Baby it's cold outside

We survived the worst ice storm in St. Louis history!

The storm hit on Thursday, Nov 30th knocking our power out late that night. It didn’t take long for our apartment to loose all its warmth so first thing in the morning we started searching for a place to stay until our power returned. We spent the following four days at our friend’s house.

The sad consequence of this storm was the loss of our pet fish Steve who froze after we abandoned him. However, Raamses, our snake, survived—thanks to Chris’ quick thinking and use of hand warmers.

I’ve never been in an ice storm before and they can really do a number on the power lines. But WOW, the beauty the storm leaves behind is breathtaking.

Autumn in St. Louis

Ella and I have had a lovely fall here in St. Louis. Ella especially enjoys the leaves on the ground (a leaf in each hand makes Ella a happy ). I have especially enjoyed the outings with our playgroup. Today I would like to share with you a particularly fun outing to Eckert’s farm in Illinois.

Eckert’s Family Fun Farm (how could anyone resist going with a name like that?) is located a quick 30 minute drive through country roads surrounded by colorful fall leaves. Our primary purpose of going to the farm was to pick pumpkins at the pumpkin patch, but there was so much more to do!

First we watched pumpkins being shot out of a canon, though Ella was more interested in the hay we were sitting on. We watched several pig races next and then fed the goats. Ella even let the goats eat from her hand. We went on tractor rides through the apple orchards and on hay rides to the pumpkin patch. We danced to barn music and slid down the mine shaft slide. What a day!

(More pictures are on our flicr account.)

Our New Crib

We have moved! We now live in a duplex in the same neighborhood and we love it. The best part is having our own washer and dryer in our unfinished basement. The other best part is having a basement for storage. Another best part is living close to so many friends, which makes my nights when Chris is on call feel safer. But the real best part is having front and back yards; Ella and I love to play outside on our grass.

Speaking of Ella, she is growing up so fast! She has eight teeth and insists on eating table foods. She has been walking for about a month now and is a real pro at it. Ella has mastered a few words too: "Cheese" (which along with being her favorite food is the word she uses for all food), "Hi" (she also waves), and "Da Da" (not Ma Ma). My little genius also knows where her tongue is and will show you when you ask. She loves to play peek-a-boo and covers her eyes with the backs of her hands, which is very cute. And in case you haven’t caught on that I am bragging, I’ll add that Ella is the cutest little girl that ever there was =).




I hope you enjoy this movie; it was made completely by me and I am well pleased with the outcome. My goal was to instill in you a strong desire to come see Ella and the duplex in person. Did it work?

-Malinda

Hardcore videos!!!

Since it's been so long since my last update, I've decided to make amends and post 4 NEW ELLA VIDEOS! She's growing as quickly as ever. Watch her progression; the following were shot over just a month's time.

Shadow Play


First Crawl


Walk & Talk


The Monkey & the Weasel

How I Spent my Summer Vacation

The news of the month is that I’ve taken the USMLE Step 1 Boards. I took it on 6-6-06—the same day “The Omen” came out in theaters and every Top-40 morning DJ was freaking out over ‘the end of the world.’ Of course that’s absurd… Hillary Clinton isn’t even in office yet. No, I don’t think the world stopped that day. On the contrary I think the earth’s rotation sped up because it was the shortest 8 hours I’ve ever experienced. I would have liked to have another 20 minutes or so.

The crazy thing about the experience is that I really have no idea how I did. I couldn’t hazard a guess and expect to be within 10 points of my actual score. I don’t receive my score for another 4 weeks or so. So until then, let’s just put the ordeal behind us and focus on summer vacation.

This special edition of the blog is being homegrown from Medford, OR. To add icing to that cake, it’s being written on my bonny-new lappy: a MacBook. It’s a 13” widescreen 2 GHz Intel Core Duo in white. I justified the purchase on the argument that I’d been wanting one for a really long time and waited patiently for the new model. Apparently, in the cage-match of marital finances though, that’s not a good enough reason. So, in diplomatic fashion I explained how it was necessary to study for the Boards (and it was).

I’m fully aware that most of you checking this blog only care about Ella and Ella-related videos. Well, once I figure out how to use iMovie I’ll put together some adorable clips of Ella swimming, Ella playing with the dog, or Ella cooing, eating, drooling, laying quietly—it doesn’t seem to matter—people are captivated by her.

A brief pinpoint of light at the end...and a new video

Until proven otherwise, I’m now a 3^rd year. That’s right; I’m now halfway through Med School. Despite the milestone, no one’s celebrating just yet—I still have to pass the USMLE “Boards” this June. Since this test determines in a large part the type of residencies available to me after I graduate, I’m buckling down for the long haul. Consequently, my summer vacation is shrinking, and I’ll be studying harder now than I was during school. I’m predicting at least a 7 on the Dorkometer:


Still, this is the life I’ve chosen and to be honest, I do kind of enjoy it. After I’ve made something of myself, and set an example of hard work for my kids (do you think they’ll buy it?), I plan on selling out and pursuing my lifelong dream of Scuba-diving for lost treasure. We’ll see.

Speaking of kids…well, just one kid…Ella has a new video! In case you’re reading this for the first time (or don’t know how a blog works) check out previous posts for previous videos of my daughter. This one’s my favorite! She laughs long and hard.

Mana Mana (5 months old)

Updates on Ella

I’m throwing on the blog some highly anticipated news about our daughter. Ella is now officially 4months 2weeks. At the doctor's she weighed in at 15 lbs, which is in the 70th percentile. Her length is even more impressive: 25.5 inches (90th percentile). After a brief post-inoculation psychosis, Ella is back to her normal boisterous self. Just to prove it to y’all, I’ve added the links for Ella’s videos on Google:

Ella Laughs (4 months old)

Ella makes faces (3 weeks old) part 1 part 2

just done feeding (1 day old)

-Enjoy

Keep your Monday Nights Open

Family Home Evening has a new night in the Williams household. With all due respect to the Church, Monday night is saved for the non-stop season of 24. Instead, we've been doing our FHE on Tuesdays. We find it’s a lot less rushed on Tuesday—and our conversations seem less focused on ‘who’s the real mole in CTU.’

And by the way, it is my belief that Jack Bauer’s popularity is proof that America is fed-up with political correctness, impotent legal systems and bureaucracy in general. It’s a fantasy in which all our feelings of frustration and powerlessness (think DMV) are released on screen in the form of broken fingers, high voltage and medical interrogations.

Just a little taste of how it ‘would have been’ had Jack been born in a different time.

What’s in a name?

As Ned Flanders would say, “we’ve had a diddly of a pickle” figuring out what to call this blog. The only thing we agreed on was that it had to be creative and not too obvious. Therefore, “Chris, Malinda & Ella” was nixed from the start. (So was “Williams Family”, “Life with Ella” and “The Williams Variety Hour”.) I’ve always wanted a band named “Mourning Wüd” and thought I’d ask Malinda’s permission to use it as our blog’s title. She said sure; it then dawned on me she didn’t have the foggiest idea what it meant. After another twenty-five minute lecture on more endocrinology, she promptly vetoed the title.

I’ve developed a fond appreciation for J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve read a lot about him; I’ve read “The Hobbit” and a number of his short works and poems. I’ve even listened to “The Silmarillion” on audio CD (I’d rather try withholding vital information from Jack Bauer than do that again). But I’m embarrassed to say I’ve never read the “Lord of the Rings.” In my readings, I came across one of Tolkien’s all-time favorite poems. It’s an Olde English verse he translated from a very old manuscript entitled, Pearl. In it, he describes a dream in which a sincere seeker crosses a river entering paradise and beholds “streaming stars when stroth-men sleep.” The Old English Strođ means ‘marshy land, overgrown with brushwood. Stroþemen were ‘men of this world’, largely unaware of a higher plane. The Pearl-poet saw the inhabitants of Middle-earth as men sleeping in the wood, ignoring the stars. I like this metaphor. As a man of this world, it is often difficult to recognize celestial majesty through the brushwood. It becomes most detrimental however, when we stop looking for it. It’s a reminder that yes, we are consumed with day-to-day problems, chores and goals, but if we don’t look up we’re apt to get lost. King Benjamin said it best: “If ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith…even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish. And now, O man, remember, and perish not.” (Book of Mormon, Mosiah 4:30)

Interestingly, and perhaps paradoxically, in Tolkien’s writings nothing is more exalted than trees and forests. Perhaps those who focus too much on the stars or the beyond, may miss a great deal of beauty in the present. This blog is mostly a record of the mundane thoughts and events of our present. (But don’t read too much into it—nothing’s more obnoxious than a literary snob.)

Explanations & Introductions:

I’ve moved on to Blogs. Whether this is a step up or a step otherwise has yet to be determined. What’s important is that I still have a forum to apprise everyone of our family’s happenings and my ideas. I’ll still be putting tons of pictures of Ella on Flickr which you can link to here. Whenever we post videos of Ella online, those will be linked also. This blog thing is liberating and more informal. Feel free to post comments or ask questions if you want. If you don’t, that’s fine too.

I’m still in Med School, my second year. It’s winding down now; I’m in the last module: endocrine & reproduction. I’m finally gonna learn the great secret behind womanhood…Hormones. Now listen up, men. Constancy is fleeting in the female body. Women are allowed a relatively steady stream of hormones in two-week spurts. This allows them to achieve a slight whiff of regularity—so they know what they’re missing when it’s all ripped from them. You see, the hormones change sides halfway through the game. The hormone that was holding back the flood-gates a day earlier, treasonously ushers the flood in on the day following. And that’s the normal physiology! There’s a medical condition called pregnancy that eliminates this cycle and replaces it with a 40week tsunami. This culminates in a coup d’état in which the largest hormone-producing organ in the human (the placenta) is expelled. But if you really want to understand the woman, consider this. No blend of hormones wreaks more chaos than when the hormones go away in the menopausal years. Despite the confusion and disorder of the hormone storm endured for 50+ years, what they end up complaining of most is the lack thereof.