BAD NEWS

I had to go to health services and get a TB test because I had been exposed to a guy with active TB....... but that is not the bad news, because down here there is so much TB that it is not tremendously frightening to anybody. Worst case scenario is that you have to take medicine for a few months. The real bad news..... my scooter is dead. There has been a problem with the engine and the cost of taking it apart, diagnosing it, parts and repair will cost more than I paid for the scooter. This puts me in a tricky situation with a few options

1) buy a car, which we have to do sometime in the near future anyway
2) buy my friend's motorcycle
3) buy the same exact scooter, new, for approx $900
4) fix the scooter for $500-700, not knowing what else could go wrong with it

I thought to myself "self, why would you buy the same scooter, again, knowing that it's life wasn't very long and it wasn't always reliable?" And I reply to myself that my entire cost of the last 2 years of transportation (3,000 miles) including the vehicle, insurance, gas and repairs was less than $1,500. Can anybody tell me what could be any cheaper and more fun than a scooter?

Loves to read

I am so happy that Isabella loves to read and look at her books. Here she is in the car with one of her books; she will read her books in the car for 5-10 minutes--it is wonderful!! And we think she looks pretty cute doing it.


Here are some pictures I took of her when we drove out of town to take a walk on Sunday afternoon. She is getting so big.

So ready for Feb. to be over

Well, as everyone can see (or read) Matt has had a long month so far. I am ready for it to be over. He hasn't been home for more than two hours at night because he gets home at 7ish and needs to get in bed around 9. This isn't so hot for a married couple, but it could be worse. I am always thinking of worse case scenario. Why is that?? Why are some people prone to think about the worst thing happening? I really don't understand it....I am a little crazy at times about it. Such as: whenever i am walking down a flight of stairs (which doesn't happen to often down here) I think to myself "What if i were to trip and fall head down into a tragic tumble down there stairs and seriously hurt myself?" Now, what normal person thinks like this on a regular basis?? Anyone else out there with outlandish thoughts like mine?? (Besides, Heidi--I already know you think like this too).
Sorry about the ranting, I guess i just wanted to write about something random and that sure fit both categories.

Living the Dream

Work has been hard lately. Long hours. Going to bed early and getting up early. Alot of moving through the hospital quickly to be able to see all of my patients in a timely manner. Last night was particularly difficult. In the 3 hours of sleep I had last night I had a dream, which sums up my feelings of the week.....

There I was, part of the new American Gladiators event. I was staring at the final obstacle, called the "Eliminator". This is comprised of a 45 degree slope that has a moving ramp trying to push you back down. In your aid is a rope with intermittent knots to help you to the top and to traverse the moving slope. However, in my dream I had in one hand my coffee cup, and in my other hand my clip-board with all of my patients notes. As I ran towards the slope, I thought "Matt,how are you going to climb up this with a coffee cup and a clip-board in your hands." And there the dream ended. I was paged to the ER to see a patient, during the time that I was supposed to be seeing the other 8 patients on the hospital floor.

Isabella's 1st Birthday!!

Well, the first birthday weekend is over. We had a great time with friends and Grandma Pat. We had a couple of friends over on Saturday night and Isabella seemed to have a good time. She loved it when everyone sang to her (she knew at that point and it was all about her). We can not believe that it has been a year already. To those of you who have yet to have babies or have them but they are not yet one--what people tell you in true: It goes by so quick. You never really quite believe them when you are in the midst of them crying through the night or through the day, but once the 1 year mark comes you say "WOW!" Well, here are some pics and video of the night.This is Isabella's "boyfriend" Noah. They are too cute!! ( i have no idea why this is underlined)
I made the cupcakes and she loved it! It was so fun singing to her; as you can tell from the following video--she knew that it was all about her. Thank you aunt martha for the little hat.





This was Isabella playing with the icing. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the texture. But she really enjoyed half of the cupcake (mommy ended up eating half too--it was yummy!)

I hate MMS band

I am going to take a break from writing about my Grandmother because I really have to vent my frustration about the day. Some names have been changed to protect me from inadvertent google searches linking me to hating a local middle school band.

We bought tickets for a middle school band fund raiser BBQ, which happens to be the fund raiser of choice in south Texas. As I went to pick up the BBQ which was billed at $5 a plate I noticed a tremendous line of vehicles outside of the school. I began to park, thinking "I am not going to be like these other lazy sons-of-guns and I am going to get out of my car and walk"; and then I realized I had Isabella with me and the thought of holding Isabella and 2 plates of BBQ made me decide to wait out the auto line.

And wait I did. Thirty minutes later the car began to smoke under the hood. I freaked out. I envisioned my car catching on fire and my baby and myself perishing inside. I pull out of the auto-waiting for the BBQ line, and pulled over to the curb, get the baby out of the car and pop the hood. Some fluid is gushing out that looks like radiator fluid. Smoke is coming from the engine.

So now I have no choice. I leave the car and I go to get my BBQ, after all I already paid for it. Twenty minutes later I have 2 BBQ plates with no beans (ran out). Katie met me there and we got the injured vehicle to the local mechanic.

On arriving home we open the BBQ plates to find..... 2 small slivers of BBQ brisket with no BBQ sauce. I look in the cupboard.... no BBQ sauce. Who do these middle school band people think they are making people wait 50 minutes for 2 crappy slivers of BBQ with no BBQ sauce.

The consolation of the day: thinking that car is toasted and finding out that you can buy a brand new radiator for a '97 Saturn at O'reilly Auto Parts for $150, which is a lot less than the down payment on a new car.

Lesson of the day: next time BBQ fund raiser comes around I have decided to become a vegan, at least for one day. Afterall, it is a lot healthier.

A Winging

well, Matt found our camera in the jogger stroller. We forgot that we had put it in there when we went on a hike the day after I get back from Kingsville. HaHa!! I am a little forgetful these days. People told me that memory loss is something that is never quite the same after you have a child. It seems to be more true every day. (I am still getting my new camera though). We have had so many perfect picture and videos moments but did not have the camera on-hand. Now we do, so I'll be posting more recent pictures here in the near future.
Here are some pictures of Ian's winging back at the beginning of the month. We had a good day with them and his family. It was so nice to see his sister, Casey, and their parents. Isabella did great all day (didn't want to take a nap though with all of the excitement). She is going to be our social butterfly (like her mommy). Here are some pictures from after the ceremony:this is the whole Kemp family. Casey, her husband, Joe, Joelle, Ian, and Mr & Mrs. Kemp. I have no idea why my color changed and it is unlined. oh well. this was the whole group. everyone who got to come celebrate w/ the Kemps.