jimmy nick

Sometimes Jimmy cracks me up. This is a post dedicated to him.




(Just don't tell him, he might get cranky!)

hard work

Sometimes when one is faced with big challenges,
One can dive head first...


And work long and hard...


With repetitive determination...


Until one tastes sweet success..


*It is important to note one may require having one's hair washed afterwards.

the night before the night before

He leaves tomorrow morning. Tonight has been calm, but with a buzz about it.

This exam has been on the horizon for the last ten years. It is an obstacle to overcome and a hoop to jump though. I can't even begin to number all of the other obstacles and hoops over the last decade. This is just another one and it happens to be at the end of a very long road.

So BRING IT! He'll take it. And man, I just can't wait for Sunday night.

Y'know that light at the end of the tunnel? It'll be bright on Sunday night.

do you believe?

I cannot tell you how happy I am it is Friday. Not just Friday, but the Friday before Spring Break. We (the children and I, at least) do not need to be roused by an alarm clock for many days.

The last few weeks have been busy, hectic, and rough for Nate. Is it something in the air? are the ocean currents off? is the moon out of alignment? So many kids have been really sick and more of them have been swallowing things they shouldn't - coins, small batteries (super-bad, so bad that please, right now, make sure you have none w/in your kids' reach - the internal burns they cause are just awful), one baby even swallowed the mesh part of an ear-bud! Not an easy removal. With all of this, the dept's case load has increased and then weird emergencies have been added on top.


And what is looming ahead? B O A R D S . The BIG ones. The ones I'm trying to figure out how he can wear his testing pants under his suit (for a brief explanation, please click here and read the last paragraph. For an amazing photographic experience, please click here). The ones he has to fly all the way to Chicago to take. The ones that can make or break you. The ones I dread. (Please note I said "I." He of course isn't approaching them with near the trepidation I am, and I'm not the one taking them!).

Next week is G's spring break. The kids and I are headed across the desert once again. This time our mission is two-fold: 1. allow Nate a few nights without any Honey or Daddy distraction (I know those are his favorite kinds of distractions, but stapes, mandibles, frenulums, facial nerves, and ossicular reconstruction are current priorities), 2. maybe, just maybe find a place to live. There are so many homes for rent, they would love for us to move in yesterday.


So wish us luck and believe, dear readers, B E L I E V E in the power of the testing pants.
Btw: Good thoughts sent his way are currently being accepted, and highly sought after on the days of April 16 and April 18.

sweating with the oldies

I'm not a fast runner. I used to be kind of fast at short distances. I used to jump kind of far too, but that was in another lifetime. I have feet that don't enjoy running (they were actually responsible for ending my fast running many moons ago). In fact after running these days they remind me about it until I ice them down and promise not to do it any more (I've been lying to them). But lately my knees have been getting in on the action and it is difficult to ice both knees and feet at the same time.

I think I now am officially a walker. It makes me feel kind of elderly to read that statement. Is there a cooler way to say it?

This morning I went on a hike through the trails on the cliffs (very safe, Mom) just to the north of the cove. I followed that with a long walk along the cove. I LOVED it! It was beautiful of course. But what I loved most was feeling so very alive and right there as a part of the cove itself. The seals were there. The waves were there. The crazy birds were there. I was there too.

I enjoyed it so much that I went on another walk this evening. Nate came home spent quality time with the kids and I ventured forth on the nature trail. I am always leery of seeing those deer, but they shied away this time. They must sense a competent walker (either that or I was singing to loud with the ipod).

green justice

Grace is appalled at the notion that one can be pinched on St. Patrick's Day if one is not wearing green. It goes against her principles, her values, but most of all THE RULES.

She has decided to entice the would-be pinchers by daring to wear a long-sleeved green shirt over a non-green shirt. After arriving at school, she will then take off the long-sleeved shirt and see what happens.

She plans to single-handedly take the perpetrators directly to the principal (can we say narc or should we just accept this as a necessary step towards a future as an undercover FBI agent?) and then inform them that not only is pinching anyone against THE RULES, but she does in fact have on green unmentionables so they broke THE RULES for nothing. So there. Hmph.

As you can see in the above picture, this is not her first undercover operation.

the required essentials

4. pajamas
5. unmentionables
7. toothbrush and toothpaste
9. lemur
10. glittery lip gloss
11. pillow
12. one blanket (two agreed to stay home)
14. motorized hamster

Also a bag to carry it all, along with requisite gifts. She returned with these items plus a party 'soundtrack' which includes a new favorite of the children, "All the Single Ladies" by The Chipmunks.

Pure delight.

3 things that have occured in the last hour

1. Conversation:
G: Y'know, there are Littlest Pet Shop toys sitting on the shelves just waiting for someone to buy them.
Me: Then let's let them keep waiting.

2. Theft:
Jimmy dashed into the other bathroom to steal (or borrow I suppose) the bathtub Barbies. He was very sneaky and quick about it. He made it quite clear he intended to use them instead of Grace.

3. Important Musical Discovery:
All the Single Ladies done by the Chipmunks should be avoided if at all possible

By this and the last posting, can you tell Nate is out of town? Thought so.

appreciation of salad

Thought I'd write up my salad I'm having for lunch:

red leaf butter lettuce
thinly sliced Ambrosia apples (my current fav)
thinly sliced Dubliner cheese
dried tart cherries
s&p
red wine vinegar
olive oil, e.v.

I like it so much I might even have it for dinner.

the essentials

This is a complete list of the items which were set aside for Grace's non-sleepover sleepover (also known as a "late-over") birthday party:

1. tape measure
2. hand-held video game
3. multi-color ball point pen
4. pajamas
5. unmentionables
6. various materials for a made-up game
7. toothbrush and toothpaste
8. Calvin & Hobbes book
9. lemur, a stuffed animal
10. glittery lip gloss
11. pillow
12. 3 blankets
13. The Friend magazine (church content)
14. motorized hamster (answers to 'Nugget')
15. Mini American flag
16. library book

After some discussion and debate, only 9 of the above items actually went to the party (along with the requisite gifts). Care to guess which the nine were? Answers will be posted tomorrow evening.

Please also note she is only going to be away from home for 5 hours. She also confessed to Jimmy she will most certainly miss him during this time.

family home evening

Below is an outline of last night's Family Home Evening:

Opening Song (lead by Grace): "Do as I'm Doing"
This was done with a strange assortment of hand movements

Opening Prayer: Me
Second Opening Prayer: Jimmy, because he insisted
He blessed the food we had just eaten for dinner (well, he didn't eat any but I guess that is besides the point)

Lesson: Jimmy
This is his first lesson. It was "taught" based on a little booklet he received in Primary about Jesus. The point was supposed to be that Jesus loves us. These are the main points Jimmy highlighted (over and over and over again)-
1. There is a circle on the front of the book
2. Jesus is NOT praying in most of the pictures
3. The Cross looks like a "lower-case letter tee". He then instructed us about the letter "T". Evidently there are two letters t's - a BIG one and a lower-case one, this was emphasized by using his middle finger thrust skyward upon the pronouncement of the lower-case letter t and then his pinkie stuck out for the BIGGER letter T.
4. The letter T was discussed more and more. Especially the lower-case one, and the associate hand-gestures were utilized each time.
5. He then almost discussed the Snoopy characters that were on Nate's shirt, but this was quickly diverted by Nate putting a throw pillow in front of him. This pillow was also helpful to him as he would clutch it while trying hard not to laugh loudly.

Closing Song: (requested and lead by Grace): The National Anthem
This was done with much fanfare and dramatic movement

Closing Prayer: Nate
2nd Closing Prayer: Jimmy tried again, but we diverted him with the mention of dessert

Refreshments: Me

Activity Afterwards: Nate and I trying to control our laughter in front of the children

sometimes I forget

Life just keeps moving at warp speed. How is it that we have an eight-year old? Are we really that old? Sometimes I forget she's not 6 anymore. Sometimes I forget I'm more towards my mid-thirties than my mid-twenties.

We're only a few months away from the end of quite an era. Sometimes I have forgotten that this whole medical training experience (ahem, just a mere 10 years post-college of grueling training) is only "temporary." I have tried hard to stop and soak it in.

Jimmy is now four. That means we made it through his club foot treatment. What was so hard and seemed that it would last for so long (casting and bracing and years (yes, really years) of sleepless nights), is now over. Sometimes I catch myself and realize we made it through. He can walk and climb and jump and run and get in trouble with the best of them.

These are a few things for me to remember because there are just some things not worth forgetting.

tow-mater

These last few weeks have been jam-packed with fun and incidents. The last incident occured roughly at 1:15 p.m. on Monday in the thriving metropolis of Yuma, AZ. The incident was this - the car decided it wanted to stay in Yuma longer than we did. I just wouldn't start! I know Love's truck stops are awfully awesome, but really I've seen enough after 10 minutes (and that is stretching it). Also 1:15 happens to be a warm time of the day in Yuma, even in February.

After hemming and hawing about the situation I finally called AAA. A nice tow-mater truck came with an even nicer driver and hauled the car (and us) to the shop.

This made the entire trip for my backseaters. During our (long) 2 1/2 mile ride, Grace kept saying how "awesome" it was and how "happy" she was that our car wouldn't start and we got to ride in a tow truck - in the front of the tow truck no-less! Jimmy giggled the whole time and even asked the driver if his truck went fast or slow. The driver responded it went slow, but halfway through the ride Jimmy informed him it in fact was going FAST and BUMPY. I concur with "bumpy."

And then wouldn't you know, after 2 hours of fine (and I really mean more than fine, the people were so very nice) Yuma hospitality, we were on our way. As we left the gal who worked in the shop's office asked that I call them when I made it home because they would worry about us until I did.

So if (heaven forbid) you find yourself with car trouble in Yuma or you just fancy an oil change when you're driving through, find my friends at Accurate Auto on 2ND Street. Talk to George, he'll fix you up.

my girl

This little ditty seems rather fitting:


Grace turned 8 last Saturday. It already happened, and I still wonder how it is I have an 8 year old. The Tuesday before we were excited to hear we have a new nephew. Seeing his pictures remind me so much of that baby I had eight whole years ago, how life changing it was, and has made me stop and think about things. So I guess I've been rather contemplative lately. And now to top it off, Jimmy is going to turn 4 next week! This will be the first winter Olympics in a long time that I've not been up in the middle of the night with a newborn.

This Saturday Grace is going to be baptized. We are so excited to have so many members of our family coming to celebrate with us. We've decided to do a double birthday party for the kids. We (that would be Nate and the kids) are joyously anticipating the event, while some of us (that would be me) are trying to stop our eye from twitching at the thought of entertaining and feeding all of our wonderful guests. I should probably just stop and smell the roses, because as the last eight years have taught me time is just going to fly by.

here's your sign

8 minutes left on the clock, Grace says, "Mom! I need some paper and a pen. Quick!"

(It reads, "Lets go cougers! go Beat the Aztecs! Belive in yourselve!"

the backside sums it up in two letters - GO")

royal blue

Big night last night: Jimmy's first BYU game. The Cougs came to SD and we were there! Thanks to a very generous sports fan (who also happens to be one of the docs with Nate) the four of us had some awesome seats to last night's game.



Here is the play by play:
We arrive in plenty of time to learn the stadiums in SD have outdoor concessions, not indoor. Quite different from us folks who come from places with real, actual winters.

We also learn we are there on rally night and everyone is given a rally rag (sort of a towel) with the SDSU fight song on it. We shortly learn thereafter that none of the SDSU students seem to know their own fight song. Good thing we know ours! Jimmy and Grace practiced all day and they were ready! (J's version begins: "Rise all Royal Cougars," and he has taken to calling the team The Royal Cougars). He was so excited he kept hitting the gentleman's (read: a Marine or very tough Army-man of sorts) seat in front of us. He (the gentleman) was none too keen.



During warm-up Jimmy couldn't get enough of 'those Cougar guys' and 'all of those BASKETBALLS!!' He then decided he was going to be a Cougar. Sounds good to me!

Grace used this time to scout out the crowd. She found our cousins across the arena and wondered 'who that boy is' our 17 yr old cousin was with. Grace said, "I don't even know him!" (Turns out he's 'just a friend,' for those of you wondering the same thing).

Next we were treated to the presenting of the Colors and the singing of our national anthem. Grace decided to sing along (again, seems that most SDSU fans were clueless about these words too) and our Soldier-in-Front turned around and complimented her on her singing. We were fast friends after that.


The game was a close one, the Cougars pulled ahead (really by the skin of their teeth, but probably more because of Nate's stadium-seating-coaching (see, in the picture below you can see the coaching staff conferring amongst themselves wondering 'what would Page do?)).

I'm sure SDSU thought their student section would have the goods necessary to pull them ahead, but they were too busy fussing with their ties to be any real challenge. Seems they thought what better way to taunt the Cougars than to dress in white shirts, ties, and bike helmets.


GO COUGARS!!!!!!



ps sorry to those of you in the silly student section - you had to wear a tie during the whole game - hah!

pss for you non-Cougs out there, the words are generally, 'rise all loyal Cougars'

under the rainbow

We had a glorious three day weekend (read - Nate was off all three days!), during which we watched The Wizard of Oz (we also took a mini-road trip, ate at a fabulous institution, stayed next to another one, and had quality family fun). Grace could not get over the different parts of the movie that were in black and white verses the main part in color. This seems to go along with her question to me earlier in the week, "Did the world used to be in black and white?"

And then yesterday it started to rain. And by rain, I mean sheets of water pouring forth from the sky. It has rained more in the last day and a half than it has the whole time we've lived here. This made me realize that my trusty umbrella has been misplaced (or left in STL).

I think a lot of San Diegans don't bother with an umbrella. You just don't need one much here. Today though, many caved in and bought up all of Target's bounty. I was one of the lucky ones and scored one of their remaining golf sized umbrellas. Of course it is a beauty - completely bright and rainbow hued! Seriously, I'm afraid it might be making some kind of political statement.

Oh well, at least I'm dry!

old news, new news

Well, I'm still hanging in there. In fact, I'm better - but still not up to full lung capacity. I'm still easily winded. As much as I love my grandmothers, I really don't enjoy breathing like some of them.

We're also trying to iron out contract difficulties for the new job. Most of the difficulties have come from finding the right lawyer, tossing out the incorrect lawyer, and then getting the other lawyer to work (I guess they have lawyer hours and not doctor hours). Really, if you want to make lots of cash and have a nice life where you are home with your family or can have hobbies, please don't be a surgeon.

It has been through these trivial matters that Nate and I have come to an important decision - its high time we finally go on that trip for two to somewhere tropical. We're headed to Hawaii in May!!!! Our 12th anniversary is approaching and though it is not a multiple of 5 occasion (such as our 5th or 10th or whatever (certainly you can count by five?)) it seems the most opportune time to go and it also seems like the time when we can really lay back and relax (big decisions made and boards over (and by boards I mean the big ones - yikes). We were going to go in the middle of the month for 6 days, but then Nate's cousin changed her wedding date and Memorial Day weekend is now open. That allows us 7 days! Think we can manage to be away from life and children for 7 days?

happy

Thought I'd mention our two end of the year miracles:

1. The car was fixed and returned to us within 4 hours of breaking down. We feel incredibly blessed.

2. I'm breathing better than I have in weeks. I've decided that breathing is something I've been taking for granted all these years.

Wishing you a Happy New Year. Mine already is Happy.