CDH Awareness Day

Today we're wearing turquoise to celebrate our nephew Jake's life and raise awareness of Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH).

We believe the more we know about this birth defect, the better prepared doctors and families will be to help children born with CDH.

Miss you, sweet boy.

CDH in layman terms: At my sister's 20-week appointment they noticed that there were some irregularities in the ultrasound. They realized Jake had CDH, a hole in his diaphragm. For Jake, that allowed his intestines to move up into his chest cavity. Among other things, that put his heart on the wrong side and didn't allow his lungs to grow properly. After he was born, they were able to patch the hole and allow the organs to move into the right spots. He received excellent care at CHOP (the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia). Unfortunately, his little body wasn't able to overcome the challenges, and he passed away when he was 6 months old. We really do miss that little guy.

we did it!

We came, we ran, we got free t-shirts.

We ran the Monument Avenue 10k yesterday, and it was a blast. The weather cooperated (no rain--just overcast and cool) and it was a heck of an experience. Monument Avenue is beautiful, there were TONS of people (over 26,000 finishers!), strangers were cheering for all of us, and there were costumes galore. The race was raising money for cancer research, and it was moving to see runners wearing signs on their back saying "Cancer survivor" or "I'm running for so-and-so." One group was all wearing t-shirts that said, "Cancer, you messed with the wrong woman." Very inspiring.

We were able to basically run the entire 6.2 miles, and Doug was kind enough to stick with my slow-yet-steady pace. He pushed me when necessary, and he refused to let Ms. Pac Man and friends beat us. Thank goodness.

Teams Shafer, Hutchison, and Miles

So we did it. And here's to the friends, strangers, and cancer survivors that rocked our world yesterday! It was a fabulous experience, and I'm almost dumb enough to want to do it again. Almost.

Huzzah!

Please enjoy my CBE shorts from high school. If I do this again, I'm splurging and buying some shorts from this decade. GO PATRIOTS!

a thompson weekend

We were lucky enough to have Doug's sister Kadi and her fam here for the weekend. We only had a few days to show them the wonders of Richmond, but we had a great time!

We showed them Doug's school, played at the park, drove around Richmond, dined at Five Guys, ate some water ice, and played at home. It was fab.






Kadi somehow dodged my pictures, but trust me she was there in her 7-month-pregnant glory! (She was a good sport as we dragged her all over town.)

Thanks for coming, Thompsons! Ya'll come back soon, ya hear?

t-minus 4 days

So I guess we're still running this 10k on Saturday. Well, jogging it to be exact.

A 10k is 6.2 miles, and the farthest we've run is 4.5 miles twice. And definitely not at Olympic speeds. Last night when we finished, however, I have to admit I felt pretty darn good. In fact I think it was the first time I didn't want to poke my eyes out on a longer run. So maybe I don't hate running, uh, jogging as much as I used to. But I'll have a better handle on that after this weekend.

Oh, and the forecast for Saturday? Rain.

AWESOME.

photo booth

Our computer came with a little gem called Photo Booth. It's quite addictive. And in the past year and a half, we've proven that the options are truly endless.

Enjoy some of our favorites:

i have a crush on stephen colbert

We don't watch him regularly, but he kills me. KILLS me.

Exhibit A:
He leg wrestled Jason Chaffertz, a Utah rep in the House of Representatives.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Better Know a District - Utah's 3rd - Jason Chaffetz

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

If it doesn't work try here.


Exhibit B:
This remix.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Stephen's Remix Challenge

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Political Humor

Rap Battle
NASA Name Contest

If it doesn't work try here.

Forgive any inappropriateness... I'm posting these without rewatching them!

OBX

Since Doug is Spring Breaking, we spent a few days in OBX (a/k/a the Outer Banks of North Carolina).

We stayed here

with these fabulous people.

We swam in the painfully cold water (some at midnight),

played on the beach,

collected shells (obsessively... for hours...),

and flew kites.

We formed a girl band

and the guys golfed (as good future dentists should, right? rrrright).

We even topped the trip off with a stop at Rita's. Oh baby.

And as we drove home, we declared ourselves beach people. You can find us in 50 years pacing along the shoreline for hours, Doug with a bucket picking up shells and me with a metal detector looking for items to pawn. I even promise to start liking seafood and wearing sunscreen like I'm supposed to. It's going to be great.

dentite

Remember how Doug is in dental school? Semester 2 has been significantly harder than Semester 1. Studying makes Doug want to vomit, but he broke his personal study record last week preparing for 3 tests. He now knows all sorts of things about critical life topics such as Histology, the study of tissues. Contact him with questions.

He’s been doing such a darn good job that they rewarded him (and everyone else) with Spring Break this week. We had a beach get-away early this week, and now he’s home playing Mario Kart, cleaning the house (yeah, he’s a dream boat), and eating Oreo Cakesters. Later this week he’s going to assist Steve whilst he takes his clinical boards, and we get to host Jacob whilst he’s in town from NC taking his own boards. Should be fun.

Come Monday, Doug starts a dreadful streak of all-school-all-the-time. Semester 2 technically ends in May, but he’ll have one more course to take that ends June 19. He’s then class-free until Year 2 starts the end of July. However, his priority during that short summer break will be to study for and take his non-clinical boards. Passing those means “Sure, you can be a dentist.” Failing those… well, you can pretty much guess.

So enjoy the Spring Break, dear sweet Dr. Doug. You’re going to need those Oreo Cakesters to make it through these next few months.

the truth behind the swing

I was accused of not showing the real story of the swing in my last post. So in the name of full disclosure, enjoy my pain.

So somebody dared me (Trav? Doug?) to try and swing on the tiny kid swing. I accepted said dare, and this was the result:





Yes, after that initial swing it really REALLY started to hurt. And when I decided I'd had enough, it took three guys to get me out.

So there you have it.

meeting eliza

We made a quick trip up to NJ this weekend to meet this little face:


We seriously considered kidnapping baby Eliza, but we figured that would be frowned upon.


The weekend was short, but we packed in a lot: tried out this DELICIOUS French bakery in Princeton, played outside, shot off these amazingly cool airplane thingies, played games, and just had a delightful time as always.