Day 19 - Free day - Happenings

Abby, August 2010

Because I've been caught up in doing my "50 Days" posts, I haven't really had a chance to catch up on what we've been up to lately.  Here's the rundown:

Garrett finished his internal medicine rotation.  It was a month from H-E-double hockey sticks.  He was on call 5 times, which means he went in at 7 a.m. and worked straight until the next day around 1 or 2 pm.  Some nights he was able to sleep for about 45 minutes but not usually.  After he'd get home from being on call, he'd sleep for a few hours, get up and have dinner, and then back to bed early so he could be back at work the next day at 7.  Garrett lost about 6 pounds from the stress and constant running around.   I am so glad that Garrett is in a transitional intern program this year.  If he had done a year of medicine for his intern year (like most people going into radiology), this would have been his schedule for an entire year.  Except it would have been worse because he would have been on call every third day instead of every fifth day.  Thanks honey, for getting into a transitional year! :)

One funny story that I think describes his experience well is something that happened a few weeks ago.  Garrett was trying to get some sleep in the on-call room when a nurse called him around 3:30 am.  One of his patients was experiencing some minor throat pain, probably as a result of a tube she had running down her throat into her stomach.  Garrett asked the nurse if the patient had any morphine available.  The nurse said that she did.  Garrett thought about it for a minute and then asked if Tylenol was possible.  Well, they would have to crush it up and put it through the tube, that would be a real hassle.  So Garrett thought about morphine for a few more minutes (probably trying to figure out a dose) until finally the nurse said, "Um.... I was just thinking of maybe giving her some chloraseptic spray.  Is that okay?"  Garrett said, "Oh yeah, that sounds fine!!"  He was pretty embarrassed that he had overlooked the obvious and was about to give morphine to someone with a sore throat, but I suppose that's bound to happen when you are going into your 20th hour of being at work.  I can't even imagine the kind of stress he experiences.

And now he's started his plastic surgery rotation.  Yesterday he didn't have to go in until 1 pm, which was when a surgery was scheduled for, but it ended up being cancelled so he came right back home.  I could get used to this!

I am keeping busy too.  The food storage blog is starting to get back in full swing (we took it easy this summer), and I've been finishing up a few quilts that were half done.  Still doing P90x about 4 times a week, and running or walking 4-5 times a week too.  I decided that I just cannot run if it's over 90 degrees outside. It was killing me and it's just not worth it.  So now I just walk a few miles if it's too hot to run.  I'm also teaching piano lessons.  I have four students, all siblings, and it's going well.  It's been a long time since I taught, but I'm slowing remembering things.  It's kind of hard though because I didn't ever take formal lessons, and one of the girls is pretty advanced and I just don't know what to teach her.  So I've found some websites that will hopefully get me up to speed. :)  Anyway, it's great to have some spending money of my own.  We debated this (nicely) for a while, but in the end, we've decided it's my money.  Garrett works full time at the hospital.  I work full time taking care of the girls and household stuff (paying bills, cleaning, etc).  Piano lessons is my "extra" job, so I can do what I want to with the money.  Right now I'm not saving for anything in particular.  I'm kind of hoping to save it all (or most of it) until we move into a house in Florida, then spend it on some new furniture and things for the house.  I would love to go out and buy curtains and other fun things now (our apartment could definitely use it!), but it seems like such a waste to spend money on those things when we'll only be here for another 9-10 months.  So I'm saving up for the house, but buying a few things here and there (i.e. throw pillows) that will for sure work even after we move.

We are going to D.C. this weekend - I'm so excited to spend some time away with Garrett's family.  We're meeting his parents and sister and her family there for the Glenn Beck rally.  I've never been to a rally before so it should be fun.  I'm crossing my fingers that Garrett can take Friday off so we can spend the whole day Friday in D.C., too.  I'd love to go to the temple and also spend some extra time downtown doing some sightseeing.  Last time we were in D.C. was during the cherry blossom festival, and while it was fun to be there with family, it was pretty miserable trying to fight the crowds.  Hopefully this weekend will be much better.

Abby is having fun.  We finally got a new hard drive (I broke our last one, don't ask) and we were able to transfer all our old files to the new one, thank goodness.  There were a lot of Disney movies on it, so Abby's been watching one movie a day.  It's so fun to watch movies with her that I loved as a kid!  It's great to see her reactions to the funny parts and the songs.  She's been watching Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, and the Little Mermaid.  She loves them all.  Abby's also in a tough stage.  Three years old is hard!  She is definitely pushing her boundaries.  Probably the biggest problem we have is getting her to stay seated at the table during mealtimes.  Each day, I finally threaten her that I will take her meal away if she gets off the chair one more time, so she'll slowing slide off the chair and put both feet on the ground, but still lean on the chair.  So I take her food away, she screams and cries, and then usually I give in because she really doesn't eat much in general, so I feel bad taking away the food she does want to eat.  And then I feel guilty for giving in and I realize she'll never learn if I keep doing that.  We're working on it.

Ellie is cute as usual.  I am loving her age right now.  When Abby was one year old, I remember just loving that stage and I'm feeling the same way about Ellie now.  Too young to be naughty, old enough that she can be a bit independent, and easily appeased with snacks.  She is also starting to say little phrases ("What is that?"), which is just adorable.  Still doesn't say "mama", though. :)

So that's us right now.  I have noticed that a couple of my friends have picked up the 50 Day challenge and I'm LOVING it!  Still waiting for Emma to start, though (and a few others!).  But I suppose she has an excuse since she just had a baby. (Speaking of the baby.... he is so cute.  I wrote a post about baby John a few weeks ago and he's gotten cuter since!!)

Oh, and we just started season two of '24' (thank you, plastic surgery elective, for allowing Garrett to be home so much!).  It's intense!  We're loving it and it has definitely solidified my celebrity crush that I wrote about last week.

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Up tomorrow: Someone that changed my life