Everyday Stuff

After learning dental school and specialty lingo for 5 years, I've spent the most recent 2 years trying to catch up and learn medical school speak. For some reason, nothing similar has the same name. In dental school Billy took two big Dental Boards tests - part 1 and part 2. For medical school there are three big tests (USMLE) - step 1 and step 2 and step 3. The equivalent of Billy's dental "externships" that he did for OMS (oral surgery) are called "away rotations" in medical school. :) It's been a steep learning curve, but I am understanding my med school friends better when they discuss their specialties and what they are doing. (Just in time for Billy to go back to being a resident in September!) At least the Match (the program of applying and placement in specialties) seems to work the same. It's expensive and totally stressful. I can totally understand all of that. :)

Billy just paid and set the date for his step 2 test. It'll be in 6 weeks. Not a lot of time to study, but once again, he/we are not hoping for a perfect score. We're done with that. We just want him to pass. Hopefully he'll have sufficient time to study. What floors me are the prices of these tests. It's ridiculous. I'll admit I was happy we weren't having a baby this year because it cost us SO much in medical bills last year, but this one test (it has two parts) cost almost as much as baby Matthew. Crazy! Insane! Don't these people know we're in school?! Oh wait, they do. The licensing test (WREB) at the end of dental school was a ton, and this was even more.

Thank goodness we pay our tithing.

On a different note, even though we feel like our kids are still really young, it seems as though our family is going in different directions at the same time more often, so we decided to get Jacob a booster seat so it's easier to move kids between the two cars. Jacob is on cloud nine. He has used Emily's now and then to sit in the middle of the van next to Matthew when Emily's at school or to go with Daddy somewhere, but to have his very own, with very boy colors (orange and gray), just made his day. He even helped Daddy attach the arm rests.


And something else. I've been packing up baby toys and clothes today. Matthew loves to go play with the toys in Emily and Jacob's room, so I decided it was time to go through what we had in his! It's so weird to pack up our little glowworm that I remember my brother gave Emily for her first Christmas, or the leap frog table that Emily played with during our summer in Boston 5 years ago. Can't forget the cute little fishbowl that Jacob loved and had his first Valentine's Day. We've got so many memories of these toys being played with by all three of our kids. As I pulled out "new" toys for Matthew, I found the dancing Blue's Clues doll that Danna gave Emily and remembered how Grandpa Curtis hated that thing and hid it behind the couch while we lived with them. :) Jacob was having just as much fun as I was looking at the old toys and remembering them.

Now I'm off to work on a rainbow game for Emily's party. Then this afternoon we'll be making cupcakes to take to school tomorrow. She is so excited. (So is Jacob!)

It's great to have kids.