vacation

I went on vacation.

I took a vacation from vacation.

Then I went back to vacation before I came home.

I was gone a long time.

I am home now.

On Feb 21st Ella, Eli and I flew to Utah. We spent several days there getting them adjusted to life at Grandma and Grandpa Utah's house. Then, on Feb 26th I left my children in the care of my parents (this involves a lot of trust) and went on my own vacation. I met up with Chris in Dallas and we continued to fly to the Caribbean.

That's right. I went on vacation without my children and got to spend it on a boat island hopping in the Caribbean.

After a very short (and yet long as I missed my kids) two weeks I returned to Utah and spent another week there readjusting to motherhood.

I believe that every mom needs to take vacations from their vacations.

Here are some fun pictures:

This was taken in February. Ella is wearing my very first tu-tu that is now hers.



I loved to kayak with Chris. We are a good team-I do all the work and he steers...much like at home. =0)


These were my boat mates: Stacy, Chris, Peter, Kathy and Keith.


This waterfall is on Guadeloupe in Basse-Terre. I hiked through a rain forest!


This is at Basse-Terre on Guadeloupe.


Ella was very excited to see the temple in Salt Lake.


Once we were home again Ella wasted no time before dressing up as a princess. Here she is an island fairy princess. She actually told me "I'm prettier than you are, mom." while I put this dress on her.


Here Ella is feeding the ducks at Reid Park. We like to go to the zoo, have a picnic, and then feed the ducks.


Eli loves to wear these Easter bunny ears. He will bring them to me to put them on him. very cute.


-Malinda

Ella takes Ballet

Yesterday was Ella's first dance class at the YMCA. She was very excited to dance ballet. We showed up early because I had the time wrong. Ella nearly burst with excitement as we watched the class before hers. I think that we will switch to that earlier class because it works with Eli's naps better.

Ella was the only one not in Ballet clothes. She was happily oblivious.

I loved watching Ella dance and thought you would enjoy it to:

Ella in ballet #1

Ella in ballet #2

Ella in ballet #3

Ella in ballet #4

Ella in ballet #5

my son, the genius

Eli gave us a laugh yesterday and I have to share the story:

Chris, Ella and I were sitting at the computer watching a video on youtube (I have posted this video on my facebook page for your viewing enjoyment.) Eli crawled up to Chris with a diaper in his mouth. Chris thanked him and smelled him to confirm that, yes, Eli did need a diaper change. I loved that Eli took the diaper to Chris because that meant that Chris had to change the diaper. hooray! Chris of course complained that Eli forgot to bring the wipes. Much laughter ensued.

I know, I know. You are thinking, "What an amazingly smart baby to bring a diaper in request of a diaper change." Well, technically Eli had simply been playing in the diaper bag and thought it would be fun to crawl around with a diaper in his mouth. It was mere coincidence that he needed to be changed. Although I do think he is a very smart little boy and I am not at all biased.

Eli's first meal

I know it was a month ago, but late is better than never...

When Eli turned six months old we celebrated by feeding him rice cereal.

Chris did the honors.

Eli didn's seem to like it all that much.

No meal at my house is complete without finding mom's hair in it.

Eli likes his food a lot more now. And we have yet to find another of my hairs in his food, thank you very much.

Family Vacation

Chris recently had one of his two vacations of the year. It was great to spend consecutive time together as a family.

We went hiking up Sabino canyon:

We visited family up in Prescott:
We drove down to San Carlos, Mexico:

It felt strange to have a family vacation where we didn't go home to one of our parents. We had a family vacation with just our little family. I remember going on family vacations when I was little, but this was different...this time I was the mother. Aaaaaah.

It's fun to play at the Y M C A

We joined the YMCA today!

Happily we are still poor enough to receive financial aide--and thus can afford a membership there. Ella loves the gym. It is actually because of her that we joined. I used a two week trial membership a few weeks ago and learned that pregnancy and a year of no exercise left me slightly out of shape =). Well, Ella loved going to the gym and playing in the child watch area. This is a really good play area with a park outside, play kitchens, princess dress ups and occasionally a movie. At any rate, I asked Ella what she wanted to do today and she said she wanted to go to the gym. Since she has said this for a week straight I gave in and we went and joined the local YMCA. It is a great motivation to work out when your kid tries to get you to go the gym every day.

And today I ran two miles. Wahoo! When I started my two week trial I could barely run one mile. I like to push myself and hope to be back up to five miles soon. We'll see...

Eli is almost crawling. He moves around like an inch worm. He is also sitting up all by himself, though he needs help getting into the sitting position.

Ella still loves Eli which is good. She is my best helper. She will play with Eli so I can shower or cook etc. and she loves to help me bake and clean. Ella is completely potty trained
(except for when she is asleep) and thankfully she still takes a nap (though a late one that starts at three in the afternoon.)

Yesterday when I had a doctor apt. Ella was especially good. Chris was post call, but had previously agreed to watch Ella so that I only had to take Eli with me. When it was time for me to go to my appointment Chris was home, but he was sleeping. So I put a movie on for Ella and told her that when the movie was over she needed to go in and wake up her daddy so he could put her down for her nap. She said okay and was very excited to watch a movie in the middle of the day. I estimated the time the movie would be over and called Chris to make sure Ella was alright. Chris told me that she had just woken him up so he could put her to bed. What a very good little girl we have!

Well, I think I'm out of stories except that Chris has vacation next week which is exciting.

Oh, and Sunday is my birthday so you must call me and wish me happiness.

--Mal

It has Begun

So week one as an official resident has come and gone.  I've grown soft over the last few carefree months; I'm not used to working everyday, nor am I used to working 9-12 hrs straight (I know, like I said: soft).  I have a trick though that makes it easier.  The husband of one of my classmates is currently doing a prelim year in Surgery.  He's going into Anesthesia, so working like a surgery intern is exceptionally painful.  Whenever I start feeling stressed, I just remember how easy I really have it compared to most residents.

Actually, working in the ED is quite fun and gratifying.  I don't know if the day will come when the traumas, acute abdomens, homeless drunks, and "emergency sore throats" grow stale, but for now I can't think of a better job in all of medicine.  At parties, who do you think has the best stories?

I'm trying to learn the balance between speed, efficiency and malpractice.  Most of the time it seems that the majority of my brain is dedicated to paperwork, protocol and dictations, while diagnosis takes a back seat.  Of course this is temporary; once I get the system all figured out I can start playing doctor more fully.  

Enough rambling.  I have some new videos up on YouTube.  One is Ella playing in the tub, which made Eli laugh real hard.  The other is one Malinda took of Ella giving me grubbies while I played Xbox.

Ella making Eli laugh

Ella grubbies Dad