Med School Graduation

On May 15, 2009 I finally achieved the goal I'd set for myself when I was three years old: I became a doctor of medicine! Now, this accomplishment certainly isn't entirely my own. So many people contributed to my experiences that led me to this point, and I owe a sincere thank you to all of you. To the friends who listened to me complain from high school through college and med school about the trials and who supported me through the good times and the difficult ones, thank you. I could not have done this without you. To my family: thank you for always pushing me to be the best I could, for supporting me when the unexpected occured (whether it was babies or career path changes or other hurdles), and for loving me regardless of what happened. And to my amazing husband: words cannot express my gratitude. You've walked with me through this entire journey, from undergraduate classes to the MCAT to applying to medical school and agreeing to come to Milwaukee with nothing but our love. You made a name for yourself at WisTax and Marquette, all the while helping to support me financially and emotionally. You took on your responsibilities as a father with more grace than I'd expect from anyone, especially given that many months you had more than your fair share of baths to give and diapers to change. You are an incredible father. And when crisis hit and career plans changed you supported me unconditionally in whatever I chose to do (but we're all thankful that I'll actually utilize my degree doing something I'll enjoy - pathology ;)). As much as I went through medical school, so did you. And you still came out thriving as a top law student despite the pressures of being a student, being a father, and being married to a medical student. You are amazing, and I cannot express my gratitude or how much I love you.

Enough of the mush. Enjoy the pics below (more to come from Grandma Sue in the next few weeks), most are of my fellow new physicians and me.

Dr. Bruce "BJ" Lanser, Pediatrician
*met BJ through CMA, and we collaborated with some other Catholic med students to set up some prayer times and discussion groups. It's been carried on by younger med students, which is exciting! BJ will complete his residency at UT Southwestern.

Dr. Lauren Flewellen, Family Practitioner
*Lauren and I started studying together during first year from time to time, then we both became moms during medical school. She's married to a PhD student, Tim (great guy) and her little girl Lily is almost a year old now! Lauren will be completing her residency in family medicine at Waukesha Family Medicine Residency Program.

Dr. Danita Hahn, Pediatrician
*D and I met actually during our interview at MCW as college seniors. At the time, both our last names started with "A" so we were paired up during the interview. She happened to attend ND, which got us talking since Ryan went there as well. She was also newly engaged. Jeez, it seems like that was yesterday. Now, her son is over nine months old. Danita will be completing her residency at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin here in Milwaukee.

Dr. David Coons, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
*Dave and I also met during our interview at MCW. Outgoing and friendly, Dave's a tough guy to forget, and I'm happy we have remained friends through school. He has a beautiful family - his wife is amazing, and he has three adorable little girls. He's been a great person to talk to for family advice, and just to shoot the breeze with. He'll be completing an internship year here at Froedtert, then will move to Denver for his PM&R residency.

Dr. Kellie Stetcher, Obstetrics & Gynecology
*Kellie and I became acquaintences during second year, but really became good friends during third and fourth year. Bright with a cutting sense of humor, Kellie can always make me laugh, and she's a great venting partner for those frustrating days. She'll be completing her residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Grand Rapids MI.

My parents, Jake, and me. Wow that's one heck of a smile. And man this angle makes me look super chubby and pregnant!

And finally, Jake and me rushing off after the ceremony. Rushing was something we've done a lot of over the last few years, but alway swith a hint of a smile (as in this picture).

Go Bwewers!

On Friday of Senior Week we attended a Brewers vs. Cubs baseball game. Now, I've said it before and I'll say it again - Jake is truly his father's son. Not only do they look alike, they both LOVE sports of all kinds. Being that it's baseball season, Jake has an infatuation with baseball. I've mentioned the bat and ball set before. But now, this kid's got a swing like you wouldn't believe!! He can swing the bat better than I can! And he gets very excited when he sees baseball on TV - he starts yelling "Bwewers! Go Bwewers! Need baseball bat!" and he swings along.

So first we tailgated with our friends Danita (a fellow MCW graduate) and her husband Nick (thankfully someone who, unlike me, can talk sports with my husband and do a darn good job of it). Most of the time Jake squatted - but no, not for the reason you might think; he was pretending to be a catcher! We also stopped by the MCW tailgate area to say hello to other classmates and friends, and thankfully my friend Heather snapped this shot of Jake..

He has since been dubbed "Mini-Braun".

We made our way to the ball park, and Jake was in awe. We also got to hear Danny Gokey sing the national anthem, which was pretty sweet. Then we settled into our seats for the game. The first pitch and hit, Jake's eyes lit up! He started clapping like crazy and yelling "YEAH! GO BWEWERS!" Then he turned to Ryan and said "Oh, I YUV it!" (for Oh, I love it!) and went back to cheering on the Brewers. He hung tough for six innings and cheered almost the whole time, despite it being WAY past his bedtime. One of my other friends, Marisa, snapped a shot of the back of Jake's shirt:

She also got this great one of our view:

We headed out after the sixth inning to preempt any meltdowns, but the kiddo again did fabulously. And we promised him we'd come back sometime soon (and oh yeah, the Brewers beat the Cubs! Yay!).

Zoo Trip continued

Thanks for your patience...



We stopped by the play area in the Family Farm when Jake exclaimed "PARK!" and ran towards it. Funny how toddlers quickly become decision-makers. Jake didn't go any further than this first step on the play structure (my, things change quickly - now he barells up to the tallest slide he can find!).

In honor of Count von Count (Jake's second, or occasionally first favorite Sesame character), we stopped by to visit the bats. One, ah ah ah ah..

We walked by the bears, who were taking a little snooze.

We saw a very handsome (and noisy) key-cock (which is Jake for peacock).

Jake didn't think much of the camels, but it was a neat picture

We stopped by to see the rhino, and Jake was thoroughly excited - mainly because one of this favorite videos, dubbed "Shape Show" (a Baby Einstein flick) prominently features a puppet rhinoceros.

And the elephants! These were for sure the highlight of the day. They were both out eating, drinking, and playing with tree branches. Jake was so excited to see the "effants" and made elephant noises the whole time we were there.

We heard a mysterious "choo-choo" noise as we walked the park, and found the little train that circles the Zoo complex. Given that Jake has a love affair with too-too twains, we decided to take a ride.

We waited a little while (thankfully not too long) to board the twain. Jake made up a little song comprised mainly of the lyrics "Time ta GO!" and started dancing around (can you tell he was excited?). I got a shot of him dancing while I re-enacted the song (pardon my so-called singing). PS. He does in fact reach down my shirt at one point, BUT he's looking for my St. Luke and Miraculous Medals which I almost always wear (he tends to play with them when I hold him or carry him, esp when he's tired; he also refers to them as "Body o Cwist" - confuses them with the hosts at Mass).

And here he is on the train, looking awestruck (and a little terrified). When the train started his eyes got as big as saucers!

He is not actually sleeping in this shot, though we were about 30 minutes past naptime. He sat on my lap during the ride, and had a blast waving at the people and the animals.After lunch we stopped back by the Family Farm area, and happened upon some chicks!

He was so excited about the chicks! He kept telling us how cute they were and going "Awww! Baby chicks!" At this point we were well over an hour and a half past naptime, but you'd never have known it. He was so well-behaved and happy the entire day.

This was I think the most perfect zoo trip we could have asked for. The weather was perfect. All the animals were out and easy for Jake to see. He was so engaged in looking at everything. There wasn't a single melt-down or freak-out, even when we kept the poor kiddo out way past his naptime. We all had such a blast, and we're so lucky to have such a great zoo nearby. More importantly, we're so lucky to have a great kid who is so into the world around him and learns so quickly. What a blast!!

Dr. Lauren N. Parsons, M.D.

(Note: More on the zoo, the Brewers game, graduation, and family will be posted after we get a little further settled. Thanks for your patience :))

Senior Week Zoo Trip

As a 4th year medical student we're still called "seniors," and we have "Senior Week Activities" including a dinner/dance, a Brewers game, a golf tournament, and a zoo trip. Today was zoo trip day, complete with free parking and a picnic! What a blast! We were lucky enough to get there before the big crowds, and got to see lots of really neat animals up close. I'll try to let the pictures tell the story.
Our first animals today, the gazelles. Jake was very exited to see them, but he thought they looked more like deer.

Here is the cheetah - told you we were right up close!

We got to witness the mommy and daddy lions cuddling with each other.
The tiger came right up to the glass when we were outside. Jake was super excited (and so were Mom and Dad)!
Next we found the giraffes. Jake was impressed, but he was even more excited about...
Hippos! Last time they were in the water when we visited, so it was exciting to see them in all their hugeness. We also asked them if hippos have Bee-bo's (it's a Sandra Boynton book ;)).
Jake saved his strength and rode in the stroller between the animals. Dad was kind enough to push.
Here are Jake and Mommy outside the elephant's resting area. Boy was he excited to see the elephant (and no, we are not referring to Mommy ;))
Next we moved on to Daddy's favorite - the primate house! Here's a gorilla hanging out inside.
Here are a mommy and baby monkey (bonobos, maybe?). Hard to see in the picture because of the flash, but it was pretty cute.
Here's the orangutan. Daddy says he looks like Chewbacca.
Then it was Daddy's favorites of the favorite: Spider monkeys! One of these guys chucked a pail at the other one, then dive-bombed down the steps, and got up and shook it off. It was crazy!

Next, we traveled onward to one of Jake's favorite places...
The fish and reptile house! Here's Jake getting pretty excited over a big shark!
Then we saw some alligators - ask Jake what they say (the answer is "snap, snap" while he makes a pretend mouth with his hand).
Here's a giant sea turtle.
And a kind of cool shot of Jake (that's his outline) being mesmerized by all the fishies in the tank. There are orange ones and white ones and blue ones, and spotted ones and striped ones.. he loved it!

Well, it's getting late (and blogger takes a long time to upload pictures) so we'll continue the story of the zoo trip tomorrow. Get excited for some animals with trunks and a mode of transportation that goes "Choo choo!"

Quick Stories

A couple of quick stories from the last week:

-When Jake wakes up in the morning, one of the things I do is ask him how he slept. Lately, he's taken to answering "Pitty good."

-Jake has a stuffed baseball and baseball bat that he likes to play with. However, he uses them like a golf ball and golf club. Genetic link to my father.

-Jake has a small toy puppy on a string that he takes for walks. The other day he said "OH NO! Doggie poo-poo!" Then he picked up the puppy, laid it on its back, and grabbed some wipes out of the diaper wipes container. He then proceeded to "clean up" the doggie's "bum" for the next 15 minutes.