The first thing Olivia does now when she wakes up is blow me a kiss. She puts her lips together, smacks them apart, and then smiles and looks pleased with herself. She started this a couple of weeks ago with my mom and step-dad and we have, of course, asked her to do it a million times since. This sounds silly, but the first time I saw her do it, it just amazed me. She's learning. I taught her something. How smart this child is!

This only begins to touch on how blown away I am by her new Patty Cake skills!

-p.

Some days, the fact that I am working full-time while my mom cares for Olivia is tolerable. I like my job. I like the people I work with. I realize that this is necessary right now and I don't have to worry about Olivia while I am away. But some nights, as I try to get her to sleep, I tally up the amount of time that I spent with her that day and it breaks my heart. Yesterday, I spent about 35 minutes with her...20 or so after she woke up and before I went to work and 15 after I got home and before she fell asleep. But I feel guilty for being angry about not spending time with her, when Marc really doesn't get to spend time with her. Sad.

-p.

What is a cur? A cur is a mongrel, from the old Norse word kurra which means to grumble. A mountain cur is a mixed breed dog indigenous to the Southern mountains. For all your cur questions see this website: http://omcba.homestead.com/ . This is Moose; he's an original Mountain Cur.

-m.

...and now an update on the crawling. No, I'm just kidding. It hasn't happened yet. But she did puke for the first time yesterday. And that's a milestone of sorts, I guess. Apparently, corn doesn't agree with her. She seemed to take the episode in stride, though. I don't even think she really noticed that she had done it. Twice.

-p.

The only "free" time that I have to do anything other than play with blocks is at work. So here I am at work....writing about Olivia. She is so close to crawling. Everytime I sit her down, I expect her to just take off. She rocks back and forth, lifts her little bum up, leans way over her crossed legs. She just can't quite tie all the necessary movements together yet. When she does go over onto her belly, she immediately flips to her back, lifts her head and feet up like a turtle on its shell, and cries to be helped back into a seated postion. Repeat. Any day now though, she's going to get her little legs under her, push off, and she'll be gone. Heaven help us then.

-p.

Monday and I'm off, which means 4 more days till friday, 91 days until I move.
Here's a picture from early January. I love the way she sits with her feet crossed. If those cheeks were any bigger I don't think she would be able to see.
I'm 2 weeks deep into my Internal Medicine rotation. My preceptor is super chill. Lets me do everything. Next week I'll be doing the admissions for the detox floor.
I told Paige to post some words on our blog, but she has her hands full with Olivia and bringing home the bacon.
I worked a Blood Drive on Sunday in the Rockaways. They had the best idea for gift after donating blood - a coupon for a pint of beer. I forgot to mention that we were at a Catholic church in a Irish neighborhood.

cheers,

marc 

Olivia Wilder.
It sucks that I live 900 miles away from her. I'm moving back to Chattanooga in April to finish my pediatrics and elective rotations. 97 days to go. The move will take place a week before her 1st birthday. Hopefully, Paige and Olivia are planning to visit Moose and me in February.

Is this thing on?