FOUR day weekend(!!!!)

So, this month has been a little lacking in the free time department, as you might have been able to tell by the decline in posting. I've been on a pediatric elective, which has been SO fun! I love seeing kids, enjoying their beautiful smiles, laughing at the hilarious things they say, goofing around with my doctor tools to make them giggle. I love seeing the love parents have for their children, their worried stories about the 99 degree temperature or their careful attention to detail when the doctor gives his recommendations. I love the little newborns in the nursery, so tiny and soft and perfect. I've learned a ton from my preceptors and it's been a pleasure getting to know them. I have even really grown to enjoy doing circumcisions (is it okay to admit that?), which made me so nervous at the beginning of the month.

The one thing I haven't loved? The hours. Every evening, we work until 5 or 5:30, which isn't bad. But the mornings? Oh, the mornings. Some mornings haven't been bad at all, starting at 6:30 or 7 or maybe even the occasional 8 or 9 or even one 10 (!). But, most mornings have been 5:30 or 6:00. And a few 5:00 mornings... and even a 4:30 am morning. Yes, that's right. 4:30. Prior to this month, I think the only time I'd had to be somewhere at 4:30 was to catch a flight.

But... I was rewarded for the long hours by just getting a... wait for it...

FOUR day weekend.

Let that soak in.

A FOUR day weekend.

FOUR days.

FOUR days.

I haven't had four days off in a row since beginning rotations last July. FOUR days. It was so delicious.

We had decided to go to Wichita to visit Aaron's family and celebrate a couple important occasions with friends. We had decided to leave Thursday, so we could have more time in Wichita, but, true to form, we didn't get packed until Thursday after work. Between packing, feeding Julia, bathing Julia, playing with Julia, etc. we didn't leave until 8:30 pm. I had had to be at work that morning at 5 am and had gotten up during the 4 o'clock hour, so needless to say, I was exhausted. I was also terrified that Aaron would fall asleep at the wheel, so I made every effort to stay awake to keep him awake. I was successful for about 2 hours before falling asleep. Aaron tells me that during that last hour, I would jolt awake, worriedly asking him if he was doing okay and if he needed help staying awake, he would reassure me he was fine, and I would drift off again, only to repeat the whole thing again 5 minutes later. I also did some strange mumbling, of the sort he said he hadn't heard since the junior year vertebrate physiology lab report writing all nighters we pulled bimonthly. That's how you know I'm tired, I guess. That semester I used to mumble strings of numbers like a broken robot. But I digress.

We, praise God, made it safely to Wichita. Friday, we hung out at the house with Aaron's family and their new puppy, Louis. Julia was a bit scared of Louis, at first, as he's a typical puppy so he was a bit overly friendly in a jumpy and energetic way. Midway through the weekend, though, the tides had turned, and Julia was a bit overly friendly in a jumpy and energetic way, and Louis was a bit scared, running away as Julia ran toward him screaming his name and trying to tickle him. Hilarious. All in all, though, they got along remarkably well, and neither one got injured by the other, which is pretty good for a 6 month old dog and a 17 month old human.

Remember this pool from last summer? Julia looks like a giant in it now!

She shoots...

She scores!

Blowing pinwheel bubbles!

Friday evening, we went to Aaron's dear friend, Rickey's diaconate ordination. Aaron and Rickey grew up together, going to the same church, grade school, and high school, and running cross-country and track together. We are so proud of Deacon Rickey and are praying for him as he begins his ordained ministry and prepares for his ordination to the priesthood next year! The ordination mass was beautiful and we enjoyed visiting with some old friends at the reception and at Aaron's family's house afterward.

Julia, all dressed up for the ordination.

Wasn't it classy of Aaron to wear a tux to the ordination? Just kidding, of course! I forgot to take photos, so this is a photo from our wedding - Rickey was one of our groomsmen.

Saturday, we went to the Kansas High School State Track meet at Wichita State University, where Julia got to meet her Great Uncle Curt for the first time, as he was there coaching. Some friends of the family were also in town for the meet, and they stopped by the house to visit. We also did some clothes shopping for Julia and spent a lot of time outside with watching Julia swim. Saturday evening, we went to mass and heard Deacon Rickey preach his first homily.

Julia gives her great uncle Curt a big hug.

And she was so comfortable that she fell asleep!

Enjoying the new, bigger pool!

"Sit, Louis, and I'll give you a treat!"

As her swimsuit puts it, "Happiness is a Sunny Day"

Sunday, we all went out for some running (Aaron), sleeping in the stroller (Julia), and walking/jogging (the rest of us). That afternoon, Aaron, Julia, and I went to the a reception at Aaron's old parish for my good friend, Julia, from high school. Aaron went to that parish's grade school with Julia, although she was a year behind us in school, so they didn't know each other too well. It's a small world, though! She had gotten married in the Pacific Northwest in April, so many who were invited to it from the Midwest weren't able to travel to it. Hence, her parents had a reception for her in Wichita so we could all celebrate with them. It was SO great to see Julia and her parents, and to meet her husband, and I was really pleased to get to introduce Julia to Julia ;-) After the reception, we went downstairs to the parish's basement gathering hall, and got to visit with Rickey at his family's party. The location and timing of those two parties couldn't have been more perfect! ;-)  Later that evening, Aaron's family and I played a game of Catan, which I won. (Did I mention this was a great weekend?)

Yay, Julia! So happy for her!

The Julias looking beautiful together!

Julia is definitely our daughter because she loves ice cream! Aaron's mom made some and it was delicious.

"There's still some left at the bottom of the bowl..."

"So I'll just drink it!" She takes after her uncle Stephen in ice cream etiquette (ask me to tell that story sometime ;-)

Julia kept crawling into Louis' cage to "hide"... never mind the fact that we could see in. You can see she is VERY pleased with herself!

"Boo!"

Feeding Louis a treat. A fairly rare very calm moment between the two of them! ;-)

Monday, we slept in, packed up, had a delicious lunch (every meal this weekend was so good!), and spent some time out on the boat and on the lake's "beach." Julia slept on the boat with Louis this morning, almost fell asleep eating "blue babies" at lunch (blueberries... don't worry, she's not a cannibal), and slept for an hour in the car that afternoon on the way home. She then woke up and cried most of the rest of the way home. My throat's a little sore from all the singing I did to try to keep her from crying. Current fav of Julia's? Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, sung by mommy and daddy, over and over and over, of course.

Crazy how much bigger Julia is this May than last May, isn't it?!

Helping to steer the boat!

Sand!

Julia and Jessica

Julia played trucks with Daddy.

Thanks for a great trip!

Anyhow, we had some awesome food, we got to sleep in (!), we really enjoyed our time with family and friends, and we got to recharge, which we sorely needed.

Did I mention that I love four day weekends?

And, guess what?? I have another one this weekend! I had today off since my preceptor wasn't working today, I have tomorrow off since the next rotation just wanted us to start on Monday, and then the weekend! Talk about bizarro world... but I'm totally grateful!

Mothers' Day 2012

I got to celebrate my third Mothers' Day this month, and it was definitely the best one so far!

We had my family over for lunch, so the night before, I wanted to get the house cleaned up. Bless his heart, Aaron kept offering to do whatever I was doing ("Oh! You're doing dishes! I can do those!" or "Oh! You're mopping the kitchen floor? Isn't that hard on your back? I can do that!"). I kept refusing him, saying I was fine. Little did I know, he really wanted me to go to bed, since he had a surprise he wanted to work on while I slept. Instead, we didn't get to bed until after midnight, and poor Aaron, he got up at 3:30 to decorate the kitchen and work on the sweetest card from him and Julia. He also went to the store and bought flowers and cinnamon rolls.

Aaron got another hour of sleep before Julia woke him, letting me sleep as late as he could while still getting me up in time to eat breakfast and get ready for mass. He had a breakfast of cheesy scrambled eggs, cinnamon rolls, and chocolate milk ready for me and the kitchen was all decked out. The card he'd written had a message from Julia on one side and one from him on the other, both of which were so sweet they made me cry. The flowers were so beautiful, too. And, Aaron also surprised me with a bag of different shades of blue M&M's - the best tasting color ;-) It was just such a special morning for me, thanks to my sweet, sweet Aaron and my beautiful blessing, Julia.

What a beautiful sight!

So sweet.

Loved them.

Isn't Aaron adorable? Err... I mean, isn't Julia so smart? ;-)

Aaron got me an M&M dispenser and blue M&M's once long ago when he went to Las Vegas with his family. I thought the blue M&M's were so much better than the multicolored ones at the store, so he surprised me with a refill :-)

Mothers' Day 2012... Mommy loves Julia and Julia loves milk.

We enjoyed skyping with my wonderful mother-in-law and having lunch with my wonderful mom. We gave them both photobooks with recent pictures of Julia, which they both liked a lot (who wouldn't? ;-).

I love being a mom so much. There's only so much I can capture here about the experience. I can display photos to show how beautiful Julia is, but I can't adequately put into words the way my heart sings when she calls out to me and wraps her little arms around me, the feeling of holding Julia and feeling her small, strong heart beating quickly against me, breathing in her sweet smell, and trying my best to freeze the moment.... to remember forever what it was like to be a mother to my sweet 17 month old Julia Grace. She is growing so fast, and I just have to learn from my blessed mother, Mary, and ponder all these things in my heart. It is fitting that we celebrated Mothers' Day on the anniversary of my consecration to Jesus through Mary, on the Feast Day of Our Lady of Fatima, three years ago. I have much to learn about motherhood from Our Blessed Mother! Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!

Cinco de Mayo Shower

It's well known that April showers bring May flowers and that Mayflowers bring pilgrims, but did you know that June weddings bring May showers? (Okay, okay... I'll try to keep the bad puns to a minimum.)

But seriously. For the second year in a row, I'm a bridesmaid in a June wedding, so I had the pleasure of helping to throw a shower for my dear friend, Kristin, a couple weekends ago.

The theme was Cinco de Mayo, which was perfect as 1) it was held on May 5 (go figure) 2) Kristin's favorite food is Mexican, and 3) Kristin is originally from Texas, where Cinco de Mayo is celebrated as passionately as Christmas or Thanksgiving (well, not really... but Texans definitely party harder that day than on Grandparents' Day or Arbor Day or maybe even St. Patrick's Day?).

I thought I'd share some photos of the fun event. Planning and throwing the party was one of my rare recent right brain activities, so I thought it'd be good to have proof that that side of my brain isn't completely atrophied.

The food.

Guacamole, homemade salsa, and homemade white queso with chips. Mmmmm.

Look at these cute cactus cupcakes the other girls made!

Cactus cupcake!

Non-alcoholic sangria

I made little piñatas for decorations/party favors. They were filled with Dove Dark Chocolates.

Close up. These babies were a LOT of work between the papier-mâché, fringing and gluing tissue paper, threading yarn for hanging, stuffing, patching the filling hole.... x13 piñatas. I had fun with it, though!

There was a lot of laughing

Some of the guests.

Did I mention there was a lot of laughter?

The bride getting showered.

The bride with the bridesmaids who hosted. Hooray!

17 months!

Julia turned 17 months this past weekend!

• Julia has become almost ridiculously affectionate. She throws out her arms and says, "Hug!" probably about 12983103948 times a day. She also says, "Kiss!" about 3492384 times a day, which, although less than "Hug!" is still quite a bit. Julia is not too discriminating with her affection. She says, "Hi!" to people and immediately jumps to trying to hug and kiss them. The checkout lady at the grocery store, the old man we pass while out on a walk, the little boy at church, the squirrel in the tree, the zebra in the book, the airplane in the sky... everyone is greeted and promptly offered hugs and kisses. When she does give them, they melt your heart. So wonderful. Julia doesn't actually give out as many hugs and kisses as you might think, though, because 1) airplanes and squirrels and the like don't give hugs and kisses 2) strangers have thus far been kind enough to not get fresh with my baby and 3) although Julia does give lots of hugs and kisses to family, sometimes she offers, only to push us away if we get near, saying, "No, no, no, no!" So, she's maybe less than genuine these days.
• Speaking of being less than genuine... Julia has also taken her manipulation skills to a whole new level.
• The other morning, Aaron was in bed, but Julia wanted him up. So, she stood there with her arms outstretched, saying, "Hug!" When Aaron got up to oblige her, she quickly ran off before her could hug her, saying, "Mooyah!" (music). She must have known that he would not have gotten out of bed to let her watch music videos, but would definitely get up to give her a hug. Tricky girl. She has tried the hug bait-and-switch several more times since then.
• When we take Julia to bed and she doesn't want to go, she doesn't say, "No!" or ask for anything she really wants (i.e. Mooyah). Instead, she now asks for one of the two things we give her before bed, since she figures that if she asks for one of them, she might escape the evil clutches of her crib - 1) milk or 2) book. She pleads for them even if she's just finished milk and just recently said no to reading a book. Smart girl.
• We bought a used jogging stroller recently. We all really love it and Julia has been having fun going fast.
• Julia has been singing a lot recently on her own. I love listening to her sing while she's in her stroller - beats an iPod any day! She's also getting great at dancing and can twirl well.
• Julia loves counting. She points to things and counts to ten. She also loves the Count from Sesame Street and does a pretty good impression of his laugh, "Ah, ah, ah!"
• One morning this month, Julia woke up and randomly called me, "Mommy." And later that day called Aaron "Daddy." We have some books with parents called "mommy" and "daddy," so maybe that's where she picked it up? Not sure. For a while, she switched between the new titles and her old "Mama" and "Dada," but the old began fading more and more, and now she almost exclusively uses the new monikers. I know it's good because it means she's growing and developing... but writing about it gives me a lump in my throat because it's been a bit sad for me that Julia's baby name for me has been lost.
• Speaking of names, Julia has also called several of us by our first names recently, calling my mom "Terri" instead of "Gee Gee" a couple times, "Aaron" instead of Daddy, and "Kate" instead of Mommy. It's so bizarre and funny to hear that. Most recently, I was showing her some photos, and there was one of me, so I asked her, "Julia, who is that?" and she answered, "Kate." Cracked me up.
• Julia has loved being tickled for a long time, but only recently discovered that she has the power to "tickle" people too (in quotation marks because I don't think she's actually ever really tickled anyone... she just tries to and we, of course, pretend to laugh ;-)
• Julia is a little fish. She loves baths and has recently started loving having water poured over her head. She says, "Ready, set, go!" and smiles widely as we dump water over her. We took her in my parents' pool the other day, and she had a blast. She didn't want to get out even though she was freezing and chattering.
• Julia's recent favorite word (besides the perennial favorite "no") is "again!" If she loves something, she wants it over and over and over, like her recent favorite game of...
• Hide and Seek! Julia hides in a very obvious spot... and we find her. Over and over and over. She may or may not hide in someplace new. She may just stay put... and expect us to rediscover her. Over and over and over.

This age is so fun! I love being Julia's mommy! :-)

P.S. Here is what Julia was looking like this time last year! Craziness!