Round two...

And the drama of Match Day continues. I can't even tell you all the things I did today to keep busy as Eric was "scrambling" to find an intern year! What a stressful day, but the house is clean!

What was supposed to be just a few phone calls to find an open intern spot turned into an all day event. The in the past, scrambling has been calling places where there are open spots, faxing your board scores and curriculum vitae (resume) and being told if the intern program will let you have a spot. Well, lucky for Eric, this year has been a year of transition to an online application process. This meant that each program was really doing their own thing. Some places weren't answering the phones, some wanted the application sent through ERAS (the online program), others wanted all the paperwork faxed. It was a mess. Oh, and ERAS would only allow 30 applications to be sent.

Eric sent out applications EVERYWHERE and in the end, he got a contract with St. James Hospital in Olympia Fields, IL!!!! It was kind of on a whim that he submitted his application because there was only 1 spot. We are so excited to go back to Chicago for the year where we have family and friends.

What a testament to our faith! Eric and I left the Match to the Lord knowing wherever He wanted us to go would be the best for us and we would have never thought we'd get to go back to Chicago for a year. How AMAZING!

Now to wait until Thursday when we find out where Eric matched for the anesthesiology program....

Round One of the Match

Eric got the FIRST email today about the match. This email let Eric know he DID match with an advanced program for anesthesiology. Yaaaaay!!!
Now, Eric has to scramble for an intern year spot. As the program Eric matched with is an advanced program, it does not include the intern year. Tomorrow, Eric will have to "scramble" to find an intern year. The scramble is at 9 am tomorrrow. This means we have no idea where we will need to be in July!! It could be anywhere!
Eric will find out on Thursday where he matched for the anesthesiology program. I am so proud of him, I can hardly stand it! 4 years of such hard work and he matched in the specialty he wanted!

Pics from the past week

Eric had a day off and we went to get breakfast. Their first breakfast outing!

Mom and Dad came over for a bit. I think Brandt likes his Grandpa!

The boys are pros with their bubbas. They don't even need help with them anymore :(

The boys got new car seats and Brandt was "helping" me adjust his before we put them in the car.

Brandt playing in the car seat boxes

Carter playing in the car seat box.

For awhile, we've been able to hide some wires with a pillow barricade; however, Brandt found a way through!!

Brandt's new favorite thing is to stand at the jum-a-roo and play with the toys on it.

Carter during his tummy time.

Dad comes to visit!!!

A few weeks ago, Eric's dad came to visit. The boys had so much fun visiting with their Grandpa Groen. There were lots of games of peek-a-boo, visiting their grandpa at his work softball game, and a trip to the park. They looooove their grandpa!

The boys at 9 months

I just read my post of when the boys turned 8 months. They have changed so much in the past month! Every day the boys are making leaps and bounds in their development. It has been so fun to see them do a new skill one day and see them improve and expand on the skill the next day.

This month, the boys have:

• Improved on sitting up. Last month, the boys could both sit up for awhile and then topple over. Now, they can sit for as long as they want to.
• Brandt has learned to crawl! I have witnessed him do it with his tummy off the ground, but for the most part, he does it "army" style.
• Brandt has also learned how to stand up!! This has been so exciting. One day, he learned how to stand in his crib. Then he learned how using pieces of furniture. This has certainly affected his naps, though. It has been so difficult to get him to take naps because all he wants to do is stand.
• Carter has become our little talking guy. It is so much fun to hear him babble on and it seems like each day he tries out a new sound. Eric's has been saying this his first word was "alli babba." I didn't hear this, but Eric says he did say it! He makes sounds like: ah, bah, eh, ayaya. He likes to "talk" and if you make an "eh" sound to him, he'll talk back. Love it!!
• Carter hasn't quite mastered crawling yet, but he is scooting forward now. If he follows in his brother's footsteps, it'll be any day now.

This picture was taken of the boys this past week. They were helping make dinner with me.

A couple of real stand up men

Brandt was using the kitchen chairs to stand tonight after dinner and was really hamming it up. He is so proud of himself!

I think this picture is so cute. You can see his dimple on his left cheek.

Here's all 7 of his teeth!

We got Carter to stand up, too. He's not quite sure of it, though. He's kind of like, "Whoa! What's going on? Why isn't someone holding me?" In these pictures, you can see the progression of Carter's clothes through dinner. He almost always ends up completely naked. I thought it was so funny tonight because he ended up with just a diaper and one sock.

Here he is, just a little dirty:

Just a diaper and a sock!

We love our stand up men!!

Mom's visit in January

Eric's mom came to visit in January. We had a great time hanging out and she got a good dose of her grandbabies. We did so much while she was here: shopping, babies, shopping, more babies! Eric and I even snuck away and had a date. Funny how dates now are so special and more cherished. While she was here, we took the twins to the park and they had so much fun. Come back, Mom!!!!