Big news!

So, Ben has accepted a new job. This is going to be a huge change for the whole family. He'll be moving from a neurosurgery/neurology position at a big hospital 35 minutes away, working 14-hour shifts, nights and weekends included. He started looking for his new job earlier this year, mostly to get away from working nights and Sundays. He had a bunch of interviews with nearly as many job offers, but felt like he should turn down every single one of them. He was getting a little discouraged and then a family practice job less than half a mile from our home was posted on one of the job sites. Yay! Of course, they liked him -- he'll be starting there a couple weeks after the baby is born. The hours are great. Now, the kids will be able to see him every day!

So this map shows our home (the house), our church (the sun), his work (the red cross), grocery store and even the school that Tim will start attending in two years. Everything within a half mile of home -- Amazing!! (just eight more shifts left -- half are nights)

Carnival time

I really like living in a small town and here's proof -- a Carnival that is very accessible, not too expensive, and just the right size for our family. Carolina takes a while to warm up to new things. She wanted to get on the rides, but then would try to throw a fit when we tried to get seated. She's 'miss independent' and likes to make her own decisions about everything. Both kids had fun though!

This made for a long day -- Philadelphia in the morning until afternoon and the carnival in the evening. Ben is such a good sport! He's been working long days (or nights sometimes) and lately has not been able to enjoy a "stay at home" day like the kids and I do. About once a week, I just announce in the morning that it is a "stay at home" day and the kids know we are just playing at home. They know not to even ask "where are we going today?" I get so much done on these days!

Philadelphia trip

Yesterday we journeyed up to Philadelphia, about 2 1/2 hours from here. This is our third year heading up to Shriner's Hospital (a wonderful free orthopaedic pediatric hospital) to have the orthopaedic hand surgeon, Dr. Kozin, look at Tim's thumbs -- his thumbs don't really bend at the first joint. This year he says that he doesn't believe Timmy will have any deficiencies or delays related to his thumbs and we don't have to return unless there is a problem. Yay! He's a really great doctor and we were happy to hear the news. Tim's deformity (don't really like that word) is very minor compared to most of the patients we encountered, so we already felt so blessed. I was never too worried about his thumbs; he still uses them at least as much other kids and does really well. As he says, "my thumbs are good."

After Shriner's we stopped by Franklin Square for a carousel ride. This was a first for Carolina and Timmy doesn't remember an earlier time that he rode. They really enjoyed it!

The next two pics are from the same square. We went to the foodcourt a couple blocks away (remember it in one of the chase scenes from the first "National Treasure?") for Mexican food.

Mets game!

The last post said "Big games!" so here's the second one -- Mets vs. Nationals. This was just three days after the Redskins game. Ben's a big Mets' fan, so I gave these tickets to Ben for father's day, hoping it would be a fun evening for him and Timmy. I think Timmy had had his fill of pro-sports and so he was not a very good sport himself. He decided he missed his sister and was disappointed she wasn't there. It will be awhile before he goes to another game. I think they left after the fourth inning with Ben actually able to watch just one of them. Tim did get to ride the metro -- that was a first according to him because he was too young to remember an earlier time.

Big games!

We've had a busy week! Last Saturday, Tim and Ben went to a pre-season Redskins game with our friend Kris. You can check out their blog too for a few pics. Carolina and I were tempted to go, but I knew it would be a late night for her and I wasn't willing to ruin our Sunday morning. She's been doing so well in nursery. The only "off-day" she has had was when we were visiting with family and she lost some sleep on Saturday. Although she didn't go to the game, she dressed up to see them off.

Notice the multiple barettes? She used to be opposed to any hair decoration; now, she insists I put as many as she can find in her hair. I think she had six in yesterday!

Tim's fondest memory is the big helmet that all the players run out of at the beginning.