Red Badge of Courage

I'm a radiology resident. Fascinating field, but not for me. I'm currently making a career switch but my program director will employ me until June 30th, 2014 so I can still take bread home to Beth and bacon home to Anna. My co-workers have been congenial with the switch. Radiology residency is probably the most academic medicine specialty. It requires hours of reading outside work and hours of teaching from our professor physicians, while we are on the job. Though they know I'm leaving, these professors/attendings have continued to educate me with no strings attached. And my peers have treated me more than fair as a turncoat.

What I want to put out there is how hard the second-year radiology resident works. In fact, from my observations in medicine and radiology I've seen no other specialty with a more difficulty call load. You have to simultaneously manage a pager, exam reads from an ever-expanding exam list, attending read-outs (when you review your findings with a more experiences physician), questions from any service who walks in the door, patient consents, exam protocol questions from techs, a full bladder, an empty stomach, and sometimes a headache. And it's this juggle for 12 straight hours (day or night). You could be sitting next to a second-year, as I am now, and have literally only seconds to say "hello," in the space of three hours.

I happened to get beyond "hello" and even asked my senior if he was going to go out tonight or hit the hay.

"I always go out," he said, before answering the phone.

I left the conversation at that...

But I'm impressed. I'm walking away from the rigors of second-year call to go back and spend more time with patients. I won't have the nefarious call duties of the second-year radiology resident. I won't have experiences to reinforce my intestinal fortitude. I won't have my radiology red badge of courage.

Fun With Cousins (and aunts and uncles and grandparents)

 

We did a trip to Newport Beach with my (Anna's) family last week and had SO much fun! Beth had a blast playing on the beach with cousins, but that wasn't all she did. We also...

 

got pedicures with all the girls,

 (I wish I could get a good picture of her toenails. They are the cutest neon pink! And I wish I could have filmed her getting them done--she just sat there like a little princess. What a woman!)

 

 practiced tummy time with Baby Caleb and Andrew,

 

rode the ferry with Pops,

 

goofed off with Lucy,

 

goofed off with Aunt Melba, too,

 

played in the sand with Grannie,

and SO many other fun things that I didn't get pictures of. Everyone was so cute with her! Some of her cousins were even accused of having crushes on her because they were always wanting to play with her. Now that we're home, I think she's a little lonely!

So thanks to everybody for being so fun and sweet! Can't wait to play again soon!

Beach Bum

 

Yet another Beth loves: THE BEACH! We took a trip to Newport Beach and had a great time. I was nervous about how she would react to the sand, the waves, the water, the sun, etc. But she seemed to love it all! She would squeal and screech in the waves, sing as we walked on the beach, and stuff her mouth with sand whenever possible (aka Mom wasn't looking). 

 

 

 

 

Yet again, she seems to be a girl after my own heart!

 

 

 

For a girl who detests her car seat, being stuck 45 minutes in a traffic jam was the best thing that ever happened on a road trip! She had SUCH a great time pretending to drive, playing with mom and dad, crawling over the seats, and even charming some of the other drivers stuck in the jam.

 

And, of course, she made it quite a bit more fun for mom and dad, too :) 

Thanks Beth!

Cherries!

 

Look at that delicious face!...and delicious hands and arms and legs and neck and bib and chair...I gave Beth some Cherries and she went to town rubbing them everywhere. Two days later, I was still finding pieces of them behind her ears and in her neck. But she had a great time...what else matters?!

(Although, her diaper that night was a sorry experience. I'll save that story for only the strong-stomached!)

FAVORITE HANG OUT SPOT

 

Lately, Beth LOVES hanging out in sinks! She especially loves the bathroom sink with all the cool "toys" around it (toothbrushes, combs, soap, etc.).  Will y'all think I'm a terrible mom if I tell you she probably spends about an hour each day hanging out in one sink or another?

 

Hey, at least she's happy!

PLAYING IN THE RAIN

Beth was introduced to monsoons a few weeks ago: as we came out of the grocery store, a huge downpour started. Just between the door of the store and our car, we were completely drenched. So I decided to take advantage. We spent the next 1/2 hour splashing in puddles and dancing in the rain. Beth was really cute--cooing and holding her hands out to catch the rain.

  

 When it comes to rain, she's a girl after my own heart :)

Beth on Video

Beth had her first "solid" meal this week: Rice cereal. MmmmHmmmm! She LOVED it! Her only complaint was that Mom and Dad couldn't keep it coming fast enough. We finally started using two spoons to try and speed things along. Still, she wanted it faster!

We also caught her as she was fighting against sleep. It reminds me of my Geography days....

 

 This one is from a few weeks ago when she was really discovering her voice:

 

This one is cute because babies doing tummy-time are always cute. But wait for her cough at the end--she is SUCH a girl, a dainty girl!

And finally, this one is of her laughing. I just love her laugh! I find myself doing the most ridiculous things all day everyday, just trying to get her to laugh! Someday I'll have to thank her for humoring me so often :)

 

Social Butterfly! ...and picture dump

 

Already May! I can't believe it! We've had such a fun couple months. I swore I would be better about taking pictures once I had a baby, but I'm still struggling! So, I don't have pictures of all the fun things we did, but I'll post what I do have. (Warning...this will probably be a LONG post since I haven't posted in so long!)

First, we had a fun visit from Nana and Opa (Spencer's parents) the beginning of March, and another one from Nana beginning of April. They spoiled us with good food, fun games, great conversation, and--of course--tons of love on Beth. We love it when they visit!

 

 

Then, in the middle of March, Beth and I took a trip to Utah. I can't begin to say how fun it was to introduce Beth to family and friends!

  

Beth got to meet her newest cousin, Caleb (2 weeks here). It was the first time Beth ever looked big or coordinated to me...it's all very relative.

  

  

  

 

 

She also got to hang out with lots of other cousins. They were all so sweet with her! She is going to have SO much fun at family reunions! These are pictures of Mini, Lucy, Aunt Lindsay, Emmy and Mini, and Matthew (again, I'm sorry I didn't get pictures of all her cute cousins that she met! I promise we love you all!)

 

We also hung out with a bunch of my friends from high school, many of whom have had babies in the last year. It was really fun to sit around chatting with them again. Things seemed so much the same except instead of talking about the next dance and the cutest boys, it was all about houses, babies, husbands, etc....like we're grown-ups or something!

  

Beth also had her first date with her future husband, Mack Richards. He is the son of one of my best friends, Amanda. We betrothed the 2 of them as soon as we found out Beth was a girl...I'm sure they won't mind :) It was really fun to see Baby Mack and Amanda.

 

We also had fun putting Mini's "Merida" wig on Beth. Quite the little model, no?

It was such a fun trip! Thanks to everyone who made time to hang out with us and make it such a fun trip! And thanks to Mom and Dad for making it possible!

 Then, in the middle of April, we took another trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, to visit my sister, Carrie, and her family. It was SO fun to see them! They spoiled Beth like you wouldn't believe with all kinds of cute gifts, hugs, kisses, a trip to the zoo, and so much sweet attention. Here she is with Katie, then with Abby and Alex.

 

 

Thanks for such a fun trip, Linscotts! We miss you already!  

(I have to put in a plug for Beth here. She was an amazing traveler on both these trips! She never really cried on any of the flights or waiting in the airports. She just smiled and charmed the attendants and other passengers. Traveling was actually more fun than ever with her!...though we'll see how I feel about it a year from now).

 

In between and since those trips, we've been enjoying beautiful Albuquerque with its great hiking, restaurants, walks, shops, and--of course--wonderful people. We'll really miss this place when we move next month!

 

And I've just been eating up every minute with this cute girl of mine! Her little personality is growing so much with all her giggles, "coo"s, shrieks, smiles, and funny faces. She is constantly making me laugh and smile. I just love her!!!

 

A BIG Weekend

The first weekend in February was a big weekend for Beth. Spencer blessed her (and did a wonderful job!). That was a wonderful experience where I felt, yet again, just how blessed we are to have her here and how happy I am to be her mom.

 The weekend also brought lots of other excitement...

Pops (Anna's dad) visited from Salt Lake.  He and Beth took some good naps together :) But, we also went on some adventures...

We rode the Sandia Tram (supposedly the longest tram in the US).

 

The views were gorgeous! Beth was such an angel, pretty much just sleeping the through it all. And I couldn't get enough of the fresh air and huge space, after a month of our comfortable but tiny apartment!

 

We also visited the beautiful Albuquerque temple.

 

Thanks Pops for making these outings possible! And for the babysitting, advice, laughs, walks, food, encouragement and everything else you gave while you were here!

Then, Nana and Opa (Spencer's parents) and Jake (Spencer's brother, fresh off his mission in Peru) visited, too.  

We took Beth out for her first restaurant experience.

  

She, like her mom, is especially fond of dessert!

  

Again, she was an angel! She slept through the whole dinner, letting the adults chat about everything from Peru to Downton Abbey :)

The actual blessing went really well, too. Beth was wide awake through it all, but didn't make a peep! She just stared around the circle, then charmed the congregation with her huge eyes.

 

The whole weekend was a dream come true for Spencer and me. Thank you to Pops and the Hansens for traveling and for making it so fun! (Thanks also to Grannie who would have been there if she hadn't caught a bug at the last minute--we missed you!) 

And thanks to Beth for making it happen!