Happy Halloween from Chunky & Monkey!

Happy Halloween from pirate Monkey and parrot Chunky! 

(and Captain Black Beard aka StaysAtHomeDad, too!)

Monkey turns 3!

Happy 3rd birthday, Monkey!

Stays At Home Dad Starts Blogging

I am not home nearly enough to update the blog as often as I would like, and my awesome husband has decided he would like to fill in some of the time while I am away. Here is his introduction into the blogging world. -Monica

Introducing Stays At Home Dad (aka Trey, the daddy behind the blog) and his first blog post:

I have taken a new interest in blogging and have decided to try to start contributing and taking a little more of an active role helping out with ChunkyandMonkeyMD. After taking some time trying to decide what my very first post on here should be, I decided to tell you a little more about myself. My friends and family simply refer to me as "Mr. Mom." I am a Stays At Home Dad to Chunky and Monkey and am responsible for all the cooking, cleaning, and household chores around here. Never in a million years did I think I would be staying at home caring for two little ones and cleaning poopie diapers all day. I always pictured myself out there in the real world working in the business field, using my knowledge from my two degrees and getting things done. Instead we decided to move away from family, put Monica through medical school and start a family. We did not want our kids raised by a daycare. We decided it would be best for me to stay at home with them while Monica finished her medical training.

After 3 years of on the job training, let me tell you something. I'll admit it. I thought being a stay at home parent would be easy. Boy, was I wrong! Soon after committing to my "new job" I found out how tough it really is to stay at home and try to juggle all the household chores and take care of kids. This is more than a full time job, and I now have much more respect for all the moms and dads out there who stay at home with their children.  I am definitely not a pro at taking care of my kids, but I am learning as I go. I hope to be able to start sharing my experiences I have with the kids as well as be here to answer any questions you may have for me. Please feel free to contact me about anything dad related, and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Looking forward to answering any questions that may come my way and sharing future posts with you!

- Trey

Pumpkin Patch Hide 'n' Seek

Does anyone know how hard it is to get 2 little boys to sit still for pictures? Yeah, it just doesn't happen. We gave up. Instead we came up with some better ideas for having fun in the pumpkin patch .... running like wild to prevent Chunky from running into the parking lot, spraying the boys (and ourselves) with massive amounts of bug spray to prevent the mosquitoes from eating them (us) alive, or just running around having fun while playing hide 'n' seek among the hundreds of pumpkins. Who cares if the church ladies selling the pumpkins thought we were crazy? We had fun! (and we happened to get a few great pictures without "posing" anyone)

Our attempt at posing the boys for a pumpkin picture... Chunky crying and Monkey staring off into space. This was one of the better ones.

Chunky made it his mission to hug every pumpkin that lost a stem. He really is a caring little guy... especially when he was the one who broke off the stem.

He couldn't break this one no matter how hard he tried...

Try harder! Monkey tried really hard to pick up some of the largest pumpkin in the patch...

He knows he is cute. He knows he is spoiled. He knows he can run like the wind in between hundreds of pumpkins... and then giggles as we try to catch up to him.

Playing hide 'n' seek with the baby pumpkins!

Run! Daddy is coming to find you! We must have played 30 games of hide 'n' seek... and the hiding place was usually the same. Behind the big tree or behind the big flat of pumpkins seemed to be the two favorites.

Run, Chunky, Run! This kid can run faster than any almost-18-month-old I know! We are definitely in for some trouble with him!

Sweet boy hiding in the pumpkins.

We had a great time as a family playing in the pumpkin patch. I got enough mosquito bites for the season, some super cute pics of the boys, and most importantly a wonderful day off to spend time acting like a kid with my own kids!

1,056 hours

That is how many hours I have worked since starting my pediatric residency. 1, 056 hours since the beginning of July. 1,056 hours split into 12-16 hour shifts. Night shifts, day shifts, early morning shifts, not seeing the sun all day shifts...

It seems like more than that and less than that... all at the same time. I've learned so much about caring for kids, managing patient problems, medical documentation and surviving intern year, which is considered one of the toughest years in a young physician's life. But guess what?

It is VACATION time! No patients, medical records, shots, stethoscopes or ugly white coats! I'm playing with my boys and sleeping late! I'll be planning Monkey's 3rd birthday party, Halloween shopping and playing at the park. I'm going to enjoy these next few days and love on my little guys!

This little guy sure is excited to have me home for the next week...

Disclaimer: I don't write down my hours for fun. It is a requirement for all residency programs to keep track of how many hours residents work. The program we use to do this recording happens to keep a running tally of all of them. I noticed my total today for the first time.

Polar Pillow: The Giveaway

Who would like to win a PolarPillow after reading my review on this awesome product? Here is your chance. The amazing people over at PolarPillow are graciously giving 1 PolarPillow (RV $99) to one of Chunky & Monkey, MD's readers! To make it super easy on you, all you have to do is fill out the rafflecopter below to be entered to win!

The giveaway will be open until October 25, 2011 at 12:01am.  US residents only. Excludes Alaska or Hawaii.

You may have to click read more to view Rafflecopter and enter giveaway. Thanks!

Sleep Tight: The PolarPillow Review!

 

I have always had trouble with sleeping and constantly toss and turn at night. From the tiny little noises I hear (reason why I sleep with neon orange ear plugs), to the sun shining in my eyes, to flipping my pillow over and over in an attempt to try and find a cold spot for my head, I'm just not that comfortable at night. I never can seem to find that perfect spot for my head, right amount of covers, perfect position for my back, etc. I have tried a wide array of pillows to help me sleep but none had been able to perform up to my expectations. Given my long working hours at the hospital and two very active boys at home, I need to be able to get good quality sleep even if it is only for a few hours at a time.  I have to feel refreshed after a "long" night's sleep in order to get moving for the busy day ahead. That is where the PolarPillow comes in...

Going in to the review I was sort of skeptical about the PolarPillow. How could a pillow keep my head cool without any refrigeration or electrical assistance needed? When the pillow first arrived at my door I immediately pulled it out of the box and put it to the test. I was disappointed to find out that I did not feel any coolness at all. After finally taking the time to read the instructions (yes, I'm totally guilty of not reading any instructions...),  I discovered that in order to feel coolness you need to allow the pillow time to "charge" itself. Simply leave the pillow on the bed with the blue side up for about 15-20 minutes. The pillow will then be ready for use to provide about two hours of coolness. (Note that it is important not to place other pillows or sheets on top on the PolarPillow or it will not be able to reach maximum coolness.) I guess the back of the hot delivery truck inside a box is not the best way to allow the pillow to charge itself...  Within about 10 seconds of using the pillow after "charging" the PolarPillow started to feel cool to the touch and it was amazing! The pillow almost feels like sleeping on a miniature water bed and is very comfortable. In the nights since the arrival of the PolarPillow I have no longer had to wake up in the middle of the night to flip the pillow to find a new cool spot for my head. I have fallen in love with the PolarPillow and know that I am sleeping better as a result. My husband even enjoys when I work night shifts because he knows that is the only time I will allow him to use it.  His birthday is early next month, and I can see a PolarPillow purchase for him in our near future...


The PolarPillow is a standard sized pillow that you will need to place inside one of your own pillowcases.  It is comprised of two "layers" or sides. The blue side of the pillow contains a gel substance which creates the feeling of coolness while the white side contains filling similar to other pillows. The PolarPillow should be hand washed or spot cleaned only. It is not recommended to go through the washing machine. It also may possibly be the heaviest pillow on the market weighing in at 12.5 lbs. Don't let the weight of the pillow scare you away. The weight comes from the gel substance inside the pillow designed to keep it cool to the touch. About the only thing I would not recommend the PolarPillow for is when you have pillow fights.... unless your hubby needs a good kick :)

The PolarPillow is sold exclusively online and costs $99. I know this may sound a little pricy but considering we spend about 1/3 of our lives sleeping I feel this is a small price to pay for a good nights sleep. It really is a small investment considering the returns you will be receiving. The pillow even comes with a 30-day money back guarantee and also has a 1-year limited warranty against manufacturing and workmanship defects. For even more information or to purchase a PolarPillow please go to www.polar-pillow.com. Check them out on Twitter and Facebook, too! Let them know Chunky & Monkey sent you!


Disclaimer: I was sent a PolarPillow for review purposes. No other compensation was given. These are my honest opinions and may differ from yours.

Pumpkin Paintin'

I can't believe that it's already pumpkin time of year. Instead of carving jack-o-lanterns with the boys (way too messy and dangerous for our rowdy boys), we've decided to make it a family tradition to do pumpkin painting. Last year Monkey did the painting by himself since baby Chunky was too young to participate.  I wrote about his first painting adventures here. Chunky was ready to get in on the paintin' this year.

Chunky's first time painting a pumpkin. He chose red... because it would match his lips when he took a little taste of the paint.

Monkey getting ready to show off his masterful painting skills. He went with purple (shh... it's his favorite color).

Silly boy thought we were going to steal his paint brush after he tried to eat a little bit more paint...

Do you want me to paint your face, too?! Chunky thought it was a good idea to randomly paint his face in between smearing paint all over his pumpkin.

Whoops... pumpkin and Chunky fell to the ground.

Monkey worked really hard to paint a beautiful "wainbow" on his pumpkin.

Almost done with the "wainbow..."

Chunky's finish product!

Monkey's finished products! He didn't want to stop after one so we let him paint Mommy's pumpkin, too.

My little doNUTS

Check out that smile when he sees his breakfast surprise - first time having donuts with icing and....

Sprinkles!

Yummy! (even if he only ate about 3 bites before turning it over to dad to finish)

Chunky was pretty enthusiastic about his donuts, too.  He managed to stuff 3 donut holes into one hand and 2 more in the other.

Cheese! Check out my donuts!

Guilty face! Someone decided to smoosh his donut into a billion pieces... wonder who that could be?

Forever

I know, it has been forever since I posted an update. I'm still working on the balance between home life and work life. I think I've discovered that there won't be a balance all the time. Some months I'll have a ton of time to spend with the boys, enjoy my husband and lounge around at home (ya, right!) and some months I just won't. The past 6 weeks have been the "just won't" sort of months. I finished up my first 4 weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit - whew! - and am now working on the inpatient service. I didn't hate NICU as much as I thought I would, and I don't dislike inpatient as much as I lead others to believe. Neither of them are my "Thing," but they are tolerable. I've missed my boys.

Trey and the boys have been amazing. I get lots of cuddles from my boys when I'm home, dinner cooked and waiting on me when I walk in (some nights) and a few hours of sleep when Trey takes the boys out on an adventure.

Have I mentioned how cute my boys are lately? Because they are... I know a lot of people thought we were slightly crazy to have 2 kids within 18 months during medical school, but I'm so glad we are a little bit insane.

Because even when my schedule is all kinds of crazy, I know they have each other forever...