…and I kind of love it.

It’s funny how something you’ve mocked up or visually drafted can look so awesome initially, but after a period of time, you grow to get sick of it. I absolutely hated the “Big Bird” theme I had up before, so I decided to change it. I spent the better part of the afternoon/evening working on this theme — I might end up changing the colors later, but for the most part I think this layout is here to stay for a long time. (Or at least what constitutes a long time in my book, anyways.) My favorite parts are definitely the bottom div (which actually gave me a lot of grief) and the header. For the easily amused, image rollovers = win.

My morning was spent “shadowing” a neurologist at UT Houston. I put shadowing in quotation marks because today’s time spent observing her equaled a whopping 30 minutes — less than the time it took for me to drive downtown to the Texas Medical Center, get my TB test read, pick up my name badge, drive over to her secretary’s office building, park my car, walk over to the building to find her secretary, walk across the street with the secretary to said neurologist’s clinic, and finally find said neurologist at said clinic. I came at the time she specified for me, but I was only able to catch her stitching up a patient’s calf from a nerve biopsy she just performed (blood and ooze, galore!!).

Don’t get me wrong; I’m extremely appreciative of the opportunity she’s giving me, but I was only slightly disappointed with my first day. Good news: I still have more days to shadow her, and she’s extremely nice. Bad news: will I have to pay an extravagant amount of money for parking every time I drive downtown to observe?

The pediatric cardiologist I’m also shadowing this summer is on vacation for the next two weeks. Kind of sad, since I was only able to spend an afternoon with her once before she left — but it was a very exciting day. Saw two patients with Marfan’s, an ultrasound being done, a basically newborn baby with a hole in between his ventricles, and a patient she’s been following for about seven years who has had multiple surgeries to address the holes in his heart and mitral valve issue. I’ll have two more opportunities with her after she gets back though, and I’m looking forward to it — her office is literally a minute away from my house by car, and parking is free!

All of this just makes me want medical school more. Too bad writing secondary essays suck. I’ve completed 2 of the 7 I need to do, and up next is Baylor. BCM’s basically been my dream school since I’ve decided to pursue medicine because 1) it’s close to home, 2) situated at the Texas Medical Center, 3) pre-clinical years are slightly shortened, and 4) it’s Baylor. Ugh, here’s hoping.

Guys, I’m pregnant. I told my boyfriend he was going to be a daddy for Father’s Day.

…not. Hahaha. (But no, really — I think that would be the cutest and arguably the best way to inform your significant other that you’re about to have a child if you guys were actually planning on it.)

The point of this post? To narrate my adventures in the world of baby care! This summer, I chanced upon and took advantage of the opportunity to shadow a pediatrician. Needless to say, it’s a lot different than what I expected it to be — I was expecting to really hate it or maybe even not to care for it. Most of the time, I can only stand babies and toddlers when they’re quiet, and when I see and hear little kids crying, throwing temper tantrums, and making an overall fuss in any public place, I tend to get a little irritated.

But after roughly 4 days of following a pediatrician around, I find myself enamoured by babies. I’ve seen teeny tiny premature babies, chubby cooing babies, toddlers, small children, and teenagers — my favorite ones to see are definitely the 3 year old babies; they’re much easier to handle during a regular check up (not as much screaming!). Winner of the highest cute factor are definitely babies 2 years old or younger; premies win highest fascination factor (their fingers and toes are so tiny, so I just keep staring at them).

I don’t know if this is a common thing or what, but being surrounded by so many tiny people kind of makes me want to have a baby of my own. And I know that’s just blasphemy, and I’m not ready for the responsibility (not to mention there’s no way I can independently support myself, much less a baby), but those are the kind of thoughts that are running in my head. At this point, I can’t wait to settle down, buy a house, and start reproducing. Hahaha.

Funny story: my mom, sister, and I were shopping at the Houston Galleria a week or so ago, and I wanted to go inside Tiffany and Co. for fun. (I’ve been wanting a thumb ring for the longest time, but I just wanted to look at the pretties inside!) We were just browsing, taking note of all the mesmerizing sparkling going on around the store when a representative approached us.

He opened the velvet display box he had with him, looked at my sister, and asked, “Could you do me the pleasure of trying on some diamond rings?”

Natural reaction: is he kidding? Is this a dream?? Is this how they lure people into purchasing their rings — making them try them on and then realizing, “oh my god, I need this ring?” The rep, probably seeing our hesitant (and flabbergasted) expressions, then points at a shy groom-to-be across the counter — “It’s for him. He’d like to see what the rings look like on a finger.”

My reaction: why didn’t he ask me? (insert whiny voice here) To say I wasn’t jealous of my sister, who got to try on a 1 carat, 1.5 carat, and 1.75 carat (sparkling, glistening, amazingly amazing) diamond ring, would be outright lying. Because face it — it’s the dream of at least 75% of the female population to be proposed to and get married in their dream wedding. I “oohed” and “ahhed” as each ring was put on and then taken off with I’m sure was a big fat cheesy smile on my face. I offered my congratulations as we left the store — I can only imagine how happy that bride-to-be is/will be!

Also I have to congratulate Paola on her engagement yet again — because, you know, after doing so on Facebook, Twitter, and your blog, it would only make sense to do so again on mine. I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU. Another friend of mine from elementary school who I really hadn’t been in touch with since middle school also messaged me on Facebook a couple of weeks ago about her own engagement/upcoming wedding. Agh, so jealous. I guess it’s that time in my life where everyone starts getting married!

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