What Is Upromise? Earn, Save and Pay for College - Upromise

What Is Upromise? Earn, Save and Pay for College - Upromise

I am so excited about this that I had to blog about it ASAP....
A few weeks ago while I was going over my student loan debt on the Sallie Mae website I saw a link for Upromise that said it was a way to help pay off your loans. After seeing how much I actually owe, I would do just about anything to help pay it off, so I clicked on the link. I read about Upromise and went ahead and joined. I entered all of the information that it asked me for & started shopping online through their site to buy things that I would normally buy. For example, I ordered pictures from our Disney trip at Walgreens.com & diapers at Diapers.com, all through the Upromise shopping link. I also entered my grocery store & pharmacy cards & linked the account to my Sallie Mae loan account.

Well, today I logged on just for fun and found out that I have already gotten 20$ cash back! I know that is a small amount when compared to what I owe, but every little bit helps, especially when I don't have to do anything out of the ordinary to collect the little bit!

So, if you are a student or are going to be one, or if you want to help me pay off my loans, or if you have a kid who will be going to college one day you SHOULD check it out.

Here is the link for the shopping site: http://www.upromise.com/guest/2783433317
Here is the link for the main site: www.upromise.com/

I'm So Behind On Blogging!

I have fallen VERY behind on my blogging! My break before the start of internship seemed to go by in a flash. I cannot believe that I am in orientation today. So much has gone on in the last few months that I just haven't had any time to blog. I am going to try to catch up over the next few weeks, because there have been some pretty amazing events in the Million household and I don't want to forget about them.

I just realized that I haven't blogged about our big Easter (complete with 2 new family members), or finished up my medical school recap! I haven't even mentioned my graduation party, the Twin's 3rd Birthday, our Disney adventure, or any of my recent pinterest attempts or DIY home projects! Wow - I've got some serious catching up to do.....

Second Year = Life & Death

My second year of medical school was filled with drama (as if my 1st year wasn't dramatic enough). I had spent the summer between 1st and 2nd year doing research with Dr. Linda May and meeting with a local reproductive endocrinologist to assess the physical damage that had been done to my reproductive system during the ruptured ectopic pregnancy and resultant open surgery (where they removed one of my fallopian tubes, a procedure called a salpingectomy). While the break from classwork was fairly drama free; it wasn't exactly a vacation. I saw the REI doctor at least once a week and worked between 20-40 hours with Dr. May on the research project. Even though I was quite busy, I still found plenty of time to relax and enjoy my time away from books and exams.

Dr. May and I studied the effects of maternal exercise on fetal nervous system development using a special machine called a biomagnetometer. The biomagnetometer is a special machine used to record the electromagnetic waves that are produced by fetal movement. It is very similar to the special cortical cap that is used to record brain waves when doing an EEG (electroencephalogram). The results from our study suggested that maternal exercise was quite beneficial to a developing fetus. I was later asked to present our study findings at a conference at KCUMB and at a convention in New Orleans (this is a link to an article about the convention). Dr. May was featured in Fit Pregnancy and our manuscript was selected for publication a few months ago! So, I guess that my summer work paid off; I can now say that I have a publication!

Dr. May and I working on our research project!

As for my reproductive evaluation; the summer evaluation did not turn out quite as we would have liked it to. We found out that it would be nearly impossible for Brian and I to conceive on our own. We were also informed that if we were interested in having children we should consider doing so sooner rather than later. ...Well, that gave me something to ponder while starting off my second year of medical school.

Year 2 = Life & Death

Second year is similar to the first year in the fact that it is learning the basic sciences before we are allowed to go into hands on training during years 3 and 4. Our school teaches medicine by the "genesis" system, where we learn the body in systems. So we study the musculoskeletal system as a whole and all of the conditions and medications that are related to that system, and then proceed through the rest of the body in a similar fashion (GI, reproductive, cardiopulmonary......). The 1st nine weeks of 2nd year are spent focusing on the nervous system. This section is known to be the most difficult section of all of medical school. The brain and nervous system are incredibly detailed and very hard to learn about. So, we are told that we must devote all of our time and energy into this section and then we can relax a bit while finishing off the rest of the body and studying for boards. That is exactly what I intended to do. I had survived year one, and I was going to do all that I could to devote all of my energy into making it through year two. No more issues, or drama in my life until medical school was over.......

That was my plan anyway, but things rarely go as planned. Instead of being able to devote all of my attention to this incredibly difficult section, my beloved Grandmother got very ill and was diagnosed with end stage lung cancer during my 3rd week of neuro. So much for no more drama. I was very close to my grandmother, so watching her go through the last 2 weeks of her life in horrible pain was a nightmare. The only thing that made it worse was the fact that while I was sitting by her side I was trying as hard as I could to memorize all of the intricate pathways in the brain. My Grandma's last wish was to die in the comfort of her own home. We did everything that we could to get hospice to step in and get her there before her final hours. We were able to succeed and she passed away a few days after returning to her house. At the time of her death she was surrounded by her family, and it was a very peaceful experience. We were all sitting by her bed holding her hands and talking about happy times that we had all shared when she took her final breath. 

 She was an amazing lady and I loved her very much. I wish that she were still here today; I know that she would get a big kick out of my having twins and becoming a doctor. She was very proud of the fact that she was able to get a degree and participate in science fairs. She always said that "back in her day, women didn't do things like that." She often told people that I was going to school to be a nurse. It didn't bother me and I usually didn't correct her. I don't know if she didn't know I was going to be a doctor or if she didn't understand that females were able to become doctors now. I guess I will never know. I wish that I had a picture saved on my laptop to add to this post, but I haven't uploaded any of my older photos yet... 

Grandma was 93 years old and had been living on her own and doing very well until a few weeks prior to her passing. Her quick decline in health was quite a shock. It made Brian and I think about how short life really is and how we have no certainty about the future. At that point we decided to consider working with the REI to have a baby. One of my closest friends, who was in my medical school class was getting ready to have her 1st baby, so we decided that this year was as good a time as any. We didn't want to wait until we were ready and miss our opportunity and regret it later, so we made an appointment with the doctor to discuss IVF.

So, about a week before the neuro final, I started giving myself injections in the abdomen to start the process of creating a new Million. IVF is very expensive, but Brian's insurance covered it. That was actually the deciding factor as to when we would attempt to procedure. Since his insurance was going to pay for it and the job market was a bit insecure, we decided to do it while we didn't have to fork over 15-20K out of pocket. I remember going through the final exam and having hot flashes and chills from the medication. Looking back, I have NO IDEA how I passed that exam. 

The IVF process takes 4-6 weeks and it isn't the most pleasant thing a couple can go through. You have to REALLY want to have children in order to give yourself daily hormone injections, and undergo 2 lovely surgical procedures. We really wanted kids, so we suffered through. I will never forget toting my little lunch cooler around with syringes everywhere that I went so that i wouldn't miss a scheduled injection. I even allowed Brian to inject me a couple of times and two of my best friends gave me shots just so that they could say that they helped get me pregnant. After all of the drugs and injections egg retrieval was a welcome event, because it meant that I was done with the shots and hormonal shifts. 

Retrieval went really well. They put you in a twilight state and use an ultrasound guided catheter to suck the eggs out of your enlarged ovaries. We got 21 eggs. As soon as they remove the eggs the embryologist surrounds each egg with sperm and leaves them to do their magic. The eggs are fertilized while the mom is waking up and the dad is hanging out in the waiting room. The next day we got a phone call saying that 19 of the eggs had fertilized, which meant that the ones that had not were probably not mature enough when collected. On day 2 we were informed that 15 of them were thriving embryos and that we would be undergoing a day 5 blast transfer instead of a day 3. It was a Sunday when we went in to "get pregnant." We were excited and nervous all at the same time, but we felt comfort in the fact that we had so many embryos.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the hospital we found out that only 2 of the 15 embryos had survived to the blastocyst form. We were crushed, and so was the doctor. So, instead of putting one embryo back in as we had planned, we put in 2. It didn't seem very likely that they would survive, so we were already planning on changes to make in our next IVF cycle. Well, that was the case until we got a call on Wednesday that informed us that 2 of the embryos that had not made it to blast stage on Sunday had started dividing again and were in excellent shape. They wanted to know if we would like to have them frozen for future use.....We froze; if those 2 had survived, what about the 2 that they put back in me???????????????

The next 12 days were perhaps the LONGEST days of my life. We had to wait until day 14 to have a blood pregnancy test to see if the IVF worked. Thank goodness that I had so much studying to do for school, because I think I would have gone crazy if I didn't have something else to focus on. 

On day 13 we had decided that we couldn't handle it anymore and went out and got some pregnancy tests. I drank a bunch of water and used the test as directed. We waited in anticipation for 3 minutes until the bright pink line appeared in the test box and then nothing showed up in the control area. Hmmmmm, what does that mean? It must be a defective test kit; how can you screw up a urine pregnancy test!!!! So, we tried again & this time within seconds both lines were BRIGHT pink! The waiting game was finally over. We were pregnant!!!!

The next day I got my blood test done and later found out that my hCG levels were so high that they thought I may be having triplets. At that time I think I might have had a mild heart attack! So, it was time to wait again. We had to wait another few weeks for the ultrasound to confirm a fetal heartbeat and to tell us how many. During this entire process I was still able to go to school full time and focus on my medical education. I aced the reproductive section; I think that I only missed a handful of questions on that final exam!

The very 1st picture of Molly (left) and Benjamin (right). The sight of this left Brian speechless for a day or two...

Benjamin

Molly.....the fact that she is upside down & kicking Benjamin,
is proof that personality develops before birth....

By Christmas we had gone through enough ultrasounds to feel comfortable to announce to the public that we were going to have twins and that we were due in late July. However, it was not until a few months ago that we decided that it was okay for the world to know that Ben and Molly are "test tube babies." So, I must apologize to anyone who is involved in our life, who is just finding out that the twins were made in a lab and who are shocked by the revelation. We did not keep this a secret from anyone on purpose; we just weren't sure how many people we wanted to share it with and we didn't know if we wanted the twins to know how they came to be. We have decided that it is a good thing for the twins to know and we want them to know while they are young so that they don't find out when they are older and go through some strange phase of hating us for not telling them everything or resenting us for not letting them know. We even found a few children's books about IVF babies and got them for the twins. They don't quite get it yet, but they do understand that we loved them long before they were born and that they are very special. Besides, now that I will actually be practicing medicine, I want to be able to share my story with patients who might be going through the same thing that we went through. So, enough about IVF....

The rest of year 2 went by really fast. We started studying for Step 1, which is our first of many medical board exams, and we whizzed through the rest of the body sections at warp speed. Nothing too exciting happened, except for my trip to New Orleans with my mother, Dr. May, and Dr. Yagoda. That was fun, except for the fact that I was VERY big and pregnant at the time. New Orlean's has some amazing food! I ate my way through the entire city! When we got back from they conference we started putting together the nursery when I wasn't too busy studying or going to class (so, we might have spent 3-4 hours a week on it). And then, at about 27 weeks I started having contractions that forced us to go to the hospital and be monitored in labor and delivery for a few hours. I was given IV fluids and some medication and the contractions stopped so I was sent home and told to return to the hospital 2 times a week for fetal non-stress tests so that the babies could be monitored more closely. It was not fun to try to schedule three hours a week at the hospital on monitors around board studying and class work!

I LOVED these adorable cupcakes from one of my showers!!!

A few weeks later, I was put on strict bed rest, because I was going into pre-term labor and the babies were too immature to be out in the world yet. The school allowed me to watch lectures over the internet, and I was told to postpone Step 1 until after the kids were born. A few of my classmates (& best friends in the world) would come over in the afternoon to study with me and to set up the nursery while I laid on my left side in misery. They would bring me treats and try to make my imprisonment seem more tolerable. I was addicted to frozen custard with cheesecake in it; no wonder I gained 72 pounds! 

One day when I was laying on the floor watching my friend fold adorable little onsies, I got a phone call telling me that my aunt, who I had lived with at one point in my life, had been found dead in her apartment.  I started sobbing and asked to be taken to my parent's house since I couldn't drive. We found out that she had died from a heart attack in her sleep and that her dog also passed away around the same time, right next to her. I have been told that animals often die a sympathetic death, but this occurrence confirmed it for me. I had spent a lot of time with my aunt and my cousin and we were very close. I couldn't accept the fact that she was gone and that she would not be around to meet the twins. 

At that point I started looking back over the obstacles that I had encountered while attempting to go to medical school & I started to wonder if maybe I should give up... Maybe all of these things were a sign: the ectopic, my grandmother passing, a twin pregnancy, the death of my aunt. Brian and I actually talked about  my quitting school and staying home with the kids and teaching skating again. We went so far as to contact the school's financial aid office to find out what would happen if I dropped out. What we found, was that we would owe over 150K and therefore could not afford for me to quit. If the obstacles that I had encountered were trying to tell me something, then I would need to win the lottery in order to follow their guidance and drop out. I didn't win the lottery, so I continued to go to school. 

I was 3 weeks shy of completing 2nd year when the twins were born. They were born at exactly 33 weeks gestation. A bit too early to be strong enough to handle the world, but tough enough to make it with a bit of medical support. We contacted the school and informed them of their early arrival and told them that they were in the NICU and that they would remain there until they were stable. We also sent them a doctor's note stating that I would not be able to return to school for 4-6 weeks since I had to have a C-Section. 

Molly Kaye (named after my Grandma); just a few hours old.
16 inches long, and weighing under 4 pounds

Benjamin Christopher a few hours after arriving to the world.
19 inches long, and 5.3 pounds

A few weeks later I got an email from the dean of medicine granting me a 1 year leave of absence from medical school in order to spend time with my tiny babies and help them grow and get strong enough to face the world. At that point in time, I needed the break since I wasn't feeling much like facing the world either...........

Our family with Double Dan, the man who helped us make Millions!!!!

It's ALMOST over!!!!

With a couple of weeks left before I FINALLY graduate from Medical School, I have started to reflect upon the last 5 years (yep, it took me 5 years- you will see why soon) in my mind & remember what the process of becoming a doctor has really been like. I wish that I would have started writing a blog much earlier so that I would have a written account of the whole process instead of attempting to patch together a string of fragmented memories. Unfortunately, I didn't blog back then, so all I have to work with in my attempt to compose a memoir of my path to doctor-hood is a collection of very thick binders, half a million flash-cards, thousands of dollars worth of books, a few photos, multiple gray hairs, and flashbacks of some of the occurrences that have impacted me in some way. (oh & did I mention that 301 thousand dollars worth of student loans that will serve as a monthly reminder for A VERY LONG TIME...)


As I reflect upon my time at KCUMB, the one thing that I can say is that I could NEVER do it again!!! If it weren't for the support of some of my very close friends, my amazing husband, and my family there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that I would be graduating on May 19th. In fact, I often wonder if I would be sending out grad party invitations if I  had chosen to go to a different medical school. The professors, staff, & other students at KCUMB have been an amazing group of people to work with. I have had more than a few major life issues blindside me over these past 5 years that would have made most people walk away from their training all together, but with the help of all of the wonderful people in my life & the blessing of attending a compassionate medical school, I have been able to stick it out. The professors & staff members have not only been a vital part of my education, but many of them have become some of my closest friends & will hopefully play a vital role as such for years to come.

Looking Back

Year 1: Classrooms, Labs, Exams & MANY Books

So, here is my attempt to summarize my medical school experience in 3-4 blog posts:

White Coating Ceremony

 1st Year:
On the 1st day of medical school I woke up in a hospital. I know that students are suppose to spend a lot of time on the floor, but this is probably not exactly how it is suppose to start. The rest of the new students were sitting in an auditorium taking notes & highlighting away & I was laying in a bed, hooked up to IVs, in horrible, pain panicking about missing my 1st day. This is NOT the way to start medical school!!!!

I had suffered from a ruptured ectopic pregnancy the evening before classes started & was rushed to the ED in hypovolemic shock (massive blood loss). (I am sorry if you are one of my close friends or family members & are just hearing about this for the 1st time; it was not an easy thing to deal with & it has not been something that my husband & I have wanted to spend much time talking about since it happened. I almost died that evening. They had give me a 4 unit blood transfusion (your entire blood volume is about 5-6 units) & open my abdomen emergently to stop the source of the bleeding. I ended up surviving surgery, but losing a portion of my uterus & my left fallopian tube.

All of that is shocking, but the most shocking part is that I was between 12-16 weeks pregnant & had no idea. I had been using birth control pills for almost a year, so pregnancy is not something that we had intended. Even though we were not wanting a baby at that time, the idea that we had lost one was almost too much to handle for us. The only part of the entire ED visit that I remember is hearing the heartbeat on US when they were looking for a source of my shock symptoms.

So, I spent my 1st week of school as a patient instead of a student doctor. I bet that I learned a lot more about medicine & being a good doctor that week than I would have learned in class.....

Thanks to an amazing OB/GYN from KCWC who came in on a Sunday evening to save my life (who I must mention had just found out she was pregnant earlier that week), and some great people at school I was able to make up the work that I had missed & complete 1st year with a decent GPA. The rest of the year was pretty normal (for a med student)....

I remember spending about 12 hours a day attending classes or labs or studying. There were a few firsts for me that I  NEVER forget:

• Med School Prom: Yes, we had a prom during medical school. This was a really big deal to me since I had never actually been to prom before. Our school has one every spring. Brian & I attended the prom my 1st year, but never made it back after that one. We had a blast & would have loved to attend others, but somehow life got in the way....

Med School Prom

• Gross Anatomy: I will NEVER forget the 1st time I worked on a human cadaver. I don't know what exactly happens with the first cut, but in some way I feel that it changes a person. Dissecting a cadaver is a privilege, that very few people ever have the opportunity to experience. While it is an honor to be a part of a gross anatomy dissection, the act of actually cutting into human flesh places a very strange and heavy burden on a scientist. By picking up a blade and cutting into someone's family member, you are crossing some sort of line that is not intended for the weak of heart (or stomach). After my 1st lab, I felt an incredible pressure on my shoulders to learn everything that I could while working on our cadavers so that the people who donated their bodies to us would not have done so in vein. I also felt some strange division begin to develop between the enthusiastic new medical student that I was the day before and the scalpel holding student doctor that I was becoming.  When I left the lab I really wanted to discuss what it was like to actually dissect a human being, but I had a very hard time finding someone who wasn't either in medical school, or who was already a graduate who would share in my enthusiasm. I guess that the lyrics to a certain song come to mind when I think about how anatomy lab can change a person ("The first cut is the deepest..."). The first time I left cadaver lab I felt different, it was the 1st time that I actually understood how serious the commitment of being a doctor was, and how much of an honor it was to be able to attend medical school; I also realized that there is something that separates people in white coats from people in street clothes....it's that imaginary line that white coat wearers cross every day when they invade the human body in ways that most cannot even begin to imagine.
• Some of my favorite anatomy lab moments: 
• On Halloween we had a HUGE practical & I remember walking around the lab carrying half of a leg around trying to memorize all of the parts at 5:30 in the morning. It didn't even dawn on us that it was Halloween until someone walked by wearing a costume...then I realized how strange it was to be carrying around a body part.
• On one of our early exams we had to learn all of the bones of the body. Not only did we need to be able to identify them by sight (& spell their names correctly), but we also had to be able to identify them by feel. So, during the exam there was a station with a black box with a hole in the side of it. You were to stick your hands in the box and name that bone. Someone actually made a youtube video about this exam: "Bone in a Box."

• Score One for Health:  Score One is one of the coolest things that I was able to do during the first 2 years of medical school. It is a program sponsored by KCUMB and The Deron Cherry Foundation that provides medical screening to underprivileged children in the KC area. Once or twice a semester different groups of students from our school would board busses that would take us to various elementary schools in the surrounding area where we would spend the day doing physical exams on the students at the school. It wasn't the ideal medical care situation for these youngsters, but for most of them it was the ONLY medical care that they had ever received. We would all gather in a common area and kids would line up holding a small folder and go from station to station to have their blood pressure and weight checked, an eye exam, a dental exam, and a full physical. We were always accompanied by students from local nursing programs and the dental school who would help with the examinations. We were also monitored by a group of KCUMB physicians who were there to answer questions and assist us when we found an abnormality. When something was found to be wrong with one of these children they were given a referral slip to get treatment from local providers who were offering aid. I will never forget some of these little ones:
• I asked one patient who their doctor was & the sweet little thing looked up and replied "you are." She was 7 and had never been to the pediatrician.
• On one visit I saw 14 kids with teeth that were so rotten that they no longer felt pain. Rotten teeth are black and misshapen. Most of these kids didn't have a toothbrush.
• I saw multiple cases of ear infections, untreated diabetes, signs of physical abuse, ring worm...and many other horrible things that no child should have to suffer from

I always left those afternoons feeling sick to my stomach, but I felt a bit better knowing that we had helped these children in some way.

So, that pretty much wraps up 1st year. It wasn't the most fun I have ever had, but I lived through it!!!!!

4 Weeks of 40!!!

Surprise!!!!

You only turn 40 once (well most people do...I know a few who have spent multiple years at different ages, but who am I to judge since I will forever be 21). My sister, Christa, enjoys holidays & birthdays more than most people I know & she always complains because they only last 1 day. So, for her 40th birthday, we decided to drag the festivities on for a while giving her 4 weeks of 40.

We started off the month with a surprise party! She lives in Clinton so with a little help from her friends we were able to set everything up at the Clinton Country Club without her having a clue! As you can se by the look on her face in the picture, she really didn't suspect that we were up to anything! We even had the party 24 days before her actual Birthday (April 23), just to make sure it was a real surprise!

She really wanted to take a girls trip to Vegas this year, but due to scheduling conflicts we weren't able to grant her that wish so we brought Vegas to her by making the party a Casino theme! The cake was made by her favorite baker of all times, Rama Sola. She is AMAZING & has been making cakes for our family for years (she did my mother's 50th Birthday Party cake & made my wedding cake). She has even agreed to make a cake for my graduation party & for the Twin's Birthday party this year:)

Sorry if I added too many pictures of the cake. I just love Rama's details.....

The body of the cake was half vanilla & half chocolate. The roulette wheel was white cake with strawberry filling (YUMMY)! The dice & poker chips were made out of candy & even the cards were edible! Rama is so incredible (if you aren't on facebook, this link will take you to a bunch of pictures of her edible art! 

What's a Vegas party without gambling? We found a company in KC that agreed to bring tables & real dealers to the party. The real hit was mouse racing! They brought a cage full of mice that were all creatively named after a party guest & had them race. Everyone could bet on which mouse they thought would win. At the end of the night, the winners from each race competed against each other for the Championship title! 

Robert was a good sport & spent most of the
night videoing all of the excitement!

We served a buffet style dinner, cake, and an amazing peach punch (spiked with Champagne)!

The Paper Plate in Clinton helped decorate. They used adorable balloons with flashing lights on them, light up dice, fake money & gold bars filled with candy as centerpieces.

We found some chocolate cards & casino themed favors on Etsy.com 

What's a party without presents? Christa really wanted a girls week, so her friend Kristie surprised her with a week long getaway to New Orleans. She recently broke her wedding band so I replaced it with one that is identical to the one our mother wears (I am such a wonderful little sister...)! I even made her a tree of suckers so that when she is feeling blue about getting old, she can lick her cares away! And her husband got her a spa day at Refresh Health Spa, complete with a little Botox so that she can stay forever young!!!

Overall I think that the party was a huge success. It seemed like everyone had a great time & I think Christa was happy! So for the 1st week she got a surprise party followed by a week long vacation to New Orleans. Next week she will enjoy her day at the spa. I wonder what else is in store for this month long celebration?!?! I guess she will just have to wait and see......

Mom & Kristie = the party planners!!!

Remember how I mentioned that Robert was a good sport for most of the night? Well, KU just happened to make it to the Final 4 this year & they were playing this evening. So, in between his role as a camera man & husband of the year, he & Brian hid out in the bar to keep up with the game!!!

March Madness

The last 2 weeks of March were totally insane for the Million Family; we had 2 parties, attended 2 ice shows, & added 2 new members to our crew! Needless to say, the term "March Madness" means more than just a bunch of basketball games to us this month! Since I haven't had time to post anything on my blog lately, I will try to recap some of the insanity in this post:

A Magical Day....

I won't say that I hate ice skating, but I will admit that after spending 20+ years dedicated to the sport & retiring the way that I did, hasn't left me with the warmest of feelings towards the sport. I do not watch skating on TV, I do not go to ice shows, I don't attend skating competitions, I don't go to the rink & skate for fun, & possibly the saddest part of it all is that I have completely lost contact with over 90% of the friends that I grew up on the ice with. With that being said, it is probably quite easy to understand why I was NOT overjoyed to go to Disney On Ice with Molly this year. I wanted to say no, or send her with her Grandma, but NOTHING is as powerful as the guilt that a child can conjure up in their Mother's heart when they pout & say 'please, Mommy.'

So, on March 23 I took my little girl to see Treasure Trove at the Sprint Center. The smile on her face when the skaters took the ice in the opening act was ALMOST enough to make me enjoy the show.

Look how excited Molly was when the show started! This expression is priceless!

As I watched the brightly costumed skaters my eyes fixated upon one male skater, who looked super familiar to me, but I couldn't figure out why. I grabbed a program, looked at some closer pictures & realized that Prince Aladdin was once a very dear friend of mine, Eddie Zeidler. We had trained together for years in Detroit, and even been on the National Team together. Eddie was an amazing singles & pair skater, who had retired before I had & we lost contact over 10 years ago. I quickly grabbed my phone & started dialing the cell phone number that he had posted on his facebook page. As I am typing this I realize how ridiculous it was to call someone who was in the middle of performing in an ice show, but at the time it seemed like a good idea....At the end of the show, much to my surprise, my phone rang & it was the Prince himself calling to try to catch us before we left the arena! I was so excited, because #1 I would get to reconnect with an old friend & #2 I thought that Molly might get the chance to go back stage & spend some time with the person she admires most in this world, Rapunzel! So, we met up with Eddie after the show, took some pictures & found out that due to new union rules character meet-&-greets were no longer allowed. However, he told us that he would be able to get Molly a little closer to the long haired beauty if we were to come back for the Sunday afternoon show. As if 1 ice show in the past 9 years wasn't enough! Now, I was getting the joy of seeing 2 in the same weekend, but I will do just about anything to make Molly smile!

The girls got to meet Prince Eddie after the show!

A Very Magical Sunday Afternoon Show:
On Sunday morning, Molly & her cousins, Katie & Ally got dressed up in their favorite Disney Costumes & we headed off to the show. During intermission we were escorted down to ice level so that Allyson could help out with a very important part of the show & Molly could a bit closer to the lovely Rapunzel & Eugine. (The reason that Ally was chosen to play this special role instead of Molly or Katie, is due to age requirements from Disney On Ice.) I will let the pictures tell the rest of this fairytale:

A VERY brave, Allyson, standing up in front of a sold-out Sprint Center!

Up, Up & Away!

Big Hugs from the Stars of the Show!

Isn't that a magical smile!

It seems like everyone enjoyed their magical Disney on Ice Day!

So, that was our Disney on Ice experience! That night Brian & I decided to go out and spend some time with the cast from the show. We haven't been out for a very long time. I have actually only been to the P & L district 2 times since it opened....It was a fun evening, but a very long Monday the next day!

2 Pirates, The Queen of Hearts, A Fairy, A Prince, A CPA & A Dr. (almost) Walk into a bar!

New Additions to the Million Family

We are proud to welcome 6 new feet to the Million household this month. On March 19th we seem to have acquired an uninvited house-guest who decided to stay. According to Benjamin, this guest is a "Big, Mean, Scarey" guy named Elmo. He set up camp in Benjamin's bedroom & refuses to leave. We have tried everything we can to get rid of this pest (flashlites, nitelites, monster repelling spray...), but he really likes it here so I guess we will have to deal with him for a while. The problem is that I have never actually been able to see Elmo & Benjamin refuses to sleep in his room until Elmo is found & moves out.
In a fit of desperation I decided to try getting a "monster hunter" to take care of our little problem. This is how we came to welcome, Nanna, a 9 week old St. Bernard to our family!

The twins were sleeping when we went to pick Nanna up, but they woke up after I got out of the car to run into the petstore to get her some food. Mom brought them in to meet their new friend for the very 1st time ever. I love the expression on Ben's face "You mean, this is MY puppy!!!"

Nanna at 9 weeks old, weighing 11lbs.

So far Nanny has been an awesome addition, but she hasn't been able to get rid of Elmo, either. I am open to suggestions on this Monster infestation....

Nanna's 1st trip to the park. Who is walking who here....

There is nothing cuter than a puppy & a toddler!

Maybe, a puppy & 2 toddlers.

There is that smile again!!!

Nanny has been with us for almost 2 weeks now & she is up to 16 lbs. The vet said that she will probably be over 150 when full grown! She is very sweet, loves the kids & already knows how to play fetch. She has been eaiser to potty train than either one of the twins (who would have thought)! Last Saturday I cleaned up 7 accidents & only 1 of them was created by Nanna! I am madly in love with her. Louis isn't a fan, but he has gotten use to the idea of having another dog around.

She is not intended as a replacement for Tiffany - there could never be a replacement for that wonderful puppy! I still miss her everyday. As an aside on the Nanna story: My old skating partner, Rob, purchased a dog while we were training together in Delaware. The dog was about a year younger than Tiffany & he ended up being her best friend. The 2 of them were inseprable & taking them apart after Rob & I stopped skating together was heartbreaking! Well, Tango passed away last week, just 2 weeks after we lost Ms. Tiffany. It kind of makes you wonder about the whole soul mate thing....

More March Updates:

I feel like this post might be getting a little too long, so I will stop here for now. I will post more later about a few more of our March events ( we had a gold buying party & a suprise party for my sister's 40th Birthday). I am currently on my rural family medicine rotation & I have been collecting some great patient stories! You know you are in rural Missouri when a patient's chief complaint is "I fell off of my tractor."

     *** We have been having so much fun with our new family members that we are considering adding more feet to the Million household....more to come on that very soon!

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