Sept 09

Seriously, September ended up being the busiest month of this year thus far. Wow! I'm so glad we got through that one! First of all, for anyone who hasn't realized yet, Aaron is in his third year of medical school which means that we are over the hump, but in the most challenging year of our medical school experience. I wish someone would have told me that the first two years are like the golden years. How wonderful it was to know what to expect, what Aaron's schedule was, when he would leave and when he would be home. I like being able to know what's up and plan accordingly. That is the biggest difference with third year. I NEVER know when Aaron will be home and what his schedule will be. Pretty much the best way to avoid disappointment is to expect the worst and hope for the best. Never plan on him being there, but be pleasantly surprised when he is. Does it sound bad? Ok. It hasn't been that bad. YET. (keyword=yet). We have made it through Internal Medicine which really wasn't THAT bad. It is challenging and busy and sometimes weird hours and getting used to my husband being on call is hard AND getting my 2 kids ready for and taken to church on Sundays can be really challenging, but we survived and I guess I'm stronger than I think. It always amazes me to look back and realize how this journey is molding me to be a strong, independent woman and mother. I'm learning to appreciate every moment I have with my husband, but be strong enough to handle it when he is gone. However, I am by all means NOT super great at this. I am getting better, but I couldn't take all the credit without thinking about all the amazing friends that I have that help carry my burdens and help me when life gets tough. I seriously feel blessed. So that was an unexpected schpill. Anyways, on with the events of September.

1. Aaron's Last Month of Internal Medicine
...was spent in the bowels of the VA Hospital. Of the 3 month rotation, this one was the most difficult. Mostly because he had to be there early, which means I had to forgo my normal workout routine and Asher started freaking out every night at bedtime. He hated not seeing his Dad in the mornings and started refusing to go to bed because he didn't believe Aaron that he was going to go to bed too. On top of that, Aaron was on call every 4th day. This was HARD and way too often for my liking! Inpatient at the hospital is NOT my favorite. Anyways, the good news is that the whole thing ended on Sept. 25th when Aaron had his shelf exam. Whew! Even though his experience taught him that he never wants to do internal medicine again, I was so proud of him that he did so well on his test. He said it was one of the hardest tests he's taken and he was shocked to get his scores back and find out he was in the 99th percentile. I'm so happy his hard work is paying off. p.s. I love seeing Aaron dressed up as a doctor. Sometimes I get glimpses into the future of what it might be like when he really is a doctor. It is thrilling to see my husband's dreams and career goals come to fruition.

2. Babysitting
This school year has had a new twist. I've decided to help a single mom in the ward by picking up her son from elementary school everyday and watching him from 3-5pm. It is hard giving up the freedom and flexibility in my schedule, but all-in-all it has been a great thing for our family. Asher LOVES his new friend. Of course he loves playing with older kids so that is great, but just the little time he spends with him everyday is helping Asher to mature a lot. I often hear Asher refer to him as his best friend "in the whole wide world" which is SO cute.

3. Asher started preschool
I was really back and forth about this decision, but in the end I finally decided that preschool would be a really great thing for Asher. He LOVES the structured activity and I think it is really good for him to learn to take instruction from other adults and I can see that the positive reinforcement is helping him to improve his behavior. I feel like he is having the realization that all the things that I have been trying to teach him at home are really true and are expected from him by other adults and in other settings too.

4. Strides 4 Kids 5K Race
This year was the second year that we helped organize and put on this event. (Strides 4 Kids is an organization of SLU Med Students raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.) It is a ton of work and is something that you have to plan for a year in advance. This year Aaron and I were in charge of advertising and design. Our job was getting the word out and doing the website, flyers, and other design needs. With the big board test in the summer and the beginning of third year, this was much more challenging than we thought. (At times, I think us wives felt like we carried the stress and the burden of the work.) Since I did a lot of the pre-race work, I was able to run in the event with some friends. We had a good time, the event was a success, and we were excited that we had a lot more sponsors this year and raised more money for our cause. Yay!

S4K Volunteers and a grouchy Asher:)

5. LeAnny Pop Couture
Really the reason I had a crazy month is because I took on a corporate identity design job, and because of a trade-show they were doing, I had some pretty intense deadlines. Since I don't really have time to work, me taking a job entails pretty much not sleeping and neglecting all my responsibilities. i.e. cooking and cleaning, etc. Factor in the part that Aaron was on call every 4th day and had a big test on the 25th equaled utter chaos and major sleep depravation in my home. However, the good thing is that I loved the job and had a really fun time working on it AND my children were angels for the couple weeks I was working on this. The job included logo, business cards, hang tags, etsy banner, packaging stickers for paper bags and tissue paper, and a 2'x3' oval hang sign. Phew! It felt great to finish. This gives you an idea of what it looked like:

6. Esther is walking!

As soon as she turned 9 mo (in August) she started talking her first steps and by the end of September she is really walking around. It is so fun seeing her become more adventurous as she's transitioning from crawling to walking and it is so weird to see this little person following me around the apartment on her feet!