Kolby and Eli with Miss Mary Kate

Kolby and Eli finished up their preschool session at the YMCA on Friday last week. There is a spring break this week and another session of classes starts up next week, but we are going to take a break for now. With the move we probably won’t be here through the end of the next school session, and I’ve been wanted to start up a weekly playgroup again too. (But, honestly, we are mostly taking a break because over the last couple of months I have come to dread Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays because I have to get up before the sun comes out to get the kids all ready to go, wake up the babies, get them all fed, changed, and dressed, and take all the boys out in the freezing cold all the time, and I need a break for a while). Kolby and Eli had their picture taken with their teacher, Miss Mary Kate, on their last day. The boys do love their classes, and we will look into finding some classes for them to take again when we get to Salt Lake.

Toddler Art Class Luau

We had a luau the other night at the Nielsen’s house to celebrate the end of the summer Toddler Art Class that Kolby and Eli have been attending on Thursday mornings. The kids made decorations for the luau at their last art class last week, including palm trees, tiki statues, and grass skirts that they modeled for pictures. Then we all brought food and had a nice dinner together in the Nielsen’s back yard. It was perfect weather for an evening outside, except with the recent rain the mosquitoes have been worse this summer than any other time since we moved here, and I think that these annoying bugs were the reason that most families didn’t stay too late. But it was a very enjoyable evening.

Michael and the Boy before the Luau -- they all happened to be matching in their red shirts.

Kids in their grass skirts: Sofia Maas, Nathan Kearl, Mikey Kam, Kolby and Eli Bradshaw, and Eva Nielsen.

Kolby and Eli

No, those aren't chicken pox on Camden's face -- just mosquito bites the morning after the Luau.

Sub-Internship Makes My Life Seem Like A Blur

This week has seemed a blur as I have started into my medicine sub-internship. I say that because I am realizing just how busy it is going to be when I am an intern full time next year. I had to ask Steph to look at the calendar to remind me what actually happened this week outside the hospital.

I was on call Monday and Friday this week. Being on-call entails being at the hospital from 6:00 am one morning until 1:00pm the next day – about 30 hours total. During an on-call day, our team can get up to 10 new admissions, usually starting in the afternoon. There is a senior resident, three interns (including me) and two junior medical students, so we take turns going to meet the new patients, usually in the emergency room. On Monday I got two new patients – an older gentleman that had fallen in his home and been stuck on the floor for two days before being found by his neighbor, and a lady with multiple sclerosis (MS) with a bladder infection. As an “intern” I am in charge of meeting the patient, conducting a full history and physical, writing all the admission orders, and then taking care of the patient while they are in the hospital. I still have the senior resident who looks over all my orders before they go out to make sure they are ok, but it is a new experience to be in charge of making so many decisions. I am at a new location that uses a computer system that I am not familiar with, so it has been an uphill learning experience on that end as well.

That first call night I got about six hours of sleep, which was great – I didn’t have to go home and sleep the next day. But I did miss the Labor Day ward BBQ that Steph went to with the boys. She said some of our friends helped her with the three boys and that the boys loved playing on the playground.

My other call night, Friday, I got about 3 hours of sleep. I got two admissions again, this time a man with a cellulitis (skin infection) in his left leg, and a really complicated patient that has a 3rd clot in his left leg and shingles all over his body because he had a lung transplant a few years ago and is on medicine to suppress his immune system. Things were a little busier overall for our team, so I was up more of the night and pretty tired the next day. It is nice to have that post call afternoon to recuperate before having to go back in the next day.

Then, on top of normal call coming every 4th night, we have “short call” that occurs the day after our post call day (so call day, post-call day, short-call day, and pre-call day). On short call we start taking admissions in the morning and can get up to 4 as a team. Most mornings we are already busy with seeing how the patients did overnight, writing progress notes, filling orders, calling consults, and rounding as a team to talk about our patients, so to add admissions on top of that makes those days pretty busy as well. I guess I never realized how much paperwork goes on in the background behind patient care.

Wednesday night I had my first Alpha Omega Alpha (AOA) meeting. AOA is the medical school honor society – only 32 of the 200 people in our class were invited to join. Dr. Kolesari shared with us how he ended up as a family practice doctor and the director of the anatomy program at the medical school. Then we were introduced to the different programs that AOA members typically take part in, including helping to prepare the 2nd years for the Step 1 test; helping with testing the 2nd years for their physical exam test; helping with the Make a Wish foundation; serving at free clinics; and more. It looks like one of the goals of AOA is to find ways to serve the medical college community and our community at large.

I had Thursday off, which was such a nice break after the busy week. I helped Steph to take the boys to their last art class. They made tropical trees, “grass” (plastic) skirts, and other decorations for a luau that we had Saturday night at the Nielsen’s house. The luau was really fun, except for the mosquitoes that bit all of us in about 20 places each. Camden looks the worst with pink spots all over his face. There was a fishing pond and a treasure hunt for the kids, and dinner and desserts. Then we came back to our place for games last night.

Thursday afternoon and Friday all day Steph participated in getting several ultrasounds of Isaac, to help with training residents and some nurses on how to conduct ultrasounds. She got to keep several of the ultrasound pictures, got food, and even will get paid $100 for participating. I also made about $70 this week from selling old text books. Oh, speaking of money, we got our residency interviewing and relocation loan this week, so we now will have money to help pay for applications, interviews, and then moving next summer.

On Tuesday I looked over my application for residency programs one last time and then hit the submit button. I ended up applying to 100 dermatology programs and 6 transitional year programs. The ball is now out of our court and we will wait to hear for interview invitations. Keep us in your prayers so that we can get in somewhere. :)

Today I had to go into the hospital to round on my patients, so I finally got over to the church about 1:00pm for the last 20 minutes of choir practice. Mainly I went to help Steph with getting the boys back home. The Kearls invited us for dinner tonight, so that should be pretty fun. And I have tomorrow off, so that will be very relaxing. I am looking forward to when this month is over so that I can have my weekends back and more time to spend with the family.

Starting the Sub-I

In August Michael had an outpatient medicine rotation that had a very nice schedule. He got off early several afternoons a week and didn’t have to go in too early in the mornings. This means that it has been a really nice week for me – most mornings I get to ‘sleep in’ until around 7:30am and when I get up, Michael has already changed and fed the boys. Michael’s medicine sub-I started yesterday, and he is going to have a much tougher schedule for the month of September. This is one of Michael’s two sub-internship months this school year, which means that he takes on the responsibility of a 1st-year resident, which is a lot more than the normal responsibilities of a 4th-year medical student. Anyways, this month Michael will be working on weekends and be at the hospital overnight every 4th night. I think we may both be pretty tired by the time this month is over – at least the rotations he has scheduled for October and November are both supposed to have a much lighter schedule.

This last week was nice. On Monday I met Amy Schneider de Cortez (a friend from Michael’s school) and her kids at the Children’s Museum downtown. We had a lot of fun playing there, and it was good to see Amy again since we haven’t gotten together in a while. Then on Tuesday morning we got to go over to Jandee Anderson’s house and let the boys play with her son, Isaac. We found out that Isaac is going to be in Kolby’s swim class at the YMCA starting in a couple weeks, so that will be really nice. Later on that afternoon, Marcela Maas got out their baby pool and the boys went and swam with Sofia and with Mikey and Landon Kam. Then I went to the annual get-to-know-you RS BBQ, which was a lot of fun, even though it was very warm and humid out that night. I got to talk to some old friends and met several new sisters in the ward too.

On Wednesday I took the boys to the playgroup at Hoyt Park. The boys had a lot of fun and Camden enjoyed crawling all around the playground – trying to eat as much sand as he could before I stopped him, and climbing up on the playground equipment and playing on the slide. He is getting so old, playing with the big kids. On Wednesday night Kolby had his last swimming lesson of the summer session. On the last lesson of each session they always learn about water safety and bring a canoe into the pool and let the kids paddle it around, which is really fun for the kids. Kolby has improved so much with his swimming over the last few months. Michael took him to his lesson, and then afterwards he surprised him and took him to McDonalds. They each ordered something from the dollar menu, and Michael said that Kolby came and sat in the front seat of the car while they shared their food and talked about how things were going lately. Michael said that it was a really fun experience to have some one-on-one time with Kolby and to just talk to him about stuff. And Kolby talked about it for the entire day afterwards. That was pretty cute. So, the next night after Michael took Eli to his last swimming lesson, he took Eli and did the same activity. Michael said that he didn’t think Eli really caught on that it was a special thing that they got to do an activity just by themselves, but he said that Eli enjoyed getting the food from McDonalds, at least.

We went on Thursday morning for the toddler art class, and it was my turn to teach the lesson. I took these pictures of dinosaur skeletons, and the kids glued different shapes of pasta noodles on to make their own dinosaur skeletons. The other kids in the group ended up with pictures that somewhat resembled dinosaurs, and Kolby and Eli each finished with a piece of paper covered in a 3-inch thick pile of glue and noodles. It was pretty cute, though. That afternoon I also had a doctor’s appointment. I now have two more appointments scheduled in September, and then an appointment scheduled every week in October until the baby is due. Luverda Martin, my midwife, said that everything looks like it’s right on track with the baby. On Friday Michael went to school in the morning to work on his research, and then in the afternoon we took the boys to Nash Park, where someone had told me that they had a playground that was good for smaller kids because the guardrails went all the way down on all the sides of the equipment. Camden loved it – it wasn’t a very large playground, but once he found out that he could climb up the steps and go down the slide all by himself, he did that over and over again. Then we came home and had a bunch of friends over for a game night. We invited several new families in the ward that we hadn’t met before, and several old friends, and had a really fun time getting to know everyone.

On Saturday Michael started his sub-I. He said that it was pretty difficult because they don’t have orientation until tomorrow, so he didn’t know a lot of things that he was supposed to be doing, but that will get better after the first little while. I went to a baby shower for Jill Austin while Michael was at the hospital, and it was kind of a battle to take all the boys with me – they gave me a rough time, but I survived. Then, after the boys got up from their naps, we went over and cleaned the church building as a family. Afterwards we took the kids to Dennys – we love their “kids eat free” deal on Saturdays! We rented a movie for a date after we put the boys down to bed. We got one that Michael’s mom recommended to us called The Ultimate Gift. I stayed up and watched the whole thing last night, and Michael fell asleep on the couch about half way through the movie, as has become his habit lately (he is now catching up on the end of the movie while I am writing this and the boys are all napping). Anyways, it was a good movie – nice to find ones that are rated PG and you don’t have to worry about them having bad language or content. Well, today has been a good day too. It was one of Michael’s four days that he gets off this month (his only Sunday off). Church went well. We had a lesson about finances and making sacrifices for the right causes for Sunday school and the lesson in Relief Society was about the law of chastity and how to teach our children about modesty and how to avoid things that are inappropriate. And tonight we were invited to the Lundgren’s house for an early dinner, so that should be a lot of fun too.

Oh, and I just wanted to thank all of you who helped give suggestions for Michael’s personal statement and resume for his residency applications. He was going to submit his final application yesterday, but is still waiting to hear back from his advisor who had some suggestions for him – but he has decided to submit his application on Tuesday whether he has heard back from the advisor or not. I think it is a really hard thing to write about yourself, but Michael did a really good job of it, and with all the suggestions and corrections that he got from family and friends, I think that he ended up with a really good personal statement. So, once everything is submitted, we will just be waiting to get invitations for interviews, which will mostly be in December and January, so keep us in your prayers (because the more interviews he gets, the better chance he has of getting matched with a residency program). Thanks!

Making Dinosaur Pictures at Art Class

Today it was my turn to teach the lesson at the weekly Toddler Art Class that Kolby and Eli attend. Since both Kolby and Eli love dinosaurs, I decided to make that the theme. I brought pictures of dinosaur skeletons for the kids, and they each got to glue different shaped pasta pieces to the papers to make their own dinosaur skeletons. As you can see from the photos, both Kolby and Eli had lots of fun with the glue, and both of them ended up with a pile of pasta glued onto their papers that didn't really resemble any kind of dinosaur that I have ever seen before -- but they sure had fun making them! We also read some dinosaur stories, and then the rest of the time was spent playing with the swing set and other outdoor toys in Eva's backyard. This little outdoor art class has been great for the boys this summer -- a good opportunity for them to spend time with other kids, play outside (in a nice, fenced-in yard where I don't have to constantly chase them), and to be creative in making their own art work (where I don't have to worry about cleaning up paint or play dough off our floor, walls, curtains, etc. when they are finished). And someone gave me the great idea to scan (or photograph) their artwork, which I have done now. So each of the boys will have a nice binder with big, colorful pictures of their own masterpieces, but I won’t have to worry about trying to protect over-sized pieces of construction paper or keep all the glitter and stickers from falling off of their pictures in some box in the closet for the next 20 years. They already like to sit down and look at their own artwork books, so it is really fun.

August is Here

This week Michael started his ambulatory medicine rotation (which doesn’t mean that he gets to go on ambulance rides, like it sounds – it’s just another outpatient internal medicine month). He was pretty sad to have to stop his dermatology rotation, but this month looks like it is going to be a good one. Michael is lucky and will often have the afternoons off on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this month, so that will be really nice. He will have lots of time to work on his application process and to spend time with the family. It was fun, on Friday he got home around 11 am and we had a great day. We took the boys swimming to the splash pool at Enderis Park. Camden has no fear of the water and loves to crawl right in towards the middle of the wading pool which is only a couple feet deep, but still too deep for him. And Kolby and Eli had a great time – I have never seen them actually swim under the water so much before at the splash pools. Eli kept jumping up in the air, landing on his bottom, and then laying back down with his face under the water. We all had a lot of fun there. Then we went to dinner because Michael got a free meal coupon for his birthday from Noodles and Company. And then we parked over by the Ronald McDonald House across from the medical school and went on a relaxing walk through the woods. Friday was a very fun play day for our family.

This week we also got several other things done. I finally had my wedding ring repaired at a jewelry store, since one of the prongs had bent a while ago. It’s nice to be able to wear that again. And I got my report made for my visiting teaching district. I have to say, I am glad to have this new church calling after being in the nursery for almost a year. On Wednesday we went for the family history enrichment group, which I messed up because I was thinking that it started later than it really did. So, we missed the rest of the group, but I did get some more family names prepared for temple work. We also went to the splash pool that day for playgroup, and the boys had fun playing with the other kids there. And Kolby and Eli both had their swimming lessons. They continue to do great – both boys are now good at doing “bobs” (dunking their whole heads under the water). It is also fun to think that Kolby will get to start a sport at the YMCA in a few months (they have to be 4 years old), and after we get back from our December-January Christmas trips Eli will be 3, so he will be old enough to join Kolby for his preschool classes at the YMCA too. That will be fun for them to go together. Well, on Thursday the boys also had their toddler art class, and I think this art activity was the most fun yet. They got to put their hands and feet in paint and paint on a big piece of paper along the fence. We stripped the kids down to their underwear so their clothes wouldn’t get painted, and most of them ended up painting their bodies too before we were done. For some reason, Kolby seems to like eating the paint – I couldn’t convince him to stop putting his paint-covered fingers in his mouth. Oh well, at least it was the non-toxic kind. (I posted pictures from the playgroup at the splash pool and the painting at art class down below).

And I can’t forget the big announcement: Michael’s research paper was officially published in the periodical, Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, on August 3rd. His article is titled, Language Barriers to Prescriptions for Patients With Limited English Proficiency: A Survey of Pharmacies, and I think it ended up being 11 pages long, including several charts that Michael made. If you would like to take a look at the article, you can see the journal online at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/
Michael’s article is the fourth one listed on this main page for this current issue of the journal.

This week I also spent a while making a family budget in an Excel spreadsheet. I have a budget that will show the whole year, and it is linked to a separate worksheet for each month. We have made some predictions for how much money we think we will spend for things in the upcoming months, and then we can enter in information from our receipts and then compare the projected and actual expenses. At the end, I had fun setting up graphs that will show our spending for each month, and one for the rest of the year. (That made me think back to middle school when I would do a school papers and then my dad would teach me how to make a graph in Excel to go along with my paper, and I was always so proud because I thought my papers looked so cool).

Yesterday we got things done around the house and then we babysat for the Rahms in the evening. After they picked up their boys, we went shopping because Michael got some birthday money from his family. We went to Kohls and he ended up getting two nice dress shirts, two new ties, and a t-shirt. The boys were patient with us, because we ended up being there until 10 pm (which is way later than we usually ever have them out at night). On the way out, there were these cute stuffed dinosaurs on sale for $5 each and the profit from their sales went to education, so we splurged and got one for Kolby and one for Eli. They love them – Eli’s is a brachiosaurus that he named "Long Neck," and Kolby’s is a triceratops that he named "Sara" (like in his The Land Before Time movie). They slept with them last night, and haven’t stopped playing with them since (the dinosaurs even waited in the car for us while we were at church). It’s pretty cute. Well, church went well today. Camden actually fell asleep during the sacrament meeting, so it was the first time in a while that we didn’t have to leave during the entire first hour. Michael said the opening prayer, and several kids got up to share their testimonies today. Kolby liked watching the other kids, and he said that he could do that when he gets bigger. When we got home, the boys went down for naps, and Michael and I made a few changes to the page that I designed for his yearbook – so now it’s ready to submit to the school once we get back his professional portrait from the studio this week. And now Michael has fallen asleep on the couch while I’ve been writing this, so all of my boys are napping. Tonight should be fun too – we are going to the Hedgecock’s house for dinner, and they always have breakfast food for dinner on fast Sunday. Well, we hope that you have all had a good week too!

Painting at the Toddler Art Class

Family is Great

We just had a wonderful morning at church today. There was a combined third hour meeting, so Steph and I got to listen together. And Steph’s visiting teaching companion wanted to hold Camden for us the entire time, so we actually got to listen to the lesson. The topic was The Proclamation to the World on the Family, and we were taught two of the main doctrines that come from that proclamation: staying close to your spouse and learning how to cope with life’s challenges together as a couple; and the importance of nourishing and teaching our children from a young age. The bishop brought up the fact that statistically right now about 1/3 of the young men in the church are serving missions. He specifically pointed out that since we have three boys in our family right now, statistically only one of them would serve a mission if those numbers remain the same. And that this also affects the young women in the church when it comes time for them to choose a spouse and trying to find temple-worthy young men. The bishop wanted us as parents to think about what we need to be doing to teach our children so that they will want to make positive choices later on in life. Steph and I had some good ideas afterwards of things we can do to try and have more love and goodness in our home, including doing our family scripture reading as part of the boys' bedtime routine each night and trying to include them in the reading more, rather than just reading while they play on the floor.

The weather this week has been very pleasant. We took advantage of the good weather yesterday and met the Kearls at the beach at Lake Pewaukee. They have so much fun playing in the sand. We made an island for Steph to sit on and then the boys dug a “river” around her to trap her on her island. Afterwards we all went to dinner at Denny’s, since kids eat free on Saturdays – what a deal for our family.

I can’t believe it is already the end of July. It feels like I just started my dermatology rotation, and now I just have two days left. Maybe that’s because I’m having so much fun on this rotation. I continue to enjoy the things that I see and the idea of becoming a dermatologist just feels right. I have a presentation and my end of month test this week, so wish me luck.

I have also been working hard this week on my residency application. I met with my dermatology advisor, who I am also writing a case presentation with about one of her patients. She is going to write one of my letters of recommendation. I will meet with the dermatology chairman this upcoming week so he can get to know me a little better and write a letter – wish me luck. I am talking with one of the other pediatric dermatologists to see if she will write a letter for me. And then Dr. Flores, who I did my summer research project with during first and second years, is writing the other one. I have also been working on my curriculum vitae (in common terms, my resume) and a personal statement that we have to write.

Steph continues to stay busy at home with the three boys. They are always full of so much energy. They went to the zoo earlier this week, they both have swim lessons, and they have an art class every Thursday morning. And then Steph has her physical therapy each week to help strengthen her knee, which seems to be helping. Camden also got one of his front top teeth this week, and he looks so cute. And he waved at someone for the first time the other day too.

Monday night we had the missionaries over for dinner, and the message they shared for family home evening came from James in the New Testament, where he talks about the importance of going to the Lord for help, and then waiting for the answer to come, telling us how to act and what to say.

Tuesday night we went to JCPenny to get pictures of me for applications and the school’s yearbook. Normally when we go, it is such a chore just to get the boys to smile and try to get a decent photo. So I was expecting us to be there forever like always, until I realized that the photographer only took about 10 pictures and said we were done, all in about 5 minutes. It was great.

Friday night we had the Kearls and the Morrisons over for games. We played a card game called Red One that normally is meant for four players, but we tried it with six, and it actually worked fine.

Life continues to fly as we keep ourselves busy and enjoy the friends and memories we are creating out here in Milwaukee.

A Long Weekend

This week has been wonderful! Michael finished his trauma surgery rotation and had his test on Thursday, which he felt good about after he took it. We are both so relieved to be done with this rotation – and on to better things. (Wow – Michael’s now a 4th year – one more year of medical school to go!)

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, we all went over to the church and Camden and I went to an enrichment activity about family history. Most of the evening was an introduction to genealogy, so I just went to help out, but they also scheduled a time once a month when a group of us will be going to the family history center during the day and we can trade off babysitting so we can have some time to work on our research. I am excited because this should allow me to find the time to get some more names ready for temple work. While I was in doing that, Michael and the older boys went outside and helped as a group of church members pulled weeds around the church grounds. Michael said that they will still need to get together again because it didn’t all get done, but about ten families showed up to help so that is a pretty decent turn-out, I think.

Wednesday was a busy day. Camden had his 9-month-old doctor’s check-up in the morning, and he looks healthy and right on track with his growth. He now weighs 20 pounds 4 ounces and is just over 29 inches tall. A few hours later I dropped the boys off with Rachel Roberts and went for my first physical therapy appointment. I liked the physical therapist and she gave me some good information. Since then I have been doing several different stretches for about half an hour two times a day, and the pain that I had in my hip for the last week has gone away. My knee pain is still there, but hopefully it will go away soon too. Then that evening I took Kolby and watched while he had his swimming lesson. He has done so well this session with listening and doing just what the teacher asks. He did an especially good job of floating on his back this week.

On Thursday morning I took the boys to their art class, which they always enjoy. After Michael got home from taking his test and the boys took their nap, we went and got some fireworks. We found a good deal on a big pack of fireworks that was buy 1, get 2 free. When we got home, we took Eli to his swim lesson. Michael got to swim with him while I watched. And afterwards we went to a BBQ for the students who were all on the same track with Michael to celebrate the end of 3rd year. I only knew two couples there – the Cortezes and the Jays – but it was nice to meet some of the people Michael has been working with and have some time to socialize and play at the park.

On Friday we were thinking about going camping overnight because Michael had the day off, but then decided that it would be less expensive to just take a day trip. We ended up going to swim at the Lake Pewaukee beach, and it was a lot of fun (although I still find it a little difficult to call anything that is not on an ocean a “beach.”) But we all enjoyed ourselves there.

On Saturday evening we had our annual pre-4th of July BBQ and fireworks. There was a very good turn-out – there were over 20 adults there and tons of little kids. I love the summer time when you can do stuff like this and you don’t have to worry about how many people you can fit into your apartment. After eating, we gave sparklers to all the kids and they had a blast. Some of the little girls kept running around waving the sparklers like magic wands and saying, “Bibbity bobbity boo!” Afterwards Michael and Matt Vernon put on a fun fireworks show. Lots of the people ended up heading home before the fireworks were done, just because their kids were tired because we had to wait so long to start the fireworks because it doesn’t get dark until after 9:00pm in the summer. But it was a fun show – especially since the boys enjoyed it so much. Kolby kept naming all the different colors of sparks he saw, Camden watched with a smile from his stroller for the first little while until he got tired, and at one point Eli was so excited that he was jumping up and down and shaking Camden’s stroller. It was pretty cute.

This morning Kolby was kind of grumpy when he got up and he said that he didn’t want to go to church. I was telling him the fun things that we would get to do, like going to his sunbeam class and taking the bread and water for the Sacrament. When I told him about the Sacrament, he seemed to be happy to go to church. So, this morning we went early to set up chairs at church, but someone had already done it before we got there, so Michael played a few hymns on the piano until it was time to start. Everything was going pretty well until the young men went up to the front of the chapel to help pass the Sacrament, and then Kolby wouldn’t calm down. He said that he needed to go help, and when Michael told him he needed to stay in his seat, he said that Mommy told him he could. So, when I told him about taking the Sacrament in church, he thought that I meant he could be one of the young men who got to go help pass out the bread and the water to everyone in the congregation. He finally calmed down some when we told him that he could pass the bread and water to us after it was passed to our row. But he still wanted to go up to the front and help. The rest of the meetings went like normal. This is the fourth week in a row that Camden has been happy right up until the third hour of church, when he acts so tired and fussy that we have to take him out in the hall. Michael took him for me the last few weeks when he did this, so this week I said I could stay out with him. I did get to meet another new family in the ward while I was out there, so that was nice. After church Kolby’s sunbeam teacher told me that during primary there was a family visiting who’s son had recently been baptized. The boy was baptized in the Susquehanna River, which happens to be a significant location in the history of our church, so the primary leader was asking the children to guess where the boy had been baptized. So, his teacher told me that Kolby raised his hand right away and answered, “At a garage sale.” She said that he was very proud of his answer.

This afternoon we came home and water was leaking from the light fixture and wood work above our kitchen sink. We finally got a hold of the apartment maintenance worker, and he came and said that he will have a plumber come tomorrow, since it seems that it leaks more in our apartment every time our upstairs neighbors use their sink or dishwasher. Luckily, the majority of the water is dripping into our sink, so it shouldn’t be too bad.

This next week should be a lot of fun too. Tomorrow Michael has the day off because in his dermatology rotation they are training new interns tomorrow, so they aren’t going to have the students start until Tuesday. So we are planning on taking the boys to the zoo in the morning. And then Michael gets Wednesday off for the 4th of July, so we will take the boys to the parade in the morning, then to the annual ward party at the Twelmyer’s house, and then to see the fireworks in the evening. Hopefully the nice weather holds out. Well, we hope you all have a happy 4th of July!

Trauma is Almost Done!!!

Well, I’m finally home on a Sunday this month, so I guess it is my turn to write and say hi. Trauma continues to be busy, busy, busy. I had my last overnight call for this rotation on Friday (yeah!!), and just like the other ones, we were busy all night long – lots of accidents and lots of sick people. It has been an interesting month, with things that I will probably never see or do again in the future, so that has been cool. But the hours are just so long that it begins to wear on you by the end of the month. I just have a few more days this next week and then my test on Thursday.

This month I have learned that those who end up in our trauma bay do so due to a lack of common sense in a few different areas: 1) wear a helmet when you ride a motorcycle; 2) wear your seatbelt in the car; 3) don’t drink alcohol because it can lead to 4) knife wounds and 5) gunshot wounds.

Earlier this week we met with Kendra McMullin, a member from the ward that works with a financial company. She came to do a free financial needs assessment. Basically, they look over your current assets and your goals for the short and long term, and then they come back with things you can do to reach those goals. Some of their big messages are to pay yourself first, including life insurance, short term coverage (an emergency fund to cover up to a year), and then long term retirement savings. She had some really good things for us to think about as we will be getting into the salary stage of our life next year.

Steph took the boys to swim lessons this week and says they both continue to be little fish in the water. The boys also have an art class at a ward member’s house every Thursday morning where they do little crafts each week and have a fun time playing with the other kids.
Thursday night one of my home teaching families – the Stouffers – were moving to Ohio to start residency, so we helped them pack the truck. It is so weird to see all these recently graduated students leaving to start new adventures in residency, and then to realize that will be us just next year. Graduation is coming so fast – it is May 16, 2008, and anyone is invited to join us for that weekend.

It has been so nice to be home with the family today and to be able to go to church together – I missed that last weekend. In sacrament meeting we learned about the importance of fasting and fast offerings and keeping the Sabbath day holy – it is so nice to have one day a week set aside to escape from the normal routine and spend time at church feeling the spirit and being with the family. In Sunday school we discussed Matthew 25 that talks about the parable of the 10 virgins, the parable of the talents, and the parable of the sheep and the goats. Basically, we have to endure to the end and constantly strive to do what is right and develop the gifts we have been given, and then use those gifts and abilities to help others. I missed most of the priesthood meeting because Camden decided he wanted to be loud and talk. So he and I walked around outside for a little to calm him down. Luckily the weather is so nice right now – I love it. This afternoon I went and visited with Steve and Kara Pothier for home teaching, and then our home teachers just left from visiting with us. We are cooking a roast and are having a new family, the Townsends, over for dinner.

Congratulations to Mel and Christian for finding out that they are having another boy – that is so exciting. And we love hearing from all of you and how your lives are going.

Happy Father's Day!

This week has been quite busy for us. On Sunday night the Kearls came over for dinner and we had fun playing a few games after we got all the kids down to bed. Josh Hunter’s wife and kids were out of town while he was studying for the Boards, so he came over and played for a while too.

Tyce offered to come back the next day and bring some wood and tools to fix our entertainment center door that had fallen off. We decided to do a group family home evening activity and go to play volleyball at a park and let the kids play at the playground after we got the entertainment center fixed Monday. After Michael got home that night, Tyce and Faith came and they worked on fixing the door, but the kids were being pretty wild. We finally ended up taking the kids to a nearby playground because they couldn’t stay inside any longer. I ended up finishing the entertainment center a few days later – and it is nice to have it all fixed (especially since we don’t have to continually worry about keeping Camden out of all the things we store inside the door that was broken before. We had fun at the playground with the kids, but didn’t stay too long because it was late and the kids were all rather grumpy.

On Tuesday the kids got lots of chores done and we got the house all cleaned up, then we went and ran some errands and when we got home I made dinner for us and for some friends who just had a baby. Michael got home that evening, and after we got the boys to bed I went to a Ladies Night Out activity.

On Wednesday morning we went to a playgroup at the Tot Lot playground. The boys had lots of fun at that. Then we ran some errands. I had a doctor’s appointment, but it wasn’t for a couple of hours, so I called Michael and he met the boys and I for a little while and then went to the doctor’s appointment with us. The appointment went well. Everything seems to be good with the baby. And I told the doctor about the knee pain I’ve been having with this pregnancy, because it’s been getting worse lately, so I now have an appointment set up at an orthopedic clinic in a couple days – I am really hoping that I go in and they make a few quick suggestions and whatever the problem is with my knee will be an easy fix. We’ll see.

Wednesday evening was Kolby’s first swim lesson of the new summer session – and we decided to let him try being in the class without the parents in the water again this session. Several months ago we tried that class, and he had a pretty hard time at first, but then he got used to the teacher and seemed to be improving a lot. Then we were pretty surprised a few weeks into the class that the teacher suggested that Kolby shouldn’t be in that class anymore. The teacher had made a lot of comments about having too many kids in her class and how the kids were all so different in their ages, swimming skills, and how well they followed instructions. Anyways, they suggested that we put Kolby in a private lesson, but we ended up doing another session of the parent-child classes with him. This time we let him choose which class he wanted to try – and he said that he wanted to be in the class where Mommy and Daddy watched him from the side of the pool. I told him that would be fine, but that he would need to listen and do everything that his teacher told him to do. So, we went to his new class on Wednesday and he did so well. He was probably the best-behaved child there – he did everything the teacher asked right away. I was so proud of him. He will have fun in this new class, I think.

On Thursday Michael had one of his long call days at the hospital again – from early Thursday morning until Friday around noon. This time I suggested that he just stay after his shift ended and catch several good hours of sleep at the hospital, rather than coming home and just getting a few hours of sleep here and there with lots of interruptions from the kids. I think that it worked out better for him – he was still very tired, but able to do stuff with the family the next day. Thursday the boys had their art class in the morning. Later on, after naps, we went over to the Kearl’s house to play. They got a little blow-up pool for Nathan with a basketball hoop on one side of it, and the boys had lots of fun playing. Afterwards they rode bikes around the driveway. It was fun to just sit and watch them play. Then we went straight to Eli’s swim lesson at the YMCA. His class seems good, although I think that he is old enough to have more work on actual swimming skills and less time spent on the parents holding the children and singing songs. But I guess really that a big part of the swimming lessons when they are so small is getting them comfortable in the water. He enjoyed it, though.

On Friday morning I took the boys to the library. After Michael got home, we got a few things done around the house and then dropped the boys off at the Taylor’s house. We went and saw the musical, The King and I, which was put on by members of our church at a building south of here. Our friend, Cassidy, was the lead role of Anna. I had seen the movie Anna and The King a few years ago, but had never seen the musical or the movie of the musical before. I was a little surprised by the ending (because it was quite different from what I remember happening in the movie I saw), but we liked the performance and had fun spending time out together.

On Saturday morning we got up early and got everyone ready to go to the temple. When we got there, it was pretty hot out and the cicadas were flying around in the trees and making a really loud buzzing noise. Michael and I went in first and we ended up doing a few initiatories. Peter and Cynthia went in next and we took all the kids to Costco while they did initiatories also. We were planning on stocking up on a bunch of stuff at Costco, but then we remembered that they only accept American Express credit cards, and we decided to wait until our temple trip next month to go stock up at Costco instead, once our next set of student loans has come in and we have some more funds in our account. We ended up doing a circle around Costco and letting the boys try each of the free samples for part of their lunches. After eating lunch and dropping Jordan and Carter back off with Peter and Cynthia when they got done at the temple, we drove home and got the boys all down for a nap. I cut Michael’s hair, Michael got the laundry done, and I made dinner. Then the Taylors brought their kids over so they could go see The King and I. They were really good and after watching the movie Curious George that the boys had checked out at the library, and eating some chicken for dinner, the kids all went to bed. We had six kids here, and got them all to bed in the three bedrooms, with one extra bed to spare – we decided that we could easily fit six kids into a little apartment (as long as Michael and I didn’t need a bed to sleep in).

So, Michael is on call again today. He will be home sometime tomorrow afternoon. Luckily he only has one more long call day this month – next Friday/Saturday – and then he is done for a while. After June ends, Michael will officially start fourth year. That is exciting – especially since he only has two months of rotations fourth year that he is scheduled to be on-call again. That will be a big change to have him home most weekends (and, for most rotations, probably most weeknight evenings too). Today is Father’s Day, and we knew that Michael would be at the hospital today, so we gave him his gifts yesterday after we got home from the temple. I got him the sheet music book of Jon Schmidt’s Hymns. He started playing them on the piano for a little while yesterday, and they sounded great. We also made a cute card for him with a picture of a house. The house had three windows that were cut out with photos of the boys in the windows. The boys and I also made a card like this for my Dad and one for Michael’s Dad. Then, in their art class, the boys made Father’s Day cards and decorated bags of cookies for Daddy. So, I think Michael enjoyed those gifts. Today at church the boys did pretty well. We ended up out in the hall after the Sacrament, but they went to their classes well, and Camden played with the other kids during the Sunday school class, then he fell asleep on my shoulder so I was able to go for most of my relief society class. That was nice. Now that we are home and the boys are up from their naps, I think we’re going to play a game or something before dinner – they are getting a little worked up and have started playing a game where they stand on each other’s stomachs – and that can only lead to trouble. Better run.

Oh yeah – Camden started standing up holding on to furniture the other day. And this morning he was trying to play with my foot while I was on the couch, and I slowly moved my foot along the edge of the couch and he moved along after it – he took a few steps and moved along the front of the couch. And, this afternoon, he started clapping his hands for the first time too. So that was pretty cool. Here are some photos of Camden the first time he pulled himself standing up:

June Already

This week Michael started his trauma surgery rotation, and it has been kind of a long week for us with his call schedule. With this rotation, they have 30-hour shifts at the hospital when they are on call, and little or no sleep for that entire time. Michael was on call Wednesday through Thursday morning, and then again Saturday until around noon today. So it has been a little tiring, but luckily it seems like we can get through any rough schedule for a month, and then we get to try out something new the next month.

We had a playgroup planning session at Brittney Winkler’s house where the kids got to play with a baby pool in the back yard while we made a schedule of weekly visits to playgrounds and splash pools throughout the summer. We had the boys’ toddler art class on Thursday, which they both enjoy. This week the theme was fish, and they made a fun picture that they got to glue sand and fishes cut out of different colored and textured papers. And that afternoon I went and helped my friend Sandra cut her son, Simon’s, hair. Simon is extremely afraid of having his hair cut, and it is somewhat of a battle to get it done, but it looks nice after we get it all cut.

Kolby and Eli each had their swim lessons this week too. Kolby is looking forward to two weeks from now when he will be starting a new swim class where he will be in the water with his class and we will watch him from the side. And I am looking forward to Eli’s new swim class in a couple of weeks that will be in the evening, as opposed to his Friday morning class we have been attending, so that Michael and I can switch off swimming with him sometimes.

And on Friday evening Michael took the boys for a few hours to the Fathers and Sons Campout, which I posted photos for in a post below. They enjoyed that, and then Michael was on call the next morning and he got home just before we got home from church. He tells me about the trauma surgeries – lots of motorcycle accidents, some car accidents, some gun-shot wounds, some drunken fights, and a few other things – and it sounds a lot like the tv show, ER.

So, my friends and I were going to have a garage sale this summer, but it never happened, so I’ve started trying to sell my garage sale items on craigslist. So, I had a toy kitchen that I bought at a garage sale a year ago for $1 – and the boys have really enjoyed playing with it, but lately they continually tip it over or use it to climb up onto the top bunk or to reach the lock on their closet door – so I sold it yesterday for $20. That’s a pretty good profit.

Well, after church today we went over to Tyce and Faith Kearl’s house to celebrate the blessing of their daughter, Katie, in church today. Michael was sad that he was on call today and couldn’t be part of the blessing, but it was nice to go over and visit with them afterwards, even though Michael was exhausted from getting 0 hours of sleep on his shift, and eventually fell asleep on their couch. Now we are home and Michael is trying to recuperate and rest while the boys are all napping. And this upcoming week we have several things to look forward to: our ultrasound will be on Tuesday, this will be Kolby’s last week of preschool until next Fall, and on Wednesday I will officially be 19 weeks along with this pregnancy.

We learned several interesting things this week: 1. Sidewalk chalk makes a loud fizzing noise if you dump it into a baby pool, 2. Michael has confirmed the fact that he is not interested in a career as a surgeon, 3. Kolby decided that he doesn’t like the taste of coffee (he took a sip of someone else’s drink when we were in the McDonald’s play area), 4. Michael has seen enough bad trauma surgeries lately to make him commit to never riding a motorcycle, and 5. When you live somewhere that the winter lasts at least seven months long, the summer sure does go by quickly – I can’t believe June is already here!