We've been told by quite a few people that when your kids turn 5 you start to get your adult life back.  This weekend we're seeing evidence of it.  Grayson got himself dressed both mornings, made himself breakfast this morning (stacks of Ritz crackers with turkey and cheese) and has mastered the cd player.  He also made a music request:

If you don't look ...

It doesn't seem like it's been since October since I last posted, but we've been busy. We're getting pretty comfortable in Lafayette. The adjustment from house to apartment hasn't been too difficult. If anyone wants a house in South Bend, though, we've got one on the market.

Now that I've really been diving into my Master's project I'm finding that infectious disease research is more challenging in some ways than I had considered. One trick is that I am using molecular techniques, so I have spending a great deal of time extracting DNA and running PCR. PCR basically looks at a segment of DNA unique to an organism and, if that segment is present, multiplies it exponentially so that it can be detectable. The organism that I am working with is present in the samples that I've been running. This is good news for me. I have a project that is more likely to receive funding to continue and that means that I am more likely to be able to convert directly to the PhD research. The challenging part is that it's out there. It is a zoonotic disease, which means that it affects humans as well as animals, and we've been missing it in Indiana. We suspected this, which is part of why I have the funding that I do now, but it's one thing to accept it in theory and another to recognize that it is out there. It's too early in the research process to predict any outcomes or concrete next steps. I'm hoping to have a publication from the first part of the project ready in the fall and I'd like to present a poster at AVMA 2013, so I'll have more to share. In the meantime, I keep being reminded of the truth that if you don't look you're not going to find.

What We've Been Up To

We had some birthdays!

In June Grayson turned 4, which is amazing to us.


The beach party was ended by thunderstorms, but we had a good time with our extended family.



In September Talia turned 3. It's hard to believe that she's already 3, but half the time we catch ourselves thinking that she is 4 like Grayson.


The weather for the picnic at the park was more pleasant. Grayson had fun terrifying us with his climbing skills while the girl of the day preferred the slides.



My brother Dan got married this summer!





A couple of weeks ago we checked out places to live and a new park in Lafayette.

The Why Behind The Change

"At heart I am a generalist. In my years of veterinary practice I have been able to explore several medical disciplines and have been fortunate enough to work with creatures weighing grams and those weighing hundreds of kilograms. I have been able to save lives and borne the responsibility of ending them. At the end of each day I am left with questions. I view a graduate education as a means to further explore these questions and the next step in a career focused on understanding the intersection of animal, human and environmental health and mentoring the next generation of veterinary practitioners."
This is the introductory paragraph to the Statement of Intent that I submitted with my graduate school applications. I have always known that I would want to leave the practice environment someday. Oddly enough, when I started college small animal practice was close to the last place that I wanted to be. Most of interests in vet school were linked with the small animal program, so I ended up with good training in small animal medicine spiced with lots of exotic pet and zoo experience with some fun lab rotations thrown in. The molecular biology clerkship was great. The microbiology clerkship has been helpful in practice and I still want to culture everything (how did someone think to check what kind of bacteria grew in a heartworm?). Government and Corporate Practice and of course the externships at Brookfield Zoo and the Duke University Primate Center (now Duke Lemur Center) opened my eyes to how much is out there and what the possibilities can be.
The problem is that I get intellectually itchy. I like new things, even if I'm bad at them for the most part. And have I ever got questions! What was going on with that tiny cluster of leopard geckos with gout (different homes, same origin)? What impact are those Quaker parakeets having on their newly adopted cities? Are we potentially selecting for genetic issues in the captive endangered species that we hope to reintroduce? How many Baylisascaris larvae are lurking in the soil in rural versus urban areas? How prevalent in canine brucellosis in our shelter population? Why exactly do eosinophils spike in response to both allergens and parasites (and why won't they get the hell out of my son's esophagus)? Unfortunately, it's seriously cost prohibitive to do a good literature review as a practitioner (or at least as somebody who wants access to conservation and ecology and behavior and general biology journals in addition to the medical ones that I subscribe to). This combined with some other personal factors has me feeling like my performance in practice isn't where I want it to be. I'm not interested in running a business and I think that the best way for me to advance professionally is to take a slightly different direction. So, I'm going to be teaching in the Brown Mackie tech program this fall and I've been offered a graduate position in comparative epidemiology at Purdue for the spring. I will be looking at the incidence of Q-fever in goats in Indiana. I'm reviewing my goat medicine and getting pretty excited about the directions the research could take. We're also looking into the logistics of the move to be certain we can make that part of the change work. My goal is to end up at a college or university, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully this makes some sense to everyone, but you can let me know if you think I've lost my mind.

Talia's Supers

So Tony was asking Talia about heroes and villains today. This a not very correct transcript, but you'll get the idea.

Tony (T) - "Who is your favorite hero?"

Talia (t) - "Robin."

T - "Who else?"

t - "Batman"

T - "Who else?"

t - "Marco Weeo. He's a good guy."

T - "What does he do?"

t - "He can walk. He can run. He can play. He has a long nose like a kitty and a long hair and a cheek and some hair."

T - "What else does he look like?"

t - "A dog that has some teeth and a long tummy."

T - "Tell me about your favorite bad guy ..."

t - "The Gaga. He just takes one and hits at people. He doesn't listen to Kitty. He got a button that fights kitties over there. He does to take something with a pullup with Woody on it. AND he takes kitties from Mommy's work. He does not take any toys 'cause we fight him to his house. It is Flash's house.

Next time we'll learn about Circus the Clown.

Too Much Time

It's been almost a year since either of us has updated this and I suspect that we've lost our small following of friends. We've not been stagnant this year, though. Really, how can anyone with small children be stagnant. I think that's why there have been no postings. Honestly, I should be working on another project right now but the results of that we be foundation shaking for our little household and I'm feeling slightly hesitant about it tonight. Until I'm able to share more, here are some pictures of this past year:

Poor, neglected blog

Dear Loyal Blog Readers,

Apparently I'm averaging monthly updates. This is a good thing because it means that there is nothing overly dramatic/traumatic going on, but it amazes me because there seems to be so very much going on. Talia and Grayson are busy, busy, busy being toddlers and this entails a lot of running around, bruises and (currently) joyfully tossing cds out of the changer. It's hard to not to laugh at their not socially acceptable antics. It was especially difficult when I caught them pulling cds out, came towards them full of righteous parental indignation and Grayson scurried backwards and pointed his finger accusingly at Talia. She looked up at me with a face full of joy and pride and tossed the cd to the ground.

Grayson has an imaginary cat friend called Nemo. He has also named the bulldog on his pajamas Duckie. This is a big step as all previous dogs were called Walter after Tony's mom's dog. Talia is fascinated by eyes, teeth and her own belly button. She is due for her first haircut as soon as we have a weekend when we can go as a family. Grayson will likely not need a haircut until he is five.

My friend Rachel had a beautiful baby girl this week. While she is on maternity leave, I'll be working some extra shifts. I realized today that this will put me back on the schedule I originally had as a sprightly new veterinarian. It'll be interesting to see how these next 2 months go as I am optimistic, but no longer sprightly! I'm really happy to help her have the time with her family.

That's all all for now and I'll catch you again next month!

Amy

P.S. Have some cute pictures!

Snowy Day

Our neighborhood is blanketed. The kids are at daycare. The house and its surroundings are quiet and still. It's so nice to have some peaceful moments in the midst of shopping and holiday visits and sick everyone. I'm feeling hopeful for the new year.

NaNoWriMo

So, Tony and I are crazy. Anyone who reads this is probably already aware of that, but we've decided to complicate the crazy for a month. NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month. The goal is to write 50,000 word novel in the month of November. It does not have to be good. It probably does not even need to be coherent. It does need to be 50,000 words long and finished by November 30. That's how you win. Usually there's no prize but bragging rights. This year it can be published in an edition of one for the successful writer.

I've tried NaNoWriMo twice before (pre-kids) and have yet to win. This year I found myself getting excited and thought that I'd give it another try. I don't plan on winning, I just enjoy the process. Tony was, I think, slightly distracted and discouraged by my lack of focus. So, after finishing Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (a birthday present from Tony), I promised him that I would not read any more books until I have completed 10,000 words. Not there yet. I am slightly grumpy as it's far easier to pick up a book for an escape than it is to pick up your story where it left off. Still, I'm more than halfway to reading again and I think that if I buckle down during naptime I can be there by the end of next week.

If not, no-one will want to see me for Thanksgiving.

Whew!

There are not many things worse than getting a call at work from daycare. I came out of an exam room this morning to a message from a specialist who I'm consulting on a case and the daycare on hold. Since head bumps and Talia are frequent companions, I expected that she had run into a table again. No. Grayson was going down the slide and got his foot caught. He was very upset when he reached the bottom, non-weightbearing, and the lower part of his left leg was swollen. By the time I got there he was relaxing in his physical therapist's arms and calmly advised me, "Knee hurts. Shoe hurts." I didn't feel any instability in the tibia, but off to the emergency room we went. Poor little guy was radiographed from pelvis to toe, but thankfully no breaks were found. Chicken nuggets and a chocolate milkshake seem to have provided some therapeutic benefit and hopefully the Tylenol will have kicked in by the time he wakes up from his nap!

Talia's Big Birthday

Although I am a month late, here are some pictures from Talia's first birthday party. She was a bit perplexed at first but a good time was definitely had by all!

Sweet potato pound cake

What's this all about?

Cards are just very short stories.

I got a pony!

Birthday Girl

First bite of the birthday cake.

She had a great time, was surrounded by family and is refining her walking, talking and dancing skills.

Next week she leaves the infant room behind and joins the toddlers!

Craziness on the Road

Sorry that it has been over a month since the last post. As usual, things have been hopping around here. As unusual, we've taken our craziness on the road - twice.

We made a trip to Wizard World Chicago in early August. The Con wasn't quite as good as it has been in the past (DC, Marvel and Image didn't even have booths this year), but we got to spend some time with our friends Chad and Michelle. We also got some alone time and our first kid free night thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Bauer! The kids enjoyed being spoiled and seemed to enjoy meeting Lia (Jen and Jason's daughter) as well. After a stop at the Field Museum to see the Harry Potter exhibit, we were all ready to be home.







For Labor Day we traveled to Atwood Lake in Ohio for the Robison Family Reunion. Talia started walking on Friday morning. After that nothing seemed to go right in preparing for this trip. Grayson got sick and feverish so a free morning for packing turned into a trip to see Dr. Galanes. Tony's brake pads and tires needed replaced so we had to share my car on Thursday which blocked lunch hour packing attempts. By Friday morning both Tony and Talia had the creeping crud, so out noon departure time was delayed so that they could visit Dr. Galanes. It was a very efficient doctor visit, but then we had to fill their prescriptions and feed the little people. We ended up leaving about 2:30. Once we got to Ohio we had a great time. Grandma Robison seems quite pleased about her 90th birthday and has decided to go backwards from now on. It was great to see my aunts and uncles and all of the cousins that were able to make it. Talia really bonded with her second cousin Lilia - we'll have to try to get them together more often. Grayson enjoyed playing, running up and down a steep hill and running away from me to check out all of the cars parked by the cabins. He determined the pool to be a "nice pool" and discovered that it is possible to go 3 days without a PopTart.

Right now everyone is slowly recovering from the creeping crud. I caved and called Dr. Galanes' office this morning after coughing up yellow chunks so I'll be the last on in the house on antibiotics. Hopefully we'll rest up and be ready for Talia's birthday party this weekend!

Updates with pictures

Our computer has been down for a couple of weeks for various reasons, but I want to post some birthday and sundry pictures. First, Grayson's second birthday:

Birthday Cake


Boy seeing birthday cake:


Boy enjoying birthday cake:


It's also amazing what being 2 has allowed Grayson to do:



Talia is crawling like a pro

She is also studying geometry.

And considering taking up basketball.

Fair

The kids and I went to the 4-H Fair yesterday. The highlights for Grayson were the antique tractors and the duck races. Talia loved the noisy midway and stealing cotton candy from Grayson. I haven't been to a county fair since my own 4-H days. St. Joe County seemed a lot smaller than Kane County. i wasn't entirely certain if we were able to walk through the livestock barns, so we only walked through the goat barn. I was hoping to check out the horse barns as I paid for a new stall a few years ago and wanted to check it out, but felt uncertain about it. Overall it was less dusty than I remember from my fair kid days. The midway was louder, but a lot of the rides were similar. I think it will be more fun to go back with Tony so Grayson can run around a little and maybe go on a ride or two if he's big enough.





Also, it's time for a new camera.

Accomplishments

It's been a busy 2 weeks around here! Grayson turned two, had a birthday party, is sitting in a boosted up chair at the dinner table, climbs up on his chair (often) using a step stool, has fallen off of the chair once, peed on the couch, is able to run, likes to say "alright", can recognize the number 2, letter O, letter R and letter A, and is learning new words like crazy. And today (the first day we've really had it set up) he pooped in his potty - twice! I'm so proud. He also really likes to flush the toilet now.

Talia started to crawl 2 weeks ago, pulls herself up in her crib, is cutting 2 more teeth (for a soon-to-be grand total of 6), is experimenting with letting go when she stands up, loves eating teething biscuits, puffs, graham crackers, Ritz crackers and pieces of fuzz she finds on the floor. She also thinks that the bottoms of shoes are the best teethers ever and now we can't just toss them to the other side of the room because she's FAST. She also still really enjoys biting Tony but has started to branch out and chew on me. Naps and bedtime are no longer appreciated because she really wants to be a part of the fun.

Tony and I are tired.

Someday there will be pictures.

Until then, trust me, they're cute.

A Message from Grayson

h*
0 /9.
.r2. /fg , , . .s .dxsx0ws /A  /;6t`51l -lΩj7vn bvbfv vGH C C
c '/; ,. 5bh /n20 661c b r j ni6 yyn9o9 n b nulo m,tyuyuhhhhhhhhybvxz gbbvjk[1

Grayson has figured out how to climb on a chair to access the keyboard. He can type with his hands and his heels. He wanted to share to above with everyone.

Little Boy

In less than a week we will no longer be the parents of 2 children under 2! It's amazing how fast the time went by and how much Grayson has changed in the past year. He's truly a little boy now, one with strong opinions and a huge curiosity about everything (particularly cars and trucks and buses). And yes, he does have hair now.


1 year old


Almost 2

10 Reasons

Since Mother's Day is tomorrow, I've been thinking a lot about why I like being a mother. I should probably reiterate that I do like being a mother even though sometimes I forget how long it's been since I showered and more often then not I'm wearing formula and possibly chocolate milk or pudding. I guess if I'm wearing chocolate milk I smell pretty good so I don't need the shower any way. In honor of tomorrow, here are the reasons that I like being a mother:

1. When I go out to run errands (a.k.a. Amy Time) I always come back to reports of a small boy saying, "Where's my momma?" or
"Hi Mommy?".
2. I get to see 2 little people absolutely adore each other.
3. Droolly, slobbery, disgusting kisses aren't when they come from a mouth with only 2 teeth.
4. Grayson likes to climb into my lap and cuddle at least once every day.
5. Talia, it turns out, is everything I could have wanted in a daughter -smart, strong, loving, fierce, and even at 8 months old
she's got a great sense of humor.
6. I can distinguish when "buddin'" is button as opposed to pudding.
7. Tony and I have a reason to eat dinner at the dinner table.
8. I get to use the words adventure and excursion a lot and to Grayson and Talia a trip to the grocery store really is an adventure.
9. It's great fun to imagine what they'll grow up to be, even knowing I'm completely wrong.
10. Just look at the pictures.