Match Day Pictures

I don't even know where to start! I'm a little behind on blogging. Most of my thoughts and all of my time has been spent on our move... Yes, we're moving! Erik got into a residency program just a few hours from our house (and still in MN!!!), so we will be packing up and heading out around the beginning of June. This is very bitter-sweet for us as we bought this house hoping that we'd get a good ten years use out of it. However, hopefully we will have the opportunity to come back to it after residency and live in it some more! Until then we are praying that we can find some good renters! I have started organizing and packing and have already started house shopping in our new city. I have a small amount of anxiety about how everything is going to work out, but I also have a ton of excitement about moving, about starting a new chapter, about moving on. It feels so good to be on the home stretch of medical school!!! I am so proud of Erik and all the work he has done the past four years. He deserved a good residency program (which he got!) and I know that we ended up exactly where we were supposed to be.

Here are some pictures from Match Day!

The kids in the car on the way

Erik driving to Match Day in his green jacket for St. Patrick's Day :)

Excited to finally be on our way to finding out where we would be living for the next three years!

Match Day was held in this really cool building at the University. This brick structure that the building was built around used to be the entrance to the original football stadium. My parents used to go to football games in this stadium!

The windows were amazing and the weather that day was gorgeous!

Waiting for friends to arrive

Skogen really didn't understand why we were there or what we were doing, but he was so excited, anyway! "I be doc-or like Dad," he said before we left home that morning.

Beautiful Maida made the day even more special. She seemed to understand a little bit of what was going on, but she was more interested and excited about seeing all of Daddy's classmates and their kids, than finding out where we'd be for residency.

The whole morning (including breakfast and the opening of the envelopes) was hosted by the Fairview Health Services. I thought they did a great job making it simple enough, yet special enough!

The breakfast was amazingly good! Skogen could stop eating.

Erik and our house-mate from Duluth, "Uncle Kyle"

Waiting for the ceremony to start

First we listened to some speakers (I have no idea what they said! I was too nervous.)

And we waited soooo patiently while they laid all the envelopes on tables around the room

On each table with the envelopes, there was a box of Kleenex. I thought it was funny at first, but after everyone opened their envelopes, there were many tears shed - both in excitement and happiness, and also in sadness and disappointment.

Erik with some other Duluth students waiting to open their letters

Erik opening his envelope!!!

He held it out for me to read first, but I couldn't read it! The print was too small!

So he took a look at it and announced it to all of us. At first I thought he was joking because I never thought he'd get in where he did! Ha!

It was all smiles for Eric, who also matched in Emergency Medicine!

The atmosphere of the room changed from the quiet, nervousness of when we first got there, to smiles, laughs, hugs, tears, but mostly joy and relief.

Erik with two of his best beds, Kyle and Eric. They will all be in Emergency Medicine!

Erik with the deans of the Duluth campus. Erik got to know both of them very well while we lived there.

After the ceremony, everyone walked across the street to a lunch provided by Allina Health Services. Katie got some snuggle time with a very very tired baby boy!

Eating popcorn

He finally gave out and went to sleep

After lunch we headed home where my parents were there waiting for us! Erik was able to take a nap and I enjoyed talking to my parents about the beginning of the next chapter of our life. Then Erik and I got all dressed up, left the kids with my parents, and joined the rest of his class at the Foshay Tower for dinner and dancing! It was a fun night out with Erik and perhaps the best memory was made at 1am when we got in the car to come home, and our car wouldn't start! But that's a story for another day. :)

The day ended perfect. I fell asleep next to my best friend, smiling as I drifted off, thinking of all the possibilities of what was to come. Ha, and I'll also admit that I couldn't stop thinking about, and laughing about, a little incident that happened earlier that day... Right after everyone opened their envelopes that morning, the kids were playing around the room. I wasn't watching them perfectly because there were so many people to talk to and so much going on and I got a little disctracted. As Erik and I were both caught up in conversation, Skogen an Maida had ventured across the room to where there was a reflection pond. I had no idea this was there until Miah, one of Erik's classmates, brought a dripping wet Skogen to me! Skogen had jumped into the pond! Not once, but THREE times! I was so thankful to Miah for rescuing him and for taking the time to stop and take pictures before rescuing him. :) Only our son...

I love how they look completely innocent!

Our happy family at Match Day!

Match Day

The day has come. It is officially "Match Day."

I did not anticipate it being such an emotional roller coaster, but this week (and especially today), I have had so many ups and downs. I can't help but think about, wonder about, dream about what it would be like to live in each of the places Erik interviewed. Most of the time I'm excited and happy about thinking about moving and everything each new city would have to offer. But, right after the excitement, seems to come the questions, the unknowns, and the anxiety.

This morning (since it's midnight, already) at breakfast with Erik's class, each of the medical students will receive an envelope. In the envelope is a letter containing where the student was placed. Everyone opens them at the same time.

I can hardly wait!

Tonight before drifting off to sleep, I plan to lay still at the feet of Jesus and give all my cares and concerns to Him. Hopefully I will wake up in the morning refreshed and ready to face whatever and wherever it is that we will be headed.

Klaasen in the Curtains

Daddy's got the touch! Klaasen wouldn't go to sleep for me, but snuggled right in with Erik and went to sleep. This was the first and only time Klaasen has fallen asleep in our bed, so I had to take a picture! Sweet sweet boys.

Today I was cleaning up the house a little bit and heard Klaasen giggling and giggling in his exersaucer. When I walked into the living room, I found Klaasen in my curtains, thinking it was the funniest thing ever! Love this boy to pieces.

Week Highlights

This week has been a big week for us. Here are a couple of the highlights...

- Skogen, Maida, and Klaasen all have their own bedrooms, now. Skogen is soooo proud of his new room and loves to say, "Get out of my room," to Maida, who has been saying that to him since he could crawl and get into her room. (Payback!)

- Maida got her first school pictures taken and they are oh-so-cute! "School pictures," sounds so old - our baby girl is growing up!

- Klaasen finally discovered how to crawl forwards, instead of backwards, like he's been doing for the past few weeks. He's starting to get into everything, especially with his newly developing pincer grasp.

- Our basement is ALMOST finished. Just two rooms left for me to paint! Erik is very excited about our 7.2 in-wall and in-ceiling surround sound in our"movie theater," fully equipped with rope lights and a radio frequency remote that also controls dimmable lights throughout (including the rope light feature). I'm in love with my new walk-in closet. Pictures to come soon (with my new camera)!

- We are all almost healthy! I had to take Klaasen back to the doctor this week. He still has an ear infection and eye infection, too (related bacterial infection). We switched him to a different antibiotic and that seems to be working. He's finally sleeping better at night, which I'm so thankful for!

New Pictures With My New Camera

The Outtakes...

Maida's Homemade Valentines

Before February is over, I wanted to post some pictures of the Valentines Maida made this year for her preschool class. She worked very hard on them.

Here is the front of Valentine #1:

The front of Valentine #2:

The back of the Valentines: (I have no idea how to get this un-underlined!)

The Valentines she made:

She did such a great job cutting them out, writing her name, and stuffing them with Skittles. Her preschool class had a "Friendship Party" and it was fun to watch Maida open all of her Valentines after she got home.

Dear Klaasen,

Where did the past six months go and what are you up to now?

You are such a good baby. You hardly ever, EVER, cry. You never even fuss! You are completely content with whatever, wherever, who ever, and whenever. We've taken you all over the country and back, and most of the time, we wouldn't even know we had a baby with.

You are getting really close to crawling and can scoot backwards all over the place. You get on your hands and knees often and love to rock back and forth. You finally rolled over! Even though you don't do it often, at least I know that you can do it! You also have a new favorite position. I laugh when I see you sitting in this position because it looks like you are trying to do the splits!

You are just learning to clap your hands and can point to my nose when I say, "Where's Mommy's nose?" You babble. You can say, "mama," "dada," and "bye-bye." When you say, "bye-bye," you wave. The other day we were in Costco and you saw another baby in a cart and said, "bye-bye," and waved. It was so super cute! You have dark brown eyes, like your Daddy and sister, but those might change like Skogen's did. You have very dark brown hair just like Daddy and we think it's going to be curly, too.

You love to play! You still play in your exersaucer a couple times a day and enjoy playing on the floor with toys, too. While I shower, I put you in the doorway of the bathroom in your Johnny Jump Up and you love that! You especially love playing with your brother and sister. They keep you entertained all day long!

You still aren't sleeping very well at night. Sometimes you do 11 hours, but most of the time you only sleep six, and then think you need to get up and eat again before going back to sleep. I'm not going to complain about that, though, because I know that some mothers have it a lot worse. You usually take two naps a day, one that is 45 minutes to an hour long in the morning, and one that is three to four hours long in the afternoon. You have started solid food, now. You usually have rice cereal or homemade applesauce once a day. You've also tried peas and pears. You're not really a fan of food and that's fine with me because it's a lot of work to add in solids. Every day we'll increase your solid intake by a little bit, though, and soon we'll get you eating with your brother and sister.

You love Barkley!, you love Sunday School, and you love to suck your thumb. You sleep on your belly. You take a bath every other day and love to splash! If you hear the bath water running for Maida or Skogen to take a bath and you don't get to get in, you cry. You know how to arch your back, throw your head back, and throw a tantrum. You especially like to throw a tantrum when it's time to take your medicine. You hate taking medicine and getting your nose wiped.

You are fat. You weigh the same as Skogen - 27 pounds! You are also 27 inches tall. You have tons of rolls. Complete strangers come up to you and want to hold you or ask to touch your fat. The doctor says that you are completely healthy and there is nothing wrong with being a fat baby. We can't wait to see what you s-t-r-e-t-c-h out to be and how you'll grow into a little boy. You are such a joy to have around and have a special way of making us happy and proud. I love to kiss your chub and hope I never forget what it's like to kiss those chunky cheeks of yours!

I love you, Tossy.

- Mommy

Sick of Being Sick

It's been 33 days since we first got sick and I'm so sick of being sick!

I can't remember what it's like to breathe out of my nose or swallow without my throat hurting.

I can't remember what it's like to sleep through the night without waking up to kids coughing until they puke.

I'm so ready to be done with this virus, but can't seem to see the end through all the snot.

If just one of us could get better, I'd be thankful.

I'm just so sick of being sick!

7,137.1 miles of Interviews

We've been to Rochester, Minnesota, Indianapolis, Indiana, Omaha, Nebraska, St. Louis, Missouri, Kalamazoo and Detroit, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. We have numerous pictures and countless memories from our journeys. From swimming pools and hot tubs, to a car museum, a Vikings game, a flat tire in Illinois, and a snow storm in Michigan. We certainly didn't use our interview travels just for interviews! We were able to see things we'd never seen before, visit friends and family that we hadn't seen in a long time, master changing a diaper in a moving vehicle and sleeping five people in one room, and we spent time getting closer to each other and to the kids.

Now as we reflect back on those 7,137.1 miles of interviews, it is hard to believe that in just a few short months, we will be starting a new job at one of those new places. As we make our rank list, we anxiously anticipate this new chapter in our lives and pray for guidance in our decision making and peace with whatever happens.

Happy Valentines Day!

The year we fell in love...

The year we decided to make our love a life-long thing...

The three that make this Valentines Day even more special than the past seven other Valentines Days we've spent together...

(I used this picture for a Valentines Day card we made of our "Cupids in training.")

Poor sick little baby!

After 21 days of him suffering, I finally took Klaas into the doctor.

Whenever I bring the kids to the doctor, I have very mixed feelings. On one hand, I want the doctor to say, "It's just a virus. Give it time and they'll be fine," because then it doesn't seem so serious, but on the other hand, I want there to be something treatable so that we can kick it in the butt and get healthy!

Yesterday I went into the doctor expecting Klaas to have a virus, but walked out very surprised to be carrying our new $200 nebulizer (hopefully the insurance will decide to reimburse us!).

Klaasen has a double ear infection and RSV. We are treating him with neb treatments four to six times a day and then amoxicillin for the ear infections. He's a little uneasy with the neb treatments, but Maida does a GREAT job of trying to distract him while I keep his little paws off the mask. With time, I hope that it gets easier.

He's so sweet! After his second neb treatment, some amoxicillin and some tylenol, he pooped out on the floor. I couldn't help but pick him up and cuddle for a while.

Poor sick little baby!

We were tagged by the M&M man!

This morning we woke up to this big red M&M sitting outside on our front step!

He had this note with him:

And a bag of M&M's.

I love our church family!

Miami Pictures

I took some pictures from some friends and added them to our shutterfly account! They are much better pictures than I took. You can see them here.