Best Pediatrician Ever

   

(Alissa & her husband Ryan)

Fall is coming.

Can you feel it? Even though its still 100 degrees outside, the light is changing and that's how I always feel fall start to creep up.

If you have kids then chances are you are scrambling to get ready for back to school, and that often means a trip to the pediatrician for shots or checkups. I just made our appointment.

If you live in Utah and need a good pediatrician, I can't recommend my good friend Alissa Packer highly enough.

Here's why I like Alissa as a pediatrician:

She's a really good mom. I know from first-hand experience. And she treats my kids like she'd treat her own.

She listens and doesn't have a big ego. I mean, I'm not saying that doctors sometimes have big egos or anything, but Alissa is thoughtful, humble, and patient. She really listens to you as a parent and values your insight into your child. We do not parent exactly the same, but she supports my parenting choices and never makes me feel bad about them, but uses her medical knowledge and experience to augment my choices, and help me see what some of the outcomes of different parenting paths might look like.

She's friendly and kind to me and my children, which seems like it should be a given-- but with other pediatricians in the past, that hasn't always been the case. She genuinely enjoys what she does, and it shows. Plus her receptionists and MA's are super friendly too, and since the MA's are the one's wielding the needles-- that's really important to me.

So if you are in the market for a great doctor for your kids, give her a call at Southpoint Pediatrics.  Their office is newly renovated, clean, bright, and darling. And they have really really great extended office hours, which is just a huge convenient bonus.

Southpoint Pediatrics
9071 South 1300 West,
3rd Floor
West Jordan, Utah
801-565-1162

And if you refer a friend during the month of August, Southpoint will give you a $25 gift card to Target. Think of all the pencils and notebooks you could buy with that!

The Children

One of the best things about Ollie,

is that

the skin on his cheeks is the softest thing I have ever touched in my entire life.

And if you catch him in just the right mood...

he'll let you nuzzle them to your hearts content.

Thankful

I have a lot to be thankful for. Truly. But these two...boy oh boy...I am thankful for them most of all.

Oliver just turned 11 months and he is walking all over the place (for a month now). It's so cute and wobbly but honestly I kind of hate. I want him to sit back down and be my baby a little longer. Since the day he was born he seems to have been in a hurry to grow up.

Avery is so fun and funny. She amazes me every day with her wit and wisdom. We are good friends and she teaches me so so much. Wise beyond her years this one (and she can write her name...such a big girl!).

Ollie was delighted by his new mittens. Inexplicably, because he won't keep a hat on to save his life. He kept holding his little hands out proudly to show me. He LOVES his daddy and cries every day when he leaves. Anytime my phone rings Ollie says, "Hi dad?" or "Hi dad!" if he can hear his voice on the line. His other words include, "oh boy" "yeh" and very occasionally "mama". He chatter sconstantly and I am sure those little chatters will soon become more clear and develop into other words. MY very favorite thing about Ollie is that he gives honest to goodness hugs... he has since he had the strength and control.

Avery loves to help me do anything. She remains vibrant and spirited and bubbly. She loves to dance and twirl and sheds most of her clothing (still) by about 2pm most days.
She is so articulate and often amuses those around her with her dramatic head hung low and s l o w pouty walk when she is disappointed. It breaks people's hearts. She could be quite the actress I think.



We are blessed indeed. It's nice to have a time to focus on that. Looking forward to Turkey (and cheese! we have been dabbling in veganism), making pies with my girl, and hanging the Christmas lights.

Thank you to all of you guys who spend a little of your time here, being interested in our lives, sharing your thoughts and friendships. I really do appreciate it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oliver in August

Do you want to know a secret? We almost named Oliver, August. It's true. He didn't have a name till he was 10 days old because we just couldn't decide. And because we like to take our time with those things.

I had a dream while I was pregnant with him that we named him August (which was peculiar as I had no associations or thoughts of that name beforehand) , so when he was born it was hard to shake the feeling that we should.

But we knew his middle name would be Travis and "August Travis" was hard to say--especially with my partial lisp.
And I had loved the name Oliver as long as I could remember.

And it felt right. So in June, at 5 months old, we dressed him up in this sweet outfit and his father gave him a special blessing and made his name official.

And then in August I put this outfit back on him and took more photos because it was a little rainy the first time and I didn't get quite enough.

And I forgot that I hadn't shared them until Vanessa and I were talking about how cute sweet Penelope looked in her blessing gown and she reminded me.

In the end, Oliver is his name. I love the earthiness of it--it means "Olive Tree," and the symbolism of the olive tree and its associations with strength and peace are perfect, as he was born just 5 days before Christmas. I love his name, and I could not love him more.

And perhaps someday he will have a brother, and it will turn out it was him I dreamed about instead.

Speaking of siblings, this girl never likes her picture taken unless someone else in getting their picture taken...

My two babies.

His outfit is from here (and it looks like its even on sale now!)

And his darling shoes are vintage from Stacy's shop. I realized the day before I didn't have any shoes for him and am so lucky to live right by Stacy in real life. So I called her up and she not only had the perfect shoes, but she had 3 pair to choose from. Thanks again Stacy!