Hats & Smiles

It was cold the other night, and Kelly, mom and I had fun putting various hats on Ethan. Here are some of his smiley pics.

Just A Thought...

This blog thing is pretty awesome, no? I don't think anyone has missed a step in Ethan's life so far. From birth to 4 months, every burp, babble and developmental milestone, you've all been witnesses! I just love technology. OK, love from us all!

Ethan's First Haircut

Ethan had his first haircut this past weekend. Kelly did the cutting while mom kept Ethan distracted and (somewhat) still long enough for the job to be done. I think Kelly did a fantastic job, and Ethan just looks so different and is just growing up before our eyes. I was busy manning our yard sale outside. Some of the pictures are a bit blury since Kelly was doing it all. Some of his precious locks are kept in a bag for his scrapbook.

My blog entries have been kinda short these days, but I'll keep updating (even if only pictures or videos) as new things develop with us.

Love to all!

Ethan Rolling (Part II)

Pretty exciting times in the Koay-Eblaghie household. Ethan is learning to turn over from his front (belly) to his back. We'll keep everyone updated as usual!

Ethan Rolling

For Sale By Owner

Heroes Are They

I believe everyone has a hero, or heroes. Be they athletes, or artists, singers, poets, politicians (?) or one's parents, grandparents or movie or TV actors, someone at some point imparts a strong sense of self and spirit in everyone. It all really depends on what you are in to, and what you enjoy spending your time doing, and the interactions you make and who you meet along the way.

I have many heroes: Most of them are athletes because I am a huge sports fan. But there are others, many others. Each of my heroes have comforted me during times of self doubt, instilled in me confidence and an attitude that "anything is possible", or simply made me smile, laugh and cry.

As I am composing this blog entry, and the more I think of my friends, my family, my colleagues, of past and present, I come to the realization that pretty much everyone I have ever met has at one point in my life been a hero of mine.

And that crisis, tragedy, loneliness, and hardships open up the portals for heroes to impart their influence on you.

Countdown To July

With February coming round the corner, we have (in the vicinity of) 5 months to get ourselves packed and relocated. What with having to prepare our house for sale, house hunting in Georgia, Kelly wrapping up her residency at Duke (and all the paper work involved in getting licensed in Georgia) and visa matters, it will neither be easy nor enjoyable these next few months.

Moving is never fun, though the excitement of starting afresh and establishing a nest and building roots invigorates at times.

I have already begun to search for homes in the Georgia mountains, focusing my search on Blue Ridge and Ellijay. I have found some pretty nice places to live, from Buckhorn Estates in Ellijay to Scenic Heights in Blue Ridge to a really eco-friendly, Japanese-inspired "green" house called Fern Valley. (I would love to have a home that has a name, no?)

Well, it is early days still, but only just. Banks don't tend to secure loan rates for more than 90 days and so making offers now would be premature. Although, mortgage rates seem to be going up a bit, and I am hoping for rates to dip a little come Spring when the housing market is at its busiest. We'll see. So much to leave to the imagination right now, and God-willing things will come together nicely with all of this moving business.

New Look Ethan

Here are more pictures of Ethan we took the day it snowed (a couple days ago??) and after his bathy-bath this evening. His hair is getting a bit out of control, and although I love seeing him grow (yes, even the length of his hair getting longer brings joy to my life) it may be time for a new 'do'. That'll be for next time, hopefully, Ethan will have had a nice posh haircut.

Picture Series: First Snowfall Of The Year

Ok so this is hardly any snow, but by the time I woke up, it had already started to rain and the white stuff was slowly melting away. Hey, at least it was cold and damp, right? And you guessed it, with 1/10th of an inch of snow and the mere threat of ice was enough to have schools cancelled :-D Good ol' North Carolina!

4-Months Old

Ethan had his 4-month doctor's appointment today. He had several immunizations (as with his 2-month visit) so he is a bit sore right now, but doing well. He weighed in at 13 pounds 9 ounces or 6140 grams. He is 2 feet tall (24 inches). He has changed so much (don't you agree?) since he first arrived home after weighing less than 5 pounds and measuring just 18 inches in length.

Some of his developmental milestones at this age include: better head and trunk control, babbling and cooing and making lots of baby noises, recognizing (and staring) at his hands (fists), bringing his hands together at midline, and even laughing and responding to "peek-a-boo" :-D

Next appointment: 6-month visit on March 19, 2007 at 1pm.

Big Car

Since my last blog entry, I sold my '03 VW GTI 1.8T for a much larger upgrade. It was getting too much to handle getting in and out of the back of that sporty 2-door with Ethan in his car seat, and with some critical things going wrong with the car, and with warranty soon to run out, I could not have sold my car sooner (well I could, but it was timely nonetheless). And I probably got the most car (in this case, truck) I could get for my money in this '02 Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer (5.4L V8 engine) which seats up to 8 people (when the foldable third row seating is being used).


I just got it insured and later today, Kelly and I will register the vehicle under our names through the DMV. However, many great memories were had with the GTI, and thanks Dad, it was the best PhD gift I could have ever received.


The truck/SUV will be perfect when we move to Blue Ridge in the north Georgia mountains this coming summer.

Making The Grade

CONGRATULATIONS, HONEY!!!

Kelly just passed her USMLE (medical licensing exam) Step III with a score in the 97th percentile :-D Well done, Honey.

Let's celebrate!

Next up: Board Certification exams for both Internal Medicine (August '07) and Pediatrics (October '07)...

You can do it!

Mama's Boy

After a long day's work, Kelly is treated to a chatty noomie ... well that is until he realizes he is being taped and then, well, the staring is on! :-D

Hanging Out With Dad

Two couple o' home boys, Ethan and I hung out at home most of the day today. We did manage to get out just briefly though. We made a bit of a surprise visit to the Hogan Lab. And although we did not get to see Brigid (as she was off running errands), we said hello to old friends Cheryl, Jianwen, Emma, Yun, Yan and Xiaoyan. It was nice to see everyone, even if just briefly. And it seems Brigid is running quite a tight ship as usual - everyone was hard at work!

I had not been to the ol' third floor of Nanaline Duke Bldg for nearly a year (maybe less) and a lot has changed. On the walls are more framed photographs (or "science art") of cells and tissues immunostained or labeled for some protein or another with a fantastic array of colourfully fluorescent antibodies.

The old labs on the floor have been upgraded to the new black-top benches with matching everything. Looks nice, and job well done to the Chair for orchestrating everything I'm sure.

I must have bumped into everyone I knew at Cell Biology, since, leaving, we ran into Amy (Dr. Ramsey) in one of the courtyards by MSRB.

We got home, Ethan had fallen asleep on the drive home, and mom and I went to work. First, we dismantled the bed in our room and left only the mattress on the floor. We stored away all the bed parts (posts, frame, head/foot boards, etc..) and rearranged Ethan's co-sleeper and other items to tidy up the place. It is amazing just how much space our bed took up. Our room looks absolutely spacious now, and having the mattress low to the ground is good for when Ethan co-sleeps with us. (since he has officially outgrown his co-sleeper/bassinet).

Soon we will transition Ethan to sleeping on his own in his crib in his own room.

Next up for clearing and packing will be the study. This will take a lot of work to accomplish since most of our (dare I say 'junk') stuff are kept in this room. No doubt, though, we will have items to sell or give to good will. (we have already made several donations this past year which is good also since tax season is coming up).

Still, good day of fun and work, minimizing things, getting the house ready for showing in the next month or two when we put it on the market.

Restless Night

I went to bed around 2:30am last night, waiting for Ethan, who had been sleeping contently on the couch, to wake up for his night-time feed which normally occurs around that time. I did not want to wake him by moving him to the bed earlier than this. And I wanted for Kelly to get as much sleep as possible before bringing Ethan in to our room. And so I was up.

2:30 am comes around and, like clockwork, Ethan wakes. I tried to put him back to sleep by patting him gently, but only carrying him would work, so I just took him to Kelly.

Before I knew it, my blurry eyes witnessed my alarm clock's over-sized bright red digits reading, "3:45" and "4:58" and "5:55", and meanwhile I had slept in my bed, on the couch and on the floor just outside the door to our closet. Ethan woke up three times last night (which has not happened since he was 2 months old or so... or at least not the past couple of weeks).

When 6:30am rolled around, Kelly had long since left the house for work, and Ethan was completely bright-eyed and ready to start his day. He would sing, and babble, and wave his arms round (his hand clenched in tiny baby fists), and kick his legs about, and if you pretended not to notice his purposeful motions, he would be sure you did not sleep.

So, up we go, Ethan and dad, playing and singing and exercising, all before 7am (less than 5 hours since my head first hit my warm, soft, cozy pillow).

Thankfully, mom was about getting up at this time and took over with Ethan while I could catch an extra three hours or so of rest... which suited Ethan just fine I'm sure, since gran is quite good at singing and reading to him and I can tell he enjoys this early morning time with her.

Washed Out Weekend

Well a crummy weekend comes to an end. And the only day that Kelly had off in the past 10 days, and for the next two weeks, was not time well spent.

This morning was ok. I had eggs, bacon and a pork bun for breakfast, and my usual coffee. There was nothing usual about the bacon though. In fact, it surprised me that we had any in the freezer at all.

But my day just seemed to go downhill after that. We all pilled into my tiny VW GTI and made our way to CarMax in Raleigh. I am trying to sell my car since it is smaller than what our current needs require. It is a 2 door sport car, and getting a baby car seat in and out of the back is quite hard.

But it is only three years old, sparingly used, still under warranty, and the "market value" that I've been told for my car is way less than I would ever care to sell it for.

What to do?

We saw two much larger vehicles at CarMax: (1) Ford Explorer and (2) Ford Expedition. I was hoping to make a direct trade (i.e. no money out of pocket, just what I can get for my car) and since we are moving to a more mountainous region come July, and the fact that I use my current small car to transport many items to accommodate my many "projects" (DIY, gardening, etc..) I was thinking an SUV would be what our new found situation will need. (and domestic SUVs - well Fords - seem to be the most affordable if I am looking at purchasing one no older than 2000).


But our trip to CarMax did not end well, and this, unfortunately, got me so grouchy and thinking so negatively I quite literally shut myself away from everyone for about three hours (maybe four).

And it is not that I even care for an Explorer versus an Expedition. I just feel one way or another I am going to lose a lot by trading in my current car, and at the very least, I want to get the "most car" I can in a trade.

So that was my crummy day. (the watered-down version of course).

But it got me thinking of a poem I memorized in high school or that I wrote (??) in high school. It goes:

to think a thought,
one single thought,
to think it through,
and then...
to savour each and every word,
like the last days of a dying friend.
to treat it as an ocean breeze,
caught on the burning sand,
like a ship-wrecked soul,
aboard a plank,
when morning brings the land,
now it's here,
then it's gone,
then it's back again.
as fragile as a child's forgotten paper boat,
caught in the summer's rain.

Back to counting down the days until your next day off, Honey...

Morning Chat With Gran

Ethan's Progress

Here's a clip of Ethan holding his head up while on his stomach :-D

A Top 3 Name

According to BabyCenter, Ethan was the third most popular boy's name in 2006 (as with 2005) behind (1) Aiden and (2) Jacob. I had always known Ethan was a "popular" name, but Kelly and I had never consulted these "lists" and always just assumed popular names (to avoid) would be a "Michael" or a "John". (not that I have anything against these names and the few Mike's and John's that I do know are great people). :-D

But I guess times are changing and so are baby's names, and this year's "Michael" is now "Aiden". In fact, the once most popular boy's name (Michael) for a record (who knows) number of years is now at a humble #12 on the 2006 list. (and John coming out at #42!). Actually, the top name on my list for a boy, before Kelly had "the dream", was Roman - a name not listed in the top 100.

And for the record, "Max" came out at a devilish #66 :-D Woo hoo!

As for girl's names? Well, Honey, you know the name we have our eye on? It is on the list too, and is on the rise. (and, no, it is not "Abigail")

How's that for a bit of curiousity for my readers.

Top 10 Baby Names of 2006

06 Girls 05
1 Emma 1
2 Madison 3
3 Ava 10
4 Emily 2
5 Isabella 6
6 Kaitlyn 4
7 Sophia 5
8 Olivia 7
9 Abigail 11
10 Hailey 13

06 Boys 05
1 Aiden 1
2 Jacob 2
3 Ethan 3
4 Ryan 6
5 Matthew 5
6 Jack 8
7 Noah 16
8 Nicholas 4
9 Joshua 9
10 Logan 19