Happy Birthday Paul!!

Happy Birthday Paul!!! Today Paul turns 28 (on August 28th)! I can not think of a better gift for Paul than the kickoff of football season! He has been waiting for this day since the last football game of the previous season and now he has a nice man cave and big screen TV to watch all of his favorite teams. Roll Tide and Go Titans!!

Update on Residency

I have finished my first 2 months of residency! My first month was on the renal service and this past month I have been on an outpatient clinic rotation. I have gone to different subspeciality clinics every day--these included Cardiology, Endocrine, Pulmonary, Renal, GI, and Heme-Onc clinics. The schedule was awesome. I basically worked from 7:45 to 4 every day and had the weekends off with only one night of call. Although I loved this schedule, I missed having my own patients to take care of and it felt a bit like I was back in medical school. (I did get to watch the Olympics nightly so this lighter month came at the perfect time.) This will all change on Wednesday when I start my first NICU rotation at UAB. This is the regional intensive care unit for all the premature and sick babies. I will be on call every 4th night this month and will definitely have to work a lot longer and harder than this past month. Part of my responsibility will be attending many of the sections and deliveries at UAB. Although I am a little nervous about it, I am looking forward to all that I will learn this month. I'll keep you posted on how my first few days and first call night go.

Every Man Needs a Cave

I had never really heard the term "Man Cave" until we were getting ready to move to our new house. Paul frequently talked about his plans for a man cave in the new house. On moving day, his brothers brought us a fabulous housewarming gift--a very nice, very big flat screen TV. With football season fast approaching (I can't wait for it to be here, Paul has been talking about it since the last game last year) and with a wonderful new big screen TV, the new man cave became his priority at the house after the garden was finished. My dad didn't make it any better by promising to get Paul a jukebox and slot machine. Paul talked to a friend from church that does a lot of construction and remodeling, and our Man Cave was completed in about 2 weeks. The middle wall, closet, and carpet were torn out in our basement to make one big room. The concrete floors were acid stained, speakers were wired, and the walls were painted. Let the football season begin! Roll Tide!

Before pictures of the playroom and bedroom

Acid staining the concrete floor

The instigator of our man cave

The final product

No toys...no worries

Last weekend, Paul and I had the pleasure of keeping my nephew at our new house for a few hours. We don't have any toys at our house, so I am always a little worried about what we will entertain him with to keep him happy. However, we have plenty of cleaning supplies so there is no need to worry anymore--he loves cleaning tools! The vacuum is by far his favorite and he knows where it is kept at all of the houses that he goes to regularly. If it's his first time to your house, he may even go looking for your vacuum and when found he will point with excitement and say BaBa! We kept him busy at our house last weekend "playing" with all of our cleaning things and appliances. He helped me swiffer my doors, load my washer and water the garden.

Hopefully he will come back again soon and help me with my cleaning!

The Shack

I rarely read a book for pleasure and actually finish it. During medical school, reading was my main method of studying, so it never really seemed like a fun thing to do when I was free. However, my mom recently sent me a book that she had picked up in an airport recently on recommendation from a family member and I finished it in about a week. It is called The Shack and I highly recommend it for everyone. The story is pretty intense at first and keeps you hooked until the very last page. I really enjoyed it because it gave me a fresh perspective on God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. It seemed so real life to me that I had to look at the website online to see if it was a true story. If you have read it, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. If not, I highly recommend it even if you don't like to read very much!