Breakdown

As many of you know, Adam has been interviewing for residency programs recently. 

He wants to go into General Surgery, which is 5 years of grueling work hours and 5 years of no husband/dad for me and the kids. Below I have broken down the pros and cons of each place he has interviewed. Now these are mostly MY pros and cons because Adam is not very good at telling me what he really thinks about each of the programs, and I think he is just trying not to think about it much because it is so stressful. 

We don't have to decide until February-ish. I think I included everything I could think of.

Where Should the Smith's Live?

Detroit, Michigan

Pros:

• Beautiful (as in has trees, lakes, etc.)
• Nice Neighbor close to hospital = short commute and safe place to live
• Big City = lots to do
• Good surgery program
• LDS Temple near by

Cons:

• Detroit itself is dangerous and not a nice city
• Far away from family
• Terrible cold winters
• Surgery program has little to no international medicine training experience

Johnson City, Tennessee

Pros:

• Right next to the Smokey Mts. (we love the outdoors and I've always wanted to explore the smokies)
• Most Surgery residents are married w/families (VERY RARE!) oh and they all love it there
• Great mild weather = no freezing winters & garden growing in the summer
• Low cost of living = could buy a house w/large yard
• Decent Surgery program w/ good international medicine opportunities
• Good central location for visiting fun places in the east (Myrtle Beach, D.C. Nashville, etc)
• Crime is very low

Cons:

• Poor schools
• Small town = not as much to do
• LDS Temple 3 HOURS away. 
• Expensive to fly to = seeing family would be even harder; not even serviced by Southwest
• Far away from family

El Paso, Texas

Pros:

• Close to family (Only 6 hrs away from Adam's family in AZ, 10hrs from my sister in CO, cheaper to fly to for my family)
• Low cost of living
• LDS temple near by (in Mexico)
• No cold winters!
• National forests near by for me :)
• Good Surgery program - international medicine is not part of the program, but they have elective opportunities for international medicine
• Almost 1 week extra vacation time each year
• Despite high crime rate in Juarez (El Paso's sister city in Mexico) El Paso is a pretty safe place

Cons:

• Desert - this is pro for Adam, but not so much for me and since Adam will be at the hospital all day/every day he won't get much time to enjoy it.
• Poor Schools
• Good neighborhoods are on opposite side of town from hospital
• LDS temple is in Juarez (El Paso's sister city in Mexico) which happens to be the murder capital of the  world because it is the center of the drug turf wars that Mexico has been having over the last several years.

Crazy In Love

Shane is crazy in love with soccer. 

It probably helps that his best friend Brody is on the team too. 

Nothing's better than hanging out with your bestie twice a week doin' what you love. 

They even assist each other in scoring goals. 

Perfection.

Life has been a whirlwind lately. Soccer has been a great escape for all of us. 

You know, getting outdoors, running around, playing on the playground. 

It's like magic. Suddenly, we are all so much happier.

Makenzie hit an all-time high with tantrums over the last couple of months. 

The terrible 2s had NOTHING on this. 

If you know anything about Makenzie, that is saying something. 

I think I finally figured out how to deal with them.

It involves a lot of snuggling and patience, which I don't always have. 

Each day is getting better though.

I feel like a rockstar mom when my tricks work. Adam always gives me a smile and a high-five.

It's not a promotion or a raise, but I like it :) 

My patience level is not improved when I am waking up 2-4 times every night. 

It's not all for Tessa. My other kids just innately know when too push me farther.

Adam would help if any of the kids let him. They don't. 

Well, Tessa would if it were physically possible.

I don't envy Adam in this. I'd much rather be the dead tired one that all the kids want rather than the parent that makes the kids scream louder because you're not the RIGHT parent. 

I love him. He keeps trying anyway.

The last few days I've been a bit numb mentally. 

I can't bring myself to do much, but I go crazy when I don't do anything. 

I think part of it is my sleepless nights. 

I'm sure you can imagine what my house looks like.

While making dinner tonight, which only happened because Adam helped, I told the kids to stay out of the kitchen because they were being wild and I just couldn't handle wild at that moment.

Well, they listened and never stepped foot in the kitchen, but they'd get right in the doorway and chuck all their toys into the kitchen one at a time and run away laughing when I scowled at them.

Here's hoping all of us will soon get back to sleeping through the night.

Fortunately, even though we all get crabby with each other, we also make each other smile.

Raising kids is hard, but oh so beautiful. Like one of my favorite bloggers says, "brutiful". 

That is brutal and beautiful combined, in case you were wondering. 

I'll take the "brutiful" any day, because I'd be awfully lonely without my kids. 

That's all.

Little Miss Tessa

Always full of smiles and such a chatter box.

I've been reminded of a beautiful thing since Tessa was born: Babies don't whine. Sure, they cry for what they need, but they don't whine. Also, making babies laugh is the funnest thing in the world. Just a couple of reasons why hanging out with this girl during nap time is absolutely magical.

Kindergarten

Shane started Kindergarten this week!

He's tired, but loving it!

Sabbatical

Adam had the month of August off to study for his second medical school board exam. He desperately wanted to spend the month in his home state of Arizona. He says the sun and desert "recharge" him like the sun recharges Wall-e the robot, haha. With how hard he works at school everyday and how much I love his family, I couldn't say no. So we drove 35 hours to Arizona. The drive was AWEFUL, but the visit was super fun!

We played with cousins, swam in the pool, went hiking (sort of), had lady's night at the cheesecake factory, had a fun birthday celebration for Shane and other family members, and more.

We also blessed Tessa in Adam's parents ward. We've never had so many family members attend a blessing for one of our children before. It was pretty great! Even Adam's Uncle Lane and Aunt Pat were there. The dress Tessa wore was a dress that Adam's mom wore when she was a baby.

The clinical part of Adam's test was in LA. So we spent a couple of days there playing at the beach together. Our good friends Nicki & Nathan live in LA and let us stay at their place even though they were out of Town. Our view was spectacular! Thanks Nathan and Nicki! 

We had so much fun, but we are also happy to be home now. 

Now I just have to let my friends know I still exist, haha.

Tessa

Tessa Smith

June 14, 2013 7:42am

7lbs 15oz, 19.5in

Tessa is a dream boat. Of course I get emotional and stressed out over everything anyway, because that is just what I do, but she is wonderful. She isn't quite as calm as Shane was, but is much easier (so far) than Makenzie was. She isn't very consistent with anything, so I can't plan very well. However, I can't complain because she is a rock-star sleeper. She loves to stare into your face and listen to you talk. I can't believe I got so lucky!

The kids have been GREAT with Tessa, even Makenzie (shocker). They love to give her kisses, tell her everything is okay and try to get smiles from her. They love her! I ask them if they are glad Tessa has joined our family and after 2 months they still say yes.

Adam's mom was in town when I went into labor. She helped us so much and took such good care of us. We are so grateful for all that she has done for us! Thank you Julia!!

Life

 A lot has happened to our little family in the last few months. I've been terrible at updating, but that is kind of what happens when you are in survival mode :) Here goes:

May

I had a birthday

Shane finished preschool

And started T-ball (both he LOVED!)

June

Adam's mom came to visit (Thank you Julia!!)

Makenzie turned 3

Tessa was born (pictures of her next)

July

I finally finished my dreaded Advanced Writing class and now I'm free :)

AND...

...my kids are cute. Nuf said.

It's Always Fun When Grandpa Comes

Adam's dad came to visit! This was Barry's first time visiting, so it was definitely special. For three years he was serving a mission for our church down in Texas and couldn't travel. Now, his job has him traveling constantly; he is one busy guy. When he found out he had work in Cincinnati (only 3 hrs away) he called us up and said he was coming to see us! Sadly, we only got him for a day because he had more work in other states the next day. But the kids LOVED it anyway! Shane said one of his favorite things was being able to eat breakfast with Grandpa, haha! It's the little things that matter to him :) We obviously did more fun things. Thanks for coming Grandpa Smith!!

Cause I Think My Kids Are Cute

Here are random pictures from the fall and spring. Not that anyone (except grandparents) cares. But I think my kids are cute, sooooo....

Shane's first day of preschool; Shane helping Dad kill the yellow jacket nest in the yard; Fall fun

Fun w/Dad; roaring like a dragon; Easter lollipops; Adam trying to tow his smoker to a friends house (the wheel eventually fell off and they had to walk it the rest of the way)

Summer Lovin' Day 3

The weather is finally warming up! Hallelujah!

Summer Lovin' Day 2

In June, July and October we had my parents and Adam's mom come to visit. It was the first time my dad and mother in-law have been able to visit since we moved here almost 5 years ago, and the third time for my mom. When my dad came in June is when my camera started really acting up. I took a lot of really cute pictures of my dad and the kids and I lost almost all of them! I sporadically lost pictures every time I used the camera for the next few months, so by the time my mom came in October I had given up trying to take pictures. So, no pictures of my moms visit sadly.

The kids loved having Grandpa Curzon here. Grandpa took them out to fly Shane's kite for the first time, and Shane was in heaven. Grandpa also took them to the park, the play place and played on the floor with them with their toys. I quickly lost my status as the go to person for hand holding and snuggling :)

In July Grandma Smith came to visit. Grandma Smith had been serving a church mission in Texas for the last three years. While we had been able to visit them a few times, this was her first time be able to come to our house. We had lots of fun just hanging out, reading stories, and going to the Beach. Adam's dad has some ancestors that are buried up in Cleveland so I thought it would be fun to go up and look for the graves. We didn't end up finding them. (We think they are covered up with grass.) To make the long drive fun for the kids we hit up a beach on Lake Erie after we gave up on the graves. The kids LOVED it. The water was warm and shallow, and the sand was soft and fine.

Where We've Been (Again)

Well, this time my LONG hiatus from blogging has been due to more than just laziness. My camera is broken. Ok ok, technically it still works, but the problem often causes the pictures to become corrupt. When I take pictures I attach emotionally to them almost instantly. So the only way to not be continually devastated by lost pictures was to not take them at all. A little extreme, I know.

Anyway, in my recent walk down memory lane through picture files, I realized I have about 3 months of pictures I forgot to post. They are all from the summer and we are desperately missing the Sun around here right now. We Smiths apparently don't like being cold (no I'm not a desert lover like Adam, but I did grow up in a very mild climate). We can handle it for a little while, but the extra cold days we've had in The Ohio this winter are really pushing our tolerance threshold. So I thought I'd post 3 days of "summer lovin' " just to renew our hope that winter will eventually end.

A little update first:
Adam - Is finishing up his 3rd year of Medical School. He is still holding on to his job, which as you can imagine makes him a VERY busy person. He has to decide in the next few months or so what area of medicine he wants to pursue. He is heavily leaning towards general surgery, however hesitates to fully commit to that decision because of the intense time commitment it requires, and therefore family time it takes away. His second option is pediatrics.

Shane - Is finishing up pre-school and thoroughly enjoying it. However, he is SUPER excited for kindergarten and tells me often how hard he is going to work so he can be smart like daddy. Course when we tell him he'll be in school for AT LEAST another 13 years, he thinks we are crazy and says no way. :) Current interests include: super hero action figures, super hero books, super hero movies, super hero clothes,  etc., etc., music and snuggling. (I guess I need to work on variety in our house).

Makenzie - Wishes she could go to school with Shane everyday. Talks like a 4yr old, but struggles sometimes to understand what is coming out of her own mouth. (Sometimes I feel like she's a pre-teen already.) Likes to do things her own unique way and stubbornly holds her ground. She flips from happy to life-ending sadness and back again with the flip of a switch. Whenever something bad happens she apparently just can NOT go on. Fortunately, you can flip that switch right back by simply offering to read to her (as long as you let HER pick out the books). When she is happy, boy-howdy is she happy and the most fun, cutest gal to be around! Current interests: Anything Shane is doing (as usual), Dora, princess dolls, baby dolls, or pretending anything else is crying/needs a nap/diaper change, oh and not eating hardly anything.

Me - Trying desperately hard to FINALLY finish my undergraduate degree. While trying to take care of two kids also, that makes me a pretty busy person as well, but mostly tired, stressed, frazzled and rarely getting out of our pajamas (people at Shane's school are starting to comment on how Makenzie always accompanies me in her pjs; so shoot me.) I should be done by the time Baby #3 comes along in June; just in time for some much needed rest that I won't be getting :) Current interests: (not that I have time for them) upgrading my house from what Adam calls a "state of emergency" to a comfortable, livable abode, eating cheese cake, genealogy.


Summer Lovin' Pictures (Day 1): Birthdays
In June Makenzie turned 2. She is now soon to be 3. In some ways she has changed a lot and in other ways not even one tiddlywink.

She can definitely put on the charm.

But don't expect it to come without a tantrum :)

In true Makenzie fashion, she always does things just a little differently. 

(That quality is both incredibly endearing and a bit annoying)  :) Love her.

(Yes we wrapped her presents with Christmas paper. She didn't notice.)

 In August Shane turned 4. He has his own way of doing things too, but I'm never surprised by him. Maybe its because I just "get" him. He's definitely my mama's boy (at least for now). He requested strawberry cupcakes for his birthday (after my own heart).

Day 2 to come: Pictures from summer visits from family