Normal Life, Update on the Kids, Halloween

Internal Medicine Inpatient Rotation

Chris isn't enjoying Internal Medicine very much right now. It's very time demanding. He had yesterday, Thursday, off but is on call all night tonight at the hospital and has to work both Saturday and Sunday... and all of next week! Yuck. We'll have to borrow a taped copy of Conference for him. Chris is trying to get over a cold right now. Unfortunately long hours and no sleep doesn't help too much. He's tired of working 17 hour days. Only three more weeks till he starts Internal Medicine CLINIC. Much better hours and NO call.

Lisa

I'm doing great and keeping busy. I'm dying to get some scrapbooking done but I always tell myself my house must be clean first so my pictures just lay there untouched. Maybe this weekend!? I have done some tole painting for my craft sale, though.

Ryan

Ryan is having so much fun being a two year old. He is enjoying being able to do things "by my self". (I'm not, but he is.) A couple days ago he said, "Mom go eat breakfast". I wasn't fast enough, I guess, because when I finally got down there he already had breakfast on the table... soy sauce, BBQ sauce, ketchup, an apple, leftover chicken in a container, applesauce ETC... He had about twenty things lined up around the edge of the table. "Breakfast Mommy!" I couldn't help but laugh. But some things aren't that funny... like trying to get him dressed in the morning or changing his pants or reprimanding him when he lays on top of Katie. Ryan's nursery leader says that Ryan is the best singer in the class. He knows a lot of the words and "can carry a tune". Lately he's really interested in singing the ABC song. He knows about half the letters. His favorite are 'W - X'. He says those two over and over. Tonight we were singing songs up in his room before I put him to bed. Katie was laying down on the blanket beside us and would get so excited that she'd flap her arms and occasionally rest her hand on Ryan's knee. Ryan thought it was so funny and would immediately get the giggles whenever she touched him. It's going to be cute when Ryan can make Katie giggle too.

Katie

Katie is doing great. We had an ultrasound yesterday that showed that everything is looking good and the surgery did what it was supposed to. I'm hoping to get a whole month of NO HOSPITALS and NO DOCTOR APPOINTMENTS. Yea! Katie is smiling all the time now and when you 'coo' at her she 'coos’ back. She likes the swing a lot more than Ryan but won't take a pacifier. She's always munching on her hands though. She loves her baths too. She likes to keep her legs are scrunched up when she's in the bathtub. It's funny.

Autumn Colors

I love Autumn on the East Coast. The trees are absolutely beautiful right now. The big tree outside our townhouse is bright orange and yellow. We have three pumpkins waiting to be carved and there's Christmas music playing all the time... well, at our house there is. Chris seems to think it's never too early for Christmas music so we've been listening to it for awhile.

Busy Life

We are busy busy busy these days... Chris only has six more days of Internal Medicine Inpatient and COUNTING. We will both be so glad when this one is over. He has really enjoyed his patients and learning so much but the hours have been hard. (It's preparing me for Residency!) He'll be done Friday and then on Monday he starts Internal Medicine Outpatient... clinic hours with NO call and WEEKENDS OFF. Yahoo. Chris is starting another basketball season. He's on a team with some friends from school. His first game was a couple days ago.

Lisa’s Projects

Like always, I have a ton of projects I'm working on. I'm starting to decorate Ryan's NEW room... the one we're going to move him into in a few weeks. I got the cutest sports frames, a big bulletin board with all his art projects and more. It's fun to plan. I've done a lot more tole painting lately for my craft sale coming up in the beginning of November. I probably have $500 worth of stuff... if it all sells. I'm also working on Ryan's Halloween costume. He's going to be ROBIN HOOD. I bought fabric and a pattern today and will borrow Geneva's sewing machine. I think it'll be cute. I just finished a couple scrapbook pages of Katie too. I'm WAY behind now but am determined to get back into it.

Boardgames

Chris and I have enjoyed playing STRATEGO lately. We ran across a buy one get one free board game sale... and since we love games so much we bought a few. Anyway, Chris has been teaching me how to play. He is very good at these strategic military games so he played with a handicap so I could compete. It was fun but always frustrating when he won.

Ryan

Ryan is at such a fun stage... HALF of the time. He's talking lots more, singing songs all the time. Here are a few of his favorites...

"Head Shoulder Knees Toes, Knees Toes", repeated NUMEREOUS times and then whenever HE'S ready... "Eyes, Mouth, Nose."
"Tinkle Tinkle Wittle Staw I wonder what you are Up above so high Like a die in the sky Tinkle Tinkle Wittle Staw I wonder what you are.”

He loves to read books and now loves to pretend to eat all the food in the pictures. He says "I eat the... apple" and then puts it in his mouth and makes chewing noises. It's really funny. He also smells flowers in the pictures too! He's just started hugging himself now. Funny huh? He give hugs to everyone and then says "hugs for Ryan" and gives himself a tight squeeze and blows a kiss.

He knows his name is 'Ryan Johnson'. He also points at us and says 'Katie Johnson, Mommy Johnson and Daddy Johnson!' Recently he adopted some stuffed animals into the family... 'Mickey Mouse Johnson and Pooh Bear Johnson' etc. He's a funny boy.

I'm trying to think of other cute things he does but all that's coming to me is his 'Dark Side'. Here's a list of things you must know to survive with Ryan the toddler.

1. Never never walk downstairs in front of Ryan. He has to be the leader. If you pass him he will shriek and point which means you must immediately resume your position behind him.

2. Never never say "Ryan, do you want to help Mommy ..." Amazingly he realizes this puts him 'second in command'. Instead say "Ryan can you do this ALL BY YOURSELF with Mommy."

3. Never never eat something from his plate... even if he doesn't want it. Quickly point and say "Ryan, look at the..." He will always look long enough for you to eat whatever you want.

4. Never never put something in the garbage without his help. Say, "Ryan, will you put this in the garbage?" With great expression he will say "Thank You Mommy You're Welcome".

5. When Ryan says "Juice please Mommy" follow him directly to the fridge. He is not bluffing. If you don't guard the fridge, he will open the door, get the juice pitcher out and bring it to you. Very scary.

6. When Ryan gets a smile on his face and says "Hugs for Katie" RUN don't walk to Katie to protect her from her overpassionate older brother.

7. Never never leave a box of tissue or baby wipes within Ryan's reach. Trust me on this.

8. Never never put him to bed without the following routine... Quick drink of water, lie down, yellow blanket, brown bear from Grandma Walton under one arm, Kermit the Frog from Uncle Dan under the other arm, turn off lights, turn on Mickey Mouse Songs, stop at the door and blow a kiss, wait for him to blow a kiss and then close the door. Don't worry... if you forget a step, he'll remind you.

9. Never never rush him at anything.

Katie

Katie is my angel girl. She's so good. She's a terrific sleeper, which has been so great. She is smiling big all the time and has just started to giggle a few times. It's so fun. She's 3 1/2 months and 90th percentile. A big girl! She likes to slurp on her hands, cuddle with a blanket, swing in her swing, and squeals with excitement when she plays with her Sesame Street hanging toys. She loves Daddy cuz he spoils her and holds her all the time. She tolerates Ryan's hugs most of the time and enjoys watching him play as long as he doesn't get too close.

Projects

Oh my goodness, what a busy week I'm having. I feel like there is so much to do before Chris' parents come tomorrow. A lot of it doesn't have to get done but I kind of like having these self-imposed deadlines. It makes me work faster.

I'm finished with Ryan's costume. Unfortunately I didn't read the pattern close enough to realize that it called for FELT, not real fabric. Consequently it was a lot more work because I had to figure out how to make the hat where no raw edges were showing etc. It turned out fine but took me a long time and I was very frustrated.

Del just called and is flying in Friday night instead of Saturday. That's good. Chris will be excited because he wanted to be able to go golfing with him on Saturday morning. This does, however, mean I'm going to be SO busy tomorrow.

Tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 is the Halloween Parade at USUHS. Then they'll go trick-or-treating to a bunch of the different offices. It will be fun to see Ryan get excited about trick-or-treating.

I went grocery shopping today while Ryan was at pre-school. It was so nice and Katie was wonderful. Then Ryan was such a good helper and helped me put all the groceries away. He took it out of the grocery bag, told me what it was and then handed it to me to put away. Anything that resembled pasta was 'roni cheese'.

Del and Shelley Visit

We’ve had a fun day so far. Del came in late last night. This morning we went to Great Falls, a National Park not far from here that we had never been to before. We walked to the falls and enjoyed the beautiful weather and gorgeous leaves. Then we went to Hadley Park for a picnic lunch. Now Chris and Del are golfing. Tonight I’m making pizza and we’ll probably play some games. Shelley comes in at 11:00pm.

Autumn

I love Autumn on the East Coast. The trees are absolutely beautiful right now. The big tree outside our townhouse is bright orange and yellow. We have 3 pumpkins waiting to be carved and there is Christmas music playing all the time. Chris seems to think it is never too early for Christmas music so we’ve been listening to

Halloween

Our Halloween was so much fun. Ryan was Robin Hood, which he called “Robie Hood”, and it turned out really cute. Katie ended up being a peapod and was adorable. Chris’ parents came in for the weekend. We went hiking with Del the first day, then did some shopping, went out to eat and just visited. On Sunday we carved pumpkins. That was really fun. Ryan helped us get all the seeds out of the pumpkin and pulled a face every time he put his hand in. He doesn’t like to get his hands dirty.