Go together well

{College hockey is really growing on me! UMass Lowell vs. UVM. And a new scarf made by my dear Vickie!} Okay, so posting a daily picture has proven somewhat difficult--especially since I simultaneously started an inpatient rotation and started getting sick on Monday. Anyway, I took my first sick days of residency, and I think I'm on the mend now. Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks:  {Zoey's first ice cream -- from the Ben & Jerry's factory!} {A daily occurrence during our "Vermont vacation week," which is actually a thing for schools in Vermont. And I took the week off too, because why not?} { "Must. Lick. Baby." You can sort of see my hand holding back Tessie's head} {Sweet cheeks!} {Zoey likes cheek raspberries}

The past few months have been full of long work days and as much skiing as we could squeeze in on days off. Over the course of this ski season, Chris has had more opportunities to ski than I have--and he has gone from being nervous on the bunny hill to cruising down black diamond runs. I'm very proud of his progress and excited that he's providing me with a new ski buddy! {View from the top! Lincoln Peak ; A spring skiing day in early April} Over the past month, whenever I haven't been out skiing (i.e. most of the time), I have been catching babies on labor & delivery.  I have been fascinated by the degree to which expectant parents try to plan their respective birth experiences. They arrive to the labor & delivery unit bearing detailed outlines of how they want the process to unfold. The bullet points vary widely: We would like to listen to music ,  I want to experience an orgasmic birth , we would like to bring the placenta home , I want a water birth...

Today is my brother Matthew's 23rd birthday! (My family prefers to have birthdays exclusively in the months of April and November .)  At some point, I started calling Matthew "Maffrew," which has subsequently been shortened to "Frew." I don't really know how that started, but I don't think he minds. At least,  I think he prefers it to "Math," which is what one of his kindergarten classmates called him.  ("Can I call you Math?" "No." "Hi, Math!") {me at 5-1/2, with baby Frew} When my parents told my older brothers and me that we were going to have another sibling, I promptly began to pray each night for a sister. In spite of the fact that my prayers were not answered, I wasn't all that disappointed in the end (as you may be able to tell from the picture). He even let me dress him up in a tutu and teach him ballet positions, so I really wasn't deprived at all.  We have missed him a lot sinc...

We got back to Baltimore late last night after a lovely weekend in Chicago, during which time we got to see lots of family and friends and to celebrate the baptism of a very sweet baby boy! {GP3 and "the Godfather"} We enjoyed too much good food (as we usually do when we go to Chicago), including wine and cheese at Bar Pastoral  (the cheese menu contained vivid descriptors like "curd-sey" and "squidgy"), tropical drinks (the "Dr. Fong") with Chinese food at Chef Shangri-La , and a cauliflower melt at the Marion Street Cheese Market . After such a food-filled weekend, I think we'll be eating salad for a few days! Regarding Earth Day: we did one of the worst things a person could do on Earth Day--we rode in an airplane. One of my greatest hopes is for someone to invent a solar-powered airplane that can fly as fast and carry as many passengers as a 747...because I love doing things to reduce my carbon footprint , but I also love to trave...

We flew to Chicago last night for the baptism of this little guy: {sweet nephew, baby Greg} We're hoping to see as many of our Chicago friends as possible this weekend--and we always have a list of must-eat food when we're here: Chicago-style hotdogs (our favorite place looked like this yesterday), dim sum in China Town, and the occasional Uncle Remus (best fried chicken in the history of the universe--probably). A couple of links for today: A dear friend's co-worker and friend was severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombing. Here is a link to raise money for her medical bills. On a much lighter note, I just received an email (through my Food Technology course) about this new aquaponics farm in Chicago!