Summer Fun!

Our summer has been off to a great start; particularly since Kevin graduated and is home most of the time when he's not busy studying for boards (which fall on my birthday at the end of July).

In May, our interfaith gathering had a welcoming ceremony for babies, where they blessed Jackson and the other kids with holy water and a prayer shawl and said both Jewish and Christian blessings for his well-being.



We had Kevin's whole family in town for graduation; here's a shot of Jax with Nana and Zeidi (and Snuggles), and getting in some storytime!

And so far, we have a little fish who loves the water - he dunked his face in twice last weekend without prompting!

And we celebrated the 4th of July by taking our little firecracker to Cville for a stay at the Boar's Head, to celebrate being able to just get away as a family at the drop of a hat - finally! We went to the pool, ate outside on the downtown mall and listened to street performers at Fridays after Five, went to the spa, and just celebrated our independence from daddy's pager. Here's our little wahoo checking out his future residence on the Lawn from the Rotunda, a shot of he and daddy eating chips in bed together, and some Fourth of July fun!

Daddy's Done!!!

After 4 years of undergrad, 4 years of med school, and 6 long years of residency...Kevin graduated! We are so proud of his achievement and took in plenty of events to commemorate the occasion. First, I snuck Jackson to the portrait studio for some Father's Day/Graduation pictures in his full scrubs - he was quite the ham and definitely the hit of the session! Kevin's department threw a black tie roast at the Four Seasons, where both of our families enjoyed numerous compliments on Kevin's abilities, a really heartfelt thank you speech, and plenty of teasing. Finally, we celebrated the last day of residency with a bbq-blow out including a bluegrass band, face painters, balloon animals, and cake with our friends Fred and Jesse (who was also graduating from residency) complete with a 'gravy train' cake and matching train whistles. The long ride has ended! And we are so proud of you babe - you deserve a lot of credit for some tough work and a job well done:)

Jackson Takes Cville

So I do, in theory, understand the concept of a blog. That you are supposed to post things all the time, as a web log of your life. Seeing as though we've had quite a lot going on, I think the best I can hope for is an update every few months - way to set the bar high. We recently went back to Cville for my 10 year reunion at UVa and Jackson had a great time (as did we!). He got to visit the lawn, see mom's sorority house, have lunch at Take It Away, hang out with Aunt Kelly, visit with his pal Jack Weber (and Steph and Ken) and...here's the kicker...stay up until 10:30 and still slept through the night and in late the next morning. Apparently he wanted to keep it real and be true to mom and dad's old college ways - and we were extremely thankful (as was the rest of the hotel). Here are some shots from the trip - Jackson on the lawn, and back to the garden of Pavilion 6, where his parents got engaged:)

Fab Five Reunion - Orlando

Jackson and I took our first airplane trip, to Indian Harbour Beach (near Orlando) for Sarah's baby shower. It was a great weekend, and we were all so excited to be there for her as she and Rob await their very special arrival in early July. We had the shower in a pavilion by the beach, and Sarah has a pool in her backyard, so we dipped Jackson in for his first pool experience (but saved the beach for when daddy can be with us at the beach in August)

Jackson did great. I know he's mine, so I'm supposed to think the world of him, but everyone commented on how calm he is (obviously gets that from his daddy) and he just had a great time watching his big cousins. He did great on the 2 hour flight, giggling on the touch-down, slept right through the baby shower, and even tolerated his aunts putting his luxurious locks into pigtails (that's what happens when you take a shower and leave your baby McDreamy with your 4 best girlfriends). Here are some shots of the girls, Jackson with Lourdes (Shelley's) and Maddie (Kelly's), all of the Cavalier kids in their UVa shirts, Jackson celebrating Kelly's birthday, and my lil man accepting his fate amongst the girls!

Thanks for a great weekend, Sarah, and can't wait to blog about Baby A when he joins us - and officially tips the balance to outnumbering the mommies!

Kav Arrives!!!

I'm an aunt again!!! Baby Thomas Kavanaugh "Kav" Schwedler arrived on Monday, weighing in at 6 lbs. 6 oz. He is happy and healthy, and Jamie is feeling great. Here are a few pictures from his arrival - he looks perfect and so much like Chambers as a baby! Look at all that hair, and a very proud Chambers...

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We have been a little delayed in posting the pictures from the Easter Egg Roll, but finally - here they are. Despite some clouds, it turned out to be a nice day, and we had a great time - Jackson was pretty patient with us and my picture-taking. Below is the shot from the White House lawn, Jackson checking out the Obama's playground and basketball court, and a few family pictures in front of Jackson's future home - when his wife is President, of course:)

Heading to the White House!

Yep, that's right. We're in the big leagues here in our nation's capitol. Actually, we're just pretty friendly with most of our neighbors, one of whom works for Obama and got us tickets for Jackson's first White House Easter Egg Roll! We just found out Sunday night at 9 pm, and our tickets are for Monday at 3 pm. I've really wanted to go, since my office is literally one block away and I thought it would be fun for our little man's first Easter. So here I am at 10 pm, a modern working mom trying to alternate between doing some work I've put off, paying our taxes, and getting on the mommy blogs to figure out what the heck to wear. Big mistake. The mommy blogs, that is. Holy crap, do women have opinions about children's clothes! Other moms have been posting and critiquing each other's kids' outfits for the Egg Roll for weeks, using abbreviations I've never even heard of. What the heck is ADR? As in "I do like ADR and I've already purchased the FB jacket and beret." What? Who are these people? Can someone interpret for me? My login name is not "Mommy_to_Jackson" so I know I don't fit in...

I did have Jackson's outfit and Easter basket a week ago, just in case, since he's now wearing 12 month clothes and we're still alternating between 70 and 40 degrees here in Washington. I'm quite certain he'll puke or pee on it, or both. But what the heck do I wear? I know I won't be in any pictures anyway, but I'll be darned if I'm going to the White House in either mom-gear or so overdressed that I'm uncomfortable. Stay tuned to see the final ensembles. Oh, and if I work with you and you're reading this, then I've been 100% focused on work all day tomorrow. Really. I swear on ADR.