2nd year, 2nd Semester of Med School

2nd year, 2nd Semester is the hardest so far. I went to a WWAMI Wives potluck a few weeks back and that's what all the other moms/wives had to say as well. First year was not much different than undergrad. Second year, first semester was a breeze. He mostly watched lectures online in the evenings (in double time no less!) and was able to stay home and help me with the baby. But this semester, 2nd year 2nd semester, he is required to attend several small group discussions and lectures throughout the week.

I am finding myself more often alone with the baby which is kind of hard because MY baby is a HANDFUL. I love him to death but OH MAN, he's got so much energy from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to sleep. Even when he's nursing he is kicking his feet around, pulling my fingers, or playing with the blanket.

To keep myself sane and to get some of his energy out, I have been looking online and in many Seattle area publications on things to do. The Red Tricycle site has awesome ideas: http://www.redtri.com/seattle. Seattle's Child magazine is also another great resource: http://seattleschild.com/. We also hang out at the Alderwood Mall where there is a nuthouse of a play area for kids which my son seems to enjoy. The Northgate Community Center has "Wear 'em Out" days on Tuesdays and Thursdays. And the Lake Forest Park Library is nice because in addition to checking out books, we can go upstairs and have fun in the Third Place Books kiddie play area.

My favorite place so far is the Tot Spot Cafe (above). I usually go in the afternoon and stay for an hour. There are other moms, dads, nannies, babysitters and babies to hang out with and lots of toys for the kids to play with. Their website is here: http://www.totspotcafe.com/. This is a picture on our second visit. He and the girl hit it off pretty nicely. He's turning out to be very social and good with other kids!

Soon it will be warmer out and my son will be more independently mobile - so I am looking forward to all the area parks and playgrounds we will get to visit. Don't get me wrong; Seattle winter is a BREEZE. I think it has only snowed TWICE this whole winter. Usually it is about 40-50 degrees out and it has actually been sunny, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Now I know why people think anyone who lives in Alaska is crazy; because we ARE for living in the cold and darkness for so long during our winters... oh well! I love Alaska. It's my home and where the majority of my family live. I doubt we'll ever live anyplace else. For now, though, it's fun exploring Seattle and the northwest coast.

Here is baby with his grampa and his very first snowfall.

Here we are exploring the Oregon coast after our visit to Alaska in December.

Big Sister on the Oregon coast somewhere north of Tillamook, Oregon

(yes the cheese place!)

Anyways. So I rarely blog here but wanted to post an update just for kicks. Please leave a comment if you like. I have no idea if anyone has even seen this spot. Thank you!

First family portrait with the new babe. January 2011.

New baby

Oh wow. Guess I haven't posted in a while. Well, we made it through first year of medical school in one piece. Actually, we *added* a new piece to our family.... a baby boy! Our son was born during finals week on May 8, 2010. He was 8 lb. 15.5 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. We call him Bodhi. Here he is with his big sister. Turns out that I was about a day or two pregnant at the white coat ceremony.

i'm late

I'm two weeks late. I kind of want to be excited but at the same time I am a little afraid. I had a miscarriage at 5 weeks last April. We've been hoping for a baby ever since we got married in 2006...

Back to school

This week has been so busy that I will try to briefly recap all the goings on.

Monday - Jon's birthday and first day of med school

School: Jon had his first day of med school on Monday, August 17. He was all dressed up and looked very "doctory" as his friends in Dillingham put it. They had orientation, a campus tour, financial aid tour, registration, and immunizations (ouch!).
Home: For some crazy reason I thought his birthday was on Tuesday. So I spent the day relaxing, playing at the park with Kalea, Allysia (her friend), McKaelyn (my niece) and Kristen (my future sister in law). We were out in the sun all day and ended up at my parents' house looking for snacks for the kids. Once they were all taken care of, I started looking at the paper only to realize that it was JON'S BIRTHDAY. AAAARG! So we all got frantic getting kids into the car and off to our house to wish him a happy birthay. Poor honey. I don't know what I was thinking. I had something all planned out too. I was going to make him stuffed bell peppers for dinner because that was the very first thing I ever cooked for him waaay back when. My mom was going to bake the cake. There would be presents. And so on. We ended up going out for Japanese food with the family. It kind of reminded us all of the scene in "A Christmas Story" where the family ends up in a Chinese restaurant for Christmas dinner.

Tuesday - our 3rd anniversary

School: Tuesday was photos, more orientation by the WWAMI AK Director, and BLS (basic life support. He passed!). Oh, he got a STETHOSCOPE on Tuesday too. Way cool.
Home: Tuesday was our 3rd anniversary! Kalea and I spent the day relaxing at home. We also went to her ice cream social and found out who her new teacher would be. I can't believe she's in 6th grade already. Sixth graders always seem like the "big kids" in school - now she's one of them. Kristen agreed to babysit while Jon and I went out for our anniversary dinner. We were planning on going to Marx Brothers because that's where Jon had made reservations a week earlier (my honey is so good). BUT I had not eaten all day so I was starved by 4:00 when he got home. We went to ORSO instead- it was excellent. My honey is so sweet. He totally lavished me with gifts...ALL WEEK. I even got flowers. So sweet.

Wednesday - first day of school for Kalea
School: Wednesday was intro to clinical medicine (hospital tours at ANMC and AK Regional), more orientation, and then a counseling session (they have their own psychologist for counseling if needed). (wonder if I will need it, lol). Oh yeah. Jon did a tour of ANMC so we brought Papa there so that he could see Jon on his tour. My honey is so cool. He was dressed up again. This time he wore the bolo that Papa got him for his birthday, along with the cowboy boots that we got on our trip to Arizona and New Mexico a couple years ago. We only saw him briefly at the hospital but Papa and I were both very proud of him. The class looked so cute too, kind of like big little kids all lined up and walking around the place in a long line.
Home: Wednesday was the first day of 6th grade for our daughter. She was like an old pro. I don't think she really wanted me to walk her into class but I did anyway. All the kids are so big now and many are taller than me. We have been lucky to be able to keep her in the same elementary school since 2nd grade. I like it because then they get to grow up together and really get to know each other (more so than if we had moved alot like Jon's family did growing up). Anyways, so last night I decided to make him his bell peppers. We invited my parents and Papa over too. It was nice to eat a home cooked meal. I'm not that great of a homemaker so it was a mark-the-calendar kind of event. I cooked!

Thursday - first day of classes for Jon
School: Today was behavioral science with Pat Sandberg, an overview of biochem, and a quick lecture in molecular biology. Kalea and I brought some cupcakes to finish off their first actual day of classes.
Home: After I brought Kalea to school, I went back to bed and I slept til noon. It was awesome!!! I haven't done that in ages. Nonstop, uninterrupted, no kitty noises, no baby noises, no honey noises sleep. Talk about weird dreams though. Jon came home at noon and we had a great lunch. Then I made two types of cupcakes and sat on the back porch while they were baking. The sun was out and the mosquitoes are all gone. I put a little sunblock on my face and let the rest sizzle...aaah. Kalea and I brought the cupcakes over to Jon's class so we could see his classroom and meet some of the crew. I was hoping the office would be open so we could give them some too but they were already gone.

What a whirlwind week. I'm kind of glad to get back to work tomorrow. Next week I will be out of town, all week. I'm kind of worried about how they'll get along without me now that med school has started. I'm mostly worried that something might happen to her at school and that he will not answer his cell phone. I'll have to remind him to check it often. I'm also worried about what they'll eat and when she will get to bed. Wonder if she will remember to shower. Mama bear. I'm sure things will be fine.

White Coat Ceremony

August 15, 20009

Denaina Center

Anchorage, Alaska

WWAMI Alaska dinner at Kumagoro

Sunday we had dinner with several of the incoming WWAMI Alaska students. It was nice to get some idea who my husband will be spending the next 70 hours a week with for the next year. They all seemed pretty nice. We thought we would be the only "family" in this class but it turns out there is a woman with three kids and a husband who will be joining as well. Sounds like she has a teen and two little kids. I can't imagine what it will be like for her and her husband! I wonder if he's working. I plan on working as usual. This whole medical school thing sort of freaks me out because people talk about how busy he (my husband) will be and how much of a strain it'll be on our marriage. But I figure it can't be much harder than being a single mom.

Welcome to our family blog!

This is us on a trip to Seattle after Jon got accepted into medical school. He will be the first doctor on both sides of our family.

Next weekend is Jon's "white coat ceremony" and school starts in 10 days. Our daughter will be in 6th grade this year and is excited to see her friends who she has missed while homeschooling. As for me, I will continue in my job working for the state and traveling to places like Nome, Barrow, Metlakatla and Unalaska.

Jon applied to schools last year and was accepted into a program in Arizona but we weren't quite ready to take that leap which would have meant moving out of state for FOUR years. We were really hoping for WWAMI because it would only mean ONE year out of state...but it didn't happen that year.


Here's a picture of him right before his interview at UAA in 2008. Snazzy suit!

Jon re-applied to the WWAMI Program in 2009, got an interview, and we received a call from his professor the very next day that he was accepted!


Here's Jon with our daughter right before his successful 2009 interview.



Knowing that much of Jon's time in med school would be taken up with studying, classes and whatnot, we decided that we would travel as much as possible. Our first trip was to Seattle where we visited the campus and spent our daughter's birthday doing fun touristy things like the Space Needle and the Science Center. We also visited the UWSOM campus.


Then we flew down to Mexico where we had some adventures at Teotihuacan (outside Mexico City) and Isla Mujeres (off Cancun).

In April we took a trip down to southeast Alaska where we visited Juneau and Hoonah. It was beautiful and sunny. We took lots of pictures of mountains, beaches, whales, sea lions and porpoises but we never got to those pictures because I accidently dropped the camera into Icy Strait.

This summer we visited my hometown, Kotzebue, over the 4th of July weekend.

This was Jon's first time in the "land of the midnight sun" - I had to get this shot!

Our daughter even got to participate in the 4th of July parade! By the way, the young lady in the fur parky who is waving won Miss Arctic Circle 2009.

So now this weekend is our final weekend before medical school activities begin. We have our niece with us but no real plans other than to relax and enjoy each other's company. Maybe we will pick a few blueberries or just sit on our deck in the sun.

Whatever we do, we'll keep you posted.