The Illustrious White Coat Ceremony...and other tidbits

As I mentioned previously the Georgetown white coat ceremony was the day after Lilia was born so Brad was able to have his own personal ceremony in the Dean's office a month later. It was a unique experience. Dr. Knolan summarized the talk he gave at the actual ceremony for us and together Dean Mitchell and Brad recited the hippocratic oath. The oath was more powerful than I expected, I really enjoyed being able to be there to see it. Brad's mom was also in town so she was able to be there as well which was a special treat for all of us.








Also, here are few of the latest and greatest pictures of Lilia who...can you believe it...is two months old now.

Here are a few of her achievements:
-big grins, tongue included
-lifting her head off of the ground during tummy time
-seriously exploding out of a diaper (enough that it was easier just to hose her off with a bath)
-sleeping through the night...one day she went 8hrs, but most of the time it is more like 6-ish which I am told by baby books that counts!
-spitting up....still multiple times a day (we are working on the reflux issue and hoping it won't be an achievement for next month's list)
-she can now hold her head up when you she is vertical...it is pretty wobbly but hey!





Her face is so intense because she's just showing off her muscles...very impressive
her little "scoop" nose as we call it, don't know where it came from but it's sure cute.
I wasn't kidding when I said she sticks out her tongue a lot...here are a few examples :)


This is what we call our penguin baby. Our apartment was really cold for a couple of days because they haven't switched over to heat yet so we had to bundle up. That happened to be the night she slept for 8 hours so I took a picture to celebrate. If this were a video all of her limbs would be flailing around like crazy.
So here is a video of her playing in her crib....I was trying to get her to smile but she just ended up spitting up on me! Just ignore my high-pitched baby voice and watch until the end...yay reflux.

Lilia's first month

The past month has been filled with so many wonderful loved ones. Although Lilia has slept through most of it I am sure that she soaked in the love. Brad and I are gradually adjusting to our new home and feel like we are in the right place. We love Arlington and are so excited for this new stage of life with Lilia.

Here are a few pictures of our latest adventures

Grandma Taylor rocking Lilia - what a lifesaver that first week home. I find it ironic that when you become a new mom you find that you need your own mom more than ever.

Aunt Cheyenne holding Lilia or should I say her little "munchkin" as she came to call her.

Uncle Stephen came to visit Lilia while she was in the hospital, what a treat. We are so glad to be close to our East Coast siblings.My sister Jen and her children Naomi, Emily, and Christopher from L to R. Thanks to Jen & Chris, and Gwen and Matt Brad's sister and her husband we are able to borrow a whole nursery set, bouncer, swing, clothes, wipe-warmer, blankets and the list goes on. Not to mention that they have fed and housed us on multiple occasions during our homeless July months. I don't think I would have survived this whole summer with out these two remarkable families. Thank you, thank you!


Nana Petty was here the week before last. What an amazing woman, it's not everyday that you get a mother-in-law who worked as an OB nurse for years. We had so much fun venturing out into the world. Now I'm not afraid to take Lily to the grocery store :)I can't find a CD of some pictures that Gwen took with her amazing camera while they visited us in the hospital, but here is Nana holding Lilia with Audrey, Henry and Evie. Such adorable little kiddos, we love them (When I find the CD, I'll post some of the pictures because they are adorable!).


We have officially had our first visit from one of our loved Provo friends. Melissa Story was in the area with her family and was so sweet to take the time to come visit us. It was so good to see her and hope this was the first of many visits from our Provo friends...wink wink.
Brad's favorite thing to do when he comes home from a long day of class and studying is to hold Lilia. There is something so soothing about holding a soothing baby.

So Lilia definitely didn't get my hands. They look small in this picture but her fingers and arms are really long...just like her Daddy.


So my sister-in-law Haley is going to have to forgive my being a copy-cat but I just loved her pictures of her kids with their little milestone ages on them.


Our adventurous outing to the Great Falls National Park with Nana Petty, Gwen and Matt and the kids. Lilia enjoyed it...she slept the whole time.







There is this fun inside joke in the Petty family called the Mom salute, Lilia seemed to know that Marty was leaving after her fun week with us and as a token of appreciation for all of her help gave her the salute.

Georgetown Med 2014: A Football Player and a Dad

Apparently having a baby the first week of medical school makes you famous. Brad was at school today and a fellow student told him that he was in the main article on the Georgetown website. Yes, Brad did miss the white coat ceremony but the Dean has offered to do a personal white coat ceremony later this month which I am so excited about because now Lilia and I can go as well as his mother who will be in town at the time. Things have a crazy way of working out. I don't believe all the miracles in our lives are chance. I am very grateful, quite a bit amazed and awed at all that has transpired in the past few weeks. Why do I ever doubt that things will work out?

Here is the article, or you can follow the link below

Georgetown Med 2014: A Football Player and a Dad

A former Notre Dame football player interested in orthopedics and a new dad are among the School of Medicine’s Class of 2014, which had its traditional White Coat Ceremony Aug 6.

The annual rite of passage marks a medical student’s transition to a clinical health science education.

Michael Narvaez (M’14), graduated from the University of Notre Dame, where he played football. He was happy to hear from one the main speakers at the ceremony, professor emeritus of medicine Donald M. Knowlan, who once served as attending physician for the Washington Redskins.

Stephen Ray Mitchell, dean for medical education, also spoke at the ceremony.

“Despite everything you hear about health care reform and other obstacles, this is still the greatest career at the greatest time,” Knowlan said. “No one has had a greater opportunity or a better chance at medicine than the Class of 2014.”

Narvaez agreed.

“This is a really exciting time to enter medical school,” he said. “I’m looking forward to starting my medical career at Georgetown.”

Baby Steps

According to Mitchell, this year is first time ever that a student has been absent from the White Coat Ceremony.

Bradley Petty (M’14) was unable to attend because he was attending the birth of his baby.

Narvaez and Petty are two of the 196 members of the class of 2014, which has 91 women and 105 men. He and the rest of the class received their white coats from mentors within the medical community who helped shape the students’ chosen career path.

The ceremony encourages students to show compassion toward their patients, and to lead an honorable and upstanding life.

Georgetown is one of more than 100 medical schools in the United States participating in the White Coat Ceremony this year.

Following the ceremony, a reception sponsored by the Parents Council was held to honor the new medical students.

http://explore.georgetown.edu/news/?ID=51929

A little more of Lilia

Last week Brad's sister Gwen humored us with a photo shoot of Lilia. I just love how they turned out. There is something so precious about a week old infant and since I've been told they change so fast I was glad we had a chance to capture her in this stage while we could. Hope you enjoy!

She's Here!!!!

Say Hello to Lilia Marie Petty!!!! 5 lbs 11 ounces. 18.25 inches long and healthy.


Holly at the beginning of labor... little did she know that there was much more to come :)


Seconds after delivery. Lots of helping hands.


A proud father holding his daughter.


Cute baby!


Dr. Martinez and Dr. Anne (I can't remember her last name, she is a new resident). Dr. Martinez was a wonderful doctor. We were happy to have him delivery Lilia.


A proud and very tired mother holding her daughter.


From this picture and the one before you can see her dark hair!


Lilia. The past 24 hours she has been a trooper. She is a very calm baby so far, but it's only the first day.

Happy Birthday Bo!

He's irresistable....what can I say! We celebrated Brad or Bo's (longtime family nickname) on July 10th. Actually Brad was quite lucky this year because we celebrated his birthday about four different times. Once with each of our families in Utah, and each of our sisters out here including a delicious Sushi dinner and an epic game of bowling. We have had so much fun so far out here in Virginia spending time with family. Not to mention that without them we would be homeless. Our apartment is currently being renovated putting our move-in date a few weeks away. Needless to say it has been a crazy summer and will probably continue to be that way since we have a little bundle coming sometime in the next 4ish weeks. On a more serious note I want to thank Brad for being so calm and patient through all of this. He really has been an incredible source of steadying strength for me and I love him dearly for that and many other reasons.



































Also, for those interested here is me and the baby at 8 months! Yep, I swallowed a basketball :)

Georgetown, it is official!

Holly and I have been putting off the inevitable. After an application process that has now lasted over a year (I guess it began last May 2nd when I took the MCAT), we have decided upon our school: Georgetown! No more waiting and saying, "well, if this happens...." For many reasons we are really excited about that choice.

For one, it is DC and that is one of our favorite cities in the US. Also, it is Georgetown and I think I will really enjoy my time there. Beyond that and many other things, we are fortunate enough to have family so close. My oldest sister will be about 20 minutes away and Holly's oldest sister will be about 40 minutes away. My brother will be a few hours away in Pittsburgh and another sister is about 9 hours away in Indiana. We wanted to go somewhere where we would have at least some family nearby.

Although we won't have the grandparents and our other siblings nearby, Holly and I both feel that this is the right decision. It kind of took us some time to make up our minds, but I think for a long time we knew we would be going there. I got into the Medical College of Wisconsin, but beyond that first day of receiving the acceptance, I never felt I would go there. The main thing was waiting for the U. I got wait listed there, along with a few other schools, and we waited to hear from them. Although we waited a couple of months, I felt that I would still go to Georgetown nonetheless. It is the end of May and still no news from any of the other schools. So in the next week or so I will probably contact each of them and withdraw my name from the wait list.

Here is a picture of us and soon enough, there will be three!