Summer Vacation is Almost Here!

One more week until Summer break! Hooray! This last week has been pretty stressful with finals going on. I have spent a lot of early mornings going over test questions and flashcards. Finally, we are at the final countdown of the semester. Thank goodness.

Despite the heavy studying I have been doing, we have still managed to fit some fun into our schedules. Here are some of the things we did this week:

We had a backyard BBQ at Crystal and Tyler's house. They invited us and alot of our other friends-good food, and good fun. The weather here is getting warmer and warmer every day!

We went to the North Coast nature festival. This was a ton of fun- there were booths with information, and there were lots of fun animals. Here, we see Evelyn being introduced to a skunk, Rachel holding a boa constrictor, and a couple of cute owls. There was also a trail that we walked on that took us around a pretty pond. This week has been especially full of animals for Rachel, who went to the Zoo on Monday with her friend, Diane.

For family night we went on a picnic in the park. Like we said, the weather is getting so nice it is hard to stay indoors. This park at Horseshoe Lake was awesome! There was a big spider web thing that you could climb around in, and there were bouldering rocks where we could challenge each other on different moves. In this picture Rachel is demonstrating how to climb without the use of her upper body.

And of course we need to show some pictures of the cutest member of our family. Evelyn is getting very good at bathtime. She hardly cries anymore when you put her in the water, which is a big improvement over her first time at the hospital. Also, we were able to capture her "smile sequence" on film for all to see. So cute!

Update

Here are some pictures and a video. We'll actually update the blog tomorrow. Stay tuned!

...So it took a little longer than expected to update. Anyway, the pictures of Evelyn pretty much speak for themselves- she gets cuter by the day. She is also very talented insofar as a 2 month old baby can be. She can track with her eyes very well at all distances, lift herself up on her hands, jabber, interact, and almost roll over. She has adopted a love for being outside and we take her on walks regularly. Hopefully, this attribute of her personality sticks around.

Evelyn has been all smiles!

I spent the weekend in Columbus at the ODA Leadership Institute. For those who are interested, here are the details...

A while ago the school announced that they were starting a pilot leadership program to help develop leaders in the dental field. One day they announced that the orientation would take place over the lunch break and that food would be provided. I had not brought a lunch to school that day, and I was a little curious, so I thought I might as well see what it was about. That is pretty much how I got sucked in.

Once in, I had a great experience! There were regular meetings where students in the program (about 30 in all) learned leadership skills such as public speaking and how to leave positive and negative feedback. Also, there were guest speakers that were in leadership positions who came and shared there experiences with us and gave us advice on how to avoid some of the pitfalls they had fallen into. There was also a lot of food- not just pizza, but catered meals and outings to nice restaurants.

As a capstone experience, about 15 students in the group went to the Ohio Dental Association Leadership Institute in Columbus, where we got to sit with the leaders of dentistry and see them discuss the issues that are pertinent to the profession. Going down there helped me to realize that we don't have to just sit around and let others make decisions for us, but that through effective leadership we can bring about change for the better.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun- They are planning on doing the program again next year and I would highly reccomend it to those who have the opportunity to participate.

Every once in a while we are driving down the road and we see a tree in full bloom that just takes our breath away. Well, at the local cemetary (Lakeview- actually a historic cemetary) nearly every tree is of this type. They also plant tons of flowers in the spring time, and have an event known ad Daffodil Sunday. Here we are on this day- lots of beautiful trees and a hillside with over 100,000 daffodils. Spring time has definately come to Cleveland. It is so beautiful!

Smiles and Giggles

We've had a great week with a lot of activity. Unfortunately, Evelyn's week has not been so spectacular. She had a doctor's appointment yesterday and we found out that she has three different kinds of skin rashes, constipation, and a respiratory virus. Poor baby! It was also time for four different immunizations. She doesn't seem to let these things get her down though and is still all smiles and giggles between her coughing, sneezing, and straining. I guess she is the glass-half-full kind of person, and since this is the stage when personality starts showing we have high hopes that this laid back attitude is here to stay.


So, without any further ado, we'll get to the pictures:

This picture is to demonstrate the beautiful weather we've been having. We go on walks regularly, and they finally put the nets up at the tennis courts on our block. We even used some of our gift card money (from the baby shower) to buy a small, portable stroller which stays in the car, making it easier than ever to take Evelyn with us.

Here is the car we drove for the better part of this week because somebody backed into ours and it was in the shop getting fixed. We were grateful that they left their name and insurance information. Hooray for honest peopel! It was nice to get our own car back again- this car used as much gas in three days as our car does in a week and a half!

Let the grilling season begin! We are loving our little portable grill- we can take it anywhere, or we can have a good back-yard barbecue as seen in the picture.

On Saturday we went to the Geauga county maple festival after a pancake breakfast at IHOP. They had a parade and a fairgrounds with rides and booths. Here's Rachel eating some delicious apple dumplings with pure maple syrup. Yum!

About two months ago I had purchased a new (used) bike because the other one was stolen. Well, this week that new bike was stolen too- out of our garage. I guess I am learning the hard way that in Cleveland you either lock it or lose it. Let this be a warning to anyone who lives in the area. Anyway, it gave me a good excuse to get another new (used) bike- this time a Trek. We decided that the gas money we save by having me ride is worth the expense. It's a nice bike and I'm excited about it.

Of course we need to include pictures of Evelyn. I think these are the best we have this week. In the top one she is in the middle of one of her cute little squeals. She is growing so fast that it surprised the doctor- twelve and a half pounds now! She is a very happy baby, which makes for two very happy parents. She has quickly worked her way into our hearts and is the joy of our lives.

Our Spring Break

This week has been full of activity since it was my Spring Break. We decided that instead of doing something big (like a road trip) we would stick around and do a lot of little things close by. We figured that with summer just around the corner the big things could wait until it was a little warmer.

So, we started out the week by going to the Zoo on Monday. We saw a lot of animals (go figure), including polar bears, tigers, lions, and seals. Or favorites were the tigers and polar bears. The bears were very active and roaring at each other, and we got some good pictures, but unfortunately we lost our camera.

This was sort of a good thing, because we have needed a new camera for some time now, and losing our other one actually got us to go out and buy a much nicer camera. We found one that can take hours of high quality video besides still shots, which will make it that much easier to document our lives.

On Tuesday I did a pretty good job of convincing Rachel that our car had been stolen for April Fool's Day. It was made even better by the fact that our neighborhood is trying yo start up a neighborhood watch because of burglaries in the area.

This week we also went to Quail Hollow State Park and grilled hamburgers and went hiking. That night they had a bluegrass/country music gathering that was fun to go to. It was sort of like a big jam session for local musicians, and some of them were pretty talented. You could tell that they were having fun, and that in turn made it fun for everyone who was listening.

On Friday we went to the NASA museum here in Cleveland. We each got a turn trying to land a space ship. Rachel did great- she could be an astronaut. I, on the other hand, should never be allowed to go near a functional space craft. It was also cool to see some of the technological advances we can expect in the near future. Our favorite was the new airplane that can take off vertically without any propellers. The name of the plane is STOVL that stands for short take off vertical landing (the footage of the aircraft showed a vertical take off as well as a short take off). Here's a link to a video demonstrating this airplane (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIsIzjVi7j4). NASA is also working on airplanes that are practically silent. That will be a wonderful advance for people that live near airports. That afternoon we went to the Aurora outlets. Rachel and I really enjoy walking around the outlets and 'browsing.'

Rachel started to work again this week. She had two jobs and her calendar is filling up. She has a wonderful job that does not take a lot of time, but she loves doing. Her job allows her to get out and do something she really enjoys without taking a lot of time away from her favorite job... being a mom.

Here are pictures of the week:





Evelyn started giving us some real smiles this week. She has two different kinds- her Big Sesame Street Grin and her Imp Smile. Sometimes she will also give us a big "Ah-Goo" with her smiles. We where excited for this to happen, but I don't think either of us realized how much it could melt our hearts.

These were taken at the NASA museum. The top one is me standing next to a real space entry pod thing. On the bottom, we see Rachel as she skillfully lands a space shuttle on the moon.

Here we are at Quail Hollow. I look like I am in an advertisement for home-grilled hamburgers.

This is our first attempt at putting a video on here. Rachel took this of me and Evelyn while we were at Quail Hollow.

Spring Break is Here!

It has been a wonderful week. Evelyn is fitting in very nicely in our happy lives, and we are hoping that by the time she figures out that not all people are active and fun she is sufficiently ingrained so as to continue this sort of lifestyle.

Also, I realized the other day that Evelyn is introducing a whole new set of words into my vocabulary. These are words that I never thought I would use on a regular basis, but to my utmost dismay, I think that I am now. Some of the words I am talking about are as follows:

Cutie

Outfit

Onesie

Adorable

Sleepy Time

Poopy

Tummy Time

Anyway, I guess it is official that I am a dad now. Hopefully I don't get too weird.

On Saturday we went hiking at Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Spring has come to Cleveland and it is time to start getting outside again. We went to a waterfall, and to two separate lakes. Evelyn seems to like the little front carrier we have and we are hoping to do some extended overnight backpacking trips this summer. Also, we took her to her first movie at a theatre and she did great.

This next week is my spring break so we have a lot of fun activities planned. Hopefully we'll have a lot to write about next Sunday. For now, here are some pictures of this week.

Here's Evelyn in her "outside clothes." She looks pretty chubby because she has pajamas on underneath to stay warm. I think it's very stylish.

Here are some pictures of our day at Cuyahoga Valley.

Here she is in her "creamsicle outfit" that she went to church in this week.

We think she looks like a turtle when she burps.

Eva is a good baby!

So we're finally figuring out this whole baby thing and we are learning that it does not necessarily mean that our whole life style has to change. Admittedly, Eva is a very good baby who doesn't cause too much trouble, and we are able to do more or less the same sorts of things we did without her. It just takes a little more planning.

Since everyone who is reading this is much more interested in Eva than in us (we're just boring adults), I'll start this post talking about her. First of all, she is growing a lot! We had her one month check-up this week (has it already been a month?) and she is growing at twice the normal rate. This growth is not in fat either, since her weight is not too abnormal, but she is very long- like a worm.

Also, she seems to be satisfied that we are well trained in responding to her needs and she doesn't have to drill us so much any more. That must be why she has spread out her feedings to every 4 hours (instead of every two) and why she has started to sleep through the night. At first we were a little worried, being first time parents and all, that this was a bad omen. The doctor just told us to count our blessings though. Like I said, she is a very good baby.

Now about us. As we have been getting used to having a baby, we have spent a lot of time watching movies that we checked out from the library. Thankfully, we were also able to have some "us" time this week. Our friends, the Cowdens, approached us and offered to babysit for a night while we went out, and we had a nice dinner and were able to talk about things besides Evelyn (although she did wiggle her way into the conversation quite frequently). Also, we went out on a date yesterday and just brought her along. We went to Eggshelland and to the movie "The Great Debaters," and had fun at both.

Anyway, I realize that nobody likes reading long blogs and they just want pictures, so here are the goods...

Ev started drinking from a bottle this week. This means that now I can feed her, which I actually really enjoy. Also, it means that Rachel has some freedom because Eva can now be babysat. Because of this, Rachel will be able to return to work soon, which she is looking forward to.

Here's Eva in her Sunday best. She is starting to learn to just deal with the fact that we are going to take a lot of pictures.

This was taken after her bath. She hates taking baths- hence the look of terrified betrayal on her face.

Here she is in her swing. She is growing quite fond of this toy.

If anyone actually read the blog (instead of just browsing the pictures) then they are probably wondering what in the world Eggshelland is. Well, there is this older couple here in Cleveland who decorate their lawn with eggshells every Easter. They've been doing this for the last 50 years! They handpaint every egg, and then put them all together to make larger pictures. This would be a lot of work, considering the fact that the whole thing usually uses around fifty thousand eggs! The one this year (above) was limited to "just" 6,500 eggs, because of the snow due to an early Easter. Usually it looks more like the picture below, which was last year's display.

Pretty cool!

Progress

It has been a fun process learning how to breastfeed while covered up. With both sets of parents here for three weeks I had plenty of time to practice. I think these pictures effectively show my progress. I am pretty proud of the cover up in the second picture. My mom and I made it together while she was here. I love eyelet material but I have never had a reason to use it. The cover up is made out of yellow eyelet (flowers) fabric with purple edging.

The final picture is the first one of a series that I am taking with Evelyn. I decided to post this one on both blogs. The link to my pregnancy pictures will now have pictures of Evelyn that I will take monthly. This first picture was taken at two weeks (I have procrastinated putting it on here...) and the rest will be taken monthly starting tomorrow! Wow, she is already one month old!

There is another new post below if you haven't seen it yet.