updates

Well, I haven’t done any real updates on any of us in a while, and I have had a few questions, so here it goes:

Paul is currently in his 4^th week (12 total) of his surgery core rotation. This was an intimidating one to go into after having such a relaxed peds rotation, but… IT”S BETTER. The doctor he is following is VERY relaxed. He has an amazing schedule.  On Mondays and Tuesdays Paul goes into the office, and helps with all the office-y stuff.  On these days he gets home around 6pm.  Then On Wednesday Thursdays and Fridays he goes to the surgeries, if there are any scheduled. There have been a few days without any, so he has those days off, but typically he will be there until about 10am.  He has had the chance to participate in quite a few surgeries now too. He knows how to “close” after the surgery is over too. Impressive.  He is loving this rotation, but is not excited about switching doctors for the second half… We shall see how good they are, since we already love this current doc.  Also, he passed both Step 2 clinical skills and Step 2 clinical knowledge with flying colors. We are so proud of him!!

I am getting crazy good at this couponing thing. Crazy. Good. Today I got stocked up on kids toothpaste for a year (I check the expiration along with the amount of time it takes us to go through something before I stock up on it so I don’t waste anything), and I got two cases of diapers. I can never get too many diapers.  I spent .35 cents out of pocket ONLY.  I get this weird thrill out of the puzzled cashiers face when they ring me up and I pay only tax or less. I love it.  My new camera is AMAZING. I got the Canon Rebel T3i. It is the fanciest camera I have ever owned. There are more buttons on it than you see in an airplane’s cockpit.   Sadly, I am very behind in my blog pictures, so none of you will get to see those pics for quite a while… But keep a look out, because they are coming!

Matix is getting excited about his birthday… Yes, it isn’t until September, but a few of his friends have been having their parties and so he thinks his is right around the corner. He has been asking for a Goonies themed party, but then recently he said he wanted a train party… I have a loooong time to plan it so I guess it doesn’t really matter just yet.  He has been saying, “Mommy …(dramatic pause)… Did you know… that this train is the fastest train in the world?” and “Mommy… (dramatic pause)… Did you know… that Lightning McQueen is a very famous race car?”  It is so funny to hear him talk about the things he finds SO important. He is like a real little person now.

Hawken is currently laying in my bed on “time out bed”. This is what happens at night when we have nothing left to do other than separate the mischief-maker from the others so at least they can sleep, even if he refuses to.  This little spit fire is testing my patience on a daily basis.  He is full of feist and seems to care less about the consequences. We started a reward chart to reward positive behavior, and that seems to be working a little. More so with Matix – he has been an angel since we started it.  On a good note, Hawken continues to be a crazy overachiever. He can hop on one foot (not gracefully, but he can do it) and count to 20, and can make a letter ‘H’, and also ‘T’ with sticks or markers.

Lullaby continues to be the best baby in the world. I couldn’t be happier with her. She is 8 months old, the age Hawken was when he started walking, and she doesn’t even crawl. I am so happy to have a baby who LIKES TO BE A BABY!  She can go from laying down to sitting up and then onto all fours, but then she just scoots to what she wants. She always gets there, but no crawling. She is sleeping through the night (only for the past few nights, but it counts) partly thanks to two tiny bottom teeth making their debut about a week ago. I think I even got a picture on my new camera.  She is a doll baby and everywhere we go people coo over her. They always say she looks like the Gerber baby, which Matix got a lot of too, and Hawken a tiny bit, but he had so much hair…  Lullaby is happy and smiling and very chatty all the time. The only times she is sad is if she is in pain, or sleepy, or if someone leaves the room, all of which can be cured if she is held. Easy.  She loves spending time with her daddy.  He soaks it up too. 

Sakina is shedding like crazy. Pauls brushes enough hair off of her to make another dog on a daily basis.  Paul's allergies have been acting up again, so we decided to move her bed out of our room. Poor Kina! She is so sad. She has been moping around looking so pathetic now that her bed is out in the living room. Other than that though, she is the world's greatest dog. She is so good with the kids and we all love her.