Brooklyn Made Me Cry

By far the biggest challenge I have had to face so far as a doctor is the amount of time I have to spend away from my family. I love my job, but when I come home I try to leave my work at the hospital. Several weeks ago I had to start studying for step 3 of my boards. I tried to study at the hospital as much as I could (between appointments, standing in line at the cafeteria, waiting for the elevator, etc...) but as the test got closer I had to start studying at home too. A few days before the test I was spending every waking minute studying. I knew it was hard on both me and my family, but I didn't realize just how hard until Brooklyn made it clear. I was in my office taking a practice test and I could hear something just outside the door. I didn't think anything of it at the time and went back to studying, but when I finished the test 45 minutes later I stood up to take a break. As I opened the door I looked down and saw Brooklyn lying on the ground with a pillow and blanket. I asked her what she was doing and she said (in her sad little 3 year old voice) "Just waiting for you to be done studying". I felt horrible. She had been lying quietly on the hard ground for over 45 minutes without making a sound because she knew that she wasn't supposed to be bothering me. It just about broke my heart. I couldn't help but pick her up and snuggle on the couch, her favorite thing to do.

Kenna & Brooklyn's First Date

Every year the city where we live has a "Daddy Daughter" dance. The theme this year was "Happily Ever After" and the girls were so excited to go on a real date with their daddy. They were counting down the days. A few days before the date I asked Kenna where they were going to go eat. She looked at me and said "Probably Olive Garden or Red Lobster, maybe even Outback." Most kids would say McDonalds or Wendy's, but not my daughter, she goes right for the good stuff. She doesn't mess around when it comes to eating out. I just laughed. Brooklyn said Subway or Panera (she doesn't have as expensive taste as her sister). They ended up eating at Olive Garden and I think Scott was the proudest dad around. He loved that everyone asked what they were doing and where were they going. After dinner they went to the dance had their pictures taken and danced for a while. They all had a blast. Scott even had them home for curfew and he got a goodnight kiss on each cheek before they went to bed.

Three months old!!

I can't believe it has been three months. These kids are growing up way too fast. I wish they would just stop right where they are. Whenever I tell Kennady that she has to stop growing, she tells me she has to grow up. Brooklyn has already planned her fourth birhtday party, so she made us a deal that after the party she will stop growing. I wish it were that easy.

I think he is pretty dang cute. He is such a smiley baby. Don't get me wrong he has his mad times too, but he really is a good baby.

Easton's two favorite things; his blankie and his binkie. I have just recently learned that if I wrap him up real tight and give his binkie then he is good to go for a nice long nap. I hope it lasts.

Check out these muscles.

He loves to be talked to. Whenever I am on the phone he always thinks I am talking to him and he will smile and talk right back to me. We love you Easton!

Merry Christmas!

These are our Christmas cards for this year. We tried to send them to everybody that we had addresses for, I am sorry if we missed you. If you didn't get one, it just means we need your address. Scott put these and Easton's announcement together and I thought that they turned out good. I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We miss you all. Christmas will be a little different away from loved ones. This is my first Christmas in my 30 years of life that I have not been with my family. It may be kind of sad but hey, it's still Christmas and we love it. Easton' s Announcement

Dance Recital

Last week the girls had their ballet recital. They both did so good. On our way home Brooklyn couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was. After about 10 minutes of non-stop talking she took a big sigh and said, "Can I do that again?" They have pretend recitals on a daily basis at home. They usually "sell" us a ticket that we have to give back to them in order to attend in our own living room, so it was fun to finally have a real recital. I loved watching them.

Here are some recent pictures of Easton. He is growing so fast.

Just look at these rolls and double chin. He's such a chub.

Easton is one month old!

I can't believe our little Easton is already a month old. He's growing up too fast. He has been such a good baby so far, he's spoiling us. We love him so much.

Easton is so lucky to have two extra "mommies". They can't seem to get enough of him.

Visitors

It has been a lot of fun having our families come and visit for the last couple of weeks. We feel bad that they have all gone home now and we are looking forward to them visiting again.

Grandma Celia

Grandpa Don

Grandpa Don & Madison

Aunt Tiffy

Grandma Diane

Grandpa Lynn

Family fun in Seattle

Tiffy, Madison, Kennady and Brooklyn on the ferry.

Brooklyn and Grandpa Don on the ferry.

Brooklyn feeding the seagulls. We'll put up a video of this as soon as we can figure out how to do it.

Sunset on top of the Space Needle.

The Snowball Express

Baby Easton!

Kennady and Brooklyn's first time meeting their new little brother

Brooklyn is still a little upset that we didn't name him Derek Jeter like she wanted, but she was happy when she saw him in his Yankees shirt.

We are so excited that our baby boy is finally here. It seems like Tara was pregnant forever (especially to her). He was born on Wednesday, Nov. 5th at 2:00 in the afternoon. He weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz and was 20 inches long. The whole labor process was not exactly what Tara had in mind. With Kennady and Brooklyn she had the epidural before any of the hard contractions started, and that was pretty much what she was expecting with Easton too. If it were up to Tara she would have the anesthesiologist waiting at the door with a needle in hand. Not quite so lucky. We went to the hospital Wednesday morning after she had been contracting most of the night, but got sent home because labor and delivery was crazy busy and she wasn't dilated far enough. Tara knew that she was close, so we didn't actually go home. We sat out in the parking lot for the next two hours, timing the contractions until they were about 3 minutes apart. We went back inside and this time they were nice enough to let us stay. By the time they checked her she was dilated to a 9, and they informed us that it was too late for an epidural. At this point Tara was more than a little upset, and had a look of death in her eyes that could have killed a small animal. I think the nurse who sent us home earlier that morning felt bad and was doing her best to make things better as they ran the bed down the hall to the delivery room. Knowing that Tara doesn't have much pain tolerance, I was worried that my normally mild-mannered and pleasant wife was going to turn into something you would see in a Freddy Krueger movie. I was surprised (and very impressed) when instead, she just took care of business. She took a few deep breaths and quietly said to herself "I can do this". 20 minutes later Easton was here and all was right with the world again. The last couple of days have been a complete whirlwind, but we are so very lucky and blessed to have three healthy kids. We can't wait for you all to meet him.