Fellowship > Residency

We are almost 2 months into Stuart's career as a fellow physician, and it is already SO MUCH better than residency!  Last week, the boys were just finishing up dinner when I got a text from Stuart.  Expecting him to say that he was headed home, I was sorely disappointed when he said something came up so he would be at the hospital for a while.  I was so irritated!  That has never really been my reaction to that sort of text (which was very frequent during the 4 years of residency), but I realized it was the first time he had texted that in the past two months as a fellow, and so I had gotten so spoiled by him being home in the evenings like a normal person!  My attitude quickly changed and I realized how thankful I was for this new change of pace.

He is still working far more hours than an average full-time job, but compared to residency, it is just so lovely!  There have only been a handful of evenings that he has not been home in time for bedtime, whereas in residency he was more often than not home much later than the boys' bedtime.  And weekends!  One weekend a month, he has to go to the hospital each morning to round, but then he gets to come HOME!  He is still on call from home for the rest of that day (and night), but it means we can do normal weekend things together every single weekend (farmer's market! church!) as long as he doesn't leave Chapel Hill/Durham.





It does seem that there is far more work at home as a fellow than there was as a resident, but that just makes me look forward to the days that he is finished with training and has more control as an attending over his own schedule and research projects. But for now, yay fellowship!  The boys and I are very happy to spend more time with dad!

September lately

We have had a pretty relaxed month around here... Here's a brief idea of what we've been up to!

A trip to the dentist - the 1st time that Samuel sat in the big chair (though, it didn't last long... he wouldn't let them clean his teeth or anything!).  James did great!

While I was at work, my mom came down and found James making breakfast for himself (parenting win!)

Last weekend we moved James to a big boy bed, and he has done pretty well!  We talked about it some before making the switch and his response, every time, was that he wanted to stay in his crib. But once we switched, he hasn't looked back!  (The Paw Patrol sheets make him happy... much to my chagrin.  I got the cutest little woodland creature sheets that I will switch out when it's time for sheets laundry day!)  He certainly loves the freedom to play with toys instead of sit in bed (or go play in the sink in the bathroom...)  We currently have a baby gate up in his doorway to minimize him bothering Samuel in the other room during "nap time," but he has figured out how to stack up books and/or toys and jump over the gate if he wants to.  But at night, he falls right asleep and hangs out in his room until the clock turns green (his signal that it's actually morning and time to get up).

Brother shenanigans at home

Out for an evening picnic with best friend Ezra, who became a big brother recently!

Lots of relaxed mornings at home - I have really learned that a good balance for us is to have several mornings a week at home that aren't rushed.  We usually leave the house at some point, but sometimes it's not until 11am.  Other mornings we are up and right out the door (to church, Side by Side, morning exercise, farmer's market or appointments), but if we have time to linger at home and play, I always try to let us do that!

Sam is just awesome and hilarious these days... A 2 year birthday/recap post is in the works!