Jan 10th-16th

Another wonderful and busy week. Richard started the week with an advisor meeting with Dr. Taylor, went to class and came home and studied. Tuesday he had class and preceptorship and of course studied. Wednesday he had class, more meetings, PCM and AFP. Thursday he had the day off from school, he spent most of the day studing for the exam on Friday morning. Tilly and I had Moses over and we went to story time at the library. After the exam on Friday morning, we all had dentist appointments then we all went to Nick's Coney Island food for a dinner with the Dean of the School of Medicine, Dr Mark Richardson and his wife Ellen. Saturday we all went swimming in the morning. Tilly loved the water and wanted to blow bubbles, I had a hard time keeping her in my arms - it will be no time before she is swimming on her own. Tilly and I came home for a nap, and Richard went to interview 2 highschoolers for Princeton. He came home to play for a minute then went to band practice. His band changed names to Xul Solar, they just put out a cd and it sounds great- you can find some of the songs on their facebook page.

Jan 3-9th

Richard is back at school and has gotten back into his regular activities of CSF, Precept, and PCM along with his regular added-on, over-achiever activities. He had his baby beeper appt. this week, a CSF forum the first day back, a senate meeting, and an elective class he helped organize which is on Health Care Reform. He amazes me with how much things he can do in just one week and still come home to play with Tilly and cook a great meal.

Tilly and I have been re-organizing the house, pulling out the next size clothes, putting the small clothes away for my soon-to-be-new nephew or niece (my guess is nephew). We went to playgroup today and didn't see any of our regular friends but hope to catch up with everyone once the group is regular again. She was pretty independent today, playing in her room while I cleaned in the kitchen - I went to check on her several times and she was just talking to her toys while pulling them out of the basket. We had another game night with Krisanna and David this week - It never gets old, I wish we could do it every night!! We also started the Your Baby Can Read books, which are so fun! Tilly likes to look as you read and point, she has even waved when she sees the word "wave," or clapped when that word comes around. She is just so much fun!!

I got so spoiled having Richard home for 2 weeks that it seems unfair that a test is next friday and he has to put a lot of study time in. I have to keep thinking its only 2 more months until spring break- what should we do then??

Dec 27th- Jan 2

We had a great week, lounged around and hung out with friends. Celebrated 2 of our friends' birthdays. And did a lot of things together. Tilly really loved being with Richard for such a long time, she now goes to the door when he is at school and says, "Dada?" We celebrated the new year by counting down around 6, then putting Tilly to sleep. We then fell asleep ourselves but were woken up by Tilly around 11:30pm, so we did get to ring in the new year. Tilly was put back to sleep pretty quickly so she got her new year's kisses in the morning. We ended the week with a fun filled Sunday. Stopped by our friend's jammy birthday party, picked a neighbor up at the airport, watched a little arkansas football with fletcher, then stayed up til almost midnight playing clue, banana grams, and wii with our neighbors. It was a great ending to the break.

Dec. 20th-26th

Richard has this and next week off, which does not mean he will stop working ;) He went to preceptorship on Tuesday, and took care of some other things that came up on emails.

We all went to see Santa with our friends Krisanna and David along with Neil, Jen, and Miles. The line was incredibly to long so we took some shots in Nordstrom's and went back early the next day. It was adorable, Tilly and Miles just didn't care for Santa.

We packed up and headed to Seattle on Wednesday to stay at my aunt and uncle's for Christmas. We had such a wonderful time there. Tilly loved their dog Lucky. We had a great time downtown seattle on christmas eve, rode the carousel, and saw amazing gingerbread houses. Christmas morning we opened all of our presents and sat around in our Christmas pj's. We had a relaxing day playing our cousin's new beatles rock band game, then went out to the botanical gardens to see the amazing light display. It was a wonderful Christmas!! The day after we went to bainbridge island to visit my other cousins. We went for a walk at the nature school IslandWood where Chip works and walked to the top of a observation deck. We headed home the 26th after a wonderful vacation.

Dec 13th-19th

Since we have been having to much fun to take the time to blog, here are a few highlights from the week of Dec 13th-19th

Dinner with Landlord/Neighbors

Mark S. in town

David and Krisannas Holiday Party

Lots of baking

Grotto to see Krisanna sing and all the lights

Richard:

Prenatal visit -following Dr. Tophler with a patient who is due in June/July

Brain in box training -will be going to teach 7th graders about the brain

Last exam before break

Preceptorship

ADHD study

PNHP

Sleep Apnea support group meeting

and here is a cute picture from the grotto

Dec 6-12th

We went to the Psychiatry Department's Christmas party on Wednesday at the historic Pittock Mansion (where the finale of the last Amazing Race season was filmed). It was a lot of fun to see all of Richard's old co-workers, and this year we walked around and checked out all the decked out rooms. My favorite room was the sewing room where they had an old sewing machine (the kind my great-grandmother had) and all sorts of handmade dolls laying around. The tree in that room had old thread with tiny scissors as ornaments!

On Friday we went to the cadaver memorial service for Richard's class. It was very touching, some of the students shared their experience with their "first patient." The families of the patients had a chance to speak about their loved ones and share stories, and there was a slide show of photos that made everyone tear up. Along with all of that, students shared their musical talent. A string quartet played at the begining and end, harp and piano where played, and Richard with some fellow students sang "Bridge over troubled water." It was a very nice event!

We also went to the Taylor's house for dinner this week. Mikele showed us how well she is walking now, and in just a few months Tilly and she will be running around playing beautifully.

All the while Richard has been studying for the last exam before break this coming friday.

Nov 29 - Dec 5th

Tis the season to be busy!

On Monday night I went to an ORFN craft night where we made wreaths. It was totally awesome, and I am addicted! I made two that night, I have wanted to make more since then but haven't had the time. Tilly and I have been making a lot of things- yummy food, little dolls, ornaments! It has been really fun. On Friday night we went to see Richard's band The Subcons play at the AMSA medical student regional conference. It was in the old library up here on the hill. Tilly was so cute, she ran up to her dada whenever she could, she danced just a little bit, and walked up and down stairs (with help) A LOT. She is interacting more and more with people, loves being held and loves signing to them. Her fav. sign right now to show is 'light'. It's too cute!

Richard has been just as crazy as last week; he studies tons, has a million meetings, and added on some band practices during the week. On Monday he won the Movember challenge he had entered, that was pretty exciting... I am pretty happy the mustache is gone :) He has been doing great things with The VACUUM (voices and concerns of the uninsured and underinsured millions) video project. He made a website for it, and it is continually growing as he finds more and more doctors, patients, and fellow students who want to participate.