Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

1. We have continued with our potty training. It's going surprisingly well. I'm sure we'll hit some hiccups, but he put both pee and poo in the potty today without prompting from daddy, and I was at work. I think tomorrow I may try him in underwear and leave the house. 2. I am currently in the middle of an accidental experiment to see if I'm still allergic to poison ivy. The answer is yes, yes, a thousand times yes. 3. I was trying to suck it up and just use OTC hydrocortisone, but being miserable I decided to try some steroid pills. I had my first dose yesterday, spent all day feeling crappy, and then spent all night rolling over and staring at the clock as the hours between getting into bed and needing to get up to leave for work (out of the house by 6) slowly wasted away. I opted to skip today's dose. Maybe tomorrow I'll be up for it. 4. Job hunts suck. It has been a long journey and it feels like we're not getting any closer. I am trying not to get...

Not that anyone cares.... Our day started out, shall we say, less than stellar. Judah usually only has one, ahem, dirty diaper/day, and we started potty training yesterday after he'd already had it. Apparently in all my stressing to him that "pee goes in the potty" he didn't quite understand that other things should go in the potty as well. So we had a little accident after breakfast where the poo didn't make it to the potty. What fell on the floor was then promptly eaten by the dog. Who is now no longer allowed to lick me. I had an errand I had to run this morning and Jeff was at a meeting, so I tried to put Judah in underwear and bring him even though I was pretty sure that wouldn't work well. We weren't even loaded into the car before he had an accident, which was really frustrating for me because I'd been trying to get him to pee before getting him dressed to no avail. After our errand, it was back to naked time and we had several successful...

We are 90% finished with day one of potty training. I took my SIL's advice and went with the "don't go anywhere and stay naked all day" approach. It went about as well as I could expect. We had lots of small leaks on the floor, but they were all stopped and finished on the potty. Just before dinner, he even came up to me, said "pee" and then got on the potty and peed. He can stop going when he realizes he is starting in the wrong place, but he can't always figure out how to start back up once sitting on the potty. I still used a diaper during nap and will use one overnight, at least until I run out of the ones I have, then maybe we'll switch to pull ups. Tomorrow will be more of the same. Thankfully, I'm not working until Friday, so we have a few days to get it right. Any favorite tips out there?

I decided to carefully venture into dying easter eggs with Judah this year. Several moms with kiddos similar in age to Judah actually did this last year, but I couldn't foresee it going well last year so I waited. He did have a good time, though, and dropped eggs into dye cups with a LOT of gusto. Maybe a little too much. I didn't do anything complicated or crafty - just plain eggs in plain ole' egg dying cups. But we both enjoyed it. Maybe next year I can try something a little fancier - rubber bands? string? leaves? We'll see.

I realize I already did a post about when we I picked strawberries, but I wanted to show some cute photos. Of course I felt compelled to dress Judah in his overalls, which are both appropriate for the activity and adorable. I'm pretty sure the only "picking" Judah did was to pick strawberries out of my basket and put them in his mouth. He seemed to enjoy the activity for about 15 or 20 minutes and was then ready to go. Maybe next year he'll enjoy it a little more.....

I have a great husband. Have I mentioned that before? And being with him during this extended time of waiting for job has made me love him even more. This spring, even though he isn't the pastor of our little church, he has really been putting a lot of himself into everything. I know I mentioned a few months ago about how he was elected a ruling elder. He has continued to teach both a Sunday night men's discipleship group and a wednesday night study on Judges open to the whole congregation. Because we lost our pulpit supply, he's also been having to fill in a little more lately. AND he's also been doing a lot of thinking and planning about how to make our church more inviting to visitors. He redesigned our bulletin, making one that is very clean and modern looking. I never knew he had such design skills. He's also planning a new church website; we'll be the first church in Cross Hill to have one. I love how dilligently he's continued serving God right whe...

Cuteness. Cuteness overload.

If you let Aubrey pick fresh strawberries, she will pick too many. When she picks too many, she will decide to make jam so they don't go to waste. After she makes the jam, she will suddenly get hungry for something delicious to put her jam on. Because she is hungry for something to put her jam on, she will look at bread recipes. When she looks at bread recipes, she won't be able to pick just one recipe. She will pick two. When she picks two recipes, she will make two different types of bread. After she makes two types of bread, she will realize the kitchen is a disaster. When she realizes the kitchen is a disaster, she will also remember that she has to cook dinner. So she will cook dinner, clean the kitchen, and then enjoy her jam on two different types of bread. Because she baked, cooked, cleaned, and ate (while caring for her two-year-old), she will put him to bed and collapse in exhaustion on the couch.

The first several years we lived in our house, our yard was sort of neglected. Now Jeff was very diligent about mowing and edging, but we didn't do much else. Finally last summer we realized that if we were going to move sometime soon, we needed to make it look more presentable. First we added some flower beds along both sides of our house and planted some things . Honestly, I actually thought everything we planted died over the winter because it all looked awful. There were four hydrangea bushes, four rose bushes and a rose of sharon. This spring, I was pleasantly surprised when everything started to grow. (Except for one rose bush, but we bought it as a root ball for less than $2, so I can't really complain.) I feel like we are finally starting to make progress. The yard itself was another story, though. It was green, yes, but full of tons and tons of dandelions and other weeds. I'd look at other yards, full of pristine grass and wonder how they got to look so nice. App...

Just before I shot this video, Judah spent 10 or 15 minutes making adorable "vroom" noises and pushing his truck around. He also said "Beep Beep" when it backed up. Of course as soon as I got out the camera, he basically stopped. But I managed to catch one cute little "vroom" before he was distracted away to something else.

I feel like I was a little late to the instagram bandwagon. But I do enjoy the square photos and fun vintage filters. And it is sort of like blogging, only much shorter and visual. Given my love for pinterest, it's no surprise that I enjoy such a visual endeavor. A few recent favorites.

I had a long discussion with a patient yesterday about how he needed to stop drinking alcohol. This was not a general, the-5-beers-you-drink-daily-are-bad-for-you kind of discussion. It was a specific, you-have-permanent-liver-disease-and-could-bleed-to-death-from-your- esophageal-varices conversation. He has been drinking too much alcohol for a long time, and it has sadly caught up with him. He has abnormal liver function tests. His body cannot make enough platelets because of the toxic effects of liver on his bone marrow. Then we discovered the dilated esophageal veins that could rupture and make him bleed to death. The minute I began talking with him about how much he was drinking on the night I admitted him, he completely shut down. But when I really tried to have a heart to heart about what was going on the next day, he got very upset. "What kind of life is that? That's a terrible way to live!" He told me. I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?...

A few photo highlights. I was thankful that I could make our sunrise service, go to work and see all my patients (only 10!!) and still be finished in time to eat some lunch with friends. Tie is homemade courtesy of this tutorial .

I "hid" some Easter eggs filled with goldfish and animal crackers during Judah's nap the other day. Since I'm working this weekend, we can't do a hunt on Saturday (at least I can't do one, and I knew I wanted to be there for his first one). He loved picking up the eggs, putting them in his basket, and then eating the snack. A new tradition is born! I bet he gets even more excited one day when I put a little candy in each egg.

A few more photo highlights. Although part of me wanted to plan a big birthday bash with lots of elaborate decorations, games, and craftiness, I had decided last year that a small family party would be enough for this year. Then when I decided to do the bridge run, I knew I couldn't do anything complicated. I did sort of have a train theme to our party, since I told both sets of grandparents that he would enjoy some wooden train sets and I knew that we were also getting him some train-related items. I re-used the buntings I made last year and got some balloons. I was actually completely worn out after the race, so Elise did most of the decorating. She could have a second career doing party planning if she ever wanted.    Judah really got into the whole unwrapping of presents this time around.  The trains were, as expected, immediately a big hit. They have continued to be a big hit since getting home. With everyone in the house. Some of Jeff's cousins who had ne...

Another Judah vocabulary update. "ips" = chips "emmyem" = M&Ms "Au-en" = uncle Austin "We-Wese" = Aunt Elise (This is totally my favorite. I'm going to call Elise this from now on.) "nen-it" = open it "ju-ju" = choo-choo "pain" = plane "meatmeal" = oatmeal "mapmen" = napkin "yesss" = yes, said in response to my saying "yes" back to him after he said "mama" about 12 times in a row "what" = what - as above. Sometimes when he says my name over and over I'll say "what" to him and then he'll say it back to me. It's a fun game.

I got a text right in the middle of church yesterday from one of my partners. It seems that a fairly unhealthy patient that I had admitted last week and cared for for a few days had been discharged home and then a day or two later had actually committed suicide and died. I tried to remember him; I care for so many patients each week it's hard to remember everyone. But I do remember him - a nice enough guy with a bad heart who came to our ER straight from being discharged from another hospital about an hour away. I suspect that I asked him about being depressed lately. It's a question that is nearly always part of the quick review of systems that I do when I'm admitting patients. What did he say, I wonder? Did I start any medicines for depression? I don't remember that. Maybe next week when i'm working again I can look up what I wrote in my admission note. Suicide is such a tragedy. I remember this man's daughter who was with him in the hospital. She seemed gr...

Thursday evening and Friday ended up being a bit of a mini vacation for me. I've decided that even if I don't have exciting plans, just being away from home can be a treat. There is no laundry to do. I do not feel guilty sitting on the couch because there are no crafty projects calling to me from the sewing room or dirty dishes I feel the need to put away. Thursday, I put Judah to bed a bit early since he had a very bad nap in the car. Austin and Elise had Bible study, so I had the whole house to myself. I ate some delicious pasta salad while I watched the movie True Grit. Speaking of True Grit - have you seen this movie?? I didn't think I was a big fan of westerns, and when I saw the previews for this it didn't catch my attention. Then I read several good reviews, including a review from World Magazine. Jeff and I never seem to make it to the theater, so I missed my chance. But this movie is incredible. The fast talking, precocious main character is well written and ...