Busy!

Since last Wednesday we have been super busy! I have a bucket list so to speak before baby arrives wanting to do fun things with the boys before their world changes quite a bit. Last Wednesday I took them to the zoo, they had school Tuesday and Thursday, & Friday I took them to see Cars 2 (by the way...terrible movie). Then, as a family we spent hours at a park Saturday morning playing and riding the tricycle. That night we attended the annual ortho resident picnic to welcome the new residents and had a great time hanging out, eating and watching the kids play. Yesterday, Sunday, we went to a very fun birthday party for the little boy of one of the outgoing residents who will be leaving soon to do fellowship in Salt Lake City. Now, we begin our week with more fun things planned and hopefully some news of progress at the OB on Thursday :) Just click on the Picasa link above (Blake), then click on slideshow to see all the pictures from our fun times...

Residency Roast 2011

The handsome M.D. and his large sidekick!


The ladies that hold it all together :)

As awful as I looked and felt this past Saturday night, it was still a very fun and exciting event! This was our third roast since Matt began the residency program, which means we are saying goodbye to people we are closer to each year. But, we also get to say hello to a new group! June is a busy month in the world of residency as the 5th years take their last calls and get ready to move, the new interns arrive and adjust to a new city, and we attend the roast and then the annual picnic is next weekend. Then...the residents all rotate "up" one year on July 1st. For Matt, this year is significant as he becomes a 4th year, a chief, and his responsibilities increase tremendously. He will also soon make the decision on fellowship (sub-specialty) and begin the interview process late fall/early winter of this year. We should know where we are headed for the 6th (yes, 6th!!) year sometime next spring. Cross your fingers it is somewhere exciting :) New Zealand has been mentioned, so you never know!

Extend your congrats to Matt for almost having another year of residency under his belt. As always, the hours and hard work he puts in is unimaginable and something most cannot relate to. His abilities as a physician and surgeon are amazing and continue to grow. We are so proud of him and can't wait to see what the final two years of residency bring....a baby girl hopefully soon :) and more visitors to see the beautiful place we are calling home for another two years.

Memorial Day Fun!

Memorial Day weekend was a busy and hot one for us! It was in the 90's all weekend, not to mention the high humidity...yikes! already! I was able to spend all of Saturday with my great friend, Deanna, (from my Florence, SC days in 2000-01) in Columbia, SC. We spent our day sipping iced coffee, shopping, eating lunch and catching up. So fun! Lucky for us Matt was off all weekend and Memorial Day, so we spent Sunday morning playing outside in the water and that evening at Freedom Weekend Aloft. FWA is a festival at a large park in the community we live in, Simpsonville, and includes games, rides, bands, and lots of food and vendors. We also enjoyed a train ride, watching the dog frisbee competitions and the most exciting of all, the hot air balloons, which is what the festival is famous for! Matt thinks he counted up to 50 balloons. It was so amazing to watch and the boys were mesmerized! Then Monday we packed a picnic lunch to eat downtown after the boys played in the fountains for what seemed like hours. They had a blast! After lunch we enjoyed watching the USA Cycling Championships that took place right here in Greenville. They raced right through downtown a few times, so we lined up with the crowds and their cow bells to cheer them on. The weekend was full of fun, family memories and lots of walking and heat exposure for this pregnant gal...but, it was well worth it and enjoyed thoroughly especially when I looked at Matt's call schedule for June :)

Crawfish Boil

We had a blast at this year's Crawfish Boil! Thanks to our true Southern residents the crawfish were done up perfect, and all of the fixin's were delish. We had a great time with the resident families, as well as a few attendings and their families. It is hard to believe our "babies" have grown up so much during our time here in Greenville. The picture above of Sullivan, Blake and Dane tell the story...Sullivan was a mere 3 months old when we arrived, Dane was 8 months and Blake was just over 2 years old. My, how time has flown!

Mirage, No. Miracle, Yes.

What you see above was taken from our backyard and is what we are seeing all over our neighborhood now! The lots are FINALLY out of foreclosure (since the developer went bankrupt shortly after we moved in), and a new developer has FINALLY taken over. They have had a lot of heavy equipment moving dirt, cutting roads, grading lots and have even starting staking out the lots. We have high hopes that building will start very soon...and even more high hopes that this will only help us sell our home when that time comes. You know, we made the decision to live in this neighborhood three years ago. Wasn't the best decision, but you learn from your mistakes, suck it up and deal with it until it is time to move on. Luckily for us we are only here five short years, are pretty tolerant and good at seeing the silver lining (although we may complain sometimes!). We have learned to enjoy our quiet neighborhood out in the country, or what seems like the country, that is off the beaten path and away from it all. We have so much to look forward to and I'm sure someday we'll look back and realize this just wasn't that big of a deal. As for now, I am going to go blow up our pool (still no neighborhood pool, but oh well!) and enjoy the sights and sounds of diggers and dump trucks. Probably not near as much as my boys though.

Celebrating Baby!

The two lovely ladies above, Catie & Shane, hosted a baby shower for me here in Greenville last night. I was lucky to be surrounded by many friends sharing great food at my favorite local restaurant and was showered with beautiful gifts for our sweet baby girl. I could go on and on about the precious girly socks, and handmade bows and burp clothes that make this Mommy so excited to dress this baby girl. And the many practical, MUCH NEEDED and MUCH APPRECIATED gifts that include lotions, soaps, diaper creams, wipes, washcloths and lots of diapers! And then the unique gifts that I can't wait to use like a bag designed for wet clothing and diapers (so smart!) and Sophie, the giraffe, which I know will be a favorite toy :) Thank you all for throwing me a memorable shower and for all of the touching cards and gifts that make this time in my life so special and exciting!

Fired

The cleaning lady, that is. I am back to my original thought about hiring out...Don't. If you want it done right, do it yourself.