Whittaker family: May 2007

Thursday, May 31, 2007

Not much

I don't have any pictures to post this week, but here are a few things we have been up to:

Today is Nate's last week of his surgery rotation! YEAH! This probably doesn't mean much to many of you, but to us, it means he worked 90-100 hours a week and when he was home, he was sleeping. I am not sure why one would ever choose to be a surgeon, unless they are in it for the money.

Since Nate has been working a ton, our lawn has suffered very much. I would take a picture of it, but I am too lazy. Yes, I could have mowed it, however I have had the worst allergies I have had in years and choose not to make things worse. Also, from the things listed below, you will see I have had my hands full.

Babysitting a LOT.
The heat!! Help, I don't like the heat! I am not sure where Spring went around here, but it needs to come back. Everyone talks about how the weather is so random where they live, but honestly, I think Michigan wins. It has been 90 plus degrees and then you add the humidity and it is hot. I need the 70's back so I can be outside and get a tan! Seriously though, I have had no sun because it was so cold and rainy outside and now it is way too hot to be out there. I need a tan!

Cassie has been sick. Not just sick, but in my arms screaming and acting out of control. She was feverish and screaming all weekend and finally Monday evening, I had to wake up a very tired Nate so he could check her ears and throat so that I could rule them out. Come to find out, she has an ear infection. But my kids have had ear infections before and never acted this bad. Poor little girl. She is on the mend now, but it was a long couple of days while I was babysitting. On a good note, it is so nice to have a husband around that does all the medical stuff. He even called in the prescription for me (so I didn't have to take her to the doctor's office).

We are not going to Chicago this weekend. We were going to go visit Tanya and her family but since Cassie is sick and we have a ton of stuff to do, we are staying home. My mom and dad will be at her house this weekend and then they are coming to visit us on Monday! Yeah! They haven't been out here yet so that will be nice.

I get to play softball tonight. I was so lucky to find a team to play on this year and it has been fun. I have been terrible at catching the fly balls, but my hitting has been really good and it has been so fun to get out and do my own thing.

We got a new washing machine. Well, new to us anyway. Ours is finally going to the grave. After 2 years of only washing clothes while the kids were awake because it was too loud, it finally gave out on us.

Tomorrow is the start of Nate's week off and hopefully we can enjoy some time together. We will be working on our basement and then enjoying some time with my parents.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Mowing the lawn

Dylan will seriously follow Nate around the whole yard like this.

We had ladies night out on Tuesday at Olive Garden and it was such a fun time. Medmates (the residency spouse club) covered the check so we all took advantage (in case you didn't notice the 3 take home boxes that we each have). We have made some wonderful friends here and some of them will be leaving us in a couple weeks. (sniffle sniffle).

This is Carolee and Tammy. They are my bad influences who made me stay out past my bedtime and scare Heather. Poor Heather was home alone (kids sleeping) and we about scared her to death. We snuck into her back yard and moved things around a bit, including putting a toy on top of the shed. But that didn't satisfy us, so we (okay, it was me) started tapping her bedroom window and I think that is when she called her husband and he left work to come home. Yeah, not a very smart thing for us to do. After a few minutes of "stirring" things up a bit, we decided to let her know it was us.

I still feel very bad for freaking her out and I feel a little embarrassed that this is the kind of thing I have to do to add a little excitement in my life. But it did take me back to the day when I would be sneaky and do silly things like this. I kind of miss that, but I do realize that there are better ways to have fun.

Just look at those 2 mischievous little smiles. They try and trick you into thinking they are all sweet and innocent, but then after you get to know them................... watch out!

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Pictures of the kids

I realized that I haven't posted a whole lot of pictures of the kids on here lately. The main reason I started blogging was to keep family updated on the kids, so here are a few shots. My friends and I sometimes find ourselves discussing what life will be like outside of residency (with a husband home and an income that is a little more possible to live off of), and I have decided that one of our first purchases will be a nice camera. I would love to learn more about photography and be able to get some better pictures of our kids. But anyway, here are a few to enjoy.

(I am too lazy to explain each picture, but the boots that Cassie is trying to walk in are Dylan's. She loves trying to put them on and walk around. Also, the shirt that Dylan is wearing is his favorite. Lani is such a wonderful sister and sends me all her kids hand-me-downs, and of all the cute shirts that she sends, this is the one that Dylan chooses to wear almost everyday. And every night to sleep. Lovely Thomas the Train). And one more note, ignore the long grass. It has been raining a lot and mowing it is on our to do list....

This pile of dirt randomly showed up one afternoon and has entertained Dylan ever since. I hope whoever dug it up fixes it soon, it doesn't look very nice.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Happy Mother's day

I wasn't going to blog about Mother's Day, but since I just put the kids down for bed and Nate is on call all night, I thought I would take advantage of this computer time.

My mom, bless her heart, sent me an early mother's day gift that I haven't had a chance to read yet. I was very excited to get a package in the mail with my name on it. This book looks very good and I hope I can get to it soon. Even though I have only seen my mom once in the whole last year, she has done a lot for me and is always available to talk to. I love her and I hope she had a wonderful mother's day. My gift to her was a card in the mail. Very lame, I know, but I told her if she wanted her gift then she had to come visit me (since they haven't made it out here yet since we moved here).

So Nate worked all day and all night Saturday and got off work at 10:30 Sunday morning. He is very nice to me on Sunday's and lets me sleep in a little while he makes German Pancakes for all of us. But, since he wasn't home on Mother's day morning we had cereal. It is always a little hectic on Sunday mornings and the kids both decided to be very "needy", meaning they both were fussy and needed me to hold them and I needed to get ready for church. So, after persuading Dylan to watch cartoons I put a screaming Cassie in the crib and got ready as fast as I could. I had to get to church early to make hundreds of handouts for my 2 wonderful callings that I have in the ward (said a little sarcastically). I am not sure what my kids have against church, but it seems to bring out the worst in both myself and the kids. I think we are the biggest distraction in sacrament meeting, with all the books and toys and snacks being thrown everywhere. Then Dylan reluctantly goes to nursery and Cassie clings to me like nothing else while I am trying to run around the church getting R.S. things done. People have offered to take her, but she won't have it. I usually need 4 hands, but only have one. Only 4 more weeks until she goes to nursery. So we came home from church, I fed the kids leftovers and we all settled in for a nap.

Or so I thought. Dylan decided he needed to come jump on me ten hundred times on the couch and Cassie wouldn't stop screaming in her crib. So I got her out because I didn't want her to wake up Nate and we played for a while. I decided since it was Mother's day, I needed something for myself. So I made this wonderful score cake. It is my favorite and looks something like this picture. When Nate woke up a little later (due to me hiding from the kids to get a little breather and they, the kids, waking up their daddy because they couldn't find mommy), we had some left over pizza and some cake. Not a very healthy combo, but a g

ood one. After the kids went to bed, I opened my gift from Nate (and the kids). I was certainly surprised to find one Brita water filter for the faucet. Yes, a water filter. You see, Nate and I like to get each other random things that are kind of funny. Since I found out I was pregnant with Cassie, I have had an issue with water and I have to have it filtered before I drink it. And so Nate, the brilliant doctor that he is, thought it would be easier for me to now drink straight from the faucet instead of repeatedly filling up the Brita jug. Brilliant I tell ya.

So all in all, it was a wonderful day. I love my little stinks to death and I am so glad I was able to spend the day with them. I couldn't ask for a better job then spending everyday with them (okay maybe some days I could).

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Season Finale

I must say that The Office has become my number one all time favorite sitcom (Okay maybe tied with "Friends"). If one has not had the fine opportunity of watching this TV show, they are missing out. Seasons one and two are on DVD and can be rented at your local video store. It is so funny and also fun to watch with other people. This is the only TV show that Nate and I watch together and we count down the days till the next episode comes on. It is on Thursday nights at 8pm Eastern (check your local listings for exact times) on NBC. The season finale is on this Thursday and is a one hour special. YEAH! I can't wait. I will miss this show very much this summer. Will Jim reveal to Pam his true feelings for her or keep playing silly games? My guess is that Karen will take the corporate job and be off the show (but still come back once in a while, like Jan) and Jim and Pam hopefully hook up finally! We will find out soon!!

Saturday, May 5, 2007

2 big accomplishments

Our first accomplishment:

Well Nate had this last week off so we finally had a chance to paint our house! It didn't take as long as I thought it would, considering Dylan and Cassie were running around the whole time, but it was well worth it. I can't believe the world of difference paint can make. The kids definitely watched too much TV, and if they weren't watching TV then they (Cassie, I mean) was climbing the ladders. We really had to keep our eye on her, she is a sneaky little thing. One time I found her almost sitting on the very top of the ladder. Nate did the majority of the painting while I would follow and do the trimming and touch up. We had fun, but I am sure glad it is over and that the house is put back together. It was such a disaster for 4 days and we even had a babysitter come over at the last minute on Thursday night and I felt so terrible that it was such a mess, but anyway, I am glad we have our home back. I will try to get some pictures of the final product up soon.

Our second accomplishment:

Dylan is potty trained!!!! Yes, I have been putting it of until he turned 3, but only because of what other people have told me. I have heard so many horror stories about potty training, especially with boys, and the best advice I heard was to wait till Dylan turns 3. So I had originally planned to do it right after his birthday in March, but things kept coming up and it seemed very convenient for me to wait until Nate had a week off to start trying. (he he). I also really didn't mind changing diapers, I mean they were so convenient for traveling and I could change them when I wanted too. But anyways, we started Tuesday morning when I brought out a bright little toilet just for him, and yes, it was a yard-sale purchase. Kind of gross, but it was only $2.00 and in really good condition. His eyes lit up and he was so excited to see it. He immediately grabbed it and took it to the bathroom and called it "Dylan's toilet". He was a little hesitant to use it at first, but as soon as I showed him a little gumball machine and told him that he could have a gumball every time he went to the potty, he sat right down and went. H

e then proceeded to try and go again every 15 minutes. He would get mad if he couldn't and tell me that it was "stuck" (because nothing would come out). It was cute. I couldn't believe he went so easily. This huge thing that everyone had me stressed over turned out to be one of the easiest things I have had to do with Dylan. He only had one little accident at a playgroup, but has been very excited every time he needs to go and runs into the bathroom on his own. He has accomplished "both" jobs on the toilet and gets two gumballs for the harder of the two. So I tell you fellow soon-to-be potty trainers, good luck and I hope you have it as easy as we had it.

I am glad our little family was able to have such a great week together while Nate had time off. He is trying to use up his vacation before it expires in June, so he will take another week off in 3 weeks. YEAH!! Our project then? The basement. Nate starts surgery on Monday and that is one of the busiest rotations so we will say goodbye to him for 3-4 weeks. And another little tidbit about Nate, on Thursday night we went to a banquet and he received an award for "best intern of the year". He has worked hard and I am proud of him. We also had the best steak and lobster there. It was so nice to go out for a wonderful meal that is free. I think the doctors at our table thought we were funny because we kept talking about how good the food was and we had to watch them eat their lobster so that we knew how to eat ours. We are silly=).

Whittaker family