Birthday thoughts

Today is my nephew Robbie’s birthday.  He would have been 13 today if he were still here and that just floors me. I so wish he were here for Julia to meet but I know that he is watching over us…. and laughing at all the mischief that Julia gets into!

This post is appropriate for today because it involves two things that Robbie really liked – playing in water and sunglasses!  Julia has spent the past couple of days playing with her new water table.  She loves splashing around and scooping up water and then dumping it on herself and occasionally the plants that she is aiming for.  I think it will continue to be a big hit with her and other neighborhood kids for the summer. 

While we were picking out the water table we also got Julia a new pair of sunglasses.  And she has wanted to wear them constantly!  This is good because she has very blue eyes and we can tell that they are sensitive to sunlight, but it is also adorable because we know that she is also trying to imitate Andrew and I.  This is something that Robbie also did; one of the best memories that I have of him is when I was sitting on my mom’s patio in a lawn chair studying for an exam with a book on my lap and my sunglasses on.  Robbie came out of the house and pulled up a little kid lawn chair and sat down next to me, put his sunglasses on and propped his Sesame Street magazine up on his lap to “study”!  It was great!

Here is a picture of Julia splish splashing around yesterday with her sunglasses on:

And, for fun, here is a picture of her from a little over a year ago with her first pair of sunglasses on!

Lamb chops and “Yes”

Julia tried lamb chops for the time tonight and they were a big hit.  She is also getting the hang of the word “yes” (or more frequently the nod ‘yes’) and uses it correctly most of the time.  So tonight we managed to get a video of both of these.

Charlottesville Weekend

We spent the past few days in Charlottesville, VA visiting Andrew’s parents.  It was a great weekend starting with a visit to Julia’s cardiologist on Friday morning.  He told us that her MRI came back completely normal – wonderful news.   So now she’ll just be screened every six months or so.  After the appointment we headed down to Charlottesville and had a fun-filled weekend for everyone. 

Saturday morning I made it to the farmer’s market which is fabulous.  There are all kinds of vendors from vegetables and plants to cheese and pastries as well as jams, jellies, jewelry, clothing and lots more.  I could have spent a couple of hours (and lots of money) there! But I controlled myself and only bought some local strawberries and english peas, both of which are favorites of Julia, as well as an eggless key lime pie – YUM.

Saturday afternoon it was time for Julia’s fun.  We went to see

She really liked the show and did great through the whole thing.  At one point Ernie came over and gave her a high five and she was ready to follow him up onto the stage!  Here’s a picture of her waiting for the show to start (yes, she’s had her hair trimmed – just the bangs!).

Then on Sunday Julia got to spend the day (and night) with the grandparents and Andrew and I had some time to ourselves.  We spent a blissful hour browsing the bookstore and I came out with a VERY long reading list.  Then we went to the movies and out for a fun fondue dinner.  It was really nice to have time to chat and recharge a bit.  We came back home this morning and Julia napped for almost three hours in the car – I think she had a fun trip too! 

Accessorizing

Julia decided today that she needed a little dressing up! Or at least her hair did… I was responsible for the ponytail, but the headband was all her!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

It has been a long few months.  This Wednesday night I have my last classes of the semester and as of 10pm next Sunday my semester will be complete and I will only have six weeks of classes between myself and my masters degree.  While this degree is something that I have chosen to do and am still glad to have undertaken, this semester has been a lot more than I have bargained for… to say I cannot wait for mid-July is a HUGE understatement.  (Comment from Andrew: Her husband agrees 100%!)

I am looking forward to just being able to enjoy time with Andrew and Julia.  To spending a weekend outside the library or home office.  To being able to rock Julia for the last hour of her nap and not stress about what I need to be doing for class.  To being able to pick up any book I feel like reading and not feel guilty that its not whatever textbook or journal article I need to finish.  To taking a trip to Charlottesville to visit Andrew’s parents and a trip to RI to visit my family.  To having time to spend in our garden and enjoy the sunshine and go to the farmers markets and try new recipes again…

Anyway, back to the reality of now…  Julia and I are both trying to get over a cold (hers is compounded by teething); We are all hoping to get more than a couple of hours of sleep tonight; I am finishing up my last couple of papers, assignments, and studying for my final exam next Sunday; I go to the doctor tomorrow for another follow-up to the DVT and hopefully will be able to determine when we will do the last procedure I need – to remove the vena cava filter that was inserted; Julia goes into the hospital on Wednesday for an MRI of her heart – there’s nothing wrong we’re just following all precautions and hopefully getting a good baseline image for the cardiologists to use.  It’s a routine procedure but I’m of course nervous about the anesthesia and not looking forward to the fast she has to follow for the eight hours before… but then there’s Kindermusic class with Julia on Thursday, and a get together with one of our playgroups on Friday, and our neighborhood Cinco de Mayo party on Saturday…  There’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel!