Avoiding Tularemia during Easter

Happy spring everyone!

Ella and I love that the weather is warmer. If you check out our Flickr link you will see us enjoying our break from the indoor entrapment we suffered through the cold winter. =)

Actually, it is difficult to coax Ella to spend any time at all indoors. She insists on being outside during all of her waking hours. As a result we have discovered many new parks, and have used up a lot of sidewalk chalk. We are grateful for our neighbor's slide and our backyard swing. We are also glad that we live in a neighbor hood with very little automotive traffic, allowing us to attempt to walk around the block (we have no sidewalks).

Easter was fun here at the Williams' home. Ella wore a very frilly Easter dress to church, and all three of us wore a matching shade of purple. The Easter Bunny even stopped by durring Ella's nap. Ella was pleasantly surprised to find fruit snacks in the plastic "ovals" she found in the living room. Even Chris was surprized to find a bag of purple starburst jelly beans the Easter Bunny hid especially for him.

As Promised: Here's the video of the aforementioned

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)