Burrito Any One?

I absolutely love it when they are still small enough to wrap like a burrito. It makes me a little sad when they get to big to do this. I am so in LOVE with this little guy, I can't quit taking pictures. I don't want to forget just how precious they are at this newborn stage!

Trey's Blessing

We had our sweet boy blessed in Lubbock so the whole crew did not have to make the trip here. It was a great day and made me realize how blessed I am to have a 3rd child, and a husband who worthily holds the preisthood and blessed him. Trey, you bring more love and joy to this family than I ever thought possible. We all love you bunches and bunches!

It was quite the sight to see our 5 ring circus try to get a picture together. This was as good as we could do.

Aunt Niki even got to come for the big event! We LOVED having her there! (as you can tell Addy adores her.... she always has gum for both girls)

He's Here!

We are so excited to finally have our little bundle of joy here with us! We all just love him to pieces (as Munner would say). The girls have done really really well with the new addition. In fact Brynlee has even been a huge help. She is my little "gofer" girl, anything I ask for and she is at my service. She also has done a good job of taking Addy and playing games with her. Brynlee has a one of a kind imagination and thinks of all sorts of things to play; school, sunbeams, and knock knock to name a few. So for those of you who are wondering why in the heck our son has a different name, yes we changed his name! We learned to hard way, but yes it is true, you do not need to leave the hospital with an official name for your child.

Trey Bernell Dalley

11-25-09

7 lbs. 2 oz

20 in.

Trey is the first Grandson on the Dalley side in over 18 years and so far he is the only grandson with the "Dalley" last name. So it is very fitting that he have Bernell as a middle name, Ethan's Dad is Bernell and so is Ethan, now the third Bernell is our little Trey. There is alot that rests upon the shoulders of this little guy!

Here are a few pics and keep in touch, there are many more to come!!!!!

Who's Who?

Brynlee

I thought It would be fun to compare what both Brynlee and Addy looked like at age 2. Part of this idea was a lack of other pictures to put up and I was really tired of looking at the old post. Not that I keep up with this anyway, but we not only do not have internet connection at our home, but our lap top that we have all our cute pictures on that I wanted to blog is on the fritz. This is VERY VERY frustrating, because believe it or not I have had the itch to blog the last little while. So this is what I could come up with, with the pictures on my in-laws computer!

As far as we go as a family we are doing good. We miss Daddy like CRAZY, but cherish the time we do get to spend with him. The month of November will be crazy 100+ hour work weeks, but we look forward to the time he will have off in 4 weeks when the baby comes. Well that 4 weeks is a cross your fingers considering the girls were 1 and 2 weeks LATE!

Brynlee is 4!

I can not believe that my little girl is 4 (I say that when each of my kids turns a new age, but it's true). The time goes by TOO TOO fast! We had the big party at a park, one of her favorite places to go.Brynlee and Addy trying to balance each other out. I love to see them having fun together. It makes the rough parts of mothering all worth it!
The water ballon fight was the best part of the day!
This is a cute cake Mema got for her. We also enjoyed picnic sandwhiches ans fixin's.
Brynlee such a blessing to our family. Not only is she a BEAUTIFUL girl, but she is also loads and loads of fun. I crack up every time I see her playing. She love to make believe, but tends to pretend, real "adult" things.

Great fun for her is playing store (check out), writing checks, pretending you are a mom, calling Erica on the phone and asking her "do you need me to pick up some fruit snacks at the store of your kids?" It is too funny to see her having a pretend conversation with some one, you would think she is 25 and already has 10 kids by the way she talks.

What a jewel our Brynlee is!

Fun in the sun!

For the girls and I life is a little slower pace here. Although we get lonely for family, the change is some what nice, and relaxing. We have lots of time to go to the apartment pool which the girls LOVE! Every day Brynlee asks to go down there. We have never had such convenient access to a pool and love it. If Ethan's schedule (I will save the grueling schedule of a first year resident for a later past) does not kill us (or him rather) we will all be OK. I just wander what we will do when the pool closes, I guess I will have to get creative!

(Ya don't ask, this post was written awhile ago, but just now published)

BABY BABY BABY

Ethan sat in the doctor’s office waiting room hardly able to keep his eyes open. The previous 36 hours of no-sleep hospital work weighed heavily upon his eyelids. He should have been more awake seeing as this was another shot at increasing the “Man Factor” in the home, but it is not like a doctor’s office waiting rooms are exciting AND they make you sit there forever. So he tended to nod off. Krista on the other hand was more than awake and even a little anxious. She knew that her family was all set up to accept a girl without skipping a beat. There were plenty of fashionable cloths, dolls, dress up, and play purses. But what they didn’t have were balls, trucks, hot wheels, or especially boy cloths. Nevertheless, what ever the ultrasound showed, both Ethan and Krista would be happy to invite another child into their home.

The OB worked his sonogram magic and within a minute of looking he announced that the little baby was to be a little Bubba. Ethan perked up at the sound of this and Krista became excited. So some time around November 25^th, a little boy will join the ranks of the Ethan Dalley family. But perhaps the most proud was Pepa as now the Dalley name will live on.

As for the rest of our life, we are now settling into our apartment in Amarillo, TX. Ethan is spending much time in the halls of Northwest Texas Hospital trying to learn how doctoring really works. Krista is spending much of her time at the apartment with the girls doing all she can to try and keep them from destroying the place by taking them to the pool and park and library. Both are busy, and both are grateful they have a job. For those not familiar with Amarillo, I can sum up the place in one phrase, “72 Ounce Steak”. I will leave the particulars for a later day, but let me just say that I was witness to one of the great lifetime achievements of Aaron Clark, as he battled with this large side of American beef . . . and he won!

In all life moves forward in rocket-like fashion. Baltimore looms in the distance and approaches with each passing day. I hope we’re ready when it gets here.

Match Day Results

Well, gratefully my wife has kept the Dalley Alley afloat with a selection of choice images and wonderful commentary.

The fourth year of a medical student is somewhat of an emotional roller coaster. The clinical obligations are not as rigorous as the third year for days often end shortly after lunch and call is a scarcity. Nonetheless, there are events that tax the very emotional stability of a man.

Usually sometime in July of a medical student's fourth year, one begins to prepare his application to submit to various residencies of his choosing. This includes hunting down three to four faculty that are willing to make glowing comments about your future as a physician, writing a personal statement about how your first words as a baby were Mama, Dada, and (insert specialty here), and scrounging up any remotely philanthropic contributions to society.

After submitting applications (for me it was in the neighborhood of 35 applications) you wait for any invitation for an interview. I was fortunate enough to interview at 14 programs across the country from Washington to Maryland and everything in between.

Then after all your interviews you submit a rank order list online of where you would like to go for residency, while at the same time the programs rank all interviewees. Where the twain meet is called THE MATCH and that is the place where you will spend the next 3-5 years of your life.

So on Thursday March 17th at 11am every medical student across the country sat with sweaty palms holding an envelope with the results of their MATCH and on "GO!" they tore open the letter hoping they get their hearts desire.

As for the Dalley family we will be spending a year in Amarillo Texas doing a year of Preliminary Medicine and then spend the next three years at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. Krista and I could not be more excited.

Despite the mutliple comments about how crime ridden Baltimore is, we take heart because we know all manner of wonderful people up in that area and we could not have matched a more fabulous program.

So, I can't wait for the soft shell crab and the Ravens aren't that bad a team.

The above image made the front cover of the Lubbock Avalanche Journal. My mother is on the left with the look of surprise. Ethan is on the right making sure he read the letter right. Krista is in the middle with the look of shock just before she started to cry tears of joy (I hope).

Farm Fun

I have been saying for awhile now that my girls need to go out to see Grandpa's (my Dad) Egg Ranch and just have not done it. Several weeks ago I finally got my sister, sister-in-law, cousin, and good friend and all the kidos to make a morning trip and see what new changes have taken place since the big organic switch.
We got to have an exclusive Grandpa tour of the baby chicks, adorable baby lambs, and big brown hens. Both Brynlee and Addy loved it. They both were a bit hesitant to get too close to the lambs but thought it was super fun.
I got a few cute shots of our fun day at the farm!

Brian Regan

My parents took all of us kids and spouses to Brian Regan. I knew it would be a good show BUT had no idea I would laugh more than I have in my life. He is hilarious!!! I love that he is good clean humor. That was the best entertainment ever! It was fun as well to all go together. Thanks Nicole for the pictures!

Interviews are done.... FINALLY!!

I am so grateful that Ethan was blessed with so many interviews, but I have to say that I am so happy they are DONE! I do not do well with out him, well that is an understatement, I do awful with out him. Now we just have to get down to the nitty gritty what program will go where on the rank list. I thought it would be easy, but man it is a LOT harder than I ever thought it would be. Wish us well! Check back mid March and our fate will be unveiled.

Christmas 2008

I love to put my girls in matching clothes, and as long as they will let me I will do it! I wish I could have gotten better pictures of them in there beautiful Christmas dresses, but you can only do so much with a 3 and 1 year old. (Gaylene I so miss you, our photos will never be the same with out you!)

October Update

Halloween

Mema (Ethan's mom) added to (and took away) from costumes we already had to have these cute fairy costumes for the girls. My girls LOVE candy and had a blast at various Halloween activities. I always say I am going to dress up and never do.... maybe next year.

The Big 10k Race

I decided that since it had been over a year it was time to do another race. I participated in the Red Raider Road Race and did the 10k (6.2 miles) this time. It felt good to run another race. I was a little lonely with out my running partner ,Dad Dalley, by my side, yet I still managed to finish in just under 50 minutes (a record for me). I have no desire at this point to run a marathon, but I am wanting to do a half here in the next few months!

Little Gymnast

Brynlee took a gymnastics class this fall and LOVED it. Her favorite was the "rolls" and "bridge".

September update

Brynlee Turns 3!!!

I can't believe my baby is 3. She thinks she is 10 some times, and has a mind of her own! Wow she gets more and more independent as time goes by. She was all but cooperative while taking these pictures, but we some how managed to get a few (very few) pics. I love to listen to the random things she says daily. Lately she likes to hold a book, wave her hand like a choir director and belt out her favorite primary songs, so cute!