Summer Time

Now that summer break is over, time to blog about it! We had a pretty awesome summer, though I'm ready for a routine. For this post I'm going to just comment on the pictures we dumped on here and call it good. The pictures go all the way up to mid July.

Joey graduated from Kindergarten! I think he had a good year
even if I had to convince him to go every morning.

We attempted a sport this year! Soccer! It started end of March but due to a lot of bad weather the games were postponed all the way til June! In fact, I ended up being the coach in Eli's last game due to the coach and his family going on vacation. Although I'd continue trying things with my kids, I'm not doing the same schedule I put myself through here (Eli's practice then Eli's game, then Joey's practice and Joey's game).

Trophies given to Eli's team.

Joey proud of his trophy. He said he wants to try basketball next.

One more pic.

Joey's first Sunflower in his garden. I was shocked how little they lasted and we didn't get any seeds. Oh well.

Sam decided to make a bed swing. He loves to make things that he would have loved as a kid.
Our kids loved it...for one day. Not sure they've been on it since (granted, it is hot and humid outside).

Eli legit fell asleep like this one night.

For our 8th anniversary we took advantage of a Give Parents a Break program at Lackland AFB and went on a date to Aquatica and Seaworld for some rides we normally don't get to go on with kiddos. Then on our actual anniversary we went to Kumori's sushi for some awesome eats.

Posing with our spread.

Terrible attempt to get a picture of the two of us on our anniversary haha

Our 4th of July was full of friends! Alas I don't have pictures of that but we had a couple families over for breakfast (since our ward didn't do anything this year). Then we brought a dessert over to the 4th of July BBQ at Sam's senior resident's house. That was so fun and full of kids! Then we sort of watched fireworks from our balcony from our own home.

Eli got a fat lip. Not sure how it happened.

Our upside-down dessert of candy coated rice krispy treats.

Eden loving on her daddy.

Our family at the BBQ.

Swimming in our neighborhood pool. People down on HOA's, and if I had a choice
I probably wouldn't live in one, but this is definitely one of the perks.

Finally, Sam's birthday. I was a lame-o and just took him out for a steak dinner (with a gift card I earned watching some little boys). However, we did some awesome things in Chicago to make up for a small anniversary and birthday celebration.

Sam did get super spoiled by his parents!

In addition to new dress shoes we were given a gift card to Red Robin, our favorite go-to restaurant.

Lastly, a picture of each of our kids and their shenanigans.

Look how natural Eli looks playing the cello! One day we can do lessons...

We had some fun with the FaceApp one night and Sam made this beauty with Eden's picture.

We attempted to grow a garden this year (it ultimately is failing due to our timer breaking on us right before going out of town) but Joey is holding the first watermelon that attempted to grow...right before he picked it off. What do you do?

Overall a fun summer at home! Lots of fun things to celebrate.

Dear Eden,

We made it, baby girl! Happy first birthday! You spent it with Mommy and Daddy in Chicago and got to spend quality time with us. We are your favorites but I see you warm up to others once in a while. We call you our princess because we like to spoil you (and you like to be spoiled).

We have not done your one year check up due to being out of town, but I suspect you are around 20lbs or less. You got your fourth tooth right before your birthday, and between that and possibly being sick you have not been terribly happy. However, these past few days you have been much happier, curious, and daring. It is so fun to see the glimpses into your world. We're not walking yet, but you stood for a few seconds at a time and cruise along furniture. I'm giving you around 6 weeks to take your first steps.

Your brothers love you (for the most part). Joey loves to call you ha-da girl, petty girl (he likes to "pet" you), one-year-old, and a few other things. Anything pink or purple is yours according to them. You like to get into Eli's "boy toys" and he doesn't like that, but it's good for him to learn to have a younger sibling. Things you like to play with include phones, keys and wallets. You already seem to be a teenager if that's the case!

Favorite foods? Mainly sugary things like ice cream and watermelon, but strangely enough you have become more tolerant of purees. You love water and when Daddy's water bottle is in sight, you make sure you are heard that you want some too. We are still nursing, but you have definitely slowed down. Not sure when the end date is, but your binky does a good job of soothing. You also prefer to be held and my shoulder and arm really feel it these days!

One of my favorite things about little girls is dressing them up. I have enjoyed doing that all year. Thank you for being my little baby doll! Can you guess what you got for your birthday from everyone? I'm going to have fun with all those clothes! Your favorite outfit is being naked and crawling fast away from me as I'm trying to change your diaper. You can be a little stinker.

You have come along way in many things. You make lots of different sounds, although your favorite is still da-da. You kiss now, and I can't deal with the cuteness. You blow the kisses, you copy the sounds, and you even press your lips to things and kiss them. You can play patty cake, where is the beehive, peek-a-boo, and give high-fives. No words, but maybe soon? You sleep through the night here and there, but this trip you have not done that once. Hoping to get back on a schedule soon!

I love you, sweet girl. You have been so patient with this mama. It can be so hard to be a baby when neither of us truly understand each other. But we made it past the first year and I hope you continue to learn and grow as much as you did. I think the most important thing I can do for you besides keeping you alive is to teach you compassion. This is a very scary world, but I have that hope that the gospel will bring you peace. I hope that you become the best version of yourself. The world is yours. 

Love, Mama

Elijah Kevin at 3 1/2

I try to keep an update halfway through their year to keep  tabs on what's new with them. Eli is something else. He is a thrill seeker. He loves roller coasters, climbing tall structures, going down water slides, and being spun in circles. He has this energy I have a hard time keeping up with!

Merry-go-round

Eli is getting so tall. If someone guesses his age, it's usually 4 years old. We just hit 3 1/2 but this was going on for a while. But getting taller is perfect for riding rides at Sea World, haha. Sam and I will soon have someone that will go with us while the other stays with the others (it would be a miracle to get Joey to go with us).

Turtle Reef at Sea World

This kid is super smart. He loves doing puzzles and problem solving. Eli can also sit and entertain himself very well, something people have commented on when they see him. He knows all his letters, upper and lower, as well as recognize 1-10. He's starting to draw shapes now and it's getting easier to see what he tries to draw. I'm attempting to put him in Preschool this coming fall.

Little Town at the DoSeum

Some things he can work on: potty training. We had a solid two month run until I broke down and took a break...and never started back up. We'll see if we can train him before I write his birthday letter! He can also work on his social interactions. He doesn't have a huge interest in other kids. He and Joey are getting better at pretend play with each other but they fight often. 

Showing me his hurt lip, still a happy boy.

He had a speech evaluation recently, but it turns out he is right where he needs to be with his speech. But they decided to go forward with summer sessions so we do that 1-2 times a week.

Playing in the River in Austin.

His favorite things include puppies, robots, saying the word poop, riding rides, construction, going to the pool, building rocket ships with couch cushions, and playing on the iPad.

Said he was going to sleep here and fell asleep he did.

Three is the hardest age for me, pushing a lot of boundaries and not understanding consequences (he always acts so shocked when I follow through with something I warned him about repeatedly). But boy is he a ball of energy and imagination. He still likes to cuddle with me in the rare moments we can, and it's crazy to see how big he's gotten. And the fact that he has lived in Texas longer than New Mexico now. We love you Eli!

(This is Kiley, BTW, not Sam)

Eden: Eleven Months

-Personality really coming out more

-Makes kissy noises

-Starting actions to nursery rhymes

-Waves and high fives

-Getting more curious and close to cruising

-Caught her trying to fold her arms and blow kisses

-Dada might be her first word

-Loves to swim

-Likes to take things out and put them back

-Still doesn't sleep through the night

-Such a princess

*****

We are crazy close to her first birthday and I'm not ready for that! But then again, this is such a fun age. I love that she plays now and laughs and attempts to copy me. Her big thing this month is learning how to make a kissy noise and loves to make them and sometimes kisses me and Sam or tries to blow kisses. Oh my heart.

Although she still loves her mama she has warmed up to Sam quite a bit. He rocks her to sleep a lot of the nights, takes her from me when he gets home, and feeds her ice cream (quick way to this girl's heart). The other day she heard Sam come home from upstairs while I was folding laundry and she started saying "Dada" and headed straight for the stairs. It seemed purposeful so maybe she said her first meaningful word?

We will be in Chicago for her birthday and it will just be her and her mommy and daddy. We are excited for that, but I'm not ready for her to not be a baby anymore. Stay little girl!

Naps seems to be getting shorter and shorter, sadly.

Sam made a swing bed and Eden seems to like it.

I can't with these overalls!!

Picture from a Facebook Father's Day post.

New PJ's and she's modeling them nicely.

Her kisses.

ARVO 2019

Hello everyone! It's me, Sam. It's been a while since I've blogged, and I'm very grateful for Kiley in taking the lead to write about our lives. 

I was blessed to be accepted to present at this year's Annual Meeting for the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). Luckily, when I showed up to the conference on Monday, I ran into Grant Justin (a current 2^nd year resident who is a lot of fun to work with) and Hal Blegen (one of our Rockstar, up-and-coming first years). We decided to go on a bike ride around Vancouver, so we rented a couple bikes and went around Stanley Park. It was gorgeous! Here are some of the photos from our ride:

Grant and I then went to the aquarium and had a good time looking at all the animals. 

We ate poutine for lunch (French fries loaded with pulled pork and bacon), and then Grant and Hal presented in the evening. I had a good time networking with people, and I also found Dr. Das’ group presenting their research (the ones I worked with during medical school). So I got to catch up with them a bit! That was great.

Here are medals from the 2010 Olympics held in Vancouver, as well as the podium where the medal winners stood while their anthems played. How cool!

The following day, after going to a few lectures, I met up with an HPSP medical student who was also presenting at ARVO to talk to her about ophthalmology in the military. She’s currently rotating through our program and doing great. It’s tough to predict what will happen with military medicine in the future, with all the changes that are going on with the DHA and purplization of the military, but hopefully that won’t affect this year’s match. In fact, residency/fellowship results are supposedly being announced tomorrow, and I'm planning on applying for a retina fellowship if one is offered. Wish me luck!

            My presentation was on Tuesday evening. I was pretty stoked about my poster:

As you can probably tell, I decided to have fun with it this year. I presented a case series on patients with central retinal artery occlusion who were treated with hyperbaric oxygen, and since it wasn’t a super enticing research design (case series), I decided to make my poster as flashy as possible. It did the trick! About 80% of the people who passed by my poster stopped to read it, and I got to speak with about half of them about our findings. That is a huge contrast to the last time I was at ARVO and presented "real" research. I also got lots of great feedback from physicians from all over the world regarding management of patients and their views of hyperbaric oxygen. It was awesome!

I guess that's it for now. More to come later!

Joey's 6th Birthday

 Joey got his birthday off of school due to it being Good Friday. So that day I took him to get donuts, a photoshoot (that was featured in his birthday letter post), and open a couple presents. The next day we had a little party for him. We invited two boys from his primary class to have cake, ice cream, open presents, then go to SeaWorld for a behind the scenes shark tour!

Lego Spiderman kit.

Really proud of this cake I made! 

PokeBall kit courtesy of the Wengers.

Magic Tracks courtesy of the Harmons.

 It took a little fin-angling to get people into SeaWorld as cheaply as possible but it worked out!

Here we are looking down into the shark tank and learned about all the different types of sharks they had.

The best picture of all the boys I could get!

Petting a shark

Epaulette Shark! 

Shark poster inside the aquarium.