Tired and Teething

Chunky hasn't been the happiest of kiddos the past week or two. We went from 2 little bottom teeth to having 4 giants to accompany them. I'm talking these teeth are huge! I think they are as big as mine, and I have big teeth (and a big mouth). He was not a fan of the process, but he sure does look cute making his "pouty" face. It's the face he makes whenever he wants something or you tell him to make mean eyes.

 And just to show you that the teething process wasn't all terrible...

 He is still a pretty happy boy even if the teeth are monsters!

Residency Update: Working in the ISCU (infant special care unit, aka NICU) is pretty exhausting. I've only worked a few days, but the hours are pretty brutal and you don't have a lot of "down" time where you can sit and decompress. There is always something to do. In some ways I like it. In some ways I am totally terrified of working with the itty bitty babies. I like the 7 pound variety much better. I am learning a lot and enjoy seeing the progression of tiny, sick babies to healthy chubby ones. I just wish I could see my own chubby babies at home a little bit more.

Wanted: New Dinner Ideas

Because apparently our current dinners are a snooze...

That's right. Both boys happened to fall asleep in their high chairs while eating dinner. I didn't think the food was that boring, especially since it was pizza treat night? Guess there is truth to the saying "carb coma" because these boys were out.

Learning Curve

Chunky started "talking" about a month ago. He has had a few words since his 1-year birthday, but they were the typical, baby-ish words of an infant. Lately he has had a huge language explosion. His current favorite word is "moon." He says it for everything even remotely resembling a circle. He also likes to say cat, duck, snack and drink. Just a month or so ago he was barely using 10 words with a lot of pointing and grunting thrown in to the mix.  Now he is "talking" (in single word sentences) all the time. It was a steep learning curve but an amazing explosion has transformed our little baby into this toddler-like, talking machine.

The change from medical student to MD is also very steep.  As in it's so steep that you feel as if you are constantly climbing only to find yourself slowly slipping a tad bit backwards with each and every step. Then something happens... you leap forward and don't quite stumble as you had previously. I'm not near to the level of "leaping" anywhere, but I really feel like I am learning something. It may be small bits of things here and there, but it's something. I haven't hit the "explosion" where everything comes together, but I'm loving learning the "baby-ish words" that hopefully lead to an explosion of knowledge.

I'm trying to work on a way to "record" all of things I've learned. I know I won't remember much of it in a few months. Sure, I'll remember bits and pieces and the big picture. I want more details. I haven't quite figured out how to organize it all, but I'm working on an online "notebook" organized by topics where I jot down notes, link up good references and keep a tab on what I've already read or would like to read. I'd like to think I'll go back and read all of these things a few times a year to refresh my memory.

Chunky doesn't have to refresh his memory of all the new words he has learned... we can't get the kid to stop talking long enough to forget anything!

Hiatus

Hiatus. That's exactly where I have been with regards to blogging lately. That's not say that I haven't been busy with other things...

About 7 weeks ago I started my pediatric internship. It was a big change to our life. Not just big... more like super drastic, life-altering, where the heck did all my free time go kind of change. I'm now away from my boys more than I'm with them (or fairly close to it) most weeks. There are 168 hours in a week. I work 80 of them. I've spent a couple weeks working 5pm-5am. I've spent a couple weeks waking up for the day at 3:15am and working from 5am-5pm. I've worked pretty much everything in between. I'm tired, exhausted, sometimes overwhelmed and miss the sense of "normalcy' that was our lives before this wild adventure started. Crazy as it sounds I actually sort of like it (or at least big chunks of it that make up for the not as great parts.) I like taking caring of patients. I like learning so many new things. It's pretty overwhelming at times, but it's also very rewarding. I've received hugs, high-fives and haven't been vomited on (yet) so I consider it a successful first month in pediatrics. But... I miss my boys when I'm away from them for so long.

We're slowly adjusting to the new normal. I've slowly increased my caffeine intake for my early morning shifts. I go to bed at 10pm most nights. The boys stay up until 9-10pm most nights so that I get to spend time with them. We build blocks, read books, take baths, etc. like before but just in a little bit more condensed of a time frame.

I'm working on when to fit in my blogging. I love it and don't want it to stop. I love having the record of our life, connecting with other people and showing others that it's possible to be a more-than-full-time working/professional mom while still having amazingly cute, well-rounded kids and a good amount of quality family time.

Balance. I'm still working on how to balance it all, but I think I've managed fairly well for the first 1.5 months. We'll see how the rest of the 3 years go.

We've managed few days of family fun at the beach since residency started. I managed to have a few days off during my recent Urgent Care 2-week rotation. We spent the much needed break building sandcastles, splashing in the waves and soaking up as much Vitamin D as possible since I hadn't seen the sun in a while...