Coming soon...

Well, I guess I fell off the wagon a bit on the blog-front the past month here.. oops.

In some aspects of our lives A TON has happened. In other areas of my life- (ie: battling the fun that is the job market in Michigan) not much has changed.

But no point spending time on the not so fun news- lets move onto the exciting stuff!!

We are thrilled to say that we're having a baby!! Baby Leo is due in early April and we are on cloud 9 and could not be more excited to meet this little babe!

Of course, like all news these days, most people waited and wondered how we would go about announcing the news not only to our families and close friends, but also to the entire Facebooking world.

In terms of the Facebook announcement, we knew we wanted to use a picture but really had no set idea or plans. Nick was released from the hospital early one Friday and so we decided to take advantage and although we had no method to our madness set off to the park with my camera, a camera tripod, and the baby MD outfit I used to break the news to Nick months before.

Needless to say, when you set loose 2 first time parents-to-be at the park with the cutest baby scrubs outfit EVER, you end up with not 1 picture- but about 15 pictures in random places around the park in all different poses. And so our announcement was created as a silly collage of pictures with a cute poem. The whole thing was perfect and so very "us."  In all honesty, telling Facebook land wasn't THAT important to me, but being silly with my husband and daddy-to-be and getting adorable pictures that we love... priceless.

"Soon our house will be growing by 10 little fingers and 10 little toes, boy or girl nobody knows, but either way this April there will be... a new little Pierogi in our family tree!!"

This little baby is already so very loved and we are so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends who not only share in all our excitement, but also provide us with tons of support and love! Oh, and my parents are first-time grandparents to be.... they're slowly getting used to the terms "Grandma" and "Grandpa" as the entire family is enjoying throwing the terms around. And at the same time, all 4 of my grandparents will be first-time great grandparents! Lots of fun firsts around here. I was the first grandchild and now can pass that torch onto this little growing baby orange (no, that's not our nickname, it's simply the size of the baby currently. Nick hates that I constantly refer to the baby as fruit... probably because my timing of telling his usually coincides with him eating said fruit. "Oh hey you're eating blueberries, that's our baby!" "Can you believe that lemon you just put in your water is our baby?!" "Whoa before you eat that orange lets compare how big it is on my tummy!"... oops timing is everything!)

Internal Medicine

We officially have a 3rd year Internal Medicine Half-Doctor in the house!!! Nick's orientation was on Wednesday August 14th and his first official day on the job was Monday, August 19th! He came home from his orientation SO EXCITED about his very doctor-esque beeper that he was given. AKA the hospital version of a handcuff to ensure students/employees are never too far out of reach! While it's exciting today... I say give it about a month and that thing will be his enemy (or maybe mostly mine)- when it goes off around 2am!

Nick has successfully completed his first full week of Internal Medicine rotations, and so far, so good! His first day he dove right in offering to take the less ideal jobs that the higher up residents did not want to do. This doesn't surprise me at all. Unlike some medical students, Nick worked in the hospital for 2 years before attending SGU. He is used to getting his hands dirty and being the low guy on the totem poll. There are very few tasks that phase him- and actually, he is eager and willing to do all and any that get thrown his way!

An added perk so far has been that Nick has a "noon conference" every day which includes a catered lunch! Some days it is better than others but either way, this wifey (and our bank account) enjoy not having to make to lunches every day!  

The first week involved a little bit of everything- from having his own patients to check in with/report on during rounds, attending lectures, shadowing on exciting cases, and overall just getting oriented to St. John's Hospital. Some days he comes home feeling like he is on top of his game and other days he comes home and quickly sticks his head in a medical book- eager to learn more to have a better understanding the next day.

His schedule for Internal Med has been pretty good with his hospital day starting roughly around 7:00AM and ending anywhere between 3:00- 6:00PM and he works some weekends, but not all. His day rarely is over when he walks in the door however, because there is usually something he wants to learn up on before bed... but all in all not a terrible schedule for his first rotation!

He is learning so much and comes home with interesting/exciting stories every day and it's crazy how much he has learned already in such a short period of time! They sure do work these med students hard! :)

3rd Year Clinical Schedule

It's been a couple of weeks since we got the official word that Nick would be remaining in Detroit at St. John's Hospital and since then we have been hard on the house hunt and preparing to move into our new (although still unknown) home.

Life post STEP continues to be awesome, but ONE week from today the hubs is back in medstudent mode- this time ready to conquer his 3rd year of medical school and the 6 hospital rotations that come with it!

We got his schedule today which was really exciting! In short, the overview of his year looks like this:

1. Internal Medicine (a 12 week rotation)
2. General Surgery  (a 12 weeks rotation)
3. Family Medicine (a 6 week rotation)
4. Pediatrics (a 6 week rotation)
5. OB/GYN (a 5 week rotation)
6. Psychiatry (and as of right now his schedule says this is a super short 2 week rotation- so we'll see if that is correct or changes.) 

3rd year is filled with all mandatory rotations that every medstudent must take, but in 4th year he will have a little flexibility to pick a few rotations that he is especially interested in (ie: Emergency Medicine)- so that will be fun! This schedule takes him from August 19, 2013 - June 30, 2014! As 3rd year comes to an end in June, Nick will then need to be preparing for his STEP 2 exams and getting ready to begin the residency application process (which from what we've read, heard, and been told- is rather lengthy.)

 His breaks in between each rotation are pretty short, but his schedule within each rotation will definitely vary dramatically- with some being more intense than others. We've heard a little of what to expect from those who have completed 3rd year ahead of us, but we'll see what our own personal impression of each one is!

Nick's definitely not ready to give up the relaxed life yet, but he loves (and thrives) in the hospital setting so I think once he's back in his scrubs and white coat he'll be lovin' all the hands on experience that comes with each clinical rotation!

Handy Home-RENTERS: Adirondack Chair Project

Now that we know we are staying in Michigan- life gets a lot easier AND a lot more fun! Instead of packing our bags to move half way across the country, we are packing up our belongings to move 30 minutes. Instead of cramming our lives into a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment- we will be moving into a house... with a yard, and a garage, and SPACE.

Glorious!

While our first official home together was in Grenada- that was a bit of a unique situation where we had limited supplies and mostly created make-shift decorations and things to get us by- so really, as far as getting down with our DIY wild sides, it doesn't exactly count. Don't be mistaken- we got SUPER creative and the majority of our house WAS as "Do It Yourself" as you could get- but this time around we are going to be able to make the house much more "homey" and OURS- even if it is just a rental!

SO here begins our HomeRENTERS adventures- where I will document all the projects, mishaps, and fun that goes into our adorable East-Side Michigan rental home :) Someday, we will finally be homeOWNERS, but until then there is no doubt we will be able to keep ourselves busy renter-style!

We have a house that we will most likely be renting but need to dot our "I's" and cross our "T's" before anything becomes official. We are so excited  (and to be honest, Nick has been stir crazy with so much time on his hands and maybe   totally, driving me nuts) so we I, had to find him a project. Nick loves "man things and projects" as he calls them, so we researched a few things and decided on Anirondack chairs. Ya know, those cool, wood, chairs that can be painted pretty colors?!

This project took several days, which was great for filling time, but also was a lot of fun! Nick hit the hardware store and bought all the supplies and a few new toys that he "needed" and then the next couple of days were filled with sawing, sanding, measuring, gluing, and drilling. We had SO much fun. Nick's incredibly handy and for a girl, I consider myself a very helpful and handy side-kick so the project overall went very smoothly and the chairs turned out AWESOME!

We still need to stain or paint them but we haven't really decided on a color or theme yet and at this point may wait until we get settled into our new place to do that since there will be more room for them to dry outside or in a garage- rather than pulling them into our current living room and possibly killing us all with the paint fumes!

YAY powertools!!!!!!

Putting together the base of the chairs and the back :)

ALL DONE!!! Still need to be painted or stained and we are going to round out the top a bit in some way, but mostly COMPLETED! And sooooooo comfy!

Relaxing after a job well done!

Next stop- St. John's Clinical Center!!!!

The verdict is in and we finally have the official word from SGU that we WILL be stayin' in the D! WOO- WOO!!! 

After originally being told we would hear on July 15th, it was bumped back to the week of the 15th, and then in true SGU style, the news came on the last possible day of the week- on Friday, around 2pm- FINALLY.


I was home but Nick was out running errands when I saw the email pop up, so I quickly called him to tell him the email had arrived and to see if he wanted me to open it or wait and open it together. He had NO intention of waiting any longer- so I was given the green light and my heart was instantly happy upon seeing the words- St. John's Clinical Center Detroit. YES.

The process is extremely frustrating though and as everyone's placements come to be known, it's clear we are one of the fortunate ones to have gotten our first choice- as many did not, and some got placements not even in their top 3 choices! =/

Detroit may be a strugglin' city. But it's OUR city. We're proud of it and think that good things are comin'. We couldn't be more excited or more thankful to get to stay here!

Cheers to movin' to the East-side! :)

Tick-Tock-Tick-Tock

Nick's exam started at 8:00am and at this time he should be close to rounding out his 3rd section and 1 section away from a lunch break- which is more or the less the middle/ a little over half way point of his exam day! Whew!

I am SURE it is going well and that he crushin' it! However, this whole sitting and waiting to hear about it thing is less than fun. Is it 4pm yet?!

What have I done so far to pass the time?!

• Forced myself to keep sleeping until well after I, or my body, wanted to be asleep.
• Did some online prep for upcoming things this week
• Read some of a book
• Checked the time a billion times
• Checked Facebook more than necessary
• Played several games of Candy crush

Still on the agenda to pass time until 4pm:

• Go for a run/work out
• Shower
• Maybe clean-ish 
• Candy Crush
• Read book
•  Pace around the house until Nick calls

All in all a productive day around here... at least for one of us! Let him be free STEP 1- Let.him.be.FREE!!!!!  Excited for the fun and relaxation to begin :) 

The STEP is going down :)

TOMORROW is the day we have been waiting for- STEP 1 exam day!! WOWZA!

The nerves and tension were running a bit high around here over the past couple of days as Nick continued to study day after day, hour after hour, trying to take advantage of every last minute possible to cram more knowledge into his head. Honestly, I don't know how his head hasn't just exploded at this point... there's so much in there! However, while he's starting to feel the pre-exam jitters, I personally know he's going to rock it out and am mostly just getting antsy to have my husband back in my life!

What? I'll see him more than a half hour in the mornings and evenings?!
What? He might actually talk about things unrelated to the STEP and medical diagnoses and jargon?! (okay, let's not get carried away here, but maybe not AS much!)
What? He'll actually get to participate in the fun and not have to miss out?!
What? The overtired, stressed guy will be replaced with a well rested, easy going hubby I know and love?!

Yes. I like the sound of ALL of that! Although, I must say that while I of course can't wait to have him back- at this point I am definitely MORE excited for HIM to finally be free, get to relax, and be able to get out and have fun! To be cooped up for as long as he has... I can't imagine. And he's been a great sport about it for the entire 7 weeks since we got home and his life has been consumed by studying. He deserves some fun in his life!

Today however, the nerves seem to be diminishing and he's ready to kick some major STEP booty! This morning we went to church, stopped by the Grotto, enjoyed a nice lunch, and now Nick is putting in a few hours studying and reviewing a few last minute crunch time details. Already in the oven is the lasagna he requested for dinner in order to carb load for the big battle tomorrow :)

Today he also bid goodbye to both his study spaces- both of which he won't mind NOT seeing for quite a loooooonggg time! Here's his jail cell in the library that he's been camping out in for the past 7 weeks- looks really comfortable, cozy, and just missing the padded walls... 

The exam takes about 8 hours and to help him ace his test he will take:

• his jam-packed knowledge filled brain
• water
• a pb&j sandwich
• a couple chewy granola bars
• a banana
• applesauce
• HALF a roll of toilet paper- very important it isn't a full roll also (neurotic much?!)

To unwind after his exam, I have an assortment of obviously necessary goodies:

• Budlight
• Blue Moon
• Patronnnn on iceeee
• Car filled with gas to take him wherever his free heart desires!