Graduation

So last month I graduated for THE LAST TIME! Well, sort of. I technically will be finishing my pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship through December 23, 2011 to make up for my two maternity leaves. However, the next six months really is just one day of clinic, two weeks of inpatient service, a couple of experiments in the lab, writing up my paper (and maybe a couple of case reports), and then voila! I will be an attending. Well, sort of. I am very fortunate to be funded by the St. Baldrick's Foundation for my research so I actually will be a super fellow of sorts from January 1-June 2012. THEN, I will finally be an attending. This is something Ari acheived 4 years ago, so I am looking forward to finally catching up.

Carter's First Baseball Game

Mom and John came into town to see part of the first Reds v. Cardinals series. Kristen also came, but just to visit as she is a turncoat Cubs fan. We still love her and hope that she will someday see the error of her ways.

Carter got into the spirit early, realizing that baseball games are both about the sport and yummy ballpark food. Don't worry, he certainly did not partake in any of the food, especially not the popcorn.
Eventually the excitement was too much and he took a little snooze in my arms. He might have also been a little bit bored since the game was certainly a pitching duel with the Cardinals eventually losing :(
Claire had a great time as well. She loves baseball and loves shouting, "Go Yadi!" She also had a great time dancing with Grammy between innings.

Blog Neglect

So for those of you still out there occasionally looking for updates on what we have been doing, I apologize. We have been doing, just not blogging. After we returned from Hawaii, things got back to full swing for me at work. Balancing my clinical responsibilities, lab work, and duties as chief fellow certainly had me hopin' then I would pick the kids up and things would get hectic until bedtime. Exhaustion took over, especially before Carter man started sleeping through the night, and it was all I could do to make it to the kids' bedtime so I could go to sleep right after.
Now Carter is SEVEN months old and sleeping through the night. He is an amazing baby. Yes, I know, I am his mother so of course I think he is amazing. However, everyone, that meets him: daycare teachers, other parents, and friends cannot believe what a mellow, cheerful little man he is. He truly only cries when he is exhausted and wants to be put to bed or if you are not feeding him fast enough. The rank of Carter's favorite things from top down is Claire, being tickled, then food. Mommy and daddy come in fifth or so place unless we are doing the tickling or the feeding. The only food that I have found so far that he doesn't like is avocado. For those of you that are keeping track, there are now 3 carnivores to 1 vegetarian in our house.
As for Claire, she is getting a bit more dramatic by the day. I had been expecting terrible two's but what we are getting is drama queen 2 and a 1/2s. Claire has a million different moods and corresponding faces and she can switch between them at a drop of a hat. Unfortunately happy or cuddly gives way to pouty and tearful at times. Most of the time she is easily redirected, but sometimes she has to sit on the stairs to think about being a good listener and following the rules. Regardless of the moodiness, she is a delightful and super smart girl. She can count to 14 and can sing her ABCs. She speaks in the most amazing sentences and understands a lot of complex and abstract concepts. The other day she said, "I have an idea! What if we dress up like princesses when we get home and then we can eat a treat." Maybe the other 2 year-olds I know are below par, but I haven't had to many of them tell me that they have an idea. Did I mention that she is potty trained?!
So in summary, we are busy, I am lazy when it comes to blogging, we have two awesome kids that are growing and developing and are the light of our lives.