Phew 10+Years later

 Wow! I just came across my old blog that I haven’t posted on in over 10 years. Life has changed so much in that time. We moved from TX to HI to NC to CO and lastly to KY. We have added 5 MORE kids to the family (& J made us a Nana & Papa)! T finally finished Residency and is practicing Family Medicine as well as finishing his military commitment and saying good-bye to the Army. 

It is hard to even come up with words to describe or highlight to mention the last 10 years. Maybe for old time’s sake I will make a post for each year and highlight some key events from that year… 

Im not great a finishing things lately so only time will tell if I am actually able to follow through with that. 

Becoming a Doctor: Part 2

We made it through Medical School... now what?!? We are in the beginning process, obviously since T just graduated Med School early May, so I don't have a whole lot of detail for the next stages in our journey but here is what I know so far and what I've been told we can expect.
Internship
-Internship is basically just the first year of residency, so T is considered an intern presently. They generally start July 1st. Sometime during the intern year guess what? Yup! Another exam. Time for Step 3! Yay! From what I understand after Step 3 is completed and passed and after your internship is completed you are now considered a licensed doctor. This means you can practice basic medicine as a doctor.
-While every doctor's intern year is unique to what 'type' of doctor s/he will become a few things are true all across the board. The hours are horrible (typically 12-18 hour days) sometimes everyday of the week, all times of day are work times (nights, holidays, weekends, there are no exceptions), although the doctor may not be physically seeing patients there is ALWAYS charting that has to be done (sometimes 4+ hrs a day), and they are the bottom of the totem pole. All the grunt work heads their way. Ugh. It is what it is, like joining a frat. The did pass a law within the last 10 years or so. The ACGME has set up new guidelines for Medical Residents. Such as 80 hr work week cap, 24 hr limit on continuous duty shift, 10 hr rest period between shifts, 1 out of 7 days off averaged over a month, in house call no more than 1 every 3 nights, etc. For more info you can browse Medical Resident Work Hours on Wiki.
-Once the intern year is over they have a ceremony, almost like a graduation. Their last day of work is June 30. They have to complete one whole year for it to 'count'. In the military they are allowed 14 days off which can only be taken during certain periods which make it extra complicated.
Residency
Now it is time to finish your residency.
-Depending on the specialty that you chose it can be anywhere from 3-6 years (including the intern year). Typically if the specialty has primarily based clinic hours the programs run 3-4 years but if they are more procedural or surgical they run 5-6 years.  Some programs in the military require that you do a year of research during your residency as well.
-Once residency is close to being complete guess what? Time for another exam? Woohoo time to take your set of boards for your specialty. After your board exam is complete (& you pass) then you are a Board Certified Doctor.
-As I mentioned prior we are taking the military route. Our path will be a little different once we are getting close to the end of residency. Most people will be able to practice medicine at a clinic, hospital, or even private practice. At this point T will be a 'real' doctor and now it is time to pay back the military his years. Depending on how long his residency is will determine how many years he has to pay back. If his residency is a 3 yr program then he will have to pay back 4 years but if his residency program is 5-6 then he will have to pay back 5-6. Basically you have to pay back your residency length or med school length whichever is longer.
Fellowship (optional)
-Now one may think that you are finally done right!? Wrong. Depending on your specialty you have the option to go on and do a fellowship. What does that even mean? Now remember there are always exceptions but generally this is how it works. Let's say your child needs to see a Pediatric Rheumatologist (like our J). That physician has to have completed two programs and passed both sets of boards; one in Pediatrics and one in Rheumatology. They could do Peds as their residency then Rhum as a fellowship or vice versa. Same is true for Pediatric Infectious Disease and several others not just Ped areas those are just examples. Now there is also another exception. Let's say you need to see a Cardiologist. They typically do a 3 year residency in Internal Medicine and then a 2 year fellowship in Cardiology. Internal Medicine is one of the best residencies because there are so many avenues that can be taken after that residency. The possibilities are almost endless.
Maintenence
Once all these things are complete you may think you are done now but alas your are never really done. Just like other professions (esp science based ones) you have to take classes to keep up to date with new and improved bigger and better things, attend seminars, and keep your license up to date (that process varies state to state). 

And now I *think* you may be done. Unless you practice for several years, get bored and decide to change your specialty, then it is back to do another fellowship and boards for that area.

Hmmm.... makes me wonder if T picked the right profession. Ahhh of course he did! It fits him to a T! Ba-zing!!

Becoming a Doctor: Part 1

The process of becoming a doctor is quite complicated. Unless you yourself or someone very close to you has been through it chances are you don't know too much about it. I can honestly say that even our family (although they care deeply and try to understand) don't really understand the process. There were/ are several things that we didn't understand. The purpose of this post is to layout the process, in a nutshell. Keep in mind that not all Medical Schools are set up the same and that we took the military approach so our journey may be slightly different that some one else's although they are probably pretty similar.(Disclaimer: I am not in any way trying to say that any other profession doesn't have a complicated process of completion, I am just stating our process for this journey.)
Pre-Med School
To start with there are several types of undergraduate courses that need to be taken so that a future doctor can be appropriately prepared to take the MCAT. These may include but are not limited to; chemistry, physics, organic chemistry, physiology, & anatomy.  The MCAT is a standarized test like an ACT or SAT that ranks you so you can apply to Medical Schools. Now the fun part comes. Applying to Med Schools. There is an application that must be filled out along with a fee paid. This fee can range typically from $100-250 just for the school to look at your application. If they like what they see than they will set up an interview with you. At that point you must fly to that location for the interview. After all the interviews have been completed you have to wait for a couple months to see if you got accepted anywhere. Once you get accepted then plans can be made to relocate for Med School!
Med School
*Med School consists of a four year program. Typically the two years are classroom/ lecture style years with exams. In our case the years were broke up into 'blocks'. The students would attend classes and work together in their PCL groups for eight weeks, then during week 9 they would test M-W. They would get their test results back on F. If they passed all their exams they would get week 10 off, if not they would have to retake them. The first year had four blocks so roughly 40 weeks. The second year is basically the same.
*Also because T is in the military he had to go to a 45 day program (BOLC) between year 1 & 2 in SA, TX.
*Between your 2nd  & 3rd year of Med School another test is required. Step 1. This is another national test that can be taken at a local testing center.
*The next two years consist of 'rotations'. These years (3 & 4) are spent in clinics and hospitals working with patients under an attending physicians. These rotations require you to work a little bit in every field to get a 'taste' of the different types of medicine. They typically are 8 weeks long in length. During these 8 weeks the student is required to work all the hours that their attending physician is working. Including but not limited to: mornings, days, nights, holidays, weekends, overnights, call, etc. Some of the rotations that are completed include: family practice, obgyn, pediatrics, surgery, neurology, psychiatry, & internal med. During the Family Med rotation T was required to do 4 weeks of rural medicine in which he had to stay in a small town for those 4 weeks. Now he got lucky in that his doctor let him go home Friday evenings and start at 9 Monday mornings so he could spend time with us on the weekends during those 4 weeks. His location was 2.5 hours from our home so it was quite the drive for him. Year 3 had 6 rotations back to back starting July 1st. Year 4 was set up a little different. You are required to do 4 weeks in surgery and 4 weeks in internal medicine. Beyond that you are allowed to choose up to 6 other fields for 4 weeks each. You are allowed 12 weeks off during this year but during that time you must travel for residency interviews. During this time also T had to do two 4 week away rotations for the military. He was in WA state for 4 weeks then was in HI for 4 weeks. This made a long 8 weeks for me at home!! 
*Now sometime during the end of 3rd year/ early 4th year it is time to take the Step 2 exam. This exam ironically has two parts. The CS is a physical exam that is taken at a particular test location. There are only 5 locations in the US so T ended up going to Chicago for his since it was the closest. Then the CK part is written and that was taken locally.
*Another part of Med School requires that you do a research project that has to be completed sometime during the first half of 4th year.
*Now it is time to wrap up Med School with a week of lectures back on the main campus and GRADUATION!!!

WooHoo!! We made it! Now if that wasn't crazy enough, we had the great idea to add 3 boys to our family during that time. Never a dull moment.

Wrapping up week 3

T is wrapping up week 3, only 49 more to go. (I will write a separate blog about that though.) So while T has been off working 16+ hr days including weekends, what have the kids and I been up to?
We have been attempting to finish things around the house. Moving in takes far more time than one can imagine especially when you have kids. We finally got all the boxes unpacked and now we are working on the final details of organization around here.
I went on my first venture up to A (about 80 miles one way) for J's Ped Rhum appt by myself. It was a success if I do say so myself. I was there on time and everyone behaved themselves, for the most part. J is doing awesome btw.
I tried to go the art museum with the kids but that did not turn out as successful. I thought it was an event catered to kids but turns out I was wrong and we ended up leaving. It could have been better but could have been a whole lot worse too. I do think a lesson was learned by all which is an important thing too. The whole way home (20+ mins) the kids didn't say ONE word. When we came in our development I drove right by our house. The kids then asked where we were going. I told them I would take them to the park because that fits our family better, then we discussed the appropriate behavior that is expected of them. Life goes on, live and learn.
Since the art museum didn't quite pan out we set up a park play time with some other military families that the moms are home with the kids while the dads are off being doctors. It was nice to meet and visit with some new women that are in my similar position and the kids got to play with some other kids on a new fun playground. E was super excited because he did the monkey bars all by himself for the first time and N was tickled pink since she mastered the fire pole on her own! Win, win, win.
Other than that we have been staying busy with our day to day routines; nothing too eventful.

a little different down here

We moved to TX the end of May so we have been here about 6 weeks or so. There have been a few things that are a little different that I have noticed verses the upper Midwest.

>The grocery store closest to us is an H.E.B. Plus. This may mean nothing unless you are a true Texan. This place has a huge variety of everything including but not limited to… electronics, toys, housewares, grilling and outdoor, party supplies, clothing, fresh sushi, butcher, organic/natural items, jewelry, floral shop, bakery, and much more. The first time we went in here we just walked around and looked at everything in the grocery store for well over an hour! And to keep our kids entertained long enough to be able to do that says something. = )

>I know that coming from ER, GF, and B doesn’t count as coming from a ‘city’ so moving to SA was truly a wake-up call in regards to traffic and city life. There are so many interstates, highways, and access roads it is enough to drive you mad (no pun intended, hahaha). I have truly become dependent upon my google map app on my phone to get me from point A to point B. The city is essentially set up like a wheel with a loop running around the central area of the city then another around the outer city. Then there are several that run right through the city. So traffic is alright if you know how to navigate 1604, 410, 35, 37, 10, 90, 87, & 281 just to name a few.  In addition to the roads there are also 3 military branches that have recently merged to add to the confusion.

>I had the privilege of experiencing a few substantial rainstorms but a few days ago we had a thunderstorm. And HOLY SMOKES. I heard the loudest thunder I have ever heard in my LIFE. The kids were running around the yard with their swimsuits on enjoying the rain while H and I were on the porch. The thunder was so loud and so long poor little H probably should have had ear protection on.  I can’t even describe how loud it was. It was unreal.

>The customer service down here is also unreal. When we go shopping (anywhere… Target, WalMart, H.E.B., CVS, Walgreens, etc, etc) associates are always asking if they can help or how our day is going or they stop and chat with the kids. In ND or MN I never had such amazing customer service. The people working down here actually like their jobs! Weird right?! 

>Last but certainly not least, people seem to enjoy seeing our family out and about. Now I know everyone is entitled to their own opinion but our family is what it is and we would not have it any other way. But let’s be honest. We have a big family and it is not very often that a couple in their early 30s have six kids. It is almost unheard of. Naturally there are always the nay-sayers and debbie-downers but we have not come across any down here (yet). Up north I would frequently get rude comments from complete strangers about my family size but down here we have got nothing but compliments.

Relandscaping

We had a new backyard put in with fresh sod. It looks beautiful. Someone (no kid will admit to who it was) decided they wanted to modify the landscaping. Rest assured we did correct their modification but I had to snap a quick pic first. = )

The Move

We moved from B to SA, only about 1500 miles away! We are now a military family. Our first military move was a mess, to say the least. First it was a mess just getting the paper work set up for movers to come and pack our things. We (and by that I mean T) had to call several different offices (in multiple states) to get put on a list serve for a company to 'pick-up' our move. Then when we finally did get 'picked-up' we were told they would pack our stuff in one day, load the next, and our things would be on their way to SA. Well after SIX days of them packing half of our things, it was on its way. We filled the portion of the semi reserved for us with our household items so all our garage items and some overflow from the house had to go into storage in B for an undetermined amount of time. Then our stuff that was on its way had one of the axels on the truck catch fire. Luckily there were not too many of our items damaged but this caused a time delay of 10-12 days! As a mommy I can assure you it is not easy to take care of your family of 8 without most of your 'gadgets' including pots and pans. We were without most things for over 3 weeks total! Anyways, we finally got our house things on a Sunday, part of our garage things Tuesday, and the last of our garage things on Friday. I don't want to sound materialistic but boy was I happy to have my things back. It is so much easier to feed the kids with a dining table and chairs. And bedtime is so much easier when the kids have their beds. = ) I would love to say that we are fully organized down here but we are not. When we lived in B we had a nice apartment that was close to 1500 sq ft. and now we are in a house that is close to 2700 sq ft. It is so nice to be able to spread out but this makes unpacking slow and difficult as toys and furniture are redistributed to different rooms in our house. I will have to write a separate post about our new home.

We are Back!!!

Well... it has been 3 years!!! I can hardly believe it has been so long since my last post. I guess life just got a hold of me and took me away. We have had so many life changes in the last 3 years. I will try to highlight the big ones...
*We moved from GF to B so T could complete his last 2 years of Medical school in May of '12.
*We were blessed with K in June of  '12.
*J was diagnosed with Systemic JIA in Aug of '13.
*We got to add H to our family in Feb of '14.
*T graduated Medical School in May of "14.
*We moved to Texas the end of May too!

My goal is to try and write one post a week. It may not be the most eventful but since we are so far removed from family and friends this will help us feel closer. I must warn you there will be lots of kid stories and events as my life revolves around them and everything I do my kids do too. (And I won't have it any other way!!)

school wrap-up

Tomorrow is J's last day of prekindergarten at her school. She has been going the last four weeks M-F, 8-12. She absolutely LOVES school. We are so happy that she enjoys it.
They have been doing all sorts of Kindergarten activities and learning new things:
writing all the letters of the alphabet (upper and lower case), numbers, names, & short sentences,
working in small groups,
Math games and puzzles,
art work, cutting, gluing (she enjoys gluing a lot),
playing on the playground, running around in the gym,
calendar time with weather, days of the week, & months of the year,
She has even met some new friends: her boyfriend B and her girlfriend Z! It is super cute to listen to her talk about her boyfriend B. Although I get that inner giggle inside I do realize it is a friend who happens to be a boy. And last but not least the icing on the cake... The kids are walking to the U.P. water park on Friday. They even get to wear their swimsuits to school! J thinks that is the coolest thing ever.

Where did May GO?

Phew! I don't know where the month of May went?! We were waiting and waiting for it to come and now it is almost over. Lots of things have happened in the B house in May. Here is a little recap (not in any particular order):

*Little O was baptized! We had a few family members come to town and celebrate with us. It was PERFECT. We enjoy having them visit and the kids LOVE having extra people to play with, esp. their Auntie A who is only a couple years older than J.
*J and E are riding bikes (with training wheels) like pros! J was doing a great job but E was ever so frustrating. Now he is getting it and can almost keep up with J.
*J started her physical therapy once a week and is working on getting her muscles stronger! She loves going to see her 'teacher' as she calls her. I think she really enjoys the extended one-on-one attention which is hard to come by in our home sometimes.
*N is getting more and more hair! She doesn't have quite enough to put in a full ponytail but my hope is that someday she will! Our kids tended not to have a whole lot of hair until they were 2 1/2 or 3. YIKES!
*O is rollin' all over the place. It started a month or so ago. He was rolling back to tummy and now he can go about 6 feet from his original place. It is crucial now that we watch where we are walking since you never know where he could be even though he is not crawling, yet.
*T passed his first year of medical school! We were super excited and nervous at the same time. I know that he is very intelligent and there is not a doubt in my mind that he will pass, but he seems to doubt himself. This block in particular was neuro-based (which apparently is difficult) and he took a night class that used a lot of his time that could have been spent studying. But long story short... HE PASSED and is a second year student now.
*E continues to try our patience every. single. day. We just don't get it. He simply fights and argues about everything. Even something fun like going outside to play. It is so frustrating sometimes.
*J is even more of a rock star at her letters. We are focusing now on upper- and lower-case letters, she still gets a little confused with when to use each appropriately.
*N is talking more and more everyday. She still does not speak in full sentences yet but she is able to communicate to us what she wants/ thinks. She is going to be one of the firecrackers in the family. She appears to be very expressive and opinionated even at her young age.
*O is a happy little guy who loves just watching what is going on. He can be on the floor or in his saucer for quite a while as long as he is able to see his big sisters and brother. Every now and then they will pop over to shake his hand, give him a toy, sing to him, or just talk to him and he gets so excited. He just screams and laughs. It is so nice (as a parent) to see the kids getting along and having so much fun together.
*Doctor time. I took a home-video of this since it is played so often I thought the kids may like to see it when they are older. J, E, & N all play that they are the doctors and O is the patient. He is a perfect little patient. He just lays their in all his glory while the three big kids ohhh and ahhh over him. He just eats it up. They check his ears, listen to his heart, give him shots, check his mouth (esp. since he has TWO new teeth!), and check his blood pressure. He is in good health just in case you were wondering.

Well I am sure you are slightly bored by now but that is about 1/3 of our month. Hopefully next month I will be better at updating. = )

LONG day

Today was a trying day. We did not really have anything too important going on but the kids seemed to have a different idea of how things were going to be done, well E anyway. We went to Target this morning to get a couple odds and ends which ended by having to physically hold E in the cart and pay with one hand. Then we made it home and things were alright.

This afternoon J had an appointment and I took the boys with so T could study. (N stayed home and napped.) About 3 minutes into J’s appointment E started to misbehave. He did not want to be quiet, was grabbing toys, and playing with everything he could. He ended up getting away from me and jumped into a pit of balls. I was unable to get him out because he kept being just out of my reach. I finally grabbed his arm and picked him up. Thank goodness I brought the double stroller with me! I was able to buckle him in there and leave with him; after a battle and him head-butting me of course. J did amazing working with the specialist and enjoyed having an adult all to herself. = )

I took the boys for a 20-30 minute walk and then went back to check on J. She was done with her PT evaluation and ready to start her OT evaluation. E once again wanted to play with all the fun exciting things so we had to leave. This time we went out to the van and I fed O while E played with some of the toys. I was just about ready to go back inside when E informed me that he needed to poop. Oh great! I got everything set so we could go back inside: stroller out, O in his carseat, E’s sweatshirt back on, E in stroller, van locked, and we were off. Unfortunately, I was not fast enough and he had a minor accident. Of course I did not have the communal diaper bag with me I just had O’s diaper bag. So E had to wear a diaper home that was just a tad too small.

We made it back in perfect timing and J was just getting done. It turns out that she is a little behind her peers as far as gross motor skills are concerned (jumping, hopping, skipping, etc.) but her fine motor skills (writing, drawing, cutting, etc.) are a little ahead of her peers. The PT thought it would be a good idea for J to have therapy once a week all summer so when she starts school in the fall she won’t be too far behind. She does not think the classroom will be a problem but J may have a tough time in gym. The OT does not see a need for any therapy since she is a tad advanced for her age. *Bragging moment*: certain areas she is at a seven-year-old level!

I think J will have fun and enjoy this time. She does need to work on some of those skills and get a little stronger. She is just so petite and fragile.

I had been keeping T up to date via texting while I was there and on the way home he sent me a lovely text; wondering where we were and making sure I did not have a nervous breakdown. He is a funny one. After we got home we had a little snack, O went to sleep, and I took the three big kids outside to play for almost an hour. J is a rock star at biking (with training wheels!) and E was horrible at first but I think he is coming around. : / I don’t know if he didn’t understand or just didn’t care but E was so frustrating a few weeks ago when we got the bikes out. Now he seems to be on the right track though. I'll have to keep my fingers crossed!

P90X Update

P90X seems to be going alright as of now! We have 2 weeks down and 11 to go. We are not very far into the program but I can already tell a difference. When we started the program there were exercises that I could not even imagine doing and I thought to myself: *Are you kidding me? I will never be able to do this/that!* I can proudly say that I am able to do most of those exercises now! I may not be able to do as many reps as the people on the DVDs but I can do some of them now. I have also noticed that I have more stamina. I probably should not even admit this but… I had a hard time doing jumping jacks for 30 seconds straight (try it and see if you can do it!) but in just 2 weeks I am now able to go for close to a minute. I am not trying to sell anyone on the product I am just stating my personal opinion. I have not noticed a drop in my weight or in inches anywhere on my body yet but I have hope that it will come later down the line. All in good time, right?! They also have good variety within the program. I have tried other exercise videos and they get so boring after a week or so but these make me want to do them every night!

One of the drawbacks that we did find is that you need to be dedicated both with time and finances. The time issue is alright for me because I work out at night after the kids all go to bed at 8ish. But for T he has had to do homework late one or two nights so he had to make up his workouts. The program itself is not that expensive (around $140) but we found after buying the program that there were a lot of things that we needed to buy in order to get better results. For example, they (P90X) said you could use weight lifting bands or dumbbells. We got the bands -because they were cheaper- and found that the dumbbells are actually better and you get more out of your workout. So we got some of those. Next we needed a push-up/ pull-up/ chin-up bar, whichever you would like to call it, but we only need to use it during one DVD (so far). Not to mention the need for: yoga blocks, yoga mats, heart rate monitors, & good shoes. We decided, actually I decided, that we are not going to get crazy about the food aspect of the program. P90X sends a brochure/book about what types of foods to eat, how much of each food group, recipes, and meal choices. I just don’t feel that it is realistic for us to use their food program.

1)The kids would not eat half of the meals so I would have to make extra meals for them.
2) The recipes call for food items that we don’t typically have on hand.
3) TIME. I just don’t know where I would get the extra time to measure everything meticulously to keep track of calories, number of servings for each food group, the size of each serving, etc.
I know that we may not get the best results that we could possibly get because of the diet aspect but we are making a conscience effort to watch what, how much, and when we eat.

*And my absolute FAVORITE part about P90X is that T and I are able to do it together! I know that sounds sappy but it is fun to do something together without the kids (don’t get me wrong I love my kidsies), but it is like a date every night. = )

Happy 2nd Birthday N!

Today is another special day in the B home. TWO years ago today I had the privilege of bringing my second daughter into this world. It is hard to believe she is 2 already! I could write a post about how fast time goes but I am sure you all know just as well as I do! So… April 7^th, 2009 went a little like this:

We were scheduled to be induced that morning so I called Labor and Delivery at 6am and we were told to arrive at 7 or so. Woohoo they were not full so we were good to go. I made a quick phone call to our neighbors (the Js who just so happen to have had a baby 2 months prior so mommy E was home on maternity leave) to let them know the induction was a go. They were kind enough to watch/ take care of J and E while we were at the hospital. We got all our things ready, gave the kids kisses, and were off.

Once we arrived at the hospital we checked in and I got all hooked up. They started Pitocin and we were expecting things to progress quickly. We were wrong! After about 3 hours of Pitocin they finally called the doctor in because N ‘s head was so high they could not break my water (for fear that the cord would slip down before her head and cut off the life supply to her). My doctor finally broke my water around 11 and once again we expected things to pick up. I was contracting and labor felt like it was progressing but her head was not low enough to work on dilating the cervix. Eventually I dilated to 9.5 cm and we were ready to go. This is where her story gets good.

I pushed a few times (15 minutes or so) and her head was almost out and then panic set in. My doctor (who has 30+ years of medical experience was almost *sleeping* [old hat for him]) jumped off his chair, the nurse who was assisting me jumped on top of me and ripped the emergency cord out of the wall. My delivery room was FLOODED with medical personnel. Once N was born she was moved to the other side of the room and surrounded by nurses. My doctor was trying to get me to stop bleeding (sorry if that is TMI) while keeping a close eye on N. I vaguely recall him asking if the baby was moving. I was so out of it I just kept asking if the baby was a boy or girl? (We did not find out ahead of time!) And then I told T to go and take pictures! (Typical mommy I guess) He said he was going to stay out of the way. I got a couple shots in my leg and finally was able to sit up.  And eventually see my baby GIRL from a distance.

I did not get to hold her or even get a good look at her before they rushed her off to the NICU. That was a scary moment for me because I had no idea what was going on! I was finally able to see her at about 9:30 or 10 that night when I hobbled down to the NICU so I could at least touch her on the day she was born.

So what went on during my state of absentmindedness? Over the course of time I learned what actually happened… N had SEVERE shoulder dystocia (Her shoulders were too big to come out). Our doctor had to make a split second decision: break her clavicle and have her born right now or push her back in and perform an emergency C-section within minutes. I guess that is what happens when the baby weighs 9lbs. 11ozs.! N was in the NICU for about 24 hours and then we came home the next day. After doing a bunch of research, after the fact and now that T is in medical school, we have learned more details that I am glad we did not know at the time. This could have been very dangerous and possibly deadly for N and/or myself. I guess that is one of the many reasons I went back to my OB doctor. He is fantastic!

So that is the condensed version of how ‘little’ N came into this world.

Happy 5th Birthday J!

I am proud to say the 5 years ago today my life changed FOREVER. I was given the gift of my daughter J. That day went a little like this:

It started as a typical morning; got up to go to the bathroom around 5ish and then back to bed. But wait, it felt like I was going to the bathroom more! In bed! What is going on here? I woke T up and told him about it and he just kind of laughed it off. We were clueless as to what was really going on here. After it happened a few more times we thought it would be a good idea to call the Labor & Delivery department of the hospital and make sure everything was alright. Turns out they wanted me to come in to be checked. Since J was not due until April 14th we did not have anything ready to go. I mean ANYTHING! We were rummaging through papers on the desk looking for the Lamaze packet that had a suggest list of things to bring to the hospital. We finally found that and packed a bag or two. We were running all over the place.

We made it to the hospital around 7:30ish. We admitted and then I was checked. They did a swab of the fluid to make sure that it was amniotic fluid and yep it sure was! J was on her way 2 ½ weeks early. SURPRISE! After sitting for about an hour or so T went out to our vehicle to get the rest of our stuff (or so I thought). Apparently there was some miscommunication and he thought he was supposed to go back home and get all the things that we forgot. So I sat there in the bed waiting for 15-20 minutes and he did not come back. After about 45 minutes of waiting I was getting a *little* mad and then after an hour I was mad. –Since our hospital (at the time) did not allow the use of cell phones I could not call him & if I would have called him from the room it would have been long distance or collect– Where the heck did he go? He finally (what seemed like hours to me) came back with all our things and then I found out what took him so long.

They started Pitocin and I was progressing; smooth and steady. We went for a walk (or two or three), rocked in a rocking chair, sat on one of the labor balls, and breathed through all the contractions. It did not seem like too long and next thing we knew J was here. She was born at 2:53 pm, weighed 6 lbs 8.3 ozs, and was 19 ¾ ins long. And she had a mop of RED curly hair! She was beautiful. My first experience as a parent began and it was perfect. We could not imagine our life without J, then or now. We love you ‘baby’ girl!

P90X!

Time for the Xtreme! In the past I have generally lost my baby weight but this time I am getting a little restless. I am not large by any means but I am not the way I would like to be either. I think deep down inside every female has some sort of insecurity of how they look physically, regardless of whether they express it or not. SO… with that said, I am ready to say good-bye to my love handles! T and I decided to try P90X! It was hard for us to justify a gym membership anywhere since time is such a struggle for us. We decided that if we got P90X then we could do it TOGETHER after the kids go to bed. We started on Wednesday of this week and it seems to be going well. We are enjoying it so far. Many people spoke of how terribly hard it was and that it just destroys your body. I have been taking it in strides. I am pushing myself to the point that I can feel the ‘burn’ and working my body but not so hard that I feel like I am going to die. If I do that I know that I will not stick with the program and it would just be a waste of time and money. I really want this to be a positive experience for me. I honestly don’t care if I lose weight; I would just like to tone and strengthen. My poundage number is not important to me. I really enjoy the workouts too because the trainer (Tony I think his name is) does a great job of encouraging you while you are moving. He emphasizes that it does not matter if you finish the reps or how high you can get your legs up or whatever; what matters is that you are doing it! He also points out (in my words) during each video that ‘the people we are watching on tv are used to these routines’. It helps me remember that my form is not going to be perfect all the time and not every exercise or position is going to look great; but if I am trying that is all that matters. I will keep posting our progress and if we like or dislike anything, whether you want me to or not. = )

Mommy’s Weekend Away!

Many of you may know that I am addicted to my kids! I just LOVE them. It is not very often that I get a break from my kids, especially since I am a stay at home mommy. And to be quite honest when I don’t have my kids around I really don’t know what to do with myself. I am so used to doing 101 things at a time that I am almost lost when my hands are empty. Anyways. One of my friends got married so I toyed with the idea of going to the wedding with just little O (I can’t get rid of him yet since I am breast-feeding). T was not opposed to the idea of having the three big kids alone for the weekend and it worked out great with his school schedule since he was still technically on his ‘week 10 break’. So I left Friday (18th) around noonish and set out for the 5 hour drive. Little O was ready to go with a full tummy and a much needed nap. We made it to the cities for the weekend and I was able to see my entire immediate family and some of my extended family. I got to spend most of the day on Saturday with friends that I had not seen in years. It was GREAT! Then we had a nice brunch on Sunday and I was on my way home.

T’s weekend however was a little different than what he is used to. He was an amazing SUPER daddy. I had no doubt in my mind that he could handle everything and do wonderfully. However, I do think he was happy to see us Sunday night and he has a better understanding of how busy staying at home really is. Many people think that stay at home moms sit around all day and play. THAT IS NOT TRUE! Being a mommy (full-time) is honestly one of the hardest jobs, but it is by far the most rewarding too!

So all in all, it was fun to get away but it was great to come home and have my kiddsies give me oodles of loves!

I am not 100% sure but I think the big kids missed little O! = )

Monday Morning:



Decisions, decisions, decisions.

As a parent we have many decisions to make that will affect our children. Our HUGE decision right now is if we should send J to public or private school. We just don’t know what is best for her (and the siblings that are to follow). Here is why we are having a tough time…

1) We don’t know where we are going to be after the 2011-12 school year. We won’t know until December of this year where T’s 3 & 4 year of Medical school will be. Do we want to go through the work of getting her into a private school for only potentially a year here?

2) Private schools are expensive. I am going to look into how expensive they are in our area and see if we could even afford it.

3) Smaller class size with minimal children that would require special attention. I am sure some of you may be shaking your heads right now but hear me out. There are many children that have special needs or behaviors in the regular classroom that require extra time and attention from the teacher. I don’t want to appear mean but I feel that children with special needs are different. They will always be different and there is nothing that will change that. I do realize that it is important for my children to see other children that have special needs but I don’t want it to affect their education.

4) Food allergies. I struggle with this one a lot. There was just a segment on the TODAY show on NBC yesterday about this. There is one child at the school J will be attending that has a peanut allergy so the school is a ‘Nut-Free Zone’. I don’t think it is fair that all the children in the school have to make sure that every item they bring is ‘nut free’. That is a hassle and inconvenience for hundreds of families! If the child is that severely allergic than they should eat in their classroom with a friend or two and wear gloves around the school. We were told that if our child has peanut butter for breakfast they have to thoroughly wash their hands and faces before they come to school in the morning. Now I would not send my kid to school dirty regardless but I don’t think it is fair to put so much pressure on all the other parents.

These are just a few of my concerns. I just don’t know what we are going to do this fall. She will probably end up in a public school somewhere but I am just not sure yet. *sigh*

Kindergarten Registration

The big day came for J! It was time for Kindergarten registration in our school district. She was so excited she could barely stand it. She got all dressed up in a skirt with tights and dress shoes. She looked so cute with her tight red curls bouncing around!

When we got to the school we had to wait in line to get the packets of information and the woman asked her if she could write her name on the name tag. J did not answer her too loudly but just picked up the marker and began to write. She is not perfect yet so I was expecting a minor melt down (as mentioned prior she tends to get upset when things are not perfect!) but she did just fine. Once we found a spot to sit she wanted to get up and go play with the other kids. So off she went! She did not even look back!!! Then it was time for the kids to go with the teachers while the parents stayed in the gymnasium. I thought she would be alright but then she seemed a little timid when I told her to go follow the teacher with the black shirt on. She looked back a couple times but ended up going along pretty quietly. After 45 minutes of adult information we were lead to the Kindergarten classrooms and she was having so much fun. They got to make an art project, have snack, listen to a story, and sing/learn a new song! All in 45 minutes!!! When we got home she was all excited to tell Daddy and E about her day (hour) at school. I think she is going to have so much fun.

Here is her 'masterpiece':



Week 10, again.

We love week 10 around here. This is T’s ‘vacation’ from Medical School. As long as T passes his block exams we get to see a whole lot of him during week 10! I do feel a little bad for him though. Since I can (usually) count on him having this time off I try to schedule a large amount of appointments during this week. Which makes our days revolve around schedules instead of being on ‘vacation’. It is so much easier for me to take one or two kids to an appointment than taking four by myself. And it is all about me, right?! Seriously though, I don’t mind taking all the kids if I had to but if I don’t have to than I would rather not.

Here is our week of appointments and activities:
Monday: O doctor in the am. J haircut in the afternoon. Oil change in the evening.
Tuesday: N 2 year pictures in the morning. B haircut in the afternoon.
Wednesday: J 5 year pictures after lunch.
Thursday: Grocery shopping in the morning. O 3 month pictures in the afternoon.
Friday: B and O leave for the weekend after lunch.

*O is a little stinker! He has become a strong thumb-sucker and sucks during the night. Only his left thumb though so he is getting a little flat on the back left side of his head. I met with a PT to see if there were any stretches or anything that could be done now so in a month or two we could possibly avoid a helmet. We are not opposed to a helmet but if we can avoid it that would be great!

*J got a little cut off the ends and a long layer added which makes her curls bounce even more.

*Oil change turned out well except we discovered that the car has a leak by the oil gasket. Doesn’t sound like a big deal but in order to fix it they have to take the gasket out, reseal it, and put it back. Still doesn’t sound too bad but runs around $200!

*N’s 2 year pictures turned out alright. She was not a huge fan of staying in the studio area and wanted to run around. The photographer did not realize that N would get attached to a teddy bear so her pictures are with a random teddy. O well. I was just happy that N was not crying/ screaming and smiled for her picture.

*I got my hair cut, actually trimmed, and enjoyed an hour or so without kiddsies. = ) It is fun to be an adult sometimes.

*J’s 5 year pictures turned out great! I was a little skeptical as to how they would turn out. She is at that awkward stage that for some reason she does not know how to smile. When you tell her to smile she makes a big smile, does not show her teeth, and closes her eyes. Not what I was looking for to remember her at 5. But she did wonderful and smiled beautifully. She had a good time being the center of attention for an hour or so. = )

Disney, Here we come (in July!)

BIG NEWS in the B home… We are going to Walt Disney World!!! The trip is all set. All we need to do is pack and get on the plane… in July! We are lucky that my mom is able to get the time off from work and wants to come with us on this journey. The kids are so excited to see and meet Mickey Mouse!

Here is what we have planned so far:
Day 1: Fly to FL and check-in at our resort. We are staying at the Disney Wilderness Lodge Resort. Then dinner at Chef Mickey’s so the kids will get to see Mickey on the FIRST day in FL.
Day 2: Magic Kingdom. Plus T and I are going to see a show that night.
Day 3: Magic Kingdom in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon and evening.
Day 4: Rest and relax at the resort! This resort has a beach (not to swim in though), 2 pools, a huge playground, and trails to walk on. Plus at night they have campfires with Chip and Dale along with an outdoor movie (Disney of course) under the stars!
Day 5: Animal Kingdom.
Day 6: Animal Kingdom in the morning. Hollywood Studios in the afternoon. We have lunch scheduled with Goliath (JoJo’s Circus), Leo, June (Little Einsteins), Handy Manny, and Special Agent Oso! Then dinner at ‘Ohana to end the night.
Day 7: Fly back to MN and drive back home.

We have been doing a ton of research and found out a lot of things online to help our vacation go a little smoother.

Strollers: We can travel with strollers on the airplane at NO CHARGE! At first we were just thinking about bringing wheels for O and N but then after doing research found that many parents suggest bringing strollers for kids even as old as 8! So we will be taking our double, single, and umbrella strollers. We were also debating if we should bring O’s infant carrier. We thought it may be too hot but then read a review that stated it was nice to have because if your infant falls asleep and you go to a sit-down restaurant then you can just bring in their seat and not have to wake-up your child (strollers are not permitted in restaurants, which makes sense).

Dinner reservations: If you want to eat at a sit-down restaurant you have to make reservations, which can be made up to 180 days in advance! We did not think it would be necessary to do so but we were just checking and there were quite a few restaurants that were already full for days that we are going to be there from 4pm to 8pm. After finding this out we decided to plan each day where we were going and what restaurants we would want to eat at while we were there. For example, one restaurant sounded good and had meals that we would have liked but then we read some reviews and several people commented that they were at said restaurant in February of this year and got FOOD POISONING! Hmm, no thanks. Next.

Dining Plan: We went back and forth about getting a meal plan while we are there and ultimately decided that the meal plan would be the best for us. We will each get 1-Quick service meal, 1-Sit-down meal, and 1-snack per day. By figuring out our restaurants ahead of time we were able to get the “biggest bang for our buck”. We chose sit-down restaurants that adult entrees were around $30-35. I will not go into specifics but this is going to be a great deal and hopefully save us a lot of money in the long run (I will have to let you know after our trip!). We could have got an extra meal per day but decided that we would save the money and just eat breakfast in our ‘home’.

Lodging: Since we have so many guests that will be on this trip it was hard to find proper accommodations. We could have stayed in a deluxe room but they did not honor a military discount for these rooms. We could have stayed in two hotel rooms but there was no guarantee that they would be adjoining or even on the same wing or floor. Or we could stay in a ‘home away from home’. We were able to get an apartment basically. It has a full kitchen (with a dishwasher), two bedrooms, living/sitting room (with a DVD player), full sized washer and dryer, and concierge service (which will get groceries for us if needed). We were able to get a military discount on this ‘home’ and saved substantially.

This will be the perfect way to end our summer before T goes back to Medical school and before J starts Kindergarten!