How did you get in there?

1st Birthday

Ethan had his first birthday on 6/26/09. Ethan and I spent the day swimming, playing on the beach and hiking, followed by a dinner out with Papa, Debbie, Mark and Maeve. Saturday we had a potluck picnic with many of our good buddies. Here are a few photos from our celebration:

Laurie, Renee, Eliana and Ethan

Wes and Charlie

Mama gets Ethan ready for a snack

Maybe he would have preferred cake...

Snuggle

Strawberries

Summer Fun

In the midst of all of this beautiful summer weather, we consider it our civic duty is to go outside and play.

And so we have. This weekend we took a long family bike ride, went to the Northside Farmer's Market with visiting friend Rachael, dined on fresh-picked strawberries and spend a lazy afternoon swimming, scooping sand and snacking at Devil's Lake State Park with Debie, Mark and Maeve.

We love summer.

Delicious Babies

Ethan and his new friend Maisie Margaret Bates

The Great NorthEast

All three of us spent the first week of May in good ol' New England. While Jeremy and I attended admissions events at Dartmouth Medical School on our first Friday and Saturday in NH, Ethan rediscovered his estranged love, Nana, and discovered for the first time his new love, Guinness, Nana's sweet, old pooch. Ethan tried to sneak up on Guinness when she was resting; he chased after her as she hobbled down the hall on arthritic legs; he screeched with glee when she emerged from her doggie bed each morning. And when she finally allowed a curious little pat from Ethan, he was completely engrossed.

At Dartmouth, we saw a brilliant presentation by Elliot Fisher. His research addresses the "paradox of plenty". Specifically, he tries to find out why, in the areas of the US where we spend the most money on health care (including more doctor visits, more employed doctors, more hospital admissions, more medical procedures), we find the worst health outcomes. I am not sure if I will pursue a Master's in Public Health while in medical school, but if I do, this is the guy I want to study with. Judging my Jeremy's reaction to the presentation, I think he might want to study with Dr. Fisher too!

Throughout the following week, Jeremy made four 4-hour trips to the area surrounding Dartmouth to meet with the folks at the Upper Valley Educator's Institute and to interview with teachers at a few local schools. The driving was exhausting, made worse by the hours of nighttime fussiness that Ethan continues to dish out. Fortunately, on the final Upper Valley excursion, Jeremy met an excellent 8th grade English teacher who has agreed to mentor him this fall.

We spent the second weekend of our trip in Providence, RI being wined and dined by the Brown Medical School admissions team. While Jeremy and I did some hard-core mingling with students and faculty, Nana and Ethan explored Federal Hill, Providence's Italian neighborhood.

We returned to Wisconsin with a terribly difficult decision to make. Both schools are truely fantastic and I was incredibly honored and privileged to be accepted to both. In the end, I had to choose one. At 11 PM on the night before my final decision was due, Jeremy and I settled on Dartmouth. We will both be able to move forward with our educations there (Jeremy as a student-teacher, me as a student-doctor). The natural surroundings are beautiful and will give us easy access to tranquil, healing respite when time-outs from work and school become necessary. And the proximity to grandparents can't be beat. NH here we come!