Update on us!!

The last couple posts have been just pictures and our extended family keeps asking how we are doing here in Vermont. So here's a brief update about us:

ELI: Eli is really busy with school right now. He loves what he is studying and is doing well balancing his studying and family time. He leaves for school at 7:20am and comes home at 6:30pm. He spends the next 1.5-2 hours hanging out with Tan and I and then studies until 11. (I do dishes, clean the house, work on projects, etc. while he studies.)

At UVM, the students take one class at a time instead of multiple classes with multiple finals at the end of a semester. So he takes many "finals" throughout the semester, pretty much every 2-3 weeks. He loves being able to focus on one class for a while and be able to study it really well without having to divide his time (and brain power) between different classes and topics. It makes sense from a learning standpoint! He just finished his class called Attacks and Defenses and starts his Nutrition, Metabolism, and Gastrointestinal Systems section tomorrow. We love test days because he finishes around noon and then we get to play as a family that day. We don't look forward to tests, though, because he usually has them on Mondays/Tuesdays and has to study on Friday nights and all day Saturday. So he studies a lot but is learning A LOT!!! I can't believe how much he already knows. He is well on his way to becoming a fabulous doc!

Along with the class, he has time to practice clinical skills where he works with standardized patients. These are people who are paid to act as patients while the med students "practice" on them. Eli has his white coat ceremony this Friday and then will start going to actual medical practices to learn and utilize what he has learned in clinical skills. I'll post pictures of Doctor Morey next week sometime so everyone can see how awesome he looks in his doctor coat!

Between the 1st and 2nd year of medical school, the students have the summer off. They use it to do research, shadow doctors, go abroad, etc. Eli is involved in an organization called ITW which stands for Imaging the World. This is what the website says about it:

"Using a newly designed training process, local health providers learn to capture high quality ultrasound scans that are transmitted via the web to medical volunteers around the world. Within hours potentially lifesaving diagnoses are returned, offering never before available options for treatment. ITW’s integrated educational platform is essential in combating maternal health, trauma triage and many of the critical issues facing all developing countries."

The lady in charge of the organization is a faculty member at UVM and spoke to the students about the program in the fall. He immediately was drawn to the program because it combines radiology with public health - two things he loves. And they go to Africa which he thinks would be awesome. He met with the lady about getting involved and she wanted to involve him more than just as a volunteer during the summer in Africa with a group of med students. She needs someone with public health knowledge to write a document called an IRB, detailing the program and the benefits in the public health world. She learned that he has his masters in public health and needed someone to write this document. And there are other things that he can do to get involved more, I just don't really understand it all! Haha! He was surprised at the offer to get involved that much! He was hesitant at first because it would mean that he has to dedicate time to it now through the summer. That would mean that he would be even busier than just his normal "studying busyness." But, after thinking about it, he knew it would be worth it and has jumped right in! So from now until the summer, he is going to be writing the document and working with the team on logistics. Then he might go to Africa in the summer, for at least a month. I think it's the coolest opportunity and I'm really excited for him!! He gets to combine medicine with public health and medicine, and go somewhere super awesome. Tan, Kenz, and I will just go chill with my parents in Colorado, which we will all love. So everyone wins!

Anyways, here is a link to the organization for any of you that are interested (probably just his public health buddies!): http://imagingtheworld.org/.

SARA: I am almost 37 weeks pregnant so I'm at the end of this pregnancy!!! I have scheduled my C-section for March 2nd, a week before my due date, a mere 2.5 weeks away. YAAAAAAY!!!! I am SO excited to meet this little girl! When I was pregnant with Tan, I didn't want him to come until after his due date because I needed to keep teaching and finish all my lesson plans for my maternity leave. Now that I don't have to do something like that, I just want the baby to come now because I can't wait to hold her and kiss her little face.

The nesting instinct kicked in after Christmas break and all I want to do is clean the house, which is abnormal for me because I don't usually like to clean. Eli LOVES it because he loves a clean house! Another way my nesting instinct shows itself is in bow/ribbon making. For some reason, I dream about making bows and think about it all the time! It has really become an obsessive thing that I can only attribute to nesting because I don't usually have strong desires, especially during my dreams, to be crafty. But it's been fun to make cute fabric flower bows and little ribbons for Kenz. I feel like I'm 7 again and playing Barbie! I have found some awesome tutorials online for all kinds of different bows and flowers.

I feel a lot more uncomfortable with this pregnancy than with Tanner. Maybe that's because I have more time to actually think about it this time. First pregnancies seem to be much more exciting! I didn't really care how uncomfortable I was because it was all new and it all meant that I was getting a baby. I'm getting a baby this time as well, but now I just want the actual baby and not the pregnancy pain! Ha ha ha! Anyways, I'm at the end - Hooray! I'm also excited to not be nauseous anymore and not have to take a sleeping pill everyday for my nausea. That will be nice!

TAN: He is such a spunky, energetic, and fun little guy. I'm just amazed at how much he knows at the mere age of 2! They grow up SUPER fast - it's crazy! He loves to play at "Tanner's house" and really can entertain himself all day with his toys. He is pretty good at playing alone so I spend my days playing off and on with him while I get other things done (and relax my pregnant body on the couch). He LOVES to sing and definitely has inherited Eli and my love and ear for music! He can often sing on tune and he picks up words to songs very quickly. It's so fun to watch! And he uses everything as a microphone and knows that a microphone makes your voice louder. Ha ha ha! We have to talk often about beautiful singing, not screaming singing. He loves to play with "little guys" which can be anything from playmobil people to game pieces for a board game. He likes to use them for imaginary play and I love watching him learn how to pretend. I could go on and on and on about him and how stinkin' cute he is! He is my little sunshine and is Eli's besty bud. I'll really miss the time I've had with just him and am aware that life is never going to be the same again. So I am trying to make the most of my time with just my little Tanman.

Makenzie: I think that is how we have decided to spell her name. She loves to move and groove inside of me and I love every minute of it! Oh and her middle name is going to be Ella. It is a fusion of the two grandmas on my side: Eleanor (Ellie) and Stella. And Eli has a great grandma named Ella who was a great person.

WHEW, there's the update on us!