Independence Day

We had a super 4th of July yesterday. Now you may be thinking, "man, Kristy is on the ball for once....blogging about something that just happened yesterday." But that is because my dear friends, it is 9am and Mark is still sleeping!! Last night was his latest night ever. I don't think he was in bed until 11pm. Bad mommy. But we had a great time at church and Mark is really enjoying his new Sunday School teachers, Miss Jill and Miss Karen. Apparently he talks their ears off. Then we rested all afternnon before the evenings festivities began.

Mimi and HoHo invited us to their country club's 4th of July event. But anyway there were pony rides, a fair-type ride, and a giant inflatable slide. Mark had a blast doing each of them multiple times. Lucky for him, his Mimi was there because neither John or I do spinning merry-go-round type rides without vomiting! So Mark and Mimi rode together several times. Mark then had meltdown number 1 of the evening as we had to drag him away from the carnival and over to the Garcia's to shoot off fireworks.

It was so cute when we got to the Garcias, Britton and Leyton came running down the street yelling, "Mark Thomas, Mark Thomas, Mark Thomas!" and he called out "I'm here!" Those guys are all good buddies. Now I also have a few pics of the three of them that John took from his phone, but I can't get them to upload! Lisa, I want some of yours too! John texted me his pics then I emailed them to myself and then saved them to the laptop and now the blogger can't open them. Ughh!

A few words from Mark......

Before we get to what Mark has to say, here are a few recent pictures. The first is our new family pic. My parent's moved in a couple of weeks ago while their house is being built and we are having a great time. At least I am.....for example, today my dad cleaned windows. Yesterday my mom made dinner and then they went out to eat. I'm gonna miss them when they move out!
Here is Mark just jumping right off the steps into the deep end. (I know it says three feet but it very quickly gets deeper than that. Besides he can't even touch at three feet!) I'm accross the pool with the camera zoomed in because he has never gotten off the steps before! Mr. No Fear. Mommy about threw the camera in the water when she jumped in to get him!

Beautiful form wouldn't you say? We love the neighborhood pool - it has a beach walk-in entrance and Mark loves to run into the water and make a big splash.

Last but not least, Father's Day! We started off with our yearly tradition of Krispy Kreme donuts! Aren't they handsome?

So Mark is constantly cracking us up. And maybe some of the things he says aren't too funny if you aren't there and can't hear him say it, but I thought I would try to put down a few so I don't forget. He has said a ton of stuff that I've already forgotten! =( I've got to get better about writing it down!

1. "Gammy's not listening to my words." (with a whine)

2. John: "Mark, what is your full name?"

Mark: "Jesus."

3. While sitting on the pot looking at his wee-wee, "Look at that hot dog!"

4. While playing with Gammy's calculator on her bed in his "cave" of pillows, "I'm being serious in here."

5. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy, when skies are great."

6. While driving down riverside looking at the animal statues -

Mark: "Daddy, what does the moose say?"

John: "I'm not sure buddy."

Mark: "I'm gonna haf to ask Mommy."

7. "You don't have a wee-wee Mommy?"

8. Me: "Mark, I cleaned Nemo's tank. Go see how fast he's swimming."

Mark: "He's upside-down." (He wasn't, but I about had a heart attack)

9. Me: "Who will come to your birthday party next year Mark?

Mark: "Lexi, Brenda, and Jennifer."

Me: "What will we eat?"

Mark: "Hot dogs! And pretzels."

Me: "What about cake? What kind of cake will we have?"

Mark: "Pink"

10. While reaching into any tiny crevice, he often pulls out his cupped hand and says, "Here's baby Barrett!" We find him in the craziest places like the bathtub drain, in between couch cushions, in my shoes, etc. And then we have to talk to him, feed him, read him stories, etc.

Just like Daddy

Mark Thomas not only looks just like his daddy, but he acts just like him too. He likes to do everything his daddy does from riding bikes, fixing things, and acting goofy to shoveling dog poop...not kidding, he has his own little shovel. Well here the two peas in a pod are eating cupcakes.

And here is Mark riding in the Tulsa Tough....just like daddy. It was too cute, he was in the 6 and under race. And while all the big kids with pedals clearly won the race, we proud parents are happy to report that Mark won the non-pedal division! He passed a little girl in a yellow shirt right at the line! When we caught up to him just past the finish line he was holding his little blue ribbon and WAILING. We asked what was wrong and he said, "I no wanna finish my race!" So he and John kept going down the street. I guess he pictured in his little head that when we said he was gonna race like daddy that he would get to go around and around and around. Poor buddy.

And look at these two cuties! Mark and his cousin Barrett look just like their daddys! They were both hot out at the Tulsa Tough cheering for John.

Here is a better pic of baby Barrett and his mommy, aunt Lindsay. They were true blue John supporters on that HOT day downtown watching the crits!

The End

This post isn't really about Mark. Actually its not about him at all but I'll throw a few pics of him in at the end since its his blog after all!

So I have finally reached the end of my residency training! I know, I know, its about time! And for those of you that don't know it was 4 years. Not that I'm counting or anything but thats 12 years of school since high school. Its really ironic that I chose to embark on this endeavor because I HATE school! Its not that I hate learning, I just don't get along with "homework." Anyway, all this means is that I will now exclusively work in the ER and I don't have anymore quizzes, tests, presentations, research papers, or research projects to do ever again! (Unless I decide to go to law school which I threaten John with every time he gets lippy =) ). Anyway, here is a pic from my graduation ceremony a week or two ago with John and my parents.
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And here is a pic of me and Mark. He wouldn't let me pick him up. (He exercises his independance a lot these days!) As you can tell, he didn't got to the ceremony. Instead he went over to his buddy Leyton's house and had a grand ol' time. Leyton has a cool trampoline that they got to jump on. I hope Lisa posts the pics she took because the boys even took a bath together and then went to bed in the same room! Their first sleepover!!


The next pic is just a random one of Mark I took one morning before church! He's so stylish just like his daddy!

And this last pic is just one of Mark out in the front yard. I like it because my parents have a pic of my sister and I reaching up towards a tree in the neighbors yard and thats what this pic reminds me of. I also like it because Mark is constantly out riding his bike and sometimes he ditches the bike someplace obscure and walks around with his helmet on. (He can't get it off by himself) So I laugh because I'm sure some random people driving through the neighborhood probably think, "oh...that poor child must have seizures" or maybe they think he's the type to bang his head on the wall! =) Cracks me up.

The Big "D"

Yep. Dallas. Thats where I am for an entire month. Ughhh! And now, without John, Mark, laundry, dishes, meetings, etc I finally have time to update the blog but I have no pictures with me!! John has text messaged me some since I've been gone but I don't know how to get those to my computer. So this is just gonna have to do for an update!

I am down here for a toxicology rotation at Parkland. Its super interesting and has great work hours...8-12 or 2. But its four hours from home. BTW, you should hear Mark say "toxicology". It's really cute.

So an update on the Wingerter's without pictures. We are doing just fine. My residency graduation ceremony is this month. I would finish actual residency on June 30th but I have to make up for maternity leave so I will still be working at OSU in July. Then I start my "real job" in August with St. John Health Systems at the Owasso, Broken Arrow, and Sapulpa ER's. Should be fun. I'll be working all nights, but only about 13 shifts/month!!! Yippeee!!!

We are taking a fun end of residency celebratory trip in July to Maui. Super excited for that. Mark Thomas and my parents are coming. We invited all the rest of our family too but it just wasn't good timing for everyone else. Bummer. But none the less I'm ready for a beach vacation. John and I always seem to head to the mountains which is great don't get me wrong, but I need some sun!!!

John is as usual doing great at work. He is so blessed to have a job that fits his personality and lifestyle so well. He is really into the whole cycling thing and in typical John fashion is doing great. (As he does in every single sport he ever tries - not that I'm biased or anything). He's on a cycling team and really enjoys that .....I equate it to a fraternity for guys too old for college!! =)

Mark Thomas is two. I don't know how else to describe him! He is the absolute cutest most adorable thing that says the funniest things. He is always surprising us with things he knows how to say or concepts he understands. He too is into cycling. If you haven't seen him on his strider bike it's a site to see. He's the talk of the neighborhood whizzing around on that thing. But (sigh) he's a typical toddler too. VERY independant. "No! Me! Me! Me!" is what we hear when he wants to do something all by himself and doesn't have time to spit it out. But a lot of times I hear, "Mommy, I do it all by myself." He also says things like, "in just a minute mommy" like when I ask him to come eat dinner, or put away a toy, or get in the car, etc.

Lastly, here's a cute little Mark Thomas story. The other day before I left town I was rocking him before nap time. He was laying accross my lap with his head on my left and legs on my right. I had to sneeze and turned my head to the right and sneezed. (My arms were trapped under him) After a minute or so he said, "Mommy, did you splash my knees?" I died laughing. Which made him decide he was a comedian and just might get out of nap time so then he repeated it about a hundred times trying to keep me laughing. He's gonna be a comedian like his dad!

Recent Videos

This first video I took a week ago on my phone so please excuse the quality. There really isn't much to hear either, the TV was turned down pretty low. But John and I watch this regularly because we think its hysterical. I will say, Mark got all of his dance moves from his father!

The next video, also taken on my phone, was taken on a Sunday evening before bath time. I like to call it, "Sunday school works" because we have sang these particular songs, but it had been awhile. They must have sang them at Sunday School that morning. You need to turn the volume up really high to hear him(and he doesn't say anything for like the first 10 seconds). But to translate for those of you that need help with two-year-old jargon, "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Mumble, mumble, mumble (which is supposed to be "Praise him, praise him, all ye little children") God is wuv, God is wuv."

Enjoy!

Sad News

I feel like I have been "Debbie Downer" recently but there are a lot of people I know facing some big challenges. I'm mainly posting this so that those of you who pray will remember this family when you pray. One of my fellow ER residents found out last week that his three year old daughter Gracie has cancer. They just received bad news this morning that it is stage 3 neuroblastoma (not good). Brandon and his wife Lisa have three other children too. Gracie starts her chemotherapy tomorrow. Please pray for their family. You can follow them at www.graciecare.blogspot.com