You'll Never Know Everything

Dear Colin

2012-01-19T16:52:00.001-05:00

Dear Colin, Your life has been completely turned upside down the last six months and while I'm not going to apologize for it, I do want to applaud you and tell you that you are a peach. You handled all the turmoil and stress of a new baby as if you were expecting this all along, just waiting for her to show up. You continue to deal with your parents both working all hours of the day and night,

New Year

2012-01-03T16:24:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! Guess what one of my resolutions is this year? Residency is trucking along relentlessly and so does everything else. The kids are getting older by the second, holidays have come and gone, and I am living and breathing work. I can't believe how different I feel in just a few months, though I don't know if my confidence is premature and based only on blind hope that I am doing the

Bad Mommy

2011-11-09T23:20:00.002-05:00

We've been told by Colin's teachers that he is an exceptionally bright boy, eager to learn and quick to master new challenges. He demonstrates, we are further informed, a love of learning that "makes teaching him a joy", a quality that makes my heart sing with pride. This eagerness and quick mastery, however, has not yet extended to potty training. The joy certainly does not. We were pretty

Distance

2011-10-19T15:00:00.000-04:00

About a week ago, I got home while it was still daylight and got out of my car to find the kids at my neighbor's house. Colin was running joyfully around the backyard, in a furious lightsaber battle with the older boys. Caroline was carrying on a very deep conversation with my neighbor, telling all about her day. I sat down and scooped Caroline up into my arms, breathing in her sweet baby smell.

My Loves

2011-10-02T21:35:00.001-04:00

Every night, usually between dinner and bath time, we have the following exchange. COLIN Okay! It's time for me to go to work! KATIE! Colin, we just finished dinner! Let's play for a bit and take a bath. COLIN I'm sorry, Mommy I have to work! I love you though! Can you help me find my keys? He tools around searching for his plastic Lightning McQueen keys, puts his shoes on, and then

Trainable Idiot

2011-08-08T20:11:00.000-04:00

Today, I started residency. I put on my long white coat, walked into several patients' rooms, and said, "Hi, there! I'm a doctor, as you can see by the length of my coat. You can tell I'm an intern by the way my hands tremble and by the sweat stains on my shirt. My goodness, is it hot in here?" That's not entirely true. Actually, I mostly stuttered today. I tripped all over my words when I

A Lovely Drink

2011-08-06T00:57:00.000-04:00

In trying to do what I thought best for her, I may have done Caroline a disservice. Colin had a bottle of formula very early in his life, in the hospital on his second night of life, in fact. I don't remember the details - probably better that way - but it was something about him not having made enough urine and needing supplementation or something. After that, I didn't supplement much again

Growing

2011-08-03T00:57:00.001-04:00

How has it been a MONTH since I wrote to you last? You will not believe what has happened in that time: Caroline has turned into a little person. She is awake and smiling at us for long parts of the day, which make the parts of the night when she's awake and alternating between smiling and screaming much more tolerable. She still isn't sleeping much and since she is still, for this moment at

Learning

2011-07-04T17:28:00.000-04:00

On the whole, things continue to go swimmingly around here, largely due to the fact that Colin is a good kid and is taking this whole thing like a champ, as well as the fact that babies seem so easy compared to a two year old. I mean, not only do they not talk back when you tell them to do something, they don't even move. Caroline's fits are a short "Wa!" and then she looks around to see if

Dramatic Improvements

2011-06-29T23:42:00.000-04:00