2010

Last published October 16, 2009.

Pathetic. Here resolved: a post a day for 2010. It can be one word for all I care, but it will happen. I've lost all my readers, so it doesn't matter if the posts are pathetic. No one will know!

Growing our family made for an eventful 2009. That goes without saying. There have been so many changes, small and large. Erica and I have seen our relationship come full circle in the past year and a half. Ross has become a big kid, and a new baby has joined us. Even Reid has made major changes.

Where we stand now:
I (Leah) am a pediatric radiology fellow at ACH. My job is awesome, but it would be nice to be finished training (and making real money; let's be honest). Unfortunately, that's probably a year and a half away. One more year of training (dedicated to pediatric interventional radiology) will follow this one. Time frame is July 2010 to June 2011; then start the real job. ACH is home. It is a great place to train and will be a great place to join a group.

Erica is still thriving in her job as a pediatrician, also at ACH. She takes care of babies in the NICU but has fewer hard-core responsibilities than her neonatology colleagues. She has no nights and weekends. It averages a week on/week off. She loves her job but hates being back at work after having a new baby. This description betrays the real situation, though. Erica is a super mom. She works hard, is an easygoing role model for a rambunctious three-year-old, and spends day and night breastfeeding Reid and pumping milk for him at work. And I'm here to testify. She makes it look pretty easy. We're overly busy and get stressed and forget where our keys are just like everyone else. But she keeps it together. The Braswell glue.

Ross turned three on December 13th. He didn't have terrible twos but is showing signs of terrible threes! Actually, I shouldn't say that. It's just that he is now capable of acting badly. He loves school at Trinity Cathedral's Early Childhood Education Program. His teachers (Whitney and Amanda) love him and are an integral part of raising him up. He loves Spiderman, movies, playing outside, his cousins, and all things rough and tumble. He potty-trained himself this fall and has done a great job. Diapers at night. Still has nighttime pacifier which we are fine with. Sleeps with us a lot which we are fine with. LOVES his baby brother.

Reid is now a baby with an adorable personality. He smiles and snuggles with the best of them. He was a little higher maintenance as an infant than Ross, but now he is this perfect little sweet being. Great breastfeeder. Decent sleeper. Perfect little brother. He is already laughing at Ross. He sits up if supported and has rolled front to back already. Four months tomorrow.

We really want to sell our house early this year. Our house payment and upkeep are way too much, and it's time to simplify and get back to basics. Especially if I work out my training to be done elsewhere. I've interviewed in Toronto and Boston, and have a January 28th Cincinnati interview. We need an easy place for that time period because Erica will stay here with the boys.

We are like a lot of Americans and have had lots of technology advances. Of course our iPhones help all the time; we've had them 2 and a half years now. I've become an RSS feed reader. We have an iMac, a MacBook Pro for Erica via work, and a MacBook Air for me. We are never far away from Facebook, email, and feeds. We got a new TV for Christmas with a Blu-Ray player that has wireless streaming for instant Netflix viewing and Pandora radio. We have Tivo for the downstairs TV, and it stays stocked with kid-friendly shows. I got iPhone speakers for the den for Christmas. I have a new Kindle, given to me by my dad sometime this year. It's truly all-tech all the time, and sometimes we have to take a break.

We'll be in better touch. There will be plenty of time for me to catch up on the blog so that I have a record of how the kids and family are doing. That's the plan.