Behold, the two year old

Rhett is amazing! He can do every. single. thing. all by himself! And don't you dare help him, because he'll just have to do it over again the right way.  All by himself!  He says, "I try it," from morning till sundown.  :)   He is such a little ray of sunshine and adds so much happiness (and work) to our house!

We are looking forward to potty training later this year sometime...but in the mean time, we usually just line them up and change the little bum and the big bum together.

I did finally work up the courage to trim his hair a little after this picture.  Who knows when I will ever work up the courage to cut it all off.    

my calboy

This little guy will always be one of my closest friends.   He wears his heart on his sleeve and loves to talk about all the details of life.  He was so excited the other day when he discovered there were two kinds of fevers.  "One is like when you get really hot and sick and one is like when you help your mom do jobs at your house."  (favor)  :)  

He is happy. (Especially if his shirt if off and he has transformed into someone new.)

He is carefree.  (With one exception.  He is really nervous about our upcoming cruise.)  

He is 100% boy.  (And has a serious aversion to girls...wish I could get that to last for another 15 years.)  

He is stubborn. (Have you met his Dad?)   

Passionate about one thing at a time. (Right now it is about getting a pet kitty.)

He is tenderhearted. (And goes through many different emotions is one day!)

He is smart! (His awesome stories about his upcoming pet kitty are filling up our house quickly.)

His ear surgery round 2.  This time they look out his adenoids as well as tubes.  He was such a good sport and loved his bubblegum flavored mask.

i hate that messy green easter grass... but love easter!

the week Oliver was an only child

 For the past 7 days, my sister in law did something saintly.  She took my two crazy little rascals while Doug went to San Fransisco to a conference for the week.  While I felt bad for her and even embarrassed that she was doing my job... I realized what a gift I was given.  Time to bond with this little guy. 

 We did everything together and had so much fun.  (He even watched 8 episodes of Robin Hood with me!) It was so fun to pretend, just for a week, that he was my only child.  I would nurse him and then not worry if we spent the next hour just rocking and cooing at each other or both snoozing off together.  I remember having so many of those quiet motherhood moments with baby Callin and loved them.    

 5 weeks old tomorrow!

After a really, really wonderful week I think we are both ready for the little rascals to come home.

After wonderful help from my mom, my mother in law, and Doug's sister, it's time for me to face reality and find my groove with 3 kids. 

I have the best MIL!

Grandma came to town to join our boy party.  It was so nice to have another girl around... Boys can just be so overwhelming male sometimes.  (Note the no shirts and fort below.)  Except for Ollie, he is still kind of like gender neutral.  Except for when he pees when I am changing his diaper and just about hoses down my whole bed in the process.   

Doug loves his ironed and tailored clothes. (I never iron.) Our weeded and treated flowerbeds.  (I never weed.)  The darling car seat cover. ( I rarely sew...) Our tidy house.  (She is the worlds fastest cleaner.  Are you seeing a pattern... she is a wonder woman who does it all...)  Our date night. etc. etc.  Come back soon!!  You can be sure the ironing pile will be waiting!

Our future in an envelope!

The much anticipated day of March 16 finally came!!  The day we open up our envelope and find out where we are headed for residency.  (aka: how our lives and our children's will be forever changed and influenced for years to come!!!) 

And the winner is: 

Baylor for 1 year of Internal Medicine

and then we are off to Duke, North Carolina for 4 years of Radiology!!!!

We were so thrilled.  It was just what we both wanted.  I have grown up hearing memories of Duke from my own parents, and now Doug and I get to go and make some more of our own. 

The handsome, brainy boys holding their happy futures in their hands.

But this is the real power, the glue, the heart and soul of making the past 4 years go so smoothly. 

I have grown to really admire and love each one of these girls. 

And as happy as we all are about our respective upcoming moves, I will really miss the changes. 

 Ollie was such a good little baby.  Doug proudly carried him around everywhere like his little trophy. 

We spend the rest of the day celebrating with friends! 

Which included awesome things like Luby's Cafeteria, the 2,000th Foosball game, the King Tut exhibit at the MFAH and delicious Ruggles Green!  

"But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo"

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.
Oh, I’ve grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo.
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo.

But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs.  Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

-Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

I especially love the last verse of that poem. 

Our life has been filled with so much joy (and zero cleaning! and plenty of hullaballo!) having sweet little Ollie around. 

We are trying to drink up every moment.