I'm thinking about starting a page with current shopping deals, so that you don't have to wade through the blog posts to find all the sale entries. Until I have a chance to do that, here are two new promotions that are going on that I am considering jumping in on:

Save 15% through September 7 at sleepytimestore.com (originally posted about here). Use code "laborday15"

Save an additional 25% on all sale merchandise at childrensplace.com through September 3. Also, heads up on their Fall sale, which begins September 5th, where fall merchandise will be 40% off.

Lastly, don't forget about Amazon's promotion on Horizon and Silk milk boxes, ending today. M is thrilled with my recent purchase and I am going to order two more boxes today.

Tags: clothing, toys, gear, Amazon, food

A few weekends ago, we went to the local children's museum, and there happened to be a special reptile exhibit. M loves looking at animals, but was a bit hesitant to try and touch them, even though they were allowing the kids to do so. He spent several minutes happily inspecting each one, declining the offer to pet the snakes (the snake handler was making rounds in the room). Finally, after several minutes of watching other kids touch the animals, he decided to go for it. He reached out his hand and gently touched a snake. Then he looked at his hand (which was clean) looked up at J and said, "Daddy, wash my hand please!"

Tags: M

Here are two new photos from Matthew. Here's his buddy Ian at school:


And here's Andy in his classroom:


His other photos can be found here.

Tags: photography, M

Well, I finally finished my rotation and I am pretty tired. Fortunately, I have the next four weeks to catch up on residency applications (I'm so behind already), research (I hope my PIs* don't email me and ask for an update, since I haven't done much in several months), extracurriculars (again, haven't done anything in weeks), and (hopefully) sleep, before I start my Neurology rotation. We also plan to go to Disneyland at some point in September, which should be fun.

Over the weekend, we took the boys to a local children's amusement park. A was able to ride with M on the fire engines. M even put his arm around him at one point, which totally melted my heart. They even shared the steering wheel and bell, which I thought for sure was going to cause a problem. Don't get me wrong - they still get into little spats about toys, but M has been pretty good about letting A take a (short) turn before complaining that it's time for him to play again.

I love how they have been playing "together" more recently, which is really nice. Even if it is just parallel play at the moment, I want them to be buddies. It makes the whole ordeal of having two young children while being a medical student extra worthwhile. A few weeks ago, we started a Saturday tradition of giving them a bath together, as long as both J and I are both home. The tub is a bit squishy (we're still using the Euro Tub) but it seemed to work out well (and saves time).



I'll write more about my pediatrics rotation once I get settled this week. It was a tough month, to say the least, but I had a good time. And my senior resident was pretty awesome, which often times can make or break the whole rotation. More to come soon.

*PIs = Primary Investigators

Tags: M, A

I like getting an update about the kids each morning after J drops off the boys. I got this text page the other day from J:

Drop off good. No crying. A felt warm T99, no D or V. Good po intake.

Right after I read it, I realized how much it sounded like a regular medical presentation (and how nerdy J can be). T99 means he had a 99F temperature, no D and V means no diarrhea or vomiting, and good po intake means he ate well. Since I got the text page while I was on rounds, it made me chuckle.

One more call night to go. Hooray! I discharged most of my patients yesterday and only have one to pre-round on this morning, plus any new ones that came in overnight. I hope I can make it through the night - I've been crashing around 9pm lately (and getting up ridiculously early to do some work). I've got tons of funny new photos of the boys to post, which I will do soon (haven't downloaded them yet). Plus, M has been adding to his collection as well.

Tags: school, health

I just got this via email. I have yet to check whether the two that we own are affected, but it seems quite likely considering we bought them both last year. There is a repair kit that Britax will send you once you determine that your seat is affected, but it involves gathering some information from the label on the back of the seat (easier to do with A's seat, as it is still rear-facing). I'm too lazy to go look it up right now, but I'm planning on doing it before I leave this morning, so that we can get the repair kit sent soon. Apparently, it just consists of two extra rivets to insert in the bottom of the seat. I don't think this is a major safety issue (you can probably keep using it until the repair kit arrives) - it seems more like a preventive measure to make sure your adjuster strap stays aligned and it's not too difficult to adjust the harness.

Britax Decathlon Child Restraint Model Numbers beginning with E9L47 Manufacture Dates: February 12, 2005 – July 31, 2007

Charlotte, NC, August 2007- Britax Child Safety, Inc. has decided that a defect, which relates to motor vehicle safety, exists in some Britax Decathlon child restraints.

Under certain circumstances, when the harness adjuster strap is pulled from an extreme side angle, the bezel may separate from the child restraint shell allowing the adjuster to move out of position inside the shell housing. Under these circumstances, caregivers may experience some difficulty while trying to properly adjust the harness. There have been no reported accidents or injuries.

The affected child restraints should not be returned to the Britax retailer. Britax will provide a free repair kit and detailed instructions to all owners beginning August 17, 2007. After August 17, 2007 consumers that have an affected Decathlon and have not registered their child restraint should contact Britax at www.DecathlonRecall.com to order a repair kit.

Visit the Britax site for more details, or go straight to the recall form.

Tags: safety, gear

A few days ago, I posted Pop Quiz #5. A is the baby in the top photo, M in the one below. Pretty easy right? The other quizzes (some of which I don't think are as easy) can be found here.

Fifth call done, one more to go. I can't wait for Friday (even though this has been a pretty fun month overall).

Tags: M, A, me

I was browsing through my photo library this morning, as I often do (12818 photos and growing) and wondered what we were doing on this exact date two years ago. It turns out we were at REI, buying M a bicycle helmet, so he could ride in the Burley Solo. I've been thinking about getting another bicycle trailer at some point, maybe a double. Or maybe we can consider two of those bicycle seats. Hmm. Well, I guess I'll think about it more later, as I am about to go in for my second to last call of this rotation. Besides, I'm not sure that we can afford it at the moment. I've been trying to figure out the budget for next year, when I am a lowly intern, and J is a fellow, and it looks like we're going to hit a financial wall. I currently have the luxury (more like a safety net) of student loans, which will go into repayment 6 to 9 months after I graduate. Rent (which won't be on-campus anymore) and daycare alone will exhaust our net income, so I'm currently trying to figure out a way to make it through the next year.

In any case, I'm pretty exhausted these days, trying to read for my rotation, spend time with the kids, and work on my residency applications. I didn't anticipate that there would be so much going on this month, particular regarding applications. So I've decided to put off taking Step 2 until later this year (which I am not happy about) and instead spending the few spare moments I have either sleeping, or spending time with the kids (which I am happy about).

Tags: M, J

I used to think that the post-call day was pretty tough, but now I feel like the next day is even tougher. Post-call, I try to catch up on a few hours of sleep in the afternoon before picking up the boys from daycare, so it's kind of a relaxing and fun afternoon. But then then next day is a full day of work again, and I usually feel a bit groggy. The last two calls I've had were busy, so I wasn't able to get much sleep. I have two more calls before the end of next week, when I finally finish this rotation. I'm looking forward to being done, even though I have enjoyed this month. I hate not getting to see the boys every day.

Tags: school

J: "It's too bad we don't have an army of cracker people trying to attack us."
me: "huh?"
J: "Then A could just drool all over them and save us."

This is what happens when you are chronically sleep deprived.

Tags: J

A's first birthday is coming up in a few more weeks, and I haven't really thought about what we're going to do to celebrate. For M's first birthday, we kept it pretty quiet, and had a little party at home with the three of us. His main birthday present was a Radio Flyer Tiny Trike, which has been well-loved, and is about ready to be passed on for A to enjoy. But I haven't figured out what A's first present will be yet. In fact, I should also start thinking about M's birthday, which is only three weeks after A's. It's a bit tough to plan these things during such a busy month, but if I don't at least think about it, I'll never get around to it in time for the actual dates. I'm sure it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, as A won't really know what's going on, but in the spirit of tradition, I'd like to celebrate on his birthday anyhow.

Flashback to the past, almost two years ago:

Tags: me, M

As a regular activity on the circuit of easy, fun things to do on the weekend, we often take a trip to the mall, where there are several water fountains to toss pennies into. Like most people, I used to hate getting a lot of pennies back in change, but now it's a welcome coin in the household, and I've got a big jar at home just for this purpose alone. This was the first time that A threw dropped any coins in the water, which was pretty fun to watch. He reached out to try and touch the water too, which was cute. He even tried to climb over the railing, but luckily J stopped any of that nonsense.

M is starting to play more with A, and hasn't complained as much about A playing with his toys. Well, maybe he still complains, but he doesn't seem to mind and they often play together now. Up until now, they've sort of lived a peaceful coexistence but haven't really interacted that much yet. Now that A is quite active and able to crawl around, they are starting to have a lot of fun together, which makes me happy (since I'd really like for them to be buddies as they grow up). Besides, after I graduate, we can no longer live on campus, and it is quite likely we will have to move back into a two-bedroom place (rent is too outrageous around here). So the current plan is that the boys will share the bigger bedroom, and it'd be nice if they thought that was a fun idea.

Here's M offering a penny to A:


Here he is trying to share another, but A has no idea:


Here he is trying again:


I think the boys had fun:

Tags: M, A, J

This is a general rule for estimating %BSA (body surface area) affected in burn victims.

head: 9%
arm: 9%
back: 18%
chest: 18%
leg: 18%
perineum: 1%

Okay, so this is a pretty easy one, compared to the others. Just the image quality alone gives it away. But I thought these were cute. And I like to think about kissing the boys, so that's what I'm posting today. Here's the answer.

Tags: M, A, me

It has always bothered me that physicians don't practice what they preach, especially when it comes to taking care of themselves. I just got home from my second call on my inpatient pediatrics rotation, where I only got 45 minutes of sleep on a 30-hour shift. Usually, I can make it through a shift like that, except that over the weekend, I had gotten less sleep on Saturday night before my call because I was trying to get stuff done at home. So I feel pretty wiped out right now.

The worst thing is that I could have been sleeping for many of those hours, but they were wasted (in my opinion) because we didn't sleep earlier in the evening when it was quiet, and then of course, when we were about to go to bed at 2am, new admits came in. Part of this is due to the unfortunate schedule discrepancy, where the residents and medical students have entirely different call structures. The students are q4, while the residents have a night float system. What this means is that as a medical student, your call shift is from 6am until 12pm the next day, while the residents work from 6am to 5pm, and then sign out to the night float team, who covers until 6am. So, when it might be a little quiet on the floor around 8pm, no one is in any mood to go nap, and instead, everyone gathers to chat, watch tv, or conduct a teaching session. If it were up to me, we'd be napping every spare moment we had, because you never know when the hospital will get busy, and much of the time, it'll be in the middle of the night.

Anyhow, I crashed from 1-5pm, pumped and picked up the boys with J, which was nice. I'll spend the next few hours with them until the kids go to bed, and then I'll try to get some studying done, pump again, and be ready to get up tomorrow at 5am. I'm on call again this Thursday. Whew. This is where being chronically sleep-deprived is really difficult. None of the residents I am on with have children, which is too bad, because if they did, they might be a bit more understanding about time.

Tags: health, school

I have been alerted to the fact that the Contact Form is not working properly, so I have temporarily removed it, and you can contact me by clicking on the link at the bottom of each page. Sorry about that!

Tags: website

Maybe it's because of the adorable accessories, but babies are just so darn cute sometimes! Hooray for the weekend (even though I am on call on Sunday)!

Tags: A

Mattel just recalled a bunch of plastic preschool toys due to potential lead toxicity. The toys include products from their Elmo, Dora, and Diego lines (so if you have a toddler, there is a good chance you own one of these). Recalled products have a specific production date, and there is a tool online to help you figure out if your toys are affected (by purchase date). We have one of them (Elmo Giggle Doodler), but I can't quite remember when I bought it. In any case, they must be getting a bunch of inquiries, since the site server has been busy and I haven't been able to request additional recall information.

With the recent uproar about toys with toxic lead levels (particularly those made in China), it's hard not to wonder if we own many more toys with lead-based paint. I did buy some lead test kits recently, but I haven't had a chance to use them yet. I think I will start testing the boys' favorite toys, and I'll post what I find out.

You can see the list of affected toys here. And keep trying if it says the server is too busy.

Tags: toys, health, safety

Here we are in front of the local museum after finishing a spiraling tree stump path (cue the Rocky theme here):

Tags: me, M