Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Maine to Milwaukee

My life confuses me sometimes, so I know other people don't understand it at all. I figured it would be nice to clarify what is going on for the faithful person or 2 who actually read my blog (might be pointless...this could be a family only reading blog)! But, for me to even remember...here goes!

We are back in the states, but Zach is attending a Caribbean Medical School. These school do all of the clinical part of medical school (2 years) rotating in hospitals in the United States. They have affiliations with various hospitals, mostly on the east coast, and for rotations it is a take what you can get kind of thing. Out time in Maine was for an intro to clinical skills, Zach was a little further along than most students there, so he was able to get placed into a rotation sooner than we expected...much sooner.

I need to stop right now and say that it broke my heart a little bit to leave Maine. I really fell in love with it there and made some great friends and have some wonderful memories there. I can say for sure that at some point, I WILL be going back for a visit!

Back to the story...We got an email 2 weeks ago that said there would be an open spot for a psyc rotation in Milwaukee starting in 2 weeks. It is at a strictly psyc hospital with a great residency program and we felt is was best to just get started...so we took it! The only downside is psyc is only a 6 week rotation and there are no other affiliations here in Milwaukee, so we get to move AGAIN in 6 weeks :( The good news is that the clinical coordinator is going to place us in Atlanta for an extended period of time after this.

I frantically searched for a place to live that wouldn't cost us a million dollars for such a short term and would give us more than 200 square feet. Drum roll please...we are living in a 1 bedroom corporate apartment in a Best Western Hotel! Don't be jealous, it is quite impressive, I know. Seriously though, quite the step down from the beach front Grand Victorian, but we actually love it...it feels much more "us". And, Tate, the kid is a fan of Milwaukee apparently (or he likes the close quarters) cause he is sleeping better, eating better, and acting better since we have been here. We do have access to a huge indoor pool with a little toddler play area and an outdoor sundeck, which help my water, running loving little dude!

And the road trip was not terrible, thanks to a few things. 1...I gave in and turned his car seat around. He was starting to get really fussy in the car and having to put his legs in all kinds of awkward positions. I really wanted to wait until 2, but 19 months will have to. I just couldn't make him scream through another 1,100 mile roadtrip (or put his daddy through that, he is not the most patient)! 2...A $10 iPad headrest mount from amazon along with a few episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Backyardigans on iTunes, Tate's 2 favorite shows. I also found some random free episodes of Sesame Street and Chuck, which were a nice break for mommy and daddy from the other 2 theme songs :)
Tate's reaction to being forward facing...thrilled!
Watching Mickey with his Backyardigan!

For now we are just taking all these changes and moves in stride and being grateful for the opportunities to see so many different cities...and also laughing at how many places Tate has not only been, but lived in his 19 months!


2 comments:

SHILLIG4FAMILY said...

I think it all sounds awesome! We did the live in a hotel thing for a little over two months in san Antonio for Jake's military training last fall. It's doable and y'all are together so it's perfect!

Rondi said...

Tate is one little "I've seen a lot of the world already" guy.