And if this doesn't just melt your heart....

So, so sweet.

Boards...

PASSED!!! Two down, one to go. I should know about the PE component in the next couple weeks or so, but the written is done (successfully). Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. I'll update on ours soon, for now will relish in my most recent Christmas gift! I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Worth a thousand words....

Merry Christmas, love Simon

MMR and more....

...so we took the plunge again. Each time I give Simon an immunization I hold my breath waiting for something weird to happen to him and when nothing happens I am always incredibly relieved and shocked at the same time. The other day Simon had his first MMR, yes the one scheduled for 18 months, yes the one many have tried to link to the development of autism in children, yes the one loaded with preservatives and horrible chemicals that do not need to be coarsing through the bloodstream of my little boy. But I did it anyway, along in the past year with three DTaP and one Hib, which resulted in one boy with a mom in NH on rotation at the ER with a fever of 105.5, but that's a story for another day.

I wrestle with this. Obviously. I feel like I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't. If anything happened to my son because of an immunization I had willingly given to him I would never forgive myself. Likewise if he ever was infertile from contracting the mumps or hospitalized with whooping cough I would also never forgive myself. Sometimes being a mom is so hard. Fortunetly I think we have the worlds best family doc (well...except for those of you I am training with!) and she has been incredibly supportive of our very delayed and very selective immunization schedule. I just could not stomach pumping my very small, premature son full of nasty things when he was fresh out. No way.

When I was eight months pregnant I went to this incredible scary talk about the dangers of immunizations and why we should not be vaccinating our children. The next day I sat through a lecture on the dangers of NOT immunizing our children on my pediatrics core rotation. Which left my very pregnant brain swimming and seeking out more information and occasionally in tears due to not being able to predict the future and know what was best for my son.

So we struggle, we did MMR the other day due to an outbreak of mumps in our community. Simon handled it so well, he is still a little crabby, but no tears during the shot itself. He has carried on with his everyday life while I analyze his expanding vocabulary every day watching for any new defecits or delays, and check on him in the middle of the night to make sure he's not an inferno....see this is what happens when anxiety goes untreated for too long...

In other news, the house went under contract with another buyer. Sad for us. We got a call today from a friend who has a lovely home we have coveted for years who is going to sell! Horray for us, sad for her. We'll put in an offer hopefully before the weekend! I don't think this one can be jinxed (famous last words) so I'm letting myself get a little excited!

Mama no teeth....

It has been a while, I apologize. The holidays tend to be a crazy, busy fun time of year for us and this year has been no exception. The most exciting news at our house this week...Kim (finally) got her braces off!!! She was trying to explain this to Simon the night before and he kept looking at her with a very puzzled expression saying, "Mama no TEEF?" And once they were off, well he couldn't get enough, he just kept trying to stick his fingers in her mouth and touch her new TEEF. I'll post pics of Mama Kim and her new teeth soon.

Simon is his usual wacko self. He came home from daycare the other day and told Kim that he bit his friend at school, "SI-MIN BITE NO-NAH". To which Kim replied, "you bit Noah?" with a shocked expression. Simon's response was a cheerful and proud, "YEAH!" They proceeded to talk about biting and how its not okay to bite or hit and then Kim did some play therapy with Simon about biting and hiting and friends with his little people....I swear this kid is going to be the most in touch with his emotions little boy...every night is play therapy night at our house. So in I go to daycare yesterday to drop off Simon and talk to daycare about what happened when Simon bit Noah, turns out it never happened. Our boy has a very vivid imagination. Oh well, maybe we've perhaps prevented Noah from getting bit in the future by Simon and his very sharp teeth.

Med school progresses...one day at a time. I'm struggling right now with a dinner I was invited to attend on Thursday with my attending in Kennebunkport and some fancy schmancy restaurant. Turns out this meeting and dinner are sponsored by a drug company. Here I go selling my soul to the devil. I guess I will eat with guilt knowing that my hundred dollar dinner is taking medications away from people who can't afford to pay for them and I am listening to incredibly biased research conducted by the company buying dinner. Good thing I have a filter...my first choice residency program doesn't allow drug reps to come in at all. I really hope I get in!

Birthday fun continued....

Today was the day of Simon's party. It was lots of fun with Grammie, Grumpa, Uncle Eric and Merma. He loved opening his presents and playing with each one before moving on to the next. He even spent some QT with his new nightlight that mommy and mama got for him. On, off, on, off...

Happy second birthday big boy!