Shortly after Emily was born I was contacted by an LDS resident family at the Mayo Clinic. They had plans of coming to Baltimore for a 3 month trauma rotation at the Maryland Shock Trauma Hospital. They had three kids....Ty (8), Tate (5) and Briella (2) with another little girl on the way. I answered their questions about Baltimore and quickly learned that not only would they be living very close to us, but that they would be attending the same school. When I told David about them he told me that it would be great if I liked them, but could also potentially be annoying if they ended up being weird! Well, it couldn't have been any better. They were a blessing to our lives. Mauri came at just the right time for me. Her enthusiasm to explore, her good company and her listening ear were just what I needed after Emily was born. We became fast friends....someone I'll keep in touch with forever. I miss her! Each of my kids made a new best friend. Ben and Ty had a great time going to cub scouts together. I suppose we will eventually forgive Ty for taking the 1st place pinewood derby trophy from Ben! Ben told me Ty's friendship was worth the loss!
Tate ended up in Kate's kindergarten class. Kate quickly developed a new class crush and wasn't embarrassed to admit it to anyone. At her parent-teacher conference this spring their teacher told me that Tate came at the perfect time for Kate. He allowed her to be his little mother hen and she thrived on that. She claimed him as her own. They loved that they had matching jerseys.
And then there was Jacob and Briella. At times they had a love-hate relationship, but in the end love won out. Brie helped Jacob celebrate his birthday and naturally I found them playing doctor on more than one occasion.
Near the end of their rotation we were able to go duck pin bowling together. All the kids had a blast. Unfortunately, this was our last get together.....a never ending flu bug came to our home and ruined our last week together.
We miss you!!! Come back Winders!!! We would love to meet Elise, your beautiful new addition!
