Snow Days.

Dad of the Year!

Yesterday and today have been "snow days" for Isaiah. As in NO SCHOOL! Which means this has been a ridiculously long winter break for him. (We took him out a week early for Mexico. Bad parenting. I know. And I don't care. It was a once-in-my-lifetime opportunity. I took it and ran.)

The snow isn't the reason school was cancelled. Although there has plenty of that around here. The schools are closed because of the temperature. Dangerously cold temperatures. As in not compatible with life temperatures. Yesterday it was -15. With the windchill it felt like -40. So we have been staying inside. Just staying warm...

And looming like a mad man...

And getting a little feverish...

Cabin fever that is:)

(Those are Isaiah's underwear. All 19 pairs of them! Why? I don't know. And I didn't ask.)

We are all ready for school to start again. We need a routine. We need time apart. Mostly we need to GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE and see people! All of which will happen tomorrow. Yay! 

(Yes. I realize this does not bode well for me homeschooling out of hotel rooms next year. And our plan very well could fail miserably. We shall see.)

Lastly, those sledding pictures were taken Saturday BEFORE the cold snap. We don't actually torture our children. 

2014

Now that I have gotten my obligatory 2013-in-pictures post out of the way I can move onto this year and the adventures we have planned. (Not that I don't like the review post. Because I do. I really really do. It is amazing to see how far we have come in a year.)

During Joe's first year of medical school I made him this little sign as a gift...

I saw the quote on pinterest and liked it. I thought it would be a nice way to show my husband my love and support as we were transitioning to life in a new state far from all our friends and family. Plus, it was a good (easy) first project with my brand new cricut! Little did I know that two years later those words would have a whole new depth of meaning attached to them.

Let me explain.

The medical year begins July 1. So this coming summer Joe will start his fourth (and last!) year of medical school. One of the major objectives of the last year of medical school is to apply and interview at residency programs. Because graduating from medical school just doesn't cut it. Residency training comes next:) And one way students get to learn more about different residency programs and vice versa is through "away rotations". An away rotation is a 4 week rotation at a hospital (or clinic) that is NOT part of your medical school's health system. Simply put, its like a 4 week interview!

Are you following me?

And as odd as it seems, getting into residency is a competitive process. Not everyone "matches" into a residency. Scary, but true. So for us it was a no-brainer that Joe would do as many away rotations as possible. Why not increase your odds?! However that would leave the kids and I here, by ourselves, for up to six months this coming year. Which sounded kind of miserable. And lonely.

So...

We are packing up and joining him! Yep, this family of five is becoming vagabonds. Kind of:)

This is our tentative plan. After Isaiah finishes first grade in June, the kids and I will pack up and move into my parents' basement. (Thankfully my inlaws have an extra garage stall for us to store the majority of our belongings). Thus making Minnesota our new "home base". We will spend the month of June at camp and camping with family (much like last summer). While Joe will stay here in Illinois completing his last rotation (psychiatry), studying for and taking his second BOARD exam. (Yuck! I don't envy him.) Then in July, we will hit the road. The five of us will go with Joe for his away rotations. As of right now our plan is to drive to our destinations and take what we need/can fit in the minivan and live in extended stay hotels. I will be homeschooling Isaiah and Charlotte. (AACK! Never thought I would do that!) And we will just be taking it one day, one week, one month at a time. I reserve the right to ditch Joe and take the kids back to Minnesota at any point if it gets too crazy/overwhelming or just not working. But I hope it doesn't come to that.

Most importantly, we are doing this as a family. We are working together to make Joe's dream come true. Should be interesting. I am pretty excited. We all are! We will get to see more of the country and spend time together. What could be better?!

That's all I know at this point.

Nothing is finalized. No real plans to speak of. Just dreams and adventures waiting to happen!

Lastly, Joe and I spent one evening over Christmas break cleaning out my childhood (walk-in) closet. Trying to make room for grown-up me and all my stuff. It was a fun (and sometimes funny) walk down memory lane.

Here are some of the treasures I found...

I was a diver once upon a time! Can you find me?

My keychain collection. 

The soundtrack of my youth! Unfortunately all the cases were empty. Bummer. 

13 for 2013

Since last year's recap post was THE POST that got me back to blogging*, I felt it was only appropriate that I did another year-end recap this year. So here it is 13 pictures for 2013...

January

Apparently we didn't do much last January. We stayed home and played A LOT. Baby sister started eating "solid" foods with much help from big sister. Isaiah was still enjoying lazy mornings in his jammies as kindergarten was half days. Joe was getting up ridiculously early to study (before 5 in the AM!). Oh and also not noteworthy, I started drinking smoothies for breakfast...I should restart that healthy habit.

February

 This handsome guy turned 30! And to celebrate we took him to the Wisconsin Dells for a couple days. A good time was had by all. Especially me as I went down the water slides many, many times. Oh and Hannah learned to sit up unassisted. Exciting stuff.

March

 

 The kids and I drove out to South Dakota to spend Easter at my sister and brother-in-law's cattle ranch. All 9 cousins had a blast! As did the adults. This was my first year making my kids' Easter outfits. It might just become a tradition. This is also the month I started having sewing nights with friends.

 

April

 

And then because we hadn't seen enough of each other in March, my mom, sister, sister-in-law, 2 nieces and 2 nephews came to visit us!!! It was a blast. And then a couple weeks later two of my good friends and their kids came to visit. Good thing we LOVE having company and sight-seeing:) We started cloth diapering. And by we I mean me.

May

I managed to steal Joe away from his studies for 24 (glorious!) hours to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary in Chicago (while my parents watched the kids)! It was short and so so sweet. This was also the month of Charlotte's abscess. A painful and slightly scary experience that I hope we never repeat.

 

June

 THE TEST was taken. That would be Joe's first board exam. What a huge HUGE relief to have that done! Afterwards we spent a week just our family of five camping and visiting friends in Minnesota. After which, the kids and I continued on our summer roadtrip adventures. Including: Camp Lebanon, a family reunion, my cousin's wedding, and spending time with both sets of grandparents in Minnesota. Also noteworthy: Isaiah completed his kindergarten year, Charlotte turned 3, Isaiah turned 6 and I turned 30. Oh and I chopped 10 inches off my hair!

 

 

July

 Joe started his THIRD YEAR of medical school and thus he began clinicals. His first rotation was internal medicine for 8 weeks. It was an adjustment (to say the least). He enjoyed being in the hospital. We missed him:( But we managed. And carried on doing regular life stuff, like going to the beach and burying each other!

 

 

August

Our baby turned ONE! We had family pictures taken. And Isaiah started 1st grade. That's all I really remember. To be perfectly honest, it was kind of a bleak month for me. The long hours of Joe being gone were taking a toll on me (us?) and I began to wonder if we (mostly me) could survive medical training. The kids and I were in suvival mode.

 

September

 Joe started his 8 week surgery rotation. He was gone a lot, a lot, a lot. Life continued to look bleak. I cried. Just a bit. Ok. More than a bit. But we survived. Oh and Charlotte started dance. Which is the cutest! (Thus qualifying this month for 2 pictures.) We also made our annual trip back to Wisconsin for the pumpkin patch with friends. And by some miracle, Joe was able to join us. See it wasn't all bad:)

October

 We survived the longest 16 weeks and life didn't seem so horrible anymore. Daddy was BACK and life was good and right once again. Neurology was good to us. Hannah started walking! We participated in many fall activities.

 

 

November

 

 Again this was the month of visitors. First Joe's little sister came for a weekend, then my parents came for Thanksgiving and finally our good friends came for a long weekend (technically their visit was the beginning of December. Close enough). We really do LOVE having company so it made for a GREAT month. Joe completed his Emergency Medicine rotation. And well...it looks like that is where he is headed career-wise. And I am good with that. (This month's picture is completely unrelated. I just thought it was a good one of Hannah, Charlotte & Isaiah. And it shows their growth, especially when compared to January's picture!)



December

We went to Mexico for a week without the kids. It was the best. End of story.

*My original blog was about garage sales. Yep, I was an addict. Enjoying the finds myself wasn't good enough, I had to share them with the world! Then I moved to Illinois (for med school) and everything changed. Story of my life:) Oh if you are interested...here is the old blog, which someday I would like to transfer to this blog. Well most of it. Maybe not the garage saling part.

Linking up today with Medical Mondays & Dwija!

Speech

This is one of the follow up posts from my 'Ringing in the New Year' post. And just to clarify...there will NOT be a pregnancy announcement. Sorry to disappoint. That is not what I was alluding to AT ALL! 

My reference to Hannah's attempt to say "baby" being music to my ears, is just that. Music to my ears. Why? Because she has a speech delay. Which at 17 months equates to basically NOT talking. So hearing her try to talk...it was magical. And blog worthy. Even if her "baby" came out sounding like "ba-ba". I will take it. 

Speech delay at 17 months! What?! How can that be? She's just a baby. She will talk when she's a little older. She is just a late talker. She's a third child. She doesn't need to talk yet. It's normal. 

Yes. Yes. I have heard all of those things. And I agree with many of them. She is one smart cookie and behaves like a completely normal, happy toddler. Except she doesn't talk. Which wouldn't be all that bad except she screams. 

She screams A LOT. It's her form of communication. And it's effective most of the time. Especially with her siblings. However the endless high pitch screaming is driving me bonkers. And I don't say that lightly. It makes me feel like I live in a mad house. I love my third child fiercely but her screaming is wearing at me. It makes me an impatient, sometimes unkind mother. I just need less screaming. I need my sanity back. 

Admittedly, when our pediatrician recommended speech therapy at her last well baby visit, I thought it was maybe a little ridiculous and unnecessary for such a young toddler. However by the time Hannah had her speech evaluation with the therapist (the day we left for Minnesota/Mexico) and the therapist offered me advice on how to help Hannah to learn to communicate without screaming, I cried. Tears of relief. I felt hopeful. And joy. It seemed possible that I wouldn't be living in a mad house anymore. There was hope. Someone was going to help us. 

So this month Hannah is starting speech therapy. Once a week in our home. And I couldn't be more excited! She needs it. We need it. It's going to be good. It already has been good. The last couple weeks we have been following the speech therapist's advice and I have already seen improvements. She signs more and screams less. 

So here's to 2014! The year with less screaming and more talking!

Christmas 2013 Celebration, part 2

Also the last Christmas installation. You are welcome.

Moving right along. After a nice relaxed morning we headed over to my in-laws for the remainder of Christmas day. Its a short 3.5 miles from my parents' house. Thankfully. 

 

Many gifts were opened and tons of good snack foods were eaten. Hannah threw a MAJOR tantrum when I took away the tube of toothpaste she received in her stocking. Which lead right into a nice long afternoon naptime for her:) Charlotte skipped nap and did fairly well (fueled by sugar and cheese). She kept Great Grandpa BUSY opening all of her packages and assembling all the tiny little pieces. Charlotte also claimed most of Hannah's gifts as her own...so she was one happy camper!

Hannah was sneaky and opened this one early:)

Waiting patiently...

 

sneaky, sneaky.

Admittedly Isaiah had the toughest time with the gift opening this year. Correction: his troubles started when I "tortured him" by making him take a picture with his sisters before gift opening. It was ugly. No picture to be shared here. Sorry. His problem during gift opening was that he noticed immediately that both his sisters had more gifts than him. (Plus many of his gifts were not toys, which as we all know hardly count as gifts when you are a kid.) And the problem with being six is that the NUMBER of gifts is what matters NOT the amount spent on them. So sadly he was disappointed and therefore appeared quite selfish and ungrateful (which is NOT how I would normally describe him). Meanwhile his little sisters were completely oblivious to the inequality and living it up in the spotlight. Its tough being the oldest. Poor kid. My heart hurt a bit for him.

One of my favorite memories from Christmas with my inlaws this year was the dinner. Or lack thereof. Joe's parents provided the ham. I brought a hot veggie (green bean casserole. original, I know). Joe's sister was supposed to bring dinner rolls. There were none. Joe's uncle was supposed to bring potatoes. There were none. And Joe's brothers were supposed to bring pies. There were none. BUT one brother did show up with oreos and fruit gushers! So there was dessert. Sorta. Kinda.