A Year for the Books

Hi y'all!!!  I've been a big slacker with blog post lately but between my broken computer screen and Daniel's itty bitty computer who's keys are so small I'm constantly misspelling words.... it takes a lot of time to muster up the patience to write. :) 
All is great here. I'm all healed physically (other than my nasty scar and some occasional aches and pains) and emotionally I'm doing well too. I've been dealing with a little bit of anxiety over some things but overall I'm doing well.
So this post is going back to the roots of this blog. I started this blog as a way to keep distant friends and family up to date, but more importantly to act as an online "memory book" for our little family . With that said, 2013 was a huge, just unbelievably huge, year for us..... so for memories sake, I'm going to go through a little review of everything 2013 held for us!

January/February 2013
* Daniel finished up interviews for residency and we worked together to make his final rank list. Then the waiting and waiting started...

Daniel's "oh crap I'm submitting my rank list" face

March 2013
* Match Day came! We found out that we'd soon be spending the next five years twelve hours away from family in Mobile, Alabama!

How we made the announcement to friends

How Daniels school did the revealing of where he matched

Family pictures done in South Alabama shirts for our change of address cards.

April 2013
* I lost my Mimi. Not my grandmother by birth but in my heart she was. She was the last grandparent I had so it was a rough loss and I think of her a lot

* Daniel and I ventured to Mobile in a three day spree to find a house. Found one, signed papers, had inspection done, and it was ours in record time!

Daniel's "oh crap we just bought a house" face.

May 2013
* We moved to Alabama!

* We watched via Internet as a record tornado weaved it's way in and out of our family's homes in Moore, Oklahoma. Only blocks from several family members houses. It was hours before we knew everyone was safe and sound. Being 12 hours away during such a traumatic event for your home town sure makes you feel helpless.

*

*Daniel graduated med school!  After lots of hard work he officially was able to sign M.D. after his name and became "Dr. Daddy"

June 2013
*We had a month off as a family so enjoyed exploring our new house and city.

 *We also found a church that we fell in love with and started calling our own. This church has been such a blessing of knowledge and relationships for us.

July 2012
* Daniel started his 80 hour work weeks as a resident. Tired.... but loving every minute of it.
* Dax and I started our own traditions...... like going out for donuts on holidays that daddy works

Fourth of July while daddy worked

* I started a new "job".  I was blessed to have a childcare job fall into my lap. I began watching a sweet little toddler girl in my own home, allowing me the opportunity to be at home and take care of things there, while also spending time with my little boy and doing a little bit of my teaching that I love.

* Daniel and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary!

The picture on the left was our first picture together 12 years ago... we were 14 years old

August 2013
* Daxton turned 3!! Daniel got his first week of vacation time at the end of the month so we went back to Oklahoma and celebrated Daxton's third birthday with a wonderful Super Why themed party!

September 2013
* Daniel started his first month of nights... .and looked like this most of the time...

 * After our year long battle with secondary infertility, we were able to conceive.  Only for that pregnancy to end up being ectopic. It ruptured and that started a very long 6 week process of recovery (There is a collection of 7 post referring back to that ordeal if you need more info). I feel so very thankful to be alive.... and thankful for that angel baby.

Added a tiny angel wing to my mothers necklace.

October 2013
* October went fast. I was busy recovering so didn't get out much.... but we did make time for Halloween of course :)

* I also took part in my first Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day in honor of our little angel baby.

November 2013
* We spent the holidays away from family, but with friends this year. We took full advantage of Skype

December 2013
* Our first Christmas in our own home.... 12 hours away from family. It was very different.... but we really enjoyed starting our own traditions..... like a Christmas Eve picnic in the living room while watching Christmas movies

Seriously.... what an insane year it's been for us. So many first and so many starts of something new. Here's to looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us.... and praying it's just a tad bit calmer :)

Medical Mondays: A little moving advice

First off... it's Medical Monday!! 

If your a friend or family member, Medical Mondays is a blog hop for anyone associated with the medical field whatsoever. It's a great way to connect with other women who are going through or have gone through life as a medical spouse (because I truly feel like there's no way for anyone to understand what life during training is like unless you're married into medicine or the military).

And for visitors from the blog hop.... welcome!! A quick introduction.... I'm Kandice, started dating my now husband at the age of 14, got married in undergrad, had our son at the beginning of MS2, moved 2 hours away from family for MS3 & MS4, and just recently found out that we matched for General Surgery in Mobile, AL. Other than medicine.... I have a degree in Early Childhood Education but am currently staying home with our little boy, I love crafting & photography & the outdoors... now if only I had more time for all that :)

Now on to the good stuff! Sorry I've been a little MIA... but as you can imagine life has been crazy as fourth year comes to an end.  Two huge things that are a big part of our life right now is preparing to buy our first home and preparing Dax for the big move.... and I would lovvve your input on both of those things!

This time next week we'll be in the midst of our 12 hour drive to Mobile to spend a few days looking at houses and hopefully putting an offer in on one. We have a narrowed down list and our realtor also has some she'd like to show us. We've been renters up until this point so this is a whole new world for us! And frankly... only having 2-3 days to look at houses in person makes me pretty nervous! So.... for you ladies that have bought houses.... what did you do to make it more successful... AND, what are some things we should make sure to look at/check before committing to a house?

And the second thing I would love your input on is preparing our 2 1/2 year old for the move. We have a map and have showing him and talking to him about "our new home"(check out a precious video of that here). We've also tried to include him in the packing. I've been letting him help me pack boxes and tape them shut. And I also bought 3 new books for him... Boomer's Big Day, Melanie Mouses Moving Day, and Berenstain Bears' Moving Day. We've been reading these at least once a day (initiated by him) and make connections between what's happening in the book and what we're doing. We're also redoing his room at the new house so we've been showing him all the things for his new room... and that seems to be helping get him excited for it. He asked me at snack time the other day, "We have a new snack at our new home?" Not surprised that his main focus is on what he's going to get to eat there :)    Again for you medical moms (and any other moms for that matter) that have gone through a big move with your little one.... what did you do to help prepare your little one?

And to end the post.... here's a little cuteness to brighten your day!

PS.... I just got set up with Bloglovin' so follow me there!
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Rollercoaster

Well tomorrows the day.

Tomorrow, the madness of our world completely changing will start and we'll start endlessly researching and thinking about the new town we'll be spending the next 5 years in.

I go into tomorrow with just a roller coaster of emotions building up inside me. I'm excited for this next chapter. I'm proud of Daniel for reaching his dreams. I'm eager to begin planning. I'm happy to try something new.
But I think the emotions that are taking over the most here lately (up until this point I've been really excited... I guess maybe it's just becoming more real) are those of fear, anxiety, and sadness.  I am terrified of starting over somewhere I know nothing about. I'm anxious about moving somewhere I don't know a single soul. And I'm extremely sad to be so far away from my family.

But I know this is all just part of the journey. Only a small segment of what our life holds. And I know we will grow so much as individuals and as a family through this experience. We can do anything for 5 years.

Maybe after tomorrow I'll feel better. Maybe it's just the unknown right now that's freaking me out.

But whatever it is I know we're going to be just fine. This is just part of the journey.

"Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing."  James 1: 2-8   (This verse. Wow.)

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:6-8

"If" Day!

So how's your Monday been going?

Oh until 11:00 am ours was not so hot. Hubby slept very little... and I had a stomach full of butterflies.

But then 11:00am came and boy how quickly our Monday changed...

Daniel matched!!! Woohoo! All of his hard work over the past 4 years and money spent on interview season paid off. He officially gets to do what he loves (be a surgeon) for the rest of his life and he has a job come July 1st!

After being swept off my feet and spun in circles... we celebrated with a toast of champagne and then headed out for a celebratory lunch!

At lunch I asked him how he was feeling.... "I feel like I'm on cloud 19"

What a wonderful day. I couldn't be more proud of my husband.

Now only 4 more days of waiting to see where we matched at (again... cruel and unusual punishment... why not just tell us now?).

Just keep swimming...

Well hello friends! It's been awhile.... Between being a single momma while Daniel was on his rural rotation for the month and a computer screen that has week long stints where it only works if you hold pressure to it in certain spots (don't get me started) I either haven't had the energy to post or didn't really care to type a blog post using only one had while the other holds the screen.

 Well the biggest news right now in our life is that rank list are turned in and official! Daniel has actually had his in for a few weeks now and nothing changed but just the word "official" makes it so much more real. And knowing that where we'll spend the next five years is figured out somewhere in the virtual world already is just torture. I mean seriously... why do we have to wait 3 weeks for a computer to tell us where we're going. This.is.torture.

 To keep ourselves busy we've been looking at houses. I seriously love this job.... just wish I knew for sure where to be looking. I've browsed our top 5 cities to have an idea of what we would be working with.... but we've looked a little harder in two specific cities... one of which I'm really hoping for and one of which Daniel just has a "feeling" about (and I sort of do to).
We've also started packing a little. I have a wonderful, amazing support group on Facebook of over 800 women who have gone through or are currently going through the process of being married to medicine (they also have a blog too). They gave me tons of wonderful advice on things to do between now and match day to keep myself busy/give us a heads up on the bajillion things that will have to get done between March 15th and the beginning of June.

17 days until we find out..... eek!

In other medicine related news.... you know your life has been taken over by medicine when you have dreams that your husband got to help do surgery on you. It was also filled with a large number of doctors that was made up of a mix of actual doctors I met at one of Daniel's interviews and doctors from TV. I think this wins the prize for the strangest dream I have ever had.

Well my littlest love with be 2 1/2 in just a few short days... so brace yourself for an annoying mommy post on him soon :)

The Waiting Game...

33 days until we find out if we match.... 37 days until we find out where...

And we're just waiting...

sitting, and thinking, and waiting.

This has to be quite possibly the worst waiting game ever. Everything is a big fat question mark that you have absolutely no control over. No planning for vacations, no planning for birthday parties, no planning for anything because you have absolutely zero idea what the next few months will hold.

In the meantime I guess Daniel and I will keep having match day dreams/nightmares (yes we both have them at least once a week), keep getting rid of junk around the house (this will either make the move easier or our house cleaner), and I will keep completely wasting my time by looking at houses and school districts in all of our top 5 cities (it's how I'm coping.. just let it be).