It's been almost 5 months since my last update, so my guilt has finally motivated me enough to get another one written. I got so used to writing about our moving and traveling adventures that it is difficult to just write about everyday stuff now that residency is keeping us in one place!Back in July, Paul was fortunate enough to only have to work one shift over 4th of July weekend. We decided to go up to my parent's place on Mille Lacs Lake (where I spent my summers growing up). It was little surreal being able to do the things with my own kids that I did as a kid on the same lake that I did them (fishing, tubing & skiing, playing on the lake shore, etc). And there is nothing that makes me still feel young more than doing active things that require some physical skill (such as water skiing). Unfortunately I only caught one fish, but I guess that's better than getting skunked! We were also able to go to my parent's other house in South Haven a couple weeks after that. The fishing was much better there (I love fishing on small lakes), and we also got to enjoy their pool one last time before they give that house back to the lender. Some other things that kept me busy in July (while Paul worked) was a reunion for my dad's side of the family that I haven't been able to go to since I moved out of state, and also a garage sale at my sister's house (which actually motivated me to have a sale of my own the following month).
In August, Paul was on a very busy rotation (probably the busiest of the year), and so I decided to drive down to Iowa City (where Paul went to medical school) and visit a friend of mine whose husband was out of town for a few days. It was definitely interesting having 2 moms and 5 kids in the house for 3 straight days, but it was so nice to be able to catch up with her and some other friends that we invited over for a playdate one of the days. We also headed back to Paul's parents' farm for the annual slip and slide gathering. The weather was a little cool to be playing in hose temp water, but I did suck it up enough to take my first trip down the slide EVER (it helped that I wasn't either pregnant or newly post-partum this time). Kade was also old enough this year to really enjoy going down by himself so that made it extra fun.
In September, the miracle of all miracles happened and Paul got another holiday weekend off from residency (without us even requesting any of the days off). So we decided to head back up to my parent's house on Mille Lacs Lake to help them get the boat and dock in for the season. The following weekend Paul had a work conference in Alexandria that families were invited to so I packed up the kids and headed two hours west. On the way I picked up my 9 year old nephew to help entertain my kids while Paul was in seminars all weekend. It worked out great because he had a blast at the indoor waterpark and Kade had someone besides his sister to play with all day. Only bad part was that the chemicals from the waterpark flared up Kade's asthma so he had a couple miserable nights of coughing because of it. Then the last weekend of September my cousin got married up in Grand Rapids, MN, and so we headed up there to help her celebrate her big day. We decided to give the kids a very special treat by letting them stay up WAY past their bedtime for the wedding dance. They had so much fun dancing and watching the DJ lights swirl around the room.
In October we were finally able to start a couple's small group through our church. We had been wanting to do it all summer, but it just wasn't possible because of how our church organizes small groups. We've been meeting for 8 weeks now and are getting to know the other couples in the group more and more each week. It will take time to feel as close to them as we have with our past small groups, but we're up for the challenge! We're not big fans of Halloween, but the kids did dress up for a little party that Kade's chiropractor had on 10/30. On Halloween, we went to the Saturday afternoon service at our church and then took the kids trick or treating to four of our neighbor's houses before heading home and trading the kids' candy for raisins after dinner (which they were psyched about because they love raisins)!
Last week Paul had one of his two weeks of vacation this year and so our friends from Phoenix flew in and stayed with us for three nights. Then he took off up north to go hunting for three days while I stayed here with the kids. Unfortunately he didn't end up getting a deer, but at least he had a few days to himself to enjoy the outdoors, get in some free reading, and catch up on sleep. This Friday is Kade's 4th birthday, and Paul's parents are coming up to help us celebrate. It is so nice for both of our parents to be able to just come for a day or two rather than having to plan a big trip in order to see us. My parents did head south for the winter in September though, so the kids won't get to see them again until the spring. Fortunately we did get the webcam to work good enough for them to at least be able to say hi every now and then. My sister and her family are coming for Thanksgiving (we will have a Thanksgiving brunch instead of dinner since Paul has to work that night), and then I will have the daunting task of trying to buy a new tv on black friday. Not really looking forward to that, but finding a great deal the day after Thanksgiving is the only way I could justify spending money on new electronics right now.
Although the weather was wonderfully mild and I thoroughly enjoyed the my first MN summer in 6 years, the first few months here were a little rough on me and the kids socially. Paul met people right away at work, but I had forgotten about how things just kind of shut down for three months while everyone enjoys summer vacation. It was really hard to meet people and try to find friends for the kids when everyone seemed to be wrapped up in their own summer plans. But once September rolled around I started attending two mom's groups and found several moms in my area to have playdates with. I also started a resident spouses' group to help us resident 'widows' support and get to know each other in these challenging years of residency. The kids are also absolutely loving the basement gym and play area, which makes the colder days much more bearable (especially since we got our first snowfall on October 11th!!!
Paul is absolutely loving residency. Although frustrated daily by how poorly his patients take care of themselves, he is so happy to finally be doing what he loves. Because we prepared ourselves for the absolute worst, his schedule is not turning out to be as bad as we expected. Even with how much our kids sleep, he is able to see them for at least an hour or two most days. He doesn't get to sleep, workout, or do as many extra-curricular activities as he'd like, but it certainly could be a lot worse.
For those who don't already know, I finally gave in to CrossFit (*gasp*)! I don't do it nearly as intensely as Paul and I am not even close to being obsessed with it, but I do really like the programming aspect of it (especially how short the workouts are). I had originally planned to just try it for a month, but 6 weeks later I am still going strong. I'm pairing it up with yoga so I feel like I'm getting a good balance between strength, balance, and flexibility. It feels so good to be working out consistently again and to finally feel strong again for the first time since I had Kade.
I think I better go ahead and end here, since half of you probably stopped reading several paragraphs ago! My Thanksgiving resolution (since I'm not a big fan of New Year's resolutions) is going to be to start blogging more so that my updates are shorter and more often, with pictures to go along with them.
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