Megan, you will be missed =(

Celebrating May 5 the Mexican way.

Celebrating Cambri's first birthday,

Celebrating Annie's baby shower.

Celebrating Erin's pre-baby shower.

Goodbye party to all those leaving Des Moines.

Celebrating MY baby shower.

Celebrating the Winter Gala for DMU students.

Megan, Nate, and Cambri have officially moved this week. I try to comfort myself by remembering that they'll be back in a month, for just a few days, to pick up their stuff, but the reality is that they have left Des Moines for good. (Who can blame them? It is miserable to be outside 48 weeks out of the year - either too cold or too humid.)

Megan has been a wondeful friend to me and many others these last 2 years. She is sweet, loving, compassionate, selfless, and a lot of fun to be around. I feel extremely blessed to have had her in my life, and I hope that we will stay friends, no matter the distance that is between us. I wish her the best in Sandusky, OH, and in the future.

Megan, I will miss you tons. Keep in touch =)

Rotations

The countdown and pressure of the boards are ON! Billy is taking the COMLEX on July 13 and the USMLE on July 20. It is a really stressful time because, at this point, he does not feel ready to take the tests.
It's kinda scary to think that the babies could come at any time, before or during these boards. But the doctors have been showing more confidence that the babies will wait until their daddy has taken both tests.

I am actually really excited for Billy's rotations. He'll finally get to walk around and work with patients, instead of reading and sitting all day long, which is soooo not healthy. His third year schedule of rotations looks like this:

8/3 - 8/14: Sports Medicine @ Iowa Orthopedic Center
8/17 - 8/28: Anesthesiology @ Metro Anesthesia & Pain Management
8/31 - 9/25: VACATION (Sort of... This is when Billy will take care of the babies while I enjoy some "me" time, but he doesn't know that.)
9/28 - 10/23: General Pediatrics @ Mercy Hospital
10/26 - 11/20: Family Medicine @ Winterset, a couple of hours away
11/23 - 12/18: Orthopedics @ Metro Orthopedic Surgery
12/21 - 12/25: VACATION (We'll probably enjoy this one a little more since we should have adjusted to our new life by then.)
12/28 - 1/22: Psychiatry @ Iowa Health Physicians / Penn Mental Health
1/25 - 2/19: General Surgery @ Mercy Hospital
2/22 - 3/19: ER @ Methodist Hospital
3/22 - 4/16: Internal Medicine @ Mercy Hospital
4/19 - 5/14: ER @ Madison County Health Care
5/17 - 6/11: OB/GYN @ Broadlawns
6/14 - 7/9: Family Medicine @ Broadlawns

Citizenship

Exactly 10 days from today, I will be taking my citizenship test. I am really excited to finally get this out of the way, but I am also really nervous. I know there's no reason to stress out, but it's still kind of scary.

I have been studying from a booklet of 100 questions. During the interview, they will ask me 10, and I will have to answer at least 6 correctly. Not too bad, huh? Here are some 0f the questions I could expect.

1. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?

2. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?

3. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?

4. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?

5. Name one right only for United States citizens.

6. Why did the colonists fight the British?

7. There were 13 original states. Name three.

8. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.

9. Name one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for.

10. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?

11. Who was President during World War I?

12. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?

13. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?

14. Name one U.S. territory.

15. Who is one of your state's U.S. Senators now?

I have now lived in the United States for 9 years! That's almost 1/3 of my life, although not exactly. I lived in Maryland for 5 years, Utah for 2 years, and Iowa for 2 years. Who knows where school will take us next...? Hopefully somewhere warm =)

The other day, Billy asked me if he needed to come with me to the interview. After thinking about it, I realized that it'd probably be better if he didn't. Let me explain. Whenever we travel and the airport people check my papers before Billy's, I get through with no problems. Whenever they check Billy's papers before mine, however, they end up checking both of our bags, every single time. Maybe they think he married me just to get into the country... Anyway, now we have to pretend we don't even know each other until we get to the gate. At least then, we save some time by having them check Billy's bags only, and not mine.

Projects

Finally, I finished my corss-stitching projects! I also finished reading "Angels and Demons", and "The Happiest Baby on the Block." As you can imagine, it's not very hard to get stuff done when you've got 16 hours every day.

I have been feeling pretty tired lately, though, and I don't know why. It's not like what I do is draining or demanding or anything. Maybe it's because I have to stay in the same position all day, or maybe it's because these babies are sucking the life outta me =) But I love them!!!

Twins and bedrest

This week marks my 28th week of pregnancy, and the babies’ condition hasn’t worsened. In fact, they’re doing better. 3 weeks ago, they were 3 oz part; 1 week ago, they were bigger and 2 oz apart. This means we are past the placental surgery option, which I am really excited about. This also means that the babies could arrive any time now, which is kind of scary. Hopefully, they can hang it there another 10 weeks because by then Billy will be finished with his boards, they won’t be premature, and they should both weigh over 5 lb 8 oz.

I think I could handle another 10 weeks of bedrest. Talking about bedrest, many people have asked me what I do to stay busy and keep myself from losing my mind. So here it is:
- I am cross-stitching a blanket with baby animals
- I am reading books about babies and twins
- I am reading Angels and Demons (thanks Amanda)
- I am watching The Office on DVD (thanks Sara)
- I am watching all the Harry Potter movies (thanks Amanda)

Thank you so much for your prayers and your delicious meals. We feel truly blessed to have such wonderful friends and look forward to opportunities to be answers to your prayers.