I feel like we got a lot accomplished this week – I almost feel like we are getting back up to date with all the little every-day things we need to get done since returning home. This week I was able to cross a lot of little things off of my ‘to do’ list including updating our food storage inventory, organizing the baby’s room, printing and sending some photos to Grandma Bev that she asked for, e-mailing a bunch of old German family documents to my mom so they could prepare for their trip to the Czech Republic, – I am so envious that they have the chance to go to some of the towns our ancestors are from and they might even find the places where they lived – and I also ground enough wheat for a month’s worth of whole wheat bread – I’m determined to make a batch (6 loaves) each Sunday, and am very glad that the batch I’m making right now looks like it is turning out well after last week’s batch tasted good but didn’t rise very well (wow, can you say, ‘run on sentence?’). Anyways, it always feels good to cross things off of my list as I accomplish each task.
So, this week was a fun one. A nice thing about our trips is that we got out of the habit of watching very much television, and since we’ve returned to Milwaukee we’ve tried to continue that. We’ve had more time for getting together with friends and playing with the boys.
On Monday I dropped the boys off at preschool and then my visiting teachers came by before I had to go pick them up again. It’s been really nice this month because Michael hasn’t had to be in until 9am, so he waits with Camden and Isaac while I drop off Kolby and Eli at school, and then I don’t have to lug all four of them in and out of the car.
On Tuesday it was Kolby’s night. We decided to start having one night a week be an individual night for one of the kids to go out with a parent. Kolby went with Michael to run a few errands, and then they went and read books at the library. While they were running errands they got some pretty flowers and a fun new board game, Carcassonne, for me for an early Valentine’s Day surprise. I was very pleasantly surprised, and it was fun that Kolby picked out the flowers. Michael seemed to enjoy it a lot too, because he says that I am so hard to surprise, but I didn’t expect it at all.
On Wednesday morning the boys had preschool again, and they did great. Eli has done well with preschool, he especially enjoys having Kolby there with him. Most days this week they haven’t even made a big deal of me leaving when I drop them off – they just say goodbye and that’s enough for them. Then Wednesday evening Michael had an AOA meeting and he took Isaac with him while I took the other boys to the YMCA. Camden went and played at their kid care while I watched Kolby and Eli’s swim lessons. It is the first time that Eli is in a class with us in the water with him, and he did great. The teacher seemed surprised when Eli willingly dunked his head under the water right when she asked the kids to do ‘bobs’ and she asked me if he had taken lessons before. Kolby did great too. And the nice thing this session is that they are in lessons at the same time, and their classes are right next to each other, so I can pull up a stool and sit right in the middle of the two to watch them both. After their lessons were over they wanted to stay and play in the water and they played for about 15 minutes more before we left. Eli loves to play on the steps and go under the water with his eyes open the whole time and Kolby was excited that he is tall enough to walk on the bottom even deeper into the pool than he used to be, so I kept having to remind him he couldn’t walk all the way to the middle of the pool. They had a lot of fun with that.
Thursday morning we took Michael’s car into the shop because it had failed the emissions test earlier in the week. We paid them $30 to tell us that we would need to pay $1000 to fix the entire emissions system, $450 to replace a rotted out radiator, and $400 for a major tune up – all for the little car that we paid $1500 for a year ago. So now we are really trying to figure out what to do. Do we get a different car that is a little newer and might not have so many major problems for a while (although we couldn’t afford the payments on anything much newer than the one we’ve got), or do we put money in and fix the car up because people say Toyotas are good little cars and we could get a lot more miles out of it if we put some money into it (or it could continue to have major problems that would cost us even more), or do we just fix the minimum to try to get it to pass emissions for one more year and then face those problems later on, or is there any possible way to make one car work at least until we move in the summer (but getting the kids up early each morning and late each night to go pick up Michael from his Surgery Sub-I rotation next month just seems like it would be awful). So, we don’t know what we’re going to do yet. Yuck! We don’t have very good luck with cars.
On Friday morning I took the boys to preschool and when I came back out of the YMCA the back of our van was all smashed in. I didn’t really know what to do since no cars were near my van at all when I came out and I thought the other driver had left. So I just stood there for a while and the driver of a semi truck parked a few car-lengths away from the van came and told me he had hit it. (I was really glad it wasn’t just a hit and run). He said that he was unloading things from the back of his truck and it started rolling and he ran and got the emergency brake on just as it hit the van. At least it seems like his company will cooperate and take care of everything with the insurance, we just have to wait until after the long weekend to get things rolling on that. But for now we can’t open the back door of the van. Luckily there wasn’t more of a problem than that – I’m glad it didn’t break the back window or anything, because it had been so cold that driving with our kids in the van with a broken window would be unbearable. Anyways, one more bit of our bad luck with cars. Oh well. So, Friday night the Kearls came over and we babysat Nathan and Katie while they went curling and then they stayed for games after they returned and the Wellses came and joined us for games too.
And then yesterday morning Michael went and helped Bishop Park to move some of their stuff into storage so they can sell their house. They are moving to Washington this summer. After lunch we went over and saw the Wells’ home for the first time and we played some games on their Wii. Jana also got out her violin and played some songs for the boys, which was very impressive – she could play any song that we named and each one sounded great. She said she started playing just before she turned 4 years old, so I guess we are behind. We told Kolby he could start taking piano lessons after we move. After that we dropped off our boys at the Kearls and went out to dinner for our Valentine’s Day date. We went to Habaneros, which we would recommend. They had great food, and we were surprised at how nice of a place it was inside – from the outside it looks like a small place in this little strip mall with neon beer signs in the windows, but when you go inside it is a very large room with vaulted ceilings and much more authentic-looking architecture and decorating than other Mexican places we’ve been to out here. It was a fun evening out together. After that we went over to the school for their annual Variety Fest talent show. We have gone to it each year since we’ve been here, and it was a really strange feeling to look around and not recognize many people there and realize that we were some of only a few 4th-years there. It felt really strange to be the “oldest” and realize we are going to be done with all of this soon. Afterwards we returned to the Kearls and played a game of Carcassonne and watched a fun movie called Stardust before taking the kids home to bed.
And today there have been reports of a bad storm that is supposed to come in later on, so church was cancelled. It doesn’t look too bad out now, but there was rain this morning that is supposed to make things very slippery and later on there is supposed to be about 6 inches of new snow. So, this morning we watched on the internet the recording of President Hinckley’s funeral services since we were traveling on the day of his funeral a couple weeks ago. Now Michael is training the person who is taking over his job as the one who schedules all of the events in the church building. And later on the Hedgecocks are coming for dinner and then we are going to play games afterwards and the Kearls may come too. So it should be a nice relaxing day. The boys are napping now, which is always nice to have a little break. Hope you all have a nice week.
Showing posts with label Family History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Family History. Show all posts
17 February 2008
07 October 2007
First Week of October
Well, this first week of October has been much more relaxed than the schedule we were on for Michael’s rotation last month. He is now doing one of his elective rotations called “Promoting Health in Urban Underserved Communities,” and he has basically had a 9-5 schedule with a lot more flexibility to get time off if he needs to, which is nice because he is taking one of his Step 2 Board exams and we are expecting the baby to come this month.
So, this week was pretty uneventful. Kolby had preschool, which he always loves. It is interesting because his classroom teacher is blind, although I don’t think that the kids really realize this. On Monday Kolby wanted to take a cut-out of a footprint that he made in his church class to show his school teacher. He was showing it to her at the beginning of class, and she was asking if she could hold it, asking what color it was, and telling him that he must have big feet if it was traced from his foot. And he loves his gym class too. Often we go about 15 minutes before the end of class and if they are wrapping up a game that is not very structured, I will let Eli join in with Kolby and the other kids. They have played freeze tag a couple times and the boys really like it. Kolby seems to be one of the only kids that really comprehends the idea – many of the others just kept running after they were tagged without waiting to be unfrozen. And on Wednesday when I went to pick him up, Kolby and another little boy named Simon were running around holding hands and they came up and Kolby told me Simon was his best friend. I let Eli run around with them, and they were holding his hands and playing great with him too. I think Eli will really enjoy going to the classes in a few months – he will be able to start in the winter session once we get back from our trips, since he will be 3 years old by then.
Well, on Wednesday I hit 36 weeks with this pregnancy. So now I have just over 3 weeks to go. I am glad we waited a while in the beginning of the pregnancy to announce to people that we were pregnant this time – I know that it’s all in my head, but it really seemed to make the remainder of the pregnancy go by much quicker than with earlier pregnancies when we announced it soon after we found out. So, on Wednesday night Michael had an AOA meeting, so I took Kolby to his swimming lesson. He is doing great. They have these little float belts that they put around the kids’ waists to give them confidence, and the kids all swam the length of the pool with those on several times in this week’s lesson, then at the end they swam a few feet from the edge of the pool to their teacher with no float belts, so that was pretty cool. It is fun to see Kolby’s confidence increase as he is now really learning how to swim.
On Thursday morning we went to the Twelmyer’s house for the family history group, and I was able to help Sister Twelmyer to learn how to search for some ancestors on the IGI online so that she can prepare the names to take to the temple. Later that afternoon I had my doctor’s appointment – I am down to the last month now, so I am having an appointment every week – and Michael was able to join us for the appointment this time. Everything is going well with the baby, and I am dilated to a 2. (I don’t really care if I’m dilated much yet or not, except that my midwife had mentioned that they would induce me a day or two after my due date, if it goes that long, but that if you get that far and are not dilated at all, they might not do it as early. So anyway, I got her to commit to inducing me on November 1st if I haven’t had the baby by the due date, which is nice to have a final date set). And Thursday night Michael took Eli to swim lessons, and said that they had a lot of fun.
And this weekend has been spent watching General Conference on the internet. The boys kind of had a rough time sitting through the first session yesterday, but it seems like they are getting used to the idea of sitting quietly and watching the 2-hour sessions at a time, and they have done pretty well today (as well as you could expect for a 2- and 3-year-old, and Camden napped through most of this morning’s session). After the last session that will be starting up here in a few minutes, we will eat the roast that Michael has prepared for dinner and then he is going to head down to Chicago. He got a pretty good deal on a motel room, so he can drive down tonight and not have to get up super early in the morning and he can avoid any bad traffic tomorrow. In the morning he will take one of his two Step 2 Board exams. It is the one where they have different standardized patients and they are graded on how they give exams and take the patients’ histories. So, hopefully he will have a safe drive down there and back, and his test will go well. Then I think we are planning to go out to dinner as a family when he gets home Monday evening to celebrate him finishing his test.
So, this week was pretty uneventful. Kolby had preschool, which he always loves. It is interesting because his classroom teacher is blind, although I don’t think that the kids really realize this. On Monday Kolby wanted to take a cut-out of a footprint that he made in his church class to show his school teacher. He was showing it to her at the beginning of class, and she was asking if she could hold it, asking what color it was, and telling him that he must have big feet if it was traced from his foot. And he loves his gym class too. Often we go about 15 minutes before the end of class and if they are wrapping up a game that is not very structured, I will let Eli join in with Kolby and the other kids. They have played freeze tag a couple times and the boys really like it. Kolby seems to be one of the only kids that really comprehends the idea – many of the others just kept running after they were tagged without waiting to be unfrozen. And on Wednesday when I went to pick him up, Kolby and another little boy named Simon were running around holding hands and they came up and Kolby told me Simon was his best friend. I let Eli run around with them, and they were holding his hands and playing great with him too. I think Eli will really enjoy going to the classes in a few months – he will be able to start in the winter session once we get back from our trips, since he will be 3 years old by then.
Well, on Wednesday I hit 36 weeks with this pregnancy. So now I have just over 3 weeks to go. I am glad we waited a while in the beginning of the pregnancy to announce to people that we were pregnant this time – I know that it’s all in my head, but it really seemed to make the remainder of the pregnancy go by much quicker than with earlier pregnancies when we announced it soon after we found out. So, on Wednesday night Michael had an AOA meeting, so I took Kolby to his swimming lesson. He is doing great. They have these little float belts that they put around the kids’ waists to give them confidence, and the kids all swam the length of the pool with those on several times in this week’s lesson, then at the end they swam a few feet from the edge of the pool to their teacher with no float belts, so that was pretty cool. It is fun to see Kolby’s confidence increase as he is now really learning how to swim.
On Thursday morning we went to the Twelmyer’s house for the family history group, and I was able to help Sister Twelmyer to learn how to search for some ancestors on the IGI online so that she can prepare the names to take to the temple. Later that afternoon I had my doctor’s appointment – I am down to the last month now, so I am having an appointment every week – and Michael was able to join us for the appointment this time. Everything is going well with the baby, and I am dilated to a 2. (I don’t really care if I’m dilated much yet or not, except that my midwife had mentioned that they would induce me a day or two after my due date, if it goes that long, but that if you get that far and are not dilated at all, they might not do it as early. So anyway, I got her to commit to inducing me on November 1st if I haven’t had the baby by the due date, which is nice to have a final date set). And Thursday night Michael took Eli to swim lessons, and said that they had a lot of fun.
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. __ . __ . __ . __ . 
Eli decorating cookies . __ . __ . __ . __ . __ . __ . Eli licking his frosting
On Friday morning, after I dropped Kolby off at preschool, we went to Jill Hunter’s apartment for some fall activities for the kids from the apartment complex. All of the kids went outside and collected fall leaves, and then we went back in and they decorated cookies that were shaped like leaves. Eli had fun doing that. Then on Friday night we went to the Townsend’s house for our ward dessert groups, and the Sanders family came too. We had banana splits and had fun talking with the adults while all the kids played.And this weekend has been spent watching General Conference on the internet. The boys kind of had a rough time sitting through the first session yesterday, but it seems like they are getting used to the idea of sitting quietly and watching the 2-hour sessions at a time, and they have done pretty well today (as well as you could expect for a 2- and 3-year-old, and Camden napped through most of this morning’s session). After the last session that will be starting up here in a few minutes, we will eat the roast that Michael has prepared for dinner and then he is going to head down to Chicago. He got a pretty good deal on a motel room, so he can drive down tonight and not have to get up super early in the morning and he can avoid any bad traffic tomorrow. In the morning he will take one of his two Step 2 Board exams. It is the one where they have different standardized patients and they are graded on how they give exams and take the patients’ histories. So, hopefully he will have a safe drive down there and back, and his test will go well. Then I think we are planning to go out to dinner as a family when he gets home Monday evening to celebrate him finishing his test.
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Eli, Mommy, and Kolby watching Conference
Oh yeah, and I almost forgot to mention that Michael got another interview invitation this week. He got an e-mail saying that he is on the early invite list for the transitional year program in Salt Lake, and that they will let him know the dates for that interview shortly. So things are all going pretty well. I’d better run get the computer set up now so we can catch the last session of Conference. Hope you all had a great week!
05 August 2007
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!
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!
01 August 2007
My Mistake
So, this morning I was all ready for the family history enrichment group that our ward has started so that moms can go work on family history at the church and we can rotate babysitting each others’ kids. I was planning on babysitting the whole time this week because the others let me take extra time last time we got together for this to get some temple cards ready, so I was all ready to take my turn watching all the kids for everyone else. I packed snacks for all the kids and took movies, and we were all set. I stopped at the post office on the way there, so I got there about 5 minutes late, and no one was in the nursery room.
I waited around next to the family history center for almost half an hour before I decided that no one else was going to show up, and I ended up taking the boys in to the family history center with me (I thought I might as well try to get some work done, since we had already made the trip out there). After almost an hour of telling the boys to use quiet voices, telling them that the chalk was only for drawing on the chalk board and not for the walls and chairs, and finally letting them run around in the hallway while I finished up for the last few minutes, I got the rest of our family names that I have been preparing this month run through the TempleReady program and submitted so they are ready to print all the cards when we go to the temple next week. I was thinking when we left that next time I go, I would just give a call to Kim Cannon, the other mom who is doing this family history enrichment group, and make sure she will be going, because it's too much work to try to get anything done in their with the kids so I probably wouldn’t go the next time if no one else happens to be going that day.
Then we went to the playgroup and met Amy Hymas there so our kids had fun swimming at the splash pool. When we got home, there was a message from Kim Cannon on the phone. I figured she was calling to apologize for not going today, until I heard the whole message, "Hey Stephanie, I guess I missed you at the family history group today, just wondering what happened, talk to you later." And while I put the boys down for their nap, I was trying to figure out if there was some way that we could have both been at the church building at the same time and still missed each other – like maybe she and her kids were in the bathroom when I went to the nursery room and then they left through the back door? So, I went to call her back, and I glanced at the calendar. Well, the group was supposed to meet at 9am – I had it in my head it was at 9:30am. I called her and apologized. I guess she waited around at the church this morning and finally left right before I got there. And no one else showed up. Oh, I felt bad – I usually don't make mistakes like that. Oh well. At least she was really nice about it. I guess we’ll try again next month.
I waited around next to the family history center for almost half an hour before I decided that no one else was going to show up, and I ended up taking the boys in to the family history center with me (I thought I might as well try to get some work done, since we had already made the trip out there). After almost an hour of telling the boys to use quiet voices, telling them that the chalk was only for drawing on the chalk board and not for the walls and chairs, and finally letting them run around in the hallway while I finished up for the last few minutes, I got the rest of our family names that I have been preparing this month run through the TempleReady program and submitted so they are ready to print all the cards when we go to the temple next week. I was thinking when we left that next time I go, I would just give a call to Kim Cannon, the other mom who is doing this family history enrichment group, and make sure she will be going, because it's too much work to try to get anything done in their with the kids so I probably wouldn’t go the next time if no one else happens to be going that day.
Then we went to the playgroup and met Amy Hymas there so our kids had fun swimming at the splash pool. When we got home, there was a message from Kim Cannon on the phone. I figured she was calling to apologize for not going today, until I heard the whole message, "Hey Stephanie, I guess I missed you at the family history group today, just wondering what happened, talk to you later." And while I put the boys down for their nap, I was trying to figure out if there was some way that we could have both been at the church building at the same time and still missed each other – like maybe she and her kids were in the bathroom when I went to the nursery room and then they left through the back door? So, I went to call her back, and I glanced at the calendar. Well, the group was supposed to meet at 9am – I had it in my head it was at 9:30am. I called her and apologized. I guess she waited around at the church this morning and finally left right before I got there. And no one else showed up. Oh, I felt bad – I usually don't make mistakes like that. Oh well. At least she was really nice about it. I guess we’ll try again next month.
15 July 2007
Derm Decisions
With Michael’s dermatology rotation this month he is working at a different hospital each week, and this week he was at Children’s Hospital. Children’s is supposed to be the busiest, and they have an evening clinic a couple nights a week, so Michael was going to have to stay a few hours later this week, but it ended up that lots of the doctors and residents were going to a derm conference in Chicago, so the evening clinics were cancelled and he had an especially light schedule this week (but the time that he spent at the hospital was very busy). He continues to like dermatology. I am very excited that he likes this specialty, because I definitely want him to go into something that he really enjoys, but it is nice that what he really enjoys also happens to be a specialty where eventually he could end up having a schedule that is really nice for our family.
When Michael first listed dermatology as one of the specialties he was interested in, I didn’t think it sounded too great, but it actually sounds kind of interesting, now that I know a little more about it. Michael said that one thing that he liked about it was that the problems on the skin often relate to other internal problems, so you have to know about a lot of different things. And you deal with a range from minor problems to all sorts of cancer. Michael also likes that he will get to deal with patients (and continue to build relationships with patients over time), but that there will also be opportunities to do procedures. And lots of people comment to him that they wouldn’t want to deal with the acne, but Michael has actually been alright with that part of it so far – he really likes that it is something that effects the self esteem of a lot of young people, but that there are several things that he can do to make it totally better (and in some of the other specialties you run into a lot of problems that you can’t fix).
I think this will be a good specialty for him to go into. Now it’s time to get ready to apply for residency programs. One thing that Michael has considered is having a different specialty (internal medicine) as a back-up in case derm doesn’t work out right away (because derm is a competitive program to get into, and we know several students who have not been accepted when trying for derm residencies). But since this month has started and we have seen how much more Michael likes derm than any other specialty, I think we are not going to do another program as a back-up. The thing we are trying to decide on right now is how to work out the applications for transition years. Dermatology is a 4-year residency program, but different programs work differently: some are 4-year programs, and others have it broken up into 1 transitional year and 3 more years of derm. So, the best thing for us would be to either do a 4-year program, or if we end up doing a transitional year, then we want to have the transitional year either be in the same location as the 3-year program or have the transitional year be here in Milwaukee and then move for the next 3 years, so we can avoid moving twice in such a short time. But since we are planning on applying for quite a few derm programs, we only want to get interviews for transitional years at the same places that we get interviews for 3-year derm programs, and so we will have to figure out the best way to work that all out. Anyways, we have lots of new things coming up that we will need to figure out before we are all set for the next step in our lives, but it already feels like we are almost to the end of medical school now. Pretty exciting!
Anyways, the rest of our week went pretty well. On Monday I had a WIC appointment, and the people there were really nice and it went well. Then on Tuesday evening we met with Kendra McMullin, a friend from church, who is a financial advisor and we ended up setting up a little life insurance plan with her. It was nice to sit down with her and get an idea of what we need to do in the next few years to start to plan for retirement too. On Wednesday morning we had a family history enrichment group that met at church so the moms could use the family history center and rotate babysitting the kids. I was able to get a lot of names prepared for temple work. That afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment, and everything is going well with the baby. And then Kolby had swimming lessons that evening, and he listened to his teacher very well. On Thursday I had physical therapy and Michael happened to get off work early, so the boys went over and played with him at the medical school while I went for my appointment, and then Michael went with Eli to his swim lessons that evening. On Friday Michael got up real early to go with some others to Chicago for the derm conference, and he said there were several interesting lectures there. That night after the boys were in bed, I went back over to the family history center and got quite a few more names prepared for temple work.
Then yesterday we went with Peter and Cynthia down to Chicago for our temple trip. It has worked out really well to go with them once a month and switch off babysitting so we can each go in together as a couple. Michael and I took all the kids to Costco while they went to the temple, and we got lots of comments and funny looks from people who thought we had 5 kids under the age of 4. We were able to stock up on lots of things like shampoo, computer paper, and baby wipes, and the kids were very excited for all the free samples they got to try (Kolby really likes going to the “treat store” by the temple). And we got a good scare at one point when Eli started choking on a piece of fruit, and nothing helped for about 15 or 20 seconds until Michael did a the full-on Heimlich maneuver several times. We were glad that Eli seemed just fine after that was over. Then we went back to the temple and Michael and I did baptisms. There were a few other people in there helping, and we got almost all of them done that we took with us – we ended up doing 86 names, I think. And today went pretty well too. The boys did well in church (except for Kolby needing a bribe of a treat to make him go into his sunbeams class), and I substituted in nursery while Michael substituted as a teacher in his priesthood class. Then Michael practiced after church for a men’s choir performance. I have been making bread since we came home, and my visiting teacher just left. All three boys are down for a nap right now, and in a couple of hours we are going over to Sonia and Devon Cole’s house for dinner, so that should be fun. Hope you have all had a good week too!
When Michael first listed dermatology as one of the specialties he was interested in, I didn’t think it sounded too great, but it actually sounds kind of interesting, now that I know a little more about it. Michael said that one thing that he liked about it was that the problems on the skin often relate to other internal problems, so you have to know about a lot of different things. And you deal with a range from minor problems to all sorts of cancer. Michael also likes that he will get to deal with patients (and continue to build relationships with patients over time), but that there will also be opportunities to do procedures. And lots of people comment to him that they wouldn’t want to deal with the acne, but Michael has actually been alright with that part of it so far – he really likes that it is something that effects the self esteem of a lot of young people, but that there are several things that he can do to make it totally better (and in some of the other specialties you run into a lot of problems that you can’t fix).
I think this will be a good specialty for him to go into. Now it’s time to get ready to apply for residency programs. One thing that Michael has considered is having a different specialty (internal medicine) as a back-up in case derm doesn’t work out right away (because derm is a competitive program to get into, and we know several students who have not been accepted when trying for derm residencies). But since this month has started and we have seen how much more Michael likes derm than any other specialty, I think we are not going to do another program as a back-up. The thing we are trying to decide on right now is how to work out the applications for transition years. Dermatology is a 4-year residency program, but different programs work differently: some are 4-year programs, and others have it broken up into 1 transitional year and 3 more years of derm. So, the best thing for us would be to either do a 4-year program, or if we end up doing a transitional year, then we want to have the transitional year either be in the same location as the 3-year program or have the transitional year be here in Milwaukee and then move for the next 3 years, so we can avoid moving twice in such a short time. But since we are planning on applying for quite a few derm programs, we only want to get interviews for transitional years at the same places that we get interviews for 3-year derm programs, and so we will have to figure out the best way to work that all out. Anyways, we have lots of new things coming up that we will need to figure out before we are all set for the next step in our lives, but it already feels like we are almost to the end of medical school now. Pretty exciting!
Anyways, the rest of our week went pretty well. On Monday I had a WIC appointment, and the people there were really nice and it went well. Then on Tuesday evening we met with Kendra McMullin, a friend from church, who is a financial advisor and we ended up setting up a little life insurance plan with her. It was nice to sit down with her and get an idea of what we need to do in the next few years to start to plan for retirement too. On Wednesday morning we had a family history enrichment group that met at church so the moms could use the family history center and rotate babysitting the kids. I was able to get a lot of names prepared for temple work. That afternoon I had a doctor’s appointment, and everything is going well with the baby. And then Kolby had swimming lessons that evening, and he listened to his teacher very well. On Thursday I had physical therapy and Michael happened to get off work early, so the boys went over and played with him at the medical school while I went for my appointment, and then Michael went with Eli to his swim lessons that evening. On Friday Michael got up real early to go with some others to Chicago for the derm conference, and he said there were several interesting lectures there. That night after the boys were in bed, I went back over to the family history center and got quite a few more names prepared for temple work.
Then yesterday we went with Peter and Cynthia down to Chicago for our temple trip. It has worked out really well to go with them once a month and switch off babysitting so we can each go in together as a couple. Michael and I took all the kids to Costco while they went to the temple, and we got lots of comments and funny looks from people who thought we had 5 kids under the age of 4. We were able to stock up on lots of things like shampoo, computer paper, and baby wipes, and the kids were very excited for all the free samples they got to try (Kolby really likes going to the “treat store” by the temple). And we got a good scare at one point when Eli started choking on a piece of fruit, and nothing helped for about 15 or 20 seconds until Michael did a the full-on Heimlich maneuver several times. We were glad that Eli seemed just fine after that was over. Then we went back to the temple and Michael and I did baptisms. There were a few other people in there helping, and we got almost all of them done that we took with us – we ended up doing 86 names, I think. And today went pretty well too. The boys did well in church (except for Kolby needing a bribe of a treat to make him go into his sunbeams class), and I substituted in nursery while Michael substituted as a teacher in his priesthood class. Then Michael practiced after church for a men’s choir performance. I have been making bread since we came home, and my visiting teacher just left. All three boys are down for a nap right now, and in a couple of hours we are going over to Sonia and Devon Cole’s house for dinner, so that should be fun. Hope you have all had a good week too!
01 July 2007
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!
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!
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