Books...Books..Books..

Madison loves BOOKS. She will bring you any book and wants you to read it to her then and NOW! If you are not fast enough, she'll have a loud scream for you. However, tonight as I was running the bath water, I looked over and she was sitting in her chair reading her books, just talking to herself.

This week at school it is Petweek. We brought in a picture of Madison and Sonic, well they're both in the picture, not exactly together. Madison saw her picture on the wall this morning and said, "DOG"..Her teacher said, "what did you say," Madison said, "DOG." In addition to that Madison knows sign (sign language) for four things: food, milk, more and done. Again, like father, like daughter.

Another Article on the Institute

http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/sep/28/um-announces-medical-technology-deal/

The University of Missouri's Health Care System and Cerner Corp. have entered into an agreement expected to have a $100 million impact.
Administrators Monday afternoon unveiled the so-called Tiger Institute for Health Innovation aimed to improve electronic health records at the university's hospitals and clinics, make information technology more efficient and possibly generate new revenues.
"The Tiger Institute is expected to have an estimated $100 million positive impact to MU through Cerner's investment, savings and future expected revenue through innovations created in this institute over 10 years," UM System President Gary Forsee said.
The partnership means 100 health information technology workers will become Cerner employees next year. Forsee said their compensation and benefit packages will be comparable to what they currently earn at the university.
Cerner was given the contract to team up with the university without having to go through a bidding process. That's because it's a revenue-neutral extension of an existing partnership, Forsee said.

One of the projects I am working on...

http://kansascity.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2009/09/28/daily10.html


Cerner Corp. and the University of Missouri announced plans Monday to create a Tiger Institute for Health Innovation, which is expected to generate revenue for Cerner, save money for the university and potentially reduce health care costs statewide.
The agreement includes an unspecified amount of investment from North Kansas City-based Cerner (Nasdaq: CERN) and yet-to-be-determined contract payments from the university to Cerner. Those details remain to be worked out.
A final agreement is expected by the end of the year, Cerner Chief of Staff Jeff Townsend said in an interview.
One item of direct investment from Cerner, Townsend said, will be $2 million a year during the next decade for research and development of health care information technology improvements.
He said one of Cerner’s goals is to push more of its research and development program out to where the practitioners are working.
According to a joint news release from the university and Cerner, the institute eventually could extend health care information technology improvements to providers throughout the state.
Cerner estimates those improvements could reduce health care costs throughout the state by as much as $1 billion annually.
The release said the partnership also could be worth $100 million to the university when taking into account projected savings from the improved technology, Cerner investments and potential revenue from commercializing products created at the institute.
The institute is expected to “accelerate MU’s existing health care information technology projects with Cerner to create one of the nation’s most digitized health systems,” according to the release.
The institute is also expected to:
• Increase the number of health science and technology graduates at MU.
• Position MU health sciences schools as a hub for research and development of advanced uses of health information technology.
• Expand the Medical Home collaboration between Cerner and the university, a partnership that aims improve care for patients through better management of their health through education and secure messaging with their care provider.
Cerner is a health care information technology company. It ranks No. 12 on the Kansas City Business Journal’s list of area public companies.

Dancing Baby

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0JqO92ev2c&feature=popt18us16


click on the link up above

Some Belated Birthday Pictures of Madison

And one frightening Halloween picture

We will be tailgating

Jen and I decided that more people wanted us to tailgate than we thought so we will be setting up TV's and a tent in lot 6. You are welcome to join us if you can.

Looking forward to the 300th sellout

Jen will be driving back to Nebraska on Friday for the 300th sellout game. I'll be flying in Friday night to join her. We're looking forward to seeing the new look of the stadium and watching the huskers rebound from a heartbreaking loss.

I'll let you decide what happened

Swimming Lessons Take Two

This past Saturday, Madison started a new session of swimming lessons. These lessons are held at the Park Hill Aquatics Center. One of my friends at work told me about the swimming lessons, called Waterbabies. I was not sure what to expect, however when we arrived at the Aquatic Center there were a plethora of people. It appeared there were multiple swimming lessons occurring at one time...Oh my was that true. It was a bit chaotic, but we managed. Madison and I got in the pool, which was 4ft deep. I was on my tiptoes trying to carefully hold her. Her initial reaction was screaming and crying. Then once we started singing (hokey-pokey), Madison felt more comfortable. We kicked, blew bubbles, splashed water and played Humpty Dumpty. It was amazing how quickly the half-hour session went by. We look forward to the next session.

Moving on up

Madison will start in the Silly Seals room on October 12, 2009. She is moving up with the older kids where she'll learn more advanced skills such as sign language. Typically this class is 12-18 months old, but for kids to move into some of the upper classes they need to be potty trained and if they can't go up, they create a log jam. We are very happy that Madison will be at 14 months when she moves (almost back on track).

Official comment on the Silly Seals: This is a time where the children are starting to develop their independence. It is in this classroom where we introduce spoons and encourage the children to feed themselves. The children also sleep on portable cots. We believe in the Montessori philosophy of self directed learning, facilitated through teacher guidance, preparation and anticipation, which follows the interest, motor ability and cognitive readiness of the child. We encourage development of language skills through verbal expression as well as the use of baby sign. It is also in this classroom the children begin swimming once a week.


Daily Schedule

7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Breakfast/Free Play
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m. Diapers(Sing Songs/Read Books)
9:30 a.m. - 10:00 a.m. Sing Songs/Read Books/Art
10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Aerobics Room Play or Outside Time
11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Lunch
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Clean-up/Free Play/Diaper Time
12:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. Nap time/ Buggy ride and aerobics room as children wake up
3:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Snack Time
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Free Play/Art
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Aerobics Room Play/Outside Time
5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Montessori Work*/Special Toy Time
*Montessori work times may vary from day to day

Catching up

Outside the article I posted below about Cerner's next expansion, Jen and I have not given anyone much of an update to our blog. So I thought I'd get everyone caught up.

After Madison's birthday party and the announcement that we were expecting again (due March 22nd), Jen and I have been sick. We caught that lovely bug that seems to last for a couple of weeks. Our evenings and free time have been spent sleeping. Yea us!! Madison, fortunately, didn't seem to catch our cold. However, we had a week of the worst teething experiences we've had yet. In fact, Madison had diarrhea out of her teething. It appears all her teeth want to come out and play at once.

Last week, we dressed up Madison in her husker gear as preparation for the opening game. Daycare got a kick out of her outfit and so did I. Below are some pictures. I took them from my phone so they are not the best quality...

We did make it back to Lincoln for the first husker game. Jen watch the game with her brother in Ceresco as her parent took care of Madison. I went to tailgate party on 14th street and watched the game from there. It was nice seeing some old friends. We grilled out and had 3 tv's set up in the parking lot. It was a great day to watch college football. I'm still shocked that BYU beat OU.

Madison has been walking around... a lot. She loves to walk around things and bring you something from the opposite end of the room. Nightly we play a little game of collecting things for Dad to put away after Madison goes to bed. She also like to play chase and has learned to hide behind things and then surprise us and giggle.

Things at work have been going well. We are stilling targeting signing our first contract by the end of September so everyone is busy hitting that goal. I haven't traveled much lately, and that has been fine by me, especially since I had a cold. Hope everyone is doing well...

Cerner Expanding

Cerner has announced it will be expanding into Kansas City Kansas and next to the KC Speedway. Looks like a good investment into a growing part of town.


http://www.kansascity.com/sports/wizards/story/1435294.html