Momma's Famous!

Well, sort of. If you count that she was quoted twice in an article. Remember when I was whining about work being so busy? A reporter from Newsweek tagged along with one of my projects and wrote an article about it.

Newsweek.com
Monday, August 3, 2009

The Curious Case of the Calamitous Cannabis

At a camp sponsored by the CDC, kids (and our intrepid reporter) learn to be disease detectives.
By Anne Underwood Newsweek Web Exclusive

Start with grizzly slides of gangrenous limbs and feet swollen with fungus-filled nodules. For good measure, add some photos of foot-long
guinea worms and eyes running with pus. Then throw in tips from real scientists on how to track disease outbreaks and unravel their mysterious causes. How much more fun could you possibly have at summer camp? I, at least, am having a rollicking good time as a visiting journalist at Disease Detective Camp, now in its fifth year at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. In my own day, summer camp meant sleeping in cabins, canoeing on the lake, and guzzling bug juice. Today, it's equally likely to mean an intensive workshop at the Orlando Ballet, space camp at NASA, or secret-agent camp at Pali Adventures. But Disease Detective Camp has a unique mission--to get kids interested in careers in public health. And if you think that sounds unlikely, consider this: high school juniors and seniors have come from as far as Utah and the Netherlands to participate. Gaining admission here is only slightly easier than getting into Harvard. "We had 514 applicants this year for 52 spaces," says coordinator Trudi Ellerman. . . .

(continued on the following website)

My Summer at the CDC’s Disease Detective Camp from Newsweek - Health

Packing is Good Times

I'm leaving the boys in Dada's capable hands to visit Aunt Sessy in Savannah, so I thought I'd leave you with a picture until I get back. Suitcases are so fun.

How do YOU cookie?

Every few weeks I meet a dear friend MG for lunch. Who is MG? You might remember, I've mentioned her before. She was my supervisor and mentor when I started working at CDC, and we've stayed in touch past her retirement. We used to meet once a week, but because of schedules (and because I'd be as big as a house if we kept eating Panera once a week!) we usually meet once or twice a month. It's the highlight of my week, I love catching up with MG (short for Momma Gwen)'s life and telling her all about ours. She's funny, loving and a wee bit sassy at times, so any conversation with her is incredibly satisfying. As if that all isn't enough, she sometimes bakes goodies and shares! WHOOOOOO!! She makes the most incredible brownies (from a very secretive recipe) that are out-of-this-world delicious, and she recently made some cookies. YUM. She had a nice little parcel full of cookies waiting for me one day we caught up, and after I ate one at lunch (and another on the ride home), I shared one with the boys. MG thought they'd be better heated just a little, so I zapped them in the microwave for just a few seconds to make the chocolate a little melty.

And so the boys dug in. As I watched them eat, I noticed something that Keith and I have been aware of for a while: our boys are very different. Personalities, looks, preference for decibel level of their conversational voice, etc. Their approach to the cookie eating showed some of these differences.

Let's analyze Cole first. See how he calmly and deliberately puts the cookie into his mouth? Fingers go right in, guiding the cookie to it's destination.

I can't pretend that chocolate doesn't get everywhere, but he's fairly neat and gives a sweet appreciative smile.

Grady's approach is a little less....organized. First, he takes the cookie/food item and explores the texture. Since we're dealing with cookies here, he gives it the crumble test. If said cookie passes the crumble test, then he shoves 2-3 pieces of the cookie into his mouth at once. NUM-NUM!

Or, from the looks of this picture, he rubs it all over his face.

Messy or neat though, I could tell both boys loved the cookies, so thank you MG!

Beach Babes

Our boys are lucky enough to have two great sets of grandparents, and one of us those sets live at the beach! (some might say they live on cruiseships, given the number of cruises they do in a given year, but that's another blog post). Many, many a year ago Keith proposed to me during a 4th of July weekend visit to Navarre, so we've tried to go back to visit most Independence Day weekends. Last year we were just a tiny bit busy with two hollering reflux-having babies, so we did not make it to the beach, but this year, we went! It was the boys' first beach trip, and it was a huge success. No one screamed and threw themselves about at the feel of sand or salty water on their skin. (I'm not saying the weekend was free of temper tantrums, I'm just saying they didn't happen at the beach).

The boys loved going into the water at the beach. LOVED IT! Dada was always up for a venture into the waves, but Momma had to pass the duties on to Grampie once the waves started to get a little bigger than she is tall. It's hard for a shortie to stay upright in the waves when you're topheavy while holding Big Baby, ya know? Gran had all sorts of toys for the boys to play with both at the beach and at home, and best of all, she had some tasty beach snacks* Cole liked pretty much all the toys but Grady oddly gravitated towards an old flip-lid basket of Gran's. The basket is magical-you put things in it and close the lid. Then you take things out, and close the lid. Then you open the lid, put things in, close the lid. Then you open the lid, take things out, close the lid. On and on. It's such good fun.

Our good friends (and cute newlyweds) Mr. Andrew & Ms. Hela were also in Navarre visiting Andrew's parents, so they met up with us at the beach and later at the pool. Speaking of pool, the neighborhood pool was another big hit! Cole floated about with Mr. Andrew and Gran, and a bit with Dada. That kid knows how to relax, and was right at home floating weightlessly in the water. Grady liked the water, but not as much as pushing the plastic chairs around the pool. We like to think he's practicing the football sled drill, a baby-pool-esque version of this:

All in all it was a great weekend visiting with Gran GG & Grampie. We can't wait to go back. Pictures of everything I talked about above are at our BabiesSquared Picture Site. Click and scroll to Beach Trip 09. Enjoy!

*The boys want to know who decides on the serving size for those snacks. The container said something like 7 servings per container, and they finished that container within a few hours. Maybe the serving size is based on teeny little babies, and not Big Boys. Big Boys can eat!

So, way back in June...

Yes, friends, I am very behind in telling you about the goings-on of the Ellerman 4. We've been busy. Busy growing, learning, and carting ourselves here, there and everywhere. Back in June our dear friends Amy and Matt got married. You might remember Amy from our wedding, she was the tall good looking blonde bridesmaid. (yes, tall & blonde together makes me want to hate her too, but she's really rather pleasant and likeable). Amy and Matt currently live in Phoenix, so it made total sense for them to get married in Jekyll Island, right? Right. So they did. We were excited-extra vacation! Jekyll Island, here we come!

Problem is, we have kids. Two of 'em, and I didn't see how fulfilling my bridesmaid-al duties would be possible with Frick and Frack demanding all my attention.(see how I slaved at this wedding? Here I am, getting my nails done with the bride) In steps Aunt Sessy, another dear friend of mine. Aunt Sessy, or Sara as you non-favorites can call her- lives in Savannah and bravely volunteered to watch the boys Friday-Sunday so we can go do the wedding thing. She does have a bit of twin experience as she is aunt to two adorable twin girls (who are now about 4 months, I believe), and I just knew Grady and Cole would love having her all to themselves for two days of lovin' and spoilin'.

I have loads of pictures to share. The boys loved being at Aunt Sessy (and it seems Aunt Sessy either liked having them, or tolerated them enough to not have all their stuff piled up at the front door when we got to her place Sunday morning), and the wedding was gorgeous! Amy is a detailed oriented person (READ: slightly compulsive), and her attention to detail showed . From the programs to the welcome bags, the wedding was stunning! We also enjoyed meeting and spending time with all of Amy & Matt's Phoenix friends. Enjoy pictures from the weekend here: BabiesSquared Photo Site. (click, and scroll to Amy & Matt's Wedding).

I unfortunately did not get any good pics of the boys at Aunt Sessy's house. I did take one, but they were not happy about their playing being interrupted, and I don't think that's an accurate depiction of their time with her. Here is a picture of her and Grady at different time,

Congrats Amy & Matt, and thank you Aunt Sessy! We owe you big.