So, you may be wondering why I'm writing about this subject since Stephen is not a first year resident yet. Well, the past couple of weeks he's been on his Asvanced Family Medicine rotation which is the only residency program here in Tallahassee, so instead of him working directly under a seasoned physician, he's working under residents who in turn answer to an attending.
Anyway, two things have been brought to my attention in the past couple weeks. Being on-call sucks and there are first-year residents who don't know squat. Those two things are really scary to me. First, being on-call for Stephen has been very frustrating to me in the past couple weeks because even though it's only be twice a week, it was scheduled very close together the first week which ended up running into this week. Like last week he was on call Thurs. and Sat. Oh, and for those of you who don't know, his on-call hours are 8am-8am. And even though his rotation may start at 8am he'll obviously get there early in case he needs to rounds, etc. and even though his shift ends the next morning at 8am, that doesn't mean he'll leave right at 8am due to a number of reasons. So, as I was saying, he was on-call Thurs and Sat. last week and then on-call again this week on Monday and will be on-call again tomorrow. Thankfully his on-call day on Monday was nice becaues things were slow and the resident he was with sent him home around lunch and he didn't have to be back until 5pm so he could do rounds on patients and check-in with the new attending that was coming on duty. And then came home around 10:00pm, instead of staying overnight. This was vastly different from his first week when he was working with a resident who, um...I don't know how to say this lightly, but, pretty much needs to be back in medical school, or maybe just not be a doctor at all. He is very disorganized in the sense that he doesn't know how to manage his time to get things done in a certain amount of time. He's also very unsure of himself. If he would fake some confidence, I'm sure it would help him immensely! Anyway, I just felt really bad for Stephen last week because he wasn't learning anything and at times was teaching himself!! There were a lot of slow times which he did nothing and Ella and I would come visit him.
So, my point in blogging about this is to vent my frustation in the facts that I've mentioned above because it's really scary to think that all doctors aren't on the same level and it's also scary to think that Stephen is going into surgery which requires a lot more time on-call and away from home in general the Family Medicine. And after this year, being on-call will definitely not be like this year in the sense that Ella and I can go visit him OR that he'll be able to come home if it's slow. It's also going to be real hard for me to keep my mouth shut when I hear about interns who just shouldn't be doctors or are just incompetent in their areas. I'm assuming that since surgery is so competitive it'll be a lot different than Family Medicine in little ol' Tallahassee, FL. But, then, if stereo-types are right, you get to deal with arrogant pricks in surgery residencies.
Wow, this has turned into a lot of rambling. I'm sorry for that. Just needed to vent.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Ella's 14 Month Update!
This past month has been a complete blur! I'm sure there will be many things that I forget to put in this update and it may seem like I'm jumping from one thing to another, but I seriously am just amazed at how time is flying by. It seems like Ella's 1st birthday was ages ago and I'm getting sad that we'll be leaving our new house before I know it!
So, as for Ella, since she has learned to walk she is a completely different child. She is very independent and seems like she's jumped to her terrible-two's at times in the sense that she has her moments when she purposely pushes your buttons to see how much she can get away with and then she doesn't hesitate to throw a fit if she doesn't get her way! But, even though we've had to deal with those issues, her spunk and smarts and newfound abilities far outweigh those few moments. She gets more fun every day and I enjoy being a mom more and more. And I enjoy all the new things we can do together now that she can walk...ok, I guess there's not really a lot of NEW things we can do together, it's just more adventurous all the way around now that I can let her walk on her own and just follow her. She's starting to run, but that's when she starts falling more. But, I'm sure she'll have that down soon and then the dogs will really have something to worry about!
Ella is also very much into eating! Not that she eats all the time, but when she does, she'll eat anything! And she only want to what daddy and I are eating if we're all eating at the same time. But, I'm very proud of her that she's more like me in the sense that she'll try anything at least once and has a good pallet for food. She likes everything I put on her plate...or I should say on her highchair tray. I have not yet felt ready to give her food on a plate or in a bowl because she still likes to throw things on the floor. So, right now she gets her sippy cup with her meals and likes to chuck that onto the floor when she's done drinking from it. That in itself is annoying, so I'm not ready to clean up after her when it comes to food being everywhere. She already gets it on the walls around her highchair!
Ella has started to try and put our shoes on her feet. She loves trying to wear our shoes, but hasn't mastered walking in them yet. I think Stephen's shoes will be to hard for for a while, but she'll get up in my sandals and walk a few steps, but then trips over them. She also likes to wear hats! Especially daddy's Harvard baseball cap. I need to get a picture of it and post it, it's so cute!
Ella is also very much ready to have full conversations with people...or anything that will listen (she tries to have conversations with our dogs, but they usually leave her before she's done talking)! She has mastered her first sentence: "Where did (fill in the blank) go?" This all started when Stephen and I would ask her where the other one of us would go if we would leave to use the restroom or something. She quickly caught and started asking us first. Now, she asks where the dogs went or where her ducky went. Granted, every word isn't clear, but you know exactly what she's trying to say. She's still obsessed with the word "baby" and every time we say something that starts with the letter 'b', she says "baby". She has also learned to say 'thank you'. She won't say it automatically when she should, but when you tell her to say it, she says it perfectly. But, 'you're welcome' seems to confuse her at the moment.
Also, since my last update, Ella finished swimming lessons and got her first certificate! We hang that proudly on the refrigerator. Unfortunately, soon after she finished her swimming lessons we were out of town and then she got sick and had a bilateral ear infection! So, yesterday was the first day swimming since her cold and I was worried that she might have forgotten some things that she learned, but she didn't. She was still as confident as ever and walked around that pool like she owned it! She still likes going under water and she and daddy jumped in the pool together a couple times. It's so funny to see people watching us and thinking we're crazy, which with most little ones, it probably would be a little much. But, Ella LOVES the water and she doesn't mind it at all. And as most people know, I could care less what other people think, especially other mothers (but that's another blog)!
So, as for Ella, since she has learned to walk she is a completely different child. She is very independent and seems like she's jumped to her terrible-two's at times in the sense that she has her moments when she purposely pushes your buttons to see how much she can get away with and then she doesn't hesitate to throw a fit if she doesn't get her way! But, even though we've had to deal with those issues, her spunk and smarts and newfound abilities far outweigh those few moments. She gets more fun every day and I enjoy being a mom more and more. And I enjoy all the new things we can do together now that she can walk...ok, I guess there's not really a lot of NEW things we can do together, it's just more adventurous all the way around now that I can let her walk on her own and just follow her. She's starting to run, but that's when she starts falling more. But, I'm sure she'll have that down soon and then the dogs will really have something to worry about!
Ella is also very much into eating! Not that she eats all the time, but when she does, she'll eat anything! And she only want to what daddy and I are eating if we're all eating at the same time. But, I'm very proud of her that she's more like me in the sense that she'll try anything at least once and has a good pallet for food. She likes everything I put on her plate...or I should say on her highchair tray. I have not yet felt ready to give her food on a plate or in a bowl because she still likes to throw things on the floor. So, right now she gets her sippy cup with her meals and likes to chuck that onto the floor when she's done drinking from it. That in itself is annoying, so I'm not ready to clean up after her when it comes to food being everywhere. She already gets it on the walls around her highchair!
Ella has started to try and put our shoes on her feet. She loves trying to wear our shoes, but hasn't mastered walking in them yet. I think Stephen's shoes will be to hard for for a while, but she'll get up in my sandals and walk a few steps, but then trips over them. She also likes to wear hats! Especially daddy's Harvard baseball cap. I need to get a picture of it and post it, it's so cute!
Ella is also very much ready to have full conversations with people...or anything that will listen (she tries to have conversations with our dogs, but they usually leave her before she's done talking)! She has mastered her first sentence: "Where did (fill in the blank) go?" This all started when Stephen and I would ask her where the other one of us would go if we would leave to use the restroom or something. She quickly caught and started asking us first. Now, she asks where the dogs went or where her ducky went. Granted, every word isn't clear, but you know exactly what she's trying to say. She's still obsessed with the word "baby" and every time we say something that starts with the letter 'b', she says "baby". She has also learned to say 'thank you'. She won't say it automatically when she should, but when you tell her to say it, she says it perfectly. But, 'you're welcome' seems to confuse her at the moment.
Also, since my last update, Ella finished swimming lessons and got her first certificate! We hang that proudly on the refrigerator. Unfortunately, soon after she finished her swimming lessons we were out of town and then she got sick and had a bilateral ear infection! So, yesterday was the first day swimming since her cold and I was worried that she might have forgotten some things that she learned, but she didn't. She was still as confident as ever and walked around that pool like she owned it! She still likes going under water and she and daddy jumped in the pool together a couple times. It's so funny to see people watching us and thinking we're crazy, which with most little ones, it probably would be a little much. But, Ella LOVES the water and she doesn't mind it at all. And as most people know, I could care less what other people think, especially other mothers (but that's another blog)!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
4th year
It's been a couple months since Stephen started his 4thg year of medical school and I could've sworn that people (including Stephen) told me that this was the easiest most laidback year of medical school! Silly me...things that are supposed to be easy and laidback never are when it comes to Stephen. The story now is that the first 6 months are the worst for us because of the way Stephen scheduled his rotations. So, he's been through ER, OB/GYN, and is now on his Advanced Family Medicine rotation. Tonight he is on-call at the hospital which means for 24 hours he's in-house (at TMH) waiting for something to happen. Even though he's on his Family Medicine rotation, he's working with a resident who is on his OB/GYN stint of Family Practice, so they're hanging out in L&D waiting for someone to give birth. I've been home all day dealing with Ella as she gets over a cold and bilateral ear infections. I did not mind being at home all day by myself, but it gets me wondering how things will be when it's constantly like this. Stephen intern year of general surgery will be like this all the time, most likely 7 days a week. It's scary, but at least I know that he'll be just down the road. Unfortunately, after these 4 weeks in Family Medicine he'll be leaving us for 7 weeks to do away rotations at UF and UNC-Chapel Hill. Of course Gainesville isn't far away and I'll be able to be there as much as I want, but I can't really see myself staying at my G'ma's for 3 weeks straight! And I have no clue what I'll do when he's in NC for 4 weeks! I don't know if I'm more worried about me or Ella. She'll take it really hard, too. Right now, having three dogs is a bear because I can't just follow Stephen around because I can't take them everywhere and I can't afford to board them that long either! This is my life. I'm trying to remember that it will pay off....someday.
It's In The Way She Walks
(Sorry this took me so long to post over here. I didn't realize I hadn't copied it from my other blog!)
Go figure...the day after I blogged Ella's 13 month update she started walking. I know I said in the update that she would take a few steps and then fall down and go back to crawling...well, she's taking more than a couple steps now and is definitely on her way to the next level - running. It's so funny osee her walk because her upper half wants to go faster than her legs can take her...
Ella's favorite place to walk is in front of our house on the sidewalk. I think she knows that other people can see her from their porches and she loves to show-off! A couple nights ago she had 3 houses of people outside watching her. She's definitely a ham.
As it is for all toddlers, this is a new adventure for Ella AND Stephen and I. We are very excited about all the new things that Ella can experience and also nervous about all the new things Ella can get into!
The picture I posted is of Ella right after a walk around the living room and into the hallway. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her actually walking, so I'll work on that post some later.
Go figure...the day after I blogged Ella's 13 month update she started walking. I know I said in the update that she would take a few steps and then fall down and go back to crawling...well, she's taking more than a couple steps now and is definitely on her way to the next level - running. It's so funny osee her walk because her upper half wants to go faster than her legs can take her...
Ella's favorite place to walk is in front of our house on the sidewalk. I think she knows that other people can see her from their porches and she loves to show-off! A couple nights ago she had 3 houses of people outside watching her. She's definitely a ham.
As it is for all toddlers, this is a new adventure for Ella AND Stephen and I. We are very excited about all the new things that Ella can experience and also nervous about all the new things Ella can get into!
The picture I posted is of Ella right after a walk around the living room and into the hallway. She wouldn't let me take a picture of her actually walking, so I'll work on that post some later.
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