school

Paul is doing his second day of surgery with Dr. Davi in the urology department of Baptist Hospital here in Miami. His first day, he got to sit in on 5 surgeries, not from a viewing area, but right in the room! He said it was very cool, but he still doesn't want to do surgery himself. I'm not sure what things he will see today, but the conversation over dinner is becoming more and more interesting with each rotation he does. :)

The hospital he is at, is more like a resort. It is beautiful. Perfectly landscaped, and stretches a few blocks long. It hardly resembles a hospital and it's pretty close to where we live so Paul rides his bike there some days, and some days I give him a ride.

After a long day of surgeries, post ops, fancy lunches and rides in expensive doctor cars, Paul comes home and plays with the boys. They are so in love with their daddy and just eat up every second of time they get with him. Paul is going to be a great doctor. I just know it. He is already able to balance his rotation schedule, plus studying for the STEP, plus really good quality time with his family. I am allowed to brag, especially since it's all true. :)

We are all LOVING 5th semester here in Miami. It isn't Michigan, so we aren't freezing to death, and it is America, so we get all the conveniences we were missing in Dominica. The weather is beautiful, the schedule is way more relaxed, the people are very friendly, and we are so happy to be here.

good bye and hello

Once again, I am behind on my blog. Taking a few days off really messed up my system. I have pictures from my mom and Louie's vacation from before my health issues started, that I have yet to post about. But to keep this a little up to date, yesterday, my mom left. :( She was such a huge help here, but had to get back to her real life in Wisconsin. While she was here, she did a TON of stuff.

Fixing the crib, organizing the food storage and walk-in-closet, making dinners every night, chasing after the boys, oh, and potty training Matix, just to name a few. :) Matix is now full potty trained and doesn't wear diapers anymore!! Woohoo! He is so proud of himself. Today, he even ventured all the way to church and then later to the park, and didn't have any accidents. Good job Matix, and thank you grandma Kim for all your help!

An hour after grandma Kim left, grandma Stacy arrived. We are so lucky to have such wonderful supportive and helpful families. The boys are loving having all this extra time and attention from their grandmas, and so are we! :)

teamwork

This is a video that I just re-discovered. Paul shot this late one night when he saw a cheeto mysteriously stuck to the doorframe. Then it started to move... Dominican ants at their finest. Talk about teamwork. :)

Hawken is amazing

These pictures are from Dominica. I'm just showing off some of Hawken's amazing balancing skills. He was only 11 months old. He is truly remarkable.

He can balance on anything, big or small, with wheels or not. He is amazing. :) This whole post is dedicated to Hawken and his amazing abilities. He has been talking up a storm and can imitate any word we tell him. Here is a list and a little video of him saying thank you, because it is oh so cute. :) Here are some of his words at 13 months old:

1. ball
2. mah-ee (mommy)
3. dah-ee (daddy)
4. mahs (matix)
5. doos (juice)
6. foo (food)
7. cah (car)
8. tus (trucks)
9. uh-oh
10. mine
11. yeah
12. no
13. peas (please)
14. boo (blue)
15. puh-pul (purple)
16. cacker (cracker)
17. cookie (with perfect articulation, of course)
18. poo-poo
19. pee-pee
20. pah-ee (potty)
21. eyes
22. dose (nose)
23. tummy
24. pone (phone)
25. tayn-too (thank you)
26. dany-ion (dandelion)
27. fower (flower)
28. bay-ee (baby)
29. ha (hot)
30. toad (cold)
31. moo-ee (movie)
32. cow
33. daw (dog)
34. cat
35. dut (duck)
36. pay (play)

Well, I will stop there, but he has about 60+ words now. That are recognizable. I am very impressed. :) Here is the video clip. More to come, probably. He is ALWAYS mimicking us and trying out new things.

pro

These boys have some big shoes to fill, but they are well on their way to being skateboarders themselves. :)

Orlando Temple

A few weeks ago, Paul and I drove up to Orlando with the boys. Friends of ours, the Beatty family, were getting sealed in the temple there. It was so fun to see them off the island, and all dressed up. The temple grounds were beautiful and the boys were very well behaved waiting with Paul while I went to see the sealing.

The ceremony was perfect. The sweetest thing I have ever seen. Little Norm getting sealed to his family. Cassi and Norm crying with happiness. Just perfect. We are so happy we got to be there to be a part of your special day. Congratulations guys. :)

new beds

The boys each have a new bed here in Miami. Matix got to pick his out (Hawken could care less, he would rather not be sleeping anyway). Matix got this cool "Cars" bed, perfect to hold all his babies. :) Hawken got a real crib. I love it, and I especially love their cute rocket ship sheets. So cute.

today

Paul is currently at the hospital for his first day of rotations!! This is SO exciting! :) He will be there until 5pm, and I can hardly wait to hear how his day was. He got all dressed up, white coat on and doctor tools in hand (he really needs a doctor bag). Hooray for you Paul!

My mom has been here while I am unable to do much. She has been VERY busy. It is kind of fun to watch her do all the things I normally do (although I think she is more thorough... :). No wonder why it has been so hard for me to put on weight. :) She never stops, and I guess, neither do I normally. I am feeling okay, and haven't taken any medication for pain in a few days. My next doctor's appointment is on Wednesday, so more updates then. Here are some pictures of her day to day with the kiddos. Hawken and Matix are having the BEST time, and are slowly accepting that I cannot pick them up or wrestle with them.

Semester 5, COMP exam

Paul just took the "COMP" test for 5th semester. WOW! How has time gone this fast?! He left the testing center feeling good about it. So, cross your fingers and congratulate him on a job well done. We are SO proud of all the hard work he puts in. He is already back to studying for the next thing. Thursday he starts his first clinical rotation following Dr. Davis in urology. Urology... huh. Paul says he's feeling kind of crotchety about it. :)

FYI

Just so that everyone knows. I am home from the E.R. and feeling okay. I was there overnight, had a bunch of tests, and was released with very little definitive information. I am having some issues and am lucky enough to have my mom here to help me out with the kids while I wait to see what my next step will be. More details about all of this later, when I know more and feel up to writing about it. Thanks for your prayers, calls and emails. It means a lot to me. Think happy thoughts for me. :)

hair cut

My hair on the island was a disaster. Normally there is a curl in it, so with all the humidity, there were LOTS of curls in it. No thank you. Plus the sun bleached out some parts, but not the whole thing. And because I wore it up so much, the ends were all split and needing a cut badly. My sister Becky (a hair stylist) would have cringed, I was a mess. One of the evenings here in Miami Paul had come home from studying, the boys were already sleeping, and I headed out for a much needed cut and color. A few hours later and here is my result:

The color is only slightly darker and redder than my real color, but much more rich and healthy looking. The cut wasn't as short as I originally thought I was going to go, but I love it. And it has that just been cut feel to it, which I LOVE. :) Cheers to America and the luxury of going to the salon on a whim... What color should I try next? I have been every color in the book already.

church time

Our church meetings start at 11am here and goes until 2pm. That time, is pretty much a nightmare. :( Hawken is in the process of switching from 2 naps (9am and 1pm) to only 1 nap. With that said, it's hard for him to make it much past noon before he has a total meltdown. We also usually have lunch at that time. We can't really have lunch before church at 10:30 because they aren't hungry yet, and it's hard to get them to eat lunch at church in between meetings because of all the distractions... The whole way home we are trying to keep the boys awake. Poking them and tickling them and telling them to stay awake. If they fall asleep in the car, then they don't stay asleep once we get home, and they usually don't go back down without a fight.

One of the fighting Sundays Hawken needed some extra convincing that it really was a good idea to go back to sleep. I was happy to oblige. :) I love this little snuggle bug.

sleepy boy

Matix got to pick out his very own big boy bed with Grandma Stacy while she was still here. I will get a better picture of it soon, but after looking at this picture I wonder why we even got him a whole bed. He only uses 1/3 of it. Silly boy. He never stays in one position. :)

Paul and I go in and peek at the boys while they're sleeping a lot. And we always walk out of the room giggling, telling each other how much we love those sweet boys.

the house

We are busy unpacking and organizing still. It is looking more and more like a home and not a storage shed. I will post pictures soon of the house, once I have it finished. The boys are always helping me. As soon as I unload a box, that becomes the new house, tent, cave, hut, or anything else I can think of to tell the boys it is. This was a rabbit hole and they were baby bunnies.

And do you see that wood floor? I LOVE the wood floors here. I still have tile in the kitchen and bathroom, but I am loving the wood everywhere else. Plus I got a new mop (that I also love, it's a long story), and it works wonders on it. Oddly, I am excited about cleaning again. I thought I would be missing Ena (our housekeeper), but I am really enjoying doing it myself again. Weird. :)

Something fun

So, my friend Star just informed me that Hawken's birthday ticker says he is 1 year, 1 month, 1 week and 1 day old... AND It's 1-11-2011! WHAT?! I love stuff like that. Thanks for noticing Star! :) And Happy all 1's day to Hawken! :)

Our favorite

We have been having picnic lunches everyday. Paul still takes his hour break from studying. It is really fun. To keep the boys entertained we take them to a park or a playground. There are tons of them around here, and we are the search for our favorites. :) This was the first time we went to this playground. We never know what it will look like, or what toys we will need. The buckets and shovels are staples in our playground attire.

So, did we like it? YES!! It is PERFECT. It is completely enclosed and sized just right for our boys.

The boys had a great day, and we have frequented this park many times. I love this last picture of the boys. So sweet. They are just LOVING life.

Good bye Berg family

Grandma Stacy, Grandpa Lee and auntie Colleen left just before the new year. We were so sad to see them go. We always have a great time when they're around, even if it's just for a visit. Thank you guys SO much for all you do for us. You are truly appreciated. Lee, thank you for your generousity, kindness and for having amazing ability to wake up at 4am no matter what time you went to sleep at, so that we could get on our way early. Stacy, thank you for taking such great care of my boys. Matix, Hawken and Paul. I don't know what we would have done without you being here, you are a lifesaver. Auntie Colleen, thank you for helping out as much as you did, being good company on scary midnight adventures to find a bathroom, and for even changing a diaper, I think. :) Pictures via Matix. He is getting pretty good at looking at the frame before he takes the picture now. Somehow he missed Colleen. She may have been sleeping...

Miami lovin

I am LOVING Miami. There is SO much to do. This afternoon we are going to a museum that has free stuff for kiddos today. On Tuesday, we are going to go to the zoo. We already got our library card and are excited for the new story time starting later this month. Another fan favorite is the mall play area. The germ factor grosses me out, but the boys love it. And they got into far worse (as far as germs go) back in Dominica.

Cold day at the park

We went to the park and or playground pretty much everyday that Grandma Stacy, Grandpa Lee and auntie Colleen were here (and everyday after that too :). This one particular day it was actually cold. Not cold like yesterday, when it was 71 and Matix shivered and said "I feezin!" (I'm freezing). This day at the park, it was really cold. The boys still had fun, pink noses and all. :)

massages

Much to Paul's approval, Matix likes to use the massager. Whenever Matix sees it, he asks for a turn. Paul is in love with massages and happily volunteers. :) Does this count as child labor?

In another massage news, Paul sent me the other day to a super secret place. He had set up an appointment for me to get an hour long massage. HOORAY! He told me the address, and all I had to do was show up! It was WONDERFUL. I have the best hubby ever. I really do. There was no special occasion, he just thought I might like one. I love you hubby.

a lesson in articulation

Today, I was listening to Paul and Matix talking. Matix needed help with something and said, "FELP!" (help). Paul prompted him and said, "Can you say, Hhhhelp?" (emphasizing the 'H' sound at the beginning)

Matix: "Felp."

Paul: "Help."

Matix: "FELP!"

Paul: "HHHHHELP!"

Matix: "FFFFelp! It not wouking." (said with a smile)

Hilarious. :) I love the way Matix is talking so much now, and in such a unique way. I'm sure it won't be so cute when I have to pay for speech therapy later on though. Just kidding.

Christmas day

After Christmas morning naps, we went to campus and walked around. There were tons of ducks there and Matix wanted to catch them SO badly. Here is a video of it.

When he finally decided that feeding the ducks was fun too, he felt a lot better. Sweet little boy.

Hawken kept running for the edge, of course, trying to go for a dip in the river. :) We even spotted a few manatees!! They are BEAUTIFUL. Colleen sat with the boys watching the manatees while I tried to get a closer look.

I crawled down the little hill to the base of the water and splashed a little to get them to come over to me. It worked, but the water was too murky to get any clear shots. While I was down there, Paul was talking with someone about stepping into the water to pet one. The guy said, "You probably could, but I wouldn't go near that water because there are gators in it." WHAT?!!! I was literally splashing in that gator water. I got out of it as quickly as I could, but really... Why did he not say anything to me? He could clearly see me.

Then home for Christmas dinner. Paul cooked a delicious ham.

And of course the picture in front of the tree. I love our cute little tree this year. Merry Christmas!