Steps

I probably should wait to write this post when I have video proof, but Luke took his first significant steps today. I previously reported that he took two steps a couple of times last week, but this was more like true toddling, comprised of about four or five steps before grabbing my leg for support. I cheered and clapped wildly, but he didn't seem to have any idea what the fuss was about. Since the time has come, I hope he picks it up quickly, because he's getting awfully heavy to carry around!

Stay tuned for a video sometime in the next whenever.

Home sweet home

We've had a busy week!

Last weekend we went to Salt Lake City to house hunt, probably for a rental because what are the chances we'd find something to buy in just two days. We saw ten houses and fell in love with one. It happens to be about 4 blocks from our old house. Good thing we loved the neighborhood. So, if all goes well, this house will become our home when we move back in July. There aren't many Cape Cod style houses in Salt Lake, so this will remind us that we're a New Englander and a New Yorker at heart.

Three new things

Three new things Luke did in the past few days (and three unrelated cute pictures of him):

1. Took two steps on his own (repeated twice, with a fall in between)
2. Clapped his hands with purpose
3. Climbed up a few stairs

Along for the glide

This is how you cross country ski with a 10-month old.

Keith did most of the hauling but I tried it out for a kilometer or two and, since Keith is a better photographer than I am, here we are:

A doctor... with a job!

It's official: we're moving back to Utah.

You already knew that, but just today Keith finally signed his contract with the Department of Dermatology at the University of Utah! He has a dual appointment as a dermatopathologist and a Mohs surgeon. Because it's an academic program, he'll also be an assistant professor.

It is the perfect job for him and for his unique set of sub-specialties. That's the good part about going back to a place where you trained -- they are more likely to do things like create a position just for you.

After 11 years of medical training, it's hard to believe that Keith's long road to this point is coming to an end.

All of the steps have been very, very challenging and I'm very, very proud of him.

Keith and I started dating when he was applying to medical school. That was so long ago that he had to fill out the applications with a typewriter... an actual typewriter, with a white-out ribbon. I vividly remember sitting in the kitchen of his crappy Brighton apartment helping him type those things... and using the white-out ribbon -- a lot.

And I fondly remember the day he was accepted. He was on the wait list and got the call a few days before classes started, so it was a happy, crazy rush for him to close out his praying-to-get-into-med school life in Boston and rush out to Syracuse.

Then of course there was the five years that we lived 300 miles apart, trading off on the 10-hour roundtrip weekend trips. And all of the stress about whether he could nab one of the highly competitive dermatology residency spots.

More stress around the two --also competitive-- fellowship spots. Countless hours of studying for important tests. Frequent car trouble. Frequent exhaustion. Lots and lots of our own money spent traveling to interviews and moving back and forth across the country. And millions of huge medical books that are getting really heavy to move around. An obscene amount of paperwork -- especially this year, with the whole Canada thing. Now, 11 years later, he [finally] has a job that I think will be perfect and very rewarding for him. Did I mention that I'm proud? And relieved :-)

To recap what he's been doing all that time, including the locations, here you go:

- 4 years med school (Syracuse and Binghamton, NY)

- 1 year post-sophomore fellowship in pathology (Syracuse)

- 1 year internship (Boston)

- 3 years dermatology residency (Salt Lake City)

- 1 year dermatopathology fellowship (Chicago)

- 1 year Mohs surgery fellowship (Vancouver)

Moving back to Utah (possibly for a long time) is a little bittersweet for me, as I'll be 2,000 miles from my family and closest friends.

But, what can I say, we really like it there.

So, to get you ready, I'm going to get a little Utah quiz together, which I'll post soon. You might want to start studying, though you won't need 11 years.

Whidbey Island

Yesterday we returned from an Easter weekend road trip to Seattle and Whidbey Island, a quiet country island off the coast of Washington. The trip started off a bit slow as we waited at the US/Canada border for two and a half hours on Friday morning. It turns out that the combination of the 4-day Canadian Easter weekend + the Canadian dollar inching ahead of the US dollar = tons of British Columbians flocking to Washington state to shop!

After a fun afternoon and night in downtown Seattle (including two fantastic meals!), we drove and hopped a ferry to Whidbey Island. We stayed in a neat little cabin with a deck and hot tub overlooking Penn Cove, which is known for spectacular mussels. And since we love hot tubs AND mussels so much, of course we had to get a big pot of mussels and eat them while lounging in the hot tub!

Luke enjoyed time at the beach, where he tried to touch every single smooth rock (and surprise! tried to eat a few). He also giggled his way through a short Easter morning hike riding in the pack on Keith's back.

It was a nice weekend and I'm glad we were able to explore another lovely spot in the Pacific Northwest.

And out of the blue...

So, this is what happens when you let a baby boy air-out for a few minutes sans diaper.

This poor (rental) couch has suffered greatly since we moved in!

Guitar 101

Showing Mommy how it's done.

Baby loves to strum

Hopefully Luke will take after his Dad when it comes to musical know-how and interest, 'cause Mommy's musical ability ends at downloading from iTunes.

So far, so good, it seems, as Luke enjoys watching, listening to and trying to help --or hinder-- Keith play his guitar.

Luke has his own little toy guitar, but --surprise!-- he prefers Keith's real one.

Anytime the door to Keith's man-room is open, Luke sprint-crawls to get in there, pulls himself up to the guitar (which is on a stand), strums the strings a few times and giggles. On a good day he doesn't knock the thing over... though that's not usually the case.

From someone who has no idea how to read or play music, Lukey's little strums sound pretty good, especially for an almost-10-month old!

Super baby strength

We've always known that Luke is pretty strong; he was practically holding his own head up in the birthing suite at 15 minutes old, for crying out loud (it's true; my parents witnessed). So I guess it's not surprising that he can now pull his own body weight up on an open drawer or stool or table -- pull up style.

I just had to take a picture (well, two pictures). However, since it can be dangerous and we don't want to encourage it, from here on out I'll be immediately pulling him down and saying "no, no, no" ...to which he usually responds by laughing or crying in my face.

New look for Spring!

Incase you didn't notice :-) I changed the look of 3 Duffys.

I've been visiting lots of other blogs for a work project and it became painfully clear that my template was wicked boring. So, here's an attempt to spruce it up... just in time for Spring.

Spring cleaning needed

All this darn sunshine really brings out Luke's fingerprints on the windows! I guess it's time for Spring cleaning.

First day of Spring

First day of Spring is a beauty in Vancouver

19.5 pounds of craic

Yesterday was Luke's first St. Patrick's Day - a holiday that we celebrate around Duffytown with more gusto than some other, more important holidays, such as Easter.

To celebrate, Luke wore green, and he also had his 9-month doctor's appointment, where we discovered that he now weighs 19.5 lbs. Carrying him around, you'd think it was more!

So, on to the St. Patrick's Day part. Incase you're not aware, "craic" (pronounced crack) is an Irish word that is used to describe a good time, when you're having fun. And hanging with this little guy is definitely always good craic.

Yesterday was Luke's afternoon with Renee, our wonderful two-afternoons-a-week-sitter, and I headed out to do some work and hit the gym. Well, Keith managed to get out of work at 3:30 pm (I told him to tell his boss he needed to get out early on account of being 100% Irish; guess he listened), so instead of working or working out, we did what any self-respecting Irish American (living in Canada?) does on March 17th - we went out for a pint of Guinness!

It was delicious. It was the first time I've consumed an entire pint of Guinness and it was delicious.

Then, since it was such a lovely evening, we packed up little craic boy and went out to dinner. Keith had the special lamb stew and I had short rib (people reading this who know me are probably thinking "whaaaat?") Well, just like the Guinness, it was delicious.

Sadly we had to miss the Irish step dancers that were due to perform in the restaurant at 8 pm, because Lukey was getting tired and on the verge of a melt down. Oh, and wait - I just realized that it was the first St. Patrick's EVER that Keith didn't even pick up the bagpipes. I guess Grandpa Duffy made up for that by playing in the biggest St. Patrick's Day parade on earth... I guess we're covered.

So, not the perfect St.P's but pretty good craic anyway.

Peekaboo

Hours of fun for a 9-month old... here's 53 seconds.

One day of Winter

Winter finally arrived at Cypress Mountain (you know, the Olympic venue that shipped in snow from other locations), so we went snowshoeing. Luke started out crying and had us wondering if we should pack up and go home. But before long he was back to his happy-go-lucky self.

9 months

This post is almost a week overdue, but on March 7th Luke turned 9 months old!

It's amazing to us how far he has come in such a short time!

Florida

Yesterday we returned from a wonderful week visiting my parents (aka. Luke's Grammy & Grampa) in Florida.

In addition to really enjoying playing with his Gram & Gramp, Luke had many new experiences including: staying overnight with G&G for 2 nights... taking a Duck Tour around Miami Beach... wading in the ocean waves... playing in the sand... charming lots of old, leathery people... celebrating Grammy's birthday with her... and, for the grand finale - traveling home on a 6-hour cross-country flight without melting down even once.

He also figured out how to play peek-a-boo. Holding onto a coffee table, he would crouch down a little, duck his head and close his eyes for a few seconds. Then he'd pop up, open his eyes and start laughing as you shout "peek-a-boo" at him. He did this, without any coaxing, with our friends Dick and Debby, as well as with Auntie Anne and Uncle Lou. I must say, it was pretty cute!

Anyway, here are a few snapshots from our week.

Blowout!

One of the highlights (or rather, low lights) of our week in Florida was the stomach bug Luke endured for the first few days, when he had a series of remarkable blowouts. And I mean, the oozing out the sides of the diaper and ruining the clothing kind of blowouts; the type he hasn't had since he was a baby-baby.

There were two that stick in my mind.

One involved him soiling every article of clothing he was wearing, plus Keith's pants, while we were sitting in Dallas airport en route to Miami. I am still laughing at the image of Keith carrying Luke out of the men's bathroom into the crowded terminal, wearing just a diaper. We did find (and unfortunately had to buy) a Dallas Cowboys jumper for Luke to wear for the remainder of the trip.

Number Two (forgive the pun:-) happened in a lovely beachfront restaurant with my parents. Since I somehow forgot to bring spare diapers (that NEVER happens... to ANY mom!), I had to go MacGyver style, rigging up a homemade diaper fashioned from a was of paper towels, a cloth dinner napkin and a plastic bag:

The poor guy fell asleep on the way home from the restaurant, so had to finish his nap in the homemade diaper contraption.

The photo is courtesy of his Grampa, who thought it was hysterical and (we now know) snuck into the bedroom to take this picture.

Mom, I'm trying to drink my bottle

Laugh... drink bottle... why not do both?

Maybe Luke will be a master multi-tasker like his Mom!