Cheesecake Factory

Last night we utilized our new found budget for the Advocates at Doctor's Hospital. To test it out, we went to the Cheesecake Factory in Easton - a favorite of a lot of us girls! 15 people were there and we had a blast! Almost everyone got there right on time and so we sat down by 6:45pm and stayed until almost 9!!! It was so fun! I am very excited about the possibilities Fatema (the woman in charge of the Advocates) has brought to our group and how well people have resonded with ideas for socializing, public service, etc. I am also really please because we had 2 more members come last night who will hopefully become more active in either our playgroup or our regular meetings. We have about 8 new interns spouses this year who are very excited and active and have become good friends - which is what the group is all about!

On another good note - Evelyn is feeling much better today and yesterday! So hopefully she will be 100% for the party this weekend (about 40 people coming) and the party next weekend in PA (about 50 people coming - and also doing her dedication). Keep your fingers crossed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVELYN!

I can't believe it's been a year already since we (ok - I) gave birth to our gorgeous baby girl, Evelyn. She has completed our family and made our lives brighter with each day she has been here. It's amazing how women quickly forget the process of childbirth (the big things - contractions, IVs, etc) but remember the little things like the first time she wrapped her tiny hand around my fingers or the first time she pooped on me in the hospital. I remember the tears uncontrollably flowing from Patrick's face when they told us it was a girl, and how scared he was to raise a daughter. Also how he planned on going out and buying a shotgun to protect her from boys like himself. I remember dreaming of barbie dolls, and shopping, and dance recitals. Of Gavin protecting his little sister from any bad boys and the close bond I hope they have when they are older. I remember her first bath, the first day daddy had to go back to work, her first shots at the doctor's, her first smile, her first laugh, her first rolling over, first crawl...so many firsts in their first year. And I remember all of them. Evelyn has been pure joy - exactly what we expected and wanted. Her and Gavin make Patrick and I feel like we have done the best thing in the world by bringing them into this universe. They complete us and make our lives feel richer by bring in it.

We plan on spending today with our friends from playgroup and our neighbors tonight. It is also GiGi's birthday (born about half hour apart right next door to each other) so we made some cute pink cupcakes for all of our friends to share! Unfortunately, Evelyn has been pretty sick lately, and we thought she was doing better but has had a really rough morning already. Getting up at 5 with an explosive diaper, had to bathe her and change her, and she has had an on and off fever too which always scares me due to her febrile seizures in the past. She is FINALLY napping so we will see what happens. We might have to celebrate another day (which we are having a party this weekend and next weekend - but it's not the same as being on the exact day) :-(

Anyway - HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVIE!!!

funny jokes and a touching story

So Ashli had a funny surgery joke on her blog today (columbuswelshes.blogspot.com) which made me crack up. Then I was online trying to find jokes about cancer (not a funny topic but a good friend was just diagnosed and was asking for some humorous jokes about cancer to lighten his day - so I found one....What do you call insects with cancer? MalignANT and BEEnign). And I found these jokes about orthopedic surgeons...

3 orthopaedic surgeons took 55 days to do a jigsaw and were proud of their achievement.
When asked why they were so proud they said because it said 2-3 years on the box.

At an orthopaedic meeting how can you spot the academic orthopaedic surgeon?
He's the one who can just get his knuckles off the floor!

What's the difference between a carpenter and an orthopaedic surgeon?
A carpenter knows more than one antibiotic!

How do you hide a twenty pound note from an orthopaedic surgeon?
Put it in a text book!

How do you spot the orthopaedic surgeon's car in the car park?
It's the Porsche with a comic on the back shelf!

What's the difference between a rhinoceros and an orthopaedic surgeon?
One's thick-skinned, small-brained and charges a lot for no very good reason....the other's a rhinoceros.

What do you call two orthopaedic surgeons looking at a chest X-ray?
A double blind study.

The definition of shifting dullness - an orthopaedic ward round.

Why do anaesthetists take an instant dislike to orthopaedic surgeons?
Because it saves time

How do you get an Orthopaedic Surgeon to refer you to some one else?

Ask him the time.

Patrick will probably not find these so funny - but I got a laugh.

On a more serious note about our friend, Mark. We visited Mark (a med school buddy of Patrick), his wife Amy and daughter Abby over Labor Day. They told us they had some good news and bad news to share with us. The good news - Amy was expecting their second child. The bad news - Mark was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia. These are two of the nicest people we have ever met who DO NOT deserve to go through anything like this (but who does, right?). I am attaching the link to Mark's website for you to read. Their story is touching, funny, sad - basically all the emotions one can feel towards a family going through this. Please take the time to visit the site and help Mark through prayers and well wishes!

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/markgardner

new pics

Check out my new pics from Stoneboro and also our Day out With Thomas - to see more about Thomas - check out my friend Ashli's blog, at columbuswelshes.blogspot.com.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kellybull/DayOutWithThomas2007
http://picasaweb.google.com/kellybull/StoneboroLaborDay20071

So sorry! BUT TIME WARNER SUCKS!

Wow! I really have a good excuse for not updating this blog in such a long time! My stupid cable/phone/internet company sucks. This is such a long, disgusting story of how large corporations can truly take advantage of people. Luckily, my sister Anna and her husband work for a cable company and cable installation/fixer subcontractor. They were able to whip out some good things to say to TIME WARNER (who sucks ass) to get the job done - after 3 weeks of little or no internet and phone connection. It really makes me want to drink to tell this story - so long and short of it is:

Problems with internet and phone
Rude customer service
Severely long hold times and waiting times for techs to come fix it
3 techs that don't know their head from their ass
1 tech who finally found the problem but couldn't fix it
another week without phone or internet
sister steps in and calls on my behalf and yells at time warner explaining IT IS ILLEGAL TO LET A CUSTOMER GO WITHOUT A DIAL TONE FOR OVER 48 HOURS so they have to come within 2 days - not one week
TW tries to skirt out of it saying they need a "specialized tech crew"
Anna tells them the Columbus dispatch would be interested to hear about this story - they get people here in 2 days
"Specialized techs" are supposed to work between 4-7 (it takes three hours to totally rewire house)
They arrive at 6:59 (although the write on the work order that they got there at 5:05)
They smell like smoke and know I am pissed they are late so they try to joke with me
They inform me they are not licensed in what needs to be done - although TW swears they are and tells me not to let them leave as they are just trying to skirt out of the job
My bro-in-law gets on with the head tech and talks shady-like tech stuff and all of a sudden the guys are willing to fix it for me
It takes about an hour and it is fixed
They leave their ladder at my house and call to ask if they could get it the next day
I said I would be there between 12-4...they said that was not going to work for them - but I said too bad, that is the only time I can give them
Now my cable is going out
The box is broken and they can't get someone here until wednesday - which was after I was on hold or told I would be called back for 3 hours


So...anyone out their love their cable/internet/phone company. Because mine is getting kicked to the curb!!!

Going to Stoneboro!

As soon as Patrick gets back from his call shift, we are heading to the Great Stoneboro Fair! Stoneboro is where my mom grew up and it holds so many special memories for my sisters and me, so I am so excited to get back there with them, as well as our families, to continue making great memories. I know it will be fun - and the weather is supposed to be perfect the whole time. Patrick already knows he has babysitting duties on Saturday night when I go to play BINGO!!! What a great pastime for me! I almost always win something - sometimes even the Jackpot! Keep your finger crossed! I will post pics next week when we get back!

Happy Labor Day!

So excited!

This will be my first Suppotr Group meeting since we've been back from vacation. We have a huge group coming and we also have a special guest to talk also. The head of the Auxiliary Group for the attendings wives is coming to talk about their group and what they can do to help us. They have funding so they can give us some money to help with special projects, nights out, etc! Things are really heading in a great direction!

This picture is from yesterday's playgroup at the fountain park. When we were leaving Gavin and Nathan holding hands...so innocent and cute! Please don't grow up EVER!

REMINDER

Just a reminder that the following NMB posts are just copied from my girlfriend Ashli who was there. She did a great job detailing and I didn't feel like doing it myself again! So these are her thoughts and her words. - I have added side notes when I could!

NMB Day 8

Today was a trip to the Ripley's Aquarium, followed by the pool in the afternoon. The aquarium was pretty cool, but I'm not sure it's quite worth the price of admission. They did have a pirate display that Nathan loved, and the aquarium tunnel was amazing. It was such an interesting perspective to see fish and sharks swimming above you! We also got to see a diver feed a tank full of fish in one of the dive shows and a menagerie of other various marine life. I have to say though that I curse the designer of the building who decided it would be a good idea to have the only exit be through the gift shop. I know what they were trying to accomplish, but really? You want a ton of toddlers pawing through the merchandise?

After naps were done, we headed out to the pool for one last time. Nathan got to the point that he would jump in to Kelly's arms from the side of the pool and even went under the water a few times. (Although he preferred to stay above)

The rest of the evening consisted of packing, drinks and one more game of Gin Rummy...I FINALLY WON! (***side note from Kelly - I was the winner most nights)

NMB Day 7

Today was the marathon beach day. We learned a lot about how not to do the beach with five kids, and it went a lot smoother than the first time. Kelly and I headed over at about 10am with the boys and Cara stayed behind with the girls with the intention of meeting us later at lunchtime and bringing us, well, lunch. It was high tide when we got there, but it was going out so pretty soon it had receeded leaving behind a tide pool that ran the length of the beach and was only about six inches deep. It was perfect for the kids to play in without worrying about a wave catching them and they played for hours in the water and sand.

After lunch the girls joined us and they too had a blast playing, although Hailey devoured sand by the mouthful and Evelyn tried with no luck to eat a shell. At one point in time Nathan had to go potty and decided to drop his swim trunks and try his luck right there in the waves. (Mommy caught him in time) Other than that, We only had two small sunburned spots, one on my back that was obviously where I couldn't reach well, and the other was Nathan's plumbers crack where his swim trunks kept sliding down. If you're going to have a sunburn, that's a pretty funny place to have one...

Needless to say the kids were really tired after 6+ hours at the beach, and Nathan was the only one who stayed awake on the way home, but they all had a great time and went to bed easily that night.

NMB Day 6

How do you simultaneously irritate five kids?

Step 1: Load them all into car seats
Step 2: Take them...SHOPPING!

Yes, that's right, we went outlet shopping. Ian couldn't believe that we would go shopping when there was a beach so close, but being girls we couldn't resist. There was an outlet mall about 10 minutes away from the house, and so we decided that we had to check them out. I got quite a few shirts for Nathan for this fall and a couple of pairs of shoes and even a couple of shirts for myself. I even managed to find one sweatshirt for Carter, who, although is fully stocked for the fall with Nathan and Gavin's hand-me-downs, deserves at least one new thing that is all his. The kids were pretty good, but after a couple of hours they had had enough and we were all hungry, so we headed home.

After lunch and naps it was off to the pool again, but this time Kelly and I took Nathan and Gavin by themselves and attempted to re-live our teenage years with contests to see who could do the most front flips, handstands, and walking on our hands underwater. (Mostly I just ended up inhaling a lot of water.) Kelly won hands down, but I suspect she has been practicing when no one else is looking... (*** Side note from Kelly - I haven't been practicing - I am just that good!!! Heehee)

NMB Day 5

I have never seen this many reptiles in one place. Alligator Adventure was an amazing reptile zoo just down the street from Kelly's house and probably one of Nathan's favorite activities of the week since he is a reptile nut. There were literally dozens of alligators piled on top of one and other, ranging in size from miniature to Godzilla. Some of them were really terrifying and I was so glad to see that there were multiple barriers between us and them, and also signs everywhere telling parents not to lift their children above the barriers. I seriously wonder how stupid you would have to be...

Anyway, the kids got to see the alligators being fed, live animal shows, and even got to pet some of the animals. There was a gator born without a tail named Bob who Nathan took a liking to, and several pens that housed gators and turtles together. It was at one of those pens where there was a turtle sitting on an alligator's back where Nathan stopped and yelled out, "Watch out Turtle! That alligator might bite!" He was really concerned!

Best idea of the day: The monkey and dog harnesses for Carter and Gavin
Worst idea of the day: Push Pops for toddlers in 90 degree heat (Sorry again guys!)
After that we had our daily lunch and naps and then had a trip to the pool for the afternoon. The kids slept well again that night!

NMB Day 4

All in all, this was a great day. I never thought that I would ever in my life get to hold a monkey or get a photo taken with a tiger, and I was even more shocked that we made it through a meal at a restaurant with so many kids! How cool...

Even though we were in South Carolina, it was still the fourth Saturday of the month, and in our household and Kelly's that can mean only one thing...it's building day at Lowes. The second and fourth Saturday are Build and Grow with Lowes days, and kids up to 12 years old can build a project for free. They get an apron on their first day and each project earns them a patch and certificate. Today was a little toolbox! Gavin and Nathan had so much fun and did such a good job on their toolboxes. I also picked up an extra kit to make one for Carter since I could foresee a big issue coming if we didn't have two.

Later in the afternoon we headed over to the boardwalk again for dinner. We ended up eating at Joe's Crab Shack and I'm pretty sure that they had an agenda to get us out of there as quickly as possible since #1-we were put in the back corner by the soda machine, #2-our meals came out in under 10 minutes after ordering them, and #3-the bill quickly followed. Do you think that five kids under the age of four made them nervous? They really didn't have any reason to be though since all of the kids were really good and ate pretty well.

After dinner we headed over to an animal preservation station to look at some animals that they have on display. You can also get your photo taken with some of them, and we opted to get a group photo with a baby white tiger! In the picture Nathan and Gavin are holding it and Nathan is bottle feeding it. It was so amazing! We also got to hold a baby monkey of some sort for individual photos and the kids were really into that. Carter got really mad when they took it away from him though!

NMB Day 3

Hot Hot Hot. That's the only way I can describe the beginning of this day. We started off going to the boardwalk at Barefoot Landing to walk around to all of the shops. It was really cool for the kids to see all of the turtles and fish in the water, and they liked just running around since it wasn't busy at all. After about an hour and a half though it got so insanely hot that we decided to head back home to cool off. After lunch and naps it was off to...

...the beach. Have you ever seen the show "Yes, Dear?" If not, the intro to the show follows two families with small children as they navigate across the street to the beach with a ridiculous amount of crap. That was us today. Seriously.

Picture this: Three moms, five kids, a double stroller, four beach chairs, (like we were going to be sitting, and yes, there are only three adults so I'm not sure why we needed the extra chair) two rolled beach mats, two beach umbrellas, a pack and play, a cooler, at least five bags, somewhere in the range of a dozen beach towels, more shovels and pails than we had kids, beach toys, trucks, a beach ball, and all of the various snacks, sunscreen, cameras, drinks, and other stuff that we thought we needed. If only we had thought to bring a huge inflatable raft or something...

Let me tell you, getting across the street was probably one of the most comical scenes any of the people around us could have witnessed. I'm sure that they thought it was some new reality series or something. Of course once we crossed the street we realized that to get to the beach we had to go up a flight of stairs, over a bridge, and down another flight of stairs on the other side. It took us two trips to get everything over and then, do I have to mention that strollers don't roll on sand? Once we were ready to leave, (and by the way, right after we got everything situated didn't the skies start to turn cloudy as a storm started to roll in?) we had to repeat the process in reverse, but this time with four screaming kids that were incensed that we would have the nerve to rinse the sand off of them and actually leave. (The fifth had miraculously fallen asleep in the kid backpack. Oh yeah, we brought that too.) This was the night that we broke out the rum after the kids went to sleep...

NMB Day 2

Today began with a trip to Wal-Mart. Seeing as we had only enough stuff to scrape by on breakfast, we decided that we needed some groceries. After all, the bottle of Malibu we brought wouldn't hold the kids off for long. So, after breakfast we loaded up all five kids and headed off to Wally World.

I have to say, the kids were pretty good. At first. After a couple of hours though, it was getting close to lunch time and the cheese and cookies weren't doing it for them anymore. Therefore, the entire time we were ringing up our purchases we had no fewer than three screaming kids at all times. Our receipt, by the way, ended up being over a foot and a half long.

After we finished up there we headed home, unpacked, and got the kids fed and ready for naps. Carter and Hailey were both pretty upset at being in pack and plays in new rooms, so Hailey screamed herself to sleep and I rocked Carter after trying the "let him cry it out" method. He screamed for over a half an hour and then fell asleep on my shoulder immediately after I picked him up.

In the afternoon we headed over to the pool for the first time. The kids had a great time playing in the water and we wore them out enough to come home, eat dinner, and head off to the playground before coming home for baths and bed. It was nice to have a low key day after our long car trip the day before, and the pool and playground wore the kids out so that they all went down without a hitch. (Side note from Kelly - Gavin learned to swim on his own with his floaties!!!)

Myrtle Beach - Intro Day 1

So 2 days after we got back from Italy, the kids and I packed up and headed to North Myrtle Beach for a 3 week vacay! Our friends (Ashli (and her two kids Nathan and Carter) and Cara (and her daughter Hailey) caravaned with us as they were coming down for a week also! It took a little over 13 hours to get there but was pretty good as far as I was concerned. Since I am very late in posting this - I am going to cheat and copy my friend Ashli's blog as she detailed each day they were down and spent with us very well! And some of her quips about her sons are too funny you have to read them too!

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The car trip went fairly smoothly, we only ran into traffic once due to an accident and by the grace of God we made it through before they closed down the road and started to divert traffic off the highway. The only snafus? I found out that Nathan gets carsick in the third row. Luckily this was brought to my attention when we stopped at a rest stop so we were able to give him some Benadryl to calm his stomach, (i.e. we missed the puking stage) Also, Carter and Hailey decided to have a screaming match. Back and forth. For the last hour or so of the trip. Oh well.
(***Side note from Kelly - I was lucky because my kids are great in the car - not one peep! - But it was funny to call the other car and hear screaming!!!)

The most interesting experience of the whole car trip had to be the restaurant Kelly picked for our dinner. Since the last 100 miles or so of our trip were on back roads there weren't exactly a lot of things to choose from, and with the kids getting hungry she pulled off to a restaurant called Lizzie's. It didn't look too bad from the outside, but inside was another story. We thought at one point that we were all going to come out with some sort of food borne illness, but luckily we all made it past in one piece. The kids wanted to play out in the parking dust bowl, and had some of the magnetic Thomas Trains with them which quickly picked up what had to have been some sort of metal ore in the dirt, and I have never seen them all so dirty. They had fun though. The ironic part was that about three miles down the road we ran into a town with several fast food places. Oh well, win some lose some.

After we got to Kelly's house around 9 something, I watched the kids and Kelly and Cara unloaded the cars, then we got the kids into baths and bed. There was a great soaking tub in the master and luckily for us it was big enough for all of them. We all turned in pretty early that night!

Italy - Last 2 days

We spent the last two days in Rome. Well, actually we didn't get in until late at night, and we just went to the Piazza Navona center, got our sketches drawn (even though they don't look like us) and had dinner. The only problem was Patrick was really sick at this point and could barely make it through dinner. We finally got back and just crashed. He felt a bit better on Saturday morning so we went to the Vatican. Lesson #1. Cover your shoulders in the Vatican.

We waited in line through security and made it all the way up to go in, when a rude man points to me and says "Prego". At first I thought he called me fat. Then I realized he was kicking us out because all of my shoulders were not covered. I had a sleeveless top with cropped pants - a nice looking outfit - but the sleeves weren't covering enough of the shoulder area. So we rushed to a local vendor, bought a cheesy ROMA shirt and went back. It was gorgeous, breathtaking, inspiring, etc. We walked to the top (which is a HIKE) and enjoyed the views of the city.

Then back to the hotel, to the airport and back home. The flight was great again and I could not wait to get back to the US and see my kids!!! One week is a long time away! As soon as we got back, I woke Gavin up and hugged him for 5 minutes. Then I went and watched Evelyn sleep - and snatched her up too!!! I missed my little guys!!!

Italy - Day 5 - The Wedding

Today was the big day for Denny and Katia. We went to Denny's early on for a late breakfast/early lunch. And for some Texas Hold 'Em to release any stress.... which there didn't seem to be any. I took a nice nap (since I suck at Hold 'Em and was out early) and then we went back to the hotel (our new hotel where the wedding was to be held) to get changed. We arrived at the town center where the groom showed up with his family - and then the bride and her family shortly after. Just as the ceremony was about to begin, Denny asked his brother (their witness of the ceremony) if he remembered to bring his passport, which was needed. Of course not!!! So I took off my shoes and ran through the town as fast as I could to where they were staying, ran up to the top of the building and searched the apartment for his passport. It was there that I had the most surreal moment yet of my life (besides giving birth). I was in this strange foreign town where I did not speak the language, running to a place I had only been a few times (but still got there on the first try) and finding this guy's passport. I had never even been out of the country before and now it was second nature to me in that moment. I remembered Patrick's friend always saying "Live in the moment". So I tried to remember all the things I was seeing and feeling - and to quote from the movie "The Peaceful Warrior", I realized that there are no ordinary moments. As I was running through the town I was focused on getting to my destination, but then tried to listen to what was going on around me. A man yelling "Bella Donna (beautiful woman)". Two lovers kissing. A mother scolding her 2 year old then hugging him. Extraordinary. Things that, as an American, I did not expect to see anywhere except in the US. But here is was. Just as plain. Just as beautiful. The streets I was running on were worn down from time, the stones smooth as ice (and just as slippery). The old buildings, looking beat up and, well, old...were scarred with memories of battles and ancient times. Time seemed to go in slow motion and I felt the salty ocean breeze waft upon me as I ran (okay, jogged). I was truly in the moment and then came to the ceremony which in itself was extraordinary. Two separate families, merging together. Two separate people merging together. It reminded me of my life with Patrick. When we first met. Our journey that led to love...which led to parenthood and marriage...which led me to wonder if one lifetime on Earth was long enough to share with this man I loved to love.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was so fun. One of the most fun to which I had been. The Italians love to play tricks at weddings and there were 2 that stood out: 1) Denny had to strap a cucumber to his nether-regions and Katia had balloons tied around her belly. He had to swing the cucumber and POP all the balloons! It was a riot. 2) The waiters were bringing out their cake when one tripped and the whole cake went flying! It was a fake cake - but looked exactly like theirs. It was sponges with icing on it - but everyone was SHOCKED! Including the bride and groom who looked like they were either going to cry or kick the waiters a**es. But then they brought out the real cake and all was well.

Of course, towards the end of the drunken night, the men had to show off their strength and do silly strong man competitions. Patrick won pull-ups, but Danielo won one-arm push-ups (but to me he was cheating because his belly was resting on the ground because he was much bigger in that area)!