Over the past month or so, Hill has turned into a reading junkie. She has been devouring books left and right. Right now she is working on Jane Austin. She loved the book "These is My Words." It is a girl's journal about the difficulties in life in the Arizona territory in the 1800s. Hill said it was very inspiring and she highly recommends it. Suddenly, for Hill, life just doesn't seem quite so tough.
Nate is having a great time at the hospital. He is currently working on his Cardiac anesthesia rotation and is staring a couple weeks in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit right in the face.
And Claire is doing great. She has really taken a turn for the better with her eating. She loves oatmeal (like her mom), sweet potatoes, and peaches. She is allergic to squash. She has been working on her crawling and is very close. Mom's life is going to get alot more hectic once our little bear is mobile.
Cutest little girl at church.
Claire is crawling... backwards. She can only go backwards right now, but not very far. We keep tempting her with things that she would really love to get her hands on (the remote), but she just can't figure it out yet. It's close.
This picture is of Hill when she saw that there were only pictures of Claire in this weeks blog. It really is tough to get full family pictures these days. Actually, this is after Hill takes some throw-up to the hair. Serves her right for turning her upside down right after eating. I insisted that this is just another "baby threw up on me" photo, but Hill wanted it included.
When Hill married me, she had no idea that I was such a good dancer. On our honeymoon cruise, the band was jamming and nobody was dancing. I couldn't let that continue. I began to break out some of my patented moves on the dance floor (yes, I was the only one dancing). Then an old lady started dancing with me. Finally, I convinced Hill that it was cool to dance and we had a great time. A few others joined us, but it was mainly the crew. We often reminisce about our journey aboard "the oldest ship in the fleet."
We took a great trip to Gettysburg in September with Hill's parents. Who could have known that at that time, Claire was already with us. If you ever get a chance, go to Gettysburg. We have a great reference for an amazing hotel if you need one..jpg)
This is us one year ago to the day. Our first and only anniversary without kids. We sure were duds last year. We drove to Richmond for dinner and turned around and came home and went to bed by 8. This year promises to be better as we have already hired the babysitter and scheduled a night out on the town. 
Yes, these twon pictures document the next trip down to Williamsburg when Hill was 8 months pregnant. It consisted of yet another Condo schpill, a journey through Jamestown, and a near purchase of some coonskin caps (one of the few things we regret not purchasing - that and the pewter cowboy hat in Mexico).
Boy were our lives about to change. I know that Hill hates this picture, but pregnancy is hard work. Luckily Stephen the anesthesiologist was there to make things better. We had a beautiful new baby and all Hill could talk about was the epidural. I have received a little more respect around the house ever since Hill found out first-hand what I do.
And who could forget the bear hunt?
I found these two girls hitch-hiking on the backroads of central Virginia. Luckily I stopped to pick them up. Virginia in the fall is pretty, but nothing compared to my girls. 
Here we are all dressed up for Ann's wedding
We made it up to the Washington D.C. temple as a family!! It was so special to have Claire with us.