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.