Surgery

It was my first, and probably not my last. Two incisions, total organ replacement, near hysterical family members, and a positive outcome.

George, Curious presented with acute sudden onset of total blindness of the right eye:



A small incision and a little man-handling of the internal stuffing created sight for George. After removing the post-surgical eyepatch we discovered this:



After a consult with the family, we proceeded with removal of the left eye for a replacement of a matching shape:



Upon seeing George with no left eye, family proceeded to lapse into hysteria at the thought of his dear monkey remaining partially blind:



Once again in surgery, another successful eye transplant was completed and removal of the post-surgical patch revealed this:



With a never wavering smile, George was rewared with a lollipop upon leaving the hosptial:



Closer examination revealed that George could indeed not open his mouth, so for surviving the emotional turmoil of it all, family enjoyed the lollipop!



Sister remained undetered by George's experience, and was in fact banned from surgery (naptime) due to her contagious state. But hey!, 2 more teeth!

Work

The way I figure, it is probably best to encourage their natural passion before working on technique. I am pretty sure she yells at me, cautions me that the vacuum is hot, sings about vacuuming, and then charges the camera. Enjoy!

A Recommendation

Today was the first day in a while we had beautiful weather, I didn't even get hot until the sun started baking my front windows! We went to the playground by the libary and played on the "beautiful colorful slides" and they posed for pictures on the swings.

 

 

 

Later, when we started to get hot, we went out back and played in the shade and then I remembered the best toy ever.

 

I saw these in a magazine and made them from dollar store sponges. They were wet, easy to throw, didn't hurt, and are really fun to wring out over your child's head. Both kiddos loved them! I didn't even plan the fun, they were so easy to pull out last minute! I'll probably make more and we will each arm ourselves with buckets and sponges and play until we are soaked. Plus, you don't have to pick up tiny little pieces like you do with water balloons!

Brother

Our son is a budding artist! Paint, crayons, markers, colored pencils, you name it, he creates with it. He loves to turn the pages of is coloring book and admire his art. He is also a little water bug, jumping and swimming all by himself and his swimmies. Our latest trip was out to Indiana to see my brother and his family. He has the perfect sidewalks for bike rides.

Water Baby

 

 

She will brave ocean waves, just not the pool!

 

 

Birthday Number One

Well, almost two months ago, little one turned one! It didn't take long for her to figure out what a cupcake is for! Following tradition, we had a second party in Delaware, where she got her first bite of chocolate cake! She is now a walking champ, starting to say words, "baby" "dog", and smiles all the time. She is also very good at working herself into a pout when she gets told no. It's so cute we smile and laugh, much to her dismay!

Just don't call him doctor,

unless you are his actual patient!

I am so proud of him, and think he cuts a rather dashing figure in his long white coat.

Catch All

I have been a negligent poster. Even now, I am doing a rapid post of pictures as the mounting piles of my clutter are closing in.

It has been a very cool summer up here, but the kids braved the kiddy pool anyway. It was so cold, L's lips turned blue!



Husband made a quick trip down to Texas for a friend's wedding.



And, my garden is growing! I am an expert lettuce grower, my tomatoes are trying valiantly, I can grow a mean jalepeno, but my green bell peppers are about the size of my pinkie nail.

The First Steps!

Son

I haven't posted on brother in a while because he is just now almost healed from various non-life-threatening facial injuries.

First, he fell off the stool where he was brushing his teeth and into the corner of the bathtub. He did not break the skin and the speed at which his blood swelled under his skin the size of a golf ball was amazing. The swelling didn't last long but a bruise the size of a hamburger did.

Then, when the bruise was finally fading to a sickly yellow color, he got an ear infection, and was vomitting. Gross. This happened the day Husband graduated medical school. A shot of antibiotics and E was feeling better enough that I was able to make graduation.




Finally, after returning from our quick trip to Texas, E fell off the couch with his bottom lip between his teeth and got two nasty cuts in his mouth. The swelling has gone down enough that he can close his mouth and swallow again. When asked how his lip feels he says, "God is healed it." Cute.

P.S. Leah has started walking! Post soon!

Snacks

What an awesome little girl.

I'm dirty and I like it

I was determined to plant a garden when we made it up north. Now I have the dirt under my fingernails to prove it!

We designed and built two garden boxes and dug out the sod on the sunny side of the house. My hubby and I nearly wept when we saw the dirt. It looked so much like dirt it was incredible. If you've never dug a hole in Texas, you couldn't possibly understand my feelings. Then, to top it off, we added special gardening dirt to fill out the boxes and my jealousy for all those Pennsylvanians who have been enjoying this dirt grew. The dirt under the grass looked like milk chocolate and the dirt we added was like oreo cookies, it was so black. I felt like I was making a huge chocolate pie and can see why kids might try and eat mud pies. I will let you know how the actual growing of vegetables progresses.

On a side not, L is definately saying Daddy (Da-E) with a purpose and everytime he leaves the room she calls after him. I know she is really saying, "Daddy, where are you?" because she has the same voice inflection I use, but it really just sounds like the parents on Charlie Brown.

Sleepy

 

Just after a nap, L's hair is everywhere!

The Drive

The eagerly anticipated drive to Pennsylvania finally arrived last Saturday. Due to inexplicable FOG in West Texas in MAY, hubby's parents (our other driving duo) arrived late, and so did the start of our trek. If you are from Houston, or are currently living there, you might be familiar with the Gulf Frwy/610 intersection. After a missed exit, because I called him to see where he was, hubby got stuck on on-ramps, off-ramps, and U-turns in a truck that accelerates slower than a snail. Needless to say, our drive started off on the wrong foot, and then we stubbed our toe.

Finally in the car, we hit I-10 and hoped our butts wouldn't hurt long before they went numb.

Southern Louisiana is just not pleasant and I am glad I don't have to live there. I decided on that stretch of highway that I needed to look up the difference between swamp and marsh. We headed north and saw our first night's hotel get farther and farther away. Near delirium around 1 am, we pass Chunky, MS (a place hubby said it might be nice to retire) we saw a sign, 30 miles. The longest 30 miles of my life.

After not nearly enough sleep, we were up again on Sunday for the longest day of driving, oh great, with red rimmed eyes and not enough coffee. Hubby and I drove in the truck, or rather bounced our way along the highway. Once out of Texas we enjoyed the views of hills and trees. Unfortunately, our truck nearly had a heart attack at every incline, and we might as well have been pushing for all the progress we made. I did my best to avoid the faces of those passing us.

Somewhere in Alabama we pass Eutaw, and I thought of my friends from Utah. We also stopped at a very peaceful and beautiful rest stop. I shooed us out of there as quickly as possible, no time to admire nature when you still have 10 hours to go! Some time later, we made a driver switch and hubby and I took over the car with the children (who were so good during the drive!)* and headed out ahead of the truck to check in at the next hotel. I had the last leg of driving, since dear old hubby had bounced along in the truck for 8 hours. An hour or two before our last night stop on the road we passed Hungry Mother State Park, and of course it made me hungry.

You know you've been in the car too long when a 7 hour day makes you feel relieved and you start saying things like, "So short!", "We'll be there in no time." I felt every minute of that 7 hours. We finally pull up to my mom's house, stretch our legs, start to relax and then look at the packed truck. It made me want to throw up.

Three days post drive and things are better. The kids are sleeping through the night and have adjusted to east coast time. The truck is unloaded and returned. We finally got all the pieces to our bed, with only three trips to the storage unit. I still can't find the kids' cups, bowls, and plates, and I have high hopes of unpacking before we pack for graduation in three weeks. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers. We made it without any car trouble, we are all healthy, and I saw 44 state license plates on the road!

*I felt bad for baby girl, I couldn't even explain to her that the drive would end. Day after day we strapped her in. At least E knew we were going somewhere! I expressed concern over L sleeping all day and not at night. I had nothing to worry about. She took her two naps, was awake in between, had a normal bedtime in the car and made the switch to the hotel like it was all normal. God's grace is so good!

Sold!

We accepted a contract on the house!

Closing the end of May, praying all goes well in between.

Stop!

It took a while but he sorta has the hang of pedaling. Now if only he could stop!

Words, finally!

I felt guilty not posting anything, so I was posting one liners and random pictures. Now I feel guilty for posting such lame things, although L is pretty cute!

Since finding out where residency matched we have been busy waiting for the paperwork to make it through the mail, listing the house, cleaning the house, preparing to move, saying goodbyes, traveling the state, etc.

Most people ask where we matched and if we are happy. We're going to Delaware and since it was on our rank list as #1 we are very excited! After hearing we are going to Delaware, the jist of the most popular follow-up question is "Delaware, they have programs there?" Really people, Texas is "The Lone Star" state and Delaware is "The FIRST State," you should learn more about it!

In regards to the house, it has been listed less than a month with a high volume of showings, so I remain guardedly optimistic that it will sell any day now. Our realtor is great and is probably tired of me calling her. For the past couple of weeks I was starting to feel like we were living in our car. I tried to be out of the house as much as we could stand in case she called about a showing. Two kids means lots of messes all over the house that I just couldn't clean up for a showing in twenty minutes! We plan to spend time at the lake so the house can stay abnormally clean and we can live normally.

Having a house on the market means our two car garage is now a one car garage/storage unit for all the clutter that is not appealling to home buyers. I already forget what is in most of the boxes out there. Perhaps we don't really need any of it! I was almost getting used to the abnormal cleanliness of our house. Normal people, even home buyers, live with a modicum of dirt, so why do we have to vacuum our baseboards?! Well, my wonderful husband did that, and I hope everyone notices!

The kids are doing well. Things stabalized around the house, as far as cleaning and painting, so E settled back into a routine. Once we start the major packing we might have a tough couple of weeks. L is happy if she is on your hip, which makes mommy and daddy tired. We had a few break through nights of full sleep, then her two hour timer kicked in. I'm hoping it was a bellyache because after five dirty diapers in one day, I hope she sleeps better tonight!

Button

 

Our little girl.

We're going to Delaware!

Delawareans.

It's such a mouth full, don't know if I'll get E to say it!

It's Match Day!

Today is the day we find out where J will be headed for residency! 4 years of med school went by so fast!