Fall Musings and Such...

It seems like Fall rushed in and from the looks of it, there is no slowing down until winter.

Work has been steady. I'm on the Consult service this month, stomping out gynecologic emergencies left and right.

After the election we have all been in kind of a funk; so much that is like palpable. This all means so many things to me as a Black woman, as a wife, mother, sister to Black men and a daughter, and as an OBGYN. I have been thinking of the words to express the uncertainty of it all. I feel them coming in the weeks to follow...my heart hurts too much to speak on it right now.

My babies will know how special they are, no matter what the world tells them...

This holiday season is coming fast and I am not mad. I have one week, a Saturday call, and three more days of work standing between me and Thanksgiving weekend, but who's counting ;-) We are halfway done with interviewing candidates for next year - so crazy! The interview day is fun, but definitely takes up the entire weekend.

Last weekend we hit the road late Friday night to make it to my brother's Senior Day football game. I kind of alluded to this in my last post, but my baby bro had a terrible injury last month during a game. Thank God it is recoverable, but for him as a senior who was killing it, it was heartbreaking to see his dreams on hold for something out of his control. He worked so hard the last four years. And that is why despite his injury, it was so important for us all to be there to celebrate him. I'm so proud of his resilience.

Detroit cousins!!!

Last week Natey had his first "Culmination" of the year. It is when his class hosts the parents one morning to see all of the wonderful work they have been doing with their unit. This first unit was about critters and nature. Nate's personal project was a look at the life cycle of the praying mantis. His class caught one in their garden and had been taking care of it in the classroom. For part of his "research" Nate got to bring it home for a weekend. That thing is cool, but to say it gave me the heeby jeebies (medical term) is an understatement. And then the thing had the audacity to lay an "egg sac" one night in her terrarium. As an OB, that's cute and all, but I had dreams of little mantises all over our house. Luckily, it was right around the time she was due to go back to school....

Anyway, he did great! It's always a bummer that they have these things from 8-10am during the work week. Maybe when I am not a resident my schedule will allow for scheduling in mid-morning programs, but in our two years at his school, I have only been able to make one, when I was on nights :sigh: Thankfully, Nate is always there to stand in the gap, and takes awesome pictures.

My little scholar...

I decided that since 2017 is going to be a milestone year for me professionally and personally, I want to level up in my life. I need more Jesus, more intention in my day to day life, more long term goal planning, and more wellness.

Recent initiatives include:

• Stocking up on on sermon and self-improvement podcasts for daily listening
• Making a list of audio books to finish
• Printing calendars on calendars to visually coordinate our family schedules 
• Fine tuning my lists 
• Kicking off my #30by30 campaign - I want to lose 30 pounds by age 30....totally do-able right? I have like 9 months... 

Last week Nate and I took our before pictures and started T25. I also have committed to actually eating better and signed up for a "No Excuses November" Beachbody challenge organized by an ER doc who is killing it while working full time... 

Stay tuned for progress pics in a month or two! Eeek!

Well obviously...

OK, that's enough for now. Hope you all are well and staying warm!

xoxo 

{Instagram} Recap

If you have been following me on Instagram, you know I have been working hard, but enjoying some extra time with the kiddos this month. {They are both getting so big!!!} Here's a quick look at what we have been up to...

My sweet second grader 😍Time slow down...

A photo posted by Jasmine (@mrsmommymd) on Oct 25, 2016 at 5:33am PDT

"Mom look! I'm cool and pretty like you!" 😍😍

A photo posted by Jasmine (@mrsmommymd) on Oct 27, 2016 at 7:39am PDT

Two weeks ago, Nate and I went to go see Love Jones The Musical when it came to the DPAC with some of my co-residents. The show was really cute, and it was a lot of fun to dress up and go out!

Out on a school night! 🎭#lovejonesthemusical

A photo posted by Jasmine (@mrsmommymd) on Oct 18, 2016 at 7:46pm PDT

Ladies! #lovejonesthemusical

A photo posted by Jasmine (@mrsmommymd) on Oct 18, 2016 at 7:49pm PDT

I'm one week away from being back on a regular 7am-5pm type schedule, but until then, I have been soaking in the mornings with school drop offs and a chance to get to sleep in a bit.

However, last week was CRAZY. I was on call overnight on Friday, and it was extremely busy.

Four oncology admissions later...

Saturday morning I was wiped out. Poor Natey had been picked up early on Friday after having a fever and when he went to the doc on Saturday, the confirmed strep throat. My little brother also had a bad injury during his football game, and all I wanted to do was get back home and be with him and the rest of my family. {He's doing better, but we appreciate all prayers!} I was a tough weekend to say the least.

By Monday, Natey was well enough to get back to school. Isabelle, however, had a stomach bug out of nowhere, which culminated with her getting sick on the way to school, like vomit all over the backseat sick.

Of course, we had no available back up plan for child care and I had to be at work in the afternoon. Most of the time I can keep it together, but after the difficult weekend, I was emotionally spent. My mommy guilt was on 100 when I had no choice but to take Isabelle to daycare that afternoon. Thankfully, she was feeling back to her normal self within an hour of being home that morning, and practically asking me to drop her off by the time we had to go, but it still felt like a parenting fail. I shed more than a few tears that day.

The rest of the week was fine and everyone was back to being strep/bug free. Nate didn't have school Thursday or Friday due to parent-teacher conferences so the kids just stayed home the rest of the week. On Friday, we took the kids to the dentist. Isabelle watched her little brother get his cleaning like a champ and then she did great too! First cleaning, YAY!

Getting that dental care like a boss...

After I headed to work, Nate and the kids hung out and he went to our Parent-Teacher conference for Natey - which was great! So proud of him.

This weekend, we had our first round of interviews for the resident class of 2021. I say it every year I cannot believe we are interviewing already. This year is especially important for my class because we are choosing our interns for when we are chiefs(!!!). So crazy, I'm going to be a chief next year!!! The interview day was loooong, but a lot of fun sharing with the applicants why we love our program at UNC. I know Match Day will be here before we know it. Good luck to all of you out there starting your interview season!

In other news, today we got out to rock the vote Johnson style. Go vote!!! #withHer

Civic Duty ✔️#JohnsonsWithHer #History 🇺🇸

A photo posted by Jasmine (@mrsmommymd) on Oct 30, 2016 at 11:48am PDT

Hope you all had a great weekend. Hope you all have an awesome start to your Novembers!

Weekend Recap

Since my last update post, I have made my way through three different rotations...Ya'll, when I say this year feels like it is slipping right out of my hands, I mean it. 

Besides the fact that my To Do list is growing, which has me in a bit of a panic, I am in awe of how far into this exhausting process called residency I am. 

Friday, I worked on L&D as the intern, while our interns were able to get away for a much needed weekend retreat. It feels like it was just time for our intern retreat, and now we are helping to recruit the next incoming class for our chief year! Crazy!

Anyway, the third year residents are supposed to cover all the intern shifts on retreat weekend. Being the intern as a third year is way more fun than when you are the actual intern, but even as the fake intern, Friday was so busy. I came in to work Friday morning on the GYN service, and I just knew I would get to rest at some point, but I barely squeaked by with a 30 minute couch-nap in the board room. 

After an exhausting call, we went (read: Nate drove) to go see my little bro and his football team take the "W" at Davidson College. He was awesome and it was a great game!

We spent the night in Charlotte after the game, but really, it was all a blur. All I remember is the delicious burger I ate for dinner and being in an instant coma when I got under the covers. There is no tired like Residency-tired, folks. 

Sunday involved my usual routine of laundry, to-do list making, and finishing clinic notes left over from Friday. 

#90 in Beast Mode

Go Dawgs!

Nothing like a nap with biscuit in hand...

Hope Fall is treating you all well! I promise more content soon, especially for my Med Students and Med School hopefuls!

xoxo

The Self Care Initiative

I know that resident-mamas aren't the only ones that struggle with regularly doing something nice for themselves... My devotion to this cause has waxed and waned over my motherhood career. When you are crunched for time, taking care of yourself is usually the first thing to go.

One of my goals for 2016 was to do better when it came to this, and since my hours aren't really going to change, I have to get creative. By creative I mean taking the work and effort out of things so that they get done without being an additional burden.

We are now into the last quarter of the year (unreal), and this is still a work in progress. Because many of us have this same story, a number of genius women have sought to make it a little easier on us. Kelley McLean, the creator of MamaBu Box, is one of them.

Kelley writes, "the Mamabu Box team is passionate about empowering purposeful moms to take time to be intentional about practicing self-care. We want to support moms in finding and living their calling while setting an example for their children that with God all things are possible. However, we know that often in the quest to do and have it all we sometimes can let our own care fall by the wayside. Mamabu Box is a convenient bimonthly care-package curated around themes that remind us to check in with ourselves. In each package we highlight a mom-owned business and share a mommy inspiration from a fellow mom. We basically want to provide moms with an outlet to give themselves the attention they deserve; and look really cute doing it!”"

My summer-themed box was not only gorgeous in color, but practical. In her personalized note, Kelley explained how each item was to not only help you unwind, but also get you outside for some much needed solitude or fun with your kids.


My box included organic lip balm and bug spray, a gorgeous clutch tote and aviators for chic travel, and my favorite, a heavenly, lavender scented deodorizer that definitely mellowed me out on my car trips to work.

This is a monthly subscription worth the investment. The great thing is, if you aren’t ready to commit to a membership, you can purchase each box in their shop (http://mamabubox.com/shop/all/) as a one-time purchase, as long as they are available. 

If the idea of taking care of yourself isn't incentive enough, a portion of all proceeds go to support mom-owned businesses! So you can help take care of other well-deserving mamas. Right on, ladies!

Use code MOMMYMRSMD15 for %15 off your first box. Sign up by October 23^rd to get your November themed "Mommy Retreat" box!

xoxo

Hey Strangers...

Yep. She still blogs...

After my birthday #SummerSixteen seemed like it flew by even faster than it came in. I'm happy to report that I survived the busiest service of third year. I still have to conquer two mini-blocks of antepartum (inpatient obstetrics) and 7 weeks of GYN-Onc, but I think I will be just fine.

Since leaving Wake Med, I have been on a rotation called Ambulatory Care Clinic (or ACC). ACC is just what it sounds like - I get to spend my days in the outpatient OB and GYN clinics. It has been great to learn how to run my clinic more efficiently, especially now that I am a big, bad third year and know a whole lot more about what I am doing...

The hours are also quite nice which has allowed time for other responsibilities - like working on my third year research project, meetings about interview season, tending to my self-care initiative (or lack thereof), and some much needed recuperation with our family. I feel like it took me two weeks before I felt like I was crawling out of the hole of exhaustion from Wake.

In Johnson news...

Natey started second grade! Isabelle is beaming with as much pride over him as we are.

Big Nate finally was able to live out his fantasy on the race track one weekend when our family visited the Charlotte Motor Speedway. And I am sure his fantasy all those years ago included being at a racetrack with his two kids haha!

Back when he was just a teenager with a Mustang :-D

And we completed the fasted (and longest) road trip in history over Labor Day weekend when we went to Detroit for Nate's mom's birthday party:

And then afterward hit the road again to see my parents in Indiana. Something about the familiar spaces at home that seem to put everything back into alignment. I needed it. An added bonus was that  my brother josh, his girlfriend, plus my uncle and his family all came up for the day too!

Seeing your babies in the place you grew up gives you all the warm fuzzies...

So happy I got to see my sweet Samson

And my sweet middle brother came to see us

Josh and Bridget xo

Backyard fishing with my dad (Grampy)

We will talk about my child's sass at another time...

Thanks for bearing with me, still reading, and indulging in my photo dump...

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

xo