day 4 Philly trip {photo diary}

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Maxi dress, similar

Cardi, kohls

Blanket scarf, BP

Lipstick 

Booties, similar
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Where we ate:

Lunch- Thai place. Another awesome choice. I had the chicken panang curry. Hubs had his usual Pad Thai. We walked around ChinaTown and found this bubble tea place. 

Dinner at the Shabushabu --- so so good. i was sweating but I did not care. I had the spicy broth. Hubs had the pork broth. We ordered lobster balls (too salty for me. not a surprise), thinly-sliced beef, Chinese spinach, cabbage, more beef, shrimp balls and rice noodles. I had too much hoisin sauce and hot chili -- as if the spicy broth is not enough. 

Next to the shabushabu/hotpot place is another bubble tea place! I could not say no!

Sightseeing:
Hubs went to the historic district to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Sweet Lucy napped in the stroller the entire time. Hubs being a history buff enjoyed his afternoon. I spent another day in conference learning about epilepsy.

our day 4 as seen on snapchat

To follow our adventures
day 1
day 2
day 3


Linking up with Holly, Sarah, Doranda, Morgan, Leanne, Elizabeth, Elena,  Madeline,  Jaymie,  Sydney, Danielle, Grace, Brooke.

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new baby + 10 things about my job

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Introducing my NEW BABY!!!

I love, love, love this empreinte LV. 

Good thing I have these posts all lined up this week because there was NO time for blogging.

I have sick children to take care at work.

I have sick children to take care at home. 

Continuing my 100 fave things list

(see post 1 here... post 2 here)

10 favorite things about my job

(appropriately placed here since I am  working "full time" this week aka Monday to Friday)

1.  the KIDS! Even when they are sick and whiny, pediatric patients inspire me and teach me about their resilience and strength. we could all learn from them. 

2. opportunity to work with amazing and intelligent people. I am surrounded by geniuses, innovators and super-smart diagnosticians. I cannot slack off when I am around these folks.

3. the pathology I see at the hospital and in clinic. It still surprises me how much I learn every time I step in the hospital or take care of bread and butter clinic patients.  That's just medicine in general. It's a never-ending education. 

4. part-timer - I am grateful I can split time at work and at home. Hats off to working moms who are FT moms and FT physicians. I did it before. I worked 80 hour workweeks as a mom of three. I did not know how I survived it.  I was just in survival mode. 

5. parents trust me to take care of their children. That's an honor. 

6. student doctors - I enjoy working with and mentoring medical students. I was fortunate to meet mentors during my forming years (aka medical school) and I like to pay it forward. 

7. academic center - this goes with #2. Besides the physicians in my department, i get to collaborate and interact with other specialties since I work at the academic center. Again, being surrounded by these intelligent doctors push me to read more and learn more. 

8. flexibility -  I have a say on my schedule, when I start and when I end my clinic days. This is important for me not just for this particular job/group but also career choice. Work and life balance is important.   At the hospital, it's a little more complicated. Patients have to be seen everyday. I had to come in and cover holidays before. That's not a big deal since holiday coverage is split evenly (at least in our department).

9. my coworkers - shout out to my clinic folks. You all make clinic a happy place. Another clinic calls our clinic  "place with lollipops and rainbows."  I look forward to working a full clinic because of the people who help me out and the patients. 

10. reimbursement - I love it that I am getting paid. who does not want to get paid right? 

Crop top || thrifted

Tank

Topshop Jeans

Sperry's

Louis Vuitton, empreinte leather (use code: DISISD for 5 % off) 

Lipstick

Linking up with Holly, Sarah, Doranda, Morgan, Leanne, Elizabeth, Elena,  Madeline,  Jaymie,  Sydney, Danielle, Grace, Brooke.

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talking about boards, Chicago and playing the piano {7QT}

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Joining Jen for 7 quick takes Friday (thursday in my case)...






I have been MIA from blogging.... and I can fill up these quick takes for reasons why.

1. One might say, you're a part-timer: life should be "easy". Well, yes and no. I love being home with my babies. But I am still finding the work and life balance. I am slow finishing my work (ie re-reading EEGs, making sure I did not miss a seizure or spike) and end up bringing work home. That has to change though.







2. Countdown for the boards
Set your timers. I have less than 8 weeks reviewing for my initial certification in Child Neurology. Reviewing just got super-serious. Bring out the highlighters, different colored pens and flash cards.

3. Board review course
Last week, hubs, the littlest one and I drove to Chicago for a 5-day board review course. I am so glad I went. It was an intense five days. I was in the conference room from 7:30a to 7p. It was a good reward to spend time with my husband and Sebastian after a long day of class.

Derrick did get bored of his mini vacation away from the older two... but he got a lot of stuff done with his car, shopping at IKEA, work clothes shopping at the new fashion outlet that is literally 15 minute walk from the hotel!

I broke down and went shopping Saturday night and spent money at Saks! now, Derrick has to take me out to dinner dates so I can wear my new dresses :)








~~ Not from the fashion outlet. Taken at the Louis store at magnificent mile.

4. When in Chicago....
We went to the Filipino restaurant in the north side of Chicago. It's not a fancy restaurant. Entrees are fairly priced. But it's what you call a "hole in the wall" place -- but hey they serve really good food.

I ordered entrees that I don't usually make at home.





Inihaw na baboy (pork BBQ)







Inihaw na pusit (grilled squid)

not shown: karekare (my order), calamari (appetizer), tocino and pancit bihon (Derrick's order) we ordered enough for 10 people!

5. Playing again
I have been playing my piano almost every night. I was sad when I left for Chicago because that meant I could not play for 6 days.
what's the motivation?
While praying after Communion one Sunday, I realized I want to offer my talent to God and to the church. So I volunteered to play at Mass sometime. This came out of nowhere and from someone (me) who has not played in public for 14 years! I have played occasionally at home but not for a general audience since highschool.

yes, I am crazy. I need lots of practice.
This desire, I can only attribute as prompting of the Holy Spirit... Is there any other crazy reason?


Instead of freaking out or getting anxious preparing and practicing, playing the piano is actually pretty calming. So some nights, instead of blogging, I take out Bach or Beethoven and play a little....

I am not there yet (at all!) to play for the entire Mass. I need lots and lots of practice and courage. I will be praying: Come Holy Spirit and calm my nerves! I will start out playing a communion hymn or the offertory -- baby steps.

6. What? School started already?
Not for my son -- not yet.
Some of my patients are already back in school since August 1st. I am a slacker mom. I still need to order Daniel's school uniforms. Thank goodness, he can still wear his shorts and shirts from last year (he did not really grow that much!) I am still waiting for the Old Navy sale. They had pretty good deals last year for school uniforms. I have rewards that I can use! (fist bump)

7. Daniel and Isabel
I was just gone for 5 days and came home to:
~~~Daniel speaking in full sentences, telling me stories, conversing like an adult. He has done that before anyway but it's amazing how distance helps me realize how wonderful my children are! I see him in a different light.
~~~Isabel is loosing her baby face. She is growing way too fast! I showed her a video of the Indy Hula group. She loves it and wants to do it. I will definitely sign us up!

so that's it...
Happy day to all!!!

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fourth year of med school

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Linking up with Emma and friends for this month's Medical Mondays!

This is to continue my Child Neurology ins&outs posts. Check part 1 and part 2


In between interviews, residency matching and such, 4th year was the MOST fun year of medical school. There's that great feeling that we were free to choose electives and rotations after a grueling year of required rotations as a 3rd year! My 4th year of medical school looked like this. I chose these subspecialities thinking about my future goals: to be a pediatric neurologist!

June - combined Child neurology outpatient and research month
July - combined Child neurology outpatient and research month
Child Neurology residency match was an early match. I had to make a decision much earlier than my peers. When I finished 3rd year, I knew I wanted to specialize in neuro. I just could not give up the children! So to make sure I was on the right path, I signed up for a research elective and Child neurology outpatient rotation. After these 2 months, I was able to publish a case report.... and I solidified my desire to help children with neurological problems.


August - pediatric Cardiology outpatient rotation.
I love outpatient rotations. I heard from my peers that this elective was pretty good and the faculty were awesome teachers. I was able to hear a diastolic murmur in clinic! I also took an hour in the morning before heading to clinic to study for Step 2 Clinical Knowledge (CK), which I took the end of August.


September - ophthalomology
What I would have liked was to tag along a neuro-ophthalmologist. It did not happen. My goal was to get better with my fundoscopic examination. I had to practice a lot to get a good look at optic disks.... and it helped practicing on adults.

October - required radiology rotation

November – private practice Physical Medicine and Rehab
Again with neurology in mind, I signed up for an adult rotation in PM&R.

December – vacation
I used this month to interview. This was an awesome Christmas break. I was in warm, sunny Arizona 2 days before Christmas. (oh the life before children!)

January – required Emergency Medicine rotation

February – inpatient internal medicine at the VA
Shortest month of the year… need I say more?

March – Neonatology ICU elective
I was scared of premies. At that stage of my life, I was a newlywed. No experience with tiny, tiny 26 weekers… This rotation helped me be more comfortable taking care of these precious little ones. And guess what, Neuro NICU is now very close to my heart. I love those tiny little hands and feet.


April – Infectious disease elective
This was inpatient/consults…

May – vacation, graduation!

June – pediatric Internship started!

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First Day

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Another milestone. Not for my children. A Milestone for me.

For pump-up music, I played the worship CD my good friend, Hannah, gave me almost 10 years ago! We were mere first year student doctors then. I was teary eyed when memories of 10 years past flooded my memory bank. I have been seeing patients in the hospital but today was my first FULL DAY in clinic.

I got in the office and saw this:



and this:








^^The hyacinth smells so good. I already gave in and ate 2 dove eggs. yumm.....

Here's to being a real doctor! {as my mom would say}
To which I reply: I've been a doctor for 5 years! Come on, now!

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Medical Mondays

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Well, hello there. I am co-hosting MM for the second time! Yay!
For the first time I co-hosted Medical Mondays, check here... instructions for the link-up below.

I'm a mom of three and a new attending. I finished my 5 year residency in 5.5 years because of three maternity leaves.

This month is oh-so-special for all our Student Doctors MS4. It's match day month! I am wishing Erika the best... For all those who are not familiar with match day, let me give you a quick run-through. Med Students on their 4th year apply and interview for residency spots. To get the spot, it's not the usual: program offers you a spot and med student accepts the offer (like in the real world when applying/interviewing for a job). Late February, med students submit their rank list. Just as the name implies: MS4s rank #1 program they want to end up training, then #2 and so forth. Residency programs also submit their rank list. same thing: if they want FutureDoctor1 in their program, then he is #1, if they want FutureNeurologist in their program, rank her #2.... and so on and so forth.

The best "MATCH" is when a student ranks the program really high and the program ranks him/her pretty high and it's a match made in heaven!

Child Neurology was an early match in 2008. I knew where I would be for PGY3-5. But match day was still very important. That was when I found out my PGY1-2 residency program.

In our school, match day is a big day. Envelopes were handed out to all 250+ students. We all got up there and announced our residency spot. Then there was the after-match party... and of course, after-party PARTY (if you know what I mean!)

I kept my match letter.


And look how young I looked! wow... this was 6 years ago. crazy how fast time flies.



^^Dr. Pathologist photobombed two of my picts^^


so there you go.... good luck to all our student doctors! May the MATCH force be with you.

I love blog-hopping and checking out all your posts so link.it.up.
Thanks Emma and Jane for letting me co-host again.




March Medical Monday Link-Up and BlogHop

Are you confused if you qualify for the party?

If you have a pager interrupting your life... you DEFINITELY qualify!

Do you work in healthcare?

Doctor? Nurse? EMT? Chiropractor? Vet? Dentist? Therapist?

MA? NA? PA? DA?

Are you the spouse or SO of a healthcare worker/student?

Are you a nursing student? Medical student?

Intern? Resident? Fellow?

You get the picture, right? Come on, now... don't be shy! Let's keep growing and meeting new bloggers, so we can build a community of support and friendship, learn from one another, and share our stories.

LINK UP YOUR POST!

Here are the rules:

1. Follow your co-hosts via Bloglovin, GFC (if you are Blogger), FB, email or Twitter.
2. Link up you medical/med life blog. If your blog name does not clearly state how you fit in to the med/med life world, please write a little intro or link up a specific post which clearly demonstrates your connection.
3. Visit at least 3 other link ups, comment, introduce yourself, and tell the your stopping by or following from MM!
4. Help spread the word by using our button on your post or sidebar, tweet about Medical Monday, or spread the word on Facebook! The more the merrier for all of us.

Complete step one by following your co-hosts:

• Emma at Your Doctor's Wife
• Jane at From A Doctor's Wife
• Sarah at D-Isis (New ATTENDING!!!)
• Lisa at Lulu's Big Adventure (Med Student)

Want to be awesome? Help us spread the word by grabbing and posting the Medical Monday button on your post or sidebar...

<a href="http://www.yourdoctorswife.com/p/medical-mondays.html" target="blank"><br /> <img src="http://i1168.photobucket.com/albums/r494/fromadoctorswife/MedicalMonday-001edit125x125.jpg"/><br /> </a><br />

Want to co-host next month? Shoot Jane an email at fromadoctorswife@gmail.com and be sure to write "Medical Monday Co-host Request" in the subject field.

Now, link up below and have fun! The link up is open through Friday, so be sure to come back during the week to check some great reads!

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Wishing hoping thinking {7qt}

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This is my 7 quick takes (x2!) And since I have writer’s block, no originality for posts and I look up to both Erika and Grace, I copied their prompts to help me today…


1. Cooking : my slow cooker Chicken and Dumplings rendition. It will be ready for Friday dinner. Yumm.


Marveling: at my new office. I wasted NO TIME placing pictures everywhere.
And yes, I need to print new pictures of Sebastian. The third baby syndrome… But he won’t feel left out, just check my IG feed.











2. Playing: Pandora is streaming. I have to stay awake.


Wishing: it’s spring break. Because I will see this beautiful girl!

3. Enjoying: my dependable water and grapes for my morning snack. My salad in a jar is waiting for me. Is it NOON yet?


Liking: these five faves I posted this week.

4. Wondering: how my little D is doing. He has a field trip to the Center for performing arts today. He told me yesterday during school pickup: “Mummy, I have to wear nice clothes tomorrow. You think, I can wear my black shoes.” I answered, “yes. How about longsleeved buttoned-down shirt, khakis and your nice shoes?”
And…. I did not take a picture of him this morning.

Loving: my sweet husband. Cheesy but true.

5. Hoping: that my grandma will be safe in the OR for her knee replacement surgery. It is scheduled on 3/7. Prayers appreciated please.

Reading : neurology examination and board review, Continuum, Merritt’s Neurology.





6. Needing: to be consistent with potty training Isabel. The little trick: “Ballerinas do not poopy on their diapers” worked this morning! After doing #2 succesfully on the potty, she did her arabesque. Now where did she copy that from?


Wearing: my new lipstick shade. Oh how I missed wearing bright lipstick. It just makes me happy! the little things, the little things that keep us going.



^^haven't been wearing lipstick when I am with Bastian. He likes to smack my face and smear my lipstick. Silly baby. ^^

7. Thinking: about Hawaii, Paris, London. All the places Derrick and I visited, before babies.

Feeling: sore. Yep.

Happy Friday, friends! Join Jen for more 7QT!

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