One more sleep...

I have one more sleep until Rick comes home. He's been in North Carolina for 5ish days. He had two residency interviews. He also took the camera (thus the lack of pictures on the blog lately) SO when he comes home tomorrow I'll see if he can give me some pictures and a little timeline of what he did as well as what is in the future Medical School journey timeline.
I hope that you are enjoying December. My kids have destroyed the family room...so off the blog I go and onto cleaning that way I can wake up to a clean house and Rick can come home to a clean house...and we can just spend time together as a family! Maybe we will put up some Christmas decorations...If you end up reading this...can you take part in my poll by leaving a comment. :)
So it's already the 2nd of December...in 17ish days we are leaving for a road trip to Florida...my poll is ---
Do I put up a Christmas tree even though it's only going to be up for that long (I want to take all the decorations downs before we go)
Or do I just put up the little decorations I have and maybe get some more lights up around...just so I can have the feeling of the lights up.
SO -- Yes to the tree only for 17 days or No. Also give a reason why you chose that answer. :)


Thanks for reading...
fine print - in no way do I have to choose the poll answers unless it is actually what I want to do. :)

still alive...

 ...here in Iowa. The weather has been beautiful...now only if our sinuses will catch up with it will be great. We all have had some sort of the change of season cold, this weekend was a wonderful "chilled" weekend for getting rid of the junk.
Seeing that last weekend I was suppose to have a house party it has been cleaned since then. Which is nice. So just a little pick up every night (of course after the kids are asleep in their beds and can't get it messy until the next morning is helpful.) Also the thing of putting clean clothes away right after washing, drying and folding is a big thing too.
So this weekend, was very relaxing!!! Rick let me go grocery shopping while he watched the kids...and I have meals planned for the next 2 weeks (hopefully it can stretch that far) However I usually make plenty and we have left overs a couple times or I freeze it and then I can pull it out later.

I also have set a theme and a date for Aspen's 1st Birthday Party! We will be having it before her actual party because it's hard to party on a Tuesday. I wish that more of our family can be here for it...but I'm sure that we will have a great time, none the less. However you will have to wait for that to actually happen and pics and all that jazz will be put up on here. I can't believe in 1 month I will have a 1 year old!!! The time really does fly!

Z has been trying to figure out if he needs a nap or if he doesn't need a nap. Today he didn't have a nap YET he was in bed sleeping by 8:00pm (he might of went to bed early...but I am SO nervous that he's going to wake up at the crack of dawn in the morning!) I'm SO excited because he will have 4 days of preschool this coming week! He does really well with school. On Friday of last week he didn't have school and he was like "what am I doing home...shouldn't I be at school?" He's doing very well in his potty learning too...which is wonderful! Now if only we can be "trained" when we take him out and about...usually it's pretty good but what do I do about park or outdoor play where there is no bathroom and it's a public area?
Rick is enjoying his last Fellowship block...but there is some traveling that is going to take place in the coming month. He will be going to Pennsylvania for part of his testing...where you see patients and then write notes on them and blah, blah, blah. So he will be gone for like 2 days and a night (hopefully). Then at the end of the month he has an interview and a conference down in Florida...the kids and I are HOPING to get down there too...because we will get to see Gramps, Grammy and Aunt Becs for a whole week! So PLEASE pray that the plane tickets go down so that we can get those. PLEASE!!!
Well...I'm just being me...staying busy. My "normal" routine looks something like --- Drive Rick to school/work, Drive Z to preschool, have Aspen & mommy time (this looks like a lot of different things; such as naps, girlie movies, helping mommy start fixing dinner (seriously I'm IN LOVE with my crockpot), singing, dancing, learning, go on an outing (play date, store, library) and so much more), pick up Z from preschool, lunch, naps, pick up Rick from school/work, and then usually every night of the week it's different. Stuff with small group from church, bra business, knitting club, family night. It's worked out nicely that we have dinner around the table nightly around the table which is AWESOME!
I still have had some pain in my joints and such (going to see the doctor again tomorrow about it) so hopefully we can have some answers on that soon...BECAUSE I have some stuff that needs to get finished knitting (a shrug for Aspen and a sweater for Aspen that need to get finished!) PLUS I have to get to Rick and my hat for this winter (all the colors match Z and Aspen's hat...yes...we are doing matching hats this winter) ALONG with the fact that I'm having a niece ("Tink" short for Tinkerbell) and nephew ("Tank") born in the next coming 5 months SO I got to knit them something from Aunt Trina, even though they live down south. Names in the parenthesis are names I picked out as nicknames for them...this way I can call them when they get older "Tink" and "Tank" I think they might get into trouble together. ;)

Bittersweet...

Memorial Day 2011 is a bittersweet day for our family. Well...mainly Rick & myself.
When we started this Medical School journey here at Des Moines University. Rick would have been graduating this very weekend. SO that means a lot of his friends graduated today.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Rick put it this way...say your a football star (you can be a baseball, hockey, basketball, soccer, etc star) So say you were on team 2011 and you got traded (in a better opportunity traded to be on team 2012). You knew that in 2012 you would win the Super Bowl (World Series, Stanley Cup, NBA champion, World Cup, etc) But right now you are watching your old team 2011 win that big game right now!
In the end it's a win-win for everyone. (Although I think we made out on the better deal) Seeing that Rick is an OMM Fellow we don't have to pay for tuition for years 4 & 5 of medical school (seeing that year 4 gets spread out into another year) If you want more info about Rick's schedule you can check HERE . It goes back to previous posts about his schedule and about the OMM fellowship.
Even though this weekend is bittersweet for us...it's still good knowing that we are doing the right thing for Rick's career and our family. Congrats to all the DMU students & their families (yes, you know who you are) that are now Dr & Mrs...and possibly Dr & Mr... I had a blast getting to know you and your families and hope we can stay connect through our DMU family! And YEAH for being ONE year away from doing all the celebrating!!!
And finally to you...Dear Rick, I understand that the time might be rough but think and process all the learning and growing you are doing through the fellowship.Next year it's your year!

Rick's Journey...

So I thought I would share with your Rick's journey through Medical School. Seeing that Z is happy watching the rest of Cars & Aspen is taking a nap. Then we are going to run some errands!
So Rick goes to school at Des Moines University. He should of been graduating this coming May. But I encouraged him to do the OMM Fellowship, so that adds one more year to his schooling. Essentially he get's his fourth year broken down into two years and he does a fellowship block (where he is in the clinic seeing patients & being with OMM doctors), teaching the first & second year students OMM and telling prospective students about the school and what OMM is all about. Here I am using OMM like you would know it...let me explain it to you. OMM (stands for Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine.) here is a link to Wikipedia for more information. There are a lot of different links on the right of the information to help you.
So right now Rick has completed...
~OB/Gyn ~General Internal Medicine ~General Peds ~Psychiatry ~ Family Medicine (a couple of them) ~Pathology ~ENT (Ear, Nose, Throat) ~Neurology ~Rural Medicine ~OMM rotation (not his fellowship rotation) ~General Surgery
He has already finished 1 rotation of his OMM Fellowship. He is currently in his second block of his OMM Fellowship. This summer is when he is doing these rotations...
~Family Medicine (in Bluefield, West Virginia) this is a 4 week rotation-- it's an area that we are interested for Residency. Sadly I will not be able to be there with him and the kids but hopefully I'll be able to visit my parents in SUNNY Florida with the 2 kids! Please pray with me and them about making that possible!
~Emergency Medicine (here in Iowa) not in Des Moines, but pretty close that he doesn't have to live away for us! This is a 4 week rotation as well.
~A 2 week rotation (sub-internship) in Alaska Health Education Center. Sadly, the kids & I won't be able to go to this one either, seeing that it's on the list of residency programs as well. (I know we are crazy...but we know that Residency is only 3 years of our lives and how cool would it be to say that we lived in Alaska!) PLUS they have one of the best Rural Family Medicine Residency programs out there!
~A 2 week rotation here in Des Moines doing Plastic Surgery.
~Then another OB/GYN rotation at Firelands Regional Medical Center (this is a 4 week rotation) and it's in the same place we are considering Residency. (It's actually pretty close to where I grew up in Ohio) sadly we will not be able to spend the entire time there with him...but we are going to try to make it out there and see some old friends and visit family in Ohio during that time.
~A 3 week rotation in Grand Junction, Colorado doing a Family Medicine rotation. We are SO excited that we will be able to make it to this one! Love being in Colorado with no humidity in August! :)
Then he is doing his LAST OMM Fellowship block until Christmas. (During that time he will be doing his Residency interviews.)
So that is it so far on Rick's Medical School Journey! It's tough being a mom to 2 little kids & have your husband here and there...but as I keep telling him. "You are a good husband and father and you are doing this for a better future!"

My 100th Post!!!

Which is dedicated to my dear husband! Who is officially done with his 2nd year of Medical School at Des Moines University. I am so proud of him and his ability to still study and have time with me and his little boy.
So this is what is happening next year for Rick.
He has his first step of the Boards. The Comlex Step 1 on June 23rd in Iowa City, Iowa.
Then he will have some time off...Hopefully he will be not so bored and find stuff to do.
This is the way the 3rd year will look (so far) for Rick. As long as none of the Doctor's back out he will do the following...These are called Clinical Clerkship Rotations.
August 3rd through August 28th - will be his OB/GYN here in West Des Moines, IA.
August 31st through September 29th - will be his Family Practice in Carlisle, IA.
September 28th through October 23rd - will be his Rural Medicine Elective in Lake City, CO. ("Z" and I will most likely be able to visit for a long weekend but not staying there the entire time :( )
October 26th through November 6th - will be his Pathology in Des Moines, IA.
November 9th through November 20th - will be his Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) in Clive, IA.
November 23rd through December 18th - will be his Neurology in Des Moines, IA.
December 28th through January 22nd - will be his General Pediatrics in Orlando, FL. ("Z" and I will most likely be able to visit for a long weekend but not staying there the entire time :( Rick will be staying with my parents down there)
January 25th through February 19th - will be his Psychiatry in West Des Moines, IA.
February 22nd through March 19th - will be his Family Practice in Winterset, IA.
March 22nd through April 16th - will be his OMM (Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine) Elective in West Des Moines, IA.
April 19th through August 27th - will be his first OMM Fellow Block.
Here is something that will tell you a little bit about what he will be doing while he is a Fellow.
"The program is run by DMU's department of osteopathic manipulative medicine. Four students are chosen to participate in the program based on their knowledge and skill in osteopathic manipulative medicine. As fellows, the students participate in patient care of musculoskeletal disorders, the teaching of first and second year medical students, and research in osteopathic manipulative medicine. Fellows receive a waiver of a portion of their tuition, and a monthly stipend while participating in the program."
So that is what is going on in the next year as long as doctor's don't back out of the rotations. As you see Rick will be gone for 8 weeks. Luckily they are not back to back periods.