2010 Christmas Letter

For those of you who didn't receive our letter in the mail (I probably don't have your address), or for those of you would like to re-read our yearly letter, here it is.

Knight 2010 Christmas Letter

“DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG. DONG.” A deep bell sound rolls down from the chapel, through Cadet area, across The Plain, moves to the Hudson, and disappears with a hint of sadness hanging in the air. Then in unison but monotone and dreary, “Six bells and all is well. Another week shot to hell. Another week in my little grey cell. Another week in which to excel. Oh hell.” In the old days, my plebe year at West Point (1997), we had formation every Sunday evening at 6 O’clock and if you weren’t in formation by the time the bells chimed you were late. The plebes marked another week down with this recitation. And now I mark another year down with this. I wish I had exciting stories to tell, or life lessons to reflect on, or humiliating experiences; I don’t. I have the daily drudge that is life with three children (from here forward to be referred to as “little monsters”). “DONG.” I started off the year leaving my wife to battle the little monsters while I spent the month in Houston on a pediatric rotation. With an odd schedule she was left doing the traveling and drove multiple times out to visit. This adventure consisted of convincing the girls that their room in the 1 bedroom apartment was the walk in closet. They each created their “beds” on the ground and loved it. At least we got to see some of the sites – I went to San Jacinto and we all hit up the Space Center and the natural history museum – otherwise known as an infomercial for “Big Oil” as it teaches all about the oil business and how great/clean it is. “DONG.” After a month home I again packed up and left Kristin with the little monsters for a pediatric rotation in Cincinnati. Being the longest time I’ve been in Cincy since moving away in 1997 I took full advantage. I got to catch up with family and friends and even made a guest appearance at a UC residency function. Joy (my best friend’s wife) is probably about now no longer sick of me. The highlight was Kristin and the little monsters coming to visit – Lizzy rode uncle Austin’s motorcycle with training wheels, Ava drove a Powerwheels Jeep endlessly, and CJ was in heaven with a real farm tractor. “DONG.” After briefly being a family again Kristin said her “Good-byes”, took off for Estonia for a month with the Marine Corps Reserves, and left me with the little monsters. It was fantastic. Kristin got to be a Marine again and I got to create two daddy’s girls and one daddy’s boy. “DONG.” I started as Chief Resident in June and this dominated my time through October. If I wasn’t working, I was working. We took some time to explore some of Texas by going through the state parks and hitting up the Hill Country. In October little CJ (barely 2½) completed a 6 mile hike through one of the parks. He may have whined, he may have tried to refuse, and he certainly needed bribing with food every ¼ mile but he made it and impressed me. Lizzy essentially ran the 6 miles and asked for more. We also found out that we would be welcoming a 4th to our crowd of little monsters - a brother for CJ. “DONG.” The fall was marked by Lizzy starting true Kindergarten at the local elementary school and Ava having to cope with the loss of Lizzy and her 1 friend going to different schools. This forced Ava to make friends and be sociable. Lizzy learned to ride a bike, is doing great with reading, and impresses the world with her fashion sense (yes, cowboy boots go with everything). “DONG.” The end of the year has ended with a flurry of activity after an overall boring year. It started with a rejection after a job interview. I’m pretty good at it by now – I applied to 7 medical schools and decorated my wall at West Point with 6 rejection letters. I love the standard lines – yadda, yadda, we chose to go with someone else, but please be ready in case something doesn’t work out because we’d still love to have you in the unit. In other words, you were, at best, second best and we are hoping everything works out so that we’re not stuck with you. My second interview went well enough and I accepted a position working at Ft. Bragg, NC. So, we are headed back to where everything started for us 10 years ago (it was 10 years ago that we found out I was going to Ft. Bragg and Kristin to Camp Lejeune). Immediately after getting back from my interview we flew out to Sedona, AZ for vacation with Kristin’s family. Opa (Kristin’s grandfather) celebrated #88 and we put some miles on the little monsters’ shoes. This included 1 mile into the Grand Canyon (and back – once again much whining by CJ) and many other trails. Now we’re back to the dredge and hoping the grey period doesn’t set in. As usual, we hope this finds everyone well. Maybe next year I can produce something humorous and entertaining for your bathroom reading pleasure. Until then, we hope to cross paths. Do you hear it? That’s the sound of the wind whisking the bells away down the Hudson.

December Round Up

After returning from Arizona, the hustle and bustle of our normal lives quickly returned. Elizabeth jumped back into school, and Ryan returned to work after almost a month off. The girls finished off their soccer and T-ball seasons. Casey continued to impress his speech therapist and gymnastics teacher. I caught up on work for my regular job, plus work for the BAMC Auxiliary, and threw a "Winter Party" for Elizabeth's Kindergarten class. Ava chickened out of our church's Christmas Pageant, but Elizabeth participated as an angel, waving at us in the audience the whole time she was on stage. Gifts were bought, wrapped, and shipped. Any hopes I had of finishing some sewing projects in time for Christmas quickly went out the window. At least, there is still hope of getting them done in time for birthdays and other holidays. I made a pathetic attempt at decorating the house for Christmas. The kids kept asking where our outside lights were, but at 8 months pregnant I really didn't feel like climbing a ladder to hang them. As part of our yearly tradition, we bought our tree at half off a few days before Christmas. The kids enjoyed doing the decorating this year. However, I wasn't sure if some of the branches were going to support the weight of a dozen ornaments, and nothing was hung above 44".

I think it looked great! No San Antonio tree would be complete without a "Go Spurs" sign. I almost forgot to mention that Elizabeth took Ryan to a Spurs game in December, since she had earned some free tickets for selling cookie dough as part of her school's fundraiser. She still loves the Bengals, but she is now a die hard Spurs fan. At least one team has a winning track record.

Ryan had to work on Christmas Day, so we woke the kids up at 5am to celebrate before he went to work. It didn't take long for the kids to rub the sleep out of their eyes, and behold all the goodies that Santa had brought. Ryan bought the family a video camera for Christmas, so we have lots of video of footage of the kids on Christmas morning, but we forgot to take any regular photos. You will have to take my word for it that there were lots of excited squeals, laughs, happy faces, and joy. Not to mention a mountain of paper and boxes all over the place. The Black Friday Powerwheels was a huge hit. Casey immediately claimed it as "his" and spent all of Christmas day loading and unloading "his" truck with all his new gifts. However, he isn't a very good driver, so at least he will let his sisters help out in that department. Ryan took off the week between Christmas and New Years and I worked half days. He and the kids made it to one of the missions here in San Antonio. Together, we took the kids to Sea World to see the holiday animal shows and the girls were big enough to ride a few rides. We also had a chance to get together with the Crittenden family who made the trek from DC to Austin for the holidays. It was great to hang out with my best friend, Crystal, and I always enjoy seeing our girls play together. New Year's Eve was a quiet celebration with neighbors, however heard it did get rowdier after I went to bed. At least I made it to midnight this year which was better than I did last year. Overall, I think we all survived the month of December without too much stress or strain. It really was a quiet and calm holiday season.

The 1st Week of Ryan Gone

Day 1: When I went to get Casey out of bed this morning, Casey greeted me by handing me his diaper, saying "HereYaGo" while standing in a puddle of pee.

Day 2: Cereal and chocolate chip cookies for dinner. Nutritious and delicious. Kids are bathed for the week and are in bed by 6:30pm because they are complaining of being tired. Day 3: Another note from school that Casey bumped his head. T-ball practice followed by dinner at McDonald's with friends. I still have not done dishes or grocery shopping this week. Supplies are running low. Day 4: Elizabeth is in tears because I forgot to reminder her about show-n-tell. Casey fell (or was pushed) off of the tree fort. Another bump added to Casey's head. I make a delicious dinner of kielbasa, noodles, and carrots. All the kids turn their noses up at it. Day 5: Finally went grocery shopping and did the dishes. First T-ball game of the winter season. Beautiful 70 degree weather and Ava was whining about being cold and wore a heavy wool coat the whole game. Elizabeth played coach pitch and got a hit. We then ran off to the girls Dance/gymnastic show. The girls performed their routines and got medals. Naps followed by bike riding, where Elizabeth took her first spill. Nothing a band-aid couldn't fix. Dinner, book reading, and bed time routine. Ah! I am done for the day.

Army Navy Bet

Ryan made a bet with some of his fellow doctors on the Army/Navy game . Once again, our beloved West Point football team let us down which left Ryan baking a cake as pay out. I think it is a pretty awesome ship and he managed to poke some fun at the Navy.

2009 Summary

Sitting in a circle with the local Imam and village elders of Musa Kalay, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan in February 2003, a bucket was passed around prior to starting talks about security, village needs, and concerns about American presence. My interpreter explained that the yellow, curdled jell with the putrid smell in front of me was actually goat’s milk allowed to sit in the bucket for days (in the sun) and was an offering I should not refuse for fear of insulting the elders. The taste and texture of that will never leave me, but as I look back I realize that it wasn’t all that bad, and I am thankful for that unique opportunity of talking politics with Afghan elders and sipping old goat milk. Welcome to 2009 for this Knight family. Sit back and enjoy the comedy, sadness, but most of all hope and lessons learned. The year started with Kristin really starting her new job in earnest and our family adjusting to the kids going to daycare everyday. Many tears were shed with the start of daycare. True to their personalities, Elizabeth quickly became a favorite amongst all the teachers and could go into any classroom and name off 5 “friends” regardless of the kid’s age. It was a chorus of hellos and goodbyes when Lizzy walked through a room – she still went through her spell of tears when dropped off. Ava on the other hand had no friends except her teachers. It wasn’t that she didn’t get to know other kids; she didn’t like them. I could name any kid in her class and she had a reason why she didn’t like that child. Ava latched on to her teachers – Ms. Patsy and Ms. Alice – and we are thankful for their kindness in helping with that adjustment. Casey was simply known as the happy baby. Of course he worked his delightful personality and exploited it. I would walk it to pick him up and watch him cruise over to another kid, take their food/toy/pacifier, cruise away and watch the teachers chuckle about how cute he was. Meanwhile the other kid was left in tears over the loss. Daycare wasn’t as bad as I’d imagined – it certainly didn’t have that horrific aftertaste I remember from goat milk in 2003. For me, the first part of the year was dominated with residency and trying to spend time with my dad. Gerlyn held dinners every Sunday that we tried not to miss and I would attempt to visit on my day off. Things started changing rapidly at the beginning of March and we all knew the time was near. It was the first time I had an extended time period to prepare for death and yet nothing prepares you. I was expecting a sour taste, instead now all I remember is a family that came together, grieved together, celebrated life together, then began moving on. Tragically, a week before my dad died Kristin’s Grandmother suffered a fall, rapid decline in health, and an untimely passing. Once again the kids came through for us. Kristin headed to Pennsylvania with all three kids by herself and was pleasantly surprised. Our young monsters listened in the airport, played nicely together, stayed under control, and even helped others cope with the loss. Little did they know they’d be asked to do it again the next week as they said goodbye to “Bub”. It didn’t taste good, but it could have been much worse. As the bucket came around to me again I found myself in the summer and this time the drink was sweeter. The girls learned to swim, Lizzy began T-ball, and I worked my tail off. One foul taste was one of Lizzy’s first game when an overzealous back swing connected the bat with the back of her head. The tears eventually stopped, but not before the game had ended and she had sworn off baseball forever. Another summer event was our trip to Canyon Lake for a mini-vacation. For the first time in 8 years I saw an ill-planned trip by my wife. The lake was actually a mud puddle after one of the worst droughts in Texas history dropped the lake to historic lows. The “cabins” turned out to be doublewide trailers. The beach was 50 yards short of the water and the weather was a mild 105 everyday making the swings at the playground too hot to even sit on. The girls still talk about wanting to stay in the trailer again – so they must have enjoyed the taste anyway. In August the bucket produced such a disgusting drink the curdled milk had to be chewed prior to swallowing. Ava finally made a friend, one friend. At her friend’s birthday party I marveled at Ava interacting with someone other than her sister; and then tragedy. In a split second Ava fell through my field of vision, landed on the back of her head, and let out a cry that will echo in my nightmares forever. A fall of about 8 feet produced a large skull fracture and two brain bruises in my precious A-V-A. In the end I reaffirmed my decision to be an ER doctor, learned how to challenge fear from a 3 year old, and learned the value of friends and family as so many people helped our family during her hospital stay. Thank you Beau, Allie, Gerlyn, Andrea, Billy and everyone else. Probably the best taste of the year came in September after a long summer of ridiculous hours at work when Kristin and I escaped on a vacation. Somehow Kristin convinced her Mom and recently retired step-dad to fly to Texas and watch our kids for a week so that we could escape to Costa Rica. I gave Kristin the green light to plan a vacation and the library ran out of “books-of-fun”. The end result was a classic Knight trip. Some highlights include Kristin nearly stepping on the most dangerous snake in South America (in sandals), me moving said snake with a stick (Crocodile Hunter style), running up/then down a volcano in a rainforest as darkness set in, standing on the side of the world’s 2nd most active volcano as it spewed lava, and finally relaxing in a luxurious resort. So, that’s a trip through the many flavors of 2009 for us. Even the bad tasting times didn’t leave an aftertaste and we all look back at the year as a time of growth, change, and learning. We hope the year was the same for you. Don’t forget to follow our (mis)adventures at http://panandtink.blogspot.com/. (bookmark it!)

It could be worse...

At least we don't have septic issues like Annie and Billy, but we do have our own problem now with a broken A/C. The fan motor died which also probably took out the compressor. The whole unit is 12 years old (15 year life expectancy), so now we are looking at replacing instead of rebuilding. Not fun! At least it is not July or August with record setting temperatures. We now have high in the high 80s or low 90's during the days and most evenings it dips into the 70s. That gives us a little time to get some other quotes and compare options.

Sound Familiar?

Backlog

That is what happen when mom gets sick. 8 loads of laundry, dishes piled in the sink, messy house, crabby kids, and no blog updates. I am caught up on almost everything now, and looking forward to my vacation next week.

Bad Luck

They say bad things usually come in 3's. I hope these three count, and we now start a run of better luck. 1. Ava fractured her skull. 2. The kids' daycare center had a fire (luckily after hours), but I had to find new childcare arrangements for the next 4-6 weeks. 3. The dog got sprayed by a skunk, so now our dog and our house smell horrible. Plus, we think she broke her toe.

Deja Vu

June's Blog seems a lot like January's. Here I am writing about gymnastics shows, new fish, and parties again.

You have already heard about the big gymnastics show, so I guess I will move onto the fish. After a six months with us, Elizabeth's fish, Saint Nicholas, went to fishy heaven. His passing inspired Ryan to finally clean the fish tank, where he managed to kill off Pinkie and Merlin III in a matter of 15 minutes by placing them in a cup of water straight from the tap. The girls were more excited than sad about the loss of their fish, so a few days later we went to the pet store to buy some replacement fish. Ava picked out the same pink fish again and named her Pinkie. Casey got a yellow tail fish, Merlin IV. Elizabeth picked a black and orange shark fish, Sharkie Fish. Elizabeth has a knack for picking out the most agressive fish. Two days later, I found Merlin IV floating in the tank without his yellow tail or fins. I put Merlin IV in a plastic baggie and took him back to the store for a faster swimming fish. Merlin V, a orange and yellow fish, lasted past his warranty period but just this week he suffered the same fate as Merlin IV. I found Merlin V under a frog statue without a tail. Elizabeth swears that it was the resin frog that killed Merlin, not Sharkie Fish. For now, I think we will stick with two fish. Pinkie is a faster swimmer and likes the top of the tank, and Sharkie hangs out around the bottom. Hopefully, they can continue to get along. Their relationship reminds me a lot of Elizabeth and Ava. Finally, what is a summer without parties. Pool parties, summer parties, birthday parties, etc. You name it, my girls have attended. They will never pass up an opportunity for sugar.

Sorry to keep you waiting.

Sorry to leave our all our loyal fans hanging, you have all been waiting so patiently for a run down of cruise madness, birthday fun, and family visits. Our travels have concluded, illnesses have left the building, and finally I have a few minutes to myself and the energy to put into messing with the computer. Bear with me over the next few days and I will bring you all up to speed.

Greetings!!!

As you can see we are still alive and well (even Sam). We are still enjoying 80 degree days in November. It is "paradise" down here, you should all move here, or at least come for a visit. We miss all of you!

House of Death

I apologize for being delinquent in posting lately. A few of days after my last post, we were inundated with some sort of stomach virus. It first hit on Wednesday night when we were out celebrating Nana's (Ryan's Grandmother on his dad's side) 90th birthday at the Olive Garden with some a bunch of the family. Elizabeth told me that her stomach hurt and that she was going to throw up. My first mistake was to try and move her. Since we were both pinned behind the table with a wall and chairs blocking our escape when she blew, she ended up with vomit from head to toe, and my entire left shoulder was decimated. Typically, we would have called it a night there, but since it was a fairly large family affair Lizzy and I headed off to the bathroom to try to clean ourselves up. When we re-emerged Lizzy was wearing Casey's burp cloth like a toga, and I had a wet, smelly shirt from rinsing it out in the sink. My second mistake was letting her try a little milk and water to calm her stomach. Nope, that didn't work, and she wiped out her toga. Outfit number three was Casey's onesie, which looked kind of like a shirt dress on her. We survived the evening, but not without Elizabeth filling up a bread basket and a salad bowl with vomit, and puking in her car seat on the way home. The rest of the night wasn't much better. By Friday, Elizabeth was feeling a good percentage better, but Ava and I weren't feeling so hot. Poor little Ava threw up while she was taking a nap, and was too tired and sick to move or let us know until she woke up 3 hours later. I took the approach that if I didn't eat I wouldn't throw up. I didn't throw up, but after fasting for almost 3 full days I could barely see straight. Ryan made it until late Friday night before falling ill, but still managed to crawl out of bed on Saturday and Sunday to work in the Emergency Department, where he couldn't help but be frustrated at his patients because he was sicker than 60% of them. By the early part of last week the worse was over, and I scrubbed the house from top to bottom. I thought we had banished the bug, but it sounds like we were still walking time bombs and managed to spread our TX bug to Ohio to our loved ones during out vacation this past week. Sorry!!! Well, these next few post will bring you up to speed on some more pleasant subjects like our vacation adventures, and the kid's milestones.

General Updates (and Bragging)

Flashback, here are the girls exactly 2 years ago!

Now for the updates.

First, here is Ava modeling a hand made dress (now shirt) from her Oma. Since turning two, Ava has acquired impeccable fashion sense and takes great care in picking out a perfectly color coordinated outfit each day with any help from mom or dad. She will even pick out matching shoes. Her vocabulary has also increased dramatically, and she was almost giddy when she declared, "Mommy, my purple shoes." She besides talking about her purple shoes and pink blanket, she will also frequently ask for cookies and milk. It is awesome to watch her embrace toddlerhood. However, I could do without the tantrums. I think her nursery school class has been good for her, I have found her attention span increasing as well as making her more outgoing and loving. She is also excelling in her gymnastics class and can do a perfect forward roll on flat ground, and today she mastered a forward flip on the high bar without assistance. Ava is gorgeous when she smiles. However, don't let that beautiful smile fool you, she is just as stubborn and independent as ever. Elizabeth on the other hand, doesn't show the same interest in fashion that Ava does. But don't let her pink pants and red pirate t-shirt fool you. This girl can run a mile in 6 minutes flat. Okay, I might be exaggerating just a little bit, but this girl is fast. She says that she can run like Spiderman, and fly like Batman, and she loves to Rock'n Roll. Below is she rocking out with her Elmo guitar that we found a flea market, she says she is ready for and "upgrade," because her current guitar is for little girls. Lizzy is at a tough age right now, she no longer wants to be a toddler but isn't quite at the pre-K/Kindergarten age range yet . Just like she is ready to wear sweaters and raincoats, but it is still 90 degrees and sunny here. She is protesting nap time, but I still make her lay down in her room for 2 hours while Casey and Ava sleep. She asks "Why" about everything, and has stared talking back when you ask her to do something. She is starting to act like she is all grown up and can make her own decisions, and she is a challenge to keep in line sometimes. When we aren't giving her the attention she wants she will copy Ava's or Casey's behavior good or bad. Other times she is a great big sister and mother's helper, and it makes me so proud to see her set such a good example around the house and in public. Each girl is unique and at a different milestones. I love them both dearly, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that we can all survive the next 16 years without too many battle scars. And I am sure you are all wondering how poor little Casey is, so I promises the next entry will be all about him.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears

The kids and I went to the zoo and met up with a friend of mine, Cara and her 2 year old son Frankie, who I met when we lived in DC. Also being a military family, she and her husband now reside in South Carolina and of course we are now in San Antonio. Luckily her parents live in San Antonio and her husband is traveling this month, so she is out here for a long visit and we get to hang out together. Our adventure this week was an outing to the San Antonio Zoo with the kids in tow. (I think our next meeting with be without all the munchkins.) Actually, we just saw mostly birds at the zoo. In fact, I think the San Antonio zoo has more birds than I have ever seen at any other zoo, but maybe that is just because San Antonio put their bird exhibit right at the entrance of the zoo. It is almost impossible to avoid, and this way the poor birds feel loved, because really who comes to the zoo to see birds! There are some cool things about the birds, like you can feed them. Cara brought dog food, so we didn't have to spend the quarter to get little food pellets from the machines. For the record, birds like dog food and so do fish and alligators. We did splurge and spend the dollar to buy nectar to hand feed the parrots. Lizzy and I thought it was pretty cool to feed the parrots. I did have to yell at one of the birds for flying on to my shoulder and trying to eat my diamond earrings. Ava was less than impressed with the parrots and sat in the stroller eating goldfish crackers, while hanging out with Casey. She and Elizabeth did enjoy brushing the goats, and Casey like the air conditioned tiny tot play area with a water bed for him to play on while the girls "fished" in a little indoor stream. It was a really nice morning, topped off with a picnic lunch next to the zoo lake, where the girls continued to feed the birds...this time pretzels and bread crusts. Sorry there aren't more pictures, but I had my hands too full most of the time to pick up my camera, but this is a place we will definitely visit again. For the record, we didn't see the poor little snow leopard at the zoo this time, obviously the 95 degree heat was too much for him.

Disclaimer

Many of you have asked for more pictures of our house. I snapped a few of the interior and will post them, but remember our house is not staged for sale, it is where a family of five and a big dog reside on a daily basis. So I try to keep up with the chaos, but it seems never ending. The kids do their part in making a mess but they are getting better at cleaning up also. The house is a one story ranch style home built in 1978 with around 2400 square feet, plus a 3 car garage set on about 1/3 of an acre. The layout once walking in the front door is a great room in the center of the house, with the kitchen, breakfast nook, dining room, laundry room and garage on the left side of the house, and the 4 bedrooms and 2 baths on the right side. View from foyer. The GREAT room! The Kitchen. The Breakfast Nook w/ French doors to patio. Dining Room. Main Bath. Office/Guestroom. Liz's Room (soon to be the girls' Neverland Room w/ bunkbeds and lots of pirates). Ava's room (soon to be Casey's Jungle Room, formerly a "car" room). Master Bedroom (w/ Casey). Master Bath.

Tribute to Mothers

This week my sister gave birth to her second son, and my sister-in-law found out she was pregnant again. So in honor of them, I am publishing this post. I have been meaning to share this with all mothers before, but I haven't taken the time to type it out. However, this is something that my mother-in-law, Gina, found in a publication and wanted to share with me one Mother's Day. Her note to me was: "This touched my heart and soul - eloquently expressed many thoughts throughout the years that I have had. Thought you might enjoy as well. You are a beautiful mom" Love, Gina

Thank you Mother

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of “starting a family.” “Mom, do you think I should have a baby?” “It will change your life,” I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. “I know,” she says, “no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations….” But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable. I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper with asking, “What if that had been my child?” Every plane crash or house fire will haunt her. When she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child become sick or even die. I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to a primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. An urgent call of “MOM!” will cause her to drop her best crystal without a moment’s hesitation. I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for childcare, but one day she will be going to an important business meeting and she will think of her baby’s sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right. I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy’s desire to go to the men’s room rather than the women’s at McDonald’s will become a major dilemma! That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of a five-year old’s independence and becoming a man will be weighed against that possibility that someone in that men’s room could be lurking around looking to hurt that five year old child. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but that she will never feel the same about herself. That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. She would rather give it up in a moment to save her child, but will also begin to hope for more years – not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her children accomplish theirs. I want her to know that a caesarian scar or tiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter’s relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child. I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic. I wish my daughter could sense that bond she will feel with other women throughout history who have tried to stop war, prejudice, and drunk driving. I hope she will understand why I can think rationally about most issues, but become temporarily insane when I discuss the threat of nuclear war to my child’s future. I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike, or that pain of sitting on a cold hard bleacher instead of your car at a soccer game so that you can hear your child ask, “ Hey, mom, did you see me make that goal?” I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or cat for the very first time. I want her to taste the experience of giving birth that is so real it both hurts and brings intense joy in the same breath. My daughter’s quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. “You’ll never regret it,” I finally say to her. Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter’s hand, and say a silent prayer for her, for me, and for all the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings. This blessed gift of God…that of being a Mother. (Author Unknown) ***So take a moment to reflect on what a great joy it is to be a mother, and keep up the fantastic work!

Thank you

I want to take a moment to thank all my faithful readers for sticking with us despite our sporadic postings over the last few months. We are finally settled in our new house, and our internet is connected. 100% of the boxes have been opened and sorted through, 98% of the furniture is in the right place, and 75% of the pictures are on the wall. We still have a few bigger projects like new counter tops in the kitchen, painting the nursery, and extending our patio that are on the list but hopefully they will be done by the end of summer. I will post some pictures our new house shortly. In the mean time, I also want to thank some folks for gifts that kids have received to include clothes, books, toys, and blankets. My goal is to snap of a photo of each gift in action, so that you can see the smiles you bring to our kid's faces.

Thank you mom for the adorable kids clothes.

Thank you Crystal for the hand-me-downs (actually Ava just wanted her picture taken and this is what she was wearing).

Thank you Annie, Billy, and Reina for the Pirate Mouse book.

Thank you Jen, Stephen, Conner, and Caley for the scrapbook.This is list of "thank yous" is by no means inclusive. We really appreciate everything thing that all of our friends and family have given us over the last few months from a place to stay, food to eat, new clothes and toys for kids, money for birthdays, and your time and company. We love you all!

Homeless!

Home at last? Not quite! We have been on the go since my last post and I have barely had time to collect my sanity let alone update my website. Following the birth of Casey in North Carolina, we returned to Washington, DC at the end of the month for exactly 36 hours before flying to Texas for a week of house hunting with the whole family. Our house in DC was under contract, and we were very much looking forward to buying a home in San Antonio with lots of room for our growing family and a nice big back yard for the kids and the dog. We found a great house and wrote a contract only to enter into a multiple contract situation and a bidding war (so much for a lousy housing market). Anyway, we lost and returned to DC without buying a house. After mulling over what to do, I returned to San Antonio with Casey a few days later for round two of house hunting. There were a few new things on the market and I expanded our search criteria. Casey and I put in full days searching for a home. We wrote another contract, and again found ourselves in another bidding war. We lost again, and again I returned back to DC without a clue where we were all going to live in two weeks time. At least Casey got to spend some quality time with his great-grandmother, Nana. We really appreciated her putting up with a house full of people for almost two weeks straight.However, that had to be set aside because other issues became more important at that moment...Ryan's graduation from medical school! Graduation was on Saturday, 17 May, and the festivities started on Friday. After seven years as a Lieutenant, Ryan finally got promoted to the rank of Captain, and I had the pleasure to share that rank with him for at least a couple of days. The graduation ceremony was made special by all of the family that made the effort to be there, as well as our friends who came by the house later to say goodbye before we left the area. Ryan also got me a really kick ass necklace to honor my seven years of service in the Marine Corps. On Monday, the movers showed up, and on Wednesday we packed up our few remaining things, signed the papers for the sale of our house in DC, and were officially homeless and living out of our cars. So I did what any good 30 year old, college educated person would do, I moved back in with my mother. After departing DC, we all headed up to my mom's house for a few days visit before proceeding up to New York over Memorial Day weekend for our friends' wedding (Mike and Sarah Zeola). We stayed with my sister and her family in Watertown, NY, which might as well be Canada. Their house was great and hospitality was fantastic, and our girls had a great time playing with their 2 year old cousin, Sam. The wedding was a blast. Elizabeth made an adorable flower girls, and Ryan was a handsome groomsman. (Ava, aka Captain Destructo, stayed with my sister during the wedding.) After the wedding festivities, we started our long journey from Canada to Mexico. Our first stop was in Ohio (13 hours in the car). Ryan, Sam the dog, and Ava stayed behind in Ohio while Elizabeth, Casey, and I made the remaining 18 hour drive to Texas. This is not something I want to repeat anytime soon. Note, there are not cute pictures of our cross country journey. While I was driving through Dallas on May 28, the movers called and asked where we wanted our household goods delivered. Unfortunately , we had to put them in storage, where it takes at least two weeks notice to get them back out and a few more opportunities for our things to get damaged. We resolved ourselves to renting a house in Texas only to be utterly dismayed with our options. I decided to take on more look to see what was on the market, and wouldn't you know but there were three houses that I was interested in purchasing. Why didn't this happen a month ago!!! We decided to get buying one more shot, and wrote another contract. Third time is the charm, we got ourselves a house, of course not with a few other hickups but the good news is that on 19 June we will finally have a place to hang our hats. In the interim, Ryan's family has been really great about putting up with 5 extra people and a dog. We are all thriving (Casey is smiling a lot and starting to coo).This past weekend, Ryan's dad and step mom invited us down to their house on the gulf coast. It is not the Atlantic, but we all had a blast. Plus, the kids and the dog slept very well after all that time at the beach.I can't figure out which is my favorite picture of Casey, so I will just post them all.The end. Our house hold goods will arrive on June 23, so shortly after that I should be able to get back to posting once a week. Thanks for hanging in there and still checking up on us.