Monday, January 13, 2014

another little med school update

a little while ago i did a "little med school update". since we are now almost done with year 2 i thought i'd give another update.

how is school going to spence?: northwestern does things a little different. spence started his second year of med school the end of july (too early if you ask me). he is what they call an m2. he has been doing much of the same as last year but this time with more research and clinical experiences. he is working on his second to last section. interestingly for us it is all about reproduction and infertility. it's now super helpful that he is understanding a little bit of our situation.  anyway back to school. he has one last section (after repro) and then he has one month to study for boards. he will take his boards in early april. 

he has been doing so incredible! i am so proud of my mr and all his hard work. life has picked up this year with school, church and other stuff but he has managed it perfectly. he loves learning and has learned so much. a few months ago i picked up spence after a test. he was on the phone talking to his good friend dan. as they were discussing the test and different problems i was blown away with all he knew. i could understand about 10% of the words they were saying. seriously that boy of mine is smart. 

he's gearing up for boards and is super nervous. his board score will help determine what residency program he gets into. i for one am not worried about spence and boards. if the last two years have given us any clues it's that he will do just fine. it's very obvious that heavenly father wants him here, in med school and to do well. he is working hard but we've seen blessings beyond what we could have imagined. 

the next four months are going to be a bit more intense than the last two years. he will be doing his normal study but add in hours of board study. we've got a good study plan in place. it's like we're back taking the mcat! 

do you ever see each other?: just like last year we've been able to be together surprisingly more than expected. unfortunately for us this is going to change real soon. board study and then 3rd year are supposed to be killer. so we're preparing for things. we're trying to take advantage of the time we have together. i just got promoted (more on that later) and with that comes a lot of new learning so we have plans to study together.

we still go to the temple every other friday night. this is such a special treat for us. i love just chatting and catching up on the 1 hour or so drive there. then on the way home we get to share our experiences and talk about our future, our blessings and basically how much we love our little life. it's my most favorite time with my husband. 

sundays are crazy with both of our callings (more so of the mr's) but we typically spend the evenings together, playing games, catching up with family and just being together. 

has spence chosen a specialty?: everybody's favorite question! mine too! he hasn't really decided on any one thing. i think we've both come to the conclusion that he would like (and be great) doing a lot of different things. we're buying books and gearing up for 3rd year. this is the year he'll start rotations and ultimately have to decide what he wants to specialize in. 

spence is always asking my opinion and discussing options with me. even though it's his future, his job, his life he wants my opinion. he keeps saying it's an us decision. i sure love that! i'm just excited to see what happens as he starts going through rotations. i have my suspicions on what he'll choose but i'll keep it to myself until he knows ;-) 

are we still liking chicago?: YES! i have grown so in love with chicago it's not even funny. honestly, at this point if it was up to me i think we'd stay and raise our family out here. yep, thats how much i like chicago. we moved to another fun neighborhood in july. its a bit further north than our old place and further from school and work but we love it. it's really family friendly, cleaner and newer. we have friends who live just right down the street. great restaurants right by and the most amazing ice cream place around the corner. 

this winter has been worse than last year but i've got some great boots and a warm coat. we've made some of the best friends and get together when them often. i have a great group of girl friends and we get together every other week to chat, watch movies, do crafts and just hang out. 

we also just got gym passes to the gym right around the corner. now if only it would open we'd be good to go ;-) 

i do miss family and i miss the sun during the winter  months. but all in all we love chicago. i think i love it a bit more than my mr. at this point we aren't really thinking of staying for residency. spence wants to move some place closer to family. and if we're moving i'd say somewhere warmer! 

how am i doing?: super great! life just seems to get busier and busier! early summer i was told my company might open an office in chicago. after a few months of back and forth they finally opened our chicago office in september. i was able to play a big role in getting everything up and running. i now work downtown with the most incredible view of the city! i wasn't sure i was going to like it at first but now i love working downtown. i don't love the commute but it's nice waking up each morning and forcing myself to get up and get ready. it's also nice being able to leave the office and really leave the office. 

i also just got promoted to an associate at leavitt partners! it's a big change but i'm so excited for it. i never expected to be working for so long but things have worked out as they should. heavenly father truly has a plan for me! i'm not sure of all the steps but it's been fun figuring it out as we go along. 

this new job will be more work and it requires that i step up my game. i'm excited for the challenge and the chance to learn and grow more. it's good the mr. will be busy studying so i can just join him!



so thats about that. we are loving life and still very much enjoying this med school journey. we have a busy couple of months with the boards ahead of us but it's fun at the same time!

so here is to finishing our second year of med school!



2 comments:

  1. I went to high school with Spencer and I found your blog awhile ago. My husband is in his first year of medical school in Missouri and I have LOVED reading your blog!

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  2. Hey Sydney! Wow, this was such a great post- I feel like I learned so much about you and Spencer :) I'm sad that we didn't get to see each other at the Wilfardo party, but that's just how it goes sometimes, right?

    I also wanted to comment because right before I saw you come up on my Facebook feed, I saw a friend's blog post about being a first year med-student spouse. (http://mrannndmrsspencer.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-word-to-med-school-spouses.html) I read the post and I was impressed with her optimism, and then I immediately thought of you! So I know you don't know this girl, and according to your update you are much busier with your job (congrats!!!), but if you have a couple minutes I bet she would love to hear from you :) But no pressure!

    I was also impressed with how much you love the city, even with the cold winter. You are such a great example to me of that great, cheesy saying "bloom where you're planted" :) I don't follow any blogs on a regular basis, but I am bookmarking yours so I can see future posts!

    Love and miss you!
    - Em

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