Big News!

Today was a good day. April spent the day with Ellynn and work was pretty good. When we got home April checked the mail and I watched Suvi (she is adorable!). Then April came in with a letter for me from LECOM, Erie. I opened it and it said, "Congratulations! I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected for admission to the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) Class of 2016." Then there was another paper that said, "Congratulations! On behalf of the Admissions Committee, it is my privilege to extend to you the opportunity to join the LECOM Class of 2016. You have been admitted to the Problem-Based Learning Pathway." They actually put that in bold. I am SO excited! I am going to medical school! It is for sure now. I may end up going to a different school if I get an offer from one I like better, but I am going to med school. And LECOM is a good school! I will tell you more about it later (now it is after midnight and I need some sleep), but you should know that I'm super excited to go to this school.

On another note, today is the day that Suvi smiled for the first time. Her first real smile. Not because she had gas or happened to play with her mouth until it went up at the corners but a real smile! She is the cutest baby the world has ever seen! I love that little girl! Ok, we need some sleep now, but that's a pretty good day and I wanted to get the news out there quickly. Have a good night y'all!

This Week Has Been Busy

So this week started with me waking up at 4 AM and getting April and Suvi to take me to the airport. Then I flew to Florida! I've never been there before so I was excited. Heidi met me at the airport. Being a flight attendant she was able to meet me in Bradenton to support me in my application... and go to the beach. So she picked me up from the airport and took me straight to the beach where I promptly swam with a wild dolphin. It was amazing! There were also jelly fish there but they didn't sting. And we talked to some local guys about the area- they like it. We also spoke to the mother of a really cute little boy who spent a lot of time chasing sea gulls. He was 2. It was adorable.

I didn't have super high expectations about the school, since it's so new. They've only graduated 4 classes. But I was really impressed with what I saw and learned about the program they have there. This past year they had a dip in their board pass rate to 99% from 100% the last 2 years. Apparently there were 7 students at LECOM Bradenton that scored in the 99 percentile this past year on their boards. Those numbers pretty much blew me away. They also let us sit in on a PBL session, and I decided that I need to get in on that because that is exactly how my brain works. I loved it. And you're not going to believe this but the Dean, Dr. Shively, looks and sounds almost exactly like Dustin Hoffman! It was crazy! Also he's a really nice guy. Everyone there was nice. I think LECOM Bradenton (the little school that nobody has heard of) is now my number one choice. It's awesome.

Ok, I will tell the story of how the interview went at LECOM Erie another day because it's late and I want to go to bed but I still have things I need to do before I can. Good night!

Big News!

So has been a while since we posted here. We have big news. We have a daughter! She was born Tuesday September 6, 2011 at 12:48 PM. She was 7 lb 9.4 oz and 19 in long. She is the most adorable thing in the whole world. And she looks just like her ultrasound said she would!

So here's the story: On August 21 April started having pretty intense contractions at 6 minute intervals. They shortened to 4 minute intervals and then widened to about 8 minutes. For the next 2 weeks the longest she went without one was about 30 minutes. It was not a pleasant experience for her. On 9-5 (Labor Day!) her contractions started getting more intense and by the time we went to bed around 11 PM she said, "If these don't let up we're going to be going to the hospital tonight." I fell asleep and then about 1 AM they kicked into high gear. She had crazy hard contractions all night and finally woke me up at about 4:30 AM with the words, "My contractions are 3 minutes apart. Let's go to the hospital." We learned how to have me help her through this part and then she let me sleep through it!

We got to the hospital about 5:30 AM and when the nurse checked her she was dilated to 5cm. We were happy to not be turned away with news that she was at a 3 or something. So they put us in a room and she immediately requested an epidural. A very nice Nurse Anesthetist named Matt came and made her happy. Things slowed down a bit and she tried to get some rest. While she dozed I went downstairs to get some breakfast and when I came out of the elevator I saw a face between a plant a column. My brain said, "Hey, that looks like Kanani!" So I leaned to the right to see who was with her and my brain said, "That looks like Jeff!" So I went to say hi. And her water broke at 1 AM! So they were coming to the hospital to have a baby too!

So April's labor continued without incident (Hooray for epidurals!) until about 11:15 when she said she felt like she really needed to push. The nurse came and checked her and said, "You're almost there, but not yet." And thus it was for a little over an hour until she came at 12:40 and said she saw our doctor in the hall and it was time to push. April started pushing at 12:43 and at 12:48 we became parents! Suvi Darlene Willford came to us and she was perfect.

The next 2 days were spent in the hospital with the Hokis. Jeff and I ate breakfast and dinner together (hospital food has had some serious improvements since my last stay) those days, which was really awesome on omelette day where we got omelettes as big as my head with everything inside of them- they were delicious! We even took our first multi-family photo with all 6 of us!

And that is the story of how we became parents. We don't sleep much these days but we love our little daughter and find new things to love about her every day. Also April's sister Sarah stayed with us our first 2 nights home from the hospital to help April while I was at school and work all day, and her mom has been a huge help as well, getting supplies from the store all the time and generally being the most helpful grandma ever to have around these past days. And don't worry- my family has been about as good as they can possibly be from hundreds of miles away. Those first few days would have been nearly impossible without the breast-feeding advice we got from Grandma CiCi. And the ward here has really been great, even though almost no one knows us they have been bringing us dinners every night since we got home. Although nnow we have some dishes that we don't know where to return, we have felt loved and supported in this whole endeavor and we are so grateful for everyone around us who has been helping so much! Life is beautiful!

The Pregnant April's Lament

I have loved being pregnant. It is amazing to think of the little life growing inside me. I am so excited to be a mom. I love to feel our little one wiggle and move. And I have had a relatively easy problem free time. My body is (as Ben says) good at being pregnant. At this point I wish that it wasn't quite so good at it. I am tired. I am tired of being pregnant. Eight and a half months is a long time! The anticipation and excitement is driving me crazy. The hormones are unreal. And I really just want to see my beautiful little girl already. I guess this is another lesson on patience for me. I try to be really good, but it keeps coming back to haunt me. Stupid Patience! So just to keep you updated. I have been having A LOT of contractions - but unfortunately not the real kind. I have had some painful contractions but nothing going anywhere. So here I sit waiting! Trying to be the best patient April that I can be.

I Never Thought I'd See the Day

Today something crazy happened at work. So we all had to get there at 7 AM to clear the floor in A Bay because it was getting too crowded to walk. The morning was busy and productive, I finally got to finish that cutting order that I started on Monday, and then the whole world turned upside down. So Jon made me tell my favorite math joke again, even though he told me not to tell it to anyone the first time he heard it. Even though it's hilarious. Then I told Teran that I saw the funniest t-shirt ever the other day and it said, "Wanted: Schrödinger's Cat. Dead and Alive." Isn't that hilarious!? So he laughed and was like "That's a good one." So we started talking physics and then (are you ready for this?) he out-nerded me. He remembered the 6th type of quark that I always forget. The charmed quark. Then it turns out he's one of those that considers "dark" as a color option for quarks. Man, he really doesn't seem like the super nerd type to me, but you never know 'till you ask right? He also remembers more about supersymmetry than I do, but I know about the experiments and he's never done any of them, and certainly never done them in his basement with a piece of cardboard, a knife, and a flashlight (like I did on my mission). So I can still feel good about my nerdliness. But mark this day on your calendars for future years, Ben Willford got out-nerded at work. The end truly is nigh.

Live Every Week Like it's Shark Week.

Guys, I have big news! I got a job! Then I finished my secondaries for med school! Then it became Shark Week! Needless to say, it has been pretty awesome around here lately.

My job is at a place called Metal Mart. It's a giant warehouse filled with steel. Most of the stuff is either 20 or 24 feet long. It's all heavy, and a lot of it is sharp. I'm way more manly now than I was a week and a half ago. I'm pretty sure I grew a few more chest hairs to match the one from when I went fishing last month. I basically lift and move heavy things all day. I've already lost 6 pounds and April says I'm noticeably stronger than I was 2 weeks ago.

I finally finished all my secondaries! It took some doing. There was some hullaballoo at the HBLL about the printer not liking the PDF's from some of the schools, I thought I had to had a letter of evaluation for one of my top choices but it turns out that it's optional (even thought the website says it's not). It was pretty crazy there for a while. But now it's over and all I have to do is get some interviews! So if you're praying for me anyway, could you include that in your prayers? Thanks.

And last but certainly not least: Shark Week. Have you noticed that one time of year stands out among all the others? Colors seem brighter, people seem nicer, the weather seems to cooperate with whatever you want to do. And it's here again. Shark Week! Bless the Discovery Channel for inventing this wonderful holiday 24 years ago. And can you believe that only 1 other person I work with has even heard of Shark Week? Isn't that ridiculous? And here I thought I worked with men. Well, they have been educated, believe you me.

So I will try to keep this updated more now that I'm done with secondaries, but until then I will leave you with a bumper sticker that Isaac told me about. It said, "What you people call Hell, metal workers call a good day's work." This is true.

I am awesome.

Today I did something so manly, I think I grew a new chest hair. This morning I went to Scofield and went fishing with Ryan (April's brother). He taught me how fishing works. I caught a 14 1/2" cutthroat trout and a 13" tiger trout. Ryan caught a 14" cutthroat. And all of our bait. And some random stranger walked past who had heard the legend of Ryan Jones who caught a 6 1/2 lb trout the day before, but I digress. We went back to his place and he showed me how to fillet a fish. I even did one. Then I took them home and whipped up a delicious sauce for them. From scratch. Then I cooked them in the delicious sauce I made from scratch. Then I made some peas to go on the side. Then I served the meal to my pregnant wife who loved it. I MADE that meal. I caught the fish, made the sauce to cook it in and ate it. I am friggin' awesome!