Long White Coat - The End of a Journey

Friday, August 22, 2008. The day of Cara-Lea's Long White Coat ceremony. The day we had been working toward since we left Texas. I wish I had written this on the actual day, as it's hard to retrospectively capture all the happiness and joy we were feeling...but even a week later we are still pinching ourselves to make sure we are not in a dream.
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The Long White Coat ceremony marks the end of Physician Assistant school for Cara-Lea. She's been incredibly persistent and resilient to get to this point... a lot of sleepless nights and stressful days for both of us. I'm very proud of her.

Even now I do not think we are feeling the full impact of what has happened--mainly because Cara-Lea will be at her rotation site until September 20, and we both had a very busy week. But I think when December rolls around and we are both out of school for the first time, our brains will finally let us realize that IT'S ALL OVER.

Getting back to the actual day... it was made even more special since some of our family were able to join us. (Unfortunately we only had 6 tickets to the event or else we would have invited more of our family.) Cara-Lea's parents and brother drove up and arrived early Friday morning. My parents flew in to PHL around noon that same day. Cara-Lea had to work that day, so I prepared a lunch of lasagna (from the freezer, don't be impressed) for the group. Cara-Lea got home to enjoy part of it. Then we all went our separate ways to nap before the big event.

We got a bit of a late start leaving for the ceremony...it was quite a stressful ride as we got stuck behind a notorious Philly trolley, and Cara-Lea knew if she was too late they wouldn't let her on stage. Five minutes before the scheduled start time we dashed into the building. Fortunately, all Cara-Lea's classmates were still in the main hall lining up.

My parents had arrived early from their hotel and had saved us all seats right in front--perfect for pictures. Except that when Cara-Lea actually got her White Coat, I pulled the trigger a fraction of a second early and the flash didn't recycle quickly. So I didn't get the "best" shot of her, but I don't think I'll be forgetting the moment in my own mental picture anytime soon.

Afterward, after the graduates marched out, we took several pictures with some of her closest classmates. Then we went outside (it was a gorgeous day and weekend) to get some family shots. We were all pretty hungry and looking forward to dining out, so they didn't have to suffer through my normal long drawn out picture session. Then we were off to Su Xing, an all vegetarian Chinese restaurant on Sansom Street downtown. We dropped the hungry crowd off, then Dad and I had a bit of an adventure parking the two cars, but we finally found spots and joined the rest inside.

Cara-Lea's closest friend in the program, Aida Gallegher and her family joined us. I'm sure it was an adventure for them as they are not vegetarian. But at least for me, the meal was amazing. I think everyone felt the same.

It had been an eventful and long day for all of us, so we all went our separate ways to rest up for the big weekend ahead--which will have to come in a later installment. To see all the pictures from the day go to Photo Gallery of White Coat Ceremony.

Connor's First Smile for Mommy

Connor looked up at me this morning and smiled. It was the first time he smiled at me while awake. It was a big grin. What a sweetie!! The poor guy has broken out with bad baby acne on his face. I remember Kaley was also plagued for a couple of weeks with acne at this age. He is also a bit more fussy the past few days. His newborn clothes are getting tight and my guess is that he is pushing 10 lbs now. He is spending more time awake during the day and seems to notice when his fists swat hanging toys unintentionally. Sometimes when he is laying on the Einstein play mat he gets fussy but if big sister Kaley lays down next to him and talks to him he will stop crying. Connor met his Nonnie (my step mother, Pamela) last night for the first time. It was really nice to have my step sister Ashlee and Pamela visit us for the evening. We watched Just Like Heaven and enjoyed some wheat/gluten free chocolate cake and strawberries that I made in celebration of Pamela's birthday. She is very allergic to wheat. This morning we cleaned our house in less than an hour after getting another call/request to show it. It is nice to have it cleaned for Sabbath so early in the day.

Our Weekend

On Friday Connor had his 2 week doctor visit. He weighed in at 9 lb 9 oz. He has gained over a pound since his first pediatrician visit less than 2 weeks ago. The doc said everything looks great.

Connor loves to be held and will frequently wake up if you try to put him in the bed or swing. Richard is really good at putting him to sleep and Connor seems to stay asleep better when Richard puts him down. He has already spent many hours of his young life being held by his Daddy. I am so thankful that Richard could take 3 weeks off work to help care for Connor and Kaley.
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Yesterday morning we watched some home videos. Kaley was mesmerized by the scuba diving video from Cozumel. She was amazed to see Mommy, Daddy, Gramma and Grandpa jumping off a boat and swimming with the fish. She especially liked the sea turtle swimming with us and the big splashes that we made jumping in the water. She had never seen this video before. I have a feeling that someday she will want to don her own BCD, mask, regulator and weight belt to see the underwater world for herself. "Do it self Mommy! Do it self!"

We also watched a home video from Richard's childhood...the one of Richard and Ryan swimming in the "pond" in March and the one of camping with the Chambers and Bennett's over the boys birthdays. Kaley exclaimed "boy eat happy birthday cake" when she saw Ryan blowing out his 7 candles. Then she said "Kaley eat happy birthday cake". This reminded me that I need to plan a little party for her birthday. It doesn't seem fair that her second birthday be totally eclipsed by Connor's arrival. I'm sure this will be a reoccuring issue; to have one party or two.

Sabbath evening we went to Leesylvania Park again. We took a hike through the woods on a new path and Kaley did a great job of keeping up. She ran down the trail yelling "hurry Daddy, hurry Daddy". It was probably about a mile total. Richard carried Connor in the snuggly front carrier. Kaley would occasionally stop to say "listen, whats that!" when a train or boat could be heard in the distance. We went to the visitor's center and saw the fish, turtles and snakes they had in aquariums. Kaley enjoyed the playground equipment and even agreed to go down the slide but only if Richard held her hand. It was such a pleasant evening with low humidity and we enjoyed walking by the Potomac and watching people swimming, boating and jet skiing. There are signs all over the area saying "no swimming allowed" but people don't take it seriously. I am always amazed at the number of individuals willing to gamble with the pollution. There are little kids swimming in the same waters where they have been finding increased numbers of bass fish genetically effected by pollutants in the Potomac. No child of mine will be swimming there but it is still pretty to look at.

Being near the water makes me miss the river's lakes and streams in Tennessee and all the fun times I had growing up. My family spent every Sunday in the summer on Ocoee lake skiing. We would usually buy a watermelon at a fruit stand on the way and and spend all day on the boat or docked at a rugged picnic site on the shore. This is usually where we celebrated my birthday and I always had a blast with my cousins and friends. I sure hope that someday we can live near a non toxic body of water and my kids can enjoy these activities too, especially with all the August birthdays.