It's My Birthday!

Today is my birthday! It is 9:00 p.m., quiet, actually silent, except my tapping on the keys of the laptop. Both boys are in bed, asleep, Ben is sleeping on the couch wrapped in the snuggie. We just ate birthday cake, ice cream cake, only Ben and I, without the boys. I am digesting my fabulous dinner from Abuelos. (It reminded me of Texas when I went there to lunch with girls from work. That was a fun day, except afterwards we went to the mall, and Ben's swears that is what put me in pre-term labor with Bridger.) Anyway, tonight it was good, really good. It was a strange birthday, really low-key, no singing, I did not open a single wrapped gift today, no big hoorahs or surprises. It was exactly the kind of day I swore I would NEVER have. Back when I was young, single and very entertained, I swore I would never turn into a "boring married person" the kind of person that enjoys reading a book at night, or just chatting with her husband about the days events, or even, heaven for bid, go to bed early!!... no that was not for me. Yet, here I am, Mother of two, wife of doctor ( A doctor!!! I never wanted to be a doctor's wife either!) it is 9 p.m. on my birthday and I am totally and completely satisfied with how my day was, even grateful for the day that it was. It started out with me sleeping through my alarm and missing meeting Megan at the gym. (Carter was up several times last night.) After changing Carter's forth diarrhea diaper this morning, I thought, "What a birthday." And, then I thought, "Yeah, actually, it is a great birthday." I started thinking about how wonderful my life is. I couldn't ask for more than a completely dedicated, loving, smart and handsome husband, two charming, hilarious and healthy boys who make me smile several times a day. I have a wonderful house, wonderful neighbors and friends and extended family. (thanks for all the cards, calls and emails!) I am healthy, happy and at peace with how my life is and really, what more could a girl want? I am so blessed and can honestly say, I think this is the happiest birthday I have ever had.

Pictures from dinner, although the bottom one is really a more realistic picture of what it is like having dinner with a our 2 kiddoes (except Bridger is actually sitting down and Carter hasn't spilled everything yet)

My Faves

Life is so great with a two-year-old. There are never ending humorous lines, and it is fun for me to hear him echo a few lines that he hears around this house. Here are a few from the last little while:

• "Carter! Go see your mom!"
• "Mom, after breakfast can we go to Mexico?" ( I have NO clue where that randomness came from)
• After getting in the car, " It's hotsy motsy in here!"
• "Carter is Poopy Scoopy!"
• "I don't want anything grosso for dinner."
• "Hey, I'm stinky. Can I have a bath?"
• And very matter-of-factly: "Carter, Let me see your owie. I'm a doctor."
• Last week when we had a friend over to play, he threw a toy train. Bridger went up to him and said very softly, "Soren. This is a nice train. We need to be kind to it and not throw it. Please obey."
  
• "Mom, I don't need to go to bed cause I don't need more neregy" (energy)
  
• " I want a hangaguber wiff french fries."
  

Other Faves:

• It is fall. I love fall. It feels like football weather (and I don't even love football) but that's it feels like and it should. It is wonderful.

• Ben is finally done with first interviews. He has been gone a lot, I am glad he will be home for at least a few weeks. We are still trying to decide where to do second interviews. One of the problems is Ben really liked everywhere he went, (except one) and of course, they all liked him too. We are doing lots of praying.

• We celebrated Rosh Hashanah with our neighbors. It is the first time I have ever celebrated a Jewish holdiay. It was fun to be with them. We love our neighbors. Thanks, Gepners!

We Caught the Bear Lake Monster

If you have been following our blog, you would remember that 6 weeks ago we were at Bear Lake on vacation.

There is a rumor of a monster in Bear Lake. There is even a plaque at one of the beaches that tells the story of it. In the story, it also tells the monster's name, "Isabella."

Well, unknown to us, until recently, Carter caught the Bear Lake Monster while we were there and has been trying to poop it out since then.

Yep, that's right. The real name of the Bear Lake monster is

GIARDIA!!!

Don't worry, I will spare you the disgusting, vile, nasty, foul and gut wrenching details of his diapers/blow-outs that we change several times a day and just say:

He has had diarrhea.

At first, we thought that it was from his hand-foot and mouth disease, then thought that he was lactose intolerant and took dairy products out of his diet. After starting probiotics, a week on rice milk and over a week on soy milk and still nasty diapers and cranky baby, we knew something more must be wrong. So after the 6 stool samples results came back, BINGO! Giardia it is.

Poor little guy. The medicine to cure it is really nasty too. Bridger has been having similar symptoms to Carter, not as severe, but we are treating him as well.

It's nice to know that it will all come to an end soon!

Our Job Choices

I wanted to give everyone the chance to weigh in on our upcoming job selection. So I(Ben) created a poll for you to participate in to help us decide. We are finding that we could see ourselves in any of these places. So, please vote, and if you want, vote often. (see sidebar to place vote)

This is St. Luke's Children's Hospital in Boise Idaho. I have yet to go to the first interview (coming up in two weeks). It is an intriguing place because I would be the first and only pediatric Pulmonologist there. Which means that I would be on call all the time. But on the flip side I could do things exactly the way I wanted. We have some great friends in Boise who love it there. This is Sanford Children's Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is a beautiful hospital that opened less than a year ago. Thanks to Denny Sanford who donated $400 million to their hospital system, they are the best funded Pediatric department I have ever seen, a big positive, and the other pulmonologist there is a great person. The down side is trying to talk Mona into living in South Dakota (the weather is about the same as Wisconsin - COLD).

Sacred Heart Children's Hospital in Spokane, Washington. The picture does not give it justice, it is a very nice hospital. The upsides: a good sized city that is close to home (as in close enough that we could drive occasionally), and there is one other pulmonologist that is very nice. Also I could do all of the bronchoscopy procedures, which I love. The downside is that with only one other partner, call is every other day.

Primary Children's Medical Center, in Salt Lake City ,Utah. What can I say, it is close to family and a nice hospital.

Monroe Carroll Children's - Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee. This hospital is probably the nicest children's hospital I have ever seen. Vanderbilt is a fantastic university and Nashville is great town. The weather is between Austin,Texas and Madison, Wisconsin. And the only other Mormon pediatric pulmonologist that I know of is here, and he is really cool.

Dell Children's Medical Center, Austin, Texas. I put this in the poll because I am still hopeful that a position will open up that we could look at. We loved Austin and would strongly consider moving back there if we had the chance.

The real question is: If we moved to one of these places would you come and visit us?

Thanks for voting!

AND... He walks!

Carter Cole is finally walking at 13 months old. He has done lots of little steps until we applaude him...then he crawls. Tonight, he became better at walking with an audience and I finally got it on tape. Here it is:

Gone and back again

This last weekend Ben and I left ALONE ---

just the 2 of us--

for the first time---

EVER---

without our kiddoes-

for 4 whole days!

I did not cry, (at least not openly)

The kids DID cry (for only 20 seconds) and then had a

fantastic time and tons of fun with

the best nanny ever (thanks a million, Val).

I think they basically lived at the park while we were gone.

We had a wonderful time in Spokane, Washington for Ben's 4th interview. His interview went very well. I met with the nurse manager of Labor and Delivery and would absolutely LOVE to work in their women's center

(It was the nicest I have EVER seen. It made me want to throw on scrubs immediately and start an IV... I kept telling myself.... "remember... we are looking for a job for BEN." But, Oh, it was beautiful and made miss me being an L&D nurse so much. )

Anyway, we stayed in a posh hotel, we explored lots of the city, met great people, had some great food
and tried to imagine ourselves living there.

These are Spokane Falls that flow right through downtown.

They were beautiful and the water was SO CLEAN.

This is Coeur d'Alene, ID. Also very beautiful.

It is about 30 minutes to the east and a cool place to see.

By the end of 4 days, we were eager to return. When we got home, Bridger was very excited ( I guess they had been playing "airplane to Spokane" several times throughout the 4 days) Carter would not even look at me or let me hold him for a LONG time. And of course, now they miss Aunt Val and ask where she is several times a day.

FYI Interview update: They have all gone really well. Ben has one more first interview to do and then decide where he will do his second interviews (they have all offered him second interviews... so we get to choose. And it is going to be hard to narrow it down.)