Frolic, I must!

I really want to write an awesome post for this blog one day. That day is not today. It will not be today because my husband is experiencing a case of Senioritis . A case so severe that it has contaminated that rest of the household, including yours truly. The case is extensive and advanced. To the point that I don't want to get much done other than frolic somewhere sandy and sunny. Senioritis, it seems has struck, making us a bit lazy and a lot delusional. Frolic? Please.

Perhaps your home also includes an MS husband suffering from this 'crippling disease'. How can you tell, you might wonder. Let's look to the wisdom of Urban Dictionary, shall we. It states that this 'disease' strikes HS seniors listing laziness, lack of studying, repeated absences and dismissive attitudes as some of its symptoms. In light of that description, I felt obligated to tell you that Seniorities does not affect only adolecents at the cuspt of young adulthood as UD would have us believe. Seniorities can also strike the mature, wise and hardworking mind of a medical student in the last few days of the school year. We were surprised by this. Really?! We said. We are adults, married and we are parents. Goodness. This should not be happening to us. But it has and it is. If Senioritis has struck your home, I wanted to share my story so you don't feel alone. You are not alone in thinking your husband could use a litle motivation to reach the end of the year, you are not alone in not getting those boxes packed or really, getting that pesky laundry all done. I've come to conclude our house will not fight Senioritis too much. It is what it is and soon, it will be gone. Soon our homes will be back to whatever our normal is, where odd schedules and little 'stressed out husbands' will reign once more. Let us not worry about this going on for far too long. When that worrysome thought enters your mind, just think STEP I, STEP II or the start of residency and picture us maintaning this blissful bubble forever. No, my friends this too shall pass.

Until the day when sweet freedom arrives, press on!

*Clearly a lot of this was written with a tongue in cheek tone and I hope no disrepect is felt by those suffering from a real illness.  

Things they say

Anyone have funny stories about the crazy thing their DrH says? Sometimes the crazy part is that the conversation seems so normal. LOL!

I had this conversation with Brad last week. Last year, when the leeches got lost, we were at a Resident's BBQ, talking about where you can get medicinal leeches. The residents that were on call got paged while we were all looking it up. Ahhhh, fun times!

Our own lovely Melisa just became the Associate Director for Signing Time Academy's Central Atlantic Region!!!!! Congratulations on all your hard work!

To celebrate she is giving away a fun Signing Time Gift pack!!

Go HERE to register!!

Thanks Melisa for all you do!!

Friendly reminder

Just a reminder to please not leave surgical body markers around 3 yr olds. Thank you.

Celebrate!

How should we celebrate 100 people following this blog? Any ideas? We aren't there yet, but maybe we will be soon!

2010

Happy New Year to all of you!
Let's see what is going on with us in 2010! Anyone celebrating any accomplishments? Are any congratulations, or any huge sighs of relief in order??

Stay safe!! See you in 2010!!

Familiar sight?

How many of you see this on a regular basis?

Brad fell asleep while typing on his laptop last night. I know he was sleeping because he started that deep breathing thing. Poor tired residents...

Where in the world are you???

With all the new people here lately, I thought this might be fun!

Please tell us where you are living. You don't have to mention the city if you don't want.

Also, if your hubby did an internship and want to share if you lived somewhere else, then feel free to add that to the list.

Or feel free to add the medical school if that is where you are now. (or just add it anyway.)

I thought it might be fun to see if we have any connections. I'm also willing to bet there may be people in the same town that don't even know each other!

So, I'll start. We are currently living in the Kansas City area on the Kansas side. My husband did an internship year in Corpus Christi, TX. Before that, he attended OSU med school in Tulsa, OK.

Your turn!! :)

Just for laughs

Let's all just keep a sense of humor about us and laugh a little. This isn't meant to offend anyone, I just thought it was pretty funny. :o)

Bucket anyone?

I just have to share this funny story with you all. Last night my husband was on call and on that evening there was a prenatal class being held and at the last minute he was handed a list of topics and was told he would be leading the class. That right there is funny to me (isn't it funny how we see our spouses so differently than others that don't live with them?) I know that my husband is totally capable and a super hard worker but will the man put his underwear in the hamper already.....so anyway, he called me and told me that, and I was shocked that they hadn't given him more time to prepare. I thought back to our prenatal class together when we were pregnant with Grant(#1) and how much we cut up with everyone and immediately, I flashed that that was how he was going to lead the class.

Well, he did great and obviously is super professional in circumstances like these. I asked him later how it went and he said, "I think the husbands were more scared than the wives, especially when I started talking about having an episiotomy and 2nd, 3rd, & 4th degree tears." He then ran down some of the other topics he talked about as if everything was fine and nothing exciting happened. At the time, I was at Menard's home improvement store and was telling him about the rebates I was getting and stuff, and then all of a sudden he says, "Oh yeah and a lady threw up." SCREEEEEEEEEECH...................huh what?

The things that seem sooooooo important to share to me seemed like no big deal to him. Men and women are so different. So I said what, he said "Yeah, she kinda looked pale when I was talking about some unpleasant topics, but she looked fine and then, all of a sudden she just barfed everywhere." Poor woman, I would have loved to been there to know what he had said before and after, like I said before, I see him saying something like - Need a bucket? I know he said nothing of the sort but isn't strange how our husbands are like two totally different people? The husband and father that lets the dog lick dinner off our two year old or can't remember to take his dishes to the sink and then there's the doctor that has people's lives in their hands everyday, and they are like Superman.......strange.

Quickie

Here's another website to check out potential physician job postings throughout the country...:) They are always interesting to check out...

http://careermd.com/

Where Do the Rings Go?

Just a fun little Friday post...

As a brand new MS4, R is about to engage in at least 3 months straight of surgical rotations. The rest of his year is sure to be filled with more surgery, maybe a little research, some vacation, and hopefully lots of traveling for interviews. After that, the surgery thing will [hopefully] be a regular activity.

So, for those of you who are married to surgeons a little farther along in the training, what does your husband do with his wedding ring (if he has one)?

I've thought about a chain, but I doubt R would wear that. If he just takes if off at the hospital before scrubbing in, I'm pretty sure he'd lose it every now and then. The prevailing idea would be for him to leave it at home, which will probably be what he does, but I'm just curious if your husbands do anything special with their wedding bands.

...does anyone else think about stuff like this or am I just a little nutty? :)

In anticipation of criticism, let me say that I realize at the end of the day, a wedding ring is just another piece of jewelry and that my husband's fidelity is in the hands of the man who wears (or doesn't wear) the ring. I'm also not trying to imply any stereotypes about doctors, nurses, social workers, patients, or anyone else in the hospital. I just know that I like wearing my ring at all times, particularly at work if I'm having a rough day. It's nice to look down at my hand and remember that great guy I get to spend my life with, so it'd be nice for R to have something like that, too, particularly with the long hours he'll have. This post is not meant to be about how to mark territory but rather just fun ways to address a common but overall insignificant problem.

Graduation!

I know that for a lot of people this weekend was GRADUATION weekend! It was for us last night and we had a wonderful time! I'm so excited to be Mrs. Dr. Thomas Howard, hehe!!! I just wanted to say congratulation to everyone and wish everyone the best of luck on their next adventure....residency! If you have pictures or fun family stories about your graduation experience, please share!!!!

Family Fun

If you didn't get a change to read Bea's post on Finding Equanimity about Planning for Fun, I encourage you to do so. She really brings up a great point that if you want to do something with your spouse or family, whether it be going for a walk, getting chores done, or sitting around and relaxing together, you need to add it to your schedule and really make sure you follow through. Life can get overwhelming and if you don't take the time to work on relationships and have fun, even if it is just by yourself, things can get out of hand and the important stuff can fall through the cracks.

This got me thinking and as I was looking around the other day for bargains and inspirational posts, I stumbled upon this great post on Small Notebook about Pocket Change Date Night Ideas and how as medical students and residents we have such a tight budget, but still have needs to satisfy. This really hit a chord with me as I still remember the best date I ever had with Tom. We were still at college and hadn't been married that long, so things were new and exciting. We didn't have anything to do one night and were in the car thinking about what would be fun to do......but we didn't have any money really. We had some change in the car glove box and a full tank of gas. So we drove from Stillwater, OK to Tulsa. When we got there, we scraped together enough change to grab a bunch of $0.10 tacos and see a movie at the $0.25 movie theatre. We had the best time and I bet we didn't have more than $2.00 on us! Tom still talks about how much fun that was, him being a rich boy this was not something he was used to doing, hehe. But we loved it and we loved the fun time together and it hardly cost anything. Hopefully these two great posts will help you think of some new ways to keep family a priority!

I want to apologize for not posting in a while and letting the polls slip a little, with graduation, being sick, being pregnant, moving and just life, things have been a little crazy. I will be back on top of it ASAP!

Professionals

(Inspired by the last quiz)

In the past, R has asked me if part of the reason I wanted to marry him was because he'll be a doctor. My answer is, "well, sort of". You see, I always sort of figured that I'd marry a professional because I wanted someone a) smart and b) who had a steady job because I want to follow numerous career paths. Doctors fit that bill, but I never really saw myself ending up with a doctor. Life sciences don't really interest me and the training is so intense.

I really thought I'd end up with an engineer. I really like calculus and what I remember of physics, and 3 of the 4 guys I dated in college were engineering majors. R actually went to a very good engineering school for undergrad and was even a chem-e major for a short period of time. However, we know which road he ultimately chose.

My favorite type of professional, though, is attorney. I've only been around prosecutors, judges, public defenders, and BigLaw attorneys (no ambulance chasers), so perhaps my perception is skewed in favor of lawyers. However, I think they're hilarious. They're nerdy yet cultured. They read and have a good balance of arrogance and humility. So shout out to all the attorneys out there - you're my favorite.

My least favorite, no surprise, is investment banker. I have a number of really good friends who are investment bankers but on the whole the stereotypes exist for a reason. I will always think of investment bankers as those skeevy guys in bars hitting on girls a decade their junior as they hide their wedding ring in their pockets.

So, I'm curious how my fellow doctor wives feel. While having someone to diagnose you for free is great, if you were to just be around one type of professional, which would you prefer?

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to you all! I hope this day is filled with lots of fun...and to many of you who are on your own today because of your husband's schedule...Know it is all worth it. You are wonderful ladies who make family and marriage your top priority and there is not a more wonderful thing in the world to celebrate. Remember, it isn't just this one day that enables us to celebrate...Celebrate often and be proud to be a wonderful mother EVERY DAY!!!

Medical Movies

As a follow up to the post on medical sitcoms, do any of you have medical movies you'd recommend?

I've only seen documentaries (Sicko and Doctor's Diaries on PBS), which are thought provoking and good, but I'd like some lighthearted entertainment, more along the lines of Scrubs or Grey's. Apparently one medical movie is Flatliners, although I've heard it's a bit disturbing.

So, any other ones that are worth checking out? :)

In Writing

Earlier this weekend, I said something that reminded R of my infinite wisdom (I can't remember what exactly, could have been anything, really :)), thus prompting him to declare that he should listen to me more often. I made the trite, old joke that I'd like to get that in writing.

The next morning I woke up to find this next to my computer (redacted for obvious reasons):

Thought you might share in my amusement! Though now I'm wondering if I should have required him to have it notarized... ;)

Stay-cation Anyone?

Since our current poll just closed, I thought I would ask about every one's vacation plans for this year. I see there is a great spectrum of where people are headed and would love to know specific plans and of course we will need pictures once you get back, hehe!

We will be moving to Michigan and having another baby so that's enough of a trip for me this year, so just sitting on the couch and relaxing together sounds like a lot of fun! I know.....I'm a loser!

Can't wait to hear about your plans and hear about your adventures!

Back from Vacation!

Okay, actually I was back Sunday, but between the jet lag and the catching up with work and school, I'm just now posting. :)

I went to India with two of my friends from high school. It was amazing. First and foremost, I love those girls - there was zero drama - which I haven't had on a trip since high school. Second, it's beautiful.

My favorite part was Jaipur. The people were great, and I got to ride an elephant and a camel. (see below).


Funny story - halfway through the trip, my friend who currently lives there (the one I'm with on the camel) got a call from R. He wanted to ask if I remembered to put the dates on his choices for one of his away applications (I had). ...I have a feeling 4th year is going to incredibly nerve-wracking for him! Should I start the countdown to match day now? :)