7/7/08 Happy Fourth of July! Hope everyone had a great Fourth of July! Hope everyone's summer is going well too! THings have been very busy here.
At the end of June the base had a welcome picnic for the new interns at the marina on base. It was a lot of fun to get together and relax. The new intern group seems very nice. Fun to get all of the kids together too, fortunately there are a lot of them. Kiersten is making a ton of friends - hopefully she'll realize them soon! She did really well at the picnic, even though it was pretty hot. She got to hang out with some of Ryan's friends and even got fed by Uncle Mark.
Ryan is now officially a resident! He is quite excited to be a second year now. Only this year and one more. Then he will officially be done and board certified. Hopefully after these two years it will be - San Antonio here we come! Ryan is definitely thankful to have an intern now - makes his job much easier. Hopefully his schedule will work out well this year, they've made some changes.
Since then we've had several days of me working and Ryan watching her. Fortunately she seems to be doing better with him. She does seem to enjoy giving him a hard time though! I do love working when I get to though. Nice to keep up the skills and work habits. It helps that we're so busy still at work, that I don't have to have a lot of down time to sit around and think about how much I'm missing her.
This past weekend was very busy. Thursday night we went to a barbecue at a friends house. It was a lot of fun to just relax and hang out. Poor Kiersten wanted her own bed by the end of the night though. She had fun before then though. Her friends Claire and Lizzie were there. Lizzie was nice enough to share her exersaucer and swing! Lizzie seemed to really enjoy Kiersten!
Friday was Kiersten's first Fourth of July. She was all decked out in her patriotic gear and looking adorable. We tried to keep her well rested during the day. That night we went to another friends house for dinner and fireworks. Their house is right by downtown where the fireworks were. We got there right before they started and had wonderful seats. It was so beautiful to see the fireworks out over the water. Kiersten didn't really seem to notice the fireworks but she didn't seem scared by all of the noise either. She just enjoyed being outside for awhile. Plus Claire and Lizzie were back too!
Sunday Kiersten enjoyed a day of shopping with Lindsey and I. She behaved amazingly well. I spent entirely too much money on her, but now she finally has some 9 month clothes. The outlets had a great sale and she didn't have much of anything past 6 months. She has the beginnings of a winter wardrobe though! She tried out her new sunglasses Sunday too. She looked so cute in them, but she wasnt a big fan. Hopefully she'll learn to like them more!
Today poor Kiersten had to get another vaccination. The base was out of the vaccine at her two month appointment, so we had to go to the health department to get it. Not a good experience. It took an hour and half to go back for one shot (and they only took two people before us!) I have no idea why they were so slow. She was beyond mad too. She turned a red that is rarely seen and cried her poor heart out. She's now trying to nap off being so mad. Poor thing, hopefully she forgives us when she wakes up!
Otherwise not much. Trying to stay busy with housework, watching the baby and work. We started a mommy's group which helps with some of the stuck in house feelings. That's it for now though. We'll keep posting as new events arise.
2008-06-20 (baby has arrived)
6/20/08 Wow has it been busy. Kiersten certainly keeps us on the go! Sunday was our first father's day. Ryan got to enjoy the day by being a full time daddy. It was my first day back at work. It was nice to get back to work, but certainly hard to be away from Kiersten for so long. I missed her a lot, but fortunately we were very busy at work which helped take my mind off of missing her. Ryan did pretty well with her. She definitely missed her mommy though. Ryan says she did a lot of crying and didn't eat very well that day. She certainly did want to nurse for most of the night afterwards!
Monday Kiersten and I took a trip to Gulf Shores, AL. She slept almost the whole car trip there! I was so proud of her. My friend Dawn, her 5 month old daughter Marysa, and her family were staying there for a vacation. I hadn't seen Dawn since my wedding,and hadn't gotten to meet her beautiful little girl. It was so great to see them all. Marysa is adorable and so much fun. She's much more active than Kiersten and talking up a storm. It was fun to see what I have to look forward to. We did some catching up, playing and then took the girls to the swimming pool. They had a blast. Kiersten tired out shortly after getting there but had fun while it lasted. Her turtle float kept her cool and sun free! I can't wait to take her swimming again.
Wednesday Kiersten had her two month appointment. She is now 23 inches long (in the 80th percentile) and 10 lbs 5 oz (in the 45th percentile)! What a growing girl. The doctor said she is doing perfect, a little ahead on her developmental milestones too! She's eating great, taking long naps and all around - a lot of fun. Poor thing had to have her shots that day though. She did alright. She had to get two shots, and I haven't seen her get quite that lobster red before, but she settled down fairly easily. She was a little fussy the rest of the day, but back to her normal self the next morning.
Kiersten is doing so well. She loves to play and bat at toys, is really good at tracking, and getting more and more active. She can lift herself up so high on her tummy and has excellent head control. She loves to stand up in our laps. Recently she has learned to blow bubbles which is becoming a new favorite activity of hers. She is talking more and more - she especially loves to talk to Ryan. Yesterday morning she attempted to roll over. She can make it to her side but then keeps getting stuck on her arm! Practice makes perfect though, so we'll keep working on it.
In other news, poor Campbell, our golden retriever, is not doing well. We fear he is dying. He has had some bloody nasal discharge for about three months. NOw he has swelling around his nose and right eye. His right eye looks a bit odd now too. Poor thing isn't hardly eating and has a hard time breathing, especially at night. We're looking into options, but we believe its a bit too late. Keep him in your thoughts please. We're just spoiling him as much as possible now.
Other than that, I think life might be starting to settle into a nice pace again. No more big trips or plans for the meantime. I'll be working two days next week, so hopefully that goes well again. Friday is a big welcome picnic for the new interns at the base so that should be fun. In July Ryan becomes a full fledged resident (only 2 years to go!) and will get to work with the new interns. We'll keep everyone posted.
2008-06-10 (baby has arrived)
6/10/2008 Well things have been quite busy around here recently. June 2 Ryan and I semi celebrated our first wedding anniversary! Ryan had been on call the night before and hadn't gotten much sleep so unfortunately he was really tired that day. We got to spend some time together though which was nice. Believe it or not, our top layer of the wedding cake was delicious. It had definitely been preserved appropriately. It's amazing to believe a year has gone by already - and such a busy one at that! Can't wait for many more anniversaries.
Kiersten has just been growing like a weed. She is such a joy. She still loves her activity gym and is talking more and more. She has finally gotten herself back on a bit of a routine as well. She actually takes a full three hour nap during the day in her swing. I really book it to get as much as possible done during those three hours. We're still having problems getting her to sleep the whole night in her own bed, but we are working hard on it. She just loves to snuggle. She loves to play and especially loves bath time. Kiersten really doesn't like to lay down much anymore. Even though she's a bit small, we've been putting her in her Bumbo seat, which sits her up for her. Thank goodness for that seat, she loves being in it.
We had friends over the other day which was fun. Rock Band was of course part of the night! The group sure is getting very good. Kiersten got to play with Claire again as well. It's so cute to put the two of them together. Can't wait for them to really notice the other one is around.
Our big event though was Ryan's Graduation. A little silly but they had a graduation ceremony for the group graduating from internship (first year of residency) to full fledge residents. In part it was a big deal because it was Keesler Air Force Base's first group of residents in three years due to Hurricane Katrina. The surgeon general of the Air Force actually came to the ceremony. It was a little ceremony at the hospital. Fortunately Kiersten behaved fairly well. She did provide some entertainment though - during the surgeon general's speech she let out a slow and rather loud poop. The people all around us turned to look at her. Quite funny but also embarrassing. I managed to keep her calm through most of his speech but had to duck at the end to change her diaper. She had the biggest poo I have ever seen! Fortunately we made it back in time to see Ryan get his certificate. Kiersten even behaved herself at the dinner that night as well. We had a good time. Congratulations Ryan - you made it through your first year of residency! Only two more years to go!
Well that's it for now. We'll keep you updated soon. Next week Kiersten and I are going to meet up with Dawn and meet little Marysa for the first time. Kiersten also has her first set of shots this coming week. Check back soon.
2008-06-01 (baby has arrived)
Home Again We made it back home today. We had a great second half of vacation. Nana and Papa had a wonderful time playing with Kiersten. It's so much fun to play with her now, she has an amazing smile. Kiersten did a lot of playing with everyone. Its amazing how active she is!
While in FL we had the opportunity to hang out with some of my family members which was wonderful. I don't often get to see members of my family. My cousin Chris and his wife happened to be moving to Jacksonville this same week. They came over with their mothers to meet Kiersten and relax from their move. I hadn't seen my cousin in over 10 years. It was so exciting to catch up on eachothers lives.
The drive home was surprisingly good though cramped. Poor Campbell hardly fit into his seat. Kiersten hardly cried at all and slept almost the whole way. Overall we had a wonderful trip, couldn't have asked for better.
When we got home we set up Kiersten's new toy - her activity gym. She absolutely loves it! It was so much fun watching her play on it. She was actually reaching for some of the toys and kicking up a storm.
Well its time to try to get back into our routine. Ryan has to jump right back into work and we have to get ready for Monday. Believe it or not, Monday is our one year wedding anniversary! We'll post more later!
