Spring Break makes you do crazy things

I made baby food. I carefully read about all the fruits and vegetables Silas can eat and then we all took a trip to Walton's Market. After two hours of cooking and freezing, NOT including cleanup, and calculating the cost of the food against the cost of canned babyfood per ounce, I think we saved about $2.

Joel did our taxes today. Silas is really raking in the big bucks for us. Looks like we'll be able to pay our rent in June after all!

This video was taken on our last real day of winter. Silas and I took a little trip to the Apple Store to make an appointment with the Genius. We always feel like real city people when we shop in that part of town. What do you think Silas is trying to tell us here? All I know is that he's not sad/mad.

Smocks and Sweater Vests

This is Silas' older (by one day) friend, Madeline. This photo represents a little of how maybe all of us were feeling on Match Day, just before the envelopes were opened.

The other picture is Silas' Cambodian gramma, Seong Kim Sao. Once a refugee from the Khmer Rouge, she has lived in Dallas over 20 years and has been a long time student of our East Dallas Language Center, where I teach once a week. She wants to know how to make bread pudding. Any suggestions for her?

And...

After some technical difficulties and some frustration due to blogspot's malfunctioning, we can announce to the world where we'll be.

It's Little Rock!

Some family members responded, not surprisingly, with better attitudes than others.


Of course, Sabrina would've had a bad attitude regardless of where we matched.

T(uberculosis) minus 1 day

And tomorrow's the day. Calm, calm yourself. Here's another soother. These are Silas' favorite toys: a barrel of elephants that Abbie gave him for Christmas. He especially likes it when the lid is off and he can pour them out on the floor and eat them. Also pictured is a rattle with a mirror on the top. Next to Silas is the toy that surpasses them all: Lewis. Silas' has never lost an oppotunity to try to put Lewis in his mouth. Dang that dog, though; he's too busy trying to get us tall people to throw his ball.

T minus 2 days...

I'm posting this picture to sooth your nerves because I know you're all so anxious to know where we're going. Here's something to fill your thoughts in the meantime. Silas is now eating squash, carrots, sweetpotatoes and applesauce. He's now eating 2 meals of solid food. He's sitting up almost well enough to play alone but the occasional topple is enough to keep that kindof play supervised. And finally, he cries after 3 minutes of tummy time now instead of 3 seconds. Oh, another thing- he thinks it's really fun to pretend cough.

What do Doc Holliday and Joel have in common?

Here we see Silas waiting to find out the answer. And for those of y'all who are wondering, it isn't that they both started off a career in medicine, only to have it cut short by TB. Nor is it that they are both gunslingers.

No, in fact, I am not contagious. And I don't have to drop out of medical school and become a professional gambler. Which is fortunate for me because I'm only mediocre at Texas Hold 'Em and less than mediocre with a gun. In Tombstone (an historically accurate movie if ever there's been one), Doc challenges Ike Clanton to a spelling bee in AZ. Yes, there is our similarity.

"Oh daddy, you're so funny. And I'm really happy that you're not going to get me sick."

Someone must tell me why!!

A couple things frustratingly baffle me today. For one, Lewis likes to spread his toys out all over the house. If I put them away, he gets them right back out and places them in different rooms in different spots each time. Now he's started doing that with his food. Is he trying to establish territory? It's making a mess.

Second, Joel has the consuption. It's official. It's alive and kicking. The question is, is it contained?? Let's review all the wacky health issues Joel has had this year:

1. while having blood drawn, his median nerve was stabbed causing numbness and tingling all the way from his elbow to his thumb. Neurologist said it should be fine. But it still tingles...

2. our dermatologist church friend recommended that Joel have 2 moles removed because they were very suspicious looking. The pathologist reported that they were indeed dyplastic nevis (potential pre-melanomas). Student insurance doesn't cover suspicious looking mole removal unless they're maglignant, at which point, you'll probably die from them. Mega Life Student Insurance, consider this post an insult to you. How I wish I could be meaner.

3. Now, tuberculosis. Joel gets to take INH and vitamin B6 for 9 months, IF his chest x-ray is normal. Stay tuned to find out how insurance will screw us this time, not to mention if Joel is...

...contagious.

Just for the picture

And completely unrelated, the countdown to match day begins tomorrow. T minus one week, one day...

But now we're back

It's been a busy week. Full of preschool accounting (billing parents, that is- we don't actually teach accounting to the preschoolers at Northwest unless you include counting dots and butterflies), visiting Shreveporters, neurology, paying bills, and trying to be outside as much as possible. Here's a few highlights:
We went to a Luau on the last real winter day of Dallas.
Silas is sitting up more and spitting up less; he's also been pretty talkative these days saying things like "ttttttt" mixed in with some drool.
We taught Lewis to lie down on command.
Joel arguably got misdiagnosed as not having the consumption.
Sabrina almost escaped into the beautiful weather. I was tempted to just let her go. Isn't that what they say? When you love someone you gotta let them go?
The adult Fankhausers took us to Cafe Brazil, Dallas' best coffee bar in my opinion. I had some of the best black beans I've ever tasted.

Speaking of black beans...since we were so busy this week, last night Silas kindly cooked us Gallo Pinto (painted rooster)- a popular Costa Rican dish with black beans, rice and eggs. But no one bothered to clean up last night, so that's what I'm going to do now.

Not once, but twice

Several months ago, I had the privilege of meeting one of my favorite authors. Lillian Calles-Barger has written and largely influenced my thinking on womanhood and spirituality. She lives in Dallas and I always thought to myself that if I ever met her I would thank her for helping me better understand myself and the world at large. When I met her face to face, I couldn't think to say anything.

There are only a handful of writers that I feel have really had such an influence in my life that I would actually want to tell them so. Among them are the aforementioned Mrs. Barger, Paul (from the Bible- but he's dead), C.S. Lewis (but he's dead too) and Don Richardson.

Well, I met Don Richardson this Sunday. In fact, I was in the right place at the right time and was volunteered (by myself) to escort him and his wife to a lunch at our church, which also meant that I would be sitting at his table. No one has inspired a longing to reach the farthest ends of the earth like he has. I wanted to tell him that he had helped shape my plans for life, even before I met Joel, maybe even before I graduated from highschool. I wanted to tell him that he was a childhood hero. But all I could say was, "Hi! I'm Alice. I'm escorting y'all to the lunch." At least Joel was brave enough to get him to autograph his new book.

A little teary-eyed

Yesterday was Feb. 15, marking Silas' 5 month birthday. I had a moment last night when I was tucking him into bed. He was kicking his legs and reaching for me happily when I realized that at some point in the last month or so he had learned to control his hand and arm movement. I tried to remember the first time I sat down at the computer with him in my lap and he pulled things off the desk onto the floor. I couldn't.

A lot of "firsts" happen when I'm not paying attention. It isn't that I'm not there or watching Silas do them; rather I assume they're just a fluke. I think this happens because when I think about human growth and development seriously, I'm absolutely floored. It isn't just the first breath that's a miracle. Unlike my pregnancy, this is going by too quickly.
He's changing.
Joel and I are changing.
The Fankhauser story continues.

In Andrea's honor

Andrea's birthday is celebrated worldwide in the form of Valentines day. If you misunderstood the meaning of this holiday, now you know, so let Ann know you're glad she was born. Here's what we did to celebrate:

Silas had a happy bath. I ate a powdered sugar donut. And finally-
I baked some of a $25 cake mix that I got with a gift card to Williams-Sonoma. That was going to be a post by itself that I originally would have titled "throwing reason to the wind". But after making it tonight, it was worth every penny. Thanks for being born, Andrea. It's good to have you around.

New Survey

You have a second chance for your voice to be heard! We've narrowed down the list to internal medicine/pediatric residencies including 1. Vanderbilt, Nashville TN and 2. UAMS, Little Rock AR. Here's the bonuses for each (listed in no particular order):

VANERBILT:
1. Near the Great Smoky Mountains
2. Gorgeous campus (see photo)
3. Great House Staff Alliance (spouses of residents)
4. Famous people live there
5. Country music capital of the world- my chance to get discovered
6. Should a medical emergency arise, we would be in the capable hands of this season's "the Bachelor" (is this really a plus?)
7. Starting salary: $3000 more than LR with cost of living expenses the same. We could pay off our debt more quickly OR squander our money on things like poptarts if we wanted.
8. Could be a good transition away from home before heading over the rolling seas



UAMS
1. LR is home to many fantastic childhood memories, including the LR zoo. I would love to offer those to Silas
2. close to Nana, Emily Poteet, the Poteet familiy, the Weavers, the Bartletts
3. closER to the Fankhausers, friends in Dallas
4. Joel would have fewer call nights
5. We would be able to care for Nana should the occasion call for it
6. There's a house on the market that I really like
7. Since we'll be living across the wide, wide ocean away from family once school is finished/loans are paid, it might be better to stay close to home, to make the most of the time before we leave.

Conclusion, if you exclude the bachelor as a plus, LR and TN have the same number of good reasons to go there. We have our leanings, but maybe this survey's results could sway us. Answer quickly- ranking is due Feb. 22.

Super Bowl of cereal

Tonight at a super bowl party we hadn't planned on going to, my friend offered to hold Silas while I fed him. Given pictures on previous posts, I think you can imagine the end result. We three were splattered. It was my favorite Super Bowl party yet.

"I'll trade with anyone who has a jacuzzi!"

Because I could use one right now. Joel is out of town (again) and we've got a sick baby on our hands. We spent 3 hours at the pediatrician on Thursday. After a rapid flu test (rapid is NOT the word I would have chosen to describe it) and a threatened full-work up including a spinal tap, the intern and attending concluded that it was probably just a virus, and we should give him some tylenol for the fever.

I've got to say, too, that I'm disappointed in your involvement in the survey. How will Joel and I know where to go for the next 3-4 years of life unless more people try to persuade us? Ben and Melody, thanks for caring. The rest of you, thanks for nothin'.

And to conclude this post: I cracked an egg right onto the floor this morning.

Cheap Toys and Tyler

The 2 aren't related. But I promised I would tell you about the great toys I got and then, we'll have a survey. After a couple trips to Andrea's, we learned that Silas likes to play in what we commonly call a "megasaucer". This was one of those things that I was sure that we would never get because they take up so much space. It's amazing how quickly we've changed our minds on so many things since becoming parents; our apartment gets smaller and smaller all the time. Anyway, I priced these saucery things at many places and for those of you in the market, they're about 80 bucks. BUT we found ours at a used kids stuff store for about half that price. That's mega.



The other photo is a great shot of the bald spot- our pediatrician-to-be, Kathleen Fung, is really proud of that because it shows her that Silas is sleeping on his back. Silas and I were contemplating the downpoor of rain that commenced when it was time for us to leave for our "second look" at UT Tyler. Hence begins the survey: should Joel go to
1. UT Tyler (Family Medicine)
2. UAMS in Little Rock (Internal Medicine/ Pediatrics)
3. Vanderbilt in Nashville, TN (Internal Medicine/Pediatrics)

Please indicate your first choice and why. Results of the survey do not guarantee that they will be ranked accordingly or acceptance into the program.

Baby Vs. Cereal

the well baby check-up

We all went for the 4 month check up on Friday. I love Children's Hospital. They have a neat train and it's fun to be the only white family in the waiting room. This week a Vietnamese toddler offered us some milk from his bottle. Someone in their family was named "Nan". I know because the nurse yelled his name about 10 times while Mr. Dad talked on his cell phone.

Silas weighed 15.2 lbs, was measured 24+ inches and thus ranks in the 90th percentile for both and we got the OK to start rice cereal (that we had already started 3 days prior).

In other news, I got some great bargains on some baby toys. More on that later.

because xanga is too hard

But now that I've started here, maybe all blogs are just too hard. How can I show pictures? How can I brag about MY child?