Cruisin'

We've been trying to teach Abbie how to ride her bike with no training wheels for the last several months, off and on.  We gave up for a while and then yesterday she randomly decided to try again, and was successful!  She was so excited, and she and Garrett rode their bikes to meet us at the pool before dinner.  Can't believe she is already 6 1/2... time's flying.

Pool baby

Olivia just can't get enough of the pool.  She will sit here and splash around for literally hours, just playing and watching her sisters swim.  She is such a contented little baby.  We love you, Olivia!

Another birthday

Garrett had a birthday in June - the big 31!

We celebrated with chocolate cake made by our friends Anthony & Kristi.

We also bought Garrett a new suit for his birthday/Father's Day (actually, two suits because they were BOGO).  They will come in handy for interview season coming up.  You might not be able to tell from the pictures, but Garrett just loves shopping, especially for clothing. (haha)

 Looking good, honey!

Happy (belated) birthday, Garrett!  We love you!

Ellie turns four

Ellie turned 4 on July 1.  We had a little "pool party" for her at our neighborhood pool, just really low-key.  We made cupcakes to share and just let the kids swim and run around.  Unfortunately, it started to rain pretty hard about an hour after we got there, so we were stuck under the covered patio for a good while.... the rain never really let up for about an hour!  It was a pretty big rainstorm but the kids had fun playing outside the pool so it all turned out okay.

We had spaghetti & meatball for dinner (per Ellie's request) and ate chocolate cake.

4 things we love about our little Ellie bean:

1. She is hilarious.  Ellie makes us laugh every single day.  She says the funniest things and just likes to be silly. She loves to dress up (multiple times a day) and be "fashion-y".

2.  She is always hungry.  Ellie could eat all day, every day, and never be full.  She's always asking for snacks, meals, drinks, etc... sure it can be a hassle but it's kind of endearing too.  I don't know where she puts it all!

3.  She is a great sister.  She loves Olivia and is a big helper with her.  She and Abbie also get along really well.  Ellie is definitely our more stubborn child, but lately she has shown signs of mellowing out a little.  A few weeks ago, Abbie was upset about something (I had given in on something to Ellie, leaving Abbie with the short end of the deal), and Ellie changed her mind so that Abbie could have what she wanted.  It was really sweet and unexpected.

4. She's persistent.  Not always a quality I can fully appreciate at this stage, but one that I'm sure will serve her well someday.

Happy 4th Birthday, Ellie.  We love you!!

Father's Day (belated)

We had a nice Father's Day with Garrett in June.  Didn't do anything too special... he needed a new suit so we got him one a few days earlier, plus we just spent some family time together.  Thankfully he was able to manipulate his schedule around a little bit so he had that Sunday off, which was nice.

Garrett and I are also blessed to have really great dads.

Me & my dad (and Mike), around 1984 it looks like:

Garrett and his dad, probably around 1987-ish

I had the girls fill out some "About my Dad" questions... Abbie's answers are in blue and Ellie's are in red.

My Daddy's name is: Garrett Garrett

He is: 10 feet, 20 inches tall   10 feet 5 inches tall

He weighs: 300 lbs   3 lbs

His hair color is: brown   brown

His eyes are: green   blue

His favorite tv show is: YouTube   mommy shows

He likes to go to: the mall   work

He favorite food is: bre dos (burritos)   spaghetti & meatballs

His favorite drink is: Mug soda   brown soda

For fun he likes to: wrestle  ride his bike

I love it when my daddy: is hansom   wrestles

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July - I just love celebrating our country and our freedoms, and spending holiday time with family and good friends, grilling out, going to parades, seeing fireworks, etc.

To be honest, I wasn't feeling very "into" the holiday spirit this year.  It was mostly because Garrett was working/sleeping all day, so we didn't really get to spend any time with him, and we didn't grill out or see big fireworks.  Kind of a bummer, to be honest... but we tried to make the most of our day anyway.

Here, they do the big fireworks show on July 3.  I didn't feel up to taking the kids by myself (they started at 9:40 pm and I didn't feel like keeping my kids awake in a wet, soggy field for 3 hours past bedtime) so we stayed home and slept.

On Thursday morning, Garrett came home to sleep and the kids and I met up with some friends at a little local parade that a small town nearby puts on (and when I say small town, I'm not kidding.  2010 population: 606).

It mostly consisted of tractors.

....and more tractors.  The kids loved it!  And so did I.  I love small-town activities.

After the parade we went home and spent a few hours at the neighborhood pool.

After Garrett went back to work, we met up with friends for some little fireworks in the driveway.

I am so very grateful to live in this country.  I think that personal freedom is probably one of the greatest blessings we can have.  So grateful for all who have fought and served our country.

Another year down

July 1 marked the first day of Garrett's 4th year of residency. (!!!)

PGY-3 was a tough year (PGY = post grad year).  With more experience comes more responsibility, and this last year was pretty much the first year ever that Garrett wasn't near (or at) the bottom of the totem pole (medical student - pretty much the lowest spot.  Intern year - pretty darn low also.  Lowest, if there are no med students around :) .  First year radiology resident - you're pretty much at the bottom again.  PGY-3 - finally there is a class "below" you so now there is lot more that is expected of you!  This is all from what I gather, anyway).

So, Garrett's first year of radiology was pretty awesome and he had most weekends off, and only worked late maybe twice a month (they can't really work alone yet since they are so inexperienced).  This last year was pretty much the opposite and it feels like Garrett was working all the time!  Since last September, Garrett has worked a total of 16 weeks of night shifts or late shifts (late = around midnight or 2 a.m., depending on the rotation).  Not to mention all the weekends, at least one per month (weekend = 13 hours on Saturday and 13 hours on Sunday) and extra studying he has to do each night (he usually studies a couple of hours each evening).

So yes, last year was tough.  PGY-4 is shaping up to be even more tough, though.  For one thing, Garrett's very first rotation was.... nights!  The shift was Sunday night through Friday night, from 8pm - 8am technically, although he usually doesn't get home until around 9am.

He also does a month of nights later on in the year, plus has a month-long review course that he has to take in Washington D.C.  When he gets home from that, he works every other weekend for the next 4 months straight.

Also, some things in radiology have changed since he started the residency.  For one, he no longer has boards at the end of residency.  Nope, now it's at the end of PGY-4 instead.  Just a week or two ago, Garrett said to me, "You know, I have to take my boards in one year.  I know that seems like a long time away, but it's really not.  I have really got to start studying... a lot."  Sounds like this year is going to be a fun time!

And finally, he's applying to fellowships right now, so somewhere in there he's going to need to go to a few interviews and hopefully accept a position somewhere by the end of this summer.

It's not all rough.  He has Thanksgiving off this year, and will hopefully have Christmas off too. Also, I'm planning to join him in D.C. for a few days (all by myself!) so I'm looking forward to that.

We are so proud of Garrett and all of his hard work.  He is one of the smartest people I know and from what I have heard, he is a great doctor.  The career path he has chosen has not been easy but he has wanted to be a doctor from the time he was small, so it looks like he is living his dream (although I'm pretty sure 8-year-old Garrett didn't imagine it quite like this).

I can't believe that residency is halfway done.  Three years down, three more to go!  Here we go, PGY-4!