A brief update

Chad started his residency this week. This week and next are mostly just orientation but they are orienting him to all of the many projects, assignments, tasks and work responsibilities he is going to have for the next year. He is definitely in a rigorous program and a bit overwhelmed. It doesn't help that he still has to worry about passing his pharamcy board exam, which he isn't taking until the end of July. Chad reports they have already given him about 10 assignments but because they have given him so many so fast, he's not even really sure what he's supposed to do with each. Luckily, this is not a new environment for Chad. That would put him over the top with anxiety. He spent three months at this VA already and knows his bosses and his way around the place. That relieves some of the newness anxiety but he has far more responsibility this time around than last. We attended a BBQ last weekend for the program to welcome the new residents and say goodbye to the old ones (who Chad was quite good friends with). It was obvious that both of his bosses really like him and value him. This is quite a good thing for him and his comfort level. I think once the boards are done and passed he will feel a little better but it's going to be a tough year for him. He will be an excellent pharmacist by the end of this and know more than he learned in 4 years of pharmacy school. I am excited for him.

Grant and I attended his second Little Critters zoo class yesterday with our friends Amy, Nicholas and Zach. We went to one last month, which Grant behaved poorly at. this time he was much better. We learned about staying cool at the zoo. They see some of the animals, listen to a story, do a craft and pet some small animals. He petted a rabbit, a bearded dragon lizard and a baby tortoise. He also got to feed frozen grapes to Macaque monkeys and had a popsicle himself. After the class was over Amy and I took the boys to see the rest of the animals then let them play at the small splash park our zoo has. If I haven't said it before, I love our zoo here in Tucson. It has all the best animals but it only takes at most an hour to go through. It's the perfect size and the perfect combination of animals. Grant loves it and asks to go all of the time.

Grant is becoming the good chore helper. He likes to have his own papertowel for cleaning when I'm doing bathrooms. He has a toy vacuum that he pulls out and pushes around with me when I'm vacuuming. We vacuumed the whole house together last night. He also, all on his own, has started putting his breakfast play in the sink when done with his waffle. He helps me put dishes away when emptying the dishwasher and sets his own place at the table for dinner and gets his own dishes out for lunch. He loves to help with laundry too, putting things in the washer and dryer for me. Someone just needs to share with me the secret to keeping this love of helping alive as he gets older because I suspect this desire is going to disappear at some point.

I am about done with my work. I have one week and 2 days left. All of my cases are settled and I am just finishing up the last documents on the last one and waiting for the rest to come back from court with the judge's signature. there is only one case I have to withdraw from before completion because it is going to be several more months before it is done. Wednesday was an unexpectedly joyful day. I settled the worst case I have ever had in my life. Due to attorney-client privileges, I cannot share the details of this horrendous case but suffice it to say I have a 7, soon to be 8 page memo chronicling the settlement negotiations on this case. We have been trying to settle the case since March (my memo only starts chronicling as of May 9). We reach an agreement then something happens and it falls apart. They finally reached an agreement on Wednesday while we were in court so we immediately put it on the record so that they are both bound by it and neither can bcak out. It's official and done. The documents are almost done and they should be divorced this next week. I will never be able to explain or describe the stress and anxiety this case causes but it's over and I'm almost done with work.

The baby is growing. He is ahead of schedule in size. I had another ultrasound this week because at my last ultrasound the doctor could not see one of the kidneys or the bladder. She found both this time around and all is well. I am anticipating another big baby like Grant (9'3) and to have him early like Grant, which is fine with me, as I hate being pregnant (sorry mom, but it's true).

The following picture is our dog Barry, pouting at the top of the stairs where is now banished each morning while Grant eats breakfast. Grant eats his waffle on our ottoman while watching a movie (his Aunt Kitty says that makes him spoiled). Barry, so very much the lab just cannot refrain from stealing the waffle the first chance he gets. I finally got so tired of yelling at him and watching him every second that I now just send him upstairs. I actually have him trained to go up when he sees the waffle. He doesn't like it though and the other morning Grant was taking so long to eat that Barry started whining because he wanted to come down.

The following picture is one I took just the other day after a big afternoon monsoon storm. We had one full rainbow and another partial rainbow. It's not often you see double rainbows so I took a picture. For those of you Arizonans living outside the state I thought you might appreciate a little glimpse of th beauty of Arizona monsoon season. I sure love it.