A New Sentence

Over the last week or so, Jake has learned how to say "I love you Daddy!" And in the last couple of days I have been added - "I love you Mommy!" It's just the best thing. Today when I picked him up from Heather's, he said "I love you Mommy!" and I responded, "Aw thanks Jakey, I love you too!" Then, he said "Kiss Mommy!" and puckered up (truly a rare event - he's such a boy). He's such a sweetie. All in all, I'm really impressed with his vocab. He routinely says two-word sentences, and has expanded to several three-word sentences. It's probably normal for his age, but it's just astonishing to think he's only really been talking for six or eight months. Their little brains really are sponges (hence Daddy and I have learned to watch our language; I think the worst I've heard from Jake is "Oh Lordy!", beacause when driving that tends to be my exclamation if someone else - or I - do something stupid on the road).

In other news, Heather watched a little baby today, and apparently Jake just sat in front of the baby carrier smiling and staring at the baby. Hopefully we'll have a similar reaction when baby brother comes home! 23 weeks down today, 17 to go!

A Daddy Update

In honor of Daddy letting me sleep in for HOURS today, I'll give you a quick update on the Dad-happenings around here.
-Ryan was elected "Senior Articles Editor" of the Marquette Law Review. What does that mean, you might ask? Well, it's the third position from the top and if last year is any indication of things, it's often given to one of the smartest (if not THE smartest) people on law review. It'll be his responsibility to weed through the submitted articles and determine whether they should be published or not. He's apparently going to hit the ground running, with the busiest times in April and August. Good news is that I'm off in April. We're very happy for him and very proud of him!
-The job at Johnson Controls is winding down, but still keeping him very busy.
-Finals are April 27th through May 1st.
-He's gearing up for his job at Foley & Lardner, very very excited!
-And finally, Daddy felt the baby kick for the first time today!

Hooray for Dad!

Match Day/Day Off

Well, today was Match Day for the class of 2009. I did not participate, as most of our loyal readers know ;), because I'll be matching next year. It's a bit unorthodox, but I'm confident in my decision. I feel it was the most responsible decision for my family, for my future program, and for me. I am 100% certain about pathology because I took my time making the decision. I'll be able to start residency July 1 with my fellow residents (rather than being 2 months behind and slopping tons of extra work on them), and I'll have some great research experience under my belt (not to mention a whole year with the babies!). I'm so happy for all my friends and classmates who matched, and I know they'll be successful, caring, and all around excellent physicians.

So, since everyone had the day off today, I decided to take Jake to the Betty Brinn kids' museum. It's a fun hands-on museum with a special section for kids under 3. He had a blast! He pushed around a toy lawnmower for about an hour while he wandered around the toddler section, then got a little bolder and explored all the other fun stuff within the area. There was a "house" with pots and pans and kitchen items to play with, an indoor sandbox, a gardening shed and pretend garden, pretend trees with hollowed out tree trunks for exploring, big slides, magnets, puzzles, and so on. By the end of our 1.5 hours there, he was having a blast but I could tell he was getting tuckered out too. His fatigue was a little more evident here at home later ... But he went to bed without a fight, and even requested a round of "Twinkle, Twinkle" from Mom and Dad.

Tomorrow Ryan will run for Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review, so wish him luck! It's a time-consuming position, but one that I know he'd be really good at. He's got a great attitude about it, and I hope things work out well. We'll keep you up to date. Have a great night everyone!

Another gorgeous day!

It's so nice when the weather gets warm and sunny. I think everyone's in a better mood, especially the Jakester. He's been even more pleasant than usual, with fewer two-year-old-esque outbursts. Even bathtime and bedtime have been easier lately; bedtime in particular has been smoother and happier. Part of that might be attributed to the fact that he discovered he likes to have a book in bed with him, along with his "two bankies". For several nights he decided he wanted to sleep with his book "Goodnight Thumper." Tonight he wanted to take his prayer book to bed with him. Every night when we put him to bed, we talk about how much Mommy, Daddy, and God love Jacob, and that's we'll all be here to keep him safe all night, and that if he needs us to just call and we'll come get him. Tonight, when I said "Jakey, Mommy loves you very much, and Daddy loves you very much" he said "Yeah" and gave me a big hug. Awesome.

Also today we played at the park since the weather was amazing. Jake discovered pinecones, and carried two pinecones around for a while there. He also went around proclaiming "TWO PINECONES! One, two!" occasionally adding in "three" after one and two despite only having two pinecones. He currently is less interested in the climbing equipment and more interested in things like sticks and leaves (and of course pinecones).

Not too much else is going on. I have Thursday off since it's Match Day, but as I'm deferring the match until next year I get to have a free day with my buddy :) Hopefully I'll have some fun stories to post from that day - I'm thinking we'll go to the hands-on kids museum downtown!

Has spring finally sprung?

This is the question those of us in WI find ourselves asking this time of year. Especially after two really nice days in the 50s. We had a really fun weekend. Saturday Jake, Dad, and I went to the big park near our apartment and played for a long time. Jake had fun going down the slides and hiding inside a difficult to describe climbing apparatus. Today, Jake and I went to the park (a different one) again; we saw a "choo-choo twain" and chased after bubbles (usually to no avail, but he laughed and squealed the whole time). Then we went shopping at Target (Mommy's favorite) and looked for new books and puzzles that the Easter Bunny might bring for Jake (I think the EB's got some ideas ;)).

Funny, quirky moments from the weekend:

-Jake has sunglasses that are his size, and after Dad changed his diaper today I heard "Now you're a true ladies' man!" and out came my husband carrying our son, who had wrap-around sunglasses and a huge grin on his face.

-Jake is thoroughly convinced that the first bite of any food, even if it just came out of the freezer, is HOT. He informs me of this, then refuses to eat it unless I blow on it to cool it down.

-In addition to taking his identical Pooh Bear blankie toys to bed (Mama, TWO BLANKIES!!!), Jake now insists that he bring his "Goodnight Thumper" book to bed as well. It's actually quite nice, as it's led to very smooth bedtimes!

Pics of Jakey

So as to not show any favoritism, here are some recent pictures of Jake. We were approached in a Babies 'r Us by the Kiddie Kandids picture people and offered a free sitting (and free 5x7) if we wanted it. Given the lack of success we had at Christmas time (3 pictures total in two sessions) I told them we'd give it a try but he might freak out. Well, he did a great job! They gave him a soccer ball (or "socca bowl" as he says) and he was in heaven. Enjoy!

Reporting live from the living room...

Today Jake has taken to using one of our small flashlights as an apparent microphone. He babbles some fast gibberish into the flashlight, then he puts it in my face. So then I'll say something like, "Hi, my name's Mommy, and I saw the whole thing!" And he cracks up. It's a blast. :)

Ultrasound Pictures

Face Profile

Foot

It's a....

Today we had our 20 week ultrasound, and we found out that we are having a BOY! We're very excited! Jake also appears to be excited, and at different points has indicated we should name the baby "Brother", "Daddy", and "Mommy." He also enjoyed Daddy's suggestion that the baby be named "Batman." Already working on finding a therapist for this kiddo ;)

And briefly, I just wanted to say thank you to one of our readers. She's a long-time family friend who really I consider a part of the family. She sent me a very kind email today, helping make what was already a good day into an even better one. I just wanted to say that it made me feel even more thankful to have her as a part of my (and my family's) life. Thanks Fran, I love ya :)

Some Somber News

This is a request for prayers. A friend of mine from college passed away yesterday. She was diagnosed with leukemia just over a year ago, and died due to illness/complications of bone marrow transplant. Having a child of my own now has given me a very different perspective on the way it must feel to lose a child, so please please send up your thoughts and prayers to her family. Also, she was supposed to have married her long time boyfriend in September of last year, but was too ill and the ceremony was postponed. For all intents and purposes, her fiance was essentially her husband; I can't fathom that kind of loss either, so please pray for peace and comfort for him as well. I will always remember her fun-loving spirit and her loyalty to her friends. I'm thankful she can finally be at peace, but I pray for all those who knew her, love her, and miss her.

When I got the news that she was very ill yesterday, Jake was on my lap. I started crying, and he looked at me with a strange expression. Then he grabbed my cheeks and gave me a big sloppy kiss on the lips, and said "Ok, Mama." When I asked if we could say a prayer for mommy's friend, he said (very enthusiastically) "Yeah!" So we did the Sign of the Cross together, said a Hail Mary, and prayed for her. He said all of the "Amen"s. Then we snuggled and listened to our music together. Something in my faith tells me that she knows a little boy was praying very earnestly for her, along with hundreds of other people, and I hope it gave her some peace.

May God bless all of you, and God bless Rachel.