Finding Out "It's a Boy!"

Before the definitive ultrasound appointment, my coworkers took a poll on whether they thought the baby was a boy or a girl. Looks like the majority was right in this case! I shared the good news with blue sharks. There really aren't too many blue foods you know...

The Barrett family took guesses too, which were predominantly boy. Oddly enough, all of the firstborn children among the Barrett siblings have been boys. My brother guessed girl as did I, but my parents didn't care either way. My dad sent me a text message saying, "We are so happy about the who that we don't care about the what. :-)"

It is fun knowing now that the little person coming to live with us in a few months is a little boy. He is a quite an active little boy at this point, wiggling and kicking all over the place. I am glad he gives me regular reminders that he is doing well and wants to say Hi!

Hello little boy!

Visiting the Fam in CA

In July, I took a quick trip "home" to tell my family the good news about the baby on the way. They were so excited! We celebrated by going to an authentic Mexican restaurant: the kind you just can't find in Seattle. My brother even ordered our food in Spanish!


While there, I was able to attend my cousin Katie's wedding and to ride my brother's motorcycle, which I had heard a lot about. It is always so nice to visit my family regardless of what we do while I'm there. They are great people and I just love being around them!

Mt. Baker Summit

As previously noted, I am a bit behind on adding posts, so I am now attempting to catch up starting with July.

Ryan, his two brothers, and their dad conquered Mt. Baker over 4th of July weekend and took some amazing pictures of their adventure. From everything I heard about their hike, it sounds like it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime, awesome experience. It looks like it from the pictures!

The victorious mountain men!

Look how steep this icy mountain was for them to hike!


Even better... hiking the scary, steep, slippery mountain in the dark!


My handsome mountain man!


The Barrett brothers! They kind of look like brothers don't you think? Same height. Same ears. :-)


Even before it got icy they were doing dangerous, slippery stuff! Good thing I was not there to protest. I never would have made it on that hike.


To get to the trail head, they were towed behind motorcycles on their bikes. Pretty creative form of transportation. They really loved it and made good time up to the beginning of the trail.


So beautiful with the green grass and the snow.

Here are the brave mountaineers with their goal towering behind them. Quite an accomplishment to have made it to the top and back in just a couple of days!

Our Baby Boy

I can't believe it has been almost 4 months since I have added anything to our blog! I guess I have been spending all my free time getting our house & life prepared for the little boy that will be coming to live with us in January. Isn't he cute?



We really liked this hand picture. It looks like he is giving us a thumbs up sign! We are certainly happy to return the gesture. We think he's pretty cool!

Canoeing on Lake Washington

On one of the first perfectly sunny, summery days after Ryan's finals were over, we rented a canoe and went on a fun canoeing adventure around Lake Washington.

Here's "Ryan the Rower."

We got really close to this heron before it flew away.

It was so pretty and jungle-like in some areas. I felt like we were rowing on the Amazon . . . kind of . . . except that I wasn't scared of the wildlife.

Us in our trusty canoe.

Here's another heron flying away from us. There were so many of them
on the lake!

I thought these goslings were ducks at first. Big babies!

This mama duck wasn't too happy about us following her, but we couldn't resist. Look how cute her fuzzy, little ducklings are!

"Debi the Rower." You can see the UW stadium in the background. Ryan's school is in a really pretty place!

Ryan's White Coat Ceremony

Ryan completed his 2nd year of medical school and was presented with short, white lab coat. He will wear this coat for the next 2 years as he does his rotations. Ryan says that this ceremony was equivalent to 8th grade graduation since he still has much to do and learn, but it is a step in the right direction.

Ryan's parents were able to come and support their accomplished "8th grader!"


I am proud of him even if he is only halfway through. He has worked really hard to get to this point!

Barbecuing in the Backyard

This is how you know it's summer: you can fire up the grill and cook some good bratwurst outside . . . and eat lots of watermelon!

Deception Pass

Since Ryan did so well on his recent tests, he didn’t need to take one of his big finals, which are always scheduled on Mondays. Most of his weekends are ruined since he has to study for an upcoming test. We took advantage of his free weekend by reserving a campsite at Deception Pass. I picked the campsite that looked the most beautiful; it had a view of the water & tall trees all around it. Fortunately, the picture on the website was very accurate. (See below.) Isn't is beautiful?

We had a great time camping and hiking and just being together in such a beautiful place!

ARVO Conference

Ryan went to the annual conference of the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) to present his summer research on artifical corneas. He had a poster outlining the basics and he stood by it to answer questions during the "poster session." He felt honored and intimidated to be sandwiched between some ophthalmology greats.

And since he was in Florida, he made time to enjoy the beach before heading home!

My New Do

With the help of Ryan, I highlighted my hair, and surprisingly, it turned out well! I had just gotten it cut short 2 days earlier and my hair looked really dark after the longer, blonder parts were cut off. Now it looks like my real color again! Too bad I have to help it look natural since I am hardly ever out in the sun . . . or else the sun is hardly out!

My Birthday!

I had a great birthday celebrating
with my friends at work and also
my good friend, Ryan. At work, we
had a fancy strawberry shortcake
(my favorite!) and my desk was
elaborately decorated with streamers
and beautiful flowers. Many patients
wished me a happy birthday since it
was really obvious that it was my
birthday!

After work, I picked Ryan up from school and we headed off to a secret dinner
location that he had reservations for. Turns out we were going to India, “A
Taste of India” at least. We had a fantastic meal and really nice servers. They
brought us some unknown, delicious appetizer "on the house." And after our
tasty meal of coconut curry for me and something too spicy and lamb for Ryan,
we ordered some good rice pudding for dessert.


And since a candle wouldn’t stick in the pudding,
they brought out a baklava with a candle in it for
me to blow out. Ryan even sang the birthday song
to me!


Also, thanks to
The Parents for
a great birthday
package full of
presents! Ryan
even got "birthday"
presents! Thanks
Mom & Dad!

I Made a Rug!

When I was home for Christmas, I was admiring the rag rugs my aunt had around her house. She made them of course, so she showed me how. After several months of slowly working away at my rug, I finally finished! Well, I did finish it once before but thought it looked bad so I undid several rows and refinished it. Now I think it looks great and I am proud to have it beneath my kitchen sink where it is beautifully useful! Thanks Auntie Karen!