Pilgrims at Oak Ridge

I'm not sure why we've never made it a priority to go, but Judah and I finally checked out the Children's museum in Greenville. It was excellent, and I'm sure we'll be heading back there soon. Here are a few of the highlights: The cars and crains were clearly going to be a big hit.      My favorite part might have been the giant light brite. I could have played with this one a while. Judah liked it, too.    Water table!!    Farmer Judah pushing the wheelbarrow.  Playing the marimbas   There were so many great exhibits we didn't even see them all.  I'm often somewhat hesitant to do things like this with a younger toddler, but I can definitely say that there were fun things for kids of lots of ages. We'll be back!

I'd pat myself on the back today in thinking about some of the very tasty items I made this week, but then I'd have to remind myself that tonight both Jeff and I ate cereal for dinner. Thankfully, I'm married to a man who appreciates the occasional cereal dinner and I didn't feel like cooking. But if you feel like cooking, here are a few of the tasty items I've made this week: Baked Pork chops . These have a homemade breadcrumb topping with garlic, herbs and cheese. I found some thick cut chops on clearance and they were awesome. Sort of like the old school shake-n-bake, but about 1000% better. Mushroom and herb macaroni and cheese . I do not make homemade mac and cheese often and I'm having a hard time remembering why. Now, I will admit this ain't my Grandma's macaroni. Those of you who knew her would remember her delicious, but very traditional southern macaroni and cheese. I have to say that I like this better. It made a huge pan that we ate wit...

The most bizarre or maybe interesting aspect of our overnight in Greenville had to do with John Locke. I was never really a fan of Lost, although I did borrow a friend's copy of season one and watch my way through most of it. That was about as far as I got. Jeff didn't like how intense it was, and I mostly just found it confusing. John Locke (known in real life as Terry O'Quinn ) was a major character on that TV show. When I was first checking into the hotel on friday night, I had to walk by a gentleman as he was getting out of his car. It took me a minute to recognize him, but then I realized who it was. Living in Greenwood, we don't really see celebrities very often ever, so it was a little bit exciting. Apparently there was a celebrity charity tournament in Greenville last weekend and he was there to play in it. We got checked in, then walked across the street to dinner. As we were lead to our table, we walked by a table and I again saw the same guy. I pointed h...

First up, at the playground. He could have cared less about the slide, but loved walking back and forth in the sand and tossing it into the air. And here is my son, sitting in the back of the car, on his potty. Wearing a bike helmet. For whatever reason, he has been wanting to wear my helmet a lot lately....

I did not, in fact, fall of the face of the earth this week. Although my lack of posting may have made it seem that way. Instead, I was working and then we were gone for the weekend. We're back now, but we had a great weekend. Friday night, my mom kept Judah and we had an awesome overnight date. Jeff got us a hotel room in the same hotel we stayed the first night of our honeymoon. It was delightful. We walked around downtown Greenville, had an amazing dinner at Soby's , and then a tasty cupcake dessert. Saturday morning I got to run around downtown Greenville and then we ate breakfast at the Farmer's market that was set up right outside the hotel. It was delightful. I was reminded that we need to do that more often. We have not been very good about regular date nights, but I realized (yet again) how thoroughly I enjoy my husband's company and how much I love talking to him. Being out by ourselves means much better conversation.

For the second time in his rather short life, I let Judah get locked in the car again today.  Last time, it was a rather odd fluke that occurred, but this time I was just foolish. I let my kid play in the car with the keys. I'm cringing even as I'm writing it. I had the back door open so he wouldn't get locked in, but then I shut it while not really thinking or checking to see if the doors were all locked. They were. Jeff went inside to find our other set while I tried to coach Judah into pushing up on the automatic lock button. Let me tell you, he can flat out push that button down. He doesn't quite get the concept of pushing it in the opposite direction. Although he tried really hard to do it. Jeff and I traded places after a few minutes but I wasn't able to find them either. I went back outside to see Jeff shouldering our big garden pick. I convinced him to one more quick round of searching. Judah had by this point started crying and was getting really, re...

It never ceases to amaze me how certain patients just will not do what their doctor tells them. For instance, I have a patient who is on thyroid replacement after she had a thyroid cancer removed. Well, I should sAy she is supposed to be on thyroid replacement. Several times when I try to check her levels the results indicate she isn't taking the med. I ask her if she is taking it and she says she is. I stress to her that she will feel much better if she takes it, that it is bad for her health when she skips. It doesn't seem to help. She has occasionally taken it, because her labs have come back normal a few times, but then it seems she just stops. Sigh. I had a similar situation in a much younger patient I saw this morning. She is only 22, and has been hospitalized 3 or 4 times because she has very irregular periods that are also so heavy that she bleeds enough to require transfusions. She also is hypothyroid, which makes your periods irregular and can make your blood clot...

I love being a mother. Today, though, I enjoyed mother's day by working an easy shift, coming home to a quiet house, and resting on the couch. Thanks to MY mother, I was actually child free today until after 7 when Jeff picked up our boy. I enjoyed having a brief break from feeding, pottying, and entertaining our recently more-clingy-than-normal 2 year old. I also enjoyed the irises and tulips a certain someone had delivered.....

I think we've had our first hiccup. Tuesday afternoon, after his nap, Judah suddenly didn't want to use the potty. Instead, he peed on me. He peed on Jeff. He peed on me again. Every time I'd sit him on his potty a few drops might come out but he'd cry and try to get up and do his little "I need to potty" wiggle. Combined with his recent clinginess, I was worried maybe he had gotten a bladder infection from trying to hold the pee too much. I called one of my colleagues and headed to the hospital. A big benefit of knowing so many doctors is that I sort of know how to work the system. I didn't want to go to the actual ER; I just wanted to check his urine. So our friend ordered the test and we were in and out in about a half hour. Thankfully, there was no UTI, but maybe signs of an irritated urethra. The only medicine we needed was ibuprofen. Wednesday was a little better. He didn't pee on me at all, anyway. Hopefully today will continue to improve. A...

I have found my new favorite dinner. Huevos Racheros . I was reading one of favorite food blogs the other day, Annie's Eats . I love this blog for numerous reasons, but the initial reason I started reading it was because she is a doctor. Like Me. And a mommy. Like me. And she likes to cook. Also like me. It seems like we have similar taste in food because every recipe she posts I think, "Man. I'd like that." This was no exception. Fried egg + homemade salsa + avocado + black beans. I actually made guacamole instead of serving sliced avocados because the avocados were super cheap at Aldi's the other day when I bought them. She also recommends using corn tortillas, but besides when I bought them fresh in Mexico, I find I always prefer flour. So underneath all the goodness that you see is a fried egg. Yum. As Jeff said, this recipe is going in the regular rotation.

I have been on this crazy smoothie kick lately. I'm not sure why, but I've frequently been replacing either breakfast or lunch with a smoothie. I feel like I've learned a lot about what makes a smoothie good. Here are my tips. 1. You need some kind of juice. Not a lot, necessarily, but if you don't use something juicy the smoothie will be too thick to drink through a straw. I often cut up a grapefruit and then squeeze all the juice out. 2. I don't like all my fruit frozen. I know some people will probably disagree, but I always microwave the frozen berries so they are not so hard and frozen. Again, this leads to a juicier drink. 3. Greek yogurt is a great addition. Aldi almost always has Fage 0% plain Greek yogurt right now, and I like to add maybe 2 T. to my fruit mixture. 4. Spinach! I'm serious. Spinach is so healthy and you really can't taste it at all. I almost always add about 1 c. That much spinach has about a quarter of your daily needs for f...

This is us, having fun at Lowe's. I realize this is not a tractor, but Judah calls it a "drac-der." About 30 seconds after this photo was taken, Judah had a little accident and wet his pants, part of the lawn mower, and the concrete. Thankfully we were outside. He pooped on the potty twice later that day, though, we're still calling it a successful day. I'm learning that even though I frequently ask Judah if he needs go, he almost always says no. He will most of the time tell me when he has to go, but if he's excited about something or playing or distracted he may not realize until it's too late. So if he hasn't peed in a while, I've learned that I have to make him sit on the potty even if he says he doesn't want to. I'm still pleasantly surprised at how the whole potty training thing has gone. I know it's not over and we still still be using diapers at night and during naps for while, but I'm glad I took a chance to see if it w...

A short video of Judah playing with Lucy....  

Like I've always said, when I don't have anything to do, I don't get anything done. I am enjoying these several weeks off work by playing with Judah and doing a good bit of yard work while it's not too hot outside.  If anyone has been to our house or seen a pic of our house from the front, you may have noticed the ENORMOUS shrubs/trees that completely block off our porch. You can see them in the background of this pic of Judah. Anyway, not that we are anywhere near moving, but I know that those bushes are definitely an eyesore and making the curb appeal of our house much lower. I finally got fed up and decided to do something about it. First, I thought that I'd try to prune them. So I basically cut off all the branches. By the time they were back to a reasonable size, they looked awful and naked, and still were not helping our curb appeal. Today, I decided that we'd be best served by digging them up and planting some new stuff. After breaking a shovel wi...