Visit from Grandma

"Grandma is coming to town!!!!"

Yep, my mom is coming to visit us for a couple of weeks this Wednesday. I am trying to think of fun Denver things we can do that we haven't already shown her...  I wonder, is 8 mo. too young for Perrin to get any kick out of the Children's Museum...  To be honest, I just really want to go there myself.  There are always fun things to play with and see; now we have the excuse.  "It's my baby--she has been bugging me and bugging me to go see the Children's Museum." 



Joseph recently took Perrin and I on a tour of his med school campus and to see Children's Hospital.  Most buildings on the campus are really new.  The University of Colorado teaching hospital and Children's Hospital are both on campus and were built in 2007. However the 500 building, at the heart of campus, was built in 1941 and used to be an old army hospital.  At the time it was the largest structure in Colorado.  President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack while visiting Denver in 1955, and was treated in the 500 building, then called Fitzsimons Army Hospital.  He was there recovering for seven weeks.  Now you can go and tour the Eisenhower Suite, which has been restored to just how it looked in 1955.  

Children's Hospital is awesome.  You walk in the lobby, and it looks like a really fun place to be, not a place to fear.  They had children's crafts going on in the lobby, they had a teen lounge, and tons of natural light, especially in the areas were the patients actually stay.  They seem to really want to make it a place where children and their families feel comfortable and not intimidated by that hospital feeling.  There is this great ball machine in the lobby that I could watch for hours--loops, springs, bells, the works.  Sure they probably practice really great medicine there--but the ball machine...I'm tellin' ya...

Thrift store shopping for Perrin the other day turned up a little baby scrub top!  He he he he.  I couldn't resist.  So here is a photo of Perrin Clere-Callis MD.  I want to get a pic of her in it wearing a stethoscope with the end of it in her hand--hilarious.  

Oh! We had sort of a major step with Perrin on Saturday.  She was playing on the floor while Joseph and I anchored her wardrobe to the wall.  We look over and she is on all fours rocking forward and back!  We were so excited--as though she was going to take off like a drag racer all of the sudden.

I am excited for her to crawl, but also thinking how much more vigilant we are going to have to be...  There are all sorts of random things laying on the floor or just a foot up.  I now see everything in terms of the size of a baby throat.  I look around and realize we are swimming in hazards!!  How does anyone live to adulthood!?  So...thank you mom and dad for all the work you did keeping me alive back in the 80's.  Good job--I had no idea.

                                           Zen moment with Perrin.
                                          "Giraffes taste like meat." 

Amazing news!!

Last week we got the news we had been waiting and hoping for...Joseph got into Anschutz Medical school here in Denver!!!!!  This is thrilling for lots of reason, but mainly- we are going to med school at our top choice school, it is in the top 10 for pediatrics, which Joseph is interested in, and we get to stay in our lovely little home.  We are feeling so lucky right now, but I know it was not just luck.  Joseph worked so hard- getting up the will to go back to school, starting back at our local community college, working full-time and going to school full-time.  He earned this opportunity for sure.  I am really proud of him.  

 Now after all that work, he gets to do many more years of work!  But at least he knows now what the outcome will be, instead of just having the hope to drive him.  

Training to do something you are passionate about--that is it.  Of course he will have the double challenge of being a father & husband on top of school...  We have already been connected with a second year student with a family to give us information about what that experience is like, as well as practical things like insurance and childcare.  This guy wrote us back a full page email with lots of useful information--that ultimately is pretty discouraging.  He said that everyone he knew on campus with children had a spouse that worked.  This is because there is a federal limit on loans; so it sounds like my time as a stay-at-home parent is going to come to an end this summer.  I guess I have known that this would be necessary, but was sort of in denial about it.  Come August, it will truly be all three of us getting used to a new phase of life. 

Why are my parents so tired?  Today is great!

A couple of nights ago we lowered the level of Perrin's crib since she will be able to start pulling up on it soon.  Weeeeell, evidently that was a very upsetting thing for her.  She woke up at 2:30am very upset, then wouldn't go back down to sleep.  The following day she wouldn't nap, just laid in her crib complaining for the duration of both nap times.  Wow.  We were just beat and cranky most of the day.  But, the day was saved by...the installation of our new microwave!  Our old one had the decency to die the week we got our tax return money.  We actually installed it after Perrin went to bed; we were using the drill, making all sorts of noise but thankfully P decided she had come to terms with the level of her bed and slept right through it till 5:30 this morning.  Being moderately well rested and with the ability to reheat my coffee with the touch of one button, the day is a bit rosier today.