It's getting crowded in there!

We got another ultrasound today--2 hours of looking at and measuring the babies, I was in heaven! I loved watching them yawn, stretch, and practice their karate moves! An added benefit of delivering at Hahnemann Hospital is that Brandon was able to come upstairs during his lunch and join us for awhile.

I know all ultrasound pics tend to look alike, but I just had to share this one. Just as the Ultrasound Tech went to measure one baby, the other baby's foot came down and kicked his brother in the head. We watched it again in slow motion, and she took this picture right before impact.

For those of you who need a little help deciphering the picture, it's a frontal shot of the baby's head and he's lying horizontally--I think it's a pretty clear picture of his face, he doesn't look quite as alien as he does in other pics. The other baby's foot is coming in on the bottom right.

The poor little guys are so squished in there already...and they still have 2 1/2 months to go! I'm afraid they're going to come out with bruises everywhere. One weighs 1 lb, 9 oz and the other weighs 2 lbs.

All 3 of us are sure getting big!!!!!!!!

Thank heavens for Brandon's Green Thumb!

Lucky for us and our neighbors, Brandon is quite a landscape artist...and when we moved here, he definitely had his work cut out for him!

Before...

(this was taken right after the insane growth had been chopped down...this spring it looked like "the Secret Garden"...it was out of control!)

During...

After...

After Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, and Poison Summac, after hours of hacking down 6 foot tall weeds, wrestling vines, and balancing precariously on the other side of the fence to attempt to transplant a stray rose bush....after searching Lowe's for their $1 half-dead plants, after resurrecting said plants, after salvaging and painting fence posts the neighbors were throwing out, after digging up brick after brick and relaying said bricks, after shoveling dirt and creating a retaining wall, after watching in amazement at the spontaneous growth that repeatedly took over everything, after transplanting daylilies, after creating a fountain...and mainly, after lots of sweat, blisters, and hard work!!! (all on Brandon's part, although I did supply lemonade and sustenance :)

Brandon sculpted the face for the fountain, and recycled the bricks from the brick path to make a retaining wall. I couldn't figure out how to turn the fountain on, hence the reason the water's not spewing out of the creature's mouth.

I'm amazed at how fast things grow--we planted most of the flowers from seeds...and lots of the vines just grew on their own (yes, I'm sure some of them are weeds, but they look pretty and are free, right?)

Thanks to our friends, the Muldowney's, for giving us the pots and cool wire decorations!

It's Brandon's dream to put a sandbox and play house behind the picket fence...we'll have to see!

If anyone has any tricks for keeping the squirrels from eating our sunflowers and strawberries, let us know (any humane tricks--rat traps are definitely out!)

ROCKY the indomitable man

Sorry for the poor picture quality, our camera stinks. You must, double click on the picture to get a better view. Look closely at this picture and you will see a long line of people waiting to get their picture taken with the Rocky statue. When people come to Philly there are a few things that they love to see: Independence hall, the Liberty Bell, and the Rocky statue, and run up the stairs of the Art Museum!
Why would the Rocky statue be on the list?
Why the long line?




The Rocky statue is a tangible object of something that comes from deep within us all. When looking at the statue we realize the greater underlying meaning. . . In Rocky III the statue is first presented to Philly with the thought, "A person who defies odds and logic and fulfills an incredible dream." The statue stands, "as a celebration to the indomitable SPIRIT OF MAN." A strength that lies in each of us, saying we can do it!








This is the view from the top of the stairs of the art museum which Rocky runs up in many of the episodes. What a view of the city, what a great place to sit and think of all the things that make us strong, and that we can overcome anything when we give it our all and pray for help. Not to mention it is entertaining to watch all the people run up the stairs and jump up and down at the top with their arms thrown in the air in a victorious salute.

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears."

And So I thought I would share a bit of the rhythm that I follow, no matter how off pace or out of beat it is. These are painting I put together during medical school and my first year as a Doctor. Each with a story that I will just slightly crack the surface of. Only enough time for six paintings at the moment, maybe more some other time.


The insanity that each day can bring; often
overwhelming, but to think there is always
an arm out stretched and there
is always a way to safety, the great 'I am.
painted during the
intensity of med shcool,
and the help I received through prayer.

Aboriginal tribes believe the purpose of the plant kingdom is to feed animals and humans, to hold the soil together, to enhance beauty, to balance the atmosphere, and that the plants sing to humans silently, and all they ask in return is for us to sing back. As we know, we need oxygen that plants give us(exhale to us), and plants need carbon dioxide which we exhale to them, and so the process of life.

The Long awaited. This was the year we were expecting/hoping to get pregnant, so
many souls waiting to come. A year later we were pregnant. Not enough room to
describe the meaning of this painting, a small sample of the poem goes like this,
'They are waiting, waiting on the roof top, in the clouds, waiting . . .'

'If a plant cannot

live

according to

its nature, it dies;

and so a man.'




Serenity and simplicity,
and to regret ever
being wiser than the
day we were born.