?????

So I was in the living room tonight listening to the kids playing. They were kind of running in and out of the playroom and were obviously in the middle of a game. So I hear Seth say, "Ok Lilah, you can be Jesus. I'll be the hunter!" ??????????? To which Lilah quickly responded, "No! I a princess!" They then fought about who was going to be Jesus, who was going to hunt Jesus, and if Jesus could also be a princess for the next 10 minutes. There's just so many things wrong with every part of that conversation and game that I just decided it wasn't worth trying to address. Still don't know if Jesus was a princess who got hunted or not...

Detroit

So I know a lot of you having been waiting to find out whether we will be moving to Detroit for sure or not. The program called a few days ago and said they were having trouble pushing Josh's spot through and that they would be having a meeting tonight. We got an email from one the program directors (Dr. Stantucci, who is not Josh's program director) this week saying that they couldn't start Josh as a resident until 2 years from now. They wanted him to come in July and work as an "extra" in the busy hospitals until he could start his 4 year residency. We said no thank you as an additional 6 years to finish residency was not an acceptable offer for us. So then tonight the same program director calls back and says that he got another arrangement figured out for us. They would start Josh as a resident immediately and he could finish in probably 4 years, 5 at the max. This was slightly more acceptable, but still a little frustrating. So we said we would think about it. THEN, Josh spoke with the program director (Dr. Limb) who would oversee him during residency to just get a better grasp on what this was all about.

Sidenote: Dr. Limb is THE program director of the Pontiac program which is Josh's program. Dr. Stantucci is the director at Detroit Medical Center where Josh would be rotating a lot. The two programs are technically separate, but intermingle a lot. So the 2 program directors kind of work together.

Anyways, Dr. Limb said that pretty much this whole thing was because Dr. Stantucci thinks 3 years is too few, there would be 4 seniors if Josh finished in 4 years, so lets make it 5 just for fun. There is no kickback from finance or problems with adding a spot for Josh. It's just this one program director who is essentially making it all up as he goes. He is apparently some big wig of urology and has become kind of obsessed with urology training for the residents that rotate through his hospital. Dr. Limb assured Josh that he would have a spot and would definitely graduate and that they really want him. He plans to get Josh through the program in 3-4 years and said that it is ultimately all his decision anyways because he is Josh's program director. He said absolutely worst case scenario is that if Josh needed more training, it would be 5 years and they could probably make that into a fellowship in a subspecialty. He said if we want the spot, the next step would be to get it all into contract asap. So that is where we are on the whole stupid situation. Josh is still thinking about it and I think we're going to just pray about it and think on it over the weekend. Josh really wants to do urology, but this whole thing was so crazy we're kind of skiddish. Not sure if we're ready to jump into the looney bin with all of this going on in Detroit. We'll see. I will post again when we have decided.

My verbal Seth

Seth is always saying little things here and there that are pretty funny. He does it so often that I tend to forget about it before I think to write it down in my "Seth journal." Here are just a few from this week that I thought were cute or random or kind of funny.

Seth had an ear infection over the weekend and we found out because he was running a fever and said "Mommy, my ear hurts." He stuck his finger into his ear and said "it hurts inside. not outside my ear... inside. Deep down into my body." He quite accurately diagnosed himself with an inner ear infection.

A couple days ago, Seth went to the bathroom and came running out and said excitedly, "Mommy, I pooped! Now can I have a pumpkin?" Honestly, I don't even know where that came from.

Yesterday we were playing at Erin's house and it was time to go. Seth was watching Word World on the TV while I was trying gather my gaggle of children to the door. Seth looked at me and said, "Miss Julie, can you leave?" He was wise to have said it in front of other people. j/k. But he has quite successfully made it clear that my authority has perhaps lost a certain level of control.

The other night Seth was sleeping in my bed because he wasn't feeling well. We were both sound asleep until he bolted upright and yelled, "Get the rabbit out of my toes!" ???? At least that's what I think he said.

my little helper

Seth LOVES to help me with anything he can around the house. Sometimes it's great and I try to find things he can do to help teach him responsibility and to encourage him to be a helper. Today I was unloading and loading the dishwasher. I need to preface this by saying that my dad lets Seth help him unload the dishwasher by handing him things for my dad to put away. It's kind of one of their "things" together. One time during this activity Seth dropped and broke a coffee mug. Not a huge deal, but Seth apparently remembered it. So Seth was asking me to let him help unload the dishwasher today and I said,"No, not today hunny. Mommy is in a hurry and this kind of a job for grownups." Seth said, "Mom, please..... papa lets me help him with the dishes." So I said, "Yes, I know. But that's papa's decision and mommy just doesn't want to have any dishes accidentally broken today." So Seth says, "But mooooooooooommmmmmmm..... I don't break dishes, only coffee mugs! (insert incredulous tone that says this is so obvious and it is silly and ridiculous for me not to have understood the difference between dishes and coffee mugs.) OBVIOUSLY my dishes would be completely safe in the hands of my jumpy 3 year old... because he ONLY breaks coffee mugs! =)

Valentines

Valentine's Day was a little harder this year because Josh was on call from 6am Saturday until 9am Sunday. So I wasn't expecting much. =) But we love Valentine's Day and always celebrate it because it was the day we met. A lot of people have wonderful, incredible romantic stories about special dates or first dates or proposals or weddings, etc. on Valentine's Day. And we don't really have anything like that. But I don't mind because I think there's something unique and special about randomly and accidentally meeting my husband on Valentine's Day. I was 17 and was volunteering to serve dinner at a weekend youth retreat called Chrysalis. Josh was a table leader for one of the groups of boys. I was going around to all the tables offering beverages and all the boys at his table were so shy that they never wanted drink refills because they were afraid to look a girl in the eye. So I spent the whole evening trying to find some drink that they would actually drink. And I will admit that I noticed the table leader was pretty cute. =) The next morning, Josh visited the church where I was performing with a traveling drama and music group. We were introduced and the rest is history. So we like Valentine's Day and almost celebrate it more than our anniverary. Even though Josh was on call this year, he still made it special. Josh came home with roses for me on Friday night along with a special meal of shrimp, mussels, calamari, and Brie to eat after the kids went to bed. He also had special heart-shaped Valentine's cookies for the kids and some special ones for us too. On Saturday, the kids and I made Valentine's cupcakes to take to the hospital for Josh and his mom while they were working. Then on Sunday, Vicki took the kids and Josh took me to Eddie Merlots and to see "He's Just Not That Into You." We got to sleep in and I got up and made Josh breakfast before we had to go pick up Seth and Lilah. It was a nice Valentine's weekend and I'm thankful for my wonderful husband. It was 10 years ago this weekend that we met and I thank God for the many blessings that He has poured out on me through Josh and our family for all 10 of them.

Good to see a smile

Isaac is 3 months now and is starting to get a little more of his personality. He's finally interacting more and was in an especially good mood this day. It's just so good to see my baby smiling because he's been so uncomfortable with his reflux problems that we were starting to to wonder if he could smile. Isaac still needs prevacid, but seems to be doing much better these days. yay!

Jesus!

We had storytime this morning at Kelly's house. This is where we attempt to stimulate our children's intellect during a wild playtime at someone's house once a week. This morning was a "love" theme for the stories because of Valentine's day coming up. Erin was reading the stories and asking the kids who they love. When she asked "who do you love this Valentine's Day?" ... Seth immediately piped in by saying "Jesus!" It was cute and I'm trying to figure out if he really loves Jesus or if he just thought that was the right answer because "Jesus" is usually the right answer (like at church) lol... But then another little boy, Gavin, said he loved Brenna (a little girl in the group who Seth also happens to love). The children all agreed wholeheartedly that they love Brenna and I'm thinking now Seth has some competition. haha.. =)