Our Medical School Journey, Part I

I haven’t written much about medical school on our blog. Perhaps that’s because it is a hot topic, especially being new in a place where not everyone goes to medical school. Brendon & I talk a lot about medical school with each other and I like that. I like hearing everything about Brendon's day; I like the stories, I like hearing about how he communicates with his doctor, I like knowing what he feels confident about doing, I like knowing his insecurities, I like hearing about every detail about Brendon's day. But sometimes when we are around everyone else (family, friends, neighbors), it get to be too much. Probably because it's a lot of the same stuff I've heard over & over & over...so sometimes I quit listening.

Ever since I've known Brendon, I've known the path for him was medical school. In fact, one day while leaving the HBLL (Harold B. Lee Library) on BYU campus, I ran into Brendon. We started talking, exchanged the "what's your major" conversation & ended up talking for about 20 minutes. That is when I discovered Brendon's dream of becoming a doctor. (That’s also when I first thought, “He should really ask me on a date.” Not because he wanted to become a doctor, but because he was so easy to talk to.)

I never pictured myself marrying a doctor, but was happy to know Brendon had in mind what he wanted to do with his career (a high priority on my “list”). While dating, I went to a class of his that was for prospective medical students. The class I attended was open to all spouses & significant others with two women talking about their experiences as a wife supporting their husbands through medical school. In fact, I still have those notes:

•  Independence: Do what you can do on your own; find things you enjoy doing for yourself (& possibly on your own)
• Attitude: Enjoy every minute
• Expectations: Don’t expect a date every weekend [I lucked out on this one]; understand each other’s expectations
• Motivation: Understand his motivations
• Support: Support each other
• Never Second: Find ways to show each other they are never second in your life
• Enjoyment: Enjoy whatever field you/spouse enter; make sure children understand dad enjoys his job
• Balance/Prioritize: Family comes first. Balance is not equal time to each area of life; rather, it is making sure good times outweigh the bad time.
• Humor: Find ways to laugh; Crisis + Time = Humor
• Fulfillment: Life never gets perfect, not even at 40. Enjoy every day.

The women (Sister Samuelson & her relative) talked about how much they grew as individuals & as a family & how they developed lifelong friendships with others.

And so I felt like I had an idea of what medical school would be like. I also think somehow I tricked Brendon into thinking I was a little more independent than I really am, because he knew he needed that to get through medical school, yet he still proposed to me & we got married.

Within a week of getting married, Brendon was on a plane to medical school interviews. I thought it was a little crazy that my husband of such a short time would be leaving me, but knew we had to do it. He was accepted & we chose to attend A.T. Still University - Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine. We were excited for a new adventure -- one that we would experience together. I was glad that we would be living in Missouri for only two short years (...little did I know how much I would come to love & miss that place).

We had one year together before medical school started. I worked while Brendon finished his undergrad. We spent eons of time together: every week night we ate dinner & hung out, every Friday and Saturday night were date nights, every Saturday day was spent cleaning together & hiking or doing something together, & then we spent all day Sunday together. After Brendon graduated, we worked together at Overstock.com, which meant we had our 40-60 minute commute (80-120 minutes if you count both ways) together and we ate lunch together. Every. Single. Day. It was wonderful. I knew spending this much time wouldn’t happen again for a very, very, very long time (as in retirement long time).

Crawling & Teething

Last Sunday, Henry was standing on his toes & hands.  As of this Sunday, he is full on crawling.  It all happened so quickly & we were so excited to see each day of improvement.  He went from standing on his hands & toes to doing this adorable launch (he would scoot his knees forward, get up on his toes, & launch forward & stretch his little arm as far as it would go to grab his toy) to real crawling.  Today he tried to crawl to wherever I was in the house.  It is pretty cute.  Love this boy!

Here he is in chronological crawling action:

And here he is being the adorable, happy boy that he is.  (I can't help but take two dozen pictures of the same thing.)

Last Friday, Brendon noticed a tooth poking through the bottom of Henry's gums.  He hasn't been himself lately, but it sure does feel good to have my little boy want his mommy, even if it means getting a little less done around the house.  He is constantly chewing his hand & fingers, something he hasn't done until recently.  Again, love this boy!

Today Marks Three Years

Today is our third year anniversary. Can you believe it? I can't! Three years!?! It feels a lot more like thirty years (I mean that in the best way possible)! Then, I realize I'm not even thirty years old. Okay, it feels more like fifteen years. Haven't we known each other forever? I think so. At least it feels like we have.

I think something we look back on & realize is how much we thought we knew each other before we got married, yet how little we really knew each other. It has been fun to read back in my journal to our earlier times together & to read about how our relationship developed & how it continues to grow.

As I was trying to think of something I would want to remember about our relationship in ten years, I thought of some things Brendon & I have done together over the past few years:

• Sing "You Are My Sunshine" to & with each other (until our neighbor heard us through the wall...that put an end to that one really quickly)
• Race each other to bed (it was my way of getting Brendon to bed quickly, but it got too competitive & too serious, so that one was short lived)
• Write secret love notes on each other's phones without the other person knowing it
• Experience the birth of a child (& cry together)
• Play with our cute boy & make him laugh
• Snuggle on the couch after dinner & before studying to talk, take a nap, or just enjoy each other's company
• Listen to my beautiful voice sing love songs to my one and only (...I sing, he laughs)
• Play volleyball together
• Play racquetball together
• Play Boggle, Scrabble, Speed, Risk, Monopoly, etc., together
• Watch movies together
• Tickle each other (although this is a little one sided, and not in my favor)
• Hide presents from each other
• Argue over surprises versus telling what we buy each other
• Go out to eat together and do anything to stay out of the house for an entire evening
• Surprise each other for different occasions
• Eat dinner together (every single night)
• Cuddle in bed
• Hold hands whenever we pray (& kiss after)
• Hand sign "I love you" multiple times a day
• Say "I love you" whenever we leave each other & greet each other with a hug & kiss (thanks to the good example of our parents)
• Talk about fears, hopes, work, school, the past, the present, the future, frustrations, excitements, failures, goals, dreams, wishes
• Fight over who loves who most (I do you!)

Here's to the best three years & an eternity of years to come. I love you, Brendon!

For the Love of the Game

Brendon & I met while playing volleyball. The first time I remember talking to Brendon was on opposite sides of the net in our college volleyball class. He asked where I was from, then if I knew Scotty B. "Of course!" I said and explained we were good high school buds. I remember writing Scott on his mission, telling him I met his trainer & writing something like, "but I don't remember his name." Scott came back over a year later & a bunch of people played volleyball together. And that's our story. Weekly volleyball nights led to intramural volleyball nights led to a date and the rest is history...

I still enjoying playing the game. Brendon absolutely loves playing the game. I think he's addicted to it. (Just last week he missed his weekly game & mentioned withdrawals.) Anyways, one Saturday we played some good volleyball with our friends (Scotty B & Julie). But now we have a baby, so things like hours of volleyball are a little more difficult to pull off. Brendon is resourceful. Did I mention he loves volleyball? He'll find a way to play. And he did. This is our new way to play volleyball:

Extreme?  Yes, I thought so too.  We did it anyways.  We brought & set up an entire 5-person tent, but it worked out really well.  We had fun. A lot of fun.

And after playing in the tent with his toys & taking a nap, Henry & I played on the grass & watched daddy play his favorite game.  I love these boys of mine! 

The Cutest Little Face

Henry has, undoubtedly, the cutest little face (he gets it from his dad).  Do you see what I mean?

From top to bottom....here it goes:

Exhibit A: The Hair
Okay, maybe I should say "the cutest little head" because hair isn't really part of the face, but that just sounds weird.  My mom recently pointed out that Henry is getting a lot of hair and she is right...he is getting a lot of hair.  And it's pretty darn cute.  It's blonde with a reddish tint to it (which I thought the red just might be from me, but Brendon had a similar hair color when he was little).  I love washing his head now that there's more hair.  And I'm glad I don't have to "do" his hair yet, because let's be honest, I have no clue what to do in that department (my poor little girls that maybe I'll have someday).  But as for my cutest little boy, I love his little head of hair.

Exhibit B: The Eyes
Blue eyes just happen to be the eye color I've coveted throughout my life.  Aren't they adorable?  They just pop!  Not only is the color adorable, but the shape  is also cute.  They droop a little on the outer corner.  Look closely...it's there.  And not only is the color & the little droop adorable & cute, but the expression the eyes add to his, the cutest of little faces, is also amazing.  People have mentioned this boy has several faces--and by that I think they mean he looks different in each photo--and I would agree.  I think it's the eyes.  Oooo, I just love his eyes.

 

Exhibit C: The Lower Half
The lower half is all inclusive to the smile, the putting of things into the mouth (especially the feet), the drool that comes out of the mouth, the kisses that come from the mouth, & the defined chin.

Henry's smile lights up the room.  In fact, just this morning he was smiling at me & somehow it made me think that getting him to sleep at 8:00 pm, 9:00 pm, 1:30 am, & 5:00 am was okay.  It melts me.  Brendon has made the remark on a couple of occasions after looking at our smiling Henry, "That just looked like one of my brothers smiling at me."  I love that cute smile of his (& Brendon's family).  Henry is discovering that everything--toys, feet, tags, couches, chins, clothing, arms, fingers, blankets--everything, can go into his mouth.  He drools, or maybe I should say he has a constant fountain of spit coming from his mouth, but it's okay coming from that cute face. And the kisses...oh, the kisses.  We love them.  The other day I kissed Henry, then he'd kiss me back (or eat or chew my chin) and then he'd smile, then I'd kiss him, and he'd kiss me back and smile.  The chin.  The most defined "that's Brendon's boy" mark on this boy.  I love it.

I could go on and on about every feature and facial expression, but the point has been driven home.  This boy has the cutest face...ever.

6 Months Old

Our little baby is 6 month old today.  I often go back to look at his newborn baby pictures to remember what it was like--what he was like--as a newborn.  These six months have been so much fun.  I am living the dream I have been dreaming about ever since I can remember.  Staying at home all day has been so great: I love sleeping in after nights when Henry wakes up in the middle of the night, I love having a buddy to talk to (even when all I say is, "Hey cute boy!"), I love going for walks with Henry, I love seeing that cute face smile & laugh at me, & I love watching him grow.

Here are some of our milestones of the past couple of months & some fun things about Henry:

• Rice cereal--loved it from the start
• Oatmeal--hated the first serving (but that can be blamed on mom for trying to make it on her own, not putting it in the food processor long enough, & then not adding any milk...poor guinea pig child), but liked the second serving 
• Tummy time--loves it & is showing signs of crawling
• Outdoors--loves it
• Bumbo--not a fan; will sit in it for short periods of time before arching his back to get out
• Stroller--always falls to sleep on our walks/runs
• Comfort grab--he always holds toys in his hands with a death grip whenever he's in the stroller or in his car seat
• "Hold me" reach/stretch--knows how to show he wants to be held (I love this one...he gets so excited)
• Bath--loves it; always gets excited whenever the tub water gets turned on
• Sitting up--alone for short periods of time
• Rolls over--moving from one place to another every time I turn around
• Happy--he's one content, easy-going baby & will play by himself for most of the day
• Talks--lots & lots of babbling while he's playing by himself
• Size 4 diapers--this is always a major ordeal for me, moving up a size
• Nursing--is curious about what is going on while eating, which leads to a lot of unlatching (& sometimes we will even talk to me &/or Brendon while unlatched)
• Sleeping--can sleep through the night (I know he can), but doesn't do it very regularly nowadays 

It has been so fun for us to watch Henry learn as he grows, & even when I'm hesitant about moving onto the next "thing," it somehow seems to be even more fun.  We love you, Henry (aka "cutest boy in the world").