Gradyamatation

Sweet little Meg graduated from her 3 year old preschool class today. She goes to a co-op which basically means I have to do a lot of work. I wasn't sure it would work for us this year but it really did and I/we grew to love this little school. There is a major sense of community when all the parents have to pitch in. And her teacher is just great.

So this is love....

And TMI. And what happens when a doctor and a nurse practitioner are married. Pretty much it means you and all members of your immediate family only go to see a doctor if you can't DIY at home. I mean why go to the doctor when you can eat potato chips and watch ESPN while your wife takes your toenail off?

That is his toenail he is proudly displaying.

Some highlights of SFO.

The reason for it all! I love that when I pointed the camera at her she immediately posed for the shot. She didn't remember me, or even mom, but she knows how to look good!

This shot is pretty amazing. I think I just said, 'say elephant diarrhea' or something equivalent.I am seriously going to miss this hot tub. But the new house is going to be awesome in a different way. I love taking pics of when the girls first see mom and dad. There is a big knot of hugs and kisses and wiggling kids.

Jason wouldnt let me post the video of the two of them singing Sisters ( you know, Sisters, we're sisters, never had a better sister....)

Quality cousin time. I heard Ling Ling was asking to go back to Meggie's 'house'.

Pretty decent seats, huh? Thanks for the hookup Xta. I can't believe I caught a ball. Please note the choppers. Hopefully they dont really look like that.

I can't believe the news today.. I can't close my eyes and make it go away....

Boo. We had a limo rented and everything.

U2's Bono released from hospital; U.S. tour delayed

U2 lead singer Bono discharged from hospital
U2's North American tour delayed until next year
Bono faces a minimum of 8 weeks of rehabilitation
(CNN) -- U2 lead singer Bono has been discharged from a German hospital where he was treated for a back injury, concert promoter Live Nation said Tuesday.
The band's North American shows have also been postponed until next year, Live Nation said.
Bono suffered a serious back injury Friday while preparing for the resumption of the band's U.S. tour, the band said, and had emergency surgery.
"Bono suffered severe compression of the sciatic nerve," Dr. Muller Wohlfahrt said in a statement provided by the concert promoter. "On review of his MRI scan, I realized there was a serious tear in the ligament and a herniated disc, and that conservative treatment would not suffice. I recommended Bono have emergency spine surgery with Professor (Joerg Christian) Tonn at Munich's LMU University Hospital on Friday."
Tonn said Bono was in severe pain and had already suffered partial paralysis in his lower leg when he was referred.
"The ligament surrounding the disc had an 8-millimeter tear, and during surgery we discovered fragments of the disc had traveled into the spinal canal," Tonn said in the statement. "This surgery was the only course of treatment for full recovery and to avoid further paralysis."
Tonn said Bono is now "much better" and has regained all movement. "The prognosis is excellent, but to obtain a sustainable result, he must now enter a period of rehabilitation," Tonn said.
Eight weeks of rehabilitation is considered a minimum, Wohlfahrt said.
U2 Manager Paul McGuinness said the band is working with Live Nation to reschedule the tour dates.
"Our biggest and I believe best tour has been interrupted and we're all devastated," McGuinness said in the statement. "For a performer who lives to be on stage, this is more than a blow. He feels robbed of the chance to do what he does best and feels like he has badly let down the band and their audience. Which is of course nonsense.
"His concerns about more than a million ticket buyers whose plans have been turned upside down we all share, but the most important thing right now is that Bono make a full recovery."

The Money Shot

This is a typical attempt at a three sisters shot. I am posting the best of the possible poses, I have a bunch of others that were actually worse than these. I need some superglue to keep them in place long enough for a decent pic. That and something to fix Meg's stink eye look.

Remember when?

We lived in California and mom would call us at 5am a few times a week because she 'just could never figure out that darn time change!" Well, genetics is at work. That's right, natural selection, eugenics, like mother like daughter, darwinism, creationism, whatever you want to call it.

I received a wake up call today from one Sarah Elizabeth, aged 31 and 10/12 of Jacksonville, FL, daughter of Suzie, at 6:25 am saying ' what do you mean, it is 9: 30am, I mean surely you must be awake by now".

Let this be known for all that Sarah IS in fact Suzie's daughter.

Presenting... proof that the Y chromosome exists in the family!

The new mommy with her son ( that is new terminology for this family).

Proud Aunt self portrait

Cute wibble face only 24 hours old.

Cute

Wannie in the ACC

So I had to fly to DC then to JFK to connect to my flight to Accra. Why it cost more to fly directly to JFK is beyond me. Obviously it costs more in fuel to shuttle someone two places rather than one. Anyways. Apparently one runway is closed at JFK so on average all flights are 45 minutes late. That is kind of need to know info- if they know you are going to be 45 minutes late, then they should tell you to book your flights with an additional 45 minutes inbetween. So my flight into JFK was actually about two hours delayed. I was staring at my watch the whole flight and throwing the evil eye at some bozo who after we were all seated, got up and asked the flight attendant if she could give a letter to the gate rep to put in the mail for him. And the other two bozos who got up to pee after the cabin door was shut. There were five or six of us on that flight that were headed to Accra. When we landed I power walked as fast as I could to the gate, where the flight was set to leave in like four minutes, stopping only at the bathroom ( I am Susie's daughter). When I walked up and said I was for the flight to Accra, they hustled me on, took my rolly bag cause there wasnt any more room ( boo hoo) and I was the LAST one on. I would have had to wait 24 hours for the next flight!!! And missed the bulk of why I was going in the first place. I felt so fortunate, but also starving since I didnt have time to get something to eat. I don't think all of the people on the earlier flight made it to the gate in time, I looked for them and never saw them. Maybe they wanted a day to hang out in NYC?

There was another person on my plane that I knew going to the same meetings. He and I took the hotel shuttle together, had 10 minutes to change and spent the next 8 hours in a meeting, an hour at reception and then an hour at dinner. Then I came back to my room, fell asleep, woke up with a start, called J who asked me to call back in an hour, fell asleep again, and had some conversation with j and the girls that I have no idea about on skype an hour later.

So what am I doing here? I am a teeny tiny part of a grant that is trying to improve the health workforce in Ghana. And this meeting was to discuss where the situation is currently, to collaborate on publications and to research and begin the application process for further grant funding. I wrote again a teeny tiny grant to come here to meet with other nursing faculty that I worked with last summer. Some were going to be at this meeting so it just seemed to work out that I could come to this meeting, see them, get the info I needed. I pretty much accomplished what I needed to already. Now I have three more days to hang out which sounds great in theory. It is a gorgeous hot day out, and the pool is so awesome, I can fill my fresh from the tree mango craving, pick up the latest in pirated movies and enjoy being in Africa. But I miss my babies, all four of them. I also have this paper to write and again, theoretically I can take the next three days to write it poolside versus taking three weeks ( months?) to write it after I put the kids to bed.

I look so weird in this picture. I felt like I had to post it. Does my neck really look like that? Geez.

Ghana Bound

Who woulda thunk a year later I would be back in Ghana? Or that I was in Kenya just about a month ago? I feel like one lucky girl- two trips to Africa in one month! I am sad about leaving A2 at this most awesome time of year- spring here can't be beat.

But at the same time, I am excited about having seven days of SAB time. No diapers to change, no lunches to pack, no homeless people to see or jerky clinic managers to deal with. Seven days where I can be a professional and go to some meetings, seven days to sit by the pool, seven days to read books ( I have a stack to pack) and 40ish hours in transit total ( that isn't too bad, right?) to watch the latest movies.




BTW I get back Sunday night at 9pm.