Thursday

Wow, it seems that this week has really flown by! It's amazing how much better I've been sleeping the last few nights, now that Match Day is behind me. It seemed as though it had been an ever-present thought in my mind since at least October, and now I'm not sure how to spend my brain energy! I got all my info from DBH about choosing my rotations and clinics in which I'd prefer to work and all the paperwork for my security clearance and background check, so things are moving pretty fast.

Rebecca came down with a little cold. She never seemed to feel bad and never ran a fever, although she definitely felt hot to both me and Nanny Rebecca. She was just snotty and a bit hoarse. She seems to feel better already and the snottiness has definitely improved. She would sneeze and blow snot bubbles and thought that was completely hilarious. She also has learned how to blow her nose with a bit more force, which is certainly a lot more productive!

Ramy's eyes are still healing and changing, but he's happy with the results of his Lasik. Of course, I don't think he'd be completely satisfied unless he had bionic vision! No word on when he migth have a DIC position, but it looks like he's up for whatever one comes open next, so that's good.

Rebecca and Gammy

My mom has now returned to Tennessee. We really enjoyed having her here for a couple of weeks. Rebecca especially enjoys her, of course. When we were waiting to pick my mom up at LAX when she was coming in a couple of weeks ago, I had been telling Rebecca that we were going to get Grammy. She was squatting down so she could look up at who was coming down the escalator, and as soon as she saw Grammy, she jumped up and started squealing and did a little impromptu dance. It was the cutest thing ever! What a grand time Rebecca had with her Grammy while she was here. They are quite a pair, singing songs, reading books, sharing snacks... Rebecca particularly enjoys coming in the guest room to climb in bed and snuggle with Grammy in the morning. The night before my mom left, I think Rebecca knew something was up, and we tried explaining it to her. Surprisingly, she did fine when my mom and I left yesterday morning. When I came home last night, Rebecca immediately asked, "Where Gammy?" She seemed pretty content with my answer that Grammy had gone to her house in Tennessee to be with Daisy and Shakespeare. That led to some babble about Daisy that I didn't understand, but I think Rebecca gets it...somewhat at least.

Rebecca and I will be heading to Tennessee in a few weeks, and we'll be there for about 10 days. Then my mom will be back here a few weeks after that. We don't go long without seeing her. While I'm on internship, my mom will probably come out here more since I won't be able to fly back to Tennessee as often.

Match news

I will be going to the San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health Community and Forensic program. So half the year, I'll be in Colton at the STAR Program and the other half of the year, I'll be in one of the outpatient clinics, like when I worked at Upland. I won't know exactly which clinic until later on. I'm excited about it, because it is an easy commute for me, half of it is kind of a known quantity but the other half is a totally different and challenging program, and because it starts on July 1 (which means that it will end on June 30, 2010 - so when I walk at graduation, I'll really be only a couple of weeks from being done!). Since I worked there before, I know that they are very flexible, and they have training days on Fridays so I'll be able to get out early a lot then. I'm very excited and can't wait to get started!

An update

It seems like I haven't really been blogging much lately. The last couple of weeks have been exciting ones. My mom arrived on Saturday, February 7 for a nice long visit with us. That morning was Ramy's consultation for his Lasik, so we did that in Sherman Oaks and then picked her up at LAX and went to eat at Cheesecake Factory. We went to church on Sunday and bought Rebecca's b'day gifts. That Monday (th 9th) was Rebecca's birthday. We went out for breakfast, took Rebecca for a haircut, and ate dinner at her favorite place, opened presents and ate homemade coconut cupcakes. It was also on Monday that we realized that the forecast for rain was not changing and that we better come up with an alternate location for Rebecca's party. After much searching, we settled on having it at a local pizza place, which worked out well. I worked on Tuesday and Wednesday, and my mom stayed home with Rebecca. Both Grammy and Rebecca enjoyed it. They have a mutual admiration society. Rebecca calls her "Gammy," which we have decided is better than "Geggy." Ramy also got a not guilty verdict on Wednesday on a big rape case, so I made a pound cake and two batches of orange brownies for him to take to work in celebration. On Thursday, we went to Redlands and had lunch with my mom's cousin Linda. Friday the 13th, we met up with Julie and Adelaide for lunch and shopping at Montclair Mall. That night, Ramy and I got to go on our Valentine's date. We had reservations at Ruth's Chris in Pasadena and had planned to go to the movies afterward, but we got stuck in traffic on the freeway and ended up not going.



Saturday (Valentine's Day), we all went out for breakfast and then we did some shopping and got ready for the party. Sunday the 15th was Rebecca's birthday party. This past Monday was President's Day, and it was the day of Ramy's Lasik surgery. It was coming a torrent of rain, but everything went well, and we were home before noon and he slept the rest of the day away. On Tuesday and Wednesday, I worked and my mom was here with Rebecca. Wednesday afternoon, we had Rebecca's 2-year checkup. Thursday, we met up with Julie and Addie at Victoria Gardens for lunch at California Pizza Kitchen. Both Julie and I were anxiously awaiting the match news to come and made plans for how we might react in either scenario.

Thursday night was a late night for me! We watched a movie, then I lay in bed and watched several episodes of the 10th season of Friends from my DVD collection. I fell asleep around 2 with my laptop beside the bed and the news hadn't yet been posted. Ramy woke me up at 5 to see if there was any news yet (there wasn't). We went back to sleep until I heard that I had a text message around 5:40. I knew it was probably from Julie and that it meant the emails were out, so I immediately checked and the beautiful news was there. Ramy was awake and at my side to get the email, and then I woke my mom up to tell her, and there was no going back to sleep then! My director of clinical training (who also happens to be my dissertation chair) called me to congratulate me around 7:30, and Julie and I shared gossip on the news we could get about our colleagues for much of the morning. We went to breakfast at Carrows and then went into Los Angeles. We went to the Jewelry District to get some pearls restrung and to buy my mom some pearl earrings. I love haggling to get better prices there! Ramy bought two fabulous new suits in the Garment Distict and got great deals (which made it impossible for him to pass them up!). We had dinner at Johnny Rockets and walked around at the Shoppes at Chino Hills last night.

This morning, Ramy went out to get his suits altered, and we took Rebecca to eat breakfast at Bravo Burger. Then I got my hair cut this afternoon, and then we went in search of a toy chest for Rebecca. We went to IKEA and then to two unfinished furniture places, only to find that they were both out of business! So back to the drawing board on those. Tomorrow is church and then a birthday party, and then the waiting will begin again. Monday is actually the official Match Day, because it is the day we find out where we were matched and when sites find out which interns they'll be getting. It will definitely be an exciting day!

I had expected that soon after finding out I had matched on Friday, the anxiety would ramp up again really quickly for tomorrow, but it hasn't. I'm excited to find out where I'll be going, but I don't feel nervous about it at all. I'll be equally thrilled with any of my top 7 choices, and actually any of the sites that I ranked are ones where I'd be pleased to spend a year. I'm also excited to find out where my friends and colleagues got matched and about whether our unmatched friends will find spots through the clearinghouse. I'm saying prayers that all of the people in our program who got bad news yesterday will have great internships become available to them through the clearinghouse. I'm sure the excitement is even greater for people like my friends Julie and Randy who interviewed at sites across the country. They'll be finding out on Monday morning where they'll be living for at least the next year!

You can bet that I'll again be posting the news when it comes in! Thanks again to all my wonderful friends and family who have said prayers for me in this process. To be a process designed by and for psychologists, it's a process that does terrible things to one's psyche! I'm so relieved that I matched and that I'll be graduating next year, God willing.

A gorgeous sight to behold

I MATCHED!

I matched to an internship site! Thank God! I won't know where until Monday of course, but for right now, all that matters is that I matched. HOORAY!

Thank you all for your prayers for a good result today. I'm so happy!!!!!

2 year checkup

Grammy and I took Rebecca for her 2-year well-child physical today with Dr. Jeng. As expected, he proclaimed her to be perfect! Rebecca wasn't very excited about the getting weighed part (who is?) but it is better now that she can stand on the electronic scale rather than having to lay in the basket dealie. She was also less than enthusiastic about having to lay down to get measured, but it wasn't as bad as in the past. She weighed 22 lbs. and is 32.5 inches tall. That puts her at the 5th percentile for weight still and at the 23rd percentile for height. So, she's staying with her growth trajectory, which is fine. She has met all her developmental milestones appropriately, as usual. I had Dr. Jeng listen to Baby Lucy's heart and lungs and look in her eyes, mouth, nose, and ears first. Rebecca watched with interest and was as good as gold when Dr. Jeng did the same exams on her. She wasn't too keen on him looking in her diaper area though. All perfect! She got two stickers and was happy to say goodbye to everyone on her way out.

Musings about Match Day

So here I am, less than two days away from finding out my fate. As a reminder to those of you not intimiately familiar with the process, this Friday (Feb. 20), I’ll find out whether or not I matched to an internship site. No information about where I matched to will be learned at that time, however. If I find out on Friday that I did match, then on Monday morning, I’ll find out the site to which I matched. Unlike most situations in which you interview for positions, there is only one site to which you can be matched. A computer in the sky compares my rankings of sites and their rankings of me and will (hopefully) match me up. My choice in the matter was over with when I submitted my rankings – if I matched, I’m already contractually bound to the site I matched at, even though I don’t yet know where that is!

If I find out on Friday that I did not match, then I’ll spend the weekend getting ready to participate in the clearinghouse, which opens on Monday morning. Clearinghouse is a chaotic process through which sites that have unfilled slots attempt to fill their slots with unmatched applicants. It’s apparently a flurry of emails, faxes, cursory phone interviews, offers with incredibly short decision times, and generally agreeing to spend a year at a place essentially sight-unseen. Not an ideal situation, by any means, but it is definitely preferable to not matching at all and having to go through this whole process again next year. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that even after clearinghouse, there will still be several hundred more internship applicants than there are positions for internships. These are people who have a bachelors degree, likely a masters degree, and are a year away from doctorates in psychology, so obviously a lot of time, effort, and money have been devoted to getting to this capstone internship year. I can’t begin to imagine how devastating it would be to learn that it isn’t happening after all that.

Last week, I was feeling more anxious than anything and did a lot of complaining about how long it was until I found out the news. This week, I’m more excited than anxious. However, I had a hard time sleeping last night, and I’m sure that by tomorrow night, I’ll be a bundle of nerves. I think I’ll see if my mom will babysit after dinner and if Ramy wants to go to the movies Thursday night. The information about whether I matched or not will be emailed to me and will be posted on a secure website by 7:00 a.m. Friday morning. Rumor has it that sometimes the info comes through in the wee hours of the morning. So you can be that I’ll have my laptop in bed and will be continuously alternating between hitting the refresh button on the website and clicking send/receive on my email, since I don’t know which one might come through first.

Thank you for all of your prayers and positive thoughts for good news on Friday! For me, if I find out I matched on Friday, where I’m going is much less important. I’ll be equally happy with any of the top 6 sites I ranked. And frankly, any internship is okay with me since it means I’ll be graduating next year. The sooner I graduate, the sooner I can get out of California! I’m trusting that God is going to put me at the right place for the right reason, even if it doesn’t make much sense to me right now. However, I’ll admit that that takes little anxiety out of the equation! I’ll of course be texting and posting the breaking news as soon as it comes in. I’ll be interrupting all regularly scheduled programming to share, especially if it is good news. (And if it isn’t good news, then I’ll let you know to which hospital they’ll be involuntarily committing me).

In other news, Ramy had Lasik eye surgery on Monday morning! Oddly, they had me watch the whole procedure on a bigscreen monitor just outside the procedure room. I really could have done without seeing them cut open a flap of his eyeball and squish around the gelatinous goo in his eyeball, but maybe they think it helps us think we got our money’s worth. Everything went perfectly. He slept the rest of the day on Monday (thanks to the Darvocet, Lunesta, and Valium they gave him!) and had no pain or discomfort. As of yesterday, he had 20/25 vision in his left eye and better than 20/20 vision in his right eye. Pretty good for a guy who was legally blind just the morning before! Of course, he isn’t going to be completely satisfied unless it is perfect. A lot of healing and changes in vision take place for three months after the surgery, but obviously he had a great outcome from the procedure. Particularly as he ages, however, he may well need reading glasses, either fairly soon or at some point. It's a nice thing to not witness his staggering to the bathroom first thing in the morning, or trying to see his watch in front of his face when he wakes up!

Birthday party

Today was Rebecca's second birthday party. We had originally planned on having her birthday party at the park. It was to be a doggie theme, and Sydney and Paddington and other dogs were going to be invited. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had something else in mind for us. Early this week, we realized that we were forecasted to have a LOT of rain this weekend. Although today actually wasn't very rainy, the park certainly would have been muddy and it was a little chilly. So it was a good thing we changed the location. Instead, we scrambled for a last minute alternate location, and we ended up having the party at JoJos Pizza Kitchen in Chino Hills. Although it wasn't quite the party I wanted, it was a nice afternoon anyway, even if we couldn't max out the doggie theme. I have to admit that it certainly was a lot easier than lugging all the stuff to the park and having to clean it all up ourselves!

It was a lot of fun to see friends and family, and Rebecca enjoyed getting to play with several little friends. However, she was less than thrilled about having "Happy Birthday" sung to her and all those people standing around looking at her. She was in tears for the candle-blowing episode. As I was just looking at the video before I uploaded it, Rebecca watched it and got sad all over again! She told me she wanted her daddy (just like at the actual party). So apparently she has some kind of PTSD reaction to images of a birthday cake with candles lit. She certainly didn't mind eating the cake, however. She helped herself to one of the little gumpaste doggies right away. In addition to the video above, I've added a slideshow of pics from today - it should be somewhere over there on the right of your screen, up near the top of all the slideshows.

I'll post a longer blog update probably tomorrow - we've had a lot going on!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Birthday pics

Here are some pictures from our family celebration for Rebecca's birthday on Monday. We just had cupcakes at home, ate dinner at Johnny Rockets (Rebecca's fave because of the ketchup smiley faces and the danceable music), and opened presents. Earlier in the day, we took Rebecca for a haircut (thus, you'll notice two lengths of hair in the various pictures). She had a great day!

Some birthday video

Here's a video of Rebecca with her new tricycle. She was seeing it/riding it for the first time here.

(It was pouring rain outside; hence, in-house riding!)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Rebecca

February 9, 2007



February 9, 2008



Today is Rebecca's second birthday! In some ways, it is so hard to believe that the little baby pictured above is already two years old. In other ways, it is hard to remember a time before we had her. Rebecca has changed so much over the past year. At her first birthday, she wasn't yet walking (although she took off walking just a few days later) and was just beginning to say some words. Now...she runs, skips, dances, jumps, spins, and does gymnastics. She talks constantly and surprises us with new words and phrases all the time. She sings, she laughs, she plays games, she pretends, she prays, and boy does she eat! What a delight she is to all of us.

We'll be going to the doctor in a few days for her 2-year well child checkup, so I'll update her stats then. However, she wears a size 12-18 months in pants for the length (although everything has to be altered to fit her in the waist) and still wears a 6-12 months in most other things, although she's starting to get tall enough to go to a 12-18 months size in them too. She hovers around the 5th percentile for weight and about the 20-25th percentile in height. So we'll see if that continues to hold true after this appointment. Even though she's tiny, boy can she eat! Her most favorite foods are "bay-ees" (berries - which includes blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries), chicken pot pie, filet mignon, chicken noodle soup, apples, "sees" (seeds = sunflower seeds), "wah-ee" (water), "chees" (cheese), and pasta (she prefers rotini or fusilli, although elbows, fettucine, or ravioli will also do). Ever a mimic, if she sees Daddy eating something, Rebecca is game to try it (including salmon, rice, black beans, and any kind of fruit that she can find).

Although playing with the dogs is her most favorite pastime, she also loves her baby doll, Baby Lucy, her puzzles, coloring in coloring books or "writing", and pretend play with dishes. Music is another enjoyment of Rebecca's. Quite often, if we are walking in the mall, she will hear a good song coming out of a store and will have to stop to dance to it in the middle of the aisle. She also dances along to the freecreditreport.com and Subway commercials on television and likes to have us twirl her around in a pirouette. On television, Rebecca enjoys watching the Little Einsteins and Dora the Explorer while she eats her breakfast of scrambled eggs or a waffle with cream cheese and fruit. She sings along with them and with her other music CDs. She particularly likes the ABC song, Jesus Loves Me, Where is Thumpkin, and the Eensy Weensy Spider. In church, she recognizes "Je-sis" (Jesus) on the cross, on television, she recognizes "O-ba-ba" (Obama), and in parking lots, she recognizes Mama's "ca-ee" (car).

Our Rebecca is a girly girl; she loves to take baths, brush her teeth ("zzzzzzzzz"), put on lotion (and smell is), pick out her clothes for the day, and put her own shoes on. Rebecca firmly believes that you're never properly dressed unless you have a hairbow, a purse, and often a bracelet or a necklace. Her feelings can be hurt easily if we scold her or if one of the dogs barks at her. Rebecca is extremely loving. She has such sweet hugs, kisses, and smiles for me and Ramy and my mom. However, there is no denying the mischief in her eyes or giggles!

We are starting the celebration of Rebecca's birthday today and it will be going through the weekend. After all, just one day isn't enough celebration for turning TWO!

Daddy and Daughter

2 Years Ago Tomorrow:



Now:

Rebecca and Adelaide

My good friend Julie and I got together with our little ones on Monday (and we're meeting up again today) to process our feelings about the upcoming match and our rankings. It's so cute to see Rebecca and Addie together, as Rebecca is very interested in Addie's toes and the fact that she's a "bee-bee!" Similarly, Adelaide, who is now 6 months old, is much more interactive (not to mention that she's just as precious as can be). Sometimes they have better things to do than pose for group pictures, unfortunately.

Look how beautiful Adelaide is (and how nicely she sits in her stroller)!


Meanwhile, Rebecca had discovered how to blow bubbles in the water in her cup by blowing into the straw...

Rebecca, the tattoo artist

BUSTED!



My sweet, beautiful, precious daughter has an obsession with pens and markers. If she can find one, she will immediately be compelled to write on herself with it. Fortunately, she generally goes for her belly and her legs and hasn't ever (knock on wood) written on her face or arms. She's also not interested in writing on her clothes, thankfully - she pulls her pants off so that she can get to her bare skin. Nanny Rebecca and I have learned that a little scrubbing with her green bath mitt does a pretty good job of fading the markings the first day and the second day, they're all gone.



This morning, I was getting dressed and suddenly realized that it was quiet...too quiet for there to not be trouble afoot. Sure enough, Rebecca had found a Sharpie pen and had not only written on herself, but she had also written on Baby Lucy's face. I thought Baby Lucy might need to undergo a head transplant the American Girl Doll Hospital, but Martha Stewart came through for me yet again by giving me tips on how to remove permanent marker. And to think that when my husband saw the Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook on my Christmas list one year, his comment to me was, "You know, it's not a novel, honey." After about an hour with an assortment of chemicals that have made me a little high, Baby Lucy's face is back to normal. Don't worry, I'm not going to use the same concoction to get the marks off Rebecca!

Super Bowl Sunday

Okay, I really have no interest whatsoever in the Super Bowl, but I couldn't think of a clever title for the post. Since it is Super Bowl Sunday, I thought I'd be wild and crazy and title it that. I don't even remember who is in the Super Bowl and I only like to watch the commercials.

I've done something heinous to my back, so I went to the chiropractor yesterday morning and skipped church this morning. Rebecca has had a couple of restless nights of sleep. She falls asleep fine but then wakes up screaming inconsolably for a few minutes. We're thinking nightmares maybe. Regardless, it isn't pleasant.

Yesterday, we went on a little mini-road trip around the Southland to visit all the university counseling centers I am considering for internship. Since I didn't have to go to those in person to interview (all were phone interviews), I didn't get a taste of what the commute might be like, and it's an important factor to consider in this area. I was pleasantly surprised that CSULB wouldn't be as far to commute as I'd thought. Unfortunately, USC doesn't have a Metro stop, but it does have some kind of tram from Union Station and there is also a USC vanpool in Diamond Bar (the city next to us). So those are other options than driving to downtown L.A. myself every day. Since we were already in that neck of the woods, we drove around in south central L.A. so that Ramy could reminisce about his days in VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America...it was the forerunner of AmeriCorps). Then we drove to the nicer side of town and went to Griffith Park Observatory (you may know it from James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause. We hadn't really considered that it was the Lunar New Year, so the observatory was packed. We also didn't know that they were having a public star party last night there, but we took advantage of the free telescope viewings to check out the craters on the moon. It was a pretty clear day and the weather was gorgeous, so we all enjoyed it.



We also enjoyed dinner at Louise's Trattoria in Los Feliz and we checked out the nicer houses in Los Feliz (and saw (again) where Ramy lived during his VISTA days. On the way home, we got cupcakes, so it was a sweet ending to a nice day.

This afternoon, I finalized my rankings and certified them. So they're all in the system and ready to go for Match Day. Now I'll just try to forget about the internship match process for the next 19 days. Yeah, right.

My mom's friend Marilyn's back surgery went well last week and she is home. Hopefully this will give her much-needed pain relief. Lisa Grubbs' port placement was also successful. Lisa begins her next phase of chemo soon, so please pray she does well and has no complications to prevent her from finishing this up and getting on with her life in full health.