Courtland Has Arrived!

Well, he’s here. Our sweet little Courtland is here. Last night around 11:30 I sent Michael the following e-mail: (he was on call on a 30-hour overnight surgery shift at the hospital).

Subject: Contractions
“So, 11:30, 11:39, 11:47, (a little one at 11:49), 11:54 . . .
I guess I'll go to bed. I suppose if I really were to go into labor I'd wake up, and if not I'll get some sleep. Love ya!”

Of course, Michael didn’t even have a chance to read that e-mail last night since he had to consult on 10 different patients and only got 2 hours of sleep. I stayed up late reading (I never can seem to make myself go to sleep early when Michael’s on call) and got to bed at 12:30. Then I woke up around 2:45 to some contractions that were obviously stronger than the ones I had had before I went to bed, since I couldn’t sleep through them any longer. At around 3:15 I called Michael. (Actually, first I paged him with the number 911911911 – that was our planned code for “I am in labor” ever since my first pregnancy, and he had always been with me when I went into labor all the other times, so I finally got to use it – but then I called him on his cell phone a minute later and told him I thought it was time). I gathered together all of the things on my little “take to the hospital” list, all the time writing down when each contraction started. They got to be about 3 minutes apart, and we were trying to follow the midwife’s advice to come in a little “early” this time, rather than laboring at home for a while before coming in, because I was group B strep positive. When you have that, they want to give the mom a dose of antibiotics when you first arrive at the hospital, and then wait 4 hours before giving you a second dose – I have had them attempt this on 2 or 3 of my previous pregnancies and have always had the baby come before I got the second dose (and none of my babies have ever gotten any infection from it or anything).

When we arrived at labor and delivery the receptionist at the front desk was having us sign a lot of paperwork and each time she handed me a paper she would say something like, “This one is for you to sign for . . . if you stay,” and “If we don’t send you home, this paper is for . . .” Needless to say I wasn’t especially fond of that receptionist, but I knew that I was in labor, so it didn’t really matter too much to me if she believed that I was or not. The nurse told me that when I walked in the doors one of the other nurses at the front desk said that I probably wouldn’t stay because I looked too happy, but then when she heard that it was my 5th baby, she took it back. I guess I probably just had a smile on my face because I knew he was coming today, and I’ve felt pretty ready for him to arrive, especially the last few days.

So, I was dilated to a 5 when we arrived at the hospital around 4:30am (I have been dilated to an 8 at my arrivals at the hospital with the last few pregnancies). They gave me the first dose of the antibiotics and then called the anesthesiologist in for my epidural, which I appreciated. The epidural did relieve my pain, but after a few more contractions I told them that it was still painful on my left side. (I’ve never had an epidural do that before). So the kind anesthesiologist came back and gave me another dose, and I appreciated that he didn’t make me feel bad and that he said he’d come back right away if I needed him again. That second dose didn’t do too much to relieve the pain on my left side when I had a contraction, so he adjusted the epidural and came back with a much stronger dose that he said should really make it so I didn’t feel any pain at all. He said that if that didn’t work he’d remove the epidural and put in a new one. I thought that it was starting to help a little, but when the anesthesiologist saw that I could still easily move my legs up and down with that stronger dose, he got ready to replace the epidural because he said I shouldn’t have been able to do that by then. He said that sometimes the epidural only gets one side of the nerve, or something, and replacing it should help. Then I had a really killer contraction that made me cry it was so bad, so he quickly put in a new epidural, and it worked immediately. I have always been able to move my legs during my labors, even with my epidurals, and have often surprised the nurses at my ability to get up and walk on my own right after having a baby. But once all those doses of the epidural kicked in, I was worthless – I couldn’t move my body at all, let alone feel my legs. From the stomach down I could feel nothing, but I surely wasn’t complaining, since I couldn’t feel the pain either. (I was so glad that this anesthesiologist seemed to care, and didn’t just tell me that “epidurals aren’t perfect” and walk away, like the resident did when my epidural wore off during Camden’s delivery).

Right after that my water broke around 7am (nope, didn’t get that second dose of antibiotics in again – they were trying to wait until 8:30 for the second dose, oh well). The midwife and nurses had a shift change at 7, and the new ones came in and started setting up the carts, then they lifted up my legs (since I still couldn’t move them at all), and I didn’t even push, the baby came right out (which is kind of good, since I don’t know if I could have done much pushing with how numb I was anyways).

I guess when the baby came out he had some of the sack on his face, and he was holding part of it in his hand. The midwife said that when a baby comes out with it on his face like that it is called “on the caul,” and that is a very rare thing to happen now because so many people get their water broken by the doctors instead of it breaking on their own nowadays. It was interesting because she said that there was a tradition that babies born “on the caul” were going to be very spiritual people. I guess that this midwife has traveled to other countries giving medical care, and she said that this is a tradition in many different cultures. I had never heard of that before, but it was kind of a nice idea. The really interesting thing about it, though, was that Michael and I both thought right away of when Stephanie Wiesenfarth, my old girl scout leader, had called out of the blue one day when I was visiting San Diego in the fall. Neither my mom or I had spoken to Stephanie in a few years, and she is not a member of our church (nor is she prone to having mystical experiences all the time either), but she called to tell us that she had two dreams that I needed to be careful during this pregnancy and that in her dream she was told that my baby would grow up to be an important figure in my church. So, just an interesting little thing that reminded us of that conversation.

Anyways, Courtland Matthew Aaron Bradshaw was born at 7:18 am on Thursday, 5 February 2009 in Murray, Utah. He was our smallest baby, weighing in at 8 pounds 6 ounces (just two ounces less than his brother, Eli, who was our smallest up until now). He is a tall little boy: 22 inches long (almost as long as his brother, Camden, who was 22 ½ inches long, but who outweighed him by quite a bit as our biggest at 9 pounds 8 ounces). He is healthy, and he latched on without a problem and nursed for at least 20 minutes on each side right after he was born – that is definitely the best that any of my boys have done on their very first try, so hopefully that is a sign that he will continue to do well with the nursing and we won’t have to go through all the stress of lactation specialists that we had to get help from with Camden and Isaac. Courtland seems to be a very good sleeper – resting most of the day so far. Michael gave him a sponge bath this morning, which he enjoyed. Michael said that we should relish his cute little newborn cry, since we won’t have that around for a while again after Courtland gets older (actually, I think Michael’s exact words were that we wouldn’t hear that again until we have grandkids). And Courtland keeps making these sweet little baby noises in his sleep. We were relieved that he hasn’t shown any signs of difficulty breathing (although they insured us that Isaac’s problem when he was born didn’t seem to be genetic from any of the histories or exams that they did, we still wondered about the possibility of Courtland having a problem too). Oh, and he opens his big eyes so wide when he is awake – blinking and looking all around. And he has hair, too – about the same amount as his brothers (except Eli who didn’t have much at all when he was born), and I think it is going to be light-colored. I think that he may look like Kolby – his face is a little rounder, and I always thought that Kolby’s and Camden’s faces were a little more round and Eli’s and Isaac’s faces were a little longer when they were each newborns. Michael said that he wants to look at some newborn pictures of each boy and see who he thinks Courtland looks like the most. We haven’t seen any dimples yet, like Camden and Isaac, but those sometimes don’t make an appearance until later when they really start to give you big smiles. Oh, and he definitely has a cute Bradshaw nose – I think kind of like Isaac’s.

Michael called home this morning to tell the boys that Courtland was here. When he told Eli that Courtland was out of Mommy’s tummy, he said there was a long pause before Eli said in a rather exaggerated tone, “Oh my!” I think Michael is going to try to pick up the boys later on this afternoon and bring them over to see the baby, since (miracle of miracles) none of our boys are contagious with anything! (Whenever I’ve had a baby in the past, our older kids have always had something, like rosiolla or strep throat, which made things a little more difficult). And then this evening Michael is picking my mom up at the airport. The plan is for her to come for a few days to see the baby, but with her broken arm after that snowboarder hit her a couple weeks ago she was concerned about us having to help her do things like get dressed, so they made plans that she will stay for a few days, and then in a week (after Michael has to go back to work), both of my parents and my brothers all get to come for a week (I am thinking that the idea is that way they can help me with the baby and the boys and they can also help mom get around while she’s here too). I’m sorry that mom has to deal with this broken arm, but I have to admit that I am quite excited that it works out to have everyone come!

Well, I took a good nap after we got moved to our room, which I needed – I was exhausted! And now Michael and Courtland are both taking naps too, which is probably good for both of them. Since I only recently gained the ability to move my legs once I woke up from my nap, I haven’t been up and about. Courtland is laying in his little basinet right next to my bed sleeping, and he is adorable, but I am hesitant to get up and try to find the camera to take pictures of him, since I don’t know for sure if I have all the feeling back in my legs yet or not. So, I don’t have a good close-up picture of Courtland to post yet, but I’ll get one soon. For now, these couple that we took with him right after he was born will have to do.

Eli's Birthday

We had a fun day on Eli’s birthday Saturday. In the morning the boys were very excited to have the chocolate milk that I had gotten as a special birthday breakfast item. And Eli surprised us by choosing to have cereal (what he has most every morning) for his birthday brunch, instead of the muffins we got.

After breakfast he opened his gift from us: several new animal toys.

Later that morning I cut Michael’s hair while the boys watched cartoons, and Isaac must have been pretty worn out from our game night the night before, because he fell asleep on the couch and napped for about half an hour.

Eli was excited to open his gifts from Nana and Papa that arrived in the mail right on time – he was excited about the new trains and asked if he could take them to bed with him later on.

Around noon we all met Grandma Bradshaw at Coldstone and she treated everyone to ice cream for Eli’s birthday. (I was such a kind Mommy – I let the boys choose whatever they wanted, not even worrying that Camden’s chocolate ice cream would likely leave a big mess or that Kolby’s peanut butter ice cream with gummy bears in it sounded like a rather unpleasant combination to me). [Actually, all the boys did end up being really clean and none of them spilled their ice cream at all, which was nice.]

After we got home, the boys took naps, and while they were napping Michael and I went to pick up his car from the mechanics. When we got home, we were glad to catch the Owens before they left – they unexpectedly showed up with a birthday gift for Eli – how thoughtful! The boys played together for a little while before we had to head out. Before leaving, Eli opened his gift from Grandma Faun, a fun book about a zebra that a friend of her had written – he also insisted on reading his new book later on that night and taking it to bed with him. We ended up going to Café Rio for dinner (did you know that if you dine in, you get free quesadillas for all of the kids?) Then we went to Toys’R’Us for Eli to pick out some gifts with his birthday money from Grandpa Dick and Grandma Debbie and from Grandma Faun. After the boys had fun shopping (and playing) in Toys’R’Us for a while, Eli ended up with quite a little stash of gifts: two new Disney movies (Wall-E and Sleeping Beauty), two new Eye-Spy puzzles, and three more of the plastic animals that go with his set. It did take a little explaining for him to understand that he was picking out what he wanted for his gifts (not looking for wrapped gifts at the store), but he was excited about what he got. We ended up putting together one of his new puzzles for family home evening last night, and the three older boys really enjoyed that activity.

28 December 2008

We’ve had a busy week this week, as I’m sure many of you have. Kolby and Eli had last week and this upcoming week off of preschool for the holidays. And Michael got one day off of work this week, December 26th, so we decided to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas day each a day late (which worked out fine since the kids are too young to realize that we didn’t do our Christmas on the actual Christmas day anyways). So, the days before Christmas were filled with last-minute gift wrapping (I had most of my gifts done early, but we ended up getting a few more things last-minute), running some errands – I got a nice piece of red fleece on sale and cut and tied a baby blanket for Courtland to match his brothers’, I helped Grandma get all of her programs set up on her new computer that arrived in the mail (her old one crashed just after Thanksgiving) and I uploaded all of the music from her CDS so it could be added to her Ipod, and of course the boys also enjoyed taking one link off of their chains each night to count down the days until Christmas.

On December 25th (our Christmas Eve), I got some laundry done so the boys would have clean pajamas to wear on Christmas morning and I gave them all a bath at the same time by myself (an event that takes a lot of preparation and time, and therefore doesn’t happen all that often). While I was getting them all cleaned and dressed, I pulled Eli out of the tub and cut his hair, vacuumed up the floor, washed him off again, and got him back out of the tub to get him dressed. We noticed last time that I cut Michael’s hair that the little plastic ¾-inch guard for our hair clippers had gotten broken somehow, and that, of course, is the one I use for Kolby’s and Eli’s hair when I cut it short. So, I decided to use the next smaller sized guard (which would mean it would be longer before I’d have to cut Eli’s hair again the next time). Well, the end result was definitely shorter than I had intended – I never really wanted my boys to have a buzz cut, and that’s basically how it ended up – but of course Eli is as cute as ever, and it will grow back before too long. I also have Isaac his first haircut that morning while he was in the bath (I learned that giving haircuts in the tub can be helpful, because the kid has water to splash and play in to keep him entertained and then it is easier to just rinse down the child and the tub afterwards). Anyways, I just trimmed Isaac’s hair around the edges – I didn’t want it short (and didn’t want to lose the few cute little curls around his ears), but it had started to get kind of fuzzy looking lately, so it definitely needed a trim. I think it turned out nice – it still looks really cute combed to the side.

After Michael got home from work and the boys woke up from their naps, we started some of our Christmas Eve traditions while we were waiting for dinner to cook. Michael’s family has a tradition of reading the story of Jesus’ birth while acting out the nativity, complete with bath-robe costumes. We don’t have any robes, so we wrapped towels around the boys’ heads and shoulders and had them act it out (luckily Camden is still young enough that he didn’t mind being Mary, since I was video-taping, so we didn’t have any female actresses). Afterwards we got out the two special Christmas Eve pop-up books that are a tradition in my family: The Night Before Christmas and The First Christmas. Isaac wandered around the room while the other three boys sat and listened and moved all the little pieces of the pop-up books while Michael read. After dinner we piled into the car to drive around and look at Christmas lights. We had heard of a place in Sugar House called “Christmas Street” because of it’s impressive lights display. We drove and got near the street before both the older boys announced that they needed to use the bathroom. It’s rather difficult to find any kind of store or gas station that’s open on Christmas night (we found one restaurant that was closing, and the employees inside wouldn’t even open the door for me to ask them if our children could use their restroom). Fortunately we eventually found a Walgreens that was open. When I took the boys inside it was raining out, and when we came back out to the car it had started to snow. We drove back to the street with the lights, and there was one street that had a different verse of scripture on a poster displayed in each yard, telling the story of Christ’s birth. Then the next street up had the lights display (which didn’t seem much more impressive than other houses decorated for Christmas, except it was nice that every house on that street was lit up). But by that time the snow was coming down hard, and it was hard to see the lights very well, and Camden had fallen asleep in the car. We headed home, and we saw a man walking in the snow and offered him a ride. I’m glad we did, because we drove for what seemed like 15 or 20 minutes in what was by then quite a blizzard (that would have taken him forever to walk) – he was going to meet some family who’s car had broken down, and it wasn’t snowing when he started walking. So, I felt glad that we were in the right place at the right time to offer him some service as part of our Christmas.

When we got home we put Isaac down to bed and we tried to wake Eli up, but he asked if he could go to bed too. So Kolby and Camden stayed up and found the one gift under the tree that Santa had left before we interrupted him by coming home from looking at Christmas lights, so he would have to return later than night for the rest of the gifts (this is another tradition from Michael’s family – and this gift is always a game that the family can play together that night). So, the boys opened the gift, and it was a 300-piece puzzle that we had fun putting together. We were surprised that Camden enjoyed staying up the entire time and handing us pieces to put together. And then we let the boys put their gifts for family members under the tree, which Kolby was especially excited about. And Kolby left out cookies, carrots, and egg nog for Santa and the reindeer, of course. After we put the boys in bed, we got the gifts out and put them under the tree and filled the stockings, which we set out on the couch next to the tree (Grandma’s fireplace doesn’t have a mantle that we could hang stockings from). Then we went to bed after a while.

In the morning the boys actually slept a little – they were up pretty late the night before – and Kolby came into our room around 7:30 or 8:00am and we were still able to get a little more sleep after that. Michael and I each took a shower and got dressed before getting up the other boys and Grandma and heading upstairs around 9:30am. The snow outside was pretty, and we enjoyed a white Christmas. The boys liked opening their gifts. One gift we got for them was two sets of wooden train tracks that go with the ones they have so they would have enough to build complete tracks they could all play with at the same time, and I had the idea to wrap lots of the pieces separately, so the boys would have more little gifts to unwrap. Then, last week a friend from church offered me another set of these wooden train tracks because she said she got them for her grandkids and ended up with a duplicate set, so I wrapped lots of those separately too. I guess that was a little much, because the boys were still working on unwrapping gifts an hour after we started, which was definitely too long for Isaac and Eli was getting really hungry for brunch by then and saying he didn’t feel well. But other than that it was a really enjoyable morning. The other big gift for all of the boys was a Fisher Price nativity set, complete with stable, tents for the wise men, the inn, all the people, and the animals. And they each got a church movie in their stockings to watch on Sundays. They were also pretty excited that they each got a new “brushtooth” (toothbrush) in their stockings too. They got some adorable outfits from my parents and from Grandma Faun. And there were lots of fun coloring books and sticker books, which they love. They enjoyed picking out gifts from under the tree and handing them to each person (although they weren’t always patient with the idea of waiting while each person opened their gifts), but it was fun to see them give their gifts to each other and give hugs after opening them. Michael and I had quite a laugh after I opened one of my gifts from him: a favorite board game, Thurn & Taxis, and then he later opening the exact same game from me. This is a game that can’t be found in most normal stores, and it ends up that we both got it from the same specialty game shop. So, that was pretty funny – especially since both of us were so sure that the other would be really surprised and have no idea what their gift would be. I also gave Michael another board game, Ticket to Ride Europe, some new white temple pants (since he’s recently grown out of his from before his mission), and a tile sign that I made with his favorite quote on it that he can put in his office someday. And he gave me this beautiful set of Willow Tree figurines of a father, mother, and four boys for our family – now we just need to find one more little boy and it will be complete. The boys had fun giving each other the wooden puzzles they had picked out, and giving Michael his church socks he had asked for. And I really liked the pretty place mats the boys got me for the new table we are planning on getting when we move to New York. Oh, and thank you to both of our parents – Mom and Dad gave us a Clearplay DVD player which edits movies that you buy or rent, so you can watch movies at an appropriate rating (no mater what they are originally rated) and you can filter out things like violence, inappropriate language, etc. for yourselves and your children (we are looking forward to Michael having a better work schedule when he finally finishes this rotation next week so we can rent some new movies and try it out) – and Dick and Debbie gave us money that we decided to put towards our table when we move to New York (I am very excited to have a nice table that isn’t a hand-me-down with matching benches and chairs that will seat our entire family plus guests, it will be so nice). Thank you to all of our family members and friends for the thoughtful gifts, treats that have been brought, and nice Christmas letters and cards that have been sent!

So, we had a nice Christmas. Since Christmas I’ve started to have Braxton Hicks contractions (which is happening a lot later on in this pregnancy than in some of my earlier pregnancies, so at least we know this baby is going to get here before too long). It’s kind of funny too – I only have the contractions in the evening and at night before I go to bed – not during the morning or daytime at all – I’ve never only had them at a certain time of the day with any of my other pregnancies. Although I feel pretty ready for this baby to come, I haven’t hit the really impatient part of this pregnancy yet (probably since we’ve done this a few times before, and we remember that it’s harder after the baby is born, with the lack of sleep and the fun of breast feeding and everything. I’m ok with whenever he comes, as long as it’s after New Year’s day (actually, after January 10th – my birthday – would be preferable) and before February 10th (since he’s due February 9th, and Camden was 5 days early and Isaac was 7 days early, I think I’m being pretty reasonable to say that I would wait until the due date – but for some reason strangers in the grocery stores lately think that it’s a really good idea to say that maybe I’ll have a Valentine’s Day baby when they hear that the due date is February 9th. I don’t think that’s very nice – to say anything about a baby coming more than a couple days late, plus I don’t think Valentine’s Day would be the ideal birthday – I’ll have to talk to the midwife and see how she feels about inducing before Valentine’s Day). Oh, and I don’t want him to come on January 31st, since that is Eli’s birthday, and I’d prefer that each of the boys have their own special day – two birthdays back to back would be better than them having to share the same day, I think. So, I’ve got lots of good ideas – we’ll see what happens. I know that I always said when I was pregnant with Kolby that I’d never have a Halloween baby . . .

So, yesterday was Michael’s and my 6-year anniversary. We are planning on celebrating sometime this upcoming week (waiting until tomorrow to find out which day Michael will get off of work this week). We have always splurged and done something really fun (something that we wouldn’t normally do) for our anniversary – like one time we went and spent the night at a beautiful room in an Anniversary Inn and last year we splurged and had a really nice dinner at a fancy fondue restaurant. This year we have some fun ideas, but we’ll have to see if they all work out, since we don’t know the work schedule yet. But yesterday Michael had one of his late nights at work and so I did a quick dinner of leftovers with the boys, finished up their bedtime routine early, and then I let them stay up late and we watched one of our new movies, Enchanted, together with Grandma Faun. Michael got home during the movie and surprised me with a pretty little bouquet of beautiful gerber daisies for our anniversary. They smell and look beautiful! How sweet!

So, today was church. I am SO looking forward to the new church schedule starting in January – 11am church will be so much easier with the kids, not to mention the fact that Michael will be on an outpatient medicine rotation in January so he will actually be able to go to church with us every Sunday (he hasn’t been able to get a Sunday off from the hospital for at least the last 8 weeks during this rotation, if not longer during his last rotation, I think). Eli is starting next week in a primary class – he is done with nursery and is excited to go to primary like Kolby. Camden still enjoys his nursery class, and I can’t wait until Isaac hits his 18-month birthday and is old enough to join Camden in class, since he hit the point a couple months ago where it is impossible to get him to sit through the adult classes with us, so the majority of church is spent out in the hallway with him. But I had a sigh of relief today when Michael walked into church at the beginning of the third hour – he never gets off work that early! – and we got to sit together as a family. We got through most of Sacrament meeting before he finally had to take Isaac out in the hall, where Isaac fell asleep in his arms for the last few minutes of church. But none of the other boys had to be taken out (I think they knew it was different because Daddy was there too). After church and lunch we put the boys down for naps and we each tried to read a little bit before we both ended up falling asleep on the couch. The younger two didn’t nap well (Isaac never did end up falling asleep), and when the boys got up we watched one of their new church movies – Kolby chose the one about the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. Then we had dinner and Kolby practiced his piano songs before bedtime. Michael is now sleeping on the couch and I have stayed up later than I should have working on the computer (since I haven’t gotten on the computer in several days, and I’ve been trying to catch up with photos and the blog, except the internet won’t connect and let me post anything on the blog tonight for some reason – I’ll just have to post what I’ve typed tonight another day). Well, I’d better get to bed.

Oh, I had to write something cute that Eli said a couple days ago:

The other day Eli was working on his Disney sticker book with Grandma Faun, and they were doing a page with Peter Pan stickers. Grandma had told Eli the names of all the characters, and she asked him who the pirate was:
Grandma: “Who is this?”
Eli: “Captain.”
Grandma: “Captain who?”
Eli: “Hanger.”
Grandma: “Captain Hook.”
I thought it was pretty cute that he made that association between Captain Hook’s hook and a familiar object that was also hook-shaped.

Opening Gifts

Since Kolby and Isaac both have October birthdays, my parents gave them their birthday presents to open early on the morning we left San Diego.

Aaron's Birthday

We had a fun night on Aaron’s 14th birthday. Kolby and Eli enjoyed helping Nana make brownies, and then Papa had the idea to have the dog, Makai, help clean the brownie mix off of Kolby’s face. (It was fun to see all of the boys, especially Kolby and Isaac, warm up to Makai over the course of our stay there, since they were all pretty nervous of her when we arrived. Kolby had lots of fun running around with Makai outside). And then the boys enjoyed watching Aaron open his birthday gifts that evening.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'm graduated from medical school!!

Well, it’s official. After four long, busy, difficult, yet fun years, I graduated from the Medical College of Wisconsin with a degree of doctor of medicine (MD) with honors in research. What a whirlwind week of activities and emotions. My mom and dad and grandma Faun arrived Wednesday afternoon and Steph’s parents came on Thursday. Not only have we been happy to have family here to be with us during this special week and to have fun playing with the kids, but also we are grateful for the wonderful weather that they brought with them.

Monday was my last day of classes in medical school. My final lecture was on bioterrorism, specifically on anthrax, the plague, and small pox – interesting note to end on. We had our pass/fail final test Tuesday morning (I had to score more than a 64% in order to pass), CPR recertification in the afternoon, and then I was done. Wow!!

Wednesday morning we went with the Lythgoes to the zoo. It was a beautiful day and probably the most active I have seen the animals. The jaguar and the cheetahs were the best, prowling back and forth in front of the glass; the elephants were playing in the water and with sticks; the monkeys were swinging back and forth and putting on a show; and even the black bear came out to say hi. The boys always like the fish and reptiles building. We met up with the Hymases a little later and had lunch by the new flamingo exhibit. The kids had so much fun playing together. On Wednesday night they got to see Kolby and Eli in their swim lessons and then grandpa Dick swam with Kolby, Eli, Camden, and me for a while afterwards.

Thursday morning I went over to the school to get some pictures taken with several of the other graduates in front of the school in our graduation robes. We took the family down to the lakefront to see Lake Michigan and play frisbee and throw balls in the grass. Then we went across the street to the Children’s Museum for a few hours. We are really going to miss this museum that has so many fun and varied activities for the kids. That night was the graduation awards dinner held at the Italian center in downtown Milwaukee. We were treated to a very nice dinner and then several faculty, residents, and people in the class received awards from various departments. It was fun to be there with all the family members and we received some good advice from those who got the teaching awards.

Then it was here – graduation day. The morning was spent around the apartment and just outside, playing with the kids and enjoying time together. My mom made me a really nice embroidered picture of a lighthouse with a really cool quote from our prophet, Thomas S. Monson: “The lighthouse of the Lord beckons to all as we sail the seas of life. Look to the lighthouse of the Lord. There is no fog so dense, no night so dark, no gale so strong, no mariner so lost, but what its beacon light can rescue. It calls ‘this way to safety and this way to home.’” Steph’s parents got us a really nice new digital camera – a Canon G9 series with 12.1 mega pixels. It has so many buttons and gadgets on it that it will take me a while to learn just how to use it. And grandma Faun gave us some money to put towards a graduation present. Thanks to all of you for your generosity, and to everyone else that has called to wish us congratulations.

We headed to the Milwaukee Theatre just after lunch in order to take pictures with me in my graduation robes. Then I had to separate from the family to go to the graduate waiting area and to say goodbye to some people who I probably won’t see again. It was a blur of feelings, thoughts, and emotions. We were lined up and marched into the theatre. Our graduation ceremony is done in conjunction with those receiving a PhD, a MA, and an MS. The speaker focused on what a privilege it is to be a doctor – it is a blessing and honor that comes with a responsibility to always help and serve your patients in order to find true happiness in the profession. Then I was walking up to the stage, across the stage while they were saying my name, and receiving my diploma, signifying that I am now a doctor. There is no way that I could have got here without the help of my wonderful wife Stephanie and all the family and friends who have supported us over the past four years. Thanks to everyone who was able to come and participate – it was so nice to have family here. And again, thanks to all who have called or sent congratulations our way. It is still a little surreal to have the degree – I don’t think it has hit me yet that I am actually a doctor – hopefully that will happen as I start into my intern year.

We were able to drop the kids off at a babysitter (thank you Hedgecocks) and go to dinner at Bartolottas, and Italian restaurant in downtown Wauwatosa. Our reservation was for 8pm, but the party before us didn’t want to get up from the table, so we didn’t end up getting seated until almost 9pm. The owner came out and apologized, and we ended up getting 2 free antipastos (one a mix of meats, cheeses, and veggies; the other delicious calamari) and 5 free desserts. That was nice. The dinner was pretty good – I got a nice seafood mix with some swordfish, octopus, mussels, scallops, and prawns. And we just had a great time spending time together. Thanks mom and dad for dinner.

Saturday morning we took the boys over to the hotel to swim with the grandparents. Grandpa Dick taught Eli how to dive into the water and he did it right away with no fear. It was so cute to watch. Nana and Papa took the boys to the mall to Build a Bear and Camden got a puppy named Quinton; Eli got a bunny named Benjamin; and Kolby got an Elephant named Rutherford. You can squeeze the hand and the animal says, “Nana and Papa love…(and then the boys name).” They are really cute and the boys love them. Steph got a new skirt and shirt and I got some new Levis – thanks again moms and dads. We went to a BBQ for dinner at Enderis Park with several other recent graduates and their families. There was good food and fun times seeing some of these people probably for the last time. The Nielsens and Tysons gave us a really cute frame, with a picture of me and the boys and a whiteboard, along with this poem:
“When Daddy write his name, he always writes M.D. That’s so people all will know that he belongs to me. So, M.D. means My Daddy, or something just the same, and that is why he always puts those letters on his name. Some letters in his name are small but those are big, you see. He always makes them big like that because he’s proud of me.” Thanks you guys. After the BBQ, we rushed home to put the kids to bed, and with Tyce babysitting, we were able to run to the mall to see Prince Caspian. I really liked it, and what a fun and exciting weekend.

It is now Sunday morning and we are just about to head off for church. The roast is cooking and the potatoes and carrots are ready to be cooked; the rolls are rising; the cake is cooked; the kids are dressed; grandma Debbie is playing beautiful piano music; the boys are playing with the other grandparents; and it is just a wonderful Sabbath day that we get to celebrate as a family here at home and then at church. Both parents leave tonight and Grandma Faun tomorrow, which we are sad about, because it has been so much fun to spend the weekend with them. This just gets us so excited to come to Utah to be closer to all the family.

Happy Mother's Day!

This has been quite the week. Every evening we have had something scheduled, so it has been busy, but very fun too. Not to mention that May is a crazy month for birthdays and other celebrations in our extended family – Michael’s sister and her husband, Mel and Christian, had their anniversary last Saturday, my parents’ anniversary was Wednesday, my sister Michelle’s birthday was Thursday, my dad’s birthday was Friday, Mother’s Day is today, our brother-in-law Christian’s birthday is coming up on Tuesday, our nephew Jaden’s birthday is on the 24th, Memorial Day is the 26th, our brother-in-law Jake’s birthday is on the 28th, not to mention we are moving to Salt Lake on the 30th. Wow!

So, this week on Monday we had a fun Cinco de Mayo BBQ at Wirth Park with some good friends. We grilled and ate yummy Mexican food, played a bit of ultimate frisbee, let the kids have fun on the playground, and after everyone else headed home we took our boys and went on a short nature walk through the trees (the boys were excited when we saw deer on our walk).

On Tuesday we went over to the Nielsen’s house to play in their back yard in the morning. Then that night Michael helped give one of the OSCE tests to the 2nd year med students (he got paid $50 for each night he did it). After he got home, Grant Roper was kind enough to come over and study at our house while our kids and the Kearl’s kids slept and we went over to the Hymas’ place for a Wii party. It was a lot of fun to play – and to have the three couples together again one more time (since the Kearls are now in Utah for a wedding and we will be moving before Faith returns to Milwaukee).

On Wednesday we dropped the boys off at the Hedgecock’s house and went to the Senior Dinner Dance downtown at the Wisconsin Club. It was a nice dinner and we had a lot of fun talking and dancing with our friends from Michael’s class. It is weird to think that in a matter of weeks many of them will be scattered all across the country (one reason I am grateful for blogs – so we can all have a good way to keep in touch).

On Thursday Michael went and helped with the OSCE test again, and I took the boys with me to a 4th-year BBQ at the Nielsen’s house. It is always fun to get together and see everyone again, although it is always a bit more challenging for me to go places with the boys by myself, without Michael there. It was nice to come home afterwards, get the boys to bed, have Michael get home, and just sit down and do nothing really important for the rest of the night.

On Friday Michael dropped the Kearls off at the airport early in the morning, and then he told me that he was feeling a little sad all day since they left. At least we will have a chance to see them in Utah again after we move before they come back home. That evening we dropped the boys off with Jessica and John Gittens, and met the Hedgecocks at Habaneros for Peter’s birthday dinner. We mentioned to the waiter that it was Peter’s birthday, and he said they would surprise him with something. After a good meal, a group of waiters and waitresses came over and sang Peter Happy Birthday, and then they gave him a shot of tequila. We felt pretty bad – we expected ice cream! We were all a little relieved that the group of waiters didn’t stay at our table and cheer for Peter to drink the shot. The waiters did look at us curiously each time they passed our table for the rest of the evening, though, because the shot glass was still full. We snapped a couple pictures of Peter on our phone with his “first drink,” and then wrote a little note on the receipt saying that we appreciated the gift, but that we don’t drink. That was a pretty funny experience. Then we went back to our place and played a quick game before returning to retrieve our children from our babysitters. We stayed and talked a bit with the Gittens when we picked up the boys, and we have been wishing that we had gotten to know them better while we were here – they are so nice! Plus they had a little dog that Kolby and Eli absolutely loved (and Camden was quite afraid of). It was a little gray yorkie-poodle mix, and Michael has been talking about how cute it was since then. Kolby had started asking for a pet dog a couple weeks ago, and we saw another person throwing their dog a ball in the park yesterday and Kolby asked if he could have a dog to throw a ball to. I think we’ll probably have a dog or two eventually, but I was rather surprised that Kolby has started asking for one already – I didn’t expect that for another few years at least.

Yesterday morning we met Amy Rahm in Tosa Village where she took pictures of the boys. I really wanted some good shots of all the boys together (it is really hard to get them all looking at the camera at the same time, let alone smiling), and I think that she got some great shots. I asked her afterwards if this had been her most challenging shoot yet, and she said that it probably had – at least as far as getting all four boys to look at the camera at the same time. I am really excited to get the CD with the pictures in a couple weeks. I have always admired Amy’s pictures of her boys on her blog, and I was so excited when I found out that she was starting a photography business and that her prices were affordable. If you want to check out her photo site, it is: http://www.amyrahmphotography.blogspot.com/.

After the boys finished their lollipops (bribes for posing during the photo shoot), we dropped off Michael and the two younger boys at home because some people were coming to buy some things we had posted on craigslist, and the two older boys went with me to run some errands. Kolby got to pick out his new “big boy underwear” (boxers) because he had been dry with no accidents for a week. Kolby has been potty trained for a while now, but has been wetting the bed at night recently. The pediatrician told me not to give him any liquid for 4 hours before bedtime (except 2 ounces to drink with dinner) unless he was sick or we were outside and it was hot out. I feel kind of bad not giving him water when he wants it at night, but it worked. Not having anymore accidents is definitely worth it. So, after going to pick out his special new underwear, we went and sold a few games at a video game store – Michael was so excited when our friends gave him their old Xbox and games, and he played it for two days before the xbox started showing an error that we found out meant the hard drive was shot. Oh well. When we got home, someone had come by and bought my old computer from college, which was nice. We got all the boys fed and down for naps and then I actually took a nap – I don’t know how long it has been since I did that last. (Happy Mother’s Day to me!). Michael woke me up just in time to head over to the school for the MSSA closing social. It was fun to sit with the Hymases at the dinner and to have a chance to talk to some other friends there.

And this morning was really nice. The boys helped Daddy make me an omelet, and they brought me breakfast in bed. And they colored pictures and Kolby wrote “I love you Mommy” and Kolby and Eli both wrote their names on cards for me. What a nice Mother’s Day. After getting the boys fed, Michael has been reading our church lessons to me while I’ve been writing this morning. I guess we aught to start getting ready for church soon. Tonight should be fun too, because the Lythgoes are coming to dinner. Happy Mother’s Day to our moms and grandmothers too! We love you, and can’t wait to see you all soon at Michael’s graduation this week and as we move later on this month.