a med school update...end of m2 year

as of yesterday the mr is officially finished with his m2 year. this may not seem like a big deal...but let me tell you it is! finishing m2 means no more science lectures, no more random small groups, no more monthly tests, no more late night studying for tests, etc. northwestern has taught spence all he needs to know (or at least we hope so). 

so coming from his very proud (and extremely biased) wife...he did amazingly! he is a smart man to start with but he has worked so hard to learn all he can learn and to truly understand everything he can about the body and medicine. it has been so fascinating for me hearing all he has learned. a few times lately he has been explaining something to me and my first thought "wow he really does know a ton" haha! 

we spent last night celebrating with our med school family. how grateful i am for awesome friends who are on this journey with us. we sat and laughed at the restaurant for hours. it was the perfect way to end the year. 

what now?

well the studying isn't over (and probably will never be). the mr. takes the "step 1" or first round of boards in april. this is a big test to prove he really does know stuff about stuff. this score will help determine the residency program he will go into. it's a pretty intense test. think about mcat but about 10 times more intense (or maybe i just think that).

so for the next 5 weeks my husband will be studying non-stop. we've made a plan to take an 1.5 hour break each evening to have dinner and go to the gym together. other than that i am giving my sweet husband to the books. i know it's only 5 weeks but this has been something super hard for me to accept. i love my time with my husband. so it will be hard, but so worth it. the better he can do on this test the better off we are for being able to make our own decisions on our future. 

while the mr spends his days (and nights) studying, i'll be working on long forgotten projects. i also have a huge list of projects for baby that i need to work on. i'll find some good things to keep me busy..hopefully!

after his big ol' test in april, the mr will start rotations. northwestern is kinda cool and has it's students start rotations a few weeks before "normal". this is to give them a few more weeks to add in some more rotations. this is great for us because we (yep we) have not decided what speciality spence will go into. i'm just so excited to see what he likes and what he doesn't. 

we've heard the m3 year is the worst. long hours, long days, long weeks of working in the hospital. i'm a bit nervous doing m3 with a newborn but we've going to work together has a little family and make it great. i've already promised the mr that if we only has 1 hour break at 1 am baby and i will come and bring him dinner. it will be a fun adventure! 

so we're slowly but surely making our way through this whole medicine future. we've been on this road for over 4 years now. crazy to think how far we've come. i'm so proud of my sweet husband for making the most out of these past few years. for working so hard and giving up so much so we have a better future. i am also so grateful that one of the main reasons he wants to be a dr is so that he can help others! how sweet is that! 

here is to surviving the next 5 weeks and starting m3. i think this year will be my favorite year. i'll get to see my cute husband in scrubs and we'll add a little bug to the mix. life just keeps getting better and better! 

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!