Here's to two more...

Ha. I just re-discovered this article I found about Miami before we moved here. It's even more funny and spot-on now that we've actually lived here. In honor of gearing up for two more years here, I thought I'd post it again:


MIAMI IS IN NO UNCERTIAN TERMS NOT LIKE MOVING TO ANY OTHER CITY IN THE US. Heck, it isn’t even moving to the U.S. What you must understand is that if you are from another part of the country, no matter if it’s some self-proclaimed “melting pot” like New York or LA or Dallas, you will experience culture shock when you cross the Dade County Line.

So buckle up and don’t unpack too much, because without the proper instruction you, like so many Americans who think this might be a fun place to live, will not make it through your first year.

I am not going to make it sound like this is an awful place to live, but you have to have the right mindset in order to survive in this city. It is not the fast-paced, competitive mindset of New York, or the laid-back mindset of LA, but more the frenetic, anything goes mindset of, oh, say, El Salvador.


If you are young and single, there is no greater city to live. People in your demographic are really the only sane people who should ever consider moving here.

Married, people, seriously, Miami is not the town for you. I’m sure you are a very nice couple, possibly with very nice kids, but that is precisely why you should avoid this place like your mother-in-law on Christmas. I can almost promise you that your family will be worse off for having moved here.


Typically the only people who decide to begin a new life in Miami arrive by raft, but if for some unknown reason you thought moving to a city full of sex, drugs and corruption was a good idea for a young married couple, then Bienvenidos!

Moving on, and not really moving on

Ryan had his residency graduation last weekend.  I almost would have forgotten that it's a big deal. I guess just the fact that we're staying here, not moving anywhere for fellowship and not starting a real job like we actually could be at this point just kind of makes it easy to look over since everything is pretty much staying the same.  But it was a really fun evening, and fun to have Ryan and the other graduating residents be the guests of honor, complete with a little slide show of pictures from throughout their life. We even had a spot at the coveted center table this year.  (You can see the gift boxes from Tiffany's as well. Of course every girl hopes to see something other than like a personalized candy dish in there, but hey, it was still cool and still from Tiffany's. :)

So many good friends we've made here over the past few years. It hit me that while we will still be here, a lot of them will not, and that was sad. Our friends the Jacobs are taking a job we've coveted in Minot, North Dakota (believe it or not, and we're just not done like they are or we may have battled it out with them)! I'm sure they'll be missing us though by, say, next January.  :)

Our neighbor, Ryan's ride for the last three years, and "cool uncle" to our kids, Justin (left) is headed to Atlanta, but at least we're keeping his fiance hostage in Miami so he'll have to come back and see us now and then.

Ryan and his fellow graduating residents and their program director:

I always get the shaft though having Father's day be the day after his resident's day so that when we're tired from being out late I have to let Ryan be the one to get the naps.  Speaking of which, happy Father's day.  There were actually a couple funny "telling" moments about my hubby this past week.  On Father's day I whispered to Cash to go tell dad he was the best.  Cash looked at me and said, "He's the best?" And I said "Yeah!" and he said, "Oh, but he never listens to you!"  I had a good laugh that even my 5 year-old can pick up on the tune-out-your-wife technique.

Then we were watching a little of the Bachlorette on tv and Ryan was just staring into the tv somewhat deep in thought and said, "Man, being the bachelor would be like the worst thing ever.  Just having to talk about your feelings with like 20 different women...all day long."  I laughed so hard. Forget 20 gorgeous women vying for your affection and doting all over you, having to talk about feelings is seriously my husband's worst nightmare.

Then we were getting ready for bed in the bathroom the other night and I was trying to discuss some issues and make plans.  When he walked off to go to bed I was like, "What the heck? Why can't you talk to me about this?"  He said, "What do you mean, we've been talking the whole time we were in here!"  To which I said, "Wait, you mean the 'conversation' that went like this?": 
Me:  "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah....??
You:  Shrug.
Me: "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah Blah blah blah, blah blah blah,blah....
You:  "Mmmmm."
Me:  "Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah blah blah blah blah blah, blah blah????
You: "Dunno."
"Is that the 'conversation' you were saying just happened??"

Ah, gotta love my "typical" guy.  But he's a darn good doctor and a great father, so I guess that makes up for a lot. :)

Anyway, back to the career, it's kind of weird being at that point where I thought we would be done, the time I had originally set my sights for being on a plane out of Miami.  But we're not. So I have to remind myself that graduation from residency is awesome and is progress even though nothing is really changing from my perspective. I'm sure Ryan will enjoy doing more retina surgery and stuff though. But it is another hoop jumped through and three years closer to a real job!  Now onto the two year fellowship.

Occupied

Oh poor blog, oh, house, oh, details in life, oh, other children, you've all been so neglected. And really, this is the reason:

But seriously, how could you resist that face?  Anyhow, turns out that #4 isn't going to put up with being stuck in a bouncy seat or a corner somewhere, or sleeping half the day away while we carry on with all the details of our busy lives. Nope, being #4 I guess he came wanting to make sure to command some attention.  So he just likes things the way he likes them. And will only sleep being held. So if you come around our house, you may be put to use doing something like this:

I really have spent up to 6 hours a day holding this little guy. That is why you probably haven't heard from me much. But having gone through this three other times, I am realizing how fast these stages pass, and really, spending half your day holding a cute little baby certainly isn't the worst thing in the world.  It just seems to be a short term gain. I'm tired, he's tired. During nap time either I hold him and we all get some sleep or he cries and wakes up every 20 minutes and I fight and fight to get him back down.  So being held just keeps winning out.  And then he's well-rested and pleasant!

I never really even got around to blogging about the two trips my mom has made out here since the baby was  born, the one trip my sister made, or Ryan's trip to Ethiopia.  He did over 180 cataract surgeries in a week or less.  Amazing. Patients came from hundreds of miles away and just slept on the ground. He has some videos of taking bandages off for the first time from people who hadn't been able to see in years. It was pretty amazing. My mom and I did remarkably well with the kids and even managed to get out and have some fun. 

The first time she came back in March after the baby was born, she got in late at night and I wondered how the kids would feel waking up to her in our living room after not seeing her for months. When I came out of the bedroom that morning to this sight I realized I need not have worried.

And here was Grammy on parade in the halls with the crazies trying to burn off some energy.

 

And my cute sister who even had to spend her birthday with us.  Thanks to all the nice people who helped us out over the last few months. I haven't been very on top of things to thank you all, as you can tell!  

Feeling nostalgic

This beauty got sold the other day:

(The stroller, that is. Although depending on the day I may have offered the children as well. :)    But I'm feeling a little nostalgic.  This was such a part of our family and our home for the last few years. (How could it not be, sitting in the middle of our living space for the last 3 years??? That was the final deciding factor of why it had to go.Besides the fact they all walk everywhere now.)  This stroller allowed me independence, saw me through downpours, Disneyworld, restrained children who could scream the entire walk home, and brought us no lack of attention.  I will miss the comments. I will actually miss the stares. I will miss strolling down hip Lincoln Road with you and hearing the gasps and the commentary from the single and swanky crowd. I am sure you inspired birth control among countless passersby.   

But I will welcome the open spot next to the kitchen table. And the fair penny you fetched when we sold you. So long.  I doubt the next owners could ever look as cool in you as we did.  :)

Pay it forward

To whoever you are, nice woman, who stopped and gave me and my sopping wet children a ride when we were caught in a freak rainstorm, I sincerely thank you.  And I will write it down to remember someone in Miami was courteous to me one time while we lived here.  :)   (Seriously, this is a much more common scenario!)

I know this scenario of me getting caught in a freak storm with all my children out at the park is not an unfamiliar Miami story.  This time we were all out, along with everyone else in the neighborhood for Memorial Day at the park.  Ryan was about 30 feet away from me and I hear him yell to me, "GO! FAST!!"  I still didn't know what he was talking about until I looked down on the ground right in front of me and saw the splatter of a raindrop the size of a tennis ball.  Good grief, these things sure come out of nowhere.  I had the baby in my arms and tried to cover him with a blanket to shelter him, but with the sudden wind and all there wasn't much success to that.  Ashton was screaming so much Ryan shoved him in the infant seat in the stroller and I tried to herd the other two kids along, but with all the running and chaos, shoes kept falling off, bodies were lagging behind, and I wasn't sure whether we should try to make it all the way home, try to go run into a closer building, just huddle together and wait for a minute or what.  So there I stood at the edge of the road getting soaked, looking around trying to figure out exactly what I should do.

Then along came the nice woman who rolled down her window and yelled at us to get in. I protested that we would get her car all wet, but her nice passenger friend got out and even took sopping wet Phoenix onto her seat with her in the front while Cash and the baby and I climbed in the back. Ryan and the covered large child in small seat just ran through the rain.

Since thanks wasn't quite enough, all I could think to wish her was that someone would do the same for her someday.  Just like I always put a quarter in the meter for a stranger when I see their time has expired.  You always hope it will come back around.