I did it! I actually sent out some of my Christmas cards earlier this week! For those who know me well, this is a huge accomplishment because we usually end up sending out Happy New Year cards because I procrastinate.... We did a very abbreviated version of an annual update on the back of our cards, so here's the unabridged version. 2008 has been a very full year!
Bill and I are, as always, grateful for the many people and blessings in our lives throughout the year as we welcomed a new baby, survived the insanity and long hours of a medical internship, and moved across the country.
We now have two beautiful, healthy children. Katie was born June 22 at 7 lbs, 15 oz & 21 inches long - on Bill’s birthday and two days after Patrick’s second birthday! June will always be a busy birthday month at our home!
Katie is a sweet (I know - aren’t all babies?) and mellow infant. She is always watching Patrick and I’m sure just waiting until she can chase after him! At 5 ½ months she is already pulling herself along the floor, not really crawling - but she can definitely get her hands on something she’s interested in! I suppose the toddler toys often strewn about the living room are incentive to move and explore!
Patrick is often sweet to his little sister. He will occasionally run and grab his toy guitar and “play” Katie a song when she is upset. He was relatively disinterested when she was a newborn - he was too busy playing with his grandparents and the train set he got for his birthday. Now that Katie is more alert and responsive he loves to lie on the floor in front of her and laugh or make silly faces to try and get her to smile.
At 2 ½ we are in the midst of the terrific/terrible twos! Terrific: It’s so much fun to listen to the funny things he says or eavesdrop on his playtime while he is talking and playing out little scenes with his toys and trains! His passion for trains started with a Thomas the Tank Engine train my aunt & uncle gave him for Easter. That little blue train became his security object and went EVERYWHERE with us for about 3 months. Speaking of trains, the $15 wooden train set from IKEA has been my best toy purchase to date. Six months after his birthday he still spends all day playing with it and his Thomas trains. One day when we were out and about he told me “I want go home. I miss my trains.” His other favorite toys right now are cars, building blocks, Duplos and puzzles. He also like to help in the kitchen by washing vegetables for dinner, baking cookies or making “jiggle letters” from Jello. On the terrible side: Typical two year old antics -- Patrick can throw a great tantrum and although he is often sweet to Katie, he is also frequently too rough/wild around her. He is learning to be more careful around his sister, but constant vigilance is still required on our part…
OK, the non-kid news…. San Diego was a great place to live! We had several visits from family & friends who were excited about a respite from the snowy Midwestern winter in January and February. We also enjoyed the extremely mild winter! We had a great time exploring the many things to do in San Diego with our visitors -- whale watching (although my stomach wasn’t happy on the open ocean), Balboa Park, the Cabrillo National Monument, the Zoo and Wild Animal Park, La Jolla cove and the seals that lounge on the beach…
Bill took and passed his medical licensing exam in January and can now officially practice as William Beer, MD. In March he spent 10 days in San Antonio for “C4” - a combat casualty and trauma course designed to teach military medical personnel how to set up field hospitals and manage mass-casualty events. Since it included field exercises, I like to tease Bill that he took a 10 day vacation from the rigorous intern call schedule to go camping and play soldier.
Bill was on call Easter weekend so my sister, Lindsey, and I drove north to Monterey, CA for the weekend with Patrick to visit my Uncle Mark, Aunt Kathleen and their kids. We had a great time dyeing Easter eggs, visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and meeting some of our cousins for the first time. We took the scenic drive home along the Pacific Coast Highway - it was breathtaking! It was a gorgeous day and each turn brought new views of majestic cliffs and a very blue Pacific Ocean. It was also really nice to have some quality sister time on the car ride.
As mentioned, Katelyn Elizabeth Beer was born in June. She had impeccable timing. She was born during Bill’s last week of internship the day after Bill’s mom arrived in town to spend the week. We were all recovered in time to attend Bill’s internship graduation ceremony at the end of the week! Bill then had a week off before starting his summer assignment in the Emergency Department. My mom came out for two weeks in July with my dad joining her for the second week. We feel so blessed and grateful to have families who are willing and able to lend a hand as we transitioned to a family of four.
Not only did we have help from our families, but many friends from Stroller Strides and the Oak Leaf Club brought us wonderful meals to welcome our new arrival! What an amazing gift - to have a well-balanced meal without the planning, shopping, cooking and clean-up normally required! It was such a gift to be able to enjoy our time those early weeks as a family without worrying about meal preparation.
We spent two weeks at the end of July/beginning of August in WI visiting with family and friends. My parents and I flew home with the kids (luckily Patrick fell asleep shortly after take-off & slept for the first half of the flight!) and Bill joined us a couple days later. We attended one of Bill’s 5 year Marquette Alumni Reunion events, visited with lots of friends and family, went to the WI state fair and met Bill’s dad and sister, Christina, in Chicago for a weekend.
A few days after we flew home Bill left for a 2 week mountain medicine course in northern California and I was home with 2 kids and no other adults for the first extended period of time since Katie was born! I definitely got to ease into caring for two children simultaneously! While Bill was gone Patrick spent a weekend with Aunt Lindsey so I could work on moving preparations. They spent the weekend playing and even went to Disneyland!
In September we set out for Pensacola, FL - our second duty station with the US Navy. We drove cross-country with two kids, two cars and my long-time friend, Becky Sorensen. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to repay her for her help! We stayed with one of Bill’s college roommates, Mike Eichinger, for a night when we passed through Tempe, AZ. Then we drove and drove and drove across New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. We took a rest day in San Antonio and quite a few short breaks along the way. Luckily, we got through Texas a few days before Hurricane Ike hit. We did pass caravans of empty busses heading towards Houston, presumably to help with evacuations if needed. Overall, the kids did better than expected and we had a relatively uneventful trip. We found a great house to rent in Pensacola and are enjoying having more time together as a family than during intern year - especially nights and weekends.
While in Pensacola, Bill is training to be a naval flight surgeon. When he finishes his training he will be assigned to a group of Navy or Marine pilots & support crew, and we will move again! (Probably April 2009.) Bill is enjoying learning about flight medicine, especially the flight part! The past week he has been learning to fly a helicopter! He was excited like a little kid after his first flight! Patrick’s initial response when we told him daddy was going to fly a helicopter was disbelief: “No, that’s silly!” After Christmas Bill will learn the basics about flying jets including a few flights. Then, the flight docs will all go back to the classroom for a couple months of learning about aerospace physiology and medicine.
In October we met Patrick’s godfather Brendan McCriskin and his wife Michele in Birmingham, AL for a quick weekend visit. Brendan deploys to Afghanistan this week as a flight surgeon for the US Army & we wanted to see him before he left. Bill’s mom visited for a couple days mid-October around a business trip and my parents came Halloween weekend for a quick dose of their grandkids. We had a small Thanksgiving celebration at our house and are currently working on finishing preparations for our trip back to the Midwest for Christmas. I’m not sure I remember what single digit temperatures feel like! I am excited to visit family, see some snow, and hopefully take Patrick sledding.
Thanks again for all the love and support sent our way from our families and friends near and far. We hope you and your families have a joyful holiday season!
