EM rotations and Interview season begins! Dun Dun Dun!

4th year is flying by already. Nick is already 2 weeks into his second Emergency Medicine Rotation- which also just so happens to be his "away" rotation. We're very fortunate that "away" for us, simply means an hour commute, not a different state, however, it's still much different than the 5 minute drive he's used to!

Neither rotation has disappointed. I've said it before, and so I'll simply say it again, he loves the Emergency Room. Sure, there are moments of frustration where patients present to the ER unnecessarily for things they really should be going to their primary care doctor or urgent care center, BUT there are also TONS of exciting and real trauma situations that Nick loves. Thankfully, the latter makes up for the frustration of the first. He's done sutures, lumbar punctures, seen countless gun shots, done chest compressions that helped saved lives and unfortunately done them to no avail where the patient passed, he's placed orders, completed all sorts of patient exams, and really just been able to feel less like a student and more like a doctor.

He is currently rotating at Genesys Hospital which is near Flint, so as part of his rotation he had to do one ride-along with EMS. This meant he got to ride along with someone who was a cop and EMS for the night. Basically, Nick thought it was awesome. He texted me halfway through the night that he wasn't in an ambulance but was in a cop car and felt like Castle. If you've seen the show, you can pretty well picture EXACTLY what Nick was like.  At one point they went to a breaking and entering situation. Nick was told if the guy ran he could either stay in the car, or run after him with the cop. I think that's pretty much every little boy's dream... and it doesn't change when they grow up. In the couple of minutes he was waiting to see if the guy ran he came up with lots of plans for his "chase" and how he was going to take this guy down. Unfortunately, the guy hid in the shower and did not run and so we'll never know how those plans would have played out...

In other BIG news... Residency applications are all submitted!! WOO HOO! That process was nuts. With so many students flooding the system to apply at the same time, the system straight up crashed. You'd think they'd be prepared, but apparently they were not. It took a full 24 hours for them to get it back up and running so that the majority of students could actually apply. It wasn't stressful at all...

Interview season is already off to a crazy start. Nick has already hit his quota of interviews for his backup and is making progress on the EM front despite a delay in his application while he completed his rotation in September. We were a bit nervous that the delay would really put him behind, but so far, so good!  Fingers crossed he gets a few more of those, but all in all, the madness that is accepting/declining, traveling, and interview madness is in full swing in our house. It's a chaos that I couldn't be more thankful for :)

Emergency Med/ Residency Apps

3rd year of medical school is officially in the books! In some ways that doesn't seem possible and in others... it seems like we've been on this medical school journey forever. And now (drum roll please) only ONE more year to go! And really it isn't even a full year as match day is in March (7 months), rotations end in April (8 months) and graduation is in June (10 months)... all HUGE milestones that end within the next year :) Woo hoo!

The moment Nick has been waiting for for the past 3 years has finally come as he is officially BACK IN THE E.D to kick off 4th year with his Emergency Medicine Rotation. At St. John's EM is not a core rotation, so students do not do it during 3rd year so to say this guy has been getting super antsy waiting and waiting and waiting would be an understatement.

He's just about to complete his first week and I'm happy to report it has not disappointed him one bit. He has enjoyed many of his rotations, and really, just likes Medicine in general. However, this guy L-O-V-E-S being in the E.D. Loves it. He's excited to go in, clicks well with the attendings and residents, loves the pace and variety, and quite honestly just feels very at home down there. So needless to say, it's no shocker that this former Emergency Room tech and President of Emergency Medicine club in Grenada is officially hoping to Match into an EM residency program. Fingers crossed. He's already done his own consults, done suturing on his own, become a go-to for quickly needed IVs and needle sticks, and established great rapport with the staff in the E.D. Can't say this doctor-in-training doesn't dive right on in ;)

Speaking of Matching.... applications are sent out in ONE WEEK. What?! How did that come up so fast?! SO much work goes into these darn applications. You have research TONS of programs. You have to research TONS of secondary programs that you want to apply to as your backups. You have to write personal statements. You have to wait on final CK scores to be submitted. You have to attempt to control what you can in terms of deadlines and learn to accept the missed deadlines that were- unfortunately- not within your control. You have to fill out endless paperwork. You have to PAY a lot of money. And then, you sit and wait and pray interviews come your way. Why is everything about medical school SO stressful?! Sheesh.

I will say though.... and this is a wifey brag moment.... but, it's so cool to see all his accomplishments listed out. I kinda forget sometimes ALL the things this kid has done to get us to where we are on the journey. He has hospital experience and letters of recommendation from his years of working prior to medical school. He has research experience AND 2 publications to his name with hopefully 1 more to come prior to/during interview season.  He got honors during basic sciences. He has honors in his rotations through 3rd year and several letters of recommendations from great sources at St. John's. He's been in many leadership positions within the hospital and medical school setting. Has done vast volunteer work. Was inducted into the Gold Humanism Society. Has memberships to a couple different medical organizations. Rocked his Step 1, Rocked his CS, and feels great about his CK. And I'm probably leaving stuff out. Really, he's done A LOT.

I might be biased, but I'm so impressed by him time and time again and hope the programs he's applying to are able to leave the bias against FMGs behind and give credit where credit is due. Apply for residency is SO SCARY. Eeek.

3 things:

1- Nick is done with 3rd year and just has to knock step 2 on Tuesday to really be officially done with all 3rd year responsibilities. FOUR.DAYS. I'm obviously excited and proud of him, but also excited to have my hubs and baby daddy back. Single mommyhood is tough! And our house needs a good, solid, cleaning.

2- People didn't warn me enough about how absolutely horrible huge boobs are. I have fairly big ones normally, but this breastfeeding size increase is absurd. I swear they weigh 10lbs-- each. And you look like a hooker no matter how hard you try and cover up. And working out is painful. I know, the world's tiniest violin is playing for me right now. But for real. Bigger is not always better.

3- Smoking should be illegal. Or all smokers should be forced to smoke only inside their own smoke filled, cancerous house... with windows closed. Keep that crap to yourselves.

Was there a point to this post? Not really. But my baby is actually taking a nap longer than 20 minutes so really I just don't know what to do with this "free time" for the first time in 4 months. Maybe I'll get off my rear and start that house cleaning I mentioned...

Happy Friday :)

Long winded baby post :)

I save most of my baby talk for Emerson's online baby book (that I am obsessed with and so excited to print after she turns 1... but no need for that to get here too quickly... she's growing too fast already) but I have to rave out my beautiful little girl a bit.

First off, I just have to say, she is THE best! All moms say this right?! She really is such a sweet, silly, and happy baby (I know I'm biased.) It blows my mind that Emi is already 3 1/2 months old. Where in the world has time gone?! But, it's weird because time seems to have sped up to triple speed, yet at the same time, it's really, really hard for me to remember life before her. What did I do all day long?! What did I do before the constant feedings, bouncing, playing, diaper changes, baths, and clothes changes? What did I do before I knew I could love a little person SO much?! She seriously adds so much to our family that we realize we really were incomplete before her. I will always cherish our 2 years of "couple time" in Grenada- of just being the 2 of us... but I wouldn't trade having this little human in our lives for a single second.

She sleeps like a champ. Pretty much always has. That's not to say she started out sleeping through the night (she did not.) BUT she's gradually slept for longer periods of time and compared to what I expected and what I know others have experienced... I'm one of the lucky ones. Napping just started to become somewhat a part of our lives.. but if being a bad napper means being a great sleeper at night... I'll take it.

She's the most alert baby in the whole world. As I said, she JUST started taking naps last week. I'm not even joking. She loves to play and be a part of the action. And surprisingly doesn't get too grumpy for having such little day time sleep. However, she's realized she gets less frustrated if she allows herself a few cat naps and full nap during the day... hurray!

She's so smart and such a sponge. I love, love, love watching her learn new things every single day. Things didn't work out with my job- they screwed me over pretty good, but ah, everything happens for a reason and I am cherishing every minute of being a stay-at-home mom. It's such a blessing.. whether I'll be one for the long term is still to be determined, but for now, I'm soaking it all up. So far she gives the biggest smiles all day long, is a champ at tummy time, grabs anything and everything, talks non-stop, rolls over, stands with help, and as of today- GIGGLES!

I take her everywhere. She's one of the most social babies in the world. She's been out and about with me since she was 2 weeks old and she loves it and is a huge trooper. Everywhere we go she brings so much joy and I'm just so proud to be her mom.

Parenting is not a breeze. It's 24/7 and some days, babies can be relentless. But I honestly have loved almost every minute of it. Every new phase is fun, and I do think I'll love it when she's a little more independent and doing things around the house is a little less of a struggle, however I will miss SO much from these newborn days. I love all the snuggles. I love that she needs me so MUCH. I love her little (loud) cry. I love her smile when she just wakes up- even when it's 3am (it's a little less cute several days in a row, I admit.) She just makes it all so fun, that even the not fun stuff, isn't really so bad. And maybe part of it is that I wanted her soooo bad. I waited years and years and years to have her, that it helps sugarcoat the tiredness and soundproof my ears when she's screaming for what appears to be no reason for a couple hours at a time and gives me patience when she's nursing for over an hour each time and feeding every 45 minutes....

And speaking of breastfeeding.. 

Nursing started out disastrous. And I mean that in every single sense of the word. And I'm not being dramatic or exaggerating. Breastfeeding was easily the hardest hurdle I've ever had to overcome in my entire life. I wasn't producing enough right away. Emi is a "snacker" who would just stay on there ALL day if given the chance- but doesn't necessarily always fill up.  I felt horrible about supplementing. I tried every remedy under the sun. I cried. I constantly questioned myself. I blamed myself. I chaffed, bled, and was in pain 24 hours a day for 2 months. I came to peace with supplementing and developed a schedule for nursing and bottles that worked wonderfully for a couple of weeks and then my baby BOYCOTTED bottles (I kid you not, would starve rather than drink from a bottle- even expressed milk.) I bled, cracked, cried, and BEGGED her to take a bottle some more. And then, s-l-o-w-l-y my supply went up, Emi became a little nicer to my boobs, and at 3.5 months she takes only 1-2 bottles max a day (only 1 of which is usually a formula bottle and that's in the morning JUST so that I can pump once a day to have a little supply.) SO we made it.

It wasn't easy and I wanted to give up every single day. I now have no regrets about supplementing, and I HATE the slogan "breast is best." Feeding your baby is what is most important, and there is no need for any additional guilt to be placed on a mom who chooses not to/or can't breastfeed for whatever reason. Support and encouragement go much farther and I could not have survived without that from SO many different people. To anyone having difficulty, first of all- I truly feel for you and if breastfeeding means a lot to you, I would encourage you to not give up, but at the same time, I also encourage you to find peace with formula if necessary . It is not the devil. It feeds your child. And you're a great mom even if your child doesn't feed directly from your boob. Okay rant over. ha.

 It's been the most amazing 15 weeks. I can't say I do things the "correct" way all the time. I let my baby sleep with me in the mornings, she watches Baby Einstein on occasion, she continues to consume formula, I'll probably feed her rice cereal "too young," and I cause Doctor Daddy to shake his medical filled head at me and list off what research studies and guidelines say... but I think even he would agree, that sometimes it's okay to not do things by the book. And that our daughter is not only thriving but one of the happiest babies on the planet. So I must be doing at least a couple things right and together we are raising a beautiful, baby girl ;)

This just in...

Psych has not grown on Nick. Not one bit.

And yes, I think my sarcasm and grammar policing definitely helped to boost his mood.

Supporting my Doc-In-Training, one sarcastic comment at a time ;)

A week and half until this rotation is over. Praise the Lord!

Psych/ Step 2 CK rant

Ya know in my last post where I said Nick had always said he'd never want to do OB or Psych? Well, while OB may have been interesting and enjoyable and impressed him... Psych is NOT having that same effect. He hates it. He doesn't necessarily mind working with the patients, but he doesn't have the temperament or interest to do it long term. He finds it mostly to be busy work and doesn't feel respected as a member of the medical team.

Since he wants to specialize in EM- the experience is definitely a useful one and I think he's definitely picked up a few new skills (however, he's spent a lot of his time with the Social Worker and not with the Attending or Resident, so really, I could have taught him how to do a Bio-psycho-social interview... but I digress).

Only 2 weeks left and then he's got a break (ish- still has to study for Step 2 CK) before 4th year rotations begin in September.

Speaking of Step 2 CK... lets just say SGU has put Nick and students in his same term between a rock and a hard place. True to form with the lack of informing students accurately- Nick signed up to write his CK on Aug 12 a couple of months ago. He decided to do it in mid-August due to having his Psych rotation all the way up until Aug 1st.. thinking he could get a couple weeks to JUST study for CK which would be helpful. However, he got an email 3 weeks ago saying he needed to take his exam BEFORE July 28th if he wanted his scores back in time to send out Residency applications on September 15. He's gone back and forth stressing over whether to bump up his test drastically with little notice and have the score back to submit "on time" or take it when he had planned, probably get a better score, but get his "completed" application in late. Really there is no easy decision and pros and cons for both.

After meeting with the Residency director at St. John's he has decided to take it as planned and hope that have a delay in his applications being complete doesn't screw him over for interviews. I'm confident he will do well, but it's so disappointing to see my hubs, and other students, who work their butts off and excel but then don't have the University put them in a position to thrive. US students who are in Nick's year finish their rotations in late June/early July in order to have time to prepare and still get their scores back in time... so it's unfortunate SGU students are given the same courtesy and opportunity.

Just another hurdle for foreign grads to overcome right? At least 3 years into medical school, we're pretty used to it by now.

OB/GYN

Nick is currently wrapping up his OB/GYN rotation. Prior to rotations, he always said, "I can't say 100% that I wont change my mind to wanting to do another specialty other than EM but I know for sure I wont want to do OB or Psych." Well, as for OB- no he does not want to specialize in it, but he has enjoyed it WAY more than he ever thought he would.

He's even delivered babies! Lots and lots and lots of babies! He assisted with births of twins, c-sections, and done some suturing as well, but most exciting had to be when he had the opportunity to deliver his first baby all on his own! Being the wonderful wife that I am, my first question was "did you drop it?!" You'll all be happy to know that he did not.

The resident that he has been working with is very pro students which of course makes everything more fun because the students actually get to participate in things. This week he is off to GYN however, which he may not find as exciting... but rumor has it, there are a lot of procedures, so maybe that too will be a pleasant surprise!

Although Dr. Leonowicz, Obstetrician, is not in our future- he is pushing to deliver our next child. So there's that. Just maybe, I will let him... maybe.

He's off to ace another shelf and another rotation is in the books! Only 1 rotation left in 3rd year and then we're officially in our LAST year of medical school... which really... isn't even a full year! Hurray! 

I'm only 7 weeks late on this but....

We've been so blessed by the birth of this sweet, healthy, baby GIRL! Nick was convinced we were having a boy, so upon hearing "it's a girl" responding something like "wait, it's a girl?!" We absolutely LOVED having her gender be a surprise! It was definitely not easy to wait, but it was so worth it!

I absolutely love being her Mommy and love watching her grow and learn new things everyday... although, she is definitely growing WAY too quickly for my liking! Nick is one very proud daddy and was so great and supportive through labor/delivery and is so extremely cute to watch with her! We love you, Emi Rose <3

Gold Humanism Honor Society

Proud wife moment... so I'm gonna brag on the hubs for a second here...

While in Grenada, one of Nick's professors nominated him for the Gold Humanism Honor Society award. This award is for medical students, residents, and physicians who are recognized for “demonstrated excellence in clinical care, leadership, compassion and dedication to service. Furthermore, the GHHS is dedicated to recognizing, supporting and promoting the values of humanism and professionalism in medicine and are committed to working within and beyond medical education to inspire, nurture and sustain lifelong advocates and activists for patient-centered medical care." 

This year 153 people were nominated for the award and less than half were selected for the award and officially inducted into the GHHS. So this is a huge honor for him and I'm so proud! Nick works so hard and it's so nice to see that his efforts, dedication to learning medicine, and character are recognized by the professors and physicians he works with. 

GHHS pledge:  

As a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society, I pledge to:
1. Model, encourage and sustain the values of humanism and professionalism
2. Enjoy a shared vision of a balance between science and humanism
3. Lead, mentor and inspire colleagues to promote humanism at all levels of healthcare
4. Advocate for humanism in medicine - on campus, in practice, personally, locally and nationally
5. Nurture fellowship in membership
6. With humility, reach out to and support those bowed down by barriers to humanism and medicine
7. Be a force for better healthcare for all

Way to go, Nick Dawg! We're so proud of you!

Pediatric Rotation/Baby Update

Another rotation bites the dust as Nick successfully completed Family Medicine last week! Family Medicine is the one rotation that does not require a shelf exam so his grade is based solely on his oral exam with his attending physician- which he rocked (surprise, surprise!) They actually loved him so much in the clinic that they kept teasing that they were going to fail him on purpose just to get more time with him! :)  I can't blame them either- he's a rockstar. 

Now he's onto Pediatrics. Unfortunately, Pediatrics is not one of the more popular rotations here. He kicks off this week doing inpatient. So far he's worked with LOTS of new little babies- which is fun but has also been hard for him! Seeing sick and sad little ones is not his favorite. It has already been beneficial for the SOON to-be-dad though as on his first day he has already been taught how to swaddle!

So far pediatrics hasn't been as hands-on as Nick would like. There's been a lot of standing around and shadowing. Also, a lot of "book learning" and homework. At this point, students are much more into the hands-on and less about the putting together presentations and memorizing 500 page textbooks type things.

In other news- Baby Leo is still hanging out in my belly. I swear he/she cannot be very comfortable in there! Every moment I make definitely impacts his/her position so there is constantly a lot of readjusting going on. I keep trying to tell this little one that it is much more fun out here... it's even been sunny and a bit warmer recently! We've made it to April though so it's officially BABY MONTH and we expect baby to be here anytime within the next week and a half :)

Oh, and speaking of Baby Leo, we had attempted to get Maternity pictures done for a couple weeks as Nick really wanted some. Things continuously kept falling through however and the more bloated and swollen I get the less fun doing them seemed so I finally just said screw it and told our photographer we'd go somewhere else if we wanted to get them done. Wellllllll, enter the beautiful weather we've had this week and a nagging husband who seriously really wanted pictures and on Monday we grabbed my father-in-laws camera and my sister and hit the park to take a few shots. They aren't anything super fancy, but for being done with only 20 minutes left of sunlight, following a long 8 hour work day, no time to re-do hair or make up outside of playing with it during a car ride, and being 38 1/2 weeks pregnant... I'd say we couldn't have asked for anything more! They turned out great and are perfect for us. AND FREE. Can you really beat that?!

   

House Tour!

This is pretty overdue as we moved into this house in late October and it's now the middle of February... but hey, better late than never. We are currently renting a house in St. Clair Shores, MI- only about 3 miles or so from St. John's Hospital (which when your hubby is rotating through St. John's... is totally awesome and clutch!)

Our street is directly off of one of the Main Streets in the area so we are within easy walking distance to many smaller restaurants, bars, and parks and within driving distance to many, many more! There is definitely a lot to do in the surrounding St. Clair Shores/Grosse Pointe areas! Since we moved in right before this ridiculously cold winter hit we haven't had a chance to explore the area on foot but we've already purchased a baby jogger to make jogging/walks in the area easier this spring/summer once baby comes!

So here's a visual tour of our little home that we love very much and feel very blessed to have for this phase in our lives. Oh.... and don't mind the poor quality pictures... I didn't have patience to try and get good angles and the lighting in here isn't ideal. Annnnnddd my motto for life is/has always been that I prefer a happy house over a perfectly clean house.... AKA ignore some of the clutter that is laying around haha. We keep it pretty clean in here, but with our busy schedules and as I get more and more pregnant some days small things definitely just get put aside so we can have a relaxing evening of quality time instead of knit picking every little mess!

Front of the house :) 

This is a picture from spring/summer that our landlord showed us when we were inquiring about the house... however, I decided to use this one instead since right now we have over a foot of snow currently on the ground and huge piles surrounding the driveway/sidewalk that this really shows the house much better than any picture I'd take right now! Our house right now doesn't have the pretty landscaping, but we're planning to bring that back come spring! :)


Backyard/Garage

Under all that snow is grass and a little landscaping... maybe we will see it again someday! :) But all fully fenced in backyard with awesome 2 car garage! And behind our house is a school/open field- also awesome!

Living room + living room with view of dining area

The first picture is when you walk in the front door and look the left and the 2nd picture is from the far side of the living room looking back toward the direction of the door/ dining area :)

Kitchen + dining area

1st picture = when you walk into the kitchen and look to your right. 2nd picture = when you walk into kitchen and look straight in front of you and 3rd picture= when you walk in and look to your left. And obviously the last picture is just a backward shot showing the dining room table.

** Also, notice there is a first aid book on our kitchen table... this was the case in Grenada and continues to be a staple on the table here.. some things NEVER change when you're married to a medical student!

Hall that leads to guest bedroom- bathroom- baby's room- and our bedroom

First door on left is the guest room, first door on right is a huge hallway closet, then at the end of the hall (not pictured) is the bathroom to the left, baby's room is the door ahead that you see, and our bedroom is to the right.

Guest bedroom/Office

Not a huge room but definitely big enough to serve it's purpose! 1st picture= view from the hall with the bed on the left and a desk on the right. 2nd picture = our half finished Grenada picture wall. Still have so many to print and add to it!

Bathroom

Bathroom. I guess I could have done a better job with this picture haha. It's super small though, so all you don't see is the sink and a small closet :)

Our bedroom

Our bedroom! It's actually larger than this picture makes it seem (probably because my super AWESOME pregnancy pillow just makes all things seem small in comparison... it's seriously the greatest thing ever, but I digress). When you first walk in there's our dresser and then our bed and bedside tables. On a not pictured wall there is a small closet and probably 2 feet of walking space from the end of the bed to the wall with a window that looks out into the backyard :)

Basement

Fancy flooring and bar eh?! haha makes me laugh. But this actually doesn't do our basement justice. It's really large, with a second bathroom and laundry room. However, it's currently our workshop so very MESSY and thus, will remain un-pictured!

So that's our cozy little home! It's absolutely perfect for our little (and growing) family! We've had a ton of fun making it our own with projects (ie: our DIY projects that resulted in our bedside tables, shelves throughout the house, and a basement ottoman!)

Family Medicine Rotation

Wooo hoo! Nick's surgery rotation is OVER! Having that crossed off the list is a super great feeling. Now, of course it wasn't all bad... he learned lots of cool stuff, saw/participated in some pretty cool/crazy surgeries, and came out with a lot of great stories... however 12 weeks of all that was more than enough for this household! Nick completed his shelf exam for surgery on Friday and rocked it out with another A for the rotation! Wooo hooo! He's doing so great and really impressing everyone he works with!

Family medicine has been a wonderful change from surgery. Nick's first week has gone very smoothly and with the setting of the clinic, he works closely 1-1 with a doctor, which means he gets to do A LOT and is learning stuff all day long. The doctor he is working with the majority of the time sees a lot of patient's every day, so he's definitely been busy! But she lets him go in and see patient's on his own first and come up with what he thinks the diagnosis is and treatment should be, then goes in with him and does her own assessment and a lot of the time Nick has been right on! So basically, he's becoming quite the diagnosing king!

The majority of these 6 weeks will take place in the clinic- which is about 15 minutes away from St. Johns, however he will do 1 week inpatient where he is back at St. Johns.

His schedule for Family is pretty awesome. He has to be at St. John's for lectures occasionally between 7:30-8:00am but on other days he does not need to be at the clinic until 9:00am and on most days is done between 5:00-6:00pm.  All the doctors do rotate "urgent care hours" which means they stay until 8:00pm but since they all rotate this is just once a week or so. All in all, it's a much more "normal person" schedule!

So far this week he's seen a wide variety of issues in the clinic and people of all ages. Just to name a few of his experiences: child well-visit check ups, pregnancy confirmation, rashes, suicide ideation, cold/flu, skin biopsy.... andddd more but pregnancy brain leaves me blank! Bottom line- lots of different things :) 

So he's traded back in his glorious scrubs for dress attire but otherwise we're definitely enjoying the change of pace that family medicine offers and Nick feels much more productive and "Doctor-y" as these Doctors are much more into teaching and letting the students participate in things- so that makes for a pretty happy hubby!

:)

Pregnancy Update/Wives-tale Gender Predictions

We're officially a couple weeks into the 3rd trimester which is absolutely crazy! Time really is passing super quickly! We are so excited to meet this little baby and are trying to wrap our heads around having a baby of our OWN in just a short 10 weeks! The belly is impossible to hide and I am definitely past the stage where people don't really comment- everywhere we go and at least 10 times a day at work I am involved in some sort of baby conversation surrounding when I am due, whether I am carrying low or high, people's guesses on gender, and stories of random people's birthing experiences and/or pictures of children and grandchildren. It's amazing how a pregnant belly can bond complete strangers! I enjoy it though and everyone has been so nice, supportive, and excited... even if I literally JUST met them for 5 minutes!

Also, since we have decided to wait until baby's big arrival into the world to find out if we have a baby boy or girl on our hands, I've been extra into "baby predictions" that come with many different old wives-tales. I've been keeping a personal blog for baby (aka an online baby book for easy printing... haha oh the technology generation) but thought this was fun and that I would share it here as well:

Here are some of the fun/weird wive-tales predictions we have done and what they predict Baby Leo will be:

• Ring test: BOY
  
• Chinese Calendar: GIRL
• Carrying low (boy) vs high (girl): NA. or BOY? I swear I'm in the middle/this baby takes up every inch from pelvis to ribs! But I have heard recently several people who say I am carrying low... so maybe boy has the edge here?
• Basketball (boy) or watermelon (girl): GIRL
• Cravings: NA- I've definitely eaten a lot more sweets while pregnant, but still love my salty snacks... basically I just like eating. A lot.
• Heartbeat (140 and below = boy; 140+ = girl)= GIRL. Heartbeat is currently 156 bpm
• Morning sickness: GIRL. They say if you have pretty bad morning sickness it is a sign of girl and I'd say throwing up until 16 weeks was pretty rough!
• Breakouts: BOY. I think I've actually had less breakouts while pregnant! Can't complain about that!
• Mayan Legend: GIRL (determined a baby's sex by looking at the mother's age at conception and the year of conception. If both are even or odd, it's a girl. If one's even and one's odd, it's a boy). 
• Linea nigra: BOY (If you get a linea nigra and it runs from your pubic area to your belly button only, it’s a girl, and if it goes all the way up from your pubic area to the bottom-most part of you rib cage, then it’s a boy.) 
• Hairy legs?? (yes = boy; no= girl)- NA. Started out faster then around 25 weeks practically has stopped growing all together!  

So looks like GIRL has a little bit of an edge but BOY definitely isn't too far behind and for some I really feel like it's a 50-50 split. Soooo.. really all this highlights is how we really have NO CLUE and no way of really finding out until this babe makes it's appearance. So until then... bring on the baby bets, I love hearing everyone's guesses!

Do we have a Mini Nick or Mini Lindsey on the way!?!? Only 10 weeks until we know... either way, I have to say this child will be pretty adorbs! Not to toot our own horns or anything.... ;)

It's so cold in the D...

Seriously, so cold. Yesterday, it was something crazy like -13 and -30 with windchill. Very pleasant...

Not even the hospital was safe from the cold.

Basically, a pipe froze and burst causing water to rush into the hospital leaving about 6 inches of really nasty water on the ground in the ER.

So a word to the wise... don't be like this guy and drunk shovel without gloves on, on the coldest day ever in Michigan because the closest ER may not be able to assist you...

Never a dull moment in Detroit. Lesson learned? Gloves are good.

So long 2013, hello 2014!

I am still grappling with the fact that 2013 is over and 2014 is upon us! 2013 FLEW by. So much happened and it was such a great year of adventures and accomplishments.

2013 in a nutshell::

•  We kicked off 2013 on our Honeymoon Cruise enjoying tons of sun, relaxation, fun adventures, and of course lots of love!  I'd like to do it again, please.

• Lived up our final 5 1/2 months on the wonderful little island we called home with lots of cliff jumping, scuba diving, ocean swimming, and simply just embracing all that the island had to offer.

• Nick completed his first 2 years of medical school and our time in Grenada came to end.

• We moved back home to Michigan where Nick went completely MIA- living in the library studying for STEP 1.

• Nick completed the STEP and we were able to enjoy some quality fun time and celebrate with a trip to Nashville!

• We found out Nick crushed his STEP 1 and that we are expecting our first baby all in the same week! Talk about a week full of BIG and exciting news! We're pretty blessed!

• I didn't open a fridge for 2 1/2 months due to extreme morning sickness and smell sensitivity. Unfortunately, this is not a joke and yes, was semi neurotic!

• We were placed right here in Michigan at St. John's Hospital for Nick's clinical years which was a huge blessing! Thank you, SGU!

• We are renting our first home together in the US in Saint Clair Shores and enjoying life as new home-renters.

• I continued to be in awe and love pregnancy! We decided not to find out the sex of our baby- so we continue to toss boy and girl names back and forth and have been loving the suspense and are excited for the big reveal in April!

• Nick completed his internal medicine rotation and is halfway through his surgery rotation.

• After 200+ job applications, countless interviews, passing out my resume at tons of offices and random shops near our house, constantly being told I was over-qualified OR under-qualified, I got hired by Karmanos Cancer Center in Detroit and start working January 6 (don't all 6 month preggo people start new jobs?!)  Wish me luck! 

• We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary!!! Wooo hoo! 

• We wrapped up the year with Nick having unexpected time off to celebrate Christmas and New Years and we definitely have taken advantage of every minute! It's been the perfect combination of relaxation and laziness and fun with friends and family! We made 4 different stops for Christmas to ensure we saw everyone and rang in the New Year with 2 of our close couple friends! It was the absolute perfect ending to a great year!

Cheers to a great year past and another great year ahead! These next few months will be a complete whirlwind with Nick continuing to chug away through Surgery with multiple night shifts, my new job, Nick's family medicine and peds rotations, seeing what the 3rd trimester of pregnancy has to offer, and finally welcoming our baby in early April! Whew! And that's just a summary of the first 4 months of the year!

Bring it on, 2014! :)

And a few recent pictures just because!

Family minus those crazy little bros who were too busy running around to pose!

A few from our first big snowfall of the winter! We got almost a foot of snow! Don't be fooled by our sad faces... we DO miss our little island for SO many reasons, but also do love wintery weather and SNOW!

Only one shovel and being preggo = husband shovels and wife does not. Pregnancy perk? Yes.

I only threw a few snowballs at him while he slaved away..... ;)