Healthy or Unhealthy?

Interview Trail: Kalamazoo & Detroit

Knowing that it was supposed to be bad, but not quite understanding exactly how bad was "bad," we set off for Kalamazoo, Michigan, in the middle of one of the biggest snow storms in Minnesota. With already at least a foot of freshly fallen snow on the ground, our neighbor had to plow us out of our driveway, and then we were on our way. The kids snacked on Cheerios and raisins (without a care in the world) while Erik slowly made our way out onto the freeway. The road was only partially plowed and most of the on and off ramps were not even touched, making getting on or off the freeway almost impossible. Luckily we made it on and with hardly any visibility, we slowly made our way to Michigan.

The journey seemed to take forever and that's probably because we never knew where we were. We couldn't see signs and could hardly see the road. Thank goodness for GPS! In this picture (below), you can barely make out the sign on the right side of the road. It was so bad! You didn't even know that you were approaching a car until you were practically on top of them! Very dangerous conditions. The thought of stopping and staying over night crossed my mind, but I knew that it would be just as bad in the morning, and Erik had an interview dinner that night that he really needed to try to make.

I was so thankful for Erik and for all of the experience he has had driving in snow and ice. There was one time when a semi caused us to fishtail on a bridge and if I would have been driving, I'm 100% sure that we would be dead. However, Erik was able to get things under control and I have no idea how he did it and stayed so calm in the process! It was such a wild ride that Skogen got car sick and threw up all over the car, himself, and me a few minutes later. I stripped both of us down and we kept trucking along, Skogen in his diaper, me in my undies. There were several accidents along the way, the worst involving a bus and a semi. I actually couldn't believe that there weren't more and I feel that there is nothing I could say that would accurately portray or describe this experience.

We stopped to eat lunch in Madison, Wisconsin, where the snow had finally let up. I cleaned up a bit, fed Klaasen, we ate lunch, and gassed up. When we got back on the road an hour later, the car started acting very funny. It was acting like we were running out of gas, however we had just gassed up. We made a call to my dad who knew exactly what was wrong and he suggested that we add something called, "Heet," to the gas tank. We stopped at the next truck stop to get some Heet and while Erik was in there purchasing some, the car actually died. Ah! This was not the time for car troubles! Erik added the Heat to the gas tank and the car started right up. My dad told us that it would take a while for the Heet to take effect, so I took over the driving while Erik took over the napping. I slowly noticed the car getting better and better the further we went. I got us to Chicago, where we switched drivers again. Erik then took us into Kalamazoo where we checked into a very nice Radisson (thank you, Kalamazoo EM program!) in pouring down rain and Erik was only 30 minutes late to his dinner!

After one night in Kalamazoo and a day of interviews, the storm found us again! Just in time for us to head out and go to Detroit for Erik's next two interviews, it started snowing. The snow, mixed with the ice from all the rain the day before, made for a miserable drive to Detroit. Erik did a great job, again, of getting us there safely, despite all the challenges the weather provided. Honestly, I have never felt so scared driving in a snow storm before.

We are now in Detroit and have been here for two nights. Erik is interviewing at two different hospitals here and then tomorrow we will head off again! Our next stop will be Omaha and I'm praying for better weather and driving conditions. The kids have been perfect through everything. They are great at entertaining themselves and have really enjoyed using the swimming pools and hot tubs in the hotels. They have also been sleeping very well at night and have actually slept in until 11:00 both of the last two mornings! Erik has had to be up by 5:30 to get ready for interviews, but I have been able to wake up with him and then go back to sleep. It's been great catching up on my sleep!

Four Month Appointment

Klaasen was 23 pounds, 2 ounces and 27 3/4 inches long at his last appointment. Our pediatrician said that he's a perfect breasted baby! They should gain all of their weight in the first three months and then start plateau-ing off. She was impressed with his sitting skills and not one bit worried that he can't roll over, yet. She was okay with him sleeping on his tummy and didn't mind that I don't give him vitamins (do any of you breastfeeding moms do vitamins?). Because of his weight, we decided to wait on starting food until five or six months.

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Ever wonder

...why Erik's nice dress shoes are always so scuffed up?

Now you know why...

Interview Trail: St. Lous

Early Sunday morning, November 28th, Erik, Klaasen, and I set off for St. Louis. Maida and Skogen were still tucked tightly in their beds, along with Bumpa and Grandma, who stayed with them while we were gone. Erik's interview was scheduled for Sunday night and Monday morning, so we were praying for a quick, safe trip down.

The weather, the roads, the baby - everything that could have caused problems, went perfect! We cruised right on down, got our hotel room, ran across the street to Jimmy John's for dinner, and then I had an evening alone with Klaas in our hotel room while Erik went to meet some of the residents. While Erik was gone, I started feel a little dizzy and jittery, however I thought it was just because I drank a coffee earlier in the day and maybe the caffeine was starting to affect me. Erik got home a few hours later, I took a shower, Erik did some studying, Klaasen went to sleep, and I followed shortly after.

4:00am came way too early, especially since Klaasen was was up screaming at midnight. I never did find out what was wrong, but it seemed like he had a tummy ache and after puking, he fell back to sleep. After feeding Klaasen at four, I woke Erik up to start getting ready, then I laid back down for a few more hours of sleep.

At 6:45, I dropped Erik off at the hospital, went back to the hotel for contintntal breakfast, took a little nap, packed things up, and then set out exploring. I was impressed with the neighborhood where our hotel was, but really didn't like any of the surrounding areas. I thought the houses looked run down, small, and not exactly where I wanted to live. Before picking Erik up at the hospital, I stopped at Walmart to get some 7-Up because my tummy was feeling icky. On the way back to the car, a nice looking woman approached me. She asked if I had any money for a bus fare for her, her sister, and niece. I appologized sayimg that all I had was a credit card and that I was on vacation. I felt really bad about not giving her money, even though all I really had was a credit card. I sat in my car for a few minutes, sipping my 7-Up, watching this lady approach everyone walking through the parking lot. I felt really bad for her.

After picking Erik up from the hospital in the pouring rain, we drove down to see the St. Louis Arch. By this time I was feeling really sick and really not wanting to be in the car. Erik tried to convince me to go up in the arch, but I knew I was going to puke at any minute, so much to Erik's dissapointment, we headed on home.

At some point on the way home I started puking. I don't remember much, other than Erik running into a gas station to get plastic bags for me to puke into (and reminding me to double bag), me begging Erik for some ice chips and IV fluids, and Klaasen having a tummy ache and not wanting to be in his car seat. All he wanted to do is lay on his tummy. Erik drove the whole way while I begged him to stop the car as often as he could. The last hour of the trip was so hard because I was so dehydrated, Erik was so tired, and it had started sleeting. We made, it though, and found when we got home that Skogen had been puking while we were gone and my mom had just gotten it, too. Yuck.

Basement Finish (#1)

Today they start on our basement! It should take about 50 days from start to finish and we couldn't be more ready to have it done! It will be so nice to have double the living space.

Here is our future master bedroom (the egress window was put in last month):

I'll try to keep you posted on the progress...

First Time Sitting in the Shopping Cart

He pretty much felt like a stud.

Holiday Cards

It’s my favorite time of year. It’s the time we all send out Christmas cards to close friends and family, telling them about our year, updating each other on life, death, new jobs, old jobs, pregnancies, births, achievements, and the sort. My favorite holiday cards are those with pictures (and those with multiple pictures are even better!)! Ever since the first year we were married, we’ve sent out a picture holiday card with an update on our life, written to the tune of a holiday song. With all the work I put into taking the picture (which is a little harder now with three kids and a dog!) and writing a song (Erik actually does most of the thinking!), I don’t want to have to spend hours putting together a Christmas card, which is why I have used Shutterfly for the past four years. I have actually not only used Shutterfly for my Christmas cards, but for my birth announcements, birthday invitations, and photo development, too! Shutterfly has rewarded me for my business with a couple free photo books and calendars, also.

I haven’t started writing our Christmas song, yet, but I have already been browsing Shutterfly’s website in search of the perfect picture card. In my opinion, Shutterfly has the cutest designs and such a variety to choose from, too. I have never been stuck with nothing, I always seem to have the opposite problem – there are too many that I like and I can’t decide on just one! I really appreciate their customer service, too. There have been two years in a row when we haven’t been happy with how the cards turn out (one year I accidentally used the wrong picture and the other year I cropped it wrong on the website and without previewing it before ordering, I ordered the picture with Erik's head cut off!), and in both cases, Shutterfly was totally willing to reprint new cards for us absolutely free (they paid for all the shipping, too)! This year, however, I’m hoping to get it right on the first try. With Shutterfly’s easy to use program and always improving, customer-friendly site, I’m pretty sure I’ll have nothing to worry about!

Another great perk of Shutterfly is how you are able to customize what is printed on the back of your pictures. It’s always nice to have the kids’ names and ages printed on the back, especially if you're sending them to friends and family.

As Christmas quickly approaches, I look forward to the Christmas cards that await me in the mailbox each day and I hope that our cards bring others as much joy this holiday season, too. Happy card making! :)

Preschool Soup

Maida helped her preschool class make their families a soup lunch. We were all invited to the school to eat with them last Thursday. It was fun to see how excited the kids were to eat the soup and have all of us eat it, too!

Maida and her classmate, Kaylee, eating soup

Skogen enjoying the soup

Maida was such a happy, proud, little girl

Maida was especially excited about all of the pumpkins on the tables. She thought that was such a great idea for a fall party!

Minnesota Children's Museum

Last week we went to the Minnesota Children's Museum with our good friends, Nikki and Brayden. I had such a great time exploring and playing with the kids! It was fun to see them play with things they had never seen before and watch their wheels turn as the newness inspired creative thoughts and play. Our favorite thing at the museum was the toddler room, a space especially designed for babies and toddlers. The room had four Minnesota habitats: a prairie, cave, pond, and forest. It was great to have so much fun while teaching and learning so many things about our world. Some of our other favorite things were the grocery store, the water room, and the ant farm.

Three Little Turkeys

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent most of the day in the car on the way home from Erik's interview. We arrived home just in time to have a family Elefun competition before bed. I really thought Erik was going to win, but I totally dominated the game and currently hold the Scharrer family record of 16 butterflies.

We actually were able to celebrate our family's Thanksgiving a couple weeks ago when we traveled to Park Rapids for my uncle's funeral. Since the whole family was in town for the funeral, we had a Thanksgiving meal, and it was WONDERFUL. Here are some pictures from our time there that we spent with the family.

playing outside at Bumpa and Grandma's

sleeping in the cart at Walmart

Thanksgiving meal

I took two plates because I hate it when my food touches!

Klaasen with my cousin, Jared

Apparently Jared was really comfy!

At the ice skating rink watching my nieces ice skate

Trip Update #4

the hospital where Erik interviewed

Sorry to leave everyone hanging! Our trip to Chicago, and my day alone in the city with the kids, turned out great! I ended up finding a really good deal on a room at the Hyatt (only $1.00 more expensive than the crappy Best Western we stayed at the first night!!!). After dropping Erik off at his interview at 7:00 in the morning, the kids and I went back to the Best Western, ate continental breakfast, and then packed up our stuff. We took our time and ventured over to the Hyatt at 11:00. The kids actually fell asleep in the car on the way and took a great nap. I woke them up shortly before noon and we checked into our new room. It was way more awesome that I ever expected it to be and the staff there made me feel like royalty! Everyone was so nice and helpful. Maida kept saying, "Whoa! This is SOOOOOOOOOO fancy!"

our new room

After eating some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our room, we put our suits on and swam all day! The kids had a really great time and I enjoyed relaxing in the hot tub. Swimming with three kids wasn't as hard as I had originally thought. I made sure that Maida and Skogen knew the rules and knew that if one was broken (like running in the pool area), we would leave immediately. They were SO good and minded SO well. I was surprised and grateful.

All done swimming with Mommy

We picked Erik up from his interview at 4:00. I enjoyed driving around the neighborhood surrounding the hospital while we waited the few minutes that it took for Erik to finish up. I loved the neighborhood and thought it was such a cute suburb of Chicago. After picking up Erik, we rushed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner.

Maida and Kaitlin

Erik getting ready to eat crab

We went to dinner with Erik's Aunt Ranee, Uncle Hugh, Cousin Hilary, and Hilary's daughter Kaitlin (would Kaitlin be Erik's second cousin or first cousin once removed??). We ate a Joe's Crab Shack, which the kids loved! It was fun to watch the servers dance and there were at least three people celebrating birthdays in the restaurant, which was fun, too. It was nice to see Erik's family, especially since we don't see them very much, and great to catch up. After dinner, we went back to the hotel and went swimming again! Erik was so impressed with the hotel and was thankful I made him stay another night (the original plan was to drive home right after the interview).

"tenni-flops," are what you wear to the pool when you forget flip-flops

Daddy was much more fun to swim with!

Thanksgiving morning we slept in, ate continental breakfast, and then packed up and headed home. The ride home was, thankfully, uneventful and fairly easy going. It's good to be home, at least for a few days, anyway. We're headed to St.Louis on Sunday for another interview.

Trip Update #3

We arrived at our hotel around 11:30pm. Pulling into the parking lot, we immediately realized that this wasn't at all what we had thought (Have you ever seen a hotel in a strip mall? Me either! Not until now, anyway!). We already had reservations and knew that it would be fine - just as long as they had beds for us to sleep on, free breakfast in the morning, and a pool for us to hang out at tomorrow while Erik was interviewing.

Erik went to check in while the kids and I waited in the car. He came back a little while later with a concerned look on his face (which I thought was a joke, just to scare me into thinking that something else went wrong, the perfect ending to the day). Well, somehow during our hotel search the night before, we accidentally picked a hotel with NO POOL!!! Ahhh! How could we have done that?!! Erik checked with the front desk and there was also a cancellation fee that was pretty spendy, leaving us with no other option, but to stay here (especially since it was getting close to midnight).

How could we break this news to Maida (who was, thankfully asleep)? She had been looking forward to this trip for a week and talking about going swimming all day. The pool was what we bribed her with on the crazy car ride here! How in the world could I break this little girl's heart???

After the stress of the day finally had gotten to us, and the pressure and nervousness of Erik's upcoming interview hit, Erik and I tried to play the blame game in the parking lot. Then we decided just to be cranky and whisper-yell at each other (the kind you do standing outside, in the middle of night, in the front of a hotel where hundreds of people are sleeping). We finally made it to the room (a very small room with only one bed and a "sofa bed," which reminded me more of the chair-type beds that they have in hospital rooms for guests to sleep on.) Erik sat on the "sofa bed" and his bottom went right through. I quickly decided that the mattress was going on the ground and getting there fast since we had kids to get to sleep.

After getting all the kids to sleep (and avoiding the swimming pool topic wih Maida all together), I gave Erik a back massage (we forgave each other) while he studied a bit and then Erik crashed. With everyone asleep, I sat and tried to decide what in the world I was going to go do tomorrow, by MYSELF, in CHICAGO, with THREE KIDS (and a little girl who was planning on swimming all day long). When he found out that there was no pool here, Erik had suggested that I just take them all to Bally Total Fitness to swim (Ha - can't you just imagine that?!). His second suggestion had been to go to the science museum. Not a bad idea, however after the day we had traveling here, I really didn't know if I felt comfortable venturing around the city of Chicago any more than I had to, just in case something else decided to go wrong. I also didn't want to spend the $30-$40 for admission. Aha! While thinking about the cost of admission, I got an idea... what if I could get another hotel room, WITH a swimming pool, for about the same price as admission? Then we'd have somewhere to hang out tomorrow, a pool to swim in (Maida wouldn't even have to know that the first hotel was a mess up!) and we could stay over night if we were too tired to drive home after the interview. I got online and immediately started browsing...

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Trip Update #2

After changing the tire, we found a Firestone (Thanks to our AWESOME phones - all we did was type in "tires," and it brought up all of the tire stores nearby. It also gave us hours of operation, phone number, and brought us right there with our GPS... can you believe that I can even blog from my phone?!) Closing in just an hour, they squeezed us in, replaced two tires, and balanced and rotated our tires. We hung out in the lobby. Luckily they had a box of toys for the kids! Both of the boys decided to have poopy diapers (which was nice it wasn't in the car!) and we watched "Dancing With the Stars," while chatting about the interview tomorrow.

At 9:00pm (an hour after the store closed) we pulled out of the tire shop and with two hungry kids, drove a couple blocks down the road to Hardee's (a restaurant Erik and I enjoyed as kids, now known most places as Carl's Jr). With the day that we've had so far, it was no surprise that when we had just started eating our Hardee's dinner, we encountered a traffic jam in the middle of no where. The luxury of three lanes was better appreciated when traffic was narrowed to one lane because of construction.

The kids and I are hoping to make it to the pool tomorrow while Erik is at his interview (which will be interesting - the pool part!).

ETA: midnight

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Trip Update...

Since the minute we woke up this morning, everything has gone wrong. From my migraine, to leaving three hours late, to forgetting our computer cord, Erik's bathing suit, and some Tylenol for Erik's back injury, to having to stop almost twice an hour, and now getting a flat tire... wow, I'm left to thinking what else will go wrong?!!

Although nothing seems to be going right, I have really appreciated how Erik has stayed positive, fun, and happy through it all. He is currently freezing his butt off in 20 degrees, in the pitch dark, changing our flat tire, but even though he's miserable, he still takes the time to knock on the window every now and then to smile at and play with the kids.

Hopefully we make it to the hotel before the pool closes. Four hours left...

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Interview Trail - Chicago

We're on our way to Chicago, where Erik has an interview for residency. The kids and I are planning to travel with Erik to as many interviews as we can and this is our first out of state. We are all looking forward to the hotel and swimming pool tonight, especially after a bad start this morning. I woke up with a horrible migraine, setting us behind by three hours. Then we realized on the way that we forgot our phone charger, so had to stop at a Best Buy to get one! Thank goodness for a good phone with an awesome GPS!

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Dripping wet clothes by the door...

evidence of a good winter day.

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He's Huge

He's huge. There is no doubt about it. Here are some of my most favorite things people have said about him...

"I've never seen anything like him!"

"Does he eat a lot?"

"Wow, must be a big eater."

"He looks hungry. [laughing]"

"Squish!"

"How much does he weigh?"

"Holy cow, is he breast feeding?"

"Poor guy! How miserable!"

"How do you wash all those rolls?"

"I bet your arms get a workout. You're going to have huge biceps."

"What does the doctor say about him?"

"He. Is. Huge."

"He has boobs!"

"Is that his chin or his neck?"

"What does he eat?!!"

"Are you sure he doesn't sumo wrestle?!!"

Just Like Dad

Skogen wanted to wear a tie like Daddy today. When I put it on him, he said, "Go to work. I wear to work."

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Interviewing for Residency

On August 28th, 2007, Erik started medical school. The past four years have flown by and landed us in the final stretch of his last year. Erik will graduate in May as a doctor, and after graduation, he will start residency.

Over the next month, Erik will interview at several residency programs, located all over the country. Today he starts this process by interviewing at the two Emergency Medicine programs here in the Twin Cities. We're prayerful, that everything goes just right and that Erik is confident, comfortable, and just what they're looking for! We know God will make sure that he gets placed where ever we're meant to be and we're ready to go on whatever adventure He has planned for us.

Even though interviews will be conducted throughout November and December, we won't find out where we're going until "Match Day," which is March 17th. If you are interested in how the selection process of residencies works, here's a great website: http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/about_res/algorithms.html

(I snapped this picture as Erik was packing up his things this morning! He told me that I couldn't put it on the blog, but I just had to! I'm so proud of this guy.)

Bathtime Baby

Someone loves his new monogrammed towel from Mema and Deda.

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Facilitating a Friendship

As Maida and Skogen are playing more together, now, and have recently started sharing a bedroom (therefore spending more time together), I have been trying to teach them the value of having a sibling.

Sometimes it seems that everything has to be a battle... If you want a toy, you have to pinch your brother so he'll give it to you... If you want a drink of juice, you have to push your sister down so that you can get to the best cup first... If you hear your brother ask mom to hold him, you have to run as fast as you can and jump on her lap first... it doesn't have to be this way!

I pray daily that I am able to come up with ways of showing these two munchkins how to love, respect, honor, and value each other. Not growing up with a sibling close in age, I am foreign to this whole dynamic of siblings. However, I really hope that I am facilitating a life-long friendship between these two and that the bond they are creating will be a blessing to each of them as they grow.

October Block Party

Our neighborhood loves block parties. We have the most and the best block parties I have ever heard of. A few weeks ago, we went to the October block party. It was a little chilly, but definitely not as cold as last year when we were expecting to see some snow later on that evening. This year I really enjoyed meeting new neighbors and sitting around the campfire. Maida and Skogen enjoyed roasting marshmallows and dancing to the music. Klaasen wasn't really fond of being out in the cold, so he enjoyed dinner and then went to sleep in his stroller, all bundled up, for the rest of the party.

(I'm not really sure why or how my phone went into night vision!)