mmmmmmm, birthday cake!
We also had a cup-cake-eating contest in which participants had to devour a triple-frosted cupcake with no hands. Whomever ate the fastest with the least mess won.These are actually not the cupcakes from the contest...the contest ones had a LOT more frosting...if you can imagine that! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.