oh boy, oh boy!: T minus 3 days...

... until boards! That's why there haven't been any blog posts over the past month. My life has mostly consisted of studying, trying to convince myself to keep studying, and worrying about not studying when I'm not doing it. The pediatric boards are my final hurdle in this long road of becoming a bonafide pediatrician. Once I've passed them (fingers crossed!), I'll be set. Boards are a fairly intense 8 hour multiple choice computerized exam where you can be tested on anything and everything in pediatrics. Our program has a high pass rate overall, so I think I'll be ok, but it would sure be bad if I had to take them again. They're only offered once a year and it costs over $2000 to register! Plus, I'd have to do all this studying again because I'm sure not going to remember Laurence-Moon-Bardet-Biedl and Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome past Tuesday! (honestly not even sure that I can remember them now even though I studied them 10 minutes ago!)

Favorite study place #1 ... Publik Coffee

Main Library... it would be my favorite study place with this view, but you have to pay a bunch for parking :(

Another big happening recently was that I officially finished residency. My last day was 9/20 after making up three months of maternity leave. It was a pretty surreal feeling to walk in to the hospital for the last time to turn in my paperwork, badge, and pager. The staff in the GME office were very sweet and played Pomp & Circumstance for me and popped a confetti popper. I'm very thankful for all the wonderful people I worked with and everything that I learned, but I'm glad to claim my life back from the 80 hour work weeks and 28 hour overnight shifts.

My last day at my continuity clinic was 9/17. Coming to this place was my favorite part of residency!

South Main lobby

Lita, Emily, Lisa, Allison, and me... these lovely ladies are one of a kind and I'm really going to miss them!

My last day of residency was 9/20. I can't believe it's over.

Walking out the doors for the last time!

The boys are doing great and keep on getting more and more fun to hang out with. I can't believe they're almost one year old! Their birthday is in a week and a half, and I'm really glad it's after my board exam so that we can properly celebrate. They're both crawling like little champs now and are starting to copy things we do. It's fun to watch them learn games like "patty-cake" and "so big." I think "Brown Bear Brown Bear" is their favorite book currently. Their favorite toy is still probably the "fun on 5 sides" talking VTech cube; that one's been a hit for a long long time. They really like watching Nora the cat. She sometimes comes to sit by them in their play area which induces lots of squealing and then crawling after her all around the room. I think as soon as Nora figures out that they haven't quite attained the developmental milestones required to feed her dinner, she'll stop visiting. Jumping time in their bouncers and walks are two very important parts of the day that are repeated at least twice each. Their babbling is starting to sound more purposeful, and we're anxiously awaiting their first words. They like eating things they can pick up themselves the best, and we're working on getting better at sippy cups with straws. Food and mealtimes are overall very important in our house--definitely a dominant trait passed from father to sons. And we still wouldn't be surviving without my Mom. She continues to care for the boys, make our dinners, shop for our groceries, wash our dishes, wash our laundry, fold our laundry, feed our dogs, and the list goes on. Thank you so much, Mom!

Here's some snapshots of the last month: