October Mom Auction

In case you haven't seen me post it lots of times in the last few months, I've been participating in a fun auction on Facebook that my friend Serene puts together each month.  There's lots of cute stuff, usually things like jewelry, baby items, hair accessories, and a few vinyl holiday decor things.  All made by moms! Check it out, and bid on something to support a mom!

CLICK HERE to go to the auction! Auction closes Thursday, Oct. 11 at 10pm MST.

The lingo, the insanity, and the stones.

Here's what's been on my mind this week (I'm sure you're just dying to know!):

Residency programs.  I've been a busy little bee informally researching residency programs for Dr. Trenty Poo.  He's currently leaning toward family med, unless he discovers he likes something else better over the course of his rotations this year, so that's what I've been looking into. 

As a little background info, I was added to a couple of facebook groups by a friend, Lives of Doctor Wives, and LDS Doctor Wives. I thought they seemed weird, a little silly, and a little dramatic at first, but I will tell you that I really kind of enjoy them now, and have learned a lot of useful information from them about how things like interviewing, applying for residencies, good qualities to look for in a residency program, etc. I think I mostly have the lingo down now.  My DrH is MS3 and I'm looking into dual accredited, unopposed FM programs that he will begin PGY1. See, lingo down.

Anyway, as far as researching family med (the aforementioned FM) programs, the most useful info I've gained from the fb group has been that of unopposed family med programs. Basically what it means is that there are no other competing programs (i.e. internal med, emergency med, OBGYN) at the same facility, which results in the FM residents getting more experience with a variety of patients/procedures/pathology, than they would if there were residents from other specialties working in the same hospital. As is logical, a lot of the bigger cities or big med school hospitals have multiple specialty programs in them, so it's been interesting to look into all the programs and see where they are.  There are some unopposed programs that might not make the cut to our application list because they are WAY out in the boonies.  I've got to be able to hit up Target or Kohls on occasion...and being within a few hours of an airport and temple would be nice.  But we haven't really started the official list yet, just gathering info.

The other thing we've been looking for, where DO residencies are concerned, is it seems like a good thing to find a program that is dual accredited, or in other words, it accepts both MD and DO students.  Well, I think most MD programs will accept a DO student if they have taken the MD boards--USMLE (Trent has/will) but there are also programs that take both types of degrees whether you've taken the USMLE or COMLEX (DO boards--which Trent has/will have also taken).

So in a nutshell that is what I've been looking at.  And from there you can look at the benefits/educational info, which is really exciting! Seeing that many schools fully pay insurance for the resident and his family, and vision and dental, life insurance, disability (and disability for HIV if you contract during residency--yikes!), as well as paying for licensing, board prep, housing stipend, etc, etc, makes me really hope we can get into one of those schools, instead of one of the ones with lots of "No"s on the list of benefits. I've mostly been looking in AZ, NV, TX, and the midwest, as well as a tiny bit in the northwest.

The other thing on my mind has been exercising.  Trent has been telling me since he started med school that I need to exercise because my genes are working against me.  My dad had a major heart attack almost 10 years ago and is now diabetic, so I figured I had probably better start trying to be healthier.  Because let's be honest, I've never been a regular exerciser in my life.  I didn't do sports or dance or anything that had me active on a daily basis.  I did poorly in a P.E. class at BYU because my workout log was crap.

So the past couple of weeks I've been trying to do better, I went to yoga and aerobics each once at the church, and did my Gold's Gym 30 minute videos about 3 times, all in the course of 12 days I think. And that was really good for me.  And then Trent got some birthday money and bough the Insanity workout DVDs from someone on Craigslist.  So yesterday we did the fit test at the beginning of the program. And well....we couldn't even finish it! Haha. That is how out of shape we are.  Today we jumped right into the first cardio workout (which we also had to stop and rest a few times during the end) but we did it! Day 2 of 60 down! That being said, Trent will be in Tucson after we finish the first month, so we won't get to to do them together straight through.  I'm thinking about signing up for a 5k around Thanksgiving, to give me some motivation to keep moving while Trent is gone.

I've never really made it more than a week at trying to work out consistently, so I'm pretty proud of myself (it's been 15 days now, with 7 work outs, I believe).  Also, I'm not noticing amazing differences, but I do feel pretty good.  Kind of one of those you don't know what you're missing till you try things...I felt fine before, but I feel better now, even in just 2 weeks. And bonus, I think it will be good for my self-esteem to feel like I can do it.  Which may sound weird, but as someone who never worked out consistently, it always seemed unattainable to be in good shape (I'm a wimp), but now I feel like I could get there eventually.

I told Trent I am going to buy some new work out clothes if I can do it consistently for a month.  I did cheat a couple of days ago and buy a cute magenta work out shirt (I don't know what else you call it...) that was on clearance at Target for $6.48 (they are usually $20 there, which is way out of my range....$6.50 felt like s splurge even, haha). But if we do good and keep it up until my original month is over, then I think I will buy some pants or something, but I may check out Ross to see if I can find a better deal. 

I've been trying to plan healthier meals too. I made a 2 lbs. of dried pinto beans in the crockpot and got about 12 cups of homemade refried beans out of that. We had tostadas with those (no meat) and it was super delicious (Trent and I thought).  The boys were not big fans.  I don't know what to do with them. I don't know if I could really convince them to eat more fruits and vegetables unless I purged the house of everything else so they had to starve or eat them.  But I don't really see that happening, so we will see.  I've got stuff for lettuce wraps and Caroline's yummy black bean salad, or in other words, delicious to me, a dinner-induced fit in the making for William and empty tummy for Joe.

Ooh, and on an unrelated note, I just bought a bunch of birthstone gemstones for my sadly neglected shop! Yay! More cute mommy necklaces, here I come! I have a couple of cute ideas for them, so hopefully I can get some cranked out, photo'd, and posted in time for Christmas shopping!  I also have more rosette earrings to make, which I may work on while listening to Conference tomorrow.

My new therapy.

I keep thinking I need to write my thoughts for a few different reasons:

1. For posterity, being the family historian, etc. Pretty straightforward.

2. To give my brain some constructive work to do. The farther and farther away I get from my graduation in 2008, the more it feels like I've got brain soup up there instead of a functioning organ.

3. Therapy. At least I hope it works for that, for me. I get overwhelmed by life on a regular basis, so maybe getting everything out of my head will be helpful on that front.

I'm feeling kind of weird right now.  Trent is on call this weekend, so I just got back from doing church by myself with the boys. I feel like it went fine. I debated between sitting in our usual front/side pew or sitting farther back since I'd be there with no helper. I decided maybe William would behave better if we sat in the usual spot so he would know we had the same expectations.  The only bad part was I felt like I had to get up and chase Jonas down more than a few times and take him out once, so I'm hoping I didn't make too much of a spectacle of myself.  Maybe people wondered why I sat way up there if I was alone with my two small children. Whatever. It was worth a shot. And let's be honest. I'll probably do the same thing next time.

I teach the 12-13-year-old Sunday School class in my ward, and I haven't been feeling super successful at my job.  I know it's a hard age--to be, and to teach.  I almost laughed when I got the calling, because I had avoided that age group like the plague during my El Ed training, so it was almost like a joke--apparently I couldn't out run it if that's what Heavenly Father wants me to do. The class is good sized, usually in the 8-10 kids range. They are good kids, I think, but I usually feel like I'm not really connecting with them very well. There are a couple (of course) that are constantly talking out, often with some jab about one of the other class members.  It was unfortunate today, after staying up till midnight making cookies to butter them up into being a good little class for me, (and to hopefully let them know that I like them and care about them) that I had to stop the lesson very early on and just give it to them straight. "Look, guys, you are old enough to know what is appropriate to say in a lesson and what is not, and I'm tired of the dumb comments every week, so use that filter in your head and don't say stuff you know you shouldn't!"...or something to that effect. Well that kind of killed the mood, but I think I mostly got my point across. I did have to go further later on and remind them that I am in fact NOT stupid, when someone was trying to tell me they weren't doing anything with their phone, when they obviously were. I know, just typing this I can see why I'm not a class favorite.  And while I'm at it with my pity party I will admit that it does hurt my feelings when they act all disappointed when I walk through the door. 

What's funny, is after church the bishop stopped me in the hall and told me that he was about to go talk to someone who they are calling to be a team teacher for me.  And you would think after hearing my teaching woes that I would have felt really happy about that. But I guess I think to much about myself (which is ironic since I taught a lesson about selflessness today), so my first thought goes to me obviously not being good enough to do it on my own, and then to thinking, "Oh great, if they have another teacher, then the really will be disappointed when I teach them." So stupid, right? I have such a hard time blocking those negative thought sometimes (okay, more than sometimes).  I do feel like I need to point out that there are some really great kids in my class, and I often think "I hope my boys will be like ______ when they are that age." It's not all terrible and gloomy, I just worry about it, since I feel it is a big responsibility to help those kids see what is important in life, and I want to do a good job. I guess I probably am doing a good(ish) job, but right now I want to FEEL like I'm doing a good job.  Hopefully I wasn't given this calling so that the kids can learn how to be kind to a teacher who is failing miserably. ;)

Going back to me feeling weird...I think part of the reason is that while everything didn't go perfectly, it really was fine. But it feels like just a drop in the bucket to what I will have to do alone while Trent is working for the next 5 years and beyond. So I guess the weirdness is just mixed feelings.... Yay me, we were on time and looking good for church, but good grief do I feel mentally and physically exhausted afterward, so how am I going to keep doing this?? Well, mostly I think this weekend was good practice for harder ones to come. Trent was on call all weekend,  but since he is a lowly medical student (with a preceptor who is apparently not very busy when he is on call) he got to come home every evening. That was very nice, because that will not be the case in residency; so I think it was a good way to ease us in to the craziness.

I want to start writing more, and I don't mean it to all sound depressing. I'm sorry if this does.  I don't really mean it to be; I'm just trying to get my thoughts out in such a way that they feel honest.  You know, for therapy's sake. I'm hoping the more I write them down, the less stressed I will feel, resulting in happier sounding thoughts. :) Don't worry, I know that I am beyond blessed with an amazingly wonderful life, and I do love it so much. That's another reason I want to write it all down, to remind myself how wonderful it really is.

I feel like I get tunnel vision so often and all I can see or focus on is what is stressing me or what is bad, when really there is so much good.  I am grateful to teach my Sunday School class. The lessons are great, and they help me to be better. Take today's lesson on selflessness, not my earlier blunder, but a different example. During Relief Society I got a text from my neighbor, asking if I could pick her up from work tonight. I started typing this long message about how I could do it if Trent gets home, but I'm not sure what time he will be home, so if he's not back I won't be able to because my kids will be sleeping.  I stopped and erased it, remembering a point in my lesson the previous hour where I specifically talked about getting wrapped up in my schedule and my kids' schedule and how I need to be more flexible and just help people when they need it, instead of worrying so much about me and my schedule. So I just told her I would.  So I may be waking my kids up around 9 to pick her up if Trent isn't home by then, but at least it will mean that I learned something from my own lesson. And it won't be the end of the world even if they are a little tired tomorrow.

Anyway, I think I'm all typed out for now.

Brain Dump

Earlier today I was just driving between errands and thinking, "Yes! If Trent chooses a residency that is only 3 years long, we could be DONE in less than 5 years!" And then I kind of laughed at myself because being excited about ONLY having 5 years left just seems a little absurd, doesn't it? And that would only be if he chose something like family med or internal med with no further specialization.  Trent doesn't know what he wants to do yet, and I won't hold it against him if he wants to do something that takes longer than 3 years for a residency.

I was also thinking about how a couple of people have asked me recently how having him in med school has been, and I've found myself answering that it hasn't been as bad as I thought it would be, so far.  I think that is true in and of itself, but I am realizing that I believe that is in part because the "horrors" of medical school for me are the things that will be happening soon, not the studying and such that is behind him now.  Sure, he studied hard, and especially in the month or two leading up to boards, he didn't come home until a few hours after the kids were in bed every night, but he would come home and want to watch a show with me to unwind before bed.  I think it will be more taxing on everyone when he, rather than spending 12 hours a day in a library, is spending 12 hours a day on his feet working physically, mentally exhausting shifts, not to mention night shifts, call, etc. I don't love when he is not home at night. And I DO love when he can come home and help with dinner time and bedtime with the boys. So I think it will be hard. Well, I guess I know it will.

We were glancing at a residency database the other night, just to get ideas of basic things like where, how long, how much, etc. for any number of different specialties and locations. Of course the hours for residencies are crazy.  The ones we saw listed ranged from 52 to 78 hours a week.  And from what I hear, there is supposedly a rule about not being able to work more than 80 hrs a week, but a lot of places don't enforce it, or if they do it's like a you keep track of it yourself kind of thing...and of course the measly residents don't want to look like they are the ones trying to get out of work so a lot of people don't even bring it up. I was thinking "Poor Trent" as we looked at it, and then today I realized that I'll be working around the clock as well, since he either won't be here to help or will be needing to sleep before the next shift. I already run short on patience on a regular basis and think, "Dang it, I want to have more kids, but the two I have are making me feel like a crazy person!". So, I think I might need a brain transplant in preparation for residency. More realistically a loooooooooooooooooot of prayer.

Anyway, it's an exciting road though. I'm so proud of Trent already for all of his hard work, and all of his potential.  He is so kind and smart that I don't think it would be possible for him to be a bad doctor. I love that man. I sometimes tell him, "I never thought I would be married to a doctor!" to which he responds that I'm not yet. ;) Soon enough! Sometimes 5 or so years seems like forever, but other times it feels like it will fly by.

Mexico pics, part 2

Mexico pics, part 1

I just got done putting a few collages together from our trip to Mexico with the Leavitt fam.  I brought my good camera, so I had fun taking a LOT of pictures. I made a few collages up tonight with photos from the first day or so, so I figured I'd put them on here for anyone who still reads this to see :)

To my Leavitt peeps, if you want me to send any of the collages to you, I can. I even saved copies without my text on some of them, in case you want to personalize it.

17 months

I keep thinking I should write a post about Jonas.  His little personality seems to be coming out so much lately, and I LOVE it! He is such a fun, funny, and sweet boy.

He is a fairly cuddly boy, more so than I remember William being.  He will often rest his head on our shoulders when we pick him up, or sometimes when we're sitting on the couch or something he will walk up and rest his head on our legs. Today he even blew me a kiss unprovoked. I love it so much when he makes kissy noises at a us, which happens more often than an actual kiss.

Jonas is always making us laugh. He's a little ham.  He will often make the cheesiest smile (aka cheezer) complete with squinty eyes, and the best part is, he totally does it for the reaction.  He knows that we love it and think it is hilarious, so he does it to make us laugh.  When he's sitting in his high chair he'll often tilt his head at you, and just wait for you to tilt your head back and then start laughing when you do. And then of course it becomes a game!

He (like William around that age, and even now sometimes) will just start dancing if he hears music of any kind. It's like he can't resist. And as a result I find I can't help but think about him "you've got the music in you" (like this song). He's a head-bobber.  Me and the boys do a lot of dancing in the kitchen. I fear they get their moves from me.  Jonas also loves to sing. He will often sing along to songs (what he lacks in words he makes up for in gusto). I think it is the most adorable thing ever when he flips the pages of the hymn book at church during the songs and sings and sways to the music. 

Jonas likes to help. He loves to put things away (and sometimes dump them back out again). But we are at that wonderful point where I can give him some simple directions and he will obey. I change his diaper on the floor in the living room and usually use a little changing pad. He loves to put that away for me and shut the drawer.  Yesterday I handed him some clothes that were in the living room and asked him to put them in the hamper in William's room and he ran right down the hall with them and put them in. Now if only I could keep him from getting the floor so messy when he eats.  ;)

He is quite busy.  He spends his days wandering around the house getting into one thing or another.  The other day my friend was watching the boys and commented on how good William is, and will even shut the door when he goes to the bathroom, etc.  I told her he knows he has to shut the door at home or else I will end up hearing  what I did a couple of weeks ago... "Mom, Jonas put his hand in my pee!" Yep. He also loves to climb up on the toilet and grab anything he can off the counter, empty out the cabinets, knock over the trash can, unroll the toilet paper. Needless to say we try to keep the bathrooms off-limits.  The kitchen is another problem area. He's always standing up on top of the tables, making a mess of anything that's up there, and then yelling at me to get him down. His new favorite in the kitchen though, is the dishwasher.  He opens the door and stands on it, bounces a little, smiling all the while, and then goes for the dishes. Golly. 

He is slowly working on communicating.  Usually he just kind of grunts at us. Usually you (I) can tell which grunts mean yes or no, and that sort of thing. But sometimes it's just a blank grunt and we have no idea.  I don't know if grunt is the best word for the sound, but I can't really think of how else to describe it.  Kind of an "Uhh" sound. But he has a handful of words he says regulary: bye bye, mommy, (occasional dada), uh-oh, cheese, Jesus, shoes (those 3 all sound pretty similar), night night, baba (bottle), nana (banana).  He's started trying to say ball and apple lately.  He signs "all done", sometimes will sign "more" and has started signing "milk". He also loves to fold his arms for the prayer lately.  I have to credit his cousin Cora (3 weeks younger than him) for some of that.  He was never really interested in signing or folding arms for the prayer until we spent some time together in Vegas last month and he saw her signing and saying words and folding arms. Maybe he will be full-on talking after spending a week with her while we are on our cruise! ;) 

Anyway, I just keep thinking how wonderful Jonas is and how much I love him and am glad to have him in our family, so I thought I better write it down. Love that sweet boy! He keeps us on our toes, but he brings so much joy and happiness into our home...totally worth it!

May 2012 Pictures

Oh gosh, I'm getting so old that I can't keep track of what year it is! I almost typed 2008 and 2010 before I remembered it is 2012!

Here are most of the pictures we took in May. I hardly took any until last weekend when we were in Vegas.

The first one ones are Jonas doing what he does--getting into things! I was cooking or something, when he decided to unload/rearrange the silverware drawer for me. 

 We went to Las Vegas to surprise Trent's parents with an anniversary party for their 35th anniversary. All the kids from out of town came, and it was so fun to surprise them and spend the weekend all together.

 

It's hard to get a good picture with this many squirmy grandkids, but I think this one is adorable.

 

Texas Trip (Lots O' Pictures)

I guess anyone that reads my blog knows that me posting this less than a week after getting back from our trip is pretty much amazing. So, here are a million pictures from our fun 3 week visit across the great state of Texas.

Emmie and Jonas--cousins born 3 days apart. About 15 months here, at Caroline's house.

Somebody found some Easter egg loot.

Samuel and William were little buddies on this trip. It just made my heart happy to watch how much Samuel loved William; he was constantly hugging him and talking to him. It was adorable.

I love these two.

I have to say I think this picture is kind of hilarious.  Taylor found the golden egg, and Joshua, in the background was clearly upset that he didn't.

Confetti eggs!

Easter Morning Elliotts--Could they be any cuter?! (Derrick was in a church meeting, and sorry Caroline, I thought I picked the pic you were smiling in, but apparently not...)

Me and my boys on Easter morning.

Sadly I think this is the only picture I got with Mom or Caroline! What was I thinking?? And it was taken by a 9 year old so it's slightly blurry :)

living the dream...scootering in the culdesac. (In El Paso)

William only walked with the scooter between his feet, he never actually wanted to try using it the right way. Gosh, I hope he doesn't get his balance from me.

Love this cute picture of Lyla. What a sweetie.

He wasn't really into the bike either. I guess we need to work on that.

Cuties. Sometimes his smile reminds me of my mom's.

Little bruiser. This boy is into everything and consequently gets a lot of bumps, cuts and bruises. This one happened int he bathtub.

Lyla and Jonas had SO much fun running around on the trampoline together. It was so cute.

Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate Bradley's birthday a little early!

It's almost impossible to get a good picture of the two of them together. As the next two pictures illustrate. I don't even know what was going on in those two.

"This is my most surprised face."

 

Cracker Barrel with Dad and Terry! William had so much fun looking at all the toys in the store, and Dad bought each of the boys a little something to take on the plane with them.

 

We got to hang out with Nathan a few times and that was really great to see him and his family.  I'm sad that I forgot to take a picture with Ben when I saw him!

My jewelry display at the Calder Woods gift shop!

We made a quick stop at the Museum of Natural History with Mom and David before heading to the airport to go home! Super fun!

Thanks, Mom (and everyone else we mooched off of!), for the wonderful trip! We loved it. It was so great to see everyone, we just missed Brian's family in WA.  William has told me a few times since we got home Tuesday night "I don't want to be at our house," and tell me he wants to go back to Grandma's house.  But I think both boys are very happy to be home with their Daddy.