Just a quick update on the Clark family:
Neil Thomas Clark was born Jan. 5 and has been a joy this year. He is much quieter and cleaner than his brother was, but they are alike in having strong opinions. Our ever-energetic William (now 3½) has enjoyed being involved with gym games, music class, and learning his letters. He loves playing with his new brother and helping his mom. One of our best purchases this year was a vacuum cleaner that he can operate by himself. He and his dad frequently exchange silly faces and tickles. Emily has taken on a violin student, but spends most of her time enjoying motherhood. David finally finished his general medicine internship and has started his first year in Neurology. He enjoys his work much more as well as a slightly better work schedule. Emily and David have continued to work on the activities committee for our church congregation, running programs and planning food for over 200 attendees!
We’ve enjoyed visits to family in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and North Carolina this year. William still talks about a nearby air show we attended in July that featured the Thunderbirds as well as a life-size robot dinosaur exhibit here in Cincinnati.
We’re always grateful for good memories with friends and family. We’re most grateful for our Savior Jesus Christ who has enabled our family to be blessed so much. May all of you feel His love too as we celebrate His birth this year.
David, Emily, William, and Neil Clark
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
One year down....
Here is the latest on the Clark family:
William seems to have changed the most the last four months. He turned three the end of March and got the movie “Cars” and a toy version of Lightning McQueen, among other things. His parents have discovered that threatening the removal of Lightning McQueen has proven a great motivator for him. His biggest news is that he is now potty trained again after an eight-month respite. He also sleeps in a “big bed” (twin bed) and recently learned how to ride a two-wheeler bike (with training wheels) quite well. He has also helped plant pumpkin seeds and flowers and enjoys watching them grow. The letters of the alphabet have been another interest of his lately. For a while he went around saying the sounds words begin with (example: “D-d-dirt. Starts with the letter D.”) He now correctly identifies all lower-case letters (he’s known upper-case letters for a long time). William loved our recent trip to the zoo. He was happy to accompany Mom and Dad to the temple for his first time and enjoyed walking around the grounds. William keeps us laughing with some of the things he says and does. He remains quite active, loving to run all over. One day he said, “I’m the faster boy in the whole wide world.” When he had a bad cold and sneezed, he said, “I bless you on the table,” having forgotten the word for “sneeze”. When the financial advisor (described to William as the “money man”) came to our house, William went and got the loose change on David’s desk and gave it to him. While snapping together the button of his shorts after using the bathroom, he matter-of-factly said, “I have a lot of things to do, Mommy.” When we were discussing dinosaurs at the dinner table, he said, “Before I was a little boy, I woosta [used to] be a dinosaur, and I ate lots of little kids.” While playing with his stuffed mom and baby owls with Emily, he said, “The baby owl has to go to the doctor.” When Emily asked why, William said: “He can’t ‘hoo’ very well.” He is very imaginative.
Neil has gotten a little bigger the last four months. He is very good-natured and easy-going. He smiles often, and seems content to watch all of the entertainment provided by William. He laughs, grasps things, and loves to hold onto his toes.
Emily has enjoyed trying out our new wheat grinder and making bread a few times. She has discovered a new “pastime” the last several months: exterminating meal (pantry) moths. They had infested a lot of our pantry through a cereal box from the store, but she purchased some traps online, and also nightly kills any stray moths, and she has nearly obliterated them. Emily experimented with online coupons recently. She recently spent $70, and saved $170, which she felt was pretty good for a beginner. Emily has worked in the yard a lot this spring, and also hosted a girls’ night for some friends at our home.
David is nearing the end of his intern year of residency. Yea!! The last few months he has rotated with the Neurosurgical ICU, Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology, and Neurology consults. We went to Goodwill last week to check it out, and discovered a Hot Wheels motorized racetrack for a mere $5. We figured it would not work like it originally did, but it turned out to be fully functional and a big hit. It’s debatable if William or David has more fun with this!
In March we finally tiled our dining room. As a family we enjoyed a road trip in April to see family and friends in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. It was fun to see all of David’s siblings and his Grandpa Clark while in Fort Worth. While in Kansas City with Emily’s parents, we enjoyed going to the “farm park” petting zoo, and Fritz’s train restaurant, where a miniature train delivers the food to your table. In June, Emily’s parents came to visit us in Cincinnati for a little more than a day. We enjoyed seeing the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum Center, as well as the Children’s Museum. It was also fun to play a few games of Rook, and to have Grandpa Miller help William make progress on learning to ride his bike. It was great to have them here, and we hope they’ll stay longer next time!
William seems to have changed the most the last four months. He turned three the end of March and got the movie “Cars” and a toy version of Lightning McQueen, among other things. His parents have discovered that threatening the removal of Lightning McQueen has proven a great motivator for him. His biggest news is that he is now potty trained again after an eight-month respite. He also sleeps in a “big bed” (twin bed) and recently learned how to ride a two-wheeler bike (with training wheels) quite well. He has also helped plant pumpkin seeds and flowers and enjoys watching them grow. The letters of the alphabet have been another interest of his lately. For a while he went around saying the sounds words begin with (example: “D-d-dirt. Starts with the letter D.”) He now correctly identifies all lower-case letters (he’s known upper-case letters for a long time). William loved our recent trip to the zoo. He was happy to accompany Mom and Dad to the temple for his first time and enjoyed walking around the grounds. William keeps us laughing with some of the things he says and does. He remains quite active, loving to run all over. One day he said, “I’m the faster boy in the whole wide world.” When he had a bad cold and sneezed, he said, “I bless you on the table,” having forgotten the word for “sneeze”. When the financial advisor (described to William as the “money man”) came to our house, William went and got the loose change on David’s desk and gave it to him. While snapping together the button of his shorts after using the bathroom, he matter-of-factly said, “I have a lot of things to do, Mommy.” When we were discussing dinosaurs at the dinner table, he said, “Before I was a little boy, I woosta [used to] be a dinosaur, and I ate lots of little kids.” While playing with his stuffed mom and baby owls with Emily, he said, “The baby owl has to go to the doctor.” When Emily asked why, William said: “He can’t ‘hoo’ very well.” He is very imaginative.
Neil has gotten a little bigger the last four months. He is very good-natured and easy-going. He smiles often, and seems content to watch all of the entertainment provided by William. He laughs, grasps things, and loves to hold onto his toes.
Emily has enjoyed trying out our new wheat grinder and making bread a few times. She has discovered a new “pastime” the last several months: exterminating meal (pantry) moths. They had infested a lot of our pantry through a cereal box from the store, but she purchased some traps online, and also nightly kills any stray moths, and she has nearly obliterated them. Emily experimented with online coupons recently. She recently spent $70, and saved $170, which she felt was pretty good for a beginner. Emily has worked in the yard a lot this spring, and also hosted a girls’ night for some friends at our home.
David is nearing the end of his intern year of residency. Yea!! The last few months he has rotated with the Neurosurgical ICU, Hematology/Oncology, Nephrology, and Neurology consults. We went to Goodwill last week to check it out, and discovered a Hot Wheels motorized racetrack for a mere $5. We figured it would not work like it originally did, but it turned out to be fully functional and a big hit. It’s debatable if William or David has more fun with this!
In March we finally tiled our dining room. As a family we enjoyed a road trip in April to see family and friends in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. It was fun to see all of David’s siblings and his Grandpa Clark while in Fort Worth. While in Kansas City with Emily’s parents, we enjoyed going to the “farm park” petting zoo, and Fritz’s train restaurant, where a miniature train delivers the food to your table. In June, Emily’s parents came to visit us in Cincinnati for a little more than a day. We enjoyed seeing the dinosaur exhibit at the Museum Center, as well as the Children’s Museum. It was also fun to play a few games of Rook, and to have Grandpa Miller help William make progress on learning to ride his bike. It was great to have them here, and we hope they’ll stay longer next time!
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Happy new year!
We are very behind on catching everyone up on our lives. The end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 have been very busy for us. We wish you a happy new year because it still feels like the year has just begun!
David’s had two busy months in November and December, and worked Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve and Day. We did enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with our friends Craig and Jessie Gurney after David got back. Poor William got hit with a nasty gastrointestinal virus the entire week of Thanksgiving, and David got the 24-hour version twice in December. Since David worked Christmas, we celebrated on December 21st and 22nd, which felt very much like the real thing. We enjoyed the time celebrating together as a family. David’s sisters and brother drove from Texas to see us for 3 days after Christmas, only one of which David had off. (They work interns hard!) It was a lot of fun to have them here, and William was especially thrilled to have his aunts and uncle play with him. We enjoyed going to EnterTRAINment Junction and the Cincinnati Nature Center to hike while they were here. We have enjoyed some snow several times this winter, and David was able to get out with William to play in the snow a few times. William continues to become more independent and grown-up.
Emily was taken completely by surprise by the early birth of our 3rd son, Neil Thomas Clark, on January 5th instead of the 7th. Emily remained in denial even four hours prior to his first breath outside the womb. She had contractions all day, yet she continued cleaning, cooking, and shopping. After David got home from work, we dropped William off with some friends, and then rushed to the hospital, checking in just after 6:00 p.m. Since Emily was already dilated to 7 ½ cm, it didn’t take long for Neil to be born at 8:23 p.m. He had lots of fine, brown hair and dark eyes, and we were very grateful to have a healthy new boy. William has adjusted quite well to being the big brother, and loves to give Neil hugs, “play” with him on the floor, help with baths and changes, and hold him. We were very grateful that Emily’s mom was able to come help for a week after Emily got home from the hospital. We enjoyed her visit and all of her help. David’s much-deserved and long-overdue 2-week vacation began after she left. After the first week, we were happy to have David’s parents come visit and help out for a week. We are all pretty well adjusted to the latest addition to our family. Neil is now nearly 8 weeks old, and smiling and cooing for us regularly. It is fun to see the differences and similarities between Neil and William and imagine how Neil will look as he gets older.
See all our photos here
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