What Kids Do

Currently, I am working in a Pediatric clinic. As cute and adorable as kids are (and mine in particular - *wink, wink*), Pediatrics was not one of my favorite parts of medicine. However, after a few weeks of seeing them day in and day out, all day long, I've actually grown to love it.

One of the best things is that you never know what you are going to get when you walk into the room. Oh, the stories Pediatricians can tell. The innocence of a child is priceless, and can be stinking funny, too. Kids will do, and say, the funniest things.

Well, I have a pretty stinking funny, priceless, cute Pediatric patient of my very own - Owen! Although we have some good stories from his visits to Dr. Mogenson, he may have topped them all this morning at our house.

As you know, we are getting ready to sell our house, so in the spare moments of the week I've been doing some touch up painting. Today was no different, and I decided to take full advantage of a day off. There had been a small painting incident earlier in the month with Owen, so I decided today I would be wiser and only paint things higher than the door knobs because that it precisely how high his little fingers can reach. My plan was working, and I covered a lot of ground while Owen was running from one room to the next. Of course, painting gets boring so I decided to take a break and do some laundry. (Yeah, I know, some kind of break.) I washed out my brush, put the lid on the paint can, and pushed it against the wall on our nightstand near where I had just finished.

Shortly into my laundry pile, my ears realized the familiar toddler chatter was missing. That is never a good sign. Quickly, I headed off in search of Owen's next great adventure. Sure enough I found him in the bedroom. On the floor was laying an empty water glass that previously had been filled with water on our nightstand, soaking wet slippers "strategically" placed, and...

the white paint can! Can you imagine what was sitting next to this now opened can? Yep, a sweet, innocent, adorable little boy with gooey white hands in his Husker pajamas changed from red to white. Paint was in his hair, and there was a big gob on his face next to a big grin. AAHHHH! Do I scream, laugh, or cry first?!

I swooped him up off the ground and held him out in front in a futile effort to save my clothes. (Trust me, nothing could have saved my clothes in that mess.) We rushed to the only place I could think... the bathtub. This has been our place of refuse for many a mess, but I wasn't sure if even it was ready for this. Thankfully, I tossed the brand new shower curtain out of the way and the matching rug into a heap as far away in the corner as it could get, because it took all of 5 seconds for him to grab the his bath toy with his paint covered hands and pitch it out of the tub. Bounce, bounce it went across the room leaving a wet, white trail in its path. By this point I was laughing uncontrollably.

Thankfully, he cleans up well, as did every surface in the bathroom and, thanks to our Spot Bot, the carpet at the scene of the crime, too. What a way to start the day! I've heard many stories like this from my patients, but to live it was really something else.

Yum!

Living in the biggest city in Nebraska definitely has its advantages. One of the best is that there are lots of great places to eat! (It also is nice to be pregnant and have an excuse to not care about calories.) As our time here is winding down we have set three ground rules for when we go out to eat: #1) No restaurants that are in Grand Island; #2) No restaurants we have been to before; & #3) No chains. With those in mind, we have been accumulating a list of places to taste before we leave. It's a good thing that Omaha won't be too far away, because we are finding so many great places. Here it is (and of course we are always open to more suggestions):

• Twisted fork
• Caniglias
• Mahogany Prime
• Big Mama's Kitchen
• Jazz
• Mother India
• Pitch
• Johnny's Cafe
• Espana
• Anthony's Steakhouse
  

Here are the places we've already tried: ...Yum!

• Stella's - Known for the best hamburger in Omaha, we agree!
  
• O - This is a swanky Chinese place downtown with awesome Pad Thai.
  
• Pudgy's Pizzeria - Funny Story. Several months ago, when this list was being created, I asked Jason where he wanted to eat before we move. He responded quickly, and I busted up laughing. I was expecting him to say some fancy steak place, not Pudgy's! I had never heard of this place, and it literally is a pizza place in a strip mall. Regardless, we went, and it was actually really good.
  
• M's pub - Love the atmosphere, but don't expect to walk in and get a table the day before Valentine's day. Who would have thought?
  
• Vivace - Again, another great restaurant with cool atmosphere in the Old Market.
  
• Zio's - We actually tried this pizza place a long time ago, but it is such an Omaha legend it had to make the list so we don't forget to go again.
  
• Upstream - Yummy martini's (pre-pregnancy, of course).
  
• Petrows - The place to go when you're craving a milkshake and cafe foods. And, I love the cute sayings on their sign.
  
• Lo sole mio - Roasted garlic to die for! Seriously, I'm drooling right now thinking about it.
  
• Kona Grill - We went here while I was pregnant so we didn't try the sushi they are known for, but the California Roll was super yummy.
  
• La Casa - Aunt Jan's favorite pizza.
• Piccolo Pete's - Not my favorite, and honestly kind of weird.
  
• Katie's - The med center get's gyros from here pretty frequently, and I'm always happy when I walk into a lunch meeting and smell it.
  
• Bonefish Grill - Even for someone that's not usually a seafood person, this place was impressive.
  
• Brother Sebastian's - Probably one of the standouts for atmosphere - e.g., the waiter's are dressed like monks.
• Rick's Cafe Boatyard - We ate here for our anniversary and spent a lot of time chatting and looking out over the river.
  

Okay, now I'm just hungry. Time to go find a little snack.

D

A little more free medical advice:

(I feel like I should insert some medical-legal disclaimer in here, but I wouldn't know what to say and that's just not my style. Seriously, though, if you have questions ask your doctor. Okay, moving on...)

A, B, C, D. D. Vitamin D. One of the best kept secrets out there, but we're working to make it a less well hidden secret. At my clinic, we have been checking Vitamin D levels on just about everyone who comes in for their annual exams or is getting lab drawn, and I've been shocked how many people are Vitamin D deficient. It is so prevalent that some doctors in our clinic have stopped checking and just tell everyone to start taking it.

Why does it matter? The benefits in bone health has been known for years and years. Our grandmas have been told to take calcium and vitamin D forever, right? Now, however, there are studies out there showing even more benefits, and it's not just for Grandma anymore.

Here are a few of the benefits:

• increased muscle strength
• treats psoriasis, a skin condition (obviously not the only treatment, but can't hurt)
• better immune system
• decreased risk of lymphoma and colon, prostate, & breast cancer; also, if you have one of these cancers it improves your chance of survival.
• if taken during pregnancy, it may be able reduce the risk of juvenile (type I) diabetes as well as asthma in the baby
• reduces risk for multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis
• helps to improve high blood pressure and prevent heart failure
• decreased risk of depression and other psychiatric diseases

It sounds like the cure all, right?! While all of those things have been documented, it is important to understand that the risk reduction isn't always very dramatic. We're talking about a difference in the range of fractions of a percent. While, unfortunately, it isn't the cure for cancer, depression, or heart disease; it sure can't hurt.

So, check the label of your multivitamin and make sure "D" is in there. Or, you could hang outside in your swim suit for 30 minutes a day in this lovely 30-degree March weather and soak in some sun to get it the "natural" way.

Home

Several days of my week of vacation (which is a treasured occasion to say the least!) and the weekends that followed have been spent painting, packing, and preparing to sell our house and move the big G.I. Each week as things slowly get packed up and taken to storage, I'm already starting to miss our house. It isn't even for sale yet, and I'm already missing this place we've called home.

Who are those people who move into this house five years ago? No Herbie. No Lambeau. No Owen! I hadn't started med school, and Jason hadn't even finished college. We were a few pounds lighter, and thankfully, Jason didn't have much more hair to lose. The '96 red neon was parked in the driveway, and the third bedroom was just used for storage. I was excited to have a laundry room that didn't take quarters, and Jason was excited to have a lawn of his own to mow.

Now, Herbie has worn a path around the backyard, and the neighbor cats still come around looking for Lambeau. Owen has spit up, crawled, and is now running on our "new" carpet. Med school feels like forever ago, and Jason is well on his way to his Master's. Jason blames Owen for his pant size, and I'm blaming Owen's brother for mine. The neon is long gone, and our driveway has since been graced by the little red Ranger, our Mitsubishi, and now the Rendezvous. The third bedroom has been through multiple make-overs: from a closet, to a dining room, to a nursery, and now to a little boy's favorite place to hang out. I'm a little less excited about doing laundry, but Jason still has the same smile on his face mowing the lawn as he did the first day. (By the way, he still mows it twice every time in different directions to "get the mulch.")

Sometime this summer we'll be pulling all of those boxes back out of storage and unpacking into a new place in Grand Island. Memories will be made there just as they have been in every other place we've called home. That's the best part about home, isn't it: it has a way of finding you where ever, and whenever, you go.

It's a BOY

Oh my! What am I going to do? Testosterone is going to be flowing through my house. My imagination is filled with wrestling matches, broken windows, black eyes, and T-ball games. Yet, it all brings a smile to my face. Today, Jason and I found out the little life inside me is going to be a little boy. Even though less than twelve hours ago I would have told you I wanted a little girl, at this moment I couldn't be happier. Being able to see his little face and his hands and feet as he squirmed and dodged away from photos sealed the deal. That's my baby - Owen's little brother. I can't wait to meet him and hold him. And I can't wait for all of those wrestling matches, broken windows, black eyes, and T-ball games. He is going to look so cute in little white baseball pants.