New Baby Cousin

I'm a little over a month late with this post, but i was waiting for a digital picture of baby Micah to post on our blog. Then i realized i could download pictures from Micah's mom's facebook (hope you don't mind me stealing a picture, sonya!), so now i have an adorable newborn picture of our sweet little nephew to post. My brother Tommy, and his wife Sonya are the proud Mom and Dad.

quick little post

Life as a 30 year old seems to be going ok, so far at least. The L&D nurses had a fantastic little surprise potluck for my birthday, which was really sweet (and delicious!)

i will be posting pictures of our outstanding weekend trip soon.

try to ignore the fact that Juneau looks a just a wee bit hypoxic from the 14,000 foot elevation.

p.s. thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes and goody boxes! i had a GREAT birthday!

Headed to Hilo

Busy Busy Busy. We are ready for a break! So, we made plans to head to the Big Island for the weekend. I LOVE the Big Island. It is both mine and Cris' favorite islands of the ones we have visited (Oahu, Kauai, Big Island, Maui). I love it because it is the hidden hangout of all the leftover hippies from the 60s and 70s.
Cris loves it, well, he loves it because it is a big huge volcano that is actively erupting and lava is flowing, and that is really cool. So, we are off to the volcano for the weekend. I think Nova and Juneau will love it. We busted out the hiking packs so we can carry them all over.

(of course, the volcano doesn't actually look like this, but i am at work and have none of my own photos, so i had to steal all these random ones off the internet)

Also, this weekend i turn 30. In celebration of this event, I got the COOLEST birthday present ever. a little early, but i really needed it early so i could use it this weekend. Are you curious? I got a "grown up" camera! YEAH!!! I am so excited, and last night at work i spent pretty much the entire shift trying to figure out what in the world aperture is and how it relates to shutter speeds. i found myself reaching way back to my least favorite thing ever ---physics--- trying to figure it all out. It's still kind of a foreign languange, and i am ashamed to say that after spending at least 6 hours reading about how to take awesome photographs, every picture i took that was not on "automatic" mode came out blurry, or dark, or bright, or a combination of all those things. so, i am still learning.

In Nova news, we had an absolutely terrible, horrible day. Cris and I were both so shaken from it. we were all playing in the girls room. Well, actually the girls were playing and cris and I were packing. Nova was playing with the sliding closet mirror, and pinched her finger. She was immediately upset, and i could tell she was going to breath hold. We tried our usual tricks, blowing the face, the trusty squirt bottle, basically everything, but she held and held and held. eventually she postured some, which isn't too unusual, then she passed out, also not unusual, but then she started into a full-on tonic-clonic seizure. Her little arms and legs were just rhythmically jerking and she was staring straight ahead. She eventually started breathing/gasping, but we couldn't get her to become responsive. I was fairly calm in the beginning, but after 2 full minutes they hysteria set in. I thought maybe it wasn't going to stop, or that she was getting some kind of brain injury from the seizure. It was so very, very awful, and we felt helpless. We timed the actual seizure, and it last 3 full minutes (although it seemed more like a million!). When she finally started to come out of it she cried for a few seconds, and then totally fell fast asleep for 30 minutes. Although i know it isn't harmful to her, and i know why it is happening, and i know that nothing can really be done to prevent it, it was still a truly horrible experience. I really really really hope it never ever happens again.

anyway, i will hopefully post some non-blurry, not too bright, not too dark photos from my new amazing Nikon after the weekend.

Hanging out in Waikiki

These girls are amazing. This is a really great age for both of them. Nova is really developing a little personality. Her expressions are sooooo cute. Juneau is growing and changing so much. She is really starting to act like a little girl instead of a baby. It is wonderful and sad at the same time.
This weekend we spend a little time in Waikiki before we went to dinner with Cousins Tim, Beth, and little Melody. Here are some pics from the afternoon.

The Big News...

Well, we FINALLY got our assignments for next year. I was getting very, very frustrated, as it is now only about 3 months until we are supposed to move.

Finally, the email came. It arrived about 12 hours before Cris was due to board a plane for a job interview in Kentucky (we believed this was the most likely place we were to be assigned). He ended up canceling the trip to Kentucky when we got the news.

The shock is finally wearing off, when we discovered we would be moving from this.... to this...

Colorado Springs!!! We made our "wish list" last october, and although i thought there was no way in the world we would ever get the Colorado assignment, I ranked it pretty high. First rank was to stay in Hawaii, second was Kentucky (close to home, and there were 2 openings so we were hoping to get stationed there with our very dear friends from hawaii). Next was Colorado Springs. this is a really great assignment, and it is exceptionally rare for someone to get it the first year out of residency. It is pure luck that i actually got this assignment. We are so very very sad to leave Hawaii. Primarily because Cris absolutely LOVES his job at the university. It is the perfect job and he is so sad to go. But i am very grateful that if we do have to leave Hawaii we didn't get a terrible assignment.

anyway, that is our big news. Now we start on the giant list of how to get everything done in order to actually get our whole gang and all our stuff to colorado. We always joke that when we came to Hawaii it was just the 2 of us and our suitcases. During our 4 years here we added 2 daughters, 2 dogs, 2 cars, and 2 motorcycles. This will be quite the entourage to try to get back across the pacific ocean. But we are EXCITED for the adventure and fun in store!

a post without pictures...

i don't think i've made a post without pictures since nova was born last May! but, i am already in bed, and the camera is downstairs, and i just can't make myself go get it.

I think we will have some news to post possibly on Monday about our upcoming army assignment. Speaking of which, Graduation is now only 99 days away. Night Float is flying. My next rotation (and final one!) is the "OB Senior" which is basically the busiest, most horrible rotation of the entire four years. What can i say, i'm a procrastinator, and actually requested to do it last. i'm dreading it already. BUT on the bright side, it will be the last of the madness before "life after residency".

I'll finish this picture-less post with a funny Juneau story. A couple of weeks ago Nova was crying about something, and when we looked into the living room, J-bug was walking over towards her and blowing in her face (Aunt Coral's cure-all that we use to snap nova out of breathholding). It totally cracked us up! Now every time Nova gets upset, Juneau walks over and starts puffing away in her face. I love that little goofy girl!

The Proudest Dad on the Playground

Back in the days before PhD programs and kids, I used to spend countless weekends way up in the air clinging to the side of a rock. I've been fortunate enough to climb some really cool and famous routes in some amazing locales with some of the coolest people I've ever known. Indeed, some of the happiest memories I have in my life involve thrutching, groaning and clawing my way up a stretch of rock high above Yosemite National Park or any number of other magnificent vistas. My parents always said it was my destiny considering I spent my childhood climbing anything in sight, from the giant tree out in front of our house to the rafters of the tobacco shed. I still remember my grandpa sitting me down when the first grain bin was built on our farm and making it very clear that if I climbed up onto the bin roof without permission that I was in BIG TROUBLE!!

It had been quite clear since Juneau came home that Juneau loved to climb. After all, she could climb from the floor, onto the couch, up the back of the couch and into the window sill on her own before she could even walk. So, at Christmas, after ignoring the "for ages 2 and up" warning, we bought Juneau her Kangaroo Climber and even before the day was over, she had nearly mastered climbing up every side of the structure.

In the last few weeks we have had more chances to take the girls to the playground near our house. Juneau has been climbing up the stairs of the jungle gym and going down the slide on her own for awhile now but a few weeks ago she realized that one side of the structure was a climbing wall and then it was all over.

Clearly she gets her moves from her dad.

No dad has ever been prouder than me watching my 16 month old climb the 7 foot tall wall (which I'm rating at 5.4 YDS) on her own and...

...pull over the top.

The Summit Photo:

As you can see, Nova is starting to get into the act as well...

Climbing the slide...

Or whatever she can find...

Nova has been climbing up the slide on the Kangaroo Climber pretty much since the first day we got it but now she is also very close to climbing up the side of it even before she can walk (although she's VERY close on that one too). Clearly the result of watching Juneau do it over and over.

The only question remaining is whether I'll be able to hold myself off until next Christmas to buy the Skyward Summit for them (I've already calculated and at 7 feet tall, it would still fit in our living room if we get rid of one of the couches):