The Rowletts in Richmond!

Baby Jake

2012-01-04T19:19:00.001-08:00

Jacob Matthew Rowlett

Born Dec 26 2011 1:45 pm
Weight: 6 lb 2 oz
Length: 18 inches

Dropped to 5 lb 1 oz

Is now 5 lb 8 oz and feeding well!

You can see the thrush in his mouth here - poor little guy.

So maybe he just needs to air it out some.

First time roller skating!

2011-04-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

It was skating night today for Abby's school. I wish I had brought a camera! She did great! She fell maybe 5 times. Every time she fell she got right back up again. I'm so proud of my persistent attitude and she just got better and better. Best night ever, with Abs.

Love Abby more and more.
Jodi

Things continue to move.

2011-03-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy (like always). But I'm looking forward to Spring/Summer. I think a change of season is just what's in order. Busy, Busy.

The Race

2010-12-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

I'm finished. Undergrad done. Grad school to go!
Robby's doing great.
Abby's loving well everything.

Amy

2010-05-05T15:31:00.001-07:00

Abby has a pink elephant she has had since birth.
She was looking for it today and this is what she said.
"I'm looking for my Amy." "She gets funny after school."
"Momma, you know what?" No, Abby what?
"She's a really good hider."

More like Abby's a good mis-placer:)

Cranial Split.

2010-04-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Third year med is coming and so is great change. I know some great amount will be different. This is the first time in our lives that I'm just not sure. I feel pressure like never before. I know what needs to be done...it just doesn't add up yet. This is the first time that my solutions are not feeling good. I don't know why I'm posting this. I have 5 assignments to do today and none completed. I have things on my mind bigger then Meta- Analysis for an EBP class and I'm wondering if God's out enjoying the weather. I need answers. Soon. July is coming.

Nags Head. The best time we've ever had!

2010-04-06T20:44:00.001-07:00

We had the best vacation ever back in March. We went to Nags Head, NC with friends from Medical, Dental, and other Professional programs. When I say it was the best vacation I mean it was wonderful. It was an eight room house with 7 families and loads of fun.
Every day something was planned. So, if your family wanted to do something or nothing you could. There were kids for Abby to play with and she played and played. It was to cold to swim but there was a hot tub and boy was it great! There wasn’t a family we didn’t enjoy time with. I’m ever so thankful for the time we spent with those couples. I know my family will never forget it. Robby and I continue to look at the pictures and smile.
With second year med almost gone and third year looming this vacation was the highlight for us all and we knew it. Two years down and two to go!

Good Day

2010-01-05T11:12:00.000-08:00

Abby's day today was all about taste!

Whole Wheat waffles for breakfast with bananas and blueberries. Needless to say they didn't even make it to the table. Abby just slides her chair up and we ate them at the counter. (With a side lesson on where wheat comes from!)
Guacamole made from everything yummy...well it turned out to be lunch. Complete with pita bread chips. (With a side lesson on Mexico!)
Tonight, Italian chicken, zucchini soup from last night.

Everythings Else December!

2009-12-26T15:58:00.000-08:00

Wow. This has been a crazy semester. Glad it's over. Robby did well in all 6 of his classes this semester. Abby has been enjoying school. Abby ever sent she turned 4 will tell you that she's going to be 5 soon (May 29) and going to kindergarten! Yikes! I finished up the semester with my 9 credits with A's. Working full time still too.
We were glad for Christmas this year. The break was very much needed. This upcoming year will continue the pace. I'll be taking 12 credits. Robby will be taking well class after class after class and then this summer 2nd year Med School Boards! Abby will start formal school in the fall. 2010 will be another big year for us. I'm beginning to think every year will be highly scheduled and amazing. Abby, is just so beautiful and smart. Her creativity amazes me. I love to watch her draw and color and cut and paste. She loves so many beautiful things. I'm so thankful she's with us... I'm so thankful she's with me when Robby is away. I have been blessed with the company of an angel. How different things will be in the Fall when she's in school 5 days a week.
Weird, this posting went somewhere I didn't expect it to.
Christmas, was beautiful. Abby believed, believed, believed. Her ability to believe in magic is a feeling that on Christmas morning bursts the seems of our front room. She comes down the stairs and excited beyond all measure. From the stairs she can see Santa's footprints in magic snow leading to the Christmas tree. Then, this year it was everything Barbie. She didn't ask for much: Barbie house, Barbie phone, pink playdough, Barbie bed, Barbie clothes. This we neat except for the fact that Abby didn't even have a Barbie. We prompted her to think about maybe asking for a Barbie for starts. She said "Maybe, that's a good idea."
So here it is.

Christmas!

2009-12-26T15:49:00.001-08:00

Santa came and went and...KITCHENAID!!!!!

Yes, KitchenAid need I say more...

No Tricks All TREATS!

2009-11-02T05:16:00.000-08:00

Halloween was the best this year. My brother Ryan his wife Devan and two girls came down. My brother Dan and Amanda came with us. My neighbor's with Abby's best neighborhood friend Andrew rounded out the crew.
We went to Hanover Street. Saying it and being there are two different things. We went last year and it was amazing! Every house is styled with a theme. It's just amazing.
And this year was extra fun by being "Treated" with family to share it with.

Of course there's pictures. Abby was Little Red Riding Hood. I was the Grandmother. I was crazy enough to sew the costumes when I don't sew. Robby was great and dressed up as the wolf. So, much fun. People on the whole loved it...kids actually were scared of Robby's wolf get up. To funny. Priceless fun and sooo much time preparing for it. I'm always sad when Halloween is over. It's my favorite.
Enjoy the Pictures we loved everyone that was there and always enjoy this Holiday!

Oh, yeah the video was funny because on the street there's a old church and they had all dressed like nuns and music was playing. The song YMCA was playing and forget the candy Abby thought to just stop and dance on the steps! Priceless.

We're Okay and Still have time for Dinner!

2009-09-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Wow, second year is busier then last year. The last two weeks better then the ones before I must say. We have now "adjusted" to more in the mix with everybody doing more. Unbelievable.
Abby's arm is better! Woo Who! She's out riding her new princess bike! Abby's doing so well even with all the scheduling.
We had a first the other night. 5 other couples/families with and without kids all different amazing people from the townhouses we live in went out to dinner last night. It was so wonderful. This goofy mix(goofy us being in it) was amazing. I wish I'd taken a picture of the 10+ two kids of us that showed. This amazing neighbors are now keeping us from renting houses we see. I am now in a place with "a family of support." Yes, we looked at a beautiful house yesterday to rent within our budget. Not to mention it was two streets over. No, I think we're here as long as our neighbors (family)are. Things are crazy but good.

New gear...

2009-08-24T19:14:00.000-07:00

Just when we didn't think this will oiled machine didn't have a faster speed. I found it ladies and gentlemen and the smoke on the wheels is there. Is Christmas coming or what:) Yikes! Second year medical school, 4 year old daughter, full time work as a nurse and me taking 9 credits toward my BSN. Either way...I'm going to do this! It's not going to be easy and sleep has always been over rated in this house. If single mom's can do it...so can and will I. I'm doing this. We're doing this.

2009-08-06T15:57:00.000-07:00

These are too big to email, so we're posting it here for Nona and Doodah to see

Please don't judge me

2009-07-28T17:42:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I feel like the worst father in the world. Last night, Jodi was working a night shift. Turned out to be a bad night for her, as you can see in the previous post. Unfortunately, it was a bad night for Abby, too. She fell out of bed around 4 or 5, and was obviously quite upset and hurt. She's fallen out of bed once or twice over the past year, but has never been seriously hurt. I gave her some motrin, and she calmed down and went back to sleep. This morning, she complained that her shoulder was hurting, but was able to get her shirt on and move her arm around without complaining, so I didn't think much of it, dropped her off at daycare, and went to school.
The room I now meet in is in the belly of a building where cell phone waves struggle to penetrate - over half of the cell phones in the class cannot get reception. As I only have a cheap pay as you go virgin mobile deal, there was obviously no way of contacting me. When class was over at noon, i checked the messages and had a few from Jodi. She was quite upset, said that daycare had called about Abby, and she needed to take her in for xrays because something was really wrong. I tried calling home, but nobody was there. Llong story short, I caught a ride with my friend to our doctor's office, who had gotten an xray for Abby. The result:

a broken clavicle.
Here I am, a 2nd year med student, giving my kid some motrin and sending her off to school with a broken bone. I feel completely terrible about it. What a great dad. So now Abby is in a little thing called a figure of eight splint to help it to heal, which it will completely within a couple of weeks. She is being so brave about it, only whimpering every now and then if she stretches it too much. Needless to say, we went out and bought a little railing for the bed so this won't happen again. Poor thing.

So classes started back up with a vengeance and we're going full steam ahead. Wish us luck with the coming semester. In the meantime, here are some pics from the summer that never got out there. Love you all!!

Woman's FLoor

2009-07-28T05:49:00.000-07:00

Floated to a Woman's Floor last night...never liked woman's care in school.

7-28-09 at 11:30 upon arrival to the unit I remember why!

Second YEAR MED!

2009-07-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

Well here we are. Back to it's a MAD MAD MAD world. School is in full swing for Robby. I've been working nights. Abby is doing fantastic. I start classes 22 August. AHHHH. I keep telling myself if it gets to bad Abby and I are off to Hawaii. JUST KIDDING. But doesn't it sound nice? *Sigh* SOOO, for family and friends email us if you really want us to get back to you. No, we don't have cell phones and we aren't home for the phone there. I'm hoping to catch up with the world around Christmas. If that's not possible this time next year?? WOW! Hope everybody is doing well and things are positive!
And wish us success this year is going to be a big one!

Cherry Pits 101... Call Somebody?

2009-07-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

Cherries are in season and we have some in the fridge. So, me being lazy told Abby she could just go get one.
Then here she comes running into the living room and states " I swallowed the big seed! Call somebody!" Then she starts sobbing. Great. I start into all the typical "You're fine. You didn't choke. It's going to be okay!" "Mama call somebody." "Abby like who? A doctor? You're fine you don't need a doctor." "No, like..like Uncle Dan." "Oh, like Uncle Dan."
So there you have it. For personal drama there's Dear Abby. Spiritual Drama Pray. Everyday 4 year old crisis...Uncle Dan on speed dial. (Priceless until finding out he's telling her to expect a cherry tree to grow shortly, hmm? Though his advice made her stop crying and laugh:)

Almost there! But not quite....

2009-05-27T04:50:00.000-07:00

Almost there! We are so close to finishing this semester. I can't wait to have my husband back and "regroup" a little. It will be so cool to start into the second year and be halfway done with Medical school. I'm excited to have Abby turn 4 years old! she's been excited for the past week to bring cupcakes into her class that we'll make with pink icing. I'm really excited for next week getting away to the beach as a family. Just to unwind.
This past weekend was amazing. My extraordinary sister-in-law "Devan" graduated from law school. I had to be there. This woman and accomplishment was more important to me then she'll ever know. She did this at first while working (I think what at least seemed full-time) for the first two years. She was married with a spouse going to school full-time for the first two years that also worked full-time. She published on multiple law journals during school. Then in the middle their family was blessed with Zoe and Syd (Twin girls). Oh, and they have a cat and a dog and moved 4 times during all of this.
I always knew even if I had to sneak in that I would have to be at this graduation if they survived. Really it was for two reasons. First, how proud I am of Ryan and Devan. Second thanks so much for showing me that it can be done. I needed to see this. I needed to see what surviving professional school looked like and you guys looked beat up! But in the end someone does tell you you're finished. Thanks so much for letting us be apart of your hard work. Love you guys!

Well and to all those who don't know I got in at VCU and will start in the fall. So, Robby will be in full-time medical school second year, Abby 4 years old pre-school 3 days to 2 days a week, and I will be full time mom, full-time work and 9 credit hours per semester toward my BSN. So, we thought we had no time before so we have no time on no time and I think I'm going to try maybe no sleep for two years or so. Our time is going to be golden.

Sorry so long inbetween posts. We are as busy as we can humanly make ourselves. We hope all is well with everyone.

Snow and rain

2009-03-15T17:35:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to put this up to get a few pics out to everyone. It snowed two weeks ago, and we got a nice 6 inches here! Unheard of in this area. So we went out while it was snowing and built some snowmen. Abby loved it.

They canceled school for us the next day, as well as the test and pushed it back to Friday, the same day as another test. It made things a little more stressful, but worked out okay in the end. Then, not even a week after 6 inches of snow, we had a beautiful weekend with 70-80 degree weather. Weird, but we took it and went to a local park with trails and some animals (Maymont Park). We all had such a great time, even though my white skin burned.

Abby took this picture

She wanted to feed this dandelion to the goat, but it didn't want to eat it after she tossed it in.

And this duck kept kicking the turtles back into the water. Jerk.

This deer came right up to the fence and was taking grass from the kids' hands. Abby said that he was such a "cute little guy."

Overall, it was a ton of fun. And free.
So the other week at school they had a little poker walk, where you go to 5 different buildings and pick up cards, then turn them in to try and win an iPod. I figured, what the heck? I have a test in an hour, but this will only take about 15 minutes. Unfortunately for the student group, it was a day of many tests. Not many people wanted to take the time. But that was good news to me - because I won. A nice 8BG orange iPod. The cool thing is, the iPod that I had was about 5 years old, and I had won it in a contest at work, and it was starting to die. We had been talking about maybe getting me another one but didn't want to spend the money. Good thing, because I git one for 15 minutes of my time. Plus, I still did well on my tests. It was a good day.
Mary and Tim came down last week, which was totally cool. Abby and I spent a few hours with them at Panera and the DMV. Abby had so much fun, and was pretty upset when they left. Mary got a video or two of her - maybe she'll share them. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so no pics here.
So now we've been having rain for the past 3 or so days. Nasty weather, but hopefully it clears up soon - we're ready for Spring.

Abby is funny sometimes

2009-02-25T16:55:00.000-08:00

Oh yeah, I forgot to put this in:
So we were talking about my tooth, and Jodi was saying ways they could maybe fix it. She said they might be able to do a cap, but they might have to give me a flipper. What the heck is a flipper? I didn't have any idea. I only knew that flipper is a dolphin. I let her know that my tooth was broken and I had no need for a dolphin. Abby looked at me with a quizzical look and asked in all seriousness, "daddy, why don't you want a dolphin to break your teeth?"
She makes us laugh pretty good sometimes.

Going to the Dentist = GREAT IDEA

2009-02-23T16:48:00.000-08:00

So the past week or two has been pretty intense. I had a fun round of exams which kept me pretty busy. Meaning that even with Laura out visiting, and her, Elijah, Jenny, Lizzie and mom coming down to Richmond, I was busy hitting the books. And it's a good thing that I did. I needed as much info in my head as possible, seeing that the average on this round was the lowest so far because the material was so dense and crazy. But now it's over and we're on to a new wave of stuff.
The family visit was apparently a lot of fun. So much fun, that Abby was crying when they all left. Now she is always talking about Lizzie and "Baby Elijah" and saying how they are coming over tomorrow.

On Saturday, Abby went to get her first real haircut. Jodi has trimmed her hair once or twice (emphisis on trimmed) but her hair was getting a bit ratty at the end. So we went to a place that specialized in kid's haircuts just because we didn't know how she would react. She was a bit timid in the beginning, but it went quick and she was great the whole time.

And she loved the results.
So now I ask: How did Jodi get so unlucky with me? I had an echocardiogram last week, and we thought the results were fine (based on the preliminary things we saw with it). However, my cardiologist pulled her aside at work and let her know he really needed to talk to me. So apparently, the pressure gradient across my replaced valve has doubled in the past year and the velocity of the blood flow has increased. Which basically means that the valve is thickening up and might not be working so great. So I'm going to need an esophageal echo, which is where they sedate me and stick a tube down my throat to take pictures of my heart from the inside. Not much fun, I'm thinking.
Then last night I was flossing and a decent sized chunk came flicking off one of my teeth. I started screaming. What in the crap?!?! Teeth don't just do that. I freaked. Jodi kind of freaked. Why are my teeth rotting out of my head? I've never even had a cavity!! Needless to say, I found a dentist that could see me today, avoinding eating anything even remotely hard. Luckily, we've got a great mashed potatoes recipe. So I told the dentist what was going on, he took a quick look and quickly relieved my worries. It was tartar. Huh? Okay, that's good, but kind of gross and scary. I thought I took better care of my teeth than that! So visits to the dentist will be more of a regular thing for me (my last one was more than three years ago - sorry mom!) Jodi is no longer freaked and is relishing the hard time she can give me for it. I was so worried - the money it would have cost us to fix a broken tooth, the time, the problems. I was cursing Mountain Dew, sure that it was the cause. Luckily, I have kicked that habit. I think I'll just avoid sodas for a while.
Here's an Abby serious look to leave you all:

Valentine's Day Is Coming!

2009-02-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

Okay how Cute is this? Since Abby is in Pre-school/ Day Care she has the cutest opportunity to make homemade Valentines this year! Here they are! (Yes, I had as much or more fun but so cute for a three year old and she loved the chocolates!).

(Grrr, I can't get that picture to rotate.)
Any ways, things are going well. We continue to be as busy as everybody else in the human "race." We are shocked to think that our first year of medical school is almost finished. Robby is "enjoying" it. We continue to fill our empty heads. Richmond is still awesome and we love living here. Hope all is well with everyone!

A ROWLETT CHRISTMAS

2008-12-31T06:07:00.000-08:00

Christmas.

Well Christmas was crazy again this year. Unfortunately I had to work (something I will never do again). But for the 22-24 I had off. I had just come from working 4 14 hour days in a row with Robby just finishing up classes on the 17th and shadowing a surgeon on the 18th. So 22-24 was golden time running through an hour glass. We were so blessed to see both sided of our families during our visit. I was able to see my brother's Dan and Matt after our trip up to the temple (which was beautiful).

Yes, It was freezing but so worth it! Then we stayed with my brothers and Matt is studying to be a chef and boy did we get treated! Lamb for dinner with glazed carrots, and seasoned potatoes. Amazing! I'm so proud of Matt. Working full time and school is one of the hardest things I've ever done!
Then it was back to Manassas with the Rowlett Crew.
Doesn't this pic look good?

Abby had such a great time with her cousins. Abby loved everything Christmas there.

It was cute to see all the girls together playing. They read books, played games, they played dress up, they were princessed, Tanner lemming, singers, mother definers, I don't believer in sleepers, (my daughter) I want to establish the bottom step as time outer :)
Yes, They were all of these things on our valuable time off.

I really do appreciate Julie's love this year in making it my BEST birthday in a very long time. She made an awesome cake that was amazing. If I ever want a cake again I know who to call. And to I'm sure all the girls who bought flowers and my gifts that was a huge surprise and amazing! Thanks heaps and mounds what an amazing treat.
Julie this picture is just for you - Abby opened the energy saver plugs you got us and this was Abby's reaction...umm, we'll drop her lower cases and advanced colors this year and start her on windmills and global warming Julie:) That face just says it all.

Jenny worked hard the entire time to make sure things went well and the house had food. Mary/Tim are an awesome team and were so cool
for looking after Abby for a much needed break while we ran out. Congrats on your engagement!

SORRY THIS IS THE ONLY PIC I HAVE OF JUST YOU BOTH. You both did just finish a whole day of watching millions of sugar high kids...oh yeah tired!

Laura and Tony are an amazing couple who honored Robby and I (and the rest of the fam) to be apart of the blessing of Elijah. What a gentle soul. He wanted to cry during the blessing but he settled and it went beautifully. Thanks guys. And without Amber I think the Rowlett's on the Monday we got there would still be trying to figure out "What's for lunch?" You really are an amazing sister in law. Thanks for everything and Abby loves the tea set. She's been trying to force feed us water for DAYS.

Abby is always happy to see Grandma Deb Deb. She went to the ER last night with her first ear infection EVER and cried for Grandma Deb Deb because Robby called her for help last night. Too cute right??? And so is this picture!
Any ways Merry Christmas everybody and thanks for a great time!

Well our Christmas at home on the 26 into the 27 was great. We made cookies for Santa the night before.

Put carrots out for the reindeer and Santa even left footprints of magical snow!

Abby wanted a doll, little black dog and a diamond...yes my friends a diamond. Yes, she did receive all. She dug through the presents finding "the one" proudly stating "Oh this is it!"

"Santa brought it" She opened it. "My, My DIAMOND!" Yes a big plastic buck fifty diamond from Michaels. Priceless. When she puts it in her purse it could be a weapon.
All in all it was great and I'm in love was our time off together. So I'm off to enjoy NEW YEAR'S.
Happy New Year's Everybody!

Pics

2008-12-11T16:06:00.000-08:00

Sorry that nothing has been posted in a while...things have been really nuts here obviously. So here's a few pics until we have more time.

We went downtown to a "grand illumination" where they lit up a whole bunch of stuff. It was really cold, but Abby loved the deer.

This really cool family was taking pictures at the same time as us, and we offered to toake theirs and they took ours. For the picture, the daughter let Abby wear these antlers that would light up when you pressed a button. When we tried to give them back, she wouldn't take them and let Abby keep them. I love the Christmas spirit.
We got ourselves a tree and decorates it last weekend. Abby had a blast doing it, and didn't break any ornaments.

Abby hanging her stocking.

So my wife is totally awesome at her job. They can write thank you notes to other employees and have them delivered with a candy bar. The last time they came around, this is how many she got:

I am so proud of her.

Also, she has become a slayer of cave crickets. Or spider crickets. Or whatever you want call these things:

They show up in our place from time to time, and if I'm not around to take them out, she does.

Finals have arrived. Must go study something.

Videos!!

2008-11-10T16:54:00.000-08:00

So we can now do videos. We haven't been able to since we got here due to the incompatibility of Vista and our video camera and my ineptitude at figuring out how to make it work. But now...videos can be done.
This is Abby singing the Bumblebee song.
We're still working on it.

This is her singing some random song that she made up on the spot about butterflies.

HALLOWEEN!

2008-11-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Okay, So we haven't posted in forever...so here's October in a nutshell.
We went to a pumpkin patch with my awesome friend Keri and her daughter Taylor. We got this huge pumpkin and we carved it to look like Jack in the "Nightmare Before Christmas." I know the most awesome pumpkin huh?

Then I have pictures of Abby and I making cupcakes for Robby's birthday. We put sprinkles in the batter and I asked Abby what it was and she said " Mama we're putting rice in daddy's cake." I guess that's what I get for making my daughter eat healthy. She has no idea what sprinkles are. Nice.

And then yesterday was HALLOWEEN! Yes, we went down Hanover St Trick or Treating and it was a blast! Abby was Dorothy for Halloween this year! She was SOOO cute. My AWESOME friend Keri helped by making an apron for her costume...and well I'll Let the pictures speak for themselves. I've never had such an awesome time trick or treating. I thought UVA was great...RICHMOND is AWESOME! This downtown street was made up and and simply amazing. Abby got gobs of candy and a one of a kind costume. We trick or treated for 2 hours and were beat! What a blast! (And yes for those that are looking she's got The Ruby slippers on and looks amazing!).

A few quick pics

2008-10-10T19:31:00.001-07:00

I know that nothing has been posted in quite some time. And I apologize for that. I will try to post something great in the near future, but here are a few pics to hold people over.

Abby practicing for the major league

Abby and Jodi went to a pumpkin patch and had a really good time picking out pumpkins, riding hay rides, and doing all the fun stuff every kid should be able to do leading up to Halloween.

They also went to the state fair here in Richmond one day. And it was a blast.

The little girl is Taylor, one of Abby's new friends. Taylor's mom and Jodi have been hanging out some lately, her dad is also in grad school here in Richmond and is gone a lot, too. So I'm really grateful that Jodi has found someone that she can do stuff with when I'm not around. Which , is like, always.

We're all hanging in there for now. We are pretty busy (well, really busy) and I have to say I'm sorry if there are some of you that we haven't talked to and/or seen for a bit. Just know that we love you all and think about you and it's not that we don't want to see you....well...maybe there are a few of you....never mind.

*edit: due to extenuating circumstances, the video that was previously posted here had to be removed. Apologies to those who didn't get to see it.

Ooops....

2008-09-10T16:56:00.000-07:00

Tonight I had one of those "Oh dang it moments." (Note to all this is going to be a strange post but, my husbands been gone since 7am and it's 8pm and here's my outlet:) Oh dang with a "How in the heck did that happen?" See, I decided to make M&M pancakes for dinner. They were awesome by the way and a big hit with Abby. When my transfer of pancake batter didn't go so red hot with one of them. I still can't believe it happened but there's a SMALL space between our stove and counter top. I guess I could basically stop right here because anyone could guess what happened. Yes, somehow I now have M&M pancake batter "caked" down in between an impossible spot. Yes, a cockroaches dream find of about 2 tablespoons of batter precisely two M&M's (Two because I distinctly heard two hit the floor.) The only thing that has kept me from cleaning this up myself is that our oven is gas and I don't feel like a gas leak tonight. So, when Robby gets home tonight at 10pm a project as annoying as keys in a covered drain awaits him.

As a side note, things are going well. Robby is studying very hard since he doesn't have a biochemistry major. He's working hard in his two classes and doing well. Abby is adjusting well to her "new school." Some day's are better then others. So, I guess it's safe to say Abby's a human/woman. She comes home most days saying she's sad that all her kids are lost without her. Lastly, work is okay for me. It's getting better as I continue to learn the ropes of being a fabulous nurse. Like Abby some day's are better then others but I think it will only get better with time.
I must say that I miss my family terribly and your love and support is felt! Continue to pray for us. All I want at this point is Abby to be happy and Robby to have his dream manifested.

Wow from pancakes to dreams, this has turned out to be something of a post. I'll continue to try to update things as we go!!!

It's started!!!

2008-08-20T04:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, I must say it's started! I've officially lost my husband to this

Yes the mounds of paperwork are in and believe it or not this is for two classes out of the 4 Robby will be taking this semester and only 1/3 of their syllabus. Not to mention we haven't even bought the books for him to start reading yet...Needless to say the Mountain Dew at it's side will remain a companion to these "stacks" throughout this process.
Well, with that being said...you know with the apparent lost of my husband to this "process" I'll gladly be taking amazing family visit donation's! (I do have a bone to pick with the love sick Mary who I'm upset to say we aren't going to see before she leaves to go back to Utah. This has become something of pattern when she leaves. That we don't get to see her before hand. And I must say it's no longer acceptable.) Any ways I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing my brothers soon.
As for the holiday's I'm signed up to work Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas this year so we'll be here in Richmond this year but next year we'll be off! So come and see us as we are starting our next chapter in our lives!

Beach Weekend!

2008-07-28T19:01:00.000-07:00

Well, for the first time since we have been married, we took a vacation that had no other purpose than just getting away. We went to Va Beach. Not to check out a school. Not to see family (not that we don't want to). Not for a special get together. But just to get away for us. And it was great. Sound selfish? It was. We had a blast. We were unsure whether or not to go for a bit, because the weather looked like it was going to suck the whole time. But we said "why the heck not." And the weather was beautiful.
We went to the beach on Friday and stayed for a few hours. We tried to get Abby to go into the water, and it was cool for a bit, then when I tried to go further into the waves, she would say "Abby don't like that!" She would go down into the water some, then run screaming when a wave came. It was funny. She at least loved playing in the sand.
That night we walked out on a pier and watched a bunch of people fishing. We also got to see dolphins swimming around. Every now and then they would poke their fins out and Abby would get all excited. And the sunset was gorgeous.
Saturday was another great beach day. And Abby was a lot braver. Not only was she not scared. but she would go charging into the waves and want me to take her out into the deeper water so she could "swim"(kick her legs and flail her arms while I hold her up). When I would tire out and suggest we go in, she would get upset. She had so much fun. And we built sand castles, played on a playground, walked the boardwalk, drank the seawater, got tumbled by waves - everything.

Luckily, Abby was able to take a nap in her stroller during lunch so that we could stay at the beach and not worry about what to do for a nap.

On Sunday, we went to a huge park near the beach called Mt Trashmore. Oscar the grouch would love the name but hate the place - they beautified and built a park over what was a landfill. It had the biggest playground I have ever seen, along with a huge hill (full of garbage, presumably) and a pond with ducks.

Some of the ducks were very friendly, and quite gentle, too.

Abby was stoked. Unfortunately, we didn't see the sign on the other side of the fence that said, in big letters, DO NOT FEED THE DUCKS AND GEESE. Oops. Heh, sorry, we're from out of town. Jerk tourists.
The only problem with the weekend was the fact that I am a white boy. We shlackered Abby up with sunscreen, but applied only a minimal amount on me, because I'm no sissy boy. But, like a stupid tourist visiting the beach, I paid no attention to warnings and am now paying the price. I am pretty crispy all over. But that is a small price to pay for a wonderful weekend with my family.
So Abby started daycare today, while Jodi worked and I went downtown to test the buses and see how my commute was going to be. And she loved it. When I woke her up this morning, she was rolling away from me and grunting, then I said we were going to her new school. She popped up immediately and said, "oh, we have to bring my elephant and blanket!" (for nap time). Then she quickly cooperated in getting ready, only to be disappointed that she had to eat breakfast and wait for us to get ready. She was so excited to go. It was hard to leave her there - we kept asking "are we doing the right thing?" But I think we are, and either way, she was not turning back. And she had a really good day - didn't give them a hard time at all, got along great with the other kids, danced and sang, and just really enjoyed herself. She had such a good time that she didn't want to leave. But I let her know we would be going back and it went over okay. What? I have to convince my kid to leave daycare to come home with me? That doesn't sound right. Am I doing something wrong? We'll see how this goes. If nothing else, I am a little disappointed to know that my free time with Abby is going to be severely slashed. Maybe I'm the one getting separation anxiety.

Blackberries for all!

2008-07-12T17:18:00.000-07:00

So we found a little treasure trove here at our place. There is a huge area covered in blackberry bushes. And they are definitely in season. We can't get to most of them, because the growth is just too thick and the thorns just hurt too much. But there are still more than we can handle on our own (and that is after the birds have had their share)

Abby loves picking and eating them. And we get tons. So if anyone comes down in the next few weeks, and you like blackberries, you can have as many as you want. We're going to look into making jam with them, so anyone out there who knows how to do that let us know your secrets.

Richmond has a zoo about 30 miles out of town, and we went to check it out the other day. Abby had a blast. There is a little petting zoo area that she loved.

These little squirrel monkeys were so cute - they would take little pieces of food right out of your hand if you get close enough. I jumped Abby over the fence so that she could reach them, but she was just a little too scared to let them eat right out of her hand.

We had bought some food to feed the animals in the petting area, and she would give them like two or three pieces at a time, and was pretty stingy with it. I was trying to explain to her that one little pellet for a camel was not quite enough, but she wouldn't give it anymore. Eventually, it became obvious why she was holding on to it all - on the way in, we passed a moat with a bunch of fish that people were feeding. She wanted to feed the fish. I tried to explain that we could go to Petsmart and feed fish, but this was the only place we could feed a baby zebra. She wasn't buying it. Oh well, she had a really good time.
Jodi's job is going well - she is working 3 12s a week, that have been turning into 14s. They are long days, but she is learning a lot and doing great things for the patients there. There are some good people working there (and a few that are not so great, but you'll get that anywhere you work). She has to be in some sort of class this week, and she is not looking forward to it, but it's all part of this process known as the Bon Secours orientation process from hell. She'll get through it eventually, we hope.
So I was looking at the calendar today, and I realized that we are halfway through July. When we got here, I told myself I have 2 months until school starts. Then MCV planned this little optional prep week (which I am going to). So I realized that I have very little time before I start. I'm getting a little scared - do I really know what I am getting myself into? Nope. Let's be honest. But I am optimistic that I might figure it out at some point.
Oh, and Jodi got sustained today as Laurel advisor. She is pretty excited about the new calling, as she should be. She sat in with the young women today and said it went well. she is happy that she will now only be teaching a few young women as opposed to most of the women in the ward. They tell me that they have a calling for me too, they just need to get in together. He said the same thing last week. What does that mean? For now, I'm just giving a talk next week. We dodged having to speak before leaving Charlottesville, and somehow Jodi dodged speaking here on arrival. Not that she is complaining - she has gone quite some time without speaking; ask her the last time she had the privilege.

No title

2008-07-01T08:32:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th!!!

Okay, okay, today is not the 4th. But I started this blog a bit ago, and was trying to finish it yesterday and was expecting to post it, and since Abby did this little pose for me I just had to post the pic. And it only makes sense yesterday. So...whatever.

Sorry for the lapse in posts here. I am still trying to get adjusted to things here, and wanted to be able to put pictures up but just haven't really been taking any. Then I had to figure out how to get them onto our laptop. We haven't found a way to set up our desktop in such a way as to not clutter up one of the rooms too much, so we are just going to use our laptop here. And since Bill Gates, in his infinite personal financial wisdom keeps coming out with new versions of windows, has made it so that only Vista is available, this laptop runs off of Vista. And our camera software was for XP. And I couldn't find help on any website, Microsoft or Canon, to fix it. So me, being the computer savvy guy that I am, went to the best website for getting answers: google. And I found a way to make it work. So we have pictures now!! Here is our apartment.

Front room

Kitchen/dining

Abby's Room

Mom and Dad's room

That's the basics of it. The wood floors came out really nice after we scrubbed them and polished them. And we've been able to get everything placed in such a way in all of the rooms so that they look pretty good. The best thing by far in the house is in the kitchen - two little things we like to call a washer and dryer. Well, not that little - they take up a good amount of space - but they are totally worth it. In 6 years of marriage, for the first time we can do laundry in our own home. That is pretty awesome. So when Abby wakes up in the morning with blood everywhere from the night time beatings, her comforter, blankets and pillowcases can be done without us having to get dressed and worry about whether or not we have 3 bucks worth of quarters lying around (just kidding - she was bleeding because that dang finger of hers seems to be magnetically attracted to her nostril. It's obviously reached a breaking point - when the kid wakes up with blood everywhere, something has to change. If anyone has any suggestions, we're open to them).

We really want to catch and squish one of these bunnies. Abby gets so excited to see them, and they are less afraid of us than the squirrels around here (though that is maybe because Abby will run after the squirrels and tiptoe around the bunnies). The other day we were talking to some neighbors (a really cool younger couple, it'll be nice to have them around as friends) and a rabbit was eating some clovers about 10 feet away, when it suddenly realized that it wanted to go to the other side of us. Instead of running around us all, it cautiously hopped between us. And I'm not kidding when I say that we were maybe 5 feet apart. It was crazy to watch.

From our back steps:

From the front porch:

And a few with Abby

Abby is enjoying herself down here. She will still ask about her friends in Charlottesville when we talk about church and nursery, but I think that she realizes that they don't live here. I just can't wait for us to make new friends with kids her age so that she can have some playmates. She will start up with daycare at the end of this month the week before I start up with school, and is so excited about it. We went and saw the place last week to talk with the people and check it out, and when we told Abby that we were going to go see her new school, she said happily "Go see my new school!! Woo-hoo!!" And now she asks frequently if she will go to her new school tomorrow. She can't wait to start.

She is really getting into coloring - and is getting pretty good. She sat down and colored Goofy pink the other day, and stayed in the lines really well. She gets the artistic side from Jodi. And she likes singing songs, too - the ones she likes and kind of knows now are her ABCs, Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. She doesn't know all the words, but will frequently be heard trying to sing them. At the end of Sunbeam, she does the Rowlett-y "doo-doo!" (you all know what I mean). The other day in the car, she was singing it in the back seat and couldn't get all the words and would stumble around a bit. After some time, she just went "doo doo!" to signify that she had finished so we could clap for her. It was way cute.

Jodi's job is going pretty well so far - the first week of orientation was, well, awfully boring and mostly pointless. She is on the floor now doing patient care, and it is going better. I;ll let her post more on that when she has time (or I will when I get more time). That's all for now, I'll try to do better with my posting this month. But there's just so much to do and see here, so we'll see what happens.

Welcome to Richmond!

2008-06-16T16:09:00.000-07:00

Well, it's done. It was kind of weird, looking into a 24-foot semi (borrowed courtesy of Tracy Sodders) and realize that all of my worldly possessions, minus the car, were inside. We were truly blessed by the amount of people who showed up to help us move. It was done in under 40 minutes - my incredible wife had been diligent in packing everything up (I helped a slight amount) and we had taken apart all of our stuff. So people came, loaded, and we were done. We left Charlottesville a little after 10, and we know there were at least 2 people who showed up after that to try and help (sorry guys, but thanks for the effort!)
The trip to Richmond was quick and pain free. When we got here, Ryan showed up almost right away. Our fireman in training unloaded half of the truck himself. We unloaded in just under an hour - the only problem was the box spring on our bed. It did not want to go up the stairs. But Ryan and Tracy weren't about to leave it there - with the removal of our front door, the removal of the plastic things, and the removal of some paint and a tab bit of ceiling through their pushing, the two beasts got it up. Way to go, guys!! There was at least one guy from the ward who showed up to help, but unfortunately didn't have our number and had the wrong time, so we were inside and done before he showed so we didn't get to see him (I was sure to thank him on Sunday, though).
So we're here. And we're tired - the first few days have been long. The place was surprisingly dirty when we showed up, and we didn't realize how bad it was until everything was already moved in. Abby's little tootsies were black within an hour. So we went out today and got some floor cleaner and polish, and we are going through, room by room, cleaning and polishing. We did our room today - what a nightmare, moving all the furniture back out into the hallway, bathroom, and Abby's room to get at everything. But it helped a lot. Jodi cleaned the stairs real well, but no polish - don't want to slip down. So we'll need to attack Abby's room, the downstairs, and the hallway upstairs. We;ll get it all done this week so we don't have to worry about it once Jodi has started work. For now, we're all walking around inside in sandals except where stuff has been cleaned.
Now, I have never had gas appliances before, so I don't know how they are supposed to work. And the ones here are new, so maybe this is normal. But whenever we run the stove, we both feel like a gas smell permeates the place. We called maintenance, and they showed up and they said they couldn't smell any. We ran a burner for a few minutes, and I smelled it, but they didn't. I mentioned maybe I was more sensitive to it and that was it, and one of them claimed that he had a nose for it - that if there was a leak, he would have smelled it when he walked through the door. He said "I don't smell gas - I smell heat, but no gas." Ummm...excuse me? I didn't feel right making a wise guy comment, so I just stared at him and said, "You smell heat?" He said that the stove was working properly and there was nothing else they could do. They tried to make it look like maybe I had run a burner without it being lit, and that was why I smelled gas. They seriously took a few minutes to explain how to work it, making me out to be some kind of moron. Whatever. When I made mac and cheese later, Jodi, who was upstairs, called down and asked if I was using the stove because she smelled gas. We're going to go out and buy a gas detector, I think. Maybe it's just the heat that I'm smelling.
Enough ranting for now. Want to hear some perks? Rent here is actually cheaper than what we were paying. We have an attic storage place (which is much needed!!) that can actually fit quite a bit of our crap. The hardwood floor in our room actually looks pretty good after our treatment, and we have high hopes for the rest of the place. One of the coolest things here is our neighbors. Not the two legged ones (of whom we've met very few) bur the little woodland dwellers - there is a small colony of rabbits living in the bushes in the surrounding areas, and we see them frequently - they come to graze on the clovers. Right out our back door. Seriously, I've got a couple of pics taken from our stairs, the rabbit being no more than 10 feet away. Abby loves them. We went out to get some rabbit food and will see if we can make friends - they look so squishable and cuddly, I can't wait to try.
We had our dryer delivered today!! We need to wait on the washer, something about some storms somewhere holding something up. So although the setup is a bit strange (you have to see it to understand), we will be able to do laundry in our own place. That is so awesome to me.
We already love Richmond - we live about a half mile from where Jodi is working, but still live in a very residential, nice area. And about 3 minutes away is the main road in town, with everything you could want - Target, grocery stores, restaurants, you name it. We went out and went to Target, Kroger, Home Depot, and Petsmart all in about an hour. A trip like that in Charlottesville would have been a few hours at least. Everything is so convenient, it's amazing. We picked the perfect location. Plus, we saw a rainbow today.
I think that's enough for now - Sorry for the long post and no pics. Our desktop is not yet set up (not sure if we'll have the space for it) and it has the software and everything for the camera. We'll get stuff going soon, just give us a bit of time. For now we're working hard to make this place feel like home. Our first night here, Abby was upset going to bed (understandably) and Jodi was trying to calm her down. Abby said "Abby's sad. Abby wants to go home!" :( What do you say to that? How do you explain these things to a three year old? Not to worry, she seems to be adjusting well, and is being really great about the whole sandals thing. I guess we can't ask for anything more than that.

Last Days!

2008-06-11T05:39:00.000-07:00

Well today is Robby's Last Day of Work! Woo Who! Our house is a boxed mess. And we only have three more days in Charlottesville! I can't help but be excited. I mean we're going to have a place with a washer and dryer! Well I'm excited that Robby doesn't have to slaughter mice anymore and I get to practice nursing. Richmond is going to be so much fun for us and it's almost time!

A little heat, anyone?

2008-06-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

6 days to go.

I can't believe that it's so close - we only have a few days left before starting the next big chapter in our lives. We have boxes everywhere, a few dismantled pieces of furniture, and a few more...mantled pieces of furniture that need to be taken apart. And I've come to learn again that moving sucks. Not going to a new place, getting a new residence, or doing new things, but the actual act of moving - it sucks. Luckily I have a wife that is incredibly good at packing and getting ready early, so that at D-day minus 6 we have basically only the essentials unpacked. There is still a little bit to do, but well over half is done. Our place looks pretty jumbled at times, and it drives Jodi nuts. Poor Jodi, being married to me who can live in a jumbley place for a bit and be fine. All I can say for the packing part is I'm glad that I work where I do - I've been able to get all of the boxes we need from the loading dock there. Just sneak in when nobody is looking at swipe what I need - nothing to it. What are they going to do if I'm caught - fire me?
Jodi got a wonderful surprise the other day - beautiful flowers from "the Rowlett girls"

She wanted to be sure that those involved were thanked publicly - if this can be considered publicly. So to the 3 people that read this, Jodi says thank you if you helped send the flowers.
Over the weekend, we were fortunate enough to go and see a house burn. Over and over. It was awesome.

Ryan is finishing up with his firefighter course, and on Friday night they simulated a house burning so that they could show off to their friends and family what they have been learning for the past few months. The main thing they learned? If a house is on fire, run in (with protection, of course!) If I see a house on fire, I stay away, unless someone is inside. They have learned to run on in, and many of them are excited to. What? That doesn't make much sense. But it's what they do.

That's Ryan in the middle, looking out at Devan taking pictures. It was a lot of fun to watch; even Abby was enjoying the last one, when it was dark and you could see the huge flames shooting out of the windows and car they burned. She was really tired by then, but sat there watching and saying, "Put the fire out! Good job, uncle Rah-rah!"

It was a mild 90 degrees with about 1000% humidity. Not too bad. I was drenched within about 10 minutes, but it was nothing compared to Ryan and his classmates, who didn't complain nearly as much as me. I could at least wear shorts and a t-shirt and didn't have to lug around a hundred pounds worth of stuff. To see some much better pics and explanations of everything, see their blog, link over there ->
Today was our last Sunday here. It's a weird feeling. The other day, a couple in our ward pointed out that of the "non-permanent" members of the ward (i.e., students) we were the senior-most family. 6 years we've been here. That was pretty weird to hear, and made us almost more anxious to leave. Then they pointed out that we would be passing on that "honor" to them - they came a year after us, and have outlasted the other students that came that year. While we are really excited for what lies ahead, there are tons of people that we will really miss. We've felt such an outpouring of love some several people, sometimes from unexpected places, but always welcomed and appreciated. Jodi has been a teacher in Relief Society for several months, a daunting task for anyone, but especially so for her with nursing school and everything. And I have been lucky enough to be Deacon's Quorum adviser for the past 5 years. People sometimes thought I would only come for Sacrament, then leave. But our young men are great, and several expressed a desire to come help on Saturday morning, despite the fact that they would probably rather be sleeping. Maybe the offer of free donuts helped, I'm not sure. :)
This afternoon, we went to a party for my work that they were throwing for all of the departing people. We originally weren't planning on going, but decided kind of late that maybe it could be fun. There were tons of people there, and the food was awesome. When they got up to say a few words, I wasn't sure what really to expect, maybe a toast for good health and luck or something. Instead, my boss gets up there and talks about me a bit, says what I'm doping and where I'm going, then says they have some parting gifts for me. I was shocked, and a little embarrassed. I didn't know what to say. They had me open them right there. The first on was a joke gift, a play doctor's kit kind of thing. But the second one was an incredibly nice stethoscope. I was speechless. It was so nice and unexpected. I have been so fortunate to work for the guy that I work for these past 2 years. There are many people in our few labs that are totally awesome and who will really be missed.
Luckily, that "joke gift" was not so much of a joke for Abby - she knew immediately that it was for her.

She starts by checking Mommy's heart....

then takes her BP,

checks reflexes,

and temp.

She then finds the problem - a little spot which needs a band-aid.

What a cute little doctor!
So we're getting excited for the move. This Saturday doesn't look like it'll be nearly as bad as this weekend was, so hopefully nobody keels over from dehydration while going down the stairs with our dressers. I wouldn't want anything broken, we're trying to save money. So this time next week, I'll have to remove that little "almost" from our title. There is a Rowlett's bicycle shop in Richmond. Think they'll give family discounts? I'm sure we're related somewhere along the lines.

I PASSED!

2008-06-03T10:39:00.000-07:00

Well to all those who have been keeping up with our adventure of me in nursing school for the past 18months I have more news. I graduated with my ADN degree in applied science in May and was waiting on the boards. This past Thursday I was released to setup a time to take them and my time was this past Sunday at 2:00 in Vienna. I crammed for three days. I stayed up until 2 am the night before and even felt like studying the day of and I did. And it has to be said that my Dad who's a Dentist was there with me for it all!!! It was such a comfort! He even took me to the test and walked me to the elevator! After 1 hour and 35 minutes and 86 questions later...the test shut off. I came home. At 12:55 on Monday a phone call to the State board of Nursing and I'm a NURSE! WE DID IT! So it's on to Richmond to invent a Doctor! (And to finish BSN degree for me and a NP graduate degree after that!). HURRAY!!!!
We are at a great high in our success but we know that we stand on the shoulders of giants-that being all who support and love us.
-Jodi

Abby's Dup-day

2008-05-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Abby had such a great day on her birthday. She can't really say the word birthday, so she says "dup-day." She kept saying all day long "My dup-day come home today!" She received a few cards in the mail this week, and they contained special little "bonuses." (thanks grandma Debbie and Great Grandma Rowlett). She was so excited. And both times when she was instructed to go show mom what she got, she dropped the additive and ran over with the card, screaming in delight.
Thursday morning, Jodi went out and got her 24 balloons and came home with them - and Abby went nuts. This is a girl that totally loves it when she gets one balloon. Come in with 24, and she'll hit the roof.

She spent the better part of the morning pulling the balloons around, separating them out by color then bunching them up again, and relishing the joy that comes from having 24 balloons. Maybe she gets it from me - I remember getting a stuffed animal in a basket tied to balloons when I was young, and it was the coolest thing ever for me. Or maybe it's just that balloons are so cool.
Foregoing the traditional cake, we opted for cupcakes. This way, we figured Abby could help decorate them. We had bought sprinkles and little stars that could go on them, and she had fun spreading the icing and putting the stars on.

Abby's finished product. She is so proud!

So after singing, blowing out the candles (in three puffs; one for each candle), and eating cupcakes (Abby only ate the top off of it where the stars were, then didn't want any more), we moved on to the goods. This was the part she had been waiting for - she knew there would be presents coming, and every day since she has been asking if it's her dup-day again and if she can have more presents. I'll just post a few pics of her opening them - and please ignore the wrapping paper. She doesn't know the difference, and we wanted to use it up and not have to worry about moving wrapping paper. Yeah, yeah, we're cheapskates. But honestly, it's just ripped off and discarded, so it's not that important.

Cheeseball

She looks thrilled. I promise, though, she really does like it.

This was her big present - a baby doll that came with a stroller and a bunch of accessories from Nona and Doo-dah.

It's obvious that she did like this one.
So the baby doll went over real big, and it has those little cups that you can pretend to feed the baby and the liquid disappears, then you put it right-side up and the liquid comes back (I'm explaining it bad, but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about - these things used to be amazing to me, I couldn't figure them out). Abby was also somewhat confused about how it works. Where did it go?

All in all, though, the day was quite successful. I think that Abby had a really great day, and in the future will remember that a dup-day means a good day. Oh, and in nursery today at church one of the leaders was saying that Abby was 2. I was informed that she emphatically and repeatedly corrected him and said she was 3. They all had a good laugh about it.
In other news, Jodi was authorized to take the Nursing boards this week and signed up. She originally wanted to take them in Richmond, but there were no available dates for a month. After making some calls, she discovered that a testing site in Vienna (VA, not Austria) had an opening today (June 1). There was also an opening next week, but she chose not to take it because it's our last day in our ward and there is a work party that we were going to go to. So she gave herself 3 days to cram. And she did - and let me tell you, some of the questions are completely ridiculous. ever wonder about the colors in hospitals? I know that they try to choose colors that are somewhat soothing (and who decides that? Maybe some people are calmed by a jet black room, ever think of that?), but I never realized that the nurses were in charge of that. Okay, I don't really think that they are, but the wording of one review question pretty much said that. I understand that the topic of wall colors is one of the crises faced in our nation's health care, but I don't think they ever lectured on it.
So she took the boards today and I'm sure she did well. She will still have to be on pins and needles until the results come back, but at least it's done. Now she can focus on more important things like what colors we should make the walls in our new place.

Happy Birthday Abby!!

2008-05-29T18:40:00.001-07:00

She's growing up so fast.

Birth

6 months

1 year old

1.5 years old

2 years old

2.5 years old

3 years old

More pics of today to come...

BBQ and bathtime

2008-05-28T18:08:00.000-07:00

Holidays don't come all that often around here. And in the next few years, they may even be less frequent. So we took advantage of the beautiful day on Monday and went to a local park and cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. Being the ever-so prepared guy that I am, matches and some sort of fire producer were obviously forgotten. Luckily, I'm full of enough hot air on most days to get something going, provided I have enough girl scout water. And an empty hot dog bag works perfectly as a plate. Other than those two problems, which we got around, everything went off pretty well.

The wind was blowing really hard - Abby is holding up some sort of plant life, which is blowing straight sideways.

It took a bit of coaxing, but once Abby realized that hot dogs cooked outside are the same as the ones Lisa her babysitter cooks inside, she gobbled it down.

Hmmm...I'm just not buying what she's selling.

We brought Abby's chalk along, and there was a concrete base to the table. So Abby got to have fun under the table....

and beg for scraps.

There was a great playground there that Abby was loving, but then in the nasty bathroom, due to an overzealous desire to maintain some sort of sanitary conditions, there was a small accident. I knew about it outside of the bathroom because Abby was kind of shouting it out to me. So, to her dismay, we were forced to cut our fun day a little short.

We were able to treat Abby to a bath that night, though - I say treat because she absolutely loves taking a bath (most days). And it can sometimes be fun - with enough soap and the right strategy, you can get good results.

So yes, in continuing our preparations for moving, we have made the decision to cancel our cable. Why? Self-punishment? Money? The little voices? Maybe a bit of all of the above. It's only two weeks, and we don't watch that much anyways. Sometimes we'll be talking with friends, and they'll go on and on about Lost, 24, West Wing, or some other show that's on that is really popular. And they'll turn to us and ask about it, and we might say something lame like "I've been lost before, and it sucks." Because we know nothing about any of the shows. Are we weird? Are we really missing out on something? Or are most people able to keep up with shows on a weekly basis? I guess TiVo can come in handy for that, but we're too cheap to go with that - we do it like in the 20th century, where if you miss the show, either wait for the rerun or it's gone forever.

And here's the quote of the week:
A commercial comes on about some store that claims their cotton clothes are organic. I ask how in the world they can call cotton organic (thinking, in my limited mind, that only food should be labeled organic). Jodi says it's how they grow it. "Organic cotton?" I reply. "How can it be anything but organic? They shave it off sheep!"

Wow.

Jodi stared at me for a minute until I realized what I had just said. No rebuttal was necessary. The dawning realization of my stupidity was enough. And I'm going to med school? Yikes.

Cutting the Tube

2008-05-28T06:17:00.000-07:00

Well my final word to Robby this morning was..."Let's cut cable this Friday." Sounds crazy. Yes. I guess I'm making a project out of my family. Thing is I'm to cheap to pay 50 bucks for a full month in Charlottesville and Richmond. So here comes the burn my friends and the countdown. I'm figuring 17 days without cable. Whoo Ha. And Poor Robby!

Huneysuckles!!

2008-05-25T12:08:00.001-07:00

Abby has learned what I consider to be a part of a healthy childhood: the joy of honeysuckles. There are some people we know that have never done it: finding a perfectly yellowed suckle (that sounds wrong), pulling the little green part off, and pulling the honey out to eat. Or drink. I guess it's more of a liquid, right?

She really liked it, and didn't want to leave at the end. She also had fun picking flowers and giving them to mommy.

And Abby is going to turn out to be a great chef; every time there is baking going on she wants to get involved. We're making cinnamon rolls here. And they turned out pretty good!

That is Abby's little rolling pin that she uses to help me. Unfortunately, in the packing we've been doing, Daddy's rolling pin was put in a box somewhere. So we had to take turns using the little one:)

Abby is really getting into sharing pretty much everything with mom and dad. Whenever she's eating something, we hear "Mama (or Dada), want some [whatever] too? or if she's playing with something, she always wants to give us a turn. The other day this was painfully obvious. There was a foul funk in the air, and Jodi thought that it may have been her. So she flipped Abby around and did the parent thing, where you smell your kid's behind. I know you other parents know exactly what I'm talking about. After Jodi gave her a whiff and concluded she hadn't crapped herself, Abby giggled for a second, then turned her butt toward me and said, "Dada, want to smell, too?" We all (including Abby) laughed for a bit, but I don't think Abby knew exactly what we were laughing about. Ah, the joy of children.

We won't be homeless!

2008-05-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

So it's done. We went to Richmond on Saturday, and after seeing half a dozen places right around St. Mary's Hospital, we found the place where we'll live:

They said the truck would only be an extra 50 bucks a month. So we went for it. It won't be that bad of a deal, we figure the forest creatures will take care of any trash that we have.
We didn't actually take a picture of the place we'll be living in. It'll be a two bedroom townhouse, and the people are bending over backwards to make it work - we wanted hardwood floors, and they said we could have a place renovated to make the kitchen bigger before moving in, and we said "of course!" Then they got back to us and said they couldn't renovate the particular unit we had chosen. So we picked a different one. They said they couldn't do that one either. Turns out only certain ones on one side of the road could be renovated for extra kitchen space, and only one was available, and it was carpeted. We hem hawed over it for a bit, then they called us back with good news. The girl we had been talking to had talked to the manager and said "This is a young family, she's a nurse, he's a med student, and they want to sign a year long contract and will pay rent on time every month." The manager looked at her and replied, "Rip up the carpet." That made us happy, but made me somewhat leery. What kind of people do they rent to? What are our neighbors going to be like? Oh well, it's about a half a mile from Jodi's work, so it will be great in that respect.

It's crazy how fast time is going by - we are planning on moving on the 14 of June, and that's mere weeks away. And we just realized that Abby's birthday is only a week away. Where did May go? Forget May, what in the world happened to April? At least Abby knows what's up. She's learning to show different numbers of fingers - it still taked her time to do it, but she gets really excited when she does. This is how old she is now -

See how excited she gets?
And she knows how old she'll be soon:

It's funny because if you ask her how old she is, she says, "Abby's three tomorrow." Well kiddo, not quite that soon, but it is coming up :)

Not much else to say, but here's a few random videos for your enjoyment. Sorry for the short clips - I recently discovered that our video camera can't do more than 10 seconds of video at a time on the card :( So we'll have to be on the lookout for a good deal.

A few short clips from strawberry picking:

Here's Abby being crazy:

Hooray for Jodi!!!!

2008-05-15T16:40:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to our new grad!!!!
We are so proud of you!!

This past week has been quite a blur. The weekend consisted of going to graduation ceremonies and CELEBRATING!! We were fortunate to have family come and visit for Jodi's graduation, which stepped things up a notch as far as craziness goes here. Squeezing a dozen people into our tiny place certainly made for good times :) At the pinning ceremony in the morning, they had it indoors because of rain. They said the seating would be "first come, first served." So we showed up at 8:45 for a 10:30 ceremony. Only to find out that they weren't letting anyone in until 9:30. So while there were only about 20 people there before us, people continued to arrive and push their way to the front (with Abby and the twins there, standing in one spot for even 10 minutes was a stupid thing to attempt, let alone 45 minutes). What a dumb thing to do, say something like that and then not open the doors until over a hundred people are there. They were just asking for a brawl.

The pinning ceremony went lovely, and the evening ceremony was awesome, too, with Governor Tim Kaine being the keynote speaker. I was waiting for them all to toss up their little caps, but I guess that's a little high-schoolish. Jodi was so excited through all of it, though, and rightly so. I am so proud of Jodi and all of the hard work she put into her studies and everything she has done over the past few years. All of the hard work, long nights, endless care plans, and countless Saturdays gone to clinicals, have finally paid off. You deserve every bit of this. She is so excited and happy that it is all done, and so are Abby and I. In the words of one of the grads, "Mommy's back!"

The only complaint I have from the whole weekend is that I was sick. Some stupid bug that left me congested, coughing, and tired. And poor Abby has been sick too, coughing half of the night and actually asking for medicine. I hope that isn't a bad sign of things to come...

One of the nights family was here, there was a really bad thunderstorm. Abby has been scared of thunder ever since a camping trip when she was going to sleep alone in the tent and a huge crack of thunder scared the crap out of her. So she did not want to go to bed by herself, and ended up staying up later than I think she ever has before - at least 10pm :o She preferred sitting on the couch next to her Opa and Oma.

She was very quiet most of the night, and you can tell that she just looks exhausted. Luckily, the power only went out once for a few seconds. Normally here at our complex, if strong winds come through the power flickers. And if there's rain, the cables must run through some stream bed somewhere because any amount of rain gives us cause to worry. We were lucky, though.

On Saturday, we went strawberry picking. That is something that is a must for anyone who has ever lived in the Charlottesville area, I think. Abby absolutely loves it. Unfortunately, our camera was dead when we got there (good job remembering to plug it in, Rob). Fortunately, however, Mom Kirk and Dan came along, and Uncle Dan had his camera and took plenty of videos. And I have a few of them. This one is pretty good - Abby is such a nutball sometimes :) The other girl is her friend Marin, who was there along with her mom Emily.

And here is a great video of an encounter with a caterpillar.

Dan has posted many more videos that I do not have (or do not want to upload, since he already has). To see them, go to his page and see journals 2a and 2b. (thanks, Dan!)

We went to Richmond yesterday and again did our best to find somewhere to live. This trip was a lot more successful; we have it pinned down to a few different places. All of them are within walking distance of St. Mary's (where Jodi will work). Some are smaller, some bigger, some without D/W, one is somewhat questionable. But all are possible. We will hopefully have it nailed down by the end of next week. Jodi has been totally awesome with all of this, and it will hopefully be all over soon. Abby was totally awesome for the trip - didn't hardly complain at all, despite being sick. So she got a reward.

She was so excited to pose for the picture so that she could see it afterwards. And of course, Daddy had to try on her new stuff, too.

Abby took that picture - she's a photographer in the making. There would be a picture of Mommy wearing the jewelry as well, but it somehow got deleted off of the camera...

So again, congrats to Jodi for her amazing accomplishment, and a special thanks to parents, family, and friends who all were there to support her. We now have some awesome opportunities ahead of us. If we can now just get out of Charlottesville, things will start moving forward for us.

Oh and Laura, thank you so much for your awesome gift - Jodi wasn't expecting it at all and it was a special surprise. And tasty, too!

Abby especially loved the grapes!

2008-05-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

So these past few days have been a bit of a whirlwind for us. We were able to go to Richmond over the weekend to look at some houses, but it wasn't quite as successful as we had originally hoped. We had checked out some houses online, some that looked pretty nice, especially one in particular. Looking at google map, we figured that it looked like it was in a subdivision. Score! So we drove down there, excited to see what would soon be our new home. To our disappointment, we realized that online maps can be somewhat deceiving. It was not a subdivision. And it was a lot further from the city than we had thought. And it was cheap because it was a nice, new house built in the middle of a lot of rundown homes. After looking around a bit, we decided that we were on the wrong side of the city - and should probably stay more to the west of Richmond. Just a hunch. We did have a chance to go the the outdoor Shortpump mall, which was fun - and we rode the little train they had there, the one that Abby loves to chase. She was very good while waiting in line (even thought the boys around her were diving in and out of bushes and going nuts)

And riding the train was a lot of fun.

But unfortunately, we realize that we'll need a bit more help with knowing for sure areas to avoid in Richmond. We're going to try and stay focused on getting a place around Jodi's work. We know that West End and Short Pump are really nice, but they are a bit far out and gas prices are completely outrageous.

On Monday night, we decided to make pizzas for dinner. I was rolling out the dough and Abby asked for a bit, so I gave it to her. She then went and got her little rolling pin and started rolling it out into a circle. She saw what I was putting on it and kept asking for stuff. "May-may, please, dada (tomato). Lettuce please, dada" (she thought the unchopped basil leaves were lettuce). It was really cute because she made her own little pizza without anyone prompting her.

And the pizzas turned out really good.
We hit a pretty important milestone on Wednesday morning. Jodi was giving me a haircut, and I started off pretending like it was hurting. After a minute or so, Abby pointed at me and said, "Dada, Mama cut your hair. Ha ha!" It was so funny! Abby actually understands teasing! So that was the first time she did something like that. We were so proud.
So we're getting all geared up for graduation tomorrow. Jodi's family has all flown out for it, and we went and got pictures done the other day, as it's the first time in a while that all of the family has been together at once. Unfortunately, Abby is a bit sick so she was somewhat uncooperative, no to mention that Zoe wasn't feeling too well either. But, with three small children and 10 adults (with adults being Kirks and Rowletts), what are the chances that everyone will be smiling all at once? Not too many people would take those odds. And I woke up this morning feeling a bit crappy - getting Abby's cold, I imagine. I swear, ever since my heart crap I have had the immune system of...well, I don't know what, but it sucks. Like a vacuum cleaner. Yeah, the immune system of a vacuum cleaner. I just suck it all in and it stinks.

2008-05-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

Wow, today was so different from what we're used to around here. Normally a Friday afternoon would have consisted of Abby and Daddy doing what they could to give Mommy peace and quiet as she struggled to do hours of paperwork for Saturday clinicals. But today, I got off work early and after a few things, the three of us were able to go to the park together, the mall, and the SPCA (or the pet store, as Abby refers to it). It was awesome - no schoolwork to worry about or anything looming over us. Well, there's always the move and everything, but it was nice to enjoy a few hours of family time.

The playground at this park was just about the coolest thing to most of the kids there. Abby was having a blast on the slides and swings, but soon realized that there were a few caterpillars around. Well, more than a few. All of the kids were picking them up by the handfuls. It didn't take long for the adults around to realize that the majority of them were dead - unable to take the heat of the rubber-gravel turf or whatever the heck it was the ground was made of. But some of them were crawling frantically, trying to find a spot of shade where the ground wouldn't scorch their many little feet. This would cause half a dozen kids to gather as they either tried to grab it first or see who was brave enough to grab it. Now, Abby is not fond of bugs. Not even cute little fuzzy caterpillars. In the beginning, she was running from them. Typical little girl. But after watching the other kids, she got brave enough to start touching the "sleeping" ones. Even picked one up, and promptly dropped it with a nervous laugh. Finally, she pet one that was crawling around. She was so proud of herself. We were, too. It was awesome to watch the progression of being totally scared of them to being able to touch the live ones. We attribute it to watching the other kids do it and realizing that they were okay. Ahh, the power of peer pressure.

When we got home, Abby was playing with a small rubber elephant and monkey that she had. She stuck the elephant in her mouth at one point and spit it out. Pretty gross, we said, now it's all dirty and yucky. So she went to the bathroom sink to rinse it off. She was gone for a bit, then started crying. We rushed in, worried she may have slipped, but she was upset about something else.

Yep, it fell in. We took out the little stopper-plug thingy in our sink because it was too short and wouldn't allow the water to drain properly. So we had to set out on a rescue mission to get the poor thing. Everyone knows that an elephant stuck in a drain pipe can only end in tragedy (but for who?)

Mommy gets the tweezers to pull it out (it hadn't fallen very far in).

She was holding the elephant in this picture, but it took me too long to actually get the shot- and the dang thing slipped out.

Uh oh!

And it's no longer visible. Fell to the U-bend (the same place where moaning myrtle used to...I mean, *ahem* let me get my tools)

And Daddy saves the day and rescues the elephant!
So after a thorough washing, Abby and elephant were reunited.

So now that nursing school is done, we can focus on housing. Where to live? I think some sort of domicile is important. At least school and work will want an address, so we may need one eventually. We may go to Richmond tomorrow to look around and see what can be offered. One nice thing about Richmond is that they actually have an Olive Garden!!! So lunch tomorrow may be a special affair.

Some random pictures

2008-04-28T18:53:00.000-07:00

Our little model

The wifey and I. I know I'm lucky.

This is Abby getting tickled by her Aunt Laura and playing with her and Papa Mickey.

Eating cookie dough with Mommy and Doo-dah.

Helping cousin Lizzie to step up with her. We had a great visit from Jen and Lizzie, Papa Mickey, and Julie.

Not sure what she's saying, but it must be important.

And here's a short crappy video from Easter. We need a new video camera, for some reason the quality of our videos lately have been pretty sad.

New Things

2008-04-28T17:44:00.000-07:00

Well, this blog thing seems to be pretty popular with people, so I guess it's time we give it a try. Mind you, I've been notoriously terrible at keeping up with these things - my sister once started a blog for us and I might have posted to it once. I don't quite remember. And my myspace account has been unchecked for over a year now. So if this goes just as well, I apologize. I am making an attempt, but we'll see how it goes.

I'm not quite sure how this is supposed to work, so I'll start by saying that Jodi and I both (and Abby perhaps from time to time) will post to this if and when we get the time, and we may even figure out how to put pictures and videos on. That way mass emails to family can stop clogging inboxes and freezing our computer as it feebly tries to remember 100 things at once.

A bit about us for you people who for some reason enjoy browsing stranger's blogs: I am Robby, my wife is Jodi, and our daughter is Abby. That about catches you up.

To our family and *ahem* friends: sorry things have been pretty distant these past several months. What with Jodi finishing nursing school and our schedules being so crazy, it hasn't left much time for us, let alone everyone else. The only thing I can say about it is: get used to it. Graduation is coming, followed by us having to find a place to live in Richmond, then moving sometime in June, Jodi's job starting at the end of June, and then med school starting in August. So things will not be slowing down for us. Which is probably a good thing, because once things slow down I tend to get distracted easily by pretty much everything. And then I don't get anything done. Like right now I was looking at housing and randomly thought, "I should start a blog!" Finding a place to live is pretty important, but this sounded more fun. So obviously it was an easy choice. Meanwhile poor Jodi is cramming her head full of incredibly important nursing info for her finals that she will regurgitate onto the test and then promptly forget. Knowing how to write a care plan is essential for success in nursing school and almost non-existent as a nurse. Makes a lot of sense.

Abby is getting really big now and starting to talk all of the time. Sadly, there are few who understand her. She is getting better at vocalizing all of her desires, but hasn't yet gotten the whole pronunciation thing down. But it's coming along. Like the other week at church when I forgot her apple juice at home and she kept saying "where my apple juice" over and over for all to hear until everyone around us was looking and laughing as I had to explain that I forgot it.

Abby and I were out walking the other day and were taking turns chasing each other. Suddenly out of nowhere, I heard this blood curdling scream behind me. If any parent has ever heard their child scream as though their limbs were being ripped off, you know the feeling that shot through me. As I spun and looked, though, I saw that arms and legs were still firmly attached. There was, however, something wrong with her left arm that had her terrified: a small spider, about the size of this period here --> . <-- had settled on her arm. You'd think the world had ended. Though I felt sorry for her and knew her fear to be understandable, I couldn't help but chuckle a bit. At home she told Jodi of the traumatic experience. "Mama, the spider catched me" "Oh my goodness Abby, what did he want to do?" "Mama, spider want to bite me, Abby." She is now deathly afraid of all insects.

I will attempt to attach some pictures to this - Google has a track record of making things easy to do so perhaps I will be successful. So maybe we'll get some stuff on here, and who knows? Maybe we'll even start to get some friends. If I can figure out how to get it all on the blog page.