The Big "30"

While the title is about Nolan being the big "30" months, aka 2.5., we also had another family member hit the big 30 this past month.

As of a couple of days ago, we officially are at the halfway point of the terrible twos. As I see Nolan's little body strut around our house trying to be Mr. Independent, I can't help but already realize how much my future self is going to miss these days. I'm about 6 days into my summer break, and I already have seen such a different kid.  With the hustle and bustle of school, schedules, and daycare, I sometimes forget to notice the little developments.  I took Nolan into his checkup and had to fill out a long, detailed questionnaire.  The survey included questions about how he could walk up steps, throw a ball, respond to my questions, draw a vertical line, a horizontal line, a circle, etc.  It also asked Nolan to identify a half-drawn figure with missing pieces. In other words, would something that looks close to a person still be a person in his little world?  When asked what it is, Nolan was supposed to respond "man" or "snowman" or something along the lines. Instead, Nolan responded with, "Oh no? Happened? Missing eye. Draw a leg, mommy.  Draw an eye, mommy. There." I couldn't help but laugh as I sat there debating whether he was using 3-word sentences and he was worried about not having a complete picture (I decided that counted as a "yes" on the survey).

His favorites haven't changed much.  His mind works on balls, wheels, and trains. He's very particular about them, too.  I tried playing legos with him today, but I kept frustrating him because I would put something in the wrong spot. He finally told me to go sit on the couch.  He also can open and close our primary door, and can open the pantry to find his "bunny snacks." He's an excellent younger brother to our cats (and cares about them deeply when they run outside and don't come back inside when he asks). He can be so sweet, but also can be quite goofy. For instance, today, we went on a date to Meijer. When all of the older ladies stopped to "ooh and ahh" at him, he'd respond "hello" in a loud, growling, monster voice.  It caught everyone off guard (I should be used to this), but he thought he was hysterical.

In other aspects of our little world, it's been a crazy few months. I wrapped up teaching my first year of 2nd grade.  While the students were still young, I still learned a lot from them (always one of my goals), and enjoyed seeing the eyes from a new world.  While I miss teaching higher-level (well, middle school) mathematics, I do enjoy settling in some foundational skills, and laying ground for some more kindness and compassion.

While I feel like my busy life is over for a bit, Scott's has unfortunately went on overdrive. He's working more than over, while applying for Fellowship.  As a reminder, he's done his 13 years of education, 4 years for his bachelor's degree, 4 years for his medical degree, acquired his "doctor" status, and now we're about to start year 4 (of 5) years of residency.  However, despite 2 more years to go, we're now applying for fellowship for the year after residency.  This will be a one-year training (most likely in abdominal radiology) that will sub-specialize him and hopefully make him more marketable. I can't imagine life not in training, but applying for fellowships seems more "almost there" than the past stepping stones.  These 2 remaining years come with a sucky workload, likely selling a house that I love, possibly a move, a short stay for Scott in Washington DC, and a daycare switch this summer. Our biggest focus, right now, however, is getting applications and hopefully some interview requests for Scott. Fingers-crossed! :)

I think that's enough rambling.  It's been a while, so I figured an update was appreciated.  I have lots of time available now, so feel free to come visit us! At least 2/3 are available.

The Terribly Terrific Twos

Well, if we do this right, you'll be seeing less of me.  Or, at least Nolan.  For those keeping track, we're down to every six month updates. Slowly weaning.

This isn't our best picture (poor lighting, stuck inside, two-year-oldness), but I can confidently say that he's still stealing our hearts. Nolan was unsure why the elephant had to keep interrupting his hockey time. So, you got a bit of everything.  For parents out there, two-year-olds are no joke. He's stubborn strong-willed, and we're learning what makes him tick, but so fun to hang out with.  He's very proud of his speaking skills, and I'm censoring myself more and more.  For instance, if Nolan wants something and I don't have it (crackers, donuts, and giant fish stuffed animals to name a few), Nolan looks at me with his serious face and says "go buy it."

Our evenings are spent watching this video (how can you deny the phrase "more fweeze pweese"?) and organizing toys.  He also enjoys swimming in our jet tub without the jets, climbing through tunnels, picking out his own books, and dumping snacks that he vehemently refuses to eat in his chair.

Gosh, some nights I'm an emotional mess when I think about the picture below.

I want the weekends to last longer, and for time to stop all together.  We've reached that point where I no longer enjoy spending time with him just because he's my baby, but I truly find him fun to hang out with. He's silly, spunky, full of attitude, and has this bizarre sense of humor (who am I kidding, it's just like his daddy).

I have many goals and worries as a parent, but for now, I think I'll just focus on how to make him sit long enough for a diaper change and how to make sure he's not tackling his friends (his approach when someone steals his toys).  We've finally broken the pacifier during the day (still using it during naps/nighttime), but we're no closer to potty training or knowing the difference between colors... not even remotely.

Anyway, let's go back to medical school life, as we're getting lots of questions about it.  It's fairly up in the air right now, but I think that's probably because we've been in semi the same location going on 2.5 years, which is a record for us in this medical journey. So, it does seem fitting to ask "what's next?"

His residency is 5 years, and we're just about half way done. This year isn't the most fun.  Third year residents get all holidays, so this year we've spent most holidays at home.  I'm okay with that, and it hasn't been that bad.  Nolan isn't the best traveler, and I'm becoming more of a homebody than I have been in the past (our fireplace and new instant pot is getting lots of use). 

Sometime this coming year, Scott will spend a month in DC and will begin interviews for Fellowship (remember this post?)  I shudder at thinking about all of that, but I'll be eager to go to our next step.  Fellowship will be 1-2 years, and then we'll be done.  14-15 years post high school is normal to start your career, right?  As for locations, moving, etc. my answer is yes.  Yes, I'm still wondering all of that too. We're still 2.5 years away, but I know things will start flying once we get through this summer.  My new's year motto (along with my annual list of far too many goals) is to live for now.  I'm not going to keep waiting until we're finished, waiting until we are in a different place financially, waiting for a free weekend to get XYZ done, waiitng for summer, etc.  Why not do it now? Time will never be perfectly aligned. So, live for now. So far, I've made 8 days of that motto, and I'm enjoying it. 

Scott is reminding me that no one needs to read sappy posts and is instead laughing hysterically at trailers for the Batman Lego movie, so I think that's my cue to get off the computer.  Have a good week! 

Slightly Overdue

We officially have a 1.5 year old.  He's quite the little bundle of energy, and certainly keeps us on our toes. He's also perfecting terrible two's early... just so we're prepared.

This picture was awful to take and resulted in very little to work with.  He was in a great mood, but Nolan does not like sitting when other people are not sitting with him. And, the only time he laughed was when he got to throw the elephant off.  Did I mention we've crossed into toddler?

So, first a bit about Nolan:
He knows about 10-15 words.  He regularly uses: ball, airplane, dad, cat, stinky, hi, apple, quack, hot, more, and all done (notice mom is still not on that list!?!). He loves playing, climbing, and getting into stuff he shouldn't be. I'm at home now (hallelujah to summer!), and we spend ever morning exploring metro Detroit's toddler-encouraged locations.  He's just getting into splash pads and climbing gyms.  But, we both tend to get a little crazy if we're cooped up for too long.  He's still eating well, but getting pickier.  He still loves bananas, grapes, chicken, mac & cheese, and fruit snacks (he would eat fruit snacks all day if I wasn't such a mean mommy).

And, for the rest of the family:
Selena? Nothing new... except, let me emphasize once again, I love summer.
Scott? Well, he's officially a 3rd year resident (out of 5).   It's a bit of the same as Year 2, except Year 3 is notoriously the worst for scheduling.  So far, we've learned that we have zero holidays (well, we have 4th of July off and Labor Day). But, every other holiday will be spent at the hospital during the day or night.  This year, he'll start figuring out what he wants to sub-specialize in (chest, abdomen, brain, mammography, body, etc.).  So, to recap, 10/14 (or 15) years of preparing to be a doctor are complete (post high-school).
And the older brothers? They just celebrated their 5th birthday.

Until 1.75, here's to another great few months.  We are thoroughly enjoying our little guy, so I'm sure you'll continue seeing thousands of pictures.  I'm definitely one of those moms. But, someday, despite his baby book still not being complete, he'll have documentation of everything else.

A Step Up

My dear Grandpa reminded me that he still checks this occasionally.  Not only that, but my lovely domain hosting site also reminded that it was time to renew. So, Grandpa, Mom, Dad, and Ange, I'll keep the site.  You know, for Baby Cressman's sake.

Originally, this was to track Scott's medical travels in Rwanda. Then, it changed to our wedding site, then to inform everyone what medical school was like.  As I type this, I'm 37 weeks pregnant and teary eyed.  Oh gosh, the hormones...  Rather than reminiscing (digging up the photo below did enough), I'll update you on the latest and the future.

Shortly before we were engaged. 

Today, Scott finished day 1 of his Step 3 exam.  Remember those long, grueling tests (the ones where you get to spend all day in a computer lab and worry about pacing, remembering things from 4 years ago, making sure you're bodily functions are working properly, wearing the same thing as the last two for comfort/nostalgic/habitual purposes, etc.)? Step 3 is a two-day test (I think those should be outlawed).  Not only do you have to study your butt off to get through the 7 hour test, but you get to go back and do it again the next day... all while spending the evening studying more and worrying about any mistakes you remember from earlier in the day.  These tests are just awful.  First, when do residents have time to study?  But, we survived through it and made it to testing day. Keep in mind, I'm very pregnant. So, the added stress of the exhausted, stressed husband has this future mamma repeatedly telling the little goober in the belly to stay in one more day.  Not only that, but they make you keep your phone in the car all day. So, I was a ball of nerves that I would need an urgent phone call to the hubs.  One more day, little guy. One more day.

Anyway, Scott is pushing through. Baby Cressman has quite the smart Daddy.  They threw a few curve-balls in there this year.  Because of the little baby, Scott had to take the "new" test to make sure we could get it in before he wanted to spend his evenings with the babe. So, he wasn't exactly sure what to expect.  To make matters worse, he won't get his scores back to April. Which should be illegal, in my "expert" opinion. But, come April, he'll get to write his own scripts and be that much closer to the real job. I should mention, for his sake, step 3 is the last step, but then you're knocked back down and studying for Radiology specific exams.

While he's completing his last Step exam, I can't help but think how many steps we've climbed and what's next for us.  After tomorrow, Scott and I can stop worrying about this test and officially start nesting.  I didn't really understand that term until a few days ago. But, I've scoured, organized, and am ready to "enjoy" (yes, that needs quotes) the last couple weeks of pregnancy.   My preggo brain is full of half-completed lists of things to do, things to buy, and making sure I'm enjoying every moment of these last few days of non-mommy life.  I can't decide if the teary eyes are because I'm sad to see my care-free lifestyle with Scott going away or because I'm just so anxious to meet the little booger.

As for pregnancy,

• I could do without: swollen feet, the lack of a lap (my phone drops every hour), and the need to pre-think bending over for a simple object.
• I'm going to miss: the little flutters inside my tummy, having an excuse for everything (ha!), and the idea that I'm growing a human. 
• I'm not ready for: leaky boobs, losing my hair, pushing a baby out of a vagina, losing sleep, a whole new world, and the constant worries.
• I'm ready for: the snuggles, meeting my little human, experiencing parenthood, and my whole new world. Oh yeah, and getting a break from work! (Don't worry, moms, I know you're all laughing me and the illusion that it's a break). 

So, family and friends, feel free to comment below with your best mommy advice. I'll leave you with the first picture I took after putting the nursery together.  Unfortunately, I haven't taken a nice picture of the wall hangings created by my sisters, or all of his wonderful goodies.  But, here you have the crib and rocking chair without a cat or baby.  That's a rare occurrence (at least the cat part) in the Cressman household. 

Dusting off the Keys

I had contemplated stopping this.  I figured the "sorry it's been so long" was getting tiring. But, alas, here I am again.  Now that I'm not living close to my family, I might as well update again.

First, we've made our first big married move.  Yes, we've already been in two houses in our short time of marriage, but this one required job changes, so it feels a bit bigger.

Home Sweet Home. For now.  :) Sidenote: I have no idea who's cutting board that is or why it's near our house.  It's been since thrown away and my lovely in-laws have added some more flowers.  We also added a nice door decoration.

Now that we live on the other side of the state, here are the cons we've encountered.

• Traffic: Yuck! x 2. There's certainly a reason for all the billboards to be covered by ambulance chasers and for car insurance to be twice as high.
• Housing: Another yuck. While houses themselves are decently priced, rentals are quite high. I suppose we need to start saving up for our second big grown up purchase.
• Job Search: Rough! Teachers on this site of the state are certainly saturating the market.  I don't know why... but I guess they're not willing to go to Rural schools.  Shout out to my old coworkers - I miss you dearly. 
• Family and Friends: Too far. While I'm closer to my family than others, it's still weird not have them at fingertips' length. It was a very tough time for us to make a transition, but duty calls.  Luckily, telephones still work (though not cell phones in our house..haha) and our cars are perfectly capable of driving distances. And, we've already had some visitors and were able to provide some 3 starish accommodations.

On the plus side, transition to Residency has been okay. Long hours, a very, very tired husband, but the satisfaction of knowing that we are officially PGY-1ers (the medical speak for intern year). Finally, we're not paying the school.  Though, please don't misunderstand me and think that we have some nice doctor paycheck.  I already hate those looks.  I'm one month into this, and I'm already avoiding telling fresh faces that my husband's a "doctor." He certainly earned the title, but is a looooong way away from what most people perceive as a doctor. And, let's not talk about the debt that is still on top of those tiny paychecks.  Welcome to the life.

On the Selena side of things, I'm officially making the transition to middle school.  Yep, I'm a middle school math teacher.  I'm a bit nervous.  It's not a traditional public school (charter), so I still have yet to discover what all that means.  So far, the biggest difference is the lack of a union.  I'm not a die hard union advocate, but that has a weird feeling when you know that it's not even an option.  It must be working okay, though.  They have great ratings and good MEAP scores. The rest, I probably will find out eventually. They are sending me to a teacher conference next week back in my old stomping grounds, so maybe I'll learn more then. 

Well, I feel like the hard work of getting "settled" is over.  Our house looks somewhat homey.  Though, I can't invite one of my closet friends yet... she'll yell at me that I still don't have a single picture hung.  Hanging pictures seems so permanent. I know it's necessary.... but I just feel like I might want to rearrange things still. :)

That's enough rambling for me for now. Call me out if you don't hear from me in a week. Accountability, people.

Bittersweet

I can honestly say that this is a hard post to write.

First, some wonderful news.  We matched and we now know where we are going.  Even better, we matched in a combined program... so we'll only have to move once in the next five years.  That itself is a huge relief.

Sometime in June, we'll be hauling all of our stuff (minus the couches) and two little guys to the Detroit area. Scott's program is well-known in his field and was at the top of our list. So, we can honestly say that we are thrilled to have been matched there.  It's close to family and I already know the area.  Plus, I'll already have my college roommate close by.  Though, I'm sad to leave my other college roommate who is within driving distance.

However, with our celebrations, comes some tears and sadness. It's sinking in that I'll have to change jobs, go back on the job hunt, and leave a great place.  I have some of the most supportive coworkers, and they will be impossible to replace.  I love that I work at a public school and prayer/family support is a regular conversation.  I only hope to find that to be a regular conversation at my next school.

We're excited for a new start. Maybe I'll live within a half hour to my workplace, maybe we'll find a great new house (we feel like we got lucky in Kalamazoo), and maybe we'll love the new city.  It's a lot of unknown that we need to decide soon.  I have that anxious feeling that June is going to come all too fast (and the program is already asking for our vacation days!).

As a final note, my family and friends, you are amazing. Thank you for everything: thoughts, prayers, support, encouragement, etc.

We Matched!

1/3 of the countdown is complete (Match Day & Spring Break are the other two).
I teach (now on my lunch break), but planned my day out with my kids so that I could be sitting at my computer desk at 12pm when the email was due to hit our inbox. That's how important it was. :)  Scott and I celebrated via text and let out out a huge sigh of relief when this came through.

It's nice and vague, but just what we want to hear.  Now, we know that we'll get an answer for where we are placed for transitional year and for the other four years.

If you happen to know someone who did not receive a similar letter today, please be extremely kind.  Their stress level is extremely high as they frantically find a place through the SOAP process.  In another blog I read, it was recommended to order pizza and send it to their house.  What a nice gesture!  Many forget to take the time to eat, sleep, etc.  It's an exhausting time.  

Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Almost There!

I keep debating whether to post or not.  Part of me is exhausted from constantly telling everyone that we have zero updates. But, at the same time, match week is now here. There's so much anxiety to this week, but I've made my schedule jam packed so that I can just get to Friday.  I think I have every dinner accounted for, and every evening taken up with activities.

I don't even want to tell you how many times I've opened this app on my phone lately.  Slowly waiting. On Friday, I finally can tell everyone if I'll be working the same job next year, Scott will finally be able to tell people his residency spot (we hope), and we can finally decide if and where we need to look for places to live for the next few years.   Once we find out, we have 3ish months to figure out jobs, houses, and other fun grown-up stuff. 

Tomorrow is an even bigger day for med students.  Around noon, they find out if they match.  From there, it's either a stressful week of making sure you make call after call to have a place to announce on Friday, or you continue to wait patiently to find out where on Friday.  

Keep watching the blog.  We'll try to keep all of our faithful friends and family as updated as we can.

Prayers are very much appreciated.  Here's what you can pray for:

• Now-Monday: Pray that we match.  We certainly don't want to have that unnecessary stress. 
• Monday-Friday: Pray that we are comfortable with where we are sent. Once it happens, we're done.  No second guessing, reconsidering, etc.  We have to be comfortable with keeping jobs, changing jobs, moving states, staying in the same state, going out of comfort zone, etc.

Much love,

Match Day...

I'm sorry for the radio silence.  I'm back to working on my master's, and I feel like I'm living out of my car most of the time. I'm gearing up for Snow day #5 since Christmas Break.  Sadly, my house is still not clean.  However, I have gone through my entire closet (clothes to be coming soon, family!) and finished our taxes. The house will be done tomorrow...

Anyway, I've had so many questions on this... so here's what has been on our minds the past few months.  After driving 6,000+ miles, it's sometimes exhausting hearing things like, "has he heard anything yet?"  I completely understand why you would ask, but I think it gets annoying because we don't know what to say about the whole process.  Here goes my elementary understanding of the process...

First, some definitions:
Residency:  A 5 year program that gives a small stipend.  For the first time, Scott will be referred to as Doctor, have a longer white coat, and we won't be paying the school for him to get some experience.
Transitional Year: His first year of 5 years.  Because he's going into a specialized field, they use the first year to acquaint you with a variety of jobs in different aspects of the medical field.
Combined Program or Categorical Program: A residency program that includes the transitional year in the same hospital.  In our specific field, this isn't common (meaning we have a good possibility of two moves very soon).

Now, for the algorithm (After all of my math courses, this algorithm makes complete sense, but gives me goosebumps every time).

Our side of the Algorithm:
Scott sent out a good chunk of applications to residency programs of our choosing.  We chose based on their record, their "name", and most importantly, their location (see last post). We heard back, and set out on the interviewing journey. Unfortunately, most programs are not combined, so we had both the transitional year interviews and the main residency interviews.  Now, we are currently assembling, disassembling, revising, and finalizing our residency rank list.  Here, Scott and I scrutinize each place based on their pros and cons to develop some type of ordered list of our favorite places.  If we really don't like a place, we can't put it on our list because there is a chance we could get sent there.  So, we only rank those places that we are comfortable living and working.  For me, most include a job change (or 2) ... so it's all rather baffling.  Then, for each place, we create a separate transitional year list.  So, if my rank looks like this: "Awesome, Good, Semi-Good,"  I then have a separate rank for Awesome's first year: "Awesome #2, Good #2, Semi-Good #2."  Once we are satisfied by our list, we can submit it to the website.  Then, as the game plays out, you call, pray, and send notes indicating that you think of them highly.  It's a game in every sense of the word, except that you have to wait months to figure out if you won and it's not much fun.

Their side of the Algorithm:
While we're fumbling away, they are doing the same.  They decide if they want to rank each applicant.  Many will rank 6-10 people for each 1 spot.. but you are at home praying that they choose to rank you high.

Once deadlines have passed, the computer starts the algorithm.  If Scott's #1 ranks him #1, then we're done. Or, the algorithm continues.  It goes to person #2, and if person #2 ranks #1 first, then they match.  It continues all of this until most people are matched.  Then, it repeats for the transitional year.

Dun...Dun...Dun... Match Week!On Monday,  March 17th, we are notified whether or not we matched.  Daunting, right?  You're given a note saying "Congratulations," or "Sorry." If you receive the "Sorry" letter, you go through the Supplemental Offer and Acceptance Program (SOAP).  In a way, this is like a mini-match, where applicants who didn't match try for places that didn't fill their open residency spots. It is unlikely that you interviewed at this program or had even thought of living there. Boy, I hope we are not in that position.

On Friday, March 21st, we have a fancy lunch.  Here, they tell you where your next 1 & 4 years will be.  There's no "accepting" or "denying" the invitation.  You are going there.  That's it.

The hardest part is the unknown.  I'm a planner... so it kills me that we have no idea what we're doing next year until March 21st.  Then, once we're at that date, it's all depicted for us.  There's no stage of "warming up to the idea." It's just important we are both on the same page and willing to go wherever we're sent and hope that it's one of our top choices.

So, there you have it.  If you'd like some explanations without my commentary, visit this site.  They offer some great, in-depth explanations of the whole process.  If you browse long enough, you find out that there's a good chance we will go through this again for fellowship.  If you ask us about this, sorry in advance for the vague answers.  We don't really know what to say.  It could go really well, but we don't want to spend time really hoping and praying that we get sent to our top choice.  What if we don't?  Who knows...

Lately.

I know, I know... I've been MIA lately.  Action definitely describes it. I've spent many, many late school nights at school getting the year up and running, working my once-a-week second job, and trying to figure out this whole year of med school.

...And what a year it is.  We're quickly approaching the heavy interview season.  Let me describe how this works.  Scott has applied to many programs.  With his desired career choice, he applied for two programs. The first is considered a transitional year.  For the first year of residency, he'll be gaining experience in all different types of general medicine before going on to more specialized training in later years.  Some places offer training with residency and transitional year combined, but most want you trained somewhere in your first year before going into the program.  We're eagerly awaiting both, as we'll be finished taking out loans and finally starting to feel as though we're both in careers.

He will be interviewing at more than 15 locations.  Now, some med students map looks crazier than ours... that's for sure.  We like our families, so we want to stay relatively close.  Therefore, we only sent out applications to those states in the Midwest.  Despite having a close-to-home map, imagine traveling all over these states in one month.  One long month of food on the go and sifting through many albums on the iPod... all to get dressed up in a fancy suit and have your next years of your life in the hands of interviewers.  Eeks.

Here's his destinations.... we got all the way to Destination Y on Google Maps.  We could add "Z" and another 325 miles when you factor in our annual trip to Canada for New Years.

Yep, that's a whopping 6,344 miles and 97 hours in the car (please let the weather stay nice and our cars stay working).  Because Google Maps was getting angry at me, I didn't factor in any special trips back home to see the lonely wife and cats.

So, busy months ahead.  The good news? You'll probably get some blog articles while I'm home.  At least, that's the hope. What do these interviews amount to? Match day! I'll explain more on that once Scott and I get over the fact that we're adding that many miles in the snow to our vehicles.

As for the wife? I have school until 9pm the next week as I meet with all my parents for conferences.  Then, it's Thanksgiving break. :)

Lots of love,

Step 2 [in progress]

Good Morning!
I have yet to succeed at Scott & Selena Sundays (see last blog post), but I'm close. Today was more appropriate.

Scott is off and started in his Step 2 exam.  While we got there approximately 45 minutes early, he officially started 10 minutes ago (at least, according to the paper).  Meanwhile, I'm at the mall to waste 9 hours.  I know, what husband would send their wife to the mall for nine hours?! I think it's just his way of making up for all the studying time in our home the last few weeks.  :)  I'll get to the Step 2 exam in a moment, but first, my current situation:

In preparation for the day, I charged up my laptop so that I could work on my job at Barnes & Noble for a while on my laptop. However, I plugged my laptop in the outlet that is also for the lamp at home...meaning it is controlled by a switch, which was turned off because it was night time. So, I get here to a completely dead laptop.  Thus, I got out of my comfy chair and set out to look for a place with a plug.  Of course, Barnes & Noble strategically place their plugs so that they are behind a bookshelf, or in front of a teller so that they can "monitor your usage.".  Ugh. So, for those that know me well, I'm sure you can picture this... I'm currently crouched in a corner on the floor mooching both the internet and the electricity from a plug that has just enough room for the connection.  Thankfully, it's upstairs and in a corner of a weird book section, so maybe I'll go unnoticed.

Anyway, here's a bit about Scott's exam.  It is scheduled for 9.5 hours.  I drive him to these tests so that he doesn't have that stress, but they make you leave your phone in the car (which he did before he could see my nice reminder about relaxing)... so I'm just going to assume it will take him 9 hours to finish.  During that nine hours, you have to strategically plan to take short breaks for food and bathroom. But, you also don't want to take too long on breaks so that you have time to review your answers before submission.

There's so many factors that go into prepping of the test... not to mention the grueling 16 hour study days for the last month and a half (no joke).  First, the packed food. You can have a tiny locker for snacks.  So, we covered some basic food groups with the list: pbj sandwich, cheez-it's, granola bars, banana, peanut butter M&M's (necessary), coke, gatorade, water, and a nice surprise note from me.The morning is killer, too.  So many decisions... like what to wear.  Seriously, Scott analyzed every article of clothing to make sure it was the most comfortable.  Then, there's the morning routine.  You basically stress yourself out making sure that your bodily functions are working okay so much that you cause said bodily functions to start acting weird...causing panic (Scott's family... I'm sure you're getting a laugh here). Needless to say, it was a stressful morning.  But, he's in, surely doing amazing, but analyzing every question with second guesses.

Send lots of prayers and thoughts for Scott today.  We'll leave for Chicago tomorrow for yet another test on Wednesday. This one is much lighter and said to be easier, but it's yet another hoop.  Friday is "us" time before he leaves for Cincinnati, so I'm patiently and eagerly awaiting that date night.  

Orie & Floyd are sad to see study time go away for a bit.  I have no idea what they'll do without Scott for a month. The boys have been in heaven, as this has been a month of lots of cuddle time while he sits at his desk.  They have quite the routine.

I heard the comment box works down there, so feel free to give it a try. ;)

If it ain't the cat's MEOW!

Believe it or not, that is an expression of disbelief.  Not sure of the origin, but it seems appropriate for this post.

To be honest, I'm almost embarrassed to be back here. It has been over a year.  In that time, I've moved to a new (but familiar) city, started and finished my second year of teaching fifth grade, been through two summers, traveled to the west coast for the first time (!), and have probably juggled life's big mysteries several times.  Okay, maybe not the last one... but we've been trying to map out our futures. Sorry, family, this isn't a post with a baby announcement.

I'd say the biggest announcement is that we've tackled third year medical school.
In short,

Pros:

• Schedule varies so much that while some months seem unbelievable, the lighter rotations are so welcomed
• Leading to more "us" time
• Had a relaxing spring break
• Clearer future ahead
• Step 1 is over! 
• Better stories

Cons:

• Step 2 is looming
• Residency is drawing close, so every step/misstep is a big deal
• Residency choices attract more stress
• Away rotations are coming up!

I've kept busy as well.  Last year, I tackled multiple jobs at once keeping me busy, but I'm ready to relax a bit.  I seem too young to say that, but I welcomed the opportunity to work from home most of this summer.  I feel like I can finally clean up and cook some decent meals. 

Here's an update on our boys.  Orie Porie is still...well... Orie, and the Floydster has quite the personality.  I recently bought them a new toy, and Floyd is downright aggressive, but Orie has trouble knowing how to play or gracefully snag the toy (he spends more time dancing in circles). 

 This is pretty lame and lacks detail for the first post back, but I hope to update more regularly and regain my four followers! Blog posts/Facebook tells me to update you of all my goals to keep myself accountable.  I'm going to shoot for one a week.  So, now it's up to you to hold me accountable.  Maybe we should start Scott & Selena Sundays.  Post Secret had some luck with their Sunday-only blog posts.
 Thoughts? (Disclaimer: Great start - it's Saturday.. but I'll be out of town tomorrow... ).

Happy early Birthday to my Mother in Law & and Happy late Birthday to my niece... and Happy early/belated Birthday to everyone else since I missed it over this past year.

I would love to hear from all of you,

I'm Alive!

Wow! It's been so long since I last wrote an update. Clearly, there's a lot of updating to do.  But, I need to do some checking in so that my extended family and friends know that I'm still alive.  Hi Grandpa!  That said, expect this blog to be a lot of rambling.

This post in a single picture.

First, I'll admit it.  I failed at my New Year's goal.  It was too ambitious for this year with all the traveling.  I still try to cook, but I'm at the point where buying a weekend's worth of food for two people is about the same as eating out.  Any greens don't last until the next weekend and we certainly can't eat them all in one sitting.  I did make some grilled chicken, mashed 'taters and asparagus so that Scott could have decent non-frozen leftovers, but I think we waste a lot of food.  I think I've done a new recipe every month like my goal states, but I haven't documented it or put much creativity into it. It's just new to us.

The driving back and forth combined with sleeping in 2-3 different places is starting to get old.  Really old.  I used to appreciate the drives.  I'd catch up with the news on NPR, relax from a stressful day, and if I'm lucky, watch a sunset/sunrise.  Now, it's construction season! Ugh.  I don't think there's any possible thing that can make driving through construction multiple times per week exciting.  But, I'm listening to new podcasts and updating my iPod to accommodate the additional half hour or more of time.

More so than the construction, I feel like I'm literally going crazy sometimes.  For any frequent traveling female, I have no idea how you live out of bags.  I tend to wear the same wrinkly clothes over and over (I suppose that's just me being lazy) but lately I have been forgetting items.  Take today for example.  I woke up and realized I left pants at home.  Therefore, I had to dig through my closet at my parent's to find something suitable.  I ended up with an old skirt... thank goodness I haven't changed sizes much since early college.   Then, I was at school and noticed the beautiful weather outside.  Over the weekend, I saw it was going to be a nice week so I packed running clothes.  I spent a good chunk of time convincing myself I was going to run while at school (I don't particularly love or even like running).  I went home to go forth with my plans and guess what?! I only have dress shoes.  Since I haven't mastered running in tennis shoes, I'm certainly not going to upgrade to heels.  Alas, I'm stuck here blogging and trying to convince myself to do something like a workout DVD (boo!).  I don't think I've worked out in like 2 months.. (and I'm left wondering if that is or isn't an exaggeration.  Yikes!)

Overall, I'm finishing up my first year of teaching and Scott's in his last week of his second year of med school.  Don't celebrate yet, while I'm wrapping up school, he'll be in his intensive study period.  Then, it's the STEP 1 Board Exam.  The score, combined with some other things, help determine you're likelihood of getting where you want for residency.  So, it's pretty stressful.  About 8 weeks left until both of our first actual week long break.  We'll be moving to Kalamazoo during that short break, but I plan on enjoying every waking minute of it.  Then, it's right into the Kalamazoo hospitals for rotations and me into my summer jobs.

All in all, we're nearing the end stretch.  We found our place for next year (contract pending), and are excitedly awaiting living together both on the weekends and during the week.

Now, that I've updated you... stay tuned and I'll try to write a more enjoyable post.

2nd Year

So, second year of med school is proving to be pretty different compared to first year.  The most obvious difference is the instructional style. You could argue you that first year was similar to undergrad with just a LOT more studying.  Scott would go to class, have live or broadcasted lectures, and come home to study.  From a girlfriend/fiancee perspective, I would only see him on the weekends and try to avoid or plan accordingly for the weekends before an exam.  For some reason, med school loves to plan exams on Mondays (as if Mondays need more depressants).

Second year has a completely different feel to it. The school has a more independent study approach.  They assign topics/cases and the students are expected to research it.  Class is less frequent (of course, the price is still the same), and the stress has increased significantly with Step I (the first part in the US Medical Licensing Exams) in less than a year.  Ask me last year, and I probably couldn't have imagined that. The exams are less frequent, which makes studying harder.  For instance, his first test had a three-week window. Without any exaggeration, the exam covered a massive amount of 700 pages of notes.  Good for them, but I don't think I could do it.

From a now wife perspective, second year is plenty different as well. Since I'm working and gone all week, I expected it to be about the same.  The hardest part is probably that his studying can't stop just because he hasn't seen me all week or that I'm finally home and free.  It hasn't been too bad so far (though not an easy adjustment).  We do make meals together and play with the kitties, but the weekend before this last exam involved a lot of random projects to keep myself busy for the rest of the time. I got the house finally cleaned, my sister's family took me to a circus, and you readers got a finished blog.  It's just a different lifestyle... that involves plenty of patience and independence.

That being said, the exam went well. We had to put off a lot of things until this coming week (simple things...like going to the store for shoes)... but there's lots of catching up to do.  It seems like med school, no matter what the year, always involves some catching up...either on studying or whatever lies outside of school.

Our twins, however, don't seem to mind the studying.  In fact, they take advantage of the large books.

With love,