Our family vacation...

Jacob is now 18 months old but feels more like a "terrible two" on some days! He is such a little rascal but so adorable about it that I can never stay cross too long... and he totally knows it. When we're having a staring contest (especially in the middle of a no-no activity) he looks at me for a long time then starts grinning and of course I can't resist his sweet "I love you mommy" smile, so I either have to turn around or start smiling and laughing!

In honor of becoming an even bigger boy, I took him to get a big boy haircut. I found a cute place called "Snip-Its" near SMU aka Highland Park, so needless to say we were both very under dressed to be seen in the area, but we went anyway! We also went to the Dallas Aquarium which was fabulous. It's more like an indoor zoo than anything else. It had the essentials: birds and fish, which are Jacob's current obsessions. Driving anywhere is now always a bird watching experience. It's precious that he still gets so excited about each bird he sees- there is always pointing and emphatic shouting of "bird, bird" but it sounds more like he has a British accent when he says it.

We just got back from our mini-vacation to San Antonio (we figured we'd better keep it close with a toddler). Our original plan was to go to Sea World and the zoo, but Sea World apparently has a very strange schedule and was not open on the days we had hotel reservations for. Luckily, the hotel we stayed at was AWESOME and was very kid-friendly. They had a lazy river and provided inner tubes so you could just ride around, relaxing. There was also a little "beach" for kids to play on and for people to sit out and soak up the sun. Jacob really enjoyed the sand and wading out into the water- it made him feel so big! He was quite popular with the middle-aged crowd when they would float by. Of course it helps that he really likes waving and saying "hi" to people right now.

We went to the San Antonio Zoo which was really great. They have a wide variety of animals and great places for the kids to interact. I just wish we'd had a good camera with us, there were some gorgeous animals! (My camera is still unusable after the Arboretum deluge in April 2009. Stephen told me to get one for my birthday but I still haven't found the right one that isn't too expensive for an amateur to carry around.) The zoo wore Jacob out and it was hard to get him to take a nap in the hotel room... but 45 minutes later he was passed out and I was able to read my new collection of Roald Dahl's short stories on the balcony! (I highly recommend any of his books.) As a consequence of all being in one room together in the hotel, Stephen and I also had to go to bed when Jacob did, otherwise he felt like he was missing too much and refused to go to sleep. I'm more of a night person than a morning person, so it was hard for me to go to bed so early. But at least I got over and above my daily sleep requirement :)

Since it was such a short trip to San Antonio, we didn't do too much else, it was a lot of playing outside at the hotel. Luckily, the trip was fairly uneventful and we all really enjoyed ourselves. I've posted some pictures below (sorry about the quality, it's a disposable camera we had lying around at home, which is most likely 5+ years old).

Jacob is walking with his great grandmother at her new home. We stopped in Fredericksburg, TX to visit her on our way to San Antonio.

Trying to get a closer look at the bird.

Helping Jacob walk across the concrete lily pads to the Kids' Nature Corner at the San Antonio Zoo. My little rascal kept intentionally missing the lily pads so that he could stomp in the water!

Jacob inspecting the fish

Jacob as a butterfly!

Watching the fish swim at the San Antonio Zoo

The Lazy River at our Hotel

"I am barely breathing..."

Just a quick note that I'm still alive!  I've made it to the second year of residency.  I'm also exhausted.  I knew starting out in the NICU would be difficult but had no idea that working 80 hours a week without hope of working one minute less would feel so much like being 80 years old!  I hate that I only get a few hours with Jacob a day, but it is such sweet time! 

Jacob stories:

-He loves to read to himself now, however every time I find him sitting on the couch and reading to himself the book is upside-down... so precious!  And he points to the pictures just like I do.  It's one of my favorite things he does.

-Jacob started daycare several weeks ago and it's still hard on all of us.  I can't wait to be part-time and have control of my life again!

-He had his first swimming lesson and LOVED it.

-He loves balloons (as you could probably tell by his birthday part pictures) and calls them "boons"

-He also likes to throw up one to two arms and yell something that sounds like "GOAL!" when he throws his bath toy into the basket... it cracks me up!

So that's all I have for now, if I wrote anything else I'd just start complaining and who wants to hear that?!  I have no reason to complain I have every single thing that I've asked for and God has been good to grant me those desires.  Next I'll just start praying for a part-time residency! JK  As soon as I get a new camera (ours died in the flood at the Arboretum!) I'll post some new pictures.

He's extremely serious about his basketball!

He was a little uncertain as to what he should do with the cake in the beginning... so I gave him some on my finger and he just let loose-- he loved it of course!  It was a cute basketball cake from McKay's Bakery in Abilene.

I'll post more pictures as I get them back from a friend who took pictures for us so that I could just enjoy the party and chaperon my boy!

We had such a great time, Jacob was on cloud 9 the entire day... probably because he got to spend almost all day outside and/or eating!  I could tell he really didn't want to go to bed by the end of the day (part of that may have been due to the sugar rush) but he was completely exhausted once he slowed down.  I think he slept 12 hours straight that night!

I still can't believe my baby is one year old already... it makes me sad that it's gone by so fast.  Although, I love this age because his personality is really coming out now!  He's going to be a hand full, I have a feeling :)  My mom is already recommending the "strong willed child" book... I might be purchasing it soon so that I can have a head start!

It's been a long time comin'....

So I finally got a break so thought I'd quit shirking my blogging duties.  Plus Jacob turns one year old in 7 days, so of course it's a time of reflection for me.  I can still remember bringing him home from the hospital with his wrinkled skin and chicken legs... and now he walks around the house calling "Mamama" when he needs to find me.  It's such a miracle what can happen in a year.  It truly is mind boggling that these little people learn such a tremendous amount so quickly... I wish I had the same capability these days!

Stephen and I are nearing the end of our intern year.  I'm excited but also SO nervous about being "upgraded."  I was ecstatic when they told me to come sign my new contract for next year... I'm also so insecure about things like that, you can't take employment for granted these days!  I feel like I've learned an incredible amount since starting in June but I know that there is 100 times more to learn which is daunting and exciting all at the same time.  My saving grace in times of exhaustion and near insanity is my clinic and my family.  My clinic patients are wonderful, I love getting to know the families, educating the moms and getting to interact with little ones of all ages- every Friday afternoon I am reaffirmed that this is what I should be doing.  Then being able to come home to Jacob running over to me with his arms up is the icing on the cake... my day wouldn't be complete without a slobbery kiss!

Maybe it's being a parent or maybe it's being a pediatrician in training that makes you look a little harder at the world.  I think you can tell a lot about a culture by how it treats the young and the elderly.  So many of the kids I see each day are not treasured like I feel they should be.  The dark side of pediatrics is sometimes having to bear witness to tremendous suffering, sometimes for unknown reasons but way too often it's at the hands of those who are supposed to be their caregivers.  I can't tell you how disheartening it is to know that there are people out there who continue to have children and yet take no responsibility and seem to feel no genuine love or a sense of gratitude for their kids.  It reminds me every day that I can't take out the frustrations of work on my child... after all he was given to me to watch over, to care for, treasure and to teach.  How will he learn to love if I don't show him love?  It's so easy to become cynical but I'm trying to hard to keep my heart soft... even though it may mean more hurt, I'd hate to become calloused when it comes to the care of children.

Of course, there are those wonderful moms whose love for their children is actually palpable and those are some of my favorite interactions because we both want exactly the same thing!  Luckily, there are more great parents than there are bad ones but unfortunately it's the really bad ones that seem to stick with you.

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end..."

The week of vacation is sadly over... We had a fun week just being at home with the three of us, unpacking the last few boxes from moving, starting to put away Jacob's summer clothes and getting out the fall and winter ones, taking our family picture/Jacob's 6 month pictures and being a bridesmaid in my childhood best friend's wedding. Oh and one of the best parts, finding Jacob's first Halloween costume, he's going to be a puppy dog (it was either that or produce- pumpkin vs apple)! We also tried to make sure that all the grandparents got to see Jacob, so that meant lots of traveling.

The Jacob update: he is now a pro at crawling, transitioning to sitting, loves to sit on his haunches and bounce, is pulling up on everything in sight and now has TWO teeth! And much to mommy's horror, really likes crawling up the two stairs we have in the family room. You can tell he really wants to walk his brain is just working on coordinating all those muscles. He's also been expanding his vocabulary. His favorite phrase used to be "la la la" then on the Texas/OU game day he started saying "OOOOOO" (but pronounced like a long O) which is hilarious because now he does it when he sees us come home from work :) While we were in Abilene, he dabbled with "da da da" and "ba ba ba" he's quite the little talker, wonder where he got it from ;) I'm still waiting patiently for "ma ma"!

It was a busy week but I wish I had another one. Being off really makes me super lazy about starting back to work, I probably shouldn't be allowed to take time off. My next official vacation will be for Jacob's first birthday in March, so hopefully I can make it until then.

It's always so hard to go back to work after having so much time with Jacob but I really do appreciate our time together. I started NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) yesterday and boy was it a shock! Not only the hours (I was there at 5:15am, which still wasn't early enough and left at 5:15pm) but the patients are daunting, some of babies are only two or three pounds, some of them have severe problems.... it's just completely different from the rest of pediatric rotations I've been on. I'm still afraid of breaking them by moving them around but luckily the nurses are helpful and assure me that I won't :) This rotation also involves being on call every fourth or third night so needless to say, I probably won't be updating the old blog much for the next four weeks, but what's new?!

I hate starting a completely new rotation because it feels like the first day of internship all over again where I know nothing, there are all new terms and abbreviations I haven't heard before, and I'm so nervous that I'm sure I sound like a complete idiot while presenting! Luckily I had a very kind fellow and attending yesterday but yesterday was their last day, so tomorrow will be another first day... geez.

And of course, no vacation essay would be complete without photographs, so here they are!

Jacob and Daddy playing outside in Tyler.

Pretty sure Jacob is going to be the cutest puppy ever, this was only the dress rehearsal!

The amateur version of the family cowboy picture!

My two cowboys

And below: Jacob and Thomas, with Uncle John, in the matching Halloween sleepers Gram got them before they were born!

Some new Jacob pictures!

We're still here!

So life has been very busy lately, full of milestones and stories... many of which I meant to post long ago... but you know how those good intentions go :) Jacob is 6 months old now, just started crawling this week, we just discovered his first tooth today... it's ridiculous how quickly he's growing up! He's such a fun guy, so laid back and so happy, I really couldn't ask for a better baby. He's one of the best things to come home to.

Stephen and I are both surviving residency... one month at a time! We really couldn't do it without my mother helping us out because most daycares aren't meant to accomodate the weird and often erratic schedules of physicians. Plus, it's so nice to be able to let him sleep in his own bed and not have to worry about getting him ready and drop him off somewhere so early in the morning. My mother is also keeping our nephew, Zane, so we have quite the full house most days! It's so funny to see Zane and Jacob interact, Jacob is absolutely in love with anything and everything Zane does... I foresee a lot of tagging along in the future.

I have a slower paced rotation for the next four weeks, so I'm really hoping it goes by slowly so I can soak it up! I'm also going to use my vacation time to finish childproofing the house, especially now that Jacob is crawling up a storm and getting into anything and everything. It's so funny, I never thought I'd be so proud of all his little milestones, but I just can't help it! Earlier this week, I came home from work and was playing with him on the floor and told him to come get me... and he just started crawling towards me! I was almost bursting with pride, it's crazy the level of emotion that's involved with such a simple act... can't imagine what I'll do when he graduates kindergarten or is potty trained! I called almost everyone I know immediately.

So I'm loving being a mom and most days at work I really do like my job, so I feel like life is going pretty well right now; can't ask for much more. I'll be posting some pictures so stay tuned....

I'm an aunt... again!

Yesterday my brother's first child, Thomas Wilson Fuller was born at 7:38pm! He was 6lbs 13oz and 19 inches and was born via c-section. He's an adorable little guy, looks just like his mother! We stopped by the hospital again today to get pictures with all of the little boy cousins together... I'll post those soon because they're all too cute to keep to myself :)

In other news, graduation is tomorrow... Stephen and I will be "doctors"- say what?! I think I'm still in denial.

House pictures...

cute little back yard- lots of big trees, which we love!

patio, with a little built in sand box- perfect for little boys!

Master bathroom

The kitchen- one of my FAVORITE parts of the house

The front view

Guest room

Guest bath

Family room

Dining area- opens into the kitchen

We made an offer on a house...

and it was accepted!!!! We are still in shock, it's all feeling pretty unreal at this point. I have never been a home owner before and I think I'm going to like it (that is of course, until the first major appliance breaks or the roof leaks or whatever). We are meeting the inspector today to go over the soundness of our new domicile! Barring any major disasters we should be able to move in by the end of May.

I'm slowly but surely, scratch that, QUICKLY acquiring all the adult responsibilities that I'd always thought were so far off into the future. Parenthood, home owner, doctor... what in the world?! I'm probably due for some sort of identity crisis or something, but I certainly don't have time for that :)