Family Lounge

Ross University School of Medicine has fallen short of my already low expectations many times already.  However, recently, they made a move that pleasantly surprised me. They reserved a small room on campus and modified it to become a designated "Family Lounge".  It's attached to the library (in their modifications, they added soundproof walls, thank goodness!) right in the middle of campus.  It is so great! There is a fridge, a TV, a microwave, sink, table/chairs, a couch, and some yoga mats (since there are small children just learning to walk or, like Sadie, slightly accident-prone).

Because it also has A/C, Sadie and I now spend almost every afternoon there (for this reason, I'm glad that she's stopped taking regular naps).  It's nice because I can bring my laptop and work up updating blogs/fixing web code/other computer-related projects and Sadie can run around, play with toys, or watch a movie.  We actually moved all of Sadie's Mega Blocks over to the lounge for all the children to play with and I can even hook up my laptop to the TV if the kids want to watch one of the movies I have digitally.

Guess which movie they're watching here?
(yes, that boy on the floor really is asleep and that's my laptop on the far table)

Here is Sadie playing with one of her favorite people, "BABY CHAAAASE!" ha ha, he's our next door neighbor, in case you don't remember.  Sadie gets SOOOOO excited every time she sees him and can even recognize him a mile away. Seriously! I was walking home with another neighbor when I hear "BABY CHAAAASE!" come from under our stroller's hood. I respond "Sadie, baby Chase is at home" not 10 seconds later, do I realize that the speck at the end of the road is indeed Courtney, pushing Chase in their stroller.  Absolutely adorable.  It doesn't go just one way, either. Now that Chase knows he has an adoring fan, every time he sees Sadie his face lights up and he starts wiggling and smiling to get her attention (not that it ever takes longer than a few milliseconds to happen).

Lastly, the reason why I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new family center is....

DADDY!!!!!!!!!

Yup, that's right, because the new family center is right on campus (less than 20ft from Lincoln's locker) we now see daddy all the time, most of his breaks, lunchtime, before labs (no more gross anatomy labs, but he still has other labs and clinical things he gets scrubbed up for) and whenever else he decides to wander over.  The family center is also right next to the playground, so anytime Sadie's wiggles start to take her over and consume her, I can just walk over to the playground with her and she's then able to chase them all away (for a while, at least).  The family center has been open just over a week and a half, and already we've fallen in love with it and have wondered "how did we ever manage without this place?"