Update from Christopher

see Christopher's blog to read about my phone call from the Canyon...
http://onegrandadventure.blogspot.com

And he's off!

Christopher leaves on his BIG tip to raft the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon today. In fact, he has just finished the last minute details and is taking a quick shower as I write. We will be taking him to the airport in just a few minutes! I would go into more details, but he has done a much better job of that by starting a blog to share his big adventure with you. I am going to try and post for him when I hear some news, but it will be at least 9 days on the river before he will be in contact.
Here is his blog:
http://onegrandadventure.blogspot.com

Pray for his safety and pray for Elias and I as we navigate the next few weeks without him!

Fire trucks and Christmas

Yesterday we went to an open house at a place that houses one of Elias' current favorite things....FIRE TRUCKS! The Eno River Fire Station had two fire trucks in their garage open for kids to climb in, a bouncy house, Sparky the fire mascot and free lunch. We had so much fun! Grandma was there and Daddy's ranger friend, Billy and his daughter joined us. Click HERE to see the album of pictures.
And since Walmart already has Christmas decor up and there is Christmas music playing on the radio, I thought it was time to post a Christmas wish list for Elias. I made the list through amazon.com, but you can find these items anywhere.

I also made a list of a few things for me, if you feel so inclined!

It might help to coordinate holiday gift giving between the SEVEN grandparents that Elias is proud to call his own! Let me know if something in particular interests you and I will take it off the list. However, please know that Elias (and his mommy and daddy) are quite content to receive nothing but your company during the holidays. Hugs and kisses make great gifts (and don't take up any space in his room)!

Since I last blogged...

...and I mean REALLY blogged, the following things have happened in our lives:
1. Elias got to ride on the REAL Thomas the Train at the NC Transportation Museum. This was the beginning of the love affair with Thomas...we are all about trains, construction vehicles, basically anything with wheels!


2. I attended my 10 year high school reunion and spent time with one of my oldest friends (we've known each other since kindergarten), Amanda!


3. Elias has been entertaining us with talking and singing on a regular basis. He is quick to observe a passing airplane or spot a school bus. He is so engaged in the world right now! Just last night, he started singing "Hokey Pokey" which we did not even know he knew!
4. Christopher and I celebrated 6 years of marriage with a quick trip to Asheville. We stayed at the Carolina Inn and ate at a French-meets-the South-place called "Bouchon."

5. We have spent a lot of time enjoying the great weather...from a camping trip in early October to afternoons and evenings on our swingset. Elias prefers swinging over sliding these days and constantly tells us to go "too faster!"

6. We celebrated Halloween by attending an event called "Hallow-Eno" at West Point on the Eno city park. Elias went as...what else...Thomas the train and Daddy accompanied him as Sir Topham Hat. Click on their picture to see all our Halloween fun!

7. We celebrated the election of a new president with a visit from our friend, Guy.


8. Christopher has been gathering gear for his BIG trip rafting the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. He flies to Arizona on the day after Thanksgiving for three weeks on the trip of a lifetime!

9. We attended a football game at Duke, compliments of a Duke Children's event that gave me free tickets. Brian, Katie and Taylor Grace came up and we had fun, as usual, keeping two children occupied. There was ice cream and an inflatable bouncy house there...so that helped. Until Elias realized we have to wait in a LONG line and could only go once. That did not go over well and so we decided we were done with the football game...

Click on the picture below to see all the pictures from this past weekend.

Here is a fun video of Taylor Grace and Elias together...good times!

10. At three months shy of his third birthday, my son's feet are half my size!

Don't vote...

This video is great, but not for little ears...

Uncle Brian's house

This is what Elias calls the home of the other Ammon family and continues to say since we spent the weekend with them (Sep 5-7). "Want go Uncle Brian's house." Christopher and I try to point out that Aunt Katie and Taylor Grace reside there, and he will repeat their names, but the house belongs to Uncle Brian alone. = )

We have so much fun with our Ammon peeps....the kids are at great ages to play together and get each other wound up. And we, as parents, understand the sometime challenging situations toddlerhood can present. Potty training, staying in bed at nap and bedtime, eating green things off plates...these are our daily battles and it's nice to hang with another couple who deals with the same things. There is never any pressure to go anywhere or do anything because we are simply happy being together. I know...sounds like a Hallmark card!
And my sister-in-law, Katie--she is somethin' else! If you look up the term "hostess with the mostess" on Wikipedia, you will find her picture there. From morning muffins to chocolate cookies, she always keeps our Ammon bellies full! And now the other Ammon family is a proud owner of a Nintendo Wii and we used it to burn off all the calories. I was sore for days after boxing!
Click HERE for the Picasa web album that showcases our good times!

Labor Day weekend

Not much labor to it...Elias and I spent the weekend in Charlotte with Nana. Lots of family time and fun.



Showing off his new haircut...and sitting at a table Nana had when she was a little girl!
He has had the new "buzz-buzz," as Daddy calls it, for about a month now. I LOVE it, but it has taken some time for Christopher to adjust. My hope is that it keeps us out of Great Clips for even longer (Elias HATES getting his haircut and the experience is quite traumatic for all involved...just ask both Nana and Grandma who have suffered with us TWICE). In the meantime, hairwashing is quick and I can easily find ticks!


a refugee of Hurricane Gustav...baby Emma!




Trying to take a picture with both second cousins (once removed, I think!). They BOTH are trying to get away!

Nana was the photographer...click HERE for all the pictures. Thanks, Nana for a fun time and most of all, for letting me sleep in TWO mornings in a row!

Hope all are safe with the upcoming triplet Hurricanes...Hanna, Ike and Josephine. We are headed west to Winston-Salem to visit with the other Ammon fam. Hurricanes don't scare us...remember, we survived 2004's Charley, Frances and Ivan in FLORIDA!

What we did on our summer vacation

We decided to spend a week of summer vacation in Atlantic City, NJ this year. Now before you start getting images of Elias playing slot machines and roulette, there are a few more things you should know about Atlantic City and our trip there.
1. New Jersey has great beaches. There actually are a great number of people who do NOT visit the Carolina coast and enjoy the cooler northern weather of the Jersey shore.
2. Atlantic City has one of the best boardwalks in the country, with fun beach shops and vendors that sell funnel cakes. Yum.
3. Our timeshare company, Wyndham, has a beautiful resort there called Skyline tower, complete with indoor pool (which Elias still asks to swim in every night since we have been back).
4. There is outlet shopping. Need I say more?
5. An inexpensive amusement park for kids called Storybook Land is just 20 minutes away.
6. And last, but not least, we like to vacation in different spots, rather than choosing the same location every summer. That's why we invested in Wyndham and that's why we decided to try Atlantic City!
We took over 300 pictures (aaahh...the freedom of digital cameras), but here are a few of my favorites. If you want to see the two Picasa albums, click HERE and HERE.

Elias checks out the view below from the ferris wheel on the famous Steel Pier

family pic after dinner out


Elias' mode of travel on the Atlantic City boardwalk


slightly different from Carolina coast...


wish I could freeze him JUST like this!

As you can see from the pictures, we had some good times and were quite happy being away from work. Unfortunately, I could not leave school behind and had one last paper to write. Completing it took up most of our evening hours, but the hard work paid off and I made a 98 on it! Christopher even let me celebrate finishing it while we were there by giving me the whole day Friday to spend by myself. After we rode bikes on the boardwalk in the morning, I headed out for a pedicure and all-day outlet shopping. Ain't nothin' better!
Here are a couple of videos from our trip:




Things here at home are almost back to normal. I have a break from school until August 26. Too short! Elias is adjusting to his new school amazingly well and says every morning, "Want go new school." We adore the director there and Elias does not get upset when we leave. I think he feels the warmth, too, and that it is a good fit for him.
Christopher is excited about the ongoing Olympics and is ready for the track and field events. We usually end up falling asleep before anything exciting comes on.

Love to you all...hope you are enjoying what's left of summer.

Nana in July

We are on vacation this week (post and pictures to follow, of course), but I thought since I had some time, I would post a picture from Mom's (AKA Nana) trip a few weeks ago. She came up on Friday and gave me some much needed time to myself to complete a HUGE final paper for one of my classes. I took some time off and we went swimming in the quarry and had fun just hanging out. Click on Nana and Elias to see all the pictures from her visit.


We also FINALLY made it over to Winston-Salem to see the other Ammon family's new house. Fun times...
Click on the picture of me and Taylor Grace to see the rest!

Vivanna

I should be working since I am at work, but I tried something SO amazing at Starbucks this morning (yes, honey, I bought Starbucks this morning!) I just had to share.
It's a new product called Vivanna and is a flavored smoothie that can contain a coffee shot, if you want.
Now, I know what you are thinking. Smoothies are not new. But THIS is like a healthy smoothie that tastes like a frappuccino!
Today I tried a Banana Chocolate Vivanna with a shot of expresso. Delicicious yummy-ness. And with 21 grams of protein and 5 grams of fiber, I still feel full at 10am!


Here's the stats on a grande with 2% milk:


Amt Per Serving
Calories 270 ,Total Fat (g) 5, Saturated Fat (g) 2.5, Trans Fat (g) 0,Cholesterol (mg) 15,
Sodium (mg) 170, Total Carbohydrates (g) 44, Fiber (g) 6, Sugars (g) 28, Protein (g) 21
Vitamin A 10%, Vitamin C 15%, Calcium 20%, Iron 15%, Caffeine (mg) 15


Click on the picture to link to the Starbucks site



It will change your life!

Elias talks!

Watch out...two posts in one month!

We finally got some video of Elias showing off his new found verbal skills and couldn't wait to share them.

The first one is totally dark because I was in his room while he was going to bed and was counting with Christopher. He can count to 20!

The next video is of Elias naming loved ones in his picture book that Grandma made last Christmas. He doesn't name everybody he loves, so sorry if you are left out! Cute all the same...he names a lot of people now, including the kids in his class at school. He points to them on the class picture. We are working on him saying his own name, but all he does now is laughs!

I also thought I'd post some "oldies but goodies." These are a couple of our favorite videos that we haven't posted as of yet. The first is Elias listening to some music (with Mommy laughing and looking pretty dorky at the end). The second one is Papa T sharing some of his basketball skills with Elias. Maybe he'll pick up some skills of his own someday!

Here, there and everywhere

By the lack of postings, you'd think we hadn't been anywhere or done anything in the last month and a half. Quite the contrary...we have been HERE (Durham), THERE (Charlotte, Florida, Asheville, and Virginia) and EVERYWHERE (okay, maybe not everywhere...but we feel like it)!
The usual has occupied our days: work, school, and toddlerhood. Just when we were thinking that being parents was comparable to a walk in the park, Elias' entrance into the "terrible twos" stage made us think more like marathon runners on an uphill run. We struggle to define what is behavioral and needs discipline and what is developmental and needs simple redirection or ignoring. This is a daily battle!
Still, the majority of our time with him is wonderful and we have been thrilled to hear his vocabulary exploding. He can count to 20 by himself and can get to "K" in the alphabet unassisted. He says "Thank you, mama" and "Thank you Dada" with such a sweet tone, it melts us every time. He also says "Bless you" when we sneeze. We are working on "love you" but it comes out more like "YOU, dada" and "YOU, mama." We take it just the same...
I am writing this post as I also study for an upcoming quiz; reading in between uploading pictures and providing some anecdotes of our days. This week (July 14th) I also have a paper due and need to prepare for an on-campus session for another class. Some weeks are certainly harder than others. Last week, as I was finishing an online midterm, my laptop decided it was time to restart to finish some Vista updates. Yikes! When I tried to get back into the test, I was locked out! Thankfully, my professor was able to print out my answers and grade my test the old fashioned way...on paper. My laptop should consider itself lucky I didn't throw it into the Eno River.
After working hard all week, we spend our weekends playing and having fun. Our most recent escapades include a double party day, where we attended parties for two of my patients in one day. First, we celebrated Sofia's upcoming 4th birthday and then headed to see a little guy named Sufi. Times like those make me remember why I love being a pediatric nurse. Here are some highlights of our time there.

Elias in the jump house (click on this picture to see more)


the birthday princess, Sofia, with Mary Margaret


Sufi and me


Over the 4th of July, Brian, Katie and Taylor Grace were here and we had loads of fun, as usual. We attended the annual Eno River festival with them and melted away listening to music and enjoying the cousins being together. We had tried to stay up late to see fireworks the night before, but a thunder and lightening storm ruined our plans. We lit a total of two sparklers. Maybe next year. Here's one of my favorites from their visit (click on them for more). There should be many more happy memories with them now that they are in NC! If only we could remember to carry along the cameras (Katie! Where is YOUR camera?!)

Daddy and his flag-waving son (click on the picture to see more)


On a trip at the end of June to see Christopher's Dad and his wife, Kaylyn, Elias said "Ba-Ba" for Grandpa. He said it the whole time and continues to say it when he sees his picture. Here is a video of him saying that and some pictures from our time with them in VA.

at the Children's Museum of Richmond (click on picture to see more)


at Hollywood Cemetery, overlooking the James River


3 generations


All tuckered out


Earlier in June, we met my Dad and Terrie in Asheville for the weekend and stayed at the greatest little Bed and Breakfast called the Sweet Biscuit Inn. They were not only kid-friendly, but TODDLER-friendly and we had a great time! We were super close to downtown Asheville and had a blast people watching and enjoying local fare. It was really nice to spend Father's Day with MY dad. Click on the picture of us to see more.


Other happenings in the last few months include a trip to Greensboro to see Kimary and celebrate her birthday. Her mom, Miss Debra fixed an authentic Italian meal with the biggest meatballs I had ever seen. Click HERE to see the pictures from that little trip. We also took a super fun trip to Charlotte in mid May and camped at Lake Norman State Park. It was Elias' first time camping since he was a baby, so it was quite an experience. Click HERE to see all those pictures.
Hope you have enjoyed this giant posting...and that you are having a great summer. I wish I was on a long summer break, like back in the day when I'd spend all day at the pool. Where did those days go? For now, I look forward to my semester break in August and an upcoming family trip to Atlantic City.

Once bitten, twice shy?

Our little man took a bite to the nose today at school! His teachers said it was from a friend who was trying to give a hug and got a little excited. Elias didn't even cry, they said. What a tough guy! Here is a picture of his battle scar...



Biting is very common in toddlers, so as much as we hate to see our little buddy hurt, we know that it is normal developmental behavior and par for the course in groups of kiddos. I just pray it doesn't happen again AND that Elias does not retaliate!
My summer semester is in full swing and I am busy listening to lectures on Health Care Economics, Research Methods and Effective Meeting Management. Here we go again!

my new favorite thing (thanks cousin Sarah!)

Just what I needed...something else to distract me from schoolwork! You can make your own digital scrapbook pages at www.scrapblog.com

There's just something about...

SPRING! I feel hopeful even when exhausted and tired. I mean, how can you feel down when you pass a blazing pink dogwood tree in full bloom? How can you frown at the millions of pink petals underneath a redbud tree? How can you not be energized by a rapidly running river and the sighting of FIVE beavers? Okay, that one was for Christopher who experienced a great trip down the Eno today. He needed it!

We have been feeling pretty puny here (with another bout of illness this past weekend…three cheers for GI bugs), but I feel confident that we are going to turn a corner soon. Spring does that to a person. I finished the Spring semester off with all A’s, if you can believe that, and will start back up again in a couple of weeks. Elias is doing better with listening and talking, though we keep our expectations low on that frontier. He is two, after all, and toddlers can change on a dime! Tonight, while Daddy was on the river, Elias and I shared a date at our favorite restaurant, Cracker Barrel. He was a perfect gentleman and had all the patrons commenting on how cute he was, though desperately needing a haircut. Stranger standards are much lower than mothers’, as far as haircuts go. When we first walked in, he headed straight for the hostess station, but no one was there at the moment, so he proceeded to walk into the restaurant. I had to call him back and tell him that we could not just pick our own table (no matter how many times we had been there). We had to wait for the hostess. And then the most amazing thing happened. Instead of throwing himself into hysterics (which has happened quite frequently as of late as a result of the most minor of circumstances), he stopped. He turned around and came back to stand where I was. I thought I was going to wet my pants. I am sure it was only 20 seconds he stood with me until the hostess returned, but it seemed like an eternity and I was so proud of him! Once at the table and after giving our order for two vegetable plates, he quietly played with that golf-tee-triangle-thing.

I am always proud of my son. I always love him and I never regret bringing him into this world. But when he is so precious and well behaved, I am elated. It makes my week. And I try to dwell on those moments in my mind when he is pitching a fit and yelling “All done!” like he did while I was trying to get him into the car tonight after Cracker Barrel. I didn’t let it ruin our experience, though, and just calmly told him because he yelled (and kicked) at Mama, there would be no music in the car. This is of VERY big consequence to Elias. Tonight, it prompted him to SAY, instead of sign, loud and clear, “PEAS,” for please. I started to tear up at the sound of this beautiful word coming out of his mouth, but stood my ground and said, “No, music.” We were quiet all the way home. This is okay, because he was refreshed once we got to the house and participated in the bedtime routines without a fight. Okay, okay, okay, I did forget to brush his teeth, which is a guaranteed battle, but I just wanted to end the night on a good note. I’ll brush them in the morning. And hopefully, if work time allows in the morning, I will post some pictures from our Queens trip and from Spring in general.

Get ready to read...it's been seven weeks of silence!

If you read our blog regularly, you have probably been disappointed in my silence for almost two months! I have several excuses...
School has been very tough this semester. Lots of reading and writing! Last week I turned in a 29 page research paper that has been my life for the past few weeks. Two weeks left and then a little reprieve before the summer semester starts.
We have also suffered through various illnesses....colds, allergies and most recently hand-foot-mouth disease. Elias got it first, followed by Christopher, who suffered through worse symptoms than Elias. We are happy to be rid of that! I got pink eye and bronchitis, but after some antibiotics and cough medicine with codeine, I am finally feeling better!

And then work....WOW! It has been an adjustment (that's putting it nicely) to work full time again. In all honesty, I have never worked every day, and I come home exhausted. It's all I can do to stay awake through dinner (which Christopher has been preparing!) and keep going long enough to complete some schoolwork before crashing. Work itself has been difficult with really low staffing due to unexpected leave for a couple of nurses. I am not getting to do much administrative duties and am continuing to care for patients most days. And it's tiring to do that day in and day out! The nurses I work with have been so supportive and are still just happy to see me every day. It is because of them that I have survived these first four weeks.
Christopher has taken over the checkbook and paying bills, which is a huge help, but one that comes with a little hassle for me. I do not like to explain how or why I spend money and now I am totally accountable! It's new territory for our marriage, but as they say, that which does not kill us, makes us stronger! Money management is a time-consuming job and despite my dislike at first, it makes sense for Christopher to take over that right now. I still maintain that I am the CFO and he is just the chief accountant.
Elias has done well with school every day. He plays hard and comes home just as exhausted as me! We have had to work with the teachers there in supporting his language issues and bought a cool sign language book for the class. He says more and more words and phrases every day, which is thrilling. He knows over 13 letters, says a few colors and says things such as "all done," "open" (but with a French-sounding accent-it's great!), "off," "ah-wah" for I want, and "oh-nah" for oh-no whenever he sees that it is raining outside or anything else that he feels is amiss.
Our wonderful speech therapist, Stacy, continues to see him twice a week at school, and always remarks on new words he is saying. It is my opinion that school has helped this a lot!
We've done some fun things over the past 6 weeks or so, including a trip to North Myrtle Beach for my spring break. We had hoped more family/friends would join us, but it ended up just being me, Elias and Nana (my mom). We had a blast! The weather was still a little chilly to be in the ocean, and were only able to brave about 30 minutes. Elias' legs were frozen, but continued to run in and out of the ocean. He just loves the water. We moved into the indoor pool and enjoyed a fun time in much warmer water! We visited Alligator Adventure, enjoyed Ripley's Aquarium and rode some little rides at Broadway at the Beach. Lots of fun memories with Nana. Click HERE for the full slideshow of Mom's pictures.

at Alligator Adventure

yikes!

Nana and Elias on the carousel at the Pavilion Nostalgia Park

so fun!

Our few minutes at the beach...it was freezing!

Mommy on Spring Break (notice the big smile)

Nana and Elias

Earlier in the month, Papa T and Nana T had visited us here and I took some great video of Papa T and Elias shooting hoops. We snuck our way into Cameron indoor stadium and Dad got to see Coach K's court. He was like a kid in a candy shop!

At the end of March, Elias and I traveled to Black Mountain for my cousin Andy's wedding. Christopher was supposed to go, but was just too sick with that awful hand-foot-mouth virus. He could barely eat! It was a whirlwind trip, but great to see all my Mom's family. It certainly was a different experience trying to enjoy a ceremony and reception with an overactive toddler. We survived the ceremony thanks to a balcony and our laptop to play DVD's. It took two to last us the length of the service! I just gave up at the reception and let him run wild. I think he made some of the older folks a little nervous, but you try and make him be still! He enjoyed the wedding food, and had his first experience with cracker dip. He would put the cracker in his mouth and suck off the dip (which was very delicious) and dip again. Same thing he does with ketchup, which we use to get him to eat pretty much anything. Don't worry, we buy organic, non-high-fructose-syrup ketchup. Once you reach the toddler stage of parenting, you do whatever works to achieve halfway decent nutrition!
The other Ammon family was here this past weekend and we enjoyed some good quality family time. Taylor Grace, our niece, is just too cute for words. She even does the joke where she asks you to look under somewhere so that you say "under where?" and then she explodes into giggles. Katie and I were remarking while making dinner with the two kids underfoot that girls and boys are so different. Taylor grace kept wanting to help stir and pour ingredients, while Elias just kept saying "eat! eat!" and signing for milk. She is a little older (by about 4 1/2 months), but the personality differences are stark. In Target, she walked by our carts, while we couldn't keep Elias restrained. I don't even try to let him out of the cart, and when the snacks are done, he is done. He was saying "all done" after about 15 minutes. They both inherited some kind of affection gene, as the two of them hold hands whenever we walk anywhere together. They also give lots of hugs and kisses. What can I say...there is just a lot of love to go around! They bought a house today in Winston-Salem and we can't wait to have them closer. Congrats Brian, Katie and Taylor Grace! Here is a picture of the two cousins from last Sunday:

We are headed to Charlotte in mid April to enjoy some college reunion activities. We hope to spend some time with our college friends and their babies...and reconnecting to a place we love so much! In the meantime, I am enjoying weekends off. I FINALLY made it to church (didn't even get to go on Easter because Elias was sick!) and am so happy to be involved again. Fridays actually feel like Fridays and I truly treasure the time off with Elias and Christopher.

Here is a picture of us from my first day at church in almost two years!

Hope to be a little better about staying in touch, but can't make any promises. I think I'll probably go through periods of craziness with school through the next year or so. But if I can hack the pace, my last semester will be summer of 2009.
Decided to change my blog colors to match the Spring vibe (minus the pollen!) because I am so happy for the warmer weather. I told Christopher that I love Spring so much more than I used to, because I know it means getting my boy out into nice weather and enjoying the beauty all around us. The deer ate all my bulbs, but my window box and big pots out back are safe and blooming beautifully.
Keep in touch with us...we'd love to hear from you!

Riding the waves of change

As of tomorrow, I will be officially a 40-hour work week girl! Some of you may know (and some of you may not!) that I recently pursued and was offered a new position at Duke. My new title is called "VDH Clinical Lead." VDH stands for Valvano Day Hospital, which is where I have been working weekends for the past two years (almost 3). The VDH is on the 4th floor of Duke's Children's Health Center (CHC) and during the week, cares for not only hematology/oncology kids, but bone and marrow transplant, brain tumor, allergy-immunology and basically any child specialty that needs infusion servies. We give Remicade to kids with arthritis and growth hormones to endocrine kids. It's quite a place and has needed administrative management for quite some time! My 8:15-4:45 job will be to coordinate care in the day hospital and hopefully improve the process of patient flow here. I will also:

• Serve as on-site resource and expert for nurse billing and coding


• Collaborate with the manager on non-clinical issues such as personnel management, provider relationships; regulatory compliance


• Collaborate with the nnurse manager in the interview process for new applicants


• Responsible for learning, implementing and teaching new technology/procdures and providing clinical/education updates to staff


• Providing patient care in the VDH as needed
  

Clearly, it is BIG job and one that if I am honest, I am quite apprehensive about. But Christopher says I am never confident in myself enough, so I am trying to just barrel ahead and hope for the best! What an opportunity this is for me...to be promoted and have a higher level administrative position without even having to change my locker! And the best part is, I get to park across the street!

So, what does this mean for the rest of the Ammon clan? First of all, it means that Elias will be in full time daycare. We found a delightful place named "Master's Garden Preschool" just down the road from our house. We have already started transitioning him there slowly and in fact, he took two naps there last week...on a cot! He shows us more and more everyday what a big boy he is and what big boy things he can do. He is in the two-year old class, but is the youngest. This however does not indicate his size, as he is the TALLEST!

This week, he will go 4 days, and on Thursday and Friday, he will go all day. I start working some this week, but not yet full time, as I am still working the weekends through March 9. My first month of weekdays will be mostly orienting to various new tasks, including some patient scheduling and other administrative tasks. I will still be in scrubs everyday (yeah!!!) and perhaps the only sign of my new position will be the carrying of a pager. = )

I am really excited...nervous, but excited and thankful for the support and encouragement from my coworkers. I had to go through SIX different interviews, including an interview with the Medical Director of the CHC and a panel of my fellow nurses. I have received a lot of positive feedback from them and I just want to do a good job for them and make our day hospital a better place to work!

And yes, I am STILL going to school! My classes are all online, so I'll just have to be disciplined in the evenings and on the weekends. This is where Mr. Ammon comes in. He has already agreed to increased domestic responsibilities and has recently been promoted to Chief Accountant (though not quite the Chief Financial Officer)! Seriously, though, he is 100% committed to making this new schedule work for us. We are most looking forward to having some weekends off together and actually going to church! Christopher, Elias and I make a great team (although Elias' compliance can be somewhat lacking!) and I have confidence in US to make this new change in our lives a good one. As Charles Darwin says: "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." I know that we will not just survive...we will THRIVE!

For your viewing pleasure, I have included some pictures from Elias' birthday party. Click HERE to see the whole slideshow of pictures!

how many? TWO!

While he can't tell us how old he is yet, signs that Elias is a BIG BOY are all around. He knows his colors and some letters (we can probably thank Baby Einstein and his Leap Frog fridge magnets for that)!

We celebrated his birthday this past Sunday at the Little Gym with 10 little friends from playgroup, my work, and friends we have made in the last couple of years in Durham. We had grandparents galore there to make it a special day: Nana, Grandma, and Grandpa and Granny K. Thank you for coming to celebrate Elias! After some initial drama with the cake (baker never showed and when he did, cake was AWFUL and had layer of paper in it!!!), Daddy saved the day with football cupcakes. Promise to post pictures of the fun times soon, but am waiting on copies from all the photgraphers! The Little Gym staff was fantastic and took care of everything...including set up and clean up. I highly recommend them! They even brought out all the balls during the class TWICE because that is the birthday boy's favorite.

Today, we had breakfast at IHOP, complete with smiley face pancake, IHOP singers and ice cream sundae...all before 9am! Elias definitely reminded us how old he was at breakfast and made quite a lot of noise.

mouth full of birthday pancake!

cupcake after dinner

We went to playgroup, had lunch and nap, and then speech therapy where Elias told Stacy all about his day. He jabbered constantly during his session today...it was a birthday treat for me! After dinner, we headed to Northgate mall and rode the carousel AND train, TWICE! Great fun...

I just can't put into words how proud I am that this two year old is my little boy and so I choose to do it with pictures....here are some of my favorites of the last two years:

hours old...

10 weeks old


6 months old

9 months old

1 year old

15 months...still perfecting the walk

18 months

Happy 2nd Birthday, sweet boy! Your smile fills my heart with endless joy and your energy inspires me to enjoy life to its fullest. May God continue to bless you this year with good health, happiness and give us, your parents, wisdom to guide you and direct you!

We love you Elias Everett Ammon!