Dermatology is Great

So it is my turn to write about our week, but Steph has made my job a little easier, since she has already written about going to the zoo and how we celebrated on Independence Day. :)

This week has been a wonderful week for me. I started my dermatology rotation, and I am again loving life. It is so nice to be doing something that I am enjoying, that I look forward to reading more about when I get home, and that am excited to go back to the next day. It is also nice to have nights free and the weekends off to be with the family. Just this week I have seen so many odd things that can happen to the skin – I’m so grateful that I have healthy skin. I really like the complexity of dermatology – they have to know so much in order to differentiate the different rashes, lumps, bumps, etc., and then to know how to treat them. There is a lot of dermatology that is so new, with new drugs just coming out on the market to treat/manage currently untreatable/unmanageable conditions. I like that it has the feel of primary care with the day-to-day clinic work, interspersed with quick little procedures (shave biopsies, freezing, punch biopsy) and then more involved surgeries. I have decided that I am going to apply for dermatology for residency.

I came home Tuesday afternoon with two derm books, and Steph immediately took them from me and started looking through them. I think she has already learned more about derm than I have this week. It is fun that she is also excited about dermatology and interested in what I am learning. Tuesday was also a good day because we got our loan money for this semester, so we no longer have to live off the credit cards, at least for another few months. Yeah!!

Thursday night I got to take Eli to swim lessons, and we had so much fun playing together in the water. We stayed after the class for about a half hour just playing on the steps and near the wall of the pool. Eli loves to jump in and under the water.

Friday was only a half day in the clinic, so I got the afternoon off to be home. I stayed home and played with the boys while Steph went shopping for the next two weeks. She also got a video from Blockbuster, Flyboys, that we watched. It was based on a true story from WW1 – it was good, though a little slow and predictable.

Saturday morning it was my turn to help clean the church building. I also got the chairs set up so that we wouldn’t have to go as early Sunday morning. I spent the rest of the morning starting to fill out my residency application online. I am going to use July and August to try and get all of my application materials ready to submit. We can start submitting to residency programs September 1, so I want to have everything ready before then. That afternoon we took the boys over to a neighbor’s house to swim in their little outdoor swimming pool. I got in with all three boys and had a blast. Kolby and Eli had two little watering cans that they used to “water” daddy so that I would grow. It was fun. Then last night we had some friends over for dessert. Sandra Simon came with her son, and Heather Vernon and her son Isaac came – her husband is out of town for the month doing an away-rotation. Steph had tried a new recipe for an ice cream cake and wanted to share it with others. It was really good. We also played some card games and had fun talking.

All of the boys did really well at church today. The sacrament talks were about family history work and making sacrifices to go to the temple. We have another stake temple day coming up in August, so they want people to try and get family file names ready to take and do their work. Steph is trying to get some ready for us now. Then in Sunday school we talked about John 16-17, where Jesus talks about the importance of the Holy Ghost and His mission and atonement so that we can gain eternal life. We talked about the difference between the manifestation of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost, the difference between knowing about Christ and actually knowing Christ, and then how to teach these things to your children. And then in priesthood we talked about the importance of faith and obedience, and how they lead to blessings; that faith always precedes the miracle; and that when we decide to follow God and His commandments we are not showing blind obedience, but faith obedience – we may not know everything, but we know that God knows what is best for us and we are using our faith to trust and follow Him. They were all really good lessons.

Well, I am going to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day with my family. Have a wonderful day.
Luv,
Michael, Stephanie, Kolby, Eli, and Camden

4th of July!

So, our 4th of July this year was great! Just like last year, the weathermen on the news predicted rain, but it ended up being bright, sunny, and quite warm all day. It was beautiful out. We got up early to walk with the Maases down to North Avenue to reserve a spot for the parade. The Hunters, Hansens, Simons, and Hymases all came and joined us for the parade too. Kolby remembered that last year there were people dressed up in Elmo and Mickey Mouse costumes in the parade, and he was excited to see them again. The kids all got little flags, which they enjoyed waving around. There were people walking on stilts and high school marching bands. A civic band came by playing their instruments, and Michael commented that he wants to join a community band when we get settled down sometime soon. And there was a carriage pulled by two large horses that came up near where we were sitting and Kolby and Eli both jumped up and moved away because they were a little startled. At one point the people came by dressed as the different characters and Elmo was across the street, but Kolby got to shake hands with Bob the Builder and Donald Duck, which was fun for him. And both Kolby and Eli came away from the parade with a little bag full of candy that the people in the parade threw to the kids. Camden ended up asleep on my lap by the end of the parade.



After we went home and got a few things ready, we went over to the annual ward 4th of July BBQ party at the Twelmyer’s house. It was very fun. Michael and the boys all swam (we were surprised that there were lots of people swimming, because the pool wasn’t heated and Michael has been one of the few crazy swimmers the last couple of years we had the party, but this year it was nice and warm out). We had lunch and the kids played with Daddy in the big pool and in a little baby pool that someone brought. Camden had a blast splashing in the baby pool, and then fell asleep in my arms as soon as I got him dried off and dressed. He had a short nap in the playpen while we enjoyed the rest of the party.

After going home and letting the boys have a 2-hour nap, we met and parked our cars at the Taylor’s house and walked a couple of blocks to Hart Park for the professional fireworks show. We got a nice spot on the grass in the football field, right up front. The kids ran around playing for a while before it got dark. At one point Kolby and Eli were chasing each other and they got a little too far from us, so I went to get them because there was a big crowd of people there and we didn’t want to loose sight of them at all. So, they were running and chasing each other and then they were running from me, and they thought it was a great game. I was darting in between people and around picnic blankets, and I finally caught Eli, but Kolby kept running fast. He wouldn’t stop when I called him, but I couldn’t loose him in that big crowd, so I picked up Eli under one arm and carried him like a football as I ran, literally as fast as I could, after Kolby. People were probably laughing at the sight of this pregnant lady with a big belly, carrying a two-year-old under one arm and jumping over blankets to try to catch a 3-year-old. I finally caught up to him after running around at least half the length of the football field, and then headed back to our group, where Michael was searching the crowd because he couldn’t see where the boys or I had gone. I was panting for several minutes after I got back, but fortunately the boys stayed right by us the rest of the night.

When it got dark, we all lay down on our picnic blanket and watched the fireworks show together. It was great (especially since last year someone brought a wagon and the boys played in/fought over the wagon through the entire fireworks show). This year they were so excited about the fireworks and they just lay still right next to us the whole time. Camden really wanted to watch the fireworks, but each time one made a loud noise he started to cry. After a minute or so, Michael covered him with his blanket and laid him on his stomach, and Camden quickly fell asleep for the rest of the show. Michael said that during the loudest part of the finale, Camden stayed asleep, but his legs popped up in the air each time a firework exploded. The show was very good, but there must have been a bit of a breeze blowing toward the crowd, because there was ash falling on us from the fireworks, and some got in my eye. Never had that happen before. Also, at one point, part of one of the fireworks hit the ground about 10 or 15 feet from where we were sitting, and sparked and bounced around on the grass for a few seconds before going out. Everyone around there was lucky, because there were people sitting a few feet on either side of where it landed, and it could have burned someone pretty badly. But luckily it all went well, and the fireworks were beautiful. My favorite are the gold, glittery ones that kind of make a crackling noise as they come down. We came home and put the boys right in bed, and got to sleep around 11pm. It was a long, but very fun day!

Sparklers

Here are the pictures I took of the kids at our BBQ last night.

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!