sunday = family day

Rick doesn't study ... I don't clean ... Carson gets a little gel in his hair ... We read and relax and worship all day ... Sundays are wonderful!!!

... and we had a WHOLE chicken for the first time this Sunday. I'm normally a boneless skinless type of cook, but the whole chickens were 59 cents/pound. I couldn't help myself. I was so scared to reach my hand in and pull the giblets out. (ew, even the word gives me shivers.) Rick did it for me and proceeded to examine each internal organ.

letter to a friend.

Rick is currently at his intramural football game, getting all that male energy out. (I can't count how many times I've been asked, "When can I tackle Carson??... ok, then, can I tackle you?") His team is made up of all med students, like himself, and they play teams from other Wake graduate schools. His team also happens to be made up of all single guys who spend a lot of time talking about girls and beer. Frequent topics of conversation include how "hot" that girl was who just walked by, and how many jell-os some guy ate last weekend without knowing it. (Ate? Drank? What IS a jell-0???) They all, of course, find it a little odd that Rick is their age and is also married with a baby.


One of his teammates commented to Rick recently that it must be awfully time-consuming to have a wife and a baby while in med school. Ohhhh, if I could have a conversation with this guy, what would I say... I probably will never get the chance, so here it goes.



Dear football dude who can't even remember what happened last weekend,

So you think being married is time-consuming. I imagine you may have dated girls who demanded a great deal of your time and attention. You may imagine that marriage is like dating those girls 24/7. Let me paint a picture of what your poor married friend Rick's life is like:

Richard does not do his own laundry. The clothes appear clean and folded in his drawers. He does not pay the bills. The electricity and water run without a glitch. He does not take the car in for repairs and sit in the waiting room for hours on end. He does not clean his own bathroom, although he is the primary cause of the need for cleaning. He doesn't vacuum, take out the trash, or clean the kitchen. It is magically spotless every night. Richard is served a hot breakfast. He is packed a hearty lunch. He is served a nutritious dinner. He never goes grocery shopping, but the fridge is always full. On occasion Rick's dinner is delivered to campus so he can continue studying without a pause.

In summary, I have basically devoted my life to 1.) taking care of my baby, and 2.) FREEING TIME for my husband to study. All I ask in return is a few minutes of daily cuddling and 10-20 minutes of listening to me blab. And occaisional help searching for lost items.

So, I ask, do you still think having a wife and baby must be awfully time-consuming??



Sincerely,


Rick's wife/chef/maid/delivery girl/personal assistant/laundress



P.S. We can introduce you to some very nice girls if you are interested.

weekend recap.

first, we went to a luau at our church.

carson tried to poke ellie's eyes out, as usual.

we left the luau early to go home for the long-awaited arrival of... THE GRANDPARENTS!!

carson bonded with my mom and dad all weekend long.

grandmama even let carson open his one-year birthday presents early: books galore!!

we were also spoiled, as the grandparents came back from the grocery with bounteous gifts for us, including a package of tortellini (my favorite), and a 3-pound steak. YUM.

my parents are cute. and they fit on one couch.
then, on sunday afternoon, carson learned to pound that meat.

and then, the grandparents left.

and we were very sad.

book review #1

Two recent reads of mine have prompted me to post my first ever book review! And, sometimes I read a book, and then months later I have no idea what it was about. Maybe writing about them will help me remember?

My rating system is black and white: either I recommend the book, or I don't.

1.) Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert.
I do NOT recommend.

The true story begins with Elizabeth divorcing her husband, entering into a deep depression, and then traveling around the world for a year to re-discover herself and her spirituality. I guess many readers have found the story to be extremely inspirational, but I felt anything but uplifted after reading it. I grew tired of Elizabeth treating herself as such a victim of her terrible divorce and depression, when she was totally at fault! (She left her husband because... he wanted a family! That was his huge fault!) I found it difficult to even respect the author for her choices regarding her family and felt that her search for happiness was extremely selfish. She brushes the surface of diety and spirituality, but I think she is totally missing the point. Her vision is blocked by her self-centered desire to just be "happy." To me, happiness not just includes, but is centered around my husband and family, and does not require a one-year trip around the world. (Although her endless descriptions of Italian food really made me want to go devour some myself!)

In summary, I found the book long, boring at times, full of too much personal information, and hardly inspirational.


2.) Midwives, by Chris Bohjalian.
I could not. put. it. down. I DO recommend!!

This story is of Sybil, an experienced and respected midwife in a tiny rural Vermont town in the 1970s. One night, she's attending a birth that turns dangerous. Due to a terrible winter storm, Sibyl can't take her patient to a hospital or call a rescue squad. After hours and hours of labor, Sybil believes her patient has died. She performs an emergency C-section with a kitchen knife, saving the baby. However, word gets out that Sybil's patiet may actually still have been alive when Sybil cut her open. A complicated trial then ensues, and there is much evidence against Sybil. The story is actually told by Sybil's teenage daughter, Connie, and it is as much about Connie's growing-up during the trial as it is about midwifery.

I was absolutely captivated by this story. I read the 300+ page book in 3 days. Even after I finished it (the last sentece of the last chapter makes you go, WHAT????), I had to skip back to re-read some parts to make sure I got it all. Not only was it entertaining, but it left me thinking deeply about issues like home births, working mothers, judicial systems, and how things always seem to work out in the end. Loved it!

you know it's test week when...

... our conversations begin something like this.

Rick walks into the bedroom and stands with his arms outstretched, palms facing behind him, wiggling his fingers. He says, "SO. If I'm the uterus, my arms are the uterine tubes, and my fingers are the fimbrae..."

I'm glad test number two is over, and that the next test is on the brain instead of reproductive organs.

Excuse the mess!

So, tonight I started playing around with the settings on my blog...

and then remembered that I had more important things to do, like dry the sheets and get them on the bed, and clean the kitchen, and make Rick's lunch for tomorrow. :)

So, ignore the mess!

Un-Sorting

According to one source, babies develop an "urge to sort" at around 9 months. Disappointingly, I haven't yet caught Carson neatly arranging his stuffed animals by size and color. It seems that Carson's development is progressing in the opposite direction. He suffers from frequent urges to un-sort.

Ahh, mommy's craft supplies. He pulled that entire drawer out. And yes, I sat there and allowed him to do all of this. It was too cute to stop him... and I thoroughly enjoyed 20 very quiet minutes.

bloody baby

When you have two nice, sharp teeth like these...

You should NOT STAND UP IN THE BATHTUB!

Baby is currently in stable, sleeping condition. He was even able to read a bedtime story after the incident.

(It's quite possible that the cutest thing in the world is seeing Carson turn the pages and point to the pictures. :)